Chapter 10

Once we feel like we are ready to continue we all get up. We are only at the begining of that 'task' after all. At this pace it will take us forever to clean this place up.

"Let's try to pick up the pace a little? I don't want to stay here forever." I say to my two companions.

"Yeah I agree. Now that we know what kind of Gobelins will appear we can try to plan ahead. It'll just be hard to escape those archer's notice. This place is too flat." Eliza nod, her arms crossed and her hand on her chin.

"I think... If it's not a sudden expenditure like just now, I may be able to freeze them slowly. At least make them slower. Given we don't get noticed by the archers or eventual scouts." Anna says while frowning in thought.

While they are thinking I approach one of the bows the archers were using. Picking it up and examining it, I can see it's very crude. They used a simple branch that could be bent and a string so worn down it's a wonder they could shoot with that.

"Jane? What are you looking at?" Anna and Eliza ask, getting closer. They frown a little at the corpses all around me.

Right, they are on back so they don't see the bodies, the wounds or the blood spilling right away. Not from close at least. They only see the results at the end. I give them an encouraging smile before gesturing to the bows scattered.

"I was thinking. We can try to use those to kill the archers before they shoot us. It would save your magic and stamina, Anna."

"That's... Not a bad idea. But do you know how to shoot?" Anna ask with curiosity in her voice.

"Well, remember we had to pick an after-school activity? I took Archery. I'm just a bit rusty. Can't I still try?" I answer with an innocent expression. My tail betraying my excitement

Both girls facepalm as a long sigh escape their lips.

"Hey! My aim is pretty good I'll have you know!" I say indignantly.

"Yeah yeah Jane... Do at least try it out a little before we go then..." Eliza answer, her ton indulgent.

I huff slightly and look around me. There's a tree around fifty meters away from us. I take one arrow from the quivers on the archer's corpse.

Facing that tree, I nock my arrow and take a shooting stance. I pull on the bowstring until it's taut and aim just a bit above the tree. If I'm right that crude bow can't reach it in a straight line. So I have to make the arrow do a parabola or I'll never hit my target.

When I release the string the arrow flies with a low whistle. A few seconds later a dull but quite loud thud ring in the air.

I turn around toward the girls, a smug grin on my face and my tail swaying wildly behind me.

"See? I got it!" My tone is full of pride, hands on my hips.

I don't know why, but once again Anna's eyes are flickering between violet and red. As she takes a step toward me Eliza stops her with a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head.

"Then let's do it like that Jane. You will snipe their archers and after that we'll get closer so Anna can start freezing them. Then you go wild." Eliza summarize out battle plan with a smile. "Try to kill the mages first when you plunge into the fray. I highly doubt we'll be able to hit them with the arrows. They might have a barrier."

I nod, this is reasonable. She's right about the mages. Even Anna could create a barrier with her ice or any of her elements. So those mage Gobelins can too.

We finally start moving again. I noticed that my eyesight is way better than those Gobelins. So I can see them before they can. The only problem is still that crude bow. If it was even just slightly better I'm sure I could kill them from farther.

Another small camp is in sight after a few minutes of walking. We decide to try our new strategy immediately. I'm sure they still haven't spotted us, but I can see their numbers. They are all eating in front of one of their shabby huts. This time there is only two archers.

They never saw the arrows coming and die immediately with their brain pierced from above. The mage in that group react the instant his companion dies by raising a shield made of flames while looking around him in panic. The last two are melee Gobelins, one with an axe and the other a spear. We didn't stay in place after I shot those arrows and they only managed to get up and grab their weapons. But they are already slowing down, Anna's icy winds are working wonder.

That fight doesn't take very long, especially after I killed the mage.

"Yay it works! And we won't be short on arrows if there's an archer in each camp. But there's something weird. Are their weapons getting better and better?" I say, looking at the spear and axe on the floor. They are still rusty, but way less than the very first Gobelins we met earlier.

Even the bows seems in a better condition than the one I just shot from. It's not good enough to swap yet though.

"I'm not sure Jane. Weapons aren't my speciality after all." Eliza simply shrug in response.

"You may be right. I don't know about the bladed weapons. But at least that mage's staff is a little better than before. The difference is really small though." Anna agrees, pointing to the stick on the floor.

It does seems a little fancier. Well, at least compared to Anna's staff it's like day and night. It may not bode well for the way onward. If each time their weapons are better and better what will we encounter? Full plate armour Gobelins with silver swords? Uh. I'd rather avoid that if I'm being honest. Sounds like a pain.

Nonetheless that plan still worked great. Of course if there's more archers it'll be hard to achieve the same success. But I'm sure we can do it. So we spend the next few hours hunting those little green creatures. Almost what, two hours later? I don't know since I can't tell the time in here. We killed around four hundred and forty-five of those little fuckers. Well, at least that's what Anna told us.

Their gear did get better and better. But thankfully it stopped upgrading when they were clad in leather armour, pretty sturdy, and wielding fine iron weaponry. I did take better bows each time I saw one, discarding the previous.

