{Dungeon town}
The armored man and Gobiee glared at each other.
Each waiting for the others to make the first move.
The din of the fighting all around them faded to the background.
Finally, he grew tired of waiting.
His flames on his body grew larger.
"I've squashed bigger..."
Hiss!!!
She hissed at him, and ran at him ax held high.
"Why can't anyone let me finish saying... Whoa!"
As she was running Gobiee threw her ax, and the armored man had to zap it with his electric attack.
Using that as a distraction, she drew her dagger, slid between his legs, and stabbed into one of the openings in his armor.
"You little bit..."
A peltering of bullets interrupted his crass words reserved for Gobiee.
Using this, Gobiee yanked her dagger out a jaggedly as possible, then jabbed it back in another place on his body over and over again.
His flames exploded outwards, but before they could reach her she had jumped out of range.
He leapt after her, and smashed the ground she was standing on with one smash.
She leapt upwards.
He lifted his arm to blast her away with a flame attack, but a hail of bullets caused him to instinctively raise his arm to protect his face.
Giving Gobiee enough time to land, run up to him, stab him a couple more times, and then quickly back off.
He just shook it off, and came at her again.
She didn't know how something can get stabbed that many times and not slow down, but she does know at least one thing: Everything dies.
She's known this even when it was just her brother and her in the wilds.
Their previous malignity's leader - a particularly big ogre - had died, and the resulting battle over the next chief caused their parents death and them - whose parents had chosen the wrong side - to be banished.
They were not alone in banishment, many injured, old, and other young goblins whose loyalty wasn't ensured were forced out as well, but without the support of a healthy malignity the wilds is a slow death.
The only reason the young survived was because of the elder ones sacrificing themselves as to preserve the meager supplies they had taken.
The next to die were the goblins too young to survive lean times.
Then, the injured adult goblins who were too weak to hunt big game. Causing their injuries to get worse, and for them to then slowly fade away.
Then, starvation set in.
Desperation came after days upon days of abject hunger, causing the rest of the goblins to make stupid decisions.
As under equipped as they were they attacked humans travelling through the forest, and... it worked!
They ate like hogs.
And so they kept it up, attacking group after group of helpless humans.
Their malignity was on a continuous upward trajectory!
At least until the humans sent adventurers to wipe them out.
Her brother and her only escaped because of dumb luck.
The adventurers found something the goblins had picked up on one of their raids of the travelling humans, and fought over it.
Giving her brother just enough time to scoop her up and run, with her fighting him every step of the way.
To her he was abandoning their malignity, but he knew you can't save the dead.
Their only hope was to flee, and not look back.
They eventually settled down miles away, far away from anywhere even resembling home.
She was upset that her brother left the others, but she couldn't stay mad at him.
Not only was he right, but he had did it to save her life.
Also, to survive emotions sometimes have to be forgotten, and you have to work together.
Not that it helped.
They went from a malignity of fifteen to just two.
They were starved when Daley had found them.
Their gods once more favored them as Daley chose not to kill them, but to instead nurse them back to health.
In gratitude they chose to follow him.
Over the months he dominated every opponent that challenged him, and their malignity grew.
It wasn't long before she started pursuing him as a mate, and he accepted.
He still fucked other monsters like all malignity leaders do, but she was the only goblin he touched.
She didn't understand why, but she was really glad about that.
Then, they moved here, and this place became their territory.
Every tree, shrub, animal, and human belongs to Daley and her malignity, and she'd die before ceding a single inch to the likes of this bum!
The armored man smashed down at her again, she evaded, and when he lifted his arm to block the bullets from Daley she stabbed him a couple dozen times in the span of a few milliseconds.
Then, leapt backwards before his hits could land.
While Gobiee was trying her hardest to kill that punkass bitch, Emira and the rest were fighting their way to the witches.
"I never fought a witch before."
Minako said to Jungo.
"Any pointers?"
Jungo lifted a ratman up by its throat, slammed it onto the ground, and stomped on it until its head was like a smashed tomato.
"Yeah, keep attacking, and don't die."
Minako slashed the throat of an imp that jumped at her.
"Watch out!"
Geoff bashed an orc that was coming from her left side with his shield.
Then, using the edge of his shield he crushed its throat.
