Chapter 24: Nightmare (Final Part)

"SOLDIERS, HOLD THE LINE!" Bator shouted from the front line. 

The goblin army charged without fear or hesitation. In the center of the battle, a large monster fought fiercely against a warrior and an archer. The battle was on a knife's edge, but this central standoff was only temporary. As the smaller troops advanced, the numerical disadvantage became increasingly evident, and the exhausted soldiers fell quickly. 

"Don't hesitate, men!" a slightly older voice rang from the back of the army. "Strengthen your shields." Spinning the end of the staff he used for support, a circle appeared in the middle of the battlefield. "Sengui parofique us curpas dissis humins!" 

As soon as the spell was finished, the soldiers felt strength returning to their bodies. They all cheered, and morale instantly surged across the battlefield. 

TSK 

Xu clicked his lips, his blood boiling, but he quickly contained himself and ordered: 

"Hey, Elf, slow down, we're not in a rush!" Wang said. 

"What are you saying? At this rate, we'll tire him out soon!" Bator retorted. 

However, understanding the message, Akemi merely nodded in agreement as if it were natural. 

"As expected, she noticed too." 

Wang had realized as soon as he entered the battlefield that the Goblin King was different. The sinister magic exuding from the monster had vanished, leaving only an ordinary beast before them. Despite this, it was still an extremely strong creature for the current level of the mission participants, but nothing that battle experience and human intelligence couldn't overcome. As they fought, Xu and Bator alternated to hold the Goblin's focus while Akemi bombarded it. This process, repeated over time, wore it down little by little. 

"Xu must have noticed," Akemi thought. "However, I don't think we can draw any conclusions just because the enemy has changed... there must be another reason." 

Little by little, the Goblin King weakened until finally, its legs gave out, its sword fell, and its body collapsed to the ground. As soon as the enemy leader was defeated, the monster army fell into despair and began to scatter. 

Cheers of victory were heard from the few soldiers left on the battlefield. 

"We won!" the guard captain declared among his men. 

"But at what cost..." he thought to himself, not daring to disturb the moment of relief the soldiers were experiencing. Beldor, walking over to the knight, gave his friend a light pat on the back, smiling. 

Suddenly, a hatchet flew toward the old man's head, and at the same time, Bator's back exploded, throwing the captain away. 

BOOM 

The soldiers, not understanding what had just happened, looked at each other in shock for a few seconds. The older and more experienced ones ran towards the thrown body. 

"Captain, are you alright?" one of them said. 

"What was that? An enemy attack?" 

The man was still breathing, but his body was severely injured. 

"We need a medic, urgently!" another soldier shouted. 

"Well, well, it seems I missed by a little... yet you preferred to check on your captain rather than the man who is like a father to you... I must have raised you wrong!" the old village leader declared. 

"As I suspected..." Xu whispered. 

"It seems I need to take action on this... Mintis freces, PERISH!" At that moment, all the soldiers were already looking towards what should have been Beldor. Suddenly, dozens of men fell to the ground, their hands clutching their heads, screaming in pain. 

An electric and red sphere surrounded the old man, his face gradually melting away by magic, revealing a dark and horrifying visage. Fangs adorned the monster's face, yellow eyes gleamed, and his body quickly deteriorated into its original form, that of a humanoid Goblin. Before he could say anything else, an arrow flew towards him but was quickly destroyed by the sphere surrounding Beldor. 

"HAHAHA and you... what shall I do with you... but I'm deeply curious... how did you find out?" 

Xu jumped towards the monster, hitting the electric field with his last axe. 

"None of your business!" Wang shouted just before being repelled and thrown back a few meters, his eyes glowing red. 

"Hm... ahhHHHHAHAHAHA, I UNDERSTAND NOW!" Beldor laughed almost maniacally, as if he had made the discovery of the century. "Who would have thought I would make such a stupid mistake! Using lost language near a High Human? I must be very lucky; I didn't think I would meet another one in this lifetime!" 

