Oaths to Keep Pt. 07

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Authors Disclaimer

As always, all characters are 18+ and entirely fictional.

If you are new to this story, you might want to go back and at least read chapter 1 first, to get some idea what is going on.

If you have read your way here through the other chapters, I don’t think you will be very surprised by the content of the sex scenes, and if you are completely new here and have decided chapter 7 is the place to start, you are clearly the kind to appreciate surprises.

If you like this story and want to read more, the way you vote for more is to leave a juicy five star review, maybe even leave a comment and favorite it.

Chapter 7

“But why can’t we just go now?” Amber asked me quietly, her voice the not quite whisper we had made a habit of using now, when we were trying to be stealthy.

“I wish we could, but we really need a couple more to join us first. Even though the System Notification said we would earn bonus experience and loot, as well as a perk, if we were the first to explore it, it also said that bringing more than six people would incur various penalties…” I sighed. Even as we chatted quietly, I kept scanning the thin strip of trees and wild shrubs that bracketed the field below us.

We were perched on top of a large shed at the back of the farm that probably used to own the fields back here. It wasn’t a huge structure, but the roof had a slant that let us lie down comfortably on our stomachs, while keeping watch on the field.

“So? It didn’t say that we couldn’t go there, just the two of us?”

“Heh, an hour ago you complained how much you hated the smell, and now you can’t wait to go there?”

“Well, that was before you explained how it would probably be a good place to get some better gear. I am tired of wearing this goblin armor already. It chafes and it still reeks of goblin.”

“Yeah, I want better gear too. But even though it does not point it out, the notification says that being fewer than six has the penalty of being fewer against the same amount of challenge that a group of six would face. That, and the fact that it might be harder to just run away, I would say we need at least two more.”

“And that somehow ties into why we are on this tin roof, waiting for deer who may or may not appear?” Amber said, turning her face to watch mine in the dim light of dusk.

I really should take her outside at sunset more, the fiery hues of the last rays of sunlight made her seem like a creature straight out of fantasy. Which I guess we pretty much were, now that monsters and magic had become a fact of life. Suppressing the familiar stirrings from my pants, I forced myself to focus once more on watching for deer, instead of trying to sneak a peek down Ambers shirt.

I had already seen her breasts, handled them, tasted them, and yet my gaze was drawn to them like some sort of mystical magnet.

“Yeah.” I managed eloquently, after a long moment.

An elbow in the side let me know she wanted me to elaborate slightly.

“I have wanted to motivate the townies to come out from the highschool, and I figure that showing them that there is food out here to be hunted, might help with that. Plus, if we come bearing gifts, food in particular, I don’t think they can afford to hold a grudge against you for whatever it was you did.”

“I didn’t do anything!” Amber complained.

“You do know I can force you to tell me the truth, right?”

“…Anything meriting them banishing me like that. Nothing they could prove. It was just that stupid class.” Amber continued.

“Yeah, okay, as long as you didn’t kill anyone, I am sure they will be happy to see us when we bring food. Especially if we make sure they understand I am taking you with me again when I leave. Which I am. This is not us trying to buy our way to get to stay in the same trap as the townies!”

“I know. My head knows the townies are in the wrong. It is just my instincts keep telling me I should run away. Run for safety. This going out and killing stuff is not in my nature.” Amber muttered, shaking her head slightly.

While she talked, I spotted some shadows moving down by the birch trees. It was hard to be sure, but I was pretty sure they were what we were waiting for.

Now we just had to be patient, and see if they would take the bait.

I would have loved to have some sort of hunting rifle, or even a crossbow. I had considered raiding a hunting store to get one, but weapons not spawned by the system would always count as the lowest quality, so I might as well be throwing chopsticks.

Now, if I could get my hands on one that someone had picked as their starting weapon, or get one as loot, that would be something else.

“Your instincts are good. It is the world that is all wrong and messed up. I am scared shitless every time I go into a fight, it isn’t natural. But it IS the world we have to live in now. There is no safety in a crowd anymore. The only safety in numbers now is the one by your level.” I said, glancing at her to make sure she understood.

