Within this world, there are many ways to die fast. Many killers of humanoid and beastly shape. Not unlike many other places of existence. It is possible for intellectual minds to find ways to survive, but it takes a greater wisdom to truly be able to handle the dangers of the land. So tell, me little one… how might you survive this madness…?
After the many battles that took place, it would seem that peace had finally come. The powerful creatures that sought the destruction of the civilizations of man, elf and others had been defeated. Even the creatures who tried to take control during the chaos were swiftly dealt with. Such as the deadly, and underestimated, goblins. Of course, like with many times of great peace, it does not last long. Magics of old are bringing new dangers to the lands. The vast fields along with the small towns near them are going to bear witness to another great duel. Having the battlefield near the home of the now well known…
"Goblin Slayer? You feeling okay?" A young girl in white asks a man dressed in armor.
"Yeah… I'm fine. Just more thoughts of…" the armored man replies to her.
The two of them are seen walking down a pathway through a small town, approaching a guild hall where many men and women seem to be going in and out.
"Goblins?" the girl asked him as she follows him into the guild hall.
"Yes. Along with the farm. I can't shake the feeling that there's something more to it." he tells her as they approach the front counter.
The crowd inside the building seem intensely ecstatic, as if there's a surplus of high paying jobs. It takes some time to get through the line, but eventually they find themselves an audience with the woman at the counter.
"Oh? Good to see you again, Goblin Slayer. I already have a job I'm sure you'll be interested in." the woman tells him before reaching below the counter for something.
She then hands him a note, of which the armored man reads as he walks away. It tells of an invasion in another man's land. Of little green, pointy eared creatures attacking his livestock.
"Looks like it's time to set out again." The armored man tells his young companion.
"Well, wherever we go, I've got your back." The young girl tells him.
"Good to hear, Priestess. You have all you provisions ready?" He asks her.
"Yes. I should be ready for at least a half a fortnight." The girl replies with a stern smile.
He then nods to her before walking towards the front door, where he is greeted by a few others. The man stops at the sight of what appears to be an Elven archer, Dwarven shaman and Lizardman priest.
"We already know where you're headed, and we're coming…" the elf says before she's interrupted.
"As long as you already have provisions ready for this trip." The armored man says.
"I'm always prepared. You should know this by now." The dwarf says.
"This time, I already have three rolls of cheese. I think that might last me long enough." The Lizardman says with a smile.
"There's no way I'd be traveling with you if I didn't come prepared. I can't hold onto my sanity around you." The elf tells the man with a chuckle.
"Then let's go…" the armored man says as he notices a pair of younger adventurers approach. "Something you two need?"
The two younger adventurers look about the Priestess' age, one being a boy with little armor on him with the other a girl in cleric robes.
"Well… we were hoping to come along. All of the missions for our rank have been taken." the boy asks the armored man nervously with his hand on the back of his head.
"And to be honest, we asked multiple groups to allow us to join them, but no one will allow us to join them." the girl says with a disappointed sigh.
"Hm…" the armored man muttered as he thought to himself, placing his hand against the chin of his helmet.
"I can't see why not. It would be pleasant to have more hands on deck in this dangerous mission." the lizardman says.
"Well that's just it. They probably won't be prepared for…" the elf says.
"They can come with us." the slayer says to the surprise of the whole group. "But only if you two listen to everything I say. If you thought the goblins on the farm were dangerous, get ready for if we have to kill them in one of their caves."
"Uh… really?" the two rookies asked in shock.
"Are you sure?" the dwarf asked the slayer.
"Yes. If they listen and pay attention." He repeats himself.
"Oh, yes. We'll pay attention." the boy says, looking like he's about to bow to the man.
"Good. Let's go." the slayer says before he immediately starts walking off.
The group starts following along with him, including the two rookie recruits. They all get on a cart to travel out to the farmland described. Their trip went smoothly through a calm landscape, but was rather awkward for the two young Cleric and Warrior. They tried to talk with others, but only got to talk with the Priestess. Other than her words of being careful, mimicking the slayer's words, they only heard the lizardman speak of his love for cheese. After their trip on the cart, along with a day's travel on foot, they make it to the farmland.
