Chapter 29 - Acid Burn

The larger goblin, who he was just assuming was the ‘chief’ at this point, charged Nate, tearing up the earth with his clawed feet. Nate responded quickly, recreating his second barrier and putting it at knee height between himself and the chief. The goblin crashed into it and went head over heels, landing in a pile of tangled green limbs on the ground. The chief was uninjured, but Nate was just buying time and getting him to sit still for a moment.

The goblin healed too fast and was too durable for the spears of earth to do more than annoy it and he wasn’t going to chance it on who would run out of steam first. He didn’t even know if the goblins ability was powered by mana for that matter. But if it worked on the total amount of damage to the body, he had one rune that could potentially overwhelm it. It took a second to activate the Mighty Fire Rune on his robe, calling forth Intents for location, shape and spending the rest on intensity. By the time it was ready the goblin was almost back on his feet, but that stopped as the whoosh of flame went up, engulfing the goblin and almost drowning out the noise of its screams as it burned alive.

Nate thought that would be the end of it but the goblin started walking towards him slowly, screaming the whole time. Through the flames he could see the flesh burning away only to regrow. Nate prepared to run again as something wet struck the side of his face. A moment later he was screaming as his skin bubbled and popped, the acid eating into it. It was all he could do to activate his mana exclusion rune, dissipating the conjured acid but not the damage it had done. Worse, he’d lost control of all his runes.

He spared a glance for Sniveller to see that the staff was glowing, both the red and green gems pulsing as another spray of acid was flung his way. Throwing himself to the ground and turning his face away he saw the acid sail over the top of him to land on the grass, eating through it before his eyes.

Lying on the ground he had a moment to assess what was going on with the shaman. As he watched three arrows sailed through the air towards Sniveller. Each one was intercepted by a glowing wisp in the shape of a goblin. The ghosts, as that is what he suspected they were, each vanished on contact with an arrow but the arrows themselves fell to the ground. A couple of metres away it looked like Frick was fighting his own battle against the ghosts. Even at this distance Nate could see Frick’s form leaking mana as he wrestled with three ghosts of his own. It seemed they could interact directly with the little Spirit. As he watched, one of the goblin ghosts flew at Frick only to be banished by a flash of his blue claws, but not before adding another cut to the Familiar’s form, more mana leaking from him.

With a force of will, he pushed most of his remaining mana to his Familiar Contract. The response was immediate as Frick stopped leaking mana from multiple cuts in his form. The Spirit got faster and managed to dispatch another ghost. That left a path to Sniveller, which Frick immediately took advantage of, darting behind the goblin. Nate felt a sudden tug on his mana as Frick used his Runic Replication Skill, bringing him close to emptying his reserve. The Mana Exclusion rune replicated onto the ground below the goblin Mage.

The ghosts all vanished and that was enough for Kiri to put an arrow through the goblins throat. With Sniveller dealt with, Nate stood slowly looking at the ruin of the large goblin. The chief was barely standing. Burned and naked, his skin that had been knitting together was slowly sloughing off. It was one of the most disgusting sights Nate had ever seen and a moment later, whatever was keeping the goblin going faded, the red light surrounding the goblins staff retreated and the goblin collapsed to the ground, already dead.

He felt the processed mana from both kills flow into him and though it got him closer to his next level it wasn’t nearly enough, getting him about halfway to level nineteen. Nate groaned, his face still felt like it was burning from where the acid had hit him. The air brushed against the exposed nerves sending jolts of pain through him. Kiri dropped down next to him and in many ways she looked as bad as him. Haggard is the word he would use. She was covered in sweat and where she normally looked quite suntanned she was pale and faded.

Kiri eyed him tiredly, blue eyes glancing at Frick, then back at Nate.

“You’ve got some explaining to do,” she murmured hoarsely.

He motioned at Frick and mumbled, “Familiar. Just likes to look like a goblin. What happened to you?”

“Life drain spell. Think the little bastard was funnelling what he stole to the chief. Ghosts kept blocking my arrows. Hate Goblin Shamans,” she responded.

Every second her pallour seemed to improve and while she still looked tired at least she didn’t look like she was ready to keel over.

Frick took that moment to wander over, the little Spirit looking the best of the three of them with only a little mana still leaking from him.

