Seeing the increasing distance the goblin prince put between them as he ran for his life, Rael grunted. Raising the blade and dropping the axe, he gripped the sword with both hands and swung it twice, sending two red arcs toward the retreating back of the goblin prince.
Running for his life and feeling ease wash over him as he neared the forest canopies, he suddenly felt his scalp tingle. The goblin prince turned, only to see two curved red beams of light accelerating toward him at astonishing speed. He swallowed.
Splish
Rael watched as the goblin prince was dissected into four parts before the red arcs dispersed.
"So much for planning," Rael scowled, greatly disappointed by the spinelessness of the goblins. They were goblins, after all, but he had at least expected more from the ranked ones. Shifting his gaze to the remaining surviving shaman, he saw the creature frozen with what Rael could only describe as pure terror.
The shaman only flinched when he realized Rael had directed that scowling gaze at him. He quickly dipped his bloodied hands into a fur pouch around his waist, rummaging through it in a frenzy as bottles and golds of different sizes fell out.
Seeing this, Rael wasn't taking any chances. He immediately thrust the blade forward, piercing through the goblin's skull and killing him instantly. As he drew the blade out, something small fell out of the pouch.
A crystal.
Its glint caught Rael's golden-brown eyes. He bent down, picking it up and raising it to eye level.
"Power crystals…" Rael muttered, looking down at the dead shaman he had just killed. He groaned to himself. Clearly, the goblin just wanted to present this in exchange for his life. After all, power crystals were very precious—solidified raw Aether born from the world veins. They couldn't be used directly by Aether users, but were mostly used to power mechanics, runes, and inscriptions.
Even holding it, Rael could feel the tiny tremors inside the shapeless crystal the size of a baby's fist. Pure Aether.
"Probably come in handy when I get the Boundary Sigil manuscript," Rael muttered to himself—just as his ears caught noises from the woods. The goblins that had gone searching had returned.
"I told you, Bara'kj, that naked human was just a chimeric spirit trying to lure us and drain us of our blood!"
"I swear that was a human!"
"I couldn't even smell anything human at all."
The small goblin troop argued amongst themselves until they all froze, staring at their camp—and the human in leather armor standing in the middle of it, with two blessed shamans dead at his feet, and the chopped remains of their prince sprawled not far away.
"I told you it was a chimeric spirit…"
Rael smirked at the bunch.
...
Boom
An explosion lit up the dark woods as two shadows jetted out of the smoke—one revealing itself to be Yasmin. She raised her right hand and whispered, causing a revolving sphere of blue light to burst forward and strike the shadowy figure behind her, blowing the dark acolyte into pieces of flesh and blood.
Landing a few distances away from the explosion, she turned toward the sound of clashing swords and saw her sister Iyvre exchanging blows with three dark acolytes as they darted through the trees.
Iyvre dodged the thrust of a curved blade, then swung hers in a sweeping arc, parrying the blows and distancing herself. She twisted her blade between her palms as it glowed white and vibrated vigorously. Darting forward, she brought the blade down on one acolyte's curved sword. The moment his weapon met hers, it melted in a burst of heat before slicing straight through the poor tiefling who failed to dodge in time.
Seeing one more of their brethren die at this blade-wielding witch's hands, one acolyte roared in rage as his arms bulged around his curved blade. Rushing toward Iyvre, he didn't notice the figure darting from his shadow. A dagger sank into his back. He roared, whipping his head around at the tricky one of the trio—the one who required the most caution. But it was already too late. Iyvre swept her blade across his horned head, slicing it cleanly in two.
The last acolyte, seeing he was alone, pulled out a green-glowing potion. Before he could throw it, a fireball the size of a basketball slammed into it, blasting him across the trees.
Iyvre and Ayobe whipped their heads toward their sister below.
"What are you two looking at? Let's go—now!" Yasmin yelled. Not waiting for a reply, she rushed into the woods; she was the slowest among them, being a spellcaster.
Iyvre and Ayobe darted after her as more shadowy figures burst from the smoke, throwing hidden poisonous weapons.
"Ayobe, do it already!" Iyvre called as she leaped into the air, side-flipping while using her blade to parry several tiny needles.
"On it!" Ayobe shouted. She toyed with an object that looked exactly like a Rubik's Cube, then jumped onto a branch and tossed it into the midst of their pursuers.
The acolytes dodged the object, believing it was some hidden weapon—but to their shock, it hovered over the ground, scrambled apart, and burst into a bright cyan light that engulfed most of them, burning them to a crisp.
The remaining acolytes didn't slow. They continued the pursuit—they knew this elves were full of tricks.
Yasmin glanced back as she ran, counting nine more acolytes. Narrowing her eyes, she brought out a small colorless bottle. She clapped her hands around it, shattering it and spilling the liquid along with her blood. She spread her hands across two tall trees, smearing them.
Immediately, the trees began shaking as vines burst from their trunks, grabbing and stabbing into the flesh of three acolytes who were unlucky enough to be caught.
Iyvre sniffed the air. A fresh scent hit her nose.
"A cliff… no—a waterfall."
She darted toward the source without even calling out. Her sisters caught the hint and followed.
They soon saw the rushing stream cut off by a waterfall. They increased speed, getting close to the edge, but—
Boom
A shadow slammed into the ground in front of them, stopping them in their tracks. The three sisters frowned.
"Drogon."