In this area, they don't see anyone or anything walking about. There are a multitude of crops lined with vegetables and strange herbs that seem unique to anything the group has seen before. The only one of them to take a look at the purple leaves of one of these herbs is the lizardman. Who takes the smallest leaf he can to have a sample of this particular plant.
"Strange herb… seems familiar though…" the lizardman says to himself as he pockets the leaf.
The slayer studies the ground near the crops, noticing a few trails of footprints that look almost like they were dusted over to cover up something.
"It looks like there were goblins here for sure. But it appears that someone or something has partially covered up their trail." the man says as he looks along the covered prints.
"Covered up?" the dwarf questions as he looks around.
"Really? Are these even smarter goblins than the last ones?" the elf asks as she looks along the trail too.
"Either way, we'll need to find where their nest is. It's not likely to be far. Especially if they did really cover up the trail like this." the slayer suggests as he gets up to follow along the trail.
With this, the group starts to follow after him towards the goblins' hideout. Along the way, the young rookies go to talk with the priestess.
"So… I know we've said things about him… but I have to say he actually seems like quite a professional with this." the warrior says to her.
"Well yes. It's because of that that I survived my first quest for the guild." the priestess tells them.
"Oh. Is there any pointers that you can give us since you've worked with him for a while?" the cleric asks her.
"Well.. a few of the old pointers he gave me were to keep close to each other to avoid being split up. And to watch the walls, especially in darkness as there could be holes in the wall that the goblins could be hidden in." she tells them as she watches the slayer.
The two other young guild recruits look at each other with a slight bit of worry as the priestess moves forward towards the slayer. As the group travels on, they eventually make their way to the end of the trail and find that it leads to the mouth of an old cave. On the side of the opening, there seems to be symbols sketched into the stone as if some sort of sign.
"Wait… I recognize this." the dwarf whispers just loud enough for the group to hear him.
Everyone stops, including the slayer who turns back to look at him.
"This writing is in Dwarven text. It says that this was the final resting place of the Chest Monster." the dwarf continues with.
"Chest… monster…" the elf says with an irritated blush as she crosses her arms.
The priestess and lizardman stare at her in confusion with the cleric mimicking her expression.
"No. No. Not like that. Like a shapeshifter that could turn into a chest. My people say he was a plaque to dwarven kind a couple millennia ago. Eating anyone who tried to open it." he explains to the group.
"Oh…" both the elf and the cleric say with a sigh.
"But if there's goblins here, that would mean it's likely dead… even if it could live that long." he finishes with.
"Either way, let's get moving. We can't afford for the goblins to figure out our position too soon." the slayer says as he lights a torch and walks through the opening of the cave.
The rest of the group follow suit and go into the cave. Upon entering, there is already a side odor to the air inside. Despite this, everyone carries on through. The slayer stops here and there to check the walls, and look around corners. He doesn't spot anything out of the ordinary. At least, nothing of the goblin variety. While he and the elf hold the front of the group, the lizardman and dwarf hold the back. Keeping the youngest members in the middle and safer from harm. As they pass through, the young warrior notices the wall react to his torch and start to shift a little as if it was alive. He yells a little in fright, causing the cleric to do so as well. The priestess gets a little frightened as well, but is more stern in her footing than the other two.
"What happened?" The slayer asked as he turned around.
The rest of the group looked around as the scream had echoed through the cave. Before the warrior could give a proper explanation, goblins began to flank the group. Around fifteen of them in front and eight from the mouth of the cave.
"Wait? How could they have come from…?" the elf asked aloud as she saw the goblins come from the entrance in disbelief.
"Those crafty bastards must have better camouflage." the slayer says as he gets ready to fight.
"The herbs! They must have covered their scent with them. That's why I recognized them." the lizardman told them as he readied his spells.
Everyone else followed suit, getting ready for a battle. However, none of them were prepared for a multitude of tendrils like pseudopods that shot out from the cave wall to grab the warrior, cleric and priestess. Before little more than a slight yelp could be heard from any of them, they were all taken through the wall as if it was liquid.
