A nice, gentle breeze caresses my cheek as I soar through the cloudy skies, a long green forest of greenery spread across below me. Large birds flew over my head as they made their way towards the southern skies.
On my right was Alya, who was flying gracefully by surrounding her body in wind. Her long green hair fluttered gracefully; it seemed she had put up a wind barrier around her, as she didn't look like she was having any trouble with the wind pressure.
While on my left was Nikita, who was flying by flapping her wings noisily made out of lightning. Her silver hair was fluttering messily behind her back.
We flew at an altitude of 100 meters, making our way towards the northern parts of the Deki forest towards a remote village that had been having troubles with a group of goblins.
"Hm, I can already see it."
Alya said cheerfully.
Hearing her words, Nikita narrowed her crimson eyes at the forest below her. What reflected in her eyes was an old village with a rusty-looking iron fence surrounding it; judging by the width of the village, it was probably 300 meters.
The village didn't look like it had a lot of population.
"Hmm.... master, look at those fields."
Nikita said, pointing at the crop field. I turned my head to where she was pointing, and. Many green humanoid creatures with torn up clothing that held spears in their hands could be seen there, tarnishing the crops they ravaged the field, digging up the soil and picking the vegetables.
The villagers tried to fend them off, mostly the men with rake and shovel in their hands tried to fight back, their efforts end in vain as a goblin threw the spear in its hand and easily penetrated the shoulder of an elderly man.
"Argh!"
The man writhed in pain as he tried to pull the spear out of his shoulder. Watching this take place from the sky, I wore a pensive expression.
"Looks like things are really bad, even though goblins are weak monsters, they aren't to be underestimated in large groups."
Alya commented from my side. I closed my eyes for a brief second before giving my command.
"Alya, I want you to go and heal the wounded villagers. Nikita and I will take out the goblins."
"Understood."
"Yes, sir."
They both replied cheerfully. With our respective roles decided, we promptly made our move. I rapidly descended from the skies before holding out my hand.
"Mother of fire, blast my target, flare ball."
A magic two-layer formation was created before my palm as a torrent of flame gathered at the centre, condensing, before becoming a giant ball of flame that fell from the sky like a meteorite.
The goblins who were ravaging the crop fields stopped in their tracks as they felt the air becoming hot. They looked up to the sky simultaneously as the ball of flame fell onto their heads, turning them into ashes instantly.
The other goblins began to panic as they saw the others of their kind turned to ash and attempted to retreat into the forest, but-
"Haha... did you really think I'd let you?"
Nikita appeared behind them with a smile that wasn't a real smile. In the sky, many spears made of ice materialised and hovered behind her. With a single flick of her finger, the spears shot forward at a tremendous speed.
"Gagah!"
"Gahagh!"
"Gahah!"
The scream of each of the goblins resounded as the ice spears pierced their heads in one go, instantly freezing the upper half of their bodies. Meanwhile, Alya slowly approached a young man who was on his knees while holding his right shoulder, his face grimacing in pain. It was the man who had his shoulder penetrated by the spear that was thrown by the goblins earlier.
The villagers looked wearily at her as she approached closer.
"Please do not worry, we come in peace."
She said in a soft and gentle voice, Alya slowly squatted down, and her hands glowed faintly by a green light. She then proceeded to touch the shoulders of the man, his face turned beet red by the presence of the mysterious woman who was so close to him that he could easily smell the nice fragrance oozing from her body.
She was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. Soon, the wound on his shoulder closed as the blood stop.
Alya then stood up while carefully observing the villagers present to see if there were any other wounded among them.
"Gahagh!"
I sliced my sword through the abdomen of the goblin, killing it instantly. It was the last one of my sides while.
"Gahagh!"
Nikita held out her palm as a gale of cold air shot out, freezing the body of the goblin. It seems she had taken out all the remaining ones; now, everything should be fine for now, at least. With the goblins now taken care of, the villagers were at ease. Among them, an elderly woman with long, wavy white hair who seemed to be in her thirties stepped forward and approached us while lowering her head.
"Thank you for helping us in our time of need."
The woman said in a clear and gentle voice. I shook my head before speaking.
"No, we were merely doing our job as adventurers. Please don't worry about it."
I replied. Alya and Nikita both nodded their heads in agreement.
"Oh my, how humble of you. In that case, can I assume you are the adventurers we hired to rid us of those filthy goblins?"
"Yes, we have accepted your request. Now, if you don't mind, would you explain the situation to us?"
"Of course, sure thing, please let us chat at a more comfortable place."
