Chương 13: [LD-1] 12. Fatal Slips

XII Fatal Slips Four goblins and a hound enjoyed the relative quiet of the warped school. My back was against the wall, wormed between the many roots that'd infected every inch of this place. I clutched Cull to my chest. Controlled my breathing. Inside me, the miasma I'd collected from the vine ambusher still whirled. I glanced to the side and and found Alexa waiting on me.

"Ready," I nodded. She raised three fingers. Though she made no sound, the gesture was enough to wake up Kiba (who'd fallen asleep in the short time we were waiting). The three of us dashed around the corner once the count reached zero. Kiba arrived a few steps ahead of the president, and I a few steps behind her. The white fang straightened his fingers into a point as sharp as a knife. He swiped at the first goblin's neck before it had time to get off its feet or cry out. But it was a faint.

He swerved at the last moment and jammed his hand into the hound's skull. A whistle followed the president's sword. The blade blurred and carved the goblin Kiba had passed up in two. Everyone had killed their mark. Now it was my turn. The beast pulled back the string of its makeshift bow. Credit where credit was due, it had knocked an arrow before Alexa could think of continuing her assault. It was going to take her head off.

The paths were narrow, and Cull's edge sheared past the walls at a sharp angle that barely allowed it to make it through.

'It's not as heavy as before.' Those two points in strength were working. The goblin spun and put the arrow to my face. The god weapon weapon split the iron tip, then carved through the bow itself. It sailed forth unobstructed and rend the goblin's skull and torso, bisecting the beast so it erupted in a fountain of green blood. A soothing and warm sensation shot into my hands. My grip on Cull's handle shifted, so the weapon dug into the grooves between my skin. I exhaled, and the nerves on my forehead relaxed.

[Goblin - lvl. 4] x 1 slain. Bonus EXP is awarded for killing a creature above your level. The final two goblins, who'd seen their packmates die in the span of a single breath, turned tail.

"Don't let them escape!" Alex yelled. She swiped and caught on of the goblins in the chest. Kiba lunged for the last, but the slippery goblin ducked underneath his strike and dashed off. Its ribcage expanded with breath. A moment longer, and it'd sound the alarm. Miasma congealed in the palm of my hand. I kept a clear image of the size, rotation and density in my mind. By the time the goblin felt something was happening behind it and spun, the deathbolt was already in flight. The right half of its throat vanished.

Hurried steps faltered. The beast grabbed for the hole in its windpipe, then collapsed. Gurgled whines covered my approach. Black veins coursed through the wound and crawled through his flesh into his bloodstream. Miasma is similar to poison for monsters not from the Black Well, Kil said in my head. I crouched beside the goblin, resting Cull on my knees. Blood dripped from the weapon and dirtied the floor like a drenched paintbrush did paper.

"I know how you feel." The goblin was too far gone to even look at me. I pressed Cull's blade into his neck. Like cutting through butter. The resistance was so minimal it may as well not have existed. [Goblin - lvl. 4] x 1 slain. Bonus EXP is awarded for killing a creature above your level. A gush of blood wetted my unclothed thighs. I wiped one of the drops with my thumb.

'I should be puking at the sight of this.' Until yesterday, I'd been a normal girl. My insides should be squirming, begging me to leave this hellhole as soon as possible. So what was this feeling? This feeling of… peace. Of… oneness. It's not an unheard of sensation, Master. Behind me, Emily and the others closed the gap. Kil was huddled up in her arms. Most Nox feel at peace when administering death. I leeched the miasma from the corpse and studied my mana s I did.

Mana: 27/100 (+ 30)'Thirty to cast the spell, plus thirty for the absorption?' I paced back to the other dead goblin and siphoned that one, too. Mana: 27/100 (+ 50) Though I hadn't yet absorbed all of it, the bonus didn't move past fifty. Any further energy I absorbed rushed through my veins to escape back out my pores. Miasma is not the same thing as mana, Master. Until you transform your core into a death core, there's a limit to how much you can hold at one time. This story originates from Royal Road.

Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I hummed. So that's why I was 'exuding' miasma? I was making more than I could keep inside.

'How do I upgrade my core? Does it have anything to do with those death fragments?' Death Fragments: 5/1000 They seemed to increase when I absorbed miasma from a corpse. …I have no idea!' My brow rose.

'You don't know? That's a first.' Part of my knowledge and memories are locked behind my level. Should master's skill level increase, I'll perhaps be able to tell you more.

'I see. Anything else your memories will unlock?' Information on new skills! he cheered. As a matter of fact, there are some I can teach Master after you reach lvl. 5.

"Are you ready, Joy?" Alexa asked. She pulled her hand free of a goblin's chest and shook her hands free from the goo.

'Must've searched the corpse for a core.' It was a long shot with a goblin, but you could technically recover a core from any creature that absorbed mana.

"Yeah," I said.

"Should I scout ahead again?" Kil flew out of Emily's grasp with something akin to a whine.

"Please do," she said.

"Preferably, we get the drop on another two or three groups. We'll use the same strategy."

"And have you hog all the experience? I think not," Shota said. The waste of precious air crossed his arms. My face muscles went slack. I was beginning to hate the sound of his voice.

"Hog? You voted against hunting," the president reminded him.

"I still am. But now that we're here, we should function like a proper squad. I suggest we change up our formation every hunt." A snort escaped me. He'd waited to see how we measured up to the goblins before 'suggesting' this. Had we nearly died, he wouldn't have said a thing.

