New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World-Chapter 193: IMP OR GOBLIN

Aristia hesitated for a bit before walking into the cave, fully alert. The cave was dim with the major source of light coming from the entrance.

It was a bit cold and dark but Aristia could see crystal stalactites* and stalagmites* in the cave’s roof and on the ground. The ground was slightly damp.

She walked for what she felt was a few minutes before she became frustrated. "Just where am I supposed to find Millie? How am I supposed to break those stupid chains?" She yelled, the sound echoing slightly.

All of a sudden, the cave rumbled.

"What was that?!" Aristia asked alarmed. Her eyes darted left and right.

The sound stopped as if it was never there. Everything went back to normal.

But suddenly, something seemed to fall from the sky... or at least the cave’s roof. It landed a few steps in front of her, a bit of dust floating up.

Aristia took a step back, watching with caution.

The creature stood up slowly. It was very strange. It had a slightly round body. It had shoulder length brow hair and long pointy ears that didn’t quite resemble that of an elf as its ears were rounder and not as pointy. Its eyes that were round. It wore a green shirt and brown trousers and his shoes curled upwards at the tips.

Aristia kept staring at his feet. Those were really funny shoes. Slowly, her eyes went back to his face.

The creature leaned its head side to side and continued to stare at her. Initially, it looked startled as if it didn’t know what she was doing here, but then it bared its teeth, clearly trying to look scary and intimidating, but it failed miserably.

Instead, it looked absolutely adorable.

Aristia also returned the stare before pointing a finger at it and asking,

"Where did you come from?" She looked up at the ceiling to see if there were any holes there but there was none. "It’s like you fell from the sky but there’s no hole... You don’t even look the slightest bit hurt. Looks like your body can also serve as a cushion." She snorted.

The creature looked confused before it scowled in annoyance.

"How dare you! You... you human!" He yelled, but his childish voice only sounded like an angry child whose candy had been taken away from him. Not even the least bit intimidating.

[What a cute little creature.] Aristia thought.

The creature pointed at Aristia with his chubby fingers before leaning his head back.

Aristia’s brows furrowed in confused. What was the little goblin doing? Was it looking up at the cave’s roof?

The creature finally leaned its head forward and something flew out of its mouth.

Aristia’s eyes widened.

She quickly moved out of the way, narrowly avoiding the fireball that was vomited at her.

[Not cute! Not cute at all!] Aristia thought as she took off running, trying to avoid the balls of fire.

She didn’t go back the way she came. She instead tried to get past the creature. She moved behind some tall, wide stalactites on the floor of the cave.

She gulped when a stalactite blew to pieces. That creature’s fireball was something else. She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if it hit her.

[Very mean creature. No wonder it’s a goblin. Can’t it see that I’m a child too? It doesn’t even bat an eye trying to kill a fellow child!]

Aristia cursed in her mind as she ran further into the cave. The creature didn’t slow down at all.

"Why are you so fast, little goblin?" She yelled.

"I’m not a goblin!" The childish voice replied angrily, before another fireball followed.

[Oh, I don’t think agitating him will do me any good.]

"Damnit! Why is this cave so big?" Aristia cursed again.

She quickened her steps, trying to lose the creature.

She had to find a place to hide. She looked around. There were a few dark spots behind some columns* she could hide behind without anyone knowing. Judging from the distance between them, the creature would probably think she was still running.

Quickly, she hid behind one of them. She watched the creature approach and run past.

A few seconds later, she sighed in relief.

She had to figure out a plan and fast. She looked around for something she could use as a weapon.

There was a broken off piece of stalagmite. Its tip was pointed and glistened lightly. Aristia took a few deep breaths before stepping away from her hiding place.

She had just taken a few steps when she heard the familiar childish voice. "Found you, human."

Aristia froze mid-step and slowly turned around to face the little goblin. The little creature stood there, a mischievous grin plastered across its round face.

"Great," Aristia muttered under her breath. "Just my luck."