"Noooo!" the lizard priest said as he summoned an undead creature to fight some of the goblins on his behalf.
He attempted to slice the wall, but it simply made a clanking noise as if it was steel against stone.
"Damnit! We'll have to see if there is another entrance into there." the slayer suggested as he started to fight the goblins head on.
Knowing that his young friend was in danger, he tried to kill off the goblins in a quick and brutal fashion. Stabbing one in its throat, bashing another's skull into the wall, and throwing a dagger into a third's head. The elf started firing arrows at any of the other goblins dodging the slayer's attacks. Though a few of the goblins proved to be either too swift to hit, or had a small shield to block the arrows. On the other end, the lizardman and dwarf used their magics to throw off the goblins. Such as the dwarf's mist cloud to obscure their vision, making it easier for the undead lizard to strike them.
With the battle getting intense out there, inside the room that the three young adventurers found themselves in, they were about to face something a little more frightening. As the pseudopods dropped them, the three were in complete darkness. Whimpering from each of them filled the silence of the room. After a moment, four wall mounted torches brightened the pure marble walls that surrounded them. This caused both the warrior and cleric to scream and hugged one another in fear. The priestess tried her best to composure, but the situation seemed more and more terrifying by the second. She felt as if fighting the goblins head on may have been a better substitute for this. Upon opening their eyes into the bright light of the room, they would all notice that there was a fairly large chest in the room towards the other side of them.
"A hidden treasure chamber…?" the warrior nervously suggested.
"Maybe it has a way out for us…" the cleric suggested as she tried to get up.
"No! Don't!" the priestess said as she pulled her back. "Remember what the dwarf shaman said. About the Chest Monster."
"But… he said it should be dead." the cleric replies to her.
"Yes. The Chest Monster is dead. Dead for about two thousand years." a voice said from inside the room.
"Who was that?" the warrior asked as he looked around in fear.
The two girls fared no better and both had shocked looks of horror on their faces. All three of them looked around the room before staring back at the chest.
"But I'm sure with the journey you've all traversed, that you're quite famished." the voice said, sounding almost gurgly.
"We're fine…" the cleric told the voice nervously.
"Come now. I know you're hungry. Now come close." the voice said as the chest opened up to reveal rows of sharp teeth that lined the opening. "I have a bite to share with you."
A long tongue came out of the chest and wiggled around as if it was going to grab someone. This caused both the warrior and cleric to freak out and finally get their weapons to strike at the creature. As they got ready to attack though, pseudopods from around the room shot out and grabbed a hold of their weapons. Taking them out of the grasp of the young adventurers and absorbing them into the walls of the room.
"What… are…?" the warrior said as he stood there with his jaw dropped.
"Easy, children. I'm only here to play with your easy to spook ignorance." the gurgly voice said with a slightly maniacal chuckle.
"Children? We work for the guild…" the warrior piped up.
"I don't care if you work for a king, an ogre or a celestial being. Unlike the other fools that came in, you all reek of youthful inexperience. Like a green plantain that has yet to ripen into its yellow color, none of you have matured in mind or body." the gurgly voice continues with as some kind of amorphous mass crawls onto the toothy chest.
The chest closes, allowing for the three adventurers to bear witness to it fully. With that, both the mass and the chest reveal four green hungry eyes on them. This sight truly made the trio all uneasy as they all kept onto their feet and in a corner away from the chest.
"If you were all fully grown, we wouldn't be having this conversation. And I wouldn't be feeling hungry right now." the mass atop the chest says with its very toothy maw.
""Wha… What are you?" the warrior asks in a slightly angry but nervous tone.
"And what do you mean by having this conversation?" the priestess asks as she tries again to regain her composure.
"Well, call me a mimic I suppose. And what I mean is I don't prey on the young. I'm just making sure the goblins don't get you." the mass tells them.
"So you're not with the…?" the cleric starts to ask.
"No. I'm not. Mindless freaks of nature only make for tasty treats." the mimic tells them as it licks around its teeth.
Both the cleric and warrior seem a little repulsed by this display of its toothy maw, and look away. The priestess, however, seems almost unfazed by this and approaches the mimic atop the chest.
