The Systems Challenge

Goblin were all around her. While she hadn't yet been hit, she wouldn't be surprised if it happened when it was least convenient. She'd moved her focus off of the hobgoblin and was doing her best to deal with the influx of goblins. She hadn't expected goblins to come out of the portal, though she suspected that she was probably in quite a bit of trouble, but couldn't think of any path out of it without somehow dealing with all the goblins that were crowding around her.

So, before she got pinned down, she started up her combat dance, doing everything she could to eliminate as many goblins as she could. As the more she took out, the fewer there were to go after Elin and the others in her group. It also would reduce the chance of her getting injured, especially from the hobgoblin. She couldn't say if this was the right move or not, just that she knew she didn't have any other real choice in the matter.

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Elin was surprised when her staff struck a goblin on its head with her latest swing. She wasn't trying to actually kill any of the goblins this time. She was doing what she could to slow them down. She figured that eventually Kim or Jonas would defeat their primary opponent and then would be able to eliminate the rest of these goblins. Or maybe Elmo would finish closing the portal and he'd be able to mow the goblins down with his magic.

Every so often, she'd use her Holy Shot spell to force a goblin back that was pushing too far forward for Elin's comfort. Occasionally she'd actually kill one, but she wanted to wear them out rather than kill them. If she killed one, then there was plenty behind it that was ready to take its place, but if they got worn out, then they'd stay put and if the ones behind It got too impatient. Which Elin didn't mind, since it wasn't costing her any stamina to do that.

She kept an eye on Elmo as he pressed his hand against the backside of the portal, his eyes closed. She had no idea what he was doing, but she knew that he'd clearly thought of something that allowed him to work at closing it. She wished she could have helped, but was fine with what she was left to do, since they had been told to work together on closing the portal. However, it was getting difficult to keep up with them.

Maybe she was getting tired herself, but she was confident that it took less energy to fight in a defensive way than an offensive way. The goblins behind the ones right in front of her were certainly not happy with the goblins in their way. Elin would have found it funny if she wasn't in the middle of fighting the goblins.

Another problem for her was that an occasional spell, from the goblin Jonas was fighting, would come her way. She didn't have to deal with the spell typically, as it would generally get one of the goblins that were trying to get at her. She wasn't sure what else might happen, but she was sure that this fight wouldn't last long. She felt like she was nearly spent, her arms ached and were starting to feel like lead and she wasn't really sure how long this fight had been going on.

Maybe it was having tried using more MP than she had or just an emotional drain that this entire trip has put on her, but she was surprised at how tired she currently felt with how much rest she'd been able to get. She wasn't sure how much stamina she had, and maybe she should have looked at that before they started fighting rather than just drinking the mana potion.

However, unless she completely ran out of stamina and dropped unconscious as a result, she didn't plan on moving until the goblins were dealt with. Although, at the moment, she really wasn't sure which was more likely. It wasn't a pleasant feeling that they might die as a result of this.

Elin swung her staff to block the swing of the sword of one of the goblins while swinging the other end to try and hit another goblin's knees. She wasn't sure if the portal really was getting smaller or if it was just wishful thinking on her part. She hoped it really was getting smaller, even if she couldn't really tell.