UPDATE: 17 JANUARY 2023: Changed the ending of chapter three to become more action pack, and to not seem so rushed. Also, I expanded more on the beginning and middle of the previous chapter, so be sure to check that out if you're interested in seeing more Kaguya and more dialogue between Goblin Slayer and Priestess.
Without further adieu, please enjoy this re-released chapter!
UPDATE: 18 JANUARY 2023: Removed the Ancient Wyvern's dialogue to add to the mystic of it, and changed what if felt when seeing Goblin Slayer's eye for the first time.
Due to having been a Platinum ranked adventurer for as long as she had been, Sword Maiden had plenty of coin to spare when it came to Goblin Slayer asking her if she needed him to buy her a fast travel scroll or not. Buying one for herself, as well insisting on compensating him on purchasing fours, just to invite her out for an evening meal and discussion, the three of them decided to kill time afterward by visiting the overcrowded market.
Although they were mostly window shopping and talking amongst each other to pass the time, Sword Maiden eventually stumbled upon an eye-catching short-sword with a golden-bronze blade, a cushioned jet-black handle, with golden runes etched along its black guard, and a flat-bottom hilt that was screwed on tightly. Even though Goblin Slayer tried to insist that he didn't need such a beautiful weapon, Sword Maiden purchased it for him anyway; pointing out that his usual cheap-little gladius sword he always carried around was missing from its scabbard, and that he needed an appropriate replacement.
Fearing that Sword Maiden would be tempted to spoil him even more by using her own hard-earned coin to take advantage of the flash-sale that was going on, Goblin Slayer eventually was able to convince the two blond women to use their fast travel scrolls to get back to the frontier at an earlier time than previously agreed upon. Pulling out their fast travel scrolls together, all three of them were enveloped in a brilliant blue aura that was a sight to behold by those around them who weren't used to seeing that spell being casted before their very eyes.
Flashing out of the capital and back at the dedicated fast travel area beside where the Arc Mage sold her goods and services at her hub shop, Goblin Slayer made sure to drop in and thank the blond woman with jaw-length hair for her scroll.
Having always been fascinated with Goblin Slayer, ever since he had helped her complete her journal on goblins years ago, Arc Mage couldn't help but to give her favorite adventurer a freebie by handing him a newly created scroll that she had sealed with a powerful binding spell of her own creation. Thanking Arc Mage for her generosity, Goblin Slayer was told to visit her more often and about how much she missed him, before parting ways with the scholarly woman.
With an hour left to spare before they were supposed to begin their dinner meeting, the trio made their way inside the Rose and Crown Tavern, where, to nobody's surprise, they saw Dwarf Shaman pounding back different glasses of wine at a large table near the fireplace. Claiming that he was saving them a spot, and that the excessive amount of alcohol he had in front of him was meant for them too, Dwarf Shaman had no qualms in handing over three of his glasses filled with red wine to three other adventurers.
Passing the time by telling the trio of his own time spent at town, Dwarf Shaman decided to show off the bottle of "Golden Whiskey" that he had purchased for a deal, after accidentally running into one of the many desperate adventurers who were trying to sell their latest loot as quickly as possible. Even though the old dwarf was dying to open the expensive and rare beverage up to savor it like the delicacy it was, Dwarf Shaman had enough self control to wait until High Elf Archer, Lizard Priest, and Guild Girl finally arrived at the tavern; each of them carrying new bags filled with discounted treasures.
Even though each and every person who was at the large wooden table with him had been waiting hours to hear what he had to tell them, Goblin Slayer refused to speak a word of Kaguya's plan until they had finished eating what they had ordered. So, for the entire meal, each and every single one of his companions were silently creating their own hypotheticals of what Goblin Slayer was going to finally reveal to them.
