The rough stone walls went on before him as he walked down the tunnel lit up by torches on the wall. Multiple times he walked past a totem, a deer skull placed on a branch, with dead leaves hanging of it, that had been rammed into a crack in the ground.
A high sorcerer then.
"Think we can take it on?" Hugo, a tall mercenary with a wide and muscular body and short black hair, asked.
"Of course we can, we've got the Reaper with us, isn't that right Reaper?" Gilma asked, his dark brown hair dirty with blood. "I mean it's just a high sorcerer, no way it could be that dangerous, especially since we have an Aura user with us."
Zane shrugged, staring at the ground, looking for traps of any kind.
But if there's a high sorcerer they might very well have lords . . . maybe even a king.
Hugo's heavy armour made loud noises as he walked, making Zane anxious. He already had both hands ready to draw his guns, two blood bullets hovering beside the holsters. His sword sheath was empty and just like the rest of his armour covered in blood. After a short while, the sound of footsteps on dirt reached their ears as light appeared at the end of the tunnel.
"Alright then, everyone get ready," Gilma said, looking back at the other young mercenaries.
One was a demi-human swordsman with red hair and the ears and tail of a fox, a demi-human archer with black hair and the ears and the tail of a squirrel and a human sorceress with long black hair walking in front of them like a king would walk in front of his servants. Multiple lanterns were hanging from her belt, all containing a different orb. The two demi-humans wore budget armour that was covered in blood and dirt and was full of cuts whereas the sorceress wore an expensive-looking light blue robe with many fine dark blue and silver details.
I hope the rich kid makes it, if her parents find out we let their daughter die they might end up cutting our payment in half.
The group of mercenaries reached the end of the tunnel and entered a massive crater in the middle of a mountain. Massive, rocky walls, covered in vines, moss and other plants rose into the sky to all sides. It filled with trees, the ground was covered in grass and a few large boulders laid around, in between the boulders and trees were many wooden huts and there were multiple roads leading through the crater.
The goblins that inhabited this place all looked at the invaders for a few seconds before they began screaming, grabbed their weapons and charged at them.
"I shall take care of these," the young sorceress said confidently.
She stepped in front of Zane who had been leading the group. He had already drawn both guns and inserted the blood bullets when the young sorceress took a lantern with a red orb inside. She entended her hand forwards and let the lantern hang down, holding it by the chain it was connected to. For a short moment the orb lit up and a fireball appeared above her other hand, a stream of flames flowing to it from the inside of the lantern, through the small openings in it.
"Die, you scum!" she yelled as she threw the large fireball at the goblin horde approaching them.
Showing off eh?
Her attack ripped a large hole into the approaching goblin horde and left behind a mass of burned bodies. Some of the goblins were unfortunate enough to run right into the burning mass and began burning alive immediately. But not all of the goblins were stopped by it and the young sorceress was not fast enough in creating another fireball.
Zane stepped in front of her, raised both guns and shot out the blood bullets. They went straight through the heads of multiple goblins as if guided by an invisible hand.
"Heh, none of this sorcery stuff will ever beat real Aura usage!" Gilma said loudly as he drew his long sword and charged at some goblins that had split from the main group.
Zane continued to guide the bullets, using them to kill every goblin that came in range of his ability. Meanwhile, the archer began firing arrows from the back, Gilma, Hugo and the demi-human swordfighter had begun to cut open any goblin that got close to them and the sorceress continued to hurl fireballs at them. As the number of goblins steadily decreased they began going further into the crater, past many large boulders, trees and many huts with more goblins waiting with their weapons already drawn, ready to jump on them. But no matter how many tried all died, either slashed apart by Gilma's greatsword, beheaded by Hugo's large cleaver-like greatsword, cut open by the demi-humans blade, pierced with an arrow shot by the demi-human archer, burned alive by the sorceress' fire attacks or shot trough the guided bullets from Zane.
