Chapter 15: Going Deeper
The morning sun shone through gaps in the canopy descending onto the forest floor further bouncing off various parts of nature, covering the undergrowth in a mixture of light patches with dark shadows.
Today marked the 5th day of the ceremony and it was also the day Xing and Lei decided to venture deeper into the primordial forest. They had woken up early to begin their trek into the depths to maximize the amount of time they spent since they would only have today to walk in and then the 6th day to walk out, with the 7th day being used to get back to the tribe.
The pair were tramping through the twisting undergrowth with great difficulty as the winding maze of trees, branches, and forest debris made journeying arduous. Umbra could be seen from time-to-time dipping in a shadow, then coming out of another further away.
After a few hours, they had come across a few monsters here and there, mainly different kinds of exotic bird and creepy insect species. Most kept to themselves so the trio saw no point in fighting, but they were forced to a few times.
One of those occasions resulted in a tough fight against a Raging Tusk-Boar. The beast was extremely territorial and attacked them the moment they stepped into its territory. Its fur was hard and could block all their piercing attacks. Two sharp ivory-white tusks grew out of its snout which could easily penetrate straight through trees.
The boar raged around the place hoping to get a lucky hit in on the pair of humans, earning its name. Xing and Lei were not stupid though, they saw how much damage those tusks were doing to the surrounding trees so they stayed well clear of them.
Since the beast's fur was so thick, Xing was forced to use his Mana Dagger spell and use finesse plus great care to penetrate through the boars head and into its brain. Using up a great deal of mana which would take a few hours to restore. The fight resulted in another F-Rank monster-core and the pair of tusks.
Lei twirled a tusk in her hand, "Woohoo! No more using stone spears! I can't wait until we get back to the tribe now! I've always wanted my own personal weapon and now it's not just a dream!"
Xing felt happy too, 'I can finally stop using a stone weapon and feel like a caveman. Although a spear made with a tusk is still quite crude at least it's better than nothing.'
***
By the time it was midday they stopped and set up a quick campfire to cook boar meat they brought with them.
Suddenly the loud sound of a horn being blown resounded through the jungle carried far by air, interrupting the trio's fine dining.
Lei looked annoyed, "Who dares interrupt my meal with loud sound!?"
Umbra similarly sounded pissed off when she spoke through Xings' mind, [Mast- I mean, MAY I please go and kill the one annoying me?]
Soon they started feeling the ground tremble and heard quiet sounds of crude goblin language the volume of which was being diminished by distance.
"Come on, let's go investigate," Xing swallowed what he was eating and stood up, throwing dirt onto the fire dowsing it.
Speaking over the grumbles coming from the female human and snake Xing continued on to say, "The two of you gluttons have already eaten most of the meat, you don't need anymore."
"I'm not a glutton!" [Yes, master.]
Lei stood up and got her gear ready to move, while Umbra shot up into Xing's sleeve seemingly not noticing she just used a word she didn't like. After they were packed they went in the direction where both the horn sound came from, and where the rumbling was located.
The trio didn't need to walk far as they had made their way to the edge of a tall cliff overlooking a spacious valley, at the center of which stood a tall pink flower. The only other life within the valley was the short grass which surrounded the flower, yet kept distance and looked to be bending down toward it in reverence. It was like watching a queen dressed in a pink dress standing before the commoners who were bowing towards her in awe.
At the sole entrance into the natural vale was a sight that caused Lei to cover her mouth with her hands, "My god! How many are there!?"
An army of goblins numbering in the thousands was marching into the valley in a semi-organized manner. This was completely out of the characteristics of any goblin they had seen or heard about before.
In the middle of the horde of tiny green creatures was a massive bipedal behemoth which towered above all the goblins. It was so tall that Xing questioned how it even could even walk through the jungle without getting its head stuck in the canopy.
Going from top-to-bottom the monster had a bald head with large green eyes set to the sides of a long hanging nose. Its jaw was open slightly, revealing a set of revolting and sharp teeth. A pair of 10-meter long tusks protruded from out its mouth, hanging down and outward making its head look like a comical bipedal elephant.
The monsters chest was naked revealing rippling muscles covered in a forest-green skin which looked to be incredibly tough. Its muscles continued through its arms and even increased in density, making the troll look like a giant bodybuilder. In the hands of the troll was a club made out of a whole tree, with a few branches still attached to be used as spikes.
Thankfully the monstrosities man-parts were covered with a large leather loincloth which hung down to just above its knees. Finally, its feet were uncovered allowing it to show off two feet both of which only had 2 toes and both were adorned with hideous toenails.
