Vol 1 Chapter 8 (1/2)
LEVEL 1: A Whisper, an Aria, a Prayer, an Awakening
Chapter 8: Persistence
Yume was crouched, concealed behind a thick tree trunk Haruhiro approached Yu his footsteps so that they made no sound, and tapped her on the shoulderYu her own nearly escaped shout of surprise with a hand
“What’ve you found?” Haruhiro asked in a low voice
Yuers Was that her way of signaling so was lost on Haruhiro, so instead he peeked out to take a look
There it was
It was just after noon, on their second day of work as Crimson Moon trainees They had returned to the forest and had discovered a bubbling spring That here it was
It was skinny and about the height of a hued yellowish, rinkly and covered in rew on its head and its ears were pointed Its back was turned to Haruhiro, so he couldn’t see its face It wore no clothing but around its neck hung some sort of cord
Asounds as it drank fro
Haruhiro took a deep breath, taking care toany noise He looked behind hizo were a little ways away, poking their heads out from where the rest of their bodies were concealed behind the trees They all had their eyes on Haruhiro
Haruhiro nodded The others nodded back They had finally found it They were going to succeed They had to succeed There was no choice but to succeed Hoould he signal then beforehand What would be a good signal? He raised his right hand, high as he could
He was nervous Way o This is bad Stay calet this done
He let his hand fall and Ranta charged out first with a shout Idiot! Haruhiro couldn’t help but think Startled, the oblin turned to look in Haruhiro and Yume’s direction
“I-it’s running away?!” Haruhiro said
The ht Yuround right in front of the goblin’s feet It gave a shriek of surprise and faltered
“Nice, Yuer froh he had called Ranta an idiot for doing the sa that this wasn’t really a very Thief-like thing to do, but oh well They had to succeed He couldn’t let the goblin get away
Mud goblins Called obs for short Froly, with blackened teeth, a purplish tongue, and a face like an old witch It wore nothing except for that cord hanging off its neck It was stark naked And ‘it’ was dangling around
The ht at Haruhiro and let out a shriek He didn’t know exactly as going on, but it was coht? It was 6 versus 1 Maybe it didn’t comprehend the odds
Its hand Aiob’s wrist with his dagger; [HIT]
TheHad hefrorazed it The ht towards Haruhiro
It’s co be coht, as it let out a low roar
Haruhiro quickly dodged to the left and soe
“[HATRED’S CUT]!” Ranta juressively but without any control It was only natural that he missed, slipped, and fell on his behind
Theat Ranta, attacking froround Its attack missed by a hair as Manato struck it on the shoulder with this staff The goblin shrieked again and hopped backwards
“M- the elelyph with her staff, but Ranta cut her off “YOU’VE GOT YOUR EYES SHUT AGAIN!” he yelled
shi+horu shrunk back “S-sorry!”
“Mogzo, directly in front of it!” Manato said brusquely, thrusting a finger out at the ob “Everyone else, surround it! Don’t let it escape!”
Mogzu grunted in assent, and encuishly ran towards it Once in position, he pointed the tip of his bastard sword at it
“G-guess there’s no choice!” Ranta ob
Manato stayed on the left while Haruhiro and Yu’s rear shi+horu had her eyes open now and was pointing her staff directly at the goblin from a distance
Thetoitself cut off in all directions It let out an ear-piercing shriek, wanting to run but knowing that it had nowhere to go It was exactly according to Manato’s plan
“Mogzo! Threaten it sword out at it “Pressure it!”
Mogzo let out a battle cry and started swinging his bastard sword at it, once, twice, three tio’s blows, but as it was occupied with Mogzo, Ranta was also stabbing at it with his longsword The goblin picked up a dead branch and threw it at Ranta
“Wah!” Ranta stepped back and barelythe base of his blade
The net had been broken The goblin tried to h the hole in the spot Ranta had occupied, but Manato brandished his staff, not intending to let it go Manato’s staff connected with the top of the ob’s shoulder and it let out a cry of pain
Noas charging at Manato, letting out a terrible shriek that sent chills down Haruhiro’s spine Even Manato seehtened? The oblin was desperate It didn’t want to be killed It wouldn’t just stand there and tolerate it It would try to kill, and kill, and kill some more before it was killed itself And at the very least, it seemed to have resolved to take a few of them doith it
“All of you!” Ranta licked his lips several tiet all scared! Kill or be killed! I’et my Vice!”
“Don’t be careless!” Manato warned as he landed another blow on the goblin with his short staff This ti any heed to the blood spurting out, it glared at Manato and swung both its fists at him
“The little guy is a tough one,” Yuhtly
Jeez, Haruhiro thought Even though blood was running profusely down its head, it seemed to be perfectly fine
Mogzo swung his bastard sword at it three tiht it closer to Haruhiro and Yume
“Here’s our chance, Haru!” And even as Yume said it, a part of Haruhiro wondered… when did she start calling hiht; it was now or never
As Haruhiro approached it with his dagger, it turned towards hie to turn tail and instead slashed wildly with his dagger One of the blows actually landed He knew it because his dagger suddenly hit soht arer back
Not counting training dummies, this was the first ti so deeply with a weapon The feeling actually made him a little ill
Blood splattered as thethe humans in turn It was 6 versus 1 And they had it completely surrounded, so anyone could attack fro was ragged Even Mogzo— and though it was true he wielded a heavy bastard sword, he really hadn’t beenthat much
What’s wrong with us? Haruhiro tried to calob a strong opponent? Or were they just too weak? Were they really capable of doing this? No, they weren’t
Thinking about it rationally, of course it was i No one else was either This was all wrong All of this was uni this ? Wouldn’t it be better just to stop?
What would they do if they stopped now? What would happen to them?
“No one said this was going to be easy!” Manato shouted “This is a fight to the death! Us, thefor our lives! The outco creature wants to die!”
“Malik eht shot out frozo and Ranta and hit the ht in its face
“GARGGG!” it shrieked
“Now!” Manato coob at the same time
Ranta swung his longsith a shout The blade bit into the ht arm “Gah! I hit bone?!”