Later, Shokei and her party, along with The, are all in the Maple Forest of Visions. Arriving at the forest, the party views around the entire area. Maple leaves are blooming around the forest, both on trees and plenty of leaves on the ground. The sunlight illuminated into the forest as it was clear for the party to see.
Shokei sees a small river in the forest and a small bridge to go across it. The gets Shokei her attention.
"Straight ahead, we can walk up to an obelisk that lies in the middle of this forest." The tells her. "From there, we should see a sign that will lead to directions of where we need to go."
"Got it." Shokei replied.
The party continues further into the forest. As the party begins their quest to find the missing twin sister, someone is watching them entering the forest. The Necromutants, Echrezar and Kukofoges, are thinking of a pn to stop them from going further.
"I am curious what the Emissary and her band of fighters are going into the forest for?" Echrezar asked.
"Same..." Kukofoges said.
"Whatever it is, this would be a perfect opportunity to infiltrate our enemies with our minions to stop them." Echrezar said, clenching his fist.
"However," Kukofoges reminded. "Our ally, Bck Death, is among the emissary's allies."
"That is true." Echrezar said. "Just as long as she doesn't reveal herself her true nature, she'll be fine in her counterpart."
"If you insist." Kukofoges said and sets himself to do his summon.
"Will you do the honors?" Echrezar asked him.
"That's what I'm about to do." Kukofoges replied.
The Necromutant proceeds to lift his arms and made his summon chant.
"Spirits of the Dark Gaxies! Bring forth my minions to cause havoc among those who hearts are pure!"
At that moment, Kukofoges summon is in effect as the dark energy forms above the clear skies.
During that time, Shokei and her party are navigating the forest. While traveling ahead, the party notices the sun disappearing behind the clouds as the weather changed from being sunny into dark and cloudy.
"Huh?" Marie looks up and sees the weather is acting suspicious. "Hmm, it feels a bit cold now..."
"Marie, what's wrong?" Shokei asked her.
"Up there...the clouds." Marie points out for the party to see.
"Hmm?" Saeko looks up. "It seems we're about to have a thunderstorm."
"I doubt it." Marie said. "The weather was nice a minute ago."
"No." Sadako disagreed. "There is something wrong with this scenery. I sense a dark presence within this forest."
"We need to stay close." Shokei tells everyone. "We cannot tell what will come to attack us."
The party stood close to each other as they continue their journey with caution. Then, the party hears odd, growling noises that are coming from distances nearby behind the trees and bushes.
"Eep! I'm scared." The said, sticking beside Shokei.
Shokei and her party sense the darkness that is now affecting the forest and they already have their hands on their equipment, ready to go into battle. Lei, however, can sense that the darkness is in the works of her allies, the Necromutants. She remains quiet and goes along with the group while keeping her identity a secret.
"Stand by." Shokei tells everyone.
The party waits for a few minutes for any sign of action. Odd noises can be heard but then the noises start to quiet down and then come to a complete silence.
"What...why silent?" Shokei asked.
"Beats me." Rei replied to her. "Perhaps our enemies are afraid to come out."
"You think so?" Marie asked her with a strange look.
"Probably..."
Shokei paused and that's when she sees creatures coming out of nowhere and trapping the party in a circle. Out of hiding are demonic goblins and there were over one hundred of the vile creatures surrounding the whole party in the middle. The goblins gnarled as some of them are equipped with daggers and clubs.
"Ahhh!!" The screamed. Her face, now in fear, as she sees the goblins all over.
"Are you kidding me?!" Rei said, getting into her stance as she is geared to fight the goblins.
"Shit, there's a lot of them." Shokei said, gripping her sword with both hands.
"I can always use a good workout...these beastie boys should be fun for me to py with." Rei said cracking her knuckles.
"Seriously Rei?" Beatrice asked. "Do you even have to go there?"
"Hey! Gotta has fun while you do your battles." Rei replied with a wink.
"Looks like we can't escape..." The said with a scared look.
"Neither you nor Lei can run from this." Shokei said. "Looks like we'll have to fight it out while we defend you two."
The gulped.
"I know, but we have no choice but to fight." Shokei said to her.
One of the goblins made a roaring sound as it is about to make the first move.
"Shokei!" Rei calls out to her.
The goblin that made the war cry charged toward the party. The other goblins followed behind as they are heading straight towards their preys. Shokei and the others are all ready to fight.
