Snorri stomped down the corridor's smooth stone floor, his boots leaving wet footsteps of neon green blood as he went. As he reached ten metres or so before the archway that led to the high council’s chamber, he suddenly heard a somehow nervous clicking noise bouncing around the inside of his head. “Snorri, when you enter this chamber, you must ensure something.” The spider's voice echoed around his head, sounding slightly shifty. “What?” Snorri thought back, clenching his sword tight as he slightly slowed his pace. “Promise me that before your bargain is fulfilled, you will kill the commander.” Snorri hesitated at that. With only twelve kills remaining, it was a big ask; he still had no idea how many goblins lay in weight for him in the previous home of his colony's uppermost ranks. "Why?” he thought back. More of the spiders clicking came before the response. “You must kill the commander, then the rest of the goblins will flee," the spider said after some time. “You must promise me this,” he went on to insist. Snorri shook his head. "Whatever, kill the big one, got it,” he thought bluntly as he finally reached the end of the corridor. “Promise me, Snorri,” insisted the spider.
"Fine,” Snorri thought angrily. "I promise,” and with that, he stepped forth into the chamber beyond the archway.
As he entered the chamber, Snorri’s eyes set upon the place most of his colony had never set eyes on. Other than the high council, all citizens were banned from this level, let alone this innermost chamber. Every citizen of the colony knew what was inside, however. It was taught in the first year of the academy, so naturally, it had become almost sacred shared knowledge. It was there, with a great rage, that Snorri realised where the goblin warchief had positioned himself. Within the council chamber, thirty so-golden amored goblins eyed him nervously from where the high council had once held long debates over the rulings and running of the gnomish colonies affairs. Above the chamber floor, on a raised platform, stood the most sacred relic of the colony. The throne of ancestors, a crystal formation in the shape of a throne for the gnomes of the colony, was a simple act of respect for the gnomes of the past. The warcheif's eyes met Snorris through the slits of his red plumed helmet’s visor, and Snorri let out a loud, furious war scream. The warcheif raised his sword, and the golden-amored goblins peered towards him.
Snorri caught the first of the goblins in the face, smashing a deep dent into the goblins helmet, and caused the creature's mouth and noise to explode in a sparse neon green. As he parried another goblin blade, he plunged and slashed the sword downward, throwing his weight into the strike and cleaving the goblin's unarmored leg in two. The creature wailed as four more swords darted towards Snorri. “The commander Snorri” hissed the spider in his mind as he rolled defensively away from the goblin swordsman. Snorri managed to glance towards the goblin commander up on the chair. The creature was spinning a flail, cussing the weapons spike heavy to obit in front of itself.
Another golden-armoured goblin stabbed snorri, trying to take advantage of his momentary distraction. Snorri hissed and slashed at the goblin's sword. Sending the weapon clattering away He drove the tip of his sword into the creature. The goblin’s eyes widened, and the creature fell to the floor, twitching and foaming at the mouth. Snorri threw his sword towards the goblin commander. But the creature on the chair saw his strike coming. He spun his flail wildly and just managed to smack the weapon chain away at the last moment. Snorri swore loudly as he pulled his sword back to his outstretched hand, only just managing to grasp the weapon hilt before having to roll away from a sea of oncoming strikes.
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Snorri sprung upon another of the golden-armoured goblins, slicing the creature's neck in a deep slash. He quickly glanced up at the crystal throne. The warchief was gone. Snorri parried another swordsman, sending him into another goblin and throwing them both off balance. Snorri let out a roar as he plunged his sword into one of the goblins and out of the other. The pair fell dead as Snorri heard five crossbow bolts hurtling towards him. He rolled towards the sound, allowing the bolts to fly over his head before he jumped high into the air. He landed among the five crossbowmen. They let out screams of shock as he began to slash his blade. As the first two fell to the ground, Snorri heard a sudden panic and screaming. drowning out the wails and yells of the goblins around him. “THREE SNORRI!” Arracop almost screamed inside his head. “You must kill the commander. DO IT NOW!”
It was all Snorri could do to stop him from self-stumbling at the sudden onslaught of the spider's voice. Panicking slightly as he came back to his senses, only to realise that several more swordmen were now advancing on him. Over there, Snorri could see the red plume of the war chief’s helmet. Snorri span arracops on his chain with all his might, throwing it forward with all the force and speed his gnomish body could muster. The sword plunged through the swordsman in between him and the plume in an explosion of gore, tearing through the wild-eyed goblin and barreling towards the warcheif.
Once again, the Snorri sword crashed into the warchief’s spinning flail in a smash of sparking metal. Snorri tore his blade back towards himself. Jumping over the corpse of the swords, he ran down the golden, amored warcheif. Garblack let out a scream as he charged towards Snorri. Bringing his flails spiked head forwards towards Snorri with all the speed and momentum he had built through the battle thus far. The gnome dove to one side, only managing to escape the spot where the spiked flail impacted into the carved stone floor. Snorri threw his sword at the warcheif's helmeted head. Garblac screamed as he dove away from the sword. letting go of his flail handle to instinctively get his head out of the way.
Snorri jumped high into the air, grasping his sword in a forward-handed grip and bracing his pommel against his shoulder as he plummeted down at the warchief as the goblin scrambled to retrieve its weapon. The warcheif let out a terrified squeal as Snorri impacted its lower back and the tip of the arracop's blade plunged into its rear neck, where its plumed red helmet met its armor. Blood exploded from the slit of the warcheif helmet as Snorri wrenched his sword free. He sprang wildly to defend the horde again, but the goblin was staring at him with wide eyes. Snorri let out a roar of challenge. The remaining goblins looked from their now-dead warchief to Snorri, back to the corpse, and back at the screaming gnome before, most in unison, the two or so fled. dropping their weapons as they sprinted towards the stairway.
Snorri watched them go before stomping his way through the remains of the council chamber. "Snorri, you must promise me yet another thing.” Came from Arcop's voice.
“What Snorri thought back as he found the hatch, he located the exit archway, and his map had depicted earlier among the many that led away from the council chamber. “You only have one soul remaining until our bargain is fulfilled; it would be wise to be free of this place before that particular clock finishes its countdown." Snorri frowned at that.
"What's the worst that could happen? Its one last tunnel, and the goblins have fled," he thought, trying to reassuring the spider. “Promise.” Demanded the spider.
"Fine, I promise” Snorri thought to the spider as he finally sprinted towards the colony’s one exit to the Overworld.