The next day, Vicente and his group left Millfall at dawn, setting off in their carriage back to Martell Village to pick up Eve and Nina.
Vicente had been communicating with his sister and Eve through letters since he arrived in Millfall. So he knew what had happened during this time in the village, and they knew the time was approaching for them to move out of the village.
Vicente had already sent a letter in a bird shortly after awakening his powers, warning them to prepare their bags for departure to Millfall.
Vicente's subordinates were also already aware, and those who would not stay in the village to maintain the Fuller family operation locally were prepared for their move.
The construction of the place where these men would work was already well advanced, and soon they would be able to live in that other place that Vicente had bought in Millfall.
With that, everything was ready for this move, and in a matter of hours, Vicente and Rory would arrive in the village!
...
Sometime after leaving Millfall, Vicente's group stopped on the dirt road between that town and Martell Village, noticing a fallen tree trunk in front of their group.
Stopping the carriage a few dozen meters from that trunk, the man commanding the horses frowned while his companions already had weapons in their hands.
Problems like this on roads were classic signs of criminal activity, so they all became alert when observing their surroundings, acting more cautiously.
"Rory, blow up that log," Vice said as he noticed the situation outside the carriage.
Rory and Vicente then left their carriage, with the red-haired young man closing his eyes and activating his ability while the black-haired fellow observed the surroundings.
An orange bow appeared in one of Rory's hands, and an arrow arose in the other as he molded his power to the best of his judgment.
A skill could be used in 'n' different ways. It all depended on its owner's ability to manipulate it and their creativity in thinking of alternative ways to use their powers.
Rory then fired that explosive arrow, making that orange glow move as fast as an ordinary arrow, hitting the middle of that trunk in the blink of an eye.
Then, as it collided with that long piece of wood, which didn't have much mana in it, given the poverty of mana in the area, it exploded, turning it into countless wood fragments.
The wood fragments flew in endless directions, heading for the outskirts of the forest but also for the position of Vicente's carriage.
The yellow pentagram on Vice's forehead shone brightly, and lightning appeared over the group, covering them like a cage of lightning.
All the fragments heading toward the group were destroyed until only dust was left behind. In contrast, the group's personnel remained prepared to act, either with their weapons or magical abilities.
Then, animalistic grunts arose from the surroundings of that area, indicating how many beings were around, probably trying to ambush Vicente's group.
"This sound..."
"Magical creatures?" The most experienced one there exclaimed as Vicente and Rory realized that they would face this kind of creature for the first time.
There were several types of magical creatures in Polaris Realm. There were the simpler ones, animals capable of using mana, usually called beasts. But there were also other types of beings, such as trolls, elves, dwarves, fairies, and giants. The list of beings was long.
In this area of Polaris Realm, the most common were beasts. Still, there were relative sightings of other types of magical beings.
Each race had its own characteristics depending on its origin, with some simply being very strong physically, while others had incredible magical abilities.
This was the case with elves and fairies, beings blessed by mana.
Conversely, Giants were extremely powerful physically but had no control over mana to form spells.
Vicente frowned as he heard the sounds of the beings in the surroundings and prepared himself.
A second later, a group of green creatures with humanoid bodies and strange faces, all of them with big noses and huge mouths that showed their sharp teeth.
Several of them had blood trails on their long arms, showing the signs of the previous log explosion.
They grunted some things to Vicente's group, but there was no way one side could understand the other.
Magical creatures had their ways of communicating with different beings, but for that, one of the two sides had to reach at least the 3rd stage.
Mages could alter their words by infusing mana into them, something that transformed them into a kind of sound understandable to beings of other races.
But with no one there at such a magical stage, neither side could dialog with the other.
"Goblins? Those creatures are scarce in this region!" Rory exclaimed as he held his position on guard.
"Besides, several of them are Intermediate Apprentices!" Vicente said, looking at the surroundings, counting 15 opponents, 6 of them at that level and 9 at the same level as Rory.
"What do we do, boss?" The oldest of Vicente's men asked, holding his rifle and aiming at the head of one of these creatures.
"What can we do besides kill them all?" Vicente said. "They are in our way, so kill them!"
With his authorization, those men no longer held back and finally squeezed the triggers of their guns, fulfilling the desire each of them had to kill someone that way.
Having weapons was a fantastic thing, but after the initial training, someone with such a powerful artifact in hand, like these men, could sometimes feel a certain desire to kill.
As strong-minded magicians, they would not go out, causing unnecessary massacres. But if a problem came their way and called for the use of these weapons, they would use them with a smile on their faces!
In this situation, they all demonstrated this by pressing the triggers of their weapons and firing at the strongest goblins.
Bang!
Four 'bangs' sounded, and four bodies fell on the outskirts of that narrow passage, where the group of goblins practically surrounded Vicente's carriage.
But even before these green creatures, armed with different kinds of weapons and some even with small armor, tried to escape, Vicente and Rory acted.
As the most talented ones there, who had recently awakened their powers and wished to unleash some of their skills against real enemies, there was no way these two would use their weapons in place of their powers.
Promptly upon hearing his friend, Rory utilized his powers and targeted the weakest enemies, directing several small orange arrows in their direction.
Simultaneously, Vicente felt the attraction of the metallic objects on some of the goblins and smiled, clenching one of his hands as a Red Pentagram appeared around him, and one of those beings began to scream in agony.
Unexpectedly, that goblin dressed in metal armor felt his whole body being clutched by the item around his torso, arms, and legs.
A second later, as the bodies of some of that goblin's companions fell to the ground with punctures in their heads, his face turned extremely red and then exploded.
Boom!
Blood and flesh exploded from inside the head of that Intermediate Apprentice goblin, scaring not only the other green creatures still standing but even the people in Vicente's group.
Gulp!
"What?"
