Ascenders Rift

Chapter 61: The Twin Conquerors Fury, The Battle in the Woods!

A dark mood frolicked about the inner sanctum of the Belanore, its ruined walls ever so dismal, forever influencing the savage beings that thrived within its domain. Currently, in a vast open square that stood before a ruined palace with towering broken pillars and ruin ceilings covered in moss, hundreds of creatures, be it goblin or large crocodiles, were facing the center. Their eyes filled with a hint of awe but mostly fear.

If one followed their sights, they would see two unique beings. One was a tall goblin, with blood-red eyes, a large nose, and cruel-looking teeth. It grew to the heights of a standard human as he wore a hooded sorcerer's robe with a magic staff in his hand, he sat on a throne of bones as he faced the person next to him.

The next creature was even larger, being roughly 3 meters tall with a husky and scaly figure. This creature had a large crocodile head with a large scar on one of his eyes; its body, though covered in strapped pieces of armor, had blemishes in various places. It sat on a giant throne with a massive hammer and a shield in its arms.

Suddenly, the goblin laughed as it spoke with a set of cunning eyes, "Kekeke! I say Dreadtooth; who would have thought that we'd be facing humans this time around? Of all things that weak bunch, tsk-tsk-tsk! Never have they found any standing in the myriad worlds."

Dreadtooth was previously seated with his eyes closed; he opened them and glanced at the goblin from the corners of his eyes when he replied, "Gragtaasz, whether they're weak or strong, it doesn't change what we're supposed to do. Since they were able to release our Level Limiters by 1, even in such an early phase of this rifts awakening, they should be capable. We can't have any mistakes; we only need to persist for two more cycles to earn our freedom from this troublesome war."

Gragtaasz, hearing this clicked his tongue as he replied with an annoyed look, "Don't you think I know that Dreadtooth? Unlike you, from the moment the realm portal became active. I've long since assigned a myriad of my men in the company of your lower born ranks to guard the predicted spawn sights. As they're under the command of Srieq, I refuse to believe that those innately weak humans could do anything. Kekeke! Even if there were a few among them lucky enough to achieve level 1, they wouldn't be able to do anything."

Dreadtooth didn't seem to mind Gragtaasz's tone, his eyes swept across the central square, fixing onto two sculptures. They were the statues of two beautiful elves, both of a man and a woman; the man wore ancient armor with a strange-looking shield in the form an arc, while the woman wore a magician's robe, with a thin scepter in her embrace.

From a glance, one could feel a startling amount of hostility from these statues, their eyes shining with a staggering amount of killing intent and relentless determination.

As Dreadtooth saw their looks, his eyes flashed with a hint of recollection as he spoke, "I certainly hope things go as planned, no one wants to fall into the position of the defeated... or at least, not like they had..."

Gragtaasz remained silent at these words, he couldn't help but show a similar look when he gazed at the statue, he sighed and shook his head and muttered, "Indeed..."

The two returned to silence once more as they calmly awaited the results, but it was at this time, there came a disturbance.

Step-step-step!

The flustered footsteps of a goblin could be heard as a blood-covered figure had appeared, as the armies saw this their eyes went wide as they exclaimed.

"That... isn't that a member from Srieq's troop? What is he doing here? How could he have been so gravely wounded?" One of the goblin warriors asked in surprise.

The others soon started a commotion, both Gragtaasz and Dreadtooth looked at the wounded goblin in surprise as they saw him ran over. A bad feeling came over both, but soon, the goblin had arrived and knelt in front of them.

"Great Sorcer Gragtaasz and Reptile King Dreadtooth, I am sorry, but we we've failed you both!" The goblin said while trembling as he knelt with his head placed on the ground.

Dreadtooth frowned as he said this, but Gragtaasz eyes shone in a cold light as he said, "Speak, tell us what happened!"

The goblin trembled as he felt the energies around him, he lifted his head and spoke, "G-Great leaders, it's like this..."

While the goblin spoke, the eyes of Gragtaasz and Dreadtooth turned solemn as a fierce aura emanated from their bodies. Soon, the dark mood grew even more intense as two enraged shouts rumbled across the ancient city, reaching out into the distant lands.

***

A few hours ago, within the staredown between Evan's party and Sreiq's group, a fierce battle had unfolded.

