“I see that you have an empty slot in your team, may I-“

Phillip walked past, ignoring him with a scowl. Maria followed suit, a puzzled look plastered all over her face, unfamiliar with the dynamics between us and Sidwell, but she could tell that we did not enjoy basking in his presence.

And Sidwell knew it too.

Then, why did he insist on approaching Phillip? He wasn’t a dumb guy, so his insistence must’ve had a meaning behind it; a purpose none of us could fathom.

Sidwell shrugged, then gave me and Maria an ‘I give up’ look. “I guess we’ll talk another time…”

He laughed and stepped away from us.

Maria was nervous throughout the whole interaction. Her eyes darted to and away from Phillip, who was walking ahead of us. “What’s with that?” She asked, finding her courage to talk about what just happened.

I turned to her. “None of us liked him, I guess?” No other answer was appropriate to explain the relationship between us and Sidwell; while I strongly disliked him, Phillip was straight-up allergic to him.

Maria opened her mouth, then stopped when she decided to not inquire about it any further.

The obelisk was packed. Everyone was busy setting up a team or discussing what roles and fighting styles they preferred. Observing the space around us, I noted that there were a few pockets in the space that was filled with individuals and not groups, which I assumed belonged to the best warriors of our bunch; their faces were tense, yet beamed with confidence, which made it difficult for the others to approach them.

Speaking of approaching the strong guys, I noted a few others sneaking their way to Phillip, hoping that he’d join them. He wasn’t interested and pushed them away, which prompted a smile from Maria as she understood how lucky she was that she didn’t receive the same treatment as they did.

It didn’t take a genius to ascertain Phillip’s strength.

Upon reaching the obelisk, Each of us touched its surface; a message screen appeared right as I touched the obelisk.

[You obtained 3x Mission pass.]

3 more missions today…

I had hopes that the missions would be akin to those we completed yesterday, and when I saw the list, my mouth was agape. What the hell are those?

Available Missions - Day 2.

You will earn 3x mission passes per day.

Combat training(2)

(SOLO)

Enter the training grounds. You will not perish if you die. Experience gain is reduced by 80%. No weapons will be granted. Time limit : 90 minutes.

Requirements: -

No rewards.

The goblin horde

Defeat the leader of the Goblin Horde.

Requirements : 1 Mission pass.

Reward : 1200 points.

Torch of flames

Deliver the torch to its rightful place.

Requirements : 1 Mission pass.

Reward : 1500 points.

The Orc chieftain

Survive the orc chieftain’s trials.

Requirements: 1 Mission pass.

Reward : 1800 points

Reward (2) : Trial upgrade pass

The point rewards are nuts. 1200 points for a single mission? Well, of course, it would be shared amongst all party members, but imagine if I cleared it on my own… I could get both the armor set and class stone if I cleared these 3 alone.

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That’s a huge if, though. Dealing with a horde of different goblins is not a feat I could achieve solo.

My gaze turned to Phillip once I saw the mission list. He was less shocked than I was, but his gaze wasn’t at all unphased either. “Orcs…” he breathed. “They are here too.”

Not only that, the orc mission held the Trial upgrade pass.

None of these missions looked like it was a cakewalk, unlike yesterday. Even with a full, four-member party, I’d still sweat at the picture of facing hordes of goblins with the others. The orcs were an x-factor; I couldn’t predict how difficult or easy it would be since I’d never faced them before.

But if Phillip lost to them, I had good reasons to fear it too.

“Let’s just do the Goblin mission first,” Maria called out, being the most composed among us. “We’d all faced them before, so they’d be the easiest to deal with. Plus, it’s a good chance for us to learn how to fight together.”

She was right. I was about to suggest the same idea too.

Phillip nodded, his eyes never leaving his own invisible screen. His demeanor changed when the Orcs were mentioned, which worried me a little, to be honest. If someone like him could be this wary of an encounter, then what about us? How would we fare against them?

“Before we go, with my bow, my style and place in a group are pretty much set.” Maria continued, unaware of Phillip’s blank stare. “What about you?”

Come to think of it, I didn’t know how Phillip fought as well, it wasn’t a discussion that I’d ever thought about asking him. I mean, one would assume that he’d fight face-to-face, right in the front lines, but I’d been surprised before, so it would be best if we shed any doubts about our preferences.

I took out my shield and staff, holding each of them with both my hands. “Well… I, uh… I’m a mage. I shoot big, greenish-black things that explode. If push comes to a shove, I can smack a few things too.” Waving my staff up and about, “Just make sure that none of you get hit by the aftermath of the spe- No, nevermind, just make sure that you stay the hell away from whatever it is I’m planning to hit, it’s not pretty.”

My face grimaced when I reminded myself of what happened in the lizardman fight.

Maria laughed at my crude explanation, “Well, with that shield, can you even see where you’re aiming?”

Now that she mentioned it... I never had to aim my spells manually. “I don’t have to aim them, they hit wherever I wanted them to.”

“Wow… That’s convenient.” She said, raising her eyebrows, “As for me, I needed to aim the bow still, but the skill I got from the skill book made it easier. It’s uh… What do you call it again-” Her eyes shifted to her side, looking at her own screen, “Ah yes, the [Eagle Aim] skill. It’s neat.”

Eagle aim… Sounds quite typical for a ranged, archery skill.

Her eyes darted to her right side, where Phillip was standing. “What about him? You seemed to be good friends with Phillip. Did you know each other before you got here?”

Phillip and I shook our heads.

