Chapter 0: Prologue & Teamplay
It all started with a thud. Or well, several.
They found themselves surrounded by darkness, only one light at the end of it all.
Some tried to make sense of their current situation, and others just started randomly shouting, “What the hell is going on here?!” or “Where is this?!”
The voices were both of men and women.
They couldn’t tell from the pitch blackness, but something was for sure. There were several others in that pitch blackness.
“Hey, come on out!” Someone shouted from that light.
It was then that the people in there were able to see that where the light was coming from was actually a door.
A door that let light into whatever place they were in.
Despite the light, however, they couldn’t make out anything from the building they were in.
Though some had their doubts, they really had no option but to do as the male voice from before had said.
They stepped outside, and saw two armed guards wielding lances standing guard there.
“Finally. You are to head to Weiss’ office now that you are here, volunteer soldiers.” One of them said.
As if by some kind of destined cliche, one of the guards was tall and slim, while the other one was short and fat.
“Wait.” One of the tallest of the group stepped forward.
A
man, with long black hair made into a ponytail, wearing a long black coat, a pair of black pants and long black boots, had seemingly decided to make a stand for everyone.
His fiery red eyes focused on the tallest of the guards.
“What the hell are we even doing here? Where are our things? Where is this?”
“If you need answers, then Weiss has them. We can’t tell you anything much, other than this place is called Grimgar.”
“What, just that?” Another one from the remaining crowd said.
“We don’t even have our phones.” One tried patting their pockets, looking for the piece of technology, one of course they couldn’t find.
“Wait… what’s a phone?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’s a phone’? It’s a… Wait, what was it?”
The tall man from before looked around him and clicked his tongue.
“Tsk. We don’t even remember why the hell we are here, and you still need us to follow your orders? What kind of bullshit is this? Maybe I should take one of your lances and make a break for it….?”
His back arched as he bent his body forward.
Those with at least some fighting experience, or those who thought they had some, could tell immediately that this guy was getting ready to attack.
Still, it resembled no fighting styles they knew of. No, instead, the man with black hair resembled something else.
It was like an animal, one very ferocious, with sharp teeth and sharp claws, getting ready to pounce towards its prey, and eviscerate it with its bare hands. That was the impression this man gave.
Still, they couldn’t name the animal.
In the mind of some, the man evoked the image of a slim, somewhat small black animal with sharp yellow eyes. In the mind of others, the animal’s fur was slightly brown-ish and it was spotted, while its eyes were green. Others could imagine a gigantic animal, with brown fur.
In all cases, they were plenty sure that the animal was extremely vicious and probably carnivorous.
“Try if you can, boy.” The tall guard too readied himself for a battle, but by the time he tried to bend forward just as his opponent, the man with long black hair had already jumped forward and kneed him in the face.
“SHINING WIZARD!” He shouted as his knee made contact with the man’s nose. “Hehe, how’s them apples, huh?!”
As it should be obvious, the tall guard fell backwards, releasing his hold on his spear.
The fat guard readied his spear too, and was already thrusting it forward, about to impale the man’s side.
Still, he was able to take the lance the other guard had dropped, spin it in his hand and break the other man’s weapon.
After that, he spun the lance in his hand once more, before he hit the man’s temple with its pole.
The man fell to the floor too, unconscious.
“IF YOU GUYS ARE THIS WEAK, I FEEL SORRY FOR THIS TOWN! HEHEHE!”
With the two guards taken down, the man took the remains of the other spear and stood back up.
“Hey, you guys! Stop standing around like idiots and follow me! We’re gonna see what this shit is all about.” The man resembling a wild animal said. “I’m Nobuhiko, the leader of this pack until further notice. Follow me if you want some answers.”
With little to no option, the others looked at each other, before deciding to follow the man.
“Well, welcome to Grimgar.” A
man with white hair, standing behind a counter in the small office Nobuhiko had guided the others to, greeted the people that had just arrived.
