Capítulo 49: Bloodline Skill
Not wanting to lose initiative, Rydel took out a torch and lit it. He then threw it into the ground and stuck the bottom point into the earth in front of him.
With a swish of his arms, his bow and arrows swung through the flame and launched the two arrows into the distance. One struck the earth and lit up its surroundings while the second struck the chest of some living thing within the darkness, the light revealing a goblin now on fire. The other goblins froze, taking that shot as a warning.
"Get ready, we were surrounded the moment they saw the light from the tunnel," shouted Rydel. He took in his surroundings while launching lit arrows at a frightening pace. There were no walls near them, just a rocky, open floor. The ceiling was about five meters high in this part of the cave, preventing Rydel from causing any sort of shower of arrows.
"Right!" everyone drew their weapons and stood in wait for the goblins to rush, but they didn't come like the party had anticipated.
The goblins only stood there to maintain their encirclement, not acting or stepping into the perimeter that Rydel had created.
A couple of minutes passed while Rydel completed the perimeter, not leaving any part unlit. Jack swallowed some saliva and spoke his thoughts for the party to hear, "We need to leave. They're stalling for more goblins to show up. How else could they fight with Rydel and Maynard without overwhelming numbers?"
"Impossible, how could they contact the other goblins so quickly?" asked Brunar.
Everyone tensed up, paying close attention to Jack's answer. "I don't know, but would you rather wait here and find out? If we don't break the formation and escape now, we may end up like the other parties."
"Right!" Rydel shouted as he released two more arrows, this time at full strength. The arrows barreled through the air and pierced through not one, not two, but three goblins as they lodged themselves in the third goblins' carcasses.
In a fraction of a second, Maynard vanished from where he stood and reappeared amidst the goblins outside of the perimeter. Before the goblins could retaliate to the charge, four goblins were beheaded and dropped to the floor.
With no other choice, the goblins charged the perimeter. Like the party had guessed, the goblin ambush was made up of two outposts that swarmed after seeing the light from the tunnel. Had the party attacked sooner they wouldn't have much trouble but given the extra time, most of the straggling goblins caught up to join the fight.
Facing the remaining thirty-two goblins, Maynard and Rydel acted the quickest but each was soon met with a lv. 30 goblin captain, one from each outpost. Most goblins were lv. 15 but there were a few at lv. 20 as well.
With both Rydel and Maynard occupied, many goblins charged in without worry. Brunar and Troni readied themselves and began to face the goblin waves. They focused on repelling and injuring rather than killing, knowing that they had two people to protect.
"Hey, you might want to get out that fox of yours," shouted Brunar, busy pushing back goblins.
"He's still resting from the last time. Give me a minute, okay?" answered Jack.
Brunar was going to reply, but he saw that Jack had already closed his eyes and gone into some kind of trance. Angered by this, Brunar took his rage out on the goblin swarm alongside Troni.
Slivia was terrified of the scene, flashing back to her memories of her last party and the death of her former captain.
Maynard yelled amidst his fight, "These weapons really are from the Royal Court!" The goblin captain's smug face swiftly contorted and became ugly as he felt Maynard's rage become palpable. "This is unacceptable!"
Like red lightning, Maynard didn't hesitate to use his trump card, unleashing "Bloody cross" to quickly finish off the unsuspecting goblin captain.
As the goblin captain fell dead to the ground, Maynard appeared behind the second goblin captain. But as the other captain turned to face Maynard, Rydel activated a skill and a layer of green light surrounded his arrow. "First lesson of combat: pay attention."
That green arrow shot directly into the goblin captain's chest, piercing its heart. It slumped over on the ground and drew its last breath.
"Let's get this over with," said Rydel, nodding with Maynard. They split up and began mowing down the goblins that were still trying to keep the encirclement.
During all this, Jack was busy with his achievement system. Thanks to Maynard and Rydel's initial attacks, Jack reached lv. 10 and completed his first leveling achievement. He gained twenty skill points and quickly spent them all to upgrade his companion bloodline skill to lv. 2. By the time he had gone through his notifications, achievements, and skill tree, both captains had been killed and Jack rocketed to lv. 11.
