Alice jumped up, surprised by the sudden female voice in her head, looking around confused.
"Did you hear that voice?" Alice asked Lucas who was walking next to the disoriented girl.
"You mean Damian's annoying screeching?" He pointed towards the fire mage in front of him.
[They can't hear me, sweetheart.]
The voice laughed teasingly in Alice's head.
"Who are you?" She didn't get an answer. "It must be someone's rent."
[Exactly! Now go kill those pesky goblins ♡.]
"Why are you doing this to me?" She really needs an answer.
The rest of her team saw that she was lost deep in thought. Not concentrating at all on their conversation.
"Hey Alice, stop daydreaming and come with us!" Bella scoffed, annoyed by the fact that they weren't going as fast as she would like to.
"Ye move your ass! We don't have all day. Damian mimicked Bella's body language to piss her off.
They started arguing again. Making Alice and Lucas laugh.
[You will meet me very soon... Depending on how skilled you are.]
Alice was really confused why someone decided to contact her this way. But she couldn't spare time thinking about it. Their focus couldn't waver from this quest, as it was her only ticket to affording tuition.
The four of them continued on their way.
...
Around four hours have passed since they left the guild hall. Which wasn't too bad considering their pace.
All four of them ran upwards a cliff nearby, freezing the moment they saw the scenery in front of them, their mouths wide open.
The small goblin village that was described on the poster looked more like a huge city. They could see thousands of goblins bustling around and working together.
Its sheer mass contrasted the small forest around it.
The enormous wooden walls lined out the terrain this village took as its own. Their huts, although primitive looking, were impressive for a species like goblins. Maybe even too impressive for what the goblins were.
Footprints of a massive beast could be seen on the road leading to the biggest building in their village.
Without prior knowledge, no one would figure out this was the encampment mentioned on the poster.
"I... I think we should let the guild know." Alice took a step back. This was not what they signed up for. It was supposed to be a short quest with maybe twenty or thirty goblins. Not something this big.
"Yeah, I also think so." Damian took a step back, getting ready to make a run for it.
But they couldn't just leave, as a team of goblin scouts had already spotted them.
RAAAAAHHH!
One of the short green creatures blew a horn. Alarming all the other goblins.
"Shit!" Lucas unsheathed his sword. "We need to fight!"
The swordsman took two steps back. Protecting the rest of them.
Because of the structure of this cliff, the only way to safety was through this group of monsters.
"I will buy you some time! Prepare anything to run away!" He shouted. Stressed out, sweat pouring down his forehead.
The growing screams of hundreds of goblins approaching made all of them tremble in fear.
"There is no way we will survive this." Alice was on the verge of tears as this thought hit. She looked around, seeing Bella's face full of tears, Damian's trembling hands, and Lucas's uneven breathing. The thought of losing them was unbearable.
"I have to at least help them escape..." The selfless way of thinking pushed her forward.
"That won't work! There are too many of them!" Alice ran next to him, taking the role of a leader.
Deep down, the only thing she wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry, but she knew that there was only one way to get out of this. And that way would be with all four of them giving their all.
"Bella! Damian! Prepare the spells!" Alice's voice was loud and clear, unlike the rest of the body, which was trembling.
She felt responsible for their well-being. After all, if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't even be here.
The rest of the goblin army began rushing towards them. Hundreds of small soldiers screaming and screeching.
The boy at the front blocked their blows with his armor. Draining the mana of all the ones who dared to come in contact.
Alice had to use her mana sparingly in case a need for it arose later, grouping the green creatures together with earth walls.
Their heads poked through the holes in the spell, almost breaking through.
"Alice! Move away!" Damian shouted as he tossed an enormous ball of fire their way. The spell fell onto the goblins behind the walls.
Screams and groans could be heard as the green creatures burned to death.
"Good job, Damian!" Bella cheered.
THUD!
The fire wizard was on the ground panting. The reason for this was obvious, being mana exhaustion.
Bella wanted to scream at him for being so reckless, but that one attack gave a much-needed crack in the enemy defenses.
