Water Slash was one of three Arte that Viers learned and polished during the past month. He knew the limitation of his talent and Victa so he chose to learn only three Arte from the guild’s library. One Arte each for attacking, defending, and moving or running away.

Water Slash was an Arte that created a blade of water, one could throw it to their enemy and if the caster had enough control, it could be used as if the caster was swinging a sword with their hands. Strictly speaking, it was not suitable against multiple smaller targets, but Viers found a way to made it work in this situation.

Using his water affinity control, he trapped the baby monsters and force them to stay still by hardening the water around their bodies. Such a technique wouldn’t work on a bigger target because the binding power wasn’t high but it did trap them nicely.

Viers used his only attack-type Arte to chop the unmoving finger-sized fishes to smaller ones. He killed them because he would return in the future to this lake and the less monster there was, the better for him.

Life is cruel, babies. I won’t ask for forgiveness, go to the next world peacefully or resentfully is up to you guys… I should investigate this place quickly and get out before momma fish returns.

Viers swam to the surface first. He saw earlier that there was some kind of air pocket inside this monster lair so he was very curious. When he reached above the waterline, he saw a dark cave. The cave went quite deep and had enough space for two adults walking side by side. Only the plants bellow the water served as the source of illumination so Viers couldn’t see what lies within.

If this place isn’t dangerous, this can be my secret lair… nice! All boys want to have a secret base that belongs to themselves and this place have that potential. But it still needs more investigation at a later date, time to go.

Viers decided it was time to leave. He tried to take one of the white stone but it was too big to carry with his fish mouth. He could only leave them be for the time being and went back to the lake through the small entrance. Swimming was harder than before because one of his fins was ripped apart, he felt pain but he held it in and continued swimming back the camp. Viers had enough adventures tonight. It took him some time before he reached the camp's vicinity, it was time for him to turn back to human form.

Alright, let’s do this, please work.

Viers was concentrating and tried to change his form. Surprisingly for him, it was quite easy. Only two drawbacks, his Victa was consumed quite a lot and he felt terrible itch while transforming. The transformation wasn’t instantaneous, on the contrary, it was slow. Viers saw his fish body grew bigger, his body and skin were stretching and changing. He witnessed his limbs sprouted from his fish body as he getting inch by inch. Bones seemed to magically grow from his flesh, his spine realigned from a fish one to a humanoid mammal. It took him about five minutes to turn back into a human, the itch was torturous, but he felt it was an acceptable price for such an ability.

Grahh, finally it was over. Growing bone wasn’t a pleasant experience to have, and my Victa is almost empty. Hmn, my wound that I got when I turned to a Tomalica is gone, what does it mean… oh well, that’s a question for another time. Although I got no material benefit, my adventure under the lake wasn’t a complete waste of time. Now, what should I tell them about my no clothes situation?

He spent quite a lot of time under the lake but it was still dark. Viers transformed near the shore then he walked to the camp with both hands covering his private area. He didn’t want to woke or met anyone when he was butt naked. It was going well at first but just as he was about to go inside the boy’s tent, a girl’s voice came from his side.

“…Viers, what are you doing?”

Viers turned his head saw Paina watching him with wide eyes. Farley was standing beside her, grinning.

“I suddenly got the urge and went swimming… I know you know that I lied, just don’t ask any more questions, okay? And what the hell are you two doing outside?”

“Paina want to pick some flowers but too scared to go alone so she woke me up, can’t say no that request can’t I?”

“Farley!” Paina grimaced at Farley’s remark.

“What? It’s true, so Viers... Hey, don’t ignore me!”

Viers had no intention of staying naked one more second than necessary so he went inside to get dressed. Terry and Max were still sleeping so Viers got no other interruption to put on his clothes. He brought no towel so he used a spare shirt to wipe his wet body and then went to bed just like that, unconcerned whether the girls were waiting for him outside or not.

Instead of getting a sexy scene, 'I' gave a sexy scene. This really isn’t a harem story, and my fat body wasn’t even sexy...

After five minutes, Farley barged in the tent looking and sounding upset. “Don’t ignore me after what happened! Explain!” She said with a loud voice.

“Nothing to explain! Can’t you read the mood that I don’t wanna talk about it? Just leave it alone!”

“What? What? Monster attack?” Said Max still half asleep.

It was getting rowdy and needless to say, Viers couldn’t sleep that night.

***

“Will you give it a rest? What’s so good about me naked anyway? Just erase the memory from your head, it will be easier for all of us.”

“Nonono, see, I think you awaken something in Paina yesterday. She didn’t sleep at all yesterday and her face was steaming red when he saw you this morning, so if that was your attempt to attract our attention, you’ve got it.” Farley said, her face was bright and full of glee as she teased Viers for more drama.

“Farley! Stop saying that…” Paina was looking at her feet and her face was red.

They were walking on the road back to Luxore town. It was about six in the morning, the air was fresh and full of nature’s scent. The light from the sun was soft on the eyes and the grasses on the side of the road were full of dew. Five teenagers were walking merrily, sounds of banter and laughter pierced the tranquility of the morning.

