Lake's Perspective*****
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The battle continues with each sword striking the other, killing the first exhausted person in the match. We preserve our energy despite running around in circles, creating an opening to stop our manic goblin friend.
It was hard for us to stave off his attacks, especially with the extreme heatwave surrounding the forest. Even with these circumstances, Alk White perseveres, unrelenting to swing his blade for the kill.
Alk finally had enough of this farce as he quickly withdrew from his position and sheathed his sword back to his scabbard.
"Don't stand in my way, Grer and Lake White." He raises his arm and casts a magic circle that generates the remaining arcane power he has in his arsenal. After a moment, a beam, bright enough to rival the sun, discharges from his palm and directs its ray towards our direction.
"Those elves and humans killed Diamante!"
Blinded by the light, both Grer and I shield our elbow while casting our pair of walls to counterfeit the exact power coming from the luminance. However, little did we know that the lustre was strong enough to destroy our barriers, leaving us momentarily defenceless.
'I need to move now!' All the cells inside my body scream and unconsciously activate the water jets on my feet. The effects of my ability because of the sudden event made me faster than earlier, levelling my 'water jets' into a new and more powerful form.
[Congratulations! Due to your will to save your friend, the system grants you an extra ability to amplify your skill set for a brief period.]
-Unlocked Ability
[Refreshment]
-Enhances the abilities of the user for up to 2x its supposed damage and duration. {increase in damage 2x} {Duration increase +5 seconds for every ability!} Cooldown: 1 hour. Arcane usage: 100.
[Congratulations! Your 'Water Jets' received a few buffs!]
-Speed increased by +8 miles per hour. [Total speed: 50 miles per hour (when activated)]
The changes were not coincidental by any means. I was thankful at the back of my mind that the game-like system enhanced my skills, particularly the abilities that I honed.
Putting my prowess into action, I drove my way towards Grer and enveloped him with my water prism, a new skill that I have thought about just now.
[Congratulations! You have unlocked a new skill!]
-Unlocked skill
[Water Prism]- Summons a sphere of water that can trap anything inside for 5 seconds. Arcane consumption: 30.
Even though the two of us are already inside the bubble, the system continuously warms my head of the dangerous projectile heading forth on its way. Soon, a secondary beam trails at the centre, passing the one it had fired moments before. There was no other way to fend off the attack, but I still tried by forming the last remaining arcane left inside my body.
[Warning! Incoming attack! Chances of survival 1%]
The azure screen flashes with an exclamation sign, marking our doom. That one per cent possibility is unlikely to happen; and yet it did.
Peeking through my eyes, we saw a viridescent figure of a goblin standing tall at the fore of the brilliance, unaffected by its strafe. Following a few seconds, the light disappears in an instant. It was as if absorbed by the motionless being before us.
"You guys are so pathetic!" She announces while glancing over to her rear, deceitfully smirking as if mocking us from the situation.
"Took you long enough," I commented while Grer and I steadily stood up, preparing ourselves once more at the unfinished battle.
"Izz," Alk White cancels the sorcery from his hands, astonished by the prompt appearance of a goblin that he should probably remember.
"Brother!" Our goblin girl merrily spouted while dancing to the offbeat tune of his feet, celebrating that he was, all along, alive.
Eventually, her joyful movements came to a halt after discerning a deluge of water coming at high speed at our way. However, with a single welt, the tidal wave splashes like fireworks, vanishing it in plain sight.
All three of us, including Alk White, have bulged and widened eyes and gaped mouth after beholding the scene. We never expected the tremendous power hidden from the jab, as I had readied my prayers to meet the old, white-haired deity from above.
"Unbelievable!" The flying green spite remarked, with his lips still apart from the astonishment he had seen.
"That was refreshing, isn't it!" Carefree as ever, Izz jolts at our side and embraces us within her arms and forgets the powerful foe we were fighting a while ago.
"You three are impeccable without a doubt," After our deleterious battle, Alk White Deliberately floats on the surface, meeting us with a gentle smile on his face. "It has been a long time since I met you three."
Grer and I, recalling what had happened earlier, we hurriedly shuffled behind Izz, frightened about getting close to this lunatic that attacked at first. He did not even have any reasons to attack Grer and almost killed us with the slightest mistake we could have had. It was a good thing that Izz always arrive at the nick of time to save our arses, even cleaning up the work.
The tsunami that izz had jabbed beforehand was enough to vanquish the burning castle and the forest. Although it nearly flooded the woodlands and drowned the Elves, we are no longer worried about the embers engulfing the greenwood.
Still, what Alk did was beyond comprehension and killed the lives of many without proper explanation.
'Now was the time to interrogate him,' I assured myself while taking a step closer to the fellow goblin.
"Why did you do that?" I asked while keeping a straight face, hinting that I am not messing around. "A lot of the Elven race died because of what you did,"
"And they killed my brethren too!" He retorted, unwilling to listen about the things I was about to say.
"What do you mean?"
Before he could answer our inquiries, we heard a group of footprints rushing to the staircase. It was a matter of time that they would arrive at the second storey and meet us here with Alk white, the perpetrator of the entire predicament.
"They are coming after you," I straightforwardly stated, allowing himself to realise the mistakes he had made during this skirmish.
"I know," He answered, still holding high regard to his ideals. "But they need to pay,"
"To atone for what!"
"They killed Diamante," His tone changes into a more sorrowful manner, as if recalling a long-lost friend. "And all of them should pay!"
"Lake White!" King Elanor's voice echoes within the collapsed building, with his wife, Queen Beatrice, rushing over from behind.
"Farewell, old friend. We shall meet again someday," Alk White bids us three goodbyes and like lightning, evanescently fades away. Fortunately for him, Elanor did not perceive his figure and only reached the specs of dust fluttering in the air.
The trail of powders travels to the right side of the room where Natalia is soundly sleeping on a couch, with her pillow still intact on her arms.
I carry the princess into my arms and cradle her unto the waiting arms of her father, Elanor.
"Thank goodness you're safe," The King whispers to himself while gazing at the humble orbs of the dozing Natalia.
"Have you found any survivors in the area?"
"No, your highness."
Elanor knows my eyes that always speak the truth and orders his men to search for the royal valuables they can retrieve, together with the dead bodies left behind. The soldiers sent to accomplish these tasks returned to the ingress, with piles of deceased maids and butlers wrapped in white linen. They recovered only a handful of artefacts from the fire, leaving the rest of the objects unusable and burned into ashes.
"What matters most is that everyone is safe from the catastrophe," Elanor weakly utters while looking at the scene. The once lively village had turned into a massacre, with the villagers weeping at their expired families. Some of them had lost their loved ones, while others had nowhere to go.
"How is she?" Beatrice's voice trembles while scrutinising for any wounds that her daughter might have gained.
"She's alright, your majesty," I kneeled on my right knee, showing humility from the lack of power that I did to put a stop to this upheaval. It was our fault, to begin with, after recognising that Alk White is still alive in the outskirts that serve as a threat to the surrounding countries. I want to keep that information a secret and never plan to disclose it to anyone besides us three.
Grer and Izz do the same, paying respect to the prominent leaders of the Kingdom as representatives and a viscount to the neighbouring village that I govern.
"Raise your heads," Elanor hands Natalia over to the medical team of Elves and faces us three, still genuflecting about the occurrence. "You have saved my daughter. And for that, I am eternally grateful."