GrizzlyDiamond grunted as he walked into the portal. He did not like the idea of cooperating with the Maggots – a feeling exacerbated by his earlier ‘battle’ against Syèl. Left to his own devices, GrizzlyDiamond would have crushed the Maggots a long time ago. Unfortunately, Brilith stated they needed to maintain surface-level cooperation. At least, until they defeated Skyrm and stopped the summoning.
Vwoosh! Despite the rampant thoughts, GrizzlyDiamond immediately regained focus once he appeared in a room filled with flames. The warrior observed the nine ‘stone islands’ that stood over the sea of flames and then looked at the robed figure at the center.
‘This place is very favorable to a mage.’ GrizzlyDiamond quickly took out a charm from his inventory and crushed it. Light spilled out from the charm, enveloping him in a runic shield that reduced magic damage by a third.
After completing his preparations, GrizzlyDiamond brandished a massive ax.
Gulululu… Sounds like rushing waves and dripping water filled the room once the ax appeared. The air suddenly turned moist, causing the flames to dim somewhat.
“Show yourself!” GrizzlyDiamond roared and then swung down. The warrior injected his mana into the ax, activating the embedded ancient runes. Mana rapidly gathered in the ax and then shot out in the form of twin sea serpents.
The ax’s innate ability rushed over the space between islands and crashed into the robed figure before they could react.
“Heh. Did I get them?” GrizzlyDiamond coldly examined the crash zone. Despite his seeming success, the warrior did not dare rashly jump onto the middle island.
“Regrettable.” A cold voice dripping with malice coldly rang out.
GrizzlyDiamond looked up and was shocked to see a figure falling to the island. He then rapidly looked at the island and saw that only tatters from the robe remained on the platform. “Regrettable?” GrizzlyDiamond’s eyes burned with anger when the figure landed on the platform. “A thing like you dares to ambush me?”
“Thing?” The 1-meter tall goblin stood on the platform glared at the towering GrizzlyDiamond with incredible hostility and malice. His shoulders trembled, but it seemed to be more an attempt to control his anger than from fear. “Indeed. A Summoned’s arrogance is bone-deep. I am relieved to see you have not changed.”
The goblin’s hostility and sarcastic tone did not escape GrizzlyDiamond’s notice. He raised his ax and observed the goblin. “You seem to know me?”
“Does I know you?” The goblin’s lips spread as it let out a low chuckler. “Do I know you!?” The goblin’s laughter did not reach its eyes which were fixed on GrizzlyDiamond. “Yes, I do. I know you too well.”
GrizzlyDiamond was not fazed by the massive hostility. Instead, he smiled and asked, “So, who was it?”
“Who was what?”
“Who did I kill, obviously?” GrizzlyDiamond taunted the goblin while carefully examining the room in preparation for the upcoming fight. “Was it your brother? Your sister? Your wife, maybe?” The goblin’s sarcastic laughter suddenly ended. “You must understand, you’re not the first to seek vengeance, and you won’t be the la—”
“I, Bok, shall be the last,” The goblin declared as he raised his right hand. A clump of flames escaped from the flaming sea below and coalesced into a basketball-sized sphere that hovered over the goblin’s outstretched.
“Bok?” GrizzlyDiamond frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he could not remember where from. “You say that like it should mean something to me.”
Bok sneered. “It soon will.” Following those words, Bok injected his mana into the spherical flame.
Bwush! The fireball suddenly expanded to over three meters wide!
“Die!” Bok threw the fireball with all he had. He wanted nothing more than to burn the terrible man across from him to dust.
GrizzlyDiamond judged himself incapable of blocking the fireball with a single glance. Steeling his resolve, GrizzlyDiamond gathered his ki and swung down!
A brilliant ki-blade gushed out of his ax and smashed into the fireball. Boom ! The fireball exploded, sending embers flying in every direction.
GrizzlyDiamond did not celebrate. He took two steps backward and then raised his ax in a defensive position. Bam! The warrior’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the burning fist pressed against his ax. If he had been any slower, that strike would have melted his head!
“Rrah!” Enraged, GrizzlyDiamond pushed back, sending the much lighter Bok flying through the air. He then grabbed at the airborne goblin. He would crush this thing’s neck!
Puft! “What!?” GrizzlyDiamond stared in shock as his hands closed around nothing!
The goblin suddenly burst into flaming embers, disappearing before he could grab hold. The warrior sensed a shift in the surrounding mana and turned to see Bok appearing on the middle platform.
“You can teleport?” GrizzlyDiamond questioned, but Bok predictably did not grace him with a response. The goblin, instead, replied by summoning many more fireballs. It appeared Bok decisively gave up close-quarters combat after the first failure. GrizzlyDiamond had to deal with a pissed-off mage’s aerial bombardment.
