Proofread by: Daylius and Vikingstad

In the middle of a ruined village some children had gathered, led by a beautiful child. They stood staring at the stranger who had called them out from their hideout.

“My name is Shiv and I am here to help you. We are going to rescue your parents and friends. For that I need your help too.”

The children were afraid. Suddenly they were gathered together and now they were asked to fight. None of them talked. Sensing the disorder, Bella spoke.

“We have to help him, he is strong. He just now killed 6 goblins.” The last part attracted the ears of all who were present. The day of attack was still fresh in their memories, they remembered how easily the adults had surrendered. One of them who tried to fight was killed in seconds.

“I may have killed 6, but theres more than hundreds inside. To kill them all I need your help. Will you help me? ”

“Are you going to make us fight?” asked a small girl who tugged behind Bella.

“Heavens no. I want you to run some errands, that is all”

“Errands?” the small girl asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah! For now I want you to get me all the sugar and flour you can. No salt.”

“Sugar and flour? Why? Are we going to give them to the monsters?” this time a boy asked, he was much older than the small girl.

“Not at all, we are going to kill them with it”

All there, including Bella were dumbfounded. ‘Kill with sugar and flour’.

None of them could grasp the meaning behind what he said. Bella then urged them to move, she wanted to do everything she could to help Shiv.

‘17 children on their own for two days. Poor things. For now I must hunt, we need food. There might be someone among them who can cook’

Shiv walked into the forest in search of monsters he could hunt, he scouted the area and found a pack of wolves. Shiv was now a level 55 and so the wolfpack did not pose any threat. He dealt with them using a precise strike to their head, killing them in one hit. Shiv then dragged back the wolves so that children could skin them. He knew making children do such things were not right but he had to, he wanted the children to be mentally prepared for the future, even if they were NPCs.

When he had finished gathering the wolves at the village center, the children had returned with 10 sacks of flour and sugar each. Shiv then asked them to skin, he had assumed that the children would refuse but instantly they took out their knives which they had hidden somewhere and slowly started skinning.

‘Wow, tough guys.’

“Bella, do you have weapons stored anywhere here?”

“No, the goblins stole everything except these. These are knives from our kitchens. All that is left are arrows.”

“Arrows huh. Good. Bring them to me, and some ropes too”

When Bella left to retrieve the arrows, Shiv turned to the children who had almost finished skinning the wolves.

“Agon” Shiv called out to the eldest boy among them. Agon came running to him.

“Agon do you know how to do curing?”

“Curing? Yes I do.”

“Good. I want you to prepare the salt brine needed to cure the meat. We don’t have much food. I will be hunting once again. By the time I go onto the cave I will be taking half of the meat with me”. Agon nodded and left. After that, Shiv sat down on the ground. He had said that he would use an explosion to kill them, but it was not so simple. Even if he had two weeks to prepare, the explosion was not so easy. He did not know how deep the cave went. To make sure that he could use the explosion, he had inspected the cave the last time he and Bella had gone there.

After Bella lured the goblins Shiv had finished them off instantly. He had then inspected the cave. The cave mouth was at the bottom of a small lump of soil. The earth there had a small curve protruding out from the ground level forming a small arc. It was a mud cave formed by the flow of a large amount of water, so the cave was not that strong.

‘If I use explosion the cave mouth would collapse for sure. I can’t fight against all of them either. So I have to take the risk. Maybe I should strengthen the area where the explosion would occur. That would increase my chance of escaping. Still?’ Shiv was racking his brains for ideas. Had it been a forest like area like the time he fought the rabbits he could have devised a million plans. But the cave was tricky.

‘All I can use inside the cave is stalactites on the cave roof. What else is there? Think think think’ Shiv was so deep in his thoughts that he did not notice Bella standing near him.

“Shiv, I brought the arrows and ropes we had left. Where should I keep them?”

“How many arrows have you got?”

“Nearly 40, there are more in the warehouse.”

“Any bows?”

