"Make sure to keep a look out guys. We don't wanna go through another surprise ambush." Said Ruby, a C-Rank Knight Class Warrior.
"Well, that goes without saying." Chifala, a D-Rank Mage Class Warrior added in agreement.
"Seriously, where did those Goblins even come from?" Chifa, a D-Rank Priestess Class Warrior, Chifala's younger sister, said in exhaustion.
"Tell me about it. I was honestly surprised coming back from my scouting mission only to find you guys being ganged up by what, around fifty Goblins, was it?" Said Saika, an E-Rank Thief Class Warrior.
"Yeah, I mean, alone, those Goblins are basically small fry but in groups, even C-Ranks need to be careful." Added Felix, an E-Rank Sniper Class Warrior.
These were the members of the mildly reputable party known only as Silent Wind. As they were slightly new, they weren't affiliated with any Guild, however, Ruby, their leader, was one of the many daughters of a prestigious Family known as the Montgomery Family, whose fame could almost rival that of even the Reinhardt Family, and only fell behind them due to not owning a Guild of their own. Unlike Zeke though, Ruby wasn't a spoiled child, she was kind, dependable and had a great sense of responsibility, she believed firmly that one's true value lied in their own innate strength and thus rarely ever used her Family's name for her benefits. Such was the personality that earned her the respect of her fellow party members. And yes, she was stronger than Zeke.
Right now, they had all entered an E-Rank Dungeon to explore it. Nearly fourty minutes ago, Ruby had sent Saika on a scouting mission to surveil the area and see if she to could find anything worth noting. Saika returned after locating a Goblin village only to find her party members being ambushed by a group of over fifty Goblins. They defeated the Goblins shortly after and were now headed towards the village Saika had found.
"This way everyone." She said as she lead the way.
"Everyone, stay on high alert, we'll get a Quest as soon as we enter the village so make sure to get ready." Ordered Ruby, looking at the other three party members.
"Roger that." They all said in unison.
"Saika, you said you counted over six-hundred Goblins in the village you found, right?"
"Six-hundred and eighty-seven to be precise."
"Great, we'll have over seven-hundred Mana Crystals by the end of the Quest. Five-hundred will be shared among all members equally, the rest we'll sell so we can buy more equipment and the like. As always, do with your share however you see fit and if you wanna undergo Mana Crystal absorption, come to me." She said to all her party members.
"Right." They all replied.
"We're here." Said Saika as they approached the village.
....
They all paused at the sight before them.
Chifa reacted in confusion.
"Wait...but whe-"
"Well it's a village alright." Chifala interrupted. "There's huts everywhere...and stuff, just uhh..." He paused to look at a certain individual "Saika? I gotta ask. Correct me if I'm wrong but, you did say that there's over six-hundred Goblins here right? Not...well, you know...zero?"
"There were! I swear there were, I saw it all with my very own eyes! They were all here. Those Goblins, most of them held spears while the others had bows and arrows. A-and there was another one, slightly bigger than the others, it had a very big sword that looked really beat up." Said Saika in defence.
"We partied pretty hard last night, how many did you have?" Asked Chifala.
"Oh haha. You know my Poison Resistance Skill deals with intoxication a lot faster than normal, a lot faster than you, too." She argued. Chifala chuckled in response.
"What do you make of this, Cap?" He asked, looking at Ruby.
"Hmm...I highly doubt Saika could ever make such a clumsy mistake. Which leads me to only a single conclusion. In the duration between Saika coming back from seeing the village to get us and us arriving here, something must've happened with the Goblins which lead to their disappearance." Said Ruby.
"But what could it be?" Chifa asked.
"Hell If we know." Felix joined as he shrugged his shoulders.
There was a village, but it was empty. There were huts, but no residents to speak of. The party thus entered the village site but no message popped up. They then started looking around to try and understand what might have happened. Some huts had acquired damage, but it wasn't large.
Ruby observed.
"So it's unlikely that there was a fight. It's almost as if they just steamrolled through their own village."
"So then they were probably running away from something? Another monster?" Asked Chifala.
Ruby immediately shut down that possibility.
"No way. Not in this Dungeon. Goblins are at the top of the food chain here so they wouldn't fall prey to any other monsters. On that note, I doubt they went hunting themselves either, not as an entire village. That'd just be ridiculous."
Chifala, not being able to make heads or tails of the situation, then asked:...
"So what do you think happened then?"
Ruby looked around.
"Can't say for sure. If they weren't running away, then maybe they ran towards something. What that 'something' might be though, is anyone's guess. Maybe they all got summoned by the Dungeon Boss, but if that's the case then that'd mean all the Goblin villages in this Dungeon are like this. Right now, confirming that, should be our top priority." She then looked at her party members. "Let's see about locating other villages."
