GTRO Event: Goat to go on an Adventure (Part 2)

Unlock most spell casters who were silent when they were concentrating on their spell, she sung a song in another language all together. She found it easier to concentrate and her spells to activate a lot faster while she sung this quick song. Not to mention her spells always seemed stronger based on the emotions she puts into the songs, and right now, all she could think about was destruction.

Graham didn’t need to use his senses to know that Rosalia had begun to cast a powerful spell. The Warlock’s tune had already begun its swan song of destruction. Graham ran a few paces ahead, throwing down a narrow path of feed to keep the goats moving at a fast enough pace. The goats, oblivious to the imminent clash of the titans, followed the trail. Their heads and horns occasionally clashed as as they quickly ate up the seeds, then followed the trail for more. Thanks to Graham’s careful allotment of the feed, the goats only had one brief moment to eat before moving on ahead. Despite the occasional swishing and swaying, Rosalia’s spell did not deter, nor did her voice waver.

Shifting his gaze back again, Graham saw Baphomet gaining speed on them. Quickly, Graham held his arm out as he casted a quick spell of his own. “Lex Aeterna!” he cried.

A hailstorm of black swords rained upon Baphomet. Although creating no visible damage of its own, the swords instead created minute wounds in Baphomet’s skin—wounds small enough to be unnoticeable at first, but any powerful attack could tear his flesh wide open.

A powerful attack such as the one Rosalia had now brought to life.

“Comet!!!” Rose shouted as she held her Staff of Destruction up. The whole staff glowing a harsh orange color, making it look like it had been set on fire. Almost immediately a comet came straight down from the sky and headed for Baphomet. “I will... I will destroy you until nothing stands!! I will burn you to the ground and protect Mr. Gray!!”

“Don’t worry about Baphomet! Just worry about—” Graham started, but was interrupted by a powerful tremor which shook the ground.

The impact from Rosalia’s spell shook the ground. Flecks of dirt billowed to form a dense fog of dust. The goats brayed and kicked their legs as they ran in panicked circles. If they were truly unaware of the danger they were in before, they were certainly aware now.

“Easy, easy…” Graham spoke in a firm voice loud enough to be heard over the chorus of frightened goats, but without the sharpness of yelling. Turning to the face the goats, he moved his hands in slow, calming gestures. He was aware that this technique was used for calming frightened cows, but goats? Still, Graham moved to diffuse the situation before his mind could doubt whether or not his gestures would even work. “Easy… easy…” he continued to speak, gradually lowering his voice.

His actions seemed to work as the goats gradually calmed down from their panic. Graham held up the bag of feed in front of the goats. All pairs of slit eyes peered with rapt interest at the contents. If Graham knew one thing about animals, hungry animals loved their food. Before the goats could startle again, Graham began to create the trail of feed for the goats once more. He had to keep them moving, as Baphomet could approach them at any moment.

Would he? Or had Rosalia’s Comet, amplified by Lex Aeterna, done the trick? On the one hand, Rosalia’s spell was unquestionably powerful. Graham felt a small sense of relief that Rosalia decided to remain true to herself in the end. On the other hand, Baphomet was tagged as one of Rune Midgard’s most dangerous monsters for a reason. Turning to look back at the dust fog, as he continued to walk forward, Graham raised a hand over his eyes and squinted to see whether or not he could make out Baphomet’s tell-tale shape. But at the moment, Graham could see nothing but a dense cloud of brown and grey.

However, his instincts knew better than his eyesight. Baphomet was still alive. Considering that entire parties had difficulties taking down the dreaded goat demon, Graham doubted that two lone adventurers, regardless of their own abilities, could take down Baphomet in one shot. Although Graham’s eyes could only make out the faintest traces of Baphomet’s silouette, his senses knew that Baphomet was on his feet. As he sensed Baphomet’s dark aura, Graham also sensed a powerful burning sensation in his chest that nearly suffocated him with its intensity.

Anger.

Directed at the target that struck him.

As the lead goat took one step forward, Graham let his instincts take over and dashed into the dust cloud. Summoning his own dark energy, he formed the black greatsword of Bloody Eater in his hand. Black vapor as heavy as darkness itself danced from the sword’s shape. Inside the cloud, he grabbed a vial of Holy Water from inside of his robe and threw it in the air.

“Aspersio.” he uttered, his normally loud, jubilant voice suddenly dropping to a cold, calm tone.

As the droplets of holy water fell down, with blinding speed, Graham traced his free hand over the Bloody Eater. “Imposito Manus.” he spoke again as clenched his fist over a trail of loose energy and whipped his arm to the side to create a twin blade. Death Guidance, as the sword was called. But unlike the real sword, these blades were created from the pure denseness of Graham’s own unholy aura. Holding his swords out in front of him, the droplets of holy water fell upon his swords. Holy energy coated his swords, masking its naturally dark aura.

At first, when Rosalia declared that she wanted to fight and protect Graham, his first thought was that she should instead concentrate on escaping. But now, as Graham approached Baphomet at a speed too blinding for the naked eye to discern, Graham wondered if he was the one in the wrong. His actions had only served to follow the motto that he had been following for far too long—to pretend that he was a lackadaisical clown and never fight again. Rosalia had decided to remain true to herself by becoming a Warlock. Perhaps now it was time for Graham to remain true to himself as well.

That it was time to stop running away and start fighting.

‘Rosalia… you wanted to protect me. But now it’s my time to protect you. Heh… looks like I can’t run away from fighting forever.’ Graham smiled a little to himself as he summoned twin holy lights to hover around him. Duple Light: a technique he had devised himself from his past life’s experience as a Sura.

