Too Early For This!

After "dying" by the broken blade of the Spirit of the Hero of Light, I opened my eyes to the morning sun of Drogmaria, which felt so hot that I feared the skin on my face might burn off. My body felt weak, and I wanted nothing but to rest more. However, I knew that staying in my position for too long was a horrible idea.

I tried to get up and continue on my journey, but then I quickly realized a problem. My hands and legs were bound by rope.

"What the...?"

The sound of evil cackling captured my attention. I looked upwards and immediately found the culprits responsible for biding me. I was surrounded by a group of goblins with a few wargs by their side. The ugly creatures were renowned as the weakest monsters in Ocaleveth when it comes to strength and magical power but they are well known for their craftiness and ruthlessness.

"Stay still little human," one of the goblins took out a blade and pointed it to my throat. "If you move even an inch your corpse will be lost in the sands of Drogmaria forever."

"...What are you bastards trying to do?"

The goblins laughed as if I said a funny joke.

"we're gonna take those materials off of yah!"

"You're gonna take all I have? You're not even gonna leave me a little something?"

"What you'll be left with us your life human! Be grateful and shut up!"

I rolled my eyes, the last thing I wanted to do was deal with a bunch of goblins early in the morning.

"Here's what gonna happen. I'm going to give you all until the count of three to unbide me and leave or else I'll break out myself. Then I'll break your necks. Understand?'

Of course, the monsters didn't take me seriously and continued to laugh. I didn't care and proceeded to do what I promised while the goblins talked smack.

"You're a stupid human are you?"

"One."

"You're all alone and I have one sword! Do you think you can beat all of us? Ha! You must be some sort of clown!"

"Two."

"Maybe if you start begging we'll leave you with a few toes and one eye!"

"Three."

I easily snapped out of the ropes with my bare strength and the goblin that was closest to me. With one squeeze I broke the goblin's throat killing him and dropping his small body to the sand.

The other goblins stared at their dead comrade in shock while I cracked my neck and knuckles.

"Damn my body feels stiff," I said while yawning.

"W-what the hell!?"

One of the goblins shouted while he pulled out a wooden staff.

"Water Magic: The Serpent of the Deep!"

Coming out of the staff was dirty-looking green water that charged at me in the form of a snake. I dodged and then dashed towards the goblin who fired the attack. But before I could land a blow another goblin with a curved blade came at me from behind.

The goblin's curved dagger started to shine brightly like a star in the night sky.

"Light Magic: Holy Ray!"

The blade was covered in a light which the goblin tried to stab me with. In the last second, I evaded the strike and disarmed the goblin by grabbing his arm and kicking him in the face. The moment his blade fell out of his hands the light faded away making it a normal dagger again.

"H-hey!"

The goblin yelled at me but I caught his dagger mid-fall and stabbed him right in the forehead. Blue blood spilled from his skull and I forced the blade out of him like pulling an axe that was stuck on a tree.

"This is a pretty nice blade..."

As I examined my new weapon I felt a strange wetness between my toes. I looked down to see that instead of my feet touching the hot sand of Drogmaria I was standing inside of green puddle of water.

"My shoes!" I complained aloud. "First I get sand in them now water!?"

"Water Magic: Ocean Binding!"

Like the tentacles of a squid the green water rose and latched onto me. The rest of the water then exploded upwards and formed around me creating a bubble. I anticipated that and held my breath before the bubble was formed. Right after I was trapped another goblin ran up to the bubble and placed both hands on it.

"Ice Magic: Frozen Prison!"

The bubble then became a giant icicle which became my prison. The goblins rejoiced at their supposed victory.

"Drown and freeze to death, you filthy human!"

Without much effort, I raised my arm with the curved dagger and made multiple slashes within a fraction of a second. The icicle fell apart and I was freed.

The goblins' faces turned pale while I shook my body like a wet dog that just come out of the bath.

"Hey, I appreciate the cold water and ice! It's pretty damn hot in this desert!"

"H-how!? What magic was that!?"

I didn't bother to answer as I cut down the remaining goblins. Once they were dead, their wargs growled at me with hatred and jumped to attack. I cut them down too leaving their chunks and guts all over the sand.

"I have fought your kind for years, I already know how to deal with you."

Just before I could walk off I turned to my right to see a giant green fist heading straight for me at top speed. I quickly put up my arms and successfully blocked the punch but the force was enough to launch me backwards.

