GOBLIN SLAYER ROLLS THE DICE
Level 1: Become a Player
A gruesome sound of broken bones and torn flesh echoes between the walls of that cave as the head of a goblin danced in the air before falling several meters away from the body, shedding blood all around.
"Thirteen."
A single word, and yet it was enough to make the last two goblins tremble with fear, as they watched helplessly the demon made of iron that had come to their nest to exterminate them. A moment before they were having fun, enjoying the fruits of their last raid, and the next moment, that...that monster had appeared in front of them, starting to kill them mercilessly. Four of them had not even had time to react that their enemy had already slaughtered them with superhuman speed.
And now, only two of them remained.
The tall figure turned to them and their tremors increased in intensity when they saw an eye shining red through the slits of the helmet, as if it were a fire lit in the darkest depths of hell. The short sword, still stained with the blood of their brothers, reflected the light of the torch that monster had brought, but then that weapon fell to the ground. Confused by that gesture, the two goblins thought their enemy was too tired to continue fighting, but their hopes were brutally crushed when they saw him kneel and retrieve one of the little axes used by them.
Driven by pure survival instinct, one of the two goblins pushed his brother towards that monster before running away, deep into their nest. Behind him, the desperate screams of his fellow goblin echoed for a few moments before being interrupted by an axes in the back of its neck.
"Fourteen."
It was only a whisper, but that word seemed to pierce the back of the goblin like an icy blade, pushing it to run even faster, until it reached the end-line, a slightly larger cave where there were bones, some weapons and the small 'room' where the goblin babies were left after they were born.
Quickly opening the rudimentary wooden door, the goblin looked at the three baby goblins for an instant, as they were intent on watching it confused and afraid. A sick idea crossed its mind and, without hesitation, took and threw them out of that small room before closing the door again. Their desperate cries were heard in that small space, but the goblin paid no attention to it and tried in every way to find a way to escape. That small room was the deepest point of their nest, but there had to be another way to escape! Their shaman would certainly have had an answer, but it had been the first to be killed by that damned monster.
A scream, louder than the others, caught his attention, but then that voice...that cold and inhuman voice, reached its ears.
"Fifteen."
There was no time to waste! Those babies were useless, even to buy time! Looking at every single corner of that room, the goblin finally saw salvation in the form of a double swing door made of stone. It was very tall, more than that monster and each door was as wide as two goblins, but because of the dirt, excrement and other things thrown there, the goblin had never noticed it before. With the hope of finally being able to escape, the goblin ran against that door and after removing a pile of bones and excrement, the small creature pushed it with all its might.
The door didn't budge even an inch.
Its heart began to beat faster and faster in its chest and the goblin tried again to open those heavy doors, but its strength was almost nonexistent. The small creature put its feet on the ground and tried again, but it didn't get any results. The goblin had no way to try again because, all of a sudden, it felt a heat behind its back and it could see its shadow grow bigger and bigger on the doors in front of its face.
Turning slowly, a mask of terror formed on its face when it saw that monster standing there, a small club in the right hand, already raised for the attack that would have killed the small creature.
The club went down and the sound of broken bones was heard in the air.
"That makes eighteen."
Goblin Slayer looked around for more goblins but saw none.
None which was alive at least.
There were no girls held captive and there were only three baby goblins. Probably their mother had been killed and devoured in order to support that nest. He shook his head before turning and walking towards the exit, but then he heard something, a whisper.
"...er... her..."
He looked back. There was no one besides him, yet the young adventurer would swear he heard a female voice. When he thought he had only had a simple hallucination due to fatigue, a new whisper reached his ears.
"Over...here..."
Concentrating, he was able to identify the origin of that voice and his gaze finally settled on the double stone door that the goblin was trying to open.
'Is there a prisoner girl behind that door? It seems heavy, too much for one or more goblins...maybe a hobgoblin could open it, but I haven't seen any around the nest and there are no signs of their presence.' Goblin Slayer looked for a moment in the direction he had come from 'No sound, so there are no other hidden goblins.'
Approaching the doors, he decided to try to open them so as to see if there really was a prisoner, but the moment his hands had touched the stone surface, both doors began to open on their own. In a few moments they were completely wide open and a long path of carved stone extended ahead of him, surrounded on both sides by an endless chasm, but with several torches hanging on the walls so as to allow him to see the road. Looking up he saw only darkness; it was as if the walls on the sides were infinite.
'Is this an illusion? The work of a goblin shaman?' wondered Goblin Slayer.
"Over here!"
Again that voice and, now that he could hear it distinctly, it seemed particularly familiar to him. Not knowing how to react, he decided to advance along that path which was decidedly the work of some form of intelligent life, more intelligent than a normal goblin, and even a goblin shaman. After a few minutes of walking in silence, he finally saw the end of that path and was slightly confused to see that it was a small roundabout with a wooden table and two large wooden chairs in the center.
Still approaching, he finally saw a hooded figure sitting on the other side of that small table, above which there was what looked like a chessboard but larger than normal.
"You're finally here." said the hooded figure with a happy female voice.
"Did the goblins imprison you? Are you hurt?" asked Goblin Slayer without missing a beat, but the only response he received was a laugh full of happiness and serenity.
