It had been only a few moments since Goblin Slayer and Priestess left us behind. Jurgen and I were given the role of rear guard in Goblin Slayer's plan to lure our enemies away from their revelries, a role I was eager to accept. Once Goblin Slayer managed to find a way to execute the shaman leading this particular horde of greenskins, it would be up to my aide and I to cover their retreat once the grimy adventurer and petite girl he took with him entered the kill zone we set up near a choke point leading to the final cavern in this haven of heresy. From there, it would be up to Priestess to use one of her psykers powers to blind the oncoming horde to turn what should have been an impenetrable wall of greenskins into a Traki shoot for us. If everything went right, a possibility that I sincerely doubted, any goblins that Jugren and I didn't kill during our allies retreat would swiftly be taken care of by Goblin Slayer once they triggered while we covered him in an attempt to conserve our weapons' charge.
The plan seemed foolproof, as Goblin Slayer too single minded to take any risks or unnecessary actions that could jeopardize our lives, to say nothing of my own intentions to keep the two adventurers I was working with between me and any Slaanesh worshiping goblins in general. As infallible as our plan was, many years of service across the Imperium and hundreds of battle fields had taught me that no plan of attack went unaltered after making first contact with the enemy. Well, no winning plan at least. There is certainly something to be said about my countless colleagues and leaders of the Imperial Guard who would rather lose the battle and their lives than adapt to whatever challenge their enemies posed.
Thankfully, I was in a position where I could easily abandon the two adventurers acting as bait if something went wrong, so my own survival was a given at this point. Needless to say, but being placed safely out of reach of my opponents should everything go as expected also played no small part behind my approval of Goblin Slayer's plan. Jurgen more than likely had his own reasons for agreeing to join me as he, much like Goblin Slayer, wanted nothing more than to kill the greenskins where they stood, but was at least willing to concede that the four of us had no chance of taking on the dozens of greenskins we spied upon minutes earlier in a straightforward battle.
If the goblins we saw during our first encounter with Goblin Slayer could be considered normal, then one glance at the twisted forms of these greenskins went a long way to explain Goblin Slayer's earlier discomfort. The majority of the greenskins were far taller than the standard Snotling, almost as large as a Grtechin but without any of the additional muscle. At least, there wasn't any more mass where it should have been on a normal grot. According to Goblin Slayer, the natural height of these depraved mutant xenos was that of the average snotling, and the ones we spotted within the final cavern were anything but.
Other than a couple of greenskins that looked as normal as a chaos worshiping Ork could, the vast majority of these goblins were almost as large as Jurgen and all of them sprouted strange protrusions or an extra limb somewhere on their body. These goblins were clearly more devoted to Slaanesh than the rest of their kin, as the mutations these greenskins were sporting made them look exceptionally daemonic. The armor-like growths, elongated craniums, sharp claws, minor discoloration, and occasional extra limb that these deviant greenskins possessed brought the totem we destroyed earlier to the forefront of my mind. Although my knowledge of daemonology was thankfully limited, at the time I thought it was perfectly reasonable that the worshippers of that idol would have taken on the traits of the dark god they venerated. It certainly seemed to be the most likely explanation for the abnormal goblins we witnessed, and I can hardly be blamed for believing the most obvious answer for their inhuman mutations at the time.
I suppose I was lucky to find myself with nothing to do as Goblin Slayer made sure Priestess was prepared to avoid the tripwire he set up a few meters away from where Jurgen and I took our positions. So long as they didn't run into any obstacles once the shaman was taken care of, neither Jurgen nor I had anything to do until we heard a miniature call for WAAAGH! and could line up a shot on the horde of goblins chasing them into the trap we laid out for them. My role until then was to simply stay put until I noticed the two adventurers tasked with luring out the main greenskin forces to run into sight and cover them long enough for them to take their next position. From there, it would be a one sided slaughter in our favor. I don't think I could have thought of an easier way to purge these goblins if I tried. As oblivious as the man can be at times, Goblin Slayer certainly knows how to coordinate an effective ambush.
"They're taking their sweet time with those goblins." Jurgen grumbled as we continued to wait for some sign of our allies.
"Give them time, Jurgen. Goblin Slayer insisted that he needed to kill the goblin shaman before retreating to our position. If that psyker is even half as smart as the idiots they butchered, then I expect our ally is having a difficult time finding a position where he can strike down the greenskins' leader in a single blow." I defended, believing I knew the true reason why Jurgen and I had been relegated to the rear guard.
The goblin shamans we fought during our first encounter with the greenskins of this planet seemed to be capable of deflecting certain kinds of projectiles. Goblin Slayer insisted it was due to a spell that could only deflect certain types of arrows and physical ammunition, and that anything that could potentially be used as a melee weapon would have no issues cutting down one of those dreadful psykers. I personally believed everything he said was frakking nonsense, but since Goblin Slayer was the most knowledgeable in regards to our current enemy, I had no choice but to allow him the honor of killing the Chaos worshipping Weirdboy on his own, not that it was a particularly difficult choice for me to make.
