Eli looked at the small party of people around him and then the much larger group beyond. "There are two, if not more, groups who need help," he said.


    Amy had Rufus out and was on her knees, patting the dog. "We are having a difficult enough time as it is."


    "Eli, if we split up, we are going to be in trouble too," Samantha added.


    "Yeah," Simon agreed. "We won''t even be able to get there before being attacked again. If you haven''t noticed, people are dying fighting down here to rescue people who may or may not be former co-workers. You are asking a lot of them, Eli."


    James walked up and said, "I agree, splitting up is too risky."


    They all looked to him for the final say, and Eli couldn''t fault their logic. "You are right," he conceded. "We go to those closest and then continue together to the other locations." He pointed in the direction The Dragon had indicated.


    He sent a message to Mr. Thomas, letting him know they would need time to reach him.


    Before they even properly set off, they were attacked again, but by a smaller group this time. It still managed to hurt some of the rescued prisoners quite badly. With Eli near the front, he couldn''t see over the large group of people, but he was able to target their health bars. Being almost exactly six feet tall, Eli usually didn''t have too much trouble seeing over people, but with all the weapons and a lot of his allies seemingly having grown taller when choosing their classes and leveling up, he found it difficult in these circumstances to get a proper line of sight.


    He couldn''t exactly go up on a roof either to heal people from above, either. That would be a surefire way of drawing unwanted attention to himself. This meant positioning was of the utmost importance, but it was something Eli struggled with when battle raged all around him.


    Being hurt then returned to health so quickly made those not from Infinite Innovation Solutions peer at Eli strangely when they didn''t think he was looking. There was gratitude in their expressions, but not only that. He thought he saw hints of suspicion as well, and apprehension.


    Either way, he didn''t have the time to focus on them for too long. The Ravenous Barbarians were at the front of every fight and while they didn''t need quite as much attention, he couldn''t leave them without buffs and heals for too long.


    Amy''s birds kept watch from above and notified them of impending attacks. They also scouted ahead, showing them exactly where to find Yvonnene and her people.


    The Goliaths were half again as big as the ones on the third floor, towering over even some of the buildings, and the swords they wielded would have been laughable for their size, if not for the destruction they could wreak. Eli watched as one of them swung, almost toppling an entire building. The monsters didn''t know where Yvonnene and the others hid from the look of things.


    "Eli, buffs!" Simon shouted as they charged ahead to meet the new threat.


    Eli applied Agility, Bless, and Embrace the Dying Light to James, Simon, Charlotte, Roy, and a bunch of other melee fighters who were all brave enough to rush ahead. The street was wide, but not wide enough for both Goliaths to fight side by side without damaging each other. Out on an open field, things would have looked very different, but here, Simon was able to close the distance after throwing himself to the side to avoid a chopping swing crashing down onto the cobbled street with enough force to throw stones in all directions.


    None of those charging forward were struck by the initial attack, and they closed in on the frontmost goliath''s legs while the archers climbed buildings to get a vantage point from which they could rain arrows down upon the massive foes.


    Yvonnene and her group exited a couple of buildings up ahead and began their assault on the second goliath. They looked like a ragged group, with much fewer members than when they''d seen each other last—not a good sign. She pointed at Eli from a distance, but he couldn''t understand why.


    "Behind us!" Amy shouted.


    Eli turned to see that the goliaths weren''t alone.


    Cursed lizardmen warriors, knights, and rogues streamed down the street from where Eli and his group had just come, while lizardmen archers followed the human archers'' lead and climbed buildings. Among all those enemies, two cursed lizardmen priests walked, each holding a staff of aged wood and wearing the gray torn robes indicating their class.


    With most of the melee fighters gone to fight the goliaths and their archers on the roofs, Those around Eli mostly consisted of mages, freed human prisoners, Amy, Sasha, Samantha, and a few others. Eli''s eyes flitted around, then he made a split decision and pointed to the goliaths. "We have to join in with the others," he shouted. "Run!"


    He triggered Aura of Defense, giving them a chance to focus on fleeing rather than fighting.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The concept of hurrying toward a pair of massive monsters was a strange one, but staying where they''d been meant death. In the end, though, they couldn''t get too close to the goliaths'' massive reach, since one strike of that weapon would be enough to end lives.


    Now, Yvonne''s troops were farthest down the street, with the pair of goliaths pressed from both sides by Yvonne''s melee fighters and Simon''s small group. Eli and the others stood beyond, and past them, a small army of lizardman pushed forward while the human archers scrambled along the rooftops to get away.


    Even as they watched, the cursed lizardman rogues disappeared into thin air. "Damn it!" Samantha cursed, summoning her mist full of twinkling stars. It was the only spell they''d found so far that could track the invisible rogues and reveal their locations. None were near enough for the stars to react.


    "We''ll be crushed if we stay here," Eli said. "Crushed between the goliaths and all those lizardman. We have to go past, so we''re all fighting from the same side."


    "How are we supposed to do that?" Amy asked.


    "You," Eli said, pointing at her. "You can make monsters attack each other. Make the two goliaths fight one another!"


