The Red Hand

Side Story 2 – The Misfit’s Begin Leveling Up!

Around three months since the destruction of the Black Gauntlet.

"Gi! Gi! Gi!" (Goblin.)

KABOOM!

A loud bang rang out throughout the forest as a goblin's head exploded into red mist.

"Ohhhh! It worked perfectly!" Daikael's eyes glinted as she squeezed at her new invention's lethality. "And they told me firearms were bad! HA!"

"Yeah, it's great that you made a double-barreled shotgun, but..." Daikael was whacked on the back of the head by Avahn's sheathed sword.

"OW!" Daikael cried out in pain. "What was that for?!?" She turned around to see the cat demon covered in brains. "Oh..."

"Yeah. Oh..." Avahn's face telegraphed just how pissed she was at being covered in goblin goo. "Maybe next time, give us a bit of WARNING before you explode someone that close!"

"Also, that weapon is super loud, and you've probably just alerted every goblin in the camp that we're coming." Alveron sighed. He was sitting on top of Shiru's head, and the dryad was similarly unimpressed.

"We were supposed to be scouting the warbands' camp so we could make a plan, Daikael." She sighed. "I even sent out my plants to scout stealthfully, but your gun just alerted them. I detect well over two dozen goblins and a hob making their way here."

"Nyits oki-doki meow~! we nyan just battle of the nya~ them nyin nye forest meow~! nyit will myake dealing with them nyeasier since nyi nyan bounce between nye trees meow~!"

[It's Ok! We can just fight them in the forest! It will make dealing with them easier since I can bounce between the trees!] Ara was happy to fight whether in the forest or the open, and her speed made it easy for her to maneuver around enemies.

"Easy for you to say, but I'd rather not be jumped by a goblin and turned into a snack." Alveron shook his head.

"Indeed, while I can fight in close quarters, I'd prefer to remain away from the enemy." Shiru agreed.

"But it's fine!" Daikael smiled. "We've got two front liners!" She said while reloading the shotgun.

"You are not a frontliner, Dai." Avahn wiped off her face. "You're a ranged fighter. Ara is the only other person who comes close to filling that role as my vanguard, you wouldn't last very long against a hob if he got his hands on you." She rolled her eyes.

"Looks like we'll be able to put that theory to the test." Shiru giggled.

"They're here?" Alveron asked.

"Right about... now!" Shiru spun around and caused a series of vines to appear from the ground and impale a goblin who tried to jump at her.

"More are coming, Avahn get ready to deal with the chaff. Ara, start stacking hits on the hob he's gonna need a few before he goes down easy. Alveron start using magic to help Ava and me keep the goblins away, and Dai." She turned to look at the fox, whose desire for carnage was visible on her face. "Just... just do Dai things." She sighed.

"Rodger!" (Everyone)

A few moments later, a horde of goblins appeared from the treeline.

"Gi! Gi! Gi!" (Goblins)

"Creepy buggers!" Alveron said as he slashed at the air and sent a spacial distortion forward. Upon impacting one of the goblins, it paused for a moment before being sucked inwards and imploding. "Ava, now!" He called out to the demon cat, who leaped past him.

"You got it!" Avahn activated her rage before pulling out her massive blade, a cursed Oda. "TIME TO DIE, GOBLINS! AHAHAHAH." Once she entered her blood frenzy, she got a bit unhinged. "Time to feast, Furui! Drink 'em up!" She called out to the spirit within the blade as she cleaved two goblins in half with one strike.

"Get nyem nyavahn meow~! feast upon their souls meow~!"

[Get em Avahn! Feast upon their souls!] Ara cheered on her friend as she started bouncing between trees at high speed. Her skill set and equipment meant she was unsuited to fighting vast hordes of chaff, and her paper fans were specifically designed for single target focus.

"Maow, where nyare nyu hobby nya~? nyi nyeed to smyack nyu meow~! comewn nyout, comewn nyout where nyever nyu nyare meow~!"

[Now, where are you hobby? I need to smack you! Come out, come out where ever you are!" Ara continued to bounce between treetops, deftly avoiding arrows and javelins thrown by the goblins.

"Ha ha meow~! nyu nyan't hit mewn meow~!"

[Ha ha! You can't hit me!] She blew a raspberry at the goblins, who grew visibly angry, before turning around and shaking her tail at him in mockery!

"Comewn nyon gobby meow~! try nyand hit mewn meow~!"

[Come on gobby! Try and hit me!] Her mockery continued, and the goblin readied another javelin, only to have his head blown off by a solid slug from Daikael's shotgun.

"Nice distraction, kitty!" Daikael said as she fired the second barrel and exploded another goblin in two with her weapon. "And man, this thing is awesome! For just a prototype, it beats the normal flintlocks by a mile!" As she smiled in triumph, a loud roar echoed throughout the forest, and a dead goblin body flew past her.

{That was close!} (Daikael)

"It's the hob!" Shiru called out. She was busy throwing some of the goblins around with her vines and couldn't focus on the leader just yet. "Ara, keep him busy and stack as many hits on him as you can!" Just as she finished giving directions, a huge orange pig man came crashing through the forest.

