The moment Sophie appeared in the building, the goblins began screaming madly. Almost on the very same second that she had teleported in, she grabbed an elven woman who was being assaulted by a goblin and then disappeared with both of them.
Instantly appearing behind the town hall and out of sight, she slit the confused goblin's throat without any hesitation then she whispered to the elf, "We don't know if you are still sane, but do not make a sound if you want to live."
Without waiting for a response, Sophie repeated that process six more times. By the fourth time, the goblins had wisened up and started piling on top of the elves. Sophie didn't care. She slaughtered them all like the pigs that they were. Thankfully, they seemed to value the elven woman and weren't harming them, which made things a million times easier for her.
Once that was done, she left the women alone and returned to the building's interior. She successively appeared behind each one of the mages and cut their shins, the backsides of their knees, their thighs, then their foreheads to make them panic with the excessive bleeding. Hopefully, they'd blind themselves by mistake with the blood. It was a fairly harmless wound, but the effects were great. This was a little trick that she'd heard from Lone. Supposedly it was popular amongst 'wrestlers', whatever they were.
Now that the elves and the mages were dealt with, she began mercilessly slaughtering each and every single goblin she could reach.
By the time that Lone had used Mental Destruction on the two hobgoblins that were standing guard outside and then killed the seven goblins wandering around the periphery, Sophie had already killed thirty of the thirty-three remaining goblins. Ten had been killed during the rescue of the elves.
The remaining three were all writhing about on the floor like worms.
Sophie was keeping a very tight watch on the mages to make sure they didn't do anything dangerous when Lone approached her. "Jesus Christ. This is... Wow. You're a fucking badass. This smell though..."
Sophie blushed under her helmet. "We know." She gestured with her head to the remaining normal goblins. "They had no order. They were easy to slaughter, so we decided to keep as many alive as we could when we thought it was safe."
"So I can finish them?" Lone asked.
"So you can finish them, yes," Sophie confirmed. "Go ahead. The mages aren't channelling their mana... yet."
Lone nodded. He didn't want to spend much longer here. He ended the lives of the three goblins struggling on the floor before he approached Sophie and the mages once again.
Seeing that their faces were covered in blood and that they were incoherently yelling at the top of their lungs, Lone used his Creation Magic to make a big ball of water appear over one of them.
The blood was washed away and the goblin looked very confused before he scrambled for his staff.
"I guess this will work," Lone muttered as he got in front of Sophie and prepared himself.
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Ten minutes later, the four mages lay dead.
Lone took a look at his gains from enduring their various magic spells.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 2.
Congratulations! The host's passive skill [Fire Magic Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Beginner Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's subskill [Bone Armour] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 3.
Congratulations! the host's passive skill [Physical Pain Resistance] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 1.
Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 4.
It was a shame that the first two of the four goblins only had the Crude Fireball skill, but Lone was still happy. Them using it on him had led to the discovery that resistances would still grow, obviously, but the skills themselves - Crude Fireball in this case - cannot develop once stolen except via use. A sad discovery, but a discovery nonetheless.
Before moving on to the next few messages, he quickly checked his Physical Pain Resistance to see if it had changed at all since it had ranked up.
Passive Skill: Physical Pain Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist physical pains while still being aware of their existence.
All physical pain shall be weakened by 30% [+15%].
Cost: N/A Mastery: Advanced Level 1 [Up by 3 levels]
'That's... a bit underwhelming. Oh well. Better than nothing, I suppose.' Lone prided himself on how much pain he could endure, so this upgrade meant next-to-nothing to him.
The host has developed the passive skill: Air Magic Resistance.
The host has developed the active air magic skill: Crude Wind Blade.
The host has developed the passive skill: Earth Magic Resistance.
The host has developed the active earth magic skill: Crude Boulder.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Neither of these magic spells actually managed to break through his armour, so he didn't gain any more Physical Pain Resistance skill level-ups which was a bit disappointing.
Congratulations! the host's subskill [Bone Armour] has levelled up! It is now Advanced Level 4.
Congratulations! The host's unique skill [Basic Regeneration] has levelled up! It is now Intermediate Level 5.
That was the final notification waiting to be read by him.
As he and Sophie made their way to the back of the building to collect the elves, Lone inspected each of his new skills even if it was already painfully obvious what they did.
Passive Skill: Air Magic Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Air Magic.
Air Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Active Air Magic Skill: Crude Wind Blade
An incredibly rudimentary application of the common [Wind blade] Air Magic skill.
Due to its crudeness, 100 lines of Ancient Magic Speech must be chanted either verbally or mentally to invoke this skill. These lines will automatically be spoken or thought by the host when the host intends to use this skill.
The MP cost to invoke this skill is substantially increased due to its inherent flaws.
Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Air Magic.
Passive Skill: Earth Magic Resistance
A skill that allows the host to resist all forms of Earth Magic.
Earth Magic used on the host will be weakened by 5%.
