[h2][center][color=F0E68C]Asteria[/color][/center][/h2][hr][hr]
The fight with the trio of goblins was over soon, not at all surprising considering the mishmash group of humans-turned monsters (plus two Mothers) outnumbered them more than 2-to-1 once all the back-up was accounted for. Asteria still had a few pieces of goblin flesh left in her mouth and the taste was the most unappetizing thing one could find inside the cave, possibly even outside of it. She very much doubted that even cooking it could improve the taste, and spat out as much of the goblin blood and tissue as she could. [color=F0E68C][i]I really want some water right now…But we’re still not finished.[/i][/color] Jason and Edward rushed off to another fight, at the centre of which was a large enemy, though Asteria wasn’t immediately worried about it – as far as she could see, there were plenty of her allies already there. There was no rush to join them, though she did indeed intend to do so.

[color=F0E68C][i]First things first…[/i][/color]The Mother Slime once again attempted speech and was becoming more understandable already. [color=F0E68C]“You can eat now, don’t worry,”[/color] Asteria told it, echoing Asura’s sentiment. She was rather curious how the slime would react to someone of a different species attempting to communicate with it. Well, the Mother slime would probably ignore her, since Asura had already spoken to it, and since he might be her offspring and as such the most trustworthy source to the larger slime. Out of curiosity, she used Monster Analysis I on the Mother slime to try and see if she could get any information whatsoever on its rather rapidly evolving ability of speech.

Next on Asteria’s agenda was to use her new sneaking skill to try and get closer to the supposedly important fight against the biggest goblin – probably the enemy’s boss, all things considered. Moving quietly towards the big guy and the various human-minded monsters surrounding it, she wondered whether her camouflage added to the sneaking attempt at all. Perhaps crouching low to the ground, moving between rocks and behind the cave-supporting pillars would even add to her newly obtained skill. The system had informed her that her sneaking was focused on reducing the sound of her movements after all, which could already be quite the advantage. Though a big guy like Rattleskull – she had heard Jason shouting its name – could very likely just stomp around and swing that club of his and kill them all. 

Once Asteria was close enough to clearly see the fight against the boss goblin and assess the situation, but far enough to [i]not[/i] get stomped on or swung at, she stopped and observed. The furry goblin was obviously injured, bleeding, partially blinded and possibly even poisoned, but still he struggled. Still, he managed to get hits in on some of the others. After clobbering Digbie however, a Wisp sliced into its leg with what Asteria guessed was a magic-based attack, and the female Dire rat couldn’t help but focus on the shimmering sharp blade. It was quite the elegant skill and apparently rather useful too. Next thing she knew, Jason’s rock spire stalagmites were sprouting from around the enemy boss, Ed was trying to climb up its back and a lizard up its injured leg, while a Wisp and a Pixie were harassing it by flying around its head. Digbie had also apparently recovered and was attacking the boss once again.

Seeing this honestly confusing jumble of bodies and what to Asteria felt like an over-crowded battle-field, she was slightly reluctant to join in but also thought that it was better to do so despite everything. The only thing she could think of doing right now that [i]might[/i] help was to head straight in, darting around both her allies and enemy as well as their attacks, moving swiftly towards the goblin’s unoccupied and injured leg to try and help the lizard in felling it. She was only assuming what Rain wanted to do to the boss enemy, but then again, she had the inkling that her allies’ attack wasn’t a particularly coordinated thing, what with everyone just trying to do something that could work – but could also back-fire rather spectacularly. Yet, the only other option besides biting into their opponent’s undamaged leg as she was attempting to do right now was digging a hole and hiding – and doing the latter certainly wouldn’t help.