“We are kind of short in soldiers right now, so we need people like you guys to fill in.” The man started explaining. “So, you are here to become Volunteer soldiers. Only if you want to, of course.”
The man talked lazily.
He seemed to not even have the motivation to do at least that, and his piercing red eyes, almost like Nobuhiko’s, seemed to look past the people in his office rather than at them.
“We are giving you 10 golds to start off with. You can live comfortably with those for about a week or so. Maybe more if you don’t live with too much luxury.. But, if you want to, you can join one of the guilds for the low price of 7 silvers and learn a job or something. It should be helpful trying to move forward, I think.”
The man reached for a cup of coffee that was in his table, and brought it to his lips.
Just as he was about to take his mask off and drink off of it, Nobuhiko kicked the table, making the man spill some of his coffee right on the mask he was wearing.
“Hey, we don’t want any of that shit! Tell us why we are here, why we can’t remember shit, and how we can get back to our fucking homes, right FUCKING now!”
Some gasped, and some others took a defensive stance, as if a fight was about to break out and they would also become involved in it.
It was over as fast as it started.
The gigantic blade of a scythe that the man behind the counter produced from seemingly out of nowhere was now around Nobuhiko’s neck.
It’s blade was inscribed with several runes, and flashed with the bright luster of silver. If anything, it was quite an expensive weapon. And sharp too.
The blood coming from Nobuhiko’s neck said as much.
“Try that again one more fucking time.” The man with white hair said, his eyes almost firing up as he talked. “Spill my fucking coffee ONE MORE FUCKING TIME and I’m taking your head off!”
“Whoa, what the fuck?! Try if you can, bitch!” Nobuhiko answered, taking the scythe’s blade with his hand.
“Heh. Got balls at the very least.” It was impossible to tell what kind of expression the man was wearing because of his mask, but something was for sure, and that was that the man was smirking.
He then lowered his weapon and sighed.
“I can’t tell you any of that, ‘cause I don’t know either. You can do two things,” He raised two fingers. “Try your best to live in this land of Grimgar, where livelihood is quite easy if you ask me, or just leave yourself to die in some corner. The choice, in the end, is yours. I want to at least give you a fighting chance.”
“Fine, I’ll bite.” Nobuhiko said. “Why is living in this place so easy?”
“I’m glad you asked.” The man said, before pulling his mask off.
He was indeed grinning, and he took a deep breath after he took his mask off.
“By the way, this is just a fashion statement.” He said, referring to his mask. “In any case, life here is easy because you can live just fine with at least 2 silvers. Sure, the food is shit and you sleep in haystacks, but you at least scrape by. You don’t have to work or anything, you can just stare at the stars and ponder what the fuck you are doing with your life.”
“And what do we do if we don’t want to just ‘scrape by’?” Someone else from the group finally spoke up.
This time, it was a
man with green hair, even taller than Nobuhiko. He wore glasses, a long sleeved shirt and sweatpants.
Even through his shirt, however, it was clear that he was not only athletic, but incredibly muscular.
“And who might you be?” The man with white hair said with a raised eyebrow.
“My name is Araya. Now, I’d be grateful if you could answer my question.” He said as he propped his glasses up.
“All right. I guess my own introduction has been delayed until now, but I think you can guess my name from what the guards told you. I’m Weiss.”
Weiss then shrugged and continued his explanation.
“Now, if you don’t want to just scrape by, you need a Job. And mind you, it is not a normal job like those you have writing shit in some paper or anything. These Jobs teach you how to fight, they teach you how to become a full fledged fighter who can fare for himself. Still, it is not a good idea to go solo at it, so people usually form what is known as ‘Parties’ in this world. They are groups of people that get together with different Jobs to make up for the shortcomings of their teammates.”
“Okay, but why do we need to know how to fight?” It was now a woman who stepped out from the group.
She was fairly short, and wore an almost ridiculous outfit. Her short purple hair was mostly obscured by her yellow hood, and when she stepped forward, someone let out an snicker.