Cost: N/A Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Active Earth Magic Skill: Crude Boulder
An incredibly rudimentary application of the common [Boulder] Earth Magic skill.
Due to its crudeness, 100 lines of Ancient Magic Speech must be chanted either verbally or mentally to invoke this skill. These lines will automatically be spoken or thought by the host when the host intends to use this skill.
The MP cost to invoke this skill is substantially increased due to its inherent flaws.
Cost: 5,000 MP Mastery: Beginner Level 1
Congratulations! The host has developed an affinity for Earth Magic.
Lone nodded his head. 'Yup. It's just like someone's copy-pasted all of the skills. I guess the system managing them is trying to be efficient? Oh well. That's all four of the basic elements now as well as lightning. I wonder if that lightning mage was unique, or maybe the four basics aren't the only basics in this world?' More unanswered questions to be explored in the future.
Lone wanted to check his status next, but he and Sophie had turned the corner. All he wanted to do upon seeing the state of the seven elven women was find the supposed 'Goblin King' and rip his heart out.
Almost all of their hair had been torn out. They were covered in minor cuts and bruises. Several strange crusts littered their bodies. Lone didn't want to know what that stuff was. It also lined their thighs.
Each and every one had a dead look in their eyes and they were just... laying there, doing nothing. Barely even breathing.
Worst of all, Lone could see a bulge on five of the seven's stomachs. It was clearly the sign of a pregnancy considering how malnourished they looked, he knew that much at least.
Sophie could hear Lone's groans of anguish and it tore at her heart. "P-perhaps we should put them out of their misery?" she suggested out of kindness.
Lone shook his head. "No. I... I can fix this."
It was clear that these women weren't going to be walking anywhere, so Lone turned to Sophie and asked, "Can you teleport all of them back home?"
Sophie shook her head. "It costs more MP per person. we're a bit low as it is, so it would be impossible for us to teleport eight extra people so many times."
"Okay. Touch one of them for a second, please," Lone requested.
Sophie didn't question him and did as told. She lightly grabbed one of their arms. A few seconds passed before she heard Lone clicking his tongue.
"Well, that's one theory debunked. Looks like you can only take inanimate objects into The Summoning Room with you," Lone claimed with a sad sigh.
"What now?" Sophie moved away from the elves and returned to Lone's side.
Lone closed his eyes and concentrated for a few moments. Out of thin air, a large carriage appeared. It's back was big enough to hold ten people easily. "Help me bring them up."
Sophie glanced between the cart and the elves dubiously. "How will we pull the cart, and where to?"
Lone carefully picked up one of the women and replied, "I have the stats and the SP. I'll drag the fucking thing back home."
Sophie wore a shocked expression underneath her helmet. "Is that wise? What about the tracks? Carrying so many people will no doubt leave markings in the dirt."
Lone laughed. "Let the fuckers track us. I'll slaughter them all. Each. And. Every. Single. Last. Fucking. One."
To that, Sophie had no words. She silently helped Lone load up the cart and took a seat at the rear of it to ensure that none of the elves fell out or got injured along the way.
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It took the pair just over an hour to find their way back home.
Twice goblins came to ambush them, but without any hobgoblins or mages, Lone didn't even bother to stop pulling the cart as Sophie ambushed the ambushers. Her Mana Sensing gave her an overwhelming tactical advantage now that its range was one-hundred and fifty feet.
Immediately upon entering the Illusionary Dome, Lone stopped dragging the cart and began helping Sophie bring the elves inside their miniature fort.
"What's the plan here, Lone?" Sophie asked after having taken her armour off with his help.
Lone shrugged. He took his chest plate and helmet off before forcing his Bone Armour to recede back into his body.
He was far more collected now after having had slightly longer than an hour to think and mull things over. "I think it's time to test if my Creation Magic or Basic Regen can be used to heal other people. After that? A bath and some clothes for these girls. Then we return them to the other elves and find the 'Goblin King'."
"Then what?" Sophie pressed.
"Then," Lone smiled viciously, "Then I butcher him and enjoy the level ups and stats he's bound to give me. After that? We get the fuck off of this island and find some people."
Sophie nodded. "Well, we will be there to help you. For now, Soph has calmed down and wants to assist you with these women, so we will be returning control to her now."
"Ah, wait." Sophie cocked her now unmasked face to one side. She was curious about what Lone wanted.
He grabbed her by her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. It was long, but nothing overly erotic. After parting from her lips, Lone grinned. "Your reward."
"Ah, uh, em, yeah." Sophie had forgotten about that. The next second, Soph was in control and she instantly changed her body back to its ten-year-old form and scampered off to the bedroom to change into more form-fitting clothes since the fifteen-year-old ones were a bit baggy.
Lone smiled. "They're both so adorable..." He then turned his attention to the nearly lifeless women sitting on the floor or the sofas in the living room. "Hopefully, I didn't just sign our death warrants with this... It was the right call, wasn't it?" he mumbled to himself.