29 Karma

Reaching the outposts with three goblins this time, they didn't need to hide. They had Talon shoot an arrow and the rest climbed up, quickly killing the weak goblins. At this point, only the elites in the goblin village could pose a threat or a lot of the normal ones.

They swiftly passed through the area, throwing one glance back before rushing into the forest. As it was still night, they couldn't see much, but they tried to maintain a line as much as they could. With Talon and Lucius at the front, Kevin in the middle, and the ladies together at the back, Lily struck up a conversation. "I'm Lily, you are?"

Lily inspected Charlotte from top to bottom as they moved. "I'm Charlotte Venus. I was captured by the goblins a day ago," Charlotte replied, her voice quiet.

"I see. Well, welcome..for now," Lily responded and picked up her pace as they were lagging behind.

Charlotte looked at Lily's back, wondering what she meant by "for now." They eventually stopped to take a break. Lucius took out food from the inventory and shared it with the group. "Now, tell us what happened," he asked, handing Charlotte a piece of food.

"I'm Charlotte. Basically, I got captured, and my group got killed. Only I survived," she said, taking a bite of the food.

"Group? How many? 5?" Lucius asked, trying to gather information.

"We were 25. We formed the same day as we were transported into the city and hunted wolves, and then ran into some easy goblins in the surrounding area. Everything was fine until an army of 30 goblins, led by a weaker one that you killed, arrived," Charlotte mentioned, looking at Lucius as she spoke about that part.

"Wait, did that goblin have a missing finger and a scar on the back?" Lucius asked, referring to the level 5 goblin he killed in the village.

"Yes, that's it," Charlotte confirmed, surprised.

"It's dead, so you got your revenge, I guess," Lucius said, sitting down.

Charlotte understood what he meant, and she didn't seem surprised. She just sighed, realizing they were foolish to go so deep into the forest.

"Tell me your stats," Lucius instructed, curious about her abilities.

"I have 11 Strength, 11 Agility, 10 Health, 15 Intelligence, and 15 Mana. I'm level 2," Charlotte replied, looking down but not hearing any mocking comments from the group.

"Okay, that's a hard start, but it might turn out good," Lucius encouraged her, explaining that at level 5, she could create or use any spells she found as consumables. However, even he was not sure what was classified as created skill.

"I see, so it was not a bad pick," Charlotte muttered, trying to find some encouragement.

"No, it was totally stupid," Kevin said with crossed arms, shaking his head.

"I think it's time we introduce ourselves. I am Kevin, the tank, you can say. This is Lily, but you've already talked to her," Lily nodded in acknowledgment.

"He is Talon, the scout and archer," he pointed out.

"Hello," Talon waved, sending a welcoming message.

"And this is Lucius, the leader, basically," she turned to look at him.

"You will follow my orders without complaint. If you have opinions, you can share them later," Lucius said, focusing on the goblin situation.

"He is like that, don't worry. He's okay once you know him," Kevin winked at her.

Sitting on the ground, the tense atmosphere had become more relaxed as they saw no signs of enemies.

"Let's continue." They started running and saw a rock in the distance, realizing they had arrived at the pointy rock.

"We will move until we cross the river, then we can relax a bit," Lucius said as they continued without giving the enemy any chance to catch up. However, they didn't know that the goblin mage was furious after seeing the prisoners escape.

The mage found the dead bodies and the body of the guard and sought revenge, starting a hunting party to find them, which led them to hunt the other group. Once they found the group that had split from Lucius, they would soon wish for death, but that wasn't Lucius's problem, and he would never learn about it.

Reaching the river, they crossed it and took off their shoes again. They sat on the stones, watching the calm water move as the morning arrived.

They were about 6 hours away from the city in this location, so they decided to rest up before heading back. Deciding to take a shower, Lucius jumped into the river with his clothes on, cleaning them in the process. The others followed suit, rubbing their clothes together to clean them as well.

Sitting on the soft grass and relaxing with his head on a makeshift pillow, Lucius opened the inventory, bringing out the items they took from the goblins.

First was the blade, a bit better than the one he had, but it was only a small upgrade. He gave it to Lily, who hugged it and yelled "Moonlight Slash," playfully cutting through the grass.

"At least she is happy with it," Lucius muttered to himself as he looked at the other items. One was a book called 'Twisting Attack,' and the system provided information that allowed you to attack from different angles. This was how he managed to avoid the hard part of Kevin's shield and cut through the broken part.

The next item was a lucky rabbit leg. As he held it, a prompt appeared: 'Step Leap.' The system explained that it could increase movement speed or enable a significant jump.

This was how the goblin fighter closed in on them so fast and caught them off guard. Looking at the skill, he somehow felt it was weaker than the sword skill he had, and he wanted to try self-creating some skills back in town anyway.

Gathering the others, he showed them the skill and handed the rabbit leg to Talon.

"You sure about this?" Talon asked, being relatively new to the group.

"Yeah, it's your contribution. Consume it," Lucius nodded, indicating that he didn't mind. This way, he would feel closer to the group, too.

"Thanks," Talon said with appreciation as the item vanished in particles. He activated the skill, sprinting fast, though he also clutched his chest in discomfort after using the skill for a bit.

"You can't overuse it yet," Lucius warned, mentioning the drawback of the skill at the moment.

"Lily, take the sword art. It's useless for me," Lucius offered, passing the skill to her.

"Useless?" Lily asked, not understanding.

"It's hard to activate two skills at the same time. It's best for me to focus on the Allure skill as I feel it has potential," Lucius explained.

Lily nodded and used the sword art, trying to swing the blade like a snake. She lasted longer this time before having to stop, and she was satisfied with the new sword and skill.

"Let's head back now. We all need a break," Lucius suggested. They encountered some small animals, which they took care of and stored in the inventory. Lucius killed two boars, one at level 1 and the other at level 2.

He didn't gain experience from the first one, meaning the system had some sort of balance in place, forcing him to hunt level 2 creatures and above for experience.

After 6 hours, they reached the city gates, which were in sight. The gates were bustling with people entering and leaving, giving the city a medieval charm.

Before they entered, a group of 4 people stopped in front of them, with the leader looking at Charlotte. "Oh, so this is where you are? I thought you were considering my offer," he said, eyeing her figure.

Charlotte remained silent until Lily stepped forward and looked at them, saying, "I remember you, mister!" She seemed to have found someone she was looking for.

"You are?" The leader appeared confused and turned to look at the 3 males behind her.

"Charlotte, I told you to follow us, and you ignored us. Don't blame us for not helping you in the future," the leader ignored Lily and stated before walking away. At first, he wanted to act, but upon seeing the others, he decided not to.

"Wait, where are you going?!" Lily started running after them, muttering some words under her breath.

Kevin's eyes widened as a flashback played in his head, reminding him of the first time they met her.

Ready to stop Lily, Lucius put a hand and shook his head. Lily was a wild card, but she was not dumb, and he had read their character. Who cares if a few of them died?

"What is she saying?" The man looked confused, with one of his companions muttering, "She is saying something like 'swo___, gi__ me the pow__ to kill my fo_s?'"

The voice grew louder as Lily arrived, and with swift movements, she executed a "Moonlight Slash," with the ability 'twisted' activated cutting the heads with their bodies and landing on the ground dead.

Lily turned to look at the lifeless eyes of the leader, muttering in a low voice, "When I carried the wolves that day, you called me names. This is your fate."

She put on a melancholic glare and walked slowly, allowing the others to catch up with her.

With a complex look, Charlotte observed Lily's strong appearance.

"Good," Lucius nodded, appreciating that she left no foes alive. Soon, they arrived and entered the city gates.