Disclaimer: I do NOT own Goblin Slayer.
I thank you No-Named Dude for going through the chapter!
Author's note: This story is not dead no and I didn't catch the no-no virus. I am alright. Just couldn't bring myself to write another chapter. That's all I have to say for now.
Now onto the chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 21: Battle of Water Town
"Y'all! This path is cleared! Now get outta here!" Dwarf Shaman yelled towards a group of people gathered in a narrow street of Water Town.
"Quickly, please! More goblins are coming!" Lizard Priest yelled, fending off goblins along with his Dragontooth Warrior, who were trying to knock out a young brown-haired mother, with a small babe in her arms, wrapped in white cloth.
The young mother stopped in her tracks for a second. "M-my husband. He-"
"JUST GO LADY! IF YOU WANT YOUR BABE TO SURVIVE, GET OUT OF HERE!" Dwarf Shaman yelled out, anger seeping into his otherwise calm and sarcastic voice. He sympathized with the civilians; he really did. However, right now, it was all about the numbers, and getting held up by looking for someone's husband, who may or may not already be dead, was losing precious time to evacuate the citizens out of the city.
The young lady understandingly ran in the direction Dwarf Shaman was pointing "Seems like playing the mother card in these scenarios is quite effective."
"HOW ARE YOU HOLDING, SCALY?!" Dwarf Shaman yelled out, looking in the direction where Lizard Priest was fending of a handful of goblins from the evacuating civilians. Unfortunately, Lizard Priest didn't have time to even respond. Appearance of a fighting Lizard Priest was a little bit different from his usual image, thanks to the Partial Dragon spell, which enlarged his green arms, tearing his native sleeves and giving him an extra boost in power, which got useful once he was up against stronger goblins like hobgoblins.
Even though Dwarf Shaman's eyes weren't what they used to be, he saw a small creature at the roof, above Lizard Priest fending off goblins.
Dwarf Shaman put his hands in front of him. "STONE BLAST!"
The smaller rock, created between Dwarf Shaman's hand, shot straight towards the goblin on the roof, sniping him from the rooftop. The blood from the impact splattered into the air, showering the running citizens of Water Town with goblin blood.
Seeing the dead goblin flying through the air, Lizard Priest turned to Dwarf Shaman for a brief moment. "Thank you!"
"Anytime!" Dwarf Shaman grinned at Lizard Priest, before turning his attention back to the horde of people running from Water Town. "GO! GO! GO! MOVE YER ASSES!"
The night of laughs and smiles turned to chaos in a matter of seconds. Lizard Priest, on the recommendation of Dwarf Shaman, bought a wheel of moist, soft, cream, surface-ripened milk cheese.
However, before they reached the place, a beam of light appeared to be shot up around the place where the Temple of Law was located. None thought about it too much, thinking it was some kind of appetizer before the real fireworks. However, when the two were walking around the farmers market, now to find some new strong booze for Dwarf Shaman, a woman's scream filled the street. The two men quickly ran to the source of the scream. It took a few seconds, but when they reached the place, they saw a man, being skewered by a wooden spear, with a goblin laughing on top of the dead body. Suddenly, from a different street, a Hobgoblin along with a Goblin Shaman led a few goblins with them, arriving at their location shortly after the one goblin that had just killed a man.
People ran in all kinds of directions, hoping to get to the exits of the city as soon as they saw that this was not just one goblin attacking. Thankfully, like Goblin Slayer, Lizard Priest and Dwarf Shaman both wore their battle robes. Lizard Priest immediately summoned his Dragontooth Warrior, and used Swordclaw to create his bone scimitar-like blade, and unfortunately, throwing the delicious smelling wheel of cheese away.
Dwarf Shaman quickly took care of the goblin shaman, using another Stone Blast to counter the creature's electric attack. Meanwhile, Lizard Priest used the Dragontooth Warrior as a decoy, jumping at the hobgoblin's throat, and slicing it with his sickle-like weapon. Immediately after, the two headed towards the location from where these two appeared, clearing the place of regular goblins. Eventually, they had reached a large group of people surrounded by the small green turds. After defeating them also, they began evacuating the people out of vicinity.
"Where are those goddamn city guards!?" Dwarf Shaman yelled as he urged people to hurry out. "And what in the seven hells is happening!?" he thought.
"S-sir Dwarf Shaman?! Are you sure it is safe to send people this way?!" Lizard Priest yelled tiredly, asking while he had some breathing room before another horde of goblins shows up.
"It's our best bet! They seem to be coming from the Temple of Law. Sending them the opposite way, towards the city exit seems like our best bet!" Dwarf Shaman yelled, hoping to overpower the loud yelling of the other people in the crowds, who were screaming names of people they lost sight of.
Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest continued their relentless defense of migrating the populace away from the goblins as fast as they could. Amongst the chaos, they noticed that several adventurers of Water Town were helping them in their endeavor, and even the slow-ass city guards had joined in on the fray. However, the endless stream of goblins from the Temple of Law was still pouring in, and both males realized that if no one were to shut down the path from which they were coming from, the defenders would get tired, and eventually, overwhelmed.
"GODDAMNIT!" Dwarf Shaman yelled out, when a smaller weaponless goblin jumped on him from one of the rooftops, clinging to his shoulder and scratching his face. Dwarf Shaman quickly threw him over his shoulder, stepped on his stomach with great force, and lowered his hands above the goblin's head. "STONE BLAST!" he yelled out.
The rock created in front of him crushed the goblin's head before he could even release a sound. Blood splattered the dwarfs' white robes and face.
Tired from this action, Dwarf Shaman looked into the distance, in the direction where all the people were running, hoping to see the stream of people be thinned out. However, there were still a ton of people running away. The appearance of Hero showing up at the festival had brought even more people than ever before, making it difficult to defend and escort them all to safety.
Looking around, Dwarf Shaman saw how even his lizard partner was running out of breath, trying to protect an elderly man from a goblin attack. Lizardman's Dragontooth Warrior was fighting further down the road, running on auto-pilot, trying to slash and hack as many goblins as he could. "I hope Hero is going to the Temple of Law to take care of them…" Dwarf Shaman released a tired sigh. He knew Beard Cutter would be heading there, no questions asked. However, Hero would be able to take care of this much faster with her party.
"That's Hero and Sage!" one of the children, who sat on his fathers shoulders yelled out as he pointed towards the famed platinum adventurers.
"Thank the gods!" Dwarf Shaman conjured a relieved smile when help was on the way. He looked in the direction of the child and saw how the stream of people divided down the middle, making way for Hero and Sage to run towards them. Some even stopped for a moment to enjoy the sight of the legendary Hero. "NOW ISN'T THE TIME TO GAWK AT HER! MOVE YER ASSES OUTTA HERE!" Dwarf Shaman urged the crowd to quicken their steps again, however, some still stayed. "MOVE YOU IDIOTS, OR I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF!" he shouted as loudly as he could, ultimately scaring the curious civilians away. Finally, he let out a tired sigh, hanging his head low, and let the pros take the reins in this whole hero thing.
