Walking through the forest, Liya and Rick carefully inspected their surroundings. But, all they could see where the trees and the bushes surrounding them, and the earth and the gra.s.s below their feet. All they could hear were the leaves that rustled in the gentle breeze of the wind, and the chirping of birds amongst other sounds that the small animals of the forest made."What do you think drove the wolves away from the forest?" Rick suddenly said, breaking the silence between him and Liya.
Shaking her head, Liya said, "I don"t know."
Rick turned his head to Liya. "Can"t you guess?"
Liya turned her head to Rick. "No, and don"t bother guessing yourself," she said in a serious tone and turned her head away, continuing to carefully inspect the forest surrounding her and Rick.
"Why?" Rick said, tilting his head questioningly as he didn"t see anything wrong with taking a simple guess.
"Guessing does more harm than good," Liya said in a serious tone once more.
Furrowing his eyebrows, Rick said, "Why?"
"You first guess, then you suddenly start to think that your guess is a fact, and finally when you act on that guess, you either get lucky or get burned. And nine out of ten times you get burned."
Rick slowly nodded his head in understanding. "I guess you are right," he said and gave a dry laugh as he turned his head away from Liya, continuing to carefully inspect the forest surrounding him and her just as she did.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes, but then they both furrowed their noses as a foul stench penetrated their nostrils.
"What is that foul stench?" Liya thought, and Rick vocalised her thoughts, "What is that stench?"
Liya shook her head. "I don"t know, but it"s not anything good."
"Let"s go and find out!" Rick said and ran towards the stench, and Liya followed closely behind him.
Witch each taken step, the smell got fouler and sharper, all until it reached its foulest and sharpest form when the thing that gave off the stench appeared in their eyes. It was a wolf lying on the ground on its right side. Its belly had a huge gaping hole and its innards were scattered all around its body, like they were pulled out and thrown out by someone or something. Every piece of the beast"s scattered innards had flies swarming around them.
The vile sight made Liya"s eyes widen, and it made her cover her mouth with her right hand as she felt nauseous. But she managed to hold it in and force it back inside, which couldn"t be said the same for Rick as he puked out his breakfast on the green gra.s.s below his feet.
"Who did this?" Rick said as he wiped the puke from his mouth.
"I don"t know, but whatever it was. It was the reason why the wolves left the forest," Liya said, but then the wolf"s belly suddenly moved. A frowning expression appeared on Liya"s face. "Is something inside its belly?" She unsheathed her two weapons, holding one with each hand.
Noticing Liya"s action, Rick turned his head to her. "What"s wrong?" he said, but as his words left his mouth, a figure burst out of the wolf"s belly.
It was of the size of a ten-year-old human child and was completely naked. It had long sharp fingernails on both of its hands, long ears, sharp teeth and a long nose. Its eyes were the same as that of a reptile. Its skin was moss green and b.u.mpy, but more than 70% of it was covered with blood.
"A goblin?"
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"*Kikiki!*, prey, *Kikiki!*" It said in its high-pitched voice and charged towards Liya.
Rick turned his head, and his eyes widened and mouth opened from shock as his eyes landed on the goblin which was rus.h.i.+ng towards Liya. "Impossible!" he shouted out. "Monsters have not been seen for more than ten of thousands of years!"
"Here it comes!" Liya tightened her grip on her two staves as she waited for the goblin to reach her.
"We have to run now!" Rick shouted out.
Liya ignored Rick"s shout as the range between her and the goblin became non-existent. The goblin struck with its b.l.o.o.d.y right hand claws towards her stomach in an attempt to penetrate her, but she sidestepped to the right, completely dodging the attack.
She quickly slashed with the stave in her right hand and followed up with the stave in her left hand. Two damage numbers floated up above the goblin"s head and the latter attack was a critical strike. > >."That hurt *Kikiki!* Kill! *Kikiki!*"
Gaining 16 rage from the two attacks, Liya stomped her right foot down, using the skill – >. Damage floated up above the goblin"s head >, it fell down to the ground, dead and got enveloped in a golden glow and a few notification messages flashed.>>
Liya sheathed her two staves and looked down at the goblin that she killed. She bent down and touched its corpse with her right hand, and a loot window opened.
<10 copper="" coins="">>
Tapping on the 10 copper coins in the inventory window, they were looted and she stood up. She turned her head back and saw Rick staring at her wide-eyed. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern in his voice.
"I am fine."
Rick nodded his head hastily. "We have to go back."
Liya furrowed her eyebrows and tilted her head in confusion. "Why?"
"It"s a monster, we have to report this to the capital and they will send the black ones to deal with it."
"Black ones?" Liya shook her head. "No, I am continuing."
Rick"s eyes widened. "We can"t, we have to leave!" he couldn"t help but shout out.
"When you start something you see it through to the end," Liya said as if she was stating a universal truth.
Rick opened his mouth, but he was at a loss for words. A few minutes of silence pa.s.sed and he reluctantly nodded his head. "Alright… I will come with you."
"Are you sure?" Liya tilted her head questioningly.
Rick nodded his head firmly. "Yes."
"Alright then."
They continued on, and before long, two goblins appeared in their path, they were standing 10-yards of each other.
"You take one on the left and I will take one on the right," Liya said as she moved her eyes from one goblin to the next.
Rick swallowed his saliva. "Alright."
Liya and Rick both unsheathed their weapons and they approached their respective goblins. When the two goblins saw them, they immediately charged at them, while shouting, "*Kikiki!*, prey, *Kikiki!*"
The goblin struck its claws towards Liya, and she sidestepped to the left, dodging the attack. She could dodge it when fighting the goblin for the first time, so there was no reason for her not to be able to dodge the goblin"s attack now.
She slashed with her left stave and followed up with her right. Two damage numbers floated up above the goblin"s head, and the former was a critical strike, > >."That hurt *Kikiki!* Kill! *Kikiki!*"
Gaining 17 rage from the two attacks, Liya stomped her right foot down, using the skill – >. Damage floated up above the goblin"s head >, it fell down to the ground, dead and got enveloped in a golden glow and a few notification messages flashed.>>
>>>>>Liya turned her head to Rick, and as she did, he killed it and a notification message flashed in front of her.
>>
"Good."
Rick stared at the goblin that he killed. "It"s dead? Just like that?" he mumbled.
"Let"s take a short rest, Rick!" Liya shouted out to him.
Rick turned his head to Liya and nodded his head slowly. "Alright."
Liya walked behind the tree. She raised and extended her right arm and swiped down, and the menu opened. From it she selected the talents option which was greyed out before, and the talents window opened. In the window she saw that she had four choices.
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