章 22: Night Raid (1)
WRIK GASPED along with the others, hearing about the population of the goblins.
"So, about a few hundred goblins are remaining and about fifties among them are elites?" Wrik asked Anton for confirmation. "Is there anything else that would be crucial?"
"Well, the number should be around three or four hundred," Anton pondered before shrugging. "And apart from that, there might be some female and infant goblins."
About fifty goblins with similar or a bit lower strength than them, and there were over three hundred mobs. It would still be a nightmare if all the goblins assaulted the seven of them at once. Even if the goblins came in half the number, the only thing that they could do then was fleeing. So, the best strategy would be to break their numbers when they were not united.
"We should make an ambush, bring their number lower," Wrik proposed, looking at the others. "What do you guys think?"
"When?" Tanya barely asked with one word, even in the dim blue light her emerald eye was sparkling. It looked like she didn't want to waste any time on the goblins anymore.
Wrik looked around. It was already dark and Anton mentioned that the goblin colony was in a subterranean region with strangling darkness. So, the sooner they move, the better it would be. He opened his mouth. "How about now?"
"Let's go then. I'll kill them, I'll kill 'em all," Anton answered maniacally, pointing his blade upwards. It looked like Anton still held some hatred against the goblins, even after killing hundreds of them himself.
"It looks like a few hours of rest was enough for you," Wrik said, looking at the enthusiastic figure stretching out his muscles and joints as it made cranking noises.
"Nah, I'm still exhausted as hell." Anton shook his head. "But I won't get proper rest if those bitches are still alive."
"Language, Ton. We got a kid here."
"Ahh, sorry."
While the others were not as enthusiastic as Anton, they still didn't oppose his intention. Delaying it would only cause complications later; the goblins were an immediate threat to them. It was good that the goblins didn't have that much intelligence, if not he wouldn't be so brazen about the plan.
Davin and Evan would be fine, but Wrik had some headache thinking about the other two. The kid was still panic-stricken, while he couldn't say anything about the girl. She seemed like she could handle herself.
Evan reassured the other two, murmuring to them about something Wrik couldn't hear, nor did he try to either. He couldn't do anything for them. The more they become dependent on others, the more disadvantaged they would become. Everyone has something to worry about, it'll be even more stressful if he has to worry over someone else's problem.
"Alright then, get ready. We'll leave in five minutes." Wrik clapped his hand as he got up as well. The condition of his leg was better than before. Nevertheless, it wasn't ready for fast manoeuvres or battle. He tried a few steps in all directions before saying, "It's going to be a long night."
• • •
Anton didn't look worn out after a good rest and food. Contrary to being tired, he looked more fresh and enthusiastic, fooling around with others.
They swaggered down from the shelter. Wrik looked towards everyone's face. Tanya was expressionless as ever—she had taken in her combat mode. While Davin was something between nervousness and eagerness to prove himself; Wrik had learned from before. Although Davin was good with the sword, he was not good at killing. He was under a bit of pressure over the last few days about all the Mahasaying business, though he didn't talk with anyone about this.
Evan looked sharp. As a former trainee in the path of an Inquisitor, he knew what he was doing, while the other two looked . . . A bit unwilling. But they didn't express it out loud. So they were good.
This time the one leading them was not Tanya; instead, it was Anton; he volunteered it himself. Well, Anton was always good at tracking. He had done most of the fieldwork after Lucas left when they were at Elania. While Wrik being the brain.
"Ooh, they are quite close." the enthusiasm in Anton's face broadened. "There were above twenty creatures coming our way, it should be goblins."
"How do you know that?" Davin asked out of curiosity. The others were curious as well, including Wrik. He knew Anton was good at tracking, but it was not at this level when he could tell how many were there, or how close by they were.
"I'm an assassin. Although still not good enough, it's still easy to determine the heavy toddles of the goblins," Anton answered as he unsheathed the blade from his waist. "I didn't survive the five days for nothing."
This was what Anton was good at. And that was what Wrik liked the most about Anton's personality; Anton gets over his ordeal rather quickly. You could throw anything at him, if he survived it, he would laugh about it the next day. Something Wrik had a hard time dealing with.
Just what Ton said, they encountered over twenty goblins the next moment. They growled as soon as they found us, ready to throw themselves at us. And the figure of Anton seemed to enrage them more. They were with their usual weapons pike or club, with the crude armour.
"Man, it was just a fat king, couldn't you guys get over it! " Before even Anton finished his sentence, his legs moved towards them in a ghostly fashion. It looked like a blurry shadow. "Now look at the outcome." Anton taunted while slitting the neck of his fourth target. In just a breath of a second, he finished four of his targets. This showed how fearsome he would become after adapting thoroughly to his abilities.
"Don't just stand there, get busy," Wrik advised Davin who was bewildered, discovering Toni's butchery. He didn't have to bother Evan though as he was already in the conflict, and his two companions were beside him.
Wrik indulged himself in the tussle as well, though he was not as wild as Anton. He took care of the goblins that came in his way without moving much. Still, his wound in the leg flared up a bit, but it's not painful so he carried on.
The goblins here were only mobs. With so many companions here he didn't need to activate his innate ability, just took it as a practice for my mana application. While Tanya also seemed to practise multitasking and focus as well.
With the seven of them joining forces, the battle ended with ease. Well, Ton himself had killed half of the numbers and made it easy for others to finish them quickly.
