Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 39: A Warrior’s Death: Part Three

My plan wasn’t flawed. In fact, I’d wager that it’d work if I was fighting someone else as big as the Goblin Lord, but only because that someone wouldn’t have been the Goblin Lord. See the Goblin Lord was different. Way different. I kept using the same tactic. Simple small slashes across his body. Over and over. I kept slashing him. I wanted to enjoy it. To savor my prey. I was sure he’d tire out sooner or later.

He did not.

He just kept going. He kept coming at me with everything he had. His body coated in Mana. It was green, so not that high in Rank but is it was so incredibly pure, that it’d put even a C-Rank, or even a B-Rank Warrior’s to shame. Slashing continuously with his longsword while making sure to keep the appropriate distance that allowed him to do so. Creating even greater distance between us to allow him to shoot his arrows. Even using his arrows to stab me every time I closed the distance. He did all these things. And even when none of them worked, he didn’t stop. He launched his attack with terrifying expertise. It was clear that I was stronger, clear that I was faster, and he knew that, he knew better than anyone that he couldn’t beat me, but that didn’t stop him. No, in fact, it seemed as if that only unfueled him. They way he fought, conveyed the skills of a great warrior with the experience and battle prowess of a titan. And like a titan, he just kept fighting, his body drenched with his own blood. Not because he was dumb. But because he was fighting for something far bigger than just simply winning or losing.

A purpose.

One so deep that he’d readily give his life for it. I looked down on him, saw him as nothing more than mere prey, but I shouldn’t have done that. He didn’t deserve that. In him, radiated the spirit of a true warrior, something that lacked even in some actual Warriors that I’ve met, hence he deserved my respect.

"I had planned to deal with you swiftly, effortlessly, without even breaking a sweat, but I see now that I was in the wrong. I’m sorry for looking down on you the way I did. As a token, I’ll use my strongest attack to give you a death you can be proud. The death of a true Warrior. If there’s really such a place as Valhalla, with this, I’ll make sure you go there without fail."

I deactivated both Tetrax and Marid, then jumped back to create some distance between me and the Goblin Lord.

"Peyton, throw me my blade!" Without hesitation, Peyton quickly did as I asked. I didn’t need to explain to a fellow Warrior what my intentions were.

"Here!"

~Swoop!~

~Clank!~

I caught it. I then proceeded to activate my Bladework Skill, Soul-Piercing Eyes Skill and Treasure Hunt Skill.

The Goblin Lord, as if sensing my intentions then spoke for the first time since our fight started.

"Ha lokwe ko G’nori ikna ukus. Tink’weri akifo kaso sifori la ei koko ti soka hilatro ja hami honnarr! Ha se inkhyeh! Homi miy’ fa ko nora ruk!!!" He took a straightforward battle stance after what sounded like a battle-cry.

It went without saying that I didn’t understand a single word of what he’d just said. However, from one warrior to another, I understood what he meant perfectly.

"Alright then Goblin Lord! Let’s finish this!"

In response, the Lord of Goblins attacked for the very last time. Moving at a speed unlike anything he had shown before, instantly breaking the sound barrier, a feat I’d believe he had never been forced to make before. The blood that covered his body was instantly washed away at the moment of his take off. And to top it all off, his speed was exponentially increasing by the second. All in an attempt to find the perfect timing, the perfect opening and the perfect positioning, he kept circling me, making sure to keep a manageable distance, right up until the moment he’d attack.

Seeing that, I simply slowly raised First Dawn upwards. Noticing this action, the Goblin Lord hastily dashed to my front. He was moving at Mach-5 speed. That was probably his limit. The entire area went silent. Not even the sound of wind gushing could be heard. The Goblin Lord’s attack was simple, a downward slash, yet his execution, his expertise and the sheer power in the attack was anything but. The same could be said of mine. Yes, similar to him, my attack was also a simple downward slash. There were only two differences between our attacks. While he had both his hands on his longsword, I only had my right on my blade, and while his attack was slower, mine was incomparably faster.

In the bewitching silence that felt as if it would last centuries, a single voice was heard. Nay, this was the only voice that could be heard. Even as it was in the form of a mere whisper.

"Sunset Slash."

As soon as those words were uttered. The Goblin Lord was stopped in his tracks. There he stood, still tightly holding on to his longsword. He did not speak. He did not move.

He was dead.

But... Upon closer inspection, he was...

"Smiling?... He’s legit smiling."

It was hard to notice what with his face being... well, a Goblin’s, but he was definitely smiling.

"Heh. A Warrior’s death. No question."

His body then fell, his halves separating head to toe.

"Another perfectly symmetrical slice."

Even his longsword was symmetrically cut in half.

"First Dawn, you scare me." The blade shimmered as if responding to my statement.

"... Psh, as if. It’d have to have a mind of its own to do that and that’s just totally bonkers." I said as I transferred it back into the Item Space and deactivated all my Skills.

"Hey you!"

"Wah!... Oh, Peyton, when’d you get here?"

"I’ve been here this entire!-... You’re messing with me now, aren’t you?"

"Yes."

