POV: Our "handsome" hero

The once chaotic battlefield now deserted of all but human life, goblin corpses and dying embers were all that was left of the once monstrous army, I had expected the humans to start running straight home but it appears as though they were...celebrating?

While the knights stood on guard they were just laughing and cheering? maybe this world is stranger than I though, hell one of them was even cutting the goblins up, he even thrusts his hand diving elbow deep into its skull and retrieving a small gleaming object. 

My curiosity peaked the build-up of anticipation unbearable I forced myself to approach them, the risk was far nothing compared to the fascination I felt, my past life no game had ever given me such swelling of euphoria, as if the gods had granted my every wish I wouldn't COULDN'T squander this gift in front of me.

With my mind set that I just couldn't let such an opportunity run away, I slowly ventured out towards the group, slowly as to not appear threatening, I called out to them in the gentlest voice I could muster I called out "Hello friends, can you hear me out"

One of them turned to my direction...

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POV: Random Knight

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck how the fuck did we get ourselves into this position?

It was supposed to be a simple mission, go down Grand forest Mile of Death and clean out any of the goblin dens along the way, a simple mission of course simple but one that has lead to a 99% squad fatality rate, the Mile of Death wasn't famous because of its landmarks but its unnaturally high number of goblin clans and magical beast.

If it wasn't the goblins it was the land sharks but I'm digressing, every group ever sent to patrol this stretch of road has always met their end, that is of course excluding ours squad, nicknamed the "Drunken Teaparty Patrol" a name which was given to us for our captains choice of dress, personality and mainly the fact that he kicked a noble down a set of stairs into a manure pit...

My captain and comrades have done this route over twenty times, each mission was walking a very fine line between life and death, each one of us had years of experience but nothing could have prepared us for today.

Normally throughout the mission we'd encounter resistance in the form of small goblin clans, each clan consisting of 50 or so goblins and maybe a Kegmaster, the first checkpoint we reached however was empty of all but a few scrabbling goblins, continuing onwards we reached the midpoint of our patrol and we had only encountered minor fragments of what should have been clans.

We'd experienced goblins all our lives, they were simple savages after all, only driven by their desire for alcohol and sex.

We prepared ourselves, from our experience we knew that this type of behaviour was far from normal expecting the worse the captain ordered a full retreat, we'd get a ton of shit for abandoning our patrol but we'd rather live long enough to get that beating than become a goblins feast or worse.

Before we even started retreating the defensive formation was given, our training kicked in we prepared for battle.

For a few minutes nothing happened but we stood vigilante, captains instincts were always right and trusting his instincts would always lead us to salvation, even when there was a 1% chance of survival he'd lead us to safety but even in the worst odds the captain had never been this tense.

At last the tense moment was broken and we were confronted with our worst fears, the darkness of the forest as if from a nightmare started to spew goblin after goblin, their savageness betraying their intent but that was nothing for what they had prepared for us.

As if the gates of hell opened up the first wave started its charge towards us breaking through the foliage and straight into our blades, a few goblins died from the initial clash yet as if they had no self they would just continue to keep throwing themselves onto our blades even if we killed one two more would join in its place, those two would bring another four until we were swamped in a sea of goblins.

Despite this we still held ourselves high, they are mere rats before us with that line of though I grasped the thin sliver of hope.

A noise alerted us and I watched as those bastards took away our last sliver of hope, a roar of hell sounded out and I saw not 1 but 10 Kegmasters walking out the forest, for a minute my eyes glossed over, a goblin struck my shin with his mace and yet I felt numb, staring at them for what felt like hours a sharp cry snapped me back to reality.

Adderson the newest recruit started panicking, "N-n-n-no I ca-ca-can't do this! Mother please save me!" he cried out in anguish and abandoned his post, abandoning everything except his sword I watched as he leapt into the horde of goblins with a thud he got over a few before he was chest deep in the horde, his short panicked swings doing nothing.

