The words of Gabriel delighted the villagers, who hurried to fulfill each of his requests.
Some men immediately went to take down and burn the corpses of monsters impaled before the gate without delay. The old man's daughter prepared a good hot bath for the traveler, but he decided to leave the bath for later, after his triumphant return.
The old man's wife went outside and asked another woman in her thirties to bring clothes for their guest, and she complied quickly.
- "These are my husband's clothes, he agrees that I give them to you," said the golden-haired woman, handing clean garments to the adventurer. "They are the finest he has," she added.
- "Ah, thank you," replied Gabriel, thinking it was unnecessary to take the poor villager's festive attire.
But since they were given so kindly, he could not refuse. Thus, he undressed on the spot before the ladies, without manners, making them all jump in panic, surprised by the foreigner's brutal act. The old man, coughing twice, pointed out his lack of tact and ungallant behavior toward the women and young ladies.
- "You should use the other room next door," said the old man.
- "Ah yes, sorry hahaha. I've spent too much time in the mountains," apologized Gabriel, scratching his head.
A few minutes later, he joined the old man, his wife, and some villagers in the living room. He had removed what remained of his armor and put on the more modest peasant clothes they had lent him. He was not cleaner than when he arrived, but clearly less filthy.
- "Does this suit you?" asked the old man.
- "Perfect! It'll do for now," replied Gabriel, taking back his two swords placed against the dining table before heading toward the door under the worried and stressed gaze of the villagers.
With heavy hearts, their eyes wavering between hope and sadness, the villagers watched him leave to answer their prayers. His success was at that moment their only shared wish, so united as one, they prayed for him when the young man stopped before the door after an obvious thought struck him.
He turned his head and asked the old man:
- "Where did they go… those goblins?"
- "Ah… well, into the big hill not far from here, east of the village. We are sure that's where they made their caves."
- "I see. In that case, I'll be back."
- "My lord!!!" cried the old man's wife before adding, "Please, save those children."
Gabriel considered her body's incessant trembling and smiled at her with his teeth.
- "I'll do my best."
He left the house under everyone's gaze and headed east. He departed the village by a road that led him to a rocky area. Before him stood a large hill surrounded by rocks.
- "It's the biggest around, and I clearly smell an unpleasant goblin stench here. It must be here," he told himself.
From there, he decided to climb onto a rock and then jump from one to another to gain altitude and get closer to the large hill. After about ten jumps, he reached a big rock from which he could clearly see a huge cave, a gaping hole.
- "Bingo! This must be the entrance," he said before jumping near the large hole serving as an entrance. "It's gigantic! Three times the size of a human, you can enter without difficulty."
Gabriel first looked around near the entrance before turning back to gaze at the landscape behind him. Beyond the rocky area stretched a green plain of short grass with a few scattered trees here and there. The village stood farther away, visible only by the rooftops of a few houses barely identifiable from up there.
- "Though I truly have a dark heart, this world can sometimes be really beautiful. Well, now's not the time to admire the scenery. Let's go in!"
He immediately drew his worn sword and entered the hole, which turned out to be a large and long tunnel. Despite the poor visibility, he walked calmly inside, and it didn't take long before he had his first hostile encounter when three goblin patrols armed with swords and daggers, carrying torches, appeared before him.
They noticed Gabriel at the same moment he noticed them. He pointed his sword at them in provocation, and the three goblins rushed at him without hesitation.
Showing skillful swordplay, he dodged the first by shifting left and let him pass before cutting off his head as they crossed side by side. The second leaped at him, but Gabriel was faster and sliced him from head to toe, splattering the third just behind with blood before driving his sword into the latter's heart.
He then lifted him as he gave his last breath before throwing him and smashing him against the wall to his right. Then, he gave two swings in the air to clean his sword before continuing his path into the cave.
After a few meters in the same tunnel, he encountered five more goblins who rushed at him like the previous ones, only to meet the same fate. Sliced from head to toe, split in half, or half-decapitated, Gabriel eliminated them all without the slightest difficulty.
He then resumed his progress and walked calmly until he had to dodge an arrow by tilting his head. Before him stood three goblin archers and two swordsmen ready for battle. The three archers fired an arrow each simultaneously at their target.
Gabriel blocked one arrow with his sword, shifted right to avoid another, and deflected the third. At the same time, the two goblin swordsmen launched their assault, rushing at their opponent, who took a deep breath before taking a combat stance. With incredible speed, before they could even see him act, he cut off both goblins' heads.
The three goblin archers also noticed nothing, as they had shot into the void at Gabriel's former position. And before they could reload their weapons again, Gabriel used the same speed to slice their heads off with ease, all three of them.
- "Small fry!" he muttered before resuming his walk in the dark tunnel, continuing for quite a while without encountering goblins or anything else.
Nevertheless, he knew that this sudden silence was not a good omen and feared the counterattack of the vicious little beasts. Gabriel was no amateur, and this was not the first time he had dealt with goblins. He knew well how malicious and twisted these creatures could be. At nineteen years of age, Gabriel knew only one other creature more cunning and vicious than a goblin: man. He was one of those men. Thus, he advanced with full confidence, without fear or worry.
