Deity 2.315

—Leave it to me, Viggo— Sakura said in the middle of the Kaios desert, a glowing sun overhead. She was dressed in a black hood that reached her knees. Only her face and a few strands of purple hair could be seen.

Sakura took her bow, pulled an arrow from the quiver, and rested it on the rope. She tightened the rope and investigated the distance while aiming at a rare group of goblins the size of an adult human.

Viggo was one step behind Sakura looking into the distance as Ana accompanied him. Both wore black hoods on top.

—Leave one or two alive— said Viggo as he folded his arms —I have never seen such weird goblins—

Ana looked at him and then investigated the distance —and creepy— she added.

Viggo looked at her and smiled, but then looked forward.

Sakura pointed to the sky and let go of the rope. The arrow rose into the blue sky as it formed an arc and was deflected by the wind. Sakura drew one arrow after another and fired them accurately.

By the time the first arrow fell a hundred meters away, it hit one of the huge green goblins. The rest of the group of goblins let out annoying squeaks and were frightened, but the rest of the arrows fell, and almost all of them died instantly with an arrow in their heads. Only two goblins with an arrow in their necks were left, lying on the ground, and dying.

—Good— said Viggo and began to walk while Sakura, Ana and the three horses made as runic mounts followed them.

Viggo raised his right hand and the runic mounts disappeared leaving three medals flying in his hand. Viggo continued advancing through the desert until he reached the goblin camp.

There was a bonfire and a large piece of meat roasting on the fire. The green-skinned goblins were lying on the ground as the two who had survived crawled, as if they wanted to escape.

Viggo covered his nose, because despite being outdoors and windy, the place was more stinky than a stable. Sakura and Ana imitated the gesture and pursed their noses. They walked through the middle of the corpses observing the construction of the bodies. They were humanoid figures with long arms and short legs. An oval head like a watermelon and a pig's face. However, what most caught the attention of the goblins was the great stature they had developed. Usually, a goblin did not exceed one meter in height.

Viggo approached one of the crawling goblins, bent down, grabbed him by the neck and held him firmly. The monster smelled so strong that Viggo had to look in another direction while his clairvoyance kicked in. Then, through the creature he could see everything he had done in the last week.

These goblins looked like primitive creatures, but with a degree of intelligence like that of a five-year-old child. Simply put, they had great strength, but their intelligence only reached the point of survival.

Viggo pushed his hand away, stood up and turned away. Then he looked at Sakura and said —Finish them, there is no useful information. They were born in the desert of Kaios, but as far as I remember, there is no record of this type of goblins in Orario—

Sakura nodded, took out an arrow, and shot the nearest goblin. The goblin let out a squeal, his body tensed, and then lay on the sand. Sakura took out a second arrow, looked fifteen meters further, and saw the goblin trying to escape. She shot the arrow, and the goblin breathed his last.

Viggo raised his right hand and from his ring on his index finger came a leather bag. Viggo opened the bag and searched for Ivaldi's mask and mind. Once he found what he was looking for, he held it out to Sakura, and she held it down. Viggo crossed his leather bag to his chest and retrieved Ivaldi's mask and mind from Sakura's hands. He put the mask over his face and took Ivaldi's mind with his right hand. Then he looked at the goblin and like other times, the mask taught him new knowledge.

The "goblin" was called bokoblin and according to the images projected by Ivaldi's mask, the bokoblin could evolve thanks to a small obsidian stone in the center of its heart. The bokoblin had several ways to change, it could be in terms of the color and strength of its skin. Grow up to four meters with a humanoid figure keeping long arms and short legs. However, his face took the form of a tapir, and a horn grew on his forehead.

Viggo took off Ivaldi's mask and put it in the leather bag next to Ivaldi's mind.

—What's wrong Viggo?— asked Sakura.

—It seems that we have more enemies than I had thought— Viggo said with a serious look. He took out of his bag a small empty glass container with a metal lid. Viggo approached the nearest bokoblin, turned it over, and saw its horrible pig face with green skin. Then he uncaps the jar, leave it on the sand and sunk so that it does not move. Then he took out a sharp dagger from his bag, approached his chest and made a deep cut. The monster's blood was dark as tar, it spilled on the sides of the cut Viggo made. The latter continued to open his chest until he found a mass of gray flesh. Viggo cut the connections and ripped out his heart. Black blood dripped on the sand. Viggo cut along the heart and seeing the inside, just like Ivaldi's mind said, there was a small obsidian stone in the center. The stone had several threads spread out as if they were the threads of a spider. Viggo reached his right hand and tried to take the stone with his index finger and thumb. However, the stone reacted as if it were a living creature and extended new fibres to Viggo's fingers. The latter was frightened, let go of the heart, but the obsidian stone was still stuck to his fingers. Viggo shook it to let go, but it didn't let go. Instead, the obsidian stone began to spread over his skin and Viggo remembered that dark mass he found in the dungeon. He frowned and roared —let me go, shit— channelled divine power, and sunlight manifested in his hand.

