Chapter 9 – Goblin Village

The is one of two nearby forests in the area. The forest has existed for many years comprised of large, aged trees. The monsters living in the forest generally comprise of goblins and horned rabbits under level 10. This makes it an ideal place for many beginning adventurers to train under they become more competent.

On foot, it takes an hour and a half to reach the forest. After leaving town, Senna decides to train running at top speed towards the forest. When she arrives, she takes out a basket and shovel humming a simple tune as she harvests some of the herbs nearby the forest. Half an hour later, a red presence appears from her [Danger Detection] approaching her from behind. She tosses the shovel and herbs into her [Storage] and takes out . “What’s that?” She turns around and falters seeing the presence.

“GAARRRRR!!” A large 5 meter ogre roars at Senna. Her eyes waver and her breathe hastens seeing the ogre. The skin is gray and extremely porous. The ogre’s face looks as if it had been carved from stone. Two large horns protrude from the top of its bald head. It carries a large axe reaching almost 3 meters in length. “WOMANNN!!!”

StatusNameN/ALevel38RaceStone OgreAge1 year oldHP3200MP12Strength214Endurance432Agility22Dexterity15Intelligence7Wisdom5Luck14SkillsAxe Lv. 5

Pain Resistance Lv. 4

Enhanced Endurance Lv. 4

Stone Skin Lv. 4

Roar Lv. 5DescriptionA subspecies of the Ogre race. By developing a layer of rock as its skin, it boasts an impregnable defense. Normal weapon and basic magic cannot breach its rock hard skin. Despite the stone ogre’s powerful defense, its slow speed allows others to escape when encountering this moving weapon. As with most Ogres, it can release a piercing Roar that inflicts fear and paralysis onto its target.

Senna stops breathing when she reads the Stone Ogre’s status. Cold sweat runs down her back as she stares at the ogre. The rumbling ground signals the Stone Ogre’s approach. Senna is forced out of her stupor as it closes in, she slaps her face with all her might. A ringing runs through her ears as she focuses on the ogre again. “I need to tell Sis and the guild.” Senna turns planning to run around the Stone Ogre, but freezes seeing another newcomer.

“WOMANN!!!” A second ogre appears from the edge of her detection range. It charges at her working in conjunction with the other ogre. It is visibly shorter than the Stone Ogre, reaching a little over 4 meters. With green skin and dark brown hair, it is fundamentally more normal than the Stone Ogre. The Ogre moves visibly faster staring at Senna with an ecstatic gaze. It wields a large spiked club high into the air.

StatusNameN/ALevel29RaceOgreAge1 year oldHP2620MP11Strength178Endurance82Agility43Dexterity13Intelligence4Wisdom3Luck10SkillsMace Lv. 5

Pain Resistance Lv. 2

Enhanced Endurance Lv. 3

Roar Lv. 4DescriptionA part of the Goblin family and the evolved form of a Hobgoblin. Ogres are known for their strength, vitality and persistence. Casting aside their ability to lead, they lean towards solving their own problems by using pure brute force. When enraged, adrenaline pumps through their bodies nullifying their ability to feel pain.

“This is… really bad…” Senna’s face pales seeing the Stone Ogre from the front and the Ogre from the right. She turns to the left and dashes to the left. On queue with her movements, a group of 10 figures emerge completely covered in mud.

StatusNameN/ALevel11RaceGoblinAge3 months oldHP98MP4Strength24Endurance12Agility14Dexterity9Intelligence3Wisdom1Luck2SkillsArchery Lv. 3

Disguise Lv. 4DescriptionA green humanoid monster. Thrives in killing small animals. Likes to capture human women to use as a breeding pool. Fast growth from infancy.

“[Detection] missed them?! Why?!” She cries out as she keeps running circle around the goblins. Before she can run far, arrows pierce the ground in front of her path forcing her to retreat. Her face is extremely strained as she catches sight of some goblins farther behind the group. The rumble of the ogres close in on her forcing her to turn their way. She quickly glances at them closing in on her. The thought of running under them passes her mind, but is rejected. {Escaping through the forest would be better. If I mess up, I’ll be crushed in an instant. If only I had more time, I could kill the goblins and escape that way.}

She escapes into the forest occasionally glancing back at the pursuing ogres and goblins. Arrows pierce the ground behind her as she runs. Whenever she tries to move off the dirt path, an arrow lodges itself in her way several goblins appear suddenly appear wearing a dirt camouflage. Senna is forced to continue running. {The archers are too accurate. I’m being led…} She quietly murmurs to herself. “Spirits of the wind, I ask of your help. Please gather and protect me from the hail of arrows.” Senna thinks of the intermediate spell meant to protect the body from projectiles. But she has yet to touch on the intermediate rank support spells. She decides to pray to spirits and test a theory of hers.

