Something changed as they neared the caves.
Even after all the bloodshed, even after the losses...
This was a different kind of terror.
The darkness here swallowed sound itself, as though hungrily devouring every rustle that dared disturb its stillness.
The air was thick—choked with the stench of blood so dense it felt like it had soaked the stone for years.
Scattered at the cave's mouth lay bodies—humans and demi-humans alike, those who had been taken. Limbs twisted, fingers gnawed off, bellies torn open. Entrails spilled, eyes gouged out. Some still breathed, but it was no longer life—it was torment.
The dwarf froze.
"Filthy bastards…" he muttered, fists clenched tight.
The mage trembled even harder.
She covered her mouth, but still felt nausea clawing up her throat.
"How... how could they…?"
Her eyes widened as they landed on a woman—lifeless now—holding a dead child to her chest.
Kano gripped his sword, his whole body shaking with rage.
The cave entrance gaped like a wound in the earth, smeared in old blood.
This wasn't mere brutality. The goblins fed on pain.
Kano looked deeper—and saw them.
Cages.
Women sat inside. Barely alive.
Emaciated, bruised, bloodied.
Some wept.
Others just stared blankly, hollowed out.
They were broken.
In a distant corner, something shifted.
Newborn goblins.
Still twisted, malformed echoes of their mothers—pale-skinned, yellow-eyed, mouths contorted.
They'd clawed their way out of wombs not yet ready to give birth.
The mage shut her eyes with her hands.
"This… this shouldn't exist. This can't be real."
Naira said nothing.
But Kano noticed her knuckles had gone white around the axe.
Lurk stood silent, his ears twitching, eyes narrowed to slits.
Rage boiled in his wolfblood soul.
Then—a sound.
A voice, raw and strangled by agony.
"Help… me…"
Naira stepped forward—then stopped.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
A woman.
But her face was wrong.
Her hands were twisted, gnarled like goblin claws.
Her skin had blackened.
She was half-turned.
"Help… me…"
And then her body convulsed violently.
Her insides tore apart as a goblin mutant burst from within her, lifeless but grotesque.
Kano staggered back, his face drained of color.
The mage shrieked and ducked behind the dwarf.
Naira didn't say a word.
She simply fell to one knee and covered her face with a hand.
These weren't just monsters.
They were evil.
They tortured.
They defiled.
They destroyed.
They left nothing pure behind.
For the first time, Kano understood—this wasn't a battle. It wasn't a war.
This was the eradication of evil itself.
They stood at the edge of hell.
Behind them—a city that believed in them.
Ahead—a nightmare that never should have been.
Naira rose slowly.
Her eyes were no longer just serious.
They blazed.
She lifted her axe and, through clenched teeth, whispered for the first time:
"Let's wipe them out."
They moved forward.
The deeper they went, the thicker the darkness grew.
The torches gave no warmth—only flickered shadows that crawled along the walls like living things.
Goblins didn't give up ground easily.
Their cries echoed from stone columns, from behind every crevice, every hole in the rock that could lead deeper into the abyss.
Then—they reached it.
The heart of the goblin lair.
The space opened up. A massive cavern stretched before them, glowing dimly with green crystals.
Bones of humans and beastkin formed grotesque arches.
Chains hung from the ceiling—some still held bodies.
Far below, in pits of shadow, something writhed, hissed, and snorted.
Naira exhaled deeply, her face calm but her fists clenched so hard they trembled.
Kano's neck prickled—the hair standing straight.
This place was hell, rooted in the belly of the earth.
Then—they came.
Three giants.
Green-skinned behemoths, each as large as two orcs, their hunched backs warped by grotesque humps.
Each bore four massive arms, their fingers curled like jagged bone knives.
Their heads—elongated skulls with saber-like fangs.
When they opened their mouths, black saliva oozed out, sizzling the stone where it landed.
Their bodies were malformed, heavy, yet every step radiated brute force.
Their skin looked like armor.
They breathed in grating, bestial rasps.
The mage stepped back and almost fell.
"What… what are they…?"
The dwarf braced himself in silence, rooting his feet to the ground.
Even Lurk bared his fangs instinctively—as if one predator had sensed another.
Naira grinned. Wide.
"Ohh… now we're talking."
The champions moved forward.
Slow. Deliberate.
They didn't even see them as threats.
Their arms sliced through the air with a low hum—each swing ready to crush anything in their path.
The first blow landed.
One champion backhanded an adventurer across the cavern.
The body hit the wall with a sickening crack.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
Something inside Kano snapped.
Naira shouted.
"DON'T GIVE THEM TIME! ATTACK!"
She lunged forward, axe flashing in both hands, and brought it down with all her might on the giant's leg.
The blade hit the knee—but didn't break the bone.
The champion roared but stayed upright—its hide too thick.
It spun around, trying to grab her.
Kano dashed in from the flank, his sword plunging into the mutant's chest.
The blade sank halfway into flesh.
The champion coughed blood—but didn't falter.
"He's not going down?!"
Then—Lurk vanished.
A blur.
A breath.
He was already on the goblin's back.
His claws sank into the hump. He tore into the flesh, digging deep.
The champion roared again, flailing, trying to shake him off.
But Lurk was too fast.
He drove both daggers beneath the collarbones—and twisted hard.
Blood gushed. The monster staggered.
Naira didn't miss a beat.
She swung again—this time burying her axe into the skull.
Bone cracked.
The goblin dropped to its knees.
Then collapsed face-first.
Kano wiped sweat from his brow, breathing hard.
"One down."
And then—they charged again.