"Time to die... 'goblins'!"

Behind him, the guards watched afar as the slayer stood his ground. Many of them thought on how this one single man could think how he could take on an army of Fallen...

It was simply ludicrous!

Just one of them could terrorize an entire village all on it's own, and takes a well-equipped party at high levels to take one down. But here he was – by his own initiative – ready for this beastly onslaught.

However, it is thanks to his courage that all the locals were able evacuate in just the nick of time. All that was left to do was to somehow push back this overwhelming army, and the slayer seemed willing enough to fight.

That's what they thought... but him himself?

Comparing this to a whole army of Goblin Champions, this won't be easy...

He might've been raring up for this fight, but he wasn't going go into it blindly. With experience under his belt when it came to taking down goblins, Goblin Slayer would need to do the same here or it'd end up with him dying by the hands of these 'Fallen' – almost the same size as a Goblin Champion by his analysis.

Soon enough, the first Fallen warrior – a buffed up boar that wielded a big stone ax – soon walked towards the bridge and stopped in front of the slayer.

"You are... a tiny weakling..."

It can speak, … just like that 'Ogre'.

The monsters' eyes glowed blood red as it menacingly stood there and continued it's menacing speech.

"I'll kill you... and eat you..."

But...

"Question."

The monster – oddly enough – blinked at his statement.

"What, ...weakling...?"

Not a complete fool.

"Are you a goblin?"

Blinking once more, the beasts' shoulders lowered and it... sweat dropped?

"No... what... is goblin...?"

But...

"You are."

SLASH!

"W... what...?"

The beast soon found out that it could no longer feel its' arms... but how'd that happen?! It could've sworn that this lowly knight seemed nothing more than a mere snack to the warrior of the mighty Fallen, ...but for THIS to happen... that could only mean...?!

"It seems like these levels are more useful than I thought."

While blood started to spurt out his arms, Goblin Slayer raised his sword up high into the air.

"With that said, it seems that you are the weakling."

"N-No... NO-!"

SLASH!

"Three."

With the Fallen creatures' head cut clean off, Goblin Slayer counted up his third kill in this strange but still cruel world.

"Now..."

With all the eyes of the Fallen falling on him, including a particular commander who was leading this army, Goblin Slayer's one eye started to glow even brighter then his own enemies as he made his final declaration:

"Who's next?"

"So... Priestess, can you please tell me again why you're drawing a magic circle on the floor?"

Looking up towards the elf from her position on the wooden floor, Priestess pouted after having just given her the lengthy explanation of what her plan was. Such plan being something along the lines of performing a 'summoning spell' without having to take the lengthy trip to the Star Fall Tower to do it.

Shera wasn't exactly sure if the blonde girl was either crazy, or that she might've hit her head when she came to this world.

Either way, Priestess continued to hold on to the bit of hope that currently resonated within herself, and was praying to her Earth Mother Goddess over and over in her mind that THIS would work.

"It's something that was rumored for summoning divine creatures by only the strongest of adventurers and was never truly put into practice... but I did take a small interest in it a few times. I, of course, failed and had all but given up... but this time it may work with the current items you possess."

"As in...?" Shera raised an eyebrow before remembering what she held in her hands. "Wait... you mean these?"

"Yes, I mean those... w-what are they called again?" Priestess asked with a nervous smile.

"Magic stones," Shera blankly stated before leaning against the wall. "These are what are usually needed for a summoning, and not to mention certain catalysts. You also need your level to be high enough for the summoning to even work, and we all know that yours is lower then even mine! So, once again, are you absolutely sure that you know what you're going to try doing with this?"

"No clue," Priestess instantly replied making the elf mutter 'That was fast!' out loud. "B-But I'd like to at least try." Finishing the last bit of her chalk-drawn work of art, Priestess held her staff close to her. "Now... the stones?"

The elf blinked once more before sighing and placing down the last bunch of stones that she had in the middle, along with a few magical herbs and other 'notable items'. One being a lizard fang that she obtained from a monster drop, a small flask of moon dust she received as a sample from a vendor, and finally an arrow-head from the Tempest Arrow that had still given her the goosebumps from the encounter with the elves of her home land.

