Guard my back, Jake had shouted.

He turned and slew the first goblin he saw, splitting its snarling face with his crystal sword. When he glanced back at Nosdyn, the demon had taken off directly into the oncoming pack of goblins. With unreasonable strength and skill he carved his way through the seething horde, taking many wounds but refusing to fall. At one point he could have sworn the demon was crying.

While he watched Nosdyn work his miraculous carnage, Jake wove his own deadly web. His sword seemed to have a life of its own, dancing from one attack to the next as his footwork carried him in and around the enemy. The spiked axes and sickle swords did not touch Jake; he used his skill for precision rather than brute power, finding his way through the storm of swords.

"Nosdyn!" He roared. "You utter and complete fools!"

For fragmented moments in time, Jake found himself fighting alongside a line of guardsmen, and then alone, and then in a knot of peasants with knives and staves. Wherever he went goblin blood spilled, like black rain on the grass below. Soon Jake's demonhide jacket was stained with the filthy ichor, and his hands ached from wielding the sword so swiftly for so long. He adjusted his stance and his striking style, raining harsh full-armed blows from overhead at the shorter enemy. And onward he fought, chasing after the demon whose life he now felt responsible for.

The hillside crawled with corpses and gore. Jake battled his way to the top, finally taking an arrow to the knee and a spiked axe to the side. He fought through the wounds, through the blinding anguish, and kept on killing the shrivel-skinned bastards. Even as he slashed open two throats with a single stroke of his blade, Jake knew there were too many of them. Eventually, the village would be overrun.

If only someone could kill their leader, he thought, that might turn the tide.

The half elf thrust his sword forward, slaying a goblin and seeming to carve a hole in the air. He kicked out behind him to stop a charging enemy and then hopped through the portal.