He then spun on his heel to slash the heel of a wildfolk.
As it fell Emira impaled it through the gut with her iklwa.
An orc with its club raised high charging at them lost its will to fight, dropped its weapon, and stared wistfully at nothing as Besian bashed it in the head with his brand new mace.
"Only one?"
The voice of his mentor Raimo rang out.
"I thought I taught you better than that."
All around them monsters turned on each other and their masters.
Tearing into them, without concern about being injured themselves.
"Up their aggressive nature, flip their loyalty, and lower their sense of self preservation, and you can control the battlefield without having to dominate a single monster."
Besian whacked another elf in the head.
"I'm just a student."
Raimo sent his monster-bird to attack those that tried to attack him.
"You're only a student if you say that you're only a student; but you're a master if you say you're a master."
"I'm almost certain that's not how that wo..."
Before he could finish Minako cut him off.
"How'd you get here so fast?!"
More adventurers converged on their position to join the charge to kill the witches.
"Well, a good mentor keeps an eye on his pupil. So, I was nearby."
He grinned at her while Emira beheaded a couple more enemies.
"But if you were already in the forest, why'd it take you so long to join the battle?"
This was a precarious question he had to answer.
Because she's a fucking snitch!
She followed people to the new whorehouse, and when she saw women going inside, tried to get all of the men who went there fired by saying that they pressured the girls to go there.
Even though they're fucking full grown women who can make their own horny choices, and that it was Louise who had dragged him there saying that he gets grumpy when he doesn't get his prick wet!
So, if he let it slip that he was in Dungeon town, she'd definitely tell on him.
"Well...well, you see...um..."
"WATCH OUT!"
An adventurer yelled out as an orc flew forward splattering everyone in its path.
Raimo just barely dodged its destructive swath.
Thankful that he could change the subject.
"Eyes forward, we're about to be in the thick of it."
He said as Briai strode forward, each step a declaration of war.
"Tell me,"
She said as she grinned.
"who wishes to meet their gods first?"
A lad no older than sixteen wielding dual daggers scoffed.
"You think we're scared of a little brat like you? Get real..."
A warrior clad in heavy armor aimed his blade at the witch.
"Silence boy. Witches are deceit itself!"
He told the kid.
"That bitch could be hundreds of years old, and strong enough to take down a giant. Our goal is to get past her, and kill the one powering the circle."
The lad's grip on his daggers tightened.
"Those hags are as good as dead!"
Warrior nodded.
"That's the spirit! Aim for their disease ridden cunts!"
Briai scowled at that taunt.
"Well, that's just not nice. I've decided,"
She started running straight at them.
"I'm gonna kill you first!"
The followed suit, and charged her as well.
"{Wind arrow}{wind accelerate}{wind arrow}..."
A middle-aged woman mage kept spouting out her spells. Shooting out hyper fast arrows.
Other archers and mages joined her in the barrage.
Briai, however, either dodged, pulled apart the magic, or blasted her way through.
"She's a nimble fucker!"
The mage yelled out at the warrior.
"Be careful Tyd!"
Other close combat adventurers attacked her as well, but she dodged them all.
When she got to Tyd he swung his sword down at her, but she jumped to the right.
In mid-air she used her magic to harden a piece of it by compressing it, kicked off of it, and kicked Tyd in his sword arm.
On the moment of impact she drew mana into her body making it super dense.
Tyd's right humerus shattered as he dropped his sword into his other hand, and took another swing at her as he got flung to the side.
She made a shield of compressed air to block his strike.
He landed on his side, but swiftly stood back up. Ignoring the pain coursing through his right side.
Briai landed deftly on her feet with a snicker, and started up after him again.
Not wanting to give him a single second.
Even staring at his death, he didn't regret their decision to come fight.
Being an adventurer meant taking risks anyway, and not having to waste their hard earned coin on supplies just once could put them over the edge to making the real coin.
It's just crappy that he wouldn't live to see that come to fruition.
Seeing her manic grin, he resigned himself to the inevitable, and raised his sword high to get one last swing in.
"{Air pummel}!"
A giant fist of air slammed into Briai throwing her off her feet.
Then, another slammed into her from below.
Up, right, left, right, down, left, up, down...
