The task was just to retrieve the two from the forest and return to the campsite, nothing more nothing less. But something came unexpected, and an abrupt call changed the simple task into a terrible one.
Helping the two escape a goblin king's army.
"Hold on, will be right there!" I shouted through the system, hoping to get in there before the enemies got them. "Ellie, I need your magic!"
"W-what? What's going on?" she replied as she joined me in the marathon.
"Waves of goblin are after the missing two. We're going to help them escape." I claimed, then took the world orb out.
Luckily, they are still hidden and unseen as they sneak from bush to bush but it won't last long until their presence gets caught.
"Stop! There's a group of goblins in front. Take a detour to the east and continue moving forward" I stated into the system calling the two missing people trying to escape the forest of goblins. With the help of the world orb's map, we could barely keep them alive. "Don't worry, we're on our way."
Preventing the two's deaths and running at the same time wasn't as easy as I had imagined. There were times I had dropped the orb and times I almost told the wrong direction to follow.
"There weren't that many before. What happened?" Ellie questioned.
"Probably because we killed the white wolf." I assumed. "With it gone, they've only needed to expand their territory."
Far deeper in the forest, there was a goblin tribe, and a big goblin sat on a throne of bone and wood. It was a large settlement, it pisses me off that I hadn't noticed it. It just blends into the forest too well.
"And Gabby, didn't I tell you to stay back at the camp!?" Back a few meters away from us, Gabby was tailing us with extreme effort but couldn't keep up with our pace.
"No way! I ain't letting you… out my sight again…" She huffs as she slows down by the minute. "Wait up…"
"This is one of the reasons why I don't want you to come… Archie, on your left!" I shouted as the missing couple almost crossed into another pack of goblins. "Just a little further! You're almost out!"
The forest was already in sight and the two were nearing the exit. A little more, we could already see the two waving back at us as they dashed out from the woods.
"Over here!" I called but they weren't waving to say hello but gesturing to fall back then green midgets swarmed from the entire forest, making it like hundreds of moss spreading across the fields. "Oh crap, retreat! Everyone retreat!"
"W-where… are you going? Eh!?"
"No time to rest, Gabby. Retreat!" I claimed, grabbing her wrist as we ran back to the others. "Ellie, create another wall of ice but just make it high enough to keep the goblins away. Wait until the two pass before you cast and don't overdo!"
"Roger."
A strong cold breeze jolted the back of my skin and with a glimpse, a white line stretched wide within my peripheral vision. It was the wall she created. A seemingly never-ending wall losing sight of the horizon, I couldn't help but feel awe and envy of such capability.
"Think that'll stop them?"
"Shall we wait to find out, Cipher?" Ellie sarcastically questioned. Bashing and cracks were starting to resonate within the walls, and green figures were changing the color of the translucent ice.
"Never mind, run!"
Then it shatters in the middle, allowing goblins to infiltrate the ice wall.
From the tiny gap, the goblins push themselves free, resulting in most of them having cuts and wounds from the sharp cracks of the ice. But it didn't stop their advances and our three companions had collapsed from exhaustion.
"For the love of- I knew you shouldn't have come, Gabby" Aside from the two who were still conscious, Gabby had passed out and had gone pale. "Ellie, we have no choice but to stand our ground here."
"Are you crazy!?" she shouted, hurling lightning toward incoming enemies.
"Just until the two recover," I claimed, then took the other hatchet Gabby had in possession. "I'll defend in front while you cover me."
"Do I even have a choice?" she claimed, then took the book out of mid-air. "You're lucky I wasn't using this yet."
Immense magic accumulated within her, and then mana circulated within her body. But unlike the first time, she had more control of her overflowing mana.
Wave after wave, wounded goblins emerged from the crack and met every hatchet I threw before retrieving it once more to throw it again while I kept the other to defend myself.
But most of the kills were done by Ellie, who bombarded every enemy with hundreds of icicles.
In every mistake I made, she covered me. Whenever I get surrounded, she deals lightning with it. Whenever I miss a target, she finishes it. She was doing everything almost with ease, and her mana was still far from depleting.
"Cipher, can you still fight? How about you rest for now?"
"No… I can still…" I didn't want to admit it but I too was near my limits. But the waves are still repeating, I couldn't find a reason to rest. The three were still in no condition to run and the number of enemies was only increasing by the second.
And soon, cracks from the other faces of the wall emerge.
"Cipher, watch out!"
Another face of the ice wall breaks and another wave of goblins emerges but is soon engulfed in fire as some kind of vial shatters.
"Archie?" Ellie questioned.
He was barely standing but had his hands gripped on a round flask of clear liquid and a lighter. Once again, he lits another flask with a cloth sticking out of it and throws it
into the emerging goblins, and setting them on fire.
"T-thanks…"
"Focus on the battle first…" Archie claimed, then threw another flask.
His actions were able to save me and buy us time to retaliate but it also caused the ice to hasten its melting. And more cracks appeared on its faces.
"Cipher! The situation getting worse. We have to escape now or else we'll be goners!"
"I know, Ellie! But how!?"
A siren of a familiar truck wails louder and louder, causing the goblins to flinch as some retreat. Once, it was owned and used by the kidnappers to abduct us but now I wouldn't think to be so happy to see such a truck.
"There! It's them!" Roy shouted, driving the black truck. It took a sudden drift of a hundred eighty degrees and the back door opened, unmounting Carl, Tatiana, and Josie.
"bleurgh… I swear, Roy! You'll gonna pay for this later…" Josie cussed after throwing up. "So, this is the party you were so excited about?"
"Hurry, get those two lying on the ground into the truck!"
"Okay, you got it, boss!" she replied then took the missing girl as Carl carried Gabby while we held the incoming forces. The loud noise helped decrease the numbers but there were still too many left. "Done!"
"Archie! Go now! We're right behind you!"
"To think I'm listening to a kid's order again." He grinned as he gritted his teeth.
"Ellie! Let's leave!"
"Alright!" On the last cast, she called another wall but this time, it wasn't made of ice but fire. Blazing two meters high and stretching wide, blocking the open path created by the cracked ice. "That should hold them for a while."
The vehicle drove us away into safety and with its speed, the goblins were forced to give up their pursuit.
In less than a few minutes, we arrived back at the camp where the others awaited and tended to the exhausted while I excused myself in silence into the vast empty field of nothing but grass, and roaming winged wolves.
It was peaceful sitting in the grassy plains yet at the same time, it was melancholic.
"I was saved… again…"
"Shouldn't you be resting, boy?" Simon asked, appearing from behind.
"I am resting…"
"No, boy. I meant to sleep. The others had already been sent to bed and you're still here…" he claimed then sat next to me. "This place does a great scenery, I say."
"Are we really that weak? Us normal humans?"
"Where did that question come from, boy?" he asked.
"It's just… no matter what we do, we humans are always inferior against players. Powerless against them." I claimed as I grabbed my knees. "How can we get even stronger to survive the harsh world and reality."
He paused and then gazed into the sky, "By adapting, kid. For centuries, that's all we've done. Back in ancient times, we were gorillas who only knew brute strength but as time passed, we learned and adapted to our surroundings. Survive with our wits, wisdom, and experiences…"
"And boy, don't compare yourself to the players. You are right, they aren't normal," he added. "So do it in an old-fashioned way, as they say. Eat healthily, study well, and train or exercise. That's our only way of overcoming our weaknesses."
"Our only way?"
"Yeah. And as far as I could tell, you're already far from just an average kid, kid. Having to endure continuous challenges one after another with little to no rest... " he sighed. "So, stop sulking there like a little kid and rest back at the truck. Sleeping is also part of becoming stronger."