“Congratulations, you have now become an awakened.”
Jaimie looked at his hands with wide eyes and open mouth. Not able to contain his curiosity, the young boy stood up and bolted towards the end of the road and back.
“Oh, we have a speedy boy over here,” Jack commented with a smile on his face. “Robb might finally get a run for his money.”
“So we’re now all awakened,” Alfonse said with a look of great accomplishment in his eyes. “Does that make us the strongest group in the village?”
“Maybe,” Roy shrugged his shoulders. “But we can’t become arrogant, we still don’t know how strong John’s group is.”
As he thought of the face of the noble that sentenced him to death, Roy gritted his teeth. Marth’s words rang in his ears about the red aura they had gained after awakening. If it was the same as that giant monster Roy and his friends had fought, John’s group would be difficult opponents to deal with.
With a resolute expression on his face, Roy turned and said, “Let’s get going. The hunt continues.”
The band of brothers continued its search for new monsters to fight. Their wishes were soon fulfilled. After a few minutes of walking, they found a medium-sized group of goblins.
“What’s that, fifteen tall ones and twenty-five small goblins?” Alfonse quickly tallied the size of the group they were facing and looked at Roy. “So, do we fight them?”
Roy looked back at his friends and asked with a toothy grin, “What do you guys say? You think you can handle them?”
“Easy work,” Robb snorted. “I could kill them all by myself.”
“While I would love to take you on that bet, we can’t be letting you take all the kills,” Jack retorted at Robb. His hand clenched the grip of his sword hard, as he looked with excitement at the monsters down the street.
Fred smiled wildly at Roy. “Don’t worry about us and go buck-wild. We can take care of ourselves.”
Roy chuckled in response before looking at the last member. “And you, Jaimie, what about you? You feeling up for the challenge?”
“I’m going to have the most kills this time. No one is going to steal them from me.”
Jack whistled at the young boy’s confident words. “Wow, the kid is talking a big game now. Let’s see if you can back it up.”
Jaimie nodded with pure and resolute eyes. “You will see.”
“Good, this is some good spirit.” Roy clasped his hands together and took center stage. “Remember to fight them from the flanks if you don’t want to be surrounded. For the rest, I’m sure you know what to do.”
The band of young men walked down the street, weapon in hand. Just as one of the goblins noticed their presence and started shrieking, Roy dashed toward it and slashed its throat. While Roy was killing the first monster, Robb bolted past him and killed a second one with a ghostly slash. As if he was a death reaper, he collected the lives of the goblins with a single strike.
Looking at this scene, Roy grinned and dashed in the opposite direction of his friend. Whenever he would see a goblin, tall or short, he would slash its neck or belly open. Even when the monsters would try to attack him, he would sidestep without much thought. Now that his agility reached the Sentinel rank, the goblins’ movements were just too slow to threaten him. It was as if their slashes and stabs were set in slow-motion.
The duo, Roy and Robb, left a trail of corpses behind them wherever they went. Their movements and attacks were like a dance of death, and the spraying red blood of their enemies was like petals of roses decorating the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Jack, Alfonse, and Fred methodically fought one goblin after the next. Thanks to their high stats and awakened status, they were able to overpower their opponents. However, they couldn’t face multiple enemies at once, or else they would get overwhelmed.
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Jaimie, on the other hand, used his small stature and now devilish speed to sneak behind the goblins while they were distracted. He would choke them with one hand and slash their neck open, killing them instantly. Throughout the whole ordeal, the young boy’s eyes would show neither fear nor excitement. There was only a feeling of seriousness and resolution.
The shrieks and screams of the goblins soon turned into a ghastly silence. Their corpses littered the road, much like those of the villagers did before, and their blood flowed into streams down the street.
“Good work, everyone. That was clean.”
Roy’s encouraging words signaled the end of the battle.
“Well, that wasn’t so hard after all,” Jack bragged. “At this point, I need a new challenge.”
