[Six years in the past]

It was the first time Mr. Griffin had held a class inside the actual classroom. He was so uncomfortable sitting in Miss. Martha’s chair that he almost flipped it over along with the desk.

“Who made these?” Eventually, he got up and with one hand, he pulled the desk out of his way. Natalie’s eyes went wide.

“Listen up, runts. Today, I’ll list the 20 species you need to watch out for and what you should do when facing each one.”

“Teacher, did you fight them?” asked Michael.

“Yes.”

“Did you fight all of them?” asked Annie.

“Thank Loki, no. Let’s start with the first species: goblins.”

Mr. Griffin waved Finn over and made him stand in front of the class.

“Imagine him but green.”

“What!?” Finn’s mouth went agape.

“The size’s about the same.” Mr. Griffin massaged his chin. “Anyway, goblins are the weakest of the 20 intelligent species, pretty much the lapdogs of all the others. They have retained their reproductive abilities, due to being so weak, so they’re being bred en masse to be used for errands and chores.”

“Have you fought a goblin before?” asked Natalie.

“I’ve stomped a few,” Mr. Griffin puffed his chest.

“Can we beat a goblin?” asked Tommy.

“No.” The answer was so definitive and said with such conviction that half the class gulped.

“Do not underestimate the enemy. Goblins are faster than most warriors; they are shrewd and nimble, and can wield the mana inside of their bodies, something not even high-level mages can do.

Worst of all, like all the other 19 species, they can command monsters.”

“How many?” John John raised a hand, and Mr. Griffin scratched his head.

“A lot,” he continued while looking at the ceiling. “Remember: if you see a lone goblin, there are likely a hundred creatures in the vicinity that you are not seeing.”

[Back to the present]

Standing on a flying stingray near the city’s bubble, there was a goblin holding a black ball of mana. The creature took in the unfolding battlefield while grinning ear to ear.

As soon as it appeared, the tuna fish stopped retreating and kept jumping from place to place while shooting water bullets. The snakes, crabs, and all the other creatures became ten times as aggressive too.

Suddenly, a wave of energy flew towards the goblin’s face. Without a change in expression, it pushed the crystal ball forward and the wave splattered on its surface. Looking below, he saw a dwarven woman with a glowing rapier. There were two blue crystals on each side of the rapier’s crossguard, one of which cracked before disintegrating into nothing.

The goblin’s grin grew even larger somehow, and he raised his head, completely ignoring the insignificant dwarf.

From a distance, Luca closed his eyes. “I’ll kill it,” he decided while reconnecting his consciousness with the crystal that was now stuck in the sand.

The crystal shot out towards the stingray from an angle the goblin above could not have possibly seen. However, half a second before impact, a tiny, concentrated, black flame came out of the goblin’s crystal. It avoided the goblin’s hands and shot straight through the stingray before smashing the purple arrowhead apart.

The two pieces of mana canceled each other out, and the goblin fell along with the stingray.

His grin was finally starting to fade. Silvia shot another wave of mana, but he blocked it just the same.

There was fire separating the two of them, so she could not carelessly engage. The goblin finally locked eyes with her and extended the hand that was holding the crystal.

A tiny, concentrated, black fireball shot out towards Silvia, and she swung her rapier at it. The fireball was extinguished upon contact, but her rapier melted and half of it broke. Another fireball came, and she cut it with what remained of her sword. For the third one, she threw the hilt, but there wasn’t enough power behind it, and the fireball struck her arms. The woman screamed as a deep hole appeared through her left forearm and liver.

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“Give me one of your knives,” said Luca.

“No. It’ll give away our position.”

“Just do it!” The boy tried to take one, but Finn tripped and pushed him to the ground.

“She’s as good as dead,” Finn clenched his fists, “and so are we if we don’t get out of here right now.”

Just as he said this, black flames engulfed Silvia’s entire body. Her face contorted and she dropped on all fours.

Her vision was fading, but she could somewhat tell where Junior had fallen. With the last bit of strength, she slowly trudged towards him. Her hands and feet sunk into the molten glass, and her vision faded completely. Just inches away from Dominic’s hand, Silvia lost all of her senses and perished.

“Huhuhuhahahaha!” The goblin couldn’t control his laughter. He kept his eyes on the two deformed bodies while his belly shook from joy.

A good 10 seconds later, after losing interest in the melting corpses, the goblin raised his palm up and let out a shriek. Some distance away, Luca stood up in time to take in the view.

Shadows appeared just beyond the bubble. There were not dozens or hundreds or even a couple of thousands. No less than 10 thousand creatures covered the bubble’s wall from top to bottom.

