The Mysterious Black Magician

'Looks like this thing wanted to come out,' she thought upon noticing her spatial ring's sudden rise of temperature. However, she disregarded it.

Cinde decided to return her eyes to the front. The dummies deliberately came out from the shadows.

The illumination coming from the moon illuminated their figures. 

"The Brutal Goblins!" She heard Ella exclaim upon seeing the dummy's figures.

"It looks scary!" Cinde cried out.

"You know about it?" Ella asked her.

Cinde didn't know whether to nod or not, "I only heard about it from my parents when I was a kid.. It was one of the elements used by my mother to scare me into sleep whenever I couldn't fall asleep.

She said that brutal Goblins were the fiercest among all many kinds of goblins. They had saw-like teeth, cone faces and pointed chin, and squinted snake-like eyes. Their skin color was dark blue, and jet black body hairs were all over their body. They could even grow their nails up to half a meter long. And they sent an eerie low growl that was so heart trembling when one hears it," she explained and described what her mother once told her.

Everything her mother said before looks to be legit seeing the dummies in front of them now. Though they were dummies only. 

While Cinde was telling her what her mother once told her, in Rea's eyes, there was an ounce of sadness.

Looks like Cinde had a wonderful childhood for having a mother who took care of her and even told some tales just to make her fall asleep. Rea wasn't able to experience such things from her parents.

Her mother was sick even before she was born. When she gained consciousness, she was already lifting a huge responsibility on her petite shoulders.

'Looks like Cinde has a wonderful mother,' Rea thought.

While she was mulling about the past, Cinde continued her story without stopping.

"...and then my mother once told me that if I won't sleep early she will throw me and feed me to the Brutal Goblins…"

"....."

Rea fell silent. "I regretted telling that she's a wonderful mother…" she muttered.

"Eh, d-did you say something, Ella?" Cinde asked in puzzlement.

"N-nothing, ahem!" Rea replied and cleared her throat. "In any case, it looks like it won't take long for him to get out of his hiding," she added.

Just as she said it, the Brutal Goblin dummies rushed at one point of the forest, in one of the huge trees that could be seen around. They surrounded it and slashed with their long sharp nails.

(Gwar! Gwar! Gwar! Gwar! Gwar!) 

Their voices were so bizarre to hear. One's hair would certainly stand upright just because of it. Also, their strengths weren't ordinary. The large tree with a trunk of about 3 meters radius wide was cut in just a minute!

Rea and Cinde caught a glimpse of a shadow leaped in a near tree.

They wondered if Crimson didn't know that this type of goblins had a high perception, especially under the moonlight.

Just as they had thought, Crimson was currently cursing under his breath. He was well-hidden on that tree. But it seemed like the enemies knew already that he was hiding there.

He wondered if they have a high perception? No, they should have! Seeing that they knew where he was hiding from the start.

The tree was butchered and fell. Then they ran to other trees near it!

"Dang, I knew it! They have a high perception!"

<Yes, partner! This type of goblin seems to be that kind of creature. They have a high perception, especially at night. And be careful as they too had their strength increased when they were basking in the moonlight coming from the full moon.>

Sistela notified him.

"Tsk, so my guess is right on the spot, huh," he replied.

Looks like there was no use hiding then.

He also noticed some of the dummies started to climb up towards him.

Yman fortified another branch and threw it to one of the dummies who climbed up.

However, he gawked in disbelief when it was shattered by the enemy's sharp nails.

"These creatures look scary!" He whined.

As expected the higher the wave and stage he reached, the stronger the enemies would become.

And on top of it, his stamina was declining. And even his reserves were used up already.

It wasn't easy to fight multiple enemies consecutively especially that he used up all his spells with an area of effect. And he could not waste his mana also.

What he would be going to do? Yman had tried thinking of some ways. Now that even his javelins were useless against these types of foes, he was down to only one option!

Will he use that mana? No, if he fought them in a black magician mode, he won't gain any combat experience. It would be a waste of effort in that regard. Right now, his combat experience has continued growing little by little while he was fighting.

Yet he was down with his only choice was to engage them in a melee.

The enemy this time was stronger. On top of that, there were quite a number of them. About 20 sinister-looking creatures surrounding him. Yman made a deep breath. He was currently standing on top of a tree branch.