Glad to try something new, Jack drew his bow but kept his eyes closed. He focused on his connection to Bowser as if he were establishing a wordless conversation with the fox. Jack's thoughts of Bowser's bloodline transformation triggered an increase in his heartbeat.
Jack's body started to glow like he was a hot piece of metal, and his body expanded slightly, gaining half a meter in height. His level grew temporarily from lv. 11 to lv. 13, boosting his strength even further together with his new flame body.
Everyone froze with their gazes on Jack, including the goblins who could feel the bloodline pressure better than the human party.
The lv. 5 wooden bow that was in Jack's hands was burnt to a crisp and fell apart in ashes, along with his clothes. As if in a rage, Jack pulled out the lv. 10 sword and charged. However, Jack's movements weren't the smoothest and he bumped into the three party members at his side, leaving them with burns on contact.
The small fire giant lunged at the goblin hoards, burning holes through the lv. 15 goblins with a single punch and pushing back any lv. 20's he could reach.
Taking advantage of the situation, Brunar yelled, "Slivia, hurry up and heal my burns so I can join in!"
Surprised to see that Brunar wasn't angry, but excited with Jack's transformation, Slivia activated her basic healing spell to cure their burns.
"Right, I can't let some newbie show me up!" Brunar jumped into the fray, running amuck alongside the seemingly wild Jack.
One goblin slipped past everyone and stabbed a knife towards Slivia. She cried for help and was happy to see Troni quickly slay the goblin, saying, "Don't worry, you're safe with me."
With mixed emotions, Slivia nodded and accepted his protection, sure that she would die otherwise.
Rydel and Maynard saw Jack's rampage, and both smiled. Not wanting to be outdone, they picked up the pace and finished off any remaining goblins in the darkness.
It didn't take much longer to defeat the goblin ambush and relax with a deep breath. They all gathered in the center of their fire perimeter while Jack returned to his normal self while breathing heavily.
"Jack, that was amazing!" Slivia ran up to hug him.
Jack smiled and extended his arms, but he fell over before he could wrap them around Slivia.
Baffled by the sudden exhaustion, Slivia then noticed Jack's nudity as her face became redder than a ripe tomato.
Rydel spoke to Slivia in Jack's defense, "The kid's probably pooped after trying that for the first time. I have no clue how he did it, but it has something to do with that fox of his so don't worry too much. Just let him rest."
"Okay, thank you, captain," answered Slivia, retrieving a spare black cloak to cover the nude Jack.
'Yo Rydel, what level is the kid?' asked Maynard telepathically.
'The kid's already lv. 12, probably nearing lv. 13,' answered Rydel with a jealous tone. 'This kid's a monster; he'll be a peak figure in the continent.'
'I guess ya and I will have to protect him till then, huh?' laughed Maynard.
"Let's hurry up and leave this place. If we aren't careful, we'll get ambushed again." Rydel threw Jack over his tall shoulders and retrieved a thick cord from his storage. "Everyone, tie this around your waist. We can't use the kari crystals down here or the goblins will catch us again. This way, at least we can't lose anyone."
"But what about the corpses, I'm sure they've got some valuable stuff," commented Brunar, reluctant to leave behind such a harvest of loot.
Maynard stored a few of the goblin weapons on the ground before he grabbed the opposite end as Rydel, being the first to tie himself in. "Hurry up, unless you want to meet their reinforcements on your own."
Hearing Maynard's deadpan tone, the young adventurers felt their spines tingle from the thought. They obediently followed their leaders' examples and tied themselves about a meter apart from each other.
"Good, now keep silent and follow without question," commanded Rydel, who turned around and began trudging into the darkness. Being pulled along, the others followed closely behind while Maynard focused on erasing any tracks.
