40 Goblin Vents

An enraged draconic roar blasts out from within the depths of the forest, causing its inhabitants to drop to the ground. The pain from the viciously loud, piercing roar leaves many monsters bleeding from their ears, while the vast majority of them shiver in fear.

The origin the roar propagated from is a lone wyvern, lauded as one of the rulers of the forest. Its massive reptilian body is over seven and a half meters long with a wingspan reaching over ten meters. The wyvern's worthy to be a ruler of the forest as its size is enough to make even a normal wyvern look small in comparison.

Propping itself up on its two legs it increases its intimidating air. As it bares its teeth viscus toxic green liquid oozes from the corner of its mouth, blending with its gleaming scales. The poison smears down the spikes on the wyvern's chin before plopping on a rock below. The rock sizzles as smoke rises from it, before slowly melting into a pile of goo.

A deep growl sputters from its throat as it glares at the one responsible for interrupting its nap with its large purple eyes. Its arrow like tail swipes back and forth, kicking up dirt as it sends tress careening into the distance.

How long had it been since its position as one of the rulers has been challenged? Decades? Centuries? Yet now a foe dares to provoke its ire despite being less than a quarter of its size. Even more insulting is the look on the tiny enemy's face which is eerily similar to the look the wyvern usually gives its prey: the look a superior being fives when it looks down on ants.

The wyvern's chest expands slightly as it arches its neck back. Extending its head forward it opens its mouth and a toxic green mist at its foe. In an instant the tiny guy flashes to the side, just out of the area affected by the poison breath.

The mocking smirk on Jellal's face grows larger as he reaches his hand out to touch the deadly cloud. Other than giving him a slightly tingly feeling it's completely harmless to him. Flicking his hand he flings the liquid that had accumulated on it onto a tree (which was minding its own business, not hurting anyone) causing it to melt and collapse.

Thunder cracks as he streaks to the wyvern's chest while surrounded by lightning. Rearing back his right fist he drills it into the protective scales covering the wyvern's body, causing it to lurch back from the impact.

Using its wings to stabilize itself it retaliates with a powerful swipe of its tail. Jellal allows the wind created from the beast's wingbeat to carry him backwards out of the tail's range. Blitzing forward as soon the tail passes, he unleashes a barrage of punches at his punching bag. Shockwaves blast out due to the impacts, carrying with it a heavy sound as the wyvern is pushed back.

The steps of the giant creature causes the earth to shake, creating a mini earthquake around where they're fighting. Lowering its head it tries to snap at Jellal in its mouth but the attack is narrowly avoided. Adding insult to injury the attack opened it up to punches to the face, an opportunity Jellal happily capitalized on.

Tilting its head to the sky the wyvern lets out another loud roar, causing a shockwave to emanate from its body. Bending its legs it launches up into the sky while beating its massive wings. The air repelled by the wings is powerful enough to uproot trees and kick up a cloud of dust, leaving destruction in its wake.

Not one to be outdone in the air, Jellal also takes to the skies. Using small bursts of speed he maneuvers around the wyvern. To counter his straight line speed it constantly shifts its position, making it difficult to lock in on its exact position.

Jellal slams into its chest with a shoulder ram. At the same time it retreats to mitigate the impact while simultaneously firing off a close range breath attack. Even if the poison can't hurt him, the force of the breath is enough to send him rocketing back towards the ground.

Before he touches the ground he bolts up into the sky, far above the wyvern. Striking down from above like lightning he clasps his hands together and smashes his enemy back to the ground. He zigzags around the beast as it falls, delivering punches and kicks from every angle.

The wildly flailing tail and claws narrowly miss him as he darts in and out. As the wyvern's about to crash into the ground he hits it with another powerful blow while moving along with lightning. It's catapulted sideways through the forest as it bounces along the ground, leaving a trail of broken trees and empty swatches of land.

Shaking its head it tries to brush off the damage it has accumulated, before glaring ferociously at Jellal. In a flash they're eye to eye as an axe kick sinks into its forehead, bouncing its head off the ground. He immediately follows it up with a falling knee to the back of the neck.

He repeatedly drops from above smashing the wyvern deeper into the earth until the two of them are in a giant pit. Being beaten into the dirt it has no chance to turn over and retaliate. It swipes its tail around aimlessly but it proves to be a fruitless endeavor.

From that moment on it becomes a one sided beat down, with one side continually pummeling their defenseless opponent into submission. The beating doesn't end until the wyvern completely stops struggling due to losing consciousness.

