The morning
We walked from the tunnel exit into the darkness until morning. Our destination was the place that Venessa and I know pretty well. It was hard to find the way in the dark, but we're making good progress now.
Walking for so long in the sun is a chore, but it's ten times more peaceful than walking through the dungeon.
Most of the surface is clear of monsters, even the boars only show up rarely.
"Aeeyyyyaaaa!"
At around half the way to my old camp, a scream pierced the silent walk.
Kyara immediately shrunk back from the scream and Venessa drew her dagger.
"Ven, we'll go check it out. Everyone else stays here okay?"
Kyara seems keen on the idea of staying back, and Bernardo who doesn't even have a weapon also seems more than fine with the plan, Venessa just nods.
Taking about half of our skeleton entourage Venessa and I start to try making our way in the direction of the scream through the brush.
Soon we come out on the top of a low hill around twenty feet away from the source of the scream.
Pushed up against a tree surrounded by a small horde of goblins was a beautiful blonde girl, who looked about my age. Scattered throughout the area are dead and wounded goblins, arrows sticking out from their bodies.
Is there something about this forest and girls in bad situations?
"Why are their goblins here? They normally don't make it up this high unless there's a wave."
Venessa seems confused, and it makes sense why. From what she told me. Goblins are third floor monsters that have no place on the surface.
"Are these going to be a problem?"
"No. We should be able to take care of them. They don't normally come up this far, they are usually mob or ambush hunters. Their individual strength isn't that high."
"Then let's go get them. We shouldn't let her die when we're right here."
"Attack the goblins."
With that, I wave my skeletons forward to join the girl's fight.
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Noel watched with shock and then horror as her already tragic situation leaned just that last bit harder into being worse. Skeletons now ran down the hill to join the other monsters in finishing her off.
Such a pity, she thought to herself. All of this time and her need for adventure were going to be cut off this short.
Although, she thought. At this point, it's just adding insult to injury the twenty or so remaining goblins would have been more than enough to finish her off on their own. With any luck, after they finished with her, the bastards would fight each other until none remained.
As the skeletons drew near, coming at a pace unbefitting of their boney bodies, she decided that it was time to finish this once and for all. She slung her beloved bow behind her back and drew the curved dagger from her belt.
The skeletons smashed into the goblins, but instead of carrying on, they did something unexpected.
The goblins quickly turned in confusion as daggers began to slash and stab through the back rank of goblins. Cries of confusion and pain from the smaller waist hight creatures arrived as they tried to slash at the bodies of their new attackers only to find that their small knives did little to the bone of the skeletons.
It was an unfair fight by all accounts. Now, over twice the number of skeletons faced the dwindling numbers of goblins. Some skeletons were dragged down by several goblins. At that time the skeletons nearby turned and stabbed down into the backs of the monsters.
Even if the skeletons were hell bent on attacking the goblins for some reason, they should be even more scarce in number and intellect, even if they did have stronger bodies.
In the course of scarcely three minutes, the last goblin had fallen, all while Noel stood with her dagger drawn at her side in surprise but shook herself out of it. The skeletons were now standing and staring at her.
Just as she was about to move forward, a voice came from over the hill and stole her attention away.
"Are you ok? Sorry if I scared you, but I don't think it could be helped."
A man and a woman were standing on the small hill that all of the skeletons had come from. The skeletons didn't react to them in the slightest.
"Do you control these monsters?"
"Yes, I do."
The man sounded cautious in that statement.
"You saved my life, thank you."
She bowed to the man and quickly looked up to see his reaction.
"You catch on quick! No problem. I'm just happy we found you in time."
The man was beaming at her as he and his companion neared her and walked through the group of skeletons to meet her.
It might have just been a combination of exhaustion, relief, and surprise, but as she looked at the man making his way toward her, something in her heart changed.
She stood back up and pulled her hair back behind her head, where it usually was, and the man stopped in his tracks.
"My name is Noel Torphyra, pleased to make your acquaintance!"
"...You, you couldn't be…"
Noel tilted her head to the side slightly for a moment before realizing the source of the confusion.
"Ahh, yes! I am an elf, sorry to surprise you! I hope I can speak the language well enough for you to understand me properly!"