Spirit Taming

Chapter 46: Hobgoblin

Crim released an angry roar toward the demented hobgoblin. The response was a gargled roar that made them all want to cover their ears out of disgust. This mutated hobgoblin was something that should not have come to be and could easily go on a killing spree just because it could. There was absolutely no reason within its head.

The demented hobgoblins large fists contacted Crim and sent him flying. Ralph thought for sure that Crim would be completely defeated. Fortunately, Ralph was utterly wrong. He had no idea that Crim was a slime dragon. That being said, when Crim got back up without a scratch on him, Ralph's eyes popped from his head.

"Your dragon is better than I thought." Ralph rushed to circle the demented hobgoblin to find an opening. His boar charged in but found that the demented hobgoblin easily dodged and swung its arm at him. However, at that moment a single arrow pierced its shoulder. Causing its attack to miss the boar by inches.

"Good shot, good distraction." Clark used the crescent motion slash to cut a deep wound in the arm of the demented hobgoblin. The putrid blood flowed out of its body but the demented hobgoblin didn't seem to notice the pain. Instead, it just screeched loudly before charging Crim again.

Since Crim had stood up and rushed back in to battle, that made him the main target. The movement didn't help to avoid the problem of being targeted by the mutated creature. Unfortunately, the demented hobgoblin used another of the attacks within its repertoire. It grabbed Crim's leg and swung Crim around as if he was a pillow.

"Clark!" Maria worried about Crim when Crim flew to the side landing on the ground. Crim, on the other hand, stood up before stumbling. The broken off leg had torn away leaving what Ralph and Maria would expect to be blood pouring from his wound.

"Crimson, no more fooling around. Shred that worthless thing and you are welcome to eat what you can." Hearing Clark use his full name was like an on switch for Crim and Devi. They both became serious. The small bite wounds that appeared on the demented hobgoblin were ignored as weak attacks that did nothing.

Crim ignored the missing leg and rushed to where the demented hobgoblin had dropped it. He opened his mouth and swallowed it whole to the horror of Ralph and Maria. However, Clark did not even flinch. Instead of showing pain that he should receive due to their bond, he stood solid in his stance waiting to attack.

Crim's leg quickly regrew right in front of their eyes before Crim roared again. This time the roar was extremely serious as Crim wanted revenge for the potential attack that could have hurt him. Ralph had no idea what sorcery he had just witnessed. What he saw was an impossibility to his knowledge. Maria was fairly the same.

The encouragement from Clark was enough to have Crim dash in with vigor. Crim's claws were constantly leaving slashes in the demented hobgoblin while Clark matched the wind ups. Every time there was a gap in attacks, Clark would use the crescent moon slash, Maria would fire an arrow, or Ralph would deliver a solid punch to a sensitive area.

The bite marks that Devi created weren't even registered until the chilling feeling numbed the demented hobgoblin. It gave Ralph's boar better chances to charge in and jab with its tusks.

"Everyone jump back!" Clark felt something was off since the hobgoblin had stopped moving.

Everyone moved back while the demented hobgoblin raised its arms and sucked in a deep breath. There was no reason in the attack since the hobgoblin was losing so much blood from the constant attacks.

In a flurry, it began slamming its overly muscled arms in a tantrum. "It's losing its mind!" Ralph jumped back to even further ensure that his boar would have the space to escape the ground shattering fists.

"We'll stand back and wait. Maria and I will attack at long range!" Clark knew that he would be able to at least hit the raging hobgoblin with the black needles. Maria was already notching another arrow.

The change that Clark saw in Maria was very impressive. It was as if she had entered in to another world where the only thing that mattered was archery. Her target and her firing an arrow perfectly. The training this took was extreme.

The trained motion that Clark had begun to ingrain within his muscles was effortless. He threw two black needles hitting the hobgoblin and changing the direction of its attacks. Using ghostly steps, Clark was able to keep moving away.

Every attack came slower and slower toward the group as they saw the light dim in the raging demented hobgoblins' eyes. Before Clark and Maria could attack again it fell. The ground shook slightly.

Crim roared in victory as Ralph's boar snorted stomping the ground. Lit was already on the move trying to heal the scratches and bruises everyone had unknowingly gained through the stones being kicked up.

"Good job. Good job." Clark realized that he was barely catching his breath. He had stopped focusing on it because of the adrenaline and chaos of battle. Now he was able to lean in Crim and catch himself.

"What in the hell just happens with this thing! With your dragon! With it all!?" Ralph caught up with his mentality before Clark. He and his boar were completely focused on Crim.

"No one else knows yet. But this is a slime dragon. Crim is different from a normal dragon. He wasn't born from two dragons coming together. He was born from the bones and essence of a dead ancient dragon." Clark felt that he understood who Ralph was to a degree and decided to trust him with this.

"That thing, is a demented hobgoblin. It mutated and changed in to a monster. We should have run but together…we won." Glancing at Maria, Clark saw her unsteady on her feet. "We will tell them about this attack too."

Clark made the decision to add this to the explanation of how this training had gone. However, he felt that he wasn't done with the enemy they had just defeated.

The ground around the hobgoblin had been crushed along with many gray stones. There were pieces of rock and holes in the ground.

'Shattered cemetery stone-uncommon

Cemetery stone is only created through the death of many living creatures on top of normal stone. Shattered cemetery stone naturally gathered spiritual and death energy to the area it exists. Whole pieces can be used to create unique mausoleums.'

"Let's clean up this area and take what we can. There may be some goblin blood grass over around the trees. I'm going to take these cemetery stones." Clark pushed for them to keep moving forward. Someone had to push things forward as a leader.

Maria just began recovering her arrows. Her silent actions made them realize that she had started to lock herself away from the situation. It was the same for Ralph but he was still full of enough adrenaline to keep moving.

"We can set up camp away from here after this. We need rest and recovery." Clark used a hard tone while saying this. He would not allow anyone to do anything foolish.