The cavern where Jalx would decide his clan's fate had been constructed to his specifications. The ceilings were low without stalagtites. The floor held hundreds of rocks shaped like spades from a suit of cards with each of them being nearly three feet tall.
Like all of Gi's rooms in the Dungeon, there was a gouge in the center that would lead to the river that connected the whole level, but Jalx had no hope of that for him.
Today, he would die.
He took a deep breath. His impending demise felt both terrifying and yet relieving. This burden had been carried too long.
He glanced around to the other members of their clan. Each of them were having similar thoughts to himself except for Song. She was in charge of getting Hazz out if they were successful. Her expression of worry and sadness was turned to the rest of them.
A robed otter popped out of the pathway to the river and hustled over to his side, taking deep breaths from her quick swim over. "The first group was almost wiped. Three Clerics and two Paladins were killed. They have some kind of aquatic human thing. There's six adventurers total."
Jalx grunted in response. Six, huh? He gazed to the ceiling, wondering which god they'd pissed off on their rise out of the Playground. Having given her message, the otter left without receiving a true response for him.
Art stepped up to him and Jalx placed a hand on the Coastal Goblin's head. It felt odd as Hazz had always been the affectionate one. Jalx glanced down at the doll that leaned against one of the rock spades, staring at him. Like always, it had the same creepy stare and large iron teeth. It was so similar to Hazz and yet not at all him.
It was a shame that he wouldn't get to see Hazz after he returned.
"Six... It will be tough," Art said.
"It was always going to be tough. The gods don't give anything for free. Fate is gathering."
Art nodded. Both Dance and Song had gathered as well, ready to wait with him. Jalx placed his other arm around Dance. Their names reminded him that the clan had been happy once. Hazz had decided that all the next generation would have "fun" names as he called them.
He'd never met another goblin like his Progenitor.
"Do you remember when we used to play cards?" Jalx asked. Tears started shining on Dance's face almost immediately. He supposed it wasn't like him to be wistful these days, but some allowances were to be made when facing your grave.
Art's voice was steel. He, at least, had resolved himself. "I will be going all out from the beginning, Jalx. For the clan... and for you."
Dance sniffled, not quite able to keep the waiver out of his voice. "M-me too. To the end."
Song's voice was absent, but she knew her duty. If they succeeded, she needed to get Hazz out. Her life would be far more important than theirs.
Like a dog waking up from a long nap to the smell of supper, the doll leapt up and lifted itself to view over the closest spade. Its wide iron teeth opened in a smile with no warmth as it looked at the tunnel beyond. "Hunger..."
Jalx had never heard the doll speak despite its limited intelligence, but he knew what that signified.
"They're coming," Jalx said.
He stood there for almost a minute, waiting. This wasn’t his first Dungeon and he knew adventurers liked to send their near invisible rogues to scout ahead. He didn’t need to see them to know they’d be there. So he waited.
When the clang of a guardian clad in heavy armor echoed through the tunnel, Jalx knew it was his moment. He slipped a knife out from the back of his leather skirt. In a smooth practiced motion, he slashed lengthwise across his palm and then smeared the blood along his forearm, stopping just at his bicep. His Aether poured through the blood that exited his body and mixed with the wild Aether in the air.
He flipped the knife to his now cut hand and repeated the gesture on his other arm. Again, Aether poured along the blood and now that its power had created a bridge between his own Aether and that of the outside in a full circuit, his body started to thrum with power.
Like when he always fought, his arms grew to the size of a giant’s except this time that Aether spread outward from his arms and into his surrounding body. Each pulse of Aether carried the unstructured Aether with it and pain tore across his entire body as though he’d just lain across white hot steel.
Empowered, his whole body grew until he’d grown to twice his former height with all of his muscles popping out like they could explode at any time. The pain only grew as his [Bloodletter’s Defiance] finally activated fully. His blood oozed out of his palms and inched over his flesh, entirely moved by the combination of his personal Aether and the wild one. Thankfully, a haze started to list over his mind and narrowed down his focus.
To his left and right, he could see Art and Dance performing the same skill. The last of them that even had it as too many of them had burned their lives to keep even the remnants of the clan together.
“I see them,” Art said. The words felt far away through the bloody haze of [Bloodletter’s Defiance], but Jalx looked up just as the squad of adventurers poured in the room. A guardian in front with two mages behind. Some mace wielding fighter in chain and a light armored rapier wielder were flanking on either side.
In another state of mind, Jalx might have tried to make a plan. Maybe. It wasn’t really his strong suit anyways, but his mind only had room for one thought.
Kill.
Before the doll could launch itself across the cavern, Jalx snapped up one of the spade rocks with both hands. Leaping into the air, he leaned all the way back, his body perfectly curved, before he flexed and snapped his entire body forward like a whip. The spade rock left his hand with more power than a catapult and it was all the guardian could do to get his shield up in time.
