Is it wrong to be an Elf in a Dungeon?
8) Slaying Monsters with a Sword Part 1

...

Ember Pov

I grabbed the hilt of my sword and looked at the Goblin walking through the bushes, without any further wait, I charged from my hiding place startling the Goblin, taking the advantage of the moment I lunged forward and stabbed its throat, using all of my strength, I pushed the sword upward cleaving its head into two halves, and the monster dropped dead.

" That wasn't bad", I said to myself, I was used to killing hordes of Goblins from far away with my bow, riddling them with arrows, I had even killed an Orc using magic, and recently even managed to slay it using but a few poisonous arrows. However, I didn't have much experience of slaying monsters with a sword, which I needed to fix.

So, after getting a good mastery over my sword skills, I was finally let to engage in close combats with monster, I had spars with Noel, and even Juriuf, they had praised me for my sword skills however pointed out that I lacked the experience and while I could fight against Elves just fine, I might face trouble with some of the monsters.

Thus, choosing a Goblin, a being weaker than a human as my first target was idle, I can't even begin to understand how much soldiers must have worked hard to prepare an ideal training situation for me." Your Highness that was wonderful, you were decisive enough and aimed at its vital point, however Goblins are very weak monsters, so a less lethal attack will work on them as well", Noel said jumping from the tree.

There was a platoon of Elven Archers, who were really experienced acting as a safe measure incase anything goes wrong, there were also soldiers stationed a bit far from here, making sure no other monster breaks into perimeter. I felt embarrassed seeing the protection I had, if that poor Goblin had even survived for a second more, he would have been riddled with arrows, and poisonous ones on top of that, my security was really over the top.

" Noel, I want to train more, taking a single Goblin out is nothing noteworthy", I said, and he nodded in understanding," Very well, a platoon of Elf Archers are keeping an eye on a Goblin nest not very far away from here, they have a mere sixteen Goblins, I think as long as we can separate them into smaller groups, Your Highness can engage in combat with one", Noel said.

" I would engage with all of them", I said my words widening his eyes," Your Highness! I can't let you do something that risky! While Goblins are weak, in a group they can even overpower most seasoned of warriors!", he said with worry, I looked at him, " It's my order Noel", I said, he became stunned hearing my command.

Gritting his teeth, he sighed and said," Fine, your highness we will let you engage with them, however, an entire platoon of soldiers will surround you and the goblins, and Elf Archers will shoot the moment they think your life is in danger", my eyebrows twitched hearing his words, while I appreciated his concern for me, I was just going to deal with goblins.

They were weakest of the bunch in entire dungeon, even slime-like monsters that existed were extremely stronger than them. I just nodded, knowing well If I were to push harder, for my safety they might even defy my orders. He nodded solemnly and started giving out orders, now why I was pushing my luck when I just had killed a single goblin? 

Yes, goblins are weak, but they are known to kill newbies by surrounding them in groups, earning the title of Newbie killers alongside kobolds on the surface, they kill off all those arrogant adventurers who think that weakest of monsters are easy. The thing was, I will be fighting against hordes of monsters, many times even alone in the future, how will I survive after leaving Alf's forest if I can't do something simple like this?

This was the best time to learn this, I needed to learn how to fight hordes of monsters while keeping myself alive, or even how to escape them. When I will get falna is questionable, maybe for a few weeks I will have to survive without any falna, of course it will be in the worst-case scenario, but I will need to have some experience before to survive.

It was the best time to get that experience, the chances of me dying here are very low, I am in protection of seasoned warriors who had been fighting against monsters for decades, even if I am injured, I won't die, even if lose a limb or two, it isn't the worst case scenario as High Potions and Elixirs were prepared just for to heal me if things went wrong.

Thus, it was the current time that I learn, not when I have no protection and can die easily. Soon we arrived at the place," Noel, I want all of you to be on standby, don't engage in the fight unless my life is threatened", I said, he nodded and quickly gave out order to the Elf Archers who were plenty, every Elf Archer kept a watch on a goblin, showing how much overkill of protection this was.

I decided with a frontal assault, charging forward, I came in the view of the Goblins, they were startled by my presence and taking advantage of the chance I slashed one through its neck, beheading it, then stabbing another through the chest, finishing it off. By now, the Goblins started responding, I lunged forward, slashing three Goblins in a row rapidly.

Then twisting my body, I slashed through the eyes of the Goblin that wanted to kill me, with a quick stab I finished it off, a Goblin lunged at me with a wooden club, I parried its attack, and then with a thrust I pierced through its chest, the Goblin released a painful whimper, but not caring about it, I kicked it's body away freeing my sword and lunged at another Goblin cutting through it's lower half.

I kept attacking like this, my entire focus on being the Goblins, I parried their attacks, counter-attacked, slashed, thrusted, before I knew I had slayed every Goblin. I panted slightly looking at the dead figures of the Goblins lying on the ground. I felt a sense of accomplishment, I have done it, I have killed a horde of Level 1 monsters, even if the weakest of the bunch, but without falna and being an elf.

...