A gluttony of blows landed on her.
"Tyd, fall back!"
The mage yelled at him.
"We got this bitch."
She said, then gulped down a mana potion as he fell back.
"THE FUCK YOU DO!"
Briai yelled as she ripped the mage's air spell to shreds.
Just in time to get hit with a spiked flail.
She spun around with blood spilling from her nose.
Then, another adventurer swung a battle axe at her head.
Just in the nick of time she hardened her body to block the blow.
In retaliation she kicked his knee, shattering his kneecap.
When he fell down she stomped in his face.
She then jumped to kick the flail-wielder's face.
"{Sky talon}!"
A talon made of air grabbed the adventurer, and drug her to safety.
Briai swiped at her, but the adventurer was already too far away.
"I figured her out!"
The mage yelled.
"She's a close combatant only. Everyone with long range capabilities attack her. Everyone else go around to attack the other witches!"
"Understood Syl!"
Another adventurer said as they broke off to take the long way around her.
"This will eat up what lil' mana I got, but"
A warrior with a mallet said.
"{Hammer wave}!"
A wave of light flew out of the mallet.
Briai just tanked the hit.
More blood leaked down her face, some of it going into her eye.
Making her look even more deranged.
"None of you will touch a single hair on their heads!"
She kicked a stone, transferring mana into it, and setting it off like a bullet.
It splattered the head of an adventurer headed towards the other witches.
More rocks followed as others were trying to make it around her.
Seeing the others fail, the long range attackers released more attacks her way.
"Congrats bitch!"
Briai pointed at Syl as she batted away an arrow.
"You've shot straight to the top of my kill list!" She charged at her.
The mage bared her teeth in a big grin.
"Ha! I'm not that easy to kill, taintwhore! {Empyrean assassin}!"
A phantasmal being with blades for arms flew at Briai.
She ripped it apart when she reached it without stopping. Only for it to reform, and slashed at her from behind.
Its blade only scratched her before she hardened her body, spun around, and tore it apart again.
It popped back into existence.
"I see!"
Briai exclaimed as she destroyed it yet again.
"You keep funneling mana into it!"
Instead of answering, Syl just grinned wider.
The assassin morphed one of its appendages into a maul, and bashed Briai down to the ground.
Briai kicked it, and jumped back to her feet.
She then compressed the air into a blade to slice the assassin in half, and at the same moment threw a rock she had palmed at Syl.
Seeing the motion of her arm before she threw it Syl reacted.
"{Swift feet}!"
Air surrounded her feet, and Syl sped out of the way.
She stopped fifteen feet away breathing heavily.
"Hehehe!"
Briai started maniacally giggling.
"You're fast, I'll give you that, but."
She jovially pointed at Syl.
"not fast enough."
Syl looked down. Where there is a hole the size of a mandarin in her abdomen.
Blood flowed from her injury.
"Oh, so this is how I die."
The assassin vanished as she collapsed.
More and more monsters flooded out of the gate behind her.
"Why do none of you worthless vermin understand your pl..."
BAM!
Geoff ran into her shield first.
Then, sliced at her with his sword.
"What th..."
Bam!
Another shield bash, followed by a kick, a hit to the throat with the pommel of his sword, a punch, a kick, a stab, and finally he scraped the edge of his sword in the ground to fling dirt into her eyes. She blinked to clear her eyes, and when she opened them he had already spun around her. It was feint! He was headed for the rest of the monsters and her sisters!
"Oh, no you don't."
As she started after him a katana flew past her, and right then Minako teleported in front of her.
Minako had downed four mana potions, and was in her minotaur form wielding her svärdstav.
It lengthened into its polearm state.
She bashed it down onto Briai, smashing her down onto the ground. Briai expected another round of hits like Geoff gave her, but Minako just spun on her heel to join Geoff.
"Get back here!"
Briai yelled as she stood up.
Bumpht!
Bumpht!
Bumpht!
Bullets made strange sounds as they flattened on her toughened flesh.
Emira holstered her pistol, and retook out her iklwa.
"Traitor! You ally yourself with these ground apes!"
Briai yelled as she charged at Emira.
"Humans aren't the ones attacking my home."
They clashed.
"You are."
Emira's iklwa arced through the air, but was halted by Briai's arm.
