Cave Goblins [https://i.imgur.com/hYPG83T.png]
Chapter 6: Cave Goblins
Garfield left the inn without bothering to disturb his mystery roommate. Today he would complete his first request as a Gold-ranked adventurer. He entered the guild hall and perused the request board.
‘Lots of requests today… Hm?’ Garfield surreptitiously studied his minimap for a few minutes and then approached the request counter. “Excuse me, what is the difference between these two requests to defeat goblins holed up in caves north of the city?”
The clerk explained, “That Iron request is for a small cave southeast of Northshire. The Silver request is for a medium-sized cave system west of Rockville. Goblins evolve and multiply very predictably according to the size of their domain.”
That last bit was news to Garfield, although it made sense. The clerk continued.
“According to guild records, those caves were both carefully surveyed many years ago, the last time goblins took up residence. Based on the size of each cave, the guild assigned a difficulty level.”
“What would happen to the goblins if the caves became connected somehow?” asked Garfield.
“Hm? The caves are fairly close to each other, now that you mention it… It’s unlikely, but if the caves were connected somehow then in total it would be a large cave system. In that case, the goblins would be quite formidable… There could even be a Goblin King leading them. Although I’ve never seen it happen, I believe that would warrant at least a Gold-level request.”
Garfield continued questioning the clerk. “Has anybody accepted either of these requests yet?”
“Yes, the Iron request was accepted by the Iron-ranked party, White Glow. No party has accepted the Silver request yet.”
“White Glow?”
Clerk: “They were here earlier this morning,” the clerk said. “They’re led by a priestess specialized in multi-heals. The party also includes an attack mage, an archer, a warrior, and a fighter. They stand out because they’re all teenage girls.”
Garfield was surprised by that last bit. “Uh, correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t it a bad idea for a group of all teenage girls to take on goblins?”
“I did suggest they accept a different request but… they felt strongly. They take pride in the composition of their party. So long as the goblins are attacking the nearby towns, the guild won’t prevent a suitably ranked party from accepting the request.”
‘Dammit,’ Garfield thought privately. “I suspect there may be a connection between these two requests. Can I accept both of them?”
“There’s no problem with you accepting the same request as the other party since White Glow didn’t specify otherwise, but these requests are not of a type that you may accept several of at the same time.”
Garfield looked around the guild hall. Over at the other end, he spotted Yttria speaking with some Silver adventurers, probably about teaming up for a request. The group fell silent when Garfield approached.
“Yttria, I could use your help with a certain request. Do you have time?”
“Sir Garfield! Yes, I was just looking into completing a request myself. What is it that you could need my help with?”
“Come over here.” Yttria and Garfield walked over to the counter as the other Silver adventurers, all guys, made dagger eyes at Garfield.
Garfield addressed the clerk again. “Ms. Yttria will accept the Iron request. I will accept the Silver request. We would like exclusivity until we complete the requests.”
The employee looked over to Yttria who hesitantly nodded. “Very well. I will assign you each to those requests. Also, please take this pass which will allow you unfettered access to the northern district and northern gate. Good hunting!”
After the pair departed the guild, Yttria finally vocalized her concerns. “Sir Garfield, could you tell me what is going on? Normally, I wouldn’t dream of accepting a solo request like this…”
“I have a bad feeling about these requests. I needed your help to block any other parties from accepting them while we investigate. Also, the party White Glow might be in danger.”
“They are ranked Iron, correct? Shouldn’t they be able to handle the Iron request I accepted?” asked Yttria.
“They should, but I’m worried the caves where our two requests are based are too close together. If they are physically connected, White Glow’s request is way too dangerous for them. Also, I believe goblins are particularly nasty when young girls are involved.”
To Garfield’s recollection, this was true, almost regardless of the lore. He continued explaining.
“I want to proceed directly to the cave southeast of Northshire. Let’s check that one out together then proceed to the other cave.”
Yttria did not object to teaming up for the requests. When they arrived at the first cave, a message posted near the entrance indicated that White Glow was already inside the cave.
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“What is Bearclaw up to?” the Guild Master asked his employee.