However, the two platinum adventurers weren't there to help, but to GET help.
When Dwarf Shaman looked up, he finally saw the platinum ranked party. However, he noticed that one member wasn't walking next to them, but rather, Hero was carrying the third party member in her arms, bridal style. As the two adventurers were getting closer and closer, the state of Sword Saint in Hero's arms started to be much more clear.
She was trembling, twitching spasmodically, and grunting in pain. When he saw Sword Saint's face, parts of her face had a purple tinge to it, creating an ugly abscess all over her face, uncovered cleavage, and hands. And the closer she got, Dwarf Shaman saw and heard more and more unsettling things. She was gasping for breath, trying to scream in pain, but no words came out of her lips, her eyes were bloodshot and open, grasping Hero with her hands so hard she was drawing blood from Hero's arm.
"What happened…" Dwarf Shaman thought.
"Hey! Dwarf and Lizardman! We need help here!" Sage yelled out when she registered Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest who just finished fighting off another two small goblins.
"Lady Sage?" Lizard Priest looked over his shoulder in the little mage's direction. His reptilian eyes immediately saw the dire state in which Sword Saint appeared to be, and he turned towards Hero. After an initial shock, even Dwarf Shaman dashed towards the Hero and her friend.
"What in the seven hells happened to her?!" Dwarf Shaman asked as soon as they were face to face with the two platinum adventurers.
"S-she hasn't been feeling well ever since the morning, but we didn't think much of it because the Do-"
"Hero!" Sage snapped on her teammate when she was about to reveal Sword Saints' greatest secret.
"WE DON'T HAVE A CHOICE! ARE YOU WELL-VERSED IN POISONS?!" Hero snapped back, clutching her poor, curled-up friend against her chest.
"I… I am not…" she quietly answered, averting her eyes away. This was the first time Hero yelled at her like that...
"Girls! Hurry up will ya?! There's an entire town under attack!" Dwarf Shaman pressured the two girls when he noticed another wave of goblins chasing civilians towards the city exit.
"Long story short, Sword Saint is a mermaid. We think the person who sold us the last Doppura potion poisoned it." Hero said, her eyes surprisingly devoid of sadness or despair, filled only with determination. The three girls did everything together, and that included dining, but since Hero and Sage were not poisoned or felt unwell at all, the only instance where someone could slip poison to Sword Saint was in the Doppura potion.
Dwarf Shaman and Lizard Priest widened their eyes for a moment and looked at Sword Saint again. Dwarf Shaman didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, disregarding the awful reaction to the poison. It seemed like the poison wasn't in any way interfering with the Doppura potion.
However, Lizard Priest noticed one thing. Visually, even through the unsightly appearance of Sword Saint, she looked human. But her scent wasn't that of a human. Not even fishermen have this distinct seawater and fish scent like Sword Saint.
The two silver-ranked quickly snapped out of their initial shock amidst the chaos. The first to respond was Dwarf Shaman.
"Girls! Are you insane?! Do you know what kind of people sell those?! Of course, it is dangerous!"
"We didn't have a choice!" Hero said back. Selling Doppura potions is illegal, so no certified alchemist would sell it to them. The current King outlawed their distribution, because there were too many spies that were using them to get sensitive information from the royal court. Of course, spies were still lurking somewhere in the shadows, but now, there was not so many of them, and was easier to get them. In short, the Doppura potion, even though the initial use was to connect different races, turned into a dangerous weapon.
"Sir Dwarf Shaman, lady Hero, and Sage. I think we should postpone this conversation to a later date and focus on the current problems at hand." Lizard Priest reminded everyone that they were being attacked AND Sword Saint was dying in Hero's arms.
"Agreed. Now, can you please look at Sword Saint? You are well-versed in poisons and their effects, aren't you?" Hero asked, turning towards Lizard Priest.
Lizard Priest raised his nonexistent eyebrow. "I am. But how do you know that?"
"You are a lizardman. Of course, you know a lot about poisons." Hero stated.
"Fair enough." Dwarf Shaman added as Sword Saint began squirming more and more in Hero's arms.
"Please, place her on the ground. I need to examine her first before making my assessment." Lizard Priest commanded, and Hero complied. Gently, Hero lowered Sword Saint onto the cold, cobblestone street, with only a few lanterns illuminating the street where hundreds of citizens were still running from the city.
"Before I start this, I would like to apologize. Though my knowledge of poisons is vast, I know mainly their effects on the lizardman body. Even though I began studying effects on human, elven and dwarven bodies lately, there are still a lot of gaps in my knowledge." Lizardman said, his eyes focused on the squirming purplish body before him.
"Just do whatever you can to save her." Hero said, the determination in her voice from before replaced with a desperate plea.
"Since that's being taken care of, how about one of you two help me with dealing with those green turds, while the second one keeps an eye on Scaly here?" Dwarf Shaman asked, but neither one of the girls replied. Both had their eyes on Sword Saint, and how Lizard Priest was slowly undressing her in the middle of the streets for examination.
The wave of goblins he saw earlier was getting closer and closer, already managing to scratch off some clothes of the women and even men in their attempts to catch and kill them.
"HEY!" Dwarf Shaman yelled out, snapping the two girls out of their trance. "You are the Hero squad ain't ya?!" he raised his voice. The two girls only hastily nodded.
"Then now would be a really good time to do some hero stuff!" Dwarf Shaman pointed in the direction of goblins chasing the people of Water Town.
As soon as Hero saw the crying for help from the people, she pulled the sword from her back and took a stance with one foot slightly in front of the other for balance. A faint white lightning bolt ran through Hero and her sword before she launched forward.
In literally the blink of an eye, Hero was gone from her original spot. She jumped forth at such a speed, that the shockwave caused Dwarf Shaman's grey beard and hair to turn 90 to the left, flailing in the wind. When Dwarf Shaman registered Hero was gone, he turned to where the wave was coming from. The only thing he saw was Goblin Champion split in half, his upper body falling, as dozens of goblin heads flew into the air. The fight was over in not even a second, and Dwarf Shaman could only watch with widened eyes at what he had just witnessed.
"BY MY BEARD! Gods, don't you think you overdid it with this girl?!" he thought. He did not even see one slash from her sword! When he turned towards her, Hero was already facing him, with goblin heads falling around her. Even the terrified citizens who were running away next to them could not help but smile in this dark hour when they saw Hero's incredible speed and talent.
As Hero calmly walked past by the speechless Dwarf Shaman, putting her sword back on her back, she gently asked Lizard Priest. "Have you found anything?"
Lizard Priest, who had completely missed the massacre that took place answered, his eyes still glued to his patient. "I know what the poison is. She isn't paralyzed, which rules out the vast majority of poisons used against humans. Also, she doesn't have a fever, narrowing my search even more. Combining it with the purplish skin and these abscesses all over her body, the po-"
"We don't need to know all the details!" Sage said, irritated by the long, needless explanation. "Can you save her?!"
