Ether didn’t know what exactly made this ghoulish goblin qualify as a ‘deadly monster’ but he wasn’t about to sit around and find out. He stepped backwards as the thing surged towards him, but too slow! Its claws would’ve torn out his throat if not for his teammates' quick reflexes. Perseus, ever vigilant, predicted where the beast would move and threw both of his knives, knocking it off balance even as Shar chugged a bright blue potion, her hand already outstretched in a now familiar stance.

The beast rolled as it landed, turning towards the [Battle Chef] with hatred in its eyes.

It leapt towards her, but this time, Ether was already moving. In one smooth motion, he swung the glaive over his head before slamming it down on the vicious goblin. Fast as the little fiend was, he was helpless in midair, and Ether had put all of his strength behind the overhand blow. Its skin seemed almost as strong as steel, the edge of the Adventurer’s glaive barely even drawing blood - but the sheer force of the strike had still dazed it.

It recovered quickly, but its brief moment of hesitation cost it dearly. Perseus had already reclaimed his blades, and the deadly daggers flew through the air with absurd precision, slamming into the back of the monster’s legs just behind its knees. The Demon howled in pain, but kept its attention on Shar as a brilliant blue glow began to burn in its eyes. Even as it ripped the blades free, the gaunt goblin opened its mouth to reveal a ball of pale blue flames. Shar’s eyes widened as the flames surged towards her, throwing herself to the ground as the blaze consumed her.

She managed to avoid the worst of it, rolling out of the flames as quickly as possible, but the leather had been seared off her arms and shoulders, leaving behind only seared flesh and blackened skin. She sprang to her feet, her face twisted in pain as clutched the carving knife that was her only weapon, and the Demon turned towards her, chuckling maliciously.

Ether chugged a potion of his own, barely even registering the notification that followed as he healed her twice in rapid succession. Her wounds vanished as the faded green light washed over her, but she was still breathing heavily. The fight against the goblins had been difficult enough on its own. Fighting this thing while already worn out seemed impossible!

Still, Ether thought there might just be a way to manage it. It was reckless, to be sure, but judging from the way the Demon had reacted to Shar’s bluff before, it might just work. “Keep moving!” He shouted as he ran towards Perseus. “Attack from all sides! It can’t dodge us all!” His right hand flew across his menu as he spoke, quickly typing messages to each of his teammates. They would only get one chance at this.

Shar and Perseus looked towards him in unison, each giving a quick nod as they sprang into action.

“[Shock]! [Shock]! [Shock]!” He unleashed a volley of electric blasts from the tip of his glaive, trying to force the Demon back towards Perseus. The glowing beast hopped back, easily dodging each blast as the party’s [Rogue] crept forward. The pale young man leapt as the third blast was fired, resorting to fisticuffs in the absence of his daggers, which the Demon still held. The surprise attack managed to send the waist high fiend sprawling for a moment, but it quickly rolled over, a ball of blue flame filling its maw even as its jaw snapped back into place. It glared at the human who’d dared to attack it without a weapon, arrogance replaced with anger - but then it froze.

Perseus had a single hand held towards him, palm held outward with a gleam in his eye. The gaunt monstrosity’s eyes went wide with panic as it tried to roll away - but a circle of flames gathered around it, and try as it might, it couldn’t break through them. The Demon screeched as the flames closed around it, spitting the blue flames at the [Rogue] threatening it in a desperate bid to make them cancel the dreaded spell.

And it worked! The rogue dropped his stance as he danced out of the path of the blazing projectile - but something was wrong. The circle of flames wasn’t fading. If anything, the heat had only intensified!

A sharp, burning pain slammed into the frantic beast’s side as the [Adventurer] burned through the last of his MP to lash out with yet another [Shock] spell. The pain was bearable compared to [Flash Fry] that had taken its first life, but it still stung. The Demon faced its attacker -

And froze. The wretched redheaded girl was standing next to his assailant, her hand held palm outwards. It had been a bluff! The [Rogue] didn’t know that spell in the first place. He’d only been trying to draw the Demon’s attention away from his teammate - and he’d succeeded!

As the circle of flames pulled in around it, the Demon screamed in fury.

Then, in a blinding flash, it vanished.

Congratulations! You’ve killed a deadly foe far above your own level!

Yggdrasil smiles upon you!

You’ve gained bonus EXP!

Through daring and heroism, you’ve reached level 8!

5 available stat points!

Congratulations!

By casting through an item with low Mana Conductivity, you’ve reached [Casting] lvl 2!

Thanks for KILLING THAT THING hero!

Ether was almost distrubed by how friendly his usually snarky menu was being, but at this point he figured he had bigger problems. He opened his menu, quickly noticing that all of his points from adaptability seemed to have gone into Willpower. He distributed the rest of his point with a few quick flicks of his finger.

