The next thing we knew, ugly-looking creatures surrounded us. These monsters had distorted faces, weird-looking ears, and smelled like rotten vegetables left out of the fridge. There were three of them, each armed with sharpened twigs. They had less arcane flowing through their bodies compared to the bats we fought earlier.
These creatures only strengthened my claim that something or someone tossed my soul into this fantasy world. With their skin painted in green, I thought I knew these monsters already.
"Goblins sees girl, goblins will have fun!" The three goblins spoke with broken language. That was what I had heard from the three monsters.
Each of the goblins glared at Alice's body. I knew these monsters wanted nothing but to have fun with women they saw on the road. I returned their gaze with a chilling stare, which made these beasts tremble in fear.
Alice stretched her face, revealing her shocking expression. She stepped backwards and hid behind my back, with her shivering hands gripped tight on my hips. I thought she hated goblins, but I guessed wrong.
"Why can I hear their words!" Alice remarked, while directing her forefinger at the three goblins. "It should not be like this! For thousands of years, humans cannot understand a monster's words!"
"Aren't you overreacting? Didn't we understand and communicate with Draco, a bat!" I retorted, throwing Alice logical reasoning from the past.
"I know! But Draco is a mythical beast and a higher being. Monsters such as goblins, worms, slimes, and insects should not be included on that list!"
'Monsters have different languages? That reminds me of something. By the time that my soul landed on this puppet body, I knew what Alice was saying. It was as if her words were getting translated by my mind. I did not have any trouble understanding her words. Does that mean there are more languages in this world than the human tongue?' I pondered.
I did not know a thing about this planet. All I knew was Alice's life as a princess and her goal. There was also an on-going war that we needed to address soon, but we would face those situations later.
When we conversed with the bat, Alice did not react like this. Instead, this gothic girl even had fun while talking with Draco. However, this situation differed from last time. If what Alice had mentioned was the truth, she must have gained something out of her spells.
I wondered what activated that spell and why it activated right now? There was something that triggered it, and we did not know what opened that path. But for now, I pushed those thoughts aside and battled against the goblins.
Alice tried to fight against them, but I moved in front of her and stopped her from doing anything. With my arms already gripping her hand, the magic circles forming around her palm shattered like a mirror. Thousands of pigmented shards clustered around her and created a dangerous surge of wild mana. It was as if showing me that the magic spell did not work.
The gothic girl looked at me in shock and asked the reason behind my action. I kept a straight face and gave Alice my answer.
"You're injured, Alice! Don't force yourself!"
It was not long before the goblins made their move. Those three goblins charged as a boar would do. These monsters used their weapons and directed their blades in our direction. But these creatures weren't as fast as the bats from the forest. Even my classmates that I talked with in my previous world were faster than these goblins.
I, who already knew what was coming for us, revealed my hand and conjured the dark spell. It was the same spell that ended the life of dracogre, which was a being that led the cauldron.
These goblins had no intelligence at all. They were stupid creatures, but not a fool. Although these monsters would sprint towards any food or women they could find, goblins were not skilled fighters. Despite getting the upper hand in their terrain, my magic destroyed their scheme.
"[obsidian light!]" I yelled.
I wanted to kill them. So the magic spell heeded my call and made its way out from my fingers. My killing intention paved away the path of the jet-black light, forcing my arcane onto my hands. The surrounding air violently swirled, which even uprooted dozens of trees in our vicinity. As soon as I thought my spell was ready, I fired my magic.
A pitch-black tunnel pierced through the three goblins. Its broad area of effect devoured these puny creatures to their inevitable death. These goblin's cries never reached my ears, since they were already dead before the monsters could do anything.
The battle ended in a second. Thanks to my overpowered ability that I stole from the dracogre, the dark power was enough to stop the monsters. The world stood still and turned the noise into a silent field. There was an aura escaping out from my body. I felt nothing that tingled my pieces of cotton and strings, but I knew another spell activated on its own inside my vessel.
Alice, who witnessed the scene, gaped at my powers. But she did not feel relieved. All I could see from her was Alice fearing something near me.
I approached her and extended my arms for the motionless Alice. However, upon looking in my direction, she jerked back. The optimistic Alice changed into someone who had seen doomed in her eyes.
Her appendages shivered with her feet crawling away from me. Alice never met my eyes as her orbs gazed at the ground. She refused to look me in the eye. But I put a stop to her madness and gave her a light shake on the shoulders.
"Alice! It's me, Mask. Your puppet." I said, hoping that Alice could hear what I had said,
With dozens of blinks, Alice raised her head and met my gaze. Her violent quivering stopped, and her feet did not move a muscle. Alice's expressions changed back to her usual self. It was Alice that I knew from the cave.
"Mask! Yes! I'm so sorry for spacing out. I thought I saw a monster," Alice confessed, and accepted my hands offered to her.
"Thanks for helping me stand up," she added, and directed her view to the dust that came out from the three goblins.
I was wondering about the meaning of the monster Alice had mentioned. But as I spared a glance at the place where I last saw the goblins, I thought I knew what the gothic girl meant. She might be talking about the monsters as goblins that wreak havoc in their village. Goblins had nothing better to do than steal crops and assault women, regardless of their age.
I knew all that information from the games that I played while working at the convenience store.
"It's nothing. Oh, and the three goblins, they're gone. I pulverised them with my [obsidian beam]." I explained.
Alice nodded her head and pondered to herself something that I did not know. But I thought it was rude for me to ask for everything, since we barely even met.
'Maybe next time, if we're that close,' I thought, and continued the conversation.
"Let's go find the scream's origin. Maybe we can save someone from danger," Alice suggested.
I seconded her proposal and asked her to lead the way. As soon as we were back on the Northern road, the scream resurfaced once again. It was as if begging for our help.
"Doesn't that seem like a trap? It looks like a trap for me," I voiced my doubts to Alice.
She knew I was a kind person who would rescue someone if they were in danger. However, this place spelt trouble as I glanced at our sides. We were still in a mysterious place that Alice and I did not know.
Alice shrugged off my comment and answered, "If it's a trap, we'll just escape from it. And the only thing that I could think about if it was a trap were human settlements. They're good at capturing other people and using them in their village. Let's just hope that what we're hearing came from a stranger rather than a village, especially from Detroit."
I gave her a nod and crossed my fingers, hoping for the best outcome. And even if those creatures trapped us inside an encasement, I would pulverise everything in front of us using my magic. Alice could also join the fight and spam her spells enough to buy us time to escape.
The two of us came to an uncharted road that we had never reached before. It was a place that filled its spaces with scribbles and inks left by the wonderful artist who made the map. This place was a fresh adventure beyond what the paper showed.
"Is that?"
"It's a girl"
The figure of a little girl lying on the ground welcomed our eyes.