On the northern beach that day, 136 warriors were still fighting for their lives. They struggled against just 50 monsters due to the creatures’ sizes and strength.

The one-armed mercenary was right next to the bubble, and upon seeing the shadows he turned and ran with all of his might.

‘I should’ve left this cursed city!’

Suddenly, a shark jumped out of the bubble and bit his torso clean off. A school of several thousand great white sharks, twice the normal size and just as ferocious started exiting the barrier.

“Why are they flying?” Finn grabbed Luca and they both started sprinting towards the wall. “Why the fuck are they flying!?”

It was an incomprehensible sight. Five thousand sharks were floating in midair forming a literal wall of flesh as they exited the barrier. Below, creatures of all shapes and sizes, from snakes, to crabs, to urchins, to the giant octopus that now only had four legs, were slowly advancing towards the wall.

Floating stingrays completed the enemies’ ranks while carrying hundreds of murderous clams on their backs. One of these clams, with its back empty, flew in front of the goblin, and it quickly hopped on.

The goblin’s eyebrows furrowed as it saw the mercenaries run for their lives. Its army was marching painfully slow, but the creature hesitated to order an uncoordinated sprint.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like he needed an entire army of monsters to kill a few bugs.

With its mouth open as if trying to swallow its prey from a distance, the goblin snapped its fingers and rushed after the mercenaries. 10 sharks followed after him and started dispatching humans and beastmen left and right.

What did not fit in their jaws, the goblin exterminated from afar with its crystal. It purposely struck only those that were distracted or weakened, and every single scream made its lips twist increasingly upwards.

Then, from the corner of its eyes, it spotted two teens running away from the other groups. The sharks would not bother with such few prey away from the main dish. If the situation continued, those two were likely to escape.

The goblin’s grin instantly vanished, replaced by a deep frown. Its stingray took note of its mood and accelerated full force towards the teens.

“He’s coming,” muttered the elf while struggling to keep up with the green haired human.

“You should’ve saved the crystal for now,” Finn hissed. He was not thinking straight at the moment. The goblin was gaining on them even while killing mercenaries left and right along the way.

“Any bright ideas?” asked Luca.

“Yes,” Finn chuckled. An eerie shadow covered their bodies. “Don’t die!”

The teens rolled on the ground right as two black flames melted the sand. The goblin’s laughter was heard from above and several clusters of flames started flying towards them.

Thanks to Mr. Griffin’s training, Finn managed to dodge these attacks, but he had to somehow protect Luca while doing so. He bobbed his head while throwing a knife and lifted his leg while throwing another.

Flames flew past Finn while his knives struck the ones that were about to hit Luca.

“Die, you low level mob bastard!” Finn threw a knife towards the goblin from below, but a tiny black fireball exited the crystal, shot straight through the stingray and melted his dagger.

The stingray fell, and the teens ran. The goblin’s shrieks could be heard from behind, and the army of monsters increased its marching speed, almost breaking formation.

At the same time, three of the 10 sharks rushed over to give their master a lift.

“Do you have any more knives?” asked Luca.

Not even 100 feet into their sprint, the goblin was already once again above them. He released his fireballs while two great whites attacked the teens from the side.

Finn grabbed his remaining knife at a loss for words or a solution. ‘Get eaten or burned?’ These were the only options.

Both teens dodged the fireballs and headed straight towards the sharks’ jaws. Finn used his enhanced strength and speed to stab the creature’s nostrils and push his body to the side, but Luca could not hope to do the same.

The young prodigy, the pride of his village, stared at the lines of serrated teeth and awaited his end. Time seemed to move in slow-motion and an image of his parents popped up in his head.

‘How I miss you...’ A smile appeared on the boy’s face as he watched a row of teeth approaching his face.

Suddenly, the shark twisted to the left, slicing the boy’s right eye but leaving him in one piece. Finn’s shark was also hit and collapsed into the sand, while the goblin’s stingray did evasive maneuvers.

Tiny fireballs escaped from his crystal and collided with some kind of projectiles shot from up ahead.

“Run!” Finn heard a familiar voice. “Why are you just standing there? Run!”

Finn turned his head, and a tiny flying object flew past it. Some 50 feet away from him there was a girl with both hands full of pebbles. She had a golden ring on each of her fingers, and each one had a glowing blue stone on top.

The pebbles flew out of her hands in the direction of the goblin, and the girl kept screaming at her friends.

“Run!” shouted Annie. “Before it’s too late!”