Chapter 14: Psychological Combat
After we ate lunch we continued to hunt animals and monsters that came near the stream. During that time I was able to increase my level to level 5. I don't understand how the HP system works though, it isn't giving me HP on level up, but I am getting bits and pieces so there's that. However like every RPG, its easy at first and as you keep playing it continues to get harder. So I expect that obviously my leveling speed will decrease along with the amount of HP I receive per level up, I don't understand why my MP (FYI: Magic Points)wont increase though, strange. Before we finished our break I opened up my stats and skills windows.
(I can feel some of you raging, because you might think this is a bit too much in such a short time.)
HP: 162
MP: 150
STR: 13
END: 11
AGI: 15
INT: 5
KNL: 5
WIS: 5
I've been focusing on sword fighting this entire time so its only natural that those attributes are the ones that are increasing I wonder how magic works here. I didn't use any of the level up points, because I thought that I should save it when the time comes, right now I have 15. I then went to my skills menu.
Skills
One-Handed sword skill: 18
I tapped on it and appeared were a list of unlockables. There weren't a whole lot actually, if I counted correctly I only saw 20. I thought there would be more, but it probably makes up with the wide variety of weapons which I have yet to see along with magic. I decided to look in to the new skill I got [Sweeping Arc].
[Sweeping Arc]
Swing your sword in a wide arc capable of knocking enemies of their feet. If successful it will leave them vulnerable for 8 seconds.
[Level 1: 4 seconds]
[Level 1: ATK +10]
[Cost: 20 STA]
So it means I it gives me a chance to make more attacks. What worries me is "if successful" that means there is a chance this skill wont work. Well I guess it means if it doesn't hit or is dodged or maybe blocked then the intended effect wont work. Since I'm battling common mobs I shouldn't be worried about that now. Another thing is the cost, 20 STA? I'm pretty sure that means stamina, but I don't see a bar around my hud that says how much I have. I hope this isn't a bug or something limited to me, but its my first skill so I should have enough stamina to use it. I'll try to ask Eve once she returns, maybe she could do something about that.
After I checked I told Alice and Lilith to incorporate it in our strategy if anything happens. Apparently something did happen...
We soon waited in our positions again waiting for the next passerby mobs to come to the stream, we were expecting goblins, but something much larger came.
It had the same look as the goblins with a rather dark brown tinted with green, it was 6 feet tall 7 feet if not slouched much taller than the Halfling goblins if this thing existed back in the real world it's height would be considered as a regular league basketball player, it was quite muscular as well wielding a large tree branch covered in spikes. It then began to drink from the stream's water.
"What is that?" I asked.
"That is a hobgoblin." Alice answered.
"A hobgoblin?" A window popped up.
Hobgoblin
LVL: 8
Race: Corrupted
Type: Demi-Human
Rank: Common
HP: Full
3 Levels higher than me? This might be dangerous, but we have strength in numbers so it should be fine.
"Hobgoblins are much stronger than a regular goblin. They could hit harder and endure much more damage." Alice said.
"Its not often when a hobgoblin is alone. Its usually with a pack of smaller goblins or at least with another hob" Lilith said.
"Why? Should they be with others?" I asked.
"They should, even though its stronger than them, its bigger and by definition slower. It would be more vulnerable if it didn't have a group with it." Lilith explained. So this one came alone, it probably thought it would have been alright to come alone since it didn't know it would be ambushed. This brings back that these things could actually think, like most I suspect this one didn't think either.
"I see, so what should we do?" I asked.
"Duh, we take it down just like the rest." Lilith said pulling her sword out.
"Zach were going to need that skill if anything goes wrong." Alice said.
"Right." I said readying my sword.
"You know the signal" Alice said and retreated back to her position.
Alice returned to her position and drew her arrow. She set her sights on the hobgoblin's head, and fired, but her accuracy was of and met the hobgoblin's neck.
"HRRAAH!" The Hobgoblin shouted.
Judging by the shout, I guess she still got a critical hit.