"… Now that you're all here, I have something very important to-" Before Goblin Slayer could even get to what he had been waiting for so long to say, the bottles and other decorations that had been resting on top of the fireplace mantle were the first of many objects within the tavern the shake, as the ground beneath them trembled, just like how it had done earlier that day. Once again feeling that same intuition inside of him that he felt when he saw the horizon glitch before his very eyes, Goblin Slayer's mind immediately thought of Kaguya as everyone in the tavern scrambled out of their seats.
'I haven't even thought to check on her after that incident occurred earlier… This has to be her doing, whether that would be intentional or unintentional. Enough of trying to figure this mess out, I'm going to get to the bottom of… What was that noise?' Goblin Slayer thought to himself, after suddenly being interrupted by the distant roar coming from outside; a roar that made everyone in the tavern tense up with fear, including even Sword Maiden herself.
The beating of wings blowing air downward, the ferocity behind its hateful roars were an immediate harbinger of what had just crashed landed outside. Before Goblin Slayer could even open his mouth to ask what had just landed outside of the tavern, all hell broke loose the moment a panicked man dressed up in explorer gear burst through the double doors of the tavern.
"I KNEW IT: IT EXISTS! ANCIENT WYVERN, ANCIENT WYVE-GUUAHHH?!" The scholarly explorer screamed out in order to warn everyone inside of the danger that had decided to impale its sharpened-tip tail straight through him from behind his back. Unable to do anything but gurgle out blood, the man's penetrated body was suddenly jerked back outside through the double doors by the Ancient Wyvern's barbed tail.
The man's corpse wasn't gone for long though, as only a moment later the Ancient Wyvern swung its tail and launched the mutilated pieces of its victim through the windows; shattered glass and blood raining down on those the tavern patrons who were unfortunate enough to be covered in the man's spilled innards, as chunks of his body splattered against the floor. Chaos immediately ensued afterward, as every adventurer who still had their gear went into action.
"I knew that this was all too good to be true," Sword Maiden said underneath her breath, as she swung her legs out from underneath the table; rising immediately up to her feet before raising her decorated claymore over her shoulder. "Stay away from it! All of you! None of you have ever gone up against an Ancient Wyvern before!"
Being from a race of people who were descendants of the elder dragons, an immortal ancestor of the present day dragons who were capable of higher intelligence and power, Lizard Priest was the first one to point out the hypocrisy in Sword Maiden's warning. "And neither have you, or anyone for that matter!" He shouted back, as he quickly pulled out one of his own regenerative fangs from his mouth. "Ancient Wyverns haven't been spotted by any mortal of any race… If you believe that that beast is anything like the modern day wyvern, then it is YOU who should stay away from it!"
Not wanting to accept that she was outmatched and unable to protect Goblin Slayer from whatever was terrorizing the town just outside their walls, Sword Maiden turned to look over at High Elf Archer, who was cursing up a storm in her native tongue, while trying to use her trembling hands to pull back the string of her her bow with a loaded arrow. "Princess! You're over two-thousand years old; surely you've encountered one before?!"
"W-What?! No! Of course I haven't! No one's ever seen one in person before! Not even my own grandfather's ever seen one, and he's WAY older than me!" High Elf Archer shouted with a panicked look in her green eyes, as she immediately found herself reluctant to even think about stepping outside with an Ancient Wyvern. "I… I-I've heard about them though… Heard enough to know that monsters like that thing were what the gods and demons feared during ancient times…"
Not wanting to succumb to the overwhelming amount of paralyzing fear within the tavern full of scrambling men and women, Dwarf Shaman decided to drown out his own fears with the Golden Whiskey he had originally planned on sharing with his companions. "Ya lot are all just being chickenshit… We haven't even seen the bloody thing, except for that part of its tail that…" Dwarf Shaman trailed off, choosing to bite down and pull the cork off of the top of the bottle, instead of finishing with what he was going to say.
Using his magicka to perform a miracle on his pulled tooth to transform it into a long boney javelin, Lizard Priest reached into his leather satchel to pull out a small bowl full of ingredients used for performing alchemy. "I would strongly advise you to remain put; what you saw wasn't its tail, that was just the tip of its long barb on the end of its tail," Lizard Priest explained, while beginning to crush the ingredients inside of the stone mortar with a matching pestle.