After a while they reached the middle of the crater where they found a large statue made of wood, a statue depicting a large, muscular goblin, wearing what looked like heavy armour, having four large horns growing out of its forehead and multiple horns growing out of the centre of its head that looked like a crown. It also had long hair along with a beard.
So they do have a king.
A sudden loud noise directed everyone's attention to the demi-human archer who had just been pierced through the chest with a large javelin, blood gushing out of the wound, creating a puddle beneath the demi-human. She gasped as her body was thrown backwards, as the javelin hit the ground, its tip being driven deep into it and as she slowly slid down to the ground, leaving blood behind on the shaft.
The sorceress and the demi-human swordfighter gasped loudly at the sight whereas Zane, Gilma and Hugo immediately began looking around for the one who had thrown the javelin. Another one flew by Zane's head, just barely missing, followed by another that grazed Hugo's armoured shoulder, leaving behind scratch marks on the pouldron.
"We've got a few lords on our hand," Hugo said happily.
I can see his smile through that helmet of his.
Four goblin lords, taller than all the other goblins, more muscular than all the other goblins with two large horns growing from their foreheads and spikes growing out of their spines. Two of them still had javelins in their hands the other ones held large greatswords. The two that still held the javelins glared at the small group and then threw the javelins at them. One nearly hit the sorceress and the other grazed Gilma's waist, cutting through his leather armour but didn't go deep enough to create a wound.
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Zane looked at the four goblin lords for a few seconds, then aimed both guns at them and shot out the blood bullets. One goblin lord was pierced right through the head almost immediately, but the other three managed to dodge. Zane recalled the bullets, killing the three unexpecting goblin lords that had thought they had managed to dodge the attack and were even laughing. All three sank to the ground where their already dead comrade lay.
"As I said, nothing beats a true Aura user," Gilma said as he inspected the damage to his armour.
But where is that high sorcerer?
Zane began walking towards the bushes the goblin lords had come from. At first glance, they just seemed like large bushes, nothing odd about them. On the other side was a large hut. He walked over to the small staircase that led to the door and entered. The inside was almost completely empty safe for a rug on the ground, a torch hanging on the wall opposite to the door and another door in the wall to his right. The others followed him into the hut and out the other door.
They found themselves in a barely lit, wooden tunnel, going onwards in a straight line. Zane began walking down the tunnel, the others following him. It went on for a few minutes until they reached a heavy door at the end.
"Step to the side," Hugo said as he walked past Zane.
He rammed the door with his shoulder, breaking it apart and allowing them to continue.
On the other side was a large room filled with cages. Inside those cages were many people. Humans, demi-humans of every kind and even some beast folk. Most of them covered in blood, some even missing arms, legs, both or even all limbs. Many of them could have been mistaken for corpses if their chests weren't rising up, and going down every few seconds.
"Please, please safe us," a demi-human woman said.
"Save us, save us, save us, save us, save us, save us," multiple people began chanting in the back.
"Ah, the missing people that the Ramillions mentioned," Gilma said. "Should we get them out of here?"
"They aren't the objective! If you want to save them come for them after we're done exterminating the goblins," the young sorceress said, tapping her foot on the ground. "And don't expect extra payment, my parents aren't paying for that." As she said 'that' she looked at the imprisoned people.
"You're the boss, miss Ramillion," Gilma said as he bowed before the sorceress.
"Stop it!" she said. "Let's turn back now, there must be some left!"
"Right, right," Gima said.
"W-Wait, is it really okay to just leave them here?" the demi-human swordsman asked.
"It is, now let's get out of here," the Ramillion girl said.
Never expect kindness from a noble.
Zane walked past her and led the group back the way they came sooner than he had expected. They left the hut again and returned to the statue of the goblin king where they found a small cluster of hobgoblins, all wielding weapons.
The second the hobgoblins noticed them they began screaming, raising their weapons and throwing stones at them. Before Zane could shoot the blood bullets at them a fireball went past his head and crashed straight into the hobgoblins.
