Bab 14: Beginnings (End)

When I got to the meeting place, Lydia and others were already waiting there. Hannah didn't look too good, angry, depressed, ashamed or something like that. Travis and others, on the other hand, seemed deadly serious. As for Lydia… relaxed and full of smiles.

"Let's go in. We will pick up Goblin subjugation and go to the hunting grounds."

""Yes.""

When we entered the hunting grounds, I told them to slow down and pay attention to their surroundings. While slowly making our way through the woods, I looked for a small group of goblins. After many twists and turns, I found a group of three goblins sitting under a tree munching on their fallen comrade.

I told them to wait in hiding while I closed on the goblins, preparing to pacify them. With my soul image manifested I dashed forward. I kicked one of the goblins away and grabbed the other two by their necks. They tried to struggle, using their claws to attack me but with my soul image protecting me they could do nothing.

The third goblin already got back up and tried to attack me, with one leg I tripped it and stomped on its chest pining it down.

"Come over here guys."

When they saw me up close holding the goblins, their faces turned green. Goblins were disgusting, but the blood and scraps of meat on their mouth might have played a part.

"Isabella you are the tank, right? You will take the front, Travis stays behind her when she blocks the goblin you attack it. Hannah and Madison cast your spells and hit it when you get a chance. Move into the formation."

"We will fight only one?"

"Yes, Travis. First get a taste of how it is. Then you can decide what to do next."

"Sure…"

Isabella got her shield ready, and Travis drew his sword. Madison and Hannah were prepared to cast spells at any moment. Seeing their serious faces, I smiled and threw one of the goblins at them.

With a furious shout, it charged at them. Isabella prepared to defend with her shield, and when it jumped at her she blocked its attack, but she didn't anticipate that much force and the shield flung back. A goblin that strikes you with full force is like getting hit by an adult charging at full force.

Travis charged at the goblin and slashed with his sword, but the goblin didn't wait for the blade to arrive. Like a wild beast it is, it charged madly at Travis, the blade barely grazed it in the process. Being in range to attack, using its sharp claws the goblin ripped the armor on his chest.

Trying to back out, he stumbled and fell over. With the goblin on his chest, trying to get to his throat, fear was finally visible in his eyes.

'Boosh!'

A spell arrived, hitting the goblin and knocking it off, the fire spell came from Madison. And soon after Hannah finished her chant, and with hot air gathering around her, a spike rose from the ground, its exterior fiery red, sizzling with slight movement.

The spike flew towards the goblin, but be it lack of experience or bad lack it only grazed its arm.

'Argh!'

The pain from the burn caused the goblin to shout, and with wrath in its eyes, it rushed towards Hannah. There was fear on her face, as the goblin came closer to her. And they wanted to hunt a Sky Panther.

When the goblin was about to reach her, Lydia moved her hand, and a shadow shot out of her sleeve, piercing the goblin head.

"Get ready another one is coming!" I yelled.

"WAIT! Give us a second!"

"There are no breaks in a fight!"

Throwing the second goblin at them with I watched them with a smile. They panicked and hurriedly got ready to fight. This time Isabella was able to block properly, stopping the goblin before her. Immediately Tervis followed with his attack stabbing at the goblin.

His attack stabbed through the goblin's abdomen, blood gushed out onto the ground dyeing it red. The goblin wasn't dead though, it jumped up and tried to attack Travis, but was hit by a fire spell.

Struggling on the ground, it slowly died.

They killed the first goblin. With the blood dripping from the edge of his blade he moved to the body and made sure it was dead.

Lydia said while looking at Travis and the team. "Well done, that's five points to your score. Do you want to go after a sky panther now?"

Their faces were green, and in their eyes, there was a trace of fear. This was no surprise, to people that lived their whole lives protected in the cities, far from monsters that could hurt them. No matter how many gruesome scenes you see on the TV or learn about the monsters themselves, it won't prepare you for the real experience.

I was the same, so I can't judge them.

"Now there is still on more here, get ready."

After killing the last goblin, we moved, looking for another group of goblins.

Two hours later, we stopped beside a stream. Travis and the rest were tired, their elemental essence was almost exhausted, and Hannah and Madison physical couldn't stand anymore. The two being arcane artists it is to be expected to be weaker but not to this extent.

"You guys should head back now."

"But are you going to be ok? Madison and Hannah only need a little bit of rest, and we can keep going."

"No, rest properly and prepare for tomorrow, this will be when you can start hunting by yourself. Either way, you won't be of much help to me. You are good Travis, In a year or so you probably won't have any problem hunting here for real."

"Thank you."

"And Lydia… my pay."

"Sure."

I took the money and stashed it in an inner pocket, with uncertainty I spoke to Lydia. "I don't know how you are willing to spend so much on such an easy task. I saw you kill that goblin, like you were crashing an ant. What was the point?"

"I have to follow the rules that the University. You helping them is fine, but I can't tell them anything. They were supposed to come to their own conclusions, before I was supposed to give them advice. But with you, I was able to skip a few steps."

"… you are just impatient in other words."

"It was nice meeting you. Bye!"

Watching them leave I counted the money, just to make sure. The amount was right, but on one of the banknotes, there was a phone number written in blue ink.

Maybe later.

I got up and set out to hunt. This was the first time I hunted alone, but with only goblins as targets, it wasn't too hard. I tried to avoid larger groups, focusing only on these with ten or less goblins. The hunt was going along well, and by evening I killed almost seventy of them. The efficiency was much higher than when I hunted with Jackson, only the danger was enormous.

There were a few times a goblin managed to scratch my skin. If I don't pay attention, I would've been wounded multiple times by now. I noticed that my strength was higher than before, not my by much, but higher. The soul image enhances my strength, and to be more exact it looks like it multiplies my strength.

Before it was multiplying it by about 3, but now it is about 3.2. It wasn't a huge change, but it was something.

Other than this I tried to change the shape of the soul image, trying to incorporate it into my fights. As expected the control over it was slightly harder, with that I was hardly able to change the shape on my knuckles, making them do marginally more damage.

With my soul essence almost exhausted, I started to make my way out of the hunting ground. Walking in between trees, avoiding monsters, and listening to the wind. I walked and walked and got nowhere.

I looked around and tried to find any place that looked familiar, but there was nothing. I actually never paid attention to this, but I always followed Jackson and his team. How did I overlook this?!

But still, I never had any problems with finding my way, and this is my first time I got completely lost. This was unusual.

I checked my phone, which was out of battery. I can call the MCA with a satellite phone, but it will cost me a lot. I can stay here for the night, as long as I find the right place it will be safe.

While I was looking around, I heard something.

"CAW!"

I turned to where the sound came from. There a golden raven with three legs standing on a branch, it looked at me then looked at my feet. I looked down and saw the ground crack and collapse.