Shokei charged and took a big swing on two goblins that were trying to attack her with clubs. She sshed one by the chest and made a thrusting move towards the other goblin, killing both. A third goblin jumps to strike at her with a wielding axe. Shokei became aware and quickly rolled out of the way. Then, she made her move by striking the goblin towards the heart.
Obsidian and Ferron worked together to take down a group of goblins that are in their way. Using their weapons, fighting the group of goblins are simple for them as they are skillfully prepared to fight with grace. Beatrice, Sadako, and Tamiko are working together to fight their side against the goblins and Sadako used her magic to destroy the goblins as best as possible.
"Bring it on!" Marie cried out to one of the goblins that she is fighting against. "Die!"
Marie tries to take down the goblins using her staff as a weapon. Her staff, however, has a slight twist to it as the top handle reveals to be a short dagger. Marie takes herself in defensive stance and Saeko notices her fighting alone. Saeko comes over to Marie's aid and assists her by taking on the goblins. Her rage fuels her insides as she shes at the goblins with her nce with multiple stabs. The goblins were defeated in an instant.
"Thanks!" Marie said to Saeko.
"Hold the thanks. We still got more coming at us." Saeko tells her.
Shokei shields The as she continues to kill each goblin that was coming right after her, including more from behind. The is scared as she is down on her knees and covered her face with her hands. She is afraid to see the terrifying monsters that are around her.
"Stay close to me The!" Shokei called out to her.
"Huh?!" The looks up and said, "Ok!"
Rei defeats the goblins with her monk techniques as she kills off each goblin with punches and kicks. Rei looks up to see a group of goblins coming towards her and there, she immediately used a chi skill against them.
"Assault Punching Bolt!"
Using her skill, Rei rips through her enemies straightforward. Her skill was very effective that the goblins were destroyed and tore their bodies apart. From a distance, Rei takes an axe and hurls it at a bigger goblin, splitting his head in one solid hit.
Spectating the battle, Lei is checking Rei out by her actions, and she is in awe of what she sees.
Amazing..., Lei thought to herself. Sensational. She's that strong indeed. I don't know how she can take down her enemies like that...but I seriously can't get my eyes off her. What is this...special feeling I am getting out of this human? I wonder...
Suddenly, Lei's thoughts were disrupted when she turns to see goblins are approaching right behind her.
"Ahhh! Help! Help!" Lei cried out, getting away from the goblins.
Rei turns to see Lei in trouble and is about to get hurt by the goblins. Quickly, she rushes toward her targets and did a jump kick towards the group of goblins that were heading for her comrade. Once the goblins were dealt with, Rei takes Lei and makes a leap to avoid more goblins that are coming towards her to the other side. Rei puts Lei down to a safer area where there are no goblins in sight.
"I believe it's best you stay here." Rei tells Lei.
Leaving Lei behind, Rei returns to the fight against the goblins. Lei looks at Rei, watching her take off as she goes back to the fight along with her allies.
What heroism..., Lei thought as she blushed at Rei and her heroine effort. Thanks.
Shokei and her party continued to fight the goblins for a while. The fight raged on until the st goblin was stabbed to death by Shokei. After the grueling battle, the party stopped fighting. All of them look around to see the casualties that they done. The bodies of the goblins were mincemeat as there was blood on their skins. Shokei inspected the whole field to be certain that the monsters were dealt with. Then she checks back on The.
"You can open your eyes now." Shokei said to her.
"Is...is-is it o-over?" The asked her.
"Yes...we took care of the monsters." Shokei replied.
"O...o-ok..." The said nervously.
The uncovers her face and looks around to see the goblins all sughtered. What creeped her out more was seeing the blood tainted on Shokei's sword.
"Eeeewwwwwwwww!!" The said, very shaken from what she sees.
"I know." Shokei said. "We had to save ourselves from these vile creatures."
"Errrghhh..."
The appears to be freaked out by the bloodshed of goblins lying on the ground. The crimson is already oozed out of their bodies as their blood stains the ground. The looks shaken and disturbed from the gruesome mess.
"It's all right." Shokei said to her. "Everything's ok."
"Not ok..." The sadly said. "N-not o-ok..."
"Huh?" Shokei looks at The with concern.
"I...I'm s-sorry..." The said in a terrifying voice. "I-I-I-don't...I don't like the look at bloodshed at all. I hate the sight of b-blood p-period..."
"Hmm, you must have a phobia towards blood I see." Obsidian said.
"Then a-again...it's just one of m-my phobias..." The said looking down.
"Hmm?"
Tamiko hears a slight noise and feels the ground moving a bit.