"Shut up, bastard!" The barbarian's blood boiled, his axe's blade heated up, and like a guillotine, it descended towards the defensive field. 

BOOM 

The massive explosion made the barrier tremble, but the rebound was just as strong, throwing Xu further away than before. At the same time, a rain of arrows fell from the sky onto the goblin. 

"What a bother, why can't you be like your ancestors and flee in fear?" 

The temperature exploded, making the air around tremble with heat. The veins on Wang's body bulged all over. 

"You... I WILL FINISH YOU!" Enraged, Wang circled the monster, reaching for his other axe, which instantly caught fire, absorbing the mana he released. 

"And how do you intend to do that? You can barely damage my defenses... my shield will only fall when my mana runs out, and I assure you, boy, it won't..." 

"We'll see about that!" As soon as he finished speaking, Wang jumped, descending furiously towards the barrier. 

BOOM 

The shield trembled for the first time, Xu was thrown even further, but seeing his magic weaken, Beldor's expression changed to one of disgust. 

"It seems I'll have to take this fight seriously." The shaman stretched one of his hands to the skies, threads forming at his fingertips from the air. "Now, fulfill the purpose of your lives! Etequim Ilis!" The lines spread across the skies, and again, the soldiers afflicted by the monster's magic suddenly screamed and then fell silent. 

"Hey! Are you okay?" asked one of the warriors unaffected by the spell to another who was writhing in agony. 

The soldier did not respond, instead drawing his sword and swinging it towards what had been his friend until then. 

"NO!" Akemi shouted, too late... blood dripped from the struck man's mouth, his confused eyes questioning why. 

"HAHAHAHA, GO! KILL THEM ALL!" 

Beldor laughed as the soldiers, until now allies, began attacking each other. The remnants of the army fell into chaos. 

"Why?" Bator leaned on his sword, looking at the man who had always been his friend, the man who had raised him since childhood. "Why would you do this to us? We are your people..." 

"Foolishness!" he retorted. "Beldor has long since been gone... only a servant of Grindar remains." 

"But... why help us defeat the Goblin King?" still in shock, not understanding what was happening, all the guard's captain could do was question the monster. 

"That imbecile beast means nothing to me!" he mocked. "All it thought about was making the nest more prosperous and the future of its race... but me? My vision is far greater than that!" The shaman placed his staff on the ground in front of him, spreading his arms and roaring to the skies, which responded by lighting his hands on fire. "DESCEND!" 

"As if I'd let you!" Xu shouted, his bloodied body resisting to stay upright, the berserker's blood keeping him in a frenzy, ignoring all the pain. "Let's see who breaks first! AKEMI!" 

"I got it!" The half-elf stretched the string of her bow, projecting a devastating arrow and soon releasing it towards the monster. 

The arrow cut through the air at high speed and struck the shaman's shield with all its force. 

"USELESS!" With effort, the goblin grabbed his staff again and repelled it, sending the arrow skyward. After a few seconds, the projectile exploded into nothing. 

"Why!?" a sword struck the side of the shield, a blow so insignificant the monster didn't even bother to defend, but one that carried all the soldiers' grief as they fought to defend their lives without taking those of their controlled comrades. "Why did you do this? Play with our lives, our hearts!" 

"Don't waste your time with empty words; your futility won't soften my heart!" With just a wave of his hand, Bator was pushed away. "You, your family, and your soldiers are just disposable toys I used to kill that beast... nothing more!" 

BOOM 

Incessantly, the barbarian attacked. 

"And you?" The shaman stretched out his hands, and as if using a supernatural force, lifted Wang off the ground. "You will make an interesting minion." 

Xu smiled; his severely wounded body seemed not to bother him at all. 

"You took too long, you bastard." 

"Hm?" The shaman quickly turned around and looked towards the raging man falling from the sky. 

"BELDOR!!!" 