“The goblins broke most of them, I think only a handful will be useable”

“Good. Take those bows and distribute them to the eldest among the children. I will be showing them how to use a bow as self-defense”

“Ah! That will not be needed. Most of us know how to use bows, well theoretically at least”

“No can do. I want them to practice with a target. They will have to gather their own food once I get into the cave”

“I understand” Bella nodded lightly.

“Next I want you to bring me all the spades, axes and pickaxes you got. Take some of the children with you”

“Ok”. She replied eventhough there was confusion in her eyes.

“After that ask them to practice their archery, make sure there are no accidents”. Bella once again nodded and walked away.

When he had finished with his requests, Shiv went to the forest to hunt down more wolves. He hunted down anything big enough to be made into food. Every now and then he would return back to the village to dump the meat and then would once again go to hunt. By the time he returned it was already night. The children were all sitting around a campfire eating small portions of meat. Shiv approached them and sat down. He was handed a piece of meat too.

“Bella, from tomorrow onwards we start our preparations for the infiltration. I will need all of you to help. I am going to get some sleep”

“Yes. Goodnight”

“Goodnight everyone”

---***---

Next morning Shiv woke up to Bella’s call.

“Shiv, everyone is ready. What should we do?”

“Yawn. I will be with you in a minute” Shiv got off from the tree he was sleeping on. He washed his face and then went towards the gathering. All of the children were waiting.

‘13 days left. No more time to waste. We are eighteen in number including me. The youngest being 14 and the eldest 17. Bella is the only one who is 17 years old.’

“We are going to carry all of the things I told you before to the front of the cave. Take your bows with you. Let us go, we have people to rescue”

The 18 members marched towards the cave. Shiv scouted ahead to make sure the surroundings were safe. When they reached the cave there was just a single goblin guarding the place which Shiv took care of in seconds. Once the threat was put down Shiv entered the cave making the children wait outside. He had to find out a way to bring down the goblins. He carefully began inspecting the walls around him, feeling it with his hands.

‘Mud, mud, mud. God is there nothing I could use?’ Shiv looked up to the roof as if he was asking the Gods above for help. It was then his eyes caught something interesting.

‘Hihihi. Gods truly do favor me’ and he walked back out.

“Let’s get started my friends. First we need to powder the sugar. The sugar will act as reserve in case of emergency. Second what we need to do is to dump all the flour into the cave so that the flour spreads throughout and gets deposited on the walls of the cave. We will be pouring flour for a length of 20 metres. Third I need wooden stakes, for that we will have to cut down two trees. Fourth I need a big hole 30 meters from the cave, inside it. It should be big enough for a person to fit, the person being me. Fifth I need 60cm deep and 60cm wide holes in the ground. Sixth I need the fastest among you to stand watch inside the cave. Run to me if you see any goblins. For now that would do. Who will do what is up to you. I will be digging the hole inside the cave. Those who are going to powder the sugar do it inside the forest, take your bows with you. That is all, disperse” picking up a pickaxe and spade, Shiv walked in.

He stopped at the cave entrance and walked from there, measuring the distance he was covering. When he approximated that 30metres was covered, he put down the pickaxe and spade. He then approached the wall to his left and placed his hands to it.

“Water Bullet. Water bullet. Water bullet.” Casting the water spell was to weaken the wall and make the mud easy to dig out. Using the spade he began digging out the mud. This continued for hours. The child on watch was a little far from him, but within his vision. The boy was keenly watching out for any danger. Hours passed and Shiv called out to the boy and walked out of the cave. Some were working, some were resting. When they saw Shiv approaching they began to work immediately making Shiv smile.

“Guys, this is not some kind of training. Relax. I want you to finish the work in 6 days. You don’t have to rush. Agon I want you to try hunting small animals, no wolves though. But get on top of a tree then use the bow to hunt the animal. Beware of snakes”

Agon nodded at him and rushed into the forest with his bow and arrows. Shiv knew that Agon was still inexperienced but this was the best way to make him learn archery faster. He then asked everybody to gather and began having their lunch. Shiv finished the lunch in minutes and went back inside the cave. He stood watch for half an hour till the boy returned to take over. Then he continued his digging for another hour. Once completed, he informed the watch boy about it and exited the cave. By then Agon had returned with some fox corpses. Shiv then inspected the progress so far. Everything was going smoothly. He had finished his task so now he could help with the others. There were four more tasks to be completed and five and a half days left to finish it.