“He accepted a Silver request to clear goblins out of the caves west of Rockville.”
“Ah, so he’s still adventuring solo? At least he went down a rank with his choice…”
“Actually,” the employee offered, “he seemed to be traveling with Ms. Yttria, who accepted a separate request to defeat the goblins in a small cave southeast of Northshire. White Glow also accepted that request.”
“That’s odd. Why would they do that?”
The employee attempted to guess Garfield’s reasoning. “Bearclaw asked me about the possibility of the caves being connected. I don’t think it’s likely, though.”
The Guild Master furrowed his brows.
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“Three more behind us!” a priestess shouted.
“These goblins are strong!” the party’s warrior cried. “What the heck!? And their gear is better than mine!”
“Fireshot!” The mage’s spell connected. “Stop complaining and kill them!”
“Your spell didn’t even take that one down! Snipe.” The archer’s attack finally brought down the target.
White Glow was surrounded and their formation was crumbling. After taking out a wounded goblin, the archer took a goblin arrow to the thigh. As the priestess rushed to provide first aid, the warrior took a kick to the knee while blocking a sword strike from another goblin. The fighter suddenly received a shield bash from one of the larger goblins and fell backwards on to her butt. The goblins tasted victory and started chuckling. The leader, the party’s priestess, dropped down on to her knees in anguish.
“What have I…”
As images of a cruel fate for her friends flashed through the leader’s mind, there was a bright flash of light. The goblins all screeched and covered their eyes with their arms. They staggered as though dizzy and ceased attacking White Glow. The girls regained their eyesight much more quickly.
An arrow of unknown origin struck one goblin square in the chest. The goblin’s torso exploded. A swordswoman claimed the head of a second goblin. A third goblin was suddenly wrapped up by a large snake and crushed. A fourth goblin was struck in the stomach by an arrow. The goblin exploded. By this point, the remaining goblins sensed their death and made a haphazard retreat while struggling to recover their eyesight.
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“Do not pursue them,” a man commanded.
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A few minutes earlier, Garfield asked Yttria, “How are you and snakes?”
“Snakes? I don’t particularly care for them.”
‘Hmm… Don’t foxes eat snakes?’ Garfield mused. “Snakes are effective in caves. I’m going to summon one.”
“…If you must.”
“«Summon Creature of the Earth, a Beast, Snake of the Deeps».” An eight-meter black snake appeared, coiled up in front of Garfield. “Follow us into the cave and crush any goblins that are near us. Avoid physical contact with human-kind.”
The snake hissed.
Garfield turned back to Yttria. “I need a weapon, and I don’t think that umbrella from yesterday will do. «Summon Item of Legend: Crossbow of Exploding Death». When we encounter enemies, I will disable them with a flash of light. Protect your eyes.”
Yttria nodded and unconsciously rested her left hand on the hilt of her sword.
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“Priestess, the goblins are gone,” Garfield observed. “Heal your party.”
“Y-Yes.” None of the girls were particularly injured, so the priestess took care of the healing without issue.
“Thank you for rescuing us. We were lucky a Gold and a Silver adventurer came by! Those goblins were… too strong for us…” the priestess said as she trailed off towards the end.
The other members of White Glow nodded. The snake hissed at the priestess, causing her to recoil in fear.
“Oh, stop it,” Garfield snapped. “Yes, you helped too. Now go over there and wait quietly.”
The snake hissed again and proceeded to the next section of the cave. Garfield turned back to the priestess, who visibly relaxed. He introduced himself and Yttria, and he clarified that the snake was his summoned familiar.
“This probably wasn’t your fault,” said Garfield. “I’ll investigate these caves and figure out what’s going on. Your party should return to the guild and report what happened.”
The priestess turned her head to look deeper into the cave. The thought of just two adventurers stepping into such danger didn’t make sense to her. They were impressive when they got the jump on the goblins, but they were hardly Diamond-ranked. Well, it wasn’t her place to tell senior adventurers what to do.
“Okay. We’ll retreat and go straight to the guild. Good hunting!”
The rest of the priestess’ party echoed her. “Good hunting!”
