Ray stood by herself, a short distance away from the small camp her team had set up. They didn’t pull out anything expensive since they might teleport away at a moment’s notice, but they did make a small campfire and set up a few tents. She was fiddling with the little artifact that Melissa had given her before the other two teams had left for the Voskeg Mountains. It was a simple, small cylinder that fit comfortably in the palm of her hand.

The arcanist had instructed her that if the orb began to glow purple and vibrate, then she could teleport into the vicinity of a paired artifact that would be on Melissa’s person.

Ray stood a distance away from her team because she didn’t want them to see when the artifact started glowing. Once the artifact was activated, she intended to find a way to move in while leaving her team behind. She would come up with some sort of excuse later.

She anxiously paced around the camp, ignoring the worried glances of her teammates.

Her god had relayed the events of the massacre to her, so she had mixed feelings about rescuing the goblins.

Those mixed feelings didn’t extend to Lexi though. Her friend was in the middle of that battlefield. The goblins who trusted her were there too.

Ray stroked the artifact softly as she waited.

She didn’t know what to expect once she walked through that gate, but whatever she encountered, she would stand where her heart told her to.

***

As she walked through the portal and into the camp, Melissa fought down the normal wave of nausea and looked around. The protection spell cast on the group by Sage would give them time to adjust to their surroundings, but they were still in the middle of the enemy forces.

Since they had teleported a good distance into the camp, there were several lines of goblins between them and Edwin. In front of her group was a line of goblins and a barricade that they guessed was protecting the goblin command center.

Everything was within expectations. She needed to distract the goblins long enough for Samantha to do her job.

Vick was supposed to help the assassin, but, like a typical useless trainee, the idiot got caught in the random firestorms and died before he did anything useful.

She heard a battle cry from the goblins standing between her and the barricade as they charged forward. The little monsters were poorly equipped. Some of them held sharpened sticks and bones, and most of them were only wearing rags for armor. She shook her head as she raised her hand.

“Mana Blast,” she muttered.

The mana condensed in front of her and then she interrupted the cast and willed the magic to split and multiply. Her specialization in arcane magic meant that she was used to dealing with magic in its purest, unmodified form. The condensed ball of mana split into a dozen narrow bolts which she promptly flung toward the approaching monsters. Each bolt struck true and a dozen goblins fell in the blink of an eye.

Melissa felt a twinge in her heart as more than half of the approaching line died from her attack. She disliked culling the weak, whether they were humans or monsters. As far as she knew, these goblins had been living here peacefully for a while.

But it was her job to eliminate the threat and rescue the hostage that the goblins were presumed to be holding. Whether the goblins were weak or not, she would do her job. She was a professional, after all.

As she fired out another string of compressed mana bolts, she saw a small figure leap from the barricade, erasing the projectiles with a wave of her staff. Dragging behind the figure was a human teenager wearing simple clothes and a straw hat. The poor girl had a chain on her wrist which was being held by the magic-using goblin.

She observed the goblin that was now moving toward her group. She appeared to be ancient, with gray hair and eyes that looked down upon the world as if she had moved beyond it long ago. Melissa immediately recognized that this was this tribe’s Shaman, the oldest and most powerful magic user.

Shaman stalked toward Melissa, a sinister smile playing at the edge of her lips as she revealed her sharp teeth.

Suzy, who had been quiet thus far, squealed at the terrifying sight.

“So there really was a hostage,” Sage muttered. “Though isn’t she a bit strange? They said she was a trainee, but I don’t recognize her.”

Melissa narrowed her eyes.

“That’s a slave collar on her wrist. I have never seen monsters using them and it’s illegal to enslave humans. There is definitely something else going on here…”

“She looks kind of familiar...” Peter muttered, coming up beside them. “It’s that feeling like something is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t quite remember...”

“But you do recognize her?” Melissa asked, turning her sharp glare on the boy.

Peter shrunk under her gaze.

“I… uh… I think so, though I don’t know who she is...” he stuttered, refusing to meet her eyes.

Melissa shivered as she felt the oppressive force approaching them.

“If you recognize her then she really might have been a trainee. We’ll rescue her first and then investigate later. Let’s focus on the ancient magic user for now.”