In Remia, all of the spell books teach magicians on how to utilize magic from their core and convert their magic into the element of their choice. They rely purely on their power to cast a spell. According to others, advanced magicians can amplify their spells by forcibly manipulating nearby elemental resources in conjunction with their own spell. However, the end result is still relying on their own power while forcibly controlling what’s around them. There is a rumor that some elves have the ability to speak to elemental spirits that can assist and amplify their spells. However, few elves have ever been reported to have such a unique ability leaving the practice as a mere myth.

Senna decides to gamble on the rumor even with the lack of sufficient evidence. {I’m sure that an embodiment of an element exists. The ability to see and speak to them should exist too. That isn’t the problem. It’s whether they will have any interest in a random human like me…} Senna lets out a disgruntled sigh. {I have nothing to lose. The scale of this trap is too big and abnormal. I can probably survive for a bit. But I’m doomed if I don’t pull out a trump card.}

Senna breaks into a clearing and her face drops. A village with homes created from straw and branches crudely tied together. Each and every home looked like it could topple with a gust of wind. Her [Danger Detection] goes wild as she sees the hordes of goblins in front of her. A base estimated 100 goblins gathered in front of her. Each and every one of them grins lasciviously at Senna approaching, weapons on hand ready and waiting.

Arrows pierce the ground behind her forcing Senna into motion again. Senna tries to lunge at a few nearby goblins, but multiple arrows bar her path preventing her from getting any closer. Senna is forced to continue along the predetermined path as she moves. Herded along, she reaches a plaza where the goblins finally decide to surround her. Deeper in the village, Senna catches the sight of a goblin with a crown surrounded by more heavily armed goblins. The strongest goblins stand out over the 1 meter tall goblins reaching 2 meters in height. Using [Identification], she gauges the enemies in front of her.

StatusNameN/ALevel16RaceHobgoblinAge1 year oldHP842MP3Strength75Endurance29Agility27Dexterity15Intelligence3Wisdom2Luck5SkillsArchery Lv. 5

Rally Lv. 3DescriptionThe evolved form of a Goblin. They’re general status has increased significantly from their Goblin days. As a result, groups of Hobgoblins are much more of a menace with their experience and intelligence. They hold the ability to command their weaker Goblin comrades.

StatusNameN/ALevel43RaceHobgoblin KingAge1 year oldHP2176MP102Strength120Endurance76Agility57Dexterity32Intelligence85Wisdom11Luck17SkillsMace Lv. 4

Enhanced Endurance Lv. 5

Self-Recovery Lv. 2

Tactics Lv. 6

Rally Lv. 6

Survival Lv. 3DescriptionA variant Hobgoblin with a special growth. With the training it received, its growth stood out among the other Hobgoblins allowing it to be recognized as the king of the . The ability to command and control every member of the Goblin family allows it to easily snatch any prey it wants.

{Why do things keep getting worse every second?} Senna watches as arrows fly aiming for her limbs. Before she can chant an incantation, she feels magic leaving her body after spell casting. A strong gale forms around Senna. It redirects the arrows pushing some to the ground, while others pierce nearby goblins. A voice in the wind reaches Senna.

“▼▼▼▼ ▼▼▼ ▼▼▼▼▼ human.”

You have learned . You can now freely communicate with spirits of nature.

“Th-Thank you.” Senna replies. {I didn’t think anyone would really respond to me. But it works in my favor.} The nearby goblins roar and start charging at her. Senna quickly changts a wind spell, but falters when she’s forced to dodge a goblin’s attack. “!” In desperation, she skips the incantation for directly manifesting the around her. A sphere of wind surrounds Senna exploding outwards. The strong winds topple over the nearby goblins temporarily expanding the circle again. The results surprise her since the spell is normally much weaker forming a brief indeterminate gust, not forming a perfect sphere around her.