Having finally vented his rage Jellal manages to calm down. Regaining his normal state of mind, he checks to see if he can put the still breathing wyvern into his bag. Unfortunately the bag restricts access from living beings as expected, which is really bad news for the victim in all this.

Since he can't put it in his bag while it's alive he does what any logic person would do and fixes the issue. Using water magic he attacks it from the inside. Its scales are solid enough to block the majority of physical damage with properties able to disperse magic that comes into contact with it, but they only cover the outside of its body. Inside it's just as vulnerable to damage, both physical and magical, as any other living being.

In order to preserve it as much as possible he doesn't explode the magic in its internal organs. Instead he carefully maneuvers his magic until it's at the base of the brain. In a single slice he finishes off the monster wyvern without as much as a groan coming from it.

The reason he used water magic instead of wind is because of the goal he wanted to achieve. Wind magic could easily go in the lungs and internal organs through the mouth, but it's limited from then on out. Water magic can seep into the blood and travel around the body. With a bit more effort it can pass through tissue that contains moisture, which constitutes the majority of living things.

He chucks the body into his bag before rising into the air. He may have vented his frustrations but it doesn't change him being lost. If there's a silver lining it would be him getting a clue to find out his general location.

'This isn't the type of opponent you'd find wandering around in the forest, at least not in the edge. It would be plausible if we're in the depths of the forest, but even then it seems unlikely. The most likely place to find a monster this powerful should be the center of the forest, probably.

If I'm at the center like I suspect I just need to pick a direction and fly till I reach the edge. After that it's just a matter of circling around until I enter familiar territory.

Of course finding someone to point me in the right direction wouldn't hurt, but I don't think that's too likely. For one it's too dark for normal people to still be wandering around, this is especially true now with the miasma mucking about. And even if I found someone I'm running around buck naked since it would be a pain to constantly focus on protecting my clothes while I'm zipping around. The chances of finding someone willing to give directions to a naked stranger is slim to none, and that's if I count on them not noticing I'm not a normal person.

I guess it's circling duty for me. At least I can practice my new flying technique so I never have to do this again. After so much time I'm able to see when I'm not going full tilt, so it's only a matter of time before I improve enough to see where I'm going even at full speed. When that happens traveling around will be a piece of cake.

Still, it makes me wonder why my adaptability skill is so broken. From what I know it should be a common skill for monsters, with only a small minority not having it. So why aren't they constantly churning out ridiculously powerful monsters?

My gut response is to say it has something to do with intelligence, but I doubt that's the case. Their instincts would catch on if they had access to something so overpowered. After a couple times adapting to harsh environments they would surely realize they can keep adapting to things until they're nearly invincible, yet it doesn't happen.

This is enough to tell me it isn't them with the problem, but me. Considering how abnormal my whole existence has been in this world it wouldn't be a stretch to push the blame on me.

So what's the root cause? If I came to this world through a more normal form of reincarnation I would chalk it up to my old arch nemesis, but I wouldn't consider the bastard my arch nemesis if I came here normally. Since I see no reality in which it's a gift from above I can only assume it to be an unintended consequence of me being reincarnated as a monster.

If I make some inferences and leaps in logic it makes sense. I had to adapt to an entirely new world with different rules and logic compared to where I'm originally from, then I had to adapt to being a goblin instead of a human. If I didn't have some latent skill at adapting I would've never ended up here in the first place. Combining my natural ability to adapt with the common monster skill to increase their ability to adapt and you're left with a superior being that can get used to almost anything given enough time.

Regardless of how good my adaptability is it doesn't come with a map home. In the end I can only wander aimlessly until I find what I'm looking for.'

Clapping thunder rolls over the forest as a single bolt of lightning streaks across the sky. Jellal gradually increases his speed as his eyes adapt in order to keep up with his ridiculous speed. It's not just his eyes that adjust, but his reactions continually improve as well.

It would be pointless to see what's happening if he's helpless to do anything thanks to a lack of time to react. One of the perks of his improved sight and reaction time is his ability to change directions more fluidly. Before, he had to stop to change directions because he couldn't keep up with his own movements to make adjustments. Now, even if he can't perfectly control where he's going due to the unruly nature of lightning, he's still able to make adjustments to his course while he's moving. As it turns out, being able to adjust your course midair is incredibly helpful in not getting lost.

His tour of the forest goes on without interruption until the trees begin thinning out. Visible from the sky is a path running through the forest where all the trees are cleared out. The chances of a mostly straight conduit devoid of trees to pass through the forest being a natural formation is infinitesimally small, meaning it's likely manmade.

