Rena's eyes shone as she smiled at my call. Our hands were still interlocked as we dashed forward, and it seemed the group of goblins was larger after another group of reinforcements came.
A total of ten goblins remained.
I released Rena's hand and rushed forward with my black and red lance, piercing through one goblin's heart. The feeling of the flesh and bone being sliced and cracked transmitted through the black shaft of my weapon.
Honestly, it felt amazing...
The way its heart began pumping, sweet-scented blood pumping from the still beating heart as it twitched in the final moments of death, impaled by my lance.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 22/40)]
I could feel my vampiric urges growing since drinking Rena's blood.
The instinct to grab my prey and drink them dry was intense, to make it fade; my hands yanked the lance from its chest, twisting as the grooves along my shaft and let its blood ooze down and cover my hands, the warm sticky ichor seeping into my skin.
I licked a bit of the goblin's blood that had gotten onto my hand. It was nothing compared to Rena, but the life force I could feel was addicting.
These goblins were insignificant beings, which resounded in my mind in a deep, reverberating voice.
"Aki!"
Rena's shout snapped me out of the revere of the blood, allowing me to barely dodge the two goblins that slashed towards my neck with their rusted bronze blades, causing a slight burning sensation on the surface of where they missed.
What was that... My heart began to race as death flashed before me.
I shook my head and kept my eyes focused on the battle as I grabbed one of the goblins by its throat and pushed it back against the other, causing them to stagger before stepping back and lunging forward with my blood-drinking lance.
"Haa!"
The sound of Rena's heavy mace crushing their bones echoed in my head, her sheer power so great it killed them without aiming. Pure destructive power!
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 26/40)]
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 30/40)]
"Rena, watch your back, two goblins!"
My words were direct before she spun around and crushed them with one swing.
"Thanks, Aki!"
She beamed at me, and I smiled, happy Rena was safe.
'Crunch'
Another goblin was slain under her iron mace.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 34/40)]
We slowly moved towards the tree, our bodies covered in a light sweat, while Rena was almost gasping for air. I noticed she would grow tired as combat went on and felt it best that I dealt with the last six.
"Rena, stay back and protect the cute little fox, okay?"
I noticed the little things.
The fox's pretty snout was sniffing outside with bright blue eyes peeking from the darkness. As our eyes met, I gave it a smile before pushing Rena back to cover the hole.
"Rest up. When you're not panting, then you can help! That's an order!"
[Azure Flame Fox has become interested in you.]
Good...
I took a deep breath to level my head. I saw the goblins were close; at first, they seemed wary due to Rena crushing them and my lance sucking their bodies dry of blood.
Their disgusting yellow eyes, a putrid scent like unwashed clothes and brown teeth made me feel sick; their bodies moved with strange movements as the six spread out.
I lowered my body before using ⟪Lunge⟫ as I shot forward with my lance lowered, the sharp tip cutting through the air before ripping the goblin's throat with a flash of silver.
Its body was moving to the side to dodge, seeming to think I would target the heart again, displaying its learning ability.
Although its agility saved its life, its windpipe and jugular were now wide open, letting a shower of blood spew all over me, but my lance did not slow down as the spearhead slashed across its front, pushing its innards out from its small body.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 38/40)]
Four goblins attacked me from the sides while one rushed towards Rena with a huge axe. I swung my body down, putting all my force behind it as the crimson-black lance cleaved into another goblin's right side.
With my sudden change in momentum, I spun around, blood flicking as my hips pivoted.
Then, I drove the lance through the goblin and cut through its body, but the amount of effort and power it took made my strike lack enough strength to tear through as two blades sliced my abdomen, and one dagger was plunged into my thigh three times, causing me to fall over.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 2/50)]
[Level UP]
⟪Learned Spell: Blood Grab⟫
Creates bloody hands that grab the target's legs and impale them for heavy bleeding and physical damage.
"Ahhh!"
"You won't take Aki away!"