"Ignoring that. Explain yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"That attack from earli-"

"Oh my god! Just look at all those Mana Crystals that we-ow, ow, ow!" A pain invaded my left ear, as if a small knife was slowly digging into it from both its sides. It was Peyton, that she-beast. She was pinching and pulling it, very roughly if I may add. Shit hurt like a bitch. She had very sharp nails, more so than even the Great Werehyena’s fangs, to my surprise.

"Do you really think you’ll be able to weasel your way out of this convo the way you do others?"

"Can’t I do exactly that just this once!? I agreed to tell you about my blade didn’t I-ow! Shouldn’t that be enough!?"

"Seriously? That’s your defense?"

"Listen. You’re a Warrior, right? And as a Warrior, you need to respect whatever secrets your fellow Warrior, me, has, regardless of how close we may be."

"Mhh. Fine." She let me go.

"Hah, sweet release."

~Sigh~

"Look, it’s only because I don’t think you realize how dangerous that attack of yours is that I’m making such a big deal out of this, okay?"

"Hm? Dangerous? What do you mean by ’dangerous’?"

"... Never mind."

"Aww, no fair...now you got me all curious and junk."

"Yeah, well, that’s life kid." She said.

"’Kid’? You’re not that older than me, you know."

"Out here acting like two or three years is a lot."

She paused for a second before she finally spoke.

"... You wanna know what’s really old? This Dungeon. Let wrap up quickly so we can leave, yeah?"

"... Uhh sure... Why not..."

"Odd." I thought.

The message signaling our completion of the Dungeon had already popped up. All that was left was for us to read it.

What came first was the Party rewards and Party Score. A message we could both see and read.

After that, came the individual messages that gave us our individual rewards based on our personal achievements.

[Report. Immediate Party Quest: Party’s First Conquest has been completed.]

Party Score:

• Raid [Party Leader]

Kills: 5212 normal Goblins, 144 High Goblins, 20 Great Goblins and the Goblin Lord

• Peyton Garner

Kills: 4774 normal Goblins, 169 High Goblins and 10 Great Goblins

[Now calculating rewards...]

[Rewards are being allocated. Party has received 10329 E-Rank monster cores, and one D-Rank monster core along with the Goblin Lord’s skin and spine. Congratulations Warriors for clearing your first Dungeon as a Party! The Dungeon will close as soon as you exit it.]

"Well, it’s no secret that you won now." Said Peyton as we both looked at the message.

"Speaking of which, we never really talked about a prize for the winner."

"Sneaky jerk. You’re only saying that because you won."

"You know me so well."

"Whatever... Hmm... How about this then. You can have all Mana Crystals here to yourself. Boss’ drops too, since you’re the one who killed him. Deal?"

"Uhm... Are you out of your mind?"

"Sorry, what was that?" She smiled brightly as she clenched her fist.

"I mean uh... How very generous of you."

"I know, right? I really am too nice for my own good."

"Right, yes of course, a real saint you are. But uhh...are you sure? I mean we are talking about over ten thousand Mana Crystals here. Not exactly something you can give away like chump change like that."

"I assure you. To me, that’s exactly what it is. Chump change. For E-Rank Mana Crystals to even catch my gaze, they’d have to be in the millions."

As cocky as that sounded, she wasn’t wrong. A-Ranks have an insane amount of Mana as it stands so a measly ten thousand E-Rank Mana Crystals isn’t really anything they’d go bananas for.

"Besides..." She added. "I already got way more than I would’ve ever expected from raiding this Dungeon."

"Your Stats you mean?"

"Yeah... It’s incredible. I never even thought it was possible to get my Stats this high in a mere E-Rank Dungeon, when I’ve even struggled doing so in some C-Ranks."

"Great, don’t forget who you have to thank for that."

"Ugh, please don’t make me say it..."

"Common courtesy. You kinda have to."

"Ugh. Fine... Th-thank...you." She smiled forcibly, her lips trembling as if they’d fall off any second. She wasn’t even making any eye contact.

Yeesh.

"That looked painful. Are you okay?"

"Go die."

"Rude. Well anyway. Thanks for the Mana Crystals. I’ll put them to good use."

"Oh yeah, about that. I’m curious. What do you plan to do with them? You gonna sell them or undergo MCA?"

"Erk!..."

"...hm?"

"I uhh..."

"What? What’s wrong?"

"Well uhm..."

"Fuck! I did NOT think this all through. Of course I wanna absorb them all. But if I tell her that then she’ll prolly wanna help me out with that by taking me to the Association to do it. I can’t tell her about my very special method of absorption so I won’t be able to reject her without a valid reason. But one thing’s for sure, I one hundred percent CANNOT absorb this many Crystals the normal way! I’ll lose so much extra Mana Capacity! C’mon, think Raid. Think! You’ve got an Intelligence Stat of nineteen thousand now. Figure a way out of this!"

"Oh I see."

"Huh?"

"I mean I get it. All Warriors are entitled to their secrets. But you really don’t have to keep this one from me. I already know you’re capable of creating high level weapons, remember?"

"Uhh..."

"That’s right! I had forgotten about that. Mana Crystals can be used to make weapons. Rank Measures too. I heard that the highest level Rank Measures are made out of at least ten S-Rank Mana Crystals. Yes. This can work."

I then saw fit to reply to Peyton accordingly.

"Ah shucks. You got me."

"Gaawddamnit, I’m a genius."