Chapter 2: Garden of Monsters

The garden was an open field at first sight without end, huge trees and green grasses that danced with the wind, it was sunny with some distant heavy clouds.

It was possible to notice that there were some monsters under trees and others in open fields, also being able to see a greater movement in the garden.

The groups had already started their hunts, students were already in possession of the necessary items to be approved in the guild, some two-headed dogs had been released near the garden entrance to surprise the competitors but also to start fights between the adventurers for the highest points. .

Even though they were monster-dominated territories and unsuitable for human habitation, they were still weak monsters at first and allowed some adventurers to even camp in these regions.

In front of all the groups were a group of monsters led by a [Rogue Goblin], he had a club in his hands and a shield in the other, next to him were [Slimes] with moss green color that jumped in their places.

Soon the [Rogue Goblin] saw an ax go towards him and then he received it with the shield, the monster looked angrily over the shield and saw a young man with red and black hair who screamed with excitement.

It was Max who faced the monster with a smile, the youth's strength was such that it pressed the monster he faced with difficulty, Max was still excited and his eyes glowed orange, his body emitted an orange aura through his body that passed to the ax .

The [Rogue Goblin] felt the ax weigh even more and the blow became stronger, Max once again shouted excitedly and the monster's shield was destroyed by the strike of the iron axe.

The splinters of wood flew close to the axeman's face being completely revealed to the creature, the young man was smiling and his eyes were still glowing orange that gradually faded back to brown.

Right next to him passed the archer who, with a quick movement, ran towards the [Rogue Goblin] and shot an arrow at his eye, making the monster scream when he felt the damage.

The archer smiled for a brief moment satisfied with the hit, but soon she had her body pushed to the side that made her fall and drop her bow, feeling a strong pain in her arm.

Looking towards what had hit her, she saw the slimes falling to the ground and then jumping towards her face, the archer grabbed her bow to defend herself but soon the monsters saw a small stone being shot in flames in her direction .

The stone was small and black and had some orange traces that made it look like fire, the stone expanded and exploded reaching the slimes that disintegrated, the explosion reached the archer who was left with a reddened arm, then she let out a grunt of pain and screamed.

"Damn it, Johnny. I told you not to throw that crap around when I'm around."

Complaining she looked at Johnny who had small black stones in his hand throwing up entertained, then he spoke with a smile.

"Crap? My genius [Coal Bombs]? You who shouldn't have gone so far forward, you are an archer."

He spoke with a smile and the [Rogue Goblin] heard all that irritated and raised his face in fury to scream, but soon he was hit by Max's ax, which cut him down still with a smile and then he spoke.

"Hey, both of you, everything worked out and it was just a minor burn, Karen. Take it easy, you too Johnny, be careful with those rocks over there."

Soon the two looked at Max and Johnny with a smile spoke.

"Sorry, Max. It's just that I can't hold back, I like to fight like this, I'll try to pay more attention. Sorry there girl. But you also have to agree that these stones of mine are too good to be kept, they are useful individually and facing many monsters, they are perfect."

He spoke still admiring the stones with an excited smile on his face, which made Max sigh with a smile still awkward with all that, Karen looked still angry, but soon saw the redness diminishing and then she kept her bow crossing her arms.

Max and Johnny would head towards the monsters' bodies to collect the items for the challenge and also to see if there was anything to loot.

With simple knives, they soon found some pieces like broken necklaces and some rings that the slimes had swallowed and in addition to a small watery round sphere that was the essence of the [Slimes] of the color of their skin.

From the [Goblin-Troublemaker] they took the green, triangular ear and put it inside Max's backpack, which was carrying various items such as smaller ears from [Goblin], more essences from [Slimes] and some tails from [Wild Rats].

The valuable items they gave to Johnny who had a big backpack, keeping some old daggers and leather loincloths from the [Goblins], also taking the broken shield of the [Goblin] and his club.

The two continued to collect and the archer looked closely, but soon turned around and arriving at Paladina's bridge some young people were already returning, seeming to want to deliver items, she clicked her tongue with an irritated expression.

"Damn, many are already coming back, the monsters from the challenge from the beginning have all been killed and continuing to go deeper into the forest will become dangerous as we approach the edges."

"You're right, he said that he had released several monsters and I think that some stronger ones will be distributed further along the map, so the more we walk, the more chances we have of finding one that will be worth much more and according to him the more points we get better, maybe we can find one that gives us a Unique Skill."

Johnny answered Karen's comment, while looking at a slightly younger dagger and facing her with a smile, but soon the archer continued.

"Finding a low level monster with a Unique Skill is rare, but ignoring what the instructor said... what if we find the map guardian? Is he not the monster a few levels above the map that blocks the way to other regions?"

"If we can't face him, just run away, he won't leave the edge of the map and also while we're hunting the challenge monsters, we're also absorbing energy and getting stronger, it's a strategy to start adventurers who want to join the guild. , I think the stronger monsters are worth more to also act as an assessment."