The most obvious candidate is a road, which would point him straight to civilization. Upon reaching a town he would be able to find someone to point him toward Pavise so he can go home.

He tracks the road from above as he continues his journey through the forest. Flying directly over the road might allow him to come across a traveler setting up camp, but the extra effort to stay above it isn't worth the payoff.

Off to one side of the road in the forest he spots a large horde of monsters locked in combat with a small group of people. The people all wear fancy armor indicative of a knight. They don't stay in one place as they fight, but instead constantly move around to avoid being surrounded. Even when they move they stay perfectly in formation, showing off their years of hard work and dedication.

Sometimes the biggest factor in surviving a large scale battle is luck, and today luck isn't on their side. First they wiped out a small group only to run into two more groups merging to form a larger horde. From there everything went downhill as they entered a prolonged battle only for their enemy to constantly replenish their forces with random groups of monsters that happen upon the scene of the battle.

The fight has been going on for over an hour and the dice are finally rolling in their favor as they whittle away at the enemy horde. Little do they know another sizable horde is wandering in behind them.

Seeing an opportunity to get directions, Jellal descends into the middle of the encroaching horde. The shockwave combines with the electrical discharge bringing the mighty horde to their knees in an instant.

He quickly changes into his disguise so he can meet with the group of knights.

Meanwhile the group of knights, who've been fighting diligently against the miasma induced hordes all day, split into three groups. One group acts as a decoy while the other two flank the horde from the side. This technique is accountable for hundreds of deaths amongst the monster hordes with just today's battles.

For the knights this mission isn't just about victory, but it's also about progression. The miasma has forced the kingdom into a tough spot, and to prevent other kingdoms from trying to take a bite out of them they need to prove their strength.

At least that was the plan until they stepped foot into the forest. It only took a few minutes for them to realize how much they had underestimated the miasma. Just like the other countries they looked at it like a minor inconvenience instead of a real threat, but after experiencing it for themselves they realized its true horror.

Monsters influenced by miasma don't feel fear, they only seek destruction. To make matters worse their numbers never seem to decrease as more monsters are always funneling in from somewhere. If there's a saving grace it would be the monsters succumbing to the miasma are all on the weaker side, but that could change. According to old legends passed down through the ages, only monsters capable of becoming named monsters have even the tiniest chance of overpowering the miasma's influence.

The knights' flanking maneuver is a resounding success and the two off shoots continually shave away monsters until the horde is left with only a few stragglers remaining. They swiftly encircle them and cut them down with their tired bodies.

The second in command scurries over to the leader of the knights and removes his helmet. Dropping to a knee, he lowers his head and speaks his mind.

[Milady, we should evacuate the cities bordering the forest as soon as possible. I fear this is only the opening foray and we can't afford to lose so many citizens this early on. If possible we should seek aid from other kingdoms.]

[Have you gone mad? They're waiting for a chance to swallow us whole and you want to invite them over to help? That's no better than feeding ourselves to the wolves!]

[But if stronger monster start showing up in hordes there's no way we can hold out. I beg of you, put aside your pride and ask the king to request assistance. He trusts you more than his own heir, if it's you he'll surely…]

[Enough! We'll discuss it when we get back. For now we should check out that strange lightning strike. I've never seen lightning to travel across the sky before suddenly changing directions and falling to the ground. Everything about it feels unnatural.]

The knights quickly regroup and move towards the unusual lightning strike. In a tight formation they pass through the trees until they reach the outer edge of where Jellal landed. Smoke rises from the scatter chunks of trees and corpses as well as the ground. Seeing a group of monsters had gotten so close to them without them knowing leaves a bitter taste in the knights' mouths as they continue on.

They cautiously approach the epicenter, their weapons at the ready. At the center of the area they find a small crater created by Jellal during his landing.

When they finally approach Jellal lifts his head to look at them, his face hidden by his mask. Standing up he casually brushes the dirt off his backside before approaching the knights.

[Halt and identify yourself!]

[It's impolite to ask someone's name without introducing yourself first. It seems knight training doesn't come with a course on proper manners. If you must know who I am, then think of me as the person who saved your sorry hides from being hit from behind while you were playing with a group of weaklings.]

The knights are understandably annoyed after a stranger insulted them to their faces. They reach for their weapons and prepare to rush, but are stopped by their leader. Simply raising her hand is enough to erase any thoughts of continuing, showing the level of respect she commands within the group.

[It seems you're a decent commander. At the very least you're able to properly hold the leash on your dogs. Want me to give you a cookie as a reward?]