Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Raid!
"There's a fire!" Lucian shouted as he jumped out of the window landing hard on the ground.
"It's the goblins! They are attacking the village!" A man shouted, trying to let as many people know as possible.
Lucian ran towards the fire when suddenly his reflexes kicked in, and he dropped to the floor into a forwards roll.
Not a moment after, a spear had sailed right over his head and would have impaled him if he hadn't avoided it.
Two goblins charged at him, one with a spear with a stone tip while the other held an iron short sword.
"Gaaww!" The goblin with the spear shouted as it attempted to skewer Lucian with it.
Lucian using his superior abilities grabbed the spear just below the stone tip stopping the attack dead.
"Why you!" Lucian roared as he flipped the goblin over his head, using the spear as a lever.
The goblin crashed into the ground, the impact breaking its neck before it sprawled onto the floor.
The other goblin leaped through the air, landing on Lucian's back, ready to stick its blade into him.
However, Lucian grabbed the goblins arm at the last second, and with nothing but brute strength, he ripped the monster off his back and slammed it onto the ground.
The goblin shrieked in pain from the impact, and Lucian had heard its ribs break. He reached down and took the sword from the ground, plunging it into the goblin's chest, finishing it off.
The creature's blood flowed onto the ground staining it. Lucian turned his attention back to the fire and the other goblins that were attacking some of the villagers.
"I won't let them get away with this!" He shouted as he squeezed the handle of the sword tightly.
Pushing off the ground hard, Lucian darted towards five more goblins who had just finished butchering a man and a woman.
The goblins had moved their focus to another group, and the leader pointed his boney hand telling them to attack.
Lucian moved in like a whirlwind and severed the leader's head from his shoulders before the others had even seen what had happened.
Blood sprayed from the goblin's neck before its body fell to the ground, covering the other goblins in it.
Lucian stood to his full height, his red eyes glowing in the darkness. The goblins tightened their grip on their weapons and, for the moment, still felt like they held the advantage thanks to their numbers.
"Gawww!" They yelled as they charged in all together, trying to swarm him.
Lucian charged in with no regard for his safety, slapping away two spears, one with his hand and another with his sword. Two, however, struck him and pierced right through him.
One spear had thrust through his lower abdomen and another through his leg. Lucian didn't care and bit through the pain as he grabbed one of the goblins by its neck, lifting it into the air.
One of the goblins dropped its spear and jumped in with a dagger trying to get him to drop the other one. Lucian swung his sword, and the blade cleaved the goblin in half. Dropping both parts of the creature onto the ground in a messy heap.
At the same time, he tightened his grip around the neck of the other, breaking it and ending its squirming once and for all.
The other two goblins roared in anger at the sight of Lucian killing the others. One of them pulled its spear out of his leg and tried to thrust it into his chest.
Lucian blocked the thrust with his blade and punched the goblin in the face, caving its skull in, the force sending it crashing to the ground.
The last goblin was filled with fear now as it watched Lucian's wounds heal over, his red eyes burning themselves into the goblin's mind.
It started to move back slowly before finally breaking into a sprint as it tried to flee. Each goblin was about the size of a child and didn't pose much threat by themselves. Yet, Lucian didn't want to take the chance.
"Help! My babies!" A woman's voice screamed a little further in the village. It echoed over the crackling of the fire, and Lucian decided to let the goblin go this time.
Quickly running over to the house that was on fire, Lucian could see that most of the villagers were trying their best to bring buckets of water to try and put the fire out.
However, the fire was too large, and their best bet was to contain it to that house only, saving the others from sharing its fate.
"Please, somebody help! My babies are trapped inside!" The woman screamed as she tried to run inside.
"You can't! It's too late for them. If you go in there, you will die!" One of the men who was holding her back shouted.
He wasn't wrong, as the fire was massive. Anyone who went in now would only be sacrificing themselves in vain.
"I can't just let them die like that..." Lucian thought as he watched with the others.
Everyone was bringing water as fast as possible, but it was doing nothing.
"Foolish boy..." A voice said inside Lucian's mind.
He recognized the voice, unfortunately. Yet he closed his eyes and decided to listen anyway.
"What do you want!" Lucian shouted at the demon inside of him.
Satan laughed, giving a deep growl.
