Trekking through the snow for Thirty minutes, we managed to find the goblins nest, a cave. It was brief into the ground, a descent into whatever the hell was underneath this world's ground. Goblins seemed to enjoy caves and its low visible light Kale explained. The vast majority of goblins around this world were either underground or within mountains, only coming out whenever they needed to hunt or…capture things.
But here, it was a somewhat small nest of goblins. Maybe ten of them from what Lilith counted that came in or out of the entrance of the cave, the rest were either guarding or sleeping underneath one of the larger trees. There was a lot of cover in this area as well, bushes and tall grass around the nest could be quite dangerous for those who unfortunately stumbled upon it without any prior knowledge.
Unless you took it upon yourself to hunt them down like the three of us were doing.
Kale observed the goblins with such intensity, he had us hide behind trees that were out of the goblins view of sight. The goblins were smaller and quite frankly, dumb. So they wouldn't have noticed us from the distance we were at.
"Ok, Here's the deal. Gather up." He turned around as we made a huddle. "We'll be doing this as quickly as possible because quite frankly, I'm cold. Kota will stay in the distance as me and Lilith will go in. Kota." He panned his head to me. "You know some spells that are like quicksand, right?"
I nodded at him. Being at the university, I did learn some new spells. Being classified as an intermediate rank in water and fire, I learned to combo the two and use higher ranked magic. So it was a good time to test them out.
"Ok, Good. Lilith." Kale looked at Lilith, she was observing the goblins before looking back at kale. "Are you even listening?"
"Yeah, I wa- ow!" Kale flicked her head before she could finish that sentence.
"No, you weren't. Pay attention, This is serious. I Wouldn't want any of you getting hurt in any way." He gave her a stern look as she rubbed her forehead.
Kale was already a certified adventurer. I mean his ID said he was a king ranked one, why wouldn't we listen to him? Lilith was just too obsessed with these goblins, or maybe killing. It's possibly killing. It might be a loose idea, but I think it's just her dragon side being hungry for blood.
Something like that, look I'm not really sure what's up with her. Once she was finished pouting, Kale resumed his planning.
"Lilith, you'll come along with me and take down the goblins. Don't let them swarm you or take any chances. Remember what I told you?" He made a hand motion that was a zigzag before shooting straight forward. "Let's see if you can use that on these guys."
"What if we mess up?" Lilith asked, and she gave Kale a concerned look. A change from what today's more energetic and happy look. Kale shook his head and smiled.
"We improvise. Not every plan will go our way. If anything, do what feels right in the situation." Kale moved his hand towards Lilith and rubbed the spot where he hit her. "Plus, I trust you both enough that I'm confident you'll get through things."
Bold of you to assume that. We have no idea what we are doing, I don't even know what we're doing and I'm supposed to be the smart one here. So we should be following Kale's plan with just me at a distance and The swordsmans going in. Kale will keep a watch on Lilith while I…will do some magic stuff, I don't know. If any of these goblins gets close enough to me, I'll just slow them down if i can and try to throw an earth spell at them. A stone spell would work perfectly here, it's small and most likely the fastest Spell even with its chant.
"Ok, everyone ready?" Kale asked. He then put his cloak hood on and stood up, the friendly face he had before switched into a more serious one. "There's about ten of them down there, Which means they can swarm us. Kota, Use Quicksand and then whatever other Magic that can hit all of them at once. Lilith…Lilith?" Me and Kale looked at where Lilith was and noticed she was gone. She was just here a moment ago, Where'd she go?! Kale immediately went searching for her before he pointed towards the Goblin's nest. "Shit! Lilith, The hell?!"
When I went to look with him I saw Lilith speeding down to the goblin's nest, Her hood falling down as she quickly made haste to dispatch her first goblin. Why the hell did she go down without us? Talk about danger! Kale growled in frustration as he too hastily ran to the Goblin nest now.
