The goblins quickly ran towards the group of students from all sides when a torrent of magic energy seemed to gather around Saul and was then released; Saul shouted:
"Slow Time!"
All of the goblins suddenly had their movements slowed down in an awkward way, as if they were purposely moving in slow motion. Nick raised his right eyebrow in surprise.
(Was that time magic?)
As if to answer Nick's question, Saul cast another spell on the surrounding goblins:
"Rewind Time!"
The goblins seemed to move backwards like the reverse recording of a television video and moved back to the previous moment when they just emerged from the shadows. Nick was amazed and envious.
(God dammit, I should have asked Andre for time path affinity!)
Saul released his spell, at which point, the goblins came out of the shadows one again; Saul commanded:
"Kill them, they are shadow goblins so they can easily blend in with the shadows and stalk us, we cannot let a single one escape."
The group members did not hesitate to cast their spells: ice spears, snow balls, fire arrows, mud slaps; many of such spells were cast but they paled in effectiveness compared to Nick's blade path method.
Nick swung his sword in one direction.
(Cleave.)
Three goblins lost their heads.
Nick swung his sword in another direction.
(Cleave.)
Five goblins were grotesquely sliced apart.
Nick went on to kill many more goblins, cutting them down as if they were grass and he was the landscaper. By the time the battle ended, the ground was covered with craters, blood, organs and the intact carcasses of goblins, the good news being that Nick's group only had one casualty which was the young man that was surprise attacked while urinating.
Nick looked at the goblin carcasses indifferently when Saul came over and spoke to him:
"You were pretty good out there. You specialize in blade magic ,right? From what I heard from the others, I thought that you might have been more partial to soul magic?"
Nick replied indifferently:
"I'm just a magic fanatic."
Saul chuckled and said:
"Aren't we all?"
At this time, Mike came over and said:
"I made a few deductions and I think that these goblins were waiting for us in ambush as if they were expecting us to come here."
At this time, Nate and Erica also came over and agreed with Mike's opinion. Saul responded:
"Even if they thought that we would come here, we still need to clean this place out to get the peppermint crystals...and to save our two companions."
Nate nodded his head and said:
"Then let's get going."
The group reorganized and continued moving down the passageway; the group did not come across another goblin and they moved unhindered through the passage. They eventually came to a large chamber one hour later. Saul was the first to enter the chamber and his mouth suddenly gaped as he looked on and uttered without thinking:
"We're rich!"
The other students who walked in after Saul saw the scene in front of them and were just as astonished. The scout that had escaped capture and reported seeing traces of peppermint crystals failed to determine just how much was down here. Nick looked on and saw large, bright red crystals embedded into that walls and floor of the chamber.
(This amount is definitely enough to produce thousands of bottles of high end healing potions. Hmmm...but where are the goblins?)
Nick looked around and saw that there were two entrances to this chamber, one at the opposite end of the room and the one that the group was currently standing at. The group suddenly heard someone's muffled speech from among a group of large, erect peppermint crystals.
The group moved closer and actually found a young woman that was naked and tied to a piece of peppermint crystal with chains.
"Renee!"
Clarissa shouted in joy as she ran to the bound naked woman and Nick, Nate, Mike, Erica and Saul happened to follow along.
(Something is not right here.)
When the group moved closer to the naked woman who had a piece of cloth stuffed in her mouth, they frowned. Nick thought:
(That smell...)
The woman's naked body radiated a musty smell that slapped everyone present in the face. Almost everyone in the group had some 'experience' and knew what that smell was. Even Nick felt pity for the woman:
(Those goblins must have used her like a sex toy.)
Nick did read that goblins had a tendency to mate with the women that they captured alive but he did not expect to witness the aftermath personally. Clarissa activated her poison path spell and corroded the iron chain that bound the young woman at which point she fell to the ground but Clarissa helped her to her feet and removed the cloth from her mouth.
The naked woman cried uncontrollably as Nick summoned a robe from his space band and gave Clarissa to wrap around the crying woman. Saul put on an expression of sorrow and asked the woman in the midst of her crying as Clarissa tried to comfort her:
"Renee, where is James?"
Before Renee could answer, a member of their group screamed:
"Guys, over here."
The group ran towards their teammate, leaving Clarissa and Renee behind and what they saw disturbed them. A young man was bound with ropes behind a large crystal and bent over a stone platform in a compromising position, naked. Dried blood had stained his thighs and legs, showing that he had taken heavy damage to the area near his exposed buttocks. Someone shouted out:
"What the fuck!"
Nick's expression grew grim.