She then use her heightened strength to punch Emira, but Emira use her crafting magic to alter her armor on her body.
Literally moving the energy of the blow around her body.
Emira kept the pressure on her.
Using excellent footwork she kited her, while using her iklwa to attack her from multiple directions.
She spun her weapon so deftly in her hand that it looked like a rotor blade.
"Burn in hell!"
"Already plan to."
Emira kneed her in the groin.
"But I'll make sure to save some spots for your fellow witches."
"You fucking bitch!"
"Again, that would be you."
Briai kicked her, but the energy travelled through her armor into her left vambrace. Which she turned into a shield, bashing Briai's face with her own force.
As she fell back, Briai blasted a stream of fire at Emira.
Emira quickly shifted the bulk of her armor to protect her upper torso and face.
The burst of flame surged over her well protected face.
Using this moment of blindness Briai smashed her fist into Emira's bread-box. Briai felt bones crack as her hit landed on the less armored spot.
As Emira stumbled back Briai made dozens of spinning compressed air blades.
"Come at me whore!"
When Emira charged her again, she'd run straight into the invisible blades.
Briai will shred her into bloody bits!
Wiieeeeeeeeee!
An orc was chucked over the rest of the monsters into her air blades.
Showering Briai in viscera and blood.
By the time she wiped her eyes clear a huge slangan had coiled itself defensively around Emira.
This slangan is Thonie, back from the forest.
And at twenty-four feet long she has a few feet on the average slangan.
Chichichichichichichi....
As she slithered around Emira she was stridulating her body.
Each scale rubbing against its neighbor scale as it was raised and lowered in quick succession.
Thonie picked up a clump of bloody gunk, and threw it it Briai.
It landed on her, and Thonie flicked her tongue out at her.
"Raaaah!"
With a battle cry Briai ran at Thonie, and Thonie slithered at her.
Briai jumped and threw a compressed air blade at Thonie, but she dodged to left making it miss her completely.
Briai landed with a tumble then threw another blade.
A strike Thonie yet again dodged, and then as fast as lightning slashed Briai with her claws.
Briai stumbled backwards, and they circled each other.
Briai was slowing down, her injuries starting to get to her. Especially the blood leaking into her left eye.
While Thonie was just being cautious.
Briai spit out a bloody loogie, and sucked as much air into her lungs as she could.
This was supposed to be an easy mission!
Instead, the weapon was meeting its match by a lowly goblin, and she had to fight a line of strong warriors.
Warriors who were at the moment killing the monsters protecting her sisters, and would slaughter them without hesitation.
Chichichichi...
Thonie started stridulating with her whole body again, taunting Briai.
A taunt she took.
She placed a compressed air pad to Thonie's right, but then feinted to her left as if she was going to attack from that side. Only to spin on her heel, and run to the right to jump off the pad and use an air blade to decapitate the dumb beast. Only Thonie used her tail to slam her back.
Briai was surprised by this.
It was like she knew where she was going to go.
Thonie went on the offensive, slashing at Briai. Briai in return slashed up with a blade.
Thonie stopped short, let it pass by her, and then clawed Briai.
Briai was sure of it now.
"You can see my magic! But that's impossible!"
In all actuality it wasn't.
When Briai compressed air she did it quickly, and that produced a spark of heat which Thonie could see.
Simply stated, this was the worst possible match up for Briai.
Chichichichichi.....
"Shut up!"
She shot a jet of flame at Thonie.
Thonie dodged by slithering in a wide arc around her.
Her scales gouged the earth, throwing dirt into the air, and obscuring Briai's already shot vision.
"Aaaargh!"
Briai started to randomly swing air blades into the surrounding area.
"Show yourself, you dumb beast!"
Chichichichichi....
Briai heard her stridulating from behind her.
She spun around and blasted a stream of fire in that direction.
Only to just spot her tail, and get encoiled by Thonie. Whom had come up from in front of her, but used her tail as a lure.
"Eeeeeeeiiiii!!!"
Briai screamed in agony as Thonie brought all eighteen thousand of her muscles to bear.
She could feel Briai's bones starting to crack, her heartbeat quickening as her brain was deprived of oxygen, and her pathetic attempts to escape.
