Elemental Accords 1-5

Good Morning!

Chapter 5

A hail of arrows marked our arrival at the goblin den. One, two, four, eight, and ending with a total of ten goblins being either killed or incapacitated with my arrows. Rai and Knight made it to the Goblin gathering with my cover fire. I wasn’t too far behind the pair. It won’t do to be too far away if Rai needed my help.

Knight was ruthless. He killed goblins with accurate stabs and swipes if they got too close. It was that moment when I realized that Knight was likely responsible for the deaths of the goblins outside the shop last night. Rai wasn’t willing to fall behind. She was ending goblins with quick two-three jabs that looked complicated to my untrained eyes. She was using the least amount of effort to get the results she wanted.

Goblins fell around us rapidly. Blood and gore were flying around Knight, as he killed like a well-oiled machine. I couldn’t help but think that he was far too powerful to be given in the early stages of whatever this was. Not that I would get an answer to my question. I decided to just roll with it, whatever to keep myself alive longer.

The small battle only took about two or three minutes. Testimony to our new power. I’d fired all my arrows, so I stowed my bow and pulled out my spear. Rai rushed to the women and helped them out of their bindings. I couldn’t help but grimace at the wounds they had around their legs and arms. At least their clothing were still mostly in order, likely captured after the initial wave of the monsters and were being brought here for their leaders.

A roar came from the skeleton encrusted entrance, and I moved a bit closer with Knight in the lead, readying my spear for whatever might come. Peering through the entrance, I found there was a tunnel leading down. It had only been a day, I couldn’t imagine them being able to dig too far, though given the state of the world, my assumption could be dead wrong.

Rai came up to me once she was done helping the women. “There are ten of them. They don’t have any idea what is going on, and nowhere to go.” I glanced at her before looking back down the tunnel. She appeared worried.

“I know. I didn’t plan to leave them.” Honestly, the gold from the shops didn’t enhance my power too much. Of course, every little bit helped, but anything less than a kilogram wasn’t too worth it, not when lives were at a stack.

“Do you plan to raid the goblin den?” Rai asked nervously.

“I was thinking it might be a good idea. We have no idea how these things work. They might be spawning like you said from the alleys, but if that changes to these dens or locations they set up, it might be better to nip it before they get too powerful.”

“I… I agree. We passed more than a few alleys, and no goblins popped out. I doubt there was only going to be one day of monsters. I think your theory might be right.”

I ordered Knight to stand guard and moved over to the women. “Hi. I’m Aurum. I plan on helping you all, but I want to take care of that first.” I pointed to the den. “If you could all move to that building and wait for us that would be a real help.”

“What if you don’t come back!?” one of the women asked panicked as she rushed forward and grabbed my shirt.

I grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her back. “Calm down. If we don’t come back in… five hours. Feel free to flee. To help, I want you all to focus on yourselves for a second. Really think about your name or something along those lines.”

I waited and one by one the women’s eyes widened in surprise. “What is this?”

“Whatever is happening to the world is related to that. I would recommend going through what you see and find something to use to your advantage.”

“Thank you! I’ll wait until you come back!” the first woman exclaimed then rushed over to the building. The others all nodded with mixed expressions. I didn’t doubt that some of them had families, friends or lovers they wanted to find.

Walking back to Rai, I cracked my neck and knuckles. “Were you a playboy?” Rai asked with a skeptical look on her face. She handed me my arrows that she collected while I was talking to the women.

“No,” I said then grinned at her. “I did have my fair share of girlfriends though.”

I checked Knight and found he had less than an hour left. We needed to hurry, or we’d be down a strong pair of hands. I motioned drawing my bow and we entered the foul-smelling tunnel. Rai instantly scrunched up her face before pulling a cloth and wrapping it around her face. From her expression, it didn’t look like it helped much.

The den was much bigger than I had thought. The tunnel sloped down at a nearly fifty-degree angle before it leveled out in a large room. It was carved from the stone, making the walls roughly hewed. Blazers provided smoky light to the room. It looked like a cavern straight out of a movie. I half expected there to be a pit fall trap just inside the entrance.

A couple dozen goblins were sitting around the room, eating. I ground my teeth when I saw what they were munching on. Humans. Human parts to be exact. I didn’t see a single complete body in the entire den.

“Knight. Kill them all.” I ordered while taking aim. “Rai. Stay near me and don’t go too far into the cave.”

