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Chapter 39 - 38- Eight incursion (7)

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The sound of frantic footsteps filled the hall, each strike echoing like a war drum. Luki ran. Two goblins stumbled right behind him.

The dome-shaped chamber was vast, with its center nearly bare, open, without hiding spots. But around the edges, jagged stalagmites jutted from the ground like spears. Piles of stones and debris formed chaotic little mounds, dragged there with care, as the marks on the floor revealed.

By Luki.

He dove to the side at the last second, his shoulder scraping against a low stalagmite as the first goblin charged past, roaring and nearly tripping.

WHISH!

The second one lunged at him like a hunting panther. Luki ducked, scraping his knee against the rough stone floor as the monster flew overhead. Even with leather reinforcement, he still felt the sting from sliding on such unforgiving ground.

'Tsk... amazing how these little bastards are wilder than a kobold.'

The goblins were pure feral instinct. They ran erratically, sometimes on two legs, sometimes diving forward on all fours. They slammed into rocks, tripped, rolled across the floor and yet never stopped.

Their bodies twisted in grotesque movements, driven by sheer savagery, as if the only thing that existed was the blind desire to reach Luki and tear him apart.

They roared, snarling like maddened beasts, their eyes bulging with fury. One smashed its shoulder against a stalagmite, staggered, and kept running as if it hadn't even felt the blow.

Luki vaulted over a low pile of rubble, but his footing slipped. His boot slid, sending him crashing onto his shoulder and skidding across the ground.

— ARGH!

Without pausing, he rolled and forced himself up in one rough motion, bracing against a cluster of displaced stones. A goblin clawed for his leg, its cold fingers brushing his boot, but Luki yanked it back and kicked hard into its torso, sending the little monster staggering away.

No time to breathe. Luki grabbed at nearby stalagmites and pushed himself forward again before the other goblin closed in.

'I just need them to lose sight of me for one second... but pulling that off in such an open space is tough. Damn it! I should've stripped all the glowing moss before they got here!'

He twisted mid-sprint, diving into a cluster of stalagmites. His feet skidded on loose rocks, he hit the ground shoulder first, rolled, and in the same motion tucked himself behind a pile of debris he had dragged there earlier.

The goblins' guttural cries echoed closer, heavy and uncoordinated. Taking the chance, Luki grabbed a nearby stone and hurled it across the hall, vanishing back into cover.

TAC!

The sharp crack of the rock striking the cavern wall echoed loud, impossible to miss even through the goblins' deranged snarls.

The creatures froze... then stumbled clumsily toward the sound. Neither noticed the elf crouching mere steps away, silent and watchful.

Luki held his breath.

'Okay... easier than I thought. Dumb goblins. Now to get my sword back and deal with that blind one.'

Keeping low, Luki began to move. Every step was measured, silent, his eyes never leaving his enemies. He couldn't go too slow, the hobgoblin could show up at any moment, but recklessness was death.

'It was around here... got it!'

His sword lay abandoned in the center of the chamber, faintly illuminated by the Dungeon's bluish glow. Luki braced to sprint for it when his body froze.

He wasn't alone.

'Shit. Too close… too risky.'

There, only a few meters from the weapon, the blind goblin stood still. Restless. Sniffing the air like a predator lost in the dark.

Heart hammering, Luki groped the ground until his hand found a pebble. He clenched it tight and tossed it behind the goblin, praying it would draw only his attention.

The goblin's head snapped, its blind eyes fixed on the void. The sound had worked. For a heartbeat.

It growled something incomprehensible… and ignored the bait.

Luki grit his teeth.

'What the...? Another clever one? Don't tell me I'll have to put a rock straight through his skull...'

Before he could think further, his gaze drifted instinctively toward the tunnel where the enemies had come from. Emerging from the shadows was the figure he feared most: the hobgoblin.

Huge. Menacing. Its eyes focused on nothing and everything at once. And it was drawing closer.

'Damn it! No time to hesitate. Gotta do it now.'

Luki grabbed a larger stone, nearly the size of a fist, rose halfway, and hurled it with all his strength at the blind goblin's temple.

The rock struck with a THUMP! A guttural grunt escaped the monster as it staggered back, more disoriented than before.

For a second, Luki thought it would collapse. But instead, the creature spun toward the source of the strike, or what it thought it was, and sprinted blindly. Arms stretched forward, feet pounding like a deranged beast.

Within moments, it reached the pile of rubble where Luki hid. It sniffed the air furiously, clawing at stone, ground, and shadows, desperate to find him.

But on the other side, in perfect silence, Luki mirrored its movements. Each step left, he slid right. Always just beyond its blind angle.

When the goblin finally circled back with its back to the chamber's center, Luki moved. Silent, swift, he darted across the open ground and seized his fallen sword.

Fingers tightened around the hilt, like regaining a missing limb.