She turned to the group with eyes like daggers however, and heard someone gasping. After all, she was not screwing around either.
“Are there things we should be worried about?” The splitting image of the girl from before also stepped out from the crowd.
Twins, maybe.
“I’m Leo.” The first one introduced herself.
“And I’m Mio.” The second one followed.
“Just in case you were wondering.” They said in perfect unison. Even their outfits were coordinated to the point that it almost seemed unnatural how in tune these two twins were.
“In fact, there are.” Weiss answered. “Monsters lurk around here. They often leave valuables behind when you slay them, so we, the Moonlit Owls, have started a business revolving around that.”
He then reached for something inside his desk.
He took out a pair of dog-tags, made out of silver and with his name inscribed on them. They were covered by some kind of black plastic too and chained together.
“We offer these for the modest price of 20 golds. They certify you as a bona fide Volunteer Soldier, which comes with its own benefits, such as being able to accept quests and winning even more money.”
“So, what you are saying is,” Nobuhiko started.
“That we need to slay monsters and bring back what they leave to town and sell it.” Araya continued.
“If we don’t want to starve, at least.” Leo and Mio finished.
“Precisely. Now, the explanation is over.” Weiss pulled his mask back into place. As if changing to become a completely different person, his eyes became lax and bored again as he shooed everyone from his office with a hand. “Now, get outta here. Go make a name for yourselves or whatever. I’ll be waiting here for the sweet, sweet cash to arrive.”
And so, Nobuhiko took who he deemed to be the strongest people in the group. Araya, Leo and Mio were only some of his newly founded party.
But our story is not about them, but the remains of the group that arrived at the same time.
They were the strong, but these people…..
“All right, there’s no way we can lose this now!” One of them shouted as he ran through the forest. He finally jumped and landed on a cliff, where another man was waiting for him.
He was wearing full body armor. Iron armor, though it was not shiny nor new. The only thing he did not wear was a helmet.
He wielded in his left hand a round shield. It was not a really big shield, just big enough to cover his whole forearm and his chest. The only design it had in it was a small circle along its outline.
In his right hand, he wielded a straight sword. It was just as big as his arm. Simple and straightforward design. It was designed to be useful but not flashy. Cheap too.
This young man is Akito. A man who arrived to this world the same time as the others, that fateful day. One of Nobuhiko’s leftovers, who said he looked like he’d ‘fool around’ too much.
He had aligned himself with the Warrior’s guild. Wielding a sword and shield, his job in this 6 people party was to absorb damage in the frontlines.
“You said the same last time, and you kind of had your butt kicked. Perhaps this time, it’ll go better though. Long as you follow the plan, of course.” The
man on the cliff replied.
He wore brown, baggy robes and a long, green scarf. Underneath those, he wore a light chainmail and, obviously, his everyday clothes.
He wielded a long, oak staff, its head carved in the shape of a griffin. Its resemblance to the actual animal was astonishing, and the details, all the way to its fur and feathers, were so detailed one could almost tell it was real.
He is Chihaya, a druid. Those who communicate with the Mother Earth and use magic to not only command some aspects of nature to their will, but also to transform into their soul animal.
Like with Akito, he was left behind by Nobuhiko after he said that he didn’t look capable of doing much, if anything at all.
Between himself and Akito, they had gathered this group of 6 people to make into a party.
“Are you in position, Ryouhei?” Chihaya turned to a tree, where there was seemingly nothing.
However, a rustle behind the leaves revealed that there was indeed someone there.
“Here and ready to snipe those goblin fuckers.” The
man hidden behind the leaves answered.
He wore light, leather armor, a cloak and wielded a bow. He wore a pair of relatively short brown pants, long brown boots and a pair of squared frame glasses.
Despite what seemed to be a lack of eyesight, he still wielded a long, wooden bow and had an arrow trained on the ground, as if waiting for something to come this way.
Ryouhei, a man aligned with the Hunter’s guild. His job was to make traps, concoctions and even hunt for food when necessary.
