Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 28 – Desperation

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

Valiantly roaming through the dangerous hazards of the demonic forest, three brave children traversed in search of their missing forth. Lead by a small Elven boy with pale sea toned hair, he charged with bitter and single minded determination as he ignored the two girls following behind him at a distance. He wasn’t going to give up in this futile search effort no matter how long it would take until he found even a remnant of his best friend.

Their forth, Morgant, had had gone missing for the past few days and the only answer they had as to why was a vague and complicated set of ‘reasons’. Unsatisfied with the lack of information regarding the fate of their close comrade the three children had decided to take matters into their own hands. Sneaking out of the orphanage at the dead of night, lead Ren, they began their search through the monster infested forests.

“Hey Ren, can you wait a bit? Ren? I said wait!”

Lagging behind the usually stoic Elven child were two girls who called out to him to allow them time to catch their breaths. Lost in his thoughts about the whereabouts and fate of his missing friend he had unknowingly sped up. By the time he had come back to his sense from his thoughts the sky’s darkness had been replaced by the glaring streams of light piercing through the thicket of the demonic forest’s canopy.

“What is it? I told you that you didn’t have to follow me. If you want to rest, do it on your own time and stop interfering.”

Ren harshly reprimanded as he showed no signs of ever stopping until the search was over. Continuing on with his current pace he was about to leave the two exhausted girls behind, however even they had their own pride as Morgant’s childhood friends. They too shared part of the desperation and determination to find him and bring him back home safely.

“Stupid Ren, that wasn’t what I was going to ask.”

One of the girls spoke back in an equally informal tone of voice, Alice. Her long, golden silk-like hair tangled up by the ailments that were the forest’s humid atmosphere. Light scratches and cuts could be seen on her leg as she had accidently ran into some sharp objects while traversing the harsh terrains of the ground beneath.

“Then what is it? If you hadn’t noticed, I’m kind of busy.”

“Hmph, I just wanted to know if you really know where you were going, because from the looks of it we’ve just been wandering round this forest at random. Are you absolutely, positively, definitely, truly, really sure you know where Morgant is?”

Shaking his head in a disapproving manner Ren sighed as he dodged the question with another harsh reprimand.

“Haaa… you get seriously annoying when Morgant isn’t here to hold you back, you know that? Besides what are you saying now after coming out all the way here? Maybe you’re the idiot here.”

“Huh? Whatever, out with it; do you or do you not really know where you are going? Actually now that I think about it all you said was that you were going to go and find Morgant. You never even said anything about knowing where he was and just stormed off before anyone could even ask. Could it be…? That your plan was to just wander around the forest randomly and hoping for the best?!”

“Y- you idiot, do you think I’m you?! Anyway I’m Morgant’s best friend so if there’s anyone in the world that knows where he is then it’s definitely got to be me. I know how that guy thinks; he’s most definitely gone off to solve the strange monster attacks and this forest is most likely the center of all the chaos. Naturally that means he’s here… just, somewhere…”

Replied Ren in an unconvincing tone as he was being glared by a slightly disappointed Alice. She even sighed in some sort of resignation, a fact that irked Ren to no end but decided to let go as now was not the time.

“Ugh… I’m sorry; I guess I really was the idiot to think that Ren would know where Morgant was. Forget it, I’m going to go on my own and find him.”

“Wha, what did you say?! Mind saying that once more, directly to my face?!”

Unable to hold in from the compounded fatigue from hours of walking and the taunt from the usually dumb Alice, Ren lashed out, raising his voice throughout the forest. It echoed through the trees and even he himself could feel his own rage from the voice came ringing back to him.

“Hah! Sure, I said that I was an idiot to trust you!”

“You! Damn!”

The two continued to stare each other down with childish anger and hatred burning in their eyes. It wasn’t as though this amount of fighting would dissolve their years long friendship as fellow orphans but at this particular moment neither could stand the other.

“Ah, ah… ah~ g- guys? P- please, let’s stop this and c- calm down okay? We should get back on track to finding Morgant…”

Trying to quell the infighting was third childhood friend, a shy and petite girl from the Lamia race, with her most distinct trait being her unnatural floral tinted hair, Celina. With her meek voice she mustered up the courage to step in to try to cease their banter but ultimately her protests fell on deaf ears. Neither Ren nor Alice, whom was usually quite friendly with Celina, had any interests in her stuttering objection.

For a few more their verbal banter was traded back and forth until finally ending in an escalated full physical confrontation. Being children with none of their gender characteristics fully developed neither truly had the advantage over another. Or rather it was Alice who was usually more physical and outgoing that was able to completely overwhelm Ren to the floor.