By the time more goblins arrived, the party was long gone and untraceable.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill Thanks for reading and following along! Keep up the votes and comments so we can make this story the best it can be. You, my friend, are an amazing human being.
Capítulo 50: Discussion in Darkness
In the pitch-blackness of the third level, Rydel and the party were currently sitting and resting. They were still tied together, apart from the unconscious Jack on Rydel's back.
"We'll rest here, this should be far enough," said Rydel, coming to a stop. He sat down and laid Jack on the cave floor.
"But what if they find us?" asked Brunar. If anyone could see Brunar's face at that moment, they would notice the first real hint of fear in his eyes as his right shoulder was being healed by Slivia.
"If they find us now, then chalk it up to bad luck. Just sit and rest. We need Jack awake to move further with the plan. Besides, there are some things we need to discuss," answered Rydel.
Maynard was the next to sit and speak, "The goblins are far stronger than we had anticipated. Those two goblin captains were both at lv. 30 and I have no clue why. Imagine how strong the goblin king might be."
Everyone started to better understand how far off their expectations were from reality. The goblins would be more troublesome, plus they failed to sneak into the third level and were easily discovered. Now the goblins know that there's a threat to them and would be able to prepare or track them if necessary. Their original plans might still be possible, but the odds of success had plummeted.
"I knew this was too good to be true," whispered Slivia, letting the darkness hide the tear rolling down her cheek.
"Hey, don't ya dare give up hope," said Maynard.
"Why not? My last party was wiped or captured before we could even come up with a plan, and our plan won't work after what just happened," Slivia explained her depressed reasoning.
"I had no clue the third level would have changed so drastically," mentioned Rydel. "I've traversed these three levels many times in my life, but the third level was always lit by the abundant azure. To find the entire level in darkness means that all the azure has been mined and transported in a short amount of time. It wasn't like this during your last journey here, right Slivia?"
"No…" she shook her head and let her voice fade out quietly.
"Hmm. If that's so, then the goblins must've done this on purpose," said Rydel.
"But if the goblins were the cause of this, why would they need the azure? They've rarely harvested it before, so why now?" asked Brunar.
"It might have something to do with the Royal Court." Maynard's comment grabbed everyone's attention. Currently, Maynard had retrieved one of the short swords he had collected from a goblin corpse. Running his fingers along the flat side of the blade and the hilt, Maynard found the Royal Crest pressed and imprinted at the base of the blade.
Frowning deeply, Maynard expressed his thoughts, "To think the Royal Court is really behind all of this. I'm guessing they cut the goblins a deal to retrieve all the azure here. And I'm sure they're the ones behind the sudden rise in the goblin's strength, only I don't know how they could do this. If they were able to raise the goblins' strength so much, why not do so for themselves first?"
That thought was slowly digested by everyone, each taking their guess to the reasons behind the Royal Court's objective.
Rydel broke the silence, "I have no clue, but there has to be some higher purpose if the Royal Court is really behind this. Also, remember that this information is classified and can't be shared with anyone besides your superiors within the association. Is that clear?"
Everyone nodded, accepting the terms. Deep down, they hoped that they were wrong because no one wanted to make enemies of a superpower like the Royal Court.
"So, what now?" asked Brunar, who was slowly returning to his usual outspoken self.
"For now, we wait. Once Jack wakes up, we'll discuss things further and determine what we do next," answered Rydel.
"You mean we're still going to attack the goblin city?" Troni's question and doubt pierced everyone's ears. "If that was only a couple squadrons from the outposts, how strong is the goblin city? How strong is the supposed goblin king? How does our small party have a chance to take the goblins head-on?"
"Do you not believe in your master's strength?"
Troni turned toward where he guessed Maynard was sitting and answered, "No, it's obvious that you're the strongest one of the entire group. It's just that you alone can't guarantee our safety when we'll be facing so many high leveled goblins. Am I wrong?"
Maynard shrugged his shoulders, accepting his disciple's logic but not admitting if it were true or not.