It pulled out the arrow and began to look around, the initial reaction. Me and Lilith dashed out of our hiding spots, the hobgoblin only noticed us when we were only a few inches away from it.
"HRAAH!" The Hobgoblin shouted as it raised its spiked branch at us and slammed it on the ground.
As Alice said, it was slow and managed to avoid it. We then began to whittle down its HP. It swung from the left towards me, I dodged it. Once it made a full swing I started to count, and finished when it made another. 7 seconds was the interval between swings, it wasn't as slow as I thought probably due to level, but two extra seconds to swing a weapon is still a fatal. The Hobgoblin held its spiked branch back, I was counting, once I reached 7 it didn't swing, there was something wrong. The Hobgoblin made a horizontal swing and afterwards a downward smashing strike, me and Lilith avoided it by a hair.
"That was close!" I said taking deep breaths Lilith on the other hand was in the same situation, but she responded in an insulting manner.
"Hey, slowpoke try to keep up!" Lilith said insulting the Hobgoblin.
"HRAAAAH!" The Hobgoblin shouted enraged by Lilith's response.
"Lilith, focus!" I said in a serious tone, but it didn't seem to affect her.
"Yeah, I got it!" Lilith said a bit annoyed.
It was probably a skill this kind of mob could do, in RPG's mobs have certain skills they could use, similar to a player's skills. Like a players skills there's always a cool down effect before they could use it again. I counted ever since it showed that regular posture. After it swung it took about 13 seconds for it to issue a proper swing again. It was probably due to the skill, a small penalty perhaps? I stopped counting when it made the same position again. 33 seconds including its penalty in order for it to use it again. This time me and Lilith were prepared and easily avoided it.
"33 seconds, it needs 33 seconds to issue that skill!" I announced.
"What?" Lilith said confused.
"I mean there's a time interval between when it can use those skills."
"There's a time interval? We never knew that when we were hunting?" Lilith said.
"You didn't? I thought you'd know." I said.
"Well we did know it could do that, but we never counted soooo-" Lilith said nonchalantly.
"Sigh... I'll talk more about it later." I said and all I could do was tilt my head down and sigh.
I thought they'd know more about this forest than me, I guess they're not as strategic as me. No, right they have no clue that this world acts like a game.
"Kukuku... I'll remember that, thanks for the heads up. You need to chill out, come on!" Lilith said in a relaxed manner.
Ironic as we almost got our heads bashed in, whatever I guess I'll go with it for now. I ran back with her.
As it swung at Lilith, I would make a slash at its blind spot, Lilith would do the same even faster. Alice continued to barrage the Hobgoblin from her position.
The Hobgoblin was at a complete disadvantage with the 3 of us together, or so we thought.
"Alright were almost finished! Just a little more!" I said.
The Hobgoblin was taking deep breaths, crouching using its branch to support itself. I thought it was done for until the Hobgoblin smiled at us. I then realized our mistake, I quickly turned to Alice.
"Alice! Look out!" I called out.
"Huh?" Alice said looking behind her.
Alice turned to look behind her and there was another hobgoblin preparing to swing. Alice then redirected her bow to Hobgoblin behind her. The arrow struck it in the chest and canceled the hob's swing.
Alice then grabbed another arrow ready to shoot. I turned to Lilith.
"Lilith!" I called.
"I know!" Lilith responded.
Lilith ran towards Alice's position at phenomenal speed. The Hobgoblin was about to make a swing, this time Alice's arrow didn't cancel it out and the Hobgoblin swung its branch at Alice. Just before it made contact the club was parried by Lilith.
"Sorry I'm late!" Lilith said.
"Lilith!" Alice exclaimed.
"C'mon we have to get of this rock!" Lilith said.
Both of them jumped of the rock on the other side of the stream, the Hobgoblin soon followed. I was relieved that she made it in time, I turned back to the one in front of me. It managed to gather enough strength to stand up. It continued to smile, probably knowing that now I was alone it could take me out even if it was in a weakened state. I stood, with my sword in front and my legs spread apart. I narrowed my eyes. Once I did I felt that the reaction of the Hobgoblin changed. To the Hobgoblin this was like a challenge as it let a shout out.