Before the magic circle was put into motion, all three of the items in question had been requested by the Priestess herself, but for what reasons being still unknown to her... so she simply shrugged and just happened to have them on her person.

"Okay, you should be ready for the summoning... all that really needs to be done now is to channel your magic into everything laid before us," Shera informed with a small smile. "So I guess... good luck?"

"Y-Yes, I'll try my hardest!" Priestess nervously exclaimed before laying down her hand, a faint yellow glow formed at the center and slowly increased in the size the more she put into it. Taking a calming breath, the girl made a mental prayer that this would indeed work... and that she'd soon see her 'fellow adventurers' once more.

"HAH!"

Another clean shot to another goblins' skull, another day of not knowing where the two idiots have disappeared to – especially HIM. If it wasn't for Goblin Slayer's questionable tactics, then she'd never would've bothered being covered in the blood of these pests.

It still made her feel gross, but that was besides the point.

Turning around and kicking the face of a goblin that was sneaking up on her, High Elf Archer launched another arrow that changed it's trajectory mid-flight and pierced through two more skulls.

"Ugh, here we are busting our asses off killing these things that are a BIG issue, and here everyone else at the guild STILL thinks it's no big deal!" The elf angrily exclaimed before jumping down to join her allies. "Just another day of being an adventurer, yeah?!"

"You got that right!" Dwarf Shaman happily exclaimed before launching a stone blast into a small group of goblins. "How you holding up, lizard boy?!"

Slashing into a couple more goblins, both Lizard Priest and his skeletal companion simply gave a nod while ignoring the nickname that the old geezer gave him. These monsters were a more presenting matter, after all.

It was only then in the midst of the fight that an odd light had filled their vision, and made them instantly go into panic.

"Wha-, a Shaman?!"

"Damn this blinding light!"

"Curses!"

Not a moment later, all three of the adventurers vanished from the cave – leaving the goblins and the skeletal warrior to look around feeling confused.

…

Unbeknownst to them, the guild would later on talk about rumors of a skeletal creature wandering the world and finding a purpose in life... only for some unlucky adventures to find out that it was actually a goblin wearing the remains of it's once skeletal/bony self.

…

Back to the present, Priestess and Shera shielded their eyes for a moment before looking to see something that mostly the latter hadn't expected. Not only did the Priestess manage to successfully perform the summoning, but it seemed that there were THREE of them!

The first of them, being the lizard man, looked to have a sort of ancient/spiritual apparel, and carried a curved sword that looked to be made of bone. Despite knowing that most lizard men were evil monsters, this one seemed to look a bit more... calm. It was as if he had been raised to be a proper and humble monster that respected other races then a predator seen in the wild.

The second one seemed about half the height of the former with a white and lengthy beard. She could immediately tell he was a dwarf when she saw him, as she was familiar with the race of the 'drunkards', and that was partly due to seeing a large clay flask strapped on his back. Sniffing the air, Shera could tell that the contents were some sort of alcoholic substance, and thus confirmed her suspicions.

However, it was the third, and final summon of the group that got an immediate response of disbelief.

"Alright, what the hell just- uh?!" Before the archer had time finish, her eyes instantly widened at the other girl in front of her... or more notably speaking... the other elf.

It was at that moment that time seemed to STOP in both the minds of the two elves that were Shera L. Greenwood and High Elf Archer, both continuing to just stare at the other in silence. Another few seconds soon passed before the eyes of the summoned archer moved themselves down... and immediately regretted doing so.

"Why is the world so unfair?" High Elf Archer quietly... and sadly muttered under her breath... but was not unheard by the other elven ears of Shera.

"U-Unfair...?" Shera blinked in obvious confusion before she looked down as well... and immediately started to see the clear difference between the two of them. "O-Oh... I-I see that you're... uhm... jealous, but cheer up! Okay?! I'm sure one day they'll grow up nicely!"