“Well, what do you do then, big guy?” She proceeded to ask, pointing to me. “You’re some kind of a tank, like him, right?”

Some things did not need to be said. One of them would be Phillip’s preferred fighting style.

Phillip took out a gigantic-ass arsenal from his inventory and grasped it with both of his arms. It was an axe — no, not just an axe, but a massive great axe — whose length was comparable to his own height. I, for the life of me, couldn’t imagine lifting such a weapon, let alone wielding it. I bet he can slice the lizardman in two if he wants to.

The greataxe wasn’t a weapon that was available in the shop, so it’d be wise to assume that he acquired it from the special reward given for reaching the top 10 the first time.

Maria grinned, satisfied with the display of his weapon. “Cool, no further explanation needed. How are we going to position ourselves to fight, though? With his size, I’ll have difficulties not hitting him with my arrows.”

Thump. “I can take it,” Phillip replied, hitting himself squarely in the chest.

Yeah, I’d prefer if he wasn’t caught in my spells blast zone if I can help it. No matter how strong and resistant his body was, it’d still hurt regardless. “I’ll stick with Maria. You deal with the ones that come after you, Phillip.”

Since I had a shield and I could defend well against the goblins, this would be the best strategy. Phillip wouldn’t require our assistance against the goblins on his own, so we’d deal with those that were at least a few meters away from him.

I explained what I had in mind to both of them. Phillip pretty much agreed almost instantly, but Maria wasn’t as enthusiastic about it. She didn’t vote against it either, since she didn’t have a better plan of her own. After all, the three of us just met, and none of us had ever fought with each other.

“One more thing,” Maria said just before we were about to embark on the mission. “What about the rewards? How are we going to share it?”

“Of course, we’ll split it three ways,” I answered, thinking that it was obvious.

She nodded, approving the simple arrangement we’d set up, and then we were transported into the field where the goblin mission took place.

It was almost the same field that we’d grown to love, with some slight variances. The fog was perceptible even from a short distance, and the air was almost too cold when it brushed against our skin. Tiny patches of grass were visible on an otherwise level and plain dirt field, and in the distance, I noticed an array of torches every few or so meters apart. Every single torch seemed to represent a group of these goblins, but none of us knew for sure.

“Whoa… this is different,” Maria spoke behind me, arrows at the ready. “Do we wait?”

Phillip’s eyes were fixated on one of the torches, which was making its way toward us. He gripped his axe and entered his ready stance while relaying his thoughts with a glance.

He wants to fight now?

While the stealthy option would be preferable — I’d love to acquire more information about what we’re fighting against — Phillip’s senses urged him about reacting as quickly as he could. It was more of his style, after all, and as long as he was-

Zip.

It was fast, and it was sudden. An arrow flew from the distance, piercing the fog as it made its way toward Maria’s skull. She wasn’t looking at the direction from where it came, but even then, I sensed that she’d perceived it, somehow. However, her body failed to react along with her instincts in time.

“Get do-“

Maria’s yell broke the tense quietness, and I ducked. An arrow zipped past my head; I was this close to having my life snuffed out in a single strike.

However, that wasn’t the last arrow fired toward our position. Another few were making their way towards Maria’s position.

There was no other method of helping her other than shoving her to the side and blocking the arrow with my shield. The first part of my plan worked, the second one, however, was a miss.

Swerving just a few inches away from my shield, it bored a hole in my left shoulder — the one that was carrying the shield — eliciting a loud yell from me as the pain flared. It wasn’t a fatal injury, lucky me, but this meant that my blocks wouldn’t be as effective as they should be.

Not only that, the goblins that were approaching Phillip’s direction charged once they figured out our location. I heard screams of goblins yelling in the distance, and judging from the volume of their cries, I surmised that we didn’t have much time left before the entire goblin squad reached our position.

Do we stay, or do we run? Mental calculations ran inside of my head as I primed a bolt into my staff while overlooking the volley of arrows that was about to approach us. Maria kept her cool, observing the horizon for their silhouettes, and pointed somewhere towards my right, a few meters off the distance.

Using my shield, I groaned, the pain from my injured shoulder flaring when I lifted my arms high and blocked the incoming arrows. Each arrow thunked against the metallic surface of my shield, and from each collision, my shoulder felt the waves of pressure from the resulting impact. I gritted my teeth and held back the pain, the strain on my shoulder growing from each centimeter of my shoulder’s movements.

Maria hid behind me, following our original plan. “Shoot it that way, Gray!”

Both my eyes followed where she pointed, and I let go of my primed bolt. The spell shrieked past the air, headed to the middle of where the archers were situated, their eyes agape. The head of the spell blasted the ground beneath them, breaking their formation and causing small-scale panic as the aftermath of the explosion was beginning to melt their skin.

And yet, not a single kill.

Knowing that we couldn’t deal with both sides of goblins at once, I searched for Phillip in front of the line, then realized that out of everyone else in our party, he was the last person that I should be worried about. The horde of goblins had reached his position, and distracting him would be a big mistake.

“Stay behind me!” I yelled, shocking Maria as I turned around and faced where the arrows came from. The situation turned dire in an instant, and we needed to make snappy decisions on the fly.

But that wasn’t all that this mission had to offer. Of course not, this is the second day, after all.

From behind our backs — its presence as faint as I remembered — a steel dagger pierced through Maria’s back through her suit. Blood poured on the dirt floor as Maria gagged from the sudden flood of blood pushing through her throat, clutching her front abdomen.

The Goblin Nightblade.