《The Guardian of the world tree》 Chapter 1 : The journey begins. Matt was in the middle of his morning workout when his phone rang. He stopped his pull-ups and moved to get his phone. The phone displayed a beautiful young lady in her late twenties. He picked the phone up with a small grin. ¡°Hello sis, awake already?¡± ¡°Oh cut the crap Matt, you know I don''t sleep that late into the morning these days right?¡± came a sharp but elegant and feminine voice. ¡°Yeah yeah, I know I know, just kidding. So what''s up you won''t call me this early in the morning for nothing.¡± ¡°I knew it, you forgot about today''s get together didn''t you?¡± said his sister with a sigh. ¡°But luckily you have a beautiful and responsible sister to watch your back. I''ve already booked you a ticket, I''ll mail it to you. The flight is in one hour so get ready fast.¡± ¡°Thank you, sis, you are a lifesaver.¡± ¡°Yah I know, now move your lazy bum and start getting ready already,¡± and before he could retort the line went dead. He resolved to get back at his sister for that final remark and moved towards the shower. Within five minutes, Matt came out of the shower and got dressed. It was only a family reunion that his sister organizes every few months or so. Their family wasn''t all that big to begin with, but they got scattered all over the continent in pursuit of their dreams, jobs, and whatnot. Matt is a budding and one of the most promising cardiologists in London.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. His sister Teresa, who is five years older than Matt, is helping her husband George run his family business in Manhattan. His father and mother both are researchers, working for the US military. His grandparents are living at Oak Park near Chicago. His grandfather is an ex-military officer, who also happens to be one of the most talented martial-artist of his time, is now running a dojo. His grandmother, who is Chinese by birth, is an excellent medical practitioner in the (Chinese) traditional ways. Because of this, it is only on these family reunions that the entire family comes together. Both Matt and his sister had spent the better part of their childhood with their grandparents and hence both of them are way more attached to their grandparents than their parents. This lead to Matt taking a liking towards both martial-arts and the art of healing. After getting dressed and on the way to the kitchen to have a quick breakfast, Matt looked over himself in the full view mirror placed in the corner of his bedroom. He wasn''t too muscular or too lean, but had a well-built body, thanks to his daily workout sessions. He had a fair complexion and a neatly trimmed and cropped, ivory black hair. His eyes had a blue shade to it. Overall he had quiet the charming look, that''ll make any women take a second glance at him. He was wearing a casual light blue shirt and light-colored cotton jeans. Satisfied with his appearance Matt rushed into the kitchen and had a simple breakfast of eggs and bacon. He hurriedly took a print out of his air ticket, locked his apartment and flagged down a cab to reach the airport in time. Even so, he barely made it in time for check-in and he was the last person to board. His sister had already called him three times on his way to the airport, to make sure he didn''t miss the flight. ¡°She''s sometimes like a nagging mother,¡± he thought to himself with a chuckle. The plane took off at the scheduled time without any trouble whatsoever. With seven to eight hours'' journey ahead of him Matt decided to take a small nap. What he didn''t know at that time was that this journey of his will changes his life forever. Chapter 2: The Portal and The Tree The sky above the Atlantic ocean. Cockpit of the American Airline en-route to Manhattan from London, The flight was on auto pilot, and both the pilot and the co-pilot were having a little chit-chat about the last night''s adventure that the co-pilot, Peter, had with his girlfriend. ¡°Hay Mac, you know she made me climb the whole damn stares of a four story shopping-mall three times before she found what she was looking for, can you imagine it?¡± said Peter with a sigh. ¡°Oh, I know that feeling all too well, you would be surprised to hear what I had to go through within the forty or so year I had spent with my wife, my boy. And you are not even married yet so stop complaining you''ve a long road ahead of you,¡± said Mac laughing good naturedly. ¡°Well at least, she did make it up to me last night though¡± said Peter and a sly grin crept up his face as he remembered the wild night he had with his girlfriend. ¡°Hey, I know that look on your face all too as well¡± said Mac as that same sly grin made an appearance on his face as well. Suddenly some kind of distortion appeared in front of the flight and it blinked out of existence as soon as it appeared. ¡°Hey did you see that?¡± asked Mac ¡°Yeah like some kind of portal or something you see in those fantasy movies¡± said Peter. Suddenly the plane started to jerk violently and all the controlling system started going crazy. Mac being the most senior of the duo and the main pilot acted immediately. He switched off the auto piloting system and tried to manually control the aircraft. ¡°What''s happening?¡± asked a panic-stricken Peter ¡°I don''t know for sure but, I think we have been hit by a microburst, ¡° ¡°But the weather is all clear,¡± said Peter ¡°Yes I can see that, now stop arguing and contact the control room,¡± barked Mac ¡°Yes Sir, Control room come in this is Flight No #1734. We have been hit by a strong air current probably a microburst We need immediate assistance, I repeat we need immediate assistance,¡± ¡°This is control room....¡± but the replay was suddenly cut off ¡°Control Room come in, Control Room come in¡± Peter desperately said into his microphone but there was only static, meanwhile Mac was doing his best to bring the aircraft under control. ¡°Sir we have lost connection to the control room, Sir. Sir¡± Mac was hearing none of what Peter was telling him, his eyes were glued to something straight ahead of him and all the blood has been drained from his face. Peter followed his superior''s line of sight to find a big black hole right in front of them ¡°What the hell...¡± was all he could say before the whole aircraft got swallowed by the giant hole in the sky.
