A Tree, A Lumberjack and A Librarian

“You’re good with the sword.”

Joy looked at Voidborn who was running towards her, casually casting another volley of blue fireballs.

“Thank you.”

The fireballs smashed into another vine wall that the shaman had erected, burning mini craters in it before spreading its hungry flames across.

But it was never enough. The shaman would simply send the vine walls flying to the side, discarding it before summoning another one.

There was no end to the cycle. None of them could get the upper hand on each other.

“It’s unfortunate, but to kill it off, I would need to use an advanced spell. I need some time to cast it.”

“Got it.”

Joy tore a page from her tome and held it out.

“Take this. Use it on your weapon.”

Voidborn looked at it. It had a spell diagram on it. The diagram was simple yet intricate in detail.

A large glowing upward-pointing triangle was enclosed in a perfect circle which had flame-like drawings adorned all around it. Inside the triangle, intricate flaming symbols burned in shades of orange and crimson, speaking of the inescapable heat it contained.

It was as if he was looking at a symbolic sun.

“It’s a fire enchantment spell,” Joy said. “Chant Ignite when you cut the paper with your sword.”

“Does the enchantment hurt the weapon?”

“No.”

“How long does it last?”

“About ten minutes? But of course, if your sword gets drenched by water, the fire goes out.”

Voidborn nodded.

He took the paper from her and did as she instructed.

The moment the blade cut through the piece of paper, the air above the sword wavered.

He could see no flames, perhaps due to the Cloth of Light, but he could feel the inextinguishable heat radiating from his sword.

Then he knelt down.

“Are you not going?” Joy asked.

“I am.”

Then he clenched his leg muscles and sprinted towards the shaman.

A vine was sent piercing towards him, but Voidborn simply ducked to the side and sliced the root. The vine flopped to the ground like a piece of discarded rope, flames spreading across the vine from the slice point.

He looked at his blade and nodded internally.

It was time to burn and rip the weeds.

A deafening crash echoed from the other side of the camp.

Voidborn glanced over instinctively.

A hut collapsed into splinters.

Chaewon burst through the debris like a raging beast, blood dripping from her forehead as she chased the retreating hobgoblin.

The monster swung its crimson greatsword.

Rei answered with a volley of fireballs, each one flying towards the joints of the hobgoblin.

“Fucking shit,” Chaewon grumbled. “When will that stupid armour break? How dare you use my leader’s skills.”

Cracks were seen all over the red plate covering the hobgoblin’s body, but no matter how much Chaewon punched or kicked, it refused to break.

“This is the only time I hate my leader so fucking much,” she growled, rolling between the hobgoblin’s legs, before lunging upwards to drive a fist into its back. “Why did he have to be so strong.”

Her knuckle clashed into the red armour, bouncing off with a loud clang.

The hobgoblin twisted and swung its greatsword around, trying to cleave the human apart, but she had crouched down to duck.

It was an irritating human, constantly rolling between its legs, weaving between its blind spots.

But it was not stupid.

Already anticipating another roll, it used the momentum of the missed half-moon cleave, and twisted its bottom into a sweeping kick.

Its foot crashed into the human’s arm as she raised to deflect it with a guard, but the hobgoblin growled and flexed its quadriceps and sent her flying into another hut.

“Fuck—that hurt, you piece of shit.”

Chaewon darted out from the debris, charging towards the hobgoblin again.

Her body was bruised with wounds all over, and blood flowed out of her skull, flowing down her face in branching streams.

But Chaewon wasn't unhappy.

In fact, the more she got hurt, the wider she smiled.

“You suck at using a greatsword, stupid goblin,” she taunted.

Voidborn looked over and focused his eyes, looking at the both of them.

Crimson flooded his vision.

It swallowed the hobgoblin.

It swallowed Chaewon.

For a brief moment, he could not tell which of the two was the monster.

He sliced off another vine coming for his heart. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Chaewon seemed to be faster than before. The impact of her punches also seemed to be stronger.

The hobgoblin swung.
Chaewon doesn’t dodge.

The greatsword cut into her shoulder
She doesn’t care.

She grabbed its arm and locked it in place.

Left fist clenched.

Punch.
Punch.
Punch.

The greatsword drops from the hobgoblin’s right grip.

The red armour around its wrist was smashed into pieces.

Punch.

A hole was punched through its wrist.

The hobgoblin responds with a massive headbutt.

Chaewon gritted her teeth and took it on.

Her head shook in pain, but she leapt back and looked at the hand in her palm.

She smiled and tossed it aside.

“Time for the other hand.”

The hobgoblin howled and tried to retreat, but Chaewon was already in front of it.

She lifted her foot and slammed it down, smashing the armour covering its right foot into pieces, burying its toes deep underground.

The hobgoblin opened its mouth and chomped on her shoulder.

She gritted her teeth.

Left foot raised, she stomped on its other feet, crushing it as hard as she could.

“There we go~” Chaewon grinned. “Toes crushed on both sides.”

She smirked as she watched tears cascade down the hobgoblin’s cheeks behind its red helmet.

“You know, I really like symmetry.”

She smiled and grabbed on to its other hand, blasting its wrist to bits with another punch, before tossing the dismembered hand aside.

The hobgoblin raised its stubby arms with no hands and cried in pain. It tried to wiggle its fingers, but to its lowly bestial brain, it didn’t know that nerves do not have wireless technology, disallowing them from connecting to its hands laying meters away.

“Oh? No hands?”

Chaewon’s eyes blazed in anger.

“How about no—”

She flexed her calves and swung her leg with an air cutting snap.

“—fucking feet for you too?”