(The goblins don't only attempt to mate with females, but also males. They really are beasts, no, they are worse than that.)
Some members of the group moved to untie the young man who now wore a vacant expression, not willing to speak as tears fell from his face. Nick summoned a robe to cover him as well. Saul had a deep frown on his face.
(This is a bit...troublesome. At worst, I thought that the goblins might have roughed them up or at least killed them, sending them back to Shelter Town but this...forget the peppermint crystals, if we don't kill those goblins, our reputation and that of the academy's will be ruined!)
Nick looked at Saul's troubled expression and shook his head.
(The captured students have been rescued and the goblins are nowhere to be seen. I want to get out of this place now, I don't care about the peppermint crystals and I care even less about what is going through Saul's head.)
Just as Nick had this thought, thirty sharp stalactites grew out from the ceiling and were launched quickly down towards the group. Nick noticed in time and cast his spell:
(Half A Kilometer.)
Nick's spell covered a one meter radius sphere around him and gave him and some other students the time needed to move out of the way of the falling stalactites. Saul also cast his spell, Slow Time, to assist the other students who were in danger and they were all able to escape from a messy demise. Many of the students looked at Nick with gratefulness but Nick paid them no attention and focused on the two entrances to the chamber and spoke loudly:
"The goblins are here."
Standing at both entrances were groups of shadow goblins that wielded wooden clubs, stone and steel daggers and some even had leather slings. At the right entrance that Nick and the others had emerged from, one goblin stood out; it had a wooden staff and blue eyes instead of green; magic energy radiated strongly from its body. It smiled at the students with an undisguised malice that sent shivers down many of their spines.
Nate, as the second strongest group member, looked on and shouted while Saul and Mike tried to formulate a plan to overcome this situation:
"Everyone, get ready for a fight. Whatever you do, don't let these bastards capture you alive."
The latter part echoed in the minds of the group members and their faces turned grim. The staff wielding shadow goblin spoke in human tongue with a shrill voice that was audible to everyone in the chamber:
"Surrender now!"
Nick acted quickly upon hearing that and stuck his sword into the ground and raised both of his hand in front of his body towards the goblins blocking the right entrance.
(That thing can speak our language somehow, that's definitely a bad sign and I'm not waiting for it to surprise me any further. Rumbling Pillar!)
The space covering a three meter radius around the shadow goblins began to warp, twist and shake. Within Nick's mindscape, 14,000 magical units worth of magic ice crystals were fed into the spell's laws as they took effect. A few moments later, dozens of shrill screams and slushing noises could be heard coming from the group of goblins as they were torn apart by the warping space, as if they were shoved into a meat grinder.
Nick was radiating a massive amount of magic energy at this time and all of the students, including Saul looked at him with incredulity; Saul asked out loud without thinking:
"How can he expend that much magic power with one spell at rank 2?"
By the time Rumbling Pillar ended, only one goblin still stood in one piece at the right entrance. The staff wielding goblin glowed as a gold liquid covered its whole body and its staff glowed a dull orange light. Nick looked at the staff and thought:
(That magic tool seems similar to the wand that I stole from that baboon magic beast. A coincidence?)
Nick shook his head and pushed those thoughts aside, now was not the time to wonder. Nick ran towards the gold soaked goblin and tried to make an escape. The other students followed Nick's lead and ran towards the right entrance as well. The mutant shadow goblin sneered at its adversaries and tapped the ground with the butt of its staff and three iron walls rose up from the ground, concealing the entrance and the mutant goblin.
Nick frowned, knowing that he could not destroy these three metal walls in quick succession. The goblins from the opposite entrance had already started to flood into the chamber, heading towards their group of twenty plus students. Nick could not cast Soul Pressure or Soul Pulse because the spells would affect the other students; Nick thought for a moment about acting without concern for the other students and memories suddenly appeared within his mind of earlier years:
#############################
Nick who was about ten years old was crying in the corner of a classroom when the door suddenly opened and a chubby middle aged man walked into the classroom with a worried expression, asking:
"Nick, some students said that you were in here bawling your eyes out. What's the matter?"
Nick looked at the teacher with tear filled eyes and replied:
"Some bullies were beating on someone from our class and I tried to push them away but when I did that, all of the bullies turned on me and started hitting me."
The teacher said:
"Well, it's normal to feel sad when other people hurt you, just tell me who the bullies were and this daddy here will deal with them."
Nick cried even harder and shook his head, saying:
"That's not why I am crying. When the bullies started hitting me, the classmate that I tried to save got up and after one of the bullies told him to join in, he didn't hesitate to kick me multiple times until I vomited out my lunch and then he ran off with the bullies when a staff member showed up."
