Burn (Part-4)

"Okay this is seriously starting to creep me out." Luca said.

Sylvie clutched her hands close to herself. "I am worried. Something is definitely wrong with this place."

"Now I am getting annoyed. Where the hell are all the monsters?" Ren grumbled.

A forest so rich with mana, there should have been monsters everywhere. With every step, the forest was getting more and more open, and the mana even more dense. Yet we saw nothing.

"We are losing time." I said.

Elaina kept her eyes forward. "You don't have to remind me. I know. And I am trying my best. Even though the mana veil is thrice as dense now compared to when we entered, I have stabilized my tracking range. Every leaf that moves or every twig that cracks is being watched by me. Yet... I haven't seen a single living being yet. Even then it feels like..."

"Like we are being watched." Ren completed.

"Yes."

Ren continued. "This is what I meant when I said the home advantage is against us. Forest goblins are near impossible to find in forests. They can be tracked by mana, but obviously that won't be possible in this forest. What concerns me is the lack of any other living thing. It's as if they have all been exterminated already by the forest goblins. Which means..."

"Fuck." Luca said under his breath.

"There are more than just 8-10 goblins." I said.

Ren nodded. "And since we can't track them, we don't know how many are around us right now."

Elaina looked back and shook her head with a frustrated look. "No. Look, the problem is I have never tracked a forest goblin before. If even one reveals it's presence, I can-"

She instantly drew her bow and released an arrow into the darkness in front of her. A second later, a gust of wind came back at us from that direction.

Elaina's expression turned to shock. "500 meters, don't stop. Rush in."

Without saying another word, she nocked an arrow on her bow and started running towards that direction. Neither did we need another word as we instantly followed her in.

Halfway in, I started to sense the wind around Elaina pulsing.

"We are surrounded, get ready." She said emotionlessly.

We continued running but now alert for enemies.

"Goblins. Close encounter 3, 7, 1, 9, double at 6. Elevation 0 and 90. I'll take 7." Elaina called out enemy approach all of a sudden.

"6" Luca called out as we immediately got into our battle stances.

"9" Ren called out.

"1 and 3" I called out declaring the directions from which I will face the approaching enemies.

As Elaina predicted, in less than 10 seconds, forest goblins burst out of the canopy above us. Elevation called out was 0 and 90, which meant the goblins would attack from anywhere over our line of sight all the way upto right above our heads.

Luca was taking on two goblins coming from the same direction right behind us. With quick footwork he swiftly stabbed and cut the throats of both the goblins coming at him.

Ren decided to charge towards the approaching enemy. He grabbed the goblin right in the air, twisting its upper head and jaw in different directions, instantly killing the goblin before he even touched back on the ground.

Elaina was standing in the middle of our formation along with Sylvie who was ready to cast heals and buffs on anyone who would need it. Knowing exactly where the goblin was coming from, she released an arrow and killed the goblin before it even came into view.

As for me, I had decided to take on the two directions which were the closest to each other. All our clashes were taking place at the same time, and in that moment when I finally engaged real enemies for the first time, I realised... exactly what Rignar meant. All through my years, even though I had mastered three full forms of swordsmanship, it had all been training. I would always stop my blade short against all the numerous sparring partners I have had. Even against training dummies, I wouldn't exactly stop my blade short, but running my blade through those dummies would feel exactly what it would feel like hitting a bundle of dry straw.

But now here I am, for the first time facing an enemy that I am gonna kill. This feeling as I let go of everything that ever held me back, running my blade unhindered, slashing through real flesh, blood and bone. I must say... there has never been a feeling more natural than this.

The first goblin dropped down straight from above as expected. Without a single moment of hesitation as I took a life for the first life, I stabbed straight into its chest, driving my blade through its heart. Paying no heed to its dying squeals I threw away it's body off my sword back into the darkness before it's disgusting blood could stain my hilt.

Instantly sensing the second goblin, I turned my step and slashed in the air right where it would appear even before it did. My blade passed straight through its body, slashing it in half, clean and smooth.

And then another realisation struck me. While for the others the goblins they killed had fallen to the ground as dead bodies, the two I slayed left nothing as their bodies dispersed into the air as fragments of light. Even their blood had never really stained my blade, it was as if their entire existence had been erased and cleaved through by my sword.

This must be the power of Light magic. Absolute denial of existence.

This feeling and this power. There is no doubt about it. I was born to kill the darkness. I am a... Descendant of Light.

Without wasting a moment, without saying anything else, we started running again.

Elaina's face no longer had the expression of shock. Only an ice-cold expression; an expression only staring straight ahead. She had one arrow on her bow, an arrow with only one unwritten word, kill.

She saw something, something that made her react like this, and we shall go to it. We shall all see for ourselves.

Just as we reached our 500 meters mark, she slowed down. We followed her as she walked into an opening.

There it was...

The canopy cleared out above us. A light wind blew in from around, kissing our faces with a cool breeze.

Under a sky sparkling with a million stars and a beautiful silver glow from the moon descending upon us from above, we could only see one thing.

A sight that made me fall to my knees with sheer horror.

A child with his head, arms and legs torn off from his torso and all of it pinned to a tree, with blood from the mutilated corpse dripping down to the base.