"If you're not with them, can you help us with our friends?" the priestess asks the mimic.
"Why should I? I prefer the idea of eating the goblins here while they don't notice me. They are too ignorant to notice the dwarven text you were all capable of reading." the mimic tells them.
"They need our help. We need your help. Please." the priestess says in an almost begging tone.
While the talk with the mimic was starting to get intense for the priestess, the battle out of the room was far more chaotic. Hobgoblins started coming in to fight against the group, causing more resistance as they squeeze played.
"Great. Time to get a little more abrasive." the slayer said as he grabbed a little oil from a container and splashed it against a hobgoblin.
The elf was quick to notice this as she readied an arrow. She fired it through the flame of his torch that he still held up, lighting the arrow ablaze as it struck the oil glazed hobgoblin. This lit him on fire before the slayer tossed the torch for the elf to keep light in the room as he ran forward with his shield. He charged the brutish creature to make it fall back onto others behind it. The oil on it splashed from its body onto another hobgoblin and a few other goblins, roasting part of their flesh and making them easy targets as the slayer came around to slice their throats. Despite this, there seemed to be more threats coming towards the group from both within and out of the cave.
"Damn…" the slayer says as he gets ready to fight some more. "Looks like we're going to see
Inside the secret room, the priestess along with the warrior and cleric try to convince the mimic to aid them. The creature seemed very hesitant to cooperate with their team.
"I feel as though that this would be a very one sided deal. Already have I saved you from the clutches of the little grubby green critters." the mimic tells them.
"You can't let them die out there. How will we get out of this cave ourselves?" the cleric asks as she takes a step closer to it.
"There has to be something we can do to convince you…" the priestess suggests as she looks around, trying to think of a way to persuade the creature.
The cleric gives the priestess a look of irritation before saying, "You are not suggesting what I…".
"Maybe we can help you learn things out there or get some better food than goblins." the warrior suggests to the mimic.
"Better food? Like what?" the mimic asks with curiosity.
"Have you ever had pork before?" the priestess asks. "If you like meat, you'll like that."
"Hmmm… I don't think I have. Maybe I will join you. At least momentarily. However, I will need a good amount of meat for my small colony to be able to fight at the moment." the mimic told the three young adventurers.
"Umm… What?!" the cleric asked with a very nervous tone.
The priestess and warrior then slowly backed up with her as if they were about to be prey.
"I told you that I am not interested in eating children. You're too young for my tastes." the mimic says with a slightly irritated tone.
"Oh…" the three say with a sigh of relief.
"What I need from you all is simple. I need you all to act as bait." the mimic tells them with a nasty looking grin with its toothy maw.
"Um…" the adventurers mutter with more nervousness in their tone.
As the mimic speaks with them, the battle outside has intensified for the adventurers. Goblin Slayer has found himself in a large open pocket of the cave, facing off against a champion goblin. The elf tried her best to keep herself out of the hands of the little goblins chasing her through the caves. Both the lizardman and dwarf were getting cornered by a group of hobgoblins. On top of all this, there was a good number of goblins coming in to aid the ones already keeping the team on the ropes. During this chaos though, the whole cave can hear what sounds like the pained screams of girls echoing throughout.
"What in the…?" the lizardman says as he notices the noise.
"No! I'll kill all of you little bastards!" the slayer says slowly in an aggressive tone.
Goblin Slayer gets rather angry as he then tries to brutally attack the champion goblin. As he tries to deal with that, the elf tries to then follow a group of goblins who then run towards the screams. Before she can reach what appears to be a room with torch light coming from it, a group of goblins surround her. With her cornered, the goblins that go into the room see what looks like the warrior hanging from a noose, and both of the girls on the floor bleeding and in pain. This sight entices the goblins as they approach with devious intentions.
"Now…?" the cleric asks in pain.
Some of the goblins notice her words, but continue to get closer. As they do, the wall behind them seals shut. This catches them off guard before a few dozen pseudopods shoot out from the walls, the puddles of blood, the chest and the talking mimic to grab a hold of the green critters. Mouths show up everywhere as the goblins get ripped limb from limb, causing pieces of goblin guts and other bloody parts to fly around. These mimic creatures show this young trio the horror of their kind with each sound of gurgling and munching coming from their mouths.
