It had grown darker. The smell of blood didn't cease, it continued to linger and they were growing accustomed to it. The farther in they walked, the less Orient crystals there were.
"This is odd..." Fieth said, looking up at the ceiling.
There were small holes across its surface, it was becoming bare and the area darkening. It was as if...
"I've been thinking of this for a while now, I might not know much, but a mine without light is..." Claire spoke out.
Alicia nodded, "...stupid."
"The beasts may have taken them, between humans and monsters, monsters clearly have an advantage at night," Fieth said.
Claire nodded, glancing at the group with strained eyes, "So we only have two people that can fight in the dark?"
Alicia nodded confidently, "Leave it to me."
Aura shuddered, her head dropped down and she muttered words that no one could hear.
"Don't be so sure," Fieth quickly intervened, bringing his hand forward.
"Oh flames of the goddess Ishtar, grant me your powers and shine a light before my path,
There was a small spark within the air before an ignition of fire took place. It slowly rolled around before forming a small ball of flame.
Aura took a step back, gulping at the sight.
"It's alright," Fieth spoke slowly, looking back and enunciating his words, "I can control this one, remember?"
Aura nodded, tightening her grip on the back and smiling awkwardly.
Claire looked between the two before asking, "You know magic?"
"It's a basic spell. I only know a bit," He shook his head, "I'm not adept enough at magic to use it in combat. Making a fire orb is about as much as I'm capable of."
"Can you keep it up?" Claire asked.
Aura spoke for him, "It's a one-time cast type...I think...it should only cost mana to shrink or expand it."
"Mhmm," Fieth nodded, "It follows the same concept as a
With that thought, the group continued walking. The passage was slowly narrowing the longer they moved. To the point where they had for a single line.
However, it wasn't long that they crawled through the narrowed passage before walking out into a new space.
The area was wide. It looked like a small colosseum in size and space alone. The walls were darkish gray and the roof reached up even taller than the main entrance. It looked like a group of birds could sore across it at any moment. There were carts along the side, broken, and tools littered the floor. The place was hollow and Claire thought it must have been at least the size of a basketball stadium without the sits.
"That's...that's a camp isn't it?" Aura muttered.
"Yes," Fieth spoke with a heavy heart and enlarging the fire orb and slowly pulling it into the air until the entire area was covered in light.
There was a wooden tower, small and crude, standing before a large gaping hole in the ground, there were two goblins atop it. Surrounding that tower were small tents, and around those were grotesque beings. Monsters of green skin and short statures, they had long sharp ears and even sharper teeth, there was a burning fire before them..
The fire had been set within the stomach of a long-dead human, and they were currently barbecuing what appeared to be limbs on top of those flames.
The two atop the tower turned towards the ball of flame that had suddenly floated into the air, they looked at each other and squinted their eyes. Soon, seeing the visage of humans walking steadily towards them, hazardous grins formed on their lips. The two roared and pointed forwards.
The goblins surrounding the tower heard the roars and they immediately scrambled from their feet and turned towards the light source. There were snarls before a charge of a hundred feet broke out.
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Each goblin held a weapon in hand made from crude iron. It was the type that was merely crafted into shape but hardly sharpened, however, those very beasts had blood on their dirty blades.
It looked as if there were easily more than fifty.
Fieth unsheathed his blade from his back.
Alicia bit a finger on each hand with a fang, a crimson glow flashed in her hand as blood squirmed out. It twisted, before taking shape in the form of a crimson gauntlet with sharpened claws sticking out.
She waited for no one and ran forward.
The closest goblin before her slashed a dagger, she stopped, easily dodging it and proceeded to kick its head in with her right leg.
It flew.
She grabbed the skull of the next as she propelled herself over it. Its head turned and twisted before coming off and she fell into the midst of the group of goblins. There was a grin on her face.
A flicker appeared by her side, the silver gleam of a sword curved, and a goblin's head flew.
Fieth smiled, "You're not bad."
She laughed, her legs bent, and she jumped up.
Bang
The ground shook and cracked.
Her fist pummeled a goblin's head, exploding it into a mash of meat and blood.
She was surrounded, but oh, she grinned, sniffing the air.
"I've decided, none of you will taste good after all." A disgusted expression surfaced onto her face, the smell of their blood was even worse than that man.
Her gauntlet flashed and squirmed.
