Chapter 304 Team Training Day (3)

"Obviously!" Olivia shouted. "I don't have sight so I can't help you!"

"Then help the others!" Lee Seng shouted. His ears twitched. He could hear the knocking of arrows coming from the forest. He could hear the snow crunching beneath the enemies feet. He could hear the hobgoblin and Manny going at it.

'Focus.' Lee Seng took a breath. 'Find the hidden archers.' His eyes glistened. He pulled the whole katana and scabbard off, swatting the arrows away as he continued forward.

"Are you sure you can handle that Hobgoblin?" Liz asked. "It looks like it's gonna handle your ass before you can do it!"

"Psh, who do you think I am? Some mere healer?" Manny grunted as he jumped backwards. The large cleaner slammed into the ground as Manny slid backwards. Psyshock energy flew past Manny, arcing and sizzling three out of eight archers.

"You're rusty! Maybe you should worry about yourself first!" Manny poked at Liz. Liz gritted her teeth. She pulled psychic electricity energy around her. Manny's face quickly became serious as he watched the light in grow. "I-I didn't mean it!"

"YOU WHORE!!!?" Liz shouted. The psychic energy flew straight for Manny. Manny panicked, screaming as he jumped out of the way. Electricity whipped out and hit him, sending him flying into a group of goblins. The psyshock energy hit the hobgoblin, stunning it as purple and pink energy sparked off of it.

"Owwww!" Manny screamed.

"Ah, boy…" Evan shook his head. "Ritsuka. Rocket bounce?"

"Rocket bounce!" Ritsuka shouted, running straight for Evan. Evan turned and readied himself. Ritsuka jumped and kicked the shield. The stored energy for the shield glowed as Evan pushed forward propelling Ritsuka straight for the group of goblins around Manny. Black tentacles of shadow flew around Ritsuka as he slashed at the goblins. Heads fell as blood spilled all over Manny.

Ritsuka flew past whipping shadows straight for the hobgoblin, piercing it.

"ARGHHH!" The Hobgoblin shouted. Ritsuka instantly swapped weapons, hooking Angerfanf around a tree spinning.

"Ah, fuck! I can't stop!" Ritsuka shouted. Olivia groaned as she ran close to Ritsuka. She three her hands together and pointed at Ritsuka. Ritsuka froze midair as Olivia diverted her attention to the archers.

"The archers!" Olivia pointed. Psyshock energy flew straight for the archers, turning them to dust within mere seconds.

"I'm so gonna kill you, Manny!" Liz shouted.

"You okay?" Olivia grabbed Manny.

"I'm fine…" Manny patted his singed clothes. Green energy poured out of him, healing his injuries as Olivia pulled him up. "Where's Lee Seng?"

"Dealing with the surprise back there." Olivia pointed.

"Ahh," Manny nodded. "Let's deal with the hobgoblin. That thing is gonna be work."

"Could you unfreeze me?" Ritsuka asked. Olivia flicked her hand and Ritsuka's body hit the ground.

"Argh!" Ritsuka grunted. He grabbed Angerfang and readied himself.

"Lee, how long til you're done?" Manny asked. Lee Seng three his hand up, watching arrows freeze in place. He turned the arrows around and fired them back at the goblins.

"Not long. Need help?" Lee Seng asked.

"Hobgoblin's gonna be a pain in the ass." Manny replied. "Could use some of your strength."

"Alright," Lee Seng nodded. He jumped up, slashing at goblins in the trees. Blood and bodies fell as he continued his attack. "I'll be done soon."

Lee Seng landed on a tee branch, pushing himself over to the next set of goblins. The goblins screamed as they fired. Lee Seng watched as the arrows were redirected to the sides as he slashed their heads off.

He landed, rolling on the snow, looking over at the hobgoblin. Manny, Olivia, Ritsuka and Evan were all trying to make sure it couldn't attack a single person. Liz let out psyshocks but the hobgoblin seems sturdier.

"Tch. I can't make too many big shocks or I'll run out of Dark Matter." Liz snarled. "I shouldn't have gotten so mad."

"Could've told you that!" Manny smiled at her. She shook her head as the large hobgoblin started to swing at the group, again. Evan and Ritsuka Joe's out of the way as the cleaver swing towards them. Olivia immediately went in for the hit, only to meet a goblin throwing itself at her. She palm hit it and spun and kicked it away. The goblin bounced off the ground, sliding frozen.