"Have you forgotten, little hero?" He said smugly.
"Forgotten what?" Lucian asked, taking the bait.
"You have my power flowing through your very soul. Fire will not hurt you, fool." The demon lord spoke.
That's when it clicked. Lucian remembered reading his ability screen.
"Fireproof..." He said as he slowly opened his eyes.
Quickly he dashed through the crowd and pushed through the flames into the house.
"No wait, lad, you'll be killed!" The blacksmith shouted as he watched him run inside.
Lucian tried to use all of his senses to find any clue as to where the woman's children could be. On the other hand, he was certainly glad that his body was indeed fireproof; his clothes, on the other hand, were not as his tunic had caught fire.
"Ah, shit!" He said as he started to slap his body, trying to put the fire out.
He may have been fireproof, but his lungs were starting to suffer from the smoke.
"I can't stay here much longer; I need to find them as quick as I can!" He thought as he jumped up the stairs kicking off the wall.
Lucian searched the house top to bottom, trying to find any signs of anyone who could be trapped inside. But it was no use. He couldn't find them anywhere.
Lucian had searched the entire top floor as he tried his best not to inhale the fumes. The floor was starting to give way as the supporting beams had been badly damaged from the fire.
"This isn't looking good!" Lucian said as the floor started to crack apart.
Quickly Lucian jumped down the stairs kicking off the wall and rolling onto the ground back to his feet. He took another look around as he ran over to the kitchen to check it out.
He noticed a wooden hatch that seemed to go underground. Some falling debris had blocked the door, and Lucian quickly threw it off as he opened the door.
To his astonishment, both of the children were trapped down in the cellar as they held onto each other in fear.
"Quickly this way!" Lucian shouted, getting their attention.
The older boy looked at Lucian and noticed his blood-red eyes becoming more scared.
"I'm here to save you! Now come on!" He shouted as he extended his hand for them to grab.
The older boy gulped but took Lucian's hand, pulling his younger brother with him. Lucian pulled them up and took one in each arm as he tried to rush back out of the house.
Meanwhile outside.
"Who was that?"
"He just rushed in!"
"Lookout! Everyone get back. It's going to come down!" The blacksmith shouted.
Everyone outside watched in horror as the top of the house started to collapse, the fire getting the better of the support beams.
"Look there!" Someone shouted.
Lucian burst out of the doorway, rolling onto the ground sliding along it. The house suddenly came crashing down, and it seemed that Lucian had gotten out just in time.
Everyone came rushing around him to see what had happened. The mother pushed past them all, and Lucian put both of the children onto the ground so she could hug them.
"My babies!" She screamed as she grabbed both of them tightly.
"Mummy! They yelled in return as they too latched onto her.
Lucian stood up slowly, dusting himself off as he did. He was met with a round of applause by everyone. Eric, the blacksmith, came over and gave him a big pat on the back.
" Lucian! Well done, lad, you saved them!" He said as he took note he didn't even have a scratch on him. He was amazed but decided to keep it to himself for the time being.
The applause was short-lived as other members of the village started screaming, signaling that the attack was not over yet.
Everyone looked over, and Lucian could see the remaining goblins retreating, carrying three girls with them.
Eric could tell right away that one of them was Elana, and he burst into action.
"Elana! Let her go, you devils!" He roared as he seemed to almost explode, easily clearing half of the village in a few seconds.
His burst of energy was short-lived though, as he was struck in the shoulder by an arrow, the force dropping him to the ground in pain.
Everyone looked on in horror as the goblins made their escape into the forest. Lucian rushed towards Eric to aid him and was about to give chase.
"No, lad!" Eric shouted through the pain.
"Don't go. It's a trap. You'll be killed."
Lucian stopped in his tracks and helped lift Eric off the ground onto his feet.
"First things first, we need to get you help." He said, holding his weight on his shoulder.
Lucian got Eric home to his wife, Helen, who started to tend to his wound. She told them that Elana had rushed out to try and help get water for the fire, and then the goblins got their hands-on her.
It had been a long night, and the sun was starting to rise now. The fire had been kept under control and was pretty much out now. Preventing any further damage to the other buildings.
All of the villagers were starting to gather around the center as they all voiced their complaints to the village chief.
"They took our daughters and killed our friends! What are you going to do about it!"