"I say we get out of here and get reinforcements to sweep through this place," continued Troni.
"Impossible," said Rydel. "Sure, they know we're here and vastly outnumber us. But if they've made so many changes since Slivia last entered this place, can you guess what the goblins may be like by the time we return with reinforcements? Their growth is unfathomable and unpredictable. The best time to strike is still now. You know exactly what the azure is used for, so why would we give time to the goblins who have so much of it?"
Swallowing some saliva, Troni and the other two young adventurers remembered the effects of azure. If the goblins were given time, doesn't that mean they'd have time to start blowing through the azure and strengthen themselves even more?
"That's why we must succeed now, got it?" No one dared to rebut their captain. "Good, now we wait for our hero to wake up."
In the silence, the young adventurers pondered over Rydel's and Maynard's favoritism towards Jack. They understood that he was a summoned hero, but why does that give him reason enough to have their two leaders await his opinion and command?
"Before he gets up, I demand you tell us more about your relationship with this guy?" Brunar was the first of the three to blatantly ask what they were all wondering.
Rydel sighed, "He may be low leveled, but he's different. Jack knows a lot more about Kartonia then you would ever guess. To be honest, he might know more about Kartonia then Maynard and me combined."
"Ya don't need to be jealous of him, he's got his own trials and hardships waiting for him," added Maynard.
Troni asked, "And what's up with his leveling? I don't know his current level, but I saw him cycling through different weapons and even using a lv. 10 gladius. Wasn't he reported as a lv. 1 according to stat gem at the association? Shouldn't such growth be impossible?"
The two veterans could sense the jealousy in Troni's voice. Rydel was quickly able to better understand why Brunar was selected as the first disciple and why Troni was the second.
Strength wasn't the most important thing to Maynard, he'd rather have an average disciple that was willing to work harder than anyone else and take challenges head on over some pampered, talented youth.
This was the biggest difference between the ronin's two top disciples. Brunar was outspoken and had no filter to his thoughts, but his personality and work ethic were both extremely consistent. Maynard liked this consistency and admired Brunar's chase for strength despite coming from the slums of the capital.
Rydel didn't know it, but Troni hailed from a noble family. Though it wasn't the strongest noble family by any means, Troni still had his arrogance. Troni learned to hide his pride around his master, however, there were times that it would become more evident upon provocation. He was always keeping his thoughts to himself and quietly obeying his master's orders, while occasionally enjoying the privileges of the nobles during his leisure time.
Both students worked hard, but Maynard understood them both too well to let Troni become his top disciple. Knowing what the top disciple might earn in the future, Troni would always try to scheme his way there under Brunar's nose.
Wearing his emotions on his sleeve, Brunar was easy for Troni to manipulate, given time. And now they were like best friends, constantly traveling together. Troni could accept Brunar's insane work ethic but seeing a supposed lv. 1 adventurer almost immediately reach lv. 10 was way too much for him to keep his cool.
"Yeah, what's up with that? That kid's crazy!" Brunar commented with a big grin. Before, he was hesitant of accepting Jack's claim to fame as a lv. 1 newbie but seeing Jack reach lv. 10 so easily proved that Jack was worth the fame.
In the back of Brunar's mind, he was giddy to see Jack's sudden rise in power. Through hard work, Brunar had surpassed peers and fellow disciples alike. Seeing Jack's insane leveling lit a fire in his belly that had long been dormant, the feeling of a challenge. After a long time, Brunar was happy to find someone that could reignite the competitive fire within him.
Maynard sighed, "If ya want to know that much, you'll have to ask Jack personally."
The three young adventurers came up with their theories behind Jack's rise in achievements while Rydel and Maynard eagerly took out a couple of elixirs. After forcing the two mana-restoring elixirs down Jack's throat, they saw Jack's face twitch.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES
TheSilverQuill
TheSilverQuill
Sorry for the delay, I'll definitely make up for the lack of chapter as of lately. Thanks for reading and continuing to vote regardless. You're awesome!
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