I simply shook my head and started walking toward, where I heard the sounds coming from. And soon we were able to see a small Bokoblin camp. It was nothing much really. Just a small campfire with a cooking pot on top of it and a few logs surrounding it. On which six Bokoblins sat, 4 red ones and 2 blue ones. Instead of instantly engaging I looked towards Linkle, who seemed to be happy that I didn't instantly rush into the danger.
"Ok, so first. What can you see?" She said, her face changing into a serious one, that I easily recognized as the one she had, when we were performing the trial, for the masks.
"6 Bokoblins, 4 red ones and 2 blue ones." I answered without much thought. She looked at me for a bit, as if waiting for me to continue. But after noticing that I was done, she shook her head.
"While that is a good start, it is also important to look at their weapons." She pointed at one of the blue ones. "That one doesn't have one, for example, so it would be quite easy to take it out first. As it has nothing to defend itself with."
She then points towards the second blue one. "While that one has a weapon. This makes it the most problematic to take out, as blue ones are stronger than normal red ones. Can you notice anything different about it?" She asked, while pointing towards the blue Bokoblin, with the weapon.
I looked at it for a while. I soon noticed that its weapon seemed to be of higher quality than the other weapons, lying around. For one it was a steel weapon and second, it also didn't appear to have deteriorated because of rust or something like that.
"It's weapon seems to be better than, other ones." I told her, which made her smile and nod. "Exactly! This means that it is stronger and sharper than the others, which makes it even more dangerous... and it would also be a better weapon for us. So, it would be nice if it wasn't destroyed in your fight... but you don't need to look out for this, at least not in the beginning. Did you notice anything else?"
I continued to inspect the Bokoblin. And soon noticed something that surprised me. "It keeps looking around, almost as if it is searching for intruders..." She looked at me with what I could only interpret as a proud smile.
"Yes! And if it sees us, then it would surely warn the others. So, make sure that you stay out of its sight. Anything else?" This time I stopped looking at that blue Bokoblin and instead looked around a bit more.
"Seems like most Bokoblins aren't expecting something to attack them... most of their weapons are just on the ground and the Bokoblins themself, simply talk? to each other."
"Yes, that is how it is most of the time. Normally Bokoblins get surprised very easily and only rarely is there one keeping watch. Anything else?"
I looked at them again and then shook my head. "No, I think that that is everything."
"Good, while gathering information is important, be careful not to read too much into a situation. Sometimes it is better to simply expect the worst, but most of the time it only creates more problems." She nodded. "Now then, what should you do next?"
Mhm... while I could just charge them, I don't think that that is what Linkle wants to hear...
"I guess, I can try to sneak towards them. If the one on watch doesn't notice me, I should be able to take out some of them before they are even able to get their weapons." She seemed to almost light up when she heard what I said.
"Perfect! Which one of them would you try to take out, if they don't notice you?"
"If possible, I would like to take out the blue one with the weapon, then the other blue one and the other red ones after that." She nodded.
"That was pretty good, to be honest. I thought you would just run headfirst into them... although I don't think you will be able to hide anywhere, so taking some of them out with a sneak attack will prove to be quite hard..."
She isn't wrong. There is not much I can hide behind, which means the Bokoblin watching its surroundings can basically everything around it, but then again it never looked up so maybe...
"Now that I think about it. I might be able to simply take it out from the sky..." Linkle heard what I said and made a face that I couldn't quite recognize, although I think it was something along the lines of a grimace.
"Yeah, that sounds more like what I expect of you... although if you are able to do that then it would also be quite good." I don't know if I should feel offended... but then again, she isn't wrong. So, I simply shook my head.
"Just watch me." I then jumped. This time jumping more into the sky than forward, but still aiming directly on top of the blue Bokoblin with the weapon. Soon I was quite a few meters in the air, which was when I started falling. And just as I hoped, the Bokoblin didn't notice me falling from the sky.
But instead of falling on top of the Bokoblin, I passed him, which is why I decided to at least try to disorientate it. And so, while I was still in the air, I brought up my hands and readied myself for a punch and as soon as I was able to, I punched the ground with everything I got in me, which was when I noticed something... I forgot that blue suns make Kryptonians quite a lot stronger and considering I just spent an hour, inside of a blue sun, I wasn't really sure how strong I was right now, which is why using everything I got to punch the ground, might have been a small mistake...
BOOOM
Looking at the newly created crater, I couldn't help but let my mind wander... and considering I was able to hear water inside the river creating waves, which then crashed into the other side of it, I guess I became quite a lot stronger. I then looked towards the Bokoblins and what I saw surprised me... everything moved a lot slower than it should.
The blue Bokoblin, the one with the weapon was in the process of falling over, but instead of it happening almost instantaneously, I was able to see it fall for what felt at least 3 seconds. I was also able to feel some kind of... weight, I guess, in the back of my mind. But immediately after I felt that weight, I adapted to it, which made that feeling go away in its entirety.
After I saw that it was sprawled across the ground, I decided to stop wasting time and rushed towards it. Only to instantly cross a distance of what must have been 5 meters. Arriving in front of it, I willed my fingers to sharpen and instead of punching it, I slashed. And, unsurprisingly, I was unable to feel any resistance at all, which is why I only stopped my hand after cutting the Bokoblin into 6 different pieces.
That... was a lot more gruesome than I expected it to be...
But instead of continuing to think about it, I simply rushed towards the other blue Bokoblin. He, too, shared the same fate as the other blue Bokoblin.
Which meant that only the red ones were still alive and, kind of at least, a danger. Which is why I continued what I was doing, dash, slash, then dash again and slash again. And then again and after I dashed towards the last Bokoblin I noticed something odd... the Bokoblin was shaking.
I honestly thought that monsters generally were unable to feel fear... not that it mattered, but it's still something I considered interesting. And soon after, I brought my hand down one last time.
Following this, every single part of the Bokoblins exploded into some kind of purple smoke... most leaving behind one or two pieces of loot.
I was able to hear footsteps behind me and so I turned around... only to see Linkle running towards me, still in slow-motion, which made it seem like she slowly walked towards me. And as I didn't want to want to live the rest of my life, experiencing the world at what felt like one-third of its normal speed, I relaxed, after which everything sped up once more.
And soon Linkle was in front of me and looked at me with an unreadable expression.
"You certainly became a lot stronger and faster, huh? I was still able to follow your movements, but you were a lot faster than you were before. And your claws or whatever they are, are quite sharp, no?"
"Yeah, I did get a lot stronger, a lot more than I expected, if I am totally honest. I did know that blue suns did wonders to my kind, but to think that I got this much stronger just by staying inside one for a single hour..."
After I finished talking her expression changed once more, first to shock and then to anger, which was when I noticed I said something I shouldn't have...
"Wait. Inside of a sun? Cid, don't tell me you went inside the sun?!?!?"
"..."
"Cid, what did you do???"