"They took all of my sheep! Where is my compensation!" Another shouted.
The mob was starting to get more and more aggressive, and the chief was quickly becoming overwhelmed.
Eric suddenly stood to his feet and took center stage. He was still injured from the goblin arrow but pushed through the pain.
"That's enough, you lot!" He shouted.
Everyone suddenly shut up as they saw who it was, clearly knowing better than to argue with him.
"We have already put out an ad offering to pay the adventures guild to come and kill the goblins! Unless you are prepared to fight, I suggest you shut it. My daughter has also been taken, and I intend to rescue her! If anyone wants to come with me, feel free." He said, getting no response from anyone else.
Helen ran over to him as he fell to his knee once he walked off the stand.
"Eric dear! You can't go. You will be killed. You know you can't fight anymore!" She said with tears running down her face.
Lucian could tell that no one else had the courage to volunteer, and so he walked onto the stand.
"I will go. I will save them!" He shouted, getting everyone's attention.
The crowd started whispering as they took his appearance in, realizing he was the one who had rescued the two boys from the house fire.
Everyone started shouting again, and the village chief walked over to ask his name.
"What is your name, lad?" He asked.
"His name is Lucian!" Eric suddenly spoke up. Causing everyone to go silent again.
"You already recused Elana once. I can't ask you to do it again. It's too dangerous."
Lucian smiled.
"Please don't worry about me. I'll bring the girls back and kill all of the goblins so they can never hurt any of you again!"
Everyone started to cheer as Lucian stepped down from the stage.
Eric walked over to him and took his hand.
"If you are going to do this for me. No, for us. For all of us. I can't let you go in empty-handed." He said, a glint coming to his eye.
Eric leads Lucian back to his workshop, where he grabbed a set of medium leather armor.
He quickly measured Lucian and got to work tailoring it to fit his large frame.
"You will need this." He said, handing a full set of tampered leather armor to him.
It consisted of a full upper body peace covering all of his chest and back down to his waist. It was a sleeveless peace designed for Lucian's large arms to help give him more mobility.
He also had leather vanbraces to protect his forearms and wrist and two new leather boots that stopped just below the knee, offering added protection to his toes, heels, and shins.
Lucian was gobsmacked, and he couldn't believe how well it fit. He could already feel the added protection it offered, something he had never thought about when playing the game.
"Now, just one thing left," Eric said as he turned to the weapons wall.
"Take your pick." He said, giving Lucian free range of all of the weapons on the wall.
It was chock full of all sorts. Daggers, long swords, short swords, war hammers, clubs, maces, spears, axes, the lot.
Lucian had to admit he felt a little overwhelmed and was struggling to make a choice. So far, he had used nothing but a sword and wasn't sure if he would be able to use anything else.
"Here, lad, you'll need these for backup in case your primary weapon fails." He said, handing Lucian two daggers.
"Strap one to your boot and the other to your lower back. You never know when they will come in handy." He said as he attached the straps and buckles for him.
Lucian nodded and took another look at the wall trying to pick a final weapon. In the end, he settled on a long sword and a medium-sized circle shield, with a metal spike in the middle for added offense.
From his experience fighting so far in this world, he knew the shield would undoubtedly come in handy, and with the length of the sword, it gave him the option for close and medium-range combat.
Lucan nodded to Eric in thanks as he sheathed the sword on his left hip. Eric gave him one last look over and nodded at his handy work.
"Those little bastards won't stand a chance. Make sure you kill as many as you can for me, lad." He said.
Lucian nodded and pulled the shield up, clipping it to his back, something Eric had added for convenience.
"Look, lad. I don't know you that well, but I just want you to prepare yourself for what you might face. The girls, they could already be."
"I'll do my best," Lucian said, cutting him off. It was more for Eric's sake than his own. He already knew what the goblins wanted the girls for, and he only hoped he wasn't too late.
Lucian stepped out of the workshop onto the road, and the entire village greeted him to his surprise.
"Please bring them back!" A woman screamed.
"Kill them all!" Another man said.
The others all started cheering, and Lucian nodded his head.
"Alright, I'll do m best!" He said as he turned on his heel, heading towards the forest.
The midday sun was on his back now, and the village watched as he disappeared into the distance, ready to put his life on the line for the strangers he had only just met.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone