LVII
Confused by what Laelara was implying, Kaz brought up his [ Archive ], going straight to his [ Quests ] page. The page revealed:
Epic Quest - Estimated Medium Difficulty
Infiltrate Stonerock Goblin camp and defeat the Elite Stonerock Goblin who commands over the camp. Recover (Refined – Skullcrusher’s Blade) from defeating the Elite.
Do you accept?
A few questions ran through his head, which included what was an Epic Quest, why was there a difficulty, and why was he being sent to another camp? He felt shivers running throughout him as he thought about all the ‘camps’ he had experienced, and none of them particularly left a good taste in his mouth.
He titled his head at Laelara, waiting for her to explain herself. She stared blankly at him, and then she blinked, responding, “Right, you don’t know what an Epic Quest is. An Epic Quest is a Quest that the [ Archive ] has deemed to be more difficult than an average Quest, usually requiring a group of Adventurers to tackle the Quest with some preparation.”
Kaz rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. He asked Laelara, “Knowing this, why did you even think about giving this to me?”
She shrugged, and explained, “You wanted a challenge, so I found a challenge for you. And obviously the [ Archive ] believes you are able to tackle this challenge, so my choice was valid for you.”
He sighed, realizing she wasn’t wrong in her thinking. He questioned her again, asking, “And do you really think this is a good idea for me?”
She nodded enthusiastically, saying, “I definitely think it’s a good idea, because it’s a Quest that will provide the most progress towards Ranking your Abilities,” and then she lowered her voice, almost whispering, “And the rewards will be amazing.”
Laelara already had him at the idea of progress towards Ranking his Abilities, but mentioning amazing rewards as well was enough for him. He mentally confirmed the Quest, and he saw the parchment disappear into his Badge. Kaz felt the slight nudge of where he should go, and he felt the [ Archive ] provide him with more information on the Quest. He ignored the additional information now, deciding he would dive into it once he was closer to the Quest area to make sure he had that information fresh in his mind.
Kaz asked, “Roughly, how far is this Quest, Laelara?”
She tapped her chin, and he assumed checked her [ Archive ], as her eyes were scanning something in front of her. She revealed, “It should be around two days of traveling to reach the destination.”
Kaz doubted it would take two days, as last time she failed to account for his smaller strides, so he thought it would take at least three days if he ignored battling every monster he saw. Which he will do, as taking on regular monsters won’t bring any changes to Ranking his Abilities, and he wanted to get the Quest over with.
Thanking her for his help, he set out into Sarus, buying rations from a few street vendors, visiting Waeloria’s shop for more potions, two mana potions and four health potions, which he hoped would be enough. He strode through the gates of Sarus out North, immediately being greeted by the tall mountains that overlooked the town to the North.
As he walked through the roads, he wondered why he purchased two mana potions, as he could siphon Mana Points from his opponents. Well, if they had any Mana Points. He realized he hadn’t tried to siphon mana from simple monsters like the Stonerock Goblins. Would they have Mana Points, or something like Focus or Stamina? What if they had their own source for their Abilities, being monsters?
He made his way through the higher elevations, noticing the change in temperature. It was cold compared to Sarus, but thankfully his robe kept him warm. It was mostly the winds that affected him, not only being cold, but the gusts made him lose his balance at times. During the nights, he slept under rocks, as there were no trees for him to sleep in, and he didn’t get much sleep given how cold it was.
After two and a half days of brutal traveling, he finally saw the camp. But calling it a camp was generous. It was merely a dozen or so shacks, made out of wood and dried vegetation surrounded by a less than effective wooden palisade . If he were to guess, this used to be a Bandit camp that was abandoned, but taken over by these goblins. This was when he decided to check his [ Archive ] for more information. It showed:
Epic Quest - Estimated Medium Difficulty
Infiltrate Stonerock Goblin camp and defeat the Elite Stonerock Goblin who commands over the camp. Recover (Refined – Skullcrusher’s Blade) from defeating the Elite.
Defeat Stonerock Goblins (0/15)
Defeat Stonerock Goblin Shaman (0/1)
Defeat Elite Stonerock Goblin (0/1)
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He read it over, and it made sense to him, except for one thing. What was a Shaman? It sounded like a Calling of some sorts, but the fact that there was only one, and it was part of the objective, made it seem like the goblin was of importance. Maybe it was like a Mage, and I will get to use my [ Mana Siphon ].
It also made him realize that he hasn’t seriously fought another Mage like monster, or a legitimate Mage. He didn’t consider his little standoff with the Faedusk Elf a fight as he didn’t really attack him. Looking back, he wished he had gone all out against the brat. With his emotions running a little high, his [ Archive ] opened again, and it displayed:
Urgent Update to the Quest:
Free the prisoners who are being held by the Elite Stonerock Goblin (0/2)
Kaz stared at that message, and then reread it a few times to make sure he was reading this correctly. He felt the blood drain from his face as his breath slowed. How were monsters intelligent enough to capture people without killing them? His Mana Core flared up in anger, and he agreed, it was time to decimate these monsters.
He gripped his glaive tightly and strode into the camp. There were two goblins who greeted him once he walked in the broken wooden gate, if you could call it that. The palisade and gate were old wooden spikes that were put in for protection, but have deteriorated over the years. Without a moment of hesitation, he lunged forward, jabbing his glaive into the first goblins chest.
Without waiting for a reaction, he shuffled backwards rapidly, and jabbed again to the other goblin, who was now trying to poke him with its spear. His glaive made contact with the goblins leather chest piece, and sunk right through, piercing deep into the goblin’s chest. He took a few steps back to assess the situation, and to his relief, the goblins were both slower than expected. They put up a small fight, but with his poke and retreat method, he was able to wear them down. He then finished each Stonerock Goblin off with a slanted upwards slash, which he considered his finishing move.
Filled with confidence, he stormed through the camp, attacking every goblin that he saw. He cycled through the combos that Wylana taught him, and made sure to use his body more than his arms. His balance was on point, and his strength was almost perfect, only occasionally getting ahead of himself and overextending at times due to his unstable emotions. It also was nice to receive Tokens from defeating his enemies again, which he could never get enough of.
Thankfully, the Stonerock Goblins weren’t that skilled to capitalize on his exposed areas, but he still admonished himself. There was a moment where he had to activate his [ Mana Shield ] because a sneaky Rogue like goblin was too quick for him. He tried to deflect the goblin’s daggers, but the cunning monster had two of them and decided to use them in separate attacks. Therefore, when he successfully deflected one of the daggers, the other one was heading straight for his exposed midsection, the rusted blade a blur in his vision.
Without a thought, his body automatically reacted by dropping his elbow lower, which then his Mana Core activated his [ Mana Shield ], causing it to appear on his left arm, narrowly blocking the dagger’s strike. The blade bounced off the hardened mana protection, a loud clang erupting from the contact. Each time he activated his Ability in these situations, it always resulted in the monster getting surprised by their weapon not finding his soft flesh.
And this time, it was no different. Filled with unnatural rage, spreading outwards from his Mana Core, Kaz spun in a circle, crouching low and swinging his glaive in a sweeping arc, slightly tilting upwards. He put a little extra strength into his swing due to his rising anger in almost getting bested by daggers. With a sickening slice, he barely felt any resistance as his blade sliced through the neck of the goblin. He fought the urge to throw up when he saw the head of the Stonerock Goblin slide cleanly off, before disappearing with the rest of the body.
He quickly checked his [ Quests ] page to see the updates to the numbers, and he was shown:
Epic Quest - Estimated Medium Difficulty
Infiltrate Stonerock Goblin camp and defeat the Elite Stonerock Goblin who commands over the camp. Recover (Refined – Skullcrusher’s Blade) from defeating the Elite.
Defeat Stonerock Goblins (13/15)
Defeat Stonerock Goblin Shaman (0/1)
Defeat Elite Stonerock Goblin (0/1)
Free the prisoners who are being held by the Elite Stonerock Goblin (0/2)
He was almost done with the fifteen regular goblins to slay, but he still couldn’t find the main Elite Stonerock Goblin. He was also a bit wary because he didn’t know what the Shaman looked like, and he knew he should be careful as it was a separate objective for the Quest. As he looked around, he noticed that there was a slightly larger hut near the back of the camp, so Kaz assumed they would most likely be in there as he couldn’t see anywhere else where they could be hiding.
Walking casually through the camp, he planned his next combos that he could use against the Elite. From what he remembered from the first one he fought in the beginning of his journey, it wielded a giant sword and was quite slow in its movement. But it was strong. He winced slightly remembering his injuries when fighting the Elite Stonerock Goblin. That was the first time that he had a close call with death.
Shaking his head, he focused on what advantages he had, which was essentially his style of fighting now, consisting of quick movement and light attacks to slowly wear down the opponent. With these regular Stonerock Goblins he wasn’t able to really test his newfound style, as he would execute them with sustaining any damage himself. Sure, it was nice to land a bunch of combos, but it was nothing compared to his spars with Wylana.
Kaz realized something as he neared the bigger hut, and after he slayed at least another dozen goblins. He wasn’t Ranking his [ Mana Shield ], which was the last Ability that he needed to bring up past Rank 40. Last he checked, it was at Rank 29, which was far below the rest of his Abilities at his current stage.
Deciding to follow Elder Aelon’s advice, as it had proved very instrumental to his growth recently with his [ Mana Burst ], he asked his Mana Core for any advice. It remained silent, much to his frustration. Before he could even think about anything, he heard a roar coming from the hut, and to his growing annoyance, the Elite Stonerock Goblin stepped out.
The Elite monster made eye contact with him, and pointed its sword at him. It growled at him, and began glowing red, which Kaz knew at this point meant it was buffing its strength and speed. Kaz only rolled his eyes, wondering why the goblin decided to come out now, while buffing himself before the fight even began. Kaz lowered his hood, and got into his stance, getting ready for the Elite to charge him. He felt his Mana Core ramping up, but he decided to only use his glaive for this battle, and his [ Mana Shield ], much to his Mana Core’s disappointment.
The Elite was dressed in full armor, similar to a set that Broff wore. It was leather with metal plates protecting the vital areas. Sure, the armor was slightly worn, but Kaz was surprised to see a monster wearing such good gear. Thinking about it, the rest of the goblins also had more armor than usual. But what caught his attention was the very large broadsword that the monster had in its hand. It was wider and longer than any blade he had ever seen, and it was a dull black color, sporting a few noticeable chips along the edges. That must be the weapon he was meant to recover after defeating the Elite monster. Heavily armored and a deadly weapon, what was going on here?
With an ear piercing roar, the Elite Stonerock Goblin decided that enough time was spent assessing each other, and began charging straight at Kaz, raising the blade over its shoulder.