"That takes care of those," the young sorceress said confidently and with a look of pure pride on her face.
If she continues this she might break her damned orb before we even reach that king, no probably before we even reach the high sorcerer.
Zane looked around for more enemies but couldn't find any.
Something seems off . . . they're hiding something.
The group continued with their mission and they were now walking down a wide path that led them to the other end of the crater. Along the way, they came across barely any goblins, some normal ones and another small group of hobs, but there were no more lords even though all of them were certain that they were approaching the goblin king. Zane was constantly on edge, always looking around hectically, his guns pointed at every bush he saw.
A sudden wave of heat overcame them out of nowhere as they walked through a wooden arch. They found themselves surrounded by walls of fire reaching higher than the trees, but the walls of fire weren't burning the trees at all, they weren't burning the goblins, that began walking through the flaming walls, first appearing as rough silhouettes that grew into shadows on the other side.
"Walked right into their trap, damn high sorcerers . . . too rare to get used to," Hugo complained loudly as he readied himself to attack the approaching goblins.
The walls of fire were now also beginning to close in on them. Zane stepped over to Gilma and whispered in his ear.
"Buy me some time," he whispered.
Gilma nodded and immediately positioned himself in front of Zane.
Alright, let's see if this actually works.
Zane began concentrating on the flow of Aura within his body, then on the flow of Aura around his body until he could sense the presences of his comrades, and eventually those of the goblins that had entered the firewalls, then he could feel the Aura emanating from those walls and after he went deeper and completely let go of any other thought he could sense a grand presence, that befitting of a goblin high sorcerer.
There you are.
Zane, his eyes still closed, raised both guns and pointed them at the presence he assumed to belong to the goblin lord. As he shot out the blood bullets he sensed a large burst of Aura coming from them, he sensed them flying through the walls of fire and eventually he felt the usual feeling of piercing something, as if he had pierced the goblins head with his own finger.
The walls of fire burst apart after the orb the goblin high sorcerer had used to create them shattered after falling to the ground. Confused grunting quickly reached their ears as the goblins noticed what had happened. Gilma and Hugo used that moment of confusion among the goblins to rush in and kill every goblin in sight. Zane's mind was still a bit hazy but he was quickly recovering.
Loud laughing suddenly reached their ears as Hugo and Gilma finished off the goblins with the help of the demi-human swordsman and the young sorceress.
"You've done great, but now you'll face Goblin King Karkas!" someone yelled.
All of them turned their attention to where the voice had come from. It was a throne, positioned atop a large boulder, made of bones and wood and rocks. On it sat a goblin that resembled the wooden statue they had seen earlier perfectly. In one hand the goblin king was holding a large sceptre that looked more like a club that had been decorated and he wore heavy armour with an especially magnificent piece of armour that emphasized the goblin kings manhood.
Of course . . .
Zane pointed both guns at the goblin king, ready to shoot out the two blood bullets. The young Ramillion sorceress had already prepared a lantern with a white-greyish orb inside and the three swordsmen had all pointed their swords at the goblin that was about Zane's height.
The goblin king stood up from its throne and looked down at them before jumping down to them, slamming the club into the ground, creating a dust cloud. But as soon as the dust cloud had appeared it was already gone. The young sorceress had used the orb to generate a wind strong enough to blow the goblin king away along with the dust cloud. Zane used the moment in which the goblin king couldn't move due to being in the middle of the air to shoot him through the head, both bullets pierced through the goblin's head and went out the other side.
What?
"W-Well . . . t-that was easier than expected," Gilma said, looking at the corpse of the goblin king.
"We can go then. This should have been all of them and you can go and take care of those people in the cages," the Ramillion sorceress said with a hint of disgust in her voice.
How typical.
The group was preparing to leave when the ground suddenly began shaking. The goblin king suddenly appeared right next to Zane and the young sorceress, swinging his club.
At that moment Zane felt how his body was shaken violently and his vision quickly faded to black.