Chapter 5: The first Wave
How did this happen?
Why did this happen?
They were just Steel adventurers. They were just coming back from a long mission and just decided to rest in this small village on their way back to the Frontier Town. A young team of four adventurers: the Leader Fighter, a Little Witch, a Scout Elf and a Rhea Warrior.
They just wanted to rest in the village between mountains, between two cliffs one would say, and now they were defending it from a sudden Goblin horde attack.
The Horde appeared out of nowhere and were very numerous. Leader Fighter immediately thought of a plan for the villagers to survive, but he knew that they couldn't take on a large number in an open area with only four adventurers so they had no choice but to ask for some of the villagers to help them with the battle.
But these goblins were not normal, and they found that detail out shortly after the fight started.
They were stronger, much stronger. They knew that goblins were weak individuals, they did some goblin slaying quests in the past. But there was something extremely wrong with these ones.
Something was amiss, and whatever it was, it made them stronger, more brutal.
When Rhea Warrior and almost every villager they hired for the battle fell under the numbers of the enemy, Leader Fighter knew that this battle was lost.
As he was thinking of a solution to save as many villagers possible and the rest of his party. Scout Elf died right after she reported that the goblins were being lead by three creatures she have never seen before. The leader saw one of them kill her with a large fireball in the face. It was tall, brown with spikes and red eyes.
This village was doomed, that fight wasn't going to end in a victory. And they only managed to kill a few of these empowered goblins. But it wasn't enough… They had no plans, not enough experience.
The least he could do was to gain some time for his last comrade to escape and warn about this doomed village. With some luck, she'd find someone to destroy the invaders.
He gave the order but she refused to abandon him.
He heard something from above, he looked up only to see a big orange and purple monster he had never seen before. It pinned him to the ground, and before the adventurer could do anything, it planted its right hand in the young man's chest and with one sudden gesture, ripped many muscles and organs from his chest.
Blood splattered everywhere, the Leader Fighter used his last strength to look at Little Witch to say one last word as the monster on top of him tore his arm off and raised it high like a club, ready to smash his head with his own hand.
"Run."
"And three… I don't think legs are supposed to bend that way."
"...I dunno… Probably not…" Doom Slayer said as he just glory killed a goblin by twisting its leg so its own heel could kiss its face in a pretty brutal way that ended the life of the green bastard in a split second.
The Party arrived to the nest that the quest demanded to be destroyed, there was a totem near the entrance. Everyone got on guard and was ready for battle. But something was extremely wrong with the cave.
The first thing was that there was only three goblins in there, Goblin Slayer took care of one, then High Elf Archer killed the second one and Doom Slayer eliminated the last one. The number of goblins not only didn't match the details of the quest but also the cave was enormous for only three.
The second thing was that at least ten corpses were found in the large main room, all burnt to a crisp. Seven were goblin corpses, two normal ones, a shaman, two hobs and two goblin children. The last three corpses were from the women prisoners they were supposed to save. There was no sign of battle in the room.
The third and last thing was obviously: where was the rest of the nest? The three they just killed were Wanderers, so they had nothing to do with the original inhabitants of the cave.
"Hey! There's another room over here!" the elf exclaimed to call out her comrades.
The rest of the group joined her only to find some strange crudely made door, Doom Slayer looked at his minimap to see what was behind the strange handmade door in front of them, nothing particular, just another room, smaller.
But when they opened the door, both he, Lizard Priest and Priestess tensed up immediately. Doom Slayer frowned deeply, the blonde girl started to shake and the lizardman started to grimace, exposing his sharp teeth in a snarl. Dwarf Shaman noticed it quickly.
"What's up, folks?" he asked.
"I-I-I s-sense…"
"There's something extremely dark in there."
"...Demonic energy…" Doom Slayer said.
"What did you say?" High Elf Archer asked with wide eyes.
But the Slayer didn't repeat himself, he just walked in the room… only to find a red glowing pentagram on the ground.
"Is this…?"
"Yes… A pentagram... of Hell… A demon… was here…" Doom Slayer answered.
He looked around and saw no traces of blood. Which means that this pentagram wasn't used for sacrifices rituals… So that means…
"...I'm sure… Whatever did this… is the cause of… what happened here." he said before kicking some dirt over the pentagram, disturbing the drawing and stopping its glowing effect.
The dark presence disappeared at that instant.
"Now what…?"