Lizardman locked his eyes with the small mage. "Yes. However, I can't save her here, unfortunately. I will need alchemical components to create a cure. Additionally, if there isn't any components to create a potion that will lessen the pain, I will need some of you to hold her while I force her to drink the potion, and rub an ointment over the abscesses so she won't look disfigured in the future."
"Well, I bet alchemy shops are a free-for-all right now. Just pick the nearest one." the dwarf said.
"We saw one not far from here!" both Hero and Sage hastily replied.
"Splendid." The lizardman said, crouching to pick up Sword Saint. Carefully, he put his muscular lizardman arms under her bent knees and back, picking her up slowly, trying not to cause more pain to her than necessary. Even though he tried, she twitched and groaned in agony at the sudden contact, affirming him his conclusion regarding the poison. "Just hang on a little longer, lady Sword Saint." Lizard Priest whispered.
"If you could, please lead the way." the bipedal lizard turned to her other two teammates and friends.
"This way!" Both turned around and started to run away.
"Wait a goddamn second! What about them?!" Dwarf Shaman brought their attention towards the stream of people running towards the city exit next to them.
"Save as many as you can, we have to save Sword Saint." Sage said, with nearly no emotions in her voice. Dwarf Shaman knew what she tried to say. Right now, they didn't give a damn about the townsfolk.
"Are you serious?! They're everywhere! What do you want me to do? I can't save that many people alone! One of you is going with me!" Dwarf Shaman raised his voice.
"As if. We go with Lizard Priest." Sage said with disdain, her usual tired voice was gone, replaced by the passive-aggressive tone that tickled Dwarf Shaman's nerves. Not many things angered Dwarf Shaman, but this one small girl certainly did. Yeah, he gets that they are worried about their friend, but only one was needed to help Lizard Priest. It also seemed that Hero understood, as she was giving him and the people running away a sympathetic look.
"Look over there you damn brat!" Dwarf Shaman shouted, pointing at another wave of goblins flooding the street. In the distance, amidst the group of people, one goblin managed to smack a younger girl with a club. The girl who was in peasant clothing, fell to the cobblestone ground. Without a second to waste, the goblin began ripping and tearing at her clothes. "YOU are the fabled 'Hero squad', aren't you?!" Dwarf Shaman paused, looking at the small mage girl with disdain. "Then how about you start acting like it! Two of you will be useless with Lizard Priest!"
"HELP! PLEASE HELP!" the girl that was caught cried out, now being dragged away by four goblins.
Sage widened her eyes when she saw how the goblin with the club had smashed the girl's leg. Judging by the cry that was heard afterwards, even with the noisy crowd of people drowning it out, it was obvious that it had been broken.
"Sage…." Hero finally spoke quietly, her sad eyes locked with Sage. "Go. You can save a lot more people with your magic than I can with my techniques and magic sword."
Sage was surprised by how calm Hero remained in this situation. Moreover, the scene with the girl before them… didn't faze Hero one bit. This was Sage's first encounter with goblins and her first sight of such a spectacle. Even though she knew of the stories, seeing it in person was something else entirely.
"Goddamnit!" Dwarf Shaman cursed. It would seem that once again, it would be solely on him. Dwarf Shaman again raised his hands in front of him, and was ready to cast another Stone Blast, this time using more stones and shower the goblins with them, and hopefully hit only the goblins.
However, before he could cast his spell, with one word and one wave of the magic staff, four wind crescents were launched at the goblins. With exceptional precision, the wind blades cut through goblin necks. In the blink of an eye, the goblin heads slowly rolled off their necks. Dwarf Shaman laughed victoriously.
"Now that's what I am talking about!"
"We will take care of her, lady Sage. You have my word." Lizard Priest turned to the little mage. "Sir Dwarf Shaman, I will leave my Dragontooth Warrior in the city so it can help you with the evacuation and killing goblins." Lizard Priest quickly informed them. "Shall we go, lady Hero?" Lizard Priest asked. With a simple nod, Lizard Priest with Sword Saint in his arms and Hero ran down the street.
"Thank you! Thank you! I thought I-" the freed girl thanked her heroes as she hopped past them on one leg, fighting through the pain of a broken leg. "Thank you."
"That was one." Dwarf Shaman watched as the girl stopped one muscular man running in the crowd, who judging by his clothes was a blacksmith, pleading with him to take her away. Fortunately for her, she found a gentleman and he quickly scooped up the half-naked girl from the streets, wrapped her in his blacksmith apron to maintain at least some level of modesty, and ran away with her. "Now, how do we save as many as we can?" Dwarf Shaman asked turning back to Sage.
"… Just make sure no one disturbs me." Sage said, slowly sitting down into a crossed-legged position, her staff being held straight, right before her.
"And… what do you mean by that, little lady?" Dwarf Shaman asked, perplexed by her statement.
Sage did not answer, and only closed her eyes. Sage placed her magic staff in front of her, the bottom of the staff touching the cobblestone street. The purple orb on top of her staff began faintly glowing, and Sage began mumbling an incantation in a language Dwarf Shaman never heard of, with an abundance of consonants.
The autumn breeze suddenly changed directions towards Sage, encircling her, making her robe float as she continued to recite the incantation.
"This is no mere breeze… this breeze… carries a lot of magic in it." Dwarf Shaman quickly noticed how Sage was absorbing the magic from her surroundings. Dwarf Shaman quickly realized that whatever spell she was about to cast, it would be a monstrous one. The winds encircling Sage were slowly dispersing, and when they were no longer focused on her, Sage opened her eyes and swung her staff.
"GREAT PLAIN!" she yelled out, her eyes shot open and she pointed at the ground with her staff.
For the first few seconds, nothing appeared to be happened. That was, until the ground beneath Dwarf Shaman and Sage began rumbling. The cobblestone street beneath them split open, and rocks, dirt, and mud beneath them was rising from the hole in the ground. The dirt and rocks were stacked atop of each other, lifting Sage into the air on a small dirt platform.
"Whaaaoou-?!" Dwarf Shaman was going to ask, but he was surprised when even he was being lifted into the air by a dirt platform, trying to balance on top of the small platform just so he wasn't going to fall, all the while being lifted higher and higher.
"Listen. I will create a platform above the city, where all the people can escape. However, I won't be able to kill all the goblins following the people onto the platform. I need you to take care of those who sneak by." Sage said, completely calm, with visible confidence in her magic abilities.
"Wha- What in the seven hells? You can create a platform in the skies from nothing, a path to the platform, AND ensure no one walks up to said platform?!" Dwarf Shaman yelled, looking down a few times, the roofs getting more and more distant.
