Chương 120: Chapter 112-Chosen Ambush

The crunch of the green grass and the smell of spring. What a time to be in the Whisperwood forest. Nothing bad happens in this forest. Nothing ever. Definitely not a Goblin ambush. Nah, that would never happen. We have Hopper, the greatest tracker in the world, with the greatest hearing amongst the First Years. He would've heard those chuckling Goblins a mile away. So, why is it… That we're getting fucking ambushed by Goblins!? Dodging out of the way of the Goblin's blade, I bump into a nearby tree.

Penelope cuts through three Goblins and then sends a beam of light through a charging group of five. Hopper fires off a volley of arrows that pins a large group of Goblins to the ground. Seeing my opportunity, I rush forward. With a series of simple slashes, I cut down the pinned Goblins.

"Ogre!" Hopper yells. The stumbling Ogre brings up his club and slams it on the ground repeatedly. The resulting shockwave shakes the ground and trees around us. Hopper falls out of the tree and barely manages to land on his feet. Penelope sends a beam of light at the Ogre, but narrowly misses. Struggling to keep my balance, I grab onto the nearby Hopper. Then a sudden thought comes to mind.

"Sorry 'bout this," I say as I lift Hopper and [Throw] him high in the air. The flailing Hopper initially gives me a confused look, but quickly comes to the same realization as I. Before he hits the ground, he fires an arrow at the Ogre, who is constantly hammering the ground. Unaffected by the shockwave, Hopper's arrow lands perfectly on the spot where the Ogre was hammering. The ground is quickly coated by a thick layer of ice as the Ogres' next swing comes barreling down.

The ice absorbs the shockwave for just a split second. In that second, Penelope appears next to the Ogre. With her greatsword, she blocks the Ogre's attack and then disappears. Appearing behind him, she shoots a beam of light through the Ogre's chest. With a large hole through him, he falls forward. Catching my breath, I turn to Ho- Hopper suddenly kicks me in the chest, sending me flying. As he does, a dagger stabs into his foot. Where the fuc- I slam hard into a tree.

Penelope appears next to Hopper and blocks the next dagger with her shield.

"Where's the enemy?!" I yell as I pull myself off the tree.

"It's a Hobgoblin. It could be anywhere. Be careful, Charlatan," Penelope says with a hint of worry. Bringing The Chosen Blade close, I keep an eye on the surroundings. At the same time, Hopper stands close to Penelope as he closes his eyes. A pang of danger hits me. Swiveling, I par- The dagger veers around my blade and stabs into my shoulder, sending pain down my arm. Did I just miss the parry?

"Charlatan?!" Penelope yells as I slip and barely dodge the next dagger. Rolling with the slip, I find myself behind a large boulder.

"It's just my shoulder," I say as I wince in pain. Looking down at the dagger, I go to pull it out. The S-like shape makes it only a tiny bit difficult to pull out; It's the jagged edge that makes it feel like I'm taking a chunk out of my shoulder. As the dagger finally comes out, I hear a crack. My body suddenly locks up. You Are Poisoned. Skill <Poison Res. > has Removed the Effects of the Poison.

"Hopper, don't pull the dagger out!" I yell as I look down at the cracked vial in the dagger.

"It kind of hurts!" he yells from behind Penelope as I regain my mobility.

"The dagger has a poison vial in it. It's designed to break when you pull the dagger out. So, deal with the pain," I say from behind my tree. Penelope stands out in the open with her greatsword at the ready. A dagger suddenly flies in from behind her. Without looking, Penelope puts a shield that stops it. Her gaze stays focused on the empty space in front of her. Dagger in hand, I [Throw] it towards the empty space. As it rips through the air, a faint shimmer dodges out of the way.

The moment it does, Penelope appears next to it. With a hefty swing of her greatsword, she cleaves straight through the shimmer, but there's nothing there. From above, a dagger flies into Penelope's back. Pushing through the pain, Penelope cleaves upward, leaving behind a nasty gash in the tree bark. A small trickle of blood drips down her greatsword as a single red finger drops to the ground. Hopper fires an arrow at the area above the tree, but before it can reach its target, it's deflected by a dagger.

The now visible red Goblin, or rather Hobgoblin, runs down Penelope's greatsword and then jumps over her. Letting go of her weapon, she fires a beam of light at the fleeing Hobgoblin, who manages to barely dodge the attack. 22 LvL. 7 Goblins have been Defeated. Ogre LvL. 12 has been Defeated. Penelope and Hopper immediately heave as they suffer the effects of a [Level Up]. Pulling myself off the ground, I cautiously walk over to them.

Even if the [System] has recognized the end of the fight, I'd rather not let my guard down. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"How are you guys feeling?" I ask. Hopper carefully takes the dagger out of his foot without breaking the vial.

"Not great. How about you?"

"Been better. So, that's a Hobgoblin. Never seen one before," I say as I carefully pull the dagger out of Penelope's back.

"We need to head back and inform Professor Stargazer," she says with a hint of anger. Hopper nods.

