Chapter 15
I showed Daniella the location of the cabin in the woods on the map and told her about the quest in detail just to get her caught up on the details. She barely glanced at the map, and it seemed like she already knew where the cabin was. Was she already familiar with it or does she just know this forest that well that she can figure it out just from a quick glance. Either way worked for me.
She showed me the easiest way to get there was the follow the road and then hug the edge of the forest. So naturally, we took the other way which was through the forest and in a straight line to the cabin. It wasn’t the easiest, but it was the fastest according to Daniella. The trees may slow us down though she clarified it would really be because of me but we would still save a lot of time this way than the safer way. I just agreed. I should have known better.
I was just happy to have someone along who could navigate the woods as I was lost like a wrestler in a gun fight.
We walked quietly for the most part through the forest with me stopping on occasion whenever I saw an interesting herb or plant life that I could use towards alchemy. I had neglected alchemy for way too long, but time had also been an issue. Daniella would stop with me, but every time we did stop, she would let out a sigh of frustration. She had already slowed down considerably for me and probably could have traveled to the place on her own in a couple of hours but, unfortunately, she was stuck with me. But even though we were on a mission, I could not pass up any opportunity to grab some potential alchemy ingredients. The city had some but only the common stuff and even that was way overpriced. I was cautious to not grab too much and have it be lost to the curse in turn.
“You know I have the herbalism skill myself. I could get these for you the next time I’m back in these parts,” Daniella said, trying to give me a hint about us moving too slow. Something I was already aware of.
“I guess we can pick up some on our way back.” And then I saw another blue flower and walked towards it. “Ok, after this one we can pick up the pace.
I grabbed a few of the flowers and put them in my bag. I was ready to move and then suddenly Daniella knocked an arrow and fired it in my direction.
The arrow was aimed at the rabbit behind me but from my angle, it looked like I was about to be a memory.
“Lunch!” she said as she picked up the dead rabbit by the ears.
“For a second, I thought you were shooting that arrow at me,” I exclaimed.
“Well, the day is young and if you make me stop one more time to pick up some generic plant…” she said with sarcasm.
The mood took a serious turn quicky. She looked past the bushes and then asked me to crouch. She knocked another arrow and then slowly walked through some shrubbery.
She came back a few minutes later and quietly said, “Goblin tracks. Many of them. Leading further in.”
Daniella had seen a partial footprint on the ground and when she went further, she had found a group of prints that looked as if they were on a march. I was astonished that my high perception had not picked up anything. She must have a special skill to pick up such clues or her perception is much higher than mine. Now that I knew about it, I could spot the print. It was only a toe and part of the heel. Barely visible as it was still covered by shrubs.
“One of them must have stepped away for something and then joined back in the formation”, She explained further, “we need to find out where they are going.”
I nodded in agreement, “How did you see the footprint so easily? I have a high perception and I didn’t pick that up,” I whispered to her.
Still looking at ground for other clues, she replied, “My perception is much higher in the forest, and I also have an ability against goblins that further enhances it.”
She’s a ranger but maybe she has further evolved that class. Rangers did work a lot better in the forest much like a knight did best during a battle.
“You should head towards that cabin we were going to. The tracks seem to be going in the opposite direction, so you should be fine, Daniella added.
“I think the cabin can wait. You may be the expert in the forest, but I can take care of myself, and your mother would never forgive me if I was to let you go off on your own.”
Daniella didn’t argue. We both started towards the direction of the goblins. I knew enough to let her lead. Soon we approached a clearing and saw a makeshift camp. The goblins were numbered in the hundreds and what was surprising was that they also had some other monstrous figures amongst them including ogres.
“Unusual for the goblins to be so organized. Even more unusual to see them with ogres. Normally ogres use them for snacks between their meals,” She whispered.
“We should head back and report what we saw,” I said.
With this large a group, there would be no way we could take them all on. Goblins were not powerful creatures and often were no bigger in size than a child of age ten or twelve. They were, however, sinewy little things with claws and sharp teeth. They typically fought with any weapon, even if rusted or broken, that they could find. If they didn’t have a weapon or if they couldn’t use a weapon, their sharpened tooth and claws worked just as well. These goblins were different. They seemed to be more organized and with better weapons than one would expect from a goblin. Some of them even wore leather armor and others with armors made of scales of other animals. Somebody had managed to not just organize this bunch but managed to also equip them with decent weapons.
Daniella and I slowly backed off and moved away from the camp. We didn’t get very far before we heard the sound of a whistle. Daniella looked around and spotted him. There was a goblin scout in one of the trees and he had seen us.
Daniella didn’t waste any time and shot an arrow which hit him square in the face. The little monster died if not from the arrow, then certainly from the ground that hit him on his way down.
We looked back and saw a squad of goblins approaching us quickly in formation.