He wielded a bow, but also had a pair of short swords hanging around his hip. His focus was on long range attacks rather than melee, but he would engage in hand to hand combat if necessary.
He himself had said he was the DPS of the party when he returned from his training, before he was reminded that he did not know what DPS meant.
“Could the boys stop their yapping and get ready for this? You know how we got our behinds kicked last time, right?” This time, it was a
girl who spoke up. Or well, more like shouted.
A group of three women stood fairly far away from the group of men
Orie is this woman’s name. She was wearing a white shirt, a white skirt, both pieces of clothing with a blue outline, and a black pair of pantyhose.
She had a small mace/staff in one of her hands. Despite the low rate equipment they had, the girl’s mace was actually forged out of gold.
Her Job is Priest. A healer that can cure her allies with white magic. They also can double as part of the vanguard with enough experience, but so far the girl has stuck to just healing.
So far, her role was staying back and healing the party when needed. So far, her services were more needed that one would initially expect.
“Really. Last time my song was on point, so I blame it all on you guys for not doing your job properly. Get it together.” Another
girl followed up what Orie had said before.
She wore a loose shirt, that would’ve otherwise been open if not for the silver emblem that held it together. Below that, she wore a white sleeveless shirt, and pinned to her chest and going around her shoulder before falling down her back was a simple cape. .
In her hands, she held an instrument. A small, rather simple lute. On her hips, a single dagger hanged there, just for self protection.
From the party as a whole, she was often referred to as the girl who looked the richest, though that was only because of her Job that required her to look the part.
Koito, the bard. A job that requires the person to sing rallying songs for her allies, boosting their abilities with each different song she sings.
Though not a part of the vanguard, a bard can also fight with a dagger, being sly and quick with their targets. Koito, however, focused mostly on just singing for her allies and, if push came to shove, she’d also probably resort to one of the curse songs she’s learnt.
Must be added that her singing voice is not only good, but harmonious and rather beautiful. Sadly, however, the Goblins do not seem soothed by her songs, rather they feel menaced. Often, they change their target to the bard or healer if they have the chance.
“Kuku…” The last one of the party laughed in an odd way.
Rolling their eyes, the other two girls knew what was to come, and how horribly boring it was going to be.
“‘Tis time for us to show our true strength! Mere goblins can’t break our impregnable defense! After all, I, Megumi of The Crimson Eyes, will show them up with my strongest magic, Explosive Magic!”
The
girl wore a red one piece dress, a witch’s hat, a belt around her waist, a black thighhigh on her left leg and a bandage covering her right leg, along with a pair of brown boots and fingerless gloves.
Of course, that’s leaving out the entirely pointless eyepatch she was wearing. She was not trying to conceal anything, she just wanted to wear it because it was ‘cool’.
She wields a long, wooden staff with some kind of precious stone at its center.
As Megumi herself had suggested, her Job was Mage. A person capable of calling forth magic to attack and hurt their enemies.
She keeps to the rear and, despite her ramblings about Explosive Magic, she still can’t do anything like that and can merely use fire magic.
Even so, her magic is quite potent, and she often brags about her proficiency in magic and natural talent for it.
Together, these six people are a party. A party that, last week, was beaten by a group of goblins, 5 goblins, might be added.
Even with the advantage of numbers, they were still unable to win and went on another day eating mushrooms and the small time game Ryouhei manage to catch.
Due to the sudden increase of the goblin population around town, larger animals had become scarce as the goblins hunted them down.
Most of them migrated elsewhere and now, only rabbits and, when they are unlucky, rats, were the only thing that their hunter could catch.
4 days had gone by with the same process.
Go out in the forest, try to kill a group of goblins, get their asses kicked. Wash, rinse and repeat.
At this point, most would’ve give up. After all, what the heck? They still had several golds left and a group of six could make for some decent meals every now and then.
But no. Something drove them to continue trying.
Luckily for them, humans tend to adapt to the different situations they find themselves in.