{And its ugly...} Shiru groaned.

"OHH! Finally a challenge." Avahn said as she punted one of the goblins through a nearby tree. "Let's DANCE!" She let out a battle cry as she charged the hobgoblin.

"Oooga!" The massive hob brought down his great axe, while Avahn easily deflected, and the two engaged in an all-out duel.

*CLANG* *SMASH* *CLANG* *SMASH**CLANG* *SMASH*

The axe and the blade crashed together causing the ground to shake with each hit.

"HAHAHA!" Avahn laughed as she took a punch to the face. "Is that all you've got you stupid pig?!?"

The hob was annoyed that his attacks were having seemingly no effect, but his troubles weren't over just yet as he was assaulted by a rapidly moving cat.

"MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!" Ara began bouncing from tree to tree as she scraped the hob with her paper fan. Each hit only did a tiny amount of damage, but that wasn't the point. Once her strikes hit 500 and the full stack was applied, the next hit would do an insanely high amount of damage.

"Take that, nyand that, nyand that, nyand that meow~!"

[Take that, and that, and that, and that!] Ara bounced around at an incredible speed, buoyed by Alveron's space magic creating temporary footholds for her to bounce off of in case trees were too far away.

{Nice! It looks like that practice worked out!} Alveron cheered his unique use of spatial magic and its effectiveness as he rocketed two more goblins into the stratosphere.

"Hey, don't forget about me!" Daikael threw several grenades into the fray, which exploded around the hob, but rather than do damage, they blinded him.

{Good old flashbangs! And they said it couldn't be done!} (Daikael)

Ordinarily, this should have also blinded Avahn, but her special rage ability nullified such status conditions while she was in her frenzy!

Weakened and blinded by the flashbang, the hob began to falter, something that the demon cat wasn't about to let go unpunished.

"Time to carve up the piggy!" Avahn cried out as she brought down her blade, slicing off the hobs left arm.

"GAAAAAAAA!" It screamed in pain as it swung its axe down, which missed the demon cat.

{Easy!} Avahn smiled.

"Don't get too comfortable!" Shiru cried out as a goblin jumped up behind Avahn in an attempt to ambush her. "We're supporting you, but you need to watch your surroundings!" She made a vine extend from one of the trees and grabbed the goblin before throwing it at the hob, who smacked it into the ground.

{Thanks for the save, Mom!} (Avahn)

"MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! DING!" Ara cried out her signal, which indicated that the 500th hit had landed.

"Go, Ava!" Shiru called out, and the cat obliged, charging forward and smashing her blade into the hob's chest after getting past his blade. The moment she contacted the hob, all five hundred stacking buffs exploded causing a huge crash as the hob was vaporized by a comically large blast.

Seeing their boss get annihilated, the remaining goblins disbursed into the forest, where Shiru manipulated plants to finish them off before they could return to base.

"Excellent work everyone, it seems we've each got a few levels from that fight!" Shiru cheered. It wasn't much xp, but it was more than enough to push them up a bit. "Especially you, Ava! You went in and showed that hob who was boss!" She walked over and began to pet the demon cat's ears, which caused her to blush a tiny amount.

"Yeah meow~! nyu were nyawesomewn nyava meow~!"

[Yeah! You were awesome Ava!] Being touched by Ara made Avahn blush even harder.

"Aww is someone being-" Daikael's comment was stopped prematurely as a vine cracked her on the back of the head.

"Ha! You had that coming, Dai!" Alveron floated over and landed on her head.

"Now, now. No laughing at other's pain, Alve." Shiru glanced at him. "If you keep that up, I'll have to start setting rat traps in the house." She giggled.

"Yeah, I've noticed some of our cheese has gone missing lately, anything you want to share with the rest of us, ratboy?" Avahn wasn't going to miss her chance to get a bit of payback for Alveron's pranks at the house.

{I AM NOT A RAT!} The plausible rat man held his tongue.

"Meowhat maow nya~?"

[What now?] Ara asked, the quest they were on tasked them with clearing out a goblin warbands' camp and it was close by.

"Hmmm." Shiru thought. "There are still plenty more in the camp from what my plants tell me, Daikael." She turned to the fox.

"Yes?" (Daikael)

"This will be where your talents come in handy." Shiru sighed and the fox's eyes shined.

"You want me to explode them, don't you!" Daikael had an idea about what was coming.

"I hate to use such methods, but it's our best bet for doing this safely. Can you make a big enough bomb to-" Shiru was cut off as Daikael dropped a massive sack in the middle of the group?

"What kind you want? I've got napalm, chemical, conventional, cluster, thermobaric, and high explosive. Just take your pick." Daikael smiled.

"W-why do you have so many already made?" Avahn was both shocked and impressed with the number of bombs in the bag.

"Me-wow!" Ara's eyes went wide as she looked in the bag.

"I just... you... Never mind, this is what I asked for, so I'm just going to stop asking questions and be grateful you're on our team." Shiru shook her head.

"What, no nukes?" Alveron laughed.

"Yeah, sadly, that's not possible." Daikael laughed, and so did the entire group. Building nuclear weapons in the game was impossible, even for the crazy fox.

{Yet...} (Daikael)