ABH - CH 35 - Surprise

A/N: Two in one day?! Who am I?! Anyway, enjoy, this puts us TWELVE ahead. Please be sure to read CH 34 first.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Surprise

Rise of Winter, Week 5, Day 5

He’s on his way. Freddie felt tears prick at her eyes, and she roughly brushed them away before they could fall on their own. 

He was still far. A week, maybe, depending on how fast he could trek through Nemo to the dungeon entrance. But no longer. Freddie felt a mixture of things, then. Hope, yes, fear also, but, oddly, she felt disappointment. 

She chose not to think about why she would be disappointed in being able to escape a verified deathtrap. Instead, Freddie looked around—the dim light of the storeroom harsh on her slowly adjusting eyes. She wondered if she should go back to sleep, if she should let the time pass quickly. 

Freddie sat up, dusting off her clothes, the loose flour that had found its way onto her dark outfit disappearing in small clouds of dust. 

“By the time he’s here, I want to have made it through the second floor.” 

Freddie spoke aloud, as she often did, to manifest her goal. To give it a physical place in her memory.

Pulling out her bestiary, Freddie jotted down what she remembered from her rage-fueled fight earlier. The four punches the Purple Goblin took before its insides were no more, the two for each Red Goblin, the ability of the Purple Goblin—not just the act of it, but the capability to break through her palm despite her 31 Endurance. 

Tucking the book away, Freddie began slipping the boxes into her bag—the opening stretching rapidly to fit them, just as it had done for the barrels and boxes in the other storeroom. 

Once she was finished, she cursed the Gods. Freddie had forgotten to pull out her other potions first. 

“I’ll deal with it later. I’m not repacking the bag again.” Logically, Freddie knew there was a way to only pull out what she wanted, but she hadn’t learned how to do that. Tiltham was going to show her once they set up camp outside the dungeon. 

Fat lot of good that did Freddie now, though. 

“New rule,” Freddie grumbled, “if I don’t know something, learn it then, not later.”

Freddie looked over the empty storeroom one last time, making sure she hadn’t left anything of significance behind. She hadn’t. The room was empty. That wasn’t surprising to Freddie, really. She didn’t have much besides her satchel that was of significance. 

Stepping out into the main chamber, Freddie took in the scorched stone, and the black blood streaking the floor. She didn’t have it in her to dwell too much on that, either. So, she went to the far corner of the room—where another pitch black hallway continued deeper into the dungeon. Before Freddie had gone to bed, she’d actually missed the hallway entirely, chalking it up to a trick of the light. 

But now that she was better rested, and some time had been put between her and her battle madness, Freddie could acknowledge it was the same kind of darkness she had fought the Yellow Goblins in. 

[Sparkler]

Within Freddie’s palm bloomed two small balls of fire. The imitations of Troya and Dreya cast their light onto the darkness, beams of brightness breaking through and allowing Freddie to walk with a meager visual of what was in front of her. The hall was narrower than before, but for a child, there was still plenty of space. From one side to the other, Freddie didn’t think she’d be able to reach across the hall and touch the far wall, so she stuck to the right.

In the darkness, Freddie listened closely, and she tilted her head as she picked up on distant movement. She could not see what it was, and she hoped the thing couldn’t see her either.

Once again, she tried to use [Bright as a Flickering Flame].

There was always the chance that it worked. 

As magma left her pores, Freddie felt the humid air heat up like the warmth of a summer day. It was nice when she compared it to the slight chill of the dungeon. Then again, she could just be projecting. Freddie always did prefer the flames. 

Stepping further down the hall, had to decide—drop [Sparkler] and be forced to fight blind but with her palms coated in flame, or keep [Sparkler] up so she could fight in the light but with just her fist, singular. 

Ultimately, Freddie was curious what it was she had slammed her fist into so many times the last time she fought in magical darkness. So, she activated [Quick Fight] and whispered, “[Fist of the Flame Monk].”

She felt the magma of her mana try to spark with the Skill, but ultimately it puttered out. 

So, it’s Active, but is it also conditional? Is that it? Do I have to be in an actual fight? Freddie mused to herself. I can do that.

Freddie couldn’t do much with [Sparkler], other than hold it out, so she figured she’d be fighting one-handed if she came across another Yellow Goblin. That was still better than fighting blind. 

Feeling as prepared as ever, Freddie started moving forward again—only to catch sight of the edge of the darkness. No longer was it pitch black, nor was it silent. There was a light whirr and the darkness shimmered with a translucent blue light right where it met the light from [Sparkler]. Getting closer, Freddie watched as the blue light became a small, goblin-sized dome.

Freddie blinked. Unfortunately, it did surround a Yellow Goblin. 

The creature was snarling, but it remained silent, even as it eyed Freddie. 

Putting up her free hand, Freddie went to move, as if saying, ‘I’m harmless. Don’t worry about me.’

She, of course, was not harmless, but the goblin knew no such thing. Not even as it let Freddie get close enough to the dome to touch the barrier. 

As Freddie’s fingertips touched the mana barrier, she caught sight of a wooden stick in the goblin’s hands, and a wrench went through her gut. Disgusting. This thing thinks itself a mage. 