A Few minutes earlier.... Matt was deep in slumber when the flight started jerking violently, he woke up to the panicked cries of his fellow passengers. And before he could regain his senses and take in what was happening around him, it was all over. And then there was utter silence and the darkness. When Matt regained consciousness, he found himself in some kind of a forest. Since he was sleeping just before the accident he didn''t know where they were at that time. But he did remember getting a glimpse of the open sea bellow. And now he was in a forest and god knows where said forest was. He checked his surroundings for the wrecked aircraft or any of his fellow passengers, but couldn''t find either. He thought he might have fallen way before the plane crashed. It was the only possible explanation for the situation. Next Matt looked around, taking in his surroundings. The forest was filled with giant trees that were at least ten stories high and had the circumference of a small playground. The canopy above the forest was so thick that the sunlight could barely make it to the forest floor. Matt had never heard of any forest with such giant trees and he had never seen or heard of any of the other shrubs or plants he saw around him. He thought he might be dreaming or something but it felt all too real and detailed to be a dream. Staying put in an unknown place, a forest at that, was not good. You never know what might be lurking in the dense foliage. He had not seen any animals up till now, but it would be wise to find any sort of civilization before anything unpleasant finds him. So he decided to walk in a random direction. Even after walking for about an hour, Matt has not encountered any wild animals, which was good, or any symbol of any human settlement, not even a road which might lead him to some kind of a small village or out of the forest altogether. He started to think that he might be walking in circles because nothing ever changed around him or he was moving deeper into the forest. Both the possibilities were not good for him. He decided to keep going in the same direction because, if he changed the direction now he might get more lost than he already has. After another half an hour of walking, he decided to take a rest and sat down in the root of a nearby tree. He was dead tired after such a long walk. He had eaten nothing after breakfast and if he had to guess it was past mid-noon now and he was starving. All this exhaustion and hunger made his eyelids heavy and before he knew it he was asleep. When Matt woke up, it was getting close to nightfall. He got up from where he had been sitting. He was still very hungry so he decided to look for something to eat. That''s when he felt it, like someone was calling him. He was already lost in a forest from which he had no idea of how to get out of, so he decided to heed the call and moved towards it. After walking for fifteen or so minutes he came upon a dried river shore. From there he started walking upriver, how he knew it was up not down he didn''t know nor did he care. He simply kept walking. After god knows how long he came to the foot of a small hill. The river, it seems came from above and the being or whatever was calling him was also at the top of the hill. So he started climbing the hill. After climbing for what seemed to be nearly two hours he made it to the top of the hill. What greeted him was a withered old tree which was small compared to all other trees he has seen thus far. The river originated from the foot of the said tree and it seemed that the calling he had been feeling has been from the tree.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. He went near the tree and placed his right hand on its trunk. And suddenly a pop-up window, you see in those video games, popped in front of his eyes and which made him jump backwards in surprise. The moment he removed his hand from the tree''s trunk the window vanished into thin air. So he cautiously approached the tree and placed his palm against the tree again. The same window, or at least he thought it was the same, popped in front of him again. Do you wish to be the Guardian of the World Tree? Warning* Since you are not a Sprit Beast your race may get changed. Warning* Since the World Tree is on the brink of death, binding your soul to the world tree might be very painful. Proceed only if you have a strong soul to withstand the backlash. Do you wish to proceed? Yes No Matt was confused. It was no dream, that much was evident. Then was he hallucinating because of the exhaustion and hunger? No that can''t be the case either, because, his gut was telling him it was real and whatever decision he takes now will have a greater impact on his future. The warning about the change in the race made no sense to him. But the warning about binding his soul to the world tree and the pain it will cause worried him, which caused him to consider rejecting the offer. But before he could make his choice he felt the tree pleading to him to accept the offer. It assured him that his soul was strong enough to withstand the pain. It begged him to save it from certain death. Matt had taken the Hippocratic oath to save every life he could possibly save while passing out of the university and it becomes his duty as a doctor to put other''s life before his. And the warning didn''t mention him losing his life if the process fails. So he decided to accept the offer. The moment he made his choice, the dialogue box disappeared and something inside him got connected to the World Tree, something that he had never realized was inside of him. Then the pain started, a pain he has never felt before. It was so intense that he couldn''t even think straight. He thought he was done for and his life would end in this godforsaken forest. The smiling face of his sister and other family members came rushing into his mind after which the darkness consumed him. Chapter 3: The birth of a Demi-God. When Matt regained consciousness again, he found himself lying under a tree. It was nearly dawn and the sun was slowly rising. He had passed out for an entire night. He was still inside a forest but something was different. For one, here, the trees were of regular size and the chippering of birds and other life forms can be heard. There were one or two giant trees here and there but nothing as big as the ones he saw yesterday. He started to think that it was all some kind of a dream. A very weird and particularly detailed dream, but a dream nonetheless. Suddenly a window like the one he saw yesterday popped up in front of him and a barrage of other windows followed suit. He was startled for a minute but regained his wits soon enough. He focused his vision on the topmost window.
You have successfully bound your soul with the World Tree. You have gained the title : Guardian of the World Tree Warning* Your race has been changed from Human to Demi-God
Matt read the first notification. So now I am a demigod like Percy Jackson cool. Ok now, how do I read the next notification? He tried swiping the first window but nothing happened, his hand just went right through it. Next, he thought of dismissing the window, and it vanished from his view revealing the window beneath it.
For being the first Demi-God You have gained the title : The First Demi-God You are under the status effect : Immortal All your basic stats are increased by : +3
WHAT! I''m Immortal now, that''s crazy. This is absurd. Let''s see what''s next.
By enduring the process of binding your soul with the World Tree You have gained the passive skill : Soul of SteelThis tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Your resistance to soul magic has increased by : +5
By enduring the pain of binding your soul with the World Tree and retaining sanity You have gained the passive skill : Analytical Mind (Level 1) You have gained the passive skill : Mind Fort ( Level 1) Your resistance to mind magic has increased by : +3
You have been blessed by the World Tree You have gained the Ability : Limitless You have gained the passive skill : The Sun''s benevolence (Level 1) Your Luck has increased by : +3 Your Int has increased by : +4 Your Wis has increased by : +2 Your Charm has increased by : +1
"OK at least these tree notifications aren''t as absurd as the first two. And apparently whatever happened yesterday was no dream either. And this is not Earth, but some other planet or dimension. The flight accident yesterday morning, has somehow brought me into this world. So what now? " said Matt, as he tried to make some sense of the situation he was in. "Definitely, going back to Earth or contacting any relatives or family is out of the question. Then finding a human settlement in this world should be given more priority. Since I am out of the World Tree''s domain, that''s what I''m going to call the place where the World Tree is at, I might come across one sooner or later." There was no one to hear what he was saying, but still, he kept talking to himself. It helped him to keep the solitude at bay. He was not used to staying alone. "Next on the list comes food and shelter until I can make it to any kind of settlement, human or otherwise. Strangely enough, I don''t feel that hungry right now and I had been starving yesterday even just before I passed out. It might have something to do with me bonding with the World Tree or something and I might be able to survive without food and water for a long time since I am Immortal and all, but it''s better to be safe than sorry." A plan in mind, Matt began his journey in this new and game-like world. But make no mistake, this world is no game. It is as real as any other and so are the dangers it possesses. Chapter 4: A legendary being Matt had been wandering around the forest for a while now. He had come across many animals some of which were familiar to him like, squirrels, rabbits, deers, etc. and some he did not recognize like, a rabbit-like creature with antlers, a guinea pig the size of a Doberman and many more. He once saw a bear and had to go around it otherwise, He hadn''t seen any other aggressive creatures. He collected some berries from a small shrub. He had seen some monkeys eating them, so he was pretty sure that it wasn''t poisonous. Then he came upon a small river from where he drank his fill. Afterward, he found a giant tree''s root to rest upon and further analyze the situation he was in. Matt popped a berry, which he had collected from the shrub earlier into his mouth. It was very sweet and a bit sour at the same time, like a grape. It even had a single seed like a grape. Suddenly a window popped up in his vision and startled him. ¡°I need to get used to this fast or it might kill me one of these days,¡± he said to himself and read the notification.
