Chapter 10

Abel

Damn, they must’ve known about the town. That explains why they didn’t chase me in the forest. Instead of wasting their energy looking for me, they waited around a place I might show up, and like an idiot, I walk right into it. I guess there’s no use complaining about it now. I got myself in this situation the only thing I can do is get myself out of it.

I took a deep breath and walked towards the fat goblin that stood in my way.

“Ooh, you want to fight me?” A wide grin spread on his face. “Good, if you got on your knees and surrender I would’ve fed you to the little ones.

Salvia drip from the goblin’s mouth and their body twitch uncontrollably like starve beasts excited to pounce on their prey. Yet despite their overflowing excitement, they obediently held the circle around me.

“If you want to get out of this alive you have no choice but to fight me!”

“Fine, if you want a fight so bad, then I’ll give you one.” I tried to sound confident, but my heart was beating so fast I couldn’t but wonder if they knew I was bluffing.

I personally have no confidence in my current strength. I feel a lot better than yesterday, but that still doesn’t change the fact that this body that I’m currently in is a princess who most likely never been in a fight before.

“Let’s get started then!” the hobgoblin threw his massive body at me. My body froze from the murderous glare he gave me.

He’s going kill me! Of course, I wasn't surprised by this, but for some reason, my mind currently couldn’t understand the overwhelming hostility emanating from him.

“Defend yourself!” He roared as he raised his giant club over my head

“Wait, wait times out I’m not ready!”

“Ignoring my plead, he swung his club down at me.

Fuck, I’m dead! I close my eyes and prepare myself for the end. Which strangely didn’t come. I heard something heavy slam into the ground near me.

I open my eyes to see the hobgoblin hunch over staring at the cracks his club created in the ground.

Did he miss? No, when I closed my eyes he was in front of me, now I’m on his left side. Did someone move me, or did I move myself?

“Aghhhh!” he lets out a roar as his club flew towards me.

My mind once again went blank. All I could do was stare at the large object coming at me at fast speed. Just as I was about to get crush my legs kick me out the way.

“Not bad, avoiding my attacks.”

I dodge those attacks myself? I guess that should’ve been obvious to me, there’s no one else around that’ll come to my aid. But still, I can’t imagine myself avoiding anything since each time he attacks, my body was paralyzed with fear.

“Let’s see how many of my attacks you can avoid!!” He swung his massive club at me vertically.

“Wait, give me some time to think!” Seeing such a huge weapon coming towards me at a deadly speed I felt all my thoughts vanish, but at the same time, something inside me click.

I threw myself backward out of the way of his attack. Clenching his teeth, he charges at me like a bull. Each step he took to cause the ground to shake.

The moment my feet touch the ground I sidestep out of his path. The goblin’s near him quickly jump out of his way before they got crush.

What the hell going on? My body is moving on its own. But at the same time, it feels like I’m in complete control. What a strange feeling.

“Aahh!” The hobgoblin roar breaks me from my trance, I look up to see the green giant looming over me already in midst of a swing.

Again, my body tenses up at the danger coming at me, but before it could hit me I instinctively duck.

Instinct? I see. Anna may not have gained my strength, but from the way I’m moving, it seems all my experience were engraved into this body. It likes I’ve been fighting in this body my whole life.

“Stop moving!!” irritated, the hobgoblin raised his club over his head and swung it down at me. I calmly step out of the way. The ground cracks from his overwhelming strength, although he wasn’t satisfied at all, vein pops from on his head as he stares at my uninjured body.

I unconsciously threw a punch at his unguarded face.

“Eh?” He stares dumbly at me, unfazed by my weak punch.

“What the hell is with that weak attack? Are you making fun of me?!!” Enrage, he wildly swung his weapon around.

I calmly back away from him while swaying my body left and right to avoid his wild attacks. Every time his weapon flew past me, it was accompanied by a massive gust of wind.

I knew he was strong after seeing the kid get hit, but now that he’s directing those powerful strikes at me, I can’t help but shudder at the thought of what would happen if this frail body gets hit once. Of course, that’s never going to happen.

Ignoring the oversize stick the goblin was swinging at me, I focus solely on his massive green arms. Every time his muscles twitch this body reacts instantly like it done this a million times before.

“Stop running! And fight me already!!”

“Very well.” I plant my feet on the ground and raise my hand towards the giant stick approaching me. The hobgoblin’s eyes widen in surprise as I casually push his heavy weapon away from me with my bare hand. After parrying his attack, I take a step towards him and tightly balled my hand into a fist. A transparent energy wraps itself around my fist as I sent it flying the towards the goblin.