GrizzlyDiamond looked up with grim eyes. He finally acknowledged the goblin’s strength. No run-of-the-mill mage could summon multiple fireballs of that size.
“Huuu~” GrizzlyDiamond softly released a breath.
On the middle platform, Bok sensed GrizzlyDiamond’s aura beginning to surge. The goblin sneered, but he did not underestimate the warrior. He flicked his fingers, causing the fireballs to shoot down at blinding speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom! The hall trembled under the constant bombardment as dozens of fireballs struck down on GrizzlyDiamond’s platform like artillery shells.
Bok did not repeat the warrior’s earlier error. He did not stop his bombardment even though GrizzlyDiamond should have perished by this point. Such was his rage.
“You damned goblin! Won’t you fucking stop!?” An angry roar exploded from GrizzlyDiamond’s platform. In the next breath, a towering shield burst out from the explosions. Its wielder was none other than GrizzlyDiamond whose armor was cracked in several places.
The warrior cut a sorry figure but GrizzlyDiamond did not seem to care. There was no trace of the boastful over-the-top personality. His eyes were cold, but bore the unbridled ferocity of a wild lion.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! “As I thought.” The airborne GrizzlyDiamond softly muttered as he looked down at several fireballs that shot up from the flaming sea. The gaps between the platforms were the real trap! Bok could easily shoot down any challenger that attempted to jump across. Only one fireball needed to hit. Once he killed their momentum, the challenger would undoubtedly fall into the flaming sea!
“Not bad for a goblin.” GrizzlyDiamond praised Bok as the numerous fireballs filled his vision. “But, in the end, you’re just a stupid goblin.”
Pa! Pa! GrizzlyDiamond ‘kicked’ the air to swiftly change his trajectory. As a result, several fireballs missed their target and smashed into the ceiling. Searing heat stung the warrior’s nose as flaming embers rained down around him.
GrizzlyDiamond did not let the heat deter him. He skillfully darted through the air, either dodging, blocking, or slashing the endless fireballs. Sweat sizzled on the warrior’s forehead as he pushed his concentration to the limits.
Within the endless blaze, GrizzlyDiamond’s eyes suddenly burned with life. Finally, a small gap appeared in the bombardment. No being was omnipotent. Even simple spells like fireball required mana and computational abilities. The goblin might have either run out of mana or needed a moment to gather his thoughts to prevent himself from losing control.
Either way, GrizzlyDiamond’s moment had arrived!
“In the end, you’re still a goblin,” GrizzlyDiamond muttered as he placed his shield in front of him, and then curled into a ball. Copious amounts of ki gathered in GrizzlyDiamond’s legs and then exploded!
Boom!
Like an apocalyptic meteor, the warrior shot down to Bok’s platform. Cracks streaked across the sturdy platform as the shockwave sent Bok flying.
GrizzlyDiamond’s eyes erupted with a daunting light as he raised his ax and then slammed it against the ground.
Bok had just landed when the ground shuddered, causing him to lose his balance.
GrizzlyDiamond, meanwhile, did not waste time raising his ax. As soon as the strike connected, he burst forward with [Charge], appearing before Bok in an instant.
Stunned, Bok could not react as GrizzlyDiamond reached out and grabbed his throat.
“Caught you, you little rat,” GrizzlyDiamond revealed a grotesque grin as he lifted the goblin by his throat. GrizzlyDiamond was ecstatic. From the start, he’d felt like the goblin was looking down on him. He would quickly rectify that disrespect. With these thoughts in mind, GrizzlyDiamond sneered at the goblin. “Any last words?”
Despite his words, GrizzlyDiamond squeezed his grip, intending to snap the goblin’s neck. He would not give the slippery bugger a chance to escape.
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Vwoosh!
GrizzlyDiamond’s eyes widened in shock when his hand slipped through Bok’s throat, ultimately grasping nothing. He looked at the still floating goblin with startled concern but was met with a snide, wrathful glare.
“Until the end, you still looked down on me just because I am a goblin!?” Red-hot, angry flames burst out of Bok’s eyes as he glared at the warrior. Following this, his entire body transmogrified into a goblin-shaped flame. “Fine, then. Let me show you the error of your ways. Feel the vengeance of a hundred burning souls!”
As Bok roared, the entire floor trembled with indignant rage. Cracks rushed along the ceiling and walls, as an oppressive aura consumed the entire room.
GrizzlyDiamond, sensing the rapid changes, moved to grab Bok once again. This time, he coated his hand with powerful ki. As a vanguard, he often had to fight ethereal creatures. He could not always rely on a mage to strike them down, so he had long since learned how to coat his weapons and body with ki.
Bok’s rebuke was correct. In a normal raid, GrizzlyDiamond would never dare grab an enemy without protecting himself with a layer of ki. After all, who knew whether they had poisonous hides or had an ethereal physique.
