Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 25: Ambush, and Danger

Removing her respirator, she took a deep breath of the air. It was incredibly clear. There were no hints of industrial smoke or the salted scent of the ocean drafts buffeting HMS Rebirth. All that was left was the deep aroma of pine and tree sap.

Despite it being around noon on a bright summer's day, the light within the town was dark. The only source coming from the barely discernible sun looming high above. Just like a glass of water, the light shimmered down from above.

Price took out a gun from his bag and aimed it upwards. With a bang, a fluorescent orange lit up the world in front of them. But all Astrid could see was a wall of trees. Crouching down, her hand sifted through the fallen pine needles and dirt. Bringing it to her nose, she sniffed at the soil. The deep earth tickled the fine hairs of her nostrils. Her nape tingled as an excitement welled up within.

I wish my first mission was with Daniel and the others. Putting the thoughts to the back of her mind, she focused on her new environment. With the sign of their arrival, it was obvious the monsters knew they were here. Quickly climbing back into her dress and tying the cloak back onto her shoulders. She was ready.

She watched as half of the Wayfarers were on guard, while the others changed into their armour.

I better change my title now.

Title changed

You’re not a fish -> Mind Scrambler

| Mind attacks are 15% stronger.

| 20% resistance against mind attacks.

| 10 added intelligence.

| 5 added wisdom.

“Do we know what monsters are here?” Froderick turned his head as his beady eyes rested on Arya’s cleavage as she was changing. His hands fumbled, dropping a piece of his plate armour to the dirt ground.

Tightening up the straps of her leather chest piece, Arya said. “Goblins and the rare orc or two.”

“Orcs?” Nick widened his eyes.

“Don’t worry, we’ve killed most of em’.” Frank said without turning his head from the dark forest.

Astrid looked around, her vision becoming hazy. Not because of any smoke or mist in the air, but because of the dense matter that swirled through the surrounding space. Astrid took a deep breath as she could feel her mana container swirl.

“The mana here is thick.” Astrid said.

“Great, isn’t it?” Miller said. “It’s why a lot of mages want to venture into the Bubbled-Cities. The mana here is full of life. Like the planet before the invasion.”

Astrid nodded. She felt like her mana was more in tune within this place.

“Alright, that's enough chat for now.” Price walked forward and unsheathed his sword. “Time to move. We need to be out of here by nightfall."

Following, Astrid and the others were in the middle. Using Psych Domain, the matter in her vision expanded. She focused on multiple clusters of dots. They faintly moved–using her ears–she couldn’t hear a thing. Frowning, she glanced at the lack of reaction from the experienced Wayfarers.

“We are being ambushed.” Astrid said. “They are all around us. I count around fifteen. Maybe more.”

“Alright.” Price said. "Everyone, get ready."

Astrid’s mind twitched. The matter moved. Grabbing hold of a dagger from her belt, she threw it forward, propelling it faster with Psychokinesis. With her hand, the dagger suddenly shot up through the foliage. Instead of a hard thump hitting bark, a groan left something’s throat. Its body fell down to the floor with a dense thud.

The monster's head was barely visible from behind the tree as it scowled at them. The dagger lodged into its fleshy thigh.

Level 18 - Goblin

Should be easy. Astrid formed an Illusionary Armour around herself as she prepared.

“Get ready!” Price looked all around him as the goblins surrounded them like a tide.

Astrid looked at Froderick and the other examinees. Their hands were jumpy, and they didn’t know where to look. Gloria was noticeably better, but the faint tremble of her hands betrayed her. It was the first time they would see proper combat.

Astrid’s heart pumped blood throughout her body at a heightened rate. It was like a stimulant was shot straight into her bloodstream. Her lips tugged upwards. Three goblins charged immediately at the right flank, where most of the examinees were, and the heavily armoured warrior Bert.

The speed of the little green men surprised her. Astrid controlled the rocks littering that ground and swept them along the forest floor like a horizontal rock-slide. The rocks clobbered into the goblin’s ankles, sending them tumbling. However, they showed exceptional agility as they controlled themselves, rolling onto the ground and dodging the slashing of Bert’s axe.

Another goblin reached Bert, its straight blade rattled against Bert's great-axe.

Level 20 - Goblin Skulker

A redness welled up in his eyes. With a sundering strike, he separated the goblin in half.

Astrid gave up on trying to impede their movements for her team. She went on the offence. Her psychic mana flared up with her mind as her psychic mana crashed into the goblin. She sent its body hurtling backwards, tumbling into the spiky pine-needles.

It crouched and sent a glare her way. The goblins' teeth were broken, its nose lay bent to the side as blood seeped from the openings. Let’s test your constitution. Astrid’s mind strained as she connected to its eyeballs. Astrid was hesitant to use it as it caused a huge amount of stress on her mind. But, it was a good way to test the monster’s constitution and toughness.

The goblin suddenly stopped. The monster's hands cradled its face. Blood trickled from the eyes. With a pop and a scream, the goblin fell to the ground.

Astrid took a breath. It wasn’t as hard as the other times. It meant either her intelligence made an enormous difference, or the goblin had a low constitution, or both. More approached, numbering in the tens. They dashed forward from behind the tree's. Astrid willed the matter in the surroundings to change according to her will. She activated Minor Illusion as a cloud appeared from her imagination. They sprinted out of the cloud in a daze as a wall of iron met their flesh. The examinees brandished their weapons as they parried the goblin's weapons. Astrid noticed the hesitation in their eyes. The hesitation of taking a life.

Astrid connected to the matter of the goblin's eyes. One, two, three... she connected to eleven sets of eyeballs and tore them out from their skulls.