"HRRAAAH!" The Hobgoblin shouted at me and began to run towards me with its spiked branch.
It swung, I parried. I was doing my regular strategy, but since it was focusing on me it had less blind spots. Its strength was unbelievable, I tried to block one of its attacks, but my hands went numb from the shock, however I got a taste of its strength the hard way. Carelessly thinking that this one was weakened was a mistake, I was hit twice resulting at a loss of 50 HP per hit, being damaged didn't do anything. It was like being hit with a baseball bat covered in barbed wire, the pain was unbearable, but I continued to fight. I ran back towards it and it revealed a new attack, instead of raising its spiked branch it retracted its fist. Which could only mean one thing, a punch. It used its free right hand to throw a punch at me. I quickly leaped out of its way avoiding its impact, but it was still grazed my cheek. I rubbed the grid wound of and looked back at my foe. 4 seconds was the time it took to do a punch, its probably due to a change in patterns or the fact that I wasn't separated with the rest of my group yet at the time it was supposed to do it. It tried to make combos with it punching and swinging its weapon. It became faster though, I kept dodging, parrying and slashing at it. My heart was beating fast I could have fainted, but under all the pain I was feeling a smile appeared, the thrilling feeling of putting your life on the line, no game back in the old world could have given this kind of feeling, and in my mind one word appeared, "Fun".
I continued to do this until its HP reached the red zone, but in the crucial moment I was caught in its Skill.
"CRAP!" I was hit on my chest and toppled me back around a meter from where I was standing. I landed on my chest with the sword by my side. I looked at my HP Gauge and 150 HP was gone.
"ARRGH!" I held my chest. Thankfully my rib cage isn't broken, but with the pain I'm feeling it might as well be.
"HRAHAHA" The Hobgoblin cackled at the sight of my weakness. It continued to do so while it was approaching me. I waited for the Hobgoblin to get closer. The Hobgoblin then raised its spiked branch to perform a downward swing. I smiled, quickly grabbed my sword and stood up to block its attack. The Hobgoblin's ceased cackling, its expression changed.
"Where'd your smile go?" I said enraging the Hobgoblin.
"HRAAAAAH!" The Hobgoblin shouted in anger.
It began to push even harder. I shifted to the side, sliding my sword against its spiked branch and made a slash on its shin causing one of its knees to fall. It was on the ground supporting itself with one leg, I was behind it preparing to swing my sword. In an attempt to retaliate, it tried to make one last swing at me, but it was too late. By the time it faced me, I made a swift horizontal slash aimed at its neck. Its neck began to pry open and soon was decapitated. The headless corpse slumped and fell side ways.
I had to give credit though, the Hobgoblin wasn't as dumb as the others, ambushing us was a wise choice and separating us, but-.
"You were strong, but you lost due to pride." There was no answer, well duh, I was talking to a corpse of course there wouldn't be an answer. I guess knowing that they actually think has gotten to my head, which raises the question what happens to the memories of these mobs when they die?
[You have Leveled up!]
[One-Handed Sword Skill +8]
[Skill: Precision Strike]
"Damn, maybe I'm underestimating my strength stat, I didn't think you could get decapitated in this game and am I improving a bit too fast?" I asked. I looked closer at the decapitated head. It became an item?! That's gross, but I still placed it inside my inventory space for later harvesting.
I wonder how Alice and Lilith are doing- Wait! What am I doing?!
"I have to get to Lilith and Alice quickly!" I said. I was about to dash over until I saw Alice come through exhausted.
"Alice! Are you alright? Where's Lilith?" I asked.
"She's been cornered by the Hobgoblin!" Alice said
"What! Then we need to-!" I was about to run towards her direction, until I was stopped by Alice.
"No, she told us to run! Its too strong!" Alice said.
What she said then pissed me off, there's no way I'm going to run. I'm not making the same mistake I did that day!
"Tsk!" I flicked my tongue out of anger and prepared my sword.