Shiv began chopping down a tree for the purpose of making stakes. And thus the preparations continued. There were times when the watch boy would come running at max speed, Shiv would then go into the cave hiding in the shadows to inspect while the rest would hide. Sometimes there would be goblins and sometimes not. Whenever the goblins numbered less than 3, Shiv would take care of them instantly. If the numbers were higher he would use ‘Kaze’ to escape the cave and hide with the others as dealing with this many inside the small cave was nearly impossible. The goblins that came outside would then stand guard not minding the stakes, sugar and other materials. Seeing this Shiv and others concluded that the goblins were idiots.

Once the goblins came out Shiv would attack them after he made the kids shoot a volley of arrows. Before the goblins could get back their wits, Shiv would deal with them with such precision that the kids would feel awe. 5 days passed like this and all the tasks were completed. Shiv then asked the children to return to the village except for Agon.

“Agon you will have to stay with me for a little more time. I have a dangerous job for you. There is nobody else I can rely on. I cannot guarantee your safety either. Will you help?”

“Of course big brother. It is a man’s duty to protect”. This impressed Shiv. For Shiv, Agon was now a man.

“Well said Agon. We are going to set up a trap. For that I need a thick wooden plank and three wooden pillars. Do you have any at the village or should we make new ones?”

“We have those at the village. Maybe we can find them in one of the ruined houses”

“Good. Let us go. No more time to waste” and the two set off for the village. They began searching in all the ruined houses and once they got what they required they went back to the cave. Shiv then stood in front of the cave and used water magic to soften the earth. Then he stamped the three wooden pillars in to the earth, one in the middle and two at each of the ends of the cave mouth. He then softened the earth which was above the cave mouth using water magic on it and then pressed the wooden plank into the soft earth. The plank went 6cm deep into the mud. The wooden plank then was supported by the three wooden pillars. It now looked like a table with three legs. The next thing to do was place the sacks of sugar on the plank. Shiv began to carefully place the sacks on the plank. He could only place 4 sacks. The remaining sugar sacks were kept inside the cave.

“Agon I have tied ropes to each of the pillar. I want you to hold on to this and then hide in one of those bushes or the tree. Pull this when you see more than 5 goblins coming out. Remember only if there are more than five. Also if just one or two goblin comes out make some noise to lure them out.”

“I understand”

“You do have the bow and arrow with you right?”

“I do big brother”

“Do not forget. We need fire. I will be casting a fire spell to but I need you as a backup. Now go”

After Agon hid himself with the other end of the rope Shiv carried all the pickaxe and spades along with the some meat and hid it inside the hole in the cave. Shiv then hid himself in the hole and waited for goblins to come.

Hours passed, Shiv waited. When more than 3 hours passed two goblins passed Shiv. They were going towards the cave mouth.

‘The next guards eh. This is the most dangerous. If I don’t get this right it is all over.’ Shiv had made the children cover 20 meters of the cave with flour. What he had done next was to narrow the cave where the flour coating ended. The cave mouth was wide enough to let only one person to enter or exit. Shiv did the same thing with the other 20 meter end. He had made a bottleneck at both sides of the 20 meter long flour coated cave. This was all for his plan to succeed. He was not sure if this would work. It was all a gamble.

The two goblins were now outside the cave and were busy with their stupidity. Agon then made some sounds to attract the goblin. The stupid goblin fell for it and began walking forward. Shiv wanted this. He had made holes around the cave mouth and had planted stakes in those holes. These holes were then covered with leaves to hide them from the goblins. Thus when the goblins walked forward, the two of them stepped into these holes thus stepping on the very sharp stakes. The stakes pierced the bare feet of the goblins, making them scream.