"Kota, Keep with the plan! Stay a distance!" He yelled as he seemingly teleported right behind Lilith, That took her by surprise as she turned and yelped at him. Actually, I don't even think he Teleported. He was just that fast. I couldn't hear what he said to her, But it seemed very angered as Lilith sulked Before Kale barked an order at her again, causing her to quickly regain her excited look. The goblins quickly took notice of the two and screamed in confusion at them, More confused noises came from the cave as Lilith and Kale charged in.
Keeping to the plan, I Held my staff up and aimed it at the goblins Kale and Lilith were heading towards. I've never used Magic at such a distance before, But i was really good at figuring out how far magic can go. And this was in the spell's range. Imagining the floor sinking, I casted Quicksand Underneath Three of the goblins that stood before Kale and Lilith. They sank to their legs as they struggled to get out of it. But their fate was decided by the two coming right for them.
Lilith was the one that made the first move, Using a move that looked like the hand motion Kale did. She Quickly zigzagged across the ground as her black shortsword emanated a shimmering rainbow. Then she shot forward at lightning speed, such speed I could barely see her. It was such a blur before I saw her behind the three goblins before their torso's were sliced apart. I could hear the Goblins scream as the upper part of their bodies toppled to the ground, Slowly sinking into the quicksand I made. Kale jumped over the quicksand with ease, he did a twirl in the air just to flex on us. When he landed, he brushed past Lilith to fight Three other goblins that were closer to the entrance. Before they could even react, Kale darted to the closest goblin, slicing its neck before harshly throwing them to the ground. Immediately after, he dodged a swing from one of the goblin's club. The goblins were clumsy, their attacks were somewhat easy to read and when they swung, their whole body swung. Kale moved to the left of the one that swung, grabbing it by its neck and snapping it then tossing its body to the side. The last goblin looked at kale in horror as it saw how quickly it dispatched its race, this all happened within ten seconds. Even Kale's brutality made Lilith look with concern, she was keeping an eye on the entrance and the last four goblins.
Without any hesitation, Kale held his sword up and stuck down on the last goblin, a horizontal slash that cleanly cut the goblin in half. After watching the body crumple to the ground, he turned and looked at Lilith.
"Alright, let's handle these guys!" He cheerfully chirped, this wasn't the tone I thought I'd hear from someone who just murdered some monsters, it even took Lilith by surprise as well. She awkwardly took a step back before recovering and nodding at him. These two were going to finish up the nest I guess.
But now that the goblins nest was more approachable, I could get closer now.
Leaving my spot that was the tree, I ran closer and hid behind a bush that was much closer to the nest. The last goblins were occupied by Lilith and Kale, so they didn't notice me. Something I noticed as I got to the bush was the fact that Lilith didn't have her dragon eye activated, all of this was just in her normal state. I can't imagine how much faster she'd be with it on…
The last four goblins grunted and slowly backed closer into the cave entrance, I could tell they were terrified of these two. Kale took a few steps towards them and one of the goblins fell on his bottom. Lilith went back to the other goblins that they killed to get their ears, cleanly cutting them off and handing them to kale.
"GE-Gi-gieee!" One of the goblins shouted, it sounded like it was threatening us the way it nervously stepped forward. Kale took no attention to it as he took another step.
It was only then that Kale noticed something in the cave that made him stop. Lilith couldn't see it at first, but once she saw it too she gave out an audible gasp. Looking out from the bushes even more, I too saw what they were looking at.
Emerging from the cave was a larger monster, similar to the goblins. Its greenish skin was more rugged and it stood quite tall, almost ten feet tall. It stood over the four goblins who cackled and snickered. The tall goblin gave out a roar that frightened the goblins, but made Kale stand his ground more, taking on his fire king style stance.
"Lilith, take care of the four goblins! This bigger one is an ogre! Do not engage!" Kale shouted, he held his hand up against Lilith as both of them backed up.
Ogre are in this world too? Well damn. The chances of other races being here are even higher then. But we shouldn't focus on that. We should be focusing on the thing in hand.