Ancient magic users were terrifying opponents. They used magic that humans could never hope to understand which made planning against them terribly difficult. Most ancient magic users required a minimum of a full silver-ranked adventurer team to be able to fight head-on. They didn’t know anything about the abilities or magic of the one in front of them, though Melissa suspected that she was the illusionist.

Shaman stopped several steps away from them and tilted her head.

“Why do you hesitate?” she asked in fluent English, her voice a bit deeper and smoother than her looks would lead one to expect. “Are you finished with your conversation?”

“D..Divine Retri…” Suzy started to shout but Sage silenced the purge-happy priestess with a sharp glare.

Melissa raised an arm, preparing another strike.

“I take it you’re Shaman here. I have to admit we’re interested in your unique magic. Are you the illusionist?”

Shaman shrugged.

“Maybe, maybe not. I know this is a bit late, but could I ask you to leave? If this goes on, a lot of people will die, and my side doesn’t resurrect.”

Melissa stared at the old goblin incredulously.

“You’re asking us to just… leave?”

Shaman smiled. The viciousness carried in her grin caused Melissa to falter for just a moment. She took a deep breath to calm her mind.

She slowly reached an arm into a pouch at her side and channeled mana into the artifact resting inside. If this camp had an ancient magic user and an assassin on the level of a High Templar, they needed more fodder to provide opportunities to strike.

“If you don’t leave now, then I will have to ask you again with a little bit of force,” Shaman warned.

“Y..you’re just a monster!” Suzy screamed back.

She folded her hands together as if in prayer while glaring at the old goblin with wild eyes.

“Seriously, what is wrong with this girl…” Melissa muttered.

Peter stepped up beside Suzy and summoned his mana.

“I’ll protect the healer; you guys can fight without worry.”

Melissa nodded without taking her attention away from Shaman.

She finished preparing and several dozen mana bolts formed in the air around her, each of them aimed at different targets.

With a flick of her wrist, each of the bolts launched. A few dozen of them flew toward the line of goblins behind them, another dozen flew toward Shaman, while yet another dozen flew toward the goblin commanders hiding behind the barricade.

Shaman clenched her teeth. She struggled to maintain her illusion while blocking as many of the bolts as she could. She ignored the bolts aimed toward her, and instead focused on the ones moving toward her precious kin in the command center and in the defensive lines.

The two sets of bolts evaporated while the final set descended upon the old goblin. She desperately evaded, but one of them struck the shoulder of the arm holding the chain while another two pinned her leg. Shaman groaned as the condensed mana seared her skin and cauterized the wounds. With another wave of her staff, the bolts disappeared, and she stumbled. She released the chain as her left arm dangled uselessly at her side.

The hostage noticed the opportunity and immediately acted, running away from her captor and toward the adventurers who came to save her. As she ran, she raised a hand to hold her patchwork straw hat in place.

Shaman watched helplessly; her eyes furious as their precious hostage escaped. Melissa smiled at seeing the old goblin cornered so easily.

The hostage passed beside Melissa and their arms touched briefly before she moved to hide near Sage, Suzy, and Peter. The arcanist didn’t even spare the girl a second glance as she prepared another attack to launch at the wounded creature before her.

“You look a little tired. Perhaps you’ve grown too old to fight?” Melissa taunted, attempting to distract the old goblin while focusing intently on forming her spell.

Shaman scoffed.

“Young one, you know nothing. I have been fighting humans for over a hundred years. Sometimes sacrifices are necessary for victory. I believe you humans have an expression for it -- ‘to lose the battle but win the war’?”

Melissa giggled.

“So, you admit that you will lose this battle then?”

Shaman raised her staff.

“We shall see.”

Sage stepped up beside Melissa and channeled her mana. The ground shook slightly as large cracks began to spread out around them. Roots inched out, exposing themselves to the dry mountain air. With a gesture, the roots swirled around Shaman and closed in on her.

Shaman raised her staff and smacked the edge of it into the ground. Melissa gasped as the world began to twist around her. She stumbled to the side, attempting to regain her balance as the ground rose beneath her and the roots vanished into thin air. The mana she was gathering dispersed as she lost her focus.

“Damn it!” she growled.

In the next moment, her vision went black. One by one, each of her senses faded. All sounds disappeared, the smell of sweat and blood drained away, and her skin became numb to the chilly mountain air. Even her sense of taste died.