"Hey guys!" Tamiko calls out to the party.
"What's up?" Rei asked.
"I hear some rumbling on the ground...," Tamiko said. "Sounds like a heavy figure is approaching."
"Same here." Rei said, hearing the rumbling sound coming. "And I have a bad feeling about this."
"What is it now?" Shokei asked.
The party feels that the fight is not over yet. All of them can hear something big and heavy coming their way. Everyone can feel the ground rumbling as they can hear the footsteps shaking the environment. That's when the party can see a goblin that's bigger in size. This goblin is a giant size figure that's heavy build and muscur. The goblin looks down on the party and sees them like small insects.
"What the?! N-no way-y!!" The said nervously, eyes widened when she sees the big goblin.
"A Goblin Champion." Obsidian said. "Only that it's huge."
"What the hell?" Rei asked, blinking at the giant-sized monster.
"Shit! Let's make a run for it!" Shokei tells everyone.
The party did and they all made a run for it as the huge goblin chases after them.
Shokei held onto The's hand as she and her party are running from the huge goblin. The goblin made a growling noise as it chases after the party. Running through the Maple Forest, Shokei looks ahead and kept running while avoiding any sign of branches or rocks that might cause her to fall. The goblin pursues until it made a big jump, leaping high over the group's head, and nds in front of them.
"Oh shit!" Rei shouted.
"You're kidding me, right?" Shokei asked.
Shokei and her party came to a halt as they see the huge goblin blocking their path. The demonic goblin growls once it has nded. The monster takes a grip of its big club and swings it toward the party. Shokei and the rest of her allies dodged the weapon in time by making a leap for it. Everyone splits apart after the attack caused a shake on the ground. Then, the party managed to get back on their feet from the sudden impact and they are facing the huge goblin. The goblin's appearance is huge in size with its eyes glowing inside and its looks are a war-like monster.
"It's...huge..." Marie said.
"Of all things, this one's a biggie." Rei said, seeing the goblin directly.
"How do we kill this vile thing?" Beatrice asked. "His big club poses a threat against us."
"He may be a threat, but the impossible is always possible." Saeko said.
"Right." Shokei said, consent with Saeko's words. "We'll just have to find a way to take it down. My focus is to go for its legs."
"But how strong is this thing?" Marie asked.
"We'll have to give it our all regardless." Kichiro said. He held his weapon tightly.
"No holding back everyone!" Shokei tells her party. "Let's do this!"
Before the party made their move, a figure has appeared in their way. Kukofoges made an appearance out of nowhere and his face stands behind the monster, floating in mid-air.
"Woah!" Shokei said, pausing in her tracks.
"That's unexpected." Rei said and asked. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am an assistant and right hand for the Necromutants of Chaos." The Necromutant introduced himself. "I am Kukofoges."
"What the?" Marie said and asked. "You mean there are more of these Necro creeps?"
"Never heard of you." Shokei said. "I guess you're one of Fozoworu's men I suppose."
"Precisely." The Necromutant said.
"What do you want?" Shokei asked him.
"I am pleased to see how all of you defeated my demonic goblins with a team effort." Kukofoges said. "All that will change for as you all can see, I have here is another toy for all of you to py with. Guaranteed, neither of you won't stand a chance with my Goblin Champion."
"Goblin Champion..." Rei said. "This big gut-wrenching monster is a champion?"
"Not what you think, human." Obsidian tells her. "This one is the granddad of all Goblins."
"Well...we're doomed." Marie gulped.
Kukofoges flies up to where his goblin is and positions himself near the monster's head.
"Go! Kill them all at once!" Kukofoges ordered the monster.
The Goblin Champion growls again and this time, Shokei and her party are now fighting against the Necromutant's creations.
Saeko and Kichiro went after the Goblin's knees first as their choice for target. Both made their first move by striking the monster with their weapons. Beatrice and Obsidian went after the other knee and by doing so, the goblin felt the sharpness of its knees being struck but it made no move as the monster stands tall. The goblin swiftly kicks away from its attackers and then it swings its club down towards the ground. Shokei and her party became aware of the enemy's attack and stands their ground. The goblin's attack, which was very powerful, made some trees to fall to the ground.
Ferron jumps into action and goes for the assault for the Goblin Champion's body. The monster saw him coming and takes a swing with his club to whack him out of his sight. Ferron immediately braved himself from the impact of the swing and he was sent flying to a tree nearby.
