Syl

Chapter 46: Acting

The air was tense, but the goblins were talking about how many humans they were going to take down. Remembering how the sniper could kill a goblin with a single arrow made me wonder if any of them had ever fought anything stronger than a bear. At least they had courage, even if it was foolish.

'Although I guess I'm also a fool for sticking around.'

I looked over my mimicked traits available from the hobgoblin profile. I needed to focus on survival, so I picked out [Thick Skin], [Enhanced Agility], and [Enhanced Vitality] since they would be two levels higher than my own trait. I still had a spare slot but was struggling to find an all-around defensive option. I did find two defensive traits, [Fire Resistance] and [Earth Resistance], available to the hobgoblin. Did that mean they had a natural inclination to those elements or something else? I decided I'd keep the mimic slot open, and if I saw rocks or flames thrown about, I'd grab it.

My decision came sooner than I expected, as the archers on the palisade screamed an alarm before the entire wall became ruined in multiple fiery explosions.

'Why did it have to be magic...' I cried mentally, as my [Mana Sight] could see the vivid red aura, 'Alpha, Beta, focus entirely on keeping us alive, please.' I felt them coordinating together using [Slime Density] and [Mana Reinforcement] to the absolute maximum.

As they entered the cave, I knew it was time to put on a show.

Moments earlier...

"We've found their lair. Looks like they've claimed a cave and dug in. They even have a crude wall." Whitney explained. She was a rogue class who specialized in scouting and disarming traps.

"Nothing a good fireball can't solve," Dewi replied with a smirk. He was one of the few mages in the raid and focused on his love of pyromancy.

"I still think Old Tom is paranoid. Sam was cocky and probably fell into an ambush or something." Dewi answered stubbornly.

"Kathryn had a good head on her shoulders. She'd keep him in check." Whitney pointed out.

Their conversation was interrupted when the raid leader approached. Roderick was a hulk of a man with a massive tower shield strapped to his back and an enchanted flail at his waist. He was one of the highest leveled and highest ranked in a small guild like this and would likely retire and become the Guild Master eventually.

"Right, everyone. We are going to start our assault. We suspect there might be a high-level goblin shaman or even multiple magic goblins. Make sure no monsters get out of this cave alive." Roderick spoke with authority

"Should we look for any hostages or prisoners?" One of the random adventurers asked.

"Yes, but their guild tags went dead, so any survivors are highly unlikely," Roderick replied.

The group nodded and drew their weapons. As they approached, the goblins on the wall started shooting arrows that failed to make the distance.

The two mages opened up with two fireball spells. The balls of burning mana crashed into the palisade with explosive force, and the crude defense burst into fiery splinters. Once the wall and its occupants were confirmed destroyed, the mages snuffed the flames out, and the heavily armored adventurers led the charge into the cave, shields raised.

They entered the cave, and what met them was a small army of goblins ready to fight. Standing behind them was a hobgoblin holding a skull scepter with a menacing aura.

"Foolish humans! You dare to invade our home?" The hobgoblin declared, but the adventurers chuckled at the audacity of such a creature.

"It blocked my [Identify]!" Whitney shouted.

"Mine too!" Another joined in.

"Can anyone read it?" Roderick demanded.

"I sense a ton of mana! He's covered in the stuff!" Dewi shouted, not entirely believing his [Mana Sight].

Shocked murmurs ran through all the adventurers present. The hobgoblin seemed to take delight in their fear and started to cackle.

"Yes! Have you foolish humans realized your mistake? Leave now or suffer my wrath!" It threatened and raised its hand, forming a large dark purple sphere in the palm of its hand while it waved the skull scepter around as if trying to conduct an orchestra.

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The casters seemed aghast. None of them had seen whatever spell this was, and it looked horrifying, especially the density of the mana contained in the large sphere. So much mana, so quickly and without any incantation - it was unheard of.

"Ha! As if any true adventurer would back down from a challenge!" Roderick bellowed with a hearty chuckle.

"I've been bored of grinding undead. Time to finally get a real workout!" Kurt chuckled while flourishing his two shortswords.

"Think of how much experience we will get!" Dewi shouted.

Roars suddenly erupted from the adventurers, filled with newfound courage and determination. The hobgoblin seemed surprised at their sudden tenacity for a brief moment before an arrow struck it and bounced harmlessly off its head. The surprise became anger before the adventurers could even react to the absurdity of the arrow failing to wound the hobgoblin.

"So be it. [Rain of Corruption]!" It shouted, and the purple sphere burst and rained down on the entire entrance of the cave.

Shields raised, bubbles of protective magic formed, cloaks drawn to cover faces, and the adventurers charged forward to crush the opposition. When the purple goop rained on the adventurers, it melted into any exposed flesh, and the wounds festered into a horrific black sludge. The adventurers less accustomed to pain screamed in agony, and healers immediately began to blanket everyone in holy auras.

