(Maia's Pov)
"To think that he'd prove both of us wrong that badly haha, he really got us didn't he?"
He had already gotten rid of the few goblins outside the cave, and went inside just now. Mio stopped hiding as she came next to me.
"You can say that again. Really, I was actually shocked there."
"Can't blame you, we both expected him to relearn that while clearing the cave, not when fighting you."
"And to top it off, that last hit to my ribs actually hurt quite a bit too. I had let down my guard when the blast disappeared thinking it was just past its limit, but clearly that wasn't the case…"
Obviously, a mana attack is still extremely powerful even at the lowest capacity and strength. His previous ones didn't do anything because I was enhancing my defense, but for the last one I actually did not expect it so I had lowered my guard.
"Well, at least you were nice enough to speed things up as well."
"I wanted to make sure he was actually able to do it consistently, and it wasn't just a one time thing first."
"Not to mention, I had no idea if he'd actually come across making a sword out of it again right away…"
"Well, regardless it seems like my prediction of how long it would take him to clear it was completely wrong in the end. I hadn't taken into account the possibility of him already having learnt that again after all."
Snapping her fingers then, a mini screen appeared in front of us as I sat down, while she was still just standing next to me. We were pretty much right above the cave, so it's not like we could normally see what was going inside. Or at least, I couldn't. So pretty much using the same spell used for the streaming pillars, she cast one so we could both see Cael's progress inside.
"How long do you think it'll take him now then?"
"Hmm. The tunnels are still pretty long, not to mention their numbers. With a mana blade he's able to cut them clean without much effort too… it all depends on how fast he finds them all 700 and something. You saw how he took out the ones outside already."
Yeah, that seems about right. The barrier prevents the goblins from dying unless they're hit with a mana attack, but since the blade he's using is made out of mana itself, he can just swiftly take care of them. His swordsmanship was pretty much unmatched after all.
"Mhh, make me some snacks, Mio. I wanna enjoy watching this."
"What are you, a kid?"
She sighed, but the next instant a basket of popcorn appeared next to me. To my surprise though, she had also sat down afterwards, making another basket of popcorn for herself , but I could tell from the intoxicating smell and devilish appearance that hers were… let's just say they were a "little" spicy.
Still though, mana manipulation, huh. It really is engraved into his soul isn't it?
It's been an hour at most since he first managed to do it in our fight earlier, but he already seems to have full control over it…
I guess you just can't overwrite something that's engraved into one's soul.
That must be what it means, to be an exception. Just like my dear best friend sitting next to me, the two of them are not only tied by the thread of fate, but also both are exceptions when it comes to such an overpowering skill.
Not that I'm jealous or anything anymore, since I've long gotten used to it. I'm just glad I guess? Glad that it's the two of them who are the exceptions in that regard, and no one else.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Cael's Pov)
Upon entering the cave, around 200 meters ahead there were around 5 goblins just hanging around.
As much as I'd like to rawdog this, Maia said there's more than 700 of them inside the cave, so it would be better to just save energy for now.
Dematerializing my sword, I just walked towards them while looking around. It seemed like there was some sort of natural lighting coming from not just a few holes in the ceiling of the cave, but also from some weirdly convenient glowing ore all over the walls. Was this like redstone in minecraft? Does it glow if you touch it or something? Well, considering neither one of them was actually doing it but it was still glowing, I'd say that that's not the case. Maybe it was like a glowing ore specific to this world?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter that much in the end.
They had finally noticed me when I was around 10 meters away from them. All of them seemed to be close range fighters, fortunately enough. Had there been an archer among them I would've been forced to actually make some effort you know? They let out their weird noises as they ran towards me, that being exactly what I wanted.
Alrighty, down you go.
Materializing a small amount of mana, condensing it enough to actually penetrate their skulls, I send it flying straight towards each of their brains, taking them down fast and painlessly one by one, with the same ray of mana.
That kinda felt as if I was an assassin with one of those metal thread thingies! That's gotta have looked cool.
Also, I didn't pay attention to the ones outside, but as blood was leaking out of their heads straight on the ground, I couldn't help but notice the puddle of Green blood.
Their blood is green?? I didn't really pay attention in biology class, but isn't blood red because of some red cells or something? I guess goblins have green cells then? Seems about right to me.
Shrugging my shoulders, I walked past them and went deeper into the cave which was still fairly illuminated thankfully. Around 100 more meters after those goblins, the cave split up. There was a kinda round room with like 8 tunnels going all around.
Don't tell me… they're spread around all of these?
You didn't tell me I'd have to guess where the damn goblins are before I kill them, Maia…
In case you couldn't use your eyes properly and hadn't realized until now, my luck is close to negative. For all I know, these tunnels could all be interlinked with another 50, and It would take me longer to actually find the goblins than slaying them.
…guess I'll start with that one.
And so I started my search for the goblins with the closest tunnel at my right, since the right is usually the right choice in movies and stuff. I think.