Doom Slayer started to think of what happened here, there was a high probability that it was an Imp, maybe multiple and they became the 'leaders' of the nest. But it could all just be a coincidence…
"Whatever the case. The goblins aren't here anymore. Let's head back out and plan our next move." Goblin Slayer said.
Everyone nodded in unison and set march towards the exit of the cave.
When they reached the road outside the cave and forest, they started to talk among themselves to plan what they should do. Should they look for the goblins? Or maybe they should go back to Frontier Town to explain the situation to the Guild? And what about the demon?
As they were thinking of a solution, they heard a shout.
"HELP! SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP!"
High Elf Archer was the first to react by yelling at her teammates to get going. When they arrived at the source they saw something they didn't expect.
There was a wounded man on the ground, shielding a woman and a small girl. And in front of them was a young woman, much more injured that the man. And opposing them was a single goblin armed with a club.
The creature grinned menacingly at Little Witch in front of him, it raised its arm, ready to strike her down.
High Elf Archer immediately raised her bow to stop him but a stone ax beat her to the punch as it lodged itself deeply in the crook of the goblin's neck.
"GROG-?!" It exclaimed.
Any human would die instantly from a hit like that, it was just logical that a goblin, as strong and resistant as a human child would die from that too. But this goblin didn't.
It turned towards the Party, and that's when they all felt that something was extremely wrong with this goblin, something was missing.
The goblin was about to rush towards the party until it heard two clicking sound from behind. It turned around only to be face to canon with Doom Slayer's shotgun. The green armored man pulled the trigger and the head of the goblin exploded in all direction in a thundering sound. The now headless goblin collapsed to the ground, dead for good.
Doom Slayer sighed and turned to Little Witch.
"...This goblin… had demonic energy… had no soul… What happened…? Tell us...Everything you know." he interrogated the young injured adventurer.
After Little Witch explained the situation at the village ahead, about the goblin attack, how they were much stronger than normal goblins and that they were directed by three creatures they never seen before: two orange ones and a brown one, that could throw a fireball spell without incantation (And also after asking if Doom Slayer and Goblin Slayer were related, which earned a loud exasperated sigh from both slayers) Lizard Priest summoned a Dragon Tooth warrior to escort the adventurer and the small family to the nearest village for safety.
As the team was about to discuss about their next step, Priestess noticed Doom Slayer slowly walking away from the group.
"U-Um! Where are you going?" she asked, making everyone else turn to the man in green armor.
"...To that town… The creatures she described… Are demons from Hell… And it's certain that… They granted that power to the goblins… in exchange of their souls… Which means that we're… dealing with at least… fifty empowered goblins… and three empowered Imps… Way too dangerous-"
"For us you mean? And so you're thinking of dealing with them alone?" High Elf Archer interjected, "Because mister is sooo strong he have to leave his party behind?"
"...my… Party…?"
"Geez! You two really are alike!" the elf walked up to him to gently punch his chest armor, "We've become a party the moment you asked to join us! We're doing this together!"
"You don't… understand…!"
"The demons you're used to fight… From the tales you told us, they seem to be mostly long range enemies. Are those -What was the name… Imps, right?- Also of that sort?" Goblin Slayer asked.
Doom Slayer only nodded to confirm his suspicions.
"Then you will need our help." the human warrior said.
"But-!"
Goblin Slayer raised a hand.
"Listen to me. I wouldn't mind if they were in a cave. Your weapons would have worked wonders in closed space. But you'll fight in an open area, with almost fifty empowered goblins to ambush you."
"... I can take… care of them…"
"Yes. I don't doubt that. But they will certainly slow you down enough for those demons to hit you with their fireballs. And we know they are empowered. There's a possibility you'll die."
"Then you… guys are in much… more danger…!" Doom Slayer grunted.
"Goblins are goblins. And I'm Goblin Slayer. I'll slay them, no matter their state. I'll deal with the goblins, you deal with the demons. That's why you're called Doom Slayer, am I right?"
The marine didn't answer.
"And we'll help too! As a descendant of the fearsome nagas, it is my duty to partake in such battle!" Lizard Priest exclaimed with glee as he made a weir gesture with his hands and bowed.
"You can count on us Doomy! I'm sure Beard-cutter has a great plan!" Dwarf Shaman laughed.
"I think I do. This village is between two mountains, two cliffs, right?"
"I don't like the sound of that…" High Elf Archer commented.
"We just bury it and the goblins with a landslide."