"Don't let a single one of them get away, kill them all!" Sreiq's angered voice sounded as he sat atop of the large crocodile and pointed towards Evan's party.

The dozen or so goblins charged forwards while releasing a series of wild battle cries; they brandished their clubs and wooden shields prepared to smite their enemies.

Fatty Joe shivered as his face sunk at this site, while Emilia and Layla trembled with looks of fear. Evan seeing this, shook his head, and glanced at Rick and Breya when he spoke, "Prevent the stronger ones from charging, let them face the weaker of the batch..."

"Fine," Both Breya and Rick replied as their bodies then erupted with a bit of energy as if they were trying to conceal their real strength.

Swoosh-swoosh!

Quickly, both Breya and Rick had blurred arrived at two different sides, Breya jumped into the air quickly getting a footing on a large tree branch, she then waved her hand and shouted, "Thread Slicer!"

Swish! With a sharp cutting sound, the almost indistinct threads cut through the forest like rays of white light as they easily bisected the legs and a few limbs from some of the goblins.

Rick didn't need to use a skill; he merely moved around like a blurry ghost and stabbed his spear repeatably, ending one of the goblin's life while gravely wounding the others.

[3 Exp gained.]

As Rick saw this exp, his eyes showed disdain as he muttered, "Che! Such low exp, no wonder Evan said it wasn't worth us killing them, they are better off used as grinders for Emilia and the rest."

Sreiq, who saw this, was stunned, his eyes flashed as if he used some inspection skills, but all he saw was that they were at level 1 with undefined skills.

"So, there were two among them who had already awakened? Then there's no need to hold back, you two take them down!" Sreiq commanded two of the other goblins who rode on crocodiles as he gestured towards Rick and Breya.

"Yes, Commander Sreiq!" The goblin archers replied as they stirred the crocodiles, causing them to charge towards the two.

Rick and Breya smiled as if they expected this, quickly they ran into two separate sides of the woods as if luring them away. Soon, they, along with the crocodile riders, vanished into a sea of shrubs and vines.

At this time, only Evan, Joe, Emilia, Layla, along with Sreiq and around four unharmed goblins, were left. The dozens of other goblins were now critically injured as they slumped over on the grassy earth.

Evan and Sreiq's eyes narrowed as they stood in the back and watched as Joe's group and the four goblins collided in an intense battle.

Whoosh! The sound of a blunt object zipping through the air could be heard as the first goblin to arrive had swung his club towards Joe's head.

"Bastard, don't get ahead of yourself!" Fatty Joe shouted as he saw this, he promptly reacted by swinging his arms upwards, causing the battle-ax to collide with the club.

Bang! With a loud sound, the goblin who assaulted Joe was forced back. Joe looked at this while mocking, "Humph! This fatty isn't so easy to knock back, bitch!"

As Fatty Joe was enjoying a moment of splendor, one of the other goblins took this chance to strike him with his stone club.

Upon seeing this, Joe shouted in surprise, "Oh crap!" He anxiously wielded the ax like a shield to block the attack.

Bang! Another clash sounded when both the club and the broad side of the ax collided; Fatty Joe was then forced back by a few feet as he slid across the ground.

Fatty Joe looked at the goblin that was sneering at him as he cursed while holding the ax, "Che! Damn little shit!

Following his words, the goblin he had replied previously had returned as both it and its companion began to assault him together.

Ting-ting-ting!

The sound of metal and stone colliding resounded as both Fatty Joe and these two goblins collided back and forth. Soon, a few wounds had begun to appear on both goblin's skin, as Joe seemed to be getting better at handling the battle-ax.

Evan nodded as he saw this and thought, 'Good, these aren't yet leveled monsters, with your current strength increase from those pills you should be able to beat them so long as you are willing to give it your all and use your full power. This should also be true for both Layla and Emilia...'

As Evan thought, he looked at Emilia and Layla, who were now facing the remaining two goblins.

Emilia kept distancing herself as she shot arrow after arrow towards the goblin, for each arrow fired from this unique bow, their tips with vibrate as a few heatwaves could seem around it.

The goblin tried to repel the arrows, with its wooden shield and stone club, but each time chunks of the club would fall apart as the shield would show signs of breakages.