“Gaahh!” The green giant hunched forward as my fist digs into his round belly.

That one had to hurt. Satisfied with the painful scream he utters, I looked up to study his face, only to see his huge fist crashing down at me. I quickly jump back before it could crush me.

It looks like my punch was too weak to take him down. But he’s definitely hurting though.

Confidence well up inside me as I stare at the hunch over beast violently coughing. The weapon he proudly wielded lay on the ground cover in vomit I force out of him.

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“You’re really strong, just like my brother said.” The hobgoblin forces a smile on his disgusting face.

“And you’re surprisingly weak.”

“What?!” The smile on his face quickly vanishes. Veins pop out of his forehead as he tightly gritted his teeth. Looks like I hit a sore spot, good.

“I’m just saying for someone who’s calling everyone else a weakling you’re quite weak yourself.”

“Shut up!” He lunges at me with his bare hands. The goblin roar as he threw his fist at me. I simply tilt my head out of the way.

“Oh my, did I say something to offend you?”

“I said shut it!” he stomps the ground and throws his right fist forward. The momentum causes his body to accompany his fist.

I jump back to avoid being crush by his weight. His long arm continues to propel forward, its only goal to rip me apart. I lift my hand up and gently tap the underside of his arm, pushing it upward away from me.

For a brief second, shock flashed through his eyes but was quickly replaced with rage. “I’m going to kill you!” He shouted as he threw a flurry of punches. I continue to calmly back away from his charge while redirecting all of his punches away from me. Each attack that miss seems only to anger him more.

“So much rage…Tell me, what pisses you off more? The fact that you can’t hit me? Or the fact that you’re not as strong as you thought?”

“Shut up!!” He cups both of his hands together and raises them in the air like a hammer. I thrust my elbow into his stomach before he could attack. He stumbles backward while gritting his teeth.

I can’t tell if he’s tough or my attacks are just weak. Either way, I can’t keep this up much longer. The aura around my body is getting thinner. And my heart beating so fast it feels like it’ll burst out my chest any second.

“Haa, haa.” While holding his stomach, the goblin pants heavily as he slowly approaches me.

“You don’t look like you’re doing so well. Why don’t you call it quits? You should know by now you can’t beat me.”

“Never.” He said lowly still gasping for air. “I’ll admit, you are stronger than me, but that’ll just make beating you all the more satisfying.”

“Interesting, you’re aware that I’m stronger than you, yet you still want to fight me. Is this the so-called ‘warrior spirit,’ or are you just an idiot?

“Neither.” A disgusting and twisted smile spread on his face. “It just excites me thinking how I can turn someone as strong as you into my slave.

“….” My involuntary body shudder. For some reason even though I have him on his knees, he still feels like a threat to me.

“That’s an interesting little fantasy you have. Although you’re far too weak to make it a reality.”

“We’ll see about that.” Something slams into my back nearly knocking me off my feet. A pair of green arms wraps itself around my waist. “Get off me!” I squirm my body around trying to break free. More arms grab my limbs holding me in place.

“Oh my, it seems the little ones gotten bored watching us play and decided and joy in on the fun. Sorry about that they can be hard to control. Although I’m sure someone as strong as you don’t mind the handicap, right?”

“Really?” I close my mouth to stop myself from laughing. But it was too funny seeing him trying to pretend he didn’t order his men to attack me. “Is this really the best plan you could come up with to defeat me?! Fine, since you actually use your brain, I’ll play along.” I’m too exhausted to break out of this hold anyway. Of course, I won’t tell him that.

“Come on, let’s settle our fight just like this!”

“You, cocky bitch.” The hobgoblin’s body trembles with anger. “You really think you can beat me like that!” he roars as he charges at me.

“Of course, I can.” After all, you already destroy your plan.” The goblins holding onto me jumps out of the way the rampaging bull's path.

“You cowards, get back here!”

“Relax, as I said, I’ll go along with your plan, so don’t worry I won’t move from this spot.”

The hobgoblin abruptly stops his charge and pulled back his arm for one final punch.

“You’re wide open.” I kick him directly in the crotch. Before he could land his attack. “!” I involuntary wince like I was the one that got hit. I guess this is what you call phantom pain.

“You…” My fist slams into his face before he could finish speaking. The force of the blow sent his body flying a short distance from me.

“Did that do it?” I nervously watch him, waiting for him to spring back to his feet. After a minute of silence, I let out a sigh of relief.

That took way too much effort, but at least I know where my current strength is at. Now, I just need to get pass these goblins.

The circles the goblins form around me remain unbroken. They stare blankly at their defeated champion unaware of the boy wobble towards the circle.

