BOOM
A man with white hair jumped away from the smoke generated by the explosion. His arms bore some wounds, and scratches adorned the chest of his armor.
"Goblins are such a pain in the ass!" Xu complained.
Only a dozen minutes had passed since Jihan and Akemi had left to carry out the plan. As soon as they noticed something was wrong, groups of goblins began pouring out of the lair.
"The worst part is that the real problem is yet to come. He's not that stupid, sending these minions to test and tire out the enemy."
While thinking, Xu swung his axe again, and like a hot knife through butter, another goblin didn't even have a chance to scream before it met its end.
"More and more of these pests are coming. I didn't think there would be this many... I can hardly imagine the size of the army if these are just the leftovers."
Instinctively, Wang tilted his head to the left, just as an arrow whizzed past where his head had been moments ago.
"Arrows?"
Looking a bit farther, he noticed that at the entrance of the cave, some goblins were holding bows and laughing like hyenas.
"What the hell is happening? A goblin king, a Shaman, an organized army, and now archers? How did these monsters learn such things?"
In the distance, Xu noticed four columns of smoke rising into the sky.
"They finally did it... Alright, I can't fail now!"
More goblins emerged from the grotto every minute, and once again, the albino's blood boiled. The liquid seeping from his wounds instantly evaporated from the heat of his skin, his red eyes glowed, and the temperature around him exploded once more.
A few minutes later, as if on cue, Li and Akemi arrived at the scene of the battle simultaneously.
"What... happened...!?" Jihan asked in disbelief. In front of him, dozens of goblin bodies littered the ground, with more being piled up every minute. Amidst all the chaos, a blood-soaked man was shouting as he decapitated another head. His bulging forehead veins seemed close to bursting, and his body was covered with numerous wounds that burned in real time. As if sensing their presence, Xu Wang shouted:
"GET READY, HE'S COMING!"
Jihan and Akemi immediately turned to the cave. An extremely powerful dark energy leaked from the darkness, approaching little by little. A large hand grabbed the side of the lair, and with the difference in size, the enormous monster broke the hole that limited its exit, collapsing the entrance. Using the support of its arm, the Goblin King pulled its body out. Unlike the small soldiers, the beast seemed to be nearly three meters tall. An iron breastplate covered the upper part of its body, a long sword was wielded in its large hands, and a crown of thorns rested on its head. Its yellow eyes were tainted with black veins, dark smoke exhaled from the corners of its eyeballs, and some burn marks stood out on its body, along with hundreds of scars.
"UORRRRRRRRRRR," the Goblin King roared.
The trio had the same thought: "Something is wrong!"
"Wrong or not, the plan continues! Attention!" Xu Wang jumped, wielding both flaming axes and swung them towards the monster's head. The beast smiled and swung the large blade in its hands, deflecting the attacks. The albino then jumped back, distancing himself from the enemy.
"Elf! Give me cover!" he shouted.
Akemi quickly drew her staff, which extended into a bow, a weapon Jihan was already familiar with. Once ready, the woman began firing arrows nonstop. The number of goblins appearing significantly decreased with the fall of the passage, allowing the archer to focus her barrage on the large target. The Goblin King immediately roared and, wielding his sword sideways like a fan, cut through the air. The generated wind wave hit the arrows, deflecting most and drastically reducing the offensive capacity of those that hit.
"Tsk! Even this level of artillery is useless!?" Xu cursed. "Jihan! It's just you and me on this! Akemi, deal with the smaller ones, don't let them get in our way," he ordered.
Both nodded, accepting the order as if it were natural.
"Alright!" Jihan slammed his fists together. "I was just wanting to test how far I've evolved."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jihan's skin began to glow. The divine light covering his body quickly drew the Goblin King's attention, who turned towards the boy. The beast immediately charged at the young man.
"In such a hurry to get a beating?" he taunted.
Extending both hands, one above the other, in a vertical axis, Jihan rotated them to form a circle of light in the air, then brought his hands together at the center. Mana began to be sucked towards his fists. Suddenly, as the monster approached at high speed, Li's vision blurred, and the ability ceased.
"Hey, kid! What are you doing?" Xu shouted desperately.
Jihan's consciousness returned in time to dodge the blow that destroyed the ground in front of him, throwing him away.
"LI!" Akemi screamed, running towards the boy.
"Don't lose focus!" Xu warned. "He wasn't hit directly, but he seems to be in trouble. We need to retreat immediately!"
"Now!? If we miss this opportunity, we won't have another!" the Half-Elf retorted.
"Do you really want to fight with this dead weight!? We'll all die this way!" he reprimanded. "I don't want to resort to this either, but we have no other choice!"
As the smoke cleared, Akemi saw Li unconscious and, clicking her lips, she agreed.
"I'll buy some time, get the boy out of here," she ordered.
"Will you be alright?" the woman asked.
"Haha, who do you think I am, girl?" The temperature rose again. "A Berserker wouldn't lose to a mere goblin."
Xu Wang charged at the Goblin King, who was walking towards Jihan, attacking him with a force that wouldn't let the monster worry about another enemy. As soon as she saw the opportunity, Akemi started dragging the unconscious boy away.