Unfortunately, GrizzlyDiamond instinctively looked down on Bok’s goblin status, so he did not take the goblin seriously. This gave Bok the chance to escape.
Of course, Bok only let himself get captured so easily to spit on GrizzlyDiamond’s arrogance.
Amidst his roar, Bok sneered at GrizzlyDiamond. “HA!” With a loud shout, every flame in the hall instantly transformed to a chilling blue.
Boom!
A powerful explosion erupted from Bok and blasted GrizzlyDiamond several meters back, nearly sending him rolling off the platform.
As luck would have it, GrizzlyDiamond instinctively grabbed his ax which was still stabbed into the ground, just about preventing himself from flying over the edge.
Unfortunately, the danger had far from passed.
No one could walk away from a close-range explosion unscathed—even more so when that explosion involved Tier-3 blue flames.
GrizzlyDiamond stifled a pained cry as he struggled to contain the intense pain. His armor had melted in several places, the remnants sizzling against his charred skin. Cracks in the armor revealed angry red and black splotches over the damaged skin.
“How fortunate.” Bok sarcastically remarked as he landed next to the warrior. “Your death should not be so easy.” With those words, Bok stomped on GrizzlyDiamond’s head. His flaming foot melted the helmet as the warrior’s head smashed into the earth.
“I will make you feel pain.” Bok’s cold vengeance-filled voice filled GrizzlyDiamond with dread.
GrizzlyDiamond wanted to escape, but Bok had other ideas. The goblin bent down and placed his hand on GrizzlyDiamond’s head. The goblin tribe’s burning corpses reflected in Bok’s eyes as he muttered a single word, “Burn.”
“ARGH!” GrizzlyDiamond let out a gut-wrenching cry as blue flames consumed him in an instant. The flames melted his armor without resistance and then roasted his skin.
“Do not worry. I won’t let you perish so easily.” Bok meticulously controlled the flames so they burned off GrizzlyDiamond’s skin in tiny, excruciating layers.
When had GrizzlyDiamond ever faced torture like this? He was indeed one of the few ‘elite’ who willingly played on near-maximum pain settings. But usually, he would at worst suffer a stab wound of five. Nothing he had ever faced compared to being slowly roasted alive.
Despite all his bravado, GrizzlyDiamond was a simple gamer at the end of the day.
“Kill me! Please kill me!” Within seconds, the squirming warrior shed tears as he begged for the pain to end. In his panic, he had completely forgotten he could log out.
Fortunately, the system recognized his distress and promptly began the process to force-log him out. If it went through, he would not be able to log in for another five days (24 hours in the real world.)
“You damned coward.” Bok’s eyes blazed with fury at the warrior’s begging. “A pathetic creature like you wiped out my clan!?” Enraged, the goblin raised his arm and balled his hand into a fist. He’d had enough. It wasn’t even worth torturing a coward. “Just die!”
Bok struck at GrizzlyDiamond’s head with all his might.
Whoosh!
Shockingly, Bok’s fists phased through GrizzlyDiamond’s head at the last moment. The goblin suddenly turned around and looked at ‘something’ beyond the room with a heated gaze. “No! Just a little longer! No!”
Despite his cries, the reality was cruel.
Bok’s body rapidly turned translucent. The goblin gritted his teeth and bore GrizzlyDiamond’s crumpled, sniveling form into his brain. “To think you had the audacity to look down on goblins. You’re even less than a rat. Stay alive. One day, I’ll come not just for your head, but everyone you know. Until then…” Bok bent over and whispered into GrizzlyDiamond’s ear. “Be wary of flames.”
With those final words, Bok’s body completely disappeared. Shortly after, GrizzlyDiamond also disappeared, transported to the next floor.
***
A Few Seconds Earlier
“H-How!? This is impossible”
“Ah, don’t worry. This isn’t your fault or anything. You’re pretty strong. You just got the worst matchup in history.”
Within one of the test halls, Bok indignantly cried out in disbelief as he lay on the ground, pressed beneath a dragon’s foot.
The culprit, Kashi, chuckled as Bok’s blue flames periodically washed over him. Unfortunately for the goblin, the deadly flames were akin to a warm sauna for the draconian. The chilling blue harmlessly bounced off Kashi’s domineering obsidian scales.
Despite his amusement, Kashi did not forget he was on the clock. He increased the pressure on his foot and coldly questioned, “So, do you surrender or not? I’ll kill you if I have to.”
Bok gritted his teeth. Shame and anger washed over him in equal measures. Once again, he felt like he had returned to that moment when GrizzlyDiamond massacred his clan. He was just as helpless despite all the power he had been granted.
Nothing had changed! “You better kill me now. Or else I will definitely kill you later.”
Kashi raised a brow in surprise. “Why should I kill you? Do you and I have any personal enmity? I know I’m going against your guild, but you did your part and lost. Rather than die needlessly, wouldn’t it be smarter to train more so you can better help your guild next time? Could it be that you hate me personally?”