"Then, should we split up?" Asked Felix.
Saika then immediately shut down that proposition.
"No. Not when things are this uncertain."
"She's right." Ruby said in agreement. "We'll all go together, as a team. Now then, let's move." She ordered.
"Right!" The rest said in unison.
*******
"Sorry, fire blade?"
"Hm-"
"So not just wind and water, but fire as well? Are you like, some broken character from a video game or..."
"Okay so are you gonna always be on my case about something or other?"
"Probably, yeah. Don't forget, we still need to talk about your 'masterpiece'."
"I really do want to 'forget' but I doubt you'd ever let me. Just kill some Goblins will ya?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
I was sure this went without saying, but that wasn't really the type of conversation one should have while being surrounded by an army of over ten-thousand monsters.
"And she says my attitude is relaxed."
I looked over to my front and was met with a large number of High Goblins. I could easily take down over a dozen High Goblins in an instant before I absorbed those Mana Crystals and levelled up so I wasn't necessarily worried about a hundred or so of them. I had formed one fire blade from my right hand. It was incredibly sharp, nowhere near as sharp as First Dawn though but I still had a decent amount of confidence in it. It radiated an intense heat, reminded me a lot of the Dragon Furnace. Said-heat didn't bother me though, in addition to gaining the ability to control them, all my Elemental Magic Skills also gave me significant resistance to their respective elements. I activated my Bladework Skill then Cultivator after, through that, I carefully concentrated my Mana to the blade as it became even sharper than it already was. Still not as sharp as First Dawn though, I mean, that blade's a beast, with that being said, Peyton was bound to have much more of a cakewalk than me. After finishing preparations, I was ready to start slicing and dicing.
"Alright, let's do this!" With that declaration of mine, Peyton and I started moving. Four High Goblins, as if in response, simultaneously launched downward slashes towards me. In an attempt to block all of them by positioning my fire blade horizontally, I was instantly surprised by the sight of all four of the High Goblins' swords being cut in half at the same time. The High Goblins, still in a state of shock, much like myself, stopped to look at their now cut clean in half swords. As I noticed that, I snapped out of it, deciding not to waste any more time, then went on to behead each one of them. All the other High Goblins were keeping a small distance, as if wary of me, only attacking head on if they deemed it necessary.
"Fine then, if you won't come to me, I'll come to you."
I ran straight towards them, opposite from Peyton, who had already slayed her fair share of them. Her mastery of the blade was outstanding. With a single swing, she took down a large number of them effortlessly. Noticing their wariness, she had also decided to attack them all head on. As she approached them, they all responded in kind to gang up on her, but to no avail.
Swing after swing.
Slash after slash.
She had them dropping like flies. None of their blood spilled on her clothes, not even a single drop to speak of. In addition to the onslaught from the High Goblins, a nearly countless number of arrows and spears kept flying at us continuously, she made sure to deal with them accordingly, parrying and slashing them one after another while taking out as many Goblins as possible. In almost no time at all, she had already eliminated over a third of the High Goblins present. I wasn't going to allow myself to be beat. Bladework had been activated, Cultivator was also in full gear, all that was left was for me to start getting serious. I concentrated more Mana to the fire blade while dashing towards my side of the High Goblins, all the while allowing the numerous arrows and spears flying at me to pierce me and then yanking them out afterwards. The blade slightly changed colour. The luminescent yellow from before started to give birth to a light reddish glow. A large group of High Goblins were infront of me, raring to attack, their swords raised high, spirits looking almost indomitable. The reality, however, was far from what they could ever imagine.
I beheaded the first.
~Ting!~
Cut the second in half.
~Swing!~
Pierced the third through his chest.
~Swoop!~
Started using him as a human-shield, or...'Goblin-shield', then rammed through the other ones' forces using his now lifeless corpse.
~Thud!~
~Bam!~
~Pow!~
Swear I was on a roll.
"Damn, I'm on a roll."
See?
Anyway. I found myself surrounded afterwards as ten High Goblins jumped at me in unison. Yanking my fire blade out if the dead body of the High Goblin from before, I launched a rotating slash taking all of them down along with an over twenty extra that stood behind them. I looked at all the High Goblins I attacked afterwards, all their bodies sparked in flames and burned to ashes.
"An aftereffect? Narly."