"Why does it always end up like this!? It looks like you're a weakling!"
With all the enemies focusing on the wounded Berserker, the Half-Elf easily took the boy away. Jihan, on the other hand, was once again in a completely unfamiliar place.
COUGH COUGH
"Damn, this place again?"
Li recognized the red sky he had seen before, the smell of burning, the destroyed scenery, everything except the charm, the sorcerer, and the army that had been there.
"Well, at least this is still here," he recalled.
The pointed rock where the chant was being sung remained in the same place, only without the one who uttered it.
CAIM CAIM
From a hole in the base of the rock, a small creature let out a light cry. A stray dog, very similar to a beagle, stuck its head out.
"You? You're the little girl's dog from the village, what are you doing here, little buddy?"
The puppy looked at Jihan for a few seconds, immediately jumping out of the hole and starting to run.
"Hey! Wait up!" he shouted, running after the animal.
Without any sense of time or space, Li chased the puppy. Even exhaustion and fatigue seemed nonexistent. After what felt like minutes or maybe hours, he finally arrived at a place he vaguely recognized.
"What...?"
The scene in front of him left the boy speechless. If there were ever walls, they had long since crumbled. If there were ever houses, they had long since been demolished. If there were ever people... they had long since been decimated.
The village of Edremit was completely devastated, not a single living soul inhabited the town. The dog, which had momentarily stopped, looked at Jihan and ran towards one of the collapsed buildings.
"Do you want me to see something?"
BARK BARK
The puppy tried to dig at the base of the debris, indicating something was beneath. Li, with little else to do, began removing the rubble piece by piece. After some time, the bottom was revealed, an image that made Jihan cover his mouth. Holding back vomit, he asked the animal.
"Is this what you wanted me to see?"
BARK BARK
"But there's nothing else here but this!"
BARK BARK
"Something... missing?"
"LI!"
A voice sounded in the air, a shout from a voice Jihan knew well.
"LI!"
"Akemi?"
"Wake up, boy!"
"Wang?"
And suddenly, giving one last look at the puppy, his vision darkened and then illuminated shortly after. Jihan's vision finally normalized; a wooden ceiling centered above him. A slight headache muddled his mind.
"Where am I?" he asked, still confused.
"In Edremit," a hoarse voice responded, and Jihan looked toward it.
"Wang? What happened to you?" Li asked, surprised. Xu was covered in bandages from head to toe. Some were still wet with blood, while others looked freshly changed.
"A few damn goblins and a dead weight, that's what happened to me." Joked.
"I… I'm sorry about that," Li replied, lowering his head.
TSK
"Now's not the time for that anyway," seeing the boy's reaction, Wang decided not to provoke him further. "What the hell happened to you? You were looking a bit bad before, but that was almost suicide!"
"Xu is right, you seem to be getting worse," Akemi affirmed. "So... while you were unconscious, he and I decided it's best to finish this mission alone."
"What do you mean? You can't just decide that because I passed out for a few hours!"
"Two days!" the Half-Elf exclaimed. "You were unconscious for TWO days!"
"Two days?" Li whispered to himself. "It felt much less..."
"Anyway, now's not the time for this kind of thing. We were lucky the goblins didn't attack during this time, maybe because they were reorganizing their forces," Xu cut her off and turned to the boy lying down. "What's happening to you might be connected to the strange things we've noticed lately, so if there's anything, you can start talking."
Jihan looked into the albino's face, his red eyes showing more than just concern; he was determined to complete the mission one way or another.
"An objective determination is much more sincere than a corrupt feeling," Li thought to himself.
"Nightmares... I've been having strange nightmares when I black out," he replied.
Wang put his hand to his chin. "Nightmares...? And what are they like?"
"I'm here, inside the mission world, but... it's different."
"Li, different how?" Akemi asked.
"The first time, I saw a being chanting some sort of spell I didn't understand, in front of an army of goblins," he explained. "The second time, I didn't see any monsters, just bodies, and the Edremit completely destroyed... I saw the village leader's daughter's dog... the daughter of..."
Li thought for a moment, but his thoughts were interrupted by two men entering the tent where they were.
"You're finally awake," said the village chief. "My girl was getting worried."
Behind the man, a little girl peeked out, looking at Jihan. Despite her age, her gaze expressed genuine concern. Li widened his eyes and covered his mouth as if holding something back, but then gave a small smile to reassure the girl.
"Any news?" Akemi asked.
"Well, fortunately, despite the failure of the main mission, the army retreated to defend their leader. I don't know what you did, but the damage was significant, given they didn't return last night," Bator explained. "But we still need to stay alert. I feel the retreat is more the calm before the storm than anything else."
"I agree, we should take action as soon as possible. We don't know when the calm will end," Wang said.
As soon as he finished speaking, a man ran into the tent.
"Sir, report!" the soldier said.
"Proceed!"
"Our scouts spotted significant suspicious movement near the goblin nest regions. The animals are agitated, and monster roars are echoing through the valley," he explained.
"So soon... we need to speed up our pace," Wang said.
"I agree, it seems we don't have much time," Li agreed.
"Yes, the Half-Elf and I will handle this, you stay here."