It took only a second before I saw him vanish beneath the wave, his bloody cries even drowning out the savage warcry's of the goblins, the poor bugger was eaten alive and we couldn't even do anything.

Eventually we were drawn into a stalemate, one that we were gradually loosing, asides from Adderson we had only suffered some minor injuries yet everyone fought on, atop a mountain of corpses we all felt exhausted but if one of us stopped the entire squad would be swarmed.

Despite every kill one more would join in, our captain in his usual frenzy, keeping a simple stance he effortlessly swung his signature claymore, each swing he would bring death to countless foes.

A gnawing on my mind, I knew this would be the last moments of my life, I would never see my beloved wife and son again.

"Yoo're pissin' yerself wi' fear lads, jist kill them an' we can gang haem awreddy!" his voice bellowing at us.

The captain never really had a way for words but oddly in this moment it felt like a relief to me, I steeled myself, no we all steeled ourselves to survive this, we all had families to come back to, some were still sucking on their mothers tits, we all had one common goal and with the captains words I felt our resolve strengthen, my muscles screamed at their strain, I raggedly strained for breath but I pushed myself on.

With new-found resolve we redoubled our efforts, each slash electing a blood-curdling scream, every pierce would spew blood and guts our shields knocked but stood firm in our grips, the mages releasing all sorts of hell using whatever they had, goblins heads would explode, freeze, be skinned, etc etc while the rangers were using their daggers with deadly precision.

Suddenly something caught my attention, from the tree line I saw a glow!, "reinforcements inbound from the tree line!" I shouted, as if an angel from heaven was sent forth to lend divine punishment on our foes.

But something was wrong, I watched as they didn't join the fight rather staying back surveying the fight, it was then I noticed it preparing a spell; Fireball, as if in slow motion it wasn't an angel but a devil that was sent, nobody but a devil would fire a Fireball at the goblins with a Kegmaster nearby unless they were truely evil.

Slowly as if my worst fears were confirmed the Fireball was launched, its target the Kegmaster, a few others noticing the grave danger we were in and had already prepared for the blast, with seconds to spare I brought my shield to cover myself.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

*BOOOOOOOOM* 

The shock wave blasted through the horde throwing limbs and fire everywhere, silence swept over the once deafening battlefield even the savage goblins couldn't utter a word, they had just witnessed a large chunk of their comrades being reduced to cinders.

The message clear to the goblins, they felt the power and wrath of whoever they had angered and started to panic and flee.

And as I watched a wave of relief washed over us all, the near impossible we had somehow managed to survive, the last of the goblin out of our sight we knew we were finally safe, taken by the moment I felt tears flow.

Title Acquired (Warrior of the Death Road)DescriptionManaging to survive in a battle of 0.001% survival you managed to survive but you also won

- 50% more combat prowess in battles of minimal odds

- It will take twice as much effort before feel fatigue and exhaustion

- When fatigued or exhausted from battle stats increase by 25%

"A blessing! WE'VE RECEIVED A BLESSING!" someone called out.

the message clear we look at each other as we received a divine gift, our achievements etched into the annals of history by god, not only having our deeds acknowledged by god but we had been worthy enough to receive powerful blessings, we would not go home as the losers they declared us but as blessed warriors, on par with the noble warriors who had fought with the 5 legendary hero's.

We settled down, alert we stood there either laughing or giving a joyous cheer, we just couldn't contain ourselves, hell even that weirdo who collects mana gems is happily cheering as he goes about cutting the corpses up.

Then it struck me our savoir was nearby, suddenly I see the captain freezes, a chilling as if death was tracing a finger down my spine, a feeling like none other gripped my heart, I turned around becoming instantly pale, sharp unsteady breathing took over and my comrades cheers died down replaced with dread filled breaths'.

The captain had explained this to us before, his skill Danger Awareness allowed him to accurately predict dangerous situations nearby, a example he gave was when he went towards ambushes, his skill would flare up, and give him a chill, the stronger the chill the more dangerous the situation was.