“Oh, don’t worry you’re gonna get one,” Robb smirked at Jack’s childish attitude. “There are monsters that are much stronger and more terrifying than these guys. I’m sure they would give you a proper exciting challenge.”
“Okay, okay, cut it off you two,” Alfonse interjected before Jack and Robb could take their argument any further. “Anyways, shall we go look for another pack?”
“Sure, let’s do that,” Roy replied. “This could barely be considered a warmup.”
The group cleaned up their weapons that were dripping with monsters’ blood before moving out. They walked for a couple of minutes when suddenly both Roy and Robb stopped dead in their tracks.
“You said you wanted a challenge. Well, here comes one.” Robb side-eyed Jack while gritting his teeth. He then took out his sword and took a stance while looking intently at the crossroad in front of him.
“Wha- What do you mean?”
Jack’s voice was cut off midway as the sound of massive footsteps became louder by the second. Soon, a giant figure showed up from behind the houses wielding an enormous club in its right hand.
“Is it the same as last time?” Alfonse’s voice was filled with worry and fear at the thought of facing the beast that gave them so much trouble before.
“No, this one is smaller,” Roy replied with a confident voice. He then looked back at his friends and said, “Boys, whatever you do, make sure you don’t get hit by that guy. It’s gonna hurt bad.”
Without needing to waste any more words, Roy took out his sword. The group immediately separated to create space between themselves and circled their opponent. Once they fully surrounded it, Roy dashed towards the beast. Just as he was about to strike it, he stopped dead in his tracks. The monster smashed the ground in front of him, the club barely missing Roy by the length of a step.
Not missing this opportunity, the young man slashed at the monster’s giant forearm, cutting it open. At the same time, Robb bolted past Roy at an unimaginable speed and stabbed the beast in its chest. Jack, Alfonse, Fred, and Jaimie also did not waste a second at its back before rapidly moving out of the way.
The monster roared as it suffered one injury after the next. It stood up in a rage and madly charged toward Roy. Its eyes were bloodshot, and it wanted nothing more than to tear apart its prey that caused it so much pain. Unfortunately for the beast, Roy was too fast for its clumsy movements. The young man casually rolled out of the way of the monster while his friends attacked its back.
Understanding that Roy was fast, the beast changed its focus to the one who annoyed the second most: Robb. It pounced at him with all of its strength intending to flatten him like a pancake with its giant club. However, Robb just jumped out of the way of the attack, easily dodging it.
As the monster kept changing its target to catch one of its fly-like prey, it kept sustaining more injuries. Soon, it fell to its knees in a pool of its own blood.
Seeing an opportunity to finish the battle, both Jaimie and Jack dashed toward the beast’s neck, aiming to kill it. However, Jack immediately felt that something was wrong and stopped, while the young boy continued his mad dash.
“Jaimie, no!”
Roy screamed with desperate eyes but he was too late. A red aura bubbled around the giant monster and its eyes flashed with murderous intent. Just as Jaimie reached close enough, the beast swiped its club at the young boy, hitting him with full force. Young Jaimie’s body flew into the air for ten meters before crashing into a house.
For a second, the battlefield turned silent. Everyone’s eyes widened in shock as they looked at where Jaimie had crashed. Especially Jack, who was right next to the young boy and could do nothing to protect him.
“You fucker!”
In a fit of rage, Roy dashed towards the giant monster with all of his speed. Even as the beast swiped at him with its aura-clad club, Roy’s speed did not diminish. He sidestepped the attack by spinning twice in the air before cutting the monster’s left shoulder open with a backhand slash. Just as Roy’s feet touched the ground, he dashed once again toward his opponent and slashed its belly open.
The young man jumped out of the monster's overhead smash with its club. He then pounced at the beast and stabbed it through the neck. The red aura of the monster slowly died out, as did the light in its eyes. With that final attack, the giant fell to the ground, letting out its last breath.