As soon as I saw the shit eating grin on the Goblin King's face, my guard was raised even more as I looked around and tried to figure out what was coming, what was making this monster act so smugly as it stared down at us and grinned arrogantly.
With the ground shaking and the blood of all of the monsters we had killed pooling together, it felt like some sort of summoning ritual, and the addition of those silver droplets that the Goblin King was drinking made it feel doubly so, but...
That was why I was looking around frantically, and with each second ticking by on the imaginative clock inside my mind, I grew more and more worried as I tried to find what was missing from this equation.
Sadly, the answer leapt at us before I could look at it, and it came in the form of another invocation spoken into being by the Goblin King, who spoke into its chalice and chuckled afterwards, mirth echoing inside its voice.
Instantly, the pool of blood erupted upwards and formed a swirling pillar in front of us, before small droplets of the blood streaked out from the pillar and flew towards us at astounding speeds, zipping through the air and exploding upon contact, making us all grunt as our Mana Cloaks protected us from most of the damage... but not the force of the explosion, which pushed us back a step.
A rain of pellets splashed against us, the blood bursting and dealing minute damage to us, but even a thousand small cuts could kill someone far too easily...
The crimson liquid was coated in a metallic, silvery sheen that came from that mysterious liquid that the Goblin King was drinking, but I had little time to try and evaluate the effects of this liquid as the pillar of blood began to shrink and condense itself into a sphere, still spinning rapidly and spitting out those droplets as swiftly as it possibly could.
Another invocation rang out from the Goblin King's lips, and we watched as the sphere expanded, the blood creating a spherical helix that revealed something in the middle, though it was hidden from view as the Goblin King raised its chalice again and splashed the helix in silver, chuckling as it added "[Rog Ir Natt]"
The helix whirled before dropping to the ground, the blood splashing harmlessly onto the gravel and grass before rising back into the air, this time in the shape of feathery wings that flapped towards the back of the monster that hovered in the air, its body of pure silver emitting a green hue as it cradled its knees to its chest.
Humanoid in appearance, the monster slowly released its arms from their embrace of its knees, allowing its limbs to extend so that it could finally stand tall, roughly the same height as Jahi and just as imposing.
Smooth silver 'skin' was pulled over a lithe frame, and the only splash of color was the green eyes and veins it had, as well as the crimson wings that were unfurled behind its back.
"That... looks way too much like a human, and not enough like a monster..."
Satanya's words made us all nod, and we restored our mana cloaks before moving forwards, taking a few steps forwards so that when this... thing came out of its introductory phase, our weapons and shields raised as we got close enough to react to whatever action it took; not too close, but not too far either.
The mages were charging up spells just in case as well, and it seemed that Leone was close to transitioning into her True Vampire Form, which would be an immense boost to our prowess, and it had been a long time since I had seen Janus, so who knows how strong the Orthrus was now...
Feminine in appearance, the silver 'human' stood tall and proud in front of us, its blank, smooth face tilting as it furled its wings and 'stared' at us, only to then raise one of its thin, dainty arms and send out a shockwave of condensed, pure mana, pushing us back.
Riding the shockwave it had created, the silver monster flapped its wings and leapt backwards, taking to the air and clapping its hands together, sending out a second shockwave that washed over us much like the first, forcing us to plant our feet and steady ourselves.
As it pulled its hands apart, green mana swirled together and created a long, gnarled wooden sword, which it grasped in both hands and lifted above its head, stabbing the point into the air and shrouded itself in a Nature Cloak, the green veins swirling furiously across its silver body.
Stabbing upwards again, it encased itself in a sphere of wood and roots, blocking the bolts of flame and chunks of rock that were hurled its way, alongside a heavy, barbed tipped spear from Anput and a discus of ice from me.
A bark filled the air, and not even a moment later two spheres of flames exploded against the roots, enveloping it in flames and charring the surface of the silver monster's defenses, surprising us all.
Janus was glaring at the sphere, both of its heads growling hard as the giant Orthrus stood in front of Leone, who was still standing there, completely still as she switched from her normal self into the True Vampire Form.
However, those flames were doused as a large globe of water enveloped the roots, quenching the fires and blocking the rest of the magical attacks, which allowed the silver monster to break free from its cocoon and shoot forwards, the blood wings carrying its tall, thin form swiftly as it leveled that wooden sword at Ammit, targeting the Cimeriesa first.
A complex azure Ritual Circle was in front of the golden Demoness, and it had drawn the ire of the monster as it sped forwards, the Nature Mana swirling around the tip of its blade ready to puncture any defenses she could conjure up.
Before it could reach though, the wooden blade slammed into the tortoise shell that Jahi was using, stopping the silver monster from moving any further and switching her aggression from the mage to the warrior instead.
Now that the monster was stopped, we were able to collapse around it and try to bring it down quickly, using our numbers to trivialize yet another fight against a difficult opponent, but as we were streaming forwards with our weapons raised, the voice of the Goblin King rang out once more, and the earth began to tremble alongside it.