"As I said, I will need your help to ensure no goblin gets on the platform. I can control the ground and protrude spikes on the bridges that will connect the platform to the city below, as well as differentiating goblins from children by footprints, but it puts a strain on my body, and mainly on my mind. I won't be able to kill them all if they decide to storm the platform on such a large plain with multiple bridge entrances." Sage said slowly rising up back on her feet. Dwarf Shaman reached the same height level as Sage, the platforms quickly connecting as Sage was pulling more and more ground from the earth beneath, building the platform.
"Got it." Dwarf Shaman nodded, noticing more and more rocks being risen from the crack in the street Sage had previously created.
"I see… she isn't creating rocks from thin air, only controlling existing ground and building up from that. Clever girl." Dwarf Shaman thought. He knew from experience, that creating even just one rock for his Rock Blast can be straining, depending on the size of the rock. Not that he would ever doubt the abilities of platinum-ranked adventurers, but creating so many rocks and dirt out of nothing should be impossible even for the Strongest of Mages.
Diverting his attention back at Sage, she was levitating few centimeters above the made up plain, enveloped by the magic breeze with her eyes closed and body not moving a single centimeter. Her staff firmly in her hand, lightly touching the plain beneath her with the tip of the staff, still glowing and assembling this newly formed platform above Water Town. "Wherever this spell comes from, it's damn complicated." Dwarf Shaman thought. First the weird cross-legged sitting position mumbling those foreign sounds to start the spell, and then levitating above the ground in this "zen" state to maintain the control over the plain as big as a town... Her mental fortitude is off the charts.
Not to waste time as the platform was assembling, Dwarf Shaman looked around, if there were any goblins on the roofs that he could shoot down with Rock Blast. The platform was around 5 meters above the highest building in the town, out of reach of goblins. Looking down from this height, Dwarf Shaman noted that he isn't very fond of heights. However, as Dwarf Shaman tried to calm down his rumbling stomach, he noticed the beam of light that first alerted everyone in the town. The source of the beam was exactly where he thought it would be, the Temple of Law. Dwarf Shaman quickly shook those thoughts away and looked for more goblins on the roofs. He wouldn't be helping anyone if he just stared at the Temple of Law.
However, as he was looking down, he spotted two horses running through the crowds of people directly towards the Temple of Law. And even though his eyesight wasn't the best, he recognized the two humans on the black horse, and the flat elf on the white one.
"Good luck you three. The whole town is counting on you right now…" Dwarf Shaman thought before the ever-expanding platform blocked his view on the town below.
"Can you use miracles even without your staff?" Goblin Slayer asked, turning his head back.
"Hai! They will just be a little weaker!" Priestess behind him quickly replied, tightening her grip around Goblin Slayer's waist with one hand, while holding Kuma in the other. Priestess's straw hat was long gone, having flown off her head during the ride, leaving her in only the blue dress with white roses.
The duo of Priestess and Goblin Slayer rode on Lilie towards the Temple of Law as fast as they could. Around them, they saw various adventurers and city guards fending off goblins, with some more successful than others. Unfortunately, they could not help much with the defending. Goblin Slayer planned to find the root of the problem and eliminate it at the source. The sooner that got solved; the more people they would be able to save. And although they couldn't help much as they passed various clashes between the goblins and humans, that however didn't mean they couldn't help in those few seconds passing by.
As they were running towards the stables, in front of one broken weapon's shop laid a simple bow and a quiver with arrows. High Elf Ranger immediately picked it up, and the trio continued towards the stables. So now, following closely behind him, High Elf Ranger, who was riding on Snowball, occasionally shot an arrow at any goblins who was getting too close to raping a girl, or to some clash between guards and goblins to turn the tide of the fight.
"ORCBOLG! There are so many of them! How can there be so many of them?! We are in the middle of the town for crying out loud!" High Elf Ranger yelled behind him as she prepared to shoot another goblin who was about to rape an elderly lady in front of them.
"Someone bred them and let them loose. And whoever it is, that person had been breeding them for a while. At least we know where they are coming from." Goblin Slayer answered.
"Everyone knows where they are coming from now!" High Elf Ranger said, shooting an arrow right between another goblin's eyes.
It was hard to miss the beam of light from the Temple of Law, and the subsequent wave of goblins coming from that direction. Goblin Slayer cursed himself for not realizing it sooner. The Temple of Law was on an island. It had its own sewer system, completely cut off from the mainland. The rhea, who was assigned to get rid of Goblin Slayer, reeked of sewage and goblins. With these facts alone he should have realized where the attack would come from. If only he had understood that sooner, he may have had the opportunity to stop this invasion before it could have even begun…
As Lilie was running through the town with Goblin Slayer and Priestess on her back, for a brief moment from the corner of his eye, Goblin Slayer caught a glimpse of Hero and Lizardman, who carried somebody into an abandoned alchemist shop. However, with Lilie's speed, the image of his teammate disappeared as soon as it appeared after riding behind another building.
"What is our plan, Goblin Slayer-san?" Priestess asked.
"First we need to get to the bridge that connects the Temple of Law to the rest of Water Town. Then, if the goblins are still flooding into the city because of that bridge, we need to blow it up to stop that. But not before I will fight my way through the hordes and try to keep my promise. With any luck, I will find the person responsible for the attack and kill him as well as the goblins rampaging through the temple. You two will stay behind before the bridge a-" Goblin Slayer quickly went through a plan he formed in his head, but Priestess interrupted him.
"No! We are going with you!" Priestess protested.
"It is highly likely I will not survive my attempt to save Sword Maiden and keep my promise to her. We have no idea how many of them are inside and around the temple. If I die and you two get cornered, you know what will happen to you." Goblin Slayer looked back at Priestess, who surprised him with determined eyes, staring into his own.
"That's a risk I take every time I go with you, and today is no different. You are foolish if you think I will let my mentor go alone on yet another suicide mission." little Priestess put her foot down with pink dusting her cheeks, surprising Goblin Slayer yet again. She usually goes along with his plans… "We are going with you, whether you like it or not. If we die, we will die together." she finished her sentence.
Judging by the smug smirk of High Elf Ranger in her fancy green dress, now riding beside him, she heard everything and agreed. "What are you staring at?! You aren't the only one who is ready to lay his life for a greater cause." she told him with a grin. Well… that takes care of that. He would rather have more time to prepare, but unfortunately, Sword Maiden didn't have that luxury. He may already even be too late…
Shaking the negative thoughts from his mind, Goblin Slayer turned his focus back on the road. After one quick turn, the following street would lead straight to the Temple of Law. There were more goblins in the street here than any other previously, cementing the fact that they were emerging from the Temple of Law. Thankfully, the number of city guards and local adventurers also increased when they rode down the street leading towards the temple. So, most goblins were already being taken care of.