Swirls of crimson wires spiraled from the ground and slashed the air. It was chaotic, ripping through wherever it passed. It was as if a beast had become furious, limbs flew and heads rolled.
Fieth jumped back, dodging the tip of a dull iron spear. He twisted his sword, clashing against its base and sending the weapon flying. His body moved quickly and his hand thrust the tip of his blade into the skull of the confused goblin before him.
There was a snarl at his side as a dagger came for his leg.
Fieth scoffed, removing his sword with ease as blood spilled out and the goblin fell. He twisted his body and unhurriedly slashed—sending a pitiful head rolling.
At that moment, a goblin jumped up from behind him, its sharp teeth blaring as it gave in to its feral instincts and chose to attack the young man's neck.
A small dagger of ice flew through the air and accurately punctured the goblin's head, sending it tumbling back down.
There was a flash, the dagger disappeared, and Claire appeared waving her hand.
Spears of ice lined the sky and begun to fall.
Howls and snarls of pain rang.
Alicia dodged a sword, punching out with her fist to send one goblin flying into the distant wall and stomping down with her leg to fully crush the head of a struggling goblin that had been impaled by ice.
Fieth twisted his body left and right, sweat rolled from his head but he kept moving, every shake of his hand and a head expertly rolled followed by flowing blood. It was as if he was dancing amidst the battle, his was a style of efficiency.
Claire kicked a goblin from getting too close to her.
"Don't touch me," She said, waving her hand.
A chill spread above the ground and a layer of ice grew from it, shooting forward and piercing through multiple beasts.
The trio continued fighting and soon...the area had been littered with limbs, blood, and corpses as Fieth sheathed his clean sword.
All had become deathly still.
Aura had her mouth wide open, "You're all good..."
She bit her lip, tightening her grip on the bag, and running after them.
Alicia clicked her tongue as the gauntlet removed itself from her hand and wormed its way back into her blood. There was pain, but that served the opposite effect on her.
"That's all?" She said.
She was disappointed but soon turned towards a certain tower at the edge of a gaping hole that looked like an abyss.
She looked towards Claire, Fieth, and the newly arrived Aura who was careful not to stare at the blood and piles of littered bodies on the ground.
The group unhurriedly walked towards the hole, the two goblins on top of the tower were now panicking.
"Say, we need to enter that hole right?"
Fieth nodded with skepticism, "I think so, it's the only passage forward...but what do you want to do?"
Alicia laughed, "Just follow my move."
She didn't wait for an answer and bent her knees, jumping forward as the ground beneath her cracked.
The two goblins atop the tower widened their eyes, it was as if a shooting star was flying towards them.
Her fist raised and she punched forward.
Bang
The tower naturally broke and was ready to fall over at any moment. Alicia latched on to its side.
"All aboard!" She waved her hand in the air with enthusiasm.
Fieth picked up Aura as he ran forwards, Claire did the same.
It's base cracked and it finally fell over.
The group quickly jumped onto the 'raft'.
It was a bumpy ride, they continued to shake around as the 'raft' delved deeper into that abyss of a hole, riding on the sides, circling, and if it wasn't due to their strengths and tenacity—they would have been thrown off with ease.
Soon, Aura yelled as she looked over the sides, "I see land!"
Bang
Not later than her yell did they forcefully crash into that land. They almost flew off but soon looked down to see ice binding their feet into place.
As the dust slowly settled, the group looked around, the area was covered in dirt unlike the innards of the mine, and held small leather tents and wooden houses enclosing the place in a circular manner. There was the distant cries of what they assumed to be people, screams, and the heavy stench of blood.
The area was lit by crude lanterns.
They were surrounded by goblins of all shapes and sizes. These were not normal unintelligent goblins, these ones held weapons at hand and a few even wore leather armor on their body. They were not all short, some of them appeared taller and some even appeared buff.
Fieth unsheathed his sword, "Sorry for leaving out the invitation."
He threw it and as it spun within the air, his body flickered.
Alicia bit her finger before bumping her fists together, a crimson light radiated and a gauntlet of red formed on both hands, sharp claws formed at each finger.
"I'm not sorry." She said, leaping into the air as the tower broke under her feet.
Claire sighed, waving her hand, an azure glow forming, "I have to agree with her."
A rain of ice-spears fell down from the sky.