Chapter 26: Ch 26: Shapeshifter

Author Note:

I have created a patr eon page. If you want to support my work, please visit it. There you could find 6 chapters in advance for patrons, but only in Spanish. Since, although I have a bunch of chapters accumulated, I still haven't translated all of them.

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After dinner, the old man paid us each 30 gold coins for killing the ghouls. It seemed exaggerated to us and we tried to refuse to receive so much money, but he remained in his intention, almost forcing us to accept it, saying that money was made to be spent and that the world needs more adventurers willing to help those in need, like us. So, we accept the payment, gratefully; and, after two days of rest in the village, we left for the capital, crossing the forest near the village.

I gained two levels in all three classes, thanks to the battle against the ghouls. With which I increased both my 'agility' and my 'strength' until I reach 40 points.

The village chief assured us that it is safe to go through the forest. Since it is not inhabited by creatures nearly as dangerous as a ghoul; and, since we were able to take care of them with relative ease, he doesn't think we'll have any problems on the trip, but he still recommended that we keep watching at night just in case.

The forest is not very thick, so we can see the sky as we walk and, although Azur can fly above the trees to see into the distance, after three days of travel, he can only see trees in all directions. We're about halfway through the forest, guided by the information I get from the interface. We stop to eat, and shortly after sitting down and building a fire, groups of goblins come into view.

Goblins are the creatures that appear in the labyrinth after the ninth floor, replacing skeletons. Their skin is green and they measure approximately 1.50. They are quite fast and sneaky, but they are not particularly strong. Most often carry multiple daggers as a weapon, which they use for close-range combat and as a thrown weapon, but some use short spears instead of daggers.

We've been up against them quite a bit this past month, so we know we can easily beat them, as long as they don't come in huge numbers.

We beat them easily, as we thought since they are groups of three or four members. However, when we were done, we started to put away the things we had prepared and, after storing the goblins in my inventory, we prepared to walk away. Since one of the goblins blew a horn before dying as if calling others to battle. Also, the smell of blood can attract all kinds of scavengers and we don't want to be disturbed while eating.

We've been walking for about ten minutes when Azur stops and looks tensely to the side. Through the link, I get the information that he has heard something strange. We keep walking, but I tell my companions and we get ready, just in case.

After a few moments, Azur stops again and this time we also hear something, as we see what appears to be a gigantic goblin appear before us.

He must be about two meters tall and, unlike his smaller relatives, he wears a long sword on his belt, as well as leather armor. It would look like a person by how it is equipped if it were not for its greenish skin color, bald head, pointed ears, and other features characteristic of goblins. I use my ability to inspect it, but the UI tells me [Josh, Shapeshifter], like it's a person, even though I've never seen a class like that, as I've only seen classes like blacksmith, arcane enchanter, warrior, mage, hunter. Confused, I think that it costs us nothing to try to communicate and I try to speak with it. We may not even have to fight. 'what a weird thing' I hear Joseph murmur.

"Hello?" I say hesitantly "can you understand me?"

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"I guess you weren't looking for me after all" says the creature with a raspy and guttural voice as if its mouth wasn't made to speak; and exaggeratedly sighs "oh oh oh, what bad luck some people have" he says and smiles sinisterly.

The creature lunges at us with blinding speed. He runs towards Sabrina with a hand outstretched towards her, but Agustin steps forward with his shield. The creature closes its hand, before making contact, and punches the shield, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Agustin is thrown from the impact until he crashes into a tree, falling to the ground, unconscious. Sabrina runs towards it and the creature tries to follow her but has to stop due to an arrow aimed at its head whistling by, Joseph has a look of concentration and seriousness on his face that I have never seen before. The creature swipes the projectile away, but that gives me time to get between the creature and Sabrina, who is attending to Agustín.

Seeing me, the creature smiles and draws its sword. "you should have let me take the girl... That would have given them another day or two to live. In any case" and his smile widens "you'll never get out of this forest"

I ignore the creature and, keeping an eye on it, I ask Sabrina "how is Agustín?"

"Okay, but unconscious. He has wounds on his head and arm, but they're not bleeding much" Sabrina says with a shaky voice.

"ok, we need your help" I say, blocking, with effort, a two-handed slash from above that the creature throws at me, which, almost instantly, has to move away to avoid an arrow. He has terrible strength, in addition to his speed. The blow leaves my arms numb and I see myself dragging backward on the ground a little before the creature gets away.

I tell Azur not to get close, since he could end up like Agustín, and, changing to its dragon form and reducing its size to fly better in the forest, it prepares to attack the creature from a distance with its magic.

"Do you think you can beat me, brat?" he says laughing "I was already killing people since before you were born"

He lunges to attack me but has to back away, dodging hastily, before reaching me, due to an arrow and two magic bullets aimed at him.

"Well, I think so" I say with a smile on my face, imitating him, and launch myself to attack with a slash aimed at his head. He blocks it with his sword, but that leaves him open to projectiles heading his way. He makes the same gesture as before to move the arrow away, which is aimed at his head. However, he is unable to block the other two, which land on his back. I take advantage of his distraction by the blows to kick him, without releasing the pressure of my sword against his blade, to one of his legs, trying to destabilize him. It works and he goes down, dropping to one knee, as three more projectiles come at him, which he rolls away from. I use the opportunity to slash him hard in the side, whereupon he yells 'damn mosquitoes' and lunges; half running, half jumping; towards Azure. It latches onto one of its wings and, before any of us can react, he slashes his head off. I fall to my knees overwhelmed with pain, and as I feel Azur's embarrassment in my mind for being caught so easily, I see the stranger try to bring Azur's body to his mouth as if to bite it, but the body disappears in a flash of blue light leaving nothing in his hand.

"what the..." he starts to say, but is interrupted by an arrow from Joseph that hits him in the eye "agh you fucking archer! I'm going to enjoy killing your friends in front of your eyes" and is launched by Sabrina who shoots him with a magic bomb, sending him flying and knocking him to the ground. He starts to get up, but before he can, I run to his side and slash his neck, decapitating him and finishing the fight.

"That, that was intense," Sabrina says, falling to her knees. I look at her tiredly and nod, as I drop the sword from my arm and see a strange notification appear before my vision, which I ignore for the moment. I'll have time to review it when we're calmer.

Joseph approaches Agustín and, uncovering a healing potion and pouring it on his wounds, begins to treat him. As Joseph deals with his cousin, Sabrina and I watch as the creature begins to lose its goblin traits. Leaving a man in his 40s with black hair in his place. After discussing it with the group and agreeing to talk to Ragnar about it first, I put the body in inventory to present to the guild for any rewards that it may have.

I summon Azur again and, after accommodating a still unconscious Agustín on its back, we move away from the place of the fight.

 

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