Not far away, Layla carefully watched the goblin that was trying to smash her apart with its club. Though nervous, she had managed to quell the feeling down as it was no in a way comparable to the scene of devilish demons, and bloody chaos she witnessed.

Her palms grew sweaty as she patiently awaited her chances, only dodging at the last few moments by jumping to the side, the club of the goblin with then strike the ground creating blunt noises.

Each time Layla saw this, she prepared to stab it with her knife, but because of her hesitancy, and the goblin's quick actions. It typically managed to use its shield to do a shield bash, forcing her to fall back as it recovered its battle posture with its club.

Their battle continued in this repetitive manner, as only occasionally, would Layla make an attack with her knife, which would ultimately only scratch the well-timed shield use to block her counters.

Soon, both Emilia and Layla's battle was beginning to show signs of improvement. Emilia's eyes flashed with a hint of resoluteness while retreating in some tall hedges; she knocked her bow and fired another arrow towards her opponent's eyes.

The goblin had lost sight of Emilia's location, causing it to look around carefully, but due to his unguarded state, the arrow quickly pierced his eye, blinding one of his sights.

Layla, on the other hand, had managed to stab her opponent in the shoulder as she found an opening when dodging. It was an instant, where he didn't raise the shield in time, and she didn't linger, she plunged the dagger deeply as blood flowed out when she dragged it out and retreated.

As both saw the green blood flowing from the open wounds on the goblins, they showed looks of hesitancy, but that only lasted for a moment.

Evan sighed as he thought, 'They're still a bit indecisive, but so long as they can get past this, then they'll be able to claim victory.'

Sreiq, who had been calmly observing, also showed a look of seriousness, his face turning ugly as he contemplated, 'Dammit! These darn humans, even though inexperienced their ability to adapt, is astonishing. If this persists, they'll get used to the rhythm of battle allowing them to claim victory. It's better to end them right now before they can grow further...'

"Humans prepare yourself for death!" Sreiq shouted as his eyes glowed in a sinister light as her a vague greenish aura rose from his being. The crocodile he rode on top of also had a similar change, its muscles made creaking noises as it grew to look very much identical to the beast that Evan had fought in Hell's Swamp. If anything, it was only a size larger with even sharper protrusions on its bodies.

'Oh someone can't wait, inspect!' Evan said as he commanded with his thoughts, soon the details appeared before his eyes.

[Sreiq Goblin Commander - Level 2]

[Race Goblin (Superior) | State Awakened]

[Class Dark Archer]

[Health - 350]

[Dark Mana - 4]

[Strength - 25]

[Agility - 29]

[Skills:]

[Dark Mana Arrow A bolt conjured from dark energies, can corrupt any life.]

[Dark Bomb A ball of dark energies that destroy all things.]

[Superior Razorback Crocodile - Level 2]

[Health - 400]

[Strength - 29]

[Agility - 31]

[Skills:]

[Savage Bite A bite from its terrifying teeth that can rip apart even the sturdiest stones.]

[Savage Breath A poisonous breath that can annihilate most lifeforms.]

Unlike some in the outside world, Sreiq was able to sense that his stats were inspected, he looked at Evan with mock as he spoke, "Haha! Human, what do you think? Do you like my current stats? I don't know what your kind did, but you've only made us stronger, no one can save even if you beg for salvation!"

Sreiq was about to command his crocodile to charge, but then a blurry figure had appeared before him, Evan had blocked off his path as he spoke indifferently, "Oh, and just how are you going to that, Sreiq."

"Hmm, you--" Sreiq was about to question his audacity, but as he saw Evan's body erupt with crimson energies, no inferior to its own, his eyes went wide after he used his inspection skills.

"How can this be? How can a human already achieve Level 2 in the yet to awaken, Earth World?" Sreiq exclaimed in horror, as his eye shone with fear.

Evan didn't even bother to let him know that his current level was a fake, he merely glanced at him and answered indifferently, "There are things which many of us can't understand, things only learnable through time. It's a pity, though, for you won't be among those who will learn..."

Bang! Evan's hair began to rise above his head as he postured himself for battle with his bare arms, Sreiq seeing this felt as if he was in the face of both Gragtaasz and Dreadtooth. A cruel shadow seemed to pervade over his entire being as Evan's figure synchronized with it when he spoke, "Your time has come..."