"Or maybe not." Dwarf Shaman sweat dropped.
"W-We can't do that!" Priestess opposed, "W-What if there are prisoners?"
Doom Slayer brought a hand to his chin under his helmet.
"The chances… of that are… pretty low… But I'm… also opposed of the idea… The Imps could… survive and escape… The village… has two exits… We can't let them escape..."
"Is that so?"
Pretty much everyone nodded. Goblin Slayer imitated the other slayer, then looked up at a certain member of his party.
"In that case, I have another plan."
Everything was going smoothly.
If anyone entered the Village between Mountains, they'd be greeted by destruction. Many houses were destroyed and in flames, the once peaceful and lively village was completely gone. But they will also notice the many glowing red circular signs on many wall and on many streets, and in the middle of each would be at least one corpse of a human.
Be it a man, woman or child, it didn't matter to the ones who did this.
And if they continued to travel deeper, and reach the central square they would only see a big pile of burning corpses, there must be at least a good twenty- thirty dead people in there, burning for who knows how long.
And on the top of that macabre hill was standing three creatures that no one has ever seen before: two were orange-purple creature with yellow eyes and the last one, in the middle was leather brown in skin color, with blood-red eyes and several white bony spikes on its body.
They were Imps from Hell.
They only arrived a few days ago in this world and they couldn't wait to burn this world down.
A brand new world to destroy, or maybe not so new since it was connected to Hell somehow. They found it by pure chance when hiding from the Slayer's wrath.
But everything is now going smoothly, while the Horde of Hell is respawning near the portal in Hell, they'll start bring terror in these lands. The Doom Slayer is no more a hindrance, they managed to make him fall from the Bridge between World, who knows where he landed. But the chances that he is in this world are slim.
They even have an army now, weak compared to the one in Hell certainly, but easy to manipulate and if the inhabitants of this world are as weak as the one in this village… This world will burn at the speed of light.
Their army was composed of fifty-five goblins, extremely weak minded creatures, they gave up their soul for strength without hesitation. And 'recruiting' them was just as simple. The only problem was their lust, just how many times did the Imps burn the females the goblins tried to keep for themselves… They have no time to waste in raising baby goblins. Those women should be sacrifices not toys. Sometimes they had to kill one of them to remind them who's the boss.
But it didn't really matter, after all their souls belongs to the Imps now, they already made the demons stronger.
They were indeed now much, much stronger than normal Imps. A goblin soul was not worth a human soul but with this many goblins in the world wanting to be stronger, they could reach the rank of Summoner in no time.
Now they were waiting for some humans to come in this village to turn them into sacrifices. From the position of this village, and that it had two entrances meant that it's on a main road so people will eventually come.
Like right now!
A goblin scout on a roof just signaled them that a human entered the village.
The plan was extremely easy, easy enough for a goblin to understand: if the human enters a house, the goblins inside it will kill them; if they don't they'll eventually reach the Central square where the Imps will command a full out ambush.
Just that simple. And yet there's still one goblin who managed to fail to understand and try to play the hero. They could guess that from the scout on the roof that looked agitated and angry.
Well it doesn't matter, it's only one human, an empowered goblin should b-
A thundering sound echoed in the village.
That was a gunshot… There are firearm in this world? Surprising, but not impossible.
It didn't matter, the goblins might not be able to sustain a bullet but they could. They c-
The Imps thoughts got interrupted by the terrifying aura of anger that emanated from the streets, a very familiar aura.
But it couldn't be! They personally pushed the Doom Slayer out of the Bridge, what are the chances for him to fall here of all worlds?! The moment the silhouette entered the square, the Imps immediately recognized it. And when the green armored man turned its head towards the pile, they started to tremble in fear.
When a demon get spawned, all the knowledge, 'morals', warnings and goals are implemented the first second their brain starts working. And among that list was three extremely important ones:
-Fear The Slayer
-Hate The Slayer
-Kill The Slayer
And so the feeling of fear turned into one of anger. Their blood started to boil, pumping through their veins, ready to rip and tear the Doom Slayer apart like they did to the other humans under their feet.
The Slayer raised his helmet and finally saw them, he raised his shotgun.
The brown imp roared.
"SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRR!"
The two other Imps joined in the howling, one of them raised an arm to summon Hell energy to form a fireball in its palm. The other pointed at him and bawled an order:
"EVERYONE ON HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM NOOOOOOOOOOW!"