The middle aged man frowned and sighed:
"Nick, some kids are just that foolish..."
Nick screamed out, interrupting the man:
"No, I am never helping anyone ever again!"
The middle aged man's frown deepened and he moved in close and gave Nick a tight hug; Nick was so surprised that he momentarily stopped crying. The middle aged man said with a somber tone while hugging Nick:
"Now you listen to me young man, you may be too young to understand this but sometimes the world can be cruel and those who just try to help often face the brunt of unfair treatment because of that cruelty but without those kind of people, neither you nor I may have had the opportunity to have even been born. Don't let anyone take that kind heart of yours away from you, if they do, the bullies win!"
The middle aged man continued after releasing Nick from his embrace as he looked into the boy's tear-filled eyes:
"Never be ashamed of or hesitant to help those around you even if they prove to be ungrateful. The real winners are those that can maintain their strong heart even in stressful and inconvenient times. Promise me that you will keep this in mind."
Young Nick who was slightly confused stuttered:
"I...I..."
###############################
Nick snapped back to reality and uttered uncontrollably as a tear flowed down his right eye:
"I promise."
Nick's expression grew stern and focused, he activated his spell:
(Reinforce with Soul.)
His sword became enveloped in a translucent miasma and Nick swung it with one hand from his left to right side.
(Cleave.)
Over a dozen goblins that were charging in from the front were sliced apart by the power of Nick's spell; there were over one hundred more goblins to deal with, however. The other students followed Nick's example and cast their own spells at the incoming goblins which caused the goblins to stop moving forward as they attempted to dodge the attacks. The scene became messy. Nick asked Nate who was next to him:
"What is your strongest attack?"
Nate replied:
"Why do you ask?"
"Just say it!"
Under the circumstances, Nate became unusually compliant:
"I have a spell that emits a sound wave that can cause all of someone's blood vessels to burst but I need a few minutes to prepare it."
Nick nodded and said:
"That will do. Prepare the spell and cast it at me when I give the order."
Nate became confused.
"What are you planning, Nick?"
Nick replied:
"No time to explain, just do it if you want to get out of this without dying."
Nate didn't like the idea of dying even if he knew that he would be revived within Shelter Town so he started preparing his sound path spell. Saul, Mike and Erica noticed Nick and Nate's conversation and Saul asked Nick:
"What's going on?"
Nick replied:
"I need the rest of you guys to hold those other goblins back while Nate and I deal with the mutant shadow goblin."
Saul wondered how Nick was planing to do that and was about to ask when Mike grabbed his shoulder and said:
"Let's just do as Nick says for now."
Mike was the brains of the group as a wisdom path Magician and was the leader in name so more often than not, Saul followed his suggestions and this time would be no different. Saul replied with an affirmative nod and he, Mike and Erica went to help the other students in fighting the goblins.
Nick stored his morning wyvern bone sword within his space band and summoned the sword named Sky Piercer that he received from Mike earlier that day. He held the sword with both hands and cast his spells on the sword:
(Reinforce With Soul.)
(Big.)
Sky Piercer was immediately covered with a translucent miasma and then its blade was extended five meters and broadened by half a meter. Nick swung the sword at the first metal wall blocking the entrance and the mutant goblin, using a movement from the Menacing Crane sword technique and casting his blade path spell with all of his might:
(Cleave.)
SSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG
The first wall was horizontally cut in half and fell, pressing against the next wall, then Nick swing his sword again in quick succession.
(Cleave.)
SSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG
The second wall fell and the pieces of the first two walls leaned against the area near the third wall's base. Nick was beginning to feel the increased weight of his enlarged sword so he quickly made a final swing.
(Cleave.)
SSSHHHHHIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG
The third wall was sliced in half horizontally from the middle and crashed down revealing the entrance to the chamber and the mutant goblin; the members of Nick's group cheered at the display and Nick finally dropped his sword that became too heavy for him to hold. Nick was not done yet, while the mutant goblin panicked at seeing its metal wall sliced apart as it was no longer covered with the same gold liquid from before that acted as a sort of defensive measure. Nick shouted at Nate:
"Cast your spell at me now!"
Nate suddenly opened his mouth that was radiating an intense magic energy and screamed at Nick.
(Booming Voice)
Nick immediately cast his own spell:
(Exchange Space.)
Suddenly, Nick disappeared from his position and the mutant goblin took his place and was immediately hit by Nate's Booming Voice. The mutant goblin instinctively tried to activate a defensive spell but it had already consumed most of its magic energy in defending against Rumbling Pillar and erecting the three metal walls from before so it couldn't cast its spells. It was hit with Nate's spell at almost point blank range and many of its blood vessels did indeed burst, causing massive internal bleeding.
