Monsters Uprising

The cleaver approached, but Sief stepped back as the blow collided with the ground in front of him.

Stones flew and the goblin king stared ready to advance, but Sief climbed on the non-blade side of the cleaver and surprised the monster, who retreated, but Sief jumped and slashed.

A metallic sound echoed, and the assassin saw that the alpha's shield had blocked the attack. Raising his head, he saw the monster advance, striking with his shield and pushing Sief, who fell but remained standing, watching the goblin king wield his cleaver again.

"Is this the first alpha I've seen wielding weapons like a human? Clubs are much simpler to wield, so does he have some level of intelligence?" Sief looked at the ground and saw the impact caused by the cleaver, still deep, but it led him to conclude, "But he's much weaker than the cave giant."

Again, the alpha advanced, and Sief dispelled the aura from his dagger as a horizontal attack aimed for his torso, causing him to look surprised as he concluded, "He's different from before."

Sief lowered his body and dodged the blow that passed overhead. Still in a low stance, he advanced and aimed a slash at the alpha's abdomen, but once again, the monster used his shield to strike and quickly turned to cut.

This time, Sief jumped over the slash and saw the sword approaching. He leaped over the weapon and lunged at the goblin king, thinking, "I'm much faster now, so much so that he seems slow."

The monster raised his shield again to strike, but Sief grabbed the alpha's defense, surprising him. Sief jumped over the shield and in the midst of the momentum, plunged his dagger into the monster's trapezius, causing him to roar. The goblin spun to strike, but once again, he only cut through the air as Sief looked at him out of reach.

He looked at his blade, now devoid of poison, and clicked his tongue, realizing he had lost focus for a moment. But soon the aura ignited on the blade again, and Sief saw the alpha frown with his forehead and grunt in pain.

Moving his shield in front of his body, the goblin king positioned the sword behind him, adopting a defensive posture that made Sief give a slight smile, continuing to walk towards the monster's reach.

"I feel light and can see all his moves, even though he's an alpha from a weak region, he's still an alpha..." He trembled slightly, seeming excited, but soon stopped walking when he was within reach of the monster, slowly returning to a serious expression as he concluded, "But I have to run, someone is waiting for me."

Sief tightened the grip on the dagger handle as the monster lunged with the shield.

The assassin quickly dodged to the side and saw the monster turn with the shield and strike with the cleaver, seemingly holding back his strength to strike faster.

But again, Sief dodged, moving around the monster's body, while he saw the alpha launch incessant blows still defensively trying to hit.

However, for a moment Sief's eyes shone brighter, and the boy advanced. The goblin was surprised and raised the shield, but Sief cut his arm that had not yet been withdrawn, opening a wound that shone green in the deepest layer, making the monster roar again and jump back.

Sief pushed forward, and the monster struck, but Sief passed under his arm, spinning in the same direction as the Goblin King and reaching his back, once again slashing and opening a wound from shoulder to hip of the alpha, who screamed turning angry, striking from top to bottom and descending his weapon with everything aimed at the head of the assassin who dodged again and stopped next to the arm of the goblin, enclosing his dagger in a stronger glow and stabbing, piercing the alpha's forearm who growled, extending his arm trying to grab the boy.

But Sief retreated away, running around the monster who whenever he tried to strike was punished with a poisoned cut.

Cuts came to his legs, arms, and torso, even his shield couldn't stop the blows, and his body weighed more and more with each cut, to the point that the grass around him began to turn slightly red.

The Goblin King roared striking, but his blow practically fell on the ground, and when he realized it, Sief was in front of him and again the goblin tried to grab him, but the boy stabbed the dagger into the goblin's head before his hand arrived, and the monster's eyes rolled back.

His face went to the ground, and Sief shook the dagger, getting rid of the monster's blood and stopping near the alpha, squatting by his side and forcing the monster's body to turn to the side.

After a few seconds of attempt, the monster was laid down on his back, and Sief grunted panting, stopping over the monster's body and finally searching.