Also, it was hard to miss the giant rocky platform forming above the town. It almost looked like two thin, rocky pillars were holding the whole rocky plain above the city, but Goblin Slayer knew laws of nature didn't allow that. Also, it looked like some weird bridges were being built downwards, to allow people to walk up onto the platform, or in a worst-case scenario, allowing something to descend into the already chaotic town. Unfortunately, when he asked the girls if they had any idea what was going on over there, they had no idea as well and seemed even a little scared of the structure being built above them. He would really like to be able to check if it was an ally building the structure, but his promise came first.
In the distance, just before the entrance on the bridge, Goblin Slayer saw a wall of men trying to block the entrance into the city. Unfortunately, there were several Goblin Champions on the bridge, slowly but surely approaching the wall of men and the small number of archers that stood behind the wall. Even after a volley of arrows being fired, the giant goblins kept on going, pulling out the arrows like they were nothing more than toothpicks. Even worse, one Goblin Shaman used some kind of lightning magic on a weak spot in the wall of men, and several smaller goblins poured across the bridge through the electrocuted men. And even though the archers and soldiers in the back ranks tried to hunt them down, some had managed to slip by them. "You six. Reinforce the wall! NOW!" a voice of authority rang out, with the soldiers quickly filling the void left by their fallen comrades. Then, Goblin Slayer heard it again.
"Now! Mages! Do your thing!" one man, who stood slightly on the side, who apart from the city guard armor also wore a red cape over his shoulder commanded. Now however, he wasn't directing orders towards the city guards, but towards the adventurers who saw the beam of light and immediately ran to the scene to help and earn some glory.
Dozens of mages began to cast various spells, to repel the enemy on the bridge. Sharp rocks, fire, lightning, and more showered the bridge, killing a large portion of small goblins, and even one or two Goblin Champions. Although an impressive feat of command by what Goblin Slayer guessed was the captain of the city guards, he noticed one important thing that he'll try to use to blow up the bridge. There were a lot of earth mages in the group helping the city guards.
Finally, Goblin Slayer reached the wall of men. "Sir, and ladies, there's fighting ahead if you didn't notice. So please turn around, find shelter, and leave the defense of the bridge to us." One of the soldiers who was securing the area told them.
"I do not intend to run, nor defend the bridge with you." Goblin Slayer said. "I plan to attack the bridge, and the goblins." he surprised the young soldier. "Bring me to the commander. I want to share my plan with him." Goblin Slayer said, jumping of Lilie, and helping Priestess and Kuma off the horse too as High Elf Ranger jumped off Snowball.
The arrogance of the unknown man tickled the soldiers' nerves. Especially when he saw that the ladies with him were in no shape or form equipped to fight in such conditions. Granted, the elf at least had a bow and arrow, but she also wore a dress and had flowers in her hair for crying out loud! This was a fight, not a beauty contest! And what was with this guy's armor?! This guy's armor looked like utter trash! "And who do you think you are, to meddle in the plans of the Captain of the City Guards?" the young soldier retorted back, a slight annoyance present in his voice.
Goblin Slayer didn't say anything at first, he only pulled up the golden tag from under his armor and let it dangle in the moonlight in front of his armor. "I am Goblin Slayer. Now, bring me to him."
That was all that was needed to instill respect, and a little bit of fear to into the young soldier. "T-this way, sir" the young man stuttered out, his previous remarks forgotten.
Before Goblin Slayer set out, he turned towards the two horses before him. "You two, stay here. I'll be back shortly." he said and the horses huffed in agreement. After a small gesture to Priestess and High Elf Ranger, the grey-haired man and the two girls walked behind the young man towards the captain.
"Archers! Get ready!" the man a few meters away commanded, his back towards them, and his arm raised high above his head. Immediately, the archers around them readied their bows. Once the captain saw goblins stacking up around one spot, he yelled again. "Fire!" he swung his hand down, and another volley of arrows showered the bridge.
"C-captain! I bring reinforcements!" the young man.
The captain in the red cape quickly turned around, and raised an eyebrow, and looked somewhat angry. The captain seemed to be in his 40s, with a black mustache and thick bushy eyebrows. The captain wore the usual chainmail city-guard armor, with an open medieval helmet. Though Goblin Slayer couldn't tell surely because of the helmet, the man seemed bald underneath.
"Reinforcements?! Are you kidding me? What I see are two girls ready to dance at some village fair, a bear that couldn't nibble a finger away, and a man who neglects his armor! They are not soldiers I need! Get them out of here, I have a bridge to defend!" the captain roared, his voice deep and raspy, turning around to monitor the events on the bridge.
"If you want to make progress, you should listen to me. There can be hundreds, if not thousands of these goblins pouring over the bridge. Look around and at the men-wall you created, you do not have that many men. Goblins do not value life as humans do. They will keep throwing bodies of goblins at you until you run out of men. Whoever is behind the attack, is coordinating goblins, and he also breeds them. I doubt the perpetrator would launch an assault if he knew the city guards would be able to repel the attack. Additionally, I think he also counted on Hero's party being out of the fight, or even being involved in their current troubles. What you are doing here is a valiant effort in repelling the attack and protecting the city, but in the end, it's pointless." Goblin Slayer spoke.
Slowly, the captain turned back around, his head slightly tilted, and eyes squinted. The captain was no fool and immediately noticed the wise words of the man speaking to him and instead of dismissing him as he did previously, he truly looked at the man. It was now that he finally noticed the golden tag around his neck, with Goblin Slayer engraved on the tag. The middle-aged man chuckled and looked at the improvised army at the bridge. "Mages and archers, free fire until further notice!" the captain yelled at the other people helping at the bridge. Turning back to Goblin Slayer and his crew, he eyed the armored man.
"I nearly sent you away. The famed Goblin Slayer and I nearly denied him his work in the greatest time of need…" the captain released a disappointing sigh. Not that he was disappointed with Goblin Slayer or his armor, this guy was an expert after all, but rather on himself for coming to premature conclusions.
"Not nearly. You did do that." Goblin Slayer corrected him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's forget about that shall we?" he waved his hands. "Now quickly tell me, what's your plan?" the captain urged our weirdo to talk.
"You are gonna listen to me? Just like that?" Goblin Slayer asked, perplexed a little. Very few people listen to his advice.
"Listen I have no idea how to deal with those goblins. I know how to handle a rhea thief, human murderer, or an elf kidnapper. But goblins? Defense of the bridge? That's far out of my expertise. And from what I have heard, you know them better than anyone. I am no fool, I know when I am out of my element." he spoke, now eyeing the two girls behind Goblin Slayer. "Though I still doubt the two girls behind you will be of any help." Now, the captain carefully examined them. "At least the elf has a bow and arrow. That should do something."
To this, High Elf Ranger stared at the captain with anger, and Priestess hung her head low. When High Elf Ranger was ready to shout at the much younger man than her, Goblin Slayer raised his hand and gestured her to stay silent.