After 4 days in Grimgar trying to make some profit, nearing the fifth, and with no winnings at all from their little excursions to the forest, the 6 of them finally got together to devise an actual strategy.
Chihaya was the one that did most of the planning, though Ryouhei and Akito cooperated a lot too.
While Akito’s mind was not entirely made for strategy, he offered to coordinate most of the operation, making sure that everyone was in place when they needed to and, if needed be, give orders if necessary.
Ryouhei offered some good insights on what the behavior of the goblins would be once they started their attack, having learned some of their habits and actions over their past few skirmishes. He also laid several traps for the goblins.
Chihaya assigned each of them a special role, something they would have to completely focus on for this battle to be a success.
Orie often corrected Chihaya’s strategy, pointing out some of its weak points, if there were any.
Koito offered some valuable insight and a good distraction for the goblins once their attack started.
Megumi laughed like a maniac in a corner as she had nothing of substance to add.
In the end, the six managed to coordinate what they believed to be a perfect strategy.
Lying in wait on top of a tree, Ryouhei awaited for the group of goblins to arrive.
They had been following them for quite a while, seeing what they were doing and if they were, by any chance, making some kind of patrol or excursion.
Apparently, the first option was the correct one.
The group of 5 goblins was circling a single area, and killing any animal they came across.
Perhaps they were hunting for food, but after killing several rabbits, a rat and just barely catching a fish, they still seemed to not be satisfied.
So, the group put their plan into motion and, at last, the group of mobs was finally approaching the hutner’s line of sight.
He breathed deeply and then exhaled.
He pouted his lips and then emitted a sound, resembling the hooting of an owl.
It was the signal that made everyone’s ears perk up and ready their plan.
Chihaya was standing on top of a hill, and as soon as he heard the signal, he spun his staff in a single hand and whispered a prayer.
“Ataelleiya, God Of The Wilderness, grant me the strength of the griffin in this, my time of need.”
He was not a religious man, or at least not before Grimgar. The guild of druids was strict in their prayer and offerings, for he was the source of their power, and they had to respect him and cherish him.
After his small prayer, a small green circle expanded from his feet and lines, resembling the branches of a tree, appeared all along the circle as well.
“I’ll get going then.” Akito said, patting Chihaya’s back and then jumping off the cliff the two of them were standing on.
He then ran towards Ryouhei’s land of sight.
A group of five goblins, of all colors and sizes, was lazily walking through the natural pathway that had formed in the forest after so many years.
“All right, girls! Let’s all get to our positions!” Orie clapped her hands.
Koito nodded and Megumi spun her staff in her right hand, before readying it behind her for battle.
They both ran off in different directions.
It was then that Ryouhei’s eyes widened.
His whole being felt a jolt of excitement, and then a pang of slight guilt.
He then released the arrow that was supporting against the bow’s string.
It flew true towards its objective.
The goblin leading the front had its foot impaled by Ryouhei’s arrow.
“KRYAAAAAGH!” It screeched.
Had it not been because they had already experienced the same screech before, when they managed to hurt a goblin even slightly, they would’ve been stunned by it.
Though impressed by the arrow, the other goblins readied their weapons and were quick to get into their own battle positions.
Apparently, a group that had survived several other skirmishes with humans before.
It did not matter, however, and they continued with their plan.
Rushing in head first into the action, Akito brought his sword and shield together to make a horrifying metal screech.
The goblins sure were stunned by it, but more than stunned, they were scared.
Wearing full body armor and rushing towards them was a human that, if even for a moment, resembled a much darker entity.
Akito grinned and then shouted.
His shout finally made the goblins turn back and run for their lives.
The first part of the plan had been a success. Isolate he who walked at the front.
They were not exactly smart, but goblins had a brain, at the very least, and probably thought some things through. Leaders around here usually walked at the front of their pack.
So, the leader was now isolated.
Because leaders were the ones that hit the hardest, this one was probably better fought by their warrior. Akito stayed back, even after the other goblins had run away.