A deep gong rang out as the rock hit his shield and then the guardian went flying, bowling over both of the mages on the way, before slamming into the wall. At some point in time, the doll Hazz had leapt over the field of rock spades and was now hopping from rock to rock towards the adventurers.
Jalx didn’t have the time or attention to worry about Hazz. His clanmates would handle it. Instead, he snapped off another rock before crashing through the field of spade rocks that he’d set up, each obstacle not even causing him to stumble and he bulled like a freight train towards the adventurers.
The chain mail woman stepped forward, holding her buckler high, but Jalx threw the rock one handed and it crashed into her stomach. The blow forced puke to spew out of her mouth and she fell over from the strength of the blow. She’d probably live, but he didn’t have time to end it. Before the mages had even gotten to their feet, the guardian suddenly appeared out of nowhere at full speed.
The guardian’s black tower shield slammed into him, but Jalx knew how to take a hit. He leaned into it, forcing it to cause more damage than it normally would, and slide back with his feet against the cavern floor, lessening the impact of the blow. To the guardian’s clear surprise, he didn’t fall or even get knocked back.
Jalx looped his enlarged arms around the man’s sword arm and gripped the back of his neck. His other arm hooked into the elbow of his shield arm and levered it down. Shadows had sprung out after the guardian’s charge, but Jalx just ignored them as he squeezed, pinning the guardian’s arms to his chest.
Unlike most goblins who fought with crude tools or other monsters that fought with tooth and claw, the Bloodletter clan were grapplers and that meant this guardian was in a very bad position.
Jalx shoved forward with his hips as the human tried to drop his sword while stumbling backwards. The rapier wielding fighter tried to dart to his side and stab him with her rapier, but Jalx simply planted his feet and twisted his hips, flinging the back half of the guardian’s legs at her.
She had to dart backwards and that forced the guardian off balance again, giving Jalx an opening. He let go of the guardians shield arm and swam his way over the side of it so he was inside the human’s shield. That gave the human enough space to drop his weapon, but even getting a similar grab on Jalx’s shoulder wasn’t enough to stop him.
He yanked downwards on the guardian’s neck, pulling him off balance again before slamming his knee into his chest. The armor was strong, but it protected better against blades and arrows than a blunt knee. The guardian groaned as his knee pummeled him, but Jalx didn’t let up.
The rapier human had slipped around to his other side, but Jalx just used his greater strength and momentum to swing the guardian between them before rocketing another knee into his stomach.
As he was, these two had no chance.
Jalx was on a timer though and he didn’t have faith that he could end them in time. Even through his blood haze, he had the awareness to see how the true battle was going.
Hazz had launched onto the male human mage. Even from here, he could tell that Aether was being drained from him and into Hazz. Jalx didn’t know how much longer the doll needed, but he had hope.
Dance had been trapped in some kind of muddy pitfall and he frantically tried to swim through it, but the more he did, the less he seemed to move. Song had moved up to fight the fire mage with Hazz, staying close to him, but she could do little more than guard herself with a giant rock against the mage’s flaming whip that lashed out at her.
Still, it provided Hazz more time to drain the human.
The rogue who’d finally appeared had stabbed Art in the back, but with the damage resistance from [Bloodletter’s Defiance], he hadn’t gone down and had gotten his hands on the rogue. As small as the rogue dwarf was, it turned into something of a stalemate as Art wasn’t able to get the grip needed to rip the dwarf in half.
Unconsciously, Jalx pulled the guardian off-center to keep his control in their grapple. Another knee slammed into the guardian’s chest, but it was too slow. He needed to break the stalemate if Hazz was to have enough time.
The rapier human appeared at his flank again, but didn’t stop and instead continued moving as she clearly wanted to get around behind him. Jalx didn’t let her. As quick as a cat, he pushed the guardian’s arm up, releasing himself from the grapple and directly into the path of the rapier human. Her eyes grew wide as she tried to bring her rapier up to deflect, but Jalx had moved far too close, far too quickly.
His arm lashed out and caught her neck. Her eyes widened in horror and she stabbed him with her rapier, but it didn’t do enough to stop him.
He squeezed and her neck squished to paste in his hand as her head popped off of her shoulders and tumbled to the floor. The guardian screamed out something unintelligible and rammed Jalx with his shield. From the back, he couldn’t get his stance correct to stay afoot and the human’s strength sent him sprawling.
He jumped back to his feet, expecting the guardian to already be on him, but he’d picked up his sword instead. The two of them shared a glance for half a moment before a sudden screaming rang out in the cavern.
Hazz’s eyes were now glowing. Only his schlera showed and the edges of his eyes practically shone even though they looked unreal like a smeared oil painting. The screaming was the fire mage, wisps of something that looked like white smoke were peeling off of his arm where Hazz was latched onto. The extraction of that smoke must have been excruciating as the fire mage seemed barely coherent.