“I gotta say that was a bold move, baring your naked body to the girls? That takes guts, I certainly couldn’t do that. You have my respect.” Terry bowed a little bit to Viers.

“Oh, would yo-” Viers wanted to retort his jest but paused because he heard something in the distance. “Quiet,” Viers silence the other four while closing his eyes to hear more clearly.

“I heard a commotion, sounds of conflict!” Viers broke into a run. The others needed a few seconds before pursuing him.

“Isn’t this close to the village we passed yesterday?” Max said.

“Yeah, many people are screaming from the village’s direction. They must be under attack,” replied Viers.

All of them had a solemn face now, soon, the village was soon in sight. It was a small village, about thirty people live there. From afar, Viers saw the villagers were in chaos, running, fighting, and screaming. Viers saw there were about a dozen assailants, short and green and ugly. Goblins.

“Goblins?” Paina asked for confirmation.

“Goblins!” Terry replied while nodding.

“Goblins… fuck.” Viers cursed, this was not an ideal situation in his mind.

Goblins are fuckin’ dangerous! And I’m fuckin’ low on Victa!

“We should help them,” Max said, eager to join the fight.

“We should run,” Viers said at the same time. He didn’t want to fight at all.

“What? Can’t you see the villagers are getting slaughtered?” Max said.

“Yeah Viers, they are just goblins. They may be too much for the common folk but they only have the strength of human children. We can deal with them!” Terry added.

“I think we are getting ahead of ourselves and risking our lives, we-”

Before Viers finished his sentence, they saw a woman carrying a baby with tears on her face, escaping out of the village. A goblin with a vicious look and drooling saliva from its mouth was running after the woman. Max summarily dashed to her rescue, and like the start of a race, Terry, Paina, and Farley went after him in that order.

“Shit, a bunch of hot-headed kids…” Viers grumbled before rushing after them.

Even though they were traveling for fishing, they had the training to become adventurers, thus they brought their weapons with them. They dropped their bags and luggage as they ran and carried only the essentials for battle. Max unsheathed his sword and slashed the goblin's neck, his run was so fast because he'd used an Arte.

“Thank the Goddess, are you adventurers? Please help us! My husband is still fighting!” The mother was relieved and thanked them for the rescue while issuing another request for help.

“Don’t worry and leave it to us!” Max jumped into the fight, the others followed him, only Viers stayed with the woman.

“How many were they? Was there an unusual goblin among them?” Viers wanted to ask more questions but pressed for time as it was, he only asked two that concerned him the most.

“A-About a dozen, I think… they appeared suddenly from the woods! They barged into the houses, suddenly killing the men a-and taking the women… I, I think there was a big one among them.” The woman stuttered while answering.

“Okay, go hide somewhere.” Viers went after the others.

When Viers caught up with them, he saw dead bodies scattered on the ground. Goblins and humans, his companions were fighting the goblins with the surviving villagers. One goblin came out from a house near him and charged at Viers’s direction, but Viers cut the monster down with ease. Some of its blood was splattered on his clothes.

A dozen? More like thirty, where's the big one? A hobgoblin or other species?

Rather than fighting the goblins, Viers set his attention to examined his surroundings. The others were doing well against the goblins, Max and Farley at the frontlines while Terry and Paina at the back. They used their Artes smoothly thanks to the daily practice they had. Paina seemed a bit nervous and flustered but still managed to keep up with the rest of the gang.

If it’s only like this then it’s already under control, but I won’t bet on that. Where’s the big one?

Viers killed one goblin that tried to backstab one of the villagers, then he saw the big one approaching the four from behind one of the houses.

“MAX, a hob on your right!”

Thanks to Viers’s warning, Max managed to put up a defensive Arte before the club-wielding monster hit him, the impact knocked him to a wooden wall of a house with a loud sound. While a regular goblin had the height of a child age of ten, the hobgoblin Viers saw was like a big bodybuilder. Strong muscles were enveloping his body, despite the size, it was fairly quick.

Its face structure was similar to a regular goblin, green-skinned, yellow eyes, pointy ears, long nose, and bad teeth. Like them, the hob wore a cloth that covered its private parts. The hob’s body had many scars, proof of the battles he had fought.

This one seems strong, is Max okay? Should we retreat before more casualties?

“We will handle this one, villagers, keep the other goblins away from us!” Terry said with a loud voice.

Farley kept the hob busy with her spear while the back liners preparing their Artes. Viers joined the fight to take some of its attention from Farley, he focused on avoiding injury rather than going for the kill. The hob wasn’t an opponent out of their league thus he judged they could defeat it. Max rose up, he seemed injured but not fatal, he returned and rejoined the fight against the hobgoblin.

A fierce battle of one versus five had begun, but after it rages on for some time, the battle wasn’t going as well as Viers expected. They outnumbered the monster boss but they lacked teamwork and coordination. This was their first battle as a team and their first real battle for some of them so the result was naturally not ideal.