Of course, he wakes up after the fight is over. But I guess it’s a good thing he didn’t get involved. Seeing that he can barely walk straight he would’ve just got in my way if he jumped in. “You’re finally up.”

“I was asleep?!”

Looks like he got hit in the head pretty hard if he doesn’t remember anything that happens.

“I’ll explain later.” I grab him by his collar and pull him towards an opening in the circle. “Right now, let’s focus on escaping.”

“No, you don’t!” My body froze in place. I slowly turn around to see the hobgoblin getting on his feet.

Are you serious that wasn’t enough to beat him?!”

“You seriously think I let you go after you humiliated me?!” The hobgoblin stomp towards me seething with rage. The kid steps in front of me blocking his path.

“Anna, I’m going to create an opening, use that chance to escape. Don’t worry; I’ll be right behind you.” The kid tries to give me a reassuring smile but I easily saw right through. He plans on sacrificing himself for me.

“I have a better plan” I push the kid out of the way and walk towards the enraged beast.

“If, you guys are discussing who to sacrifice, don’t bother, both of you are going to die.”

“Please at least let him live, I’ll do anything you want.” I drop to my knees and place both my hands on the ground. The thin aura surrounding my body gathers into the palms of my hands and seep into the dirt.

“Anna!” I shoot a glare at the kid freezing him in place.

“So, you finally learn your place?” I kept my head low to the ground to hide my smile. Just like I thought he’s an egotistical idiot.

“I have no use for the boy. But I’ll keep you alive if you become my personal and pet admit I’m strongest.

“Fine.” I take a deep breath and look him dead in the eyes. “You’re a dumbass.”

Roots burst from the ground and wrap themselves around the hobgoblin and lift him and the others surrounding me.

“Now Aaron!” in the next moment I was snatched off the ground. The kid ran towards the forest exit while holding me underneath his arm like I was a ball.

“Kill them!!” The hobgoblin roar as he tries to break free. Goblins jump out the from their hiding place block our exit.

The trees surrounding us sprang to life and grabs every goblin that stood in our path.

“What’s happening?!”

“Don’t worry, just keep running!” The kid clenches his teeth and dives past the ensnare goblins and out of the forest.

“Woah.” I was completely mesmerized by the view. The morning sun slowly rose over the ocean casting an orange glow on the sleeping town, and the fields beneath us.

It kind of feel like we’re flying seeing the world below me and feeling the blow on my skin. Now that I think about it I wonder why we haven’t landed yet.

“!” My heart stops the moment I looked directly down. The ground which I thought was directly below me was nowhere to be seen.

“Aaron, where’s the ground?”

“I think it’s fifty feet below us.” He said matter of factly, like it wasn’t a big deal.

“What the hell you mean fifty feet?! What did you do?!”

“I ran like you told me to!”

“I didn’t want you run off a fucking cliff you idiot!!”

“Wait, this isn’t part of your plan?!” His eyes widen in surprise.

“Of course not! What did you expect me to do in midair!”

“I don’t know since you can control plants I thought you could fly too!

“No I can’t, wait, plants?” I look back at the cliff. On top of it is a lush forest, which means the roots should be embedded in the rocks, hopefully. “I swear kid, you better survive this, so I can kill you later!”

Fatigue swept through my body as I focus the last bit of my strength on the cliff. A large crack appears on the cliffside and quickly travels downwards as if it was chasing us. A giant hand made of vines burst from out the cliff.

That should be enough to save us, although it still probably going to hurt when we land. Exhausted, I close my eyes and prepare myself for impact. My conscious begin to fade away.

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“You just can’t stay out of trouble, can you?” A stack of papers falls out of my hand and scatters on the desk. I stare at the papers trying to find the energy to read them. Eventually, my eyes fell on the report that rob me of my strength. On top of the paper and bold letters it simply read, “Demon King is dead, and a human declares war on the Entities.”

When I said don’t kill them, I didn’t mean let them kill you. Now that your dead, mortals are going to think they can kill us.

“Athuna!” The door to my office burst open. A little girl with messy red hair stands in the doorway breathing heavily with a burnt bread in her mouth. “The Deman kang is dew! And a humaw….”

“Claire, why don’t you finish eating before you talk?”

“Ah.” Claire looks down in surprise, somehow forgetting about the bread in her mouth. She must’ve stayed up all night playing games again.

Quickly swallowing the last piece of her breakfast, Claire takes a deep breath. “Your brother is dead! And….”

“I know, I just read the report.”

“What do we do?”

“First thing we should do is tell the others.” Claire tilts her head confused.

“By others you mean…

“Yes, my siblings. It’s about time for a family gathering.”