A fist glowing white struck the shield hard, the explosion cracked the defense, and like glass, the electric barrier shattered and dissipated, while Jihan was thrown far away. 

"IMPOSSIBLE!" The shaman cursed the boy but was interrupted by an arrow grazing his face, wounding him for the first time. "You should be dead!" 

"I have to admit… he's tough," Xu whispered, already somewhat weakened. "Now it's up to you, kid…" 

"If you think you can defeat me just because my shield broke, you are terribly mistaken!" Beldor scoffed, throwing Xu aside and turning to Li. "Well… I may have lost the chance to kill you once, but that mistake won't happen again…" 

Jihan's body, still completely wounded from the earlier surprise attack, could barely stand. 

"Haha… if I were to fail just because of a few scars on my body, the guy behind you would haunt me for the rest of my life," Li declared, raising both fists in guard. "You will fall and pay for everything you've done to these people!" 

"Come on, kid!" the sorcerer, already losing patience, shot several black arrows at Jihan, who quickly dodged them as best as he could. The places hit by the projectiles deteriorated and melted. 

"Looks like I won't have many opportunities… I hope that dwarf didn't lie to me!" 

When a precise arrow reached Jihan, he punched it with all his might. Járngreipr, covered in light, trembled but did not stop. The dark magic dissipated. 

"YOU BASTARD!" Beldor shouted. "DIE!" Raising both hands, a wave of dark magic surged towards Li. 

"Damn!" he thought quickly as he saw the amount of power the sorcerer could still wield. 

But before it could hit him, a man in armor appeared in front of Jihan, raising his shield as he advanced towards the destructive tide, holding it and breaking it in half. His equipment quickly deteriorated, as if melted by acid. 

"BATOR!" Jihan shouted. 

"GO, KID! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" the man shouted with all the strength he had left. "PLEASE!" 

"Wretched worm! How dare you interfere!" the monster exclaimed, shooting a black arrow that hit the captain's chest. "And you! FALL!" Pointing his staff at Jihan again, Beldor began to cast another spell, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by another arrow flying towards him, forcing him to stop his spell to deflect it. "ALL OF YOU INSIGNIFICANT BEINGS WILL PERISH! Argh!" 

"Not with me here!" Xu, who had gotten back up, sank his axe into the shoulder of Grindar's servant. 

"DIE!" the old sorcerer cursed his own hand and pierced Xu's body, who managed to dodge at the last moment, getting hit only in the shoulder. 

The Berserker quickly used his other hand to grab the Shaman's arm. 

"Now… I've got you!" 

"Let me go!" The hand on Xu's wound boiled, but Xu did not let go. 

"You shouldn't be worried about me…" 

"What?" The shaman turned around in desperation, only to find a nearly unconscious boy moving his hands through the air, leaving trails of light wherever they passed, his fists glowing brightly. "YOU…" 

"HULL-" 

"BASTARDS!" 

"BREAKER!" 

Concentrating the power he had gathered from the vortex of light into his hands, Jihan delivered a punch that shattered the air, hitting the sorcerer's body completely and throwing him dozens of meters away. With his spine destroyed and organs punctured, the Shaman did not get up. Xu, who was within the range of the blow, absorbed some of the force and fell unconscious. 

One by one, the controlled soldiers regained consciousness and stopped fighting. Unable to remember what they had done; they ran towards their wounded battle brothers to try to help them. The captain was unconscious. What should have been a victory felt more like a crushing defeat. 

"Bastards… I was so close… so close… my lord… Grind…" 

In his final whispers, the shaman called out to his god but received no answer. Li fell to his knees, lamenting, and even with his eyes closed, a message appeared in his vision. 

Mission: The Nightmare of the Goblin King 

Objective: Prevent the destruction of the village. 

Difficulty: B- 

Requirements: Min: 3 | Max: 5 

Reward: 800p + Hercules Elixir. 

Secondary mission: Save Bator's daughter. 

Status: Completed. 

"Completed? To hell with that!" Jihan thought. 