"They are the best support I can ask for." Goblin Slayer answered. Again, the captain said nothing, as he knew the man knew what he was doing. "This is my plan. I have several pepper bombs in my pouch. I will put them all onto a single place on a bridge and light them up. The blast won't destroy the bridge but should create a lot of cracks in it. After that, I want all the mages with earth affinity to focus on a single spot above the crack to create the biggest boulder they can. After they drop the boulder, the bridge should collapse, and the goblins won't be able to come across." Goblin Slayer said.
The wide-eyed captain quietly stared at the young man before him. "I was trying to come up with a plan to destroy the bridge for the past 15 minutes, yet you come here and already know. Impressive."
Goblin Slayer ignored the praise. "Also, I want you to command them to drop the boulder after my teammates and I are across the bridge to kill their commander." Goblin Slayer added.
"You want to go in there?!" the captain asked in disbelief, pointing at the Temple of Law before them, where over 50 goblins of various shapes and sizes were still running towards them.
"I made a promise to someone, and she needs me, along with the others at the temple." Goblin Slayer simply responded. "Also, I want one of your soldiers to take care of the bear cub until we return." Goblin Slayer said, surprising Priestess in the back. The blonde Priestess didn't say anything. She wanted to ask one of the soldiers for this too, but it looks like Goblin Slayer had beaten her to it. She knew full well that Kuma was in no way ready to fight goblins and bringing him with them to the Temple would most likely result in his death. She was just thankful to Earth Mother that she had brought him along with her on her date with Goblin Slayer. If not… he'd likely be long gone by now.
The captain could not believe his ears. "AND You expect to return from there? When you'll be trapped inside with gods know how many goblins?!" he pointed at the hordes of goblins coming their way.
"Wouldn't be the first time I was trapped in a place with goblins." Goblin Slayer answered. "I was never trapped with so many though…" he thought.
"You are a crazy son-of-a-bitch, you know that?" Captain said.
"Yeah. People often say so." Goblin Slayer replied in his signature monotone voice.
The captain could only blink several times at the unusual response. One would think it was a sarcastic, jokey response, but the captain had detected none of that. A short pause followed, until a shadow washed over the two men, and eventually even over the men-wall and the bridge, stopping just before the Temple of Law.
Both men looked above them, only to find a giant rocky platform, hovering over the town, nearly as big as the town itself. The Captain of the City Guard gulped loudly, along with Priestess and High Elf Ranger and the rest of the soldiers. However, Goblin Slayer did not. If he was afraid, he was masking it quite well. Goblin Slayer, instead of watching the platform, which had finally stopped growing, overshadowing the twin moons on the skies, watched the narrow make-shift stone bridges being built from the platform down to the streets. By now, several had already placed, with new ones being added constantly.
"Sir Goblin Slayer… I noticed it forming earlier but couldn't pay much attention to it because of the bridge. I… I don't suppose you know who is doing that?" the captain asked. "And… if they mean to drop it on us." the heavy words left the captain's lips.
"I don't know who is doing that, but I think they are on our side. Look over there." Goblin Slayer looked in the direction he wanted the captain to avert his eyes. Additionally, both he, Priestess and High Elf Ranger also looked in the same direction.
A narrow stone bridge was completed not too far from them. Even though they could not see the start of it, thanks to the street lamps, they could already see that above the houses, on one of the bridges, people were running up onto the platform. Additionally, one goblin got fairly far on the makeshift stony bridge, catching up towards a young couple. However, before he could do any damage, a spike protruded from the stone bridge, piercing the goblin instantly. The spike then extended outwards and dropped the goblin from the bridge onto the streets, making way for more people to run upwards.
"If I had to guess, I'd say this is the doing of Hero's party." High Elf Ranger said, in awe of such powerful magic. Priestess couldn't even form words.
"If it is the Hero Party then it can only be Sage. Hero was going somewhere with Lizard Priest, and I don't think Sword Saint has any magic abilities. If she does has any, they'd most likely be water-based." Goblin Slayer quickly considered High Elf Rangers' suggestion.
"Gods bless them. I don't know what we would have been doing without Hero and her friends." Captain of the City Guard said.
"Yeah…" Goblin Slayer quietly agreed. "But we have our own work to do." Goblin Slayer said.
"Right," the captain said. "Boy! Come here!" the captain yelled at the young man that had brought Goblin Slayer and his friends to him.
"Yes, captain!" the young man saluted.
"You are tasked with taking care of that bear cub until his owner returns." Captain pointed at the Priestess and the squirming ball of fur in her arms. The face of the young recruit was filled with a lot of confusion. City Guards do a lot of things, but being a babysitter to a bear was not one of them…
"Ehhhh, sure…" the young man unsurely replied, before slowly moving towards Priestess and the bear cub. It was clear as day that the bear cub didn't like him as he growled when he got close. "Uhm… does he bite?" the young man unsurely asked Priestess, who just smiled innocently.
"A little, but he doesn't have long teeth yet, so you won't feel a thing." the cute girl answered, handing him the squirming bear cub. But the wriggling of Kuma stopped after a moment. Even when Kuma was just a bear, it broke Priestess's heart when she saw just how much Kuma didn't want to leave her arms. Eventually, the guard picked up the bear cub from the frozen Priestess, after which Kuma began to squirm even more.
Priestess quickly shook off the sadness of leaving Kuma behind. Right now, she had to focus. Every second wasted could be crucial in saving someone at the overrun temple. "Shhhhhhhh… I will be back soon, okay?" Priestess spoke very softly, trying to calm down the bear who just left her arms, petting his head. "Until then, be a good bear for me. I'll give you lots of fish afterward." she whispered again, scratching Kuma just under his mouth with her soft, gentle hands. The bear cub visibly calmed down, though he was still squirming a little in the arms of the young guard. "Good boy!" she ruffled the bear cub's head to which he cooed in delight.
"Wow… For someone so young, you are really good at this. You'll be an amazing mom one day." The young recruit said.
Blood rushed to Priestess's cheeks at the praise. The image of being a mom to a dozen of Goblin Slayer's children quickly filled her mind. Maybe… just maybe… it won't just be an image in her head after all of this was over. Though, right now, with the thing they were trying to accomplish, the image of a dozen red-eyed, grey-haired children seemed further away than ever. "No. I mustn't think like that. We will prevail, just like we always do!" she thought, giving one last pet to Kuma before walking up to Goblin Slayer, High Elf Ranger, who had been surprisingly quiet, and the Captain of the City Guards. Goblin Slayer's eyes turned to the two girls next to them, and by now, even without words, they knew what he was asking. They nodded, wordlessly confirming they were ready. Goblin Slayer then turned to the captain one last time.
"Tell your men protecting the bridge to anticipate two horses jumping over them from the back. Once on the bridge, I will drop the pepper bombs on the ground and when they blow, you'll signal to one of the light mages to create a dot of light high above the cracks in the bridge, and all the earth mages will focus their Create Stone spell there. That should be enough to combine the spell into creating one giant boulder, and as long as one mage is casting Create Stone, the boulder should not drop. Once even the last mage stops pouring his magic into it, the stone will drop. With how many earth mages are here, I think the boulder should easily destroy the bridge." Goblin Slayer detailed his plan to the captain. "Can you coordinate all of that?" Goblin Slayer asked. Thankfully create stone was one of the basic earth spells, which almost every earth mage knew.
