"Yes… let's." I heard the human… no Mihr say as he surged forth with speed comparable to the best of ours.
The way that the mana moved at his command, seemingly no need for forceful methods. Truly he was a prodigy with mana. If only he had more time to be able to train.
I sighed at the indignity. Mihr truly would be a great opponent if only he was able to grow longer but the chief wanted us to seek him out and kill or if he was proven too weak to capture him.
It seemed that his whimsical nature in accord to Mihr had left him as no longer were we to be passive. It was for that very reason that we were here.
It was all the chief's fault that such a worthy opponent would not have the time to develop.
For a second I cursed his name yet that was soon suppressed as a sigh echoed from my mouth.
With the amount of power in just this charge it looked as if I would have to slay him. 'A shame… what a shame'
Just as Mihr had, I too activated my magic circuits. However unlike him it was a struggle against nature as they seemed to be trying to do nothing but disobey.
It was a fortune that I was even able to activate them as rarely would there ever be a goblin that could both activate their circuits and possess them both at once.
For two to appear in the same generation. A miracle of the highest order.
But that was beside the point as I felt the power in my circuits reinforce my muscles. It was enough to crack the very ground.
And that was exactly what I did as I stomped down with as much force as I could muster.
The cracks in the mud gave way to holes. Those same holes giving Mihr trouble in maneuverability.
I took advantage of this opportunity and found myself in front of him a moment later.
The sword in my hand was already above me and slashing down.
CLANG
It ring through the air defeating the sound of rain as it passed through my hand and into my wrist.
I ignored the reverberations and noise as I backed off for a moment.
The clash had clearly weakened him but I could see the fire in his eyes as Mihr closed the distance.
He had adapted to the terrain frighteningly quickly.
Truly a genius.
I couldn't help the smile that lit my face as I clashed bladed with his own.
The exchanges were light as we both tested each other's defenses.
Yet I needed to finish this soon. I could already feel the refinement in his swordplay m.
He seemed to be copying and even improving the movements of my own.
Adapting them to his own body's nod using the gaps that he saw in order to further create pressure on me.
Still though my smile did not fade as I pushed further and further into his defenses.
The ringing of blades was almost deafening with how much force was being exerted.
I sighed as I regained distance away from him.
Truly it was a shame but I could not lose this.
The staff in my off hand pounded into the ground.
A gong-like effect reverberating through the air as a ball of pure fire appeared in the rain.
It's very heat evaporating the rain around it.
With a swipe of my staff it was sent surfing forth.
A straight line, one that would be easy to dodge if it were not for the speed.
I watched the widening of Mihr's eyes as the fireball reached further and further into his space. I watched as he gradually tried to dodge as he tried to flee from the spot that he was in.
It was futile though as almost as soon as the first muscles in that puny body even tried to move the fireball had already exploded upon being in his vicinity.
I raised my hands and shielded myself from the aftermath. My ears were ringing at the explosion but I knew I had won. There was no possible way that he had survived that.
…
My eyes widened as fire lit the sky. The rain bursting into steam upon contact with the ball of fire.
It had appeared upon the staff of the Goblin. He had summoned it, with some sort of skillful application of mana. I would have loved to study that, to find the inner workings of it yet I could not.
I saw the wave of his hands, the swift movement of the fire ball as it entered my vicinity. I tried to move, to jump out of the way but it was useless as the moment I even had the thought in mind to do so it was upon me.
The only thing I could do was watch as it detonated into an explosion of bright fire. The orange flames consuming me.
[Fire Resistance rank 1 (20%)]
My eyes widened at the sight of the notification, even wider than they already were. It was a surprise but something that I could think about later.
The smoke from the explosion still covered me and despite the numerous burns that littered my body I still had feeling. I still had mobility.
I could move, I could dash. It was an ideal situation. The very explosion that would have ended me, a final move made by that Goblin had given me the chance to end this battle.
My mouth thinned as I dashed from the smoke with all that I had. The sword in my hand pointed straight to him.
I saw the surprised look on his face as he seemed to be processing my survival but by then it was too late.
With one final footstep the sword had pierced his heart and slashed to the side. His body falling with the wind.
The cheers that I had been ignoring from the sideline stopped, their eyes narrowing as they surged forth with reckless abandon.
Yet that did not help them as even with my injuries I was more than capable of taking them on.
…
The fire crackled, giving me warmth on this rainy night. One would think of this atmosphere as melancholic, the blood that steeped from me, the burns and cuts that littered my body.
Yet my smile did not match the atmosphere. I stared at a pile of runes. Each taken from its owner and placed next to the fire.
I picked them up one by one and organized them by the attribute they would enhance. There were eleven of them which was weird as I only collected them from ten corpses.
For now I ignored that as I counted them. Five were strength and the other six were mana.
Once I had them organized I crushed them one by one in my hand, feeling the power slowly fill me.
[Mihr Masamune]
Vitality: 1.5
Strength: 1.6
Dexterity: 2
Mana: 3.8
[Skills]
[Memoria(rank 1) (10.23%) Allows the user to remember] [Swordsmanship rank 1 (1.36%)]
[Mana Manipulation (rank 1 2.8%)] [Fire Resistance rank 1 (20%)]
[current pts:1750]
…
Once I was done looking at my status I found myself once again staring at the embers of the fire in front of me.
Despite the painful burns that still racked my body I couldn't help but place my hand in it, the warm heat filling my hand.
I expected pain, or to at least flinch from it but there was nothing. It felt warm but that was all. There was no sensation of burning nor was I actually burned.
In fact the longer that my hand stayed in there the more comfortable I was. I actually felt more comfortable in the heat than I was without.
Yet my hand still flinched back after a moment. A long ingrained instinct from my days as an apprentice.
Still I couldn't help the smile that lit my face. It truly was a blessing for me to have gained that. Given the amount of heat I would imagine the metals I would one day be forging with.
I sat back against the rock, my wounds aching slightly but still I only closed my eyes and found myself soon falling fast asleep.
…
The next morning I woke to the shine of the sun. It had broken through the clouds of rain and filled the sky with a beautiful blue filled with rainbows that glowed throughout.
It truly felt like everything would be fine.
I stretched my back as I got up, the kinks in my back popping with it. My hand reached for my sword and placed it in its sheath as I found myself walking through the grass.
It was time… I would make one final battle upon the goblin's camp. Whether I died there or lived to tell the tale would be a mystery. Yet even then I would not retreat.
That I swore.