Raising the tall bottle of his Golden Whiskey up, Dwarf Shaman was chugging down the alcoholic elixir while Lizard Priest was performing an incantation; the two males doing their own ritual in order to brazen themselves for what seemed like certain death. Trembling in her white shoes, not even attempting to pretend that she wasn't absolutely terrified of what they were faced with, Priestess tore her eyes away from the gruesome sight of the dead scholar's body, as she looked over desperately toward Goblin Slayer.
"W-What are we going to do…?! We… We can't face that thing head on, c-can we…?!" Priestess asked in a shaky voice, while clutching her fingers tightly around her staff.
"… No, no you're not; none of you are," Goblin Slayer replied back with his usual calm voice, as he had already formulated a plan on how to best deal with the looming threat that was slaughtering those foolish enough to try to fight it head on. "You two are going to find shelter in the basement of the Adventurer's Guild. Open its door, and stay there to provide first aid to those who are brought to you," Goblin Slayer instructed, as he gestured to both Priestess and Guild Girl, before turning to address High Elf Archer, Dwarf Shaman, and Lizard Priest.
"You three are going to gather as many survivors as you can; lead them into the Adventurer's Guild, and assign any able bodied adventurer to assist with the rescue operation," Goblin Slayer explained, before finally turning his attention to Sword Maiden. "I trust that you'll be able to hold your own against this "Ancient Wyvern", but only if you fight defensively. All I need from you is to distract it for as long as you can; if it becomes too much for you, then flee. That goes out to the rest of you as well," Goblin Slayer commanded, before clearing the table with his newly acquired sword to unroll his leather pack onto the table.
Watching him along with everyone else as he began to sort out his inventory by emptying his leather pouches of traditional weapons, and instead filling them up with scrolls and potions, Guild Girl anxiously tapped her hands together as she asked "What about you? W-What's your part in all of this?"
Leaving his leather pack unrolled, incase any wandering survivor would need to make use of his low-grade weapons that were considered by many to be disposable, Goblin Slayer kept his bronze short sword in his right hand as he turned his head over his armored shoulder to stare to where Guild Girl was looking back at him with her golden gaze.
"… I'm going to put a stop to this. You all have your assignments. Be safe, and stay alive," Goblin Slayer said as his parting words, before immediately dashing away towards the nearest window; crashing through its glass panels, and shoulder rolling onto the cobblestone road in the alleyway behind the tavern.
Looking off toward the broken window with a dumbfounded look on her terrified expression, High Elf Archer gritted her teeth before suddenly shouting out to Goblin Slayer "W-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT EVEN SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! HOW ARE YOU GONNA STOP THAT THI- He can't hear me, can he…?!"
While High Elf Archer was left standing with an exasperated and defeated look on her beautiful face, Dwarf Shaman decided to take his drunken ass over to the front of the tavern. "Let's have a look seeeeEEEE-HOLY SHITE! THAT BLOODY THING IS MASSIVE!" He shouted out from the bottom of his lungs, and felt immediately sobered up the moment he laid eyes on the fifty-foot monstrosity that sat on top of remains of what was once a watch tower.
Covered in jagged stone-like spikes scales that enveloped its muscular and long body with a near impenetrable hide that had yet to be pierced by those brave and foolish enough to attack it head on, the Ancient Wyvern was a threat with a two-hundred foot wingspan that was unlike anything Goblin Slayer had seen before. Using its barbed and colossal whip-like tail, the Ancient Wyvern was able to parry and outpace any sword man who tried attacking it, while showing off its marksmanship by using its fiery breath to roast archers and mages who had tried engaging it from afar.