Right now we're taking a break. Even if we didn't use as much magic or energy as the first few camps, we still didn't stop until now.

"Ugh. Tireeed" I whine, sitting on the grass, my tail limp behind me.

Eliza and Anna join me with a giggle, each on either side. We are all in various states of dirtiness. But I'm the worst one since I'm all the time on the front lines. I scoot backward a bit until my back is against a tree right in the middle of the last camp we cleaned up. My tail settle on my lap and I run my claws on it to try and get rid of some dirt on it.

"It's soon over, It shouldn't take us long. But I have a bad feeling about the last few." Anna says on my side, putting her head on my shoulder.

"I have the same feeling Anna. We'll need to be extra careful." Eliza agrees as she also put her head on my other shoulder.

"It'll be fine. I did promise to protect you both no?" I just answer with a smile as I take their hands in mine.

Yes it's a bit cliché or whatever. I'm not trying to be a hero or a knight in shining armour. I just hate the idea of letting them be hurt in any way. Of course it's almost impossible to perfectly protect them. But that won't stop me from trying. At least in fights I'm quite glad they belong to the back lines. At least there's less danger over there. Anything can happen thought.

This time Anna doesn't need to drink any blood. She did use as much magic as her big spell, but over time so she could regenerate it slowly.

After a few dozen minutes of rest, as we ate a bit of food we found, I slowly get up and turn my gaze toward the next camp around a three hundred meters away.

It's the biggest so far, and also the quietest. That's why Eliza and Anna have a bad feeling. I can't help but think the same.

Well, we still need to do that right?

I check our states one last time and nod before we set off again, the last bow I found in my hands.

As we get nearer and nearer that feeling of 'something's wrong' get stronger. There's absolutely no Gobelins in sight. I smell a trap, but even with all my senses working full time I can't understand what it is.

When we reach the center of the camp everything changes. Our surroundings wrap in a weird way, like space is getting moved. Then Gobelins appear all around Eliza and Anna, as they walk a little farther behind me. They are kept immobile with swords right in front of their necks.

In front of me is a humongous Gobelin. It's at least a head taller than me and his body is full of muscles that feel like they want to burst out of his skin.

"You. Ender. Me soon HobGobelin. We fight." He start to say, his voice is deep and full of fighting intent.

I don't care about whatever he's saying. I don't even care about the fact that he's talking our language. My priority is getting my twin and my best friend out of there.

So I turn away from him and make to dash toward the two girls. It's a very bad idea to turn my back to an enemy. Especially one that seems quite powerful. But my mind isn't on that right now.

"If move. We kill." His voice ring again.

I'm stopped in my track. Even if he didn't give any orders the Gobelins pointing their sword at Anna's and Eliza's necks presses a little more, drawing a drop of blood that run alongside their throats.

My eyes widen at that and I slowly turn back toward that shitty HobGobelin or whatever he called himself.

"You... I don't care what you are or want. Just die." My voice is low, almost a whisper, but it contain murder. Dripping unadulterated murder.

I grip grip my dagger and Katana in my hands, dagger in a reverse grip and Katana held diagonally across my chest. As I reach toward the lightning I can use in my weapon, a dull explosion ring out and a violet/dark blue light overwhelm the surrounding for a second.

When it disappear my whole body changed. It's like I'm made of lightning. My hair is still red but now it seems almost intangible, crackling with red thunder. My ears and tail are the same but they sometimes flicker with a deep gray as they wildly sway as if there were wild winds around me. The rest of my body is wreathed in lightning from violet to dark blue and sometimes bright red, especially my legs that almost seems like my tail, made of electricity. The very air is cracking around me, pressured by the force of my lightning.

"Good! Strong! Needed for evolution! Am Grub! Ender let's fight!" He laugh, excited as he look at me.

He has a finely crafted iron sword in his right hand and a shield in his left hand. I don't care about his name. He'll just die. Nobody has the right to draw blood from them.

As he takes a stance I just disappear from his sight. Usually when I wrap my legs in lightning I just get a good boost in speed, but someone strong enough can still see me running. Now it just seems like I teleported.

Less than a second later I'm in front of him, striking with my Katana also wreathed in bolts. His reflexes makes him block it with his shield and I'm surprised it didn't break on the spot. As my Katana is stuck in that position, he slash his sword toward my mid-section in an horizontal slash.

I parry it with my dagger and uses the counter-force to break out of the stalemate his shield created. I use that momentum to spin and reach his side, this time dropping low to slash at his thighs before he could bring his shield down to protect it. A long gash appear, drawing a splash of green blood that evaporate almost immediately when it nears the lightning around me.

That back and forth taught me something: he has more strength than I do.

I need to be faster then. So fast he won't be able to defend himself.

I throw my dagger toward his sword-wielding arm as he turn to me. He dodges it and tries to bash me with his shield but I'm not here anymore. I blinked behind him, grabbing my dagger back and spinning once to add more force, stabbing his back. I feel the resistance of his muscles pushing against my blade. I'm forced to retreat when he turn around with a scream, slashing his sword diagonally toward my shoulder.