“Yttria, please go with them until they exit the cave. I doubt you’ll encounter goblins, but just in case… Wait for me by the entrance. I’ll send word via familiar if I need help from the guild retrieving survivors.”
“You’re going further in alone!?” Yttria shouted. “That’s too dangerous! From what you said before, there could even be a Goblin King in here.”
Garfield turned his head towards the dark cavern ahead of them. “I’m counting on it.”
Yttria hadn’t noticed anything unusual about Garfield’s mood up until now, but somehow the slight smile on his face led her to believe that he was actually angry. Perhaps witnessing the near defeat (and worse) of White Glow at the hands of goblins had affected him more than she realized. She knew there was no point in arguing with him and resolved to do as he asked. She nodded and then led White Glow out of the cave.
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“Follow and protect me from behind.”
The snake hissed and kept back a few dozen meters, silently slithering through the cave. Garfield walked for about half an hour, never once encountering a dead end or getting lost in the complicated underground labyrinth. He spotted evidence of artificially collapsed walls and narrow tunnels, a couple of which he had to crawl through himself.
As his minimap told him much earlier that day, the two cave systems were in fact fully connected. The unexplored caves connecting the two known systems were also fairly large, resulting in a huge network for goblins to live in. He didn’t encounter any opposition, but he saw plenty of evidence that goblins lived in these caves.
Eventually, he emerged in the largest cavern. There, standing in well-organized ranks, was a small goblin army. Several unique goblins stood at the head of the group, with a single goblin watching from above, a crown made of human bones resting on his head.
Garfield quickly glanced around the cavern, looking for exits. From where he was standing, he could see at least two ways out of the cavern, besides the entrance he had just used. He didn’t see any hostages or victims. The Goblin King called out to Garfield in the language of humans.
“You were a fool to come here, human. I don’t underestimate my enemies. As soon as I received a report of strong intruders, I consolidated my power to ensure we could fight you at full strength.”
Garfield guessed that the assembled army probably was the grand majority of the Goblin King’s forces.
“Do not worry, though. I am a kind King, and I will allow you to live, just barely. You may watch what we do to female humans for fun.”
The other goblins didn’t seem capable of speaking in the human tongue, but somehow they understood what their King was saying. They all laughed loudly at the King’s provocation. The King raised his hand to silence the army and prompted Garfield for a response.
“Oh, I’ve never had much luck with women. Do you have something else I could watch instead?” Garfield asked.
“What?” The goblins looked around nervously, not understanding what was going on or why this human seemed so relaxed.
“I won’t let you provoke me,” the Goblin King declared. “I can clearly see you are a single Gold-level intruder. You don’t stand a chance against us.”
“Oh, the humans think that as well. You all have more in common than you realize,” said Garfield.
“What!?” A cold sweat ran down the Goblin King’s back. Was this human buying time for something? The other entrances were all guarded by strong goblins, so he didn’t need to worry about any surprises. Garfield continued.
“I’m not a King but I’m kind… like you are. I’ll let you watch me annihilate your army.”
Was this man not buying time? Why was he suddenly threatening violence? The Goblin King’s urge to order an attack was being held back by a sinking feeling that reckless action would lead to death.
“You bluff! I hold the advantage and absolutely nothing has changed!” the Goblin King shouted as loudly as he could.
“Do you have any idea how many goblins I’ve killed?” Garfield said this next part in his mind only. ‘…if you include the fictional goblins in games from my past life, anyway.’
The Goblin King swallowed. The human before him was unlike any he had encountered before. The King’s instincts told him that the human’s last statement was not a bluff. He really had killed countless goblins. While the King considered possibly negotiating the release of human prisoners…
“Go ahead. Do it,” Garfield ordered.
The Goblin King was suddenly scooped up by a black snake. It coiled around him, lifting him off the ground, but did not crush him. The King really was able to watch what would happen next. He was too terrified to shout any orders to his subordinates. The goblin army started panicking, not knowing what to do or whose orders to follow. The Goblin King had not issued any instructions for how to handle his own incapacitation. That selfishness was coming back to bite him now.