She said as she turned her back and walked towards a wooden house in the distance. I exchanged looks with Alya and Nikita before following after her retreating figure.
***
We were now seated around a large circular wooden table. Alya was seated on my right, while Nikita was seated on my left, the woman who introduced herself as the village chief, Miss Artina.
Tea was prepared by a young girl who seems to be a relative of Miss Artina.
"Now then, I will explain everything about what has been happening to our village recently."
Artina said after bringing her teacup to her mouth. According to her, their village had been attacked by goblins for the last two weeks.
In the day, goblins would appear and ravage their crop fields, destroying all the vegetables and demolishing the fields.
That wasn't the worst part; the goblins would also appear at night and kidnap the young women and female children and take them back to the forest. Whenever someone follows them into the forest, they would end up losing sight of them almost instantly.
Many female villagers were already kidnapped by the goblins and were never seen again.
Hearing that story, my brow furrowed into a deep and unpleasant frown.
Alya and Nikita also wore unpleasant expressions, which is to be expected; they were both women, so I guess they could imagine how unpleasant it must have been to be taken away by those goblins.
"I wonder why they keep taking away female villagers?"
I wondered aloud.
"Goblins are humanoid creatures; as such, they prefer to have children with human females to increase their population."
Nikita explained. Her voice had taken on a colder tone than usual.
Eh! Wait, isn't that bad? It's already been two weeks since they were taken away by those goblins; the chances of them still being fine seem really low. Finding them would also be extremely difficult.
I sighed internally; this wasn't going to be easy.
"Don't worry, I'll be back."
Alya said before her body suddenly turned into wind and vanished from everyone's sight, which caused Artina and the young girl to widen their eyes in a show of surprise.
"Goodness, that lady just now was one of the spirits?"
She asked in surprise.
"Yes, she is a great spirit, actually."
I said, correcting her, I guess I could just leave the job of finding their location to Alya. I'm sure if it is her, then she can handle it.
"Hmph, show off..."
I thought I heard Nikita mutter something, but when I turned my head to her, she turned away.
Well, I guess their rivalry hasn't changed. I could only give a wry smile.
"Anyway, I'd like to ask, isn't there anyone in this village capable of combat?"
I inquired curiously; the village is right before the forest.
If there were no one here capable of doing combat, then how did this village survive until now? Aside from goblins, there were other dangerous creatures inside the forest.
I didn't see anyone with combat experience around while observing the villagers. How did they deal with monsters until now?
Nikita also seems to be curious about the same thing as she stared at Artina while narrowing her crimson eyes.
"Well... there were a few of them, after the goblins attacked and kidnapped the females, many of them went after the goblins and had yet to return."
She explained. For a brief moment, a sorrowful look flashed across her face. I see, I held my tongue, reading the room, I guess she probably had someone she deeply loved among the ones who have yet to return.... Nikita also kept her silence, reading the room.
***
Inside the Deki forest, a few kilometres from the village, a lone woman with long silky green hair dancing in the wind could be seen standing on a tree branch. The woman was, of course, Alya.
Her emerald eyes had caught sight of a few goblins; instead of instantly annihilating them, she chose to follow them stealthily from the trees.
After following them for roughly 20 minutes, they arrive at a cave that was neatly hidden by the trees. The goblins slowly made their way towards the entrance, Alya attempts to follow behind them, when suddenly-
"Aaaah! Help us!"
A scream came from the inside. Three elderly men came frantically running out with frightened expressions. This startled the goblins. Alya was also startled by this sudden development.
However, her sharp emerald eyes became stern as she sensed a powerful aura coming from behind the men.
A large shadow then came swooping down, and the giant mouth of the creature was opened. The man running at the back saw a sharp tooth as he was swallowed by the creature.
The two remaining men ran outside, not bothering to even glance at the goblins in their path, as they weaved their way through, they exited the cave and attempted to run into the forest.
The giant creature devoured the goblins before chasing after the two men.
Once the creature made its way out, Alya could now easily see the creature's features of the creature and was surprised by what she had seen.
"A black serpent."
She muttered under her breath; her emerald eyes widened as she observed the creature. Indeed, it was a large snakelike creature with black skin and the size of its menacing body easily measured 40 meters.
It looked at the two men with its reptile-like eyes as it hissed with its long tongue flicked out, the black serpent glared at the two men like a beast that had found its food. It then moved in a zig-zag pattern while chasing after the two men, who frantically tried to make their way inside the forest.
It opened its huge mouth to devour them, and a shield made of condensed wind appeared behind them as a woman with long green hair appeared.