Inspecting my weapons on my way there, I took note of the strange inscription. "Prototype: Armageddon". The blade is sharp to be sure, but something strange emanates from the sword. A sound that I cannot describe. A ticking noise almost.
Decidedly, I swung the sword at a branch overhead. Sure enough, it was a clean cut. A fine weapon indeed. Though from just the look of it, it doesn't look too special at all. Just a metal blade with a weird inscription. A humble, silver, short sword. One notable thing about it is that it is rather shiny even compared to legendary grade weapons. Putting the blade away for now, I kept walking toward the location of the mission.
The leaves were crunchy these times of the year. Cool weather, cool enough for a relaxing walk, but not cold. One perk is the reduction of sweat during a fight, which is a much appreciated perk.
"Wonder what Lily is doing right now." I thought to myself. "Taking a nap perhaps. Well, better finish this quickly so I can get home."
Eventually, I came to an opening in the forest. Through the underbrush lay two of the wyrms that I am tasked to kill. Currently only the two ice wyrm can be seen. The fire one is likely away somewhere. No time like the present they say. Readying my weapon, I stalked them through the underbrush. They appear to be sleeping currently. Taking my chance, I sneaked my way to one of them. Getting closer, I realized how large they actually were. Their head is already the size of my whole body.
Raising my blade, I used all my might to drive it down *SHRK* into the side of the head of the wyrm. The blade slid in with little resistance. The wyrm rose from its sleep, dislodging my blade *SCREECH* as it gave an ear ringing roar, waking the other one! It then promptly stumbled toward the other one, revealing two front legs, followed by two hind legs. Taking my chance with its back turned, I LEAPED into the air and *SHING* impaled it on the top of its head, killing it in the process.
The second wyrm released an icy breath, colder than any winter I have experienced. I'm sure the armor reduced some of the cold, and yet, it was still bone chilling. I'd hate to think what would happen if I did not upgrade my armor. It sustained its attack for quite a while as I struggled to stumble toward cover. Finally, I ducked behind the dead wyrm for protection, or so I thought. Looking to my left, I saw it's front legs, a feature that wyrms do not have. My smile slowly faded.
The second wyrm its attack for a moment and I took the chance to look over the corpse to see what it was doing. EXTRUSIONS CAME FROM ITS BACK, AND THE WYRM TOOK FLIGHT! Once again, I am exposed to its onslaught. THE REPORT WAS WRONG!!! THEY WEREN'T WYRMS!! THEY WERE ELEMENTAL DRAGONS!! Staring at the flying dragon, I couldn't help but feel lied to.
"GOD FUCKING DAMN IT, I WASN'T PREPARED FOR FLYING CREATURES!" I caught myself screaming out loud.
DASHING away in time to avoid more cold, its breath followed me as I ran for the forest I recently emerged from. It gave another ear SCREECHING scream, and what came back was another scream, most likely that of the fire dragon. The ice dragon blew its breath blindly in my direction, as I duck behind a nearby tree. The tree itself slowly frooze from the low temperature, forcing me to move away before it gave way.
Crawling low, I slowly made my way away from where I originally was. The dragon seemed intelligent enough to realize it would be disadvantageous to run into the forest after me. After I got a fair distance, I tossed a rock in the opposite direction in which I moved. It took notice of the sound changing its attack to the direction of the rock, I took my chance to LEAP for it. Aware that I could not reach its neck, I decided to change my target to its wing. While I could not completely cut it off, I managed to damage it enough for it to struggle to keep flying.
It dropped and rose, dipping lower than before. Regardless, I was now in an open space, and as expected, down came its icy breath once more. Realizing its breath obstructed its vision, I DIVE TOWARD the breath instead of away, getting underneath the dragon, using its ice breath as cover. Not noticing I had moved under it, it made no attempt to fly higher or move away. Taking my chance once more, I LEAP and SLICE its stomach, inflicting a deep wound as it dropped to the ground from the pain. Swiftly, I leaped into its back, running toward its head. *SLICE SLICE* I cut off its wings as I ran up its back. With a final leap, *SHING* I dug my blade into the top of its head! Its body fell limp as I drew my sword from its head.
Taking a breather, my body realized just how cold the breath was, as my body began to shiver. Not even 10 seconds had passed *WROMB* when my body was engulfed by fire. It was hot… It was really hot. I leaped from the spot I once stood, and above me appeared an even larger dragon. The fire dragon was a deep red, almost black. It gave out a piercing cry. This dragon's breath was extremely hot, even with the armor. It also flew higher, so no use in trying to reach it. I somehow need to get it down or else my weapon will be useless.
Fire showered onto me once more as I FRANTICALLY dodge. After a while, I feel myself getting more tired. I can't keep this up for much longer. Only thing I can do now is try my best to wear out its fire. From what I know, fire dragons have been known to use up its source of fire during long battles.
Onslaught after onslaught of fire, it almost seemed never ending. The fire was just as strong as when the onslaught first started. What's more, it was starting to predict my movement instead of mindlessly aiming at me!
Fire turned into a condense fireball, *BOOM* switching between the two as I continued to run for my life. *WROMB BOOM BOOM BOOM WROMB*. Eventually, I felt my legs give out as I fell down to the ground. Not a single wasted moment, *BOOM* A fireball hit me directly where I was, throwing me around like a straw dummy *THUD*. Fireball *BOOM* after fireball*BOOM BOOM BOOM*, my body slowly felt as if it was cooking alive. It finally landed on the ground, but still breathing hellfire at me. Not knowing what else to do, I tried to let my sword take the blunt of the damage. My sword glowed red from the heat onslaught. I slowly began to give up hope for wearing out its fire….