I could feel Rena's mana exploding out as the bloodcurdling shriek of goblins and the ground crunching filled the air. She was beyond furious, and it was the perfect chance for me.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 6/50)] Rena crushed the goblin that tried to attack her in less than a moment...
Spending my points all on STR, it reached thirty; I was above average!
After seeing me wounded, the three goblins that attacked me were different. Little did they know I had already regenerated, but their eyes were full of confidence as I twirled my lance, cleaning the blood and taking a step back.
Now I was stronger than Rena, in pure power!
"Haha~, I see your eyes have changed, now...Shall the hunt begin~?"
To tell a story like this without a small amount of dramatization would be dull... Right?
As if reading my thoughts, the goblins all charged and sent their iron spears in a spear wall charge at my body as Rena sat beside the tree to watch, her body heavy as the effects of Mana Exhaustion hit her.
Pushing out my hand, I made a grabbing motion as the information etched into my memories and mind, like always there, told me.
⟪Blood Grab⟫
Four bloody hands tore through the ground before piercing the legs of the goblins; the dagger goblins' throat was grasped by the extra hand as they panicked.
The hands were grim, like dark coagulated blood, with slimy sharp tips all piercing the goblin's legs, with a deformed shape.
They had a consistency that was dense enough not to lose strength but stayed viscous, with the end of their tentacles flailing about.
When my grip on the throat hand tightened, the hand throttled the neck before a faint snapping sound left my ears ringing, not giving them a chance to retaliate.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 10/50)]
Seeing its companion die, one of the remaining goblins shouted as he turned around and threw his spear at me.
At the same time, the other held his spear tight and shot through one of the gaps in the blood grab's reach, desperately rushing me with a blade tearing half of its calf and thigh away, letting the bloody hand devour it.
I paid no mind to my still struggling foe in my blood hands.
I thrust forward to intercept his spear, with my and his lances colliding, leaving us pushing each other as my superior strength pushed the goblin back.
His spear broke with me retaliating by slashing my blade along his throat, tearing his flesh, tossing him into the air, and ending his life when my lance pierced his skull and created a dark red flower in mid-air, painting the ground below.
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 14/50)]
My hands dropped the lance for the last kill, slowly walking to my bow as my mana continued to drop due to the bloody hand remaining activated.
I picked up my longbow, loading a single arrow as the goblin struggled, yelled and growled with its yellow eyes filled with craze anger.
Slowly, my steps approached; before standing close, I pulled back my bow, Knocking a single arrow, as the tip swirled with the mana for ⟪power shot⟫ while keeping the blood magic simultaneously.
"I only have six mana left."
I was aiming the bow at the goblin's heart.
My muscles tensed before the release; with the arrow shot, the pullback vanished as the bowstring's energy and momentum created an afterimage.
"Gri!"
The arrow flew at lightning speed.
"AHHH"
"AKII!"
'Tung~' 'Squelch' 'Pong~'
The arrow shot through the bloody hands and my opponent before slamming against a tree behind, pinning its body in place.
As the arrow punctured the left side of its ribs, a perfect shot that got its heart and ended its life in a moment.
No noise came from the other one since its neck was already broken and its body consumed by my blood magic.
It fucking hurt to get stabbed!
Damn...
[You gained 4 Experience (Exp: 18/50)]
[Training/Caress Complete!]
[Distributing Three Rewards!]
Before the rewards sounded and my tired body was almost out of power from showing off, a soft golden ball of fluff jumped into my chest, a slightly coarse tongue licking my cheek as it made strange yelps and sounds with a super high pitch.
The next moment, I noticed a blue gemstone embedded in her forehead shaped like a lotus petal or several blue sakura petals piled together to make a lotus shape...
As my gaze fixated on it, she rubbed the mark against my face and lips as a brilliant azure luminescence began to glow, and the fox yelped at me several times, curling around my neck before another sound filled my ears...
[Learned Azure Fox Magic: Spirit Fire]