Lucius stood next to Zira on the outskirts of the camp that Rena had identified as the next target. It was smaller than the one he had fought the Marked One in the mist.
Rena's plan was for them to wait for the attack on the camp to begin, but they had evacuated the actual residents and replaced them with Simon's party and some of their own party. Though, some also remained in the forest.
Zira was with Lucius, while Rena and Paul were together. The plan was to wait for the attack to begin and then the members in the forest would rain down attacks from outside. Zira and Lucius would skirt around their back lines and perform blitz attacks to sew confusion.
Previously, Lucius would be slightly concerned about running into one of the higher rank goblin variants, but now he was much less concerned. When he was a Novice Rank he could hold his own against a rank above, but now he was a Beginner and had access to three additional skillsets.
Zira seemed to specialize in single-handed sword techniques and was able to use Wind Magic and Light Magic. Her two magical affinities were rather fast activating when compared to their others, though not as fast as Thunder Magic, they still were very beneficial to someone who operated mostly as a scout.
Lucius and her had a friendly competition between themselves when they first arrived in the village on who could gather the most information as it related to goblin troop movements. It was a competition which the boy had easily won, seeing as he did not need to get as close to the enemy to track them.
Goblins were very simple creatures and were very easy to track. They also smelled very, very badly and had a tendency to be incapable of staying quiet. All these things combined played very well into the boy's strengths.
Zira did not really take it well and had accused him of cheating in their little competition, however, his argument back was that he was simply using the tools he always had at his disposal, just like she did. Plus, they never set any guidelines.
From the outside it might have appeared that he was indulging in fun and games. However, what really drove Lucius to entertain Zira's antics were that she challenged him to something he knew he was one of the best at. Unfortunately for her, he could be rather prideful about certain things.
Until now, he was rather weak, but he had a few strengths that he leveraged to his benefit and he would be damned if he let some uppity scout that served Simon take any of that away from him. When they had returned from their mission, Rena informed them of the general plan.
Zira nudged him lightly on the side of his arm. "Hey, so is it true you are only a Beginner Rank?"
"Yes." He answered flatly.
He gripped his machete tightly and waited for the enemies to pass his location. Zira should be on the opposite side of their ranks as him, waiting for the same thing.
Simon, Lethen, Jen, and the rest of Simon's group clashed with the first line of enemies. Since normal goblins were very weak, they were cut down rather quickly. However, their numbers and speed made them a threat when combined with the unknown effects they had on their weapons.
This extra caution when fighting continued to put them at a disadvantage since they needed to really avoid being hit and potentially given a deadly curse or poison that could not be healed mid-battle.
Finally, the Witch Doctor and it's guards passed Lucius' and Zira's imaginary line and he readied for their part of the assault. Paul loosed a set of golden colored arrows infused with his Arts that sank into the arm of the Hobgoblin, enraging it. The goblins around it also joined in the yelling, adding to the distraction they had built up.
"[Tempestas: Lightning Charge], [Forsaken Arts: Goring Rush]!"
Electricity crackled around him, causing the hair on his body to stand on end. It traveled down his body and concentrated around his feet. Thunder-like rumbling filled the air as Lucius allowed the spell to propel him directly at the Witch Doctor.
His machete glowed with a brilliant light as the Arts infused into the cutting edge. The Witch Doctor barely had time to register his death before blood sprayed from his midsection and the top half of his body separated from the bottom. The glow surrounding the goblins' weapons faded and allowed the front-liners to fight without concern.
Zira cracked Lucius a look with a raised eyebrow. "Beginner, huh?"
Lucius ignored her and prepared to accept an incoming attack from a very angry Hobgoblin.
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A/N: Interested in Discord?
Here you go!