Drake looked back from the group at the Goblin he had just dropped kicked into the wall of the camp. What Drake's eyes then went to was the small cut he had on his thigh that was slowly healing.
Wow, I thought I dodged it? Does the Goblin have a skill to extend the blade? Drake thought, his eyes returning to the monster as it pulled itself out of the heap of crushed wood.
"It is certainly possible, but you would have noticed it with your Magic Sight. I am afraid this is most likely a difference in your Adrenaline Acuity being down as well as the monster being quite specialized in speed. There should have been no way the Goblin could have countered with the speed you attacked with without comparable stats, even with skills," Natto conjectured.
That isn't a good sign… I still have some stat points left, and we just upgraded our Endowment. Maybe we go with a stat surprise again? Drake asked internally.
Drake watched as the Goblin walked forward after pulling itself out of the rubble. It rolled its shoulders, wooden dust falling from them, as it grinned at Drake its sword and shield at the ready.
"My Liege! It has some sort of resistance to status ailments, please air on the side of caution!" Theodore shouted from behind him.
"That certainly does not bode well…" Natto grumbled.
Resistance isn't the same as nullifying, I can still use my fear if I need to. Even a second can make a difference. Drake thought, his face turning to a smile.
Drake sized up the Goblin named Rujik', making sure to be ready to change endowments at a moment's notice while his current Water Endowment filled his statuses.
Snapping his fingers, Drake conjured a ball of fire, and magma to revolve around him. Both Rujik' and Drake's eyes locked.
Rujik' looked on in wonder, surprised to see magic being conjured by the man, as it paced to the side blocking the entrance again to the broken gate. The only exit for the group.
Drake kept his gaze on Rujik'. Drake's aura spread out to keep awareness of his surroundings as he walked backwards, a plan forming in his head.
Dropping his voice low he began speaking to Theodore when he was close enough, "Theo, you and the rest of the groupies are going to get through that gate while I keep creepy Goblin Jr. busy and make sure to delay the larger group of Goblins."
Theodore nodded, then turned to address the group, explaining the situation.
"No! Fuck that! I won't trust you two anymore than I have! You were just about to leave people behind!" Chelsea shouted from behind Drake.
"What's her problem Theo?" Drake asked, snapping his fingers again after dropping his Water Endowment, summoning a ball of air to switch to his Wind, his hair turning to a light green.
"The lady named… Chelsea has found ire in how this one chose to handle the situation before thou arrived Sire. She hast made herself adamantly clear that what I have decided goes against her moral imperative or she hast severe distaste of thineself," Theodore answered, worry filling his face.
"What did you do?" Drake asked.
Theodore hesitated for a moment but firmed himself to answer, "This one prioritized the rescue and protection of his beloved over the lives of the ones who couldeth not carry on with the rest of our company."
"Ok and?" Drake asked once more.
Theodore gave a look of surprise, whereas Chelsea grew red in the face as she pointed at Drake from behind his back, the man she held shuffling with her.
"I knew you were a piece of shit just like Chris! You don't give a single shit about us!" she yelled.
Drake clicked his tongue. Rujik' seemed to be finishing up sizing Drake as he began to dig in, bending at his knees ready to spring forward.
"Look. You're right. I don't give a shit, what have you done for me besides yell kick and scream the whole way as I try to help you and save all of you. Complete strangers. From being killed, eaten or frankly much worse by the monsters you see before you. Besides Theo and his girl, I do not have a single reason to save any of you. And I will not be guilt tripped into feeling bad for making the same decision Theo would have. I have family I have to get back to, same as everyone else. And I'm not prepared to die or ask anyone else I hold dear to die for people we've just met. So hush up and run because your lives depend on it, or sit there and complain about how unfair it is, I won't lay down my life for random strangers who don't give a shit about me, let alone know my name," Drake answered back, his voice even.
Drake snapped his fingers and forced a blue magic circle the size of his torso in front of him, expelling a torrent of water forward covering the entire field between himself and Rujik', leaving a small portion untouched, as he gave a small node of his head to Theodore, hoping he understood.
"On blessed wings!" Drake shouted, his eyes cascading into yellow, blue and green as he shot forward as Rujik' did the same, mirroring his moves.
"Guardian's Reprieve!" Drake continued chanting, side stepping the downward slash from Rujik' their steps sounding small splashes of mud.
The skill flashed green as it covered Drake in a momentary sheen.
But Rujik' didn't miss a beat, shouting something back in its own language, a green sheen covering itself.
A foreboding feeling came over Drake.
Preemptively Drake consumed his earthen arm as it crumbled to nothing with his ball of magma wisping away at his side, his hair and tattoo shimmering to a brown, chanting his defensive spell while simultaneously snapping his fingers an arm of ice forming in place of the earthen one.
"I am the wall on which my enemies billow! Unbreakable!" Drake roared.
The next moment Rujik' disappeared from Drake's vision for a split second.
[Gained Reprieve Charge]
The sound of shattering glass filled Drake's ears and felt the cold touch of steel against his skin.
But in that moment the metal touched him, Drake consumed his Reprieve charge and moved forward.
Drake whipped around instantly, to a confused looking Rujik' only the tip of his blade dipped in red.
Drake scoffed and smiled at the Goblin, his pointer finger aiming down. Rujik' following it with his eyes only to widen in surprise, a small ball of static at his feet.
"Lightning Mine." Drake chanted, with a snap of his fingers. A loud bang resonating with the small explosion.