Ryouhei jumped down from the tree he was in and chased the goblins.
“Well, now it’s just you and me.” Akito smirked and readied his sword and put his shield forward.
He hit the front of his shield with his sword as if to taunt the goblin.
“Come on! I know you ain’t so frail as to keep yourself pinned down by that thing.” He taunted again.
The goblin gritted its teeth and reached for the arrow. Stupidly, it broke the thing in two, leaving just a bit of it sticking out of his foot.
He readied his make-do sword (which was more like the size of a dagger, really) and faced Akito with a growl.
“Now that’s more like it!” He smirked.
Still, he felt a slight feeling of… fear. It was at the back of his mind, a fear he couldn’t quite identify.
It didn’t matter, though. He had to conquer it and push forward. Or rather, push the goblin down and take him out.
The goblin leapt forward and brought its sword down on Akito.
He was able to guard against the first blow skillfully with his shield.
‘I knew it. He is really tough.” He thought to himself.
His knees arched forward some and he had to bend them some to be able to receive the attack and minimize the damage.
He was about ready to counterattack, and he was about to swing his sword in an upwards arc, but the goblin pulled out a second dagger and lunged past Akito’s shield.
“Guh!” He grunted, and just about managed to move his upper body back, the dagger barely scratching his chin.
Luckily, it didn’t cut anything.
Seeing that his attack failed, the goblin clicked his tongue and impulsed himself off Akito’s shield.
“Bastard.” Akito simply whispered, rubbing the back of his hand against his chin and cleaning the slight scratch he had left there.
There was some blood all right.
“He isn’t as dumb after all.” He shook his head.
Before coming here, Chihaya said something.
“It’s kill…” Akito started.
“Or be killed. “Far away from Akito’s position, Ryouhei was still in pursuit of the goblins.
They had by then calmed down and weren’t flailing wildly as they did before. Even that slight change in their behavior did not escape Ryouhei.
They were probably trying to lead him towards an ambush, thinking he was alone.
Ryouhei smirked.
It seemed that the leader of this pack was the only smart one, because they couldn’t tell there was a rather obvious pitfall trap in front of them.
The hunter did not even intend to make the goblins fall into this trap, he planned to make this trap a bait that would eventually lead to the actual trap. But they fell into it.
The floor collapsed below their feet.
One managed to grab to the ledge, the one in the rear, but the others would fall to the bottom of the pit. It was not too deep, but they wouldn’t be able to climb out unless the four of them worked together, and the fourth one seemed intent on not letting himself fall down.
Ryouhei leapt forward too, past the goblin holding to the ledge and put the string of his bow around the neck of another one of the goblins.
He threw the creature forward and it hit the floor with a loud thud. Then, he hanged the bow around his neck and reached for the blades hanging from his hips.
Wielding a mace and a shield, the creature, though still dumbfounded, readied for battle as well.
The others continued to fall, but not for too long.
“Alve Ragna Let Alnus!” Megumi chanted, activating her fire magic and propelling another goblin outside the pitfall.
It fell right on its face, and it rubbed its head as it incorporated back to its feet.
The goblin that was holding to the ledge just then managed to hit ground, and the sudden explosion of fire magic scared it. It ran back the way it came.
The goblin facing the mage growled as it looked at her, expecting the girl to become scared at its ferocity.
The mage, however, put her staff below her arm, bent her knees slightly and put a single hand forward.
Seeing her adopt a fighting stance, or at least something that resembled that, the goblin hurried to its feet and reached for its weapon as well.
A straight sword, an actual straight sword just about the size of the goblin itself. Funny thing, it was just centimeters shorter than Megumi.
“Tune of Creation… Tune, tune, tunnel the flames. Break, break, break into the tune of creation.” An harmonious voice filled the woods, accompanied by the sound of a lute.
It did not exactly rhyme, so it was not exactly a song. More like a chant.
The same chant was repeated over and over, and the goblin’s ears perked up. It knew what to do.
It hit the floor with both hands as if to distract Megumi and then ran past her, heading the direction of the voice.