"Ha ha ha ha!" The dwarf loudly laughed while pointing at said less fortunate elf over his shoulder. "This ole' elf has lived for over two thousand years! Gonna' have to take another thousand or two before that happens!"

"She's how old?!" Shera surprisingly exclaimed before pointing a shaking finger at her fellow elf. "Y-You're old enough to be my great, great, great, great grandma times four hundred! How do you still look so young?!"

High Elf Archer blinked before also pointing back at Shera. "Wait, aren't you as old as me too?"

"Uh, no... I'm sixteen." Shera answered causing the other elf to sputter in disbelief.

"You're lying!" High Elf Archer could never believe that an elf WAY younger than her could have that much... proportion... in just a measly sixteen years! "There's no possible way that you could-!"

*BOOM!

Before High Elf Archer could continue her rant on Shera's ability to stay young, a loud crash was just heard outside the doors of the medical bay!

"W-What was that?!" Priestess asked while Shera started to panic.

"Oh no, Rem!" Shera then began to make her way out and ran, causing the others to get confused.

"Wait, where are you going elf?!" High Elf Archer asked in slight annoyance as she ran after her. "I have so many questions~!"

"Oh good grief...," Dwarf Shaman cursed under his breath as he too took off after them. "One moment we're hunting goblins, the next we're running to who knows where!"

"There must be some kind of commotion going on outside in this foreign land!" Lizard Priest stayed vigilant as he ran out to catch up, leaving only the Priestess to blink in how much things escalated in the span of only a couple minutes or so.

Sighing to herself, the blonde adventurer just assumed it was just another strange aspect of this world, and soon ran to catch up with the rest of her group.

"W-Wait for me everyone!"

Earlier with Rem...

"So, Celes'... any word on what happened with Galeck?"

Inside the dining room lobby, Rem, Celestine Baudelaire and two of her fellow associate monks were having discussions regarding the monk who put Goblin Slayer and his crew in great danger.

Celestine herself was very distraught having heard what happened with Priestess.

"Of course, regarding Galeck... you'll be rest assured to know that I've already discharged him from our association." This news caused Rem to gasp in surprise before she continued. "Placing you all in danger, not to mention your friend Priestess having gotten injured, seemed plausible enough for our association to take needed action. Not only that, but even after hearing about having brought a summon into town, he was already asking for nothing but trouble. So again, I apologize for any inconveniences that he has caused you all up to this point."

Rem simply looked down with a frown. "It's fine..."

"However...," Celestine started which caused Rem to focus her attention back to her. "He did tell us something that happened in regards to Goblin Slayer."

"What would that be?" Rem asked in slight nervousness before Celestine's expression grew grim.

"He says that one of the royal elven guards' lives were taken by the slayer..."

Being in even more shock; having just been told that Galeck had obviously ratted them out, Rem could only look down in silence.

"Rem..."

"..." Rem was put into a rock and a hard place as she could only continue to remain silent.

"You know that killing is a major offense, not to mention it being one from the Elven Kingdom... yes?" Celestine asked with a clear voice.

"I know..." Rem finally said as Celstine then simply asked:

"Then why?"

Rem only sat in silence once more before she continued.

"Because he's a Goblin Slayer?"

"Yeah...," Rem answered. "He's from a different world. From the situation they put us in... he didn't have a choice..." Her hands soon formed into fists as she looked down in anger. "Especially what they did to Priestess...!"

"Is that so?" Celistine looked with furrowed eyebrows before continuing. "Look, I won't sit here and say what you did was okay, but... even so it was a matter of self-defense. You're lives were in danger, and your summon could only do what was necessary."

"You're right... he protected us..."

"But what's to say he'll protect you Rem..."

"W-What...?"

"Don't play dumb Rem..." Celestine straitened her posture as she continued. "Goblin Slayer already has laid a hand to you, what's to say that you'll be the one who's slain next? It would certainly feed into his obsession with his so-called 'goblins'..."