"You run. I'm staying." I said in a stiff tone.
"What!" Alice exclaimed surprised.
"If I don't come back by nightfall, consider me dead." I said with my head tilted downwards. Alice's expression changed.
"You really could die! Terra will be very sad if you don't come back don't you know?!" Alice tried to give me reasons why I should go back with her, but my mind was set and there wasn't anything that could change it.
"Then tell her I'm sorry for not being strong enough, if I'm going to die I'll die protecting Lilith." I said with a stiff tone.
"Aren't you being selfish?! Your pushing yourself to limits you know nothing of! Are you trying to be a hero!" Alice shouted. That's when I couldn't take it anymore, I grinded my teeth I turned back to her in furious eyes and shouted back...
"I don't want to be a hero! But I'm not going to run away knowing I could've done something to protect the precious people I know!" I shouted. Alice was stunned by my answer, but through my rage I began to run my mouth.
"Aren't you the one who's being selfish!?" I said. Alice's expression was surprised.
"What!?" Alice said back in a refuting tone.
"You want to rule a kingdom yet you save your own skin over risking yourself for the lives of others! You should know first hand of what needs to be done yet all you do is run from where you are needed!" I scolded.
"But Lilith said-!" Alice was about to say, but I was tired of her excuses and finally snapped.
"You don't even know how to stand up for yourself! You are a failure as a leader! You cant rule a kingdom nevertheless lead this group!" I scolded again. Alice's expression became blank as the words came out my mouth. Alice's legs lost strength and fell to the ground, she then began to sob with her hands covering her face. She began to mumble
"I'm sorry, I'm s-sorry..." Alice said sorrowfully as she covered her teary eyes. She looked like a child crying over a broken toy. Right, in the end she's just a child, I went too far this time.
"No, this is my fault I spoke out of my boundaries. I shouldn't have said those things to you." I said crouching down. Alice removed her hands from her face to look at me.
"If I come back alive I'll be sure to make it up to you later" I said and stood up. I was about to start running until Alice stood up after me and called.
"Wait!" Alice called. I turned back to see she has risen up from her pitiful state.
"I'm coming with you!" Alice said wiping her teary eyes. She said..
"So, what's the plan?" She asked me with a serious expression. Now that I think about it what was my plan? According to Alice its obviously stronger, so what should I do. I then remembered something... That's it! I know what I should do.
"I'll distract it, it should buy you enough time to get Lilith out, once she's out leave the rest to me." I said.
"Alright, lets go" Alice said. Both of ran to the opposite side of the stream.
When we got to the scene I saw the Hobgoblin in front of Lilith raising its hands together to perform a downward pound strike. I dashed over in front of Lilith and blocked the Hobgoblin's attack.
"Zach!" Lilith exclaimed with wide eyes
The Hobgoblins hands on the sword trying to put weight on it. I kicked it pushing it back and causing it to stagger. A dirty move I've seen in some sword fighting movies, kicking the enemy back to stagger them in order to buy time to focus on something else. A window popped up.
[Skill was unlocked after committing a certain action!]
[Martial Arts skill tree unlocked!]
[Skill: Kick Unlocked!]
A skill? Guess I'll look at it later. I turned back to the Hobgoblin. It seems that they were able to disarm it, Lilith must have been hit with one of the punches then. Alice came rushing to Lilith's aid.
"Lilith are you alright?!" Alice said worriedly.
"Alice!" Lilith said in a surprised tone with widened eyes.
"I thought I told you to run!" Lilith said with a worried like tone.
"I found Zach and told him what happened. Once he heard you were hurt he dashed to the rescue." Alice said jokingly.
"Now both of you rest, leave the rest to me." I said. Both nodded and began to flee from the scene before they were out Lilith said...
"Zach, be careful this one was stronger than the one we fought a while ago, it may even be smarter." Lilith said as she was being supported by Alice.
"Got it, but we'll see about that last part." I said and turned my sights to my enemy. Both Alice and Lilith had puzzled looks as they heard my final response before staying out of our battle range.