You have to be fucking with me…
The first tunnel I went in had a few room like bumps inside along the way, but also around 6 other tunnels connected to it. I checked all of them, and couldn't find a single damn goblin. They're not short either, each took me at least 10 minutes to fully walk through, so all in all around 70 minutes had passed since the first goblins I found and killed.
It was almost 11 when I got inside the cave, so by now it was definitely past midday. Lunch would technically be in around 2 hours, but at this rate I think I may not be done by dinner time if anything…
Again…
Another dead end with no goblins.
Again…
This is getting ridiculous.
… I wanna go home.
Where the fuck are these goblins???!
I had checked all in all around 15 total tunnels by now, and I'm pretty sure the whole lot of them were actually intertwined as I was fearing they may be. It made it all just even more ridiculous though, how out of 700 or something goblins, I only found 5 at the entrance of the cave.
While I got to another small round room with 3 tunnels within it, this time I went for the one in the middle, not really expecting much while going in.
At this point, I'm starting to doubt whether there actually are that many inside… maybe this was a weird prank of hers?
To make it worse, after a while of diving deeper into the tunnels, the amount of that glowing stone had decreased substantially. There was almost none in this one, and the only reason I wasn't scared or constantly tripping was because of my nightly training.
Somehow, that actually came useful in the end, huh? I should probably thank her for that, but I'd rather become goblin food than thank Maia for making me do all that at night in pitch darkness.
So I guess I'm just going to keep that gratitude to myself. It's not like she'll care anyway. That being said, what's up with all these small room-like dents inside each tunnel? Is that where they sleep or something?
There's quite a few on each side too. Albeit I can't really fully see them because it's dark, I can at least tell the outline.
"Bleueh, bleoa. Bliao?"
"Yeah, I feel you man, I also can't see shit in here."
"Good thing that you are holding…my..."
Hand?
I have no idea when it started, but when I looked to my right, where moments ago there was nothing, now a goblin was holding my hand.
"Wuaaaahhhhh!"
"Errghhhjkjajaha!"
I instantly let go of it, and my shout must've scared him or something because he suddenly got aggressive out of the blue, trying to come after me. Fortunately enough though, not only did he have no weapons on him, but he was also still just a goblin in the end.
That scared the absolute living shit out of me… how did I not even notice it though?
He wasn't really strong or anything obviously, one slash of my mana blade was enough to cleanly behead him. But I actually not only didn't hear him until he spoke, but didn't even feel his hand in mine until then.
What's going on here?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Maia's Pov)
"What's up with that, Mio?"
"Don't point at the screen while you have a handful of popcorn… also don't talk with your mouth full."
Not only did he not see or feel that goblin, I didn't either. How did that goblin grab his hand?
"There's a few different types of goblins around. The one that lives in this cave specifically, is a race that thrives in the darkness."
Hohooo?
"When in the dark, their steps and presence become undetectable unless you're feeling their mana. So that's why he couldn't see or feel it."
"I'm already feeling the whole cave's mana content, since I have to make sure he also doesn't break the whole thing down accidentally, so I did actually see him. But that's besides the point, they're still goblins in the end."
"Isn't that super convenient though? Imagine if we could do that."
"I guess? But it's not that simple. If you just start using your mana sense, you can easily feel and see them. And also, if any source of light appears, they're going to lose that effect."
"Not to mention, your camouflage is better than whatever they do anyways… and Obviously that's the same for mine. And best of all, unlike them we can't get our heads cut off by an F rank 7 year old. Extremely cool. Kid."
Of course you had to sneak that in, you creep. You must be battling your inner demons to not jump my little brother and steal his chastity with all your might!
Ah, such a beast you are! I won't give him to you yet though, you hear me?! He's too young to get married!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Cael's Pov)
Alright, something is definitely going on here.
By the time I had finished walking through that tunnel, I encountered around 10 more goblins, all of them somehow managing to either jump me before I could even hear them, or somehow touch me without me feeling them.
There's gotta be some secret to it. Or at least, a way for me to actually see or feel them…
Thinking back, this all started once the light sources got dimmer and dimmer… or rather, by the time it was fully dark in here, the first one appeared.
Is it correlated? So as long as I find a light source, I should be able to see them maybe?
But I actually had no idea what to do here. Should I try to find my way back and pick up some of that glowing stone? I'm sure I can make a pickaxe or something out of mana to mine it, but then again, if that's not the case I'd be wasting quite a lot of time here…
Pondering on it, I eventually got to another small room where the tunnels intersected, so I quickly took a left turn this time because why the hell not, and started walking, but with my guard up this time.
At least, if I keep my defense enhanced, even if one of them does try to attack me it shouldn't do too much damage.
And that may also help me confirm my theory in the end.
Now that I think about it though, earlier I had run into a dead end that was connected to a river. Or rather, from outside some of the water of the river that I saw out while flying here with Maia was flowing inside. They seemed to have like a tub to catch the running water in, but the point is that in there, I saw no goblins even though the whole tunnel was dark.