I had created some significant space between me and my attackers. Taking advantage, I jumped upwards. While in midair, I launched a large number of continuous differently positioned swings. Slashes in the form of fire appeared from the blade and immediately flew straight to my targets. All the High Goblins that were left burned in flames as a result of the slashes permeating through their bodies. Peyton and I quickly regrouped afterwards, and returned to our back-to-back position, continuously parrying the arrows and spears flying at us. As we did that, the spear Goblins started charging at us to attack us from up close. Noticing their onslaught growing more intense, I acted.
"Peyton, I have a plan. You might have to hold off the spear guys on your own as result though."
"Oh yeah? Well I'm sure I can handle that much, if for a little while. Let's hear it."
"Firstly, do you think you can throw me like, a hundred metres up high?"
"I can launch you at least a thousand metres up high."
"Yeah uhm...don't do that. I just need about a hundred."
"Sure thing. What are you gonna do?"
"I wanna take care of the archers, they're not exactly making anything easy for us right now, I might be able to draw their fire away from you too."
"That'd really decrease my load a lot, thanks. How about we make some space then!" As she declared that, she grabbed my left hand, pulling me close then wrapped her left hand around my waist. Slightly bewildered, I couldn't help but jest.
"Eh? Hell of a smooth operator, aren't ya?"
"Be quiet please."
She then did a rotating slash, taking down all the Goblins that were surrounding us within a ten metre radius. After that, she let me go, stuck First Dawn in the ground and joined her hands together as she squated down a little.
"Whenever you're ready." She said.
"Heh." I dashed towards her then hopped on to her joined hands as she pushed upwards, launching me very high in the sky, exactly as much as I wanted her to.
"Her control over her own strength is impeccable." I thought as I flew up.
"Okay, let's get this show on the road."
With that, I surveiled all the archer Goblins in the area. They had instantly noticed me the moment I flew up and had all directed their attention towards me. Even a few of the spear Goblins situated way back were now focused on me as a bonus. I took that as a good sign as Peyton was holding off a fair share of them on her own, so I used Cultivator and Ifrit to change the fire blade to a a bow. I then conjured ten fire arrows at once and pulled them along the bow, the arrows started spinning, the flames growing more and more intense each second, some even forming around my body as I felt a calming warmness envelope me entirely. I launched the arrows at some of the archer Goblins. A large amount of arrows and spears were flying at me while I was in midair but with Bladework bettering my maneuverability, I was able to evade the ones that aimed for my head and heart, letting the rest hit me with expertise. The arrows I fired, however, went on to take the lives of what looked like over two-hundred archer Goblins, burning them all to a crisp. Surprised at the attack's efficiency, I conjured ten more arrows and shot them quickly then did it again three more times in a row. Right before losing altitude as my body started dropping back down, I noticed Peyton, who was doing her best to hold off the spear Goblins, was slightly and slowly getting overwhelmed.
"That doesn't look good." I thought as I was falling down.
"Alright, time to try something new."
Adding to Ifrit, I activated both Tetrax and Marid automatically activating the Trigon Element King Skill then activated the Fury of Dantian Skill. From my Dantian, I circulated Mana throughout my entire body and on to my hand. With that, I changed the fire bow to one of water, then added a water arrow. I then formed a wind bow over the water bow, as if coating it with wind, then did the same with the arrow. Finally, I repeated that process again, only with the fire element this time. The combination of all three elements gave off an almost mesmerizing aura to it. It was a single arrow, but it felt more powerful than at least a hundred arrows of any one element. It's no secret that I was pleased with the results, however the synergy still felt a bit lacking. So I activated the Astral Unification Skill.
"Oh yeah, this is it. I can feel it. The sensation....of a Special Attack. The more I develop these things, the more I start to understand them. Special Attacks. I get it now. Whether a Skill gets a Special Attack or not isn't dependant on its Rank, the concept is entirely random. It doesn't happen consciously, so it's completely out of our control. They're like a manifestation of our subconscious desires and wills. You never know when you'll get a Special Attack, it just happens when it happens, but when it does, everything just suddenly becomes clear. The attack's name, what it does, how to use it, everything....heh, let's see this through then."
"Peyton!" I shouted as I was free-falling. Peyton then looked up at me, so I added.
"Jump up towards me. now!" She didn't hesitate for a single second and did just that. As she did, I pulled the single three-elemental arrow I had created back along my bow. The arrow started spinning. Faster than all the other ones from before. I then uttered:...
"Inferno Cyclone."
And released. It flew straight down to the spot Peyton jumped from which had now been filled by Goblins, disintegrating everything in it's path, namely the arrows and spears shot at us while we were in the air. The moment it landed, the ground burned, the flames then spread in the form of a circle, everything they touched turned to ashes as it took the lives of a little over a thousand spear Goblins. I deactivated the Fury of Dantian and Astral Unification Skill as my bow then dissipated while I wrapped my right hand around Peyton's waist.