At that thought, Freddie leaned back, bringing up her knee and snapping out her boot to kick the barrier. This time, with [Sparkler], Freddie could see the cracks that were sent through the barrier before they were reinforced. Underneath the dome, the Yellow Goblin screeched and raised its joke of a wand. 

Freddie ducked, shifting backwards as she brought her leg back down, but nothing was thrown through the barrier like she expected. 

Instead, the spell grew brighter. 

“Oh,” Freddie said, a vicious grin spreading. “You’re a one-trick pony, huh? That tracks.”

And then, Freddie stalked forward, her hand forming a fist as she prepared to break the Yellow Goblin’s barrier once and for all. The reason she was able to end it once she’d gotten past the barrier spell before was likely due to a low Vitality and Endurance. The Yellow Goblins had to be focused on Magic and Perception, weak as they were. 

Slamming her fist down, she watched heavier cracks form and break away pieces of the barrier. Again and again and again, she slammed down her fist at the front of the Yellow Goblin. Each time, the monster screamed louder and louder and swung its wand more frantically. But in the end, it was nothing before Freddie’s overpowered knocks. 

As the barrier shattered beneath her final punch, the light cast on Freddie dimmed, and she threw out a kick so fast, it would have been hard to track for any but those with a high Perception. [Quick Fight] showed her the lunge before the goblin made it, and she angled her leg to sweep the Yellow Goblin to the side and into the wall of the dungeon. There was a satisfying thud, and Freddie kicked the monster again—this time sweeping its legs out from under it and watching it fall backward. 

As it scrambled to get up, Freddie was peering down at the creature. With a grimace, she brought her foot down onto its neck, crushing its windpipe. 

Despite how often she used the move, it was more due to its brutal efficiency than her preference. In fact, she hated the move. It felt boring to her. But Freddie had to make it through this dungeon—and there was no fun to be had with these goblins, anyway. She couldn’t even count the hits, because the Yellow Goblins, while protective of themselves, were too weak to take much more than two or three direct hits. 

As evidence, the Yellow Goblin was dispersing into mana before Freddie’s eyes, leaving behind a sickly yellow marble streaked with black. As the goblin disappeared, the darkness behind her evaporated—as did about ten feet of darkness ahead of her. She could see the hallway curve to the left. 

Pocketing the mana pearl, Freddie didn’t bother to go back for her bag just yet. She wanted to get through the darkness first. There was no point in risking her provisions until she could see what she’d be risking them for.

Freddit went to the far corner of the hall, brushing her fingers against the stone, and stepped into the dark once more. [Sparkler] really only lit up a five-foot radius around her, so Freddie moved slow, listening and keeping an eye out for the sounds of goblins. They were horribly unsubtle things, much like Freddie herself—only they lacked the skill to back up their aggression. 

Though Freddie wouldn’t claim to be the most powerful System User out there, she was sure she was the strongest eight-year-old in Maeve. On Opalle as a whole? Absolutely not, the continent was vast and included, annoyingly, the barbarians of the Callistan Empire.

Freddie couldn’t hear the sounds of grunting or the savage noises that passed for goblin tongue, but there was an unmistakable whirr resounding through the air. She stalked forward, waiting, keeping her eyes open, even as she activated a Skill. 

[Running]

Her muscles pulsed, and her legs shifted, and she was racing toward the sound. It was seconds before her fist met the blue translucent barrier between her and another Yellow Goblin. 

Freddie grinned as the magic dome shattered at the force—unable to reform with her hand stuck straight through it. Her hand wrapped around the goblin’s neck, and she lifted the monster, slamming it into the wall. Interestingly, the barrier slid right through the stone wall. Or, rather, the stone wall went through the barrier. 

Inanimate objects don’t mess with it? Can I throw crap at these monstrosities of mages? Freddie snarled to herself. 

A thin line formed on Freddie’s face as she pressed her mouth down. The Yellow Goblin was struggling in her grasp. It had dropped its wand, and without it, the barrier was slowly fading away. The goblin brought its nails up to try and pry Freddie's fingers off its neck—but she just tightened her grip until a snap sounded out and the monster went limp and began giving off a miasma. 

“Yeah, take that, you jaundiced freak,” Freddie growled, bending down and grabbing the mana pearl. 

Standing, Freddie felt a harsh thunk hit her head. Bringing her palm up, she felt the back of her scalp. Looking at the red and gold blood on her fingers caused Freddie to realize two things at once. The first, of course, was that something had attacked her. The second was that something had attacked her.

Freddie saw red, whipping around, hissing “[Fist of the Flame Monk].”

Just at the edge of the light of [Sparkler], Freddie saw a Yellow Goblin, its arm pitched and ready to throw another stone at her. 

Feeling the magma in her veins moving to her palms, Freddie dropped [Sparkler] and lunged. There was no need to see the monster. She could feel it, hear the rush of its blood in her ears—or maybe that was Freddie’s own. She didn’t dwell on it. 

Instead, she hit. Even after hearing the whirr of the barrier, she continued to attack—one hit after the other. At first, it was a wild thing. Then, slowly, the heat of her body guided her. 

Open palm strike, four finger hit, knee up. 

It was her Skill. And far be it from Freddie to deny its thirst for blood.