"Even in light green zones, there's a big difference in level, he was much inferior in strength and speed compared to the other two... and he didn't give me any trouble compared to the Shaman..." with his dagger, he opened the goblin king's armor, checking if there were any items with him, but nothing was found, making Sief sigh slightly frustrated. "Because of these equipments, I thought he might have something for me; I hope I'll be strong in the dark green..."

Sief jumped off the monster's chest and continued following, opening the map and focusing his aura, which revealed his location that had slightly deviated from the route traced by the healer, forcing a slight smile as he resumed running on the ordered route.

"A little more to the side and I've already found an alpha... I wonder how far that guy walked here to get to this route..."

It didn't take long for Sief to cross the territory, and before the sun reached its peak, he was already facing another one, noticing the subtle change in scenery that remained verdant, but this time with fewer trees and larger stone elevations.

Sief saw that scenery ahead and threw his body forward, panting, with sweat dripping while his eyes sparkled.

"The name of this territory is Passage of the Winds... With each territory, the scenery changes slightly, but nothing too abrupt from what I've noticed, except for Forgotten Village..." Sief wiped his chin that was lightly dripping, using his shirt to clean his face and lift his head, feeling the freshness of the place, but soon furrowed his brow, looking at the map. "But that's hard, to maintain focus while running and still trying to stay alert in case monsters don't come, it's kind of a shortcut... but even if it doesn't infinitely waste my mana, it's quite a task..."

After resting for a few minutes, Sief wielded his dagger with one hand and held the map with the other, sighing as he continued to follow.

"At night I won't be able to practice, but at least I can keep hoping that I can rest to make up for all this..."

Even tired, Sief took a deep breath and started running again through a flowery field.

Along the way, he hid behind large rocks and trees, escaping from local monsters that were more animalistic and seemed to have a greater variety.

On his way, he passed under mounds and near a small lake, a somewhat different scenery for a territory, which made Sief wonder how many more different places like that still existed.

Following the route and taking advantage of the obstacles to hide, Sief managed to go unnoticed by most monsters as he followed, not escaping some confrontations due to bad luck, but thanks to the path and the run, he managed to see the end of the territory as night fell.

In a clearing without monsters, Sief dragged the body of a wild boar and two small horned boars, lit a fire under another mound that he used to hide a little more and avoid the cold wind.

Quickly he advanced against the animals and with his dagger he cut large pieces that were skewered, and then taken closer to the fire.

The wild boar's meat was tasty despite a slight bitterness at the end, while that of the horned boars was tough, and the taste was equivalent to eating dirt, making Sief spit with a furrowed brow, realizing that those monsters would serve for nothing more than pillows which he could use to cushion his head.

"Animals still have flavor, but when they turn into monsters too much... it gets terrible."

Thanks to the additional pillows and the wolf blanket, the night was very quiet and passed quickly due to fatigue.

Again, the day dawned and already near the end of the territory, Sief walked with wide and suffering steps due to the altitude, but as soon as he reached the top and found himself again in a flat area, the boy squeezed his eyes with a furrowed brow as he questioned himself.

"This can't be right..."

He raised the map and felt the cold wind blow on his face, while he furrowed his brow and stared at the path of obstacles ahead, which the healer probably indicated, consisting only of some stones and few trees due to the short vegetation.

But what stood out most in the scenery were monsters similar to the ghost willows that Sief had faced around Dokkel, but much larger and anthropomorphized, their arms were long and with long claws, in addition to sharp branches all over their bodies.

There were almost 20 of them, all connecting their arms through roots forming a shape around a single sprout emerging from the ground, raising the ground around it, indicating that something bigger was to come.

"This behavior is not normal for monsters, especially so many gathered in one place."

Sief swallowed dryly, but raised his dagger as he advanced and nervously stared as even from a distance the monsters turned to him.

"Could this somehow be the birth of an alpha?"