A window appeared.
Hobgoblin
LvL: 10
Race: Corrupted
Type: Demi-Human
Rank: Common
HP: 70%
Its HP Gauge seems to be in the yellow zone. Its level is higher I guess attack and endurance are also increased, that's probably why Lilith lost, but shouldn't they be better than since they were here before I was?
"Hruh...Hruh" The hobgoblin was watching us, particularly me. I did bring a special item along to aggravate it, so lets test it out.
"It looks like you did a number on my friend here, guess what, so did I" I said. I opened my inventory and took a special item out.
"I-Is that...!" Lilith widened her eyes at the sight of the item in my hand.
"Yeah it is.." Alice seemed less surprised, but still fazed.
Once I had it in my hand the Hobgoblins expression changed to an enraged mood. It was the other Hobgoblin's head. Knowing that mobs could think I thought I'd bring it along to incite it into a rage. Once I saw its expression change, I know I succeeded. Maybe I should keep up the act.
"Lets see if your as any stronger." I smirked taunting it. As expected it took the bait.
"HRRAAAAAH!" It shouted.
Its fists clenched, grinding its teeth and soon charged at me piercing the ground. It threw a punch, I evaded by rolling behind it and striking its limbs. It kept throwing punches at me, I evaded each one of them, but they all felt slow. Its probably due to my agility stat, it wasn't slow, I was faster. However comparing it to Lilith I still have a long way to go. I was following my same old strategy since I already knew its movements, the Hobgoblin was enveloped by its rage and continued to throw even more punches aimlessly trying to hit me, but that was also a mistake, seeing as it has no armor and it gave up its weapon, I can hit anywhere making its entire body vulnerable it also can't use its skill with out it. I made sure to make slashes at its critical points whenever I got the chance, each time I hit one of its critical points it gave a shout in pain. I knew that these things have minds of their own, but knowing they do also opens up many more weaknesses. Every time it's HP drops I noticed that its attack speed drops, well not by a huge number a few milliseconds at the very least which I didn't bother trying to measure, but it was getting slower.
Slowly but surely I made it's HP Gauge reach the red zone. It was grunting taking heavy breaths, it didn't even get a bruise on me. We were apart staring at each other in silence, I didn't want it to get any ideas of escaping or grabbing its weapon. So I decided to break our silence.
"You really are weaker, compared to your friend here." I taunted pointing at the head of the other hobgoblin.
"Hruh?" The hobgoblin grunted puzzled.
"I had much more fun fighting him. Weakling." I narrowed my eyes and smirked, challenging him.
"HRRRAAAAAH!" It shouted in its rage and charged at me again. Now is the time. I held my sword back mustering all of my strength into my next swing. I heard its footsteps grow closer and once it was a few inches away from me I delivered my skill head on. I shouted.
"Sweeping Arc!" I then swung my sword in a huge arc toppling the hobgoblin back a few meters landing on its back. There was a tiny sliver of red left on its HP Gauge. I only have 8 seconds for it to stay down I better lessen the gap between us before it could get up! I rushed towards it, the Hobgoblin flipped itself over trying to crawl towards its weapon. With the last of its strength it tried to reach for its spiked branch. I then caught up and kicked it away from its grasp, I position my sword on its head.
I stared into its eyes, the Hobgoblin was shuddered in fear, it was scared of me. Maybe I took the act a bit too far, I was reconsidering letting it go, but I hadn't realized I showed a grave weakness. I hesitated for a moment, in a brief second the Hobgoblin's eyes changed and smiled, it tried to grab my leg in a last attempt to escape. But the second it did I plunged my sword deep in its head, its hands didn't even touch me.
"Tsk!" I flicked my tongue frustrated.
[One-Handed Sword Skill +4]
+4? Its starting to get less now, I wasn't too surprised as I already predicted it. Alice and Lilith started to approach me. I was about to do the same until, I suddenly felt exhausted as if all the energy in me washed out. I used my sword to support me, taking deep breaths. Alice and Lilith noticed something was wrong and began to run towards me.
