Hunting a Goblin Lord

The black arrow flew but with the goblin lord's instincts, it managed to raise the log in its hand to block the arrow instead of receiving the arrow with its body.

"Kaaaak!"

The goblin lord let out a yell of pain. The arrow had pierced through the log and stabbed the goblin lord's hand. But, the power behind the shot wasn't enough to pierce through its hand completely.

It took the arrow from its hand and tried to break it but when it failed to do so, threw the arrow into the sea of flames.

"Damn!"

Sebastian cursed and began to move. Van who was by him ran in the opposite direction. With its large stature easily towering over an adult male and big strides, it will catch Sebastian in a matter of seconds.

Some of the group began to split and intercept the goblin lord but forget delaying it, the goblin lord ran past them in its anger to kill Sebastian.

Luckily, Yule—with his bulky body—managed to stop the goblin lord's advance and give Sebastian some breathing room.

"HAAA!"

Yule swung his great sword with both hands. His muscles had veins popping up and his attack was tyrannical.

Any person would have to think twice before being hit by something that looks like it would split both a sword and a person's body in one swing. But, with the goblin lord's size, it was all too easy to stop Yule.

Sebastian used the opportunity Yule gave him to get a bit more distance and shot some arrows towards its body. With its thick skin, the arrows only managed to graze it before bouncing off.

—You have to retrieve the black arrow.

Balanos informed him.

"It's in the flames, are you sure it isn't destroyed?"

—It's much more durable than you give it credit it for. The only problem you have is to find it. I'll be able to point it out if you go within five meters of it.

Sebastian nodded and began to move. He couldn't shoot the goblin lord's eyes from all the movement it was making but even if he did, a normal arrow wouldn't work.

"Rob, cover me!" Sebastian yelled out as he approached Rob and a couple of others.

"Bastion! Urgh! Haaa!" Rob wanted to ask but a hobgoblin wasn't an easy opponent.

Sebastian let loose three arrows and felled the goblins and hobgoblin attacking Rob's group. "I need to get my arrow back, it's my only chance of killing the goblin lord."

Sebastian pointed at the fire and Rob looked at him as if he was crazy. "Your arrow has long since been destroyed!"

"No, it's still fine. It was thrown somewhere to the west, help me clear the goblins there. I'll handle finding the arrow!"

Sebastian didn't wait for their reply, there was no time. Rob and the two who were by his side followed quickly.

The battlefield was scorched by flames and the moving room was narrow. With the goblin lord's size and strength, the distance that the arrow was thrown was considerable.

Fortunately, the flames grew less and less fierce with each passing second and they could go near the nest which was still burning intensely.

Along the way, they eliminated two more goblins. There weren't many of them left after the fire had killed most of them.

At that moment, they heard the goblin lord's roar of anger. The four of them turned their heads and saw the goblin lord charging towards them despite the presence of Yule and several others.

"We'll stall for time! You're going to have to search for the arrow yourself!" Rob yelled and took a stance.

"Got it!"

Although Sebastian was wary for any leftover goblins hiding in the flames, he knew that asking one or two people of their build to hold the goblin lord in place was asking too much.

Rob stepped forward, "boost!"

His speed increased for an instant and his sword that was far from reaching the goblin lord came within range.

The goblin lord was evidently surprised as it suddenly halted its steps but Rob had already gotten too close and left a gash.

"RAAAAA!"

The goblin lord roared in anger and switched targets from Sebastian to Rob.

The ability that Rob used gave him a burst of speed but it only lasted for the fraction of a second.

Sebastian watched the sight of Rob speeding up and widened his eyes.

—Focus.

Balanos' voice woke him up from his daze.

"Do you know where it is?" Sebastian only knew the general direction it flew in but not the actual landing spot.

—I've narrowed it down somewhere near the nest.

"Near the nest..."

Sebastian looked at the flames centered around the nest and felt cold sweat trickle down his forehead.

"Isn't there any way to blow the flames out?"

—Not without revealing your abilities. But, there is a way for you to go through the flames. Use the power of the stigma to coat yourself in a layer of energy. You will still feel the heat but you will feel neither the pain nor the burns.

Sebastian quickly did as he was instructed and used most of his consciousness to summon the energy out of the stigma.

Once he had a sufficient amount, he imagined them covering his body like a bubble but thinner and more transparent.

It took him a few seconds which wasn't very long but in a situation like this, every second was precious. Rob had more and more trouble keeping the goblin lord at bay even with the help of two others.

In the first place, most of the people here had become mercenaries due to the lack of power in their abilities.

Rob's ability sounded useful but once the opponent has knowledge of it, the uses for the ability would go down tremendously.