The conversation was now between Max and Karen, Johnny got up putting the rings and objects in a bag on his back, meanwhile he smiled and spoke.

"If we kill a [Zombie] or a [Two-Headed Dog], we will have a few points ahead of the others and we still have until the middle of the day tomorrow to collect more points, we can score a lot even without going after the big guys , plus we have some items that will give us a little money even if they are cheap items."

He spoke with a wide smile as he looked at an old silver ring that he took from his backpack being another item dropped from monsters, Max looked with a smile and looked at his backpack with the items.

"And how many points do we have?"

"Oh, shall we tell now?"

Johnny spoke with a certain excitement, but in the end Karen just sighed when she heard Max and Johnny's sentences, commenting afterwards.

"You are very optimistic."

Max just laughed and kept the ax on his back, starting a walk to hunt the monsters again, while they continued Johnny looked at the position of the sun, seeing that it was close to the middle of the day with some clouds approaching and then he spoke.

"No... we have some time until nightfall, we'll save that for when night comes, do you think we can go all that way, Karen?"

The archer heard the axeman's sentence and soon took the backpack off her back, from there she took out a well-drawn map and showed the entire design of the garden region, as well as a whole map with paths that led outside the map.

"Well, according to the schedule, we'll have a few more hours and it's better to camp in the region because of the number of young people looking to join the guild so we have a little more time than them, the further into the garden we go, the stronger monsters will appear. "

"The SkyBreaker guild is quite famous, isn't it?"

Max went to Karen's side while she looked at the map, then the archer sighed and closed the map.

"Of course there are other major guilds in Paladina, but this one is definitely the most famous. Investments from nobles, powerful adventurers who were bought by the guild… even people from other cities came through Teleport in an attempt to join SkyBreaker."

It was a quiet conversation between Karen and Max, as she listened to the conversation, Johnny raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"Did they come from the portal? But from what city?"

"It's not certain yet, but apparently they're from Ekoteka... for example that rider who passed in front of us before we left, from what he heard both of them are from there."

The conversation continued calmly, but soon they saw between the trees small hands and bright yellow eyes that stared at them, they were [Goblins] that seemed to try to hide. It was possible to see among them walking towards the group, a small creature with beige and aged skin.

They saw the small monster that had its ugly gray hair that covered the corners of its face, its eyes were sunken and dark with a small light that could be seen reflecting. He wore an old pointy hat made of leather as he held a skull in his hand.

The young people saw the creature raise its skull, showing its yellowish smile full of crooked teeth that began to emit black smoke and as soon as it occurred, the goblins began to move and from behind the monster a wolf appeared that walked slowly towards the young people. .

There were 12 goblins, 4 slimes and a wolf, seeing this Johnny opened a cold sweating smile as he spoke.

"Um [Magical Goblin]… This is proving to be more fun than I expected."

Upon hearing the spearman's sentence, Max advanced and his team got ready soon after, the goblins advanced while the wolf stayed behind, arrows were fired and the goblins were shot by the archer who hit two, preventing their run.

Even taken by surprise by the shots, the creatures that escaped continued to go towards Karen.

The slimes retreated and the goblins advanced, it seemed that they would reach the archer and jumped towards her, but soon they were hit by something that hit their heads, while one was pierced.

The thrown goblins saw a simple spear wielded by Johnny that pierced a goblin, that even trying to resist, soon stopped moving.

With a smile on his face, Johnny stuck the spear in the ground and stepped on the monster's body to remove the blade and point it at the other creatures, leaving only 5 goblins who grunted, seeming irritated with the spearman's attitude.

Johnny showed an even bigger smile and advanced on the creatures, he successfully pierced one of the monsters, the goblins looked in fear, others advanced on the spearman who looked with a smile and held his weapon with both hands.

Spinning the weapon around, he tried to hit the goblins, but as he turned, his balance was broken and the spear felt heavier.

He noticed the monster still at the tip of the spear, in its last moments making weight.

"Shit."

The spearman thought and heard screams of goblins going towards him, he clenched his teeth trying to recover, but he only saw the small goblin jump with the stone dagger in his direction.

It was going to be a clean hit as Johnny just saw the creature approaching, but soon he saw an even bigger shadow come forward, recognizing Max who with his body pushed the creature away.

Johnny's eyes widened and he saw that with a quick spin Max was downing the monster that had almost hit him with an ax blow that split his body in two, for him they were as if they had no bones or resistance, eliminating more easily than himself. spearman who looked on with only a surprised expression as he spoke.

"Damn..."

The axman recovered from the spin with some difficulty and the three remaining goblins retreated after seeing the show of strength, Max looked back with a worried face and said.

"Did you get hurt?"

Johnny just gave a smile, still with the expression of astonishment and surprise, but then he spoke.

"No thanks."