“Thank you!” Senna yells out.

“I am only blocking the arrows human. That was the agreement. It was not my doing.” The wind spirit’s voice reaches her ears, its form remaining hidden.

“Is that so?” Senna questions. {I learned a new skill then? For skipping the chant?} She’s forced to shelve the thought as the goblins start to stand up again. “Then. How about this? !” Senna decides to gamble casting the spell while punching the ground. A small scale quake occurs as the earth briefly shakes. The strength of the quake doesn’t affect the standing Goblins, but topples the ones attempting to stand. Normally, the spell forms a raised portion of dirt bringing up more questions than answers for Senna.

A new flurry of arrows approaches Senna, but is deflected by the Wind Spirit once again. Some of the arrows strike the ground, while other diverted arrows attack nearby Goblins. One of the arrows directly pierces a nearby Goblin’s eye and pierces deeply into the skull.

You have leveled up. Senna has now reached Level 5.

You have leveled up. Senna has now reached Level 6.

You have leveled up. Senna has now reached Level 7.

The level up window appears in Senna’s vision. She quickly waves it away. “Disable all level up messages until after the battle. Um… Vocally recite newly acquired skill and status changes including ones in the last 5 minutes.” Senna changes the setting again to prevent any visual distractions during battle. She attempts to change the system for telling her about the new skills, but throws out the words on a random guess.

“Acknowledged.

• You have acquired [Retreat] Lv. 1. You can escape from enemies at a faster pace.

• You have temporarily acquired [Wind Elemental Blessing]. The Wind Elemental will protect you from all projectile weapons for the next 5 minutes. The Wind Elemental has agreed to defer the summoning payment until after the battle has completed.

• You have acquired [Incantation Omission] Lv. 1. By skipping the incantations, you have a chance to cast your basic level spells faster. Provided the spell doesn’t falter and fail. Failure causes your spells to cost twice the amount of magic used.

End Skill Acquisition Log.”

As the voice recites the new skills, the description for [Incantation Omission] brings a smile to her lips. Senna charges her magic and randomly fires off spells. “, , , , , , , .” Using the simple spherical form, the spells are released one after another. Senna continues moving in between the spells dodging the Goblin’s attacks, briefly glancing at the unlucky Goblins that spell crashes into. A quick [Identification] gives her an idea of which spells are more effective in this battle. being the weakest of the batch. The light and dark versions blind the goblins, giving a nice plus, but lack enough of a group effect that she requires in her current situation. Fire and Lightning smite the Goblins instantly, but concerns of an out of control wildfire forces her to eliminate the idea. The branch of is helpful killing two Goblins at once, but is less cost effective than and magic. Left with two elements but no clear winner, she opts to just use either element based on the situation.

Senna keeps dodging while trying to keep the surrounding goblins at bay with little success. The killed Goblins are quickly buried as the circle closes in. The two ogres forcing their way through the crowd only help to solidify her unease. She draws her katana performing a circular slash cutting the closest targets. {Now!} Tossing the katana back into the storage, she takes out two large bottles. Throwing both of them to the ground, the bottles crack and shatter mixing the contents together. Purple smoke forms as Senna holds her breathe. In a matter of seconds, the smoke envelops Senna and at least twenty Goblins nearby. The enveloped Goblins scream in pain causing the others to hesitate in approaching the smoke. The nearby goblins back away instinctively knowing the smoke can kill them.

Noxious Forget-Me-Not (Master Grade)

Rank: E (D)

A volatile poison created from the poison of the Forget-Me-Not berry and crushed powder from the Trifirer leaves. The poison damages the lungs weakening their function and inhibiting the ability to breathe. Through Senna’s [Compounding] skill, the poison has a low potency, but high retention upon inhalation.

Damages Health by 5 points every 2 seconds. Lasts for 5 minutes.

Sales value: 1000 Triton

In the smoke, Senna tosses another bottle filled with a different poison in a high arc hoping to get a lucky hit on the goblin king. The affected Goblins in the smoke become sluggish as the poison spreads through their systems.

“You have acquired [Throwing] Lv. 1. Your [Throwing] skills are affected by your Strength and Dexterity. You have a high chance of hitting your target in a 5 meter range.”