“That’s a victory for the Blue Spirit tribe!” The Familiar announced, blue clawed hands on hips.

“We’re not calling ourselves that,” Nate remarked.

Kiri just raised her eyebrows at the two of them tiredly before sitting down on the grass and pulling out a leather water bottle.

After drinking a few mouthfuls and her colour continuing to improve, she looked at Nate who took that moment to join her sitting on the grass.

“Time to explain properly,” she demanded.

Nate just nodded after a moment. They’d fought together and she’d been pretty patient with him. She was owed at least a little explanation.

“You know how the Guildmaster asked if I got injured in a Dungeon?”

Kiri nodded, waiting for him to continue.

Nate motioned at Frick,  “One of the Rewards I got was a Familiar Contract. Frick’s a bit weird though. Likes to take the form of a goblin. Please don’t ask him why.”

Kiri looked over to Frick, eyes narrowing, “You’re really a Familiar?”

Frick grinned, showing off sharp goblin teeth, before laughing at the face Kiri pulled, “Sure am. Want to know why I choose to look like a goblin?”

“No,” Kiri immediately responded, before looking back at Nate and continuing. “The robe as well? Aisling mentioned the boots? What about the gold bar? Just how much stuff did you get from the Dungeon. And what happened to your team?”

Nate thought through all the questions for a moment. He wasn’t ready yet to share his Class details or the fact that he was from a Dead Realm. Or about his meeting with Arikanvil. But he could share some of the details of the Dungeon. Decision made, he began answering Kiri’s questions.

“The robe was a Dungeon Reward, as were the boots and Frick. Though, whether he’s a Reward or a Challenge I am yet to decide,” he said with a smirk at the Spirit.

“As for the gold, I got that elsewhere. And it’s not just one bar. I have a few more,” he finished with a chagrined smile before realising it might sound like he stole them from the non-existent team. “Oh, and for the Dungeon, I had no team. I was trapped in there alone.”

“More gold bars? Just how rich are you? And what do you mean no team? You completed at least three Challenges in a Dungeon on your own? And what do you mean trapped?” Kiri fired off the questions rapidly and Nate held his hands up defensively.

“One at a time! Yeah, more gold bars. I won’t say how many yet, and I don’t know how rich some of the people in Helmfirth might be. But I would say you can count me amongst the richest without it being too much of a stretch. As for the Dungeon, I entered it alone, unintentionally. But you know how it is? The exploration timer ran out and I got trapped in there till I had completed all the Challenges.”

“What? Was it some odd Dungeon? They normally let you out after you complete one Challenge,” Kiri remarked.

Nate went cold. He’d never tried to leave after first entering the Dungeon. He’d been spurred on the whole time by Frick, going from one Challenge to the next. Tired and fighting with his life on the line. He turned to look at the blue goblin as it slowly backed away from him.

“Did you know, Frick?” he demanded, his building anger leaking through.

“Come on, boss man. I thought you knew. And think of all the awesome things you got from the Challenges. Totally set us up for success!” Frick whined, continuing to back away.

“You little bastard! I almost died!”

The Spirit squealed as Nate leapt at him, ignoring the pain in his face and ribs as he tried unsuccessfully to pummel the lying little bastard. His fists met grass and dirt as much as they hit the squirming Spirit who seemed more interested in getting away than fighting back. With a futile sigh as he deflated, Nate grabbed at the Familiar Contract and forcibly dragged Frick back inside, the blue goblin fading from sight. There were some entreaties in the back of his mind from his Familiar but Nate ignored them and after a moment the noises faded.

Nate sat back down in the grass, feeling deflated and dejected. He’d always been too trusting. Too eager to give others the benefit of the doubt. This wasn’t the first time he’d felt lied to or gotten hurt because of it. Likely wouldn’t be the last either. He knew he was going to be a bit fragile for a few days, he always was after he felt let down and betrayed. But he’d recover. And he’d do it again. Not because he was naive, or foolish, though others might challenge him on the second one. It was because he didn’t see the point in living a life where you didn’t let others in. In the end, letting others in requires trusting them, to an extent. So he would keep doing it, because there were people out there worth trusting.That thought made him glance back at Kiri who was biting her lip, eyebrows drawn down in a frown.

