"So you ended up taking out ten of the Greats without me, huh?"
"Told you I'd get a leg up on you if you weren't careful."
"Yeah, yeah."
A significant amount of time had passed, and we had killed a large number of the Goblins. I made sure to keep score since we made a bet to see who would have more kills than the other.
"I've really grown a lot bolder ever since becoming a Warrior, haven't I? After all, here I am, an F-Rank Warrior competing against a freaking A-Rank Spy Class-someone whose efficiency in killing is probably only second to a Ninja Class and third to an Assassin Class-to see who gets more kills. Raid, you madman… Still though. I'm doing a lot better than I would've guessed..."
As a matter of fact, I was winning.
Yeah, that's right. WINNING. Like I said, I was keeping score.
"Yeah, but… Why though?"
"Huh? What do you mean 'why'?" I didn't understand Peyton's question. I mean, how else were we supposed to know who the winner would be otherwise.
"Well I mean, since the System already makes sure to keep count of every kill each individual makes in a party, is there really any reason to try and keep score yourself?"
"….… Oh… So the System does that already?"
"Uh, yeah. You didn't know?"
"No I...I really didn't. Thank you…for telling me that, after I wasted my time, energy and…effo-"
"Okay, in my defense, I thought you knew. I really did."
"Right. Sure. Pretty good defense…"
"…I'm sorry-"
"-Yyeeaah."
"… O-on the bright side, though… I-It's uhm…pretty impressive how you were able to keep count of all those…kills while fighting sooo many-"
"Please stop-"
"-Okay."
Of the 9986 normies that were present, 1817 of the 2929 archers along with 3395 of the 7057 spear Goblins were all killed by me. Thus giving me a total of 5212 points. Peyton however, having killed the remaining 1112 of the archer Goblins and the remaining 3662 of the spear Goblins had a total of 4774 points. In addition to that, of the 313 High Goblins we fought, Peyton took out her fair share of 169 of them, giving her a very generous total of 1690 points.
As for me, the remaining 144 High Goblins I took out gave me 1440 points while the extra 10 Great Goblins I killed before Peyton could catch up gave me an extra 1000 point totaling my overall point value to 7652, whilst Peyton's was 6464. I forcefully gave out this exaggeratedly detailed explanation to Peyton, despite her obvious disinterest on the matter, what with the fact that the System had it all covered. I didn't care though, I wasn't about to let my hard work go to waste like that.
"You're a real handful, you know that?"
"You wanna know what a handful is?! I'll tell you what a handful is! A handful is…is, is…taking the time…to-to expertly keep track of such a large number of bodies! ALL-THE-WHILE! Masterfully taking out sooo many enemies! And then, finding out later that it was all for nothing. That's what a real handful is-"
"Okay, while you complain your ass off about meaningless things, I'm just gonna go ahead and take out the rest of the Goblins. Cool? Cool." She then walked towards the remaining Great Goblins after saying that. If you asked me though, she was just running.
"Hey! Get back here! I demand to be heard!"
"Demand denied. Focus. There's twenty Great Goblins left. Since it seems like you've already won the bet, we might as well split them evenly, how about it?"
"Hm… Yeah sure thing. Then I can have a real one-on-one go at the Boss."
"You go girl."
"Shut up." I instantly dashed toward the Goblins. She followed.
The Goblins, noticing the arrangement of the numbers, decided to spit up accordingly. Ten would take me on, the other ten would go for Peyton.
And she wasn't messing around. With a single swing of First Dawn, she took down three Great Goblins. Four more attacked in unison, attempting to catch her off guard. Little did they know, you can't catch an A-Rank off guard, not with their Ranks. She quickly jumped upwards, avoiding their downward slashes, then back flipped back down to behead each of them. The three remaining Great Goblins started to panic, they didn't know what to do next. And to top it all off, they didn't know what she'd do next. In a split second, she had disappeared. The Goblins were baffled. Before they even knew it, they were dead. One, as if out of pure instinct, not because he might've seen her, looked behind him. There she was. The woman who bore the beauty of a princess, the elegance of a queen and the strength of warrior. Her short silky blonde hair shinning, as was the blade she held in her right hand, reflecting her figure as if to duplicate her already incomparable beauty, it was as if she had been using it for years. Even Goblins, who had better eyesight than most monsters and Warriors of the same Rank, couldn't see her attack. She was just that fast. And with that, the Goblins' bodies fell down into multiple pieces.