Inside the dust cloud, Graham found himself in front of Baphomet’s towering form. Graham’s instincts had proven correct. Although scorch marks marred Baphomet’s fur, the goat demon was still able to move, albeit slower than usual. Graham knew he couldn’t take Baphomet head-on, either. But defeating Baphomet wasn’t Graham’s purpose, either. Graham just needed to slow Baphomet down enough so that he, Rosalia and the goats could make a clean-enough getaway.

Graham’s swords swiped at Baphomet’s legs. Stretching his arms outwards, Graham spun around in a deadly dance that spun upwards, creating trails of spiralling slash marks on Baphomet’s skin. The speed of which he moved spun the dust clouds into a singular funnel shape.

Graham’s plan to becoming Baphomet’s new target succeeded. At the peak of Graham’s spinning jump, Baphomet swung his scythe at his new target, thinking he could swat Graham away. Baphomet’s scythe caught impact upon… something, but at the full descent of Baphomet’s attack, he saw no sign of his new target anywhere.

Looking for me? the more jovial side of Graham might have said. But when Graham had his battle face on, all signs of the jokster mask had vanished.

By the time Baphomet saw that Graham had somehow landed on Baphomet’s hand, it was too late. Graham swung his swords around to catch the handle of Baphomet’s scythe and swing the enormous scythe out of the goat demon’s hands. The ground shook slightly again as Baphomet’s scythe fell to the ground. For good measure, Graham threw his swords into Baphomet’s chest as he vaulted off of the demon. By Graham’s will, his swords dispersed. The combined efforts of Rosalia’s comet and Graham’s attacks proved enough to stagger Baphomet… at least slow him down enough.

The dust cloud created by Rosalia’s comet had now become a small tornado which flew away harmlessly in the distance as it rapidly lost size and power. Graham noticed that Rosalia’s arms were raised in front of her face to shield herself from the dust. Most likely she didn’t notice him attacking at all. All the better. Less explaining for Graham to do.

“Nice! Baphomet looks like the world had crashed down on him. Which it kinda did!” Graham said to Rosalia in his usual loud voice as he moved in front of the sheep again. “Let’s get these sheep outta here—”

Thump.

Thump.

A pervasive dark aura flooded Graham’s senses again. He grumbled, his eyes half open. “Of course.” he sighed.

Turning around to take a quick glance, he saw Baphomet lumbering towards the group again. Steam emitted from the rapidly healing wounds on his body.

“Well. I bet he’s got some cheap medical bills.” Graham began to summon as much energy as his pitiful magic reserves could muster. “Canto Candidus!”

The spell activated on command. The goats began to run twice as fast as before. Now understanding the urgency of the situation and where to go, the goats ran straight ahead. Graham jumped on top of one of the goats in front. The goat didn’t waver one bit and continued on course.

“Hey, Rosie, you got any spells that’ll block big bad Bapho from followin’ us?” Graham asked.

Rosalia lowered her arm from her face once the dust cleared as the sputtered the few that got into her mouth. She whined as he wiped at her tongue, trying to remove the dust. Only to realize Baphomet still posed as a danger. 'Comet didn't kill it... I guess it can't be helped, I'll just have to block his entry.' She thought as she looked to Graham before looked back to Bahamut before casting the few second spell of Ice Wall.

"Ice Wall~!!!" She chirped as large spires of ice repeatedly shot up from the ground, forming a great wall around Baphomet to block his path. "That will only last for a few minutes... Probably seconds, so we better run back to Aldebran now." She said as she looked to Graham with a smile. Not even realizing Graham had rushed towards Baphomet after the comet fell.

Rosalia’s spell did the trick as Baphomet came to a halt in front of Rosalia’s barrier of ice. Whether surprised at the sudden barrier, or whether Baphomet decided to give up the chase, his intentions mattered little. All Graham cared about was that he sensed Baphomet’s aura further and further away from Graham, Rosalia, and the stampeding goats until Baphomet’s presence had vanished without a trace.

The stampede maintained full speed until reaching unfamiliar goat territories around the entrance to Nogg Road. From there, the goats slowed down to a regular walking pace. Graham returned to his shepherding duties and tossed a trail of feed on the ground, occasionally tossing in the odd Geographers he uprooted along the way. By the time Graham’s trail of feed ended, the goats had arrived safe and sound in Al De Baran.

Graham looked up at the mop of black hair that rested on top of one of the leading goats. “Whew, we made it back in one piece. Good job, Rosalia!” He gave her a thumbs up.

By the time Graham had turned around to give Rosalia a thumbs up, the warlock was stumbling on her feet as she got off the goat. She looked exhausted and ready to pass out once more. "Yeah... Good..." The warlock never got to finish as she tripped over her own feet and collapsed against the archbishop, falling asleep almost immediately.

Comet had completely drained her mana supply and using Ice Wall had hit the nail in the coffin. She was surprised she was able to stay awake until they got back to Al De Baran. She had a small smile as she snuggled close to Graham's warmth, "Warm..." She mumbled quietly to herself as she softly snored the day away. "Hehe... I protected Mr. Gray..." She whispered in her sleep.

Graham chuckled and lifted Rosalia on top of the goat once more. “We protected each other.” he said softly, petting her black hair. His words didn’t even go in through one ear, as Rosalia looked completely asleep. ‘As things should be.’ he thought as he lead the goats to Kafra Headquarters.