"Zach! Are you alright?!" Alice exclaimed worriedly.
"Did you get hit anywhere?!" Lilith as well.
"No, just tired. Give me a couple of minutes to catch my breath." I said taking deep breaths leaning on my sword.
How did I get so tired all of a sudden? I'm pretty sure, no its probably due to the use of the skill. It did say it needed stamina, so of course it makes you tired after using a skill. After catching a few breaths I stood up and took my sword out of the Hobgoblin.
"Are any of you hurt?" I asked.
"Only Lilith, but I gave her a potion so she should be alright by now." Alice said.
Upon hearing her say those words, I immediately became angry because of the fact she had potions the entire time and she didn't offer a single one to us.
"Wait...you had potions... this whole time! Why didn't you give it to us before we started fighting?!" I exclaimed in a surprised tone.
"I forgot." Alice said ever so calmly. All I could do was place my hand on my face and say...
"Alice, you are a failure as a leader." I said disappointed.
"What! I am not!" Alice exclaimed.
"Well if you gave it to us earlier, Lilith might have had a less difficult time." I said.
"Your, er-" Alice was about to say I was wrong, but after realizing I was right tilted her head down and gave out a sigh. Maybe I went a bit to far on that one. In silence Lilith spoke up to defend her.
"No, it wasn't her fault. It was my fault for not being serious." Lilith said solemnly. Both of us were stunned by her tone, I've never seen her like this probably not even Alice.
"Lilith..." Alice said.
"You guys were right, I should have been more serious, if I was we could have dealt with the Hobgoblin without your help" Lilith said with the same atmosphere.
"But anyways thanks for saving us Zach, me most especially. If you weren't here I would be dead." Lilith said. I wanted to say something to her to cheer her up, but I couldn't find any words that would. Luckily it was broken by the next words she said.
By the way did you know how scary you looked?" Lilith asked and looked at me.
"Scary?" I said confused.
"Yeah, your eyes were like this!" Alice said stretching her eyes.
"And when you dropped the head of the hobgoblin! It felt chills go down my spine!" Lilith said.
Ah, so they're talking about my performance with the Hobgoblin. Now that I think about it, maybe I did push it a bit too far, knowing that the mobs have minds, hatched an idea that I could taunt them psychologically to make them show weaknesses. As far as the battle goes, it was a complete success, but I think I got carried away with the whole thing.
"You really can be scary, your starting to remind me of Ander!" Lilith exclaimed. Again with this Ander person, just how much do I have in common with her.
"Sorry, that was just an act. I was trying to aggravate it into attacking me. I didn't think it worked so well though." I said jokingly.
"You need to act better then!" Lilith exclaimed.
"Hahaha" I made a small laugh. I was happy she was returning back to her old self again, without her usual attitude it wont be the same once we go back to the house.
"Well, I'm just happy your safe" Lilith said nervously as her cheeks began to grow red.
"Lilith..." I said surprised. I've never seen her like this, did something happen when I was gone? I was going to ask but...
"Oh? Have the tables turned? Looks like I have to report this to the others now" Alice said grinning at Lilith. Lilith cheeks began to grow even more red and snapped back at Alice.
"No! That was not what I was thinking!" Lilith exclaimed holding Alice by her shoulders.
"Is it? Cuz that what I'm seeing right now" Alice said in a teasing tone.
"Alice! Don't you even think about it!" Lilith exclaimed.
"I'm just kidding, now lets harvest these guys and head back!" Alice announced.
I didn't really understand what they were talking about, (Density) well either way I'm glad everyone is back to their usual selves. While I was enjoying the sight of Alice and Lilith I felt something ominous and quickly turned around, but there wasn't anything there just the forest.
"Zach, are you alright? You seemed worried all of a sudden." Alice said worriedly.
"Um, N-No I'm fine." I said and looked back.
I wonder what was that I felt just then. Is there something watching me? I shrugged the thought of and joined the others so that we could harvest the Hobgoblins. After we harvested the two corpses, we decided to call it a day and headed back home. It was already evening and were nowhere close to the house yet, I hope Terra wont be too mad. We all continued to chat along the way, avoiding any possible combat after what just happened. When we finally reached home, Terra opened the door for us worried at the same time happy.