She eyed the creature in front of her. "Did you now, goblin?" She said, tilting her head. He was actually quite pleasing to the eye if you ignored the fact that he was literally a living, spitting fireball. It was oddly charming, in a fiery, spitting kind of way, she thought sarcastically.

The creature’s face twisted into a furious scowl. "I’m not a goblin!"

"Well, you sure look like one." Aristia said, with a mocking grin, while clutching the broken piece of stalagmite tightly in her hand.

[Yeah, I threw the plan of not provoking him out of the window. No, I mean out the cave’s entrance.]

"I do not!"

"Then what are you, an imp?" She shot back, unable to resist another jab.

The creature stomped its feet in indignation, its small voice echoing through the cave. "Stop saying I look like a goblin! I’m a troll!"

"..."

There was sudden silence in the cave.

"...What?"

"What?" the troll snapped. "Why do you look so surprised?"

Aristia rubbed her forehead. That was true. Now that she looked closer, the little gobl— creature did look like a troll; it did have some, or should she say many, troll-like features. But still...

She coughed a little.

"Alright, troll," she said, recovering her composure. "Why exactly are you chasing me around and vomiting fireballs at me?" She raised her eyebrows and questioned. Why was her spiritual world so fantastical? Her brows twitched.

"You trespassed," the troll snarled, his round eyes narrowing at her. They were roughly the same height. "What are you even doing here?"

Aristia raised an eyebrow. "Doesn’t explain why you’re trying to barbecue me?!"

She paused. "Wait, trespassed? Hello, this is my spiritual world. If anyone’s trespassing here, it’s you. I should be the one asking what you’re doing in my spiritual world." She muttered under her breath. "And when did trolls gain the ability to spit fire?"

She faced the troll. "That doesn’t explain why ’you’re’ chasing me around." She emphasized the ’you’re’.

[Because let’s say I tresspassed in my own spiritual world, then shouldn’t I be facing an adult? Why this baby?]

A wide grin appeared on his face and it ignored her. Instead, it repeated. "You can’t hide from me, human! I am—" it puffed out its tiny chest, "—the guardian of this place. And you have trespassed!"

"Pfft! Guardian? Of this cave? Yeah, right. Then why didn’t you say so instead of spitting fire at me like an overgrown dragonfly?" Aristia held in her laughter.

The troll’s face scrunched up, but it didn’t respond as if it didn’t hear her. Its fiery gaze was fixed firmly on her as if sizing her up for another attack.

Aristia tightened her grip on the stalagmite fragment and took a cautious step back, deciding to make peace. "Look, uh... guardian, I’m not here to cause trouble. I just need to—"

"Silence!" the troll interrupted, then leaned its head backwards.

"Uh, rude!" Aristia yelled.

She dove to the side just in time, rolling across the damp ground as the fireball struck a nearby column, shattering it into a spray of stone fragments. She shielded her face with her arms, coughing from the dust that filled the air.

"Okay, that’s it," she growled, standing up and gripping her makeshift weapon tightly. "I didn’t want to do this, but you’re leaving me no choice." She couldn’t waste time. Who knew how much time had passed in the real world.

This troll was hindering her from finding Millie. Was it an obstacle created by her spiritual world to make it harder to free her daemon?

The creature cackled, clearly unfazed by her words. "What are you going to do, human? Poke me with your little rock?" Its childish voice echoed annoyingly as it asked.

"Something like that," Aristia muttered.

She had a quick plan.

Unfortunately for the troll, it had to shoot fireballs from his mouth and not his hands. It wouldn’t be so easy to aim at her.

Before she could even be smug about it, the creature took out something from its palm. Her eyes widened.

___

Stalactite: is an elongated icicle shaped mineral formation that hangs from the roof of a cave.

Stalagmite:is a mound rising from floor of cave, formed of calcium salts deposited by slowly dripping water. A stalagmite appears like an inverted stalactite, rising from the floor of a cavern.

Stalagnate: A Stalagnate, also called pillar or sinter column, is a column from the ceiling to the floor of a limestone cave. It is formed when a stalactite and a stalagmite meet or when a stalactite reaches the floor of the cave. Stalagnates are the late stage of stalactites and stalagmites.

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