The joy Thonie felt seeing the one who hurt her pet dying was immeasurable.
Thonie flicked out her tongue, and tasted her pet's anxiousness mingled in a thousand other scents.
She looked back at her pet. She's too far away for Thonie to feel her voice, but she can see her pointing at the other prey animals.
One of which that looks like the one she's in the process of killing shot a sharp-looking ice pike at her.
Thonie had to throw the prey in her coils away just so that she could move out of the way.
The pike embedded itself into the ground, and Thonie glared at the prey who'd thrown it.
It was arguing with the others that looked like it.
Thonie flicked out her forked, thick tongue to taste the air.
In their direction was rage and fear.
One was pointing at Thonie's direction, while others were pointing behind them to the forest, and the last one was pulling prey out of the ground.
That wouldn't do.
Thonie went over to the prey she had squeezed, and picked it up by the head.
"Uuuugh...."
It groaned as she picked it up.
She then stabbed her claws into its belly, and slowly twisted inside of it.
"Eeeeeeeeiiiii!!!!"
With what little strength it had left it screamed in agony.
That provoked the reaction Thonie had wanted.
The water wielding prey shoved away her kin, and sent a bulk of the prey fighting her pet's companions at her. This caused an opening for the adventurers to attack the witches directly. The group of monsters headed towards Thonie were led by a big minotaur.
Thonie threw away the broken prey in her grasp, flicked her tongue out in satisfaction, and then took off to meet the prey in the middle.
As she slithered the surrounding air became cooler as she activated 'Thermal Absorption'.
The excess heat went into her scales. Which in turn started to vibrate, turning her whole body into a living heated saw.
MOOOOOOAAAAR!
When the minotaur and she met she just let its club land harmlessly onto her hardened scales, as she coiled around it, and started repeatedly striking it in the face with her claws as her body scales shredded into its skin.
As she was in the process of killing this prey she thought about just how amazing she is.
She had convinced the scaled one to spare her once she had hatched.
Noticing the other eggs smashed, she knew she'd have been next.
Of course, she was pleased the others were dead.
Instinctively she knew she was born small, and that the others would try to eat her after they had eaten their egg warmers.
She knew because if they had been smaller than her, she'd have eaten them.
It is the way of slangans. The young devoured the weak, and only the most fit would grow up.
Luckily that fate was avoided.
Though she'd been worried at first when the scaled one hadn't responded to her cries, but she had worried for naught.
It must have seen her greatness from even that young of an age, and pledged itself into servitude.
It even provides a tribute of power every now and then, making her stronger and giving her special abilities like the hardening of her scales.
Mooooaaa....
The minotaur died from heat stress, and Thonie dropped its corpse to the ground.
Before it hit the ground she was on the move.
She swung her tail, obliterating a line of orcs.
Then, she picked up an imp, and ripped it in half.
A wildfolk stabbed at her with a spear. Only for it to be stopped, and shredded by her moving scales.
She then grabbed it by the face, the scales on her hand lacerating its face while it was still alive.
As if put in a wood chipper, its face rained blood as it screamed for death.
Something Thonie was all too glad to give. She spiked it so hard onto the ground that the back of its skull exploded inwards - smashing its brain.
Chichichichichi.....
That sound was giving her victims chills, causing them to freeze up in sheer terror.
Most tried to avoid her, and ended up running into Minako and the other adventurers.
The ones that stood their ground were crushed by her mass as she slithered over them.
Leaving a trail of blood and guts in her wake.
The ice witch chose to meet Thonie head-on.
She shot a blast of ice at her, but the instant it got close to Thonie it burst into a steam cloud.
Blinding her, while concealing Thonie.
Chichichichichi....
She heard the sound behind her, but didn't turn around.
The dumb beast thought she'd fall for the same trick her sister did!
WHAM!
CRACK!
Thonie felt the witch's spine crack as she slammed her from behind.
The witch landed paralyzed on the ground.
"Take this vermin!"
Another witch shot thorny vines at Thonie. Only for them to get shredded on her scales, and for her to slither up to the witch and squash her head like a grape.
Thonie then stopped stridulating her hand scales to wipe the blood on her hands onto her face.
Giving herself a bloodier visage than she already had.
Chichichichichi....