He’d flopped back against the ground and unconsciously tried to pry off Hazz with his other hand. The doll’s iron teeth were locked though. With the fire mage’s attack down, Song flung her rock at the nearby swamp mage who’d mired Dance. That proved to be a mistake.
The guardian activated some skill and he’d instantly shifted across the battlefield to intercept the attack, bringing him right beside the downed fire mage with his sword drawn up high.
“No!” Jalx shouted, trying to sprint towards them, but he’d never make it in time. Before the blow could land and ruin the doll. Art slammed into his sword arm, sending the tip scraping across the cavern floor and cutting apart one of the rock spades. It was just a stalling tactic though.
The rogue he’d left behind appeared on his back, plunging his dagger into Art’s back over and over. Art couldn’t afford stop grappling with the guardian for his blade while so close to Hazz. Even with the damage resistance, Art wouldn’t last long.
Song pulled up another rock with their unenhanced [Giant’s Strength] skill and flung it towards the swamp mage. Seeing it coming, she ducked and slammed her fists into the ground, forcing a burst of mud to shoot up from the cavernous ground and block the projectile. She hadn’t done it to kill him though.
She pulled Dance out of the muddy waters at just the time that Jalx crashed into the guardian. Art was pinned between them and he turned to give Jalx one last glance. Seeing his Subgenitor had taken over his duty, Art's head fell limply forward as his iron grip holding onto consciousness fell. Despite the state of the battle, Jalx's eyes felt watery as he crushed his clanmates body against the black armor of the guardian.
“I’ll rip you out of that shell and drown this cave with your insides,” Jalx growled as he pulled at the guardian, but from the side, he couldn’t get quite the same leverage as he’d had before. He tried to swim back into a better guard, but the human clamped his elbow down, blocking the way.
Jalx knew he could force his way inside, but it would take time and [Bloodletter’s Defiance] was already starting to wane. He didn’t have time he needed. The fire mage still screamed in the background and Hazz had become practically a beacon that lit up the entire room. Song had engaged the mud mage, flinging projectiles at range to keep her busy.
The now freed Dance was fighting against the Rogue, doing a better job of containing him by keeping low. He could also win if given time as there wasn’t a better ground fighter in the entirety of their clan, before or after the fall, but again, time wasn't on their side. They needed something to turn the tides back in their favor.
The fact that he could try and think of a stratagem was just another sign that his beserking skill was running out. What could he-
His eyes went wide in horror. The chain mail wearing fighter had gotten up. She had limped forward and gotten to the fire mage unbeknownst to Jalx. He let go of the guardian, the remnants of Art’s body falling to the ground, but the guardian wouldn’t let him go. He snatched at his leather skirt and pulled him back into a grapple.
His strength wasn’t enough to break free. Not in time. Maybe if he hadn’t been weakened by being restricted to the level of a jobbie or even if [Bloodletter’s Defiance] had not started to fail, but he could only watch in horror as the human set her boot against the fire mage’s chest and swung her mace down from her shoulder.
It crashed into Hazz, painting the cavern wall with brains, blue skin, and iron teeth. The fire mage’s scream abruptly stopped and that white smoke poured up from the doll’s destroyed body.
“No…,” Jalx whispered. He’d known it had been a long shot. Hazz had already given himself up to save what little he could of their clan. He’d thought… He’d thought that he’d be able to save Hazz too. Give his life for his Progenitor to return.
He’d thought wrong. All of their hopes for countless seasons now dribbled out of the doll’s body and onto the floor. All destroyed because he was too weak.
Dance and Song were screaming, something unintelligible, but he could understand the heartbreak. They’d been so young when Hazz had died. All they’d grown up with is hope and barely remembered memories. Maybe he had enough strength for one last thing.
Jalx flopped, grabbing his knife from his skirt as he did so, and rolled onto his back. The sudden lack of resistance caused the guardian to drop him, probably wondering if he’d won. He’d had to realize that they were using a beserking skill at some point. It didn’t matter. He’d given him just enough of an opening.
Jalx ran the blade swiftly down both legs. The energy that had been fleeing suddenly sped up as the wild Aether started to overtake his own. It wouldn’t have been quick enough to save Hazz from the human’s mace, but hopefully, it would be enough for this. Strength shot back into him, restoring everything that he’d lost as his skill had died and shooting past it.
Just as fast as it came to him though, it started to bleed out. He’d have only five seconds of good strength before he died.
“RUN!” Jalx yelled. His roar startling even the incoherent Dance and Song. With the last burst of his strength, he took the guardian’s shield in both hands and flung him across the cavern at the rogue that had already knifed Dance once in the ribs. The rogue was quick enough to jump back, but he could only hope it made enough of a difference.
Jalx started to charge towards the chain mailed human, who flinched backwards, but with both of his strength and now life force spent, he stumbled to a halt and collapsed back against the floor. As each breath came more shallowly than the last, he hoped with all his might that Dance and Song would listen.
Is this how you felt, Hazz? Back when you gave your life for us…
That was the last thought that Jalx ever had.