And Hell broke loose in the plaza.
Goblins emerged from every single house that was still standing. In seconds, the square was invaded. And all fifty and so goblins surrounded the Doom Slayer. Some fell under the gunshots but being empowered as they were, many survived and retreated to strike again. All the while, the three Imps were throwing their fireball with good precision towards the Slayer.
He managed to dodge most the empowered fireballs and kick some goblins head off in the process. But each time he was getting closer to the Imps, they changed locations or used Goblins to protect themselves from the shots from the Slayer's weapons, wasting his ammunitions.
The Doom Slayer clicked his tongue in annoyance, honestly he could just use the BFG to finish this quickly but wasting a shot for only three imps was sacrilege.
Seeing so many enemies in one place reminded him of a pretty bad memory.
During the first demonic invasion on Mars, where he fought for survival, he finally managed to reach the shuttle that would send him back home. The two Barons of Hell were this close to finish him, but now he only had to use the teleporter and he'll be safe. But when he used it he was sent in a room where dozen and dozen of demons ambushed him. Pinkies rushed at him, their bites powerful to tear his flesh and bones to pieces. Imps and possessed soldiers fired at him, stopping any movement… That was how he died…
This memory just made him angrier, he was stronger than then! He pushed through a wall of goblins but there were only way more behind. Those green bastards were slowing him down, the imps could and will escape if they focus solemnly on him and see the number of their army go thin.
Fuck that!
He grinned internally as he grabbed a grenade. He then got his shoulder hit by a powerful fireball. Ouch!
There was no shame in a little assistance, after all, they were his party.
He pulled the ring and threw it into the masses of goblins. They looked confused at the small object
They were both slayers after all.
The grenade exploded in their faces, killing at least five of them and catching every demons and goblins' attention.
"GRAAAOOO-!?"
At the entrance of the square, a man in a cheap looking helmet with broken horns, wearing a grimmy leather armor was standing there, a goblin frothing blood with a dagger deeply planted and twisted in the neck was lying dead at his feet.
"One..." he said as he raised his shield and sword, "Fifty more to go."
He'll remember to add at least ten more afterward.
The Doom Slayer threw the goblins too close to him away now that they were distracted. He grabbed his super shotgun.
He turned to the three imps who were slightly stunned in confusion about what was going on.
He aimed his weapon.
Goblin Slayer had goblins to kill, Doom Slayer had demons to kill.
Another normal day for the slayers.
"So those are demons from Hell…" Goblin Slayer whispered as he caught a glimpse of the three monsters who were completely focused on Doom Slayer.
But the warrior quickly shifted his attention back on the goblins who were now coming his way.
"Do it now!" he ordered behind him.
"Right! O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by the power of the land grant safety in we who are weak! Protection!" a young voice chanted from behind him.
A barrier of light appeared, protecting the adventurers from the vicious goblins who had their focus on the young girl with perverted thoughts.
But the same fools rushed head first against the wall of light, hurting themselves by bumping violently face first against the surface. They didn't even had the time to understand what was happening that wooden arrows, bone blades and regular blades started to attack the horde.
"Alright! I'll go take care of the ones on the roofs!" High Elf Archer exclaimed as she ran inside one of the houses.
"HAHAHA! Dear fearsome ancestors of mine! Watch over this battle and recognize my worth to become a dragon someday! RAAAAAARGH!" Lizard Priest prayed as he pushed goblins away with a slap of his tail while he pierced the skull of a goblin with his weapon.
"Hrn... " Goblin Slayer grunted as he saw the barrier slowly cracking with each hits of the goblins behind it, "They are indeed more resistant and stronger. Consider each one of them as hobs!" he warned his party, "The barrier won't hold for long. Quickly go into position and wait for us." he instructed the Obsidian adventurer behind him.
"A-Alright!" The young girl nodded and ran away as fast as she could.
A few seconds later, the miracle gave up and the goblins surrounded the warrior in no time. Thankfully, they seem to have forgotten about the young girl as the all wanted to kill the human in armor in front of them.
But Goblin Slayer wasn't fazed, he just raised his sword, ready to fight.
Doom Slayer raised an eyebrow in surprise.
The majority of the goblins went to fight the adventurers but there was still a good fifteen goblins who stood in front of the three Imps to fight for them.
Was it an act of loyalty? No one will ever know and it didn't matter to the slayer as he took aim. The brown Imp roared some order and the group split: the goblin charged at him while the orange imps ran to each side to surround him and the brown Imp was preparing a large fireball.