Without a word spoken, both of us started running with the goblins in tow. Although they were many and organized, we were able to make some distance between them and us.
“We need to split up,” Daniella said, “You go towards the cabin, and I will get them to go in a different direction and then circle back to meet up with you.”
I protested but the Ranger explained, “I am much faster than you in a forest and much much faster than them. They will likely send out a squad of goblins on Wargs after us if we continue at the same pace and they WILL catch us. If we split, I can buy you the time to go further up. I can also lead them on false tracks with a special ability I have.”
I didn’t like the plan, but I agreed to it. And that was only since she had this ability to mislead them. I hoped she was being honest about the ability and not trying to be a hero for my benefit. If the goblins were on Wargs, they would cut the distance between us quickly. Wargs were large hybrid wolf creatures. Some of them being the size of a pony and others even big as a large horse.
“Here take this!” Daniella handed me a small blue glass ball the size of a grape. Inside it swirled a clear liquid.
I looked at Daniella curiously.
“I guess I have to tell you what it does too huh. Ok so this is a single use item. When you crush it, you can say a few words and those will be transferred to the person holding the sister ball.” She brought out an exact looking item and showed it to me.
“Ok so you I guess that means; you will let me know when you get into trouble?” I said playfully.
She raised her eyebrow and smirked, “Don’t die!”
With a nod, Daniella went off to one side and I to another side to make my way towards the cabin.
I continued to run for about ten minutes or so until an arrow whizzed past me. The goblins had not fallen for Daniella’s plan and had split up. There were four Wargs chasing after my ass, each with a goblin on top. All the goblins wore some type of armor whether leather or just some padding in key areas. Three of them carried a lance the size of a man and one of them had a bow.
With them only about 100 feet of distance away, I moved behind a tree to get some cover and cast Sleep on to the creatures. Blue mana swirled around my hand and turned into a cloud that enveloped the goblins and Warg group. Three out of four of the Wargs slowed down and then stopped. The goblins on top were trying to prod them with the point of their dagger but the Wargs simply laid down on the floor and started snoozing.
The fourth Warg was nearly on top of me. The goblin riding it, screaming in its native tongue, sounding awfully like foul language. In reality though, the goblin language was mostly made of foul language as it had more cuss words than other actual words.
The Warg jumped towards me with its maw wide open to feast on the nice human flesh. I was not glad that it was my flesh. In midair however, it stopped moving from the Thunder Stun I cast on it but the momentum of its jump continued the Warg forward. I jumped out of the way at the last second. What happened next was the loud smash sound, the flesh of the giant wolf made as it crashed into the big tree that I was standing in front of. The goblin that was on top riding unharnessed cowboy similarly flew up when the Warg hit and ate its share of the bark. Both collapsed with the goblin down for good. I didn’t waste any time and hit the Warg with a Magic projectile killing it immediately. I saved two of the thirteen shots of the spell for the goblin, making sure that thing was dead too because no one needs a short half dead orange goblin biting at their nads in the middle of a fight.
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The remaining 3 goblins had managed to get off their sleeping Wargs and were now running towards me. They didn’t get very close and were quickly dispatched with my magic projectiles.
I didn’t get much of a breather as there were two more squads of goblins approaching on foot. One squad numbered about thirty and the other maybe around forty. Fortunately, none of them had any more of those fiendish Wargs with them. They seemed to be approaching from two different sides to get me caught in the middle in pincer move. I was greatly outmanned and outmatched. I didn’t care. If this is where I bit the dust, then so be it. No matter what, I was going out swinging.
“Come on you little fukkers. Daddy’s gonna light you up like 4th of July fireworks!”
I had to time this well. The bigger squad was hit by Path of Frost spell. A large area in the forest was suddenly covered with sleek frozen ice. Goblins, not being the most agile creatures, all seemed to suffer. Most when they tried to move, were slipping, and sliding onto the ground and even the ones who weren’t had been slowed substantially from moving.
I cast a Magic projectile and hit several goblins with all of them dying quickly. Right after I cast the spell, I made a sprint for a few seconds in the opposite direction creating more distance between myself and the other group while the spell came off cooldown. My heart was racing and breathing had become more rapid. Part of it was the excitement of the whole situation. Partially it was the physical effort. Casting Magic spells wasn’t stamina intensive but when you are trying to run for your life with a hundred goblins chasing after you to make you their next meal, it became stamina intensive.
The goblins, seeing me run, started a chase immediately. In their mind, I was fleeing from fear or perhaps because they thought I couldn’t beat them. They couldn’t be more wrong. I timed it that as soon as my cooldown would end, I would shoot another projectile back at them. I picked off the entire squad of goblin within minutes. Jimmy, who had finally decided to wake up from his date with The System, would verbally tell me whenever any of the creatures were dead. I could have focused and pulled out that information from my system messages, but I didn’t want to be distracted.