Tearing chunks of the town's roads with its winged claws, the Wyvern used its dragon-like head to watch with sadistic pleasure in its blue eyes, as it threw chunks of the Earth at the crowds of screaming civilians. The Ancient Wyvern roared out triumphantly in its native tongue; filled with sadistic satisfaction at the amount of destruction and death it was laying waste to the town's occupants.
Despite the chaos and confused screaming that he heard all around him, Goblin Slayer was able to continue on, despite nearly getting crushed by the chunks of boulder that the Ancient Wyvern had thrown indiscriminately toward him and the crowds of people behind him who weren't as quick as he was. Getting back on his feet, Goblin Slayer was sprinting through the burning remains of those who had been caught in the molten blast of the monster's powerful spell.
While everyone else was attempting to flee West to where the closest stronghold was, Goblin Slayer continued to keep his wits about him as he headed down the same long-open road that he took earlier. Being out in the open without any obstructions to keep him out of sight of the vindictive Ancient Wyvern, Goblin Slayer's small running silhouette was immediately spotted by its predatory-eyes, underneath the light of the full moon.
Upon catching the glimpse of Goblin Slayer sprinting away in the distance behind where its back had been turned toward, the Ancient Wyvern roared out with disdain in its mighty voice. Flipping itself around while extending its tail out to bisect the nearby adventurers who were able to hop of its girthy mass, the Ancient Wyvern took aim at where Goblin Slayer was sprinting away from it; its massive jaw opening up as the back of its throat was glowing red-hot with the magic spell that it was preparing to shout out at him.
"YOL KREIN!" The Ancient Wyvern shouted with a roaring and thunderous voice, as a projectile ball of yellow and orange light shot out of its mouth like a meteor; tearing through the night sky at speeds that would have proved too much for even the fastest person alive to dodge.
Rather than attempting to escape the blast radius of the incoming magical projectile, Goblin Slayer immediately reached down behind his back to pull out the spell-deflection scroll he had planned on using with Kaguya earlier that day. Leaping forward and turning around with the unwrapped scroll held out in front of him like a protective ward, Goblin Slayer was able to defy certain death once more as a protective and translucent red-barrier was erected between him and where the Ancient Wyvern's fire bolt hit.
Letting out a defiant roar, the Ancient Wyvern immediately recognized the deflection spell and was taking in a deep breath in order to cast his own reflective spell, as to reverse the trajectory of the rogue projectile. However, just as the back of his throat was beginning to glow with magic aura, the Ancient Wyvern's concentration suddenly broke the moment he felt the barbed end of his tail getting chopped clean off of his body.
Attempting to duck his long neck down to avoid getting hit head on with the fiery ball of magic, the Ancient Wyvern spun back around while getting low to the ground. Attempting to single out the one responsible who has delivered the severing blow to his tail, the last thing the Ancient Wyvern saw before his entire head was soaked up in the unrelenting and explosive flames of his own spell was the sight of Sword Maiden standing beside where his barbed tip laid; covered from head to toe in blood that wasn't hers.
Covered in flames that were boiling its protective scales into a leathery-burnt hide, the tides of the battle were shifted as the Ancient Wyvern was unable to focus enough on all the adventurers who were taking advantage of its agonizing state. Needing to close its jaw shut and keep its eyelids closed to prevent the magical fire from melting its insides, the massive beast was forced to take off into the sky after getting stabbed, shot, and hit with enough combined magic to impress even a master sorcerer.
Holding its breath, the Ancient Wyvern used its torn-up wings to fly upward past the clouds, and into the stratosphere above. With the lack of oxygen, the flames that had covered his entire head and body were quickly extinguished; leaving behind boils and black scar tissue where a might hide and thick-jagged scales once were. Knowing that it would have suicidal to return to the town filled with revigorated adventurers who were no long afraid of it, not that they knew it could be wounded, the Ancient Wyvern's damaged ego meant that it wanted nothing more than a chance at achieving retribution.