Doom Slayer shot the first goblin in front of him with his super shotgun, it died in one shot. They might be more resistant but there's a limit to what they can take.
The goblins won't be a problem, but the two orange imps are so fast that he couldn't keep track of them. He found one clinged against a wall, also preparing a large fireball.
Now where was the last one?
Suddenly a powerful hit strike his back, almost bringing him on one knee. He turned around in rage only to see the last imp running away. This was his chance!
He grabbed his rifle with the scope. He took a quick glance behind him to see that the two other imps threw their fireballs. If he gets hit by that, it will hurt like Hell!
He jumped just in time to dodge the fireballs colliding where he was, the flames consumed a goblin in the process. While in the air, he took aim through his scope at the Imp's knees. He pulled the trigger long enough to fire ten bullets.
The Imp shrieked in pain as both kneecaps exploded and fell to the ground.
Perfect, time to finish it.
He ran towards the fallen demon, Rocket launcher in hands. The goblins were surrounding him and about to jump on him to immobilize him. He could also hear the imps behind him throwing their fireballs at him. He aimed to the ground and fired.
The explosion sent him fly in the air and the goblins fly against the walls. Boots forward, he descended towards the orange imp's head.
The demon looked up, screamed loudly at seeing the Slayer approaching at high speed with bloodlust emanating from him. It tried to defend itself with a fireball but it's head got crushed beneath the Doom Slayer's boots before it could even summon Hell energy.
One down, two more to go.
"Huh?"
It was hard to miss that suddenly, a good third of the goblins went pale and started to move much slower, some of them even fell to the ground.
Goblin Slayer was the first to notice that, then came the goblins. The still empowered ones lowered their guard at seeing their companions suddenly turning weak.
"Hm."
They were distracted and the pale ones weren't moving much… Almost as if they were… stunned.
That was an opportunity for a Glory Kill, right?
Goblin Slayer started to remember the lesson from the morning.
"So, a Glory Kill is basically an execution, right?"
"Yes… But the difference… is that it must be… extremely brutal… to the point that anyone… who watches it will be… petrified."
"And it works?"
"If it can… stop demons from attacking… while I 'perform'... a Glory Kill… on one of their kind… It will work on goblins… with much better results."
"I see."
"So remember… Executions were… at least where I'm from… a warning… to the people… 'If you don't behave… You'll end up like that too'... It was also… entertainment… for the populace… Horror and gore attracts attention… So you can be sure… that the enemy… will have their eyes one you… during a 'performance'..."
"I see."
"Be full of rage… Be brutal… Be merciless… Rip and Tear."
"Rip and Tear, huh?"
Goblin Slayer's grip on his sword's handle got tighter as he approached one of the pale goblins, he raised his arm, spun the sword in his hand to hold it in a reverse grip and stabbed with all his strength the right foot of the monster.
"GRRRIIIIIAAAAA-?!"
The screech of the goblin got silenced by a dagger planted deeply under the chin, skewering the tongue and mouth palate.
With his dagger still in hand, he pulled it down, cutting the mouth, throat and upper torso open with one 'clean' cut, leaving disgusting dark red blood oozing out of the large wound.
The warrior pulled his dagger out, but it wasn't enough, wasn't brutal enough. He had an idea.
He plunged both hands forward, into the cut and took a firm grip on both sides of the body then opened his arms. He wasn't strong enough to completely tear this goblin in half but it did left the goblin with a giant bloody gap in the middle of its body.
If the stabbing and cut didn't kill it. The now widely open wound with the organs and blood waterfalling out of it was clearly enough to do the work.
He took back his sword and looked around in a fighting stance, absolutely every goblin surrounding him were frozen in fear, trembling and pissing themselves. He quickly used that opportunity to grab the spear from a corpse and pierce the throat of another weakened goblin. Then two other fell under a rain of arrows that snapped the goblins back into reality.
"Five. Six. Seven."
"Jeez, Orcbolg! What the heck was that for?!" High Elf Archer shouted from a rooftop, distracting some goblins with her arrows.
They weren't enough to kill an empowered goblin, but were more than enough to distract and hurting them.
"Just doing what I was taught. How are things on your end?" Goblin Slayer asked.
"No good on this side, I'll look on the other side!"
"Understood."
