Trinity of Magic

Chapter 7.4: Goblin hunting

Night had fallen a while ago already. The sky was overcast and Ezekiel could see no signs of either the stars or the moon. and the city would have been pitch black if not for the lantern lit in the streets.

Once he reached Armins Smithy, he didn't go straight to bed. He had to make preparations for his adventure tomorrow. Ezekiel entered the back of the smithy and grabbed the first weapon he laid eyes on before retreating.

When he reached his room, his eyes his prize in the light of a candle. It was a simple ax. He recognized it as one of Markus's pieces. There was nothing special about the weapon, but the craftsmanship was solid. The axe was not made to be a weapon. From the shape of the head, he could tell that it was meant to split wood, instead of heads. Still, the weapon would do for some goblins. He hid the tool in his school bag before blowing out the candle.

Ezekiel let himself fall onto the flimsy mattress of his bedding. He pulled a light, threadbare blanket over himself and immediately fell into a fretful sleep. There was a smile on his face as he fell asleep.

His good mood only lasted until he arrived at school the next day. Growing up, Ezekiel had been a cheerful and carefree person. But over the past weeks, he found himself growing more and more bitter and cynical. The constant ridicule and mockery from his fellow students took a toll on him, despite his best efforts. Ezekiel used to smile all the time. Now, only something truly outstanding managed to improve his mood.

During a break from class, he found himself preoccupied with thoughts of Lilly. She had been by his side for as long as he could remember. Someone he could confide in and who had cheered him up more times than he could count. But now, every time he saw her from afar, she seemed oblivious to his existence.

It was hard to imagine that she didn't see him. That she wasn't aware of the tough time he was having. But he couldn't imagine that she could know what he was enduring and not search him out and comfort him. He admitted that he longed for her encouragement and friendship. Being cut off from her was as if the joyful part of his life had been ripped away from him, leaving a gaping hole of misery in its place.

He tried to push these feelings aside and focus on his studies, but they kept creeping back up. Often, he thought he caught a glimpse of her at the academy, only to realize that it was someone who only vaguely resembled her. Or somebody who had the same hairstyle as her, or sometimes, that there was no one there at all. When he did actually see her, it was always from a distance, and she looked happy and radiant surrounded by her new friends from the wind affinity. But whenever he called her or rushed over to try to speak to her, she disappeared like smoke, and he was left feeling confused and even more isolated.

The depressing mood that had gripped him today only receded after his final lesson. Ezekiel remembered his plans for the day. Today he was going to turn his life around. He would start his career as a monster slayer!

Even the gnawing feeling of hunger in his stomach was not enough to drain the excitement out of him. Ezekiel was making his way to the outer district. He had changed out of his first-year uniform and was wearing his regular clothes. He didn't bring a lot of items with him, having left his bag at the reception desk at school. Aside from his clothes, he only had his two tokens - of the Elementium and the guild, his axe, and a small bag for collecting trophies.

From the map at the Adventurers guild, he knew about every nearby location that was known to house goblins. He had chosen a forest to the east of the capital. Ezekiel could reach it in about half an hour on foot.

He exited the gate without a problem, the late afternoon sun still high in the sky. Ezekiel broke out into a jog to reach the forest as soon as possible. Something in him seemed to have changed since the day of the evaluation. He was pretty certain that the Fatebringer crystal did more than just tell your affinity. What that was exactly, he couldn't say.

He felt great exercising his body. Ezekiel had always enjoyed being physically active. He wondered if that was the reason he had formed a Blood core. Unbidden, a thought entered his mind.

"If only I had spent more time helping mom cook over the fire, then I might not be useless now," he thought.

Ezekiel immediately tried to repress this way of thinking. But as it often was with the mind, the more you try to ignore something, the stronger it gets. By the time he arrived at the forest, the earlier good mood from exercising had turned into a frown. The constant negative thoughts had sucked the fun out of the experience.

With a frown on his face, he surveyed the forest in front of him. The sea of trees gave him an eerie feeling. Ezekiel had not been to a place like this before. Compared to the forest next to Feldstadt, this one was a lot more menacing. The thick foliage of the trees let almost no light through. The entire area seemed dark and foreboding. Ezekiel could hear strange noises that he didn't recognize from somewhere deeper. There was the occasional rustle of branches and the sound of movements. He was certain that there were creatures about.

Ezekiel gulped at the thought of entering this place alone. Still, after everything he had done to get here, there was no turning back. Before even more thoughts could manifest, he entered the forest. Putting one foot in front of the other.

To distract himself from his nervousness, he recalled what he knew about goblins. The small critters were about 1.3 meters tall and lived in groups. Despite their size, they were each as strong as a grown man. Ezekiel suspected that it wouldn't be hard to find them. Goblins were everywhere after all. Even the guards back in Feldstadt had to deal with them constantly.

His prediction was proven right when he stumbled upon tracks a few minutes later. He believed them to be from goblins. The boy was no expert tracker, but he had some experience. Ezekiel had often gone hunting with his father in the leaner months of the year. He was perfectly able to recognize the tracks of the most common animals and monsters.

From the tracks alone, he couldn't tell how many had come through here. But it didn't look like a large group. With a satisfied expression, he began to follow the tracks. This was exactly the kind of prey he was looking for.

Ezekiel would occasionally look around to not be careless. But most of his time was spent staring at the floor. He didn't want to lose the trail, after all. After a couple of minutes, he came to a halt. There was a rustling sound in front of him.

The boy stared at the offending bush. He tightened the grip on his axe, ready to act at a moment's notice. The bush wiggled back and forth as something passed through its leaves. Finally, a figure emerged. Ezekiel was elated. He had been right, it was a goblin. On top of that, the monster seemed to be alone.