“Hmph! Stupid Ren, did you really think you could beat me in a fist fight? Now stop getting in my way, I’m going to be the one who’ll find Morgant first! Come on, Celina, let’s leave this loser to himself.”

Despite her protests on going about the search on her own terms she had casually decided to drag Celina along with her. Yet something was slightly amiss; normally Celina would’ve responded immediately to Alice’s call but there was simply silence at her rally.

“Hmm? Celina?”

Noticing the strange absence of any kind of response both Alice and Ren looked around to see what was going on. They turned to gazes to where Celina ought to have been only to be shocked at the horrific sight that they were met with. Paralyzing electricity flowed through their bodies as they struggled to even comprehend what it was that they were seeing.

Several grotesque and hulking goblins, adorned with jagged pieces of disgusting yellow crystals, appeared without even making so much as a sound. They were quite large for goblins, at the very least compared to seven year old children they were gigantic and not enemies they could easily handle. A fierce chill ran down their backs as they stared into the ferocious but cruelly blank yellow glares of these monsters.

Barely breaking past their paralysis the thing that had most given them fright was the sight of their friend. Held by her neck as though she were some sort of mere animal, Celina had been apprehended by the goblins. From the way she had been struggling to break free it was obvious that breathing to her was starting to become an exceedingly difficult task.

“C- Celina!”

Having completely forgotten about her prior fear of the monster after witnessing her friend being taken hostage Alice charged the enemy. Taking out a small rusted knife that she had brought along for exactly this kind of occasion she dashed screaming at the goblins who made no response to her. They simply stood still, batting not even a single eye nor even a mocking laugh, it was the ultimate insult to disregard her to such an extent.

“You damned monsters! Let go of her!”

A direct hit; Alice’s rusted kitchen knife managed to slide right through the tough looking crystalline skin of the ominously aureate goblins. At that moment she almost jumped in celebration as she had thought that with this everything would be over. Though she wasn’t quite sure as to who or what these goblins really were, from her knowledge goblins were the lowest of the low when it came to grading certain different types of demonic organisms. Though they would pose a little more threat to children Ren, Alice and Celina were a bit more capable than the average and thus goblins should’ve been easy pickings.

Those were her thoughts as her blade slowly sunk in to the monster’s flesh. However her unjustified celebration ended right then and there with the monster’s howling response. In a manner reminiscent of swatting down a pesky insect, the goblin retaliated with proportional enthusiasm and easily pushed back the small and desperate girl.

"A- Alice!"

Cried Celina, even as she was being squashed by the neck and was finding it ridiculously hard to breathe she still called out in worry of her dear friend. Alice had tumbled back a few meters before being caught by Ren. After a brief inspection she had only sustained minor damage to her stomachs region but nothing she couldn't walk off after small respite.

"Oi Alice don't under estimate them just because they're goblins. If I'm right then these guys are what has the entire town spooked."

Cautioning her to take more caution and less reckless acts, Ren calmly berated her.

"How can you be so calm when Celina is almost about to die?! Don't you even have a heart?!"

Annoyed by Ren's lack of the same fear and desperation that had gripped her, she lashed out at him with tear filled eyes.

"I'm not. I'm not calm at all and in truth even now I’m scared, but I can't help but think about what Morgant would do if he were here. If it's him he'd just calmly rescue Celina and be done with it already... but I'm not him, all I can do is imitate him. Still, I think even that is better than breaking down and getting us all killed. So stand up Alice, we'll do this properly and we'll do it together."

Hearing his words Alice quickly wiped the tears off her face. Standing up she readied her knife once more, but this time she did not thoughtlessly jump in. Seeing that Ren gave a satisfied grin as he himself also prepared several small ice bullets.

Small pieces of sky blue tinted icicles hovered around him, yet Ren had no desires to utilize them in an offensive manner. Loathed as he was to admit it but having very little practice with magic his offensive capabilities were much weaker than even Alice when holding a rusted kitchen knife. Instead these ice bullets were mainly used to provide cover fire and suppress the enemy for Alice who would be doing most of the actual combat.

However their victory conditions were not to defeat the enemy but simply to rescue Celina. Once they freed her they would immediately shift their strategy in running away.

"Are you ready Alice?"

She nodded without saying a word, her gaze locked onto Celina's struggling figure. As a member of the demon race Celina had much higher resistances thus she was able to endure a bit more punishment than normal humans or elves. This part of the reason her entire neck hadn't been crushed yet but at the same time she would not last much longer if her friends dawdled much longer.

With their minds in sync Alice dashed off towards the enemy once more. Her thoughts and actions now more focused more than ever she readied her rusted knife to strike. In response several other crystalline goblins moved in to intercept and impede her path but Ren had no desire to let that happen.