A witch formed a spear out of diamond, and charged Thonie from behind.
She assumed Thonie was distracted.
Yeah, she was wrong.
Thonie spun around, stabbed her hand into the witch's gut, and lifted her up into the air.
Thonie then gave her a look that said 'There is a fucking food chain, let me remind you where you belong on it.'
She then unhinged her jaw, swallowed the witch's head whole, bit it off, and threw away the headless body.
"FUCK THIS! NO ONE SAID ANYTHING ABOUT FIGHTING A SPAWN FROM HELL!"
A witch yelled out, and then ran away.
She was soon followed by the other witches.
"No, wait!"
The witch powering the teleportation circle yelled out.
"I can't cut the link. Hold your ground, don't abandon me!"
She finished as even the two other members of her trine were running away.
"We aren't abandoning you."
One of her trine yelled back.
"You are sacrificing yourself so that we can get away!"
The other one added.
"You will be fondly remembered!"
She was severing the mana bonds that connected the circle to her mana heart as quickly as she could.
"You damn orcfuckers! I hope you die!"
A shadow covered her.
Looking up it was Thonie.
The witch shat herself.
Thonie flicked out her tongue, and then smashed her fists onto the teleportation circle.
The ensuing backlash of mana caused the witch's blood to boil, her flesh to burn, and her bones to fracture.
She flew back onto her ass with a wet squishy sound as she had landed on her own shit.
That, and the smell of her charred flesh caused her to vomit.
As death literally loomed over her she prayed.
She prayed to any who'd listen.
Thonie bent down, and slowly opened her jaws.
Hiiiiiisssss.
WHAM!
A stone pillar shot out of the ground, and bashed Thonie in the face.
The earth elf from earlier shot up from inside the ground where he had been hiding.
Thonie sprang at him!
Only for the ground to become soft, and putty-like.
She started to sink, and as she struggled to pull herself out, she kept getting pelted in the head with stones.
"Hahahaha! You dumb beast! I'm the best elf in the greatest species to have walked this land!"
An adventurer ran up from behind the elf to stab him, but the elf just sidestepped to his left.
He then impaled the adventurer with an earth spike.
"The very ground you walk upon is my paramour! And does she gossip." He ran his hands over his eyeless face."Every step you take she whispers ever so gently to me."
He raised his arms up high.
"So long as you touch my domain, I am a GO.... gurkglle..."
Before he could finish a bird-like monster swooped down and tore out his throat.
He reached for his throat as the geyser of blood flowed from him, and soaked the grass.
"I'm sorry, you're a what?"
The bird monster landed on the shoulder of Raimo. Who was walking towards the soon to be corpse.
"Oh, I know! Was you going to say goner? Because color me shocked, but it looks like you were right."
The elf fell over dead.
As all of the witches were running away, and the reinforcements were ceased due to the teleportation circle being destroyed, the adventurers used this to rout the enemy.
"Wait, don't kill them all! I haven't got a witch yet!"
Raimo yelled out, and when he saw some of the looks he got.
"And the other nonhuman-looking monsters too... I wasn't going to fuck them!"
Most of the ones looking at him didn't believe that at all.
"Hey, I'm telling the truth he..."
"DALIAN!"
The armored man yelled out. Raw power was emanating from his armor.
He had finally caught Gobiee, and was holding her down with his foot on her back.
They mere touch of it burning her flesh.
"YOU'VE EMBARRASSED ME ENOUGH! KEEPING YOU ALIVE BE DAMNED! I'M GOING TO SHOVE HOT COALS UP YOUR ASS UNTIL YOU DIE!"
While he was monologuing he was just letting Daley's bullets hit him.
Where before they'd hurt or it least throw him off balance, now they weren't even phasing him.
"But first, I'll rid myself of this PEST!"
He lifted his foot to smash it back down again.
Breaking Gobiee's spine.
In that same instant a burst of power stronger than any on that battlefield had ever felt before exploded forth from the wall.
Every living being froze in its tracks, unable to withstand the surge of mana washing over them.
This was no Mid-rank power, only a High-ranker could cause this type of reaction!
The rifle in Daley's hands exploded due to too much mana.
"Kill..."
That one word Daley barely whispered, was most felt instead of heard.
"Qila, kill them all!"