You have consumed the Berry of Insight +3 to Int for four hours
¡°Well, well, well, look at that, even eating stuffs gives you some kind of a status boost it seems. It is just like those video games and other RPG games that I used to play until a few years back.¡± he thought to himself ¡°And if I''m not wrong this world is just like those worlds you read about in those LitRPG novels like The Land, Arcane emperor, etc. That is to say, it is governed by a game-like system. So here, Skills, Abilities and other stuff are really important to one''s growth and survival. Now how do I see my status? Let''s see Status.¡± Suddenly his status window popped in front of him. ¡°Cool, let''s see..."
General
Name Matthew Thomson
Level 01, 0%
Age 23
Race Demi-God
Alignment Positive
Gender Male
Languages Common tongue
Reputation Level 1
Stats
Health 100
Mana 100
Stamina 100
Attributes
Str 13
Agi 13
Dex 13
Con 13
End 13
IntUnauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. 17+3
Wis 15
Charisma 14
Luck 16
Resistance
Mind magic Level 1, 0%
Soul magic Level 1, 0%
Skills
Soul of Steel (passive) Level 1, 0%
Analytical Mind ( passive) Level 1, 0%
Mind Fort (passive) Level 1, 0%
Sun''s benevolence (passive) Level 1, 0%
Marks
Mark of the World Tree Upper arm
Titles
The First Demi-God +1 to every attribute per level
Guardian of the World Tree Can use % World Tree''s total Mana and life-force proportionate to your level
Status Effects
Immortal In case of death will be resurrected at the resurrection point.
Abilities
Limitless 100% affinity in any and every skill
Gift of Tongues Ability to comprehend almost any sapient languages
Fast Leaner Ability gain the first levels of any and every skills.
¡°Ooook... It seems a bit too large, well I''ve no complaints about it though.¡± matt said to himself ¡°and magic, mana, etc. are real here, well that is to be expected. And if my guess is correct all these attributes work just like in those games. All the abilities have a description so there is no need to further investigate it but what about these skills and there seem to be two extra abilities apart from the ones that I received from bonding with the World Tree.¡± Matt focused on the first skill in his status window. A new window describing the skill appeared in his vision.
Soul of Steel (passive) Level 1: This Skill makes your soul resilient against soul attacks.Shields the soul from 10% of the damage caused by soul magic.
¡°Well that is straight forward and I should have guessed that this much from the name itself,¡± said Matt and he dismissed that window with just a thought. ¡°Let''s see the skills analytical mind and mind fort is self-explanatory even so it''s better to take a look at it now than to learn any unpleasant lessons later on¡±
Analytical Mind ( passive) Level 1 : This Skill helps you control your emotions and think rationally even in the face of death.
Mind Fort (passive) Level 1: This Skill makes your mind resilient against mind attacks.Shields the mind from 10% of the damage caused by mind magic.
¡°Ah now that I think about it I have been taking this situation rather too well, so it is because of Analytical Mind. Even without it, I would have done the same things but it''s always good to know that I have the skill to help me survive dangerous situations. Mind fort was a no brainer. Let''s see what the last skill has to say¡±
Sun''s benevolence (passive) Level 1: When exposed to sunlight your regenerative abilities and and healing abilities get 25% boost. At higher levels, if given enough time you''ll be able to regrow an entire limb.
¡°Woo, now that''s.... that''s just absurd. It seems that the skills, abilities, etc. written with yellow color are kind of legendary. If that''s the case I am a legendary being, well that is to be expected because I''m now a freaking demigod.¡± Matt was starting to love this whole getting transmigration business. ¡°That''s enough messing with the interface for one day or I might get a head, as big as an African elephant.¡± Saying this he closed all the windows and stood up from where he has been sitting for the past fifteen or so minutes. ¡°It''s time I start searching for something to have for lunch. Let''s see if I can get some fish from the river that I drank water from.¡± And so Matt started walking back towards the river in hope of catching some fish.
Chapter 5: The fight in the forest It had been a month, since Matt first arrived in the forest. And he had learned many things during this time, like making a fire with just dry woods, grass and some leaves; sleep in the hard ground or a tree branch; etc. He was living alone in his apartment back on earth so he knew how to cook himself. All this had given him a few new skills.
Survivalist ( passive) Level 3 : You can survive in hard environments like a forest, desert, etc. more easily.
Cooking ( active) Level 4 : You can cook food using any ingredients available to you. The the food you prepare will recover +4 of your health and stamina
Hunting ( active) Level 5 : You are a good hunter, your movement speed will increase 20% and can inflict 15% more damage per attack while hunting.
Tracking (Active) Level 4 : Every person or animal will leave a track while moving through any terrain. You can follow any track, that is no more than one day old.
Stealth ( Active ) Level 3 : You can hide your presence from others when shrouded by darkness or in shadowed area.
Weapon crafting ( Active ) Level 2 : In the hands of a good crafter even a strand of grass is a deadly weapon. Can craft weapon only of poor quality. 5% extra damage inflicted per strike connected.
Trap building (basic) ( Active ) Level 2 : Where brute force fails to take down an enemy a well placed trap might do the trick. Can build traps only of poor quality.
Fishing ( Active ) Level 3 : A good fisherman knows just where to look for a good catch and how to catch a fish just using a stick. +2 to luck when fishing.
Skinning ( Active ) Level 2 : The hide of any living thing can be used to craft many a things from water skin to an armour. 10% chance to remove the hide of any beast or animal with out damaging the hide.
Martial-arts ( Active ) Level 5 : Martial-arts is an age old art of self defence and has many branches to it. A Master of this art can single handedly defend himself from an army or defeat a platoon of well trained soldiers. 50% increase in movement speed and hand to hand combat.
Meditation ( Active ) Level 4 : Meditation is the art of becoming one with the universe. It helps you to align your inner energy with the that of the universe. Increase your Int by +3 and Wis by +2.