Name: Ether Diros

Species: Human

Class: Adventurer (Lvl 8)

HP: 30

MP: 36

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 12

Vitality: 13

Willpower: 16

Active Effects:

[Adaptive]

[Aegis of the World Tree]

Skills:

[Casting] Lvl 2

[Identify] Lvl 3

[Reflect Projectile] Lvl 1

[Running] Lvl 1

[Basic Weapon Proficiency: Glaive]

[Pocket Sand]

Spells:

[Shock]

[Silent Lesser Heal]

Taking a deep breath to calm his still racing heart, he waited a moment to give his teammates a chance to spend their own stat points before speaking. “What in the actual fuck was that?” He asked.

The [Rogue] glanced at the pile of ash that had been trying to kill them seconds ago. “I’m not sure,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “I don’t remember seeing anything like that in the beta. I mean, I fought a creature with the Demon title once, and it was kinda glowy and blue, but it was a dungeon boss then, not a random world event! And for it to level up so much, in the middle of a fight!”

“It’s a lore thing,” Shar said suddenly. She spoke slowly, pausing occasionally as if the words she was looking for were on the tip of her tongue. “I heard about creatures that transform into a Demon on death. They're… supposed to be super dangerous for Natives, because they eat souls to grow stronger. I think they’re supposed to be part of the story quests, because the whole …corruption thing that the game trailers talked about showed the same weird blue glow.”

Ether supposed that made sense, but something still seemed off to him. “Why would one be involved in a random goblin extermination sidequest?” He mused aloud. “And why would we be allowed to take on a quest this far above our level in the first place?” He shook his head as if to clear it, and looked to Shar with a grateful smile. “If it wasn’t for you, Shar, we’d have been torn to shreds! I bet even Orlando would’ve struggled with that thing one on one!”

“I just got lucky,” Shar said, not meeting his eyes. “[Flash Fry] is really strong.”

“He’s right,” Perseus said, frowning at the bashful redhead. “You’re the one that shared your potions with us, too. Without the extra MP, we’d have been toast even if we all knew [Flash Fry]! Credit where credit is due, firestarter - you thought ahead, and it saved us. As did your harebrained scheme,” Perseus nodded to Ether. “I can’t believe that worked! If that thing hadn’t freaked out when I mimicked Shar, we’d be taking a painful shortcut back to Alfam right now!”

Ether smirked at his long time friend. “It wasn’t as much of a long shot as you might think,” he insisted. “The Demon attacked her as soon as she tried to cast, so it was pretty obvious that it remembered getting fried. It didn’t really bother dodging our physical attacks, either, but it avoided my [Shock], so it must’ve been nervous about being hit by magic again. I knew if we convinced it that you were casting by syncing up your movements with hers, we could trick it into attacking the wrong person. Add in a little [Shock] to make up for the level difference, and viola!” He gestured dramatically to the Demon’s ashes. “Roast goblin a la mode!”

“A la mode means ‘with ice cream’, genius,” Perseus responded with a smirk.

Ether scowled, turning back towards the road to hide his embarrassment. He was awful with forgein languages. “In any case, we should head back to town,” he said quickly. “We’ve got a reward to collect, and we should probably let them know about the whole Demon thing.”

The others nodded in agreement as they stood. They too a moment to pick up their gear -and the goblin’s gear - before setting off for Alfam, leaving nothing behind but ash, blood, and corpses.

Or so they thought.

Who was she?

The tiny creature wasn’t really sure. She rolled over and forced herself to think back to what she’d been doing, to how she had got here. To where here even was!

The wounded goblin tried to back up, but the very boulder she’d used as a perch earlier had her trapped. She held her rusty blade in both trembling hands, baring her shark-like teeth in defiance as the adventurers slowly closed in around her. She knew she would die, but she was determined to take at least one of them down with her. She took one step forward -

And dropped her blade in anguished surprise. Looking down, she saw a blackened goblin-sized arm sticking out of her chest, something small, wet, and moving in its grasp. She had just enough time to realize that it was her own heart before she collapsed.

As the memory bubbled up from somewhere deep within her, she felt a rush of panic, albeit a dim and faded one. She tried to scream, tried to cry, tried to open her eyes, but found that she lacked the strength.

Everything was dark. Everything was cold. She…

She was dead.

You are not dead.

No, she was dead, she had to be! Her heart had been ripped out! Torn from her by -

You are not dead. In fact, you have only just been born.

That… that couldn’t be true! You don’t get to be born twice - unless she was just one of the few who had kept the memories of their past life after passing on? Was she just now waking up as a newborn?

No, that made no sense! Young animals were almost always hungry, right? If she’d just been reborn as a wolf pup or something, she’d be starving!

Instead, she felt oddly numb.

Oh? Do you not hunger?

No. She felt nothing.

She? You have kept much of yourself, little one. What is your name?

Name? That’s easy, it was -

Wait. What was it? She definitely had one, but for some reason, she couldn’t seem to remember it. She began to feel a dim flicker of concern, a hint of fear. What was happening to her? How was she alive? What was her name?!

The silent voice called to her, soothing her fears.

You are young. There is time. Few and far between are those that remember their old names. You may choose a new one, in time. A true name. An eternal name.

Arise, young goblin. Go forth in my name, and grow strong. The hunt begins, and if you do not hunger yet…

You will soon.