‘Ah! Phase 1 success. Now let those idiots rush out’, just like Shiv had expected the goblin army rushed to help their comrades. There were too many of them, but could not get out of the cave because of the two bottlenecks. The 20 meter long chamber in the cave got filled easily. The goblin footsteps disturbed the flour which were on the walls and floor. The bottleneck which were the same height and width of a goblin caused the air inside to build pressure little by little. Shiv waited, he wanted at least a 100 goblins to get out of the cave and at least 200 to be inside the 20 meter chamber. He could not count but he waited. When he felt the number of goblins passing him decreasing, he used the chains of time to slow time. Then activating Kaze he moved towards the bottleneck. Once near he used a fireball and directed it towards the sack of sugar inside the tunnel and rushed back deep into the tunnel.

At the same time Agon had pulled the three ropes causing the wooden plank to fall down thus releasing the sugar powder on the goblins outside the cave. Agon then used the bow to fire a fire arrow towards the cave. By some luck, Shiv’s fireball and Agon’s fire arrow hit the cave at the same time. With this all the conditions for a dust explosion were met.

Dust explosion is the fast combustion of dust particles in a confined area. There were 5 conditions that had to be met for dust combustion to take place. They being: a fire source, fuel, oxygen, correct concentration, confined area.

In the case of Shiv’s cave, the first 4 conditions were satisfied. But for the fifth, it was not possible. Shiv had been thinking for days to solve the problem and finally came up with one. He made a tunnel inside the cave, with one end being the cave mouth and the other end was made into a bottle neck. This decreased the area but did not make the tunnel a confined space. The solution he came up with was simple. Wind barrier. That was the solution he had come up with. Casting wind barrier at both the ends would make the tunnel a truly confined space. The barrier was not too strong thus letting goblins pass easily but keeping the air confined. Thus the fifth condition was now satisfied.

After casting the fire ball Shiv had returned to the hole he had dug up earlier and used earth magic to cover the hole, while Agon had run away with all his might. Once the fireball and fire arrow entered the tunnel a chain reaction was set into motion. The dust particles which were suspended in the air caught fire due to the fire source and paved way to a huge explosion.

‘Sugar and flour are highly inflammable. The finer the particles the more they burn. Have a blast’

‘Bang’ and thus began the explosion inside the tunnel. The sugar and flour particles exploded, it was like the tunnel was filled with gunpowder and explosives. The huge explosion inside the tunnel sent fire outwards. The fire from the outside acted as a source for the sugar that was dispersed outside the cave by Agon to catch fire too. The goblins covered in sugar were now on fire. The rapid combustion burned everything near it. In minutes the fire died out as it ran out of flour and sugar particles. Shiv waited inside the hole for a while to let his mana build up. He had been continuously using water to cool down the earth around him and earth magic to solidify the earth.

He waited for 15 minutes. Slowly getting out of the hole on the wall with his sword and dagger equipped he looked around. The moment he stepped out he felt nausea. There was the smell of burnt meat everywhere. When he looked around, the roof had collapsed covering the bodies. He was kind of relieved as he did not have to see the bodies. The collapsed roof was a concern for him too in the beginning. This was another problem he had no idea of how to deal with. For solving this he had inspected the cave a second time. It was then he had asked for god’s help. As if answering his prayers god had showed him something on the roof. The thing he saw were roots. Not big and thick roots, but the thin, very thin roots. Roots of plants which had just born into the earth. When he saw those roots he understood that if the roof collapsed, he did not have to worry about getting out. The entire roof was down and light was falling upon him. He smiled, a smile of satisfaction. He was sure that 90% of the enemy had fallen, gaining 10 levels (8 lvls from exp and 2 lvls from the sword) from all the killing.

‘Phase 2 complete. Now to hunt the rest’

There were just 30 goblins left and he had 7 days left. Gripping his sword and dagger Shiv rushed forward determined to exterminate the entire goblin population in a day.

---***---

(Sorry for not posting a chapter yesterday. i was busy with figuring out ways to make the dust explosion possible in that scenario. and was bus with reading a manga "eyeshield 21")

Any ways enjoy guys. give me your comments, rate my ff, follow and hit favourites. have fun

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