Rea and Cinde noticed one of the dummies shot itself to the relative tree. Its figure disappeared in the shade of countless leaves. Then it was followed by a loud impact.

(Woosh!)

They saw a figure sent flying. Because it was dark, they could only see a dark shade of it.

Leaves and tiny branches were flying all over together with the figure. Then another impact could be heard when it crashed on the neighboring trees.

The figure made a low groan.

When Rea and Cinde could finally discern the figure, they saw the dummy who had recently leaped.

Looks like Crimson managed to land a hit to it and caused it to send flying back.

The other dummies hastily climb the tree. Using their nails in their hands and feet, they climb the 40 meters tall tree in just an instance!

However, their target already leaped to the other side.

The enemy could not do anything about it and had to chase after him. Everyone was leaping to the next tree.

They were all moving pretty fast, chasing each other on top of the tree.

The dummies in front were met with multiple flying fortified branches and leaves.

Some of the dummies were able to pulverize the fortified branches and leaves. While some were unlucky and got hit by it. Some fortified leaves were able to wound them. But it didn't cause any serious injuries to them.

They continued chasing after him like hungry predators.

For Yman though, having multiple targets was so convenient than targeting one enemy.

"Fufufu looks like he was playing…" Cinde laughed at him.

"But…" she stopped laughing when she heard Ella's worried tone. A moment after Rea uttered the word, it was followed by loud consecutive explosions.

Branches and leaves were flying everywhere again, but this time the cause was different. From the dummy's mouth, a wave of energy was shot towards the person they were chasing.

"What was that?" Cinde asked upon seeing the attack.

"Shock waves. Brutal Goblins are known for having destructive abilities. They can fire shock waves from their mouths," Rea told her.

Cinde gulped. Regardless, even if they butchered him, it was just training and he would never die for real. But she never wished to see such an outcome for him.

She wondered why Crimson still wanted to fight. He could rest though. Or if he wanted to fight, he could come back later once his stamina was full again. 

Right now, they saw him trying to evade all the enemy's attacks.

But since there were multiple of them. It was clear that he was having big trouble.

She gripped her fist. And stood up. Rea gaped at her. She wondered what this wolf girl was planning to do.

A moment later, "Crimson, don't lose!"

"Eh?" Rea gawked when Cinde suddenly shouted and cheered at Crimson once again. But it was futile, Crimson could not hear them at this time that he was inside a separate dimension. It was different from the first stage. 

The enemies were so aggressive that he had no time to rest even for a bit.

(Hum hum hum!)

A sound of wind vibrating reached his ears. Without looking for the cause of it, he jumped down off the tree. Right after he jumped, the branch where he was standing the past a second ago turned to pieces.

A bead of sweat trailed down his face.

The other dummies followed after him. He kicked the ground and let the dry leaves and grass to cover up in the air together with a cloud of dust.

Then he hastily waved his hand. Grabbing some of them.

His hand briefly shone in bright crimson color.

The next second another fortified dry leaves flew toward the enemies.

Dust and torn pieces of fortified leaves formed like clouds of smoke that erupted in the air when the dummies slashed it with their nails.

But some fortified leaves were still able to graze them.

Yman flipped backward when a gleam of sharp nails came raining down on him.

(Shining!)

Five big scratched marks could be seen left on the ground after his successful evasion.

Yman made three consecutive backflips to avoid the enemies follow up attacks. Seeing that their nails miss the target. They sent shockwaves from their mouths.

Just right that his feet landed on the tree trunk when he backflipped. He summoned more force to his legs and jumped in mid-air to avoid the fast-approaching 5 shockwaves that fired at him from the five dummies.

Then he followed up by using his Rapid Leap.

He landed about 3 meters away from the enemy's back. Before they could fully twist their bodies, a palm attack was felt by each of them. They were hit at their ribs.

Two dummies were immediately sent and crashed to the ground.

Yman did not stop even after hitting the two enemies.

He rushed towards the nearest one and leaped with all his might to shorten their distance in the shortest possible time.

In their eyes, he looked like a blurry image of a shadow as he was rushing.

The battle continued.

While he was busy attacking a few of the dummies, the other dummies were able to surround him.

Yman was left standing in the middle, breathing heavily. It was clear that he was exhausted.