Lee Seng noticed the situation and slipped his sheathe back into place. He would have to use his katana as a point of focus so he could get an advantage on the hobgoblin.

"Ready?" Lee Seng asked, sliding to a stop. He could feel the energy building in the katana.

"What're you gonna do?" Ritsuka asked as he swung Angerfang at the hobgoblin's leg. The Hobgoblin jumped, dodging as Olivia froze it in place.

"Devouring Slash: Gravitum." Lee Seng slashed horizontally in the air, watching as gravity ripped out of the blade. In an instant, the hobgoblin's body bent inwards, blood pouring out as it felt itself cave inwards.

"Psionic Blast!" A condensed pink and purple psychic beam shot out from Liz's hands, aiming straight for where Lee Seng swung. The beam flew straight through the hobgoblin, electricity sparking in all directions as it's body flew backwards.

The Hobgoblin slammed into a tree, instantly becoming lifeless.

[+ 10 Souls Received]

Lee Seng ignored the voice telling him how many souls he had gathered. He was curious if Keng knew about this, but he would have to ask when he wasn't with many eyes. Lee Seng sheathed the katana and sighed in relief.

"Oh my god. That was close." Evan sighed.

"That was a huge hobgoblin. I don't think I've seen anything that huge." Ritsuka pointed out as he sheathed his katana.

"It's definitely on the bigger side of hobgoblins." Liz agreed. "Could it be in the verge of evolution?"

Lee Seng erupted in coughs. He didn't think anyone would use the word "evolution" to describe why the hobgoblin was huge like that.

"You okay, Lee Seng?" Olivia asked.

"Y-yeah, yeah." Lee Seng nodded, trying to get the rest of his coughs out. "Didn't know that thing was close to evolving."

"Mmm, it was." Liz nodded. "Remember about the evolution theory? Where based on where you were environment-wise, birds could potentially evolve and adapt to their environments?"

"Yeah. Why?" Lee Seng moved towards the group, finishing his coughs.

"Well, there's high speculation that the theory may be an actual thing now. Monsters such as a goblin must have some sort of growth, right? Why do goblins, hobgoblin's, and ogres kinda resemble the same color pigmentation? There's scientists who theorize monsters might be from the same evolutionary tree but they've branched and evolved to match their needs."

"Ogres have ogre babies. Goblins are found within garbage mounds. This whole evolution theory is confusing." Manny commented.

"There isn't much in this, yet, but there's high speculation that monsters have the potential to evolve."

'That's probably why I can evolve then… But would I really consider myself as a monster? No. A sentient being, yeah, but a monster?' Lee Seng shook his head.

'The theory does seem like it has potential to be true. If a monster were to evolve and change and humans had the capability, that would be scary strong for them.' Keng commented. 'Endless potential for everyone.'

"Endless potential for monsters if that's the case." Ritsuka spoke up. *That doesn't sound too far for us."

"In a way, we have a natural way of persevering and growing." Lee Seng casually spoke.

"Well, enough dilly-dallying, let's keep going." Manny motioned.

"You aren't gonna take the time to carve these suckers or even just dump them for creds?" Evan asked.

"That would keep us here longer than I would like to." Manny replied. "If you want to make a quick buck, we can gather them."

"Lucky for you, I thought this might happen." Liz slipped her hand into her back pocket and pulled out a thin square card. "I got a storage container. We can keep up to 200 of these badh boys in here."

"Ooooooo!" Lee Seng instantly was excited by the storage containment square drive. "I heard these are hard to get your hands on. How'd you even get one?"

"Someone owed me a favor after I saved them, so they gave me a 200 SCD (Storage Containment Drive)." Liz proudly boasted.

"How do they work? I've always wanted to see one in action." Olivia asked.

"Well, lucky for you, today's your day to see the power of a SCD!" Liz moved over to the Hobgoblin. She tapped the hobgoblin and the group watched the hobgoblin turn to particles and fly straight into the SCD.

"Woah!" Lee Seng and Olivia excitedly moved into the empty space where the hobgoblin was.

"And now it displays the current items or things on the drive." Liz pointed at the number 1 on the drive. "So now we just go around and put the bodies in here."By the time Liz finished, there were about 36 bodies within the SCD.