Chapter 9: CH9 I am Human

'A... human...'

The goblin stared at the adventurer in shock.

She have an icy glare fitting for the cold aura she keeps on emitting. The wind that blows away from her body is as sharp and elegant as the edge of an icicle, freezing the air into small pieces of snowfall. The girl's shiny black hair is tied with two long braids making her appearance young and fragile. The girl possess a purple eyes, and she hold a magic staff, a magical technology that allow mages to cast second degree spells with more ease and flexibility.

At a glance, Theo could tell that she's still a young, approximately on her twenties, but the strength of her mana tells him not to treat her as such. One wrong move and his life would be in danger, provoking her further is not an option to be considered.

Theo wants to step back and escape, but the only path to do that is where the hostile entity is located. If he wants to get out, he must find a way to convince the girl that he is also a human despite having the appearance of a goblin.

But it is far too late for that.

"Wait!"

The girl, as expected attack the goblin expecting to end things as fast as possible with her [Ice Crytal] skill, and of course, Theo with his sharp instinct evaded cutting only a part of his ears as he notice a flash of light from the girl's staff.

The only difference this time is that the girl continuously repeat the attack in a continuous stream of spells so Theo didn't have much of a choice nor freedom to evade but to cover himself behind a rock.

'Shit! She's good'

Theo, on his human days could only cast one or two [Ice Crystal] or one gigantic ice and that will use all of his mana, but this girl twist all this logic as it fires the spell non-stop. It is like a riffle but with a staff and its bullet are unlimited crystals of ice.

The spell slowly carve its way inside the rock, trying to get to the other side and pierce the goblin. At this point, Theo understood that defending from the attack is just like waiting for his death to occur. He need to move, but his eyes can't follow the speed of the ice, at least not yet. He readied his sword and wait for his chance to attack.

One weakness of a common mage is that they could only focus for a certain amount of time and at maximum, it could range from forty seconds to one minute. His master, Niel could make it up to thirty minutes and she will need to rest for another two minutes before entering another trance.

Trance is a state where they can generate mana and execute skill at the same time.

If they continue to attack while not being in full focus, their attack may become weaker or completely fail.

Before the ice could completely put in a hole to the rock, a spell had been botched and that is the cue where Theo dash towards the girl to attack. But after he gets out from his cover, the mage fire a sudden [Ice Crystal] that directly hit him pushing him back. It could have put a hole into his chest but he deflected it using his sword as a shield.

'That woman baited me!'

He realized that he is facing a human, a thinking entity, not just some beast that only know one thing but to devour. It's not just a battle of strength, it's also a battle of wits, and clearly the girl bested him on both. One thing that saves him is only a pure coincidence or luck.

Theo thought of a way to deal with the [Ice Crystal] riffle skill, a way to prevent it from hitting him and that is to bounce all over the place randomly with no specific pattern, to the walls and ceiling. The tunnel is narrow and Theo know how to use his agile and strong legs to move.

As a goblin, he is faster and lighter than a human, he could jump more than his total height but this is not achievable if it is not for the muscle he accumulated by repeatedly running away from beasts and jumping for his life.

With this as his weapon, he continue to bounce all over the place nearly closing the mage and the goblin's gap. The [Ice Crytal] didn't manage to to follow his irregular an unpredictable pattern, but it doesn't mean that he didn't get hit once or twice during the process. In fact, his left leg and right torso got hit and his blood froze on that part , but it doesn't halt him from moving faster. This time, along with the increasing pain is the increasing instincts of Theo to kill the human.

"Tsk"

The mage click her tongue when she realize that she was at a handicap. Mages are weak in close quarter combat and the fact that Theo is slowly closing the gap makes her at a disadvantage. Moreover, she is surprised on how the goblin moves, it is the first time that she encountered such goblin that caught her off guard. But she doesn't have time to regret on her past actions or to the fact that she underestimated the goblin.

"[Boiling Moist], [Winter Wind]"

Just as when Theo was attempting to slash her neck, the girl invoke two consecutive spells. She waved her staff to the air and from it release a white fog that hides her body, concealing everything on the surrounding area with thick air. Theo slashed at nothing but the fog.

"She disappeared?"

Theo asked to himself, he look left and right but can't see anything because of the blurry atmosphere.