Now, there are five now. All bunched up and together, what's a spell I can use? Maybe I can try out Dry Ice on these guys. A larger ball of it that'll hit them all at once.
Alright, I made my decision. Poking out of the bush I was in, I held out my staff and aimed it at the bunch. Kale noticed me instantly and gave me a confused look at first before realizing what I was doing. Grabbing Lilith by her arm, he jumped back to avoid my spell. Once he did, the goblins noticed that and looked around confused at their retreat.
Only the ogre noticed me, its yellow eyes glowed instantly as it targeted me. That glare gave me fear that went right into my soul, but I pressed forward. Imagining the dry ice spell only this time with even more mana in it, I conjured it. Instead of the usual small white ball, it was now a mist of sorts that spread to them. And it was quick, reaching one of the goblins that confusingly looked at it. When the spell made contact, it immediately activated. White marks spread around the goblins hand as it soon spread around its body, the goblin screaming in agony as the spell slowly formed around it. The ogre was also affected, though it didn't seem to mind it as much as the others, perhaps it was resistant to this? Kale and Lilith watched as well, with Kale scratching his head before looking at me.
"Make sure to not let the head be frosted up! We need the ears!" He yelled. I guess he was now more worried about the reward for the quest.
I wasn't really sure how to stop the spell from actually stopping at a certain point. How does one do that? I don't think the university ever taught us how to stop a spell. Maybe it has to do with how much mana is in the spell itself.
Luckily, the spell seemed to have not much mana left in it as the most seemed to dissipate. The four goblins were now covered in the Dry ice, scratching and screaming in agony at it. One of them was covered up to its chest area while another had its whole right arms covered and frozen. Damn, I didn't expect this spell to turn out like this. I thought it'd just immobilize them, I mean it's doing that but also hurting them constantly.
The ogre seemed to not bother with it, in fact it brushed it off. That scared me. It pushed one of the goblins aside and headed straight for me, its right hand holding a larger club. It was coming at me at an alarming rate. Travis, we got to move!
Running from the bush, I ran past a tree before I heard a loud thud behind me. Looking behind, I saw that the ogre had pounded where I stood moments before. There was a dent in the ground that made me realize…shit, I was not prepared for this.
"Kota!" I heard Lilith yell, I couldn't see her anymore as I blindly ran past some trees, the ogre hot on my tail. I was scared shitless, I saw what this thing was capable of now and I do not want to be crushed by it!
Looking back, I saw the ogre was charging at me. It snarled and Wildly swung its club around, smashing some of the tree branches around it apart. I gotta somehow make it lose its sights on me.
Come on, Travis. What other spells can we use? Something that'll obscure its vision…
Let's try an earth spell, I only know two of them right now, Stone cannons and mud. If anything, the mud spell would probably do something. I just gotta confuse it for a bit…
With a brilliant idea that popped in my head, I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around, running towards the ogre. The ogre was still coming full force at me, now holding its club high in the air. But before it could swing down, Lilith emerged from the trees. She seemed to have gone to help me when the ogre started to chase me. Lilith jumped and slashed the ogres face, a deep gash that went across it. The ogre groaned and held its face now, dropping the club. Lilith tumbled on the ground before recovering and squatting in a crouching position, looking at me. This was my chance!
The way earth spells work was that it gathered what was already beneath you, and since we were on soil, we could make the mud spell. So as I kept running, I silently casted the mud spell, seeing the mud form on my staff. The mud gathered the soil and snow, making a trail behind me before finally shaping into a ball. With great effort, I launched the mud ball at the ogres face. The ogre removed its hands from its face, trying to look around before its vision was obscured by the mud. Confused and in pain, the ogre swung wildly and stepped all over the place. Lilith got up and ran to me, avoiding the wild steps that the ogre made. Lilith gave me a worried look, but I gave her an assured one in response. Now where was Kale?
I tried looking for him, but now that I realized…we weren't near the goblins nest. Or at least I think. We were in the forest now and not in an open area, there was no cave nearby and there was now a river on our left side. It was just me and Lilith against this ogre.