The Ancient Wyvern growled out through its burnt lips, hellbent on getting its vengeance against Goblin Slayer, as it dove back down through the stratosphere, and into the troposphere. With its winged arms tucked into its damaged body, the Ancient Wyvern bursted through the clouds like a meteor, and kept its eyes open as it zoomed its pupils in on where he predicted where Goblin Slayer would be.
Knowing that there wasn't any deflection spell for getting swallowed up by the Earth, the Ancient Wyvern was planning on nose diving itself in the ground beneath Goblin Slayer's feet, so as to not put himself at any risk of falling into a magical trap that could possibly deflect the damage onto himself. Using precision and his air superiority to his advantage, the legendary monster made sure to use its powerful magic to coat itself in a protective ward, so as to completely ensure that no spell could be used on him.
Getting closer and closer to where he saw Goblin Slayer running towards the opening of the woods, the Ancient Wyvern was growing more excited as the need for vengeance fueled its need to take the adventurer's life. Unable to change its course, the monster grinned a toothy smile as it watched Goblin Slayer turn around with a scroll in his armored hand.
The Ancient Wyvern roared out defiantly upon seeing his opponent readying up another spell, as it confidently continued to nose dive toward where Goblin Slayer was unraveling the scroll in his hands. Bracing itself for impact, the last thing the legendary monster was prepared for happened, after a web of glowing white chains launched out toward its ward-protected body.
Utterly confused and frustrated that something as simple as a binding spell was able to bypass his dragon ward, the Ancient Wyvern began to panic and flail as its entire body was wrapped up in aetheric chains. The Ancient Wyvern screamed out in an angered fury, as it suddenly was thrown off course from where it had planned on crash landing. And as the legendary monster thrashed in its bindings while flying overhead of where the entrance of the forest was, time seemed to slow down as the Ancient Wyvern made eye contact with Goblin Slayer.
Seeing the glowing red light through where Goblin Slayer's face visor was obscuring his face in darkness, the Ancient Wyvern immediately understood right then and there that he wasn't fighting a mere mortal, but an anomaly. And for the first time in what must have been eons, the Ancient Wyvern felt as though he had found a worthy adversary. Vowing once more to kill Goblin Slayer, the legendary monster landed deep into the heart of the woods; impacting the center of the dense forest that the armor adventurer would have to cross, in order to get back to the farm.
Blessed with a moment to rest, Goblin Slayer hunched over with his hands resting on his knee pads; his bronze sword kept securely in his leather sheath on his hip, as he gasped for air. Having just run what was the equivalent of a marathon, mixed in with having to time his counterspells precisely, the only thing keeping Goblin Slayer awake and not passing out from exhaustion was will power, and the need to protect his friends from the legendary monster that was surely waiting for him within those woods.
'What a troublesome creature… I don't ever recall goblins being capable of forming last-minute strategies like that,' Goblin Slayer lamented while breathing through his dried mouth for more air, while reflecting back on the sheer amount of intelligence that the powerful winged beast had shown within the short amount of time they had been fighting.
Quickly reaching scrambling with one armored hand to pop open his back leather pouch, Goblin Slayer reached behind his lower back and felt around inside the pouch until his gloved fingers felt up the reinforced glass vial that he had been looking for. Wrapping his fingers around the stamina potion, Goblin Slayer popped its cork off with his thumb before placing the brim of its opening between the gaps of his metal face visor.
'Nothing can replace the revitalization that rest brings, but it'll have to do for now,' Goblin Slayer thought to himself, as he took one deep breath in and tossed the emptied vial into some nearby shrubbery. Trying to hurry up the effects of the potion, Goblin Slayer was stumbling forward into the mouth of the forest, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Ancient Wyvern would break out of its magical bindings, and come looking for him.
'Now to find Kaguya and get her to… What…? What am I looking at?' Goblin Slayer thought to himself, after becoming distracted the moment he saw a fuzzy white rabbit with horns standing before him; its two unnaturally pale eyes looking up at him, as its sideways third eye on its forehead stared up at him with jet-black tears trailing down from its bottom corner.
