‘They even manage to push it to use its incomplete form,’ Another voice said. Rue had to blink as the figure appeared beside Cel. A monkey walked out of the shadow carrying a spear.

  “Quest complete,” Benedict muttered beside him.

  Rue nodded an understanding; their quest had been different from his own. Then out of thin air, a blue chest manifested in front of Benedict. The chest fell with a thump. Alquin and the others also had a chest summoned near them. And their eyes are scanning the prompt, no doubt of the quest completion.

  Everything that happened is overwhelming. Who freed Cel? Yet, despite everything. Rue kept his eyes on the Golden Kobold. It has fattened up, like a blob of monstrous mess covered in gold. Yet, its limbs have all grown back. But this transformation is clearly not ideal.

  The King Salar spun around, its eyes settling on the enemy from every corner. Animals trickling from the darkness, their eyes shone with light, reflecting their desire to murder.

  Rue wanted to close in, but the moment he does, no doubt he will use that new serpentine gold-clad wing of his. But, its body has become a blob of a grotesque mess of gold that no doubt should be heavier than his earlier overgrown hand.

  It shouldn’t be able to

  Salar flipped. It's now completely golden wing; it rose up in a launching zap of golden streak, completely unburdened, unlike earlier.

  “Fuck” Rue muttered. He could only look up as the Golden creature soared, dappling in the white of moonlight.

  Paxwell aimed a Mana Arrow up, ignoring the chest that had fallen down from the branches, and he was standing up. The arrow shot was easily dodged by the Kobold.

  Gilbert clenched his hand around his sword. “What the hell! It can fly again.”

  ‘Calm down, human, it will fall down.’ Cel spoke into their mind. The stag merely watched the distant shadow of the Golden Kobold. Rue noticed how he seemed eager, and his tone sounded like… like he was convincing himself.

  “What do you mean by that? Stag, Cel,” Paxwell asked.

  Cel's snout gazed at Paxwell up above. ‘How do you know my name?’

  “That Kobold. Salar is their king. He was aiming to be a dragon.” The monkey spoke this time, smiling at them. “In the end, he decided to walk down the profession of Gold Alchemy. He figured out a way to become a Golden dragon and in the process to do so. But that blob of mess is an incomplete form you humans pushed him into. When he was in that form, he is strong, almost as strong as if he managed to be a full quasi dragon…”

  “But?” Gilbert asked. The man is clearly hoping for a but.

  The monkey dipped his head and gave a warm smile. “But, that form has plenty of weaknesses, such as… He could only fly up.” As the monkey finished its word, the shadow of the Golden Kobold grew bigger, and the king, dragged down by gravity, approached them at a fast pace. “The gold is way too heavy after all.”

  ‘Cel of the Stag,’ A chilling voice called out. A lion with a bustling mane stepped around Cel. Threateningly, yet still showing resistance. ‘Your execution will wait until we take care of the Dragon Dreamer’

  ‘I know’

  “Execution?” Rue asked, the word left him before he knew it. The lion glanced at him, glowering with a clear displeasure. Near the treelines that surround them, the same reaction pointed at Rue.

  “Careful, Rue,” Benedict warned. “They didn't know you,” he reminded.

  ‘This does not concern you,’ The lion replied, with its mouth seething.

  “Now, now get along.” The monkey said. “It's coming, Flan” he motioned to a flamingo who stepped out of the bushes at his urging. “Will you soothe those humans? Three of them straining their Vein,” He pointed at Emily, Rue, and Rino.

  A pink flamingo stepped over to where Rue is, its neck craned curiously. The flamingo's pointy eye glowed blue; Rue could tell it pushed Mana to try to see something inside of him.

  ‘Human, step over to the tree line! All of you.’ A voice quaked inside his head; it must be the flamingo. ‘Let them do the fighting! You three are on the cusp of breaking your access to Magic forever.

  Rue looked at Benedict, who shrugged. It won’t be long before the Kobold reaches the ground; the fact that it hasn’t is concerning – that means those wings had a great power behind them that was able to propel that golden, bulky body of the King.

  Still, though, Rue wanted to join the fight.

  ‘Come on! Human!’ The flamingo screeched into his head. Rue glared at the bird.