Realizing our situation now, I looked at Lilith with panic. How the fuck are we going to kill this thing?
"Lilith, you know how to kill an ogre?" I asked her.
Lilith shook her head, even she was scared now as the ogre was slowly peeling off the mud spell from its face.
Even with Lilith's great strength that she has, I don't think it'd be enough to kill this ogre. And with my inexperience with battling with magic still, we were at a disadvantage. But we gotta do something. So I held out my staff and tried to figure out what spell would hurt this ogre.
Just picking from what I used from my battle with the mage, I launched a fireball at the ogre. I made sure to input more mana into this fireball, it's shape was larger than what I had used on the mage, so this should definitely do something to the damn ogre. Lilith ran behind me as I launched the spell, It's launch making the snow around us melt from the heat. When the fireball hit the ogre in its chest, it yelled in pain as the fire scorched it. I could see the skin of the ogre slowly darkening and burning from the spell, but it didn't spread anywhere else besides the chest. The ogre was too preoccupied with its face, but it swung even more violently.
"Kota?!" I heard someone yell from the distance, looking to my right, I saw Kale who was breathing heavily, he didn't look harmed or anything so he must've ran for Lilith when she ran for me. He must've lost her track and tried to find footprints.
Thank god kale is here. Otherwi-.
"Gah!"
My thoughts were cut short as I felt what seemed like a car ran into me, launching me into the air. If it wasn't for this cloak Synthia gave me. I'd be dead. But holy shit did it hurt still. In shock and confusion, I was seemingly flying to the right. Smashing into a fallen tree that broke when I impacted into it. Everything was blurry and moving, the sky and tree branches above were the only visible things I saw. I just got hit by the ogre. With the pain not going away, I gasped and screamed as I realized that my left arm was shattered. My left arm felt like hell and so did the right side of my body. The impact of the tree must've bruised or broken something on my right side. Struggling to get up, I painfully tried to figure out where I landed.
I landed not too far from where I was before, but saw Lilith who looked very angry. She looked in my direction and I could see that eye of hers. Terrified of losing her friend, she had activated her eye. The reddish glow from her left eye was visible even from my distance and she yelled in anger. And when she did, she launched her first attack on the ogre.
Aggressively launching herself forward, she effortlessly dodged one of the swings from the ogre. She got underneath the ogre and sliced at its legs, creating deep cuts on them. The ogre seemingly collapsed on its back, dealing with the fireball that was still going even if it was dissipating and the mud on its face. Lilith moved to the side of the ogre when it fell, reaching for its neck with her sword. The ogre couldn't see and couldn't react to the neck slash that Lilith did, she buried her sword deep into its neck as she swiftly sliced across it. The amount of blood that came from the ogre made it look like it was raining as Lilith slowly turned to face me, beads of blood running down her face. It looked very artistic, but it also looked very scary.
Kale then ran to my side, crouching beside me as he examined me. The look of worry was all over his face once he was done.
"Kota! I'll get you the health potions!" He yelled, he started to pat my body to figure out where the potions were at. Once he found them, he grabbed one of them and opened it, grabbing a hold of my chin to pour the drink into my mouth.
The potion had a weird taste to it, it reminded me of those cough medicines I had when I was sick in my old world. But here, it seemed like the effects of it immediately started to work as I felt my right side slowly getting better. My left arm was still hurting, but I could slowly feel its pain also dissipating.
"You alright? Can't believe you decided to run off, idiot…" Kale said, the look of worry didn't fade away as he watched over me. "We could've lost you, you could've been killed!"
"S-sorry…" I murmured out. He was right, it was dumb of me to run off. And I got him too worried about me since I didn't have any experience out here, and now I got myself hurt.
Kale gave me a disappointed look, it seemed like I was reminding him of something before he sighed and gave me a weak smile. "Well…at least you didn't die. That's good. Next time though, don't run off!" That last thing he said came off light hearted, but I could tell Kale was really worried about my life right there.
