Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius leapt to the side, dodging a clumsy strike from the Hobgoblin. It was physically stronger than him and faster, however its moves were easily read and were not the attacks of a well-trained fighter.

Zira jumped into the fight to make it a lot easier for the two of them. A full-grown hobgoblin was about twice Lucius' size in terms of muscle mass and stood a whole head and a half taller than him, so having her assistance was welcome.

Both scouts took turns parrying blows from the monster as they worked to tire him and slow his movements. Zira took openings given by Lucius to make a few stabs and slashes at important body parts like the arms or legs.

Seemingly because of his rage, these attacks did not do much to weaken or slow him as he simply fought through the pain. Lucius glanced over to the rest of the group that was quickly finishing up their fight against the normal goblins and other hobgoblins.

Rena had cast an Earth Magic wall to create an extra barrier between her and Paul from the rest, she also pelted the Hobgoblins with ice and wind spells to keep them from focusing too much on the attackers. Paul joined her in that endeavor by pelting them with arrows.

He sent the occasional shot towards Lucius and Zira's foe as well.

"Give me a moment to cast, I have something to finish this up." Zira shouted before stepping outside of the monster's striking range.

Lucius grunted in affirmation and then activated his Arts. "[Forsaken Arts: Gouging Strike]" However instead of allowing the Art to take effect completely, he rerouted the mana all over his body.

The sudden increase in strength and speed allowed him to start blocking the strikes directly instead of having to use tricky movements to lessen their impact. It also made up for the fact that Zira was not present to take a few of the attacks and give him a moment to reset his positioning.

The Hobgoblin roared in anger because a smaller creature than itself was giving it so much more trouble. The fresh surge of anger and frustration seemed to add additional strength to its strikes, but it was not enough to overpower Lucius with his Channeling active.

"Alright Lucius! [Lux: Enhance Strength]!" Zira's voice reached his ears just a moment before an orb of light slammed itself into his back and was absorbed by him.

The spell took effect and increased the dull glow of mana from the Arts to a rather bright one. Lucius felt his body become stronger in an instant and soon his blocks caused the Hobgoblin to recoil from the impact of weapon against weapon.

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"End of the line." Lucius mumbled as he moved the concentration of mana in his body to focus on his upper body, sword arm, and weapon. With the additional mana and enhancement from Zira's spell added to Lucius' Arts, the strike cleaved right through flesh and bone, nearly severing the Hobgoblin's sword arm.

It reeled backwards in pain, instinctively clutching the wound with its good hand. Lucius pressed the attack and slashed at the monster's leg, forcing it to its knees. With an emotionless glare, he aimed the final strike at the monster's neck, the force of which scattered the monster's blood like a mist in the same direction as the swing.

"Nice one!" Simon shouted from the camp. He wiped his brow and gave Lucius and Zira a thumbs up with a goofy smile.

Lucius could not help but be confused because this was the complete antithesis of Simon's younger brother, and it is nothing like the Simon he had heard of as children. Even though he truly seemed changed, Lucius would not let his guard down around him.

Honestly, he would have preferred if Rena had kept quiet about their relationship in the event Simon reported it to the family, but there was nothing to do about that now.

The scouts checked the body for any items they might have been carrying and found a few loose coins but really nothing else of use. Goblins and their variants did not possess any body parts that were useful for crafting or alchemy, so they chose to just leave the bodies to rot in the woods, or be eaten by local wildlife.

There was no concern of them turning into undead like there was with human, elf, or beastman bodies, so it was fine to just leave them be.

Rena came up to Lucius at the end of the fight and flashed him a beautiful smile, which was quickly returned, but he did not say anything to her. Even though Simon was aware of their relationship already, he did not want to provide more evidence than already existed.

"So, the next plan is to do what?" Lethen asked. He was polishing his sword while sitting on a log that had been carved by the camp's usual inhabitants to be a bench.

Simon rubbed his chin slowly, "I believe the commotion and lack of response by this force will make the Shaman do one of two things. He will either move to a different position and reinforce there, or press for a second attack here."

Rena nodded her head. "Those really are the only options. He has not suffered enough losses to retreat, though this was about a third of his remaining force. It is most likely he will press for new ground soon. We need a way to force his hand to the option we want, instead of waiting for his move."

Lucius raised his hand. "Why don't we just move the villagers back here and the second camp. The only options are this camp and one other, right? If there are villagers in both camps they will serve as distraction long enough for us to respond."

All heads turned on him. "What?" Simon nearly growled.

The boy shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just saying if we use both camps as bait, then we will have enough time to respond. It's only a couple of hunters and loggers, what's it matter?"

Rena gently tugged on his sleeve and whispered, "You are doing the thing. It would be more usual to not use innocents as bait."

"I don't see why not. It is more efficient that way." He shook his head.

"These are lives, Lucius." Jen chastised.

"And?"

Simon, Zira, and Jen glared at him. Rena had a tinge of sadness in her eyes, but did not say anything further to him about his moral stance.

"We are not doing that." Simon finally said after realizing that Lucius was not going to change his mind from a handful of angry glares.

"Fine. If our concern is that they will fortify the position we don't protect, then burn both camps down." He countered.

"Lucius! No! These camps are their livelihoods!" Zira shouted. Her party agreed with her and showed it by vigorously nodding their heads.

"So? The way I see it, it's their livelihoods or their lives. I presented both options, so unless you have something better, we should choose one."

After several more minutes of exhausting debate, the group finally agreed on one of Lucius' plans. They were going to torch both camps.

Lucius nodded in understanding and looked at the map they had brought with him. After orienting himself slightly, he took off in the direction of the other camp to set it on fire with his Thunder Magic and some oil.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group would set the camp they were just at ablaze before meeting at a secluded spot in between the two locations.

Lucius would wait outside one camp, hidden and keeping an eye out, while Zira was at the other. Whichever one saw the enemy first, would be the spot they call the main party members to for engaging in battle.

The downside to the plan was that they lost their own fortifications, but at least the goblins would not gain any