“Got it.” I loosed my arrow and Knight chased after it. He body slammed a goblin turning it into a paste with his shield. The goblins all started to screech as they ran at either Knight or us. Knight planted himself about five meters in front of us catching most of the goblins as they swarmed toward us. His blade was top of the line even after all the killing he’d done last night. If the weapon touched a goblin, they were usually no longer in one piece.

I depleted my arrows in a matter of seconds. I didn’t have to aim to hit something, so I didn’t. Once out, I put away my bow and drew my spear. I took a spot diagonal and slightly back from Rai. The goblins finally got past Knight and made for us. Rai decided to get in on the long-range action and started punching the air. Blasts of light from her fists put holes through the goblins. Compared to the beam of light she used on the boss yesterday, these were little more than needles.

Seeing her use magic made me think about my own spell. Gold is Death. I concentrated and put some of my energy into the spear just as the goblins reached us. I swept my spear a bit too early and only managed to nick the first goblin. There was a sudden blast, and its chest was blown apart. I couldn’t help but blink in surprise as the goblin fell over and was trampled by the rushing goblins behind it.

I shook my head and got back into the fight. I thought the energy would fade after the first goblin, but that wasn’t the case. It stayed on it for five goblins before it faded. It was a very nice tradeoff. I spun and stabbed at the goblins using the length to keep them at bay while killing them.

I made sure to check on Rai. She was using her fists and had to allow the goblins closer. Her Dread armor glowing on her body and repelling most of the hits that she let through. She was amazing, though, as she used the goblins themselves as a barrier by jumping on them and using rapid movements to keep them charging. Her fists were even more powerful than our earlier battle and she was taking goblins down with quick jabs to jugulars and vitals.

The battle started to wind down as the number of goblins dropped. There had to have been close to a hundred of the monsters in the entrance cave. If not for Knight, we probably would have been overwhelmed. Rai and I only had minor cuts and bruises though.

I leaned on my spear as I breathed heavily. The goblins were weak as shit, but there had been a lot of them. I had to stop using Gold is Death after a while or I’d be completely out of mana. Getting my breath back, I walked over and checked on Rai.

“You want to keep going?”

“Yeah. I didn’t use too much mana.”

I nodded and we moved toward the only other opening to the cave. Another cave met us after a couple seconds of walking. Rather than a large open space, there was a large room that could hold maybe fifty or sixty people. A large goblin sat on a throne made of human bones. He had a bunch of skulls on his head that I guessed was supposed to be a crown. A large cleaver was in his hand that dripped blood.

“Knight. Attack.”

Knight charged forward without waiting any longer. Rai and I followed behind him. I wouldn’t make the same mistake as the armored Large goblin on the street. I would be careful. The goblin leapt from his seat and met Knight’s charge. The goblins were weak, but once they changed to Large or the armored large, they gained quite a bit of strength.

Knight and the goblin exchanged blows, sending sparks into the air. I was surprised that even Knight was getting his sword pushed back. If he was human, he’d probably have even harder of a time. Knight possessed more skill than the large goblin though and countered with quick precise strikes.

Using Knight as a wall, Rai went to one side, while I took his other. I poured mana into my spear, and once I saw a chance, I stabbed forward. Knight knocked the goblin’s weapon up, I aimed for a spot that lacked any armor. Rai moved forward as well, her fist glowing a bright white.

At almost the same time, our strikes landed. A beam of light burned through to my side, while the area around my spear head exploded into gore. Knight finished it, with stabbing his sword through the head of the large goblin. It stumbled back and landed in its throne before it stopped breathing.

There was a flash and a chest appeared behind the throne. “You take it this time.”

“Okay!” She skipped behind the throne and carefully opened the chest. It was a good thing too as an arrow shot out and stabbed the back of the throne. She stuck her tongue out at the chest and reached in to take the items.

“Anything good?”

“Definitely!”

She came over and showed me the items and I had to agree with her.

--

Skill: Treasure Hunter (Unique) – Locate objects and items of value in a vicinity of twenty-five meters.

Skill: SuperKintic Vision (Unique) – Movement within half a meter appears to slow down. Can be turned off.

--

“You should take the SuperKintic Vision. I think it suits you more,” I said after looking at the skills.”

Rai laughed handing the other book over. “I was actually going to suggest the same. Given that your power needs gold.”

“Thanks!”