3rd Pov

Noel watched in awe as Ember sliced through the horde of Goblins, while it seemed to last for a lot, the fight barely lasted long over a half a minute, he and other soldiers looked as their Highness disposed of the trash, not using Archery that Elves had mastered through sweat and tears, not the Magic that set them apart from other races, but swordsmanship and close combat.

Elves were physically stronger than humans, but it wasn't by a huge deal, just by mere 10%, yet being the proudful race they were they took note of every advantage they have over other races. They were born more agile than other races, they had a better hearing comparable to many demi-humans, a better eyesight than humans and most demi-humans, flexibility again greater than dozen of races.

They were naturally adept in Archery due to their racial advantages, if that wasn't enough they were one of the few beings know to possess congential magic. They naturally had a magic, and more than 90% of the Elves could use it with some practice, if they were granted falna then their chances of developing magic was one of the highest in entire Genkai, only a few demi-human races like renards had a magic talent rivaling them.

Yet, they had a lot of disadvantages, they were again, one of the physically weakest races in Genkai, they were only above a few races like prums and humans, most of demi-humans surpassed them in strength, their rivals dwarfs were easily three to four times stronger than any average Elf, even Amazons, the race of warrior women were on average twice as strong as they Elves.

So, in close combat Elves were always in disadvantage, therefore few Elves opted for the close combat, and even if they did, they preferred to fight in groups, only the Elves that were granted falna could escape this racial limitation and can be more ease with close combat. This just showed the reality of feat that Ember has accomplished.

He wasn't a seasoned warrior, and merely fifteen which can be considered a child by Elves' standard, even if he was sexually an adult, still he was a child in other Elves' eyes. Goblins and kobolds were one of the weakest races in the world, even then fighting against a horde, several newbie Elf soldiers need to be there to avoid any mishaps.

Only a seasoned warrior with more than decades experience of fighting these ugly creatures can take on a small horde by himself, but Ember whose it was first time fighting against such a horde showed remarkable abilities. There were some mistakes indeed, as Noel thought Ember made some unnecessary movements, but again it was due to lack of experience than of skills.

Of course, appreciating his skills wasn't the only thing they did; in fact, they were ready to assist Ember in anyway if something was to happen. Archers would not hesitate to make goblins into porcupine if even so much as a scratch was made on their prince. Swordsmen were ready to charge in a way even if it risks their life, and they had to act meat shield for Ember, showing his position among the present Elves.

" Sir Noel, I have finished them, how it was?", Ember asked for his opinion," Your Highness-", he took a deep breath and continued," It was spectacular", he praised him, even other Elves started praising him, Ember remained calm, and then Noel started telling him of his mistakes, however light it may be. Ember listened with focus, and nodded, asserting to hunt another horde, this time they had a kobold lair nearby.

...

Ember Pov

We arrived at the kobold lair, they had approximately thirty kobolds here, again Noel expressed his concern, but I shut up using my authority. This one was an open lair, the monsters were not killed only for them to become living targets for the newbie soldiers to train. There were numerous Kobold lairs, they were often slain in bulk, however a few were left to re-populate.

I walked through the bushes, and looked in front, I could see small creatures having a wolf head, two hands and two legs, they had a semi-erect spine. I could see more than a dozen of them, sneakily the Elf Archers surrounded the areas, the Kobold suddenly became wary as they smelled of us, without hesitating I lunged forward, killing one by dividing it into two halves.

The Kobolds screeched as they glared at me, they started attacking me, I smiled, and taking a battle stance I counter attacked a Kobold's attack, and then stabbed in its eye killing it, then I slashed through another kobold, stabbed another, one suddenly attacked from my behind, lunging on me, as it struck me, I grabbed it and threw it upside down, then kicking it at its face, I slashed another kobold down, before stabbing the one below me in its mouth.

The blood again spilled on my sword, and this time even staining my armor, I grinned as the Kobolds stopped, finally feeling fear. They were just that weak, and attempted to run to save their puny lives, when I charged forward and stabbed one from behind, slashed another, and then again slashed another, just like that I continued fighting, though for first time I heard a few arrows whizzing through the air, not to protect me but to penetrate the ones that had managed to escape me.

Once I had finished, I was panting lightly, I was a bit tired, but my stamina was enough for me to go longer, maybe perform this feat two or three more times." Your Highness are you injured anywhere?", he quickly asked me, a potion in his hand, I shook my head, he breathed in relief," Your Highness you are a genius, you managed to slay twenty-four kobolds, and the rest that escaped your range were slayed by the Archers", he said praising me.

" Here takes this your highness", he said trying to hand me the potion, but I shook my head, and ordered to go to next lair, this time having trust in my skills they agreed. I also reasoned with Noel, that I had enough stamina and wanted to see how far I could push. The monsters here were weak, pathetically so, but I didn't have falna as well, so my performance was quite good.

I don't believe I am extremely strong heaven defying genius, I am still waiting for my system, having slight hope of it remain within me, however I won't stay still, and continue to push myself forward, the feat that I have achieved was testament of my hard work poured through sweat and tears, and I wanted to take out best of myself, before I leave Alf's forest.

To be continued...

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