_______________________________
章 23: Night Raid (2)
"That went easier than I expected," Anton said, cleaning the grey blood from his blade. "A good rest does help."
"Hey, how did you learn Mana discharge so quickly?" Davin inquired Anton.
Wrik was interested in this subject as well. He and Anton had the same amount of experience in Mahasaying before coming here. Even if Anton succeeded in a class, he shouldn't be this skilful in this short period.
Anton contemplated for a good time before asking a question. "Do you guys know what you get after class advancement?"
"Class skills or abilities?" Davin answered with a bit of suspicion. While Tanya clicked her tongue at that.
"No." Anton denied immediately, as if waiting for it. "Those things are too precious to waste on every user that succeeds in a class in Maha Tower. I don't know how big of a network this Omeganet is, but I'm clear that they would go bankrupt if they thought like you."
Davin frowned. "So, the answer?" he asked.
"You get nothing but information." Anton came back into the main topic, and destroyed the misconceptions that most of the fellows had about classes.
Wrik was a bit disappointed hearing that, but he didn't let it show in his face like others. Davin hardened his face from the slight setback and asked Ton, "Then, what about you? You didn't seem to be a Mahasayer who just got a little data."
Yes, it was quite easy to find the contradiction in what Ton said and what he was showing. The shadow element with the reinforcement ability wasn't something one could find through collecting sands or playing with mud. There's that ghostly footwork as well, though it wasn't perfect yet.
"Let me finish what I'm telling you guys; the one I'm talking of now was the normal classes. The data you get through a class varies from type to type. Like a mage would get something about the basic magic application, basic magic language, the way of a mage, enhancement and stuff.
"While a close-quarters warrior will get basic mana application, basic knowledge on the weapon the user specialises in, and some other useful or useless information. This is the same for the other cases as well. One will get something they specialise in."
"Long story short, you are telling us — you're special?" Tanya gave Anton a sceptical gaze.
"Maybe, maybe not." Anton shamelessly chuckled. "Who I'm to judge?"
"Let's jump back to the main topic of mana discharge," Wrik said. "Shall we?"
Davin nodded as well. They were deviating from the main topic more and more.
"Well, with the advancement of the class, I got a bit of info about my innate ability: how it worked and how to improve it, along with other information about Maha mana and shadow elements. After that, it was child's play for me to progress in mana discharge . . ."
So what Anton implied was that while using innate ability they used mana discharge unknowingly in a more complicated and peculiar way. And the data about his ability enabled him to understand better about mana application, it showed him the better path. Now it was understandable that he learnt Mana discharge in quick procession. But adapting so well with the newfound ability was another story. It was damn hard, at least for Wrik.
Wrik had questioned himself and pondered many times about how the [Eye of insights] worked but to no avail. [Eye of Insights] was more complicated than what he could make out of it. It's ranked ( B-) while Toni's [Shadow mastery] was only at (D+) not to mention the [Mysterious] mark on it. He didn't know what this implies, though. As far as he reckoned, it makes it harder and mysterious to understand. And he wouldn't be surprised if he still couldn't comprehend it after the class advancement.
"Do you know anything about how the ranks of Omega origin or abilities are determined?" Wrik asked a rather meaningful question that he was interested in for a couple of days. And others were looking interested as well.
As the Guide said, Omega Origin was the most important object in their path of Mahasayer, so it's natural that they were interested. The guide himself didn't explain much about it, he even admitted that he didn't understand it well. So, Wrik's guess was that it's the root knowledge of Omeganet.
"Actually, I don't know much about it. The info that I was given was more all abstract with a few vague indications. Like you all may think that the rank is determined by the firepower one possesses, but that was not genuinely the case." Anton said. "The Rank of anything in the Maha Tower is determined by how complicated its Omega code is or how complicated it may become in the future.
"And a complicated Omega code doesn't mean that it would always be useful. I don't know much about it but one thing is clear: as the rank of the Omega origin progresses the more perfect the thing becomes."
The guide said that as well. Wrik nodded. He had hypothesized this, though he didn't get how the rank of Omega codes was determined. He was right about one thing: the rank of [Eye of Insights] was so high, not because of its current usage but because of its future potential. It might become God's vision or might downgrade to some peculiar abilities, all depended on him.
"One last question. How do you determine if a class is special or not?" Tanya asked.
Everyone's attention stirred towards Anton again. It's the most crucial question for everyone in the current situation. A Class advancement would improve everything they were currently struggling with, from Mana application to the other combat skills.
"I'm not sure," Anton said slowly. He thought for a moment then continued, "If my guess is right, it might be the Title of the class. The more specific direction or cool it sounds—the more special it would be.
"As I was a stalker, ahem . . . What I am saying! As I succeed 'Shadow Stalker' the direction it symbolised was assassin type with the element – Shadow. I didn't get any skills, but it did give a useful OMEGA ability"
Tanya's emerald eyes glittered out with interest, hearing Ton's words. She blurted, "If an idiot like you could get a special class, I can get it as well. Let's finish up today's task quickly."
"Who said I'm an idiot?" Anton shouted, hearing Tanya call him an idiot.
This was not the first time a girl called him that, and it wouldn't be the last.
"Alright, let's go. We'll first break their numbers in half then ambush them when they are least prepared."
__________________________
Forgot to upload it yesterday. So two today.
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