The hobgoblin roared in agony as the kick crushed the armour, smashing the bones of both of its ankles into dust in a single devastating low kick.

Losing their ability to support its large frame, the hobgoblin fell backwards onto the ground, its ankles bent, feet still embedded into the ground.

Chaewon walked towards the hobgoblin that was still thrashing around in pain. Her stride was silky and controlled, each step perfectly silent — a stark contrast to the boiling rage in her eyes.

She stepped over its torso and straddled the hobgoblin’s waist.

The ensuing barrage for closure did not last more than ten seconds.

With a smile, she raised her fist and smashed it into its right cheek.
“This is for my leader.”
The helmet cracked.

She raised her left fist.
“This is for my leader.”
The helmet shattered.

She rained punches down on the hobgoblin’s face, repeating what she said like a ritualistic chant.

Left.
Right.

Fingers plunged into its eyes.
Eyeballs burst with pops.
Spheres replaced with jello.

Fingers pinching its nose.
Broken with a crunchy twist.
Nostrils deformed beyond recognition.

Fists slammed onto its mouth.
Teeth pounded into dust.
Throat choked by calcified powder.

Chaewon continued abusing the hobgoblin’s face, sending an endless barrage of her uncontained anger into it.

Then she realised.

There was nothing left to smash.

The hobgoblin's head had long been pounded into mushy liquid, its blood, flesh, and skull ground into a crimson, powdery goo that seeped into the ground.

Crack.

Something rolled free from the headless body’s neck.

A crimson stone.

It was done.

She looked at her hands.

Her brass knuckles were gone, ground into dust along with her assault.

She looked up into the sky.

She screamed a cry of victory.

She had won.

She had taken revenge.

But tears started to run down her cheeks.

Why wasn't her leader coming back?

Chaewon slammed her fists onto the ground, helpless at the sense of loss welling in her heart, crying as she didn't know what to do.

Rei looked at Chaewon and shuddered.

“Don’t make her angry. Got it.”

She turned to look at shaman.

To the far side, a shriek of panic suddenly pierced through the sky.

Rei turned.

Joy's spell was finally ready.

She watched the performance with her eyes.

A Tree, A Lumberjack and A Librarian

— Act One —

Introduction

A shaman wrapped in its vine armour like a tree.

An expressionless man with an invisible sword.

A learned lady with a library in her hands.

— Act Two —

The Performance

A dance of passion, he circled and weaved with ambition.

A desire for survival, it blocked and regenerated all attacks with desperation.

A thirst for annhilation, she focused and chanted for obliteration.

— The Final Act —

Absolute Conclusion

The tree screeched for mercy.

The man retreated to safety.

The woman conducted its finality.

A red spear so large, yet so small.

A red glow so bright, yet it blazed white.

A red tip so sharp, yet what could it signify.

A pierce.

A guide.

All aimed for its demise.

All it took was a glance of her eyes.

All it could do was feel the spear coming for its life.

— Fin —

Rei watched with dumbfounded eyes.

It was terrifying.

A giant flame spear that shunk to the size of an arrow.
A whirlwind that spun around the spear.
A gigantic fire hammer that hovered behind the spear end.

She watched as Joy’s tome flashed a mix of green and red.

Joy clasped her palms together and swung them to the back, then swinging it back to the front with an exaggerated baseball smash.

“Spell combo: Flaming Lance Pierce.”

Three pages tore from her tome and turned into dust.

Bang.

The hammer smashed into the hovering spear that was spinning rapidly from the whirlwind.

A gaping hole appeared in the shaman's torso as the flame spear crashed into it, the torque provided from the rotation turning it into a drill.

Flames ignited from inside of the shaman, spreading across its body as its armour encased the fire within.

It screeched in agony.

Its vine armour had become its own coffin, keeping the flames in as its cells were burnt into cooked meat.

But that was not all.

Joy’s tome flashed red again.

“Flame Spear.”

She waved her hands in the form of a star.

A flame spear stabbed out from the ground and pierced upwards, penetrating the shaman’s spine.

Four more stabbed into its limbs from the ground and sky, impaling its bones.

Chaewon looked over.

The shaman had been subjected to the same state as her teammates, crucified into a star, wailing in agony as the flames consumed it alive.

Joy waved her hand once more.

“Flame Hammer.”

A red hammer appeared above its head and smashed downwards, bashing the shaman’s head right into the gaping hole in its torso.

It was done.

Derrick and the rest of the raid team ran over, having finished off the remaining goblins.

They all stared at the flaming star, watching the sinner burn as if it were an offering to the dead.

Voidborn looked at Chaewon.

She was kneeled on the ground, her leader’s stone gripped tightly in bruised and bloody hands.

Her heart was full of red anger, but it was no longer boiling.

It was now a sea of calm red.

Voidborn wondered what it would feel like to be angry for someone.

He wished to understand.

But when he looked at Chaewon, he felt that it would perhaps be something he would regret wishing for.

Silence filled the air.

The smell of blood soaked into the destroyed camp.

The miasma had long dispersed with the death of the shaman.

Everyone gathered around the hobgoblin’s corpse, assessing their injuries, gathering the spoils.

Voidborn looked at the Rebirth stones the group had retrieved from the corpses and weapons.

Seven gleaming stones of different colours.

One from Chaewon’s leader, five from her teammates, and one more from the shaman’s body.

“So what now?” Jimin asked.

“Now I reap.”

Nobody had sensed her arrival.

Not Derrick.

Not Joy.

Not even Voidborn.

A woman walked out from behind the burning shaman star.

Her eyes swept across the collected Rebirth stones.

Then she smiled.

"Thank you for gathering them for me."

INFOGRAPHIC