It was unusual to get verbal feedback of the fight from jimmy, but it was certainly better than not knowing. The prompts from Jimmy would let me know when and if certain goblin would die and to move on to the next one. This was especially important since I had no idea exactly how much damage these goblins could take before dying. Most of the goblins were low levels but I figured at least a few of them would have gained levels and increase their constitution and health points. I didn’t want to waste shooting one goblin three or four of those iron beads when just one or two would be sufficient. There were times though that a goblin or two dodged some of the projectiles and survived. In the madness of it all, it all just helped make a little more sense.
I turned to face the bigger squad. The Path of Frost spell was still in effect and the goblins for the most part were not faring any better. As soon as they got beyond the spell area of effect, they would be hit by projectiles of magic.
The Battle was going well until I heard a lot of noise in the woods with small trees being shaken. There were two ogres the size of a semi running right in my direction.
“Holy mother fu…” My swearing out loud was interrupted by one of them roaring out loud. They were both about 12 to 14 feet tall with arms like tree trunks. One of them held a club which was really just a small tree that he likely pulled out of the ground. The other one held a two-handed sword. He was carrying it and swinging it around with one hand like it was a little pen.
The ogres were taking long steps as they were running towards me and I realized that once they cleared the foliage in front of them, they would be right on top of him in no time. I had mere moments.
I aimed for the foremost ogre. Mana built around my hand which glowed with a bright light and with a loud crackle, a lightning bolt tore forward in an arc.
The first ogre was hit right in the chest, and he fell immediately being damaged by 1200 in one shot. The bolt did not stop there because that was the great thing about chain lightning. While there was another creature nearby, the bolt WOULD find another victim. The second ogre was hit and seemed to be hurt but was far from down. When the bolt hit, it was only for half damage. The still alive ogre clutched its chest for a moment in pain. The pain though it seemed only made it even more angry. It growled not bothering to look behind itself at the goblins. The goblins behind the ogre had not been as lucky as they were far weaker. The lightning bounced from one goblin to another killing them instantly. Besides the initial Ogre, three goblins behind the second ogre had been killed. Which still left more than a dozen.
Jimmy informed me that I only had about 140 mana left. The mana was not recovering quick enough. I still had a pissed off ogre and a dozen goblins left to fight. Then there was also another dozen left on the frosted ground, a spell which was going to expire soon. I quickly cast Magic Projectiles towards the chasing goblins. For a moment, I considered aiming at the 12-feet-tall monster headed my way, but my instincts told me otherwise. I was fortunate that the mana projectiles killed 10 of the 12 goblins and the other two stopped dead in their tracks. They looked at all the death around them considering what to do next. They considered running from the scary magic user but then at the same time they wanted to see if the ogre would stomp me into paste first.
I stared the ogre down as it growled and let out my own loud roar while activating the intimidation skill. The ogre stopped in it tracks for a second. He shook his head as to wear off the effect and took on the angry grimace again.
“So much for that plan.”
“Can I suggest we turn and run?” Jimmy hurriedly said in my mind.
“No place left to run. THIS is where we make a stand!”
I pulled out the Magical short sword and silent storm dagger holding each in one hand. I had absolutely no proficiency in either. What I did have was some bad ass stats for non-warrior class. And also, for most warriors higher than my level I imagine. The ogre swung wide with his sword trying to cut my body in half with a single blow. The ogre was not slow for his size, but my speed and dexterity had both risen to be over 40 making me about Five to six times faster than an average person. I was faster than most Olympic runners and more dexterous than most Olympic gymnasts back home on earth. I ducked under the sword and rolled to one side while slashing with my sword. Just as I had rolled to one side though, the ogre activated an ability and stamped forward with his right foot. It happened quicker than I would expect from someone so huge, but I was able to just barely leap away. The foot hit the ground hard and left an imprint in the ground several inches deep.
The ogre was not a simple brute and had primarily focused on physical attributes. His skin was barely grazed with the short sword. I threw myself to one side to avoid another strike of the two-handed sword once again just barely dodging the attack. This time, I was able to get a stab with silent storm. The dagger dug deep into the right kidney of the ogre and made a critical strike causing Four times the normal damage. He felt that one!
The ogre spun around and with the back of his left hand hit me on my torso. I felt my insides scream in agony. I was thrown back about 20 feet. He didn’t waste any time and tried to rush at me to stomp on me as I lay on the ground wanting my body to move.
As he got to me, he took a leap up about 10 feet and came down with his knee right at my body. Quite a bit of an overkill trying to jump knee me but I’m guessing he was still pissed from getting a lightning bolt shot at its ass. I willed my body to move acting partially on instinct and rolled quickly while slashing up blindly.
A gush of blood poured out from where the ogre’s family jewels would be, and he screamed!