Drake glanced at his mana, frowning.
Controlling that took way too much mana. Over 5% for just a latent activating spell? He thought.
Rujik' zapped and crackled as it struggled to move for a moment, its face scowling at Drake as it inched forward.
Drake laughed back at the monster, "Poor little Goblin Jr. Ganna cry? But not so fast buddy!" Drake snapped his fingers again, his hair cascading to a pure white, his arm melting away, while two spikes of earth formed from deep brown magic circles on either side of him.
Sending the two spikes to either side of Rujik' they sunk into the earth, as Drake's mana pool began to slowly outpace his recovery as it sank.
Drake willed the earth to sink with Rujik in it, then solidify around the monster, its upper torso still struggling to get free, the shock of the lightning spell wearing off.
He shot forward at breakneck speed, his tattoo glowing a bright ethereal blue then shimmering with a faint glow of red as he pulled back his arm, throwing his fist forward in a straight path for Rujik's exposed head.
The sound of scraping metal reverberated like a gong as Drake's fist slammed into the small shield of the Goblin, a sly grin on its face.
But Drake laughed behind his mask, it becoming louder as he snapped his finger again, two balls of magma and fire forming, painting the Goblin in a red light.
"Do you know how we cook shellfish where I come from?" Drake chortled like a mad man, as he hopped a step back. The balls of magma sunk into the earth around the Goblin melding with the ground to form a small mote of liquid earth around Rujik'.
The two remaining balls of fire crackled to life as they expanded and covered the exposed torso of the monster.
But the kill notification still did not come to Drake.
Rujik' roared and his body shimmered in red, as he gave a ferocious death stare to him from his sunken position. Rujik's arms clawed at the ground as he shrieked and howled.
"A protection spell? This Goblin has more skills than I would like to count," Natto grimaced.
"It's fine, there's more ways to crack a hard shell," Drake said evenly, clapping his hands together, a large icy blue magic circle forming below him.
His hands separated slowly, a shard of ice forming between them as it grew larger and larger.
Raising his hands the ice shard formed into a huge glacier above his head. Drake's eyes staring down Rujik' as coldly as the ice he held.
The glacier moved to above Rujik' its mouth gaped in despair as it followed the block of ice.
Drake pointed his arm at Rujik', "Marked!" then snapped his fingers with an ear piercing crack that seemed to ring above the surroundings, "Sang Arsarros!" Drake shouted.
The glacier of ice snapped apart into countless shards of ice. Each one firing down in a plume of white, the long serrated shards of ice piercing the ground and Rujik' below it.
Drake laughed maniacally as he stared at the pure destruction he was causing, the death notification finally appearing in the side of his vision.
[ You have defeated Goblin General: Rujik' Fuv Jeric Level 24] [Experience Earned and 350,000 TP rewarded]
[Congratulations! You are now Elemental Miller Level 13] [40 Free Points have been awarded]
Drake continued to laugh, as his mana struggled to stay afloat through the large consumption.
Drake's vision quickly started to paint over in red, his breathing becoming ragged and rough.
"Dra-.. Drake..!" Natto shouted from inside his head, but the sound was muffled.
He looked around at the surrounding Goblins beginning to close in on him, his eyes searched wildly among them for a moment before he shot forward into the crowd.
Drake could feel himself move and plow through the waves of Goblins, but he had no control as he did. The feeling of watching someone else controlling his body shook him awake as a louder shout came from Natto within him.
"Drake! You need to get out! Think about Theodore and your family! You already killed the General, you need to run!"
Drake snapped his head, his body limping instantly as he felt the exhaustion take over him. He looked around to see that he had ran deep into the ranks of the Goblins.
"Damn it, what is going on!" Drake yelled, but he had no time to think on it. Drake quickly melted his arm of ice, the green blood that had frozen to it slipping to the ground with it.
Not bothering with snapping his finger, Drake switched to his Lightning Endowment and placed a new earthen arm on his shoulder, forcing himself up, his regeneration very slowly began ticking up, outpacing his consumption once again.
"No spells for the immediate future.. Let's get back to Theo as fast as possible, then we're going to go over what's happening. This can't happen again," Drake said, gritting his teeth.
He shot back the way he came, passing the carnage he had inflicted, making it easy to find his way to Theodore and the group.
--------------------------------------------
"Are we sure that we're ok with that guy?! Everyone else just saw him do that right, then go all crazy eyed and running off?!" Tom yelled, as the group ran through the arch of the broken gate.
No one responded. Even the vocal Chelsea and Jacqueline decided to stay silent as they exchanged glances both thinking on what they had just witnessed.
"We can't seriously be going along with this right? Guys!?" Tom screamed more desperately this time.
"Shut it Tom! You right dumb cunt!" Jacqueline finally howled back, "Weren't you just spouting how cool he was a minute ago?!"
"Yeah when I didn't think he was a real psycho!"
Theodore turned, stopping, "Silence! This one will not have you disparage my liege in front of me. He hast gone so far to be benevolent enough to let us escape that jail you were incarcerated in! Be thankful!"
Theodore grit his teeth wanting to say more, but Harley squeezed his hand stopping him.
Harley looked at the concerned faces of the group, "We are alive. Let's get back to Mr. Shot's outpost first, then we can figure it all out. Once we are safe. Yeah?"
Disgruntled looks and murmurs passed through the group of 30 odd some people but everyone resumed running, following the butler-esk man in front of them.