The adrenaline he felt started to dissipate, the ice crystal that sunk in him is still freezing on the inside. He felt an intense pain from the sharp coldness.

Listening closely, Theo could hear a sharp sound of small solids clashing at each other. It was the sound when ice starting to form in the air.

"What the!"

When he look at his back, even if the rest is blurry, he saw a glowing thing behind the fog... then it started to fire the crystals in continuity. Theo move quickly to evade it and bounce to the walls, then to the ceiling until he could get close to the girl.

But when he finally close the gap, he saw nothing, only the staff that is planted to the soil.

'Shit. It's automated?'

He underestimated the girl. At this certain moment of confusion, he was hit once again to his abdomen, the crystal sinks deep to his stomach. The yellow pus drips from the wound then froze, and he cough away the maggots that rose up to his mouth.

He temporarily retreated with all the damage he took. With enough distance away from the staff, the execution of spells halted. Theo drop on his knees to take a break and vomits the puss that keeps rising from his mouth. In pain, he accidentally release his hand from his own weapon.

The area keeps getting colder. It is one of the reason that Theo is getting slowed down. And that it is to be expected when trying to deal with a mage, it will use even the temperature to nerf its enemy.

Theo stood up and wipe away the remaining puss from his mouth with his arm. Suddenly from behind, a thin strand of string envelopes the goblin's neck and gets tight making his breath restricted.

The woman is behind her and taking the kill by choking him. He tried to struggle but the girl force his neck up that the goblin's feet is off the ground.

"You're dead now little goblin"

She said while applying more force to the string. Theo's neck is starting to bleed as the string sinks deeper into his skin. Apply more force and that will be enough to behead him.

He is starting to lose his consciousness, his eyes became blurry and everything on his sight felt like spinning. Salivating, his mouth release a handful of yellow pus, then water swell up to his eyes forming tears when he struggle for air.

He keeps on trying to release himself from the strand but the more that he struggle, the more that the pain intensifies and further inhibits his ability to breathe. And then a minute have gone by, his arms starts to give up... it falls to the side and his eyes roll upward.

When the girl saw this, she immediate felt relief only to regret it afterwards when the goblin suddenly rotated one hundred and eighty degrees vertically putting his knees above the girl's head.

The girl saw his worm that suprised her with anxiety.

"[Piss on you]"

The goblin mocked to the girl, pretending it to be a skill but in reality, it is just an act of urination that is ejected to the girl's face blinding her temporarily. The feeling of warm water shocked her inside a cold environment that her hand instinctively release from gripping the strand of string.

Theo immediately leap backwards to avoid a direct confrontation with the girl.

'What?! It's just a strand of hair?'

Theo looked at the string and indeed, the string was just a strand of hair that could easily snap after the girl release it from her hands.

"You disgusting piece of..."

The girl wipe away the urine from her face, and exclaim in irritation. But for a brief moment of realization, she twitched as she thinks deeply from the way how the goblin act.

'The goblin could speak?'

She thought about it. An encounter to such kind is very rare.

'Does it really matter? A monster is still a monster'

The girl expand her hands as if trying to reach something invisible.

"Wait! I give up!"

The goblin tried to plead, but the girl's staff came flying to the back of his navel. It thrust and sank deep to his intestine and his body is getting dragged with it towards the girl. He resisted the force but it just make his state worse when the staff completely pierce him, putting a hole to his belly.

Now that the girl have her staff, she is two times harder to deal with, and with all the wounds he accumulated, Theo is at a disadvantage. Theo thought he is absolute going to die this time. But he swear that he is not going down without giving much of a fight.

All while the girl is trying to enter a trance state, Theo started drinking one of the bottles where he keeps the water. He look at his surrounding and everything is completely frozen, the cold makes his drink a little more tasteful than before and this satisfies him. Even if his belly is torn open, he wonders why could he still move...

'Is it because I am a monster?'

The water he drank mixed with digestive juices spill out from his wound.

'Or maybe, because I have a thick plot armor?'

He left a big sigh from his mouth. But everything up to this point makes him feel excited rather than feeling hopeless. The sharp pain from the wounds keeps on burning inside him, saving him from the cold atmosphere.

He put the other water bottle to his other hand. If he is going to die like this, he thought, maybe losing an arm is acceptable as long as he could defeat the mage.