I groaned aloud after hitting the floor. My arms were red from the attack I had taken. As I stood back up I saw two new enemies big stomached and strong-looking hobgoblins.

Hobgoblins are bigger versions of the goblin race while being way stronger physically and magically they are known to be way dumber.

"Where were you big boys hiding?"

The hobgoblins roared at me their yellow eyes flashing with an intent to not only kill but to mutilate.

I scoffed while I took my battle stance still arming myself with the goblin's dagger.

"If you guys came out earlier your pals could have been saved. Now you'll join them."

One of the hobgoblins summoned rocks out of thin air and covered his massive fists with gauntlets made of stone.

"Stone Magic: Fists of the Guardian!"

The stone-fisted hobgoblin charged at me with impressive speed that no big person should be able to do. At the last second, I was able to avoid a downward strike that was powerful enough to leave a crater. The monster didn't let up though as he continuously threw consecutive punches in my direction.

I blocked the first two punches which was a horrible mistake on my part. The first punch cut through my skin on my arm causing me to bleed and the second managed to break a piece of bone. I was caught off guard by the sudden growth of strength in the second punch until I looked behind the hobgoblin that was attacking me to see the other one.

The second hobgoblin was standing still while holding one hand outward toward his partner. His massive body emitted a strange aura that latched onto the other hobgoblin like a chain.

"Strength Magic: Chains of the Unstoppable..."

"Dammit!" I shouted while dodging the other flurries of punches and jumping back a few meters. "Some of these goblins are enhancers!? You gotta be kidding me!"

Enhancers are special magicians who are skilled in buffing or rebuffing themselves and others. The category of that type of magic falls into the light and dark category which mainly has spells that affect the body.

"These aren't your average hobgoblins! Enhancement magic is very difficult to learn and that creature is wielding it like a pro!"

I did not have time to breathe as the hobgoblin with stone gauntlets jumped after me. He launched himself into the air and fell back down with a slam attack. While I did manage to avoid it the shockwave from the impact threw me back and me roll on the ground.

Before I could recover the stone-fisted hobgoblin dug his right hand into the sand.

"Stone Magic: Mighty Pillar!"

As he lifted his hand, a giant boulder popped out of the sand and slammed right into my stomach. As I was registering the pain in my sternum the hobgoblin got up on me and gave me two quick jabs to the face.

The hobgoblin then summoned another rock spike which hit me right in the back and fired into the air. But before my body could go any higher the hobgoblin grabbed my leg and threw me to the ground.

As the dust cleared I was now face down in the sand. I forcefully pushed my battered body up as I spat out blood and some loose teeth.

"I can't believe this...I actually have to try against small fry like you."

My eyes darted to Elendria, which was lying right next to my bag. I dashed towards my blade and the hobgoblin gave chase after me. Realizing that the strong monster was right on my tail I quickly scooped up a handful of sand and threw it right at his face.

The hobgoblin stopped and screamed aloud while he tried to get the sand out of his eyes. This gave me time to grab my sword and unwrap it.

The darkness from my katana poured like water and felt invincible while holding it. The hobgoblin did not care as he finished cleaning his eyes and charged at me with a loud and disgusting battle cry.

"Big Mistake..."

With Elendria now in my hands, the world was covered in a sea once more and I followed the path of the white fish. As I cut through and followed the path the world returned to normal and all that was left was me standing my opponent fell over and cut in half.

The other hobgoblin freaked out but I didn't leave him a chance to act as I threw the goblin dagger directly at him impaling straight into his forehead.

As the final monster fell dead I let out a heavy breath. After wrapping up my katana and picking up my materials I decided to continue on my journey leaving behind the goblin and warg corpses on the ground.

Just as I was about to take my first step, the sound of loud barking alerted me. I quickly turned around pitting my hand on Elendria's helm ready to draw it out if need be.

In front of me was an angry-looking warg with jet-black fur and blood-red eyes. And standing right next to it was a goblin who looked smaller than the others. He wore an ushanka cossack, a short-sleeved black coat, and white fur on the edges. He wore baggy brown pants with wrappings on his three-toed feet instead of shoes. The small goblin tried to put on a face to look brave but was obviously very afraid.

"You f-filthy human! H-how dare you kill my comrades!"