The poison flies towards the Hobgoblin King, but veers off course reaching the Hobgoblin archers. The bottle shatters on one Hobgoblin’s head as the poison spreads onto ten nearby Hobgoblin archers. The affected Hobgoblins turn a dark purple as the poison spreads through their system.

Buxus Poison (Master Grade)

Rank: C (B)

A poison created from the Grave Buxus plant. The slightest drop of poison immediately seeks through the skin and into the blood system. It eats away at the blood vessels causing victims to internally bleed to death. Through Senna’s [Compounding], both the damage and potency have greatly improved from its standard state.

Damages health by 10 points every second. The poison lasts for 10 minutes.

Sales Value: 15000 Triton

Senna quickly takes out her katana and slices the nearby goblins accelerating their deaths. The loud thuds from the ogres continue to shake the ground making her accelerate her plans. She takes out two more vials tossing one at each Ogre. {It’s not poison, but it has to do.} Senna aims to strike their head, but her hasty throw directs the vials onto the ogre’s abdomen. The stone ogre is hit with the vial directly in the center of its stomach, while the other vial breaks on the ogre’s side. The vials shatter splashing their liquid on the ogre as well as a few unlucky goblins underneath them. Smoke emanates at the liquid quickly bubbles.

Lilac Cornel Extract

Rank: E

A special extract made from the Brier Lilac and Night Cornel Flower. It’s damaging to touch, but does not function as a poison. Function unknown.

Senna’s Addendum: “It’s not a poison, but a strong acid with a pH of 1.2. The concentration is extremely high, so it can easily bore through skin and bone. It’s too bad I have to collect so many flowers to get enough for just a couple of drops…Oops… End description.”

Sales Value: 1 Triton? (Price will adjust depending on the first time use of the extract.)

The extract eats into the Ogre’s side causing it to roar in pain as blood squirts from its side. The extract has a far weaker effect on the Stone Ogre, only eating into the part of its stone skin before sliding off the Ogre. The liquid falls onto five or so Goblins underneath the Stone Ogre and four goblins near the Ogre. A few unlucky Goblins receive the acid directly on the head allowing the acid to drill into the skull causing direct damage to the brain. Others are splashed on the arms or legs allowing the extract to bore through their limb.

Senna takes out her katana and a thick vial filled with a red hot bubbling liquid. Using the back of the blade, she strikes the bottle knocking it towards a group of goblins away from the Ogres. As she starts to run in the same direction, she infuses her katana with her magic. Cutting through the goblins, she sees the bottle break open on the ground. “!” She releases a large sphere of wind at the bottle crouching to the ground after casting. The influx of air reaches the contents causing a reaction. An explosion rings out as several goblins are knocked into the air and many of the surrounding goblins are knocked off their feet.

Phial of Compressed Palmetto (Master Grade)

Rank: C (B)

*New Description* A solution with the sap from a Palmetto tree as the main ingredient. Combined with several other ingredients, the mixture was heavily heated in a sealed container. The compressed pressure and heat makes the solution extremely reactive when exposed to cool air. The end result creating a medium sized explosion.

Sales Value: 10000 Triton

After the shockwave from the explosion passes, Senna jumps up clearing her way through the gap she created. As she runs and cuts down goblins, she randomly fires and blindly behind her. Stepping into the center of the upheaved soil and burnt grass, she takes out another . {The last one. I’m almost out of this circle. Just a little more.} Right after the phial is knocked away, another flurry of arrows head her way. Much to her bad luck, one of the arrows is deflected away from Senna and directly pierces the phial. Senna pales as she turns to the source of the arrows. She sees the Hobgoblin King with a toothy grin after ordering the archers to attack her.

The explosion rocks Senna off her feet. She is barely able to store her katana as she flies through the air. Her vision spins as her back crashes to the ground. Hazily, she pushes herself up. “, .” She heals the damage from the explosion with and cleans the burns with . As she finishes recovering, a shadow looms overhead. Senna mechanically tilts her head up as she sees the green skinned Ogre standing over her.

“RAWWWRRRRRR!!!!” The angry Ogre uses its [Roar] sending Senna’s mind spiraling in fear.