Max sighed in relief but soon they heard a scream.

"GUYS!!!"

The attention of the two was called by the archer who screamed while being chased by a group of slimes and goblins that had their eyes completely whitened, from their bodies came out a black smoke that caused strangeness in the young people.

Max looked back and saw the [Magical Goblin] among the trees, a little further back but still with a yellowish smile on his face as he held the skull that was emitting the same black smoke.

Johnny seeing that drew his [Coal Bombs] while Max tightened the handle of the ax to make more strength and advance on the creatures while his eyes took on an orange tone.

The goblins and slimes continued to approach Karen, Max ran towards them while Johnny prepared his coal bombs, but soon among the monsters the wolf appeared advancing on Max jumping to bite him, the young man was scared and his eyes bright returned to their normal hue.

Max laid his ax towards the wolf and blocked the creature's bite, which seemed to clench its teeth as it tried to destroy the ax handle while struggling with its claws hitting the axeman's arms and chest, causing cuts on his clothes and arms.

Being pressured, Max clenched his teeth and his eyes glowed orange again as the orange aura coated his body.

He clenched his teeth and pushed the creature hard back to let go of his axe, the wolf fell back but soon advanced again.

With both hands the axman held the ax and with violence and knowing the advance he descended his ax towards the wolf's head to hit him, but before he managed to hit the monster that bit his leg.

The wolf snarled and tried to break the axman's leg, but soon he saw a shadow over his head and saw only the ax approaching.

His head was forced down and in moments it collided with the ground, being cut in half by the ax that, when it collided with the ground, emitted an orange aura.

Instantly the wolf died and the dispersed aura seemed to scare the three nearby goblins who were staring nervously, already far away which made Max look with a smile after using his technique.

Still close seeing the result of the blow Johnny still fired his [Coal Bombs] hitting some monsters that were chasing Karen, the archer had an irritated expression as she fled and seeing that the two were safer, she ran towards them.

The spearman looked wide-eyed as he saw the archer bringing even more monsters and then he screamed.

"SHOT THEM, DAMN."

"I WOULD SHOOT IF I COULD, YOU ASS."

The archer screamed and passed beside the spearman who positioned himself, pointing his spear at the monsters, right after and stabbed one of the monsters, but unlike before the goblin took a step to the side, having his arm completely crossed, but coming out alive while his eyes were completely black.

Johnny's eyes widened in surprise while the other monsters attacked him, the one that was pierced tried to hit the young man with his dagger in an insane way, but soon those who were next to him advanced.

One pierced his thigh as he bit and tried to tear what was close, the other grabbed his knee and tried to cut off a few pieces, but only managed to tear a little of his skin and with angry and insane grunts.

Johnny grunted with the pain and tried to pull the goblin off his spear, but it was useless and he kept getting bitten.

"Johnny!"

He heard Max screaming and then

After that the axman looked at the Magic Elf with a threatening look, but soon the monster ran away letting out an irritating snarl, Johnny laughed but Max looked disappointed.

Karen would approach the two and look at the axman's injured leg and then speak.

"How careless and disgusting… Doesn't that hurt? We should go back to heal you and then continue the hunt."

He looked at his leg and then gave a smile talking.

"It doesn't hurt a bit, but it's better to have a look at least."

Hearing Max's sentence, Johnny crouched down with a smile and as he approached the axeman's leg he spoke.

"That's because you have this ridiculous brute strength of yours, nobody splits a wolf in half with a swing of an old axe..."

"Wow… that was offensive, he might be a bit used but he's still my battle buddy, plus he also helps with the farm's income, so he serves me well."

"Alright… alright…"

Johnny spoke with a smile for the axman's conduct, from his smaller bag he took some herbs and with water cleaned the wound, after that he bandaged the leg that already seemed better at first sight and then he slapped Max's knee and spoke.

"Okay, now you can hurt yourself some more."

"Thanks, Johnny. It's good to know that I can be beaten without fear, your medicinal herbs are so cool."

"Take it easy, I only know the basics."

He spoke with a smile and then his group calmed down already expecting that attitude, they again looked to see if the monsters had kept or swallowed something while collecting their cores counting their points that were already approaching 100 counting the whole group.

They were with their knives taking out the monster materials, until a wind made Max lift his head for a brief moment, seeming to have noticed something, looking around trying to see what had caught his attention and soon his friends called him.

"Some problem?"

The axeman looked right after and spoke.

"Nothing, it must have just been my impression."

He spoke soon joining his companions to continue going deeper into the Garden still looking at the surrounding trees.

In a tree close to where they were, it was possible to see a young man sitting in it, his blue hair and dark clothes hid perfectly in the tree as he swung his dagger spinning in his hand.

Soon he covered his face better and looked at the approaching rain cloud, looking thoughtful, but soon he got up on the branch of the tree and jumped to another one to move, disappearing in the forest of the place.