"Well that just gave me a sense of déjà vu. It's the same technique she used when she fought that assassin from before."
My fight however lacked the showmanship hers had. I wanted to keep things simple, all the while exploring my newly attained Special Attack and just how far I can mess around with it.
"Inferno Cyclone, as the name suggests, is a cyclone of flames, so it's an AOE attack, but if I can compress it the same way I did those arrows from before, I can decrease the blast radius but still keep its efficiency."
I concentrated and circulated my Mana. Soul-Piercing Eyes and Trigon Element King were still active so I reactivated Fury of Dantian and Astral Unification, essentially activating Cultivator.
Then, I conjure out ten Inferno Cyclones. The amount of Mana they consumed was immense. I was slowly losing my ground.
"Damn, at this rate, I'll have another Werehyena near-death experience, except…y'know, this time with Goblins instead. Okay, gotta focus. Concentrate the Mana to a single point and then compress the arrows to make them thinner… There we go, that's what I'm talking about."
I had succeeded, the arrows had gone from consuming ten times the amount of Mana that the Inferno Cyclone from before did to consuming a mere tenth of that Mana.
"With this, the speed and piercing power is increased significantly compared to a normal Inferno Cyclone, however the Mana consumption and blast radius is decreased, meaning that I can launch the attack continuously without getting tired and at very specific targets too. It's win-win! There's really no downside to this! And it's honestly scaring me. That crazy chick might've been on the money when she asked if I was some broken video game character."
I instantly launched all the arrows at once as I uttered. "Inferno Cyclone."
Ten arrows, ten Great Goblins, an arrow for each one of them. Some were pierced through the forehead, and the rest, through their chests. They all fell in unison afterwards.
"Bullseye-"
"You just don't stop, do you?'
"What do you mean?" I knew exactly what she was talking about. It's just felt easier to play dumb.
"Don't play that game with me 'Mr.'! You know exactly what I mean!" And of course, she saw through my act. "It's only been a couple of days since you awakened. Do you know how long it usually takes Warriors to modify a Special Attack, let alone even realize that they can do that?!"
"Obviously, I don't. How long? Like uhh… Like a few weeks maybe?"
"Few wee-… Freaking years man!"
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Well…what about you then? How long did it take you?"
"'Bout seven months. And that's only because I'm a special case. A rarity even among talents."
"Toot your own horn, why don't ya! Not like anyone else will." Obviously, I only had the luxury of thinking that, not saying it out loud.
"Now at least, I know why and how you can crush other high level A-Rank Warriors like insects." I said with a thin smile.
"You on the other hand. You just scream anomaly."
"Gee thanks. That means a lot."
"I said what I said."
"… Oh look, a Dungeon Boss. I should probably go check that out." I walked away towards said-Boss after a lengthy pause. I was definitely not running away or anything. What did I have to fear?
"And he says I'm good at avoiding conversations. Whatever. You want your blade back?" She held First Dawn up as she looked at me with quite the blank expression.
"No thank you. I doubt I'll need it."
"Hehe, okay then hotshot." She backed away to give me and the Boss some space.
I approached the Boss, and as I did, he got up from his throne of bones and walked towards me. Seemed he understood that I would be the one to face him. We then got up to a point where about a single metre was the only thing separating us. I had to look up to make eye contact.
"You're a big one too, I see." The Goblin Lord was about five times bigger than me. Not really that different from the Great Werehyena.
"I'm starting to sense a theme here. A very annoying theme."
