Eat And Grow 6 (2/2)

You are now under the effects of Sun’s Blessing. Maximum HP +90.

The effect will last for 60 minutes or until it is overridden by another Blessing.

“Fiuuu,” whistled Buddy. “Not bad, old timer.” Judging from these numbers, he guessed Koross to have a Level 6 Prayer Skill. “To think the most devout priest I’d ever seen would be an alcoholic.”

His light joke wasn’t far off the mark. While the dwarf may not have had a Side Job, being able to devote himself fully to their God had its own merits. Such as being able to focus on training the Skills that really matter. Not to mention a particularly powerful Perk if he became a Level 25 Priest with no Side Jobs.

“Ain’t nothing in the Scripture that says us Priests can’t enjoy a good drink, lad.”

Buddy smirked to himself. He wasn’t a particularly religious guy, but he had to admit the Sun God Solus was probably his favorite one. His clergy always seemed to be the most fun ones. Not to mention the priestesses that worship him always seemed to have amazing boobs.

With their preparations ready, the group of five headed off into the lush forest. They warily crossed between trees and bushes, keeping a close eye for anything that the Mimic could be disguised as. Even if it was a shapeshifter, a Mimic could not shrink or drastically alter its rectangular body. This was true for both the Lesser and Greater species of the monster. However, it could drastically change the way it looks on the surface. Along the way, they pierced and attacked several suspect rocks, two fallen trees and one stump. They followed the trail of gnawed trunks and curiously chopped off tree branches.

Buddy felt an odd sense of incongruity. He decided to give voice to his concerns. “I think our target is inviting us in. The trail’s way too obvious.”

“Aye. That bugger’s supposed to be smarter than this, right?”

“It’s still a Mimic though,” said Xera while climbing over a small ridge. “Even if it became ten times smarter than normal, it would still be as dumb as a rock.”

Harold decided to chime in. “She has a point, but I’m with Buddy. This is way too suspicious.”

The party moved onward carefully, watching their every step and minding their bearings. After about 10 minutes of painfully slow progress, they arrived at a clearing. Rather than a natural meadow, something had cleared out all the trees in the vicinity and turned them into about 20 small flimsy huts.

“Goblins,” muttered the Rogue under his breath. A goblin was a monster that vaguely looked like a 10 or 11 year old child. It had green skin, a bony physique, and exceptionally long nose, chin and ears. Regular goblins hovered around Level 10 or 15, but that was just a formality. The weak body of a goblin meant that, despite its actual Level, its true strength was closer to a Level 8 or 9 monster. But goblins never fought one-on-one. They attacked in great numbers and often roamed in packs of dozens, maybe hundreds of them. They often made crude villages like this one where they could breed and multiply like the vermin they were.

But this village had already been exterminated.

“What the fuck?” Mark was so shocked he reflexively cursed. The scenery that unfurled before him was entirely too familiar. There was blood everywhere. It painted the walls of the flimsy hovels. Bits of goblin flesh were strewn about the place. Piles of grey ash littered the scenery. But one overwhelming theme was immediately apparent. There was not a single corpse left behind. It was almost exactly like what he had witnessed first-hand in that damned dungeon. Only it looked like the monster had tried its absolute darndest to outdo itself.

Since their ‘glorious leader’ was currently staring slack jawed at the scene, Buddy decided to take charge. “Think it’s hiding in here?” he whispered. “There’s a lot of crappy baskets and pots around the place.”

“Yeah,” nodded Koross.”Them logs around the campfire are also pretty suspect. Could be in the huts, too.”

“I have an idea. I can try to smoke it out,” suggested Xera.

“Won’t you be wasting your MP? I thought those Ruin spells were quite costly.”

“They are, but I’ll be fine, Harold. I have over 1000 MP you know.”

The men shared several glances and nodded at Xera. They moved closer to the village as a group without dropping their guard, even for an instant. After walking closer to the edge of the village, Xera signaled everyone to stop. The Witch then held her staff up towards the sky and closed her eyes. And then she started chanting her Spell.

“There is nowhere to hide! There’s nowhere to run! This village will burn like the heart of the Sun!”

Out loud. She chanted it clearly and purposefully, her voice echoing unnaturally.

“With infinite glee, I call upon thee!”

A chill ran down the men’s spines. They had a very bad feeling about this.

“INFERNO!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. A massive hurricane of red-hot flames appeared out of nowhere and swept across the goblin village. It must have been at least 10 meters in diameter and 5 meters tall. It only lasted several seconds, but that was enough to set the entire village ablaze.

A wide smile appeared on Xera’s face. It was so wide that it seemed like her jaw was about to fall off.

“Kuhihihihihi,” she giggled. “Huhuhuhuhuhuhu. HAHAHAHAHA! AAAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!!”

She spread her arms and let out a maniacal four-stage laugh. Her eyes gazed madly at the flames that ravaged the wooden huts and turned everything in front of her to ash.

The rest of the group merely went Ahhh. There it is! inside their heads. Nobody knew how or why, but it was a sort of unspoken rule that female Casters were all fucked in the head. This seemed especially true for offense-type Jobs like the Witch. In Xera’s case, it was obvious that she had a bit of a pyromaniac streak going on. The way she cackled like that made it clear she had forgotten completely about her surroundings. This was a serious fault that could one day lead to her death.

“Get down!” screamed Buddy. Everyone besides the still laughing psycho hit the dirt. A streak of dark matter flew above them, precisely through the spot where the dwarven Priest’s head was half a second ago. It kept going for several more meters before fizzling out of existence.

“Aegis!” screamed Koross. A transparent bubble of golden light wrapped around the party. A second mass of darkness slammed into the hastily-constructed barrier. The Aegis spell couldn’t take it and shattered, but proved enough to repel the attack.

Buddy recognized the Shadowbolt Spell. He leapt to his feet while shouting “It’s a Warlock!” to his comrades. His right hand held three throwing knives between its fingers. He threw the trio of knives at a particular tree some 20 meters away. The Rogue was aiming at a rather dense pile of leaves. His heightened senses had already confirmed that was the origin of both Shadowbolts.

In an instant, the leaves opened up to reveal an array of dagger like teeth and a thick, red tongue. The out-of-place maw then swallowed up the three throwing knives like they were an afternoon snack.

“Kishaaaaaa!” screamed the Mimic. Since it was already discovered, its leaf camouflage was now useless. It leapt from the tree branch it was sitting on. By the time it hit the ground, it had already returned to its regular appearance - that of a wooden chest frame with six black spider-like feet and a trio of tongue-tentacles gripping a sword each.

Having confirmed their target, Mark immediately took out the flare launcher. He aimed it at the sky and pulled on the string. There was a bang and a flash as the bright-red flare shot off screaming into the blue sky.  Having confirmed the signal was sent, he then turned his attention towards the monster. In the next instant he felt something small and sharp fly past his face, leaving a scratch on his cheek.

You have suffered a minor scratch. HP -2.

You have been poisoned. HP -20.

Your movements have been dulled by the poison.

Buddy, who had already distanced himself from the two Warriors in the front, broke out into a cold sweat. He recognized the projectile that grazed Mark as his own poisoned throwing knife. One of the three he had thrown at the Mimic just moments ago, to be precise. The monster had somehow caught it inside its mouth and had thrown it back with speed rivaling his own. If its aim was better, Mark would have a metal handle sticking out of his eye socket right now.

Buddy wasn’t a particularly religious guy, but he still found himself offering a silent prayer to whatever God was listening.

Please let our backup get here in time!