It didn't take Goblin Slayer long at all to make the connection. The once majestic and divine goddess, who had powers capable of going beyond what any mortal thought to be possible, was now nothing more than a small and weak little rabbit with an unnatural physical appearance. Hearing the Ancient Wyvern roaring as its powerful arms began to rip apart the magical chains that were being torn apart in the distance, Goblin Slayer knelt down on one knee and stared down into the remorseful eyes of the horned rabbit beneath him.
"… What have you've done, Kaguya?" Goblin Slayer asked in his usual calm and stoic voice, despite knowing that his name was on the top of the nearby legendary monster's kill list.
With her long white ears hung down, Kaguya's Rinne-Sharingan continued to shed blackened tears that left streaks of black along her rabbit face, as she lowered her head down in shame. "Please… Please forgive me… I… I did not intend for any of this to happen; I had good intentions. Please… Please believe me," Kaguya said with her voice manifesting in Goblin Slayer's head, all without having to move her rabbit mouth.
Unsure what to think, nor was certain of whether or not the Ancient Wyvern reawakening had anything to do with the cost of having a goblin-free world, the only two things that Goblin Slayer knew right then and there was that Kaguya meant what she said, and that he needed to slay the legendary monster before it could kill him first. "… We can talk about this later. Can you help me kill it, or not?"
Awkwardly raising a paw to wipe her face free of black tears, Kaguya needed a moment to recompose herself, as she thought about what she was capable of while within her meager rabbit form. "I… I am unable to contribute in terms of battling that creature myself. Almost all of my chakra was ripped out of me; it's a miracle in itself that I'm even still alive," Kaguya said with an uncertain yet determined voice, as she leaped up on top of Goblin Slayer's armored shoulder pad.
"Even in this form, I'm still far from simply being dead weight. I still have my Rinne-Sharigan, and both of my byakugans: even I can see exactly where that winged beast is… I can relay to you what where it is, and what it is about to do," Kaguya explained to him, as she dug her claws into his exposed pieces of chain mail, as to have something to hold on tightly to. "You're also within the presence of someone who's had eons-worth of experience under her belt. Follow my instructions, and I can assure you that victory will be ours."
Hearing the distant echoes of ethereal chain shattering followed by the beating wings as a pillar of fire erupted from the heart of the forest like a vector to the heavens, Goblin Slayer turned his head sideways to look back at the confidence and sorrow radiating from the powerful eyes of the rabbit laying down on his shoulder. "… This is fine," Goblin Slayer said in his usual calm and collected voice, while silently in disbelief over the fact that the only advantage he had against the mountain of odds that were stacked against him was that he had a divine goddess in the form of a woodland creature on his shoulder.
If the situation wasn't so dire, and if his life along with the rest of everyone else's wasn't on the line, then Goblin Slayer might have actually had it in him to laugh at how ridiculous his day had gone so far.
Next chapter is going to be Kaguya and Goblin Slayer playing a game of cat-and-mouse with the Ancient Wyvern, who's able to use its own strategy and tactics against the duo as well.
If Goblin Slayer wasn't able to defy fate by going against the "god rolls", then there would have been no way that he would could have gotten lucky enough to have his scroll bypass the Ancient Wyvern's protective word. Also, without Sword Maiden, his one time used deflection spell wouldn't have mattered, because the Ancient Wyvern was just going to deflect it back at him with its own magic.
Overall, all Kaguya ended up accomplishing was turning the difficulty of Goblin Slayer's world up from "normal" to "nightmare", butat least she got rid of the goblins. At least the legendary monsters and entities she mistakenly awoken won't be raping anyone, because they absolutely hate mortals and are only interested in wiping them off the face of the Earth.
To answer my second review: Yes, Kaguya eventually will be a part of Goblin Slayer's harem. Obviously nothing sexual can be done when she's a rabbit, and we still have a long way of relationship development to go before we touch a lemon between them.