She fındıkzade escort nodded quietly.

“Deer! There! Those shadows…” Amber said, shifting her weight and starting to point.

I managed to catch her arm, before she got very far.

“I know. Don’t scare them. Just wait a bit longer.”

I didn’t let go of her hand again. It was nice to hold it, and she gave me a little squeeze to let me know she enjoyed it too.

The deer were slowly advancing. Their scout a few steps ahead, head swiveling this way and that, ears turning.

Slowly the others emerged from hiding too, following the footsteps of their vanguard.

They were cautious creatures by nature, but I was confident they would not notice us, or care much if they did. They were never extensively hunted before the System, so they had little fear of humans.

That would change soon enough, if I could persuade the townies to come out of their self imposed seclusion.

“It’s working!” I muttered, and gave Amber’s hand an extra little squeeze.

The deer seemed to have decided that things looked safe enough, and was advancing to the dinner we had set out for them.

“Yeah, it looks that way, how did you know they would go for it?” Amber breathed, clearly not wanting to risk spooking the deer at the last moment.

“Are you kidding? There is no way they could pass on a pile of tulips like that, every garden owner on the outskirts of town knows that stuff is like catnip to them. Deernip. Whatever.” I muttered, as I watched the deer intently.

Truthfully, I had not been entirely sure it would work, or even if it should work. But early on, I had picked up the hunter skill as the better of two useless options, figuring I might need it to feed myself one day. While it didn’t seem to do much, I did seem to somehow know random facts about animals that I was fairly sure I had never actually learned.

Deer being unable to resist tulips, was one of those facts. If it was true before the System, or if the System just made it so now, I had no idea.

Whatever compelled them, most of them were walking onto the tulip covered tarp, while one hung back to keep watch.

There were actually too many on the tarp, so I was not entirely sure the trap would work.

I was itching to just set it off anyway, but we didn’t really need that many if it did work, so I held off.

“What are you waiting for, I don’t think the last one is going to join them!” Amber hissed.

“Too many. Want half at most.” I replied, staying focused on the deer, watching their every move. Or munch, really.

Without warning, a wide fan of small lightning bolts arced from between the shrubs striking into the crowd of deer.

The designated lookout who had entirely failed in his duty, startled and bolted before the deer that were struck had even started to spasm and keel over.

A few had somehow avoided getting struck, and also took off like they were chased by goblins.

Because they were.

Out from among the shrubs, shrieking with glee, a small band of half a dozen goblins came rushing out.

Five of them were the usual sort, leather armored menacing green skinned creatures about five feet tall, wielding their usual assortment of weapons. Two had spears as their main weapon, another paused briefly to futilely fire an arrow after the fleeing deer, while the remaining fighter had opted for the shield and sword combo that was somewhat rare among goblins.

I was a lot more focused on the goblin in the mauve robe, wearing a crazy headdress that looked like a glue accident involving the bones of several small animals and half an antler, and then had decided to strap it to their head. In his hand was a crooked little staff, that was still glowing and sparking with little arcs of electricity, briefly making me wonder if perhaps THIS time I would be lucky enough it was an actual magical staff, but it was probably just because he had some sort of skill that let him focus his magic through any old staff he liked.

The goblins were hollering and cheering as they ran, clearly having a good time, completely disregarding the possibility someone else might be hunting them.

We hadn’t been, really, but now we had to.

“The fuck?!? What do we do now?” Amber hissed, looking to me for guidance.

I held her down by her hand, preventing her from taking action for a moment.

As the goblins ran towards the stricken deer, I noticed some of the deer twitching, as if they were starting to come to.

It looked like the spell was not instantly fatal, but perhaps had just stunned the living daylight out of them for a minute.

Not that it would save them, as the goblins launched themselves at them and started to stab their weapons into any exposed neck or chest they could get to.

Two more did manage to regain their senses enough before the goblins got to them, that they too made good their escape.

That left half a dozen deer, dead or dying, and six aksaray escort goblins among them.

Still more than I thought the trap could handle, but at this point I saw no reason not to try.