"What… is…?" the warrior says as he opens his eyes in horror to witness everything.
Being smart about the situation, both the cleric and priestess kept their eyes closed until the noises stopped. The blood pool and rope around the three start to morph back into the creatures that made them in the first place as they finish their feast on goblin flesh. The walls around the room start to slide away into a group of amorphous blobs along with the chest into a pile in the center of the room. With the munching no longer occurring, the girls open their eyes to see what the warrior sees. All of the creatures band together, forming a new shape. A pair of arms forms from three of the creatures on each, same with a pair of legs that slowly get onto their feet. The torso that forms between the pairs of limbs seems to imitate that of a slender, almost feminine look. All of the body parts seem to form a layer of hard material, looking similar to armor as a helmet-like head starts to take shape on top of the torso. It appears to be standing very tall, almost seven feet if it could fully stand in the tight space of the cave pocket.
"Woah…" the warrior mutters under his breath.
"That is… amazing." the priestess says as she stares in awe of the creature's new form.
"Thanks. Now it is time to show you all the true terror that a colony can bring these creatures." the tall mimic creature says as it stares at the three.
"What… do we call you?" the cleric asks the creature.
One of the mimics from the back of the torso slides along the right arm. It settles in the hand and quickly takes the form of an axe.
"Call me the Mimic Knight. Now follow me, children." the creature says as it starts to climb on the ceiling with its three other limbs.
"I'm not a kid." both the warrior and cleric say as they see the creature move.
It then crawls off towards where the elf is getting surrounded by other goblins. The three young adventurers follow to witness the tall mimic creature chop and slice at the green critters. This sight catches the elf off guard as she then screams at the mimic humanoid. As it kills the goblins there, multiple mouths take shape around Mimic Knight along with pseudopods to feed itself.
"Are you okay over there?!" the dwarf calls out after hearing the screaming from her.
He and the lizardman finally finish off the hobgoblins in their way and charge towards the direction of the elf. As they make it there, they see the mimic creature standing above the elven woman.
"Thank your companions. Now let's make sure your other one doesn't die on you." the mimic humanoid tells them as it begins to crawl on the ceiling again to move above the dwarf and lizardman towards the area where Goblin Slayer is.
Even with all the questions they want to ask, the group instead acts and quickly follows after the strange creature. As it arrives at the area where the other fight is happening, it bears witness to the Goblin Slayer throwing a dagger into the champion goblin's eye. This riles it up quite a bit as it tries to grab the man fighting it. Before he can even touch Goblin Slayer, the mimic jumps up and slams its ax into the goblin's back. The champion yells in pain as it then tries to grab the mimic. The Mimic Knight leaps off the huge goblin's back and lands near the slayer, who looks at it for a moment before staring back at the threat of the moment. To help in the fight, a pair of other mimics come from Mimic Knight's back and onto the left arm to form a large shield. The champion swings his huge two handed club around to smash the two warriors fighting him. However, the mimic uses its shield to block his strike, allowing for Goblin Slayer to attack. Using this opening, he slides under the brute slash an artery on his leg. The goblin starts to bleed out as Mimic Knight charges into him to knock him over. Goblin Slayer follows this by jumping up to shove his blade down into the champion goblin's neck. With this, the air sounds clear of threats as the rest of the party comes into the area.
"Woah… you managed to kill it this time without almost getting yourself killed?" the elf asks the slayer with a sarcastic tone.
Her sarcastic smile changes as she then notices the seven foot tall mimic humanoid standing a few feet away from the slayer. The whole group is not fully sure on how to feel about this new individual that seems very monstrous in nature.
"What are you exactly? You certainly are no goblin, but you seem just as ferocious." Goblin Slayer says as he approaches the mimic.
"We are a small colony of mimics. Call us the Mimic Knight." the mimic humanoid replies as the ax and shield fuse back into its back.