As if to cut me off, signaling our battle's commencement, the Goblin Lord attacked. In the blink of an eye, he launched a horizontal slash with the longsword he held in his lower right hand. In response, I quickly performed a side flip to avoid it, then, after landing back down, I concentrated Mana on to my right hand, deactivated all the Skills I had running except for Ifrit, then conjured a ball of flames on to my hand. I then swung my right hand towards the Goblin Lord's mid-section. He quickly countered my attack by positioning his longsword diagonally over his stomach. As soon as my attack, an open palm enveloped in fire, and his sword, a blade much larger than the average human body, made contact with one another, I ignited my flames, causing a massive explosion that sent him flying a great distance away. The bastard didn't fall flat though, to my annoyance. No, he made sure to land back on his feet.
"Hmm. You're a lot more skilled than I gave you credit for. Your size is the same as the Great Werehyena's but it's as clear as day who's stronger between the two of you. Still, I'm not worried. I'll deal with you accordingly."
The real battle was about begin. I had created a fair amount of distance between us. In note of that I immediately dashed at him, he did the same. As Ifrit was still activated, I used the Skill to conjure out two fire blades from both my hands. Then… We clashed. Him, with his longsword that looked like it was at least three times my own size, and me with my two fire blades that would probably not even pass for kitchen knives to him. Sure, he was bigger. But he was definitely not stronger, I began to slowly push him back. In bewilderment, he responded with a piercing attack with his spear, aimed for my head. I dodged the attack by tilting my head slightly sideways, then proceeded to grab his spear before he could retrieve it after dissipating the fire blade from my right hand, essentially parrying his longsword with my other fire blade to the right. I then dissipated my left hand fire blade to grab his longsword from the back edge.
"Since you remind me a lot of the Great Werehyena, here's a little taste of a gift I once gave him."
Before he could even realize what I'd do, I quickly used his spear and longsword as I had grabbed them both to launch me upwards and delivered a hard kick to his jaw. His jaw broke but I wasn't finished, so I used the momentum to quickly grab his bald head and collided it hard against my knee, then afterwards, used his face as a foothold and kicked him away. The sound of a massive 'thud' filled the area as he fell down.
After landing back down, I reactivated my fire blades seeing as he was getting back up. He immediately dashed towards me after that. I guessed I might've struck a nerve on the count of how much faster he had gotten. He threw his spear with great force as he ran towards me. I parried it upwards only to be met with an even bigger projectile thrown straight at me, his longsword.
"No freaking way."
I decided to jump up just high enough to dodge it. However, when I looked in front of me, there was no more Goblin Lord, but three high speed arrows coming in hot for me instead, each aimed expertly for a vital point.
I couldn't see him but it was no secret where he was. The Goblin Lord.
"Not bad." I praised sincerely. "He made use of my blind spots as I was dodging his longsword to instantly appear behind me and catch it to attack, all after shooting his arrows straight me. No true fighter would throw their sword away like that without a plan. And I guess the same can be said about his spear from earlier too."
In front of me were arrows, aimed for my vital points, behind, a gigantic Goblin ready to slice me in half with his longsword, and above, a spear coming straight down, aimed for my head.
"Seems I can't dodge these arrows, same way I can't dodge or simply parry that spear. He must've used that never miss Skill of his."
"Fine then, how about this!"
As I shouted, I circulated my Mana, concentrated it on to my fire blades, then turned them into pure flames that coursed throughout my entire body and waved them across the three arrows as they were about to hit me, actively disintegrating them. Then, as I turned to face the Goblin Lord, I hurriedly caught his spear as it fell straight down at me, coating it with the flames to use it against him.
~Clank!~
~Boom!~
The clash between the longsword and the spear along with the raging flames that enveloped it caused a massive explosion like no other. From the aftermath smoke, I emerged, my clothes half burnt, my phone fried beyond repair.