The pain makes him swing wildly and for a time I'm forced to keep dodging all around. I can see his breathing getting heavy. My stamina is also getting burned but I'm slightly better. Defence is less taxing after all, even if it's dodging. He still manage the land a few shallow hits on my waist and arms, drawing blood. It evaporate immediately though.

When I see a swing a little weaker than the others I block it with my Katana. Since he's still physically stronger than me I can't get stuck like that, so I manipulate the lightning on my weapon to travel through his, shocking him. His whole body suddenly tremble and his grip loosen a bit. I slide my Katana on his blade until I reach the handguard and apply a rising force, making him let go of his sword.

His eyes widen but I don't let this opportunity go. A single moment of pause in a fight can determine the victor or loser. And this time he'll be the loser.

My dagger bite into his wrist and sever his hand in one go. It fall on the ground with a dull sound. There's a brief second of silence and then he screams in pain at the loss of his hand. I don't let him grieve over his loss and simply slash toward his head as I try to behead him. By some kind of survival instinct he bring his shield up, blocking my strike.

I click my tongue in annoyance and accelerate around his body. I slash at his ankles, making him buckle on his knees. As I am behind him he doesn't have the time to stop me from running my Katana through his neck.

His head fly in an arc, spinning, before landing on the ground.

The battlefield is silent. The other Gobelins are frozen in shock. Even Anna and Eliza are. But they are... Blushing?

What?

I shake my head briefly and accelerate toward the little green shit holding them hostage. Two quick slash makes short work of their heads and I grab the two girls by the waist, bringing them to safety.

My breathing is heavy, my body wracked with pain from clashing with that giant of a Gobelin. But there's clean up to do and as long as I don't do it, we aren't safe.

So I dive back into the enemies, killing left and right. Funnily enough this time their blood can't stick to me. My lightning burns it the instant it nears me.

After a few seconds I can hear some wet squelches from a bit farther than me. Anna must have joined the fight I guess. There's also a barrier appearing sometimes when a strike would have reached me.

It doesn't take long before every last of those creatures are dead. And as I kill the last one my lightning vanishes totally, restoring me to my usual appearance.

I immediately buckle of tiredness on one knee. My breathing is even heavier than before.

I can feel and hear Anna and Eliza rushing to me.

"Jane! Are you okay? " Anna ask, worry thick in her voice.

They both drop down next to me, their faces scrunched with worry for me.

"I'm fine, what about you two?" I answer, my voice a little weak.

"We're okay. Nothing happened to us, you made sure of that." Eliza says with a little smile on her face, stroking my hair slightly.

"You were pretty cool just now Jane." Anna says.

Her eyes are sparkling and her voice is full of pride. I chuckle at that. It wasn't my goal though. I don't even know how I did all that. I just... Snapped when I saw them bleed. I shake my head and try to get up, only to fall back on my knees.

"Ah well, maybe I'm a little tired." I say a little awkwardly.

Eliza smiles at that and tug slightly on my shoulders. I don't even have the strength to resist as she put my head on her lap. I hear Anna gasp in surprise and see her pout slightly, arms crossed.

"Then take a break. If I counted right we killed every Gobelins we needed to." Eliza propose, still stroking my hair slowly and gently in a soothing gesture.

Anna scoot closer and take my hand, massaging my knuckles gently. One of Eliza's hands find its way to my ears and she start to scratch it slowly. A purr start to rise from my chest and I struggle to stay awake.

I might become addicted to that...

A few second of futile resistance before I finally fall asleep, lulled by their ministrations.

I must still be quite high-strung, because I don't think that nap lasted very long before I wake up with a start. I'm still gently purring, Eliza's hand still scratching and stroking my ear.

When she notices my eyes open she smiles at me gently.

"You can sleep more you know?" She says, her tone coaxing.

I shake my head, looking at Anna that took my other hand to continue her massage.

"No it's fine. I'd rather get out of here and sleep in a real bed... As comfortable as your thighs are." I whisper the last part, my face taking on a light pink colour.

She obviously heard it but made no comment, letting me get up. I stretch toward the sky, my tail straight and trembling in bliss while my body makes popping noises.

I wonder where is the exit. That tablet said it would appear...

The moment I finish that thought the ground starts to shake, not unlike when the stone tablet appeared.

And of course another one props up from the floor.

CONGRATULATIONS, ENDER.

YOU SUCCEDED IN FINISHING THE DUNGEON.

HOW WAS IT?

FUN?

WE HOPE SO!

PLEASE CONTINUE TO DIVE!

YOUR REWARDS WILL BE GIVEN ONCE YOU EXIT!

YOURS TRULY.

Right. Why does that tablet seems even more cheeky than the one before?! I don't have time to complain though because the portal, that should have been at the beginning, appear out of thin air. I look at the two girls and take their hands.

"Let's go, back home."

They both nod, relief flooding their feature, and we step through the portal.