There was some light coming inside that "room" at the very least, from the hole… are there any other points like that in here then? Where some natural light has made its way inside.
But even then, how would I even check if not manually? … wait, actually there may be!
When fighting Maia earlier, I used my mana sense to be able to get a "better view" of the situation. As weird as it sounds, if you spread some of your mana in the air, and merge that with the mana surrounding you, you can kinda form a barrier of sorts of which purpose is only for you to "see" what's around that area.
I guess I have nothing to lose here, do I? At the very least, if this works I can maybe find an illuminated spot and get this over with. It's been like 4 hours already since I went inside.
Alright, but how large is the area of the cave anyway? I have no idea man… I'll just gradually check as I'm expanding it I guess.
First, I merged my mana with the one in the tunnels, then spread it beyond them in a radius of around a kilometer.
Nothing, huh? Alright, then I'll try expanding it more.
Going more than double of that, expecting to at least find some kind of light source which I did see, I also found something a lot more interesting.
Is that…
Trying to make sure of it before I jumped to conclusions I spent around a minute surveilling my surroundings that way, but it just got more and more obvious.
Goblins! And not just 10 or 20… there's so many I can't even bother counting them all!
The tunnels were in fact fully intersected, but I had taken the completely wrong turn at the beginning. On the mid-left side of the cave respective from the entrance, I was now almost 100% sure that that's where all of them were besides the few I encountered.
Is it because the river is in this direction? There were a few other entrances again mostly for water, so that means unless they're thirsty they usually hang around the other side probably.
God I would've been done so long ago if only I chose the right way… but that's my luck for you.
This is taking a little too long though.
I started running, knowing the way towards the correct full tunnels but even then their length was still very preeminent….
I don't think anyone will get mad if I just… you know…
Stopping abruptly, I materialized my blade once again. I still had quite a lot of mana charged from before going in, and this was kind of an "emergency" in the end, right? It was long past lunch time already, so I was actually starving. And a starving 7 year old could end up sick, so it can't be helped, right? This is a required measure to assure the end of this operation comes before I die of hunger.
It can't be helped, oh how bad I feel about what I'm about to do! But oh well.
Leaning it behind my right side as I held it with both hands, I charged up some mana inside of it. The blade itself was made out of mana so it was also illuminating a bit of the very closeby area with its cool ass red and black mixed color, but it was definitely not sustainable enough for me to use that as a permanent source of light throughout the hunt.
Alright, this should be enough.
Unlike last time though, I knew for a fact that this wouldn't be a flop, and instead it would be more like an actual charged the fuck up Getsuga Tenshou. Why? Because I was making sure of it. Manually.
Letting go of my left hand, and repositioning my legs I brought the charged up blade to my left side, before finally releasing the mana attack forward towards a wall which I knew that after braking, it would make a man made tunnel towards all of those goblins.
Breathing heavily, then dematerializing my sword, I admired the beauty I had just created. A nice and long straight tunnel, which I knew would lead me straight where I needed to be. After a few jumps to raise up my spirits, I replenished my mana resources from the random stones that had fallen on the ground, and also from the air around me, and started running towards them.
I've lost track of time a while ago honestly… but with this, I'm finally done.
Throwing up the final goblin on the pile of cadavers I gradually built up, I had completed my hunt quest. As expected, although many in number and hidden in the dark, it wasn't actually that hard for me to fight them. With my mana sense, I could feel their positions and efficiently Dodge while also slaying them.
It was definitely one grotesque operation though, having to slay a solid 700 goblins in pitch darkness… but weirdly enough, as I sat down to rest a little, I noticed that I wasn't actually tired whatsoever. I don't really know why, but who cares? Now I just had to wait for her to come pick me up, since I wasn't actually physically tired. But I wasn't going to get up and walk alone out of this cave though.
Actually, does she even know that I'm done…?
It didn't really come to mind, but for once I hadn't learnt how to use mana communication yet and I'm not even sure If she could use her mana sense the way I did… what I'd that was also an impossible thing that I can do? Seeing through mana and all… what if now I actually had no way of letting her know I was done and i'd have to walk out alone??
But thankfully, the blazing flames coming through a tunnel then straight into the "room" I was in, standing above to illuminate it all said otherwise.
"That's one big pile, huh?"
Not wasting a single second, I jumped straight towards her, grabbing her legs. I had never been more glad to see Maia before in my life!
"Egh… what's up with you?"
"I-I'm so glad that you could actually tell I was done and I didn't have to walk back out alone! I've never been happier to see you in my life, buehehehehe!"
"Alright, alright. I get it, but stop crying… wait. You little shit! Stop wiping your nose over my pants! You're getting snot all over them!"
Afterwards, she held me up in her arms princess style, carrying me in town where I was for once glad to get served one of Layra's monstrously large portions of food.