The captain chuckled. "Will have to yell a lot, but I should get the point across. And when I do, I'll send the boy to let you know you are free to go."
"Good. I'll go to our horses and prepare to storm the temple." Goblin Slayer calmly said.
"Godspeed you three, and good luck saving the nuns and children in there. I don't think there will be many left… If any at all." Captain of the City Guard sadly said his farewell to Goblin Slayer.
Goblin Slayer didn't say anything, only stared at the older man for a moment, before making his way back to Lilie and Snowball.
"High Elf Ranger, you'll ride right behind me and shoot any goblin that has a bow and could hit us, or our horses. Horses should be able to shake of the small goblin arrows, but the poison would trouble us. I have several antidotes with me, but I would rather keep them with us into the temple, rather than giving them to our horses." Goblin Slayer explained on their way back.
"Can do, but I don't think I'll have many arrows left with me once inside the temple. Right now, I have only 15." High Elf Ranger said.
"The goblins here have bows and arrows. We should be able to scavenge some once inside in case you run out." Goblin Slayer explained.
"Ugh. Filthy goblin gear." High Elf Ranger shivered in disgust. "Still better than being drenched in goblin blood though." the elf whispered to herself. However, Goblin Slayer with his enhanced ears heard it. Fortunately for High Elf Ranger, he ignored it.
"You'll stay behind me. Hold onto your Miracles unless absolutely necessary. We should make use of Holy Light to stun enemies since there will be a lot of them in one place and in an enclosed space. How intense is Holy Light without your staff?" Goblin Slayer asked.
"W-well. Like this, I can illuminate a room which is as big as the room you reside with Sword Maiden." Priestess nervously.
"Hmm… that's quite a range." Goblin Slayer rubbed his chin. Before she could make a range of light like that with her staff. But now… seems like she was indeed getting more powerful as time goes.
"What about heal? Shouldn't I heal any hurt people in the temple?" Priestess asked.
The look in her eyes… Goblin Slayer began to really think that someone just ripped off her wings and left her as a wingless angel. In those blue eyes, he saw the mixture of determination and compassion. The only thing she seemed to want was to heal and help people. Such a pure soul… that's rare these days, even among priests. It's hard to believe she maintained such an attitude after she had seen what goblins could do…
"Some nuns should be able to use miracles too. If possible, we will leave the healing to them. If not, and we find someone in critical condition, only then are you allowed to heal them. Though, I would rather you withheld all your miracles until the confrontation with the organizer of the attack." Goblin Slayer said, and thankfully, with a sad smile, Priestess agreed. After all, she had only 3 miracles to use. Wasting them on some scratches would be foolish.
"And take this." Goblin Slayer pulled out a small dagger from his pouch, handing it to Priestess. The blonde girl widened her eyes. "M-Me?" asking a pointless question thanks to being surprised by the gesture.
"Yeah." Goblin Slayer answered. "There will be a lot of chaos, and I want you to have something to defend yourself. If possible, leave the armed goblins to me. Use this when someone tries to jump us. It should be just enough for the first couple of goblins. After a few uses, you'll need-"
"I'll need to take daggers from goblins because their blood dulls and rusts the blade." Priestess jumped into Goblin Slayer's explanation, finishing his sentence and gently taking the dagger from Goblin Slayer's hand. As soon as she realized how rude that was, she reddened in her cheeks. "I-I am sorry. That was very rude of me. I… Sorry." she hung her head low. "What is wrong with me?" Priestess thought how… unruly she must be. This defiant behavior… it was so unlike her! And perhaps what was more puzzling, was that she never behaved like this with any of her other friends. Only with Goblin Slayer is when she just… couldn't help but provoke him a little bit. But why would she? She didn't want to make Goblin Slayer's life harder. She loved him. And the last time she had provoked Goblin Slayer he ended up spanking her, which was terrible…
'Terribly hot and exciting punishment' the little devil inside her head whispered into Priestess's ear. 'Plus, good girls would gladly accept punishment from their man when they misbehave,' another devil whispered into her other ear. Priestess immediately panicked, blushed, and began violently shaking her head back and forth.
"Nononononononononnoono! I am not like that! I am not a lewd girl who… who would enjoy…spanking." she thought. "I am a REALLY good and honest girl. I… I serve our goddess faithfully, I pray every day, I feed children at the temple, I donate most of my earnings. I am helping Goblin Slayer-san to wipe out creatures that cause nothing but suffering. I am a good and honest girl without any lewd thoughts and only pure intentions... Yeah! There's… no way I am… into that." she tried to calm herself and steady her breathing. It worked for now, mainly because she used the argument that they were in the middle of a fight right now. However, she would have to face those… indecent thoughts later.
Goblin Slayer, on the other hand, did not mind her unruly jump in, and like usual, ignored Priestess's vigorous head shaking. He was rather surprised that Priestess had taken his lessons to heart, and already knew them. "I am surprised you remember details of how I operate." Goblin Slayer said.
"We ALL remember that." High Elf Ranger was about to comment on the flustered Priestess but decided to address something else entirely. "You didn't think we wouldn't watch you on those quests, did you?" she said once Goblin Slayer looked her way.
"Hmm…" Goblin Slayer brooded as they slowly approached the horses. "That's surprising." Goblin Slayer thought, having never imagined that someone paid attention to his work.
Before they knew it, they were back at their horses, Goblin Slayer in front of Lillie, calming her down and whispering to her various things, among which was to let Priestess on her back once again. With a displeased huff, Lilie agreed. Goblin Slayer then turned to Priestess who already calmed down from her initial embarrassment of her rude behavior. However, she once again blushed when Goblin Slayer grabbed her tiny waist and lifted her onto Lilie's back saddle. Goblin Slayer followed suit shortly after.
Meanwhile, High Elf Ranger was already sitting on Snowball, who didn't have any problems with someone else on his back. With her Bow and Arrows equipped, High Elf Ranger was also ready.
Seeing the bridge in front of them, goblins still running from the Temple of Law, Goblin Slayer figured that now would be a really good time to use his new sword. With the narrow bridge, he could easily swing his sword from Lilie's back and actually hit something. So, as they were waiting for the young man to let them know everything was ready, Goblin Slayer unsheathed the silver sword from his scabbard, examining it. As he sat on Lilie, Goblin Slayer ran his left hand along the runic silver blade.
"IGNITE" Goblin Slayer said, without raising his voice, and the blade was quickly engulfed in white/yellow flame. Alongside the sword, Goblin Slayer pulled the pepper bombs from one of his pouches, counting 6 in total in his other hand.