The goblin lord was surprised at first and even suffered a small injury but as the fight continues, Rob became tired and the goblin lord wasn't hit as badly as the first attack had done.

The other two didn't seem to be using their abilities. Was it because they weren't oriented for combat? Or was it because using the skills would do nothing?

Sebastian finished coating himself in energy. He could feel it surrounding his body. The first thing he did was stretch out his hand towards the flames and when he confirmed that it didn't burn him, he started going deeper.

His vision was dyed red and orange—he could barely see anything. But, neither the smoke nor the flames had an effect.

Then, he stepped out of the flames completely elated.

"It works..."

—Don't dally. You only have a limited amount of energy. Thirty seconds at most. Go!

Sebastian quickly ran towards the nest. He somehow could run faster than before and he wasn't as tired as he was.

Once he reached the nest, he quickly moved to the side. He didn't need to go inside the nest, Balanos could tell if the arrow was within five meters after all.

But, even though more than half the allotted time had passed, there was still no sign of the arrow. Just when there was only a handful of seconds left, he heard Balanos' voice inside his mind.

—I've found it. Move to your left.

Sebastian stopped his run and kicked the floor to veer towards the left. The flames cleared enough for him to see the black arrow but at that point, there was only a second left in the thirty seconds.

He felt the heat rise up and without thinking, he dived to grab the arrow and he appeared outside of the flames just in time for the energy coating him to disappear.

"That... was insanely close..." Sebastian huffed and puffed in exhaustion. He had run as fast as he could for half a minute and considering that it was him, it was quite the feat.

Still, there was no time left. Sebastian held the bow that was hung behind his back while he ran and held some normal arrows in his draw hand.

"Rob, move to the left!" he shouted.

Rob didn't have time to think and quickly moved his body. The instant he did so, an arrow flew and hit the rampaging goblin lord's eye.

Unfortunately, it only managed to make the goblin lord's eyesore and not pierce it completely. Still, it had half its vision blurred and Sebastian used that opportunity to fire more arrows.

Rob and the other two had to retreat. All of Sebastian's arrows had hit their mark—often the weak points of the goblin lord.

Seeing that the goblin lord was about to charge forward without caring about the damage any further, Rob yelled out, "Bastion, look out!"

Immediately after he finished, the goblin lord kicked the floor and madly sprinted towards Sebastian. It discarded the log it had been using as a weapon and looked like it would do anything to kill Sebastian.

But instead of listening to Rob's warning, Sebastian muttered with a wry smile, "looks like I won't be able to receive that kiss after all." He had said something comedic but his eyes shone a different light.

With fluid movements, he took the black arrow and fired it at the charging goblin lord. The goblin lord sensed the danger but with its sprint, it couldn't stop in short-term. The black arrow flew through the air and pierced the goblin lord's eye and shot out of the back of its head.

But, the body that was moving towards Sebastian at an insane velocity was still doing so. "Cra—!" Sebastian didn't manage to finish his curse as the body of the goblin lord slammed into him and knocked him back towards the nest.

He felt as if several horses had kicked him as his body, much like the arrow from earlier, flew through the air and landed inside the nest. The fire had long since destroyed the nest's capabilities to withstand any pressure and Sebastian crashing into it was the final straw.

The nest began to collapse.

"Bastion!" Rob quickly ran through the fire and tried to hack apart the broken nest.

"Lad!" Yule and Van arrived to try and remove the wood that had collapsed on top of Sebastian. None of the mercenaries minded the goblin lord's corpse and quickly began to help.

It didn't take long for them to remove the pile of wood and when they did, they saw Sebastian's collapsed body. But, he was still breathing.

If not for the fire, they would have seen a faint green light enveloping him briefly before vanishing.

...

When Sebastian opened his eyes, he was in the same bed that he had found himself in after Linet and Thomas found him unconscious by the tree.

He sat up and by coincidence, Linet stepped through the door. "Cousin, you're awake!" she exclaimed in joy and approached Sebastian.

"What happened to everyone?" Sebastian asked. All he could remember was the goblin lord being pierced in the head and his body sent flying.

"They're in the estate, waiting for you to regain consciousness before leaving. You haven't been out for long, just a couple of hours. I heard everything from them! Cousin really is amazing!"

Sebastian scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

"Well, I'll go ahead and greet them. Is it fine if I stay the night?"

"Of course! You can stay as long as you like!" although Sebastian didn't plan to stay longer than a night, he thanked Linet regardless.

After bidding everyone farewell and asking for their contacts, he stayed the night at the estate and went back the next day. Amy had him excused from class for a few days for the goblin subjugation and catching up to class wasn't much of a problem.

It was then that Amy called him to the student council office. And, there was only one reason she would call him like that instead of personally speaking to him—the goblin subjugation.