Goblin Slayer raised his shield to protect himself from a dagger and kicked the goblin away.
He had to admit, Glory Kills were a good way to stop the goblins movements for a good dozen of seconds, just enough to kill two or three more.
He should use that more often, and come up with a quicker way to kill, this one was a bit long.
One of the demons fell, and easily at that! Almost as if they didn't have a good dozen souls absorbed. And it seems like the goblins who gave their soul to the now-dead demons were weakened.
Lizard Priest took a fireball on the chest, it was extremely painful as his clothes burned away, exposing his injured, also burned with melted scales chest. He winced at the pain.
Those Imps were formidable foes! He managed to catch the attention of one by slapping it down on the ground with his tail while he cut a goblin in pieces. Needless to say, the Imp didn't like that as it turned to him in anger while throwing a fireball in the process.
"So like that the Slayer has new companions… Weak companions. Hehehehe, I'll kill you and with some luck it would distract the Slayer enough for us to finish him!"
"Heh!" the lizardman smirked, "O Dragons Ancestors of mine! Accept the blood of this vile demon I'm about to offer and allow me one step forward of my goal to join you!" he prayed as he got in a fighting stance, "Prepare yourself!"
The Imp roared and lunged itself towards Lizard Priest, claws on fire and about to slash his face.
But suddenly, a goblin flew, hit and sent the demon against a wall with itself.
"...Huh?"
Then followed three pointy headed projectiles that flew towards the goblin and Imp, leaving a trail of smoke behind. He heard a scream then a loud explosion. What he saw were rockets freshly launched from Doom Slayer's rocket launcher.
Lizard Priest turned his head towards the explosion, there was nothing left of the two monsters, the wall of the house was down and High Elf Archer was trembling like a leaf from inside the house, her eyes teary.
Both adventurers turned their head towards Doom Slayer who raised a thumb at them before going back into battle.
The elf shouted something mean followed with a yelp as an arm of the imp fell from the ceiling with a flop! near her and the lizardman stared at the Slayer with a disapproving look. He just stole his kill.
Not cool.
Well, at least that made even more goblins weakened now that another host of their souls died.
"Fifteen."
"Orcbolg!" High Elf Archer shouted from a roof, "I'm done!"
"Result."
"None. I found nothing…" she said, dejected.
"Hrm…" Goblin Slayer looked around.
He could count at least twenty three goblins left, and among them there was still at least sixteen being empowered by the remaining Imp which was keeping Doom Slayer at bay with a barrage of fireballs, the remaining seven weakened goblins were still trying to fight.
He looked up and said.
"Let's move on with the plan."
"Alright!" High Elf Archer exclaimed and turned towards where Lizard Priest was and shoot two arrows.
The projectiles landed on the head of a goblin standing behind him, it didn't kill it but it did let out a yelp loud enough for the priest to turn around and slap him away with his tail. He looked up to see the ranger of the party wave at him. He nodded, took a deep breath and roared.
"GROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!"
"Let's go." Goblin Slayer said.
The three adventurers turned around and ran towards the exit of the village, the goblins who noticed it immediately gave chase.
"Hehe… Looks like your companions abandon- Uh?!" The imp started its mockery but quickly shut up when it saw the Slayer running towards it, eyes completely focused.
A final attack?!
The Imp roared to the goblins who stayed at its side to attack him, but the Doom Slayer dodged each and every one of them, still running towards the demon. Said demon started to panic and throw fireballs at him but he just kept dodging.
"COME AT ME!" the demon screamed in panic, hands on fire and preparing a large fireball. "RRRA-"
But the Doom Slayer just ran past the Imp. And kept running down the streets. The demon was left confused among its group of goblins, that was until a giant shadow loomed over them. The monsters looked up and their eyes widened.
A few minutes ago, when the retreat order was given, the three running adventurers reached the entrance of the village without any problem, Priestess was waiting for them.
"Do it now!" Goblin Slayer shouted.
"O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, grant your sacred light to we who are lost in darkness, Holy Light!"
And from Priestess' staff came a searing light that filled the perimeter. The three adventurers had already covered their eyes from the intense brightness but the goblins behind them weren't prepared. Many stopped in their tracks, some tripped and fell face first against the ground while only one kept running.
"Second Miracle!"
" O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by the power of the land grant safety in we who are weak! Protection!" Priestess chanted again
This time a barrier appeared behind the lone goblin, sealing him from the village where the other goblins were still inside, now trapped.