Her body momentarily locks up as she holds herself. “A…A…Ah…” Her voice leaks out as she tries to get a grip on herself. The Ogre wastes no time as he horizontally swings its spiked club. Her [Mind Resistance] and [Paralysis Resistance] terminates the effect of [Roar] on her, but the club has already reached her position. She weakly jumps back condensing her magic to activate [Magic Body]. The club directly hits Senna as she crosses her hands in front of her. Several spikes pierce her arm with one directly piercing into her abdomen. A distinct *crack* is heard as the bones in her right arm breaks and crushing it into a pile of flesh. Her left arm is pierced and the bones partially cracked, but still left intact. Her ribs groan as Senna’s body is sent flying from the impact.

Senna flies through the air catching a brief glance at an extremely angry Hobgoblin King. He yells something while pointing at the Ogre. Senna finishes forming [Magic Body] and condensing as much magic as possible. Her concentration was luckily not broken from the attack because of her colorful past with Rimmer. Slamming directly into a large tree, it breaks under the pressure toppling the tree. Everything in Senna’s vision shakes and blackens. Her consciousness is barely able to maintain the magic as her body breaks through the tree and severely cracking the trunk of the next tree. The first tree falls after losing their support crushing any goblins nearby. Senna’s body lifelessly crashes to the ground.

The second tree creaks and groans from the damage, but the heavy shaking from the Stone Ogre tips the scale. The tree loses its support as it topples over crushing many simplistic goblins along the way. The damages from the battle continue to stack up on the Goblin’s side. Senna’s resistance and the three damaged trees have dwindled the numbers from 250 down to 100 of the remaining Goblin forces, comprising of 1 Hobgoblin King, 2 Ogres, 17 Hobgoblins, and 80 Goblins.

After momentarily blacking out, Senna groggily opens her eyes. She condenses her magic casting , , and nonstop focusing on her left hand. When her left hand is in a state to move, she takes out takes out three potions drinking them one after the other.

Health Potion (Master Grade)

Rank: D ©

A second tier health potion. It has better healing effects than the weakest one, but is barely classified as an Intermediate tier Consumable. Through Senna’s [Compounding] the effects are much stronger than usual allowing for a gradual healing over time effect. Specially crafted to taste like Mint ♪

Recovers 150 Health immediately on consumption. Additionally recovers 10 Health every 2 seconds for 3 minutes.

Sales Value: 5000 Triton

Magic Potion (Master Grade)

Rank: D ©

A second tier Magic Potion. Rarer than a Health potion making it more valuable, especially to Magicians. Heals Magic allowing the user to cast more spells. Through Senna’s [Compounding] the effects are much stronger than usual improving magic regeneration for a time. Specially crafted to taste like Berry ♪

Recovers 100 Magic Points on consumption. Additionally recovers an extra 10 Magic every 2 seconds for 2 minutes. Stacks with the body’s innate Magic recovery.

Sales Value: 8000 Triton

Bone Growth (Master Grade)

Rank: C (B)

A potion designed to stimulate the growth and repair of bone tissue restoring them to their original state. The contents have also been blended with Stamina Potion to ease the strain from quickly repairing the user’s bones.

Broken bones will quickly reattach itself in 5 minutes. Make sure to set the arm in the correct position to assist with the regrowth. Users will feel a decrease in energy as well as a gradual increase to compensate for the energy loss.

Sales Value: 17000 Triton

Senna straightens her smashed right arm allowing it to recover. She lies motionless on the floor letting her arm heal as much as possible. The toppled tree is currently concealing her, and thankfully not crushing her since she’s at the very base of the tree. She relaxes slightly knowing the Ogres are not approaching her position yet. {I really messed up. I got overconfident even though I’m an amateur.} She sighs covering her face. {I need to keep going. What should I do?}

Senna looks down at the pool of blood under her. {I’m going to die if I keep being stubborn. [Blood Manipulation] it is then. I need to create as much chaos as possible and run.} Senna tries to sit up, but the sealed wound on her abdomen relents. {Scratch that. I guess running isn’t possible. Potions heal the wounds, but still leave the soreness from the injury. Healing magic helps, but my spells are still too weak. I’m stuck fighting… I need to take out that Hobgoblin King. Avoid the Ogres, especially the stone one. Kill as many Goblins and Hobgoblins to increase my level.}

“ has expired. You will no longer be protected from arrows. However, the still remains if you wish to reapply the blessing.”