"Wow, that a forest troll! Since when can goblins subdue a forest troll!?" Lei gasped even louder than when seeing thousands of goblins.
Xing didn't say anything, however, as he was staring at the troll's shoulder, as standing on top of that shoulder was a goblin unlike any he'd ever seen or heard of.
It was still the same short-looking green gremlin, however, it was clad in a dark-gray robe which looked too well-made for goblin craftsmanship, and it was wearing the skull of a monster over its head, covering the goblins facial features with gaps for only its bright-green eyes and small mouth.
The fancy goblin was holding what could only be described as a staff, and it was made out of a twisting branch which gave off a feeling of power that could be felt all the way up the cliff to where Xing was standing. On top of the staff was a twisted cage of intertwining roots which looked to be able to hold a round sphere, however, it was empty.
The goblin started speaking the goblin language in a loud, commanding voice which resounded out within the valley and reached up to the cliff, allowing Xing, Lei, and Umbra to hear.
Even though they could not understand the goblin language Xing and Lei could feel the charisma leaking from its commands, it was a natural-born leader.
"Umbra do you know what that leader goblin is saying?" Xing asked.
[No, but I can tell you that the pink flower in the center of the valley has something good and the goblin most likely wants to kill the flower, and take whatever it is.] Umbra explained
"Something good? It organized an army of thousands and a forest troll. Just to take something away from a little flower? How strong is that flower then?"
[Strong, very strong]
Horn blowing trumpeted out of the valley interrupting any further discussion. With the signal, the goblin army began its march toward the flower which was now swaying in the wind looking like a delicate angel.
The peaceful nature of the pink flower soon morphed, however. The moment the first goblin stepped into the patch of green grass the flower grew out from the ground becoming about half as large as the forest troll.
A gaping maw was revealed at the center of the flower petals- the pistil. Multiple rows of teeth, which looked like they could shred meat into pieces, also revealed themselves to the world.
The surrounding grass also grew into long vines. The vines at the back of the flower began firing out what appeared to be seeds at the oncoming goblin tide. These projectiles traveled at such a high velocity that they pierced through multiple layers of the goblin army, decimating the front rows and painting the ground red. The vines at the front became clubs, which either descended vertically into the ground and whacked goblins flat into roadkill, or they swept horizontally across vast swaths of the army and smacked goblins flying.
Vines that surrounded the deadly flower were taller than the other vines and they focused on whichever goblin was lucky enough to make it through the barrage and blockade. Or maybe it was unlucky for those goblins as the elite vines wrapped around them and tossed them into the flower's gaping maw which was creating a symphony of meat shredding.
It didn't take long for goblin casualties to pile up both figuratively and literally, as the charging goblins now had to contend with the vines while climbing over corpse hills of their fallen brethren.
The valley had become a goblin meat shredder and there was almost no color besides a viscous red present within.
Knowing that they would not win the battle without using the forest troll the goblin leader descended off its shoulder and commanded it to go and fight the flower.
The troll had no difficulty getting close to the monstrous flower, any front-line vine which came into contact with it just snapped, and the seed-projectiles barely even tickled the trolls itch.
Elite vines tried wrapping around the forest troll but they too were snapped, yet not as bad as the others as they quickly healed any damage and tried again, slowing the troll down.
Suddenly all of the vines still alive in the valley tried wrapping around the troll to keep it standing still. Using this moment the meat-eating flower sprang even farther out of the ground toward the troll, opening its jaw wider. Upon reaching the now immobile troll the flower clamped down and ripped off a chunk of meat off the troll's shoulder.
Screams of pain echoed through the valley as the trolls right arm dangled to its side through the tenacity of a few strands of muscle. Seeing the injury the goblin leader started drawing in mana from the surroundings and started babbling in an even weirder language.
Bright green light sprang up from the ground and entered into the body of the troll, turning its skin into a glowing green. This green light was more visible on the trolls right arm as it started healing rapidly.
Now with the absence of pain, the troll counterattacked the flower by smacking it with the tree club that was tightened in the trolls left hand, earning what sounded like painful sobs out from the flower's shredder-hole.
"Wow! Was that healing magic? What element was that? That goblin is way better than you at healing Xing!" Lei exclaimed.
She was a little too loud, however, as the goblin leader took his eyes off the clash of titans and stared up the cliff directly at the trio.
"Damn, time to leave Lei! You and your big mouth just had to ruin our viewing pleasure." Xing grabbed Lei who was now covering her mouth looking apologetic and ran off in the direction they came from.
Lei stuck out her tongue in a playful manner, "Whoopsies... Teehee."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Effectz
Effectz (2/6)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone