POV Anna Silverus

Anna had always been righteous. When the public known failure saved her life and got framed as a klutz for it, she wanted to speak up. But the young marquess Stonewall had beaten her to it and completely destroyed Aron’s image. When he had later wanted to join Lady Nightshield’s group she coldly snubbed him. Anna had been too weak-willed to publicly defend him. Yet she couldn’t simply leave him hanging. Because of that, she had told her group she didn’t feel well and had quickly left the dungeon after they had entered. Jane had been the only one that had seen through her lies, but thankfully hadn’t acted.

At first she hadn’t been sure if her decision was a colossal mistake, but soon she realized he was not in the slightest how the public portrayed him. He not only rescued her again, he led her from room to room, calculating in her and Fenris’s strength seamlessly, bringing out their power to their greatest extent.

What then followed was an exhausting yet efficient dungeon dive where her body got strained to the limits. He somehow always stopped before she had reached her breaking point.

It hurt her to see such a disciplined and great person being shunted. The more she observed him, the more she became sure that he had told her the truth about the poisoning. Although it went against everything she knew she couldn’t find another solution to how he had lost his element. The mere thought of it aggrieved her. How much of a genius would he have become if he had remained a chosen. The longer they fought the more he had switched to his sword, obviously his mediocre arcane core already empty due to overuse.

In the end he would remain mediocre. His element baring him from developing as a warrior and at the same time too weak to facilitate his magic path to an acceptable degree. Combine that with a ghost as familiar, his path forward had been crippled completely. Shaking her head, she stopped her thoughts, it was time to kill goblins.

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POV Aron Brightcloud

Walking down the dimly lit hallway built of smooth rocks, fitted with torches on the sides, I marveled at the creational spirit the dungeon possessed. Something that proved a major challenge for entire civilizations had been created in seconds, solely for the reason of luring us into its dept so it could feed.

Soon we would reach the next part of the level. Having already seen it through the eyes of my little brother, it prepared me for the two goblin warriors that stood guard at the entrance.

Similar to the myths of my old planet, they were little green skinned shits. Clothed in rags, carrying rusty swords and shields that were going to break if punched decently. They loved to abuse and killed everything that was weaker than them. Luckily ninety-nine percent of all species were not. The only reason why anybody feared them was if they attacked in hordes. Their physical characteristics fell woefully short in comparison to the boars from before. As said before, their strength lay in quantity, not quality.

I indicated for my teammate to take care of the left guard while I did the same to the right. We had practiced enough during our previous encounters to accomplish it silently.

Two muffled sounds were the only signs of the successfully executed attacks. The cave behind the dead bodies encompassed an area multiple times the size of the last chamber. Still following the Mediterranean forest theme, the goblins had set up camp in different little groups of four to ten people each. Some snored on the ground or in tents while others stood guard.

I felt Olivia move on my shoulder. Until now she had masqueraded as part of my equipment. It seemed that had come to an end. She had found prey to her liking.

‘Go, get the stragglers and sleeping goblins. Pay attention to not be spotted by Anna or her familiar.’

The little eight-legged hunter made its way down my shoulder, vanishing between the bushes without being spotted by my teammate or her beast.

We silently moved towards the first group. Three goblins sat around a paltry fire, barbecuing a lizard. It didn’t consist of more than skin and bones. A fourth kept lookout over the surroundings.

It would have posed a slight challenge had the green-skin not been too lazy and hadn’t positioned itself next to a tree, leaning on it. I motioned for Anna to wait and quietly creeped closer. The bushes giving me excellent cover from its vantage point.

One second it observed the surrounding, the next second it was gone. Having been pulled behind the tree it had been leaning on.

With a fluent motion its throat got cut, hindering it from calling out to its peers while its lifeblood leaked out of the deep wound.

Finished with the sentry, I motioned for Anna to position herself and attack the left one while I focused my attack on the other side of the fire. It didn’t prove a challenge for us.

Finished with the first group we sneaked inward to the other camps. Half an hour later we had cleaned up multiple camps. The fights had been surprisingly easy. That had a certain reason. We never had to content against their entire group.

“That was now the twelfth goblin dead in a tent. At times there were even multiple dead goblins lying in their beds. Something else is hunting in these woods.”

Anna observed the bushes around us warily. I had to hide a grin. Olivia had been sending feelings of glee and happiness throughout the time she had been gone. At last she could pursue her most beloved activity once more. Seeing my teammate so spooked only underlined Olivia’s success.

“Have you noticed their wounds? It seems to be an ambush predator. Only attacking the sleeping ones, killing them with poison or binding them down with webs before it kills them. I don’t think we have to fear it as long as we keep vigilant,” I said.

The next half an hour followed a set pattern of sneak, kill the sentry, annihilate the rest, rinse, repeat. For the gained experience it would have been best had it gone on indefinitely, but I knew it couldn’t last forever.

We had finished another camp and were in the process of going through the corpses for loot, which till now had been rare. Well, the dead belonged to the weakest races possible so I wasn’t surprised that we hadn’t seen anything apart from some copper-coins.

Suddenly my defensive routines spiked. I let myself fall, evading a flying axe that would have caved my head in. I scanned the surroundings. The bushes around us began to move. Between the waving branches I caught two evil eyes starring at me. I had found my attacker.

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Seven new goblins jumped out from the brush, accompanied by a taller and stronger looking variant. Different to the others, it was clad in leather armor and possessed four arms, carrying two short-swords and an axe while the fourth hand was empty. I knew where the last axe had gone to.

A four armed goblin was a first for me, the first pair of arms had been moved to the front, the second pair oriented diagonally upward a bit to the back. They were attached where the arms normally connected to the body. The second pair could be used to defend against treats from behind and from the front. Their additional length, joints and further developed muscles giving them more power and range. The first pair looked like a normal pair apart from it slightly towards the front moved position.

“Fall back, Anna! Pelt them with spells! I’ll try to keep them focused on me!”

My little brother must have missed them or they had been created after he had passed the area. Something that should not have been possible.

‘Olivia, take out the goblins in the back! Pay attention and stay hidden!’

While talking and giving mental commands I conjured a force arrow. It speared its way through one of the normal goblins. Their masses had to be cut down, otherwise they would swarm us. I could survive that, but Anna would be torn apart.

Our first real fight for survival began. Anna and her familiar followed my order and retreated, picking off the goblins at the sides, forcing them towards the middle. Making it easier for me to block them.

For a moment it seemed like we had achieved a certain degree of control. Then the variant arrived. It crashed into me full throttle. The monster pushed me out of the way, opening up the lane to hunt down the pesky magician that had been pelting the other goblins with arrows.

Its strength dwarfed mine even though it only reached my hip. It used its back arms to fight me at eye level and its forearms to cut at my midsection and legs. It’s three weapons sliced and hacked towards me. Forcing me into one dangerous situation after another.

Having lost her “shield” Anna didn’t have much time before the little critters would be on her. She did everything she could to slow them down. But it wasn’t enough. The first goblin would reach her any second now. Despair threatened to overwhelm her when the lead-goblin suddenly tripped over something, making a nosedive into the ground.

Then something hit the second goblin’s legs, forcing him to slow down.

Olivia had engaged the enemy. I hadn’t wanted her to be found out, but survival preceded tactical advantage.

I hoped they could handle the situation. That was all the time I had to spare. The little four armed mini terminator pushed me to my limits. Not due to its fighting proficiency, but because of the sheer volume of attacks it rained down (or up) on me, depending on how you wanted to look at it.

I would have loved to have a second weapon or a shield, one sword was nowhere near enough to defend against all its arms.

It forced me further and further away from my companion. I knew its plan. Divide and conquer. The most simple plan ever, yet effective. Luckily, it had only three weapons. A fourth would have made this even harder.

Olivia sent me signals for help. They were on the brink of defeat. It was time for drastic measures. I submerged myself deeper in my fighter persona. This was going to hurt. After a slice attack I suddenly reversed my direction, closing the distance between us. The closeness hindered it from hitting me with full force. I sank my weapon into its torso, punctuating its lung.

The move didn’t come without cost. A sword had found a way through my armor and bit into my side. Its empty hand punched at my face with the force of a train. Luckily, I mostly evaded the attack. Had I been unsuccessful my nose would have been forcefully rearranged to become part of my brain.