“Guess no ogre babies for you,” I grimaced and came up again with silent storm. The ogre was still partially squatted screaming and holding his shrek making machine in one hand. All ogres could fight without a weapon, but no ogres would want to live without their sword and just the thought of that made it even madder. Before he could act, I came up around his side, jumped and stabbed the side of his neck with silent storm. I tried to pierce the skin with the short sword but came up short.
I felt the Ogre move but got in another quick stab in with my dagger. Unfortunately, the dagger got stuck in his thigh this time. The ogre stood up bleeding all over himself, screaming in rage at me.
He took a step forward and swung his hand wide at my head trying to grab or just smack me, I wasn’t sure. I saw at that moment the wound from the lightning bolt right smack in his chest. I ducked under his hand easily. His movements had slowed down substantially from all the injuries he had now. I moved forward and then stabbed with my short sword. Not sure if the sword would have sunk very deep if its skin was not already damaged from the lightning bolt but it went in this time. I backed away from him with the sword still in his chest. He was clearly slowed and wheezing. He made one last attempt to come forward towards me fueled entirely by rage. And then collapsed before he could take a second step.
A system notification came up at the corner of my right field of vision. The funny thing was that it was not just words but a verbal notification as well and I could hear a familiar voice in my head. Someone besides jimmy but I couldn’t be sure who.
“Ohhh yeahhh!! You just kicked some Ogre butt!”
“Jimmy? Did you make that happen?”, I asked puzzled.
This was the first time I ever received a verbal notification along with an on screen one. Another unusual thing was that they notifications did not normally just pop up on their own unless the individual specified the settings for that. Something I had never done.
Before I could get a response from Jimmy, I saw the remaining dozen or so goblins that remained had surrounded me. I had enough mana for one more Magic projectile, but they were all very spread apart and I would not be able to get them. They looked down at the massive ogre and then at me, a human they had thought was just some weak magic user. They may have thought of rushing me all at once and then overcoming me with their sheer numbers. They may have thought of that but now they were considering otherwise. What type of magic user fights like that and takes on an ogre in one-to-one fight. The clear and obvious answer was, someone that they did not want to get into a tussle with.
If the ogre had been at full power, I would not have been able to take him on. That ogre would likely have killed me had I not weakened it so much with the lightning bolt first. The fact that I won was a shock to both of us.
The goblins continued to look at the dead ogre body and then at me. If they all attacked me together right now, they could beat me, but they would also die in the process or at least most of them would. I figured these last bunch that were left were the lesser courageous bunch of the goblin squads.
I let out a loud roar. I couldn’t use the intimidate skill on more than one at a time so there was no point in using it. The goblins eyes widened expecting another spell or some type of attack. And then suddenly one of them turned around and bolted towards their camp. Then another and another and soon they had all fled. I guess I didn’t need to use the actual skill.
I gathered myself. I was hurt and my health points were down to a quarter. My stamina was nearing the bottom too. My mana was almost empty. I needed to create as much distance as possible between myself and this place. Once the goblins got back to their camp, they would get their butt kicked by their leader for running away. Naturally he will send more search parties and attack squads. In my current condition, I was not going to be able to hold up to a hermit crab let alone another squad of goblins and a couple more ogres.
I started moving away from the camp at a speed which did not drain what little stamina I had left too quickly. I needed to find a place to stop and meditate.
As I walked, I wondered what that odd system message was that accompanied the voice over. The voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Hey Jimmy, you know anything about that odd message?” I asked my body companion while moving away from the goblins and towards the cabin.
“I haven’t the slightest idea, bruh! That was the first time I saw...” before Jimmy could finish his mental thoughts, a few more System messages flew by though these ones were not accompanied by any strange voiceovers.
“You are the tower of power! Too sweet to be sour!
You just climbed a level! Ohhh Yeahh!!”
“You are the tower of power! Too sweet to be sour!
You just climbed a level! Ohhh Yeahh!!”
“You are the tower of power! Too sweet to be sour!
You just climbed a level! Ohhh Yeahh!!”
These were similar to the one from before and accompanied by the same voice. Gone was the unemotional robotic sounding voice of a man and instead there was an overly loud and extremely dramatic male voice. The several new messages indicated that I had gained some levels from all the goblins, Wargs, and ogres I had fought.
Another thing that I noticed that was quite different from before was that the system messages to level up had shown up before I even rested or meditated. I tried to add the unused attributes to a stat, but I was not able to.
I guess that has not changed. Either I need to be a certain distance or time from combat, or I need to be in a restful state to change those.
I had walked now for another hour or so and I was not too far from the cabin. My. mana and health were far from replenished and that needed to change. I wasn’t sure what I was going to see at the cabin, but I hoped it was just that son-in-law of the dwarf. In any case, I needed to rest in some way to replenish myself.