{…I probably can’t get help again. I haven’t repaid her for the first time. Plus, I don’t know how much magic I’ll need to take the rest of them on. My status is probably a mess right now.} She pauses when she remembers her status. {I’ll look at it later. I’m going to get overconfident again if I see it right now. My arm… can move at least.} Senna sits herself up and pokes her head out from under the tree. The yelling of the Hobgoblin King still reaches her ears. {Good. They’re not paying attention to me.} She activates her [Blood Manipulation] drawing up her spilt blood into her hand.

“Gah?!” A hoarse yell draws her attentions back to the goblins. A large deformed orb of blood hangs in the air. A goblin hangs in the air caught in the blood unable to break out.

Senna stares wide-eyed at the accidental manipulation of the goblin’s blood. {I knew I could move other types of blood, but I didn’t think it would be this easy. Then…} She touches both of her ears with her bloody hands before condensing the floating blood in her hand into the shape of a spear. She aims and throws it at the green unsuspecting Ogre’s neck. It starts to lose momentum tilting down towards the Ogre’s side, but Senna forcefully manipulates and corrects its path. The spear strikes the Ogre directly on the neck damaging the carotid artery. With her thought, the blood spear explodes like a grenade releasing blood shrapnel in every direction.

The Ogre falters taking the brunt of Senna’s attack. The shards of blood are lodged deeply in its neck. Manipulating the blood into the giant pool of Goblin’s blood, Senna’s blood rips the Ogre’s neck even further extracting the Ogre’s own blood as it leaves the body. The Ogre weakens from the excessive blood loss collapsing onto a few Goblins.

Moving her control onto the collected Goblin’s blood, she crushes the caught Goblin squeezing its body until its organs are crushed. Adding to the collected blood, Senna forms a large spiked ceiling descending over the goblin group. She forms an opening around the Stone Ogre to make the most of her attack. Crushing the weakest Goblins, she raises the blood back into the air. An even larger pool of blood forms, she creates a large blood blade. The Hobgoblin yells at the Stone Ogre making it turns towards her. Senna quickly forms a large scythe blade and directs it towards the Hobgoblin King. The blood blade crashes into the Hobgoblin group, but the King escapes from the attack using another Hobgoblin as a shield. After crashing into the ground, the blood returns back into its liquid form. It forms a large wave of blood splashing over the Hobgoblin King.

Senna feels a throbbing pain in her forehead as she directs the blood to collect around the Hobgoblin King sweeping it into the air. Tightening her grip, she breaks the arms, legs and neck. The Hobgoblin King screams in pain allowing Senna to release a blood spear piercing through the back of the King’s throat. When she moves to finish the King, the Stone Ogre roars disturbing her concentration. The blood falls to the ground releasing the half dead Hobgoblin King. All of its limbs broken and immobile, while it weakly bleeds to death.

Senna’s body shakes exposed to the Stone Ogre’s [Roar]. Even though she blocked both of her ear canals with blood, she is unable to stop the [Roar]. The roar rocks every bone in her body paralyzing her movements. She recovers from the effects a lot faster than anticipated. As the Stone Ogre approaches, she trips over a tree root while trying to run away. The Stone Ogre looms over her with its axe raised high. Senna rolls to the side as the axe cuts into the ground. Standing up, she regains control of the blood again as she attempts to widen the distance. Another painful headache forces her to stop moving, barely holding onto the control of blood.

“Why?” Senna mutters to herself.

“Magic Power has dropped below 5%. Magic Fatigue settling into the body.” The automated voice replies to her question.

“I forgot.” Senna glances back checking on the Stone Ogre. With just enough distance, she drinks another Magic potion. “I should make sure I don’t make a silly mistake like that again. Maybe, Create a permanent display for Health and Magic points.”

HP: 3220/3750

MP: 256/2805

{There’s so many things I want to retort.} Senna stares at the display until the Ogre cuts down the tree near her. {But there’s no time.} She mentally moves the display to the corner of her vision drinking another Magic potion. As she starts to run, a black tipped arrow pierces through her leg. She falters and glances at the source seeing one of the remaining Goblins with a bow and several arrows piercing nearby trees. {Why now?!}

“” Senna directs a spell at the ‘lucky’ Goblin archer. One of the six remaining Goblins that was still alive from Senna’s previous onslaught. The Stone Ogre closes the distance looming over Senna again. She tries to back up and increase the distance, but her leg prevents her from moving too much. The Stone Ogre performs a horizontal cut slashing at Senna with its axe. Senna swings her arm bringing the collected blood in between them. The sudden defense prevents her from hardening the blood. She uses [Magic Body] at full power hoping to weaken the attack at least a little.