All these skills helped him tremendously in surviving this one month. And in this one month, he had also come across many large beasts that could have killed him with a just a glancing blow. But had been lucky enough to evade all of them up until this very moment. Sadly, he was not lucky enough to come across any human or any other intelligent beings so far. He was beginning to think there was no one except him in this world. Currently, he was resting beneath a tree. Suddenly he heard a cry for help, which startled him. He immediately got up from where he was sitting looked around to find the source of the sound. The sound was coming from his left and it was coming closer by the second. Abruptly, a man came running from the tree line shortly followed by three short green humanoid creatures with weapons. It reminded him of those goblins from movies and games back home. The man suddenly tripped himself and fell face first in the ground. The goblins came to a halt just in front of the fallen man and started circling him. Matt had been starring, dumbfound as these events unfolded in front of him. The goblins were about to kill the man and Matt took a step forward involuntarily to save the man. But it was a mistake, a twig snapped under his foot alerting the goblins of his presence. The trio of goblins snapped their head towards him at the same time. Time stopped flowing for a moment, everyone kept starring at each other in utter confusion, not daring to move a single muscle. A goblin with a spear recovered his wits first and rushed at Matt with his spear poised to strike. At this, Matt also recovered and stepped forward, past the striking range of the goblin and grabbed the spear by its shaft and yanked it out of the goblin''s hand. The momentum and sudden movement made the goblin lose his balance and collided with a tree. Seeing this the other two goblins rushed with their swords at the ready at Matt, to finish him off. Matt went low and struck both the charging goblins using the shaft of the spear with just one strike which send both the goblins tumbling down. By this time the first goblin had recovered from his fall and charged Matt yet again. Matt stuck in the chest again with the spear shaft and send it flying. Realizing that they had no chance of defeating him the three goblins fled with their lives, abandoning their weapons. Matt relaxed his posture and moved towards the man on the floor, and found him lying unconscious. "Well, at least he is breathing. And there are other humans in this world" said Matt to himself "Let''s move him to someplace safe first, at least as safe as a forest with giant beasts the size of a truck can get." Matt hoisted the man and put him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started moving forward.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Matt carried the unconscious man to an empty cave, near a river, that he has been using as his new home for about two weeks now. The man had no serious injuries, at least not anything on the outside and he didn''t have any pieces of equipment to run a detailed diagnosis of the man. So he took off the man''s shirt, it was more of a ragged piece of fabric than a shirt and tore it up to make a make-shift bandage to tie it around some of the injuries that were bleeding. He used the rest of the cloth to clean the man up after dousing it in the river water, even a seemingly small wound can get infected if not properly treated. After doing everything in his power for the injured man and laying him on a bed made out of grass and leaves, Matt sat beneath a boulder, near the mouth of the cave. Then he pulled up the windows he had dismissed after the fight.
Battle log:
  • A goblin charges you with a spear .
  • You dodged the attack and yanked the spear out of the goblin''s hand.
  • The goblin collides with a tree and loses -2 HP
  • Two goblins charges you with swords.
  • You attacked the goblins with the shaft of the spear.
  • You dealt -5 HP damage to the goblin
  • You dealt -5 HP damage to the goblin
  • A goblin charges you.
  • You attacked the goblin with the shaft of the spear in the chest.
  • You deal -10 HP damage to the goblin.
  • The goblins flees from the battle field.
End of the battle log.
You have gained 100 Exp.
You have learned the Skill Armed Combat ( Spear ) Level 1 : Everyone knows it is better to fight with a weapon than your bare hands. 10% increase to damage inflicted using spear.
You have reached Level 5
"Wow, another level and a new skill, cool. The Exp. is a bit too low, but well it was a rather easy fight so it is to be expected" thought Matt to himself. " Ha, I better start cooking something for lunch, that man looks famished, he might want to eat something when he wakes-up"
When Leon regained consciousness he was inside a dark cave, and his body was aching all over. His last memory, before he lost consciousness, was three goblins trying to kill him. Slowly, he tried to get up, but he was too weak to even move. Little by little, he came to realize other details about his surroundings and himself. First of all, he was half-naked, someone had used his shirt, as a makeshift bandage to stop his bleeding and secondly, he was alone in the cave, whoever had brought him here was not around at the moment. He didn''t know whether the person who brought him here was good or bad. Since whoever had brought him here had tented to his wounds and probably, saved him from the goblins he hoped that person had good intentions. After a while, he mustered enough strength to sit upright. There was daylight outside so it was still day time. Suddenly a young man in his early twenties entered the cave. He had a well build body except that, nothing else could be made-out in the dim light inside the cave. "So you are awake, and just in time too. You must be hungry here have this. It might not be much but it sure as hell is better than having to live on just fruits and vegetables" saying this he offered Leon a bowl filled with some kind of a soup. He hadn''t realized it until now but he was really hungry.
Chapter 6: Leons Story A few months back Leon was leading a peaceful life as a mage in the Kingdom of Fiore. He was one of two hires in line, to inherit his house-hold leadership. The other being his half-brother, Airion, who was three years younger than him. Both of them were equally talented. Even though they were only half-brothers, they shared a very strong relationship. And because he was older than his brother the chances of him inheriting the house-hold leadership were very high. Their father, the current head of the House-hold, was one of the most trusted friends of the crown and his words had more power than any other Lords in the court. So, whoever inherits his position, will also enjoy the same benefits. One day Lord Moris of City Sonaris, a city situated at the eastern border of the Kingdom, came to the capital to report an increase in goblin attacks in his city. The East side of the kingdom was covered by The Grate Forest. The Grate Forest covers more than one by third of the whole landmass. It was filled with many dangers and no one had ever conquered its depth. It was situated at the center of the world with all kinds of settlements forming around it. Even the four superpowers in the world; the Elven kingdom; Kingdom of Aster, Darwen kingdom; Kingdom of Demorus, the Beast-kin kingdom; The Beast-kin Federation and the Human kingdom; Kingdom of Fiore, didn''t dare to set foot in the Great Forest. Hence it was an ideal environment for creatures like goblins to thrive. Goblins attacking some of the border villages were not unusual and the villages and cities near the border were equipped to handle these attacks. But this time something was not right, the attacks seemed more organized and deadly. That is why Lord Moris decided to ask for help from the crown.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The king, after hearing what the city Lord had to say, tasked Lord Anren, Leon''s father, to form a special squad to investigate the matter. And so Lord Anren formed a special squad, comprising of the most elite members of the army with Leon as its commander. The special squad, under Leon''s command, moved towards the City of Sonaris immediately. They arrived at their destination after a one-month-long journey. And what greeted them was a burning village, the result of a recent goblin attack. The villagers were running around like an agitated ant-hill. The special squad immediately went into action. They first helped the villagers to put out the fire and after making sure that the villagers were safe, they started following the tracks of the goblins. They followed the track deep into the forest but didn''t come across any goblins. After following the track for the entire day, they decided to camp in the forest for the night. Two of the squad members were put on guard duty while others went to sleep. But it turned out to be a big mistake,the goblins attacked their camp under the cover of the night. The squad was caught off guard, the goblins struck them with overwhelming numbers. The fight was over in about five minutes. Five of the squad members died in the attack the rest were captured including Leon. From there, they were moved from one goblin camp to another and were treated far worse than an animal. Two days back while moving to a new camp, he slipped out of their watch and hid inside a hollow tree trunk. He stayed in there for an entire day. The next day he came out of the trunk and started searching a