"Big Brother, Your back! Did the lunch I give you taste good? Are you hurt anywhere?" Terra exclaimed asking me all sorts of questions. Was she really this worried about me?
"Somebody seems to miss you" Lilith said.
"We'll talk about that after we get inside." I said making a forced smile.
"Okay!" Terra responded.
We all had dinner, we began to chat about what happened, everything seemed to be normal, except for Alice. Alice was almost silent throughout the entire time, its probably due to what I said earlier. I guess I'd better do something.
"So um, Alice what do you want to make me do?" I asked. Alice made a surprised expression before remembering.
"Hm? Oh right!" Alice said. Everyone suddenly gave attention to our conversation.
"What are you two talking about?" Christia asked.
"What?" Terra said with a puzzled expression.
"None of your business!" Alice exclaimed.
"Maybe it was..." Lilith said grinning, but-
"Shut up." Alice said annoyed.
"What you said was true though, a leader shouldn't have to sacrifice their own people for their survival. Even more in my case, I have a long way to go before I can truly rule the kingdom." Alice said
"Alice..." Christia said staring at her. Since she is her best friend she must be worried about her, but then she smiled. Alice caught a glimpse of Christia and she too smiled back.
"I see..." I said. I thought I was home free but...
"But that doesn't mean your of the hook!" Alice's expression changed to a more serious look.
"W-What?" I said with a confused expression.
"You said some mean things to me! So you need to do the next words I say!" Alice exclaimed pointing at me. It looks like she will make me do something after all. I hope it wont be too bad. I took a deep breath before I said.
"O-Oh, then what will you have me do?" I asked. I was worried she might make me do something embarrassing or laborious, but what she had me do wasn't bad, however it wasn't too good either.
"You have to be my hunting partner from now on!" Alice said and suddenly grabbed my arm.. I just sat there with a blank expression. I mean I was technically alright with that since I do have to grind my way up, but...
"WHAT!" Terra shouted in disbelief.
"If we kept this up I wouldn't survive if I went alone. So cant you share him this once Terra" Alice said with her cheeks blushing smiling at me then faced Terra.
"NO! Big Brother is mine!" Terra retaliated back and grabbed my other arm. Her cheeks grew red before she began to argue with Alice.
"Well things are back to normal." Lilith said grinning at me.
"Noisy, as always" Levi said annoyed.
"Things are starting to get more lively from now on!" Christia said laughing at my situation.
"Hahaha" I made a forced laugh as the two girls holding my arms argue with one another.
Later that night we agreed that I'll alternate with both of them. They weren't too happy at first, but they later on reached an understanding and agreed. The next day I agreed to go with Terra to the village to trade as I promised. We found somebody to trade all our harvested parts from yesterday's hunt and in exchange received 1000G for it. That was a lot of money! All of us were amazed of how much we earned. We didn't see Etrina guarding the gate or to be found anywhere, according to the Chief she works at night now. From what I know, she really must be serious about keeping mobs out. We followed this kind of schedule for 2 months. Everything seemed to be alright, just not today. I was supposed to go with Terra to the village, but someone came to greet me, personally.
"We'll be leaving now!"
"Bye, everyone!"
We both left the front door. After we walked a meter away from the house, a punch came flying straight for my face. I tumbled back to the house, and in midair a hand grasped my throat and pinned me to the wall of the house. I held the hand currently holding my throat struggling to be free.
"Zach-!" I heard Terra's voice, but stopped mid sentence.
"What's going on out he-!" I heard Alice's voice too, but also stopped mid sentence.
I opened my eyes to meet a glowing pair of violet eyes staring back at me.
END OF CHAPTER 14
PLS CRITISIZE!
Is there too much dialogue?
Next chapter will be a .5 chapter not a real chapter. So no Ander yet.
PLS give your thoughts. And next time don't skip chapters.