"That's not true!" Rem denied while slamming her hands down onto the table as she sat up. "He would've done so if he wanted to! But instead... he wanted someone he knew from his world to be by his side. Who knows if he'll ever be able to get back to his own world and his slaying of his 'goblins'..."

"Is that so...?" Celestine asked before Rem gave a firm nod towards the head of the Mages Association.

"Yes!" The summoning/slaving ritual may have been a failure, but the one who stood before she and Shera was a genuine adventurer who cared for the lives of others. Also, she may have stretched the truth when it came to the talk Shera and Goblin Slayer had last night. It was to the point where the slayer talked about his past that Rem understood what kind of life she and Shera took from him.

A life solely devoted to killing being know as 'goblins' in the act of a never ending goal of revenge.

Was this truly who Goblin Slayer was?

*SLAM!

Interrupting her inner thoughts, Rem and the others were startled in seeing Galeck of all people to have shown up, but what startled her the most was how bloody his hands were.

"YOU...!" Galeck angrily exclaimed with a shaky finger towards them.

"What do you want, Galeck?" Celestine asked with immediate attention.

"You've made a huge mistake Celes'! And I'm here for you to correct that mistake!" Putting a bloody hand to his chest, the discontinued monk of the association spoke more nonsense. "Don't you think that kicking me out of the Mages Association is a bit too much! I mean, don't you remember what that idiot slayer did?!"

"I am aware, yes... but that is the least of my concerns at the moment," Celestine answered with disinterest.

"Seriously?!" Galeck sputtered in disbelief. "I'd thought you'd have done the right thing and have that asshole put on the execution list! Didn't I do the right thing?!"

"You bastard..." Rem said out of nowhere as she looked at him with disgust. "If anyone's head should be put on the chopping block it should be you for putting one of my friends in danger!"

"See?! This is what I'm talking about Celes'! For every good thing I do, I just get kicked to the curb! Do I not matter to this association, and more importantly the well being of other adventures?!" Taking his bloody hands and griping his ears, Galeck was starting to lose his mind. "I should've just listened to him from the beginning!"

"Him?" Rem asked out loud before her answer came in the form of... a demonic dagger with an eye that Galeck soon held.

"Drop the knife Galeck!" One of the fellow monks demanded.

"Yeah, you're just embarrassing yourself at this point!" The second one said. "Give it up man!"

"I don't give a fuck what you all or anyone else thinks of me!" Galeck yelled as he gripped to dagger close to his chest.

"That dagger...," Rem muttered under her breath before her eyes widened when the eye of the dagger opened. "Oh no you don't!"

"If no one will answer my prayers, the I'll have to-!"

*SHINK!

Rem hissed in anger as she twisted her dagger deeper into Galecks stomach; blood trickling down her fingers as she did everything in her power not to puke.

"Rem, what are you doing?!" Celestine asked in shock after seeing her stab Galeck.

"Stay back!" Rem demanded them before looking back to the dagger. "That dagger could be dangerous! We need to-!"

*PUNCH!

"Gah!" Being brought down to the floor with a right hook to the face, Rem gripped her cheek before Galeck laughed.

"YOU THINK SOME PUSSY LIKE YOU WILL DENY MY WILL?!" Despite being stabbed already, Galeck soon brought upon the dagger to his head, ending his life...

…

Or would be if a dark aura didn't surround his body before a monstrous figure manifested itself before them!

"No... it can't be..." Rem fearfully muttered having now just figured out what that dagger was. "It's... one of the fallen...!"

Before them, a blue lizard like creature toward over them all as it soon spoke with a fierce tone. "Here I thought that damn human was never gonna shut up!" Gripping the dagger that appeared on it's stomach, the creature pulled it out as crushed it between it's grip like it was nothing. The wound itself also seemed to heal itself, albeit slower than most known healing spells.

This still caused Rem some concerns. "I-It can heal on it's own?"

"Heh, of course I can weak human!" The creature laughed. "Because I'm not just ANY fallen. For you are in the presence of the great Gregore!"

