Ch 23 Sword Vs Hobgoblin

"Since this is your first time in dungeon, you should focus mainly on observation rather than real fight. Now, divide into group of 4 and follow the seniors to the dungeon." The teacher said in a stern voice as the first years started asking thier friends to partner up.

"Wanna go together?" Harry asked as he approached me with a smile on his face as I nods, "Sure," I said, looking at Mira who was standing beside me, "We need one more member." I said as he nods.

"Inknow someone, wait here." He said, before disappearing in the crowd leaving me alone with Mira as I looked at my sword, mentally preparing myself for the battle.

"You sure look excited." Mira suddenly said, pulling me out of my thoughts as I glanced at her and let out a small laugh.

"Yeah… kinda. I mean, it's my first time, so I can't help it." I said as she raised an eyebrow, smirking before saying, "Excited? Or scared?"

"Both, maybe," I said, scratching my as I continued, "I mean… who wouldn't be, right?"

With a chuckle, Mira crossed her arms while saying, "I guess, don't worry, I will be with you." She said with her chest puffed up.

"Right back at you," I said, giving her a light punch on the arm as she poured and punched me back a little harder.

At that moment, Harry came running back toward us, a girl following behind him. She had long silver hair tied in a ponytail and bright blue eyes.

"Guys! This is Freya," Harry said, catching his breath. "She'll be our fourth member." He said as I looked at Freya.

Of course we know her, she is from the same class and is kinda famous with a reputation of being the strongest mage among the first years.

Freya looked at us, her eyes scaning us as if she was looking for something especially in me as she then bowed her head slightly.

"Nice to meet you all. I'm Freya, I hope we can work well together." She said in a neutral time, neither too friendly nor too distant.

I smiled and held out my hand. "I'm Liam. Looking forward to it." I said as she nods, before taking my hand as Mira stepped closer.

"I'm Mira! Let's do our best, Freya!" She said before taking her hand and shaking it, with raw enthusiasm.

"Look what we have here, what an intresting team!" Suddenly, a boy a bit older than us appeared beside me, making me alert as I never noticed when he came so close to me.

"Haha, no need to be so tense, I'm Ethan, third year. Nice to meet you all." He said with a smilebas he waved his hand at us.

His hair was messy, and he had this easy-going vibe, but there was something sharp in his eyes that made me feel like he was stronger than he looked.

"I'll be your bodyguard today since it's your first time entering a dungeon" Ethan continued, glancing at each of us and nods to himself. "Don't worry though, I won't interfere unless things get really serious. Think of me as… an emergency insurance."

Hearing him say that harry let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know…" he said making a raise an eyebrow, was he always so cautious?

"It means that I can kill freely,"

"…"

I take back what I just said, he was just worried Ethan will steal his kills it seems.

Ethan laughed at Harry, as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, and don't get too relaxed. This is still a dungeon, after all." He said as Harry nods, he knows his strength and how much he can play around.

Ethan smiled as he then turned around and started walking ahead of us slowly. "By the way, today's dungeon is a low-level one, just the one floor dungeon. You'll mostly find small fry, goblins and maybe some wild wolves here and there. The final boss is usually a hobgoblin. Nothing too scary if you keep your head cool."

The dungeon are of two types, repetitive dungeons and one time dungeons, just as the name suggests one time dungeons are one time and the other one can be done repeatedly.

Every dungeon is different with thier own set of rules so one must always be careful while entering a dungeon, especially if they are inexperienced in dungeon diving.

Currently, we were on our way to one of the dungeon under the academy, Goblin Village.

.

.

.

The goblins... They were small fries, they were weak, they were slow, they were stupid and thier movements were predictable.

So it was really easy to kill even for me without using any of spell or special ability of the sword.

It was just easy to do so however, the hobgoblin was different...

"You are dead!" Harry said, tapping his sword at the hob-goblin's neck for third time making him go even more berserk as swing it's large club crazily.

"You really are no fun," Harry said, stepping back, "He's too weak, you wanna kill it?" He asked me as I sighed.

It's not that this guy is weak, it's you who are too strong boy but oh well, "Sure, help me find an opening." I said as he nods before walking towards the boss again while I silently activated elemental eye.

Seeing the way he uses his mana, pouring out one move after another through his sword, it was breathtaking.

His mana attributed with water element, passes through his hand as he uses his sword to execute the spell... It was only possible when talent meet fortune, his talent for sword and his fortune for blessings were in his every move.

"Sea Sword Art, 6th Form: Fury of the Sea:- Tsunami." Suddenly, I heard him mutter this under his breath as my goosebumps started to arise when I saw his mana, beautiful making his way from his mind, to his body and then to his sword.

I can almost see his sword turning into a an endless wave, a furious wave crashing down on everything in its path... As if a tsunami eating up a city.

His blade shimmered in a deep ocean blue colour as if the sea itself had taken form in his hand, trapped as a sword as Harry took a step forward.

The ground beneath him cracked slightly from the sheer pressure of his mana... The pressure of the sea as it felt like standing near a stormy shore, the salty wind hitting your face, the roar of waves deafening your ears and then...

He swung the sword down.

A massive wave-like slash formed around his sword, as it crashef onto the hob-goblin's club.

The force behind it was insane as the club barely bold it back, like a dam against flowing river.

However the lock was just for a split second as the club split in half instantly, put perfect in two under the sheer pressure as the shockwave and shards of wood fly all around.

"an opening!" I thought to myself as I saw the hob-goblin lost his footing and without wasting a second, I dashed forward towards him.

"Sword Art, 1st Form: Magical Disappearance:- Unknown." I muttered to myself, vanishing from his sight before appearing right under its guard, driving my sword through its neck with all the force I could muster.

However, I failed, as my sword through priced through outer layer of his thick skin but failed to do any actual damage, not even enough to make him bleed but enough to make him angry.

'I need to escape,' I thought to myself as I saw a large arm swinging towards me and felt someone arriving beside me... Probably Ethan but...

'I don't wanna rely on him,' I thought to myself, as I somehow bring the sword in between me and the wildly swinging arm, protecting me but I still filed back a long while before somehow stabilising myself.

It was a powerful strike by him, so much so that my arms were literally shaking but I still help in the sword, ready to make my next move.

"You are gonna get nowhere with that," Suddenly, Freya appeared beside me and said so... No, it was actually me who flied a long while before landing beside him.