Goblin Slayer used this opportunity to throw a sharp stone ax at the belly of the confused goblin, the blade lodged itself horizontally on the stomach.
The creature staggered, he saw another opening.
He ran towards it and pulled the axe out, not without slicing a bit more in the process making blood ooze out and organs fall on the ground. While the goblin was desperately trying to put back what was supposed to be inside his body inside again, the warrior raised his arm with the axe and crushed the skull of the goblin with it in one powerful swing. He raised it again and swung once more, now the green monster was on its knees but still breathing slightly. He raised it again and this time, with more force, he manage to split the head in two.
"Sixteen."
That was his second Glory Kill, the goblins who saw that from behind the barrier stopped all movement and lost desire to break the Protection miracle to reach them.
He looked up, towards the top of one of the cliff sandwiching the village, where the last member of his party was standing.
Dwarf Shaman started his spell the moment he saw the signal: Holy Light.
"-time to work, now don't you dare your dirty shirk- a bit of dust may cause no shock, but a thousand make a lovely rock! Stone Blast!"
He threw a ball of dust into the air as hard as he could and it became a small army of large pointy boulders, some started to fall down on the village but others crashed on the cliffs wall, digging inside.
"And now… Come out, you gnomes, and let it go! Here it comes, look out below! Turn those buckets upside down- empty all upon the ground! Falling Control!"
He exclaimed and by magic, large rocks were pulled out of the wall, destroying the stability of many parts of the cliffs,creating a very large landslide that fell directly towards the village, ready to crush any goblin, Imps or whatever monstrosity could still be in there. Thanks to the Falling Control spell, only the village and whatever's inside will be crushed, nothing more, nothing less.
He wasn't a Silver Adventurer for nothing.
"Jeez, Beard-cutter certainly have the craziest of ideas." He smirked and quickly jumped away when he fell the ground under his foot collapse, "Well,better get down now."
The Imp ran as fast as it could, it wasn't as fast or agile as the orange counterparts but thanks to the souls absorbed it was fast enough to manage to dodge the falling boulders and reach the other end of the village.
Then a plasma shot stopped it in its advance. The demon looked on ahead, and paled.
The Doom Slayer was standing there, guarding the exit from the other side of the gate.
The demon started to boil in rage but the boulder that crushed the goblin standing next to it snapped it back to its senses and a giant boulder barred the path to the exit. The Imp was trapped. Another boulder was directly falling on it, it raised its arms and summoned Hell energy in its whole body.
"I WON'T-"
Then the large rock reached the ground.
A few minutes later, the village fell silent.
What was a village was now covered in rubble. And one particular area started to shake before exploding, leaving a small hole with a brown humanoid creature in its center.
The Imp looked around and saw only rubble and ruins. Its army was destroyed, its allies also. But this demon was still alive. It summoned a flame barrier to protect itself… Didn't work well but saved the demon. WHo knew absorbing twenty and so goblins souls could make a simple Imp much more powerful…
But it didn't matter. The Slayer was still around. The Imp needed to esca-
There was a loud sound, followed by a blue light then pain.
The imp fell to the ground, understanding shortly after that both its legs got torn off by plasma. It looked up to see the Doom Slayer standing on top of a large rock, Gauss Cannon equipped and steaming from its last shot.
The demon roared in anger as it summoned a fireball in its right hand, only for it to be shot into smithereens by the Gauss Cannon. The monster seethed in anger as the Slayer jumped down to his level and reached forwards.
"Is everyone okay? Anyone need some healing?" Lizard Priest asked, as he didn't use many spells for the battle.
"I'm alright."
"Same here."
"Well Beard-cutter! That was some plan you got there, not very far from the original, though! Hahaha! Have a fight with the goblins n' demons for distraction while searching for survivors in the background to finally end up with a landslide! Haha!" Dwarf Shaman laughed loudly.
"They were empowered goblins. I had to think of a quick way to kill them all in one go."
"Um… Do you think Doom Slayer is alright?" Priestess asked her party.
Her answers came in a form of shouts and roars coming from beyond the rubbles at the gate. Doom Slayer jumped over it dragging the demon by its head. When he landed on the ground, he quickly spun around and slammed the monster against a nearby still standing wall, this time holding it by the neck.
The monster was missing both legs and its right hand, the left one was crushed, it was completely defenseless.
And Doom Slayer was merciless.
The rest of the party slowly approached the confrontation.