Rem could only shudder in fear at how a fallen had just infiltrated beyond the barrier that was meant to safeguard the city from such attacks. "S-Shit..."

The one known as Gregore laughed once more before grinning at them with predatory eyes. "So... now that introductions are out of the way... I hope you all are ready to DIE!"

"Die..."

*SLASH!

"Glargh...!"

Slashing another fallen at their throat, Goblin Slayer continued his onslaught of blood shed as he dodged to the side before delivering a gash to their right.

"I-I'll... kill you...!"

"No..."

Attempting a slash at the human, it didn't expect it's weapon to be blocked by his shield!

"Gah...!"

"I'll kill you."

*STAB!

The dying screams of the those who were fallen were heard among the others as they watched it unfold with bated breathes. Each of them would have a go at the slayer, but no one them came close to succeeding. The slayer, himself, didn't seem like a capable warrior at first... as if the fallen had any common sense they would have only had to have charged all at once and it'd be the end right then and there.

However, due to some unseen forces put into play, it seemed their attacks were dictated by otherworldly rules that one such as Goblin Slayer would NOT understand. But even still, he would continue the fight against these idiotic 'goblins' if only to satisfy what he could not ever obtain ever again.

Not unless Priestess figured a way back that is.

But for now, Goblin Slayer breathed a heavy breath as he looked down to the field of battle that was laid in the dead bodies of ten fallen. Soon, almost all the bodies and blood (including the ones sprayed onto his armor) dissipated in that same black mist from before.

Back to nothingness, as they were all 'fallen' by his hands.

"Thirteen." Goblin Slayer called out as his kill count was racking up at a slow but decent rate. As he stood, he felt like he could go even more if he pushed himself, but despite being in a different world and with rage filling within' his being the slayer still felt he had a certain limit until he broke.

And it felt it was going to be sooner rather than later.

Hearing the footsteps of not a giant fallen, but rather someone else approaching Goblin Slayer readied himself for what he was soon about to face. What he didn't expect however, was the girl from earlier who seemed to be leading the army. ""Hm?"

The wind howled as the tanned demi-human girl approached the slayer; spear in hand with a calm but slightly irritated expression. For she had expected the human to have been downed by this point, but with the amount of blood having been spilled and not to mention that her mount became paralyzed in fear at the display of violence, the one known as Edelgard walked until she stood a few feet from the slayer.

Slamming the butt-end of her spear to the bridge's surface, Edelgard stood and looked at the armored human with that same blank stare.

Goblin Slayer himself, adjusted his stance before he too stared at her with the blank expression he wore even with his helmet on.

The both of them stared at each other; neither one refusing to look away or back down.

None of them even flinched!

The silence would soon be interrupted as the slayer asked one simple question:

"Are you a goblin?"

The demi-human furrowed her brows before she too spoke. "I do not recall such a name. For I am Edelgard, master lancer of the fallen."

"Is that so?" Goblin Slayer blankly asked. "Then you don't need to do this, right?"

"Do what you say?" She asked before the slayer gripped his sword.

"This."

*SWOOSH!

Swiftly using her spear to deflect the short sword that was thrown at her, Edelgard took a battle stance before she looked to find that he was out of sight. She simply stood in place as she looked from left to right at where the attack could come from.

"Yes fight, or no fight?" She asked mostly to herself.

Her answer soon became answered as she looked to see one of the last fallen bodies dissipating before a very fast strike clashed with her spear. As she held her ground against the force, sparks flying from their clash, the human answered:

"Yes fight."

Play TV Version - [ Gin no Kesei, by Soraru ]

Author's Note:

So... yeah... it's been long huh?

And here I've been aware of it all of this time how you all have waited for this.

To make up for that time lost, expect the next chapter to come out A LOT sooner than this two part hiatus that this took!

Otherwise, thank you to those who stuck around all this time. And I hope this will get as much attention as it did when I first began this one!

Take care, and see you again soon!

Matt3265

Next Chapter: Dance of the Strong