"Well… They were already pretty messed up anyway on the count of all the holes they had, courtesy of Werehyena fangs and claws. And as for my phone, I guess I'm partly at fault for bringing it in a Dungeon. Good thing I linked it with my laptop so all my valuable data gets backed-up. I should get a new one after this. Maybe one of those nigh-indestructible phones that most Warriors use. They're pretty expensive though…"
I looked to my front as a large figure emerged from the dissipating smoke. It was the Goblin Lord. And he was still standing. The entire left side of his body was severely burned. But he was still alive and still raring to keep going.
"Hehe, resilient bastard. He reminds a lot about a certain someone."
There was no need to dive deeper into just who that certain someone was, a simple mirror would be enough to answer that question.
The spear I had held in my hand was ashes, hence I was now unarmed. His longsword, though beaten up quite a bit, was still holding up enough to keep fighting however. And on top of that, he still had his bow and arrows. It was clear that this wasn't over.
Realizing that, I activated both Tetrax and Marid then deactivated Ifrit, conjured out a water blade on my right hand then conjured out a wind blade on my left and took a battle stance. The Goblin Lord in response took out ten arrows and immediately fired them then dashed towards me as if running after the same arrows he shot. I responded in kind by dashing towards him as well. I then launched a large number of consecutive slashes cutting all ten arrows shot at me to pieces, then proceeded to clash against the Goblin Lord. He attacked by launching an upward vertical slash. I spun sideways to avoid it then used the momentum to launch my own attack, a horizontal double slash with both my blades, aimed for his neck. He dodged it by quickly jumping backwards.
"Now's my chance!"
Using that slight moment of weakness to my advantage, I hastily kept my assault going. Before he even realized it, I was right front of him. I slid over between his legs and slightly slashed his knees. From behind him I then launched a few more light slashes to his calves and ankles. As he turned to face me, I closed in to launch consecutive slashes at his upper body.
"He has a great disadvantage in that his body is too big, same goes for his longsword, so if I get close enough, he won't be able to reach me with it. It's only a matter of time until this is over."
How wrong I was.
My plan wasn't flawed. In fact, I'd wager that it'd work if I was fighting someone else as big as the Goblin Lord, but only because that someone wouldn't have been the Goblin Lord. See the Goblin Lord was different. Way different. I kept using the same tactic. Simple small slashes across his body. Over and over. I kept slashing him. I wanted to enjoy it. To savor my prey. I was sure he'd tire out sooner or later.
He did not.
He just kept going. He kept coming at me with everything he had. His body coated in Mana. It was green, so not that high in Rank but is it was so incredibly pure, that it'd put even a C-Rank Warrior to shame. Slashing continuously with his longsword while making sure to keep the appropriate distance that allowed him to do so. Creating even greater distance between us to allow him to shoot his arrows. Even using his arrows to stab me every time I closed the distance. He did all these things. And even when none of them worked, he didn't stop. It was clear that I was stronger, clear that I was faster, and he knew that, he knew better than anyone that he couldn't beat me, but that didn't stop him. No, in fact, it seemed as if that only unfueled him. He just kept fighting, his body drenched with his own blood. Not because he was dumb. But because he was fighting for something far bigger than just simply winning or losing.
A purpose.
One so deep that he'd readily give his life for it. I looked down on him, saw him as nothing more than mere prey, but I shouldn't have done that. He didn't deserve that. In him, radiated the spirit of a true warrior, something that lacked even in some actual Warriors that I've met, hence he deserved my respect.
"I had planned to deal with you swiftly, effortlessly, without even breaking a sweat, but I see now that I was in the wrong. I'm sorry for looking down on you the way I did. As a token, I'll use my strongest attack to give you a death you can be proud. The death of a true Warrior. If there's really such a place as Valhalla, with this, I'll make sure you go there without fail."
I deactivated both Tetrax and Marid, then jumped back to create some distance between me and the Goblin Lord.
"Peyton, throw me my blade!" Without hesitation, Peyton quickly did as I asked. I didn't need to explain to a fellow Warrior what my intentions were.
"Here!"
~Swoop!~
~Clank!~
I caught it. I then proceeded to activate my Bladework Skill, Soul-Piercing Eyes Skill and Treasure Hunt Skill.