  ‘Are we going?’ Rue asked Rino and Emily through their telepathy.

  ‘I don’t think we had a choice, Rue. Behind here, they had assigned some uh – Koala? Some freaking Koala watched over us, and they hid a dagger under their arm!’ Emily exclaimed.

  ‘We should go, the quest is completed. And the other will be once we let them deal with the Kobold King; I, for once, want to open this chest already. Oh! I know it suck for you since you needed to save the lioness, but still…’

  ‘Uhm… Rue, Rino, Emily? Sorry, they can hear you,’ Rita sent a thought sheepishly. ‘My mind stat is too low, making all these conversations leak out to a better telepath user’

  ‘Human! I can hear you! You have some explaining to do! But, first, I will help you with your Magic Vein come!’ The Flamingo called Flon seethed. ‘If Ruma heard this…’

  ‘He won’t,’ Cel voiced inside their mind. ‘Only Me, Flon, and Maru can hear the leaked telepath. None of us will tell them,’ The stag still has his snout up, antlers ready to pierce the falling Kobold. ‘Let's make you a deal, if you tell us everything that happened, once the fight is over. Then they do not need to know’

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ‘Cel!’ Flan exasperated. ‘Your situation is bad enough…’

  ‘O-hoh, I don’t mind keeping it a secret,’ Another voice said. Rue noticed the monkey's eyes twinkled in excitement, peeking at him as other animals, way bigger than him, busied around preparing for the Kobold King. ‘I’m full of curiosity.’

  ‘Fine then,’ Flan gave up. ‘But, I will pretend not to know anything if he found out. Anyway, now healing!’ The Flamingo plopped over to where Emily is, expecting Rue and Rino especially, to follow. ‘Come, my children!’

  From a small bush, small flamingos marched out in a line, a dozen of them. They jumped onto Emily's shoulder, head, and hand. She looked around, confused, no doubt thinking to shrug them off.

  Rue followed the Flamingo, with Rino, Gilbert, and Benedict in tow, along with those blue chests under their arms. His eyes wandered to where Yom and Eve are. Then he saw a doe pushing its mana by tapping its snout on Yom's wound. Emily now looked much relaxed, but not averting her eyes from the grave wound.

  ‘They will be fine,’ Flan said.

  ‘Thank you for this. But, how did you guys get freed?’ Rue asked as he settled against a trunk. The small flamingos on top of Emily started to flap their wings, and Mana flowed into their beak.

  What are they trying to do?

  ‘Rejoice, human! You will see my children at work. First, they will identify your vein and pluck off the corruption.’ Flan exclaimed, completely ignoring his question. ‘Of course, the Magic Vein regeneration will completely depend on yourself. If you have a cleansing skill, then you will be-‘ Flan stopped, he stared at Rue, craning his thin neck around. ‘You have one! How convenient. Good, good, you can join the fight once I’m done with you.’

  “They’re pecking at my vein,” Emily grumbled. One of the small flamingos stood on her hand and pushed its beak. “It’s ticklish,” She grumbled again.

  “Come here, Human!” Flan said out loud suddenly, he motioned Rue closer with his wing.

  “You can speak the whole time?” Rue asked. He sat down so the flamingo towered over him. Flan is half the size of him.

  The Flamingo plopped around Rue, circling as if identifying something, with his beak – he pushed away the blue tattered robe around his neck and nodded, pecking his side neck while he at it.

  “I just learnt it!” Flan said.

  “What do you mean, you just learned it?” Rue asked incredulously.

  “I have a high-mind stat, even higher than Cel, so I can guess the pattern of your language, and natural words that will form from it,” The Flamingo said. “My passive skill also allowed me to understand things much more easily.”

  “There are all kinds of skills, huh? Will any of them be fine?” Rue pointed at Cel among various animals. Dozens of them, each ready to welcome the King. He saw a horse, tapping its hind legs, glowing with white hooves. The Lion’s claw extended with a claw that seemed to be made of darkness. Even Koala with a spear raised toward the moon.

  “Most of them will die, no doubt.”

  “What?” Rue blinked. “But, we were-“

  “You were winning? Yes, but against the current Salar? Well, we will see.”