Melissa was alone, floating in an endless, dark world of nothing.

This was her second time experiencing an illusion spell of this level. She knew how to break it, but it would take her some time. She was more concerned with how the illusionist had cast this spell in the first place. Something this powerful and immersive would require either physical contact or a medium.

Ah…

Melissa checked her arm and found that the magic originated from a speck of mana there. It was so small that she would only notice it if she were looking for it. The only time it could have been placed there was when the hostage had touched her.

She mentally sighed as she gathered her mana and focused her mind on the speck that served as the source of the illusion. Using the source as an anchor, she projected her mana into the illusion surrounding her and willed it to disperse.

She encountered an unexpectedly powerful resistance and clicked her tongue.

Tsk. This old illusionist was too damn powerful.

Melissa growled as she released another layer of mana and shot it directly into the barrier. She channeled her anger into the mana and bore down on the mind of her oppressor, suppressing it with as much force as she could muster.

Gradually, her senses faded back into reality and she blinked at the unexpected brightness that filled her vision. Her ears and nose twitched, her tongue tingled, and she felt a strange itch on her skin as if insects were crawling all over her body.

A wave of mental exhaustion ran through her and she shuddered. A quick glance revealed that Sage had been in the same predicament. Chills ran down her spine as she realized that they had only escaped because it was two against one.

They had been gone for approximately ten seconds.

And in that ten seconds, the flow of the battle had changed.

Right before her eyes, the ‘hostage’ twisted Peter’s head and snapped his neck. Suzy was on the ground with her head similarly tilted at an odd angle. The straw hat was on the ground and she could see black, triangular ears peeking out from the girl’s dark hair.

Fortunately, they had escaped before the beastkin could do anything to either her or Sage.

“Phew, that was dangerous,” Melissa wheezed, pulling a staff out of her enchanted bag to lean on.

Sage snapped her fingers. Warm mana seeped into Melissa, spreading throughout her body, and relaxing the tension in her muscles. She felt the burden on her mind lessen as the mana reinvigorated her.

Melissa sighed in relief. As her mind fully cleared, a wave of energy rolled through her body.

“I think we’ve let this go on for far too long,” Sage said, her calm voice contrasting with her annoyed expression.

The arcanist formed another wave of mana, this time leaving it as one large, concentrated orb.

“I agree.”

Sage extended her arms out and pushed her mana into the ground. As she slowly raised her arms, little mushrooms began to pop out of the dirt around her.

Melissa threw her mana orb at the illusionist. The druid snapped her fingers and the mushrooms burst, filling the air with a poisonous mist. The mist avoided Melissa and it spread outwards toward both the beastkin and Shaman.

Shaman pointed her staff at the mana orb.

“Begone!” she declared.

Melissa’s jaw dropped as the orb obeyed the command and disappeared.

“What? How is that even possible? I didn’t sense any mana in your voice…” Melissa spluttered.

Shaman took a step back as the poison mist approached her. She wiped her sweaty palms on her robe, fighting against the mental exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm her.

Melissa felt the artifact in her pouch vibrate.

“Finally…!” she muttered, aiming another blast toward the beastkin behind her.

With reinforcements on the way, they would be able to easily win this fight.

A small portal opened beside Melissa. The arcanist thinned the orb into a fine blade and fired it toward the beastkin. The young girl tried to jump out of the way. Before the mana blade could strike, a shadow darted across her vision, stepping between the blade and the catkin.

The mana blade sliced into the stomach of the platinum-haired lady with heterochromatic eyes. To Melissa’s eyes, it didn’t look like she had stepped in the way intentionally. It was more like she had launched herself through the portal quickly without regard for what might be on the other side.

Ray split in half. Her eyes were frozen wide with surprise and her expression was clearly asking ‘what the hell?’

Melissa sighed, turning away from the dead fool to check on the state of the rest of the reinforcements. To her dismay, the portal closed without any other trainees coming through.

“What the hell?!” she shouted.

“That’s my line…” a new, yet familiar voice called out from behind her.

Melissa flinched and turned back to see Ray’s torso crawling toward her lower half. She reoriented herself and held the edges of the lower half against her severed stomach. Unbelievably, the intestines, muscles, bones, skin… everything began reattaching itself. Sage and Melissa stared at Ray with wide eyes, their spells and opponents temporarily forgotten.