"What? I refuse, we're in this mission together."
"It's an order!" he exclaimed.
"Who made you the leader of this operation?" Jihan retorted.
"We... we did," Akemi interrupted them.
"Akemi...?"
"We can't risk you being a burden again, Jihan," she explained. "Until we're sure what's wrong with you, we can't take the risk... it was a group majority decision."
"I think the boy should go, but if that's what you decided, so be it," Beldor agreed.
Li, having nothing to say, just swallowed hard and accepted the demand.
"Anyway, let's go, we need to prepare for what's coming," Bator declared. As soon as he finished speaking, the rest agreed and followed the captain out of the tent, leaving behind only Jihan, Beldor's daughter, Maria, and a small puppy.
"Are you alright, sir?" the little girl asked from near the entrance.
"I'm fine, haha, you can come closer if you want," a little disheartened, Jihan tried to make the girl more comfortable.
Approaching the bed with her pet in hand, Maria sat on the edge of the mattress.
"I heard what you were talking about before we came in... you were talking about having nightmares, right?" she asked.
Li found the girl's question strange.
"Yes..., but I'm fine, they're just figments of my imagination, nothing more."
The little girl looked into Jihan's eyes.
"I used to have nightmares too, you know?"
Having not much else to do, he decided to entertain Maria for a while.
"Really? And what were your 'nightmares' like?"
Turning her gaze away from the boy, she stared at the puppy in her hands.
"It's dark... very dark, I'm alone and can't move," the girl's voice trembled slightly. "I'm alone and my body hurts... then, suddenly, I hear Bin's bark." Maria then petted the dog's head. "Then I'm not alone anymore, and it's not dark anymore, the pain goes away, and suddenly I wake up." She looked at Jihan again. "Are your nightmares like that too, mister?"
Li stared at the girl with wide eyes, his mind racing, he looked down, covering his face with his hair. In his memory, only one image repeated hundreds of times. Lifeless eyes, pale skin. And finally, the putrid smell of a soulless corpse, a body without wounds, with a slight smile as if dying in peace.
Jihan again brought his hands to his mouth, trying to hold back the vomit rising from his throat.
"D-does your father know about this?" Li asked, stammering.
"Yes, he's amazing, isn't he? He's the captain of the guard, but he always finds time to play with me."
"Hahaha…" Li laughed nervously, "You mean the village chief, don't you?"
"No, my daddy is the man with the sword," the girl disagreed. "The village chief helped me with the nightmares, and since then I live with him. I never leave his side, or I might have nightmares again..."
"Then why are you here now?"
"Bin told me to come back, he said you'd protect me."
Jihan slowly looked at the dog in the girl's hands. "What's missing..."
CAIM
At the puppy's cry, Li gave a brief sigh of attention.
"CAREFUL!" he shouted, quickly jumping and grabbing the girl.
BOOM
The tent exploded from the outside in, and everyone was thrown away. After the dust settled, only one man was standing.
"Hahaha… Fools! Facing all three would be a challenge, but who would have thought they would be stupid enough to split up like this."
A being with sharp fangs, dark skin, and yellow eyes stood before the destroyed area. Despite his monstrous appearance, his face was relatively recognizable.
"As for you..." The monster extended his hand, and from the rubble, a small animal rose into the air. "I'm tired of your tricks! You're just a tool, one that's no longer useful." Energy began to emanate from the dog's body and flow towards the being. Once the flow stopped, the puppy fell to the ground, now lifeless.
"The life force of a Nymph, especially one so special... one that can manipulate dreams? You really thought I wouldn't notice?" he mocked, his appearance becoming more human until he took on the familiar figure of the village chief, Beldor. "We had a deal, I helped the girl, and you helped me with your power so I could take over that idiot monster's army. Who would have thought a being with such powerful abilities would be reduced to this, a mere pet." Feeling the strength from the soul he had just absorbed, he declared, "Now I just need those fools to kill each other, hahaha, I'll offer the souls of all the dead to Grindar!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Beldor turned and left. A few minutes later, a blood-covered arm pierced through the rubble. Pulling himself halfway out, already severely injured, Jihan took a deep breath and used his other hand to lift a nearly unscathed little girl.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help you... but at least I'll fulfill your wish," Li said, looking at the Nymph's body, transformed into an animal.
"Hmm... what happened... sir, why are you so hurt!?" Maria said, waking up.
"Don't worry about that." Supporting himself on the ground, Jihan pulled himself out completely, his whole body wounded. "I need to go now, hide in the forest."
"What? You can't! You're too hurt," the little girl exclaimed.
"I'm fine," Li patted the girl's head. "But if I don't go now, my friends might get hurt, so I have to go." Smiling strongly, Jihan reassured the girl. "Don't worry, I'll be fine, I'm much stronger than I look."
"Do you promise?"
"I promise."
With Maria letting go of his shirt, Li turned in the direction Beldor had gone. As soon as his face was out of the girl's sight, it became extremely grim, blood dripping from his palms, pierced by his nails to contain his hatred around the child. Two gauntlets materialized on Jihan's wrists as he ran towards the goblins' lair.
"BELDOR!"