Luine found the nest of the goblins, only a small one, all things considered. It was likely a new horde, at its most vulnerable state. With individually weak members, and not fully capable of defending themselves; but big enough to attract the attention of other monsters nearby.

Goblins were very difficult to ever fully eradicate, because there were always individuals of them, scattered every which way, and capable of building a new horde by themselves. They may rise again, even when dead. They may rise again, even when consumed.

Such was the power of the goblin seed.

I pondered our upcoming assault of their base as I relaxed on the couch, having just finally, painfully , shat out the fire repository. Bursts of mana kept leaking into my body throughout the digestion process, and its crystalline structure was shattered into many pieces when I was finally able to relieve myself of them.

I briefly considered if I should retrieve the still perfectly good and functional repositories, but I drowned out those thoughts in the flush of a full bucket of water.

We had one of those latrines that were low to the ground. Moonwash and the rest had really outdone themselves in creating basic amenities in the middle of the forest. The only help I really contributed were the constant stream of materials and ingredients from all those that I killed. Which wasn’t bad, all things considered. I was definitely not just freeloading!

~~~

“Haell. This is for you.” Moonwash handed me a set of molars, one that would hold a structure with a crystal pressed against the roof of my mouth. It was a magic apparatus for me to cast from within, albeit lacking a focus. That was fine, using two separate focuses at once was difficult, and it would also have to be outside of my body for it to work.  

“Oh, thank you!” I immediately tried it on.

“It’s still just a concept. But I figured it would be nice to test it in the upcoming battle. I’ll make you a better one afterwards.”

“Noice!”

“I could also make a sealed tube that you can swallow to give you magic.”

“What…?”

“A sealed tube. It’s an idea I had. It would stay inside you for a long time, protecting a repository inside. And then you can just eat it again after you defecate it out.”

“...You want me to literally eat shit?”

“It would work.”

“No thanks. I love power. But even I have limits.”

“I see. That’s a shame.”

~~~

We walked out of the base the next day, all four of us. We were about to go and hunt all the goblins that remained.

Our group made it to the river, we crossed the rapids through a thick log, and then I began to feel a faint shimmer of the wicked energy the moment we stepped foot on the other side. Perhaps I was now more sensitive to curse-aligned mana after having used it myself for so long.

After only a couple more minutes of walking, we came across the first goblin who just fell apart with a casual swing of my sword. The only enhancement that I used was the menace mana weaved through my blade, and I doubted it even changed anything.

We ranged further through the vegetation, eventually finding a small scouting group, whom I also slaughtered with the same casual ease. It didn’t matter how many of them there were, trash was still trash.

When we spotted the next scouting group, I finally remembered about my new set of molars. I coaxed the mana out from within and the energy was temporarily marked by my skin as it passed through, allowing my horns to take control.

Hellfire.

I summoned my flames, and it crushed my goblin foes. They writhed on the ground in pain, the life being snuffed out of them in seconds. All except for one, my level sense kindly informed me that she was level 10.

It wasn’t enough. She bellowed a charge, against all the pain and suffering of the flame, only to be swiftly beheaded by my blade.

I did use a little bit of menace enhancement to my muscles. That’s more than what I bothered to use for any of my prior foes. I’m sure the knowledge of that will soothe her into the afterlife.

The forest flashed orange and red as we made it deeper in. The trees were strong enough to not totally burn down, but I made sure to clear the flames after killing off every batch of goblins. It was good practice for my new method of fire magic, and the plantlife here was weaker than in the other parts of the forests. The goblins smashed bark and ripped away branches just for the sheer fun of it, not to mention the constant stream of wicked mana that they produced.

“I think my fire magic is weaker than my menace magic,” I said. “It’s a difficult thing to measure, their effects are wildly different and my flames remain a generally stronger offense. But whenever I manifest the mana into reality, it just feels  like I’m able to squeeze a lot more power out of the menace element.”

“I think it’s because of the Theory of Inherent Magic,” Moonwash said after a few seconds of deliberation. “It’s a known phenomenon. Those who inherently possess the capacity for magic, with a fount, repository, and a focus among their Mutations; they have been shown time and time again to be more proficient in magic.”

“So you’re saying there is some sort of magical significance to it, like with how and why wands were such a powerful shape for a magical apparatus to take?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, well I’ve heard of that theory before. And it definitely makes the most… sense!” I killed another pair of goblins without bothering to use any magic. “And it’s pretty clear cut after shepherds, tyranights, and sunropods had participated in the research. But there are other factors to consider. Like how someone born with the relevant Mutations are likely to also be born with minds more than capable of using them.”

“The test subjects were made to use wands of their same element, and the results were weaker than their performance with their inherent abilities.”

I pondered for a moment, slaughtering more goblins. Murder really was good for the brainflow.

I’ve seen this research mentioned in several books back at the library in Latarus…

“That’s true, but most of the participants were of the three species you mentioned. Wands and staves kind of don’t really work well with the tyranight and the sunropods to begin with. Not to mention that I’ve heard that those with the complete magical package are generally worse at using an external apparatus to begin with. The shepherds of course would never admit to such weakness.”

“Are you weaker at using staves now, Haell?”

“That’s the thing! I’m… not sure. My Mutations had gotten a lot stronger, so my fire is more potent than before my evolutions, but that could very easily just be the result of my qualitative increase in power across the board. It’s hard to tell.”

