Mason could finally see the goblins, disgusting creatures with moss colored skin and sharp saw like teeth. They were armed with rusted spears , swords and axes mostly the ones scavenged from the corpses of their victims.
Mason was still in the main hallway close to the exit while the swarm of goblins were pouring out of two connecting hallways from the left and right.
Without waiting for any invitation, he switched back to the rifle, it had the range advantage and with his improved eyesight he was sure that he wasn't going to miss.
So he squeezed the trigger and a bullet shot out of the gun and hit it's mark killing it. He was now sure that bullets were effective against the goblins so he continued firing into the crowd , spreading bullets from left to right and due to their tightly packed formation some bullets even claimed the lives of two goblins at once. Within fifteen seconds , he has dumped thirty rounds down range and reloaded.
Griselda was now casting a basketball sized fireball that she launched into the crowd blasting at least ten of them to smithereens.
No wonder humans didn't bother to develop any more weapons, magic was very effective. This also made up for the fact that Mason had no grenades.
Mason continued firing into the crowd but they seemed endless and they kept coming closer . The halls also were too narrow for Griselda to use her sword effectively so they both retreated to outside the castle where there was both ample lights and space for mobility .
As they came outside Griselda began chucking fireball after fireball inside the castle burning the rest of the goblins while Mason picked off the survivors with his rifle.
Soon there was no movement inside the castle and if there was any living creature inside the castle, it would have been cooked up by the heat and smoke from Griselda's flames .
Mason then rechecked his weapons , drank some water and headed out again. He had packed up to twenty 30 round magazines over six hundred rounds and he had believed that it was more than enough for this mission now after his first encounter, he didn't think so.
He walked back into thinking that if this island has a fort and a castle then it was possible that there was a thriving town or city that occupied this location in the past, he thought that maybe the city was abandoned during the demon invasion.
He kept on walking, keeping an eye out for goblins. For twenty minutes he kept walking until he came across a party of five, fire and earth elementalists with one of them having a body enhanced attribute.
He remembered them from class as they were always together, apparently they were from a small village in Austria. He tried to remember their names but he couldn't, they were being overwhelmed by a mob of goblins perhaps two hundred, or three hundred he couldn't tell and by the amount of bodies on the ground, it was clear that they could hold their own but not right now.
Mason was still in the forest line when he spotted them on the rocky beach , any slight misstep and they would be dragged away by the strong ocean current .
So he started firing rapidly at the goblins taking them down, each shot finding their mark . By the time the goblins noticed his presence, it was too late for them . Within a minute Mason dumped sent sixty bullets flying down which meant that sixty goblin lives were cut down like grass . The party then used the opportunity to counter attack against the goblins and soon the battle was over .
" Hey thanks for your help , we couldn't have survived without you. I am John , nice to meet you. " John, one of the party members said while offering Mason a handshake.
Mason shook his hand and was promptly introduced to the other members of the team.
John and Adeline were fire elemental users , Darius and Peter were earth elementalists and finally Hans the one with the body modification attributes, he could turn any part of his body to any metal he wanted to as long as he had touched such material once .
" So is that your ability ? " John asked pointing at the riffle.
" No it's a weapon." Mason replied and before they could continue with any more questions and answers they were suddenly transported back to Nordstrand.
All two hundred and thirty students who were part of the combat and weapons training program were all accounted for even though some of them were injured.
Later they found themselves in teleportation portals that took them back to the academy. When they arrived Mason dragged himself back to his dorm room , the adrenaline had come down and he was feeling really worn out, even though he used a miniscule amount of magic.
The next day he dressed for school as usual but this time , he attached a holster to his belt and secure his 9 mm pistol in it while concealing it with his coat .
When he arrived at the notice where the names of the participants their points and the amount of tokens they received he was met with several strange stares. It was when he looked at the notice that he understood the reason why people were staring at him.
His name was first on the board with two hundred and ninety nine points and fifty thousand tokens . He was thirty points ahead of Lambert von Kufstein who was second, thirty five points ahead of Griselda.
He had been so engrossed in firing his weapon that he forgot to count . His plan was to be in the top fifties but it didn't work out that way. At least the tokens would be enough to kickstart his research efforts.
He walked off thinking of the lengths he would be able to take his research when someone bumped into him , he was sure that it was intentional but he did nothing nobody was worth him getting worked up, they were just children who didn't know better .
" Can't you apologize for your actions?" The boy said ," how dare you show off in front of your betters ."
Before he could reply a guard in red armour walked into the crowd .
" Mason, the dean requires your presence."