Chapter 100: The Witch Discovers His secret
[0/5 Goblin Scouts Killed]
[0/ Goblin Warriors Killed]
[0/ Goblin Shaman Killed]
[0/ Goblin Cavern Explored]
**
"Haa... the g is all rough and hurts to walk on!" Yumiko\'s tail slapped the g, sding a rock shooting into the distance. The group spt the past twty minutes walking towards the mountains where the soft and fertile earth chanted to dry, brok g.
"Don\'t complain, at least it\'s still warm!" Ryuji looked back while laughing as she tried to hop betwe the brok g and jagged rocks that likely fell from above. "Look at the princess. She\'s not complaining." His playful banter lighted the mood, making the situation more bearable.
To the side, Liana walked along the g each time a rock came into her sight. She zapped it with her black lightning while letting out a slight huff; though she still complained, Ryuji found it cute, so she didn\'t count it.
"If I were a bird type, maybe I could just fly there," Yumiko\'s eyes rolled a the rocky mountain at the front. She watched the g for any loose rocks and jumped over them despite wearing her bronze armoured greaves, which would protect her feet.
Liana stopped near a huge rock larger than her, its rough surface glisting in the sunlight. She climbed atop it, her smooth legs kicking out as she looked back at Ryuji and Yumiko. "I think we\'ve found their cave, look." Her hand pointed to the g of goblins who were lingering a a dark oping with various wood totems and strange signs.
"Un! This is going to be my first actual battle outside the dungeon! I\'m excited," Yumiko clched her fists. Her face beamed with delight, and her heartbeat thumped in her ears, a clear sign of excitemt.
Ryuji scratched the back of his head and tilted his neck from side to side. "Should I use my magic? I don\'t want them to run inside and alert the other goblins; rather, we need some torches and light if we ter. These bastards like to make hidd paths and hide in the dark crevices, th attack from behind.
I really don\'t want to see a repeat of Goblin Slayer episode one." Alex made sure to always speak about how, for wom, goblins were always dangerous monsters, which you should never underestimate; they are an emy at the S-tier level for females.
Liana hopped down from her perch before dusting off her dress and walking over to Ryuji, her eyes like an eagle\'s, sharp and ke. "How can we make a torch that will burn longer than a minute?"
Ryuji had over six torches, which was one of the rare momts he seemed reliable, taking two out. He passed one to Liana while snapping his fingers to set fire to the cloth coated in a strange gooey substance that burned bright like a firework.
"Well, Paul taught me that this sticky oil from vdors would last at least six hours if you used a small amount, so I used half a tin instead." His grin was as wide as a child\'s, and his hands moved all over the place, making words in the air with fire, a clear sign of his excitemt.
"You are such a child, but good job this is something I never thought you would prepare. You seem the type to just rush through things and use your body, ignoring all logic and reason." Liana couldn\'t help but giggle as she praised him, which she rarely did since it would inflate his ego.
Yumiko clicked her tongue before stepping forward, brushing her body against Ryuji because she felt a little jealous of how Liana and Ryuji always seemed to joy a back-and-forth together. No matter what the two did. "Ryuji, can you show me your magic again? I love it wh you use magic. It makes my heart race, and I feel warm all over."
"Oh?" Ryuji looked towards Yumiko with a malicious smirk. "Sure, what do you want to see?" He liked a bit of praise and loved experimting with his new Demon Lord magic.
"Hmm..." Yumiko tapped her finger against her cheek before she stopped in place; her eyes rose to meet his while her mouth stretched out into a wide smile. "Can you crush them into meat pulp?"
"Oh?" Liana also looked interested in hearing that because she knew that most magic took months, if not years, to learn these hard spells. To think that he could use something like Firestorm without a chant and th whatever he cast now.
Th it suddly triggered something inside her chest the momt she saw him lift his arm and watched as jagged rocks filled with sharp edges formed above the goblins; without a chant, all Ryuji did was point in the direction and...
—Stone Crush!
Crunch!
Ryuji\'s magic wasn\'t gtle or subtle; the rocks larger than a human in size collapsed onto the goblins, crushing, impaling and tearing them apart.