The hob's attacks were heavy and powerful but they weren’t too fast to dodge. Bit by bit, the five of them were gaining the upper hand. Viers, Max, and Farley suffered some injuries fighting the hob at close range but nothing life-threatening. Viers himself got a nasty bump on his head despite doing his best to avoid injury.

“Arte — Aqua Bind!”

“Arte — Water Blast!”

Paina bound its body with water ropes and Terry hit it on the chest with a water ball. At the training session, Viers saw Terry’s Water Blast pierced through the trunk of a tree. The hob was staggered by the two Artes.

“Nice one guys, Arte — Fierce Thrust!” Farley jumped and thrust her spear at its right eye.

“GAAAARRRGGH!” The hob roared in pain.

Unfortunately, Farley’s attack didn’t finish it off. The hob was furious, it broke free of its binding and caught Farley’s right arm. It swung her to one of the wooden walls, Viers saw her arm broke when Farley hit the wall.

“Farley!!” Paina screamed in horror.

“Bastard! Arte — Fire Slash!”

Like a shonen protagonist that powered up when his companions were in danger, Max’s Arte was more powerful than the usual. Max’s Arte separated the hob’s head from the rest of its body.

“We did it… Farley! You okay?” Viers let out a sigh of relief when the hob was defeated then he checked on the unconscious Farley.

“How is she? Is she going to be okay?” Paina asked worriedly.

“Her arm is broken but that’s the worst of it, she will live,” Viers said.

“…I won’t die that easy…” Farley spoke in a soft voice.

“Farley! Thank goodness, I was so worried.” Paina was crying and smiling at the same time while hugging her friend.

“…Ow, ow, not so hard…” Farley said meekly but she was also smiling.

“Whew, nice… I guess we manage to avoid any loses on ou-”

“WATCH OUT!”

Before Terry finished his sentence, a ball of fire was flying to his direction. Max issued the warning and created an emergency shield for Terry but it only managed to cover his upper body. Terry was thrown back by the fiery blast.

Viers looked at the direction of the attack, he saw two figures. One was a hob just like the one they defeated earlier while the other was goblin with a staff and a robe. Viers felt that the smaller goblin was different from the regular goblin and more feminine looking.

A hob and… a female shaman? This is bad, we won’t be able to fight them.

The hob roared loudly like a roaring lion, when most of them had their attention on the duo, an ambush came from their rear.

“AAaahhh!” Paina screamed in pain, a goblin was skulking around and stabbed her deep on the thigh.

Viers slashed with his sword and killed the goblin but the damage was already done, Paina couldn’t stand with such injury.

This is very bad! We could die here! 'I' could die here!

Viers looked at Max to assess his companion’s condition. He was very tired, killing the hob and shielding Terry took a lot of his stamina from him, then Viers turned attention to Terry. He let out painful groans because of his injury, the upper body wasn’t too badly hurt but he was terribly injured on both legs, horrible burn wounds and mangled flesh. Farley couldn’t stand on her own and Paina was stabbed at the thigh. Viers made his decision in an instant.

I can only do this…

“Viers? What are you?” Paina was surprised he suddenly hugged her.

“…” Farley watched in silence when Viers hugged her with his other arm.

“Terry, I’m sorry… Max, run.” Viers said his words to the two boys then paid them no more attention.

He carried both females on each of his shoulders then he ran away. He used all of his Victa to boost his strength and running speed then ran like a rabbit out from a burning forest.

“…Wait, Viers! Where are you going? No… no, no, no, NOOO!!! Don’t leave me here! I thought we are FRIENDS!!! Max? Max, help me up!”

Max was stunned of the running Viers then he felt disgusted by Viers’s action. “Coward!” He spat before he carried Terry on his back, he glanced at the hob and shaman’s direction. The hob was already so close to them, Max felt the threat of death on the back of his neck. He used every power he had left to run while carrying Terry.

His attempt to run away was foiled at the fourth step he took. The shaman completed another magic spell and snared Max’s legs, then they fell on the ground. The hob caught up to them and raised the crippled Terry with its big hands, a pleased ugly grin was on its face before it bit Terry’s right arm off.

“Aaaaahhh, it hurts!! It hurts!!! NOOO, someone! Anyone, HEELLPPP!!”

Terry’s scream of help brought no salvation. The hob looked pleased hearing his victim’s screams and continued eating Terry’s flesh, it took a small bite from Terry’s stomach.

“VIIEEERRRSSS!!! You left me to die! Damn you! I was a fool thinking we were friends! DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!”

The female shaman arrived at the hob’s side, the hob realized its companion’s arrival and tore off Terry’s left leg and gave it to the shaman.

“AAAAHHHH!!!”

The two goblins ate happily while Terry was letting out his death throes, Max could only watch the bloody spectacle with fear.

In the distance, on the shoulders of a fat boy, Paina was crying her heart out as she heard her friend’s heart-wrenching wail.

On the boy's other shoulder, Farley was silent the whole time but her eyes were wet with tears. She cried silently.

Viers was hearing all of Terry’s words while thinking about one thing.

I knew it, goblins are fuckin' dangerous.