  The king finally fell through the tree line and once more entered the dense green of the forest. From atop the great tree, a sickle of green wind flew straight at the blobbing body – the spell harmlessly disappeared.

  As Salar kept falling, more and more spells were thrown at him. None worked; that huge, golden-armored body brushed off each and every spell. The King approached the ground, and it opened its eyes at the ground forces.

  Cel’s directly beneath the falling king. He crouched, six-legged, and pushed against the ground. His antlers glow with a white, majestic light; they sharpen at their end like a spear-point. Then the stag jumped, white antlers, toward the Golden Body.

  The king Salar flapped his wing once, positioning his overweight body, and aimed his right talon straight at Cel. The bulky five-talon arm crashes against the stag’s antlers. Mana coalesced at their exchange – Two radiance lights blinded the forest, and a warm yet suppressing heat shone like a sun source.

  Cel was thrown to the ground, the six-legged stag spun in a sickening crunch, before pushing himself up and skidded across the earth expertly, in a balance a six-legged creature granted.

  The King, however, crashed below – Cel's strike did not send it sprawling like the king's attack did. Earth groans as his fall created a slight cavern, caving the ground around his body. The animal managed to evade the aftershock, and they growled at the sorry excuse of the golden dragon.

  From the dust that swirls around its golden body, moonlight seeped in, drenching the dirty dust in a white shaft of light. Yet, even the moonlight couldn’t hide that empyrean golden glow from the King's body – with the dust obstructing its grotesque form, the King looked almost beautiful.

  The animals roared, three horses kicked off the ground, and leapt toward the swirl of dust.

  With a great sweep of golden hand, the dust parted – and bright talon raked two horses, sending their body splayed into the sky, coloring the night with bright red.

  A lion howled, its mane rustling against the wind. ‘Keep going!’ A voice boomed through Rue’s head.

  Another three horses charge in, on top of them are the koalas holding spears, lancing straight at the King's body.

  The horses’ feet glow white – their body carried forward in a burst of speed. Crackle of lightning burst, frying most of them, but one pair of power through – only to have the Koala’s spear broken in a loud snap. Salar moved in lightning speed, chomping down on the Koala and the horses – both of their head were gone, and their body fell lifelessly.

  Then, from behind Rue, a large foliage of tall grass parted. “Emily, watch out!”

  Emily rose his eye, she seemed to enjoy the healing the baby flamingo provided. She gazed back to see a massive black bear appear. She jumped, dodging the charging animal. Three of them almost trampled her. “Rino, Gilbert dodge!” She screamed as she was safe.

  Both Rino and Gilbert, almost a second too late. They rolled toward where Rue and Benedict are, along with Flan.

  “Bloody hell! You Animals!” Gilbert shouted. Rue noticed A bluish mace on his right arm, the reward of the frost chest.

  Rino, on the other hand, had a staff almost as tall as he is. Those are beautiful items with frozen engraving slithering along their wood, inlaid with slight silver.

  “Bear is always so inpatient.” Flan shook his head.

  Rue is still worried about the battle; the King is dominating them. At this rate, they would just be throwing bodies away.

  “Flan?”

  “What is it, human?”

  “Can you get my Magic Vein down fast?”

  Flan cocked his head. He's been plucking on and off Rue’s vein along his neck.

  “Yes, I can. But that will drain my mana. The question is. Are you worth it?”

  “He’s the one who pushed the Kobold to use that reckless transformation,” Benedict said, as he walked off the trunk he had been leaning on.

  “I see, then I will warn you more. This will hurt. Normally, we touch your vein to reinforce our skill with your Magic Vein; it's only to help with our visualization as we led our mana to your astral body. But, what I will attempt now is different.”

  “Different? As in?” Rue couldn’t help but gulp.

  “There will be no longer visualization. I will connect your Magic Vein and real vein for a brief moment. This takes tons of Mana, but the result is satisfying…”

  “What with that pause?” Rue demanded.

  “If the subject survives… usually it requires you to have some sort of natural healing to offset the damage I’ll do to your vein. Drinking potion could help too.”

  Rue nodded. That will be satisfactory. He summoned his Sword of Frost and brought it close to his vein. “Let's do it then.”