I could have insisted that Jurgen was the right man for the job, as his innate ability as a blank would be more than capable of removing any offensive or defensive Warp-born powers the shaman relied on. If it had just been him and I in these caves, then I certainly would have left the shaman to Jurgen while I bought him enough time by distracting the remainder of the hive long enough for him to smite them with his melta afterwards. The only reason I didn't volunteer him for the duty of executing the psyker was because I did not want to expose Jurgen's abilities to anyone I didn't fully trust. The only person I trusted with the knowledge of Jurgen's status as a blank was Amberley, the woman who informed me of them in the first place. As simple as it would have been to let Jurgen slay the shaman on his own, the potential problems we would face as a result from him doing so far outweighed the immediate benefits of one dead psyker.
Of course, the potential ramifications of pissing off an Inquisitor were nothing to scoff at either. The same could be said for antagonizing one of the most pleasant women whose company I had been able to intimately enjoy several times before my retirement. Exposing Jurgen would have done both, as well as earning me a shallow grave the instant Amberley found out.
So, rather than fighting on the frontlines like my feigned eagerness to confront my enemies and Jurgen's genuine desire to slay greenskins would suggest we do, we continued to wait several more minutes for any signs of our allies rushing towards us with an army of greenskins clamoring for blood behind them. It was only when I was about to suggest we abandon our positions to see if Goblin Slayer and Priestess hadn't shared in the same uncertain fate of the other adventurers I arrived with that a blinding white light faintly reminiscent of Jurgen's melta letting firing a stream of ionized particles pierced through the darkness in front of us.
"That must have been Priestess." Jurgen declared, stating the obvious as he usually tended to do. His observation was somewhat reassuring, His observation was somewhat reassuring, making it just a little bit easier to stand my ground despite knowing the menace that was surely barreling towards us.
The furious roar of dozens of enraged voices and distinct lack of wytch lightning that followed soon afterwards suggested that Priestess wasn't the only one who was able to complete their initial task. "It seems that we're about to have some company to deal with." I said, steadying my quivering aim as best as I could as a faint torchlight started to come into view. "I hope you're ready to kill some orks, Jurgen. They can't be happy with us after Goblin Slayer assassinated their leader in front of them."
"I don't think so either." Jurgen agreed, still talking about the impending horde of goblins no differently than if he was reminiscing about our last meal from the Guild Hall's phenomenal chefs. "It shouldn't be long before we have something to shoot at."
My aide was soon proven to be correct, as once I could finally make out the shape of Goblin Slayer and Priestess in the light of the torch they were carrying, a wall of moving green flesh soon appeared behind them. Whatever snide comment I had for the xenos caught in my throat and went forgotten from the sheer terror I felt at witnessing the tiny but no less ferocious WAAAGH! before us. Neither of us bothered to aim at a particular target as the dense mass of greenskin bodies clamoring for our allies' lives was impossible to miss. We had to be somewhat careful so as to avoid hitting Goblin Slayer or Priestess by mistake, but due to the sheer number of greenskins rushing towards us that was considerably easy. Even after Jurgen changed his lasrifle to full auto after catching the first glimpse of the moving mass of green rushing towards us, there were plenty of targets for us to pick off without coming close to hitting our newfound squadmates.
As Goblin Slayer and Priestess drew closer, doing everything they possibly could to keep ahead of the horde that was hot on their heels, I could finally tell that this was not part of the plan as the tingling in my palms I felt previously finally made sense. Goblin Slayer seemed to have abandoned his weapon at some point during his flight from the goblins and instead chose to drag the timid girl he clung to by the wrist before she could be overwhelmed by the oncoming tide of greenskins. Even as I focused on dropping as many goblins as I humanly possible, I could see that Priestess looked as terrified as I felt, but that didn't stop me from firing a concentrated burst of lasbolts around her to stop a few nearby goblins from getting their malformed claws on her.
By that time, the wall of green looked no smaller than it had before Jurgen and I started firing into the crowd pursuing our allies despite them coming no less than a few dozen meters away from us. I knew that unless we changed tactics and fast, there would be no hope of us surviving the coming battle even if we managed to slow down a considerable number of goblins with the trap we set up for them. Even if the tripwire we set up didn't take down our allies during their flight, the girl who the remainder of our plan hinged on would have no time to cast a spell, even if Jurgen was able to move far away enough from her to keep his gift a secret. Seeing what looked like certain death drawing closer and closer by the second and fearing that fleeing would only delay my inevitable end should the flood of greenskins pouring towards me wasn't stopped, I turned my attention to my aide and hoped he could act quickly enough to save us all.
"Jurgen! Grab the frakking melta NOW!" I shouted as I continued firing wildly into the mass of greenskins headed towards us, no longer caring what I hit since it was impossible to miss the oncoming mutant orks anymore.
"Already on it, sir." My aide replied, the sudden silence of his lasrifle telling me that he was wasting no time in slinging it off of his back after coming to the same conclusion I had. He also hadn't taken the time to load it before aiming it, or bothered flicking the safety from its previous decision. It was only because of the horrifying, bloodthirsty eyes of the silent army only a few moments away from tearing us all limb from limb that I didn't have time to shudder at the thought of how easily any one of us could have accidentally perished to unintentional friendly fire earlier.