“Hate you?” Bok’s eyes burned with unshed tears. “I hate you! Not just you! All you damned Summoned! I hate all of you! I won’t rest until you’re all destroyed!”
“Stop dreaming.”
“What!?” Bok’s breath caught in his throat at Kashi’s sudden cold tone.
“Let me guess. You are pissed off because some Summoned carelessly slaughtered your family or friends?” Kashi smirked at Bok’s silence. “You’re hardly the first goblin to display above-average intelligence, and you won’t be the last.”
“What are you talking about?” Bok’s gaze trembled. There were others like him?
Kashi sighed as he crossed his arms. “This is making me feel nostalgic. No, is it really nostalgia if it’s someone else’s memory?” The draconian shook his head and then looked at Bok. “Here’s the deal. Have you ever wondered how a cow would feel if it gained intelligence? Do you think it would hate all living things because we kill and eat its brethren for meat?”
“Are you comparing goblins to cows?” Bok angrily growled. He could not bear the blatant insult.
“No. But to the rest of the world, there’s no difference between the both of you.” Kashi paused and added after a thought, “Well, at least cows are beneficial for their meat. Goblins, on the other hand, not so much.”
“What do you expect? We need to do whatever we can to survive!”
“So, you’re certain that goblins would behave if allowed into cities?”
“Well, that…”
Kashi did not laugh at Bok. He could not blame the goblins for their inborn limitations. That would be like blaming a wolf for howling, or a lion for hunting. Goblins were instinctual creatures. By nature, they snatched and stole whatever they wanted. They lacked remorse and empathy, so they could never coexist with any other species.
“Instead of wasting time on a meaningless thing like trying to kill every Summoned, why don’t you look into ways to improve the goblins’ intellect.” Kashi tapped Bok’s skull with his foot. “The fact that you exist means that it is possible for the goblins to take one more step on the evolutionary scale. You can consider communication to be the goblins’ starting line. If goblins can’t even communicate, how the hell can you save them?”
“I—”
“You don’t believe me?” Kashi smirked. “What if I told you that the orcs were even worse than goblins at one point? They could only kill and conquer, forever consumed by rage and instinctual bloodlust. Now, those same orcs who would even resort to cannibalism to stave off hunger now have settlements and communities. It took one brave orc to save their entire kind from their previous lifestyle. You could try doing the same for the goblins.”
Bok’s heart faltered. Indeed, he always knew from a corner of his heart that he could never truly kill all the Summoned. For one, they were immortal creatures that would just return in a different body. Secondly, they were scarily strong. Much stronger than most Residents. Bok’s quest was a glorified suicide mission.
But what if he changed his focus? Bok wondered if he could really save his race. Bok pictured the halls of the Sacred Land. Several races proudly walked through those halls without prejudice or judgment, each contributing to the Order’s ultimate goal. What if, one day, goblins could also walk proudly among those halls, interacting freely with the other races.
Bok’s heart suddenly quickened. What started as a seedling suddenly sprouted into a magnificent dream he could not look away from.
Before he could stop himself, Bok murmured, “H-how can I—”
“I don’t know.” Kashi mercilessly doused Bok with cold water. “Heh, wouldn’t it be too convenient if I had your answer?” Kashi chuckled and then said, “You can read, right? Go find a library, scour ancient records, question those old fogeys, explore ancient sites—I don’t know. Just do whatever it takes until you’ve exhausted every single avenue. IF you still can’t find an answer, consider finding a way to contact a god or archdemon for help.”
Suddenly, Kashi frowned and shook his head. “On second thought, scratch that. Do not ask any gods or archdemons. Those guys’ help always comes with strings. It’s better to find a way on your own. If you need muscle, you can also consider hiring my guild.” Kashi chuckled and tapped Bok’s back with his foot. “So, sounds like you have a mission. Do you want to surrender now?”
Bok was silent for a few seconds and then muttered. “…You are the strangest person I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you.”
Defeated, Bok could only shake his head and mutter, “I surrender.”
“You made the right choice.” Kashi chuckled and then raised his foot as he began to turn translucent.
Freed from the crushing pressure, Bok sat up and stared at the disappearing draconian. “Kashi of the Maggots. I cannot easily shred my hatred of your kind, but I am grateful for the light you have given me. It may prove to be a fool’s errand, but for the first time, I have a reason to live beyond vengeance.” Bok swallowed a breath, and then said, “My name is Bok. Please remember it. Though we may once again meet as enemies, you will never be my enemy.”
“How convoluted,” Kashi complained with a chuckle. “See you when I see you, Bok. Do not worry. I’ll spare your life after beating you next time too.”
Bok could not help himself. He burst out laughing as they both disappeared from the room.