way to go back to his kingdom and report the incident. But fate had other plans and he was spotted by three goblins on patrol. He was too exhausted to fight back and the Seal, placed on him when he was captured the last time, restricted him from using his mana. If he wished to escape, had only one option and that was to run for his life. So he ran and they gave chase. After running for a while he got too tired and he collapsed on the forest floor. And when he regained consciousness he was inside this cave. Chapter 7: Back to prison A few days later after he was rescued, Leon was wandering through the forest aimlessly. He got lucky that day, to have escaped from certain death. After having rested for a few days, he had regained his health, but the Seal that the goblins had placed on him was still there and so he still as unable to use his Mana. To lose the ability to use Mana, was a death-sentence to any mage and he was no different. Without Mana, a mage had no way to use any spell, offensive or defensive, and they were as fragile as a leaf without their ability to cast spells. But the few months he was forced to work as a slave by the goblin, had helped him to increase his STR and END, which was good. But today was not his day and his luck ran out when he stumbled upon a five-man goblin patrol lead by a Level 10 Warrior goblin. He tried to run but was easily captured by the patrolling party. Without access to any of his spell, he was no match for them, even so as a final attempt to save himself, he tried to fight back, the increased STR and END did indeed helped him a bit but in the end, it was not enough to escape from his fate. They knocked him out and carried him back to the prison. And just like that, he was back to where he had escaped from, hell. The goblins bet him up very badly. They were laughing and yelling at him in goblin tongue, of which he understood nothing. After beating him up black and blue, they put him into a cell filled with many other poor souls just like him. A goblin said to him in broken common tongue, "No food, no water for you, for three days, this be a lesson to everyone. Next time you, you die." After the goblin left him, other prisoners made room for their new inmate. "So, you are the lucky bastard who escaped these buggers eh, I heard that the goblins who were in charge of bringing you here, got a good thrashing." said a bulky fellow " So how did you get yourself caught again?"Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. "Let''s just say I wasn''t thinking straight when I got myself into this," said Leon withering in pain, "What do you mean?" asked another man, sitting next to the bulky fellow, "you''ll see, wait till nightfall, I don''t want to give you false hope" replied Leon. "OK now I''m curious," said the bulky fellow, "by the by I''m Brook and this is my cousin Faust we are both Level 12 Hunters, got ourself caught while on a hunting trip on the outskirts of the Grate Forest" "I''m Leon a Level 13 Mage, I don''t want to talk about the circumstance under which I got myself captured." "OK that is fine by me, it''s not something any of us want to think about." said the bulky fellow who identified himself as Brook. Leon looked around himself, the cell wasn''t all that big and it had around fifty inmates. "Hey Brook can I ask you something?" asked Leon, "Well we''ve got all the time in the world and nothing better to do than just sit around, so way not, shoot." "Why is there only fifty or so prisoners in here, in all other goblin camps I''ve been to, there were more than three hundred prisoners." "Oh, that this is not the main cell, this cell is meant for rebellious prisoners like us, we won''t get food or water and a lot of thrashing until our will to resist them get broken. The main cell contains more than two hundred people" said Brook "So that makes a total of two fifty prisoners and how many goblins are there in this camp?" Leon enquired "Why around a hundred maybe, why do you ask ?" said Brook "Oh it''s nothing just asking," said Leon with a smile "If you are thinking of starting a riot, forget it you won''t be moved to the main cell until they make sure you have no fight left in you, and even if you somehow manage to fool them and make it to the main cell, you''ll find it very hard to find anyone to join your cause" warned Brook. Leon didn''t even bothered to say anything in return and stayed silent. Chapter 8 : A flash back. Sitting in the cell, along with other prisoners, Leon thought back to how he got himself into this situation. After he had revealed his story, Matt said " Sorry, I don''t even know what to say to you, I can''t even begin to think what you have been through" "It''s alright, it is my incompetence as a squad leader, that brought me here, what hurts me more, is the fact that it also caused the lives of those under me. Moras, my second in command, had even warned me, not to go this deep into the forest, but I was arrogant and didn''t heed his words." Leon said with grief lacing his voice. "Once I find a way to remove this cursed seal placed on me, I''ll find a way to release them, even if it costs me my life," said Leon with determination evident in his eyes. "Don''t be rash, you can''t possibly fight all those goblins alone" Matt tried to discourage him from this suicide mission "Doesn''t matter, I''ve to do this even if it is the last thing I do, or the guilt of my actions will kill me from inside" but Leon was having none of it, he was determined to go with his plan no matter what. "Oh well, in that case, let me at least help you," said Matt "What, No I can''t let you put your life in danger for the mistake I''ve committed." Leon refused to accept Matt''s help. "Then I can''t let you endanger your life either, I didn''t save you from those goblins for you to give it away in a suicide mission like this" Matt was also not going to let a life he saved to go to waste. After a long and heated argument, Leon finally had to give in to Matt''s demands. "So it''s settled once you recover your health we''ll raid the goblin encampment." said Matt "well.... there is a small detail that you are missing, I escaped from them when I was being transferred to a new camp so I don''t know where it is, so before we can raid the goblin encampment we''ll have to find it" " What! then how were you planning to attack a goblin encampment that you don''t even know the whereabouts of?" enquired a surprised Matt "Well I was planning on following a patrolling party back to their hideout" "That''s absurd, you''ll have to stay hidden from them for god knows how long, and if I remember correctly you''ve lost your ability to cast spells" This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "Yes but I''ve no other way to find the goblin encampment otherwise" "You are indeed terrible at planning, sorry to say this, but if this is how you plan things, then you had no chance of defeating the goblins from the beginning. Have you ever lead a team into a battle before this?" "If you had said this to me before I had been captured, you would have been sent straight to the prison, you do realize that right, but you are right I''ve no experience in leading a team into battle. This was my father''s idea, to show the king that I''m worthy of succeeding my father''s position in the court. For that, he picked the most elite members of the army to follow me in this mission." said Leon with a sad smile "He expected great things from, me but I failed him, I don''t deserve to succeed his position" "Now now, don''t beat yourself up, no one could''ve predicted this would happen. Anyways I''ll do the planning for this rescue mission if that''s fine by you" said Matt " eh? so you''ve prior experience in doing a military operation like this" asked Leon "but you don''t seem to be a solider or anything." "Not exactly, but you could say that I''ve prior experience" If you consider leading armies and legions in RPG games that is, thought Matt "What do you mean?" asked Leon. Matt didn''t know whether to tell him the truth or not. He had practically met the man just a few hours back. But he cannot hide it from everyone for far too long. He had no knowledge of this world and eventually he''ll have to reveal his identity as an otherworlder. Also, Leon had told his story to him so it is a common courtesy to do the same. So Matt told him his story as well, but he left out the part where the came in contact with the World Tree as-well-as him being immortal and all other stuff. Leon was rendered speechless for a while "So you are not from this world" "Yes" "and you were brought here by a magical portal" "yes" " and Your world have no system, no magic or magical beasts" "yes yes and yes" " this is absurd only the gods have the power to pull off such a big summoning ritual, the Mana needed to power such a ritual is nothing us mere mortals could afford to supply. I would keep this a secret if I were you. You don''t want to get noticed by the wrong people." "Yes I know, but I needed someone''s help if I wished to lead a regular life in this world and I had faith in you. Someone, who is ready to give his life to save his subordinates, will never betray someone who had saved his life," said Matt with a smile " Thank you for trusting me, I won''t betray you even if it kills me. This I promise to you on my life"
Leon Lasguard had made a Promise of Faith to never betray you even upon pain of death. If he brakes this promise he''ll lose 10% of his life force and -8 to reputation with all entities in mortal realm.