But sure enough, the fire got considerably weaker. Taking my only chance, I GRIT my teeth through the burning pain, and slowly make my way against the fire. The fire was weaker, and yet, as I got closer to it, the hotter the fire felt. Still, it was my only chance, and I WILL NOT YIELD! I'll use the fire to block my movement. As long as I can get close enough, I can take it's head. Step by step, I got closer and closer. I felt the elemental resistance slowly give out as my flesh starts to *SIZZLE* slowly burn and my hair slowly takes ablaze.
Sure enough, I now stood in front of the dragon's opened mouth. Sword in hand, I PLUNGE my sword into its opened mouth, causing it to stop its attack. Swiftly moving to the side, with all my remaining strength, I slice at its neck. "PROTOTYPE: SUN BLADE". At the moment of contact, my sword transformed into a blade bathed in flame, SLICING clean through its thich neck. Its head fell *thump* from its limp body, and the sword returned to its unassuming look.
Falling to my knees, I reflected on what just happened. I can feel the elemental resistance slowly building back up as my burning hair puts itself out. Staring at the head of the dragon, a sense of pride overcame me. 3 dragons fell to my blade. This was the first time in forever that I was pushed almost to death. In triumph, I kicked at the limp body of the dragon.
"Take that!" I screamed out, instantly regretting my action as my leg went limp from the pain of the kick.
I got to work removing the special scale on their head as evidence of their defeat. I also took the rare opportunity to cut open the 3 dragons, taking their core as a reward. These things sell for insane value, almost 20 gold pieces a core. With enough luck, maybe the fire dragon will be an alpha. That would bring the price up to 40 gold pieces.
Cutting open the two ice dragons, their crystal cores felt warm. I kind of expected for them to be cold. Oh well. As soon as I cut open the fire dragon, it's core was larger than the other two, as expected from its size. Bingo, an alpha. Carefully, I removed the core and placed them in my slightly burned pouch. Taking my items, I decided to go after the goblins as well, which should be near.
"Still, how did the sword do that? A rune of sorts perhaps?"
I inspect the sword once more. From what I can see, there were no runes attached to the silver blade. "Well, whatever. I'll think about it when I get home. This is no time to think about it. Mission first".
As I walked toward the location of the goblin campsite, the elemental resistance slowly regenerated, reducing how much pain I felt with some of my burns.
"Now that I think about it, it's weird that goblins would be brave enough to go into a semi-war with dragons, surely unusual considering they usually cut their losses rather easily. Either way, I'm not paid to ask questions."
Reaching the camp site, the goblins instantly took notice of my scent. Looking around the place, it looked like a straightforward mission. 4 badly built straw huts, 40-50 goblins, a little more than reported, and a few archer goblins. In the middle of the village was a smoke camp along with a goblin banner. It appears that from the last sighting, they sent reinforcements to combat against the dragons. Either way, time to go to work.
Weapon in hand, I leaped into action. The goblins were slow and mindless, unlike the dragons I just faced. *SLICE* One down, *SLICE SHINK SLICE SLIK* five down, *SHINK SLICE SLIK SLICE SLICE*, 10 down. "PROTOTYPE: BLOODLUST".
My vision went darker. The world slowed down around me. The once normal goblins were slowed down. The blade on my hand felt light, weightless almost. *SLINK SLINK SLICE SLINK* 14 down. A sense of bliss made me crack a smile. •SLINK SLICE SLINK SLING SIK SLINK SLINK SLICE SLIC SLINK* 24 down. Their dark blood not having enough time to even splatter on my armor. *SLINK SLINK SLING SLINC SLIC SLIK SLICE SLIK* my mind went blank after that.
There I stood, my mind empty of thoughts. The world turned normal once more. Looking at the blade, there was not a drop of blood on it. My body felt good, a feeling that equaled that of eating delicious food. No, even more than that. Looking up from my blade, the scene before me was a slaughter. I wasn't on a mission. It didn't feel heroic. It was a disgusting sight.
Instantly, my breath hasten, as if I had run 10 miles without rest. My hand felt sore, and my leg gave out under me. My head hurts, and I can feel my leg go numb, as I desperately try to keep my eyes open, and failing in the end.
*WROMB*
I slightly opened my eyes. Water flowed into them, causing me to shut them tight once more. I hear people speaking.
"Extraction….sir, we don..... subject 3 has awak...."
I don't know what language they were speaking, nor where I am. Tubes connected into my large see-through water tube. I eventually got used to the sensation of water in my eye, and I got a better look at my surrounding. There were a lot of people outside. We were in a bright room with smooth walls and floor. They are looking at a bunch of glowing metal surfaces. Beside me were 5 other water tubes with what looked to be children in them. My head starts to hurt once more.
A man put his hand on the glass. I can't quite make out his face. He then proceeded to speak in his unknown language.
"You wi.... plea..... ember…"
My vision went black once more.
*WROMB*
I opened my eyes once more. The sun was warm on my face and the wind played with my hair. There I laid in the puddle of goblin blood. The stench hit my nose like a horse just kicked me in the face. I stood up and checked myself for any injuries. Apart from the blood soaking through my armor, nothing else was wrong.
"Another weird dream." I thought. "I really need to go and see Goodal or something. These dreams are really getting out of hand."
I walked toward the smoke signal and kicked it down. Tiredly, I swung my blade, taking down the banner pole, the banner also fell along with it.
"That should prevent goblins from setting camp for a while. If they are smart that is." I mumbled.
Looking at my silver sword, I can only wonder what this sword truly is. Even more than that, I wonder what it did to me, and what's the deal with the voice. Putting my sword away, I began my walk home.
"I wonder what Lily is doing."