Tamiko takes aim at the monster by firing her crossbow towards its chest. With darts being fired, the arrows were quick enough to thrust into the goblin's left side of its body. The Goblin Champion felt the attack and responded by swinging its club downward against her. Tamiko rolls out of harm's way and the ground shook from the impact that brought more trees down.
"Time to knock some sense to this vile beast!" Sadako said and chanted, "Rock Mineral Assault!"
Sadako cast out an earth-type spell on the Goblin Champion. Her spell generated a scatter of medium sized rocks, in a form like boulders, above the monster's head and the rocks nded below the enemy. The goblin felt the weight of the rocks crashing down on its head and then the goblin fell to the ground as the rocks rained down, causing the monster to feel weakened by the rocks.
Just then, Kukofoges can see that his monster is taking hits by the sharpness of the rocks. He is not pleased to what he sees in the fight.
"A spellcaster eh?" Kukofoges said angrily, clenching his fist. "I'll have to fix that!"
The Necromutant acts and caused a nuisance to target Sadako.
"HA!" Kukofoges shouted and emitting a source of power, he used telekinesis against Sadako.
"Ahhh!!" Sadako cried out as she felt the surroundings of the Necromutant's power paralyzing her body.
"Foolish human! You won't stand a chance on using your spell at all!" Kukofoges said and ughed as he uses his power against his target.
"Ugh! Ughhh!!" Sadako grunted as her body felt tight and her voice fading out.
"Now, away with you!" Kukofoges said.
Using telekinesis, Sadako is trapped by the Necromutant's grasp and she felt lifted off the ground.
"Oh no you don't!" Shokei shouted and rushes to her allies aid.
Shokei ran up to Kukofoges to stop his actions against Sadako. Kukofoges immediately used his other hand and used a psychic force attack on her. Shokei felt hit by the enemy's attack and was sent back to the ground. Then, the Necromutant continued his use of telekinetic powers on Sadako, and he sends her far back to where there is a tree from a distance. Sadako feels the impact of the tree and her body is smmed right into the tree as she takes damage.
Shokei gets up and chases Kukofoges. Her enemy turned and he sees her coming after him.
"Hmmph!" Kukofoges said with a smirk.
"Come back here you bastard!" Shokei calls out to him.
"Hehe, you'll have to catch me first!" the Necromutant said to her.
Shokei goes in pursuit and chases Kukofoges into the forest, moving away from the battle.
During the fight against the Goblin Champion, the party continues to be advantageous against the monster by the best of their abilities. Saeko and Kichiro, along with Beatrice and Obsidian, are focusing on the legs. With the hits the monster has been taking so far, the goblin still stands with its battle wounds and scars. The goblin tried to make the attack against the party, but it was distracted by Tamiko's darts being aimed as a target. Marie comes to Sadako's aid by curing her with a restoration spell and removal of her silence so she can cast her magic again.
Rei and Ferron are figuring out on taking down the Goblin Champion. Seeing how huge the monster is, they are finding a strategy to win this fight.
"This is a tough bastard." Ferron said and asked. "How the hell are we going to kill it?"
"It's impossible to just get up and hit him in the face." Rei said. "This monster is good at shielding its face."
"There has to be a way." Ferron said. "We can't give up now. There's got to be a way to take this creature down."
"...think...think..."
Rei looks at the pile of trees that are on the ground. Looking at the trees, she has an idea.
"I got it!" Rei responded, figuring it out.
"What's that?" Ferron asked.
"Trust me, you'll see." Rei said and she puts her idea in effect.
Rei goes up to one of the trees that fell. Using her strength, she takes one tree and pces it on a big rock that is close to her.
"Huh? What are you doing?" Ferron asked her.
"I'm about to aim high as I can to strike that vile thing." Rei replied. "Hey, if you're capable on your reflexes, use the environment to your advantage."
"You seem to have a point." Ferron said. "I know exactly what you mean now."
Ferron checks around to see many trees that he can use to his advantage. He acts and he jumps up to one tree branch and then makes his way by jumping higher to more branches to get to the top. He looks down to see the goblin in his sight as it continues to fight his allies.
Rei decides to take another tree that is lying on the ground. Using her strength, she grips a tree that is big enough in size and carefully lifts the downed tree with her arms. Holding the tree in a vertical position, Rei runs and then she tosses the tree directly at the goblin with force. The tree was thrown like a nce and aimed at her target. However, the goblin saw the attack coming and it whacks the tree away quickly in time before it hits.
"Dammit!" Rei said, pissed. "I must try again!"
