Chương 15: Chapter 14 - Goblin Gang

The river rushed behind Ren furiously as the goblin snarled and brandished its thin, chipped blade at him. With one final bark, the monster suddenly sprinted at him, its small feet pattering along the grass bank with surprising speed, closing the distance in a heartbeat. Two ice shards whistled past Ren's ear, so fast he barely saw them. The projectiles punched cleanly through the air past the approaching goblin before impaling one of its friends with wet, decisive thunks.

The monsters dropped without even managing a scream. The goblin charging Ren either didn't seem to notice its companion die… or it didn't care, as the sickly green monster leapt and swung its blade mid-air towards his face. Ren ducked desperately, allowing the creature to sail overhead and skid to a stop on the pebbles that made up the river's shore. Elowen was already sprinting towards the final goblin.

"You deal with that one Ren! I've got this one."

"Right!" he acknowledged, spinning to face his opponent. The small green monster got on all fours and snarled again before it sprung at Ren for a second time, somehow even faster than the last. [Survival Instincts] flared and heightened his reflexes. Remembering what Varrin had told him about how to properly wield a dagger, Ren dodged the goblin again, waiting for a moment where he could ensure his attack would connect.

Unfortunately, the monster wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice, and it twisted mid-air, swinging its crude blade as it did. Ren raised his arms instinctively to defend, overpowering the unconscious urge driven by [Survival Instincts] to pull his head back instead. The goblin's weapon sliced deeply into his forearm, instantly drawing blood.

"Hrrk!" he grit his teeth as the constant dull thus in his arm was replaced by searing pain. A stone shifted under Ren's boot as he tried to ignore the pain and steady himself before lashing out. His free hand closed around the goblin's knobbly green knee just as it was about to land, and he yanked the creature close. He drove his dagger forward into the goblin's small neck as it flailed mid-air.

The monster seized immediately as warm blood began to ooze down the blade and spill over his hand before he threw the twitching monster to the grass. Ren looked toward the forest, where Elowen had run off to deal with the final goblin, checking to see if she was alright. Relief filled him when he spotted the regal elf calmly flicking blood from her blade while standing atop a small green corpse.' She does the flicky thing as well,'Ren mused as he wiped his dagger clean on his pants.' As soon as I have a sword...'

After pushing his dagger back between his belt and waist, he carefully inspected the wound on his forearm. [Accelerated Regeneration] had already stemmed the worst of the bleeding but the stinging still remained.

"Dammit," Ren cursed softly, noticing how close the cut came to the bracelet Yumè made him. A couple more centimetres and the leather cord would've been severed.' If I had listened to my [Survival Instincts]*, would've I dodged the attack? Maybe I should trust my Soul Attributes a bit more. *'' Ha, they're a part of me after all, why wouldn't I trust them?' Grimacing one last time at his wound, Ren turned his attention back to where Elowen was at the edge of the forest.

She was crouched next to a goblin corpse, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he walked up to her.

"Hmm?" the regal elf hummed, looking up at him.

"Oh! I'm waiting for the Soul Core to form."

"Soul Cores?" Ren repeated before Varrin's words bubbled up in his mind again.

"Varrin mentioned them before, saying you can eat them to get stronger or something." Eating anything sounded really good to him right about now, considering his last real meal had been the stew Lady Agatha provided them last night. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Elowen frowned incredulously.

"I'll take your word that you weren't a Blessed, but how do you expect me to believe that you've never seen a monster or a Soul Core before? Where did you live?!"

"Uhh..." Ren said. His village had never been attacked by them, and the postings in the Adventurer's Guild's that related to killing monsters were always situated in surrounding towns and villages—not that he could accept them anyway on account of not being a Blessed—so he'd just assumed monsters were rare.

"Just some small village that was far from Losso, so you probably haven't heard of it." Elowen's frown deepened.

"Even more reason monsters would be common! Did the Inquisition have an outpost in your village?"

"Nope."

"What about a training camp owned by one of the Houses?"

"No one important ever come to the village I don't think."

"A bastard son then?" Elowen tried, more desperately this time.

"Were there any kids with strangely coloured hair like mine?"

"No one like that," Ren answered with a shake of his head.

"The strangest thing, if you could even call it strange, is the golden eyes me and my sister got from our father."

"Golden eyes..." the regal elf repeated, breaking eye contact and falling into thought, murmuring to herself.

