41
Reflection and Direction of Growth
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A figure clad in darkness descended on the pinned lizardman. A hissing shriek rang out as it choked on its own blood. Its eyes were destroyed yet it clearly felt the approach of death. Its tail wanted to launch its body to the side one last time yet before its muscles reacted, a dagger of darkness pierced through its skull.
Rough breathing rang out together with the rhythmic twitching of muscles.
Silence washed over the entrance of the alley as all three of them held their weapon tightly. Small droplets of water could be heard landing on the ground as the breathing gradually subsided.
“Is it over?” Leon said as he tried to calm down. His clothes were soaked with water and mud but the heat of his body made him unaware of it.
Ise was the first to stand up straight as she pulled her dagger out with a twist. She replied with a smile, “It’s over.”
“What was that…” Having heard his cue, Leon stepped back and plopped down on his butt. Not a single thought cared about the mud he landed in. His mouth continuously opened and closed, not knowing what to say, until he finally added, “That was scary.”
All three had frowns on their faces as they were lost in their thoughts. They thought they were prepared. They thought the victory against the goblins was enough to prepare them against everything that was coming.
Ise approached Alduin who still held the pike in a firm grip and pushed his sides. “Alduin,” she said, “It’s over.”
Yet his eyes were firmly locked on this beast. His mouth tried opening but the blood that had risen up his throat kept him from speaking up.
“Alduin,” Ise said as she nudged him again, “We need to get moving.”
A swallow could be heard as Alduin looked at Ise and Leon. The fear he felt just now still lingered, his thoughts were a mess, and his voice trembled as he admitted, “We were wrong.” Following Leon’s lead, Alduin also plopped down as he repeated himself, “We were wrong.”
“Stay here for a second,” Ise sighed, her hands holding her daggers were trembling as well. Her steps moved her toward the house Veleda was waiting in.
‘It was my mistake,’ Alduin thought, his eyes were glued to the monster they just killed. ‘We failed in our preparations, so much went wrong, it’s…’ His reflection on the fight made him realize how much they didn’t know. ‘It’s a wonder we didn’t experience the worst-case scenario.’
The beating of his heart didn’t subside, the warmth gathered around his navel still pulsed through his spine as it moved through his veins. The chaos in his mind gradually cleared as he realized everything he did wrong.
“Leon,” Alduin said as he felt the shock of the impact linger in his hands, “Are you alright?”
Leon was leaning on his knees, his eyes staring into the unknown distance as he was pulled back by Alduin’s voice. “I think so,” he said, “My armor received the bulk of the damage.” His hand patted his dark leather knee- and wristguards.
"That’s good,” Alduin said with a sigh, a smile gradually formed on his face as he recalled the last blow Leon defended him from. “You did well.”
“Thanks…” Leon sighed with lost confidence. He didn’t feel like he did good, from the beginning of the fight Ise was taking care of him. He only achieved a single thing, and even that cost him all his strength. “What about you?”
Both men started talking just to keep them from thinking too much, but the tapping of footsteps woke both of them from their trance as they stood up.
“Alduin!” Veleda shouted as she ran into Alduin’s arms. “How are you feeling? Are you alright? We need to leave and give you a checkup!”
The tension in his heart melted as he saw the worried face of Veleda in front of him. His hands pushed her back slightly as he gently touched her face and pushed his lips forward.
“Oh,” Ise said in surprise as she turned around.
“Thank you for saving me,” Alduin said as he gripped the spear tight. “I’m fine, we’ve got something more important to take care of.”
Veleda stared with open eyes as she hadn’t expected this scenario at all. Her surprise made her reply in a docile voice, “…Ok”
“Leon, Ise, help me pull this thing in the alley.” Alduin grabbed one arm of the large lizardman and started pulling. His eyes seemed to reflect a spark of thunder as a callous expression looked at the creature in his hands.
Two corpses lay in the alley, a human, dragged and soaked in a puddle, along with the lizardman that was feasting on her flesh.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Veleda had pulled a white cloth over the deceased woman as she asked, “Should we hide her somewhere?”
“No,” Ise replied with a cold voice. “Expect us to find more like her, we can’t help them all and we need to save our energy.”
Veleda stared back but nodded with regret.
“Ise, do you have a spare knife or dagger?” Alduin interrupted them.
“I took a kitchen knife from the house Veleda was hiding in,” Ise said with a flat voice.
Alduin stared at her and smiled. “Let’s start dissecting it, don’t use too much force, we’ll start with the weakest points and continue to its vital areas” Alduin smiled, his eyes clearer than before as he continued, “Most importantly-“
“You want to know where its core is located,” Ise added on.
“Right,” Alduin said in confirmation. If they wanted to survive, they had to adapt, if they wanted to fight, they had to learn how. ‘It’s useless if we mindlessly flail about, it’s time to take this serious.’
The battle sense he felt he had lost was reawakened. It hadn’t been that long since their fight against the goblins, but it felt as if so much had happened since then. The unknown sensation, as if he didn’t know what he was doing, was completely washed away.
His eyes observed everything Ise was doing as Veleda noted it down inside their journal. Everything they had found out, from the fractured sky to the dungeon gates, from the gemstone cores to the magic circulation, all of this was collected as they gradually formed a foothold in the chaos they found themselves in.
“Don’t tell me!” Leon, who stood at the side, stared at the gemstone Ise had pulled out of the stomach of the lizardman. “How come it’s black? I was- I was expecting at least a-“
The four of them stared in shock at their discovery. Even Alduin didn’t expect this to occur but he could think of something similar. “The wolves the goblins were riding on also had black cores, they were larger than the goblins but they were undoubtedly black.”
It was something they had clearly seen as Ben butchered and collected data on all the monsters that they retrieved after the invasion of their hometown.
“Besides,” Alduin had another thought as he turned to Veleda, “Did you hear its shout when we were fighting?”
“Yes.” Veleda stared with a questioning gaze but the whimper of Hati reminded her of what he was trying to say. “I didn’t understand it, well, I understood its intention but…”
“That’s fine.”
“Are you saying that Hati also has a black core in him?” Leon asked as he looked at the small wolf.
A growl and a frown stared back, the pup was clearly angry at being compared with this lizardman. Or was it that it was angry at being compared to the large wolves, tamed by the goblins?
“No,” Alduin smiled and said, “Hati doesn’t communicate in the same manner we do. We’ll never understand what a horse is saying with its neighs either right?”
“Hmm.” Ise tried to understand what Alduin was saying but her frown betrayed her.
“Both the goblins and this lizardman were obviously using a developed language, it’s just that we can’t understand it.” Alduin said, “But back when I faced-“
“Ah, I see!” Leon spoke up. “So, if I get it right you didn’t understand what those captains were saying either?”
Alduin thought back to his encounter. ‘No, wait…’ he thought, ‘Now that I think about it.’ A revelation formed in his mind following Leon's comment. Alduin smiled as he continued, “Veleda!”
“Yes?”
“Note this down, after I awakened I didn’t understand the goblin captains clearly but I could make out their intentions. I just forgot after everything that happened, but it was the Goblin Ruler that I converse with. Almost as if we were both fluent in the same language. Compared to them-“ Alduin stared at the lizardman and continued, “This one isn’t fluent in that language at all.”
“Oh, that’s what you mean.” Ise who had finally caught on smiled. She felt they had finally figured out a certain truth of this world. “So, more ‘fluent’ monsters will be able to communicate with us, and those that reach a certain threshold can to converse with us?”
“That’s what I think at least,” Alduin said.
“So, if this one is as strong as a goblin captain.” Veleda asked a question, “Then how strong would a lizard be if it was as ‘fluent’, as you say, as a goblin captain, or that Goblin Ruler?”
Three pairs of eyes turned to her. Right, they had figured something out, but nothing had changed for their current situation.
But Alduin felt a sense of exhilaration spread from his spine to his head. He hadn’t had any experience like this besides when he tried to cultivate the energy inside him. His eyes shone and a sense of battle wanted him to find his next target.
“Right,” Alduin said, “But let’s start at the beginning.” Alduin smiled as he stared at Ise. “Now we know how to kill them, don’t we?”
Ise also felt a fire burning inside her as she smiled back at him and said, “We just need to become more competent in killing them.”
The goal that seemed so far now seemed feasible. Small steps would bring them closer, and they finally figured out how to kill this creature. The only thing that followed was to increase their experience and improve their teamwork.
“Let’s get out of here,” Alduin looked at the mangled and cut corpse of the lizardman, multiple thoughts coursing through his mind. But the main issue still wasn’t addressed. “Leon, how much time do we have left?”
“Hmm, about an hour and a half?” Staring at the watch Leon followed as they all left the alley. “But, there’s no way regular teams would be able to kill them. They’re really going through with this aren’t they?”
“Seems that way,” Alduin said, “There’s nothing we can do about it, besides prepare for what’s to come.”
“Let’s clean up and rest before we search for the next one.” Veleda, who led the way to the house she stayed in, didn’t want to take any risks. Besides, the shivering wolf pup in her arms needed to be taken care of as well. “Here you go, Hati, we’ll get you to warmth quickly.”
‘There’s no use for that core anyways,’ Alduin smiled as Veleda gave the lizard's core to Hati. It seemed Hati was growing fonder of them as well. ‘If that’s what it takes to get a wolf to become our ally, then I don’t mind giving him all the black cores we find.’
Alduin stared at the sky, his goal was clear, he knew how to improve, but there was just one last thing that was bugging him. ‘You’ll pay for that.’
No information was given to them besides their mission, which stated; “Evade as many as you can and wait in your position, after hearing our signal you need to take action quickly. You don’t have to fight, you can even escape to the camp the moment you fulfilled your end of the deal. Any who breaks this agreement shall be dealt with following the martial law of this city.”
They were being pushed to their deaths, but Alduin had no intention of dying. His eyes stared to the south as he anticipated the future, he looked forward to finding the next lizardman.