"What the hell is this? It's like it's fighting against healing." Evan, one of the healers, questioned.

"Sounds like Bloodrot..." Another answered

"Abominable..." Evan muttered.

Meanwhile, the battle began, and another fireball detonated amongst the goblins while arrows started flying from both sides. Other than the hobgoblin, the rest were not putting up much of a fight and were going down just like any regular goblin.

One of the front liners broke through the goblin wall to fight the hobgoblin directly, hoping to disrupt any spell casts with the potential to earn some personal glory.

"Face me!" He screamed with flying spittle and swung a two-handed maul at the hobgoblin. The hobgoblin calmly sidestepped the blow and thrust an open palm forward.

"[Lance of Decay]!" The hobgoblin shouted its dreadful spell and a purple spear suddenly burst out of his palm.

The warrior tried to smash the spell-formed weapon with his hammer, but defying belief, it somehow dodged his strike and pierced into his side. After gouging into his side, the spell detonated and covered him. He dropped his maul in pain and struggled to grab a healing potion from his pouch. The hobgoblin picked up the hammer and seemed to deposit it inside his cloak while muttering something about a collection.

The strategy soon changed to mop up the remaining stragglers so a group effort could focus on the hobgoblin, as it was too strong individually but would fall to a coordinated group effort.

"Enough! You shall all perish!" It shouted and started to form another ball of purple while twirling its skull scepter again.

"Focus fire!"

"Kill it!"

"Don't let it cast that!"

And various other shouts were screamed by the adventurers. The healers would be unable to get through another outbreak of that Bloodrot spell. Both mages drew deep on their mana wells, and each launched a massive fireball. The combined detonation quaked the cave, and everyone felt the heat, and some adventurers took collateral damage.

"You'll never claim my essence! Never!" It shrieked from within the fiery inferno, followed by other hellish screams, and the remaining goblins cried out in horror.

There seemed to be no further attacks from the hobgoblin, and the adventurers systematically began culling the goblins. The healers cast spells until they were drained of mana and potions, but unfortunately some casualties were claimed by the fiendish poison. When the flames finally died, what remained in the crater were burnt scraps and an almost cremated skull scepter. The ground bubbled with the purple sludge that slowly ate into the ground. Nobody dared approach it, as they could see bones melting into the purple sludge and knew it somehow contained the insidious Bloodrot.

"Is it dead?" Someone asked.

"I don't think I got a notification," Dewi answered.

"Did it kill itself to deny us the experience?" Eliza asked. She was the other mage who contributed to the fiery explosions.

"That's a level of hatred I didn't think possible," Dewi replied with a whistle.

"I mean, just playing demon's advocate, we did invade their cave. It even told us to leave before attacking." Whitney retorted.

"Yeah, but imagine letting that thing live and get stronger." Eliza pointed out.

"Bloodrot... If it got stronger and cast that spell over a village or city." Evan replied, his voice shaking.

"How many casualties?" Whitney asked, seeing the horror in Evan's eyes.

"Five..." Evan replied dejectedly, "Four were too low level and could barely resist the poison. Alek died challenging the hobgoblin directly."

"Shit... Didn't he just get his first advanced job? What a waste." Dewi replied shaking his head.

"Spellbreaker. He probably thought he was invincible against a mage." Whitney answered.

"Spread out and search," Roderick suddenly commanded, "Healers and Mages rest, and recover your mana."

They ransacked the cavern as they searched. There were a few ambushes from surviving goblins who screamed bloody murder for the death of their Chieftain, but nothing that couldn't be dealt with. There was no sign of the hobgoblin, other than the remnants of its scepter. It looked like it was truly dead.

"Roderick!" Whitney shouted and came running up.

"What is it?"

"Kurt found a prisoner."

"One of the four?" He asked, feeling a bit hopeful.

"No, that's the strange thing... It's an elf girl."

"An elf?" Roderick asked, scratching his chin.

"Didn't I hear about an elf coming to the city a week or two ago? Then she recently disappeared." Dewi asked.

"You're right. I recall the Guild Master freaking out and wondering if she was going to join the guild." Roderick commented.

"Well, you better go save her before she drowns in Kurt's drool." Whitney responded, "Poor girl looks like hell. Evan, we might need a healer."

Evan stood up with a firm nod, "I've recovered enough mana, show me."

Roderick sighed and followed. Dewi also tagged along after chugging a mana potion.

"I've never met an elf before. This should be exciting." Dewi chuckled.

"If you behave like Kurt when you see her, I'll personally stab you," Whitney warned.

Roderick just sighed and hoped this elf wasn't going to cause trouble.