" What the system will make a binding contract on its on accord here" Matt had no words to express his awe " back in my world people make such promises daily but will break them if they see it fit" " Then this is the first thing you should keep in mind, if you wish to live in this world, '' Your words have power, never make a promise that you cannot keep," said Leon " And what kind of disgraceful world are you coming from?" " It''s not all that bad as you think it is," said Matt " and we have gone off track, we were planning how to rescue your subordinates from the goblins," said Matt " we''ll discuss my world another time" " Yes you are right, so what''s the plan?" and Matt told him his plan. Chapter 9: Breaking out. Leon was brought out of his musing by the sound of the cell door being pushed open by the goblin captain who was in charge of the patrol unit that had captured him. The goblin was accompanied by a pair of goblins that looked just like the goblins that had been chasing him, when Matt had first came to his rescue. The big goblin was scanning the crowd of prisoners for someone and when his gaze fell upon Leon he stopped and asked the goblins behind him something in goblin tongue, to which they both nodded in affirmation. The Warrior goblin turned around to meet Leon''s eyes and came closer to him, "So someone aided you in your escape heh, tell me where he is, or else, I''ll make you wish you were dead" said the goblin in the common tongue. "I don''t know what you are talking about, I escaped all on my own, no one helped me and even if there was such a person, I wouldn''t have told you" Even before Leon finished saying this the goblin struck him in the stomach with his gauntlet covered hand. The attack was powerful enough to push out all the air inside his lungs and send him flying towards the wall behind him. " That''s not a good enough answer, try again," said the goblin. Leon stood up from where he had fallen, that single punch took 10% of HP from him. He felt the taste of iron filling his mouth and spat out a goblet of blood. " How am I supposed to tell you something I know nothing about"Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Is that so, then who was the one who saved you from these two over there and beat all three of them, including another whose leg got fractured in the fight?" "No one saved me, I fought them off on my own," said Leon "In that case, let''s see you fight them again. Tomorrow morning, you''ll be put up against three goblins from my unit and if you lose you''ll be put up against another three goblins again till you can fight no more. This will continue in the days to come, until you start talking." said the goblin and he left the cell with the other two following after him. The goblin standing guard locked the cell door once the other goblins had left. "Man, you''ve got balls to have stood up against that monster," said Brook "so who is this friend of yours that fought three of those fuckers single-handedly?" "Matt he saved me and I''ll lose my life before I tell on him," said Leon "Yah, one who betrays his friend the worse than a scum" agreed Brook. After that incident, nothing much happened, until midnight that is. Once the sun went down and darkness took over, the camp was lit with many torches and a central campfire. All the goblins gathered around the campfire to eat and drink. Once they started getting drunk the songs, arguments, fights and all other activities followed. The cell in which Leon and the others were locked was near a small rocky mountain from where, Leon could see glimpses of the central campfire. It was about midnight when all the festivities ended. The only goblins that remained were the ones on guard duty. Suddenly the guard standing guard near Leon''s cell fell unconscious and Matt materialized from the darkness near the unconscious goblin. "It is about time you showed up," said Leon "Now let me out of this damn cell, we''ve work to do" and Matt obliged, by unlocking the cell door with the key, that he got from the goblin he had just knocked out. Chapter 10: Retribution. The sound of the cell being pushed open in the middle of the night caused some of the other prisoners to wakeup. When they saw that it was another human that has opened the door, instead of a goblin, they were all surprised. Brook, whose sleep was also distributed by the late-night intrusion, was the first one to come out of his revive " Woah, is this the surprise that you mentioned? Is he the same person who had saved you from those fuckers the other day? " he inquired to Leon "Yes and Yes, this was our plan from the beginning, or rather, I would say his plan," said Leon, inclining his head towards Matt. "We didn''t know where the goblin camp was located at, so he asked me to get myself captured by a patrolling party, so that, they''ll be forced to return to the camp with me and lead him into their camp. He has the Stealth Skill which helped him hide his presence. Then he waited till this time to break us out of the prison" Leon explained their plan to Brook. "Wow, that was very dangerous, if they had caught him too then, the whole plan would have ended in a disaster," said Brook "but it didn''t, did it? now get moving before the other goblins wakeup. There are other guards, you do realize that right ?" Leon chided the man. Matt had been waking other prisoners while Leon and Brook were talking, and within no time everyone in the prison was awake. The prospect of escaping this nightmare, as they call it, was enough to shake off any last bit of sleepiness. "OK, now that we are all awake, Matt here will tell you what to do next," said Leon to draw everyone''s attention towards Matt. "Hello everyone, I''m Matt, and here is what we are going to do. First of all, it is not possible to move this many people without the goblins noticing it. So either, we will have to form a group of four to five people and move everyone out in batches but the problem is, this will divide us and if we get caught we won''t be able to fight back. Or we can take the fight to them by initiating the attack ourself and since the goblins are all asleep we might have an upper hand and if we are lucky enough we may come out of it with far fewer causalities than we think. We don''t have enough time, so make your choice now." "What is there to consider, we can''t let these bastards go without making them pay for what they have done to us, so let''s get back at them when we can, they won''t even know what hit them," said a man with bulging muscles and a thick beard and mustache. Comments like this came from every other prisoner present in the cell. " OK, quiet down everyone we don''t want to wake anyone up, so it''s settled, we are going to take the fight to them," said Leon The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. " That is fine and all, but with what do we fight them? we can''t possibly fight them with our bare hands," said a very tall a lean looking man " Oh I don''t need any weapons, I need only my bare hands to smash them ''ll into a pulp," said the man with the bulging muscles from earlier " not everyone is a monster like you, you muscle headed fool," said the lean fellow " who are you calling a fool you good for nothing elf. You are the fool here" their arguments caused a small commotion but Matt along with Leon, Brook, and several other inmates stepped in and stopped the commotion from growing out of hand. " Everyone, please calm down we cannot get out of here without everyone''s cooperation," Matt said to everyone once the commotion had died down. Was it their luck or the goblins on guard duty slacking off, Matt didn''t know, but even after causing such a racket, not a single goblin came to investigate the matter. Whatever be the case he didn''t want to take any more chances. So he went outside and dragged the goblin he had knocked unconscious into a corner, out of sight from any potential goblin passing by and locked the cell from inside. "OK, so we need weapons right, I saw some kind of an armory on the other side of the camp and it is only guarded by two goblins right now. We can equip ourselves from there. Lets first form a small group to take out all of the guards first." said Matt "I have been told that, those goblins have Sealed away everyone''s ability to use Mana . Does anyone know how to remove it?" " I have a skill that lets me break any kind of Seal placed upon me and anyone in contact with me, but with the level of Mana I have, I can only break the Seal placed on ten people," said the tall and lean man who apparently was an Elf " OK, that''s good enough, anyone else?" "I''ve got a spell that can get rid of any negative status effects placed on a group of people at once, but since the Seal placed on me doesn''t let me reach my Mana, I cannot cast that spell," said Leon " That''s great news, how many times can you cast that spell?" asked Matt " about three to four times in a row if I use up all of my Mana" " How does the spell work, I mean, does it affect a specific number of people or people within a radius?" "the later, but I said I can''t use it, then why are you so excited?" protested Leon "right now you can''t, but once, What is your name?" Matt suddenly asked the Elf with Seal breaking skill. "Elgar Quidan," said the elf "Yes once Elgar here, breaks the Seal placed on you, you can use it right." suddenly Leon''s face lit-up with comprehension but his face fell as fast " The spell will emit a lot of light while casting, it will draw all the attention of the goblins on guard duty," said Leon dejectedly "Doesn''t matter, you cast the spell ten minutes after I leave, along with another eight or seven people that Elgar has released from their Seal, to take down the goblins on guard duty," said Matt, he was determined to get out of this ordeal no matter what. "So who''s with me?" """Me""" said everyone in unison. Chapter 11: Retribution (2) An hour later Matt and a team of seven other prisoners were moving around the camp taking down goblins on guard duty. It was a new moon that day and there was no moonlight to reveal their presence, the only light came from the torches affixed here and there. The central campfire was still going on, fuelled by the goblins on guarding duty. The team lead by Matt remained in the shadows and struck down the unaware goblins. They were spread out to speed-up things a little. Matt had instructed Leon to cast his spell ten minutes after they had left the prison cell which, he considered, was enough time to take down all the guards.
