"Do we have a choice?" I answered, and raised my head to watch the ceiling fall.
The debris that came from the roof crashed onto the ground, almost hitting Lorraine, the farmer's wife. I was fortunate enough to extend my hand and caught the wooden planks before slamming into anyone's head.
Lorraine grunted and turned to me to express her gratitude. She scolded me for doing something I did not need to do, but thanked me right afterwards, regardless of her words. The lady wondered if I hurt my head from seizing the wood that came from above, worried that I might have injured myself. But I shook my head and told her that everything was okay.
Obstructing a falling plank was an uncomplicated task compared to fighting the dracogre in Wonderland forest.
Hundreds of gunfires exploded in the distance, with cheers that came from villagers close by the barn. A war between beastly creatures and humans was happening outside of this barn. But we first needed to fend off the monsters creeping near the stables.
"Protect the animals! They're the ones that the bastards are after!" The old man declared, and shot a goblin on the rooftop. The bullet blasted the green creature's head and fell to its ultimate doom.
"What are we up against, mister? And why is there a monster horde chasing this village?" Alice asked the old man. Despite knowing the family's names, she questioned the man without prying into their conversation.
"These monsters come here often to eat our crops and kill our animals!" the farmer expressed, but paused for a second before continuing his sentence. "I heard from someone that a hobgoblin became the leader of this goblin horde. That hobgoblin is living inside a cave not far from here. If I see that fucker, I will blast him with this gun of mine!"
"I'm Clint, by the way. That's my wife, Lorraine, and my daughter, Rowana. Thank you for helping us." Clint continued, and pulled the trigger at the monsters charging in front of the entrance.
After a while, the farmer had finally introduced his loving family to us.
"My name is Mask."
"And I'm Alice."
The two of us announced and fought against the monsters creeping inside. Everyone clashed their weapons against the creatures except for the gothic girl, Alice. She told me she hesitated to use her magic in this village, since these people came from Detroit. If they knew we could conjure magic, these villagers might point their guns at blades at our throat.
I gave her a nod and acknowledged her claim.
"Can you two fight? You saved my daughter, so I assumed you know how to brawl against these monsters. You two are not from here, but my people need some helping hands." Clint asked, and reloaded his gun with ten shells inside his rifle.
"I can, but Alice can't. She needs to be by my side so I can protect her. Alice could throw some stones and divert the monster's diversion out from the animals and barn." I suggested.
Alice was a mage, so we needed to contain her ability for now. But if worse came to shove, Alice would have no choice but to use her powers to fight off these beasts wreaking havoc inside this remote village.
I also had a puppet body made of pieces of cotton and stitched fabrics. Although I had the heart of a human, the vessel made me otherwise. Alice created me with the appearance of a teenage boy of the same age as her. With my clothes and my mask covering my body, these people would know that I was not a human, but a monster.
If you were not born as a human, the humans would consider other creatures as monsters. That thought circulated in this world, and that was what I deduced.
"That's a great idea. I will hold off these monsters inside. You two should help the others outside the bran and keep these bastards off from my place!" Clint instructed.
Alice and I nodded and hurried towards the opened gates. Once we arrived at the outside world, dozens of villagers were fighting against a mob of goblins. Judging by the townspeople's stances, they did not know how to wield a blade. Each of them equipped themselves with stakes, kitchen knives, and even pitchforks used for farming. These people were butting heads against goblins that had decent plated armour with daggers gripped in their hands.
It was a gore fight, and the monsters had the numbers. Alice and I witnessed the scene where the monsters pushed back the humans to the corner. Some of these goblins even killed the men and attempted to kidnap the women.
At that moment, Alice knew she had to intervene.
"I need to save them," Alice murmured to herself, and chanted a set of spells.
A faint light glowed on her arm, charging up the magic she prepared. After ten seconds, Alice extended her arms and fired the vermilion sphere towards the goblins. These monsters were attacking an innocent family, with the father defending his loved ones.
That man accepted his death and knew that there he did everything that he could to stop the monster's attack. His daughter came running towards her father, but the mother held her tight in her arms.
But a brilliant light coming from the side damned the goblins. The fireball devoured their rotten skins and turned them into dust as if a volcano had erupted. The goblin's screams never reached our ears, given that the flames hurled towards them were quick enough to kill them.
The family shifted their looks towards us. But instead of thanking our performances, the family widened their eyes in fear. It was as if they saw something more viscous than the hungry goblins.
However, Alice paid little concern to their gaze and switched her perspective towards the incoming goblins climbing the barn's roof. With the same spell she used from the previous group, she discharged another ball of fire and killed the ascending monsters.
I, who also knew magic, did not let Alice do the job. I extended my hands and directed my focus at the nearby goblins carrying the women at their backs. With the magic taught to me by Alice, I used the wind element, which elevated my body.
"[Wind Jets]" I called out, and zoomed in to rescue the unfortunate ladies caught by the goblins.
Those green creatures did not know what was coming in their way. And the moment the goblins heard me, I raised my hand and fired into the dark tunnel that killed the bat from before.
"[Obsidian beam]" I said, and watched the jet-black twister push the goblins aside while snatching away the three girls from their hands.
I balanced myself to the ground and rested the women at the trees as their cushion. All the girls had yet to wake up, so they knew nothing about me. But as I swivelled around, a group of humans noticed me from afar.
'What are those villagers looking at?' I asked.
But something did not feel right on my face. And that was when I realised my mask left my face. I gyrated my head back and knelt on the ground. My colourless veil became millions of shards destroyed from the blast. The goblin accidentally pushed my vizard aside and got caught up by the attack. Hence, the disfiguring of my item into pieces.
"I need to repair this to Alice once I go back," I whispered, and used my [astral space] to collect the leftover pieces that were once a mask.
"You monster! Stay away from the women!" One villager among the crowd shouted, and tossed a piece of wood beside his foot.
The other members did the same and hurled stones in my direction. I did not want to stir up any trouble, so I went to regroup with Alice.
Just as I headed straight to the gothic girl, a figure with ominous arcane alerted my senses. The aura even sent shivers down my spines without seeing the shape in front of me. My system also notified me about the mysterious presence watching us from afar.
As I squinted my eyes near the trees, there was a taller goblin monitoring my moves. After a few seconds, that eerie goblin blew the horns. The other green creatures heard the sound and came rushing towards the dark figure standing from afar.
"You're not a human," the enigmatic goblin said, and raised his arms.
Although we were myriad feet apart, I could still hear the goblin's voice from where I stood. It was as if that green sprite knew everything about me. That goblin even mentioned that I was a human.
'Is that goblin portraying me as a monster?' I thought, but brushed that idea aside.
Now that the battle had ended, I returned to Alice. But the sight at my fore surprised me. All the villagers circled the two of us, with their pitchforks aimed directly at our throats.
"Kill the mage! Kill the monster!" They chanted in unison.