"If there's a Hobgoblin, that can mean only one thing," he says dramatically. Before I can even say anything. The white light of Professor Stargazer's [Skill] fills our vision. As it fades, we're greeted by the classroom and the sight of our injured classmates.

"They need help," a blood-covered Ruby says before she falls to the ground. As she falls, her vine hair slowly lowers the unconscious bodies of Viola and William. They're not the only ones. A badly hurt Talon slowly lowers the unconscious body of Clint. Garus and Julian are looking worse for wear, but are thankfully still standing. Clara is seemingly unharmed. Then there's Axel. He's covered head to toe in blood, and there's a look on his face that I've seen many times before. Fear.

Professor Stargazer, along with some healers from the infirmary, quickly tend to the fallen students' wounds. As they do, my gaze falls on one single thing. An S-shaped dagger on the floor.

"There's a Goblin Colony," I say with a solemn tone. The dirt of the field is turned over as I attack it with my hoe. Helia looks at me, obviously wanting to ask me something. I continue to work the field as the spring wind passes over us.

"You want to talk about it?" Helia asks. I sink the hoe into the ground.

"They'll be fine," I say as I remember their bloodied bodies.

"Of course they will. This is Sylvian University. As long as you're breathing, they can bring you back from anything," she says with a soft laugh.

"To think a Goblin Colony would just pop up out of nowhere," I say as I lean on my hoe.

"Goblins are sneaky monsters. They like to use tricks and deception, but even they aren't capable of hiding a whole Colony that easily. This is truly abnormal by all accounts," she says as she tills a whole row with a wave of her hand.

"I'm thinking the forces of evil have something to do with it," I say with a hint of shame.

"More than likely. The way those Hobgoblins coordinated their attack and the skill that you say they showed can only be the work of a demon. More than likely a Deblin, a sort of Goblin Demon mix. They're as smart as Demon and as crafty as a Goblin. Nowhere near as strong as a full Demon, but it's not a creature I would take lightly either," she explains.

"Have you fought one before?"

"Once or twice, but those were lone Deblins. A Deblin is strongest when it fights in a group. Alone, it's no stronger than a regular Ogre," she says with a hint of nostalgia.

"Hmm. A monster that works well in a group and grows stronger the larger the group? Add the Hobgoblins on top of that, and you have a recipe for disaster. No wonder Professor Stargazer has suspended travel to the Whisperwood forest," I say as I let out a yawn. Helia looks up at the sun.

"It's getting late. Let's wrap it up here. Try to enjoy your weekend. Don't dwell on what happened too much," she says, waving me off.

"Thanks. You have a good one," I say as I wipe the sweat off my brow. As I walk back to the Hall, the sting in my shoulder grows. The [Level Up] healed up Hopper and Penelope, but I got the privilege of having the healers patch me up. They should've healed up most of the damage, but why is it still hurting? The pain suddenly grows from a small candle flame to a roaring fire. Crashing into a nearby wall, I struggle to keep myself up. The burning sensation runs deep. It feels like it goes all the way to my soul.

Wait, I recognize this pain. Gripping The Chosen Blade, I yell in my mind, "Help!" The brown gem glows as the pain subsides a tiny amount.

"What happened! You've suddenly gotten worse?!" Brown says in confusion.

"Was it from that Hobgoblin?" Yellow asks.

"No, I didn't sense an attack on the soul," Brown says in confusion. As I teeter on the edge of passing out, I see a purple flash of light. Looking closer, I see a purple string floating out of my chest. What in the fuck is that? As I think the purple of the string slowly dulls until it fades away completely.

"Am I dying?" I ask as I catch my breath.

"No," Yellow says.

"Yes, you are. There's no point in lying, Yellow. If you don't get a Unicorn horn soon, your soul is going to leak out of you. You'll die from that. I may not like you, but I'd rather you not pass while under my care," Brown says as the pain continues to lessen.

"You don't like me? Why?" I joke.

"Vashrin, this is not the time," she scolds.

"What better time is there. Keep me alive a little longer. I'll find a fucking Unicorn horn," I say as I push through the pain. Before I make it a step, I bump into someone.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there," I say as I look up. An older human man with a small scar under his eye gives me a smile.

"No worries. You must be The Chosen One," he says with a jovial tone.

"And you must be…"

"Alexander Argent. Hopefully, the next Headmaster of this lovely University," Alexander says with a small smile.

"You're a candidate for the next Headmaster? Didn't realize they were already so far in the selection process," I say as the drone of pain grows.

"They can't keep a position like that open for too long. It can lead to a lot of problems," he says as he reaches into his jacket pocket.

"Well, good luck with that. I'll see you later," I say as I turn to leave.

"I guess you should hurry it up if you want to get back before the sun sets," Alexander says. His words echo in my mind as the fire and screams of that day tear their way out from the darkness. From it, a single voice pushes through it all.' Hurry it up! We don't want to keep the boss waiting.' With a simple motion, my blade sits a breath away from his neck.

"You!" With a smile, he looks down at me.

"Hello, again. My little Red-Eyed Devil."