“This! We kill them all!” I hissed, flinging my free hand forward quite unnecessarily, as I focused my will through my ring, sending my will to tug on the end of rope that held the trap back.

The knot slid free as I knew I would, and with a loud TWANG, the ropes that connected the tarp to two trees that suddenly straightened themselves with leaves rustling and flying off in a cloud of green debris.

The ropes, woven through the edge of the tarp tried to pull in opposite directions, made the entire tarp into a huge bag to trap and contain everyone inside it.

At least, that was the plan, but with that much weight on it, it was not that elegant.

For some of the goblins it was only chest high, one was flung entirely out of the trap by the force of the rope he had been stepping on, but it looked like an unpleasant ride, as he flew ass over teakettle, landing in a pile that did not seem like it would be possible to emulate without breaking several bones.

Sadly it was not their caster. He seemed fine enough, if crowded a bit by the other goblins being pressed against him.

The goblins howled in anger, cursing in that guttural language of theirs.

Without much hesitation, one pulled out a knife to hack at the ropes to free himself and his compatriots.

With even less hesitation, I had sprung to my feet, and flung my first trio fire bolts at the bunched up goblins. With my first salvo, I didn’t spend any time aiming at anyone specific, being entirely satisfied by hitting any of them, and causing a bit of panic to distract them.

The goblin about to cut the ropes caught at least one bolt to the face, ending his efforts instantly.

The next might have hit him, or perhaps the one behind him, I was not sure, but the third one was the best, hitting the caster.

Sadly not in the face, like the first goblin, but it would have, if he had not tried in the last second to bat it out of the way with his staff.

The bolt detonated and lit his arm on fire up to the elbow, which was certainly going to distract him a bit, if not take him out entirely.

Panicking from pain and the fire trying to spread, he seemed entirely focused on trying to put out the fire, rather than getting a bead on where it was coming from.

Seizing the golden opportunity handed to me, I cast another fire bolt spell as I got to my feet.

All three bolts aimed at the flailing caster, the flaming projectiles streaking towards the now screaming goblin.

Some sort of instinct warned the desperate shaman, or perhaps it was just the fact that the bolts lit up the area quite a bit in the dimming light of dusk.

He not only ducked, but pulled one of his buddies in front of him as a human, or rather goblin shield.

The unfortunate goblin raised his small shield in front of his face, bracing it with both arms, as the bolts struck, one after the other.

The shield burst into flames, and from the shrieks of pain, I could tell the goblin behind was not unscathed.

“Come on!” I yelled, leaping from the roof of the shed we had been perched on, letting go of Amber’s hand as I did so, trusting she would follow me on her own. Tearing my blade free from the scabbard, I rushed towards the goblins, hoping surprise and the panic caused by the fire, would keep them from doing anything organized for another few moments.

With two out of the fight already, and half the rest wounded already, the fight should be relatively safe.

But with a caster in the mix, you could never be certain, and I had no way of knowing if there were more goblins within earshot.

As I reached the halfway mark, one goblin finally managed to saw through a rope, causing it to whip violently against the arm of the unfortunate bastard, but much to my disappointment it did not tear his arm clean off or saw him in two.

It certainly looked and sounded like a hurt, with the impact sounding like a gunshot, but I guess his armor saved him from losing a limb, even if his dagger went off to join the now defunct space program.

The rope tore the tarp wide open, as it made good its escape, and with the counter tension released, the other rope tugged a bit the other direction, causing everyone to stumble a bit, as if their ship had suddenly ran aground.

Bearing down on them, I shouted my words of power and cast my new spell with all the fury and menace I could muster.

A sudden burst of flame surged from the hilt of my sword, rushing up the blade, stabilizing into what looked like the blue flame from a blowtorch covering the entire blade with a sheath of fire. On the flat of the blade, white hot mystical symbols sprang into being, dancing and flickering as if they too were made of flame.

I had no idea how much the Flaming Weapon spell would help against eyüp escort the goblins, but I really wanted to try it out, so opted for that, instead of another fire bolt, that might just light everyone on fire and make it really awkward to fight.