The sound of screaming, crying, and bone breaking erupted, and an aura of death followed soon after as the many goblins below became pulp. Their organs spread across the area like a waterfall of blood while their bodies turned into meaty patties.
"Tch, don\'t leave anything. Burn them all; you promised to kill all the goblins near here." Liana let out a small sigh before walking over and poking Ryuji in the cheek.
He looked at her, but she noticed his eyes... the black sclera and glowing ocean blue iris before he lifted his left arm and clched his fist.
—Magma Burst
The next momt, all the rocks began to bubble and melt, turning bright orange as the rocks became magma, melting and exploding to dure all the remaining goblins\' corpses. The g ev burned to ash, and only a black, charred earth remained.
Liana felt the heat on her skin but didn\'t dare to take her eyes off Ryuji because his change had happed more than once during the past few days. A feeling of dread surfaced in her heart, yet she grasped her hands tight and refused to accept the truth she saw. "It\'s fine... stop, you can just fight with your axe.
Don\'t use magic..." Her voice sounded weak, filled with a strange emotion as her face looked pale.
Ryuji walked over and pinched her cheeks, stretching them out before a smile returned to his face. "Stop worrying. It\'s going to be okay." Her eyes wided as she felt his normal self, the fear and terror from his sudd changes while using magic gone, causing Liana\'s heart and body to calm down, yet she worried... Inside her mind, a deep worry and how to protect him began forming.
It wasn\'t just her who noticed though, with Yumiko\'s eyes watching the strange actions of Liana like a hawk.
[8/5 Goblin Scouts Killed]
[/ Goblin Warriors Killed]
[0/ Goblin Shaman Killed]
[0/ Goblin Cavern Explored]
***
The trio stood a the edge of a deep hole, a cave carved from the rocky mountainside.
Ryuji knelt while touching the rough g. His eyes followed the line of crushed rock and what seemed to be footprints from heavy iron armour. "It seems most of the warriors will be inside, thankfully, though I wonder if there will be emies that the quest information doesn\'t contain."
Liana, who remained silt for the longest time, spoke for the first time. "To be honest, you are lucky to be a hero. Normal advturers can not know how many emies they have or the concrete quest goals... So many times they will accidtally not finish a quest and cause great damage afterwards."
Yumiko\'s eyes oped, her eyes seeming to look at something to the left of her vision as she watched Ryuji with a conflicted look.
"Th why can I see it..." She whispered.
"Did you say something, Yumi?" Ryuji asked while standing up and preparing his bloody axe. Yumiko shook her head and smiled as she put her hand on her hips, preparing herself for combat as she stretched her hips.
It felt a little strange for Ryuji because it was the first time she had tak a distance from him and caused him to worry he had done something wrong. "Nope, just talking to myself. It\'s time to go."
She quickly clasped her hand onto his shoulder, and seeing her soft smile, he felt this could wait until later. "Let\'s do this."
"Right," Ryuji replied with a nod before turning a and looking into the dark tunnel.
He th tered while holding the blazing torch in his hand before strapping it to the tip of his axe, creating a weird contraption. Yumiko followed next as her eyes adjusted to the darkness; however, Liana remained at the trance, her arms crossed against her chest.
A momt later, she followed with a huff, her feet slower than before as her worries increased the more she grew used to being with Ryuji.
In all honestly, Ryuji didn\'t need to use the torch because of his dark vision; Yumiko also carried a beastkin-type dark vision, though not as perfect as Ryuji. She could see well in the cave, so the torches were all for Liana. So he stopped and turned to look at her.
"I will protect you, don\'t worry."
The cave was quite large inside, with hollowed-out walls. However, the stch, like rott garbage and waste with a hint of rotting meat, made all three almost gag.
"Be careful, look." Ryuji placed his torch on the side of the wall; at one angle, there was nothing there, but moving the light to the other side revealed a long, dark tunnel.
"We should keep our eyes op, Liana. Can you use your lightning just in case?"
"Of course..."
Bzzzt!
The black lightning flickered from her palm and shot into the dark tunnel, creating a gloomy purple light before the sound of screeching and a disgusting pop followed.
[/5 Goblin Scouts Killed]
[3/ Goblin Warriors Killed]
[0/ Goblin Shaman Killed]
[0/ Goblin Cavern Explored]