"Priestess?" Goblin Slayer turned back.
"Yes, Goblin Slayer-san?" the girl in the light blue dress, and hair still in a ponytail answered.
"I need to take the reins with at least one hand to withstand the jump. So, once I signal you, you'll light one pepper bomb using my sword, and throw all of them together, including the lit one, on the bridge behind us. Be careful not to throw the bombs where the pillar below holds the bridge, otherwise, our plan won't work." Goblin Slayer informed, extending his hands with pepper bombs back to Priestess. She was shocked by Goblin Slayer's trust in her yet again. But this time, she didn't question his decision and took the bombs.
"Hai." Priestess gulped loudly. Immediately, shifting her focus on her task to not disappoint Goblin Slayer. Priestess looked onward, and examined the bridge in front of her, trying to figure out where exactly to throw the bombs. Unfortunately, from this view, she saw nothing. Fortunately for her, Goblin Slayer heard her unspoken question.
"Try to drop them approximately 5 meters in front of our landing with the horses. That should be one of the weakest places on the bridge, right between the pillars." Goblin Slayer informed her.
Once again, Goblin Slayer surprised the two girls with his observation skills. Though, both understood by now, that it was thanks to this ability that Goblin Slayer was so good at his job, and why he was still alive today. "I'll do my best." the little priestess tried to sound confident.
Goblin Slayer briefly looked behind him, and it looked like the hordes of goblins on the street behind them were nearly all killed with more and more adventurers and reinforcements heading to the core of the Goblin Slayer invasion.
"Goblin Slayer-sama?" the young man, who now held Kuma, said, bringing him the attention of the goblin slaying weirdo.
"Everything ready?" Goblin Slayer asked.
"Yes." the soldier simply answered. "Godspeed, and good luck." The soldier quickly wished them.
Goblin Slayer nodded, Priestess, petted Kuma one last time from the back of Lilie. The soldier stepped aside, and in front of him, Goblin Slayer had a clear street toward the bridge, safe for the wall of men at the start of the bridge.
"Ready?" Goblin Slayer turned back and asked both Priestess and High Elf Ranger.
"Hai!/Yeah!" The girls answered.
"Follow me." Goblin Slayer said to High Elf Ranger. Strengthening his grip on the reigns with his one hand, and ready to slash through some goblins with the flaming sword in the other, Goblin Slayer kicked Lilie's sides, leaned slightly forward and the black mare charged ahead, with Snowball and High Elf Ranger right at her tail. Priestess tightened her grip around Goblin Slayer's waist with her free hand, reading for the jump, all the while pressing the pepper bombs to her chest, ensuring none will drop after the jump. They were going to willingly trap themselves in a goblin nest…
With night starting to loom over Water Town, various adventurers and soldiers watched as a strange, armored man, angelic priestess, and an elven princess rode on a demonic mare and noble steed towards what looked like certain death. The white flames of the sword gave people watching hope, that maybe, these three would be able to end this nightmare of terror and horror.
The black mare and white steed both gracefully jumped over the wall of men in front of them, the armored man's grip on the reigns was tight. Even with one hand, he barely flinched when they landed, unmoving like a hammered in nail. The girls behind rocked back and forth upon the landing, but both managed to hold onto the horse and the rider. The priestess with shaking hands managed to hold on to all the pepper bombs, her eyes closed, hoping she did not drop a single one. When she recovered from the landing, she managed to light one of the pepper bombs when the hero of the day offered his flaming sword for the cause. As soon as that happened, the blonde priestess threw all the pepper bombs behind her.
As the priestess did her work, High Elf Ranger did her own. When the young priestess was scattering the bombs on the bridge, the goblin shaman was about to electrocute them with lightning magic. Before he could cast the spell, High Elf Ranger, with the grace befitting of a princess, hit the small goblin shaman right between the eyes, killing him instantly. Scanning the bridge in front of her, she saw two goblins next to each other, drawing their bows, aiming, and ready to shoot. Quickly pulling two arrows from the quiver on her back in less than a second, she drew the two arrows, already aimed at the two goblins. Shooting two arrows at the same time wasn't as accurate as one, but they still hit her targets in vital spots, both being hit in their stomachs.
When she was about to draw another arrow, the pepper bomb exploded, creating a chain reaction of explosions on the bridge. The winds of today carried the smoke from the explosions towards the sea, unveiling the location of the explosion, and the subsequent cracks in the bridge.
The blonde priestess looked back for a moment, checking the damage done, a smile adored her face when she saw a big crack on the bridge spreading as far as the men-wall at the start of the bridge. As soon as the crack appeared, in the distance, one older-looking witch cast a small dot of light 10 meters above the crack. Captain then gave a command, and the vast majority of mages near the bridge cast Create Stone at the dot in the air. As their horses carried them across the bridge, the stone became bigger and bigger until it was the size of three elephants. Then, without warning, this massive brownstone stopped growing and plummeted. The marble bricks of the bridge quickly collapsed, and the stone went through the bridge rather easily, only slightly slowing down upon the impact, falling into the sea, creating a big wave once the stone reached the sea.
Meanwhile, Goblin Slayer, unfazed by the loud destruction of the bridge, finally got to use his sword on the goblins. He never imagined he'd be doing so from the backs of Lilie, but unpredictability is often the case with goblins.
Lilie was running right at one of the small, unarmed goblins, all the while avoiding the big and small goblin corpses, ready to trample the little green bastard. However, the goblin jumped up, trying to take down the rider of the horse. Unfortunately for the goblin, he never even touched Goblin Slayer's armor. With one swing of the flaming sword, Goblin Slayer easily cut his neck mid-flight, cleanly separating the head from the rest of the body. The blood spurt from the neck splattered blood all over his helmet, some even getting onto his face through the helmet. Once the scent of blood had reached his nose, Goblin Slayer couldn't help himself and licked the drop of blood that had landed near his lips, tasting it. But as soon as the blood hit his taste buds, he could only describe it with one word. "Disgusting." he thought.
Seems like even vampires have their own standards and preferences in blood…
Immediately after this goblin, another one tried the same strategy and knock Goblin Slayer off his horse. This time, however, Goblin Slayer didn't use the sword, but released the reigns on Lilie for a moment and backhanded the goblin with his left, shielded hand with all his strength, breaking some of the goblin's teeth upon the impact, sending him off the edge of the bridge and into the sea.
"That's two." Goblin Slayer quietly said, grabbing the reigns again, getting really close towards the giant doors leading into the Temple of Law. Goblin Slayer already knew that this time, the counting would most likely reach three-digit numbers. A satisfied smile graced his lips. Finally, after so long, the time to slay some goblins was here.
Author's note: Another chapter done. I would like to thank all the reviews again, especially the long ones, but since it has been so long since I updated, I won't be answering them right now. If you would like a reply, PM me and I'll try to answer you.
That's all from me. Leave a review and see ya in the next chapter!