At the same time, Sakura and Ana had to cover their faces because the light was too strong for the eyes even if the day was clear and bright.

Viggo watched as the dark mass on his fingers vanished as if it were ash carried by the wind. Then he let out a sigh and looked at the rest of the bokoblins. They were potential threats to the world, he had the incredible need to destroy the bodies right then and there, but he let out a sigh and investigated the desert.

In the end, Viggo nodded and instead of destroying them, he only thought he should be more careful. Then he looked at Sakura and Ana and said —Help me with this—

On the next attempt, Viggo did not take the obsidian stone with his fingers. Instead, he uses metal tweezers. The obsidian stone was also tried to cling to the metal, but since it was not a living organism, it gave up and solidified as if it were really a stone. Then Viggo stuffed the fragments he could get from all the bokoblin hearts into crystal jars. There were no reactions to contact with the crystal, so it could be said that the obsidian stone was looking for other organisms to live on.

Viggo looked at the jars arranged in a row on the desert sand while Sakura and Ana were at his sides.

—What is this?— asked Sakura.

—It may be a subspecies of the dark matter monsters in the dungeon— said Viggo —that thing, I try to consume myself when I take it with my fingers—

—Is that why you occupied your power?— asked Ana.

Viggo nodded, bent down, took the jars, and stuffed them inside the leather bag made by Ivaldi. Since it was a dimensional space, he thought there would be no problem with leaving the creatures inside it.

—Sakura— said Viggo, stood up and continued —when we return to Orario, remind me to do some research on these creatures to know where they come from. It is clear that they are not from the dungeon—

—Yes, Viggo, don't worry—

—Thank you— said Viggo, took the medals from the rune mounts, channelled mana and threw them into the sand. From the medals emerged three steeds with bodies made of a blue material composed of magic. From afar they looked like perfect horses, but from close you could see small points of light united forming the figure of the horse. However, unlike the runic lion the other day, the horses had saddles and reins to be controlled.

Viggo climbed on his horse while Sakura and Ana did the same. They moved through the desert in the direction of some mountains. They climbed a slope until they reached a plane and saw several hills a thousand meters away. The separation between the hills produced paths as if they had been carved into the earth. It gave the impression of being a labyrinth. There were remains of pillars and walls scattered everywhere as if people had inhabited it before.

Viggo stopped and investigated the distance while using his clairvoyance.

—Here it is?— asked Ana to his left, sitting on the runic steed.

—Yes, here it is— replied Viggo.

—There's no one— Sakura muttered, using her archer's vision to observe her surroundings.

—Don't worry, they're not on the surface— Viggo replied, ordering the horse to move forward while holding the reins.

Sakura and Ana looked at each other, spurred on their horses and they moved.

Viggo frowned for a while, but seeing shadows moving through the hills, he smiled more relaxed.

—Viggo— Sakura said as she noticed the movement between the hills.

—Keep going, don't worry. Hopefully there must be two level two warriors. They are only evaluating us to see if they rob us or take us in—

Then the desert warriors came out of hiding and ran at high speed while a group on horseback positioned themselves behind Viggo's group to cut off his escape route. They wore old robes, old men, brown skin, hardened by the harsh desert. They looked hard as stones, but they didn't have that air of thieves. There were more, survivors.

Viggo remained calm and stared at them for a couple of minutes where more than a hundred warriors surrounded them. Viggo pulled down his hood revealing his blood-red hair. He was tall, he was beautiful, he had a confident and fearless look. He was a god, and everyone felt it in his bones. The desert warriors looked at each other with fear in their eyes, as if they had gone to the lion's den to rob the cubs, but instead they had found a dragon.

—Hello— said Viggo in a powerful, thick voice —I would like to talk to the leader— he turns the horse and observe a relatively young man with a black turban on his head and tattoos in a strange language on his cheeks —that must be you—

The desert warrior with the turban and tattoos went ahead of the group and advanced until he stopped five meters from Viggo —What do you want? These are not lands for foreigners to visit. We are in the middle of a war—

—Warusa is a country that is always at war, at least, that's what the bad tongues say— replied Viggo —I'm Viggo, a warrior— he turned around, looked at Sakura and Ana covered by black hoods —they are my wives— then looked back at the desert warrior and continued —fate guided me to these hills. I come for an exceptional warrior—

Everyone who heard his words, looked at the surroundings and in the end, their eyes fell on the desert warrior with the turban.