The Goblin Lord, as if sensing my intentions then spoke for the first time since our fight started.
"Ha lokwe ko G'nori ikna ukus. Tink'weri akifo kaso sifori la ei koko ti soka hilatro ja hami honnarr! Ha se inkhyeh! Homi miy' fa ko nora ruk!!!" He took a straightforward battle stance after what sounded like a battle-cry.
It went without saying that I didn't understand a single word of what he'd just said. However, from one warrior to another, I understood what he meant perfectly.
"Alright then Goblin Lord! Let's finish this!"
In response, the Lord of Goblins attacked for the very last time. Moving at a speed unlike anything he had shown before, instantly breaking the sound barrier, a feat I'd believe he had never been forced to make before. The blood that covered his body was instantly washed away at the moment of his take off. And to top it all off, his speed was exponentially increasing by the second. All in an attempt to find the perfect timing, the perfect opening and the perfect positioning, he kept circling me, making sure to keep a manageable distance, right up until the moment he'd attack.
Seeing that, I simply slowly raised First Dawn upwards. Noticing this action, the Goblin Lord hastily dashed to my front. He was moving at Mach-5 speed. That was probably his limit. The entire area went silent. Not even the sound of wind gushing could be heard. The Goblin Lord's attack was simple, a downward slash, yet his execution, his expertise and the sheer power in the attack was anything but. The same could be said of mine. Yes, similar to him, my attack was also a simple downward slash. There were only two differences between our attacks. While he had both his hands on his longsword, I only had my right on my blade, and while his attack was slower, mine was incomparably faster.
In the bewitching silence that felt as if it would last centuries, a single voice was heard. Nay, this was the only voice that could be heard. Even as it was in the form of a mere whisper.
"Sunset Slash."
As soon as those words were uttered. The Goblin Lord was stopped in his tracks. There he stood, still tightly holding on to his longsword. He did not speak. He did not move.
He was dead.
But… Upon closer inspection, he was…
"Smiling?... He's legit smiling."
It was hard to notice what with his face being… well, a Goblin's, but he was definitely smiling.
"Heh. A Warrior's death. No question."
His body then fell as his halves separated head to toe.
"Another perfectly symmetrical slice."
Even his longsword was symmetrically cut in half.
"First Dawn, you scare me." The blade shimmered as if responding to my statement.
"… Psh, as if. It'd have to have a mind of its own to do that and that's just totally bonkers." I said as I transferred it back into the Item Space and deactivated all my Skills.
"Hey you!"
"Wah!... Oh, Peyton, when'd you get here?"
"I've been here this entire!-… You're messing with me now, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Ignoring that. Explain yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"That attack from earli-"
"Oh my god! Just look at all those Mana Crystals that we-ow, ow, ow!" A pain invaded my left ear, as if a small knife was slowly digging into it from both its sides. It was Peyton, that she-beast. She was pinching and pulling it, very roughly if I may add. Shit hurt like a bitch. She had very sharp nails, more so than even the Great Werehyena's fangs, to my surprise.
"Do you really think you'll be able to weasel your way out of this convo the way you do others?"
"Can't I do exactly that just this once!? I agreed to tell you about my blade didn't I-ow! Shouldn't that be enough!?"
"Seriously? That's your defense?"
"Listen. You're a Warrior, right? And as a Warrior, you need to respect whatever secrets your fellow Warrior, me, has, regardless of how close we may be."
"Mhh. Fine." She let me go.
"Hah, sweet release."
~Sigh~
"Look, it's only because I don't think you realize how dangerous that attack of yours is that I'm making such a big deal out of this, okay?"
"Hm? Dangerous? What do you mean by 'dangerous'?"
"… Never mind."
"Aww, no fair…now you got me all curious and junk."
"Yeah, well, that's life kid." She said.
"'Kid'? You're not that older than me, you know."
"Out here acting like two or three years is a lot."
She paused for a second before she finally spoke.