"After all this time, are you still chasing goblins? You haven't changed at all!"
Goblin Slayer slightly tilted his head "Do I know you?"
"Oh my...your words offend me!" she placed a hand over her chest "To think that you'd forget my beautiful voice like that!" and, with a simple gesture of her hand, she removed the hood of her vest, revealing short blonde hair and two dark green eyes behind a pair of red-rimmed glasses "Do you recognize me now?"
"You're...Arc Mage." said Goblin Slayer, remembering every time he went on a mission with the young enchantress to kill goblins so as to help her improve her knowledge of those creatures "The last time I saw you was in that tower...did you find what you were looking for?"
She nodded with a huge smile "I found that and much more!" she gestured toward the other chair "Would you mind taking a seat? There is something I would like to talk to you about."
"Is it urgent?" he asked with his monotone voice "I have to report on completing the mission."
"How was it?"
"There were goblins."
She laughed again "How typical of you! But enough about that...what I want to talk to you about is very important and above all..." she smiled at him "...it could help you in your desire to exterminate all goblins."
He remained silent to observe her for several seconds, until he decided to sit down "What is it?"
"Excellent decision!" she pointed at the chessboard "You see this?" he nodded and after searching in her robe, she pulled out a small piece similar to a chess piece, with the only difference that that piece had the features of Goblin Slayer "Do you remember what I said to you years ago?"
"That this world is just a game board."
"Correct!" she placed the piece with his features on the chessboard "Beyond the edges of this board, there are capricious and selfish gods...the lives of mortals are simple pastimes for them, and they enjoy rolling the dice to dictate fate for all of them...do you think it's correct?" he didn't respond, still looking at her as she fetched a couple of simple dices from her robe "With such a small object, they decide who lives and who dies...but not you."
Shaking her right hand for a few seconds, she threw the two dices on the board but after a few rebounds, one of them went to stop against the piece depicting Goblin Slayer, remaining precariously balanced on a single corner, while the other dice literally bounced off the chessboard, falling not far from them.
"As you can see...it doesn't matter how many times they roll the dice...they can't dictate your fate." she chuckled for a moment "It's truly amazing, it's like you're stopping anyone from writing your story...you're a more unique than rare case!" she then showed him a kind smile "And that's why, after you helped me achieve my goal, I want to help you."
She opened her left hand, showing him two dices.
"Would you like to be the one to roll your own dices?"
He watched her silently for a few seconds "What do you mean?"
"There are hundreds of thousands of adventurers in this world! All different from each other, all with their dreams and their flaws...there are those who are strong and there are those who are weak...you, who are a..." she looked at his neck "...a Bronze-ranked adventurer? Wow! The last time I looked at your life you were still a Sapphire-ranked! Congratulations!" she coughed once "Back to the main topic, you are slowly getting stronger and the fact that you only kill goblins benefits you but...do you really think you can kill them all?"
She received no answer.
"I know you are not stupid, and I also know that you are aware of the most powerful variants of the goblins...such as the goblin lords or the goblin paladins and I can guarantee you that there are also things far more dangerous than those monsters." said Arc Mage with a calm yet firm smile on her face "For this I want to help you, giving you the opportunity to write your own story, so as to become stronger and stronger...strong enough to rival even a Platinum-ranked adventurer, so that you no longer have to fear anything."
"Why me?"
"Because you helped me when I asked you, even if I was simply the one who had commissioned you with an assignment, nothing more." she explained, showing again the dices "So, do you accept? Be careful, because if you say yes, your life will completely change. You will continue killing goblins and you will have the power to protect the people you care about, but your destiny will be constantly changing and only you will be able to make it go in the direction you choose."
Goblin Slayer watched those dice in absolute silence. The seconds became minutes, but finally he moved a hand and placed it under hers "I accept."
Arc Mage smiled at him before dropping the dices in his hand, but as soon as they had touched his gloved hand, they exploded into particles of light and, in an instant, Goblin Slayer found himself surrounded by darkness, with only Arc Mage's voice echoing in his mind.
"I'm sure we'll meet again sooner or later, Goblin Slayer! When you wake up you will be a little dazed but rest assured, it won't take long and you will wake up in a safe area! Ah I almost forgot!"
After a short pause, she spoke again, but there was a strange energy in her voice that Goblin Slayer could not decipher.
"Welcome to the game, Player!"
END LEVEL 1
Welcome everyone! How did you find this first chapter? I hope you liked it! I know, I have other fics already started and I should update those, but I don't have much inspiration so I decided to start a project that had been scratching the back of my mind for quite some time!
A cross-over between "Goblin Slayer" and "Solo Leveling"!
For those who don't know, Solo Leveling is a Korean opera, based on a light novel just like Goblin Slayer!
In the next chapter we will be able to find out for good what this new power received from our Goblin Slayer entails; among other things Arc Mage is a character taken from the manga "Goblin Slayer: Side Story Year One"! Finally, this story begins a little before the events in the manga, so Goblin Slayer is not yet a Silver-ranked adventurer.
Hope to see a lot of reviews from your part!
That's it for now, I'll see you in the next chapter! May your day be wonderful!