"Are you okay, Aaron?" Augustus approached, staring at the mutilated pieces of demons scattered across the ground, frowning after a moment of observation, "Where is Aurora?"
"She was dragged into the cave. I'm sorry, I could barely move." Aaron, on his knees, was at his limit. He panted for breath, his sword shattered into a million shards from his blow.
"Into the cave?" Augustus turned from Aaron, staring further into the tunnelling cave as his brows knitted. The frequency of torches on the walls dropped the further in he looked.
"Dammit, I should have brought a healer." Aaron complained, slamming his fists into the ground, his eye corners bleeding. He grabbed the earth, struggling to stand to his feet.
"Don't beat yourself up." Augustus swung his blade, splitting a goblin struggling for life in two halves in a graceful arc, "I will go retrieve her. Arlene is safe with Ylil, go get rest."
Aaron groaned, then collapsed to the ground. Augustus turned to him, then sighed, "I will have Lily handle this when I get back. He won't die from the wounds, and I have to hurry."
Augustus frowned, lifting his gaze from Aaron back to the tunnel. He walked to the wall by his right, grabbing a torch, then turned back to the cave, "This won't be fun... for me."
He took calm step forward, then slowly increased his pace the deeper he went in the cave, his eyes scanning the area. A smiley goblin leapt out of the shadows to meet his icy blade.
Augustus swung his blade in swift intersecting acrs, so demure and calculated, sweeping goblins off their severed feet and beheading their grinning faces, holding his torch tight.
"Didn't Aurora have «Blazing Hearts»? A large area of effect heal she used in the attack.' A frown formed on his face as he thought to the past, 'Is she hiding it? In this situation?'
His best guess was that she hadn't learned it. Her presence explained why Aaron and his wife had come here, as Aurora had just as much influence as Melissa in the dying village.
Even though Melissa was practically the former chief's adopted heir, Aurora was one of the few who stood with the village against the rak invasion when everyone else buckled.
"So after all that, why drag Aaron and his wife into his mess?" Augustus paused, staring at a goblin who'd hidden behind a thick crack in the wall, and returning its smiley face.
Seeing him twist his lips to form such a weird smile, his sword dripping wet with goblin blood, the monster turned on its heel and ran for its life. Augustus trailed it with his eyes.
"Interesting. It seems to have somewhere to run to?" Augustus withdrew his scary smile, flicking the blood off his blade and taking quick steps further into the cave, "Does this—!"
Augustus spun around and blocked the descending claw with his blade, bracing the force that rocked throughout his body. A massive goblin towered over him, its eyes shining red.
"—cave lead somewhere important?" Augustus spun his blade with an adept grace, years of honing the art of swordsmanship poured into the delicate weave, slashing the goblin's arm into a thousand pieces that rained to the ground, "I'm curious."
The goblin roared with pain, then swung its other arm in a fit. Augustus sidestepped then stepped forward, rotating his wrist and stabbing forward, "I call this, Demonic Finisher."
His sword slashed through the goblin's arm, piercing into its chest and stabbing out back, spraying blood across the ground as Augustus dashed back. He turned from the fell goblin.
"These things are too weak to stop me." Augustus mocked as he forged on, slashing down more goblins until he reached the end of the tunnelling cave, and his eyes narrowed, "Oh."
It led back to the surface, but this side â€" his pupils narrowed â€" brimmed with demons. It was a thriving settlement, teaming with countless goblins and tamed beasts, "Oh, I see it."
Augustus nodded his head, thinking back to the raks and the E-ranked demon horde. He'd seen a few too many demons then, attributing it to the many that joined the rising horde.
Only now does he see where they had joined from. He noticed Aurora chained at the core of the settlement, some goblins gathered around hurling stones at her. He stood, laughing.
"I guess she hasn't obtained the skill yet. I need her. I can use her." Augustus laughed but his hands trembled round his blade, his aura shifting from a gleaming grey to a fiery gold.
There were countless makeshift buildings in his path, and it would take moments for him to reach her. Even with Lily here, crossing that distance before something bad happened...
Augustus's aura exploded, and the ground around him exploded, the cave walls cracking up and trees around him bursting apart. The goblins paused, turning their heads in query.
Who the fuck has dared trespass into their territory? A blazing sword, of course! As they pulled out their crooked daggers and lifted wooden bows, Augustus crouched and dashed.
The force from his dashing forward created a massive sonic explosion that brought their weak makeshift houses crashing down. The goblins in range got torn apart from the blast.
He swung his blade, descending upon the goblins. All the goblins met was a blazing flame shrouding their vision, and they were reduced to diced ashes that scattered into the wind.
In a few seconds, all the goblins from their wooden gate to where Aurora sat chained to a pole were slaughtered. Augustus sighed, straightening his spine, "Hope you're still alive?"
Aurora groaned weakly, her body shrouded in heavy bruises. Augustus calmly lifted a feet and crushed her chains' lock under it, freeing her, then he turned to the goblins, laughing.
A good laugh could clear one's head of wicked thoughts, he believed. Augustus swung his blade, releasing a devastating crescent of flames upon the remnant of the village, "Haha."