"Your turn princess. Watch the arrows and spears... You good?"
"Mh?" Her cheeks slightly turned redish. "I am now. A Special Attack, I was getting ready to launch my own, thanks for saving me the trouble." She added.
"You're welcome. Just call me your 'knight in bloody armour'."
"Only you, can make light of injuries like that. Need help?"
"Nah, I'm good."
"Not what I meant."
"....another jab at my mentality?"
"It does need to be questioned."
"Oh you're funny."
"Hehe."
We safely landed on the ground then started to look around as I let her go.
"A thousand plus spear Goblins and a thousand plus archer Goblins. If we were keeping score, I'd be losing horribly right now."
"And-karh!-how exactly would that even work?-hup!-I mean, would high level Goblins fetch more points?-kuek!...hoof!-or something?" I asked as I kept pulling out the arrows and spears stuck all over my body to regenerate.
"Yeah, that sounds good. Let's say...one point for normies, ten for the High Gobs, and a hundred for the Greats."
"And the Boss."
"Well he doesn't count since we already agreed he's yours."
"Alright, you're on. Better act fast then, 'cause you really are losing horribly."
"Don't remind me. Just a little friendly advice....don't blink." She then took a few steps forward as she said that. First Dawn gripped tight by her right hand. She raised it halfway up, pointing it at the Goblins in front of her. She then swung it sideways, to her right, and uttered:...
"Shattering Rainbow."
Blinding lights. No, not the song.
The entire area got bathed in a light like no other.
Uncountable sparks of crossed slashes with all kinds of different colours emerged in the surroundings as all the Goblins within the proximity of the attack got sliced to pieces. A large volume of blood splattered explosively, then started raining down. In an instant, she had taken down a little over one-thousand five-hundred Goblins. The number even included some archer Goblins, not just the spear ones.
"Wow! This blade feels amazing! It's even better than my knives!" She said smiling brightly in reaction.
"Oh, so you use knives?" I asked.
"Yes! Big sparkly adorab-....eh...I mean, big, scary...sharp...scary...vicious knives."
"You said 'scary' twice."
"I know that! Shut up!" Her cheeks turned red.
"What's that all about?"
"Hmm....you seem a lot different than before."
"Hm? What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, you don't look as pessimistic as you were before we started this Quest. Remember? Miss 'we're gonna die?" I smirked.
"Urgh...do I really have to say it?" She asked in exhaustion.
I chuckled.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Fine. You rubbed off on me. Happy?"
"You have no idea."
"Whatever. I guess part of me at first might've actually thought that we might be able to do this. But now, there's no doubt in my mind that this Quest is basically easy pickens."
"Well, duh! Come on, let's finish this shall we?"
"Sounds like a plan. I'll take the back side, you go front."
"Alright, but don't blame me when I get a headstart on the Greats before you."
"Try it if you think you can." She smiled. I smiled back.
"Oh, you are so on."
We moved. Peyton. With her mastery of the blade being second to none. Well, second to none except me, of course. I mean, I'm amazing.
Anyway.
And me! With my elemental archery!
We were unstoppable.
On her side, she was taking Goblins down one after the other, each with a single swing and each differetly. Decapitation. Piercing them through their hearts. Cutting them in half. It was as if they weren't even fighting her at all, just simply charging to their deaths. They surrounded her, ganged up on her, jumped on her, shot her with their arrows and threw their spears at her. Nothing worked. Kicking and punching those that got too close to slash, their bodies shattered as they died instantly. All the while, she was dodging and parrying each and every single projectile that was shot at her. They really had no chance against that she-beast. Her body was small, no visible buffness, in fact, it was incredibly feminine, curves in all the right places, but she was a she-beast through and through. Why? She was just too damn strong.
I was no slouch either though. Over to my side, headshots was the theme. Switching from element to element, I continuously conjured incredibly thin, long, high concentrated arrows and shot them straight at the Goblins' heads. Since I already had the 'firepower' part down, I was now practicing my precision and aim. The Soul-Piercing Eyes Skill had also been activated. After getting enough of headshots. I went for their hearts, shooting my arrows straight at the Goblins' left sides of their chest. They shot their own fair share of arrows at me as well and even kept throwing their spears but most of them just got overpowered by my own ammunition. Goblin bodies kept dropping one after the other as a result of the gaping tennis ball sized holes in their chests. I then noticed that even the Great Goblins were starting to get wary. They kept fidgeting as if contemplating whether or not to attack.
"Yeah, that's right. Be afraid, be very afraid. 'Cause we're coming for you next. Just wait and see."