G''har was a Level 5 goblin. The life of a goblin was very hard. The Great Forest was a very harsh place to live in, where only the strong and the fittest creatures can survive. A few years back the goblins were just like any other wild beast, unorganized and self-centered. The most organized group they could form were small tribes consisting of about a hundred to two hundred goblins any more than that an internal fight was sure to follow. That was until Sher''har came into the picture. He was very strong. He single-handedly conquered almost every goblin tribe in the Great Forest within two years. If the goblins respected anything, it was strength, and Sher''har was stronger than the strongest goblin ever to have lived in the Mortal Realms. He was very ambitious and he was planning on forming a great kingdom like those of the Humans. For that, he needed humans to work for him, because when it came to building something the goblin race was at a loss. So Sher''har ordered his minions to capture as many humans as they can. And so a large contingent of goblins was dispatched to follow his order. They also captured other civilized races such as the Elves, Dwarfs, etc. to help them build this dream kingdom of theirs. And G''har was very happy to be part of such a great venture. Sher''har had become an idol for every goblin and G''har was no exception. He had always dreamed of the day when he could meet his idol in person. Currently, G''har along with Ko''sar was guarding the armoury. He didn''t know why they had to guard these weapons, no one was going to come and steal them in the middle of the Great Forest. And even if someone came near their camp, they would be either caught by the goblins patrolling the surrounding area or the guards guarding the front entrance. He was lazily chatting with his fellow guard, suddenly the other goblin fell unconscious as if someone had knocked him out. And before he could raise alarm something struck him in his shoulder and all his strength left his body. His vision started darkening, slowly, he felt his consciousness slipping away from him. His last vision was that of a man standing above his prone body. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
"Move these goblins out of sight and equip your-selves" Matt instructed to those who had accompanied him. The men nodded and moved to follow his orders. Matt had become the De-facto leader of the prisoners. Matt got inside the armoury. It was the size of a small room. Another man followed him with the torch burning outside. There were a lot of wepons stacked inside the small wooden cabin. After looking through all the weapons placed there he took a pair of twin daggers. "I''ll take these and is there any way to keep those goblins away from here?" asked Matt to the person who had followed him. "I''ll ask Joe to cast an illusion spell to shroud this place," " Yes that will do, so I''ll be on my way then," said Matt and he moved towards his next pray. So far, he had refined from killing any of the goblins he had encountered, but he had no false hopes that he could do so once the real fight gets started. If they succeed in taking down all the guards without anyone noticing, he might consider leaving the camp without confronting the other goblins, but, the other prisoners will not leave without paying them back for what they had done to them. Matt had just taken down his fifth victim when he suddenly heard someone blowing a conch, "so much for striking from the shadows" Matt said with a sigh. Immediately after the sound had subdued the camp jumped into action, hordes of goblins came pouring out from the shabby tents. It seemed that Brook was wrong about the number in the camp. There seemed to be at least close to three hundred goblins. Things were not looking too good at the moment. Chapter 12: The Guerrilla War. The once peaceful camp plumped into utter chaos the moment the conch was blown. It seemed the goblins were not equipped to deal with such an attack. They didn''t know what had hit them. And the party they had had up until a few hours back was not helping either. They were disoriented, confused and highly intoxicated. And someone alerting the whole camp was not out of Matt''s calculation, actually, he had expected it to happen, but not this early into the battle. "It doesn''t matter it''s time to start the next phase of the battle plan," thought Matt to himself and he moved towards one of the other prisoners, who had joined him and instructed him to start the next phase and to inform others as well. Staying in the shadows the party moved with ease, they were practically invisible to the others. The Map the system had provided when they had formed the party made it possible to identify other party members otherwise even they would have had a hard time finding each other. The small number of their party also helped in hiding their presence. The next phase was to extinguish all the torch and plunking the camp into utter darkness. Which they accomplished very easily. The darkness made the goblins more disoriented. Matt and the others used this confusion to attack the goblins en-mass. They would strike a goblin and move back. The goblin who was struck will strike back blindly but, since the actual culprit had already backed away, he will be hitting the air or a fellow goblin. This caused further confusion and mayhem in their ranks. Soon the goblins realized it was not safe to stay in the dark and moved towards the campfire but before that, they had lost a good number of their comrades. Soon enough the central campsite was theming with goblins. They had enough logs to last them till sunrise and they were determined to stay away from the dark until then. Suddenly it started raining, summoned by a mage in Matt''s party. The goblin started panicking, but they had no way of saving the campfire from the rain. At the same time there came a blinding light from the north side of the camp. It only lasted a few seconds but none of the goblins were willing to go investigate the matter and they had more pressing matters at hand. "That must be Leon casting his spell," thought Matt. The campfire was slowly dying. And the goblins were getting closer to the last source of light they had. After about five minutes the campfire started dying and a desperate goblin tried to keep it burning by adding another log. But it was a mistake, the wet log made the already dying flames go out much faster. Another two mages had joined the first mage. One was replenishing the first mage''s Mana while the other two was casting a wind spell. And then when the campfire finally died, the striking team Matt had formed once again started their attack. After a few minutes, they came out of the chaos they had created. But they weren''t unscathed by no means, everyone had had their share of injuries, and two of them looked very dangerously wounded. The goblins continued their attack without knowing that they were attacking their own. Everyone in Matt''s team gathered together away from the bloodbath they had initiatated. "Is everyone all right?" Asked Matt to which everyone answered in affirmation. After about fifteen minutes the sound of battle started dying and five more minutes after that silence returned to the camp. "Is it over?" someone asked in the darkness "Not sure," said someone elseThis content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. "I''ll go check. I have the Night-Vision, you all stay here," After about five minutes, three red dots appeared