After stepping in front of Ezekiel, the rustling stopped. The boy waited for another second, his nerves tense. But there was no more movement from anywhere around him. The boy grinned. To his consternation, the goblin grinned right back. On the creature's ugly face, the grin looked almost like he was sneering at him.

The boy was not intimidated, however. He charged at the goblin and swung his axe from overhead. With a scream, he tried to end the fight with a single swing.

Almost lazily, the monster dodged back, avoiding the blow completely. Ezekiel was not a complete amateur himself though and didn't overextend much. He could see that the goblin was holding some sort of cudgel himself.

As expected, the goblin retaliated. He swung his glorified stick at Ezekiel's head. The boy brought up the haft of his axe. With a dull impact, the two wooden objects collided. Ezekiel and the goblin both took a step back. The two combatants were eyeing each other. The smirk on the goblin's face had also been replaced by a more serious expression.

Ezekiel had read that goblins were cowardly creatures. He was surprised the green menace was not trying to run. Ezekiel caught the goblin's eyes focus on something behind him. The smile was back on his face. He immediately dove to the side. Too late.

As Ezekiel came to a stop, he felt an agonizing pain in his back. He looked up and saw that a second goblin had emerged from behind his previous position. The monster held a small knife in his hand. Ezekiel could see the blood dripping off the knife. The pain he felt in his lower back didn't leave much to the imagination about what had happened.

Ezekiel felt foolish for not noticing this sooner. Before he could start wallowing in pity, however. The two goblins charged at him. The boy knew that he had to think of something, and quick. He tried to rouse his magic core as he had learned in class. Immediately, the flow of blood from his back began to slow.

This had to be good enough for now as the two small figures arrive in front of him at the next moment. The caution the goblin had displayed earlier was completely gone. He considered this overconfidence to be his best way to make a comeback in this fight. His eyes focused on the knife in the second goblin's hand. He would have to neutralize the weapon somehow.

Ezekiel gritted his teeth. He knew what he had to do. Before he could talk himself out of the idea, he grabbed the incoming blade with his free hand. He could feel how the dull blade bit into the flesh on his hand, but he would not turn back now. He used the hold he had on the weapon to twist the goblin's arm.

The goblin refused to let go of the knife. Ezekiel had expected this to be the case. He twisted the goblin's arm in a way that he would block the other goblins' path. The first goblin had already raised his cudgel to clobber him. He was solely focused on the boy. So much so that he didn't pay attention to his fellow teammate. Predictably, he stumbled over the other goblin, falling gracelessly to the ground.

Despite the pain, Ezekiel managed a smile. He let go of the knife's edge and brought the axe down with all his might in a two-handed grip. The axe head connected with the fallen goblin head with a sickening squelch. The axe bit deep. Ezekiel was both disgusted and delighted by the success of his plan. The next moment, his delight turned into horror, however. He tried to remove his weapon from the skull of his dead foe, but the blade was stuck.

The knife-wielding goblin had started to panic. But after seeing this pathetic display, he found his courage again. He didn't give Ezekiel any more time to retrieve his weapon. With a high-pitched squeal, he jumped on the boy. Ezekiel had no chance but to abandon his axe. He ducked away under the goblin. He managed to avoid another stab to the back.

His opponent had not expected Ezekiel to give up his weapon so decisively. Confused, he turned his head in search of his opponent. Ezekiel did not let this chance slip him by. He jumped on the goblin from behind. He wrapped one arm around the goblin's throat. With his other hand, he tried to grab hold of the goblin's knife-wielding hand. He could not allow the goblin to stab at him freely.

The goblin's screams were immediately silenced as Ezekiel tightened his hold around the monster's neck. He was less successful in his attempts to restrain the knife, however. Over and over did the knife find purchase in his leg. The boy only barely managed to not release his grasp. Another stab, closer to the hip this time. A desperate scream tore its way free from the deepest part of Ezekiels lungs. He leaned back and strangled the creature for all he was worth.

After about half a minute, the goblin's struggle ceased. The knife remained buried in the boy's leg. The goblin lay there unmoving. Ezekiel collapsed back onto the ground. Their struggle had flattened the plants all around. His breath was heavy. Ezekiel tried to call on his blood magic once more. He tore the knife free from his legs and willed the wound to close.

Ezekiel could feel the ambient Mana reacting to his call. He could sense it entering his body and being changed by his core. He knew that intent was important when casting spells. His teachers had repeated that part over and over again. Ezekiel didn't have to try very hard to imbue his intent into the mana. Every fiber of his being ached for a quick end to this pain. After a couple of moments, Ezekiel could feel the pain subside slightly. The bleeding from his wounds had already started to slow. For the first time since being evaluated as a Blood Mage, he was truly grateful for his affinity.

Despite the teacher's claims that healing with Blood Magic was not mana-efficient, Ezekiel barely felt the strain on his core. He marveled as the edges of the wound nit themselves together in real-time.

"SCREEEEE!" A sudden scream immediately destroyed the peaceful atmosphere. He knew that scream - goblins! By the noise the approaching group made, there must be many of them. Ezekiel cursed, of course, they would have heard the screams of their comrade.

Ezekiel looked over at the axe that was still stuck in the first goblin's head. With great reluctance, he decided to abandon the weapon. He grabbed the second goblin's ear and cut it off with the knife he was still holding. He hobbled over to the other corpse and did the same. Ezekiel hurriedly put them into his trophy bag and stumbled back the way he came.

Over his shoulder, he could see that the approaching group was already a lot closer. Ezekiel was still unable to put any weight on his injured leg. Not letting that stop him, he hobbled in the direction he had entered the forest from. A short while later, he could hear enraged screams from behind. Ezekiel didn't slow or look back. He only had one mission - escape.