"Golden eyes, golden eyes... that's got to be it but what House had eyes like that?" Ren smiled and was just about to tell her that there was no way his father came from a House since his grandfather had the same eyes as well, when white, smoke-like wisps suddenly began to gather above the dead goblin's sickly grey-green chest.

"Ah, finally!" Elowen exclaimed happily as she reached for the cloudy white stone about the size of his palm that had formed.

"I was beginning to worry..."

"Why?" Ren asked genuinely.

"Do not all monsters drop a Soul Core?"

"No, all monsters do, or at least they should if they're alive," the regal elf responded, standing and facing him as she held the Soul Core in her hand, "but I wasn't sure if this new world acted on the same rules ours did."

"So far though, excluding the geography, everything seems to be the same... I'm not sure what that means yet but as the leader, I'll figure things out!"

"Haha," Ren chuckled, "I hope so. I need to get back as soon as possible..." Elowen eyed him and tilted her head curiously. With the river rushing past in front of her and the eerie forest looming close at her back, she opened her mouth to say something. That was when Ren noticed a foreboding silhouette rising behind her, mostly obscured by the brush and the mist leaking out of it.

"Elowen!" he yelled, surging forward and shoving her aside while ripping his dagger from his belt in order to use it to block. The figure stepped into the sunlight, brining it into view just as it brought its weapon down. It had the same sickly green-grey skin as the goblins, but unlike them, this one was about Ren's height. Two small tusks also protruded from its disgusting mouth, and its face was twisted into a mocking snarl. In its hands was a massive worn cleaver.

[Survival Instincts] screamed as the monster pulled down its dull blade and smashed it into Ren's dagger, causing a metallic sound to ring out as the small weapon was shattered completely in a glittering ring of fragments. Ren's eyes widened in shocked and he barely had time to process the loss before the massive cleaver bit into his shoulder and sank deep. Renewed pain exploded through him and he cried out, the sound tearing free on its own.

"Ahh!" he screamed before gritting his teeth in anger. Using the broken hilt of his dagger, Ren drove it forward like a spike, straight into the monster's neck, causing hot blood to spray across his face and chest. The creature roared in pain and staggered backwards in a couple heavy thumps, sawing the worn cleaver deeper into Ren's shoulder as it did, but also creating an opportunity for Elowen to strike. The regal elf stepped in and stabbed the monster directly in the heart.

Her beautiful blade sank deep, and the creature seized up then collapsed to the ground with a resounding thud, throwing up dirt in a small cloud. Ren stood there, breathing hard, staring at the cleaver still lodged in his shoulder.' It burns...' he thought, touching the weapon's hilt weakly as his vision swam.

"Oh no! Ren..." Elowen cried, her voice suddenly frantic as she rushed to him. She looked at the cleaver embedded in him as well as the blood quickly soaking his tunic, causing her face to tighten with dismay.

"This is all my fault," she said, the words tumbling out too fast.

"If I'd just paid more attention, y-you wouldn't have—""It's fine, Elowen," Ren breathed, interrupting her before she could drown in the guilt.

"I was the one who chose to try and block it, wasn't I?" He brought his hands up and closed them around the cleaver's hilt before drawing in a deep breath and yanking it out. Ren grimaced hard as the pain doubled itself. He tossed the cleaver away, letting it land on the grass with a clatter.

"Here," Elowen said, and without hesitation, she cut the bottom of her robes, tearing a strip of grey fabric free using her beautiful jade sword.

"I'll use this as a bandage," she added, already preparing to dress his wound.

"Sit down." Ren lowered himself to the grassy floor, but Elowen had stopped moving, eyeing him with an urgent look.

"What?" he asked.

"Take off your shirt," she pressed.

"How am I supposed to apply a bandage over the top of it?"

"Oh, right..." Ren said, quickly but carefully manoeuvring his good arm to remove his ruined tunic soaked with blood. As soon as it was off, he felt a gust of winter wind blow past, giving him goosebumps as Elowen walked behind him.

"Ok..." she murmured softly, pressing the cloth against his shoulder as she began wrapping the wound tightly. A new wave of goosebumps washed over Ren at the touch of her icy and gentle fingers, causing his face to burn up as he remembered the events of last night.

"Sorry," Elowen said, "It must be cold, so I'll try and be quick."' Yes, please be quick.' Ren begged inwardly, thankful she couldn't see his embarrassment.' This might be worse than actually getting chopped by that damn cleaver!'