on their map. And a few minuts later the man who had gone to scout the battle feild returned. " There are only three survivors, one seems to be a mage and the other two are both warior types, I''ve added their locations to the map." "What about their weapons?" Matt asked the man " The mage has a staff, that''s how I knew he was a mage; one of the other two goblins is wealding a great sward and the other a giant battle axe." " They must be damn strong to have survived that," said someone "If hundred of goblins can''t beat them then we stand no chance against them," said someone else "SHUT YOUR TRAP YOU COWARDS, YOU CALL YOURSELVES MEN GO AND HIDE BEHIND YOUR MAMA, " billowed someone " I am gona take on all three of those fuckers on my own," This sudden outbrake caused everyone to fall scilent. "Now now, don''t be so brash they were just stating their wories, we started this together and we''ll end it together," said Matt " Yes, Matt is right we can''t just backout now." Brook agreed with Matt''s openion. "Fisrt of all light some torches so that we can see each other first and then decide what to do next," said Matt and someone complied to his order by lighting a torch. What they saw shocked them all. The two of their fellow prisoners were drenched with their own blood. One man had a deep wound in his chest and the other had a head injury. Matt being a medical practioner himself knelet down besides them to examin them. The man with the cut in his chest was bairly clinking to his life. The other man was not looking good either " What were you guys thinking, why didn''t you let us know you were this badly injured?" asked a very confused Matt "I didn''t want to be a burden to you," said the man with the chest injury "Yes, and besides the strength and mana spend on us can be used on the battlefeild," said the other guy "You guys are mad, can anyone do anything to save them?" asked Matt "I know a Spell that might help but it won''t be enough," said one of his team members "Cast it and stay by their side," ordered Matt, he turned towards the man who had an arguement with Elgar earlier "can you take on the goblin with the axe?" "Yes, with plesure," said the man, killing intent evident in his voice. Now that Matt thought back he was the same person who had snaped a while back. "Brook, you are with me, we''ll take on the guy with the great sword," said Matt to which brook nodded. "You, guys are mages if I remember correctly, can you take on the final goblin?" Matt asked the remaining two members of his squad. "We will," After assigning every one their duties they all moved towords the center of the camp, leaving the injuried members behind along with another member of theirs to guard them. Once they neared the center of the camp Matt said, "OK, now can anyone light the battle feild, so that we can end it for good," " I have a spell that might help but it will only cover ten-meter radius, is that enough?" someone enquired "Yes, it will do. If anybody else has any other spells or skills that can lighten up the battlefield please cast it as well," Matt commanded. And suddenly the darkness was expelled to reveal three battle-hungry goblins staring at them. Chapter 13: The final showdown. It was a massacre. The once peaceful camp was now filled with hundreds of dead goblins that had inhibited it a few hours back. Three goblins, the survivors or the winners of the battle royal that had taken place in the camp, stood in the dead center of the camp, all bloodied and bloodlust evident in their eyes. Matt who had orchestrated this bloodbath, along with his accomplices was standing there, rooted to the ground. They knew that, if these battle-hungry goblins were to attack them head-on, even with having an advantage in numbers, they will lose their lives. To have stayed alive after being attacked by at least a hundred goblin on an average and to have killed the said hundred goblins said volumes about their strength. Matt observed the three remaining goblins. One was wearing a full plate armor, less the helmet, which was died red by a mixture of blood and dirt. It had many dents on it but despite the damage it still held strong. Its wearer was very huge compared to its brethren. When the other goblins only half the size of a regular human, this guy was nearly the size of a regular human. In his right hand, he held a giant battle-axe which, like his armor was covered by blood. There was a deep scar on his left eye, which gave him a sinister look. The second goblin was the same goblin who had been leading the patrolling party that had brought Leon into the camp. He, likewise, was wearing a tattered leather armor and was holding a great sword in his right hand. The third goblin was wearing a cloak which despite the intense battle had sustained no damage at all. In his left hand was a staff which had something engraved on its whole length which of-course Matt couldn''t see. The top of the staff was designed in the shape of a spiral shell. The two groups stared daggers at each other. "So you are the pests behind this, You''ll pay for this with your blood. I''ll personally behead you all and display your sculls on spikes for everyone to see," said the goblin in full plate armor and charged at Matt''s group axe ready to strike but he was intercepted by the muscular man from Matt''s team, who was wielding a large hammer.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. "I should ask his name once this is all over," thought Matt. But he had not much time for musing, because the goblin with the great sword also joined the fray and he, along with Brook, was forced to engage the new threat. He also saw a magic bolt being struck down by another. Brook was wielding a short sword with both his hands. He blocked the first strike aimed at his torso. The goblin tried to overpower him, but Brook side-stepped and struck the goblin, who had lost his balance, from behind. The goblin fell face first on the hard ground. Brook tried to impale the goblin with his sword, but the goblin rolled away from the anticipated strike and got into a kneeling position. Brook went for his head and the goblin blocked it with his greatsword. Matt, who had been waiting for an opportune moment, choose that moment to strike. He closed the distance between the duo engaged in a furious battle, stabbed the goblin, using both his daggers in quick succession. The goblin roared in pain and pushed off Brook with all his might. Brook was forced to take two steps backward and before he could regain his balance, the goblin swung his greatsword horizontally and forced Brook to fall further back. The goblin continued his strike to get the enemy behind him but the enemy had long retreated. This continued for a long time until finally, the goblin fell lifeless before the on-slaughter of his two enemies. But their victory came at a very high cost; Brook lost his entire left arm. Matt had to literally drag the man, of the battlefield towards the other two wounded party members. The other fights were also coming to an end by the time Matt returned to the battlefield. The axe-wielding goblin had a huge dent on its armor and also was lacking a vital organ namely; a head. His opponent was nowhere to be seen. The Shaman, or whatever it was, was lying dead with some kind of purple flame dancing on its body. The two mages who had fought against it was sitting a few feet away from its body. The battle was over and they had won it, and believe it or not, Matt was the reason for their victory.