The mutant goblin fell to the ground, vomiting out a large volume of blood.
(Blink.)
Nick appeared beside the mutant goblin and traced a horizontal line with his right index finger.
(Sever.)
The mutant goblin's head was immediately separated from its body which confirmed its death. Seeing that, the students cheered loudly and the other goblins panicked. Nick summoned his morning wyvern bone sword once again and turned his attention to the other goblins, saying to the other students with a tired but still audible voice:
"Let's kill 'em."
The students intensified their attacks as Nick started swinging his sword and casting Cleave wildly at the shadow goblins. Within the next twenty minutes, all the shadow goblins were dead and only the students remained, most of them being completely drained of magic energy.
Saul, who was covered in goblin blood at the moment looked at the scene with satisfaction but also a little fear and wondered:
(Is this what Magicians who explore realms have to deal with? Scary.)
Saul looked gratefully at Nick who was now sprawled onto the ground.
(He could have definitely ran away by himself when he cut apart the metal walls and helped to kill the mutant goblin but he stayed. Is he a fool?)
Saul smiled at this thought and spoke to everyone:
"I know that we are all tired and that we have to return Renee and James to Shelter Town but as long as we are here we might as well mine some of the peppermint crystals to supplement our losses."
The students were tired but they all agreed with Saul. Nick was about to refuse and leave when he suddenly felt an incredible magic power coming from the distant entrance to the chamber.
(Oh shit, there is still a goblin left.)
At the next moment, everyone else felt the powerful magic as well and turned their attention to the distant entrance. A three meter tall, muscular shadow goblin entered the chamber and looked at the carcasses of the other shadow goblins on the ground and snarled with its sharp, yellow teeth. It looked directly at Saul and the rest with absolute menace. Saul opened his yes wide in fear and was about to give the command to retreat when the goblin made a slapping motion and a phantom, yellowish hand appeared out of nowhere and slammed down on Saul, turning him into specs of white light.
"Run!"
Nick shouted that and immediately got up, running to the first entrance, thinking:
(I recognize that power, that's strength path and that goblin is radiating a crazy amount of magic energy. It's probably stronger than any of us.)
The other students noticed Nick's movements and followed his lead, however, the goblin somehow out ran Nick and the other students to reach the entrance first, blocking them. Nick reacted quickly:
(Blink.)
Nick consumed more than half of his remaining magic energy to teleport fifteen meters through the passage - Blink's maximum distance of effect, past the muscular goblin. Nick did not look behind him as he ran and the screams of the other students became audible from behind him; Nick continued running for as long as he could. Thirty minutes past like that and Nick thought that he was in the clear, however, he soon sensed that something that was radiating powerful magic energy was closing in on him, fast.
Nick didn't have to guess what it was. Nick cast Blink multiple times, each time crossing fifteen meters until he had emptied out his magic energy reserves and he had reached the staircase leading out of the underground passage, which he ascended without stop. Nick soon sensed the intense magic power once again when he got to the entrance of the underground passage and that is was ascending the staircase quickly. Nick made a huge jump and landed outside of the underground passage, rolling some distance away before he sprawled out on the ground completely exhausted and unable to move.
The muscular goblin soon appeared at the entrance to the underground passageway and looked at Nick hatefully but did not leave the entrance to pursue him. The goblin sniffed the air, frowned and then walked back down the staircase. Nick stood up in an almost victory stance and cheered:
"Fuck you, goblin. I really am the greatest..."
As Nick cheered, he felt a sharp pain at his right side as if something had bit him. Nick looked to his side to see a large black scaled lizard with jaws similar to an alligator's and eyes similar to a cat's biting into his abdomen. Nick's eyes opened wide in surprise and after hearing a series of slithering and crawling noises near him, Nick looked up to see what to him appeared to be an ocean of the same creatures moving around as far as the eye could see, under the moon lit sky; they crawled and slithered on top of each other and their glowing green eyes made the scene look incredibly creepy in the dimness of the night. Nick smiled bitterly as he said out loud:
"Oh, so these guys are why there are hardly any other magic beasts within the area and why those goblins insist on staying underground."
Two more of the lizard like magic beasts lunged at Nick, one biting his head off and the other, tearing his right arm off. Nick's body suddenly turned into specs of white light and disappeared from the area. The three magic beasts became enraged that their meal had suddenly vanished and started biting at each other until only one was left alive.
The winner dragged its scarred and bleeding body into the ocean of its own kind and slithered around like the rest.