He started applying a spell inside the water... slowly but consistently, and he found it relatively harder than before. He kept on practicing magic as a goblin but overtime, he is just losing his edge furthermore.

He looked at the girl and he found her having a very gentle and sharp aura due to the cold freezing air all over her body that flutter her black clothing and hair. He thought, she is really on another level of strength compared to him.

Theo looked at the bottle and noticed it shaking from the inside.

'This is enough...'

Theo dashes forward, the girl became alerted that she immediately open her eyes. This time, her eyes tell Theo that she is on a trance, full of intention and strong attention.

"Hey!"

Theo threw the bottle to the girl and with mere instinct, the girl pointed her staff and invoke an [Ice Crystal] breaking the water bottle. Instead of just breaking the bottle, because of the impact and the way that the water separates into small amount, it exploded with white instantaneously evaporated fog and Theo use it as a chance to hide himself.

Indeed, he applied a small amount of [Fireball] inside the water trying to boil it from the inside. Then use it to generate an artificially created fog similar to what the girl did using magic. He caught her off guard when she thought that he can't use magic.

"[Freezing Point]!"

Inside the fog, a sword tried to thrust the mage's head and the mage immediately reacted by freezing everything at her front with her staff. She freeze the sword along with the air and the way it froze keeps it pointing to her head, stuck at still time.

But then, she realized that the goblin who wields it disappeared, uncaught by her strong attack.

She heard movement from her back but it is far too late to react.

You are reading story Children of the Devils at novel35.com

"You're dead now little bitch"

The goblin carrying a rock with his two hands jumped and smash the rock to the girl's head.

The goblin was planning to smash the rock to her head and push her backward then make the frozen sword pierce her brain with the impact but it failed when the girl make it so that the frozen sword is dull with flat shards of ice covering its edge. The girl's head bounce back and forth with the two attack trying to break her skull.

It doesn't kill her, she was just rendered unconscious.

After landing with his feet, in anger and monstrous instinct, Theo keeps bashing the rock to the girl's forehead, trying really hard to kill it. His reason was if he don't kill her now, she will come back later and hunt him down.

But when he looks at his own reflection, he stopped. He saw a bloodied face of a goblin, a monster far from a human. He click his tongue in frustration.

'What am I hesitating?'

He is just defending himself but he can't understand why he could still feel remorse and pity when suppose, he is not a human.

'I am not a human anymore'

And suppose that if he live his life pretending to be a human, applying their moral standards and ethical practices or emotions like remorse and conscience, it will just recoil against him in the end. He need to be a monster to live as a monster, but the guilt he is feeling right now make him think twice on his own action.

He lose his grip to the rock and it falls from his hand. Then, despite the pain he may feel, he closed the open wounds on his stomach by burning it with his hands using a small amount of heat from a [Fireball] spell.

Should he let her live and kill him later? Or should he kill her to save his own?

What is the right choice to make? Himself or other people?

What's the difference between killing a beast and a human when suppose, both at their essence are just trying their best to survive? And what is it for a goblin like him?

Morality is just a subjective concept that may change depending on the observer and as a goblin, the right choice should be made by the eyes of a goblin, not a human.

But what is he? A human or a monster?

'Huh? What is this feeling?'

He look at the girl's face and notice her beautiful face, her long eyelashes stands out but aside from the blood that keeps coming out from the wound of her head, the rest of her skin seems like milk in smoothness and scent.

'My body is burning...'

His worm is also erect. His heart keeps beating fast and his mind keeps screaming to 'go and touch her you virgin loser!'.

'I see... I am a goblin, and the nature of a goblin is to do this sort of thing to women...'

There is a reason why goblin can't live in mutualistic relationship with humans or why everyone hates this sort of creatures. It is not just because of their strong instinct to kill but because of their will to reproduce with any kinds of intelligent species.

'I want to...'

Looking further, the girl's body is entirely feminine and fragile. She is well clothed and despite the nature of the cave, the girl is clean and healthy. She smells too good in contrast to everything.

Her bare legs seems to attract Theo enticing him to touch it.

"Stop! On! Thinking! Stop thinking!! I am human!! I am a human!!"

Finally, Theo gave up forcing his instinct to shut down by smashing his own head to the frozen ice. He still can't throw away his humanity even if he is currently a goblin. Blood falls down from his head and his worm suddenly died out of the pain.