"Like I'd let you!"

Aiming with deadly precision Ren proceeded to bombard them with a volley of ice bullets. Taking not of his support Alice braced herself to run straight through once the goblins moved out of the way, yet however...

"What?!"

Alice shouted as she barely had enough time to dodge the massive arm thrust of the goblin's retaliation. Not only did the enemy not budge an inch but it took the full strength of Ren's magic as though it were just a gentle breeze. Not a hint of a grimace or any other sort of response was given. Though Ren's magic wasn't very practiced nor was it particularly powerful naturally, it still should have been enough power pierce soft skin.

Certainly the ice bullet had pierced into the putrid yellow tinted skin of the goblins but they acted as though it did not have any impact.

"What's going on Ren?! What do we do now?!"

Alice shouted back to him as she tried her best to dodge the goblin she was engaging combat with. The goblin was fast, almost unnaturally so, it was a miracle that Alice was somehow able to keep up. Somehow her body felt incredibly light yet powerful at the same time, she could move even faster if she tried but she felt afraid to do so.

This was her first time in an actual fight to the death, without any sort of guidance or prior teaching outside of the basics taught by Miko, the most she could do was rely on her instincts. It was this that she was afraid of, she was well aware that she was only a seven year old, what possible battle sense or instincts would she have? Thus she didn't want to over extend herself to the degree that required the reliance of instinct.

"Ren?!"

Alice called out desperately once more, yet when she briefly found the opportunity to turn back to see what was stalling him all she was met with was a blank expression. ‘Has he given up?!’ she thought to herself before being forced to focus back on her opponent’s attacks.

“Ren! Hey Ren! Snap out of it! You want to save Morgant and Celina right?! Then snap out of it!”

She continued to call out to him.

“Ah… I- that’s right… I have to save them…”

Finally being pulled back to reality by Alice’s words Ren looked gazed up at the situation unfolding in front of him once more. His ocean colored hair swaying side to side as the sound of clashing blades entered his ears. For a moment he had found himself swallowed up in the deep darkness of futility, but through Alice’s words he was able to realize something. ‘If Morgant was here, he’d never give up… I shouldn’t either.’

“Sorry Alice… Thanks.”

Ren smiled back towards the small figure struggling up against the huge and bulking behemoth. Once more he prepared his ice bullets, they may be weak and perhaps they may be ineffective against these monsters but this was the best he could do. Even through futility and impossibility, if this was the best he could do then there was no other choice for him but to do it.

Sparing no effort, Ren expended all the mana he had gathered and launched a massive flurry of ice bullets towards the crystalline goblin fighting Alice. Alice moved away just in time for the goblin to be hit by the dozens upon dozens of ice bullets. At first the goblin ignored them but slowly but surely it was whittling it down. Finally after a few moments its entire body was practically covered in ice and its movements were sealed.

Taking advantage of such an opportunity Alice dashed in with the knife and aimed straight for the heart. The knife sank in without much resistance and with it being sealed inside the ice tomb it felt as though the battle was finally over. Only it really wasn’t as there were still several more goblins that were just as strong if not stronger ready for its turn.

Yet Alice could only wipe away her sweat as she readied herself for the next opponent. She waited for Ren’s signal once more to start taking down the next one but that signal never came. Thinking that Ren was caught up in his own inner turmoil again she hastily looked back but that wasn’t it.

“Ugh!”

Pinned down and having his head smashed to the ground, Ren had been incapacitated by the entrance of even more Crystalline Goblins.

“Ren!”

She panicked, now with both her friends being captured and slowly killed she was at a loss on what to do. Yet if she did nothing they would both die, but if she saved one the other would most likely perish; it was a cruel choice for a seven year old to be given. However it was something she had to make, ‘Celina… should be able to survive for a bit longer, I’ll save Ren first!’ Alice decided as she was about to jump down from the Crystalline Goblin she had just saved.

Even after having jumped off the huge body of the Goblin her feet never touched the ground. Confused and disoriented even she was at a loss on what had just happened. Slowly but surely she could feel her neck and face being mercilessly crushed. She choked and coughed only to realize that the Goblin she thought she had killed was not truly dead, instead, even with a rusted knife sticking out of its heart it still managed to move with deadly strength.

A sharp pain ran through Alice’s head as she could feel the pressure closing in on her. Helpless and desperate, in pain and lonely, she couldn’t even feel the tears running down her face as she was slowly being crushed by the goblin.

“No! No! No!”

She shouted but to no avail. ‘Am I going to die like this?!’ She didn’t want to, she still had much more she wanted to experience.

“No! S- save me… help me! Morgant!”

Those were her last thoughts as everything faded into darkness…