As Rei tries to find a solid tree to use against the goblin, Ferron continues to climb higher until he was high above to see the enemy down below. With his gss bde in hand, Ferron makes a dive and heads straight down to his target. In a thrusting position, Ferron swoops down and aims at the head of the monster. The bde made a critical effect in which the goblin could not see and the bde cuts through the thick skull of the brain down to the abdomen. The Goblin Champion comes to a complete stop as the bde of Ferron's sword killed him instantly. The party stops and was surprised to see an unexpected outcome of what just happened.
The Goblin Champion has been killed off by one diving slice. With the dreadful monster being killed in action, blood spills out as it's half body slides down. Rei notices the sudden attack and she quickly runs over to see what damage has been done by Ferron.
"Holy...woah, that's sick." Rei said with her eyes widened.
The Goblin Champion has died by the hands of Ferron. Then, the body disappears into dust as Kukofoges creation has been killed off. Ferron swings his bde down as he marks the blood remains from the goblin on the ground.
"Wow..." Marie said, blinking.
"Are you...I mean, I am impressed." Saeko said, satisfied with the outcome.
"All you need to defeat him was just a distraction." Ferron said and turned to see the party. "Knowing what I had to do, I had to aim high enough to go in for the kill."
"I see..." Marie said and felt slightly happy with relief.
"That...t-that was a lot of b-blood..." The said, still shaken from all to what she saw.
"Hey..." Rei comes over to meet with the lolita. "You can rex. We defeated the vile goblin."
"I-I am gd..." The said with a nodded and takes a breath.
"That was a tough fight with those horde goblin sons-of-bitches." Beatrice said.
"True..." Sadako said. "But...where's Shokei?"
"Where did she go off to?" Tamiko asked. "I haven't seen her."
"I know." Rei responded. "She might be fighting that Necro creep. We must find her."
Meanwhile, not far from where the demonic goblin was, Shokei continues to fight against Kukofoges. Not having luck, Shokei tries to nd a strike at the Necromutant with her sword while Kukofoges kept teleporting away from her attacks and wields his two-handed sword at her.
"Stop being a coward and fight me with honor fiend!" Shokei said, showing some impatience from the enemy's tactics.
"Even if you try to kill me, the results will still be the same." Kukofoges said.
Shokei finds herself in confusion as her opponent is moving too fast for her. Kukofoges stands on a tree branch and looks to see Shokei is tired out. Amused, he has the advantage in the fight against her. Then, his senses came, and he realized something that he has forgotten.
"Seems that vile creature has been killed." Kukofoges said.
"Huh?" Shokei looks up to hear him speak.
"Grrr!" Kukofoges, now angry, said to Shokei. "You should be fortunate that you live again human. I believe that my time is now up. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky."
With those words, Kukofoges vanishes and leaves the scene.
Shokei gets up and sees that the Necromutant is gone. Taking a breather, she recollects her thoughts from the fight.
"He's too strong... I couldn't get close to him." Shokei said to herself.
After taking a few breaths, she turns and looks back at the direction where her allies are.
"The noise stopped." Shokei said. "Does that mean the vile goblin has been defeated? I need to hurry back."
Shokei hurries back to regroup with her party. Soon, she regroups back with everyone.
"Shokei! There you are!" The said as soon as she saw her returning.
"What just happened?" Shokei asked. "How did you guys kill off that goblin?"
"The monster has been taken care of." Saeko said. "But Ferron was the one that finished off the vile thing instantly."
"Really?" Shokei asked. "I wonder how."
"Speaking of that, what happened with you during the fight against that Necro bozo?" Rei asked.
"He was too fast." Shokei said, shaking her head. "He got away once he realized his monster is no longer around."
"You tried." Rei said. "But at least we know he's one of those Necromutants."
"True..."
Shokei noticed that everyone is here except...
"Say, where's Lei?" Shokei asked.
"I'm right here!" Lei said, coming out of her hiding spot.
"Where did you go off to?" Rei asked her.
"I was with The when we were hiding from the monster, but we got separated when those trees were falling, and I couldn't see through the darkness." Lei replied.
"Seriously?" Rei asked. "You realize you're responsible for her safety, right?"
"I know but..." Lei tried to expin.
"Either way, we're still in one piece." Shokei said. "At least no one was killed."
"Yeah." The said. "I was very worried about you Shokei. I didn't know where you were during all of this."
"Oh." Shokei smiled at The, hearing those words.
"Anyways, we should keep moving." Rei said. "We need to keep searching for The's sister."