Taking another glance, he noticed her lips are slim and sexy. Another glance to her white petite legs and his worm revitalized, he was awoken once again to horny.

'Just a peek...'

He gave in to his goblin instinct and took a peek inside her clothes while blushing intensively.

"Hhmmhh..."

The girl is slowly gaining her consciousness, she moaned and the goblin immediately retracted from his evil deeds.

'Shit! Run!'

Theo run away unsatisfied.

After hours have passed. The girl's eye slowly opens and she saw nothing but the ceiling. She gets up from the ground and touch the slowly waning pain on her forehead. In her fingers, she saw her own blood.

"Huh...? I am unharmed?"

She is expecting more than this kind of wound. She observed her surrounding but she didn't see the goblin nor anything strange.

"That goblin didn't do anything to me?"

She was surprised, that particular goblin is rather strange but she didn't expect to get away unscathed. She is still wearing her clothes too so she conclude that it didn't touch her in a rather unpleasant way despite the saying that goblins are the incarnation of violence and lust.

Still, the conclusion of their confrontation stands.

"I lost... to a mere goblin"

She underestimated him very bad, really bad. After all, she was saving her full strength not to be wasted to exterminating small fries.

"Hmm? Water?"

Even from afar, the girl is alerted by the sounds of rushing water. After all, she is a water mage specializing in hydro magic spells. Detecting the source of water nearby is an easy feat for her.

Walking towards the dark tunnel, she finally reached the pond of water. But her eyes became terrified when she saw the thing, a person in the middle of the pond that was drinking from it.

It is a woman with a long silver hair and dark skin. She wore an old leather coat covering her entire body and her hands are noticeably mechanical.

'Thats...!'

But what's stands out from this particular creature is its black horn that extends from her head. It is not just an ordinary person, it is a demon.

The demon was drinking the water from the ponds by scooping it with her hands. Without a second of delay, the water mage immediately summons a spell to which she tought will immediately kill her.

"[Water Dragon]!"

A head of a dragon made of water appears from where the demon is standing, it smash the demon inside its mouth with a forceful impact of water enough to kill an elephant to a pathetic mush of organs.

With the impact, the demon collapse to the pond. It is a direct hit and she caught her off guard meaning it should have killed her. But the water mage is aware that underestimating her is a fatal mistake she can't manage to do.

"[Skin Solidification], [Health Regeneration], [Adamite Strength], [Mana Regeneration], [Increase Stats], [Negate Fear], [Status Protection], [Water of Glory], [Body of Water], [Fire Resistance], [Hydraula's Blessing], [In Trance Invocation]"

She continuously cast multiple spells that will strengthen her body and her magic, trying to secure the spot to victory.

The demon slowly stands on her feet seemingly unharmed from the attack. She is trying to get something out from her coat and when she found it, she pulled it out revealing a gas mask. She put it to her head deliberately hiding her face.

"I finally found you demon..."

The water mage said in a trance like state.

"It's time to settle the score"

---

Then a day have passed.

"Why..."

Theo bend his knees in despair. With his knowledge on anatomy, he healed his own wounds by operating on himself and using the spider web to stich his wound preventing further bleeding.

Then he return back to fetch more water. But when he look for the pond... an immediate sense of frustration hits him.

"Why the fuck..."

His snot started to get ejected from his noise, and his tears fall from his eyes.

"Why the fuck is my water solid!!!"

He screamed that echoes to the tunnel. He then whack his head to the frozen water trying to break the ice with his head only to injure himself. He look once again to the ice and see his own reflection...

"SHIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!!! MOTHERFUCKERRR!!!!"

He shouldn't have felt remorse for the girl in the first place because in the end of a day, he is still a goblin, not a human.

"I am going to kill that bitch!"

He said in anger. With tears on his eyes, he cracked his fingers as he cursed the mage with all his heart.

"And then I'll..., I'm going to butcher her to pieces and eat it"

He is now determined to accept what his goblin nature entails.

'That's right... Because I am a monster, and that's what monsters do'

You can find story with these keywords: Children of the Devils, Read Children of the Devils, Children of the Devils novel, Children of the Devils book, Children of the Devils story, Children of the Devils full, Children of the Devils Latest Chapter