33 - Carin City [5]

We had two choices.

Practically, and for the sake of progress, we had one option to choose from.

The second was really nothing but a time waster. And that was the option of remaining where we were.

It offered no progress. No advantage towards clearing and closing this Gate.

So, in essence, we basically had only one choice to make — continue in the straight path in front of us.

There was nothing but dense darkness in front of us.

We struggled to see, the little we could see coming from the small shard of light that the moon offered from above.

"We have to keep going... through there," Bran stated the obvious, pointing a finger in front.

Everybody knew this was the only way.

We didn’t know where we were or what type of structure this was.

However, one thing was clear, at least to me.

’It was open,’ I thought to myself, deducing this from the fact that we could see the moon settled in the sky over us.

"Brian is right," Cecilia added.

She turned her eyes to Jeremy and nodded. "Get ready."

Jeremy confirmed his understanding with a follow up nod and shortly after, he summoned his weapon of choice into his grasp.

A long, fanciful bow with a quiver of arrows which he strapped on his back immediately after.

Jeremy was a long distance fighter. Ranger class to be precise and there was nothing that suited it better than a weapon that allowed for long distance use.

In his case, he chose to be an archer.

From the looks of it, senses were sharpening and everyone was alert.

The runic markings that lived on Cecilia’s body, like traditional tattoos, started to give off a mild glow as if they were going to be activated at any time.

Bran was ready, gauntlet tight and fitted around his fist and his body gradually being enhanced with his Essence.

Eris had already drawn her sword, choosing to stick with just that for now.

Wendy shut her eyes briefly. Essence started to gather in her cupped palms, manifesting as small, numerous orbs of light.

These orbs of light started to attach to each other, forming larger balls of light that were even much brighter.

With Wendy’s balls of light, the darkness that hovered around us was starting to retreat as we walked forward.

"Good work, Wendy!" Bran cheered her with a thumbs up.

She turned to me and I smiled and nodded, causing her face to flush red.

Jasper drew his daggers, allowing just some parts of them to be visible underneath his sleeves.

"Be careful. And stick together."

****

"Did you hear that?" Bran said, raising a hand to alert us to stop.

Wendy moved closer to me that very moment.

We had been walking for what felt like an hour or two since we crossed over from our world to this place.

Everything was just strange inside this Gate, even the manner time flowed. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

We all stopped at Bran’s behest, paying close attention to what it was that he might have heard.

A few minutes passed.

We were still standing there but the noise seemed to have faded back into the darkness.

Or so we thought.

It was as if they were waiting for us to lower our guards before they could strike.

—Swoosh!

In a single heartbeat, a wooden club spun its way towards Bran as he was the foremost member of the team and the one to likely be struck.

Reflexively, Bran raised his forearms, forming an X pattern with them upon which the wooden club struck.

This was all in a bid to block the attack and he was successful.

He turned to his team, looking at them from over his head.

"Stay alert! We are about to be—"

Before he could finish, small green creatures dashed forward and past him, heading towards his teammates.

The few that ran towards him, swung their crude wooden weapons, hoping to land one or two blows to the Warrior.

However, Bran was able to parry the attacks with his natural strength, speed and skill.

—Clank!

I and Eris blocked off club strikes with our swords, shoving the assailants back as far as we could.

That was the formation. We were the second line of defense after Bran.

"That’s a lot of them," Jeremy noted, loading and nocking about three arrows at the same time, preparing to fire.

We fought for a short time and it was starting to tell on our bodies.

’The goblins’ advantage is their frustrating numbers.’

These little green devils were not hard to kill. They simply had the numbers advantage.

—Shing!

The swords on our side flashed, dancing with Wendy’s light tendrils that slapped against several goblins, restraining them to a spot for killing.

—Bang!

The sound of the powerhouse’s attack.

Bran did not hold back, squashing them with thunderous punches. He was simply superior.

—Swoosh!

Jeremy’s arrows whistled through the air inside this Gate, finding its targets and piercing through their head, eyes and generally around the face.

The archer did not spare arrows, but there were no wasted shots either.

Watching as we fought, I can say that I was not surprised about Professor Kenivale’s decision to lump us together as a team.

Cecilia and Jasper, however, sat this round out.

They chose to protect Wendy instead against any goblins that made it past the rest.

However, that did not happen.

"Get away from him!" Wendy shouted from behind as a thick tendril of woods sprouted from the ground and wrapped itself around a goblin that snuck itself behind him.

The goblin was helpless.

As the pressure of the wood increased, the creature lost its grip on its weapon.

Its legs lifted off the ground as the tendrils extended into tree branches, sprouting small leaves on the sides.

The goblin tried to speak — perhaps, beg for mercy — but it couldn’t

—Snap!

With a cold gaze and unwavering intent, Wendy gestured her hands and the goblin’s neck was snapped in an instant.

The lifeless body of the goblin dropped to the ground with a thud.

This ability of hers was called [Guardian of the Divine Forest of Life], and ironically, it had just taken a life.