7 A band of Gnolls

"Haah!" I charged at the man in front of me with a sword in hand ready to strike. I stepped to the right side as I swung my sword diagonally. The man swiftly parried my sword strike as he moved his sword near his shoulder. He counterattacked with a back left strike that collided with my sword as I barely blocked it while jumping away. He then lunged forward and performs a leg sweep as it hit my ankles and threw me off balance.

"Ouch!" I fell on the cold dirt floor as I lost my center of gravity, I tried standing up but I halted due to the man pointing his sword dangerously close to my neck.

"I-I'm sorry!" Says the man.

"It's fine, I asked for it anyway." I remarked.

I looked at Gellard with soft eyes as I reflect on my loss. Gellard has been teaching me how to use a sword for two days now, we also sparred every now and then when I've got the hang of the moves he had shown me. Surprisingly I was very quick to adapt the way of the sword, looks like that goddess did make my wishes come true after all, now I just wonder why I'm faster in learning the arts of the sword than the boundless capability of magic.

Perhaps it's because that swordplay focuses more on the body. The stronger and faster your body is, the more abilities you can perform in using the sword, the same as the other types of melee weaponry. While, magic, on the other hand, is more dependent on a person's inheritance, mental power, and insight. Magic is stronger if you have deeper knowledge in the said magic, you can also use magic way longer if your bloodline has connections to magical entities or if you're using a certain item to increase your magical capacity, as a senior in the library once told me.

Gellard offered his hand as he helped me stand up. I stood straight and fixed my clothing as I swiped off the dust that dirtied my clothes. I've been wearing a pair of leather pants and a simple woolen shirt when doing sword practice, It's more comfortable and convenient than using a long robe.

I picked up the wooden sword from the dirt floor and handed it to Gellard as he straps them on a leather backpack. Gellard and I have been using wooden swords for practice since it is the standard, and using a steel sword is dangerous for a beginner like me.

"Let's go back to the town, I'm hungry…"

"Alright, just let me pack up our things." He said.

I waited for a while as Gellard prepares our equipment. As he finished preparing, we then left the open clearing inside the Fuschia forest, apparently, that's the forest's name, the forest that is located within the outskirts of Car-antor.

We then arrived at Car-antor. We took a break at the tavern we're residing in as we ate lunch, and I changed my outfit into my mage robes. We then headed straight to the Adventurers Guild to take a mission request. There, we took a simple mission from the guild's mission board. The mission was to clear out a band of Gnolls on Mount Taumon, a dome-shaped mountain to the west of Car-antor.

We traveled there by horseback, passing a forest of trees, a river, and a small village. We eventually reached our destination and stopped at the foot of the mountain. We left behind our horses for they can't venture the steep Mt.Taumon, we tied them with a leash to a nearby oak tree that we marked with an engraved arrow, to recognize where we started in case the horses ran away due to wandering beasts or if someone was brave enough to steal them.

We climb the mountain on foot as we traversed it's rocky and steep terrain. On the way, we noticed a few blood stains on the stone floor of the mountain and dead remains of animals, smaller monsters, and some human corpses.

"I think we're near." Gellard said.

I raised my guard as we're approaching ever closer to the territory of gnolls. An arrow suddenly passed above my shoulder as it hit a rock behind me. Up above on the mountain atop of a giant rock, I saw a gnoll gripping its wooden bow as it picks up an arrow from his back quiver and prepares another shot.

The gnoll aims his bow at me and releases the string as the arrow launched directly at me. Gellard stepped up in front of me as he blocked the arrow using the flat blade of his longsword.

I retreated a couple of steps back as I channeled my magical energy straight to my fingertips as I form an icy crystal. The crystal rockets to the gnoll and hits its ankle. The gnoll is stunned and is unable to move from his position as the frostbolt froze his right foot directly to the giant rock. I cast another spell, but this time a ball of flames attacked the gnoll and makes contact with its face, the fireball burned its head as it was engulfed by flames, moments later, a dead gnoll fell off a rock, as smoke trails off from its burnt skull.

"That was close! We have to be careful from here on, I believe we're already in gnoll territory." Gellard warned.

"Yeah."

I prepared myself for the upcoming surprise attacks if there are any. We ventured deeper into the mountain, occasionally killing wolves and gnolls roaming by themselves.

Huff! Huff!

"Haaa… all this walking on a sloped path is killing my legs."

"Don't worry, we'll eventually find the gnolls. I think…" Gellard remarked.

We went even deeper to the mountain, as we looked for signs on where the band of gnolls are located. As we were walking on the mountain, Gellard suddenly grabbed me and dragged us both behind a giant rock column.

"Sssh."

Gellard took a peek from the side of the column as he scanned the area.

"I see four gnolls on a cave entrance not far away, three are armed with leather vests and shortswords. The other one is wearing tattered robes and is holding a totem, seems like they have a shaman among them."

Gellard faced me and spoke.

"Throw a fireball toward one of the guys holding shortswords, after that, I'll handle the other two while you take care of the shaman."

I nod my head as he gave me instructions.

"Ready?" Gellard asked.

"Yeah."

Gellard and I went out of the cover of the rock column as we dashed towards the group of gnolls. I stopped running midway as I prepared to channel my magic, while Gellard continued charging at them as he brandished his sword and engaged the group gnolls.

I weaved in the air as magical energy is emitted from my hands. A ball of flames forms on my palm as I directed the flow of magic into it. The ball of flames grew larger and larger until it was the size of a watermelon, I threw the ball of flames to one of the gnolls as it was about strike Gellard from the side. The gnoll was hit by the ball of flames to its chest as the ball penetrated its leather armor, digging deep into its chest as it burned its organs and flesh. The gnoll dropped to the ground as it screamed out its last howl.

Amidst the fight, I saw a small bolt of lightning hit Gellard's left arm.

"Aargh!!! Noel!" Even though Gellard was hit, he didn't back away and continued fighting the two gnoll marauders.

I raise my arms above as I quickly concentrated magical energy on my hands as I summoned more than a dozen of Arcane Missiles which formed above me. I swung my arms down as I pointed to the gnoll and the barrage of Arcane Missiles flew towards the gnoll shaman.

The gnoll tried deflecting my barrage of arcane missiles with its lightning but fell short as I directed a handful of arcane missiles to its side which successfully penetrated its body. I saw the shaman fall on the ground with a loud thud, as the flame of its life was extinguished.

Gellard overpowered the gnoll marauders his skill and mastery of the sword. He accurately evaded every strike of the enemy gnolls as he went to pierce their throats. Two gnolls fell down on the ground just like that.

I ran towards Gellard as he faced my direction.

"Are you alright? Your arm…" A looked at the place where Gellard was hit by a lightning bolt. There, I saw a burnt mark on his flesh as the bolt of lightning penetrated his protective clothing.

"It's fine, just a scratch, my gambeson took most of the brunt of it." He replied.

"What now?" I asked.

"We're gonna enter the cave and erase those gnolls from existence."

Gellard and I moved inside the dimly lit cave. I cast a ball of fire on my hand, ready to throw the fireball in any given moment.

---end---

***Chapter Information***

Gnoll= A gnoll is a type of humanoid hyena. Their body proportions are similar to werewolves though they are smaller than them. They are considerably taller than humans.

Shaman= A shaman is a practician of the elemental arts. They use a medium such as totems to perform elemental magic. Some do not use totems as they are inherently attuned to nature.