'Good. Phase three begins.' he thought, pulling from his armor a torn strip of cloth, dyed the same color as the shirt beneath his cuirass.

...

Elsewhere in the chamber, two goblins prowled among the shadows.

— Grzzt... nothing! — one screeched, bug-eyed.

— Damn elf... vanish... too fast! — growled the other, pounding his chest in frustration.

They glared at each other, anger boiling, when—

—GAAAAAH!! HELP!!

A shriek split the air. High. Painful. Familiar.

The goblins froze. Not in pity but In alarm.

They dashed off without a word. Not to save their kin... but to reach the intruder before he vanished again.

But when they arrived at the source of the cry... they stopped.

What they saw was not what they expected.

Their companion lay sprawled on the ground, still alive... but barely.

His back pressed to the floor, his entire body shredded by deep cuts, each wound carved not to kill but to torture.

His limbs quivered, his eyes rolled in panic, foam spilled from his mouth with constant screams. A loose gag dangled at his lips — maybe that's why they'd only heard him now.

But there was more.

A clear, stinging liquid drenched his open wounds. One goblin sniffed the air and recoiled with a feral snarl.

The smell was strong, sharp — alcohol. They had never drunk it, maybe never seen a bottle, but they knew. The knowledge was carved into their flesh, coded into instinct: alcohol on open wounds burns like hell.

The blind goblin shrieked as if being burned alive. For ears that sharp, it was unbearable, deafening. The two staggered back, clutching their twisted ears.

And still more awaited.

A sword pinned their companion to the floor through the gut, fixing him like an insect. The blade was drenched in blood, the hilt still slick. Flesh around the wound had already begun to rot in the Dungeon's stifling heat.

The goblins froze. They had never seen such cruelty — never against one of their own.

Fear returned. Paralysis returned. Distraction returned. And that was all a certain elf needed.

BOOM!CRACK!

The goblin on the right heard the sound nearby. A sound he knew well, the chief crushing skulls with his stone club.

But this time... it wasn't their chief.

Slowly, unwillingly, he turned. And there it was: his comrade's corpse, skull obliterated. Where a head should have been, there was only a crushed mess, pinned beneath a massive jagged stone tied with thick rope. Around it, a pool of blood and bone fragments.

And then, a voice.

— Two down... one left. — spoke someone from the darkness, calm as a surgeon.

The rope tightened, dragging the stone back into shadow.

The goblin's trembling eyes turned and met the intruder. The elf. The damned elf who should be running. Begging. Desperate.

But he wasn't fleeing anymore.

Luki stood tall, breath steady, gaze sharp as glass. He gripped the rope in one hand, swinging the stone tied at the other end. An improvised weapon, crude... but one strike was enough to crush anything. And the goblin knew it.

Sweat ran down his spine. Fear pinned him in place.

Until something deeper, more primal, consumed it. Hatred.

— GRRRAAAAAAHHH!! — the goblin roared and charged, eyes fixed, life or death be damned.

Luki didn't wait. He spun, hurling the stone in a deadly arc.

The goblin ducked almost in time.

The rock whooshed past, grazing his ear.

— GHRRAAAAHH!! — he howled, retreating, claws trembling.

Luki was already spinning again, aiming for the flank. He swung, but the goblin hurled himself flat to the ground with a grotesque grunt:

— GKKHK!!

Third strike.

WHOOSH! — The stone ripped through the air and CRACK! — smashed into the goblin's elbow.

— GYAAAAAAAAHH!!! — The monster shrieked, piercing and deafening, its cry bouncing through the chamber.

The bone burst like rotten wood. The arm dangled, hanging only by skin and tendon, flopping grotesquely.

The goblin collapsed with a heavy THUD!, thrashing in its own blood, screaming louder:

— GRRYYAAAAHH!! GYHHHAA! GYEEEGHHH!!

It stared upward, eyes wide with agony and terror, mouth stretching for one last scream—

— GHIIIIIIIII?!!

SPLASH!!!

The rock came down like a meteor, crushing its face. The impact was brutal — CRRRAACK!!! — followed by a wet, sickening squelch. The head vanished beneath the stone, leaving only a red pool and unrecognizable fragments.

Luki exhaled sharply, shoulders loosening.

— Phew~ finally over... a certain Goblin Slayer would be proud... — he muttered with a wry smile, shaking off the tension.

But relief lasted only a second.

— GROOOOOAAAAARRRGHHHH!!!

A monstrous roar erupted, deep and twisted, reverberating through the chamber. It was older, heavier, primal fury bottled too long. Each note made the ground vibrate. Stalagmites shuddered.

Luki froze.

Slowly, he turned.

The grotesque silhouette emerged from the tunnel. Huge. Eyes blazing yellow in the dark like coals. Chest heaving with rage. Teeth bared in an animal snarl.

The hobgoblin had arrived.

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