Captain was the only one who has this skill in our squad, without it we would have died long ago but before us lay a monster...no not a monster but worse, its mere presence was enough that it inspired terror into us.

Before us was a Fire Elemental, a baby elemental yet we knew what it was, my mother, family, the church had told me what this thing before us was but my mind was blank, I barely could open my mouth let alone speak of it.

Worse than the demon lord, worse than the gates of hell opening up before us was the true enemy of mankind, no, not just mankind but the enemy of all living being, it stood before us, slowly gliding its way, "Emerald Elemental" I meekly spoke its cursed name.

Those two words were like daggers being struck into my soul, the name alone inspired dread, my comrades reacted but dared not move.

"Hello friends, can you hear me out" Its voice bellowed deeply yet as if from royalty.

I could hear the sound of fainting, the prior battle had already taken its toll on us, to be so close to living and yet it was snatched away from us so soon, the lucky ones fainted only a few of us remained standing, if this was anything else I would have praised us for remaining concious.

I watched as its slowly crept over to us, the fire of its body flickered but betrayed nothing.

"A-Ay? Sir Xen" my head snapped to the source of the voice, the fearless captain that I had known for years  was reduced to a husky voice, his thick accent and voice reduced to a whimper, I could only praise him for having the biggest balls to speak to it.

"Tell me, do you know where we are?" it asked.

I felt another chill blow deeply into my soul, captain however replied ever so quickly.

"We're in th-th' eastern part ay th' kingdom ay Trivista oan th' contient ay Latvian..." 

//translation "We're in th-the eastern part of the kingdom of Trivista on the continent of Latvian..." 

For a moment it was silent, not even the forest daring to make a sound we waited with baited breath, suddenly Derrek snapped, fear striking in he let loose a scream as he dropped his shield and lifted his sword, with a mad dash he screamed he approached the elemental.

within five steps a orange spear pierced through his head, copious amounts of blood sprayed over us, his body instantly going rigid, as soon as it appeared the spear vanished, the slumped body falling lifelessly on the ground and silence enveloping us as we comprehended what had just happened.

"Oh I'm really sorry for that I..." its sentence cut short as a cry of our captain was heard, grabbing his signature sword and charged at it.

Gathering all his strength the captain  was putting everything on one hit as he lifted his claymore to strike one mighty blow, faster than I could even react his claymore swung, as if it could tear reality asunder.

*CLANG* a heavy vibration resounded, I flinched as I saw the results of the swift battle, it had taken not even a second but it effortlessly stopped captains legendary blade, taken it had already done its counter attack, a second spear had embedded itself into the captains shoulder.

With that the battle was decided, captain had lost, our last sliver of hope gone I knew we were all doomed, with no strength left I watched as my captain fainted, his eyes turning blank as he slumped over onto the floor.

Expecting my end my knee's felt weak, incapable of even standing I fell down, my closed my eyes I prayed in silence awaiting my end, a minute passed by then two before nervously I sneaked a peak, realising it was not the world of the dead I peaked at the elemental just staring at the captain, and then...he just started floating away.

"What weird people..." It mumble, as it travelled away down the road, I wanted to give chase, do something! it was moving further away from the capital but its existence alone was already monstrous, I knew my duty and the captains courage had inspired me to try, try as I may to at least stop it for a mere moment at least.

I screamed at myself to get up but my body betrayed me, the single though of confronting it prevented me from even moving a finger.

The fight against the goblins was immense we felt no fear,  we were prepared to die for the sake of our families; but that all changed, in the face of the reborn Elemental Xen it was as if a nightmare was released, a nightmare which every inhabitant would now share, we would no longer call his tale as a mere fairy tale.

slowly with that thought the world turned black as my conciousness faded.

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Authors note:

Oh man was this a hard chapter to write, hopefully I have done it merit (just an FYI give me any head ups on what you might feel wrong)

While I intend to give this story a primary focus on the MC only, I'll have some side stories once in awhile