While I liked the Fire Bolt spell just fine, it was not very accurate at a distance, very dodgeable, and very expensive in mana. I had no idea just how much the Flaming Weapon would add to my attacks exactly, but it stacked nicely with my years of HEMA practice with the sword, and I could cast it and keep it up for fifteen minutes for the same price as one Fire Bolt.

It was one of the more expensive purchases I had allowed myself at the System Kiosk, even with the discount from having another spell with the same element already, and the synergy with my spellblade class. What could be more iconic for a spellblade, than having a spell on his blade?

Even with my mind wandering a bit, I still felt the familiar way things kinda slowed down as I entered into combat. The System speeding up my mind to reflect my advantage from having a much higher intelligence stat. With it, the goblins seemed to be moving sluggishly in response to my reckless charge, even though I knew they were rushing to ready their defense.

The goblin with the flaming and broken shield on his arm, leapt forward to get free of the shredded tarp, frantically trying to discard his shield at the same time, which made it all rather awkward.

The shaman was stepping sidewards while looking at me, as if trying to get a clear line of fire.

A spear goblin was charging the other way around the shield goblin, seemingly trying to intercept Amber, that I felt running that general direction a step or two behind me.

The last goblin, the archer, was climbing on top of a smoldering deer carcass, as if trying to get a bit of elevation, perhaps to shoot over his friends.

Right. I could not let the shaman do whatever it was he wanted, so I turned slightly to keep the shield goblin between us. As I closed on him, he managed to discard the shield, but with him distracted it was easy to slap the tip of his blade to one side.

Then the tip of my blade snapped back in alignment with his torso, and I drove my arm forwards as I ran into him without slowing down.

My flaming sword went straight through the small warrior with a sound like a newly forged blade dumped into ice water.

His final breath caught in his throat, he was flung backwards from the impact of my blow and knee to the groin. The last bit was not strictly necessary, but it was half momentum, and half opportunity, so I saw no reason not to.

While he might not feel it, being instantly killed when the flame-covered sword exploded his heart, it still sent him flying backwards towards the shaman, who had to choose between dodging to one side, or casting the spell he clearly wanted to get off.

He ended up trying to do both.

Not quite getting out of the way, he was flung sideways by the impact of his dead ally, at the same time he finished casting his spell.

The web of electricity shot from his staff, his aim slightly off. Some of it struck his dead friend, causing his corpse to tense up in response, the muscles not yet having gotten the memo of the goblins’ death. The two of them collided and fell in a pile, at the same instant I was desperately leaping to the side while invoking my Magic Barrier spell.

Unable to rob the lightning of its momentum, like it would a physical projectile, the barrier still diminished the magical force of it significantly.

It was still not a pleasant experience to get struck by the few arcs of electricity that did strike me, but I was very aware that it could have been much worse.

The pain was one thing, but much worse was the less familiar sense of numbness and lack of strength that suddenly afflicted my left hand and leg.

My arm hung limply, and my leg felt like it would buckle if I got hit by a stiff breeze.

I knew from when he had used it against the deer, that it would only last a minute, but that was a long time in a fight.

Unable to do anything about that particular status effect, I instead focused on the task I had rushed here for.

Trusting the strength of my right leg, I made an awkward leap toward the shaman that was now struggling to free himself from his friend.

Unable to find a good angle, I brought my sword down in a flaming arc, cleaving into both goblins. With a loud hiss of bodily fluids turning to vapor, I cut through the shoulder of the dead goblin, and deep into the neck of the shaman beneath him.

No sooner had I dispatched the shaman, than I felt a sudden impact and a spike of pain in my right arm, an arrow suddenly piercing deeply into my bicep.

I had forgotten all about the archer, but clearly he had not forgotten about me.

The spike of pain, out of proportion with what such a hit should have caused, staggered me for a moment.

Before I could snap out of it, another arrow joined the first, this time closer to my shoulder.

It was not nearly as painful as the first, so as I turned towards him, I willed my status effect bar to manifest for a split second. Yup, the little shit had nicked an artery and caused a bleeding status effect. Not a big one, but it meant I had to conserve my remaining mana for a heal after the fight.