19. Goblin Shaman
After witnessing the swordsmanship displayed by this young man who was couple of decades younger than him, the hunter's couldn't help but daze about what just procured in front of them.
This man was cleaving and cutting goblins as if he was cutting onions, this scene looked quite absurd in their point of view.
"What the hell were we doing all this time ?" One of the hunters murmured " I'll start practicing my swordsmanship again after this mission is over."
Rest of the hunter's silently agreed to his statements, it seems they have been too complacent, while rest of the world was moving forward leaving them far behind.
A young man who appears to be around 14-15 years of age , was the strongest among them, those who could be called veterans in these field.In all honesty, it was quite a shock for them.
Samuel didn't stop, after dealing which the group that ambushed him he started roaming around the battlefield dealing with those goblin's whom other hunter's were having trouble dealing with , the goblin's didn't dare try to ambush Samuel after witnessing his strength first hand.
They started targeting other hunter's, though there strength is nowhere near Samuel's or the Knight's captain Steve Carell, they are called veteran's in these field how could a few mere goblin's trouble them. Even Captain Steve Carell finished dealing with the Elite goblin and started helping the hunter's to clear rest of the hoarde.
It took nearly about half an hour for the Subjugation squad to finish the rest of the goblins hoarde. After dealing with them the hunter's started gathering the corpses in one place.
"Why are they gathering all the corpses, as per my knowledge goblin's don't have any monetary gains" Samuel asked one of the hunter's beside him curiously.
"It's to burn them . usually we would leave the corpse , and other wild beasts or monsters would deal with them, but there are none around these part and there is also village nearby"
"It is unhygienic to leave the corpse's near residential area, It's an unwritten rule among hunter's " the other hunter quickly added.
"Ahh I see" Samuel gave a nod ,as he understood the situation.
After all the corpses were gathered, a black hooded man came forward from the group and started chanting ,after finishing his chant , the corpses lying cold on the floor started burning before turning into ashes.
'Is that magic ? , It's my first time witnessing magic in my life ' Samuel thought. Magician's are rare even in this chaotic period and most of them are copped up inside their tower, conducting various experiments, they rarely come out in public.
" Okay everyone we will rest here for a while before continuing our march"
All the hunter's gathered around and made a camp, while treating their wounds or helping those who are severely injured. Samuel took a small tree on the corner of his post to collect himself up and rest.
"Hunter Samuel, Captain Carell is looking for you , please follow me " One of the Squire came towards Samuel and respectful bowed his head before continuing " he wants to discuss something about the Subjugation with you"
'What does the captain want from me ?, And why does he want to meet me separately?' Samuel contemplated before deciding to follow the Squire.
There were five other men including Samuel, gathered in the Knight's Captain's chamber, everyone looked equally confused as to why everyone was summoned here.
But Samuel quickly grasped the situation as he thought 'Something went wrong with the Subjugation, If I am not wrong all these people are '4 star Knight' just like me.'
"I apologise for calling all of you here, but the problem we encountered was kind of urgent, So I hope you can understand my predicament" a gentle and cold voice echoed through the Chambers.
"What problems are you talking about Captain Carell ? , the raid is going smoothly , I am pretty sure if we kept up this pace we would wipeout their camp in no time " One of the hunter gathered in the chamber refuted.
Listening to the hunter's claims Captain Carell shook his head " Unfortunately, the situation is not that simple, earlier our scouts found some evidence indication some kind of ritual around goblin camp"
"At first I ignored that, thinking it's just goblin's messing around, but after I witnessed that Elite goblin among those group we fought earlier, I immediately understood what kind of grave predicament we are in"
" A Goblin Shaman" One of the hunter's exclaimed.
A sudden silence descended around the Chambers, everyone understood the gravity of this situation. Even some one like Samuel who has almost zero knowledge about the world knew how dreadful a goblin Shaman can be.
Goblin Shaman is a threat that could even bring the Ruler of a nation, to pay attention to it. And why won't it as it already has a history of almost destroying an entire an nation before.
Samuel should be aware of it more than anyone else, as the nation that almost got destroyed was none other than the Kingdom of Solan, where he came from.
Exactly 300 years ago a single goblin Shaman raised an entire army of goblins and razed through the kingdom, all the nobles and royalties fled away from the country leaving the citizens to fend on their own.
If it wasn't for a few brave Knight's and Citizens fighting back and reclaiming their land's back ,the Kingdom of Solan would have long been a history, after the war was over the nobles and royalties came back and started ruling their estate as if nothing has happened, which caused the status of nobility drop by drastically and it still hasn't improved yet. Samuel kind of understood the feelings of the citizens ' Who in their right mind would follow the people who abandoned them '.
Samuel shook his head 'Now is not the time the time to think about this, Goblin Shaman if left alone is more dangerous than a '5 star Monster'
Goblin General and a '7 star Monster' Goblin King or even a ' 9 star Monster' Goblin Emperor.
Goblin Shaman has a combat power equivalent to a normal goblin , but the most terrifying thing about them is not their combat strength but their ability to increase and promote the strength of a goblin , it can also perform various supporting spells through rituals by borrowing powers from wild nature .
They could create an entire army filled with Goblin generals and Kings ,if they are given enough time. They can even perform healing spells. If they are fought alongside an army they could be a complete menace.
"I have already notified it to the palace, but it would take atleast a few weeks before they could send a reinforcement, but I am afraid until they arrive it would be too late for our estate"
"I can Understand your predicament but you should also understand, this is clearly not something a Copper Rank hunter's like us can deal with . "
"Given the circumstances it could be a bronze or even a Silver Rank Mission" One of the hunter's refuted.
Captain Carell gave a nod as if he completely understood the hesitation this fellow hunter's had.
"That's why I have separately called for you guys, I have witnessed all of you guy's skills with my own eyes and we will reimburse you well, forget it you should check it yourself "
~Ding~
A loud noise came from Samuel and other hunter's surrounding him. Samuel took out his badge and he almost dropped his sword looking at the screen in front of him.
Available Mission :-
Subjugate the Goblin Shaman.
(This is a special mission requested especially to you)
Reward :- 1.25000 Gold Coins,
2.Promotion to Bronze Rank.
Duration :- None
It appears other's were equally astonished by the generous rewards offered to them.
It should be known a common household earns around 40-50 gold coins per month , hunters and Knights earn much more than that but given the circumstances that they could die at any given moment they offen wonder if it is worth it , but if they managed to pull these off they don't have to worry about money for the rest of their life.
Looking at the hunter's greed filled eyes , Captain Carell grinned.
"So, Do you accept this mission ?"
Everyone including Samuel unisonly exclaimed
"We Accept"