“What are you…?”

Ray smiled.

“I suppose you could call me an independent third party.”

“Huh?”

Ray pointed at Melissa and Sage.

“I disagree with you attacking this camp,”

Then she pointed toward the goblins.

“I have a bone to pick with the goblins who attacked my friend.”

Ray took a step toward the arcanist and drew a longsword from her enchanted bag.

“What issue do you have with this attack? We’re just doing our job…!” Melissa muttered.

Ray shook her head and pointed toward the defensive lines.

“You may or may not have noticed, but every goblin in this camp is mobilized to fight you. There are goblins that I don’t want to die, and others who haven’t made their choices yet. Monsters don’t respawn when they die, so I would rather not have you kill them just yet.”

“Choices? They killed the trainee adventurer teams! They wiped out your team as well!” Sage pointed out.

Ray giggled and motioned toward the trainees who attacked the camp.

“And all but one of those trainees are still alive. Even if the goblins win this fight somehow, they will have lost. Those that you kill won’t come back, whereas you can keep trying repeatedly until you win.”

Melissa aimed another mana blade at the rebelling trainee. Her arm was trembling. She had never intentionally attacked a fellow adventurer before. She knew that if she didn’t, her life would be in danger, but she still hesitated.

Ray took another step and Melissa released the blade. The mana arced toward the young woman and slashed into her neck, decapitating her in a smooth motion. Blood spewed from the wound, yet a slender arm reached up and caught the head before it could fall too far and firmly reattached it in its rightful place.

Melissa stumbled, trying to move back but her legs were shaking. It had been a long time since she’d felt fear. She fell to the ground, trembling as she threw burst after burst of mana at the demonic entity approaching her.

A root erupted from the ground and attempted to grab the demon, but she simply stomped on the root, grinding it into dust.

Ray stopped, hovering over Melissa’s shivering form.

She bent down onto one knee and leaned down to whisper into Melissa’s ear.

“My name is Ray. If I catch you doing something like this again, there won’t be a next time.”

Melissa’s mind went into overdrive. She shuddered as confusion and fear warred within her. She began to laugh. It wasn’t a mere chuckle or an amused laugh but rather the laughter one might expect when realizing how unfair the world could be. Everything that she had just witnessed was beyond expectations. More than that, it was simply impossible.

A blade swung down and pierced her neck.

The world tumbled.

And then there was darkness.

***

As Ray stepped away from the corpses of the four adventurers, she finally took a moment to observe her surroundings in detail. She could feel Mort circling over the camp in the sky. There were a few fires burning in the surrounding trees and there were many, many dead goblins. One of the members of the Glitter Court, Lord Cedric, was dueling with Edwin a good distance away, though the Martial Lord was clearly on the back foot. He had only managed to deal superficial wounds while his own left arm was hanging limply at his side.

Lexi stood nearby, holding a strange, patchwork straw hat. When Ray looked her way, her friend raised a hand in greeting. Ray returned the gesture with a smile and a nod.

“Good work,” Shaman said, coming up beside her. “I was not expecting your aid, but it was timely.”

Ray shrugged.

“It was easy because I caught them by surprise.”

Shaman smirked.

“Oh, they were definitely surprised. I doubt there is an entity on this planet that wouldn’t hesitate after seeing someone recover so quickly from decapitation.”

Ray rubbed her neck sheepishly. The blood on her shirt still hadn’t dried all the way, so it was a little uncomfortable. That blood was the only remaining proof that the injury had happened.

“Still, I wonder why only magic users came through the portal…?” Shaman muttered.

Understanding lit up her face and she turned toward the strategic command center in time to see Nag’s body tumble over the edge.

Ray looked up, her eyes barely catching a cloaked figure as they disappeared.

“Well damn,” Shaman cursed. “We’re in trouble now…”

Ray returned her attention to the form of the steel-clad warrior.

“Let’s deal with one problem at a time.”

Shaman nodded.

“I’m a bit tapped out, so I won’t be of much help in this fight. I overexerted myself keeping up the illusions as long as I did.”

Ray winced internally.

“Alright.”

She ran forward, breezing past the Martial Lord as she prepared to swing her sword.

