Cheese stood amidst the carnage, the mounds of bodies that had formed around him as they killed. His heart pounding in rhythm with the chaos around him. The rush of adrenaline, the ping of notifications, and the satisfaction of his ascension to an expert axeman thrummed within him like an intoxicating melody. He felt stronger than he had ever felt before. Cheese lifted the axe, and let out a Cleave into the newly forming lines of goblins. They crumpled back in a wave as he felt the mana leave his body. He could see it, like a thin line of steel being shot into them.

  Some twenty of the creatures fell instantly adding to the piles, and Cheese had to rely on the power of his will to stop from falling onto the ground from exhaustion. Gods that had been a lot of mana. He turned his attention inwardly as Gelrock stepped forward sensing his weakness. A full tenth of his energy had disappeared in that one swipe. "Fuck" he said as he realized the implications. He would not be able to rely on his abilities for now, not until he had control of his mana. Gelrock replaced Cheese in the gateway taking the brunt of the enemy for the moment.

  "Bladesman" came a low voice from behind him. Cheese turned and saw that it was Torv. The younger man had the keeps standard in his good hand.

  "What is it?" he asked, his voice far more horse than he had expected.

  The bannerman didn't show any sign of realizing, and simply said "Do you need the men to take over while you assess?"

  A circle of men with shields and spears had formed around the gate, ready to take over. Cheese shook his head and said "No. Once Gelrock needs a moment I will step in. Wait in case we need you."

  Torv nodded and Cheese turned his attention back to the escalating battle before him. Gelrock was a whirl of motion as he danced back and forth before the goblins. Whereas Cheese relied on his larger strikes the Master at arms was a surgeon. He darted in and bypassed the simple guard of the goblins, striking at a neck, an armpit, or a leg. He let the press of bodies kill as often as his blade, and he was able to keep up with the pace due to his superior body. As he did so he ensured to not let them push far past the gate.

  This type of assault was risky, and it relied on superior skill and strong legs whereas Cheese`s tactics of simply chopping everything into pieces was less skillful and relied on a strong upper body and more stamina. Cheese was able to endure the drain of his tactic because of the years of work he had done, whereas Gelrock was simply made for war. He had adapted over the years to his smaller stature, and due to this he was familiar with the necessity of movement in battle. As Cheese watched the smaller man ducked under a goblin thrust, something only possible due to how short he was in the first place, and stabbed up taking the creature in the armpit.

  This went on for an hour as the man steadfastly held the gate. In time he began to form the mounds into ramparts, and he stood atop them as the goblins tried to climb the dead to reach the smaller man. Around the twenty-minute mark, the relentless surge of goblins began to wane, and the pressure eased. Gradually, the caliber of their opponents improved. By the end of the hour, Gelrock found himself frequently battling goblins at the journeyman level. who came forward not in a tide, but in ones and twos as they pulled their way to the top of the small pile of bodies.

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  It was around this time that Cheese felt that dark force that was observing take its leave. He was unsure what it had been, but as the goblins began growing in time he felt as if it stopped viewing him and turned its attention south. Cheese should still feel its presence, but he was aware of that presence leaving them. That worried the bladesman, not only the presence of such a creature watching their battle but that he could feel it. As he focused on it the being felt almost oily against his perception.

  The slow trickle of goblins continued until that hour was up, and Cheese was brought away from his pondering. Gelrock gave a shout of "Boy" and cheese looked up.

  And he felt a smile cross his face as he looked at the new foe that had presented itself. [Orc, Journeyman] "Aye" Cheese shouted as he ran forward, leaping past the older man on his pile of goblins. He brought the axe up and down, but the orc sidestepped with a snarl. Cheese let out a front kick, and the orc took it on the chest, stumbling backward slightly as it landed. The orc lashed out with a sinister blade and Cheese stepped closer as it did, placing them chest to chest. He grabbed the orc's sword arm as it overshot looping his arm under its armpit and then yanking the orc towards himself in a simple throw the militia taught their warriors to use in unarmed combat against an opponent with a spear.

  Using it against a larger opponent who bore a sword was unusual, and quite dangerous, but Cheese was simply faster than the orcs sword arm, and the unexpected move caught the creature off balance. Cheese rotated him and slammed the orc onto its back, as he did so the orc landed on a goblin who had fallen earlier with a crunch. Cheese had to drop his axe during the throw, but he simply resummoned it as he brought his arms down in an arc, driving the axehead into the orc's skull.

  Fuck that felt good, but Cheese immediately realized the issue with this. He had taken nearly ten seconds to deal with the Orc, and as he looked back up he saw that five more of the creatures had come forward. Gelrock caught two of them as they tried to climb the embankment of death, but the rest were running out in a wide arc, and more were coming through the gate.

  Cheese let out a Chop He nodded grimly and resummoned Markaer. As he threw the axe he internally gauged his mana. It was down a further ten percent from that ChopEventually Cheese made it, leaving a trail of death behind him. As foes came forward he raised the axe overhead and brought it down, like he was cutting wood, then took a step forward. Chop. Step. Chop. Step. There was no mana infused in these Chops, but the strength of his body was enough to make progress. These foes were stronger than the others that much was true, but at the e nd of the day, Cheese was simply a cut above them. So he embraced his axe, and got to the work of killing, intent to not let a single creature past him.