"Wait? ARE YOU THE DESCENDANT OF THE CHEST MONSTER?!" Dwarf Shaman asks as he stares at the creature in disbelief.
"Indeed, we are. And don't worry. Dwarven flesh is not as appealing to us as our ancestor." Mimic Knight tells him before looking around the room. "It feels as though there might be someone else here."
These words make everyone look around to see if there really is someone here. Goblin Slayer looks along the walls and actually finds something rather fast. A woman tied up and gagged, appearing a slight bit fearful but not as much as one would expect. The slayer quickly takes her gag off and unties her.
"Found a woman here." he tells everyone as he turns to the woman to finish taking off her binds. "Are you alright?"
"Yes. I'm fine. Just wish it didn't go this way." the woman says as she stands up to dust herself off.
She appeared to be wearing a cloak more akin to that of a sorcerer or witch.
"What do you mean?" the priestess says with a stern look as she gets closer to the woman and slayer.
"Well… I was trying to change the goblins. Hopefully making a better warrior out of one of them. But I failed. Oh well." the woman says with a smile before she starts to walk away.
"You were trying to do what?" Goblin Slayer says as he pulls out his sword to point at the woman.
"You are an evil witch, aren't you?" the priestess asks as her expression seems rather hostile towards the woman. "I recognized that symbol on your amulet."
"I don't seek purely evil intent with my actions. Besides, I'm sure all of you would prefer a world with less goblins hurting innocents. Wouldn't you?" the witch suggests as she clutches the skull amulet around her neck.
"I don't think I trust your intentions." the priestess says.
"You already seem very suspicious." the elf points out.
"What should we do with her?" the young warrior asks with a slight hint of nervousness in his voice.
"Well we can't let her leave on her…" the young cleric says as she sees the witch disappear from view completely.
"How…?" the dwarf says as he stares in confusion.
"The witch teleported out of here. She must have strong magic if she could do that so easily." the lizardman suggested.
"We'll have to look out for her. She might end up causing the goblin problem to get worse with what she's planning." the slayer suggests as he puts his weapon away.
"Whatever happens, we could help in your dealings with goblin infestations. But we will need something in return." Mimic Knight says as they stare at the group.
"And what's that?" the elf asks with her arms crossed nervously.
"Those children promised me other meats. We wish to feast on those, as we have only known goblin flesh." they say aloud to the group.
"You want a trip to the butcher?" the elf asks with nervous confusion.
"Shouldn't be a problem. You can use my share of the gold to get some meat from the local butcher in our town. Assuming you don't hurt anyone." Goblin Slayer says much to the surprise of the group.
"I don't plan on going against our bargain. So long as our colony does not come to harm." Mimic Knight tells him.
"Good. Now let's gather our things and head out. We've done our job here." the slayer says as he then grabs a few of his items he left around during the fights.
The party then set back out from the cave, and this time with a new unexpected companion. On the way back, most of the crew decided to ask Mimic Knight questions about their past. And what they could do. Most except for Goblin Slayer. His mind drifted off, thinking about both his past and how his present situation is looking. The man feels that the woman might cause issues for them in the future. For now though, he simply strides with his party. Almost a family he never expected to have, but definitely the one he needs to keep what bits of sanity he has left alive.
Author notes:
Goblin Slayer seems to trust them enough to bring them back with them and possibly follow on other goblin quests. However, can this trust last? And will there any new threats? For the sake of this party, hopefully that witch has no ill intent against her saviors. Well anyway…
Hope y'all enjoyed my own little continuation of the events following the end of the first season of Goblin Slayer. With this story, I wanted to add a little extra brutality and unique creatures into this bloody blended mix. I'm open to feedback and suggestions on how to make future chapters to this story. Along with that, I have a question on how I should make Mimic Knight behave and transform the mimic colony that makes up their being.
Should they act more masculine, arrogant and brutal? Or should they act more feminine, supportive… and brutal?
I ask because I like both ideas a lot (even if I lean towards the ladder) and want to know what you all believe sounds better. You let me know what you think, and I shall adapt both the story and the picture for it based on the suggestion. Thanks for reading whether or not you choose.
See you later…