'Coward.'

"Changing formation?" one of the other students asked.

"It's how guilds usually clear realms," Alexa said.

"They rotate their members." She side-eyed Shota.

"The main reason they do so is to make sure everyone has experience in different roles, though. Not because of the experience." Shota shrugged.

"The result is the same." The president shook her head but didn't combat the decision. We ended up creating two formations. I was together with Kiba in both of them, but we'd switch with Shota and Douglas every pack that we killed. Alexa stayed at the front of every formation. Mainly so that we had a strong assault in every iteration, though I didn't miss how it gave her the best opportunity at getting some experience. Kiba and I retreated to the middle of the formation and accompanied Emily and Evans.

Colour had drained from Evan's face, turning him paper white.

'Must be hard being Shota's henchman.' I glanced at our healer.

"Shouldn't you enter the front, too?" She gave a disarming wave.

"I can gain experience through healing. It's a special facet of my class." Makes sense…but I remembered the way she'd dodged that arrow. Normally, it'd be a risk. But she'd be perfectly fine being in the front. It'd give her more experience, which would lead to stronger abilities faster.

"You won't get the chance to heal often," Kiba said. Evans tipped his glasses with a trembling hand. Are you that confident in our abilities, Mr. Kiba?" Some colour returned to his cheeks. But the white fang shook his head.

"Healing is more valuable at the higher levels, where mages are a lot more durable. Neophytes like us mostly suffer fatal injuries." Evans turned to Emily for confirmation and gulped when the healer nodded.

"Mistakes happen," she whispered. And for us, they would be fatal. It was with that thought going through my mind that Kil revealed he'd found another group. A team of three greenskins and two dogs. The dogs were mobile but had little in means of defence. If you caught them off-guard, you could kill them in one hit. The goblins weren't any better, but they had weapons. This party in particular had a goblin that wielded a buckler.

'Now, how are they going to solve this?' Douglas had a shield and shortsword for class weapons. As a tank, he wasn't fast. Shota…his class weapon resembled an antenna of some kind.

'Didn't know they had those in this world.' This world, Master? I closed my thoughts. That'd require some getting used to. Instead of answering Kil, I focused on the battle. Shota summoned two hexagon-like objects that hovered in the air. They were about the size of his hand with blinking lights all over their surface. Each fired a bolt that shot into Douglas and Shota's arm. A moment passed, then a blue hue covered their bodies.

"Some kind of enhancement skill?" Kiba whispered.

"They're called technos," Evans said.

"The mainstay of his class and a signature of the Sarakawa clan. They won't be doing much at the lower levels besides buffing others or distracting enemies but turn into capable fighters later on." I glanced above his head.

"You know a lot for someone not part of their clan." [Engineer - lvl. 2] He chuckled self-deprecatingly.

"My brother is a high-ranking member of their clan. I'm being groomed to be Shota's second as he levels up." Kiba put a hand on his shoulder, which made the smaller boy jump.

"My condolences." Another awkward chuckle from Evans. He wiped at his uniform in a futile attempt to remove the blood Kiba had gotten on him. I turned to the battle. Douglas released a powerful shout that cascaded off the walls. A red glow passed through the eyes of all enemies present, then they rushed him with abandon, even the goblin wielding a bow. Shota's technos spread out like wings. The front of the machines was shaped like a nuzzle.

Light pulsed within, then released as a mini laser beam that burned through flesh and bone. The attacks by themselves weren't enough to kill any of the enemies, but his aim was impeccable. The beams seared through the knees of the two goblins, turning their menacing charge into the harmless attack of a toddler. Alexa was quick on the draw and dispatched the third goblin in one stroke. It was a good first salvo. But it wasn't perfect. I almost saw the mistake happen in slow-motion.

Alexa had killed the goblin but gone past the frontline to make it happen. And whether it was because Douglas's skill didn't work on this many enemies, I didn't know, but one of the hounds had escaped his ability. The beast's powerful legs launched it up high, lining its fangs up with Alexa's throat. The president's eyes widened beneath her spectacles. Her blade rose, but she wouldn't be fast enough. She struck with her pommel instead. The dog veered downward, and its fangs sunk deep into her upper thigh.

Alexa cried she went down.

"Help her, you loaf!" Shota yelled his lungs out. Douglas would've loved tom but the other dog was too swift for the man to lock down, as I'd predicted. Kiba spurred into motion—"I've got her," I called. Heart drumming in my chest, I spun the ball of miasma with a deftness it had lacked before. When I fired, it almost looked like the bolt homed in on where I was aiming. It buried into the dog's flank and exited out the other side. The beast's jaw muscles loosened at once. [Forest Hound - lvl. 4] x 1 slain.

Bonus EXP is awarded for killing a creature above your level. Skill level up! [Deathbolt (1)] → [Deathbolt (2)] Douglas finally managed to dig his blade into the other hounds neck. He whirled on the two disabled goblins, whom Shota's technos were still peppering, and dealt with them quickly.

"Guess I get a turn after all," Emily let out a breath. She jogged towards the president, who was doing her best to rip out the hounds fangs from her thigh. Shota whirled on me.

"Your help was uncalled for. We had it under control!" My heart rate was already soaring, which only heightened the desire to dig my knuckles in his face. That had nearly been one of us dead, and this was what he was worried about?! I forced my nerves to relax and turned away from him before I did anything.

"Kiba, let's go over our strategy one more time." Our rotation was next. If we weren't careful, we'd not escape like the president did.