"Lucas, grab Damian! Bella, you jump on his back!" Alice kept commanding them. Not letting possibly the only opportunity go to waste.
ROAR!
A scream so utterly terrifying that it gave them goosebumps spread throughout the forest. Birds started flying away; animals desperately searched for shelter as the earth shook with each step the source of this sound took.
"Quick! Faster!!" Her voice cracking. The hope that was present moments ago started shrinking.
The three teens did as they were told to.
"You will blast air as hard as you can. You understand?" It was hard getting through to Bella; the whole situation overwhelmed the poor girl.
The time was running out quickly as the beast and goblins kept creeping closer.
"sigh Lucas... Hold tight, okay?" Alice formed a smile on her face. The threat was too great to waste any more time by sitting still.
"Alice, don't do anything you will regret." The swordsman was sent flying before he could finish his sentence. He could barely look back at Alice, but the thing under the cliff drew more attention.
"Alice!! Watch out!!" He screamed as hard as it was possible; even through the pain, he didn't stop. But the distance between the two of them was far too great to hear each other.
Lucas lost sight of Alice as he fell into the crowns of the forest trees. The landing was hard and left the three teens bruised, but there was no time to waste.
The swordsman took his friends and ran towards the guild hall to beg for help. "There is no way she can run away from THAT thing."
Alice looked down the cliff. Seeing the source of the screams.
A goblin king three stories high stood there, staring at the cliff. His muscles were as thick as a brick, and there was a crown sitting on top of the head. A giant greatsword as tall as the creature itself rested on its back.
The beast tried to climb up, but its sheer size and weight were too much for the wall to support it. Crumbling under the pressure of the goblin's palms.
"Oh shit, maybe there is a chance after all." She began running down the cliff, trying not to trip over the countless corpses.
Unbeknownst to Alice, the goblin king hurled an earth-splitting strike, the blade cutting through the cliff sounding more like scissors going through paper. When the blade finished its arc, the cliff crumbled. Making the girl on top fall as well.
Alice somehow broke her fall, but she was now surrounded by this tall beast and its minions.
OINK OINK!
Its subjects were jumping with joy while approaching their target.
"At least I was able to save them." The bruised girl chuckled under her nose. There was nothing else she could do to save herself, but the thought of those three being safe reminded her of the day she died.
One of the goblins jumped at her, screeching loudly as the dagger in his flesh dug into the flesh.
...
But it was the goblin's flesh that the blade ended in. To everyone's surprise, especially Alice's, she unconsciously kept fighting.
"Why? I already did enough. The warm feeling inside kept getting warmer and warmer. Until it felt like there was a fire inside her.
Her heartbeat rose as adrenaline pumped through the veins. The fire pushing her forward kept screaming, "I want to live!"
It was a foreign feeling. Back when she was alive on Earth, there weren't many things that could be described as "precious" to Alice, but here there were countless reasons to keep going for.
Elizabeth
Bella
Damian
Lucas
Jack
"I'm so stupid." The girl fixed her stance, her eyes meeting the goblin king's furious gaze. "Come on, you overgrown green pig."
The surrounding goblins attacked all at once, overwhelming her. The only way to not get obliterated instantly was to go all out from the beginning. There was no reason to save the mana if the moment she will need it for will never come.
CRUNCH! TEAR!
Sounds of the goblins bodies getting dismantled one by one filled the area.
The corpses quickly piled up around Alice, yet she didn't even realize as their onslaught was neverending.
Each attack they threw, she dodged with expert fashion. The adrenaline making all of it possible.
ROAR!
Unluckily for her, the goblin king wasn't planning on just standing still. He took the enormous greatsword into his hands again and prepared another strike.
Alice wasn't able to dodge it due to the constant rush of its subjects.
The Goblin King's muscles flexed as he prepared a devastating attack. Not even for a second did the well-being of his subject cross his mind.
The massive piece of metal, many times bigger than Alice's body, flew her way.
CRACK!
A loud sound of something breaking could be heard across the entire forest...