Chapter 15 - The Second Tribulation (3)

Her words were rather amusing, and I could tell that she was quite sly; any other man would have fallen prey to her words. She had, on purpose, said “have me” in regard to herself and “spar with Ryia,” the woman who looked the toughest in their group.

“Ryia,” I said, looking calmly at her face for one of her amusing reactions. Just for a second, I saw a disappointed look at my rejection of her advances, followed by a face that seemed determined. Intriguing, I thought, looking at this energetic woman who seemed to flit through emotions as fast as I had chewed through meat when I was a starving wyrm.

Suddenly, I felt a sense of danger and killing intent enter my mind. This had happened to me many times before when I was “sparring” with the eldest, but with him, it was a sense of danger that almost rooted me frozen; it was overwhelmingly intense. I barely lasted a moment each time I sparred with the eldest, even when he was in his tiny, little girl form. I do not think I could even touch the eldest if he were to come at me in a baby human form, so overwhelmingly strong was he.

This time, however, it was not exactly a sense of danger. It felt more like a warning of a small inconvenience. This was one of my exclusive abilities, like my ability with the blood of others. I had a few more, but this one was the most uncertain, as it only worked sometimes. I am not exactly sure, but I had learned enough to judge the degrees during my training with the eldest.

My sense was not unfounded because up ahead, I saw a large group of goblins coming through the town. There was also a male goblin in the lead, adorned with strange black markings all over his half-naked body. They were all riding dire wolves and were waiting just ten feet away from the safety grounds. All of them were confident since none of us had any weapons with range.

The lead goblin with the black markings came forward and gave a grin that displayed his sharp, yellow teeth. “We broke through your defense by flanking the guards, and now we will ki—”

Before that goblin leader even had a chance to finish speaking, a small throwing knife lodged itself in his throat, forever cutting off his words as red blood trickled down. The staff he was holding fell to the ground with a hard thud. All of the goblins were shocked into disbelief, along with most of the humans in the safety grounds.

Only a few people saw where the knife came from, and I was one of them. I looked at the long, black-haired girl who was average-looking. She was dressed in black leather armor and had two sheathed daggers jutting out from behind her waist. She was one of Elisa's party members.

Interesting. That girl was most likely hiding many, many throwing knives beneath her armor, beyond the obvious ones on her belt.

“Nice throw, Milli! That certainly shut him up,” Elisa said, giving the knife-thrower girl a small nod of praise. Milli just nodded silently in return, her small head bobbing down an almost unnoticeable length.

The goblin warriors behind their fallen leader finally shook themselves out of their disbelief and howled with outrage. Their dire wolves, about two-thirds the size of a horse, howled along. Then they charged toward the safety grounds.

“Well then, time for some fun exercise,” Elisa said, stretching both her arms overhead before finally drawing her steel sword, whose length was almost her full height. I also noted a strange symbol on the middle of that plain steel sword. She held the longsword with both hands on the long hilt and was strong enough to lift it gracefully.

Crazy as a squirrel whose nuts had been stolen by another, she actually charged toward the dozen goblin warriors and their dire wolves. Flanking her right was that tall, handsome woman with the thin scar on her left cheek, whose name, if I remember correctly, was Ryia Altard. This woman held a short spiked mace in her right hand, which was dressed in a thin brown glove.

The third party member, whose name I did not know yet, silently watched this affair and shook her head to herself. If I heard correctly, I think she muttered “crazy bitches” under her breath. Then she gave a small, fond smile toward the backs of her two party members. The smile instantly disappeared, however, as if it had never occurred.

I, near the entrance of the safety grounds, observed all of this quietly and, dare I say it, with mirth. I was almost close to laughter. Almost.

Before long, they met their respective goblins, brandishing short swords while riding their dire wolves. Elisa swerved left at the last moment, right before the wolf pounced at her, and still managed to dodge the downward swing of the goblin's weapon. Using that momentum, she spun back around, using the heels of her booted feet, and with both hands on the hilt of her longsword, executed a downward slashing motion that traveled through the goblin's neck, only stopping after decapitating both the goblin and the wolf he was riding. Both the wolf and the goblin came to a sudden halt, and their newly-formed corpses dropped to the ground, their heads rolling from the momentum.

Now, there were only eleven goblin raiders left.

I found myself a little surprised at this inhumane feat. Perhaps the sword she was carrying had a magical enchantment that could cut through such thick bones so smoothly without even a nick.

At the same time, Ryia Altard also swerved right at the last moment, dodging everything, then spun back around, smashing both the goblin's and the wolf's faces with two quick hits of her spiked mace. They died instantly as their faces became unrecognizable, pounded flesh with a sickening crunch that could be heard even from here.

The two women became heralds of death, their weapons flashing from goblin to goblin in a beautiful dance of weapons and blood. They were not stupid, however, knowing that if the goblins surrounded them, they would be hard-pressed or even killed. But the two women were quick on their feet and did not stay still for even a second, not even to regain their bearings after killing the goblins.

I was no longer the center of attention in the safety grounds, as most of them, excluding the children sheltered by their parents, turned to look at the fighting, entranced by the two death-dealing women. The guards, who had an idea of the skill displayed before them, stood dumbfounded and envious.

In just a short while, all of the dozen goblin raiders and their wolves lay prone against the hard earthen ground. Most of them were dead, while a few were moaning in pain as they bled, slowly dying.

Seeing this victory, the people started cheering, and Elisa gave them a small wave. Then she frowned, looking at her blood-stained sword. She tried to clean it on the fur of a brown wolf, but some blood still remained on the longsword, so she shrugged and sheathed it behind her back in one smooth motion. She turned around to look at me, walking up to me.

“Now then, Verath, the next point of business shall be you getting some clothing,” Elisa said, a joyous, bloodthirsty smile on her face. Her black leather armor was stained with the blood of her foes, and a few specks of blood that had splattered onto her face were already drying. “But you can just stay naked if you want. I do not mind.” She paused for a moment. “We will also need to take a bath to clean up...”

I was not too sure, but it seemed like I was included in this business without even being asked.

“Oh yes, I forgot to introduce the third member of our party. Her name is Milli Gobumi,” Elisa said, gesturing toward her.

As I stared at the corpses of those goblins and wolves behind the smiling Elisa and the smirking Ryia, who were high-fiving each other, I could not help but conclude that women are strange creatures.

Quite intriguing.