She watched as Gloria took the initiative and flashed forward with a puff of smoke, her dagger gouged into the skin of the monster. Dodging to the side, she countered, sweeping her dagger across its throat. Blood splashed onto the soil. The scent of copper wafted through the forest, masking the calm scent of pine. There were too many. Four goblins leapt down from above.

Astrid's mind connected to Gloria and formed a Mind Barrier. A weight bore down on her mind, when a storm of arrows blasted the goblins' bodies into nothing.

“There’s too many of them.” Bert shouted as his axe split through the goblin’s chest. Before he could take a breather, a little green man’s shoulder smashed into him, forcing the heavily armoured man to take a step back. But it was only a step. Bert’s axe whipped forward, reaping the goblin’s life.

“We can’t stay here!” Price shouted. “We’ll run forward. I’ll take the lead with the examinees. Bert, you take control at the back and sides with the others.”

They all got into formation and started bolting through the trees. Astrid was forced to activate her mind barrier as stray arrows shot towards them. Veiled behind the darkness of the forest. A goblin leapt down towards the examinees from above. Astrid spared no mana as her mind crashed into the goblin. It must have been a lower level, as its entire body exploded into a gory mess. She felt her mana dwindling.

Finally, she spotted a clearing in front of them. Light to the darkness. Breaking into the light, multiple clusters of dense matter screamed towards the group. Astrid’s mind barrier immediately tanked three shots before the fourth shattered it completely. With her mind undergoing an assault, she dropped to the floor, her body shrouded by tall grass. Astrid couldn't hear anything. The impact had jostled her mind.

Astrid lay in the tall grass. She bit her tongue and Used Psych Domain, she could feel her team around her. Some were behind trees, while most of the examinees were in the tall grass alongside her.

Blood seeped from Astrid’s nose. I don’t want to die… What should I do? Shit, I can’t think straight. Gently shaking her head from the pain of her mind barrier shattering, she looked again at the matter. Those at the trees had disappeared. Price should have been in front of her, but he was nowhere to be seen, and she couldn't sense the matter that belonged to him.

“Guys, can you hear me?” Astrid shouted over the never-ending projectile that rocketed past her head. Her ears rang, but her sense of hearing was slowly returning.

Many voices reached out to her. All the examinees were here, but none of the others.

“Everyone, start crawling to my right with the cover of the tall grass." Astrid said. "There are buildings over there. As long as we can make it, we can defend ourselves.”

“A-Alright, we’ll follow you Astrid.” Froderick stuttered, his voice trembling.

They started crawling. Thankfully, the projectiles didn’t follow them. If they didn’t have cover from the tall grass, everyone would be long dead. Astrid stopped at the border where the tall grass stopped. With the surrounding matter, she could tell there was a wide open space to make it to the buildings. She just hoped whatever weapons they were using couldn't reach them.

With everyone around her, she nodded. “Run now!” Scrambling to her feet, she sprinted out into the open and glanced to the side. Squinting her eyes, they were goblins mounting ballista. Their little crooked fingers pointed at them, shouting something in their goblin speech.

Astrid immediately formed a basic image of an assortment of Wayfarers. They didn't have faces, but she hoped the goblins couldn't make out the difference from where they were.

The ballista fired. She and the examinees were almost at the building, a few more steps, and they were there. Two of the ballista arrows pierced her illusions, while the last hurtled towards her. Astrid’s mind latched onto the javelin sized arrow. Instead of using her mind barrier, she used Psychokinesis to grab hold of it and divert it to the side. With a large thud it smashed into the floor, sending soil splattering onto her face.

Josh grabbed hold of Astrid, taking her with him into the streets of the town. Sprinting for a while, they scrambled into a building and immediately pulled anything they could find to block the doors and windows.

Astrid gulped down a mana potion from her rucksack. A cool sensation spread throughout her body as she leaned up against a wall.

“Where the hell did the Wayfarers go?” Astrid said.

“I heard Price say that we should stay in the grass and wait for them.” Gloria continued. “But I wasn’t waiting for a stray javelin to pierce my skull.”

“I didn’t hear them say anything.” Astrid said. Probably because my mind barrier had just shattered.

“Wh-what do we do now, Astrid?” Froderick’s hands trembled. A cut had slashed into his arm.

“For now, treat your wound. Have you been given a healing spell yet?” Astrid looked at the wound on Froderick’s head.

“Not yet.” Froderick said.

“Here.” Mina took out a first aid kit from her rucksack. Uncoiling a bundle of bandages, she wrapped it around Froderick’s wounded arm, finishing it with some adhesive tape.

"It doesn't warrant a healing potion." Mina said.

“Thanks.” Froderick gave a slight smile.

“Is it just me, or are the goblin’s a lot stronger than I’ve heard about?” Gloria re-tightened her leather armour that had come loose from the scuffle.

“You’re right. We know the monsters are stronger down here, but it feels a bit much.” Astrid continued. “However, their constitution was normal. It seemed to only be their dexterity and strength that was out of the norm.”

“Then what do you think? Stay here and defend, or try to find the wayfarers for their protection?” Gloria said.

“We should hunt.” Astrid said. “I have a perception skill. It’s why I could identify the ambush. I’ll find the stragglers and we will hunt them down.”

“I’m in.” Gloria stood up, already brandishing her blades.

“You guys are crazy.” Froderick shook his head. “How can you act like that in this situation?”

“Because I’m a Sinwen.”

“Because I’m a Hartelle.”

Astrid and Gloria said at the same time.

“It’s always the nobles that are insane.” Josh shook his head.

“But I’m a noble as well.” Froderick grumbled.