Seeing the goblins surround them, Amadeus noticed that they seemed more attracted to Arrow rather than the rest. However, there was one that was drooling while looking at three guys sending shivers down their spines.
With a loud shout to rile them up, the largest goblin took the lead to attack. Smaller Goblins followed behind them carrying malicious smiles on their faces. For Amadeus, time seemed to slow down as adrenaline surged throughout his body. Unknown to him, an excited smile plastered his face while his vertical eyes looked sharper than ever.
This caused some of the goblins to flinch a little, but the thought of them outnumbering the opposite party made them continue their assault. Arrow looked worried as she notched an arrow while the leader and the knight wielded their sword emitting a similar expression.
As the goblins got closer, arrow took the first kill, shooting a larger goblin in the eye.
The three had kept Arrow in the middle, allowing her to provide back up with arrows. While the knight acted as a tank, the leader tried to finish of as many as he can. As for Amadeus, he was nowhere to be seen anywhere near them. He had attracted most of the goblins attention by running straight into them.
Now also wielding the tanto, Amadeus started dual wielding killing a goblin with every swing and stab. Knowing that most of them were normal goblins, they were only about Amadeus' height, so the two daggers were enough to finish them off.
The oppositions fighting style was crude in of itself, yet what their true strength was in their numbers. The bigger goblins proved to be a nuisance as it would take more than one hit to take down. Yet, with the light use of magic by embedding it to his weapons, it soon got easier to take down.
Amadeus had just sliced the neck of a smaller goblin before jumping onto the shoulders of a bigger one. Stabbing its eye, he went on to embed some mana onto his wakizashi and sliced the goblins neck off. Kicking the goblins body, Amadeus did a backflip and went on to attack another. Seeing that they were still surrounded, Amadeus caught sight of some goblins entering the fray while another group of goblins retrieving the bodies, especially the large ones.
Amadeus felt weird seeing this,
'Why were they taking the bodies away?'
Goblins weren't the most advanced of creatures and with what little intelligence they had, Amadeus didn't see the need for them to retrieve any bodies. As soon as he realised that there was something wrong, Amadeus killed his way to the middle. This loosened the burden on the leader and the knight as they felt slightly relieved, only to see Amadeus stand next to Arrow.
Confused at what he was doing, they only heard his voice,
"Get closer to me."
Despite their confusion, they still complied as they pushed back their attacking goblin and fell back. During this, Amadeus started embedding mana into the ground. The way magic worked in Orbis was slightly different. Using magic had another name, communicating with spirits. A person that would have an affinity with an element meant that they could communicate with that respective element. As spirits were mostly unintelligent, it wasn't really communicating but they still had their basic instincts. This meant that if one had an affinity to the fire elements, it would be easier for them to communicate with fire elemental spirits. However, with the water element, despite being able to use it, they would have a harder time communicating with them and vice versa. Being opposite elements, the latter would have a natural aversion to clashing elements.
Dragons were different, the elements they had originated from them, so they didn't belong in the same category. So, a fire dragon would use fire that originated from itself. Right now, Amadeus was communicating with the earth elemental spirits beneath him. The mana was like tendrils of communication lines interconnecting Amadeus and the surrounding elements.
For any other being, they would have to chant a spell but due to Amadeus being a dragon, who were magical beings, all Amadeus had to do was transmit his thoughts and imagine what he wanted. Imagining spikes coming out of the ground, Amadeus increased the output of his mana and pushed into the ground.
Then instantly, a myriad of spikes shot out of the ground nailing all the nearby goblins. Getting up, Amadeus then wielded fire to take care of any remaining goblins that managed to stay alive. There was also an ulterior motive in doing so. He didn't want any goblin's bodies to remain, although he didn't know why they were taking the bodies away, he didn't want to help them by creating a lot of bodies.
Once the fire disappeared, all that remained were groups of impaled goblins and thoroughly burned pieces on the floor. The charred smell wafted the room as the four tried blocking the smell by covering their noses. Looking around, Amadeus realised that he may have miscalculated his output of mana and ended up overshooting it. Pikes that had the diameter of basketballs had emerged from the ground and embedded themselves into the ceiling, unknown to where they ended. Apart from the sheer number, the group saw the dead goblins hang like ragdolls from the ceilings. Faint cracks covered the ceilings indicated to the group that it was currently very brittle.
The group didn't see the need to stay and quickly left the area in case they attracted any more attention. Amadeus was a bit unnerved at the fact that he had used this much mana for just one spell. It wasn't a lot, but it was something worth noticing.
While the group made their way into the depths of the tunnel, in the middle of the whole labyrinth, a large being felt Amadeus' mana fluctuations and looked in their direction. His whole body was covered with a black cloak which was further shrouded in the shadows. A line of Goblins stood on attention near a wall. These ones were larger than what Amadeus and co encountered and darker in colour.
All of this was within a large room with a coffin in the middle. It was a pure black coffin that had a golden cross in the middle. The whole coffin was embedded with metallic red roses in an intricate design. Silver chains were wrapped around the coffin and attached to a nearby wall and ceiling, suspending it in mid-air.
Solaris and Luna were also there with their powers on full release. Luna had ice crystals surrounding her with a snowstorm. Anything that approached the rabbit was frozen before it even entered the storm. Solaris, on the other hand had golden flames covering spread out from beneath his wings. Anything that even came remotely close was burned to ashes.
Despite that, the two were surrounded by a myriad of unknown runes slowly getting closer and closer. One could see the power emerging from them being directed to runes surrounding the chains.
"Just a little more time."