“Lied to by your own Familiar. That’s rough. How come you didn’t know that about Dungeons though? I thought you nobles got like a special education and ran through Dungeons for rewards and stuff?” she asked, commiserating with him.

He sighed, “I’m not a noble. Just pretending to be one.”

She watched him for a moment longer before laughing. “Really? Pretty good acting then. You talk and act like one. Always so formal! Ah well, I’ll keep your secret ‘m’lord’.”

Nate couldn’t help himself and burst out laughing which caused Kiri to join in. After a minute they subsided to chuckles and Nate wiped a tear from his eye.

“Thanks Kiri,” was all he said.

“You’ve got more secrets Nate. Did you want to tell me now, or not yet?” she asked quietly.

“Not yet Kiri. Give me another week? I think by then I might be ready to share the others, though you might not believe them.”

Kiri nodded, standing. She still looked tired but was no longer deathly pale.

“Come on. We’ve got some ears to cut off and a couple of things to grab. That axe and the shaman’s staff. Then we can head back and hand the job in. Should have enough time for you to get your face tended to and have a wash before coming over for dinner tonight. Now, do you want to check for Orbs or shall I?”

Nate groaned. He’d totally forgotten about the dinner at Kiri’s parents house.

“I suppose let's share the task. Seven each?” He asked.

Kiri nodded her agreement and got to work right away. Pulling himself to his feet he started collecting the ears, dropping them into a leather pouch Kiri carried, rather than his spatial storage. It was time to finish up and head back to the Guild.

*************

After finding no Orbs in the goblins, Nate and Kiri had returned to Helmfirth and handed in the job without any trouble. Kiri even got her payment for the Razorscale and the Silverleaf jobs. As he’d expected she had offered him half of the coins for the Razorscale but he had declined with a raised eyebrow. She’d looked like she wanted to argue but in the end had shrugged in acceptance.

They’d paid for his face to be healed, which had ended up including his ribs. The coin for it came out of the pay for the goblin job which they had split, despite Nate quietly pointing out he didn’t need it. He understood the reasoning though. Kiri could accept that Nate had functioned as nothing more than transport for the Razorscale. But the goblins they had hunted together as a team, and a team split the rewards. The pay had been decent, he supposed, when coupled with selling the shaman’s staff and the axe. He’d walked away with over fifty silver, even after paying ten silver out of his share for the healing.

He’d considered holding onto the staff to study the enchanted gems but after looking it over on their walk back had found it was useless beyond providing him the new sigils to work with. Enchanting was just too different to his Runecrafting. It didn’t use mana distribution in the way his runes did and it seemed like the powering mechanism was mostly about trapping or passing mana through the gem. Activating the sigils alone didn’t explain the outcome and Nate thought he felt something buried within the gem similar to his Intents. That gave him a good idea going forward in developing his Runic Intent.

He continued to develop the idea as he got ready for dinner with Kiri’s family. As it stood he created his Intents as he activated his runes. That was all well and good for him, giving him a dynamic control over how he used his runes. But what if he wanted to give Kiri a rune or two? She didn’t have his Runic Intent Skill to control them. That meant he had two options as he saw it. He could create far more complicated runes, with what amounted to logic gates, much like computing back on Earth. That would let the rune handle all the work and it would just need mana to function. The alternative was, what if he could imbue his Intent into the rune. Whoever was using it wouldn’t get the dynamic control he had. But he wouldn’t need to spend days or weeks crafting the perfect rune if he could just imbue his Intent into the rune. That was how he suspected Enchanting worked. He was going to spend some time experimenting with it tomorrow and Kiri had already agreed that they’d take the day off.

But that was a task for tomorrow. Tonight's task was dinner at Kiri’s house. That was how he found himself, after having bathed, walking out through the gates of Helmfirth with Kiri. Together they marched down the road to her house by the forest's edge. The sun was almost set and whatever distance was still between them due to his secrets seemed inconsequential as they talked and joked about how Nate had vomited at the sight of the goblins and how Kiri flirted with Melinda in the Guild. There was a lot Nate missed about Earth. But there was a lot he liked about this world. Maybe it would all turn out alright in the end.