"So that's a demon of Hell?"
"An Imp, right?"
"Can't say I've seen one of those before."
"Hehehe, is that your party, Slayer? How cute, I hope they will end up like your last o-" the monster got cut off by a punch in the mouth, breaking some sharp teeth, "Arg…"
Doom Slayer turned his head towards the others then nodded at them.
"Right! You don't speak to demons or in battles. We'll ask the question then. Uh-"
"Where's the Portal of Hell?" Goblin Slayer asked.
The demon looked at the human warrior and widened its eyes.
"What the- Another Slayer? There's two of you!? Wait no… A sibling?!" it exclaimed.
The Imp saw both slayers roll their eyes in annoyance behind their visor.
"Answer."
"Hehehe… So that's what it is about? Guess what, Slayer… We don't know. We scouted this world as soon as we arrived here." the monster grinned, "And it doesn't matter. The horde of Hell is spawning and getting bigger each seconds. It's just a question of time until we bring this world to ruins."
"So you were the first wave."
"Something like that. But more will come before the great army. You want to go back in Hell and exterminate us… But how will you do that when you can't find the door?" The demon mocked, "But tell me, O Slayer, Hell Walker, Unchained Predator… How do you think you'll protect this world… When you couldn't even save yours?"
The Imp was about to laugh but the grip on its neck tightened. Doom Slayer leaned closer so the demon could see clearly the features of his face behind the visor. And all it could see was pure rage. The man opened his mouth.
Was he going to speak? To a low rank demon like an Imp?
The demon hated to admit it, but for itself, a low demon to be able to hear the Slayer, the silent man who never speaks a word during his long battle, speak… was some kind of honor.
But then its neck was released and the demon started to fall. The last thing it saw was the armored knee of the Slayer coming towards its face at full speed.
The Imp's brain and blood were now decorating the wall, clearly showing that it was dead now.
"Hmph…" Doom Slayer grunted, "Well... that's done…"
"Doom Slayer, sir… I'm sorry we couldn't any information…" Priestess said apologetically.
"You're kidding… right?... I got a lot… of information… just from the demon… being here…" Doom Slayer said with an invisible smile, "Now I know… That the portal to Hell… is connected to this world… And on this country… I admit I was starting… to have doubts that the Portal... was connected to this world…" Doom Slayer scratched the back of his helmet, "Also I now know… That more demons will… or have come to this world… I just need… to find them…" He turned towards Goblin Slayer and his party, "And it was… thanks to all… of you… Thank you."
"Jeez, you're going to make us blush!" High Elf Archer laughed.
"Look at that, Long-ears is showing other emotion than anger." mocked Dwarf Shaman.
"What did you say?!"
"Hahaha! It's an honor to fight alongside a warrior such as you, Milord Doom Slayer!" Lizard Priest laughed.
"Y-You're welcome." Priestess said, her face red, with a bow.
"By the way, kid…" Doom Slayer added, directly at Goblin Slayer, "I caught a glimpse... of your first… glory kill…" He raised a fist towards him, "Not bad…"
Goblin Slayer stared at the fist the leaned his head slightly to the side, confused. Leaving Doom Slayer hanging.
"Oh?... You don't know… What's a fist bump?... Looks like… There's more… I need to teach you." He grinned.
"Is that so?"
"Anyway… I think we should start cleaning up." High Elf Archer sighed, pointing at the ruin of the village.
It was a main road after all. They couldn't leave it like that. And so they all started to move the rubble to create a path large enough to pass through.
It took in total five days to do that, with the help of many adventurers who wanted to go that way.
In the Guild of the Frontier Town, the employees were pretty much in panic about what they just discovered.
"That's Impossible!"
"Check it again! There must be an error!"
"I checked and rechecked at least five times already! The numbers match!"
"B-But it can't be!"
"Those tags…"
"...The one that Doom Slayer brought…"
"They are five hundred years old! They date from the Great War against the Gods of Evil!"
First Wave Cleared…
Baka's notes: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sorry if the battle scene got too many problems, I had some problems with corrections ^^'
Also I won't be able to upload any chapter in a while because of school projects and other stuff. Sorry. But don't worry, I won't give up this story! I still have plans for our Slayers! (I mean seriously, Doom Slayer hasn't met a bunny yet!)
So yeah! I hope you enjoyed the end of the first arc! More demons to come! And more Goblin Slayer Glory Kills!
See you soon!