Goblins and Loot

*Sniff Snifff* Instead of attacking immediately as I thought they would, they waited. We could hear the smell of something as if it was delicious. I wasn't sure until one of them began shouting. 

"Seret'h a elamef namuh!!" However this didn't appear to be just shouting. 

"E nac llems ti oot!" It was apparent after another began to point at the cart. 

"They're communicating with each other. They can smell Pultra!" Drole shouted from the other side of the carriage. 

I put my palm to the ground and enchanted a spell from my grimoire as it floated from its holster strap on my hip. A ring of flames activated around the carriage acting as a barrier to keep the goblins away. 

As I checked the pages of my grimoire, I noticed there were a few spells that were added to the pages that were closer to the middle of my grimoire. "There were clearly less spells when I last checked yesterday but they must've developed after I've rested, my magic core felt refreshed when I woke up." I thought as I looked at all of the pages. 

*Boom!" There was a large explosion coming from Drole's side, I can't tell exactly what happened as a thin cloud of dust kicked up. 

"They're jumping through the flames!" Drole shouted. 

"EGAAAAARHCCCCCCCC!" One of the goblins cried out from the left of me as I saw one jump through the flames. 

Immediately charging at me. It was fast like a small cockroach, swinging its stone hatchet at me relentlessly. It eyes bulged in excitement as drool trickled from its mouth. I dodged it precariously trying not to get hit as it came unexpectedly. 

"Unlike with those blue monsters, hand to hand combat would be easier but hard to aim. However, all of this dodging is wasting my physical stamina, so I need to deal with it quickly." I thought as I pivoted away to bait its momentum and land a kick right on its stomach. 

Simultaneously as my foot made contact with its skin, a flare of flames surged out of the tip of my foot with a force strong enough to toss the goblin on its back as it was slowly cooking alive. 

*Thud* There was more that started jumping through the fire quickly. 

"Shit…" I said as the amount of goblins seemed to increase throughout that short span of a time. An army of them appeared so fast and their getting through the flames. 

I ran back to the carriage as I felt there was only one spell I was familiar with to deal with this horde quickly. 

"Drole come back." I shouted as I hopped into the carriage. 

"What!" Drole yelled as he swung his warhammer into 5 goblins sweeping them onto the flames. 

He looked back at me confused before he saw the amount of goblins and ran to the cart. 

"Do you have a plan?" Kayden asked as he was weirdly calm. 

"Do you?" I asked as I put my hands together. 

"Nope, but I can hold them off for a few." He said as he put his hands to the ground. 

"You'll take too long." Drole said before he slammed his warhammer into the ground, creating a small earthquake strong enough to knock some of the goblins back. 

As Drole said that (although rather blunt) he was right, luckily I had already finished my incantation. The flames which were acting as a barrier suddenly grew and started whirling. 

I focused on Drole and Pultra's mana to exclude them from the flames target, hoping Kayden will be saved by the automatic barrier. 

In less than a few seconds the whirling flames grew into a tornado, consuming everything in the center and burning everything within a close proximity to it or the heat the flames emit. 

"I don't even feel the heat." Drole said as he watched the goblins burn alive. "But why are you the only one glowing?" 

"I have my own resistance to his magic." Kayden said as he looked at the glowing outline going along his arms. 

"He has enough control to protect us from the effects of his flame magic. This type of control is at least Upper D level. Especially for such a large spell like this, it must be taxing to focus while expending so much mana all at once." Pultra said as she watched me. 

Pultra didn't seem to be staring at me, instead it was as if she was looking at my mana flowing through me itself. 

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine" I said as the flames started to dissipate. Luckily I didn't have to hold it for too long, their voices made it hard for me to concentrate.

"There may be a few left. I didn't use it for long so we could at least bring something back." I said before I looked at Drole. "At least now it won't be so overwhelming. 

"Can you manage close combat with them?" Drole asked as he looked out of the carriage. 

"Yeah, it's difficult without a weapon to attack them with but I can keep up." I was reminded of the first goblin I encountered. It was fast and strong but I was dodging its attacks quite easily. 

"Use this for now, it's a little small but it's sharp and sturdy." Drole said as he tossed a dagger to me. 

Although it had a bit of a weight to it, it was comfortable in my hands. "Thanks, I'll give it back to you later." I said as I looked at the engravings on the sheath. 

There was a phrase inscribed along the sheath in a foreign language, one that I couldn't understand. As I removed the sheath I was greeted by a gorgeous black blade which faded to gold at the edge. 

"You two together, Pultra's with me." Drole said before he got out of the carriage. 

"Is he the leader of your party?" I asked as I noticed since he seemed to be leading the group. 

"No, there is no leader. He's experienced with these types of situations so he's in control at the moment. Pultra does the same when she needs to." Kayden explained as he climbed out of the back of the carriage behind me. 

I was able to hit all of the goblins around us, however there were definitely more than what we saw hiding in the trees. "So my assumption was right, more appeared." I thought as I looked at the charred goblins riddled around us. 

"You didn't even say an incantation. Did Mr.Aveli give you additional knowledge or something?" Kayden asked as he saw that even the ground beneath the goblins were burnt. 

"I was more or less forced to get used to it, the previous owner of the grimoire accidentally led me to a Colossal's forest." I said before our other party members approached us. 

"They are all dead but we couldn't find the leader of their pack so we still aren't done but that was good for only knowing so much about magic. Without you we might've died there." Drole said as he put his hand on my shoulder. 

His palm was oddly warm. I could feel flame magicules circulating in his hand. 

"Yes, that was a good spell indeed. But we need to find the goblin leader quickly." Pultra said as she twirled her staff until a thin trail of mana formed a circle. 

Then she tapped the bottom of the staff on the ground, the circular trail of mana quickly turned into a blue magic while another appeared below her with the center being at the tip of the staff. 

Suddenly the goblins were floating into the carriage one by one. 

"So we're walking for the rest of this quest?" I asked as the carriage filled with bodies. 

"Well, you two are. You and Drole are much better at close combat than we are, so we'll be supporting from horseback." Pultra said. "They've been laying on their ass this whole time." 

"I haven't used up much of my strength, I'm still going strong so walking isn't an issue for me." Drole said as he put his hammer on to the holster on his back. 

"Of course…." 

Airon and his party were soon ready to head after the Goblin Leader.