I ignored the pain and damage, sliding my sword into its torso a second time. It wouldn’t survive this stab. The position exactly where its heart should be. Experience energy flushed my core. I quickly forced all of it towards the injured area, healing it partially. I still had its short sword in my side, looking out my back. It would stay in there for now. I’d lose too much blood otherwise.

Olivia’s pleas for help had gotten more desperate. I needed to support the others.

I closed in on them. They were surrounded by seven goblins. While sprinting, I conjured spells with my last mana, killing two of them quickly. My arrival distracted the goblins long enough for Anna to escape the encirclement. Olivia had positioned herself on the Womans left shoulder, spewing nets towards every enemy that dared to move close enough.

Obviously they had come to an understanding. I crashed into the little green shits. Beheading one and kicking a second one into a nearby tree. The short-sword in my side burned like hell, but my willpower held the pain at bay.

Having their “meat-shield” back, Anna and Fenris conjured new lightning arrows, making quick work of the last goblins.

We stood silently on the field of battle, panting.

Anna was the first to break silence when she realized the sword in my side.

“Oh my god, you are hurt! You need help!” She quickly moved closer, intent to give me support. I motioned her to stop.

“It’s okay, I will take care of it.”

Thanks to the experience energy, the internal damage had been mostly healed. She wasn’t allowed to see that. The benefit normally only belonged to warriors. It pushed their endurance in a long fight to another level as they could use the experience energy of fallen enemies to actively recover from wounds and exhaustion.

I pulled the weapon out. Pain lanced through my side, yet I kept a straight face. I quickly bandaged it and drank a healing potion. I didn’t need it, but appearances needed to be upheld.

I had seen to it that the strike had missed my important organs. Combined with the healing effect of the experience energy my body wasn’t in any danger. The potion took care of the outer wound. The bandage a simple cover to not let Anna see the much too quick recovery.

“I think this is a good point to stop for the day. Let’s loot the corpses and exit the dungeon, we can proceed another time.” Sadly, she didn’t jump at the idea of possible loot from a rare variant enemy.

Anne looked at me, one eyebrow raised. I knew what she wanted. The hand sized bone spider on her shoulder a clear give away.

“I think you have to come clean first. I know a familiar when I see one. How comes that you have two of them?”

I sighted. “Olivia, come over.” Patting on my shoulder my little beauty made its way back to its preferred resting spot.

Anna’s eyebrow went up even further. “Really? Olivia?”

“What? It is a beautiful name for a beautiful creature.”

I Scratched her behind her front part, and she snuggled up against my hand. Swooning at the attention.

I smiled, she was a real charmer.

“What’s so special about it? I am bound to two first strata beasts. They are the weakest possible. I take it, more than one familiar is unusual, but it’s nothing special. Had they been from the third or fourth plane than it would be an achievement. One of them is not even able to materialize on this plane. So its nothing noteworthy.”

Listening to my words, Anna’s gaze softened. I had succeeded in scattering her suspicions. Good. it didn’t matter that she knew one of my secrets partially. It even helped as she came to her own conclusion, building a believable story for herself. It would stop the woman from digging deeper.

Naturally, that was the moment when my little brother had to crush all my delicately built lies.

“It is beautiful, gorgeous! No! Even perfect! I have chosen! This shall be my new body!”

Why the heck had he had to shout his findings out loud?!

Both of us immediately turned to the half visible ghostly towel floating above the downed four armed variant goblin.

Suddenly a suction force tore at the dead, ripping whole meat-parts off its frame. Floating up, they flew into my little brother, vanishing mysteriously.

Soon only the bone structure was left. My little brother dove into the bones, vanishing. At first nothing happened, then blue fiery orbs sprang to life in its empty eye sockets. The entire skeleton righted itself and stood up.

I, Anna and Fenrix watched flabbergasted as the revived skeleton turned to me, making a victory pose.

“Look Boss! At last I have succeeded! Am I not awesome?!” Its skeletal head beamed at me.

As answer I mutely pointed at Anna that stood six feet away from me.

“Oh…, sorry Boss! I totally forgot about her. Hi Anna…” His voice turned quieter and quieter at the end. He sheepishly winked at us.

Anna turned nonplussed to me.

“First strata, you said? A first strata beast that can speak?! my ass! Not even fourth strata beasts can speak!”

Damn, little bro. Why…?