    Amy shook her head, and the owl on her shoulder mirrored the motion. It looked very peculiar. "Even if I succeed—that''s a big if—it won''t last more than a few seconds."


    "Then that''ll have to be enough!"


    Dana was up on the rooftops with the archers, and tones from her lute suddenly drifted through the air, blending in with the sounds of shouting, cursing, and screams of pain. A few cursed lizardmen from the approaching group turned and struck out against the lizardmen priests. One got a blow in, Eli thought, but they were quickly torn to shreds by their fellow monsters without a moment of hesitation.


    Throughout their conversation, Eli had to keep an eye on Simon, James, and the others. He needed to keep them buffed and make sure to heal them if they took one of those massive blows and actually survived it.


    Amy looked to Sasha and said, "Sasha, you''re familiar—"


    "But it''s so gross!" Sasha protested.


    "We need it now," Amy insisted.


    "Fine," Sasha relented.


    A purplish gelatinous blob formed in the middle of the street in front of the lizardmen. One of the knights struck it, but that only made it separate into two smaller blobs. Both retaliated, stretching to touch the lizardman who attacked it. The lizardman''s arm was sucked into the blow and immediately began dissolving, like it had been touched by a powerful acid. The lizardman let out a horrific wheeze and pulled back, but its arm was already too far gone. Trying to pull it free only made the limb come off instead. Blood sprayed from the stump, and Eli watched in horror as the arm fully dissolved inside Sasha''s familiar, adding to its mass.


    "You had that all along?" Eli asked.


    Sasha winced. "Sorry."


    Eli ignored her and turned to Amy. "Play!"


    The lizardman priests and their personal army were quickly approaching. Simon, James, and the others had seen them too, but they couldn''t take their attention away from the goliaths—or they''d be crushed beneath giant fists, feet, or torn apart by the sword that was taller than three people standing on each other''s shoulders.


    "Now!" Eli shouted.


    Amy assumed the pose of someone playing the violin, and the instrument materialized in her arms. Screeching tunes shot through the air.


    Eli cast Light’s Seal on the closest goliath. It had lost about a fifth of its HP from the human fighters'' attacks. Light''s Seal was successful, but only lasted a few heartbeats. He didn’t know if it helped Amy’s chances at all, but her song succeeded as well. The two goliaths froze for a moment and turned to face each other, their blank eyes empty of all emotion. They swung at one another, not bothering to protect themselves. One hit the other''s shoulder, while the one Simon and his gang had been fighting took a blow to its side. Both lost massive amounts of health, but more importantly, it gave them an opening.


    "Run!" Eli shouted, pushing people into motion just in time to escape the cursed lizardman fighters as they charged, most of them ignoring Sasha''s familiar and going around it.


    Eli triggered Aura of Suppression and noticed it had ranked up to rank 3 already. The lizardmen were slowed, and Eli ran to catch up with the rest of his friends.


    One blow. That was all the respite they were given. Then the goliaths came to their senses and turned back to fight the humans. They had cleared the first goliath''s legs, but the second kicked at a group of freed human prisoners fighting by Eli''s side.


    Eli watched in horror as they crashed into the stone wall of a building right next to them. None died, but they were all grievously injured. He healed all of them as he ran, keeping an eye on his mana. Still almost full, so not a problem, but this would prove to be an extended fight, he knew. With the two massive goliaths, the many lizardmen, and the two lizardman priests, it would take forever to kill them all. And that was if they were even able to. Looking around, he wasn''t certain.


    A second kick came as a follow-up to the first. This time, Eli was quick enough to put himself between the lizardman goliath and its victims. Aegis of the Dying Light tanked most of the damage, but shattered under the force of the kick. Eli joined the others on the ground near the wall, his ears ringing after his head struck stone.


    His health plummeted to about two-thirds, and he healed himself, while simultaneously switching to Aura of Victory and Aura of Defense that''d now come off cooldown. Scrambling to his feet, he pulled the others up and forcefully pushed them out of the goliath''s immediate reach, then rolled to the side to just barely dodge another downward slash from the brute''s heavy sword.


    "Eli!" James called out.


    Eli looked up as James pulled his sword free from the goliath''s leg and ran toward him. With a leap, James slashed at the goliath''s arm. A loud snap echoed as something inside the limb gave way, and the huge lizardman''s hand opened, dropping the massive sword. Eli, breathing hard, reached out and touched the sword. A grin spread across his face as he realized he could take it into his inventory. The weapon vanished in an instant—before the goliath could grab it with its other hand.


    James struck out again but missed and fell forward, off balance. The goliath''s limp arm dangled, and the monster swung it at James in the world''s heaviest slap. The Warden was thrown off his feet with enough force to crash into the lip of the roof of the closest building. He disappeared out of sight, but Eli had caught a glimpse of his armor, and it''d been a broken mess.


    Through the party screen, Eli saw that his friend was still alive, if barely.


    Enemies were closing in. The fight was growing desperate.


    At that moment, the lizardman priests began buffing and healing the goliaths.