“That’s interesting. Let’s look into that a little bit more later.”

“Agreement noises!”

“What?”

“Do not worry about it, Moonwash.”

“I see. It’s just you being weird again.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“Why?”

“Err, nevermind.”

We went back and forth a bit more from there as the local wildlife slowly died out, and an oppressive feeling started to permeate the atmosphere, alongside more patrols of goblins. I mentioned how I thought that my menace heart and the fact that my mana was stored in my blood, constantly influencing me, might have something to do with the potency of my menace magic. That struck a particular chord with Moonwash, and she spoke rapidly about the very few species we knew of that had the same sort of setup, nearly overextending forward in our formation in her excitement. Baston mentioned just how strong goblin shamans could be even for their level. It was weird that they probably didn’t have a blood Mutation to store the mana, and only a small amount could be trapped in their bodies while the rest leaked out into the air. Not that I didn’t do the same once my tank was full, so to speak.

“And we might be facing such a foe soon, so on your toes.”

“Understood,” Moonwash replied, looking around and falling back into formation.

Eventually, after a while of clearing out a few more isolated groups, we made it to the clearing containing the bulk of the goblins. I and Luine did most of the work at first in killing the ones at the periphery, in order to save up a little on mana when we could. Baston also helped out a little. He was armed with only a single staff, and he used the back end(the one without the focus) to whack on goblins. They were pulped to smithereens despite his clumsy methods considering the difference in levels.

We circled around, taking our easy wins, until eventually the whole horde turned on us, frothing at the mouth and charging recklessly towards their early graves. They were immediately halted in their tracks the moment Baston slammed his staff into the ground. Walls of plantlife emerged from the barren soil of the goblin home base, skewering the approaching monsters. Luine went ahead of our group to gut the strongest of the goblins, meanwhile Moonwash stayed behind our lines, preparing something big using the fire staff that she still wouldn’t give to me!!

I tried to help with my aura and my eyes, and that did cause more chaos among enemy ranks, but not nearly as much as I would've expected against specimens so much weaker than myself. Perhaps they were too insane already to be affected by fear, or perhaps the wicked mana coursing through their body had made them accustomed to the effects of similar energies. A question to ponder in a more peaceful time, which would only come once they were all dead .

My menace mana exploded into action, it fed into my mind and my emotions fed into it in turn. My world became a haze of violence as a mist of blood was left in my wake. Goblins died one after another, the weaker ones being nothing more than kindling before my rage, while even those at level 10 proved little obstacle. The only one that was able to finally stop my charge was a goblin over the level of 20, and still our strikes only bounced off each other. We were nigh evenly matched in power.

I grinned. I did another exchange of our blades, and then slashed through the opening that was created, taking out an arm. The appendage wasn’t fully and cleanly sliced off, but it was borderline unusable. Its mangled form was almost worse than the alternative.

I overwhelmed the hobgoblin in short order, killing it with deep lacerations through its body.

Weak, weak, weak, WEAK! Even your level twenties are no match for me! Haell Zharignan!

I returned to the carnage soon after, barreling through my helpless opponents, until I felt something more dangerous charge in. My constantly improving level sense spoke of its levels as over 30, a small and squat goblin holding a creepy necklace of flesh and bark in its hand.

No wait, that’s a magic apparatus!

I felt the wicked mana in the air stir, a peculiarity of the goblins in that it should be way  harder to control ambient mana in the air, but they could do it for their own wicked mana anyway. I stopped my charge, allowing the ineffectual attacks of the tiny goblins around me to strike my armor as I turned the other way. I dashed back to safety just in the nick of time as a handful of corpses where I just was suddenly exploded.

Muscles, sinew, and bone flew through the air, along with blasts of wicked magic. The goblins nearby were skewered by the explosion of viscera, and a few pieces of gore reached me even with my head start.

It only caused a dent or two in my armor, but I would’ve been in trouble if I were in the center of it all. I lobbed a single cheeky fireball towards the shaman, which only ignited a few of the goblins at its feet as the high-level goblin managed to dodge. The searing white fireball that followed from my friend Moonwash was not quite so easily shrugged off, and it hit the goblin shaman square in the chest. Corpses around it started spontaneously exploding as the spellcaster writhed from having been set on fire, savaging its own armies.

I was going to run back to the safety of Baston’s perimeter but I chose that moment to circle around. Luine killed and kicked away all the goblins in my path, having discerned my plot well in advance. A few of the corpses still exploded around me, but too far to cause significant damage. Only one carcass was close enough, it exploded right when I was practically on top of my target already. My momentum was slowed by the blast, denting my armor in many places, in ways that made my flesh squelch in pain. Three pieces of bone managed to pierce through far enough to draw blood. Of those, only one was serious enough to impede my movements, and it was by my thigh. The other two penetrated into my guts and arm respectively, which were very painful, but nothing else. Nothing that was of immediate import.

I snarled and kept on charging. I reached my target, and struck it through the head. I did not give the shaman any more chances, and took away the accursed necklace clutched in its hand with my next swing. I absolutely savaged its burning form, adding my own fires to the mix, when the monster could retaliate no longer.

“Haell! Stop! Those are perfectly good materials!” Moonwash shouted through my own screams. Only then did I realize that my enemy was already dead.

I growled and charged forward into the mass of the remaining goblins.

Their leader was dead, they were being routed, but the wicked mana seeped so deep into their forms that they could not even fathom a retreat.