The speed that the health potion was working at was quite fast, as I felt the pain from my left arm ease away. Lifting my left arm, I winced at it. Seems like the potion couldn't fix the broken arm, but acted as a painkiller for it. I'll need to ask Tera about this or have someone heal it, I don't even think my healing skills would work on it.
The sound of snow shuffling made me look up from my arm. Lilith stood over me, her red eyes glaring at me. Kale backed up and allowed her to get in front of me. Her hood covered her face so it was hard to see what expression she was making, the snow didn't help as well as it started to fall.
"L-Lilith? Relax, I'm fi-" I started to beg as I thought she was angry, perhaps she was also upset that I got myself in harm's way. Instead, she crumbled and bumped her onto my chest, clutching my cloak with her right hand as I heard a sniffle from her. Her hands trembled as she finally looked up at me.
"A-are you ok?" She croaked out, her face was now in view for me. The red eye seemingly vanished from her left eye as tears rolled out, her nose running as she was now crying.
It's been awhile since I've seen Lilith cry, so this was alarming to me. As she buried her face in chest again, I awkwardly looked at Kale who gave me a look that indicated that I should do something. With that in mind, I patted Lilith's head with my right arm and slowly tried to get into a sitting position. By this point, the healing had done enough that the pain on my right side subsided, with only some pain in my left arm.
"Y-yeah I'm fine, sorry for making you worried…" I warmly said. I could feel my shirt was now wet from her tears, but that didn't matter as the warmth that came from her completely enveloped me. I could seriously lay here all day with her.
Kale watched us for a moment before heading to the dead ogre, scratching his head in confusion. "How the hell did she do this?" I heard him say. Kale went to examine the body of it, looking at its chest and eyes before looking at us. "Hmm, I see…" a smile formed on his face. "Good improvising, kota." Kale managed to decipher what had transpired before he came. He then drew his sword and cut off the ear of the ogre, probably to take it back to the Bounty hall and see if there was a reward for it.
Lilith finally got off of my chest, her face red and her eyes reddish from the crying. Still wearing that concerned expression, she toppled to the side of me. Landing on her butt, she wiped her eyes and stared at me. The amber eyes of her stared right into my soul as I did the same to her.
It feels so odd that the snow that piled on us didn't even make us cold, in fact, I felt hot.
However, Kale interrupted that with the shuffling of his feet and whistling. Lilith and I broke eye contact and looked at him. He patted his pouch of goblin ears and gave us an amusing smile.
"Ok, today was…a very wild ride for us. But we got our goblin ears, this is enough for today and I'm sure the ogre ear would also bring us some rubees. But before we head back…" he looked across the river, looking at where he looked I saw across the river a burnt campfire. Maybe one made by an adventurer? No…there was a small amount of smoke still coming from it. Whoever made that made it recently, perhaps before we came into the forest.
"We need to find that kid, I believe they're still out here." Kale said, he then clapped his hands and pointed at me. "Now get up! I know that arm is still hurting, but your legs still work!"
I groaned at his words, I completely forgot about the kid that was here to be honest. I almost said right then and there that we should let other adventurers find them, but that wouldn't do good for me or kale and Lilith, we were already out here and we now might've found a clue to where the kid is. The chances of us finding the kid was also high because kale was here. Maybe we could find the kid…
I Shuffled to my feet, with the assistance of Lilith. The only pain I felt was at the upper part of my left arm. when I tried to move it, it still moved only a bit before the pain rang through my arm again. Yeah, this arm was out of commission. The healing potion won't do good, so the only usage of it is if we got hurt again.
"Are you sure you're fine? Me and kale can go find the kid. You can see Tera for that arm..."Lilith asked, she held my right arm as well to be of assistance.
"I'm..fine. I brought up the kid, so I shouldn't be the one to leave…" The force of the ogres strike still affected me as I found it somewhat difficult to walk still, I was shaking from the impact of the hit still.
Giving kale a determined face, I stood a little taller and spoke. My decision now made.
"Let's find the kid."