But after walking about a hundred meters into the cave, he heard strange screams coming from the depths. Not one or two, but dozens. They were cries of pain and suffering. Cries of young girls shouting "Help!", "Save me!", "Please!", "Stop!", "Have mercy!", "Please, help!"
When Gabriel heard them, he took position before running at great speed toward the depths until he saw light. But when he reached the source of that light, he was left speechless.
A very large chamber lay before his eyes, a crevasse lit by torches. Gabriel found the village girls who had been kidnapped by the goblins… they were all there in the same place, their clothes torn and shredded, their bodies smeared with blood and mud, barely recognizable under the relentless violence of the monsters. Some of them already seemed disconnected from this world, while others still struggled to scream, cry, and beg any god who might lend an ear to their misery.
Those had not yet been broken, or at least not completely, but judging by the demonic smiles the goblins threw at them, it would not be long. In fact… it had already begun.
- "Horrible! What a disgusting sight. You don't even deserve that I use my skills on you," Gabriel said to himself, watching the scene with disgust. "So… come at me. I'll slaughter you all, filthy disgusting monsters!!!!!" he shouted, drawing attention to himself and interrupting the goblins' festivities.
There were a good hundred of them there, perhaps three times more.
Some left the horde to rush at him, grabbing their weapons along the way. But for the seasoned fighter Gabriel was, dodging their attacks and cutting them to pieces was child's play.
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Dodge. Dodge. Slash! Slash again and again. Faced with the sudden threat, the goblins stopped their business to try to eliminate Gabriel, all leaping at him at once, armed with swords and spears. But alas for them, he treated them no better than mosquitoes.
Goblin heads crossing in the air, arms and legs scattered here and there, goblins sliced like meat at the marketplace, and their blood flowing like a faucet, painting the cave floor scarlet red.
In just a few minutes, Gabriel had annihilated the horde of a hundred goblins in the cave, showing endless barbarity. Only four remained.
They tried to flee, but he caught them—cutting off the head of the one on his left, slicing in two the one on his right, then cleaving from head to toe the one running ahead. The last picked up a bow from the ground and shot an arrow at Gabriel, but he deflected it with his sword before calmly advancing toward the small goblin trembling all over. The warrior's aura made him appear to the terrified creature as something he was not: a monster.
- "Personally, I don't judge you for what you've done. After all, who am I to judge? The law of the strongest—I understand that well. And that's precisely why I will annihilate you, nothing more, nothing less. Because… I am the strongest."
Suddenly, Gabriel stopped, eyes wide.
One of the girls rose behind the goblin with a large stone she had picked up nearby, before striking a heavy blow to the monster's head. It fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. The girl then leapt on it to strike again and again with all her strength and rage until she completely crushed its head, spreading blood and brain matter across the floor.
But she did not stop there. Yielding to the rage boiling within her, she began smashing the rest of the body until it was reduced to pulp before Gabriel's surprised yet admiring eyes. He remained back, watching the scene, his sword resting on his shoulder.
When the girl calmed down, Gabriel finally spoke, clapping his hands.
- "Spectacular! That was magnificent," he said.
- "What's so magnificent about this?" replied the young girl, covered in blood—not only the goblin's—and completely naked.
- "Hmm…"
- "It's not over! Look up."
At the girl's warning, Gabriel raised his eyes and saw a huge tentacled eyeball clinging to the ceiling. He was very surprised when the girl added:
- "And that's not all. There are also two goblin champions."
She spat blood while wiping away what dripped into her eyes, then picked up the bow and quiver lying near the dead goblin.
- "The champions are very strong, and that thing above is even stronger. It's because of them that…"
Her words were cut off by tears streaming from her emerald-green eyes. She had long black hair and seemed barely in her twenties. She turned her head to look at two other girls, naked and in pitiful condition, lying unconscious on the ground. They were both covered in goblin fluids and their own blood.
The girl clenched her teeth and fists even tighter, tears running down her cheek. Gabriel looked at her with a questioning gaze.
- "Tell me, you wouldn't happen to be an adventu…"
He couldn't finish his sentence before a loud roar echoed in the chamber from the corridor.
He turned toward the source of the cry, a hole. From it emerged two large goblins, each over two meters tall, armed with clubs and swords. He barely had time to bite his lip before the eyeball creature descended from above, floating in the air.
The young girl, still naked, drew an arrow to ready her bow, prepared to fight to the death… this time.
- "You're a swordsman, right? Magic doesn't work on that thing. It's a demonic summoning. Moreover, it can cancel all magic in the area. That's our main problem here. We can only rely on your sword skills. I can hold off the two monsters for three minutes. Can you manage?" asked the girl, standing back-to-back with the adventurer.
- "No problem!" he replied.
- "By the way, my name is Nubie. And you?"
- "Pleasure to meet you, Nubie. You can call me Gabriel."