"... You wanna know what's really old? This Dungeon. Let wrap up quickly so we can leave, yeah?"
"… Uhh sure... Why not…"
"Odd." I thought.
The message signaling our completion of the Dungeon had already popped up. All that was left was for us to read it.
What came first was the Party rewards and Party Score. A message we could both see and read.
After that, came the individual messages that gave us our individual rewards based on our personal achievements.
[Report. Immediate Party Quest: Party's First Conquest has been completed.]
Party Score:
• Raid [Party Leader]
Kills: 5212 normal Goblins, 144 High Goblins, 20 Great Goblins and the Goblin Lord
• Peyton Garner
Kills: 4774 normal Goblins, 169 High Goblins and 10 Great Goblins
[Now calculating rewards...]
[Rewards are being allocated. Party has received 10329 E-Rank monster cores, and one D-Rank monster core along with the Goblin Lord's skin and spine. Congratulations Warriors for clearing your first Dungeon as a Party! The Dungeon will close as soon as you exit it.]
"Well, it's no secret that you won now." Said Peyton as we both looked at the message.
"Speaking of which, we never really talked about a prize for the winner."
"Sneaky jerk. You're only saying that because you won."
"You know me so well."
"Whatever… Hmm… How about this then. You can have all Mana Crystals here to yourself. Boss' drops too, since you're the one who killed him. Deal?"
"Uhm… Are you out of your mind?"
"Sorry, what was that?" She smiled brightly as she clenched her fist.
"I mean uh… How very generous of you."
"I know, right? I really am too nice for my own good."
"Right, yes of course, a real saint you are. But uhh…are you sure? I mean we are talking about over ten thousand Mana Crystals here. Not exactly something you can give away like chump change like that."
"I assure you. To me, that's exactly what it is. Chump change. For E-Rank Mana Crystals to even catch my gaze, they'd have to be in the millions."
As cocky as that sounded, she wasn't wrong. A-Ranks have an insane amount of Mana as it stands so a measly ten thousand E-Rank Mana Crystals isn't really anything they'd go bananas for.
"Besides..." She added. "I already got way more than I would've ever expected from raiding this Dungeon."
"Your Stats you mean?"
"Yeah… It's incredible. I never even thought it was possible to get my Stats this high in a mere E-Rank Dungeon, when I've even struggled doing so in some C-Ranks."
"Great, don't forget who you have to thank for that."
"Ugh, please don't make me say it…"
"Common courtesy. You kinda have to."
"Ugh. Fine… Th-thank…you." She smiled forcibly, her lips trembling as if they'd fall off any second. She wasn't even making any eye contact.
Yeesh.
"That looked painful. Are you okay?"
"Go die."
"Rude. Well anyway. Thanks for the Mana Crystals. I'll put them to good use."
"Oh yeah, about that. I'm curious. What do you plan to do with them? You gonna sell them or undergo MCA?"
"Erk!..."
"…hm?"
"I uhh…"
"What? What's wrong?"
"Well uhm…"
"Fuck! I did NOT think this all through. Of course I wanna absorb them all. But if I tell her that then she'll prolly wanna help me out with that by taking me to the Association to do it. I can't tell her about my very special method of absorption so I won't be able to reject her without a valid reason. But one thing's for sure, I one hundred percent CANNOT absorb this many Crystals the normal way! I'll lose so much extra Mana Capacity! C'mon, think Raid. Think! You've got an Intelligence Stat of nineteen thousand now. Figure a way out of this!"
"Oh I see."
"Huh?"
"I mean I get it. All Warriors are entitled to their secrets. But you really don't have to keep this one from me. I already know you're capable of creating high level weapons, remember?"
"Uhh..."
"That's right! I had forgotten about that. Mana Crystals can be used to make weapons. Rank Measures too. I heard that the highest level Rank Measures are made out of at least ten S-Rank Mana Crystals. Yes. This can work."
I then saw fit to reply to Peyton accordingly.
"Ah shucks. You got me."
"Gaawddamnit, I'm a genius."