“A rare opportunity for me to try something out, away from prying eyes… «Summon Earth Creature of Legend, The Goblin Emperor, Lord Kelvar»”
A somewhat-handsome goblin in regal attire, sitting atop a small throne, appeared. He looked down at the opposing goblin army and smirked.
“Assemble an army and massacre them. The Goblin King is mine.”
Kelvar replied to Garfield’s instructions. “Yes, Master.”
Garfield frowned. He didn’t enjoy summoning intelligent beings. Unconditional loyalty from creatures as smart as he was creeped him out. Still, he needed to experiment while he had the chance. Kelvar began summoning goblins to his side. Two, four, eight… Goblins of various sizes and appearances came into existence. This was Kelvar’s unique ability.
Meanwhile, the opposing goblins continued to freak out and simply backed away from the growing army. When the opposing forces seemed about even, in size if not in quality, Kelvar roared instructions to his assembled forces in a foreign tongue. Garfield could not interpret the instructions, but he didn’t need to.
Kelvar’s army slowly closed in, cutting down goblins left and right. Some of the goblins tried to escape out an entrance on the far side of the cavern, but the path was obstructed by the bodies of dead goblins, a Goblin Assassin sitting atop the pile. Before long, the Goblin King was Garfield’s only enemy remaining. Garfield walked over to the coiled-up prisoner.
“Whether you live or die depends on how many living hostages you have. How many, and where?”
“T-Three!” the Goblin King answered immediately. “They are behind me in the cave beyond that wall!”
“Assassin.”
A nearby Goblin Assassin nodded to Garfield and then disappeared in a puff of smoke. He returned from the shadows a few moments later and nodded again.
“Very good!” said Garfield. “I have a few more questions for y—“
“Bearclaw!”
A party of adventurers came running into the cavern from the same route Garfield had previously taken.
‘Crap. Uh…’ Garfield only had a moment to decide what to do here.
“«Magic Telegram: Lord Kelvar». Full retreat. «Magic Telegram: Snake of the Deeps». Crush him.” Garfield’s snake eliminated the Goblin King. Kelvar started organizing a retreat from the approaching adventurers.
“Snake! He was my hostage!” Garfield yelled, feigning surprise. The snake hissed at Garfield in confusion. It was only following orders. It didn’t understand that Garfield was merely acting.
“Oh, it’s not your fault. Come here snake.” Garfield petted the snake’s head, soothing it. Meanwhile, Kelvar’s army completed a disorganized and chaotic escape out a back entrance (somehow, it was over in a flash despite all the chaos) as the adventurers arrived at Garfield’s location. They wore rank badges indicating Platinum lower-half. They lowered their weapons.
“I’m Smith of Deep End. What happened here?”
“I’m Bearclaw. My summoned creatures cut down about half of the goblins. I was using their captured King as my hostage, but the rest ran away when you showed up.”
“Okay, I have a lot of questions but, for now, we need to find any survivors and evacuate them.”
“There should be three survivors over there,” Garfield said as he pointed in the direction the Goblin King had previously indicated. All of Deep End, save for their priest, went to investigate.
“Are you okay?” the priest asked Garfield.
“Yes. Did you encounter White Glow or Yttria?”
“We passed White Glow on the way here. They told us more or less what happened. Ms. Yttria is still waiting outside the cave. We also found a couple of unbelievable goblin corpses… It’s like they exploded…”
“…They did.”
The priest turned his head away from Garfield and shut his eyes at the memory. The rest of his party returned with three female survivors. Smith proposed a plan.
“Let’s evacuate these women the way we came and meet up with Ms. Yttria. I don’t want to encounter those fleeing goblins.”
“Those goblins might attack Rockville after emerging from the combined cave system, though,” the priest contended. “We need to warn them somehow.”
“There’s nothing we can do right now,” said Smith. “We’ll split up once we’re outside.”
Garfield collected the Goblin King’s head and the group exited the cave. He dismissed the snake along the way. Once outside, they split into two groups. Garfield, Yttria, and a portion of Deep End returned to the capital. The Goblin King’s soul returned to the one he served.