The axe cuts through the blood with ease, barely slowing down. As it approaches, the blade seems to catch on fire becoming a bright flaming red. Senna pales as she releases as much magic as possible to defend against the attack. The axe slams into Senna’s guarded side cutting through her arm and into her side. Her ribs break as her body is sent flying from the impact. She coughs up blood as she crashes through a Goblin home landing back in the clearing. Her vision spins as she struggles to focus on her current situation. She weakly stands up looking at her current health.

HP: 11/3750 --> 33/11250

MP: 152/2805 --> 456/8415

“Body has reached critical condition. [Last Stand] skill activated. WARNING: Body is unable to deal with the strain of increasing all abilities by 10. Reducing ability activation down to 3 times normal abilities.”

Senna looks away from the display focusing on the incoming Stone Ogre. The five remaining Goblins wait at a distance ready to help take down Senna. She weakly fits her amputated right arm over its original place hardening the blood to hold it in place. Senna manipulates her spilt blood. Attaching to Senna, it whips around in a circle picking up all five Goblins and throwing them into the Stone Ogre’s path. Oddly, the Stone Ogre swings its axe at the approaching blood whip killing off the remaining Goblins.

Senna forms a spear and mentally uses the blood to attack. Her blood attacks the Stone Ogre directly at its abdomen shattering into blood crystals. Senna’s vision flickers with the failed attack. She is barely able to stand on her own two feet as her condition continues to worsen. {I don’t want to lose like this…}

The Stone Ogre opens its jaw preparing to roar again. Fear runs through Senna knowing what her fate would be with the next [Roar]. Unconsciously swinging her arm, the broken blood flies up runs directly into the Stone Ogre’s mouth. It pierces the inside of the throat with little resistance. Before the Stone Ogre can scream in pain, the rest of Senna’s blood forces its way down the Ogre’s throat blocking all noise while shredding the throat as the blood flows down.

Senna weakly feels the connection with her blood weakening inside the Ogre’s body. Making her decision, her body glows a light blue as she releases the rest of her magic attempting to strengthen the connection. Her vision blackens as she loses strength in her body. As she falls, her lips weakly move saying two words. {Run wild.} Collapsing on the ground, she finally faints.

The Stone Ogre suffers in agony at its first experience in pain. It stares hatefully at Senna sensing its impending death. Gripping its axe, it performs its last charge, swinging down with all its might. Senna's blood receives her last command as it pierces out in every direction. Swirling like a vortex, it destroys the stomach drawing more blood increasing the strength of the attack. The attack spreads to the lungs and heart before spreading to every other organ in the Stone Ogre’s chest. Pain wracks its body making it divert its axe away from Senna. The axe crashes into the ground a few centimeters away from Senna covering her in dirt. As the light fades from the Stone Ogre’s eyes, it falls forward directly over Senna.

And with a *Crash*, the battle in the Goblin’s village comes to an end.

Author's Note

So I apologies for the delay. (Especially to anyone that noticed my delayed comment on chapter 8, and I was still late another day past that.) I wrote this chapter. Hated it and completely rewrote it. So yep. Though I'm very glad I did. The original draft was 6 pages long. Rewrote it and expanded the details of the battle and it hit 14 pages. This is my longest ever attempt at writing a battle scene, so while it may not be the best thing in the world, I've satisfied with how I improved it.

Lots of tables in this chapter. I had Senna make full use of her medicine crafting skills, so I overdid it a bit with the tables. XD And if it isn't clear. Item's Rank: 'Normal rank for the item' ('Rank after Senna's special recipe'). For the Health and Mana Potion, it should be a C in parenthesis, but weird formatting turned it into ©. Go figure~

Chapter 10 will probably be delayed to next week. The sheer length of this chapter made me spend a lot of time on it, so I'm a bit tired and not sure I can complete a new chapter at this point. Who knows, I might go into a deep writing mode, but its Tuesday already, so no promises I can't keep.

I know I wanted to say a bit more, but my brain overloaded so I'll cut it here. Take care until the next chapter!