A deep voice was heard from the being as it turned back around and started walking to the other side of the room. Over there was a surgical bed surrounded by various apparatuses. On top of the bed was a small normal goblin that had a tube being directed into its blood vessels. A bluish liquid was being transported through the tube and into the goblin. Bluish veins appeared on the body as it started tremble in pain, it started thrashing around and before anyone knew it, the goblin exploded.
"Tch, another failed product. Bring in another one."
With that a door opened and in came another goblin who also lay on the table. Despite knowing his fate, the goblin still went and lay on the table. The whole time the former had fear in his eyes and didn't dare glance at the black clothed figure. Inputting a needle into the goblin, a small voice left the being,
"For the empire."
Back with Amadeus and the rest, the group had set up a temporary camp within the tunnels. Amadeus didn't speak at all to them and kept his distance. The three looked troubled as they sat together, occasionally sneaking a glance at the prince.
Amadeus was also sneaking a peak at them, through the eyes of truth, he could see that the elf and knight had good intentions towards him and showed signs of wanting to initiate a conversation. The leader was different though, Amadeus couldn't see through him at all. This could mean many things, he was stronger than him by a long mile, an artefact, he had no intentions towards Amadeus, or he was just really good at concealing his emotions.
Despite that Amadeus didn't trust them as he knew not to always rely on his eyes. One couldn't know how twisted a person's intentions could be, someone could have good intentions towards you while also wanting to kill you. It was confusing yet a simple truth.
The two tried approaching him but gave up midway. Barely a short moment had passed when Arrow left the group and sat in front of Amadeus. Her determined eyes wavered for a bit as she didn't know how to initiate a conversation. She was talking to royalty, from the most powerful empire. Amadeus raised an eyebrow as he questioningly looked at the opposite party.
Seeing the vertical eyes bore down onto her, Arrow felt uneasy and avoided eye contact, squirming slightly. She took a couple glances at Amadeus before looking away. A pitying sigh left Amadeus' mouth as a he looked at the girl with pity.
'What the hell is she doing?'
This scene went on for some time before a youthful voice broke the atmosphere.
"This is the first time I've seen Arrow so flustered."
"Shut up!"
Arrow immediately got up and threw a rock at the knight, hitting him on the face. Earning a laugh from the leader, Arrow quickly looked back at Amadeus only to see him looking at her with surprise. Coughing slightly, she realised that she had calmed down and introduced herself,
"I won't tell you my real name, but right now you can call me Arrow."
Amadeus nodded before turning to the other two. The knight got up rubbing the back of his head while a hint of blood appeared on his nose,
"I'm Samuel."
Looking at the leader, he kept his cold exterior,
"Jack."
Seeing the leader not speaking any further, Amadeus realised the other two looking at him with eager eyes. Discomforted with such eyes, Amadeus hurriedly changed the subject, he didn't want to say his name.
"How long have you guys been here?"
Taken aback by the change of subject, they refrained from pursuing any further as Arrow replied,
"I'd say a couple or so months. It is hard to keep track of time here."
Amadeus nodded as he looked at Samuel who had gotten up and sat near the two,
"I've lost count, same with the leader."
The three looked at the leader sharpening his dagger. The light from the fire shone on his face giving him a ruthless atmosphere around him.
Samuel then leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice,
"He's not a bad guy, just it takes some time to get to know him. He's really kind inside."
Amadeus saw the Jack's ear twitching, he definitely heard what Samuel said.
This time Amadeus got a proper look at Samuel. He was wearing a chain armour with a white layer of cloth at the front. A red cross ran on his torso, but the cloth now looked ragged.
"Templar?"
"Haha, your highness jests. I'm merely a squire."
The Templars was an organisation of knights dedicated to protecting the weak. His father often mentioned them with a look of respect. It wasn't respect for their strength but for the responsibilities they took. Formerly, a division under the church, the leader of the Templar's left them for unknown reasons and created the Templar's with a few trusted aids and comrade in arms who shared the same ideology.
The Templar leader happened to be the brother of Lionel, the current Imperial guard captain back at the Emerald Palace.
The three started talking with Jack slowly joining them later on despite not talking as much.
Seeing that the three get up, Amadeus also got when the three got up and moved a certain distance in front of them. With the education Atia had hammered into him, a couple exchange of words wasn't enough to start trusting someone. Amadeus also found out why it was just the three of them left, Apparently, the three were the only survivors from a sudden ambush that occurred when they were escaping.
The group of four continued walking, occasionally taking out the small goblin patrols. However, it was as if a dam had burst for Arrow as she couldn't stop talking to Amadeus, sticking to him like glue. It seemed that she thought of herself as Amadeus' elder sister. Finally, Amadeus had enough, and he looked at Arrow,
"Missing someone?"
This came as a shock to Arrow as a jolt ran through her body. Her shoulders slumped slightly while she looked down. Her mood seemed to dampen slightly before she opened her mouth,
"Yes."
This attracted the attention of the Amadeus as Arrow continued talking. The other two were out scouting ahead so it was only the two of them.
"I have a few little siblings waiting for me at home and I haven't gotten my regular dose of their cuteness. It seems that looking at you has reminded me of the little critters at home, the eldest is probably around your age."
Amadeus stayed silent as he continued walking forward. Arrow looked more down as she felt she hadn't reached out to the boy. However, a small voice left Amadeus' mouth which instead cheered her up. A hint of blush quickly left Amadeus as he hurried his steps.
It wasn't until they only started encountering the larger and darker goblins when the group realised that they were getting closer and closer to the heart of whatever was happening.
Slowly but surely, they ended up in front of a rather large wooden door. It was about four metres high and was just made of simple wooden planks. The years had clearly taken a toll on the door as there was moss growing near the edges of the door and faint cracks were spread across the door. A light shone from beneath the door and a fear inducing scream was heard from behind it.