Chapter Sixty-Four - The Start of a Breach

Chapter Sixty-Four - The Start of a Breach Josh and Franklin, both, wanted to bring the girl's body back, and I couldn't really fault them. The protocol for losing someone in a portal was pretty much the same, regardless of corp. Bring them back. It was one part common decency, and two parts common sense. Portals were... somewhat flexible, when it came to the law. People died there all the time, and the jurisdiction was the same as the open ocean, meaning that legally, things were complicated. A body left in a portal world was evidence left behind. It wasn't admission of guilt but... yeah, people would dig. In this case, though, I think it was just kindness. The River Rats weren't a gang I knew well, but gangs tended to need that kind of familiar connection to thrive sometimes, and this girl didn't look much older than twenty, so she might have grown up with them. "Want me to," I started. "No," Josh said. Then, softer and with a shake of his head, "No. We'll handle her." He grabbed her in a princess carry, Franklin picked up an empty handgun off the ground, and we started for the exit. I noticed that we weren't the only ones moving. My See Darkness might have let me see them first, but the goblins around here were active, flitting between shadows, and whispering to each other. A lot of them were raising weapons, more were staring at the corpses all over the ground with naked greed. And the goblins near the back? They were bigger. Some of them I could even sense, despite the distance, as vaguely magical. Magic-users? That wasn't impossible in a D-rank portal. It wasn't common but it wasn't uncommon either. They'd usually have a level of strength more or less equal to the portal's level. There was some complex math out there, for estimating the threat a portal could hold. Generally, the strength of the portal would tell you how many or how strong the monsters within were. The goblins, most of them, seemed a sort of 'horde' threat. So the mages hidden with them were probably not too strong. Just lower D-rank. That was still strong enough to cause a lot of trouble. "We should move faster," I said. "Hmm?" Josh asked. "The goblins are gathering," I said. "Some of them look moderately strong. We need to move faster." Josh paused a little, glancing back, then he picked up the pace, going from a sedate walk to a quick jog that I hastened to catch up to. I think that served as a signal to the goblins, because one of them screamed and threw a spear at us. It went wide, but it did encourage the others. Franklin sprinted ahead to the antechamber, then turned and pressed his SMG to his shoulder before opening fire. He shot in small, controlled bursts. Four or five rounds downrange, enough that he didn't completely lose it to the recoil. "Move, dammit!" he shouted. We were out and into the main courtyard a moment later and I turned, shoes scraping across the grit as I faced the entrance of the fort. Franklin ran after us, then stumbled and yowled. He had a short wooden bolt stuck to his lower back. "Ah! I'm shot!" I dodged to the side, running for cover while the E-rankers that had come in opened up on the goblins charging out of the fort. There had to be forty of the little green monsters. Most weren't wearing much more than scraps of cloth, but a few, especially the bigger ones, were wearing armour. It was makeshift, hammered out chunks of metal, and one at the front had some cast-iron pan tied to his front with ropes, but I saw a spark fly as a round ricochetted off him. It sent the goblin on its ass, but he lived. The gangsters didn't have the greatest aim, or trigger discipline, and after ten seconds of raucous noise, there was a mad scramble to reload while the goblins continued their charge. "Hold! I'll get reinforcements!"Josh shouted before he jumped through the portal with the girl's body in his arms. The River Rats tried. I'd give them that. They shouted expletives and some creative slurs while emptying their magazines, and by the time the first goblin reached them, there were a dozen on the ground, dead or injured. Then the fighting turned into a melee. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. I ran around one of those wooden pillars holding up a tower and came face-to-face with a smaller goblin. I smacked the butt of my revolver in its face, then stabbed down with my sword before leaping to the side. Two more came after me, one with an axe that they swung around to try and chop my legs off. I hopped over the swing, then aimed down and shot the goblin in the face. Then I started to fight properly... more or less. I knew that my technique was bad, but I was also fighting monsters that barely reached my waist, the tallest were breast-height at best. I had a lot of reach on them and a sword with a very sharp point. I was splitting my attention between keeping them at bay and figuring out how best to actually swing. There was something about keeping the edge in line that took more focus than I was expecting. Still, when I did it right, it resulted in a much cleaner, faster, easier cut. Another goblin went down, slashed across the face. Not dead though. Then I stepped up and stabbed a third in the chest. I made sure to keep the blade horizontal, I think last time my mistake was keeping it vertical, which was easier to stab with, but it got caught in the ribs more easily. Then I was dodging, pure reflex telling me to duck down as a fist-sized ball of fire roared by overhead. A shaman? The goblin had a staff as tall as they were, and was covered in bangles and bone necklaces. They waved their staff around again, then shouted something before a new ball of fire appeared and shot towards me. I stepped to the side, leveled my revolver, and blew their brains out. That moment of distraction cost me, though. A goblin came up to my side and stabbed up with a spear, catching me under the ribs. My leotard held, the stone speartip not punching through, but it still hurt like mad. I got back into the fight, trying not to be overwhelmed, which mostly meant constantly backing up until, eventually, I was stuck in a corner. My arms burned, my breath came in harsh gasps, and I felt my hair clinging to my scalp. Just the motion of swinging over and over again was taxing. A bolt shattered against the wall near me, and I tried to spot the goblin that had shot in the crowd to take a shot at him. Then one of the bigger goblins charged up. They had two short hatchets, but they were long enough to give them more reach, and they wore armour made of bent metal plates held in place by corded strings. I stabbed, jumped back, bounced off the wall, then tried to kick them to make room. I miscalculated. A harsh gasp escaped me as the head of a hatchet thunked through my pants and right into my leg, just over the knee. I Reloaded. I was back in that motel room, maybe five hours earlier. It took a moment for my body to deal with the sudden spike of adrenaline, then calm down. Worse, I didn't have my spells running anymore, and that was disorientating as well. Moving back into the room, I sat on the edge of the bed and thought. So... how many losses had there been in the original timeline? Initially, I started to feel like it was unlikely. Goblins weren't hard to kill. But... yeah, there were a lot of them, and they weren't all so weak. Some were more than strong enough to kill even an armed person if they weren't ready, and the River Rats sure weren't ready. How many goblins were there, total? I had a sinking feeling that those I'd seen weren't all of them. Maybe half, or a quarter. A quarter was probably a safer bet for now. So, I had to assume... about two hundred goblins. Yeah, that would be more than enough to overwhelm the River Rats. Not all of those would be rushing out of the portal if it breached, but enough to cause trouble on Earth. It was probably a small miracle that so few people died in the original timeline. Now... how could I save those people, look good while doing it, and not make enemies of an entire gang? I stood up. It was maybe time to head out and meet that Becky woman, assuming I arrived on time to see her alive. If I kept her alive and stopped the breach before it happened, then I'd at least be earning some goodwill with the gang. They might spread the rumour for me... maybe. Urgh, having conflicting goals was a pain in the ass. ***