Her sword arced downwards in an overhead strike. Edwin smoothly raised his shield and deflected the strike to the side. Ray stumbled, expecting to feel more resistance.

A crushing force slammed into her side and shattered her left arm. She hissed as she kicked off the ground, jumping back and away from her opponent.

A red haze covered her vision as she observed the warrior’s calm stance.

“Hmm, aren’t you that promising trainee?” Edwin asked, examining her curiously.

Ray bit her lip, drawing blood. She knew this wasn’t going to be easy, but she had a bad premonition about this fight. She spit the blood at his feet.

“I don’t know anything about that. Please stop what you are doing and leave.”

Edwin smiled and raised his sword and shield.

“It’s a pleasure to fight you. I am quite tired of culling bystanders.”

They circled, looking for an opening. Ray felt like she was dueling against an armored version of Siegfried. Not only did his stance leave no obvious openings, but his armor covered all his vitals, and he clearly knew how to use his shield.

She ran forward, initiating the first strike.

Edwin planted his feet firmly and once again aimed to redirect Ray’s overhead blow.

However, this time Ray flicked her wrist and, in a monstrous display of strength, completely altered the trajectory of her swing. Edwin grimaced as the blade struck the center of his shield. The steel bent from the impact and her sword snapped in half, the blade spinning up into the sky. He swung his mace and Ray intercepted the blow with an enhanced right arm.

She deflected the mace and it seemed to bounce off her arm. Edwin blinked in surprise, though he didn’t slow down for even a moment.

He swung down and Ray moved to block the strike, putting her entire weight behind her enhanced fist. Edwin changed the angle mid-strike and Ray stumbled forward, expecting resistance but finding none. The mace came up and clipped her chin, shattering her teeth.

The world went dark.

Ray fought the blackness, willing herself to remain conscious as she righted her head and forced a smile. Blood trickled from her mouth, oozing out from between the gap left by the broken and missing teeth.

As her awareness fully resurfaced, she took a hesitant step forward, swaying as if she were drunk. Her vision slowly recovered, though everything was spinning.

Ray closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to reorient herself.

“I’m impressed that you’re still standing,” Edwin’s voice came from in front of her. “Your willpower is incredible.”

Ray growled and fell to one knee. Willpower or not, she couldn’t fight like this.

“Even so, I am surprised you got the better of my companions. If this is all you have, you aren’t nearly strong enough to take those two on.”

Ray felt a hand reach under her chin and lift it up. She opened her eyes and found herself staring into the gaze of Edwin Weston. In his clear, blue eyes she saw confidence and curiosity, but there was no hint of anger or desire for vengeance.

Then again, his friends would respawn, so he really had no reason to get angry.

She moved her jaw experimentally as she felt it shifting back into its natural place. Her gums itched as fresh teeth began to sprout into the empty gaps while the shattered teeth were pushed out of their places.

“Why…?” she groaned, blood dribbling down her chin. “Why are you killing the goblins? Did they do something to you? Do you hate them?”

Edwin released her and stepped to the side.

“That is an interesting question. I have no grudge against you or any of these little creatures.”

“Then why?” Ray demanded, coughing to release the crimson liquid from her throat.

Edwin shook his head.

“We’re following orders. If you’re asking why our superiors want these goblins dead, then I don’t know why.”

Ray tilted her head. Her eyes followed his movement as he looked around the camp.

“I’m not talking to your superiors, I’m talking to you. I don’t care why they ordered it, I want to know why you would follow such an order.”

Edwin shrugged indifferently.

“Isn’t that the natural thing to do? I was ordered to kill the goblins, so I will. I wasn’t ordered to kill you, so I will happily let you go.”

Ray spread her arms and motioned to the death and destruction surrounding them. The living goblins wailed even as they moved to execute the final orders they received. There were few goblins who were not crying, and there were none that were not struggling to survive.

“If this is natural to you, then maybe you should reconsider who the real ‘monsters’ are.”

Edwin pursed his lips.

“I’ll take note of it. Goodbye.”

He raised his mace to deal the final blow.

Ray pushed herself back up to her feet. Her regeneration had finally healed the internal damage to her brain, and the world stabilized around her. She spit out a cracked tooth.

“Mr. Following Orders, I’m sorry to say but we are just getting started.”