“I can’t believe it worked!” The girl seemed truly surprised, raised eyebrows and everything. She had dropped her dramatic flair just for that moment.
“Now, then… Are you prepared to feel the sting of my all mighty explosion magic?!” She seemed excited as she pointed her staff at the goblin in the bottom of the pitfall.
“Though it’s only fire magic.” Ryouhei said with a sigh.
The goblin that ran towards the voice seemed in a hurry to find it. It knew that if the girl singing ended her chant, then they would be in some real trouble.
As if that wasn’t already the case.
Finally finding the redheaded bard, it smirked. It could still be stopped. Seemingly, the girl was in the last part of her ‘song’.
She was still reciting, playing her lute with an unprecedented concentration and even love.
An easy target, it thought and then It jumped forward and swung its mace at the girl.
“Break, Tune of Creation!” She finished her chant, and with a final brush through the lute’s strings, she shouted, “AAAAAAH!”
It was not a buffing song, as most bards started a fight with. It was one of the many cursed songs Koito knew.
Her voice took form and roped around the goblin, leaving it constrained.
“I’m sorry.” She said after she was finally finished with the goblin’s restrainment.
She reached for her dagger and walked towards the goblin.
It struggled to break free, but seemingly it was impossible. At least, for the time being.
When she was already near enough the creature, she lifted her dagger and pointed it at the goblin’s heart. It was in the left side of its chest, as any human’s.
She wanted to bring her dagger down. She really did.
“With this, we can eat. It’s not only for me, it’s for everyone. I need to kill it. I need to kill it if I want to eat. I need to kill it if I want some money. I need to. I need to. Chihaya said so. Then why… why can’t I move the dagger down?!”
Her mind was filled to the brim with all of her confused sentiments.
Her hand shook with fear and anger. She went through a lot of training to be able to do this. Then why can’t she bring herself to kill it?
That’s simple. She is scared. Scared of losing respect for life, something that seems so sacred and that could be easily taken away with a single swing of her dagger…
She is not prepared. She is not prepared to take a life just because of her needs.
Is it selfish? Is it egocentric? It probably is….
And then, as she was thinking about it, the goblin broke out of Koito’s chant magic.
It dashed forward and tackled the girl, throwing her to the ground and then rolling around, past some bushes.
“W-What?! When did you get out?!”
She struggled to break free from the monster’s hold, but was unable to do it.
They disappeared into the depths of the forest.
Meanwhile, Akito was still fighting the goblin who was not only strong, but also smarter than the average goblin.
It attacked with two daggers at once, making Akito defend himself from the first thrust and then moving in with his second dagger for the kill.
It didn’t take long for Akito to adapt to the goblin’s strategy, though.
The next time the goblin thrust the dagger in its left hand, Akito did as he had done until then.
He blocked the attack with his shield, and as soon as the second attack came, he was ready.
Sword in hand, he too thrust his sword forward.
There was a slight delay between the first and second attack, and Akito made use of that.
His sword jammed into the goblin’s shoulder, and it let out a pained cry.
Its body was sent backwards then, but it was still standing. He was indeed really tough.
The next part of the plan was approaching then.
A goblin, scared out of its mind, ran back the way it came. An stupid tactic, thinking that the man that had scared him before was right there, fighting the leader of its pack.
Another of their patterns that Ryouhei had informed them off.
The weaker one was always at the back of the pack. It seems that in this pack weak was also equals to stupid.
Still, seeing a human trading blows with its leader would simply scare it away and it would be an idiotic back and forth movement, and that was not the way the strategy went.
Akito then slammed his shield against the side of the goblin he was fighting with, throwing it into the woods and following after it.
The scared goblin ran past them without even noticing them. Directly to Chihaya, who was patiently waiting for it to arrive.
Almost everything was going according to plan.
Hopefully, their human morals wouldn’t get in the way now.
“It’s kill or be killed.” Chihaya said again as the goblin came into his line of sight.