"Think what you will, this mission was a success," an unfamiliar voice echoed in Li's mind, making him open his eyes. He was no longer on the battlefield but in complete darkness. Only one man stood amidst the shadows. 

"Who are you?" The person in question looked a lot like Wang Xu, but his face was older and full of scars, and his hair was longer. 

"I am the person whose mission this is based on." 

"Then how can you say it was a success? We lost EVERYTHING!" 

"Don't be a fool, boy!" he retorted. "You have no idea what it means to lose everything!" 

Li fell silent. The mysterious man waved his hand through the air, and the dark scenery changed. Jihan's first nightmare appeared, the goblin army listening to a sorcerer's chant. 

"This is…" 

"Beldor… no… the monster that used the old man as a shell. And moreover, this is the result of my story." 

"You mean-" 

"I failed? Yes. Not only did I fail, but I was a coward. I realized the true enemy too late… I… abandoned everything and fled. This is one of my burdens…" Despite his words, the man showed no trace of remorse. "That day I lost two of my friends, my confidence, the entire village; I couldn't even save that little girl! So don't you dare say your mission wasn't a success, because what would that make of me?" 

"And you don't regret it? How can you speak about it so calmly?" 

"What happened, happened in a time long past, a time none of us can reach, there's no use in brooding over what can't be changed…" 

Jihan remained silent. 

"Don't dwell on what your hands can't reach, boy… the past is gone, the future is yet to come… the present is where we can make a difference… every day we live is a gift, that's why it's called the present." The man looked beyond, as if observing something long lost from view. "Anyway… that's all I have to say. I expect great things from you, Jihan… don't disappoint me." 

And as if dissolving into mist, the scene vanished. When he opened his eyes again, Li was looking at the ceiling of a tent. 

"Déjà-vu?" 

"Thank the gods, no," Akemi replied beside his bed. 

"Akemi? How are you?" 

"You should be more worried about yourself… well, anyway, the mission is over, but I preferred to wait for you two to wake up before leaving." 

"Two?" 

"I mean, Wang has already woken up, but you apparently like to sleep a lot," the Half-Elf joked with a smile. 

"What did you think of the outcome?" 

"You should see for yourself… come on, get up." 

Supporting Jihan on her shoulders, the archer dragged him outside. As his vision adjusted, a tear ran down Li's face. 

"They are a resilient people…" Akemi whispered. 

"Indeed… hahaha," he laughed lightly, unable to help but smile. 

The remaining population of what was once Edremit worked little by little to rebuild their city, their homes, and their establishments. The people smiled, still afflicted by the sadness of their losses, but never bowing their heads to them. 

"There's nothing wrong with mourning those who are gone, just as there's nothing wrong with smiling for those who remain," Akemi said. 

"Finally awake?" 

"Bator! You're alright!" 

"Not completely, I think…" The guard captain showed his arms; the dominant forearm of the warrior had disappeared. 

"Sorry…" 

"No. Don't apologize, boy…" Behind the soldier, a little girl peeked at Li. 

Bator knelt on the ground. 

"Hey, there's no need to-" 

Ignoring Jihan's request, he remained firm in his decision. Bowing his head to the ground, the man, who seemed hard and dry, let wet tears stream down his face. 

"Thank you! Thank you for saving my people! Thank you for saving my daughter!" he cried, choking on his tears. 

The little girl bowed slightly. 

"Thank you for helping my father!" 

"It's just a vision of the past," Li reminded himself… but even so, he couldn't help but take their gratitude to his heart. "But one day it won't be, and on that day, I can truly thank them back." 

"It seems we're done here," Wang said, walking towards the four of them. "We need to go." 

Li looked at Akemi and then at Xu, agreeing with the decision. As soon as they realized the mission was over, it automatically ended, but before they could disappear, Li whispered to the father and daughter. 

"I'm the one that has to thank you…" 

And thus, the trio teleported back to the training center.