Still, as terrified as I was, I still was able to somehow muster up enough courage to make myself an even larger target than I was and step out of cover to warn my allies of what was to come. "Change of plans Goblin Slayer! Dive for cover as soon as you pass the tripwire!" I shouted at the two adventurers as loudly as I could so that way no one could blame me if he or Priestess ended up as a greasy smear on the floor of the tunnel due to the all cleansing fire Jurgen was about to unleash on our enemies.
Whether or not the two adventurers heard me, I couldn't tell. They leapt over the tripwire we set up earlier and laid flat on the ground immediately afterwards regardless, either too exhausted to do anything else or believing that Jurgen and I could handle the dozens of greenskins pursuing them by ourselves. It was humbling that they had so much confidence in us, although at the time I was just happy they were no longer at risk of being melted alive. With the horde of greenskins closing in fast and nothing stopping my aide from saving our skins, I did what any sane person would do and hid behind the rock and prepared myself to stand before the Golden Throne like the coward I was and let Jurgen get to work since he was the one carrying the melta and the only thing capable of saving our lives.
A bright stream of light illuminated the cave and, judging by the screams that soon followed the burst of heat I could feel from Jurgen's beloved meltagun, it appeared I had made the right decision to duck for cover as a charred corpse landed beside me, already dead before it hit the ground. Apparently Jurgen had felt it was best to fire the melta in one long stream of molten death instead of quick bursts, and from a close enough range to even give a Salamander pause for concern. I couldn't blame him for his lack of trigger discipline, as I wouldn't have stopped at unleashing one power pack's worth of infernal fury on the goblins that were pursuing us or cared about any unintentional casualties I caused so long as I survived, unlike my aide.
Once the light from his melta disappeared and the heat of the molten rock behind me started to cool, I finally hazarded a look at what was left of the WAAAGH! that had come far too close to overwhelming us. As confident as I was that Jurgen wouldn't have stopped firing if there were any survivors now, similarly to all of the other enemies we had faced together, I immediately rose from cover with my lasgun raised to pick off any survivors that might have somehow avoided the same fate as the burnt corpse beside me. To my profound surprise and relief, there was hardly any evidence of the goblins that had been chasing Goblin Slayer and Priestess other than some cooling rock and an overwhelming smell of burnt flesh coming from the tunnel before me. I could make out a few half-charred corpses, or more accurately, melted pieces of corpses and greasy stains before the tripwire, but aside from them I could see no other signs of the horde that had been moments away from killing us all. There certainly wasn't enough bodies or limbs left to come anywhere close to justifying Jurgen letting out a constant stream of thermal destruction for nearly twenty seconds.
"Well done, Jurgen. I think that should have taken care of most of them." I announced, doing my best to appear to be the unflappable leader I always presented myself as. "And good work to you as well, Goblin Slayer, Priestess. We would have never been able to lure all of those greenskins to the killzone without your help."
"I see." Goblin Slayer was just as talkative as he usually was as he picked himself up off the ground before walking over to help Priestess onto her feet as well. I don't know why I expected him to say anything else, but I decided to laugh off his usual taciturn attitude all the same.
"Were any of you injured on your way back here?" I asked them, desperately hoping that they weren't because I had no means of helping them deal with their injuries.
"I'm fine. I'm just… just a little tired." Priestess said as she panted for breath.
Hearing her apparent plight and deciding to be a team player for the second time today, Goblin Slayer dug into the pouch attached to his hip and dug out a small phial filled with a viscous green liquid and offered it to her. "Here, take it. It'll give you strength." He said as hesitantly drank the phials contents.
The idea of drinking strange liquids offered to me by lunatics covered from head to toe in dirt was looked about as appealing to Priestess as it did to me. I didn't trust Goblin Slayer nearly as much as I did Jurgen, but we were allies all the same, so I made sure to put my skepticism behind his uncharacteristic good will to rest before I made any errors in judgement regarding him. "What kind of medicine did you give her?" I inquired.
"A stamina potion. We can't afford to rest until we know all of the goblins are dead." Goblin Slayer droned on, taking the lead once more as he relit his torch and headed back down the tunnel he had only just come from.
Priestess, now looking fully revived after drinking the potion, followed him with a certain glee only a trained eye could notice and my aide quickly joined her, obviously hoping he could kill more goblins if there were any that he hadn't fried with the rest of the horde. My palms were itched violently at the prospect of joining them, but since the alternative to travelling into possible death with capable allies was waiting for them to return by myself where anything could happen, I decided it was best to guard our squad's rear once more in case we came across another side tunnel.
We soon were back at the area that the greenskins had gathered in earlier, and now that the sight of far too many goblins to fight in the open no longer grabbed my undivided attention, I was able to get a good look at the chamber they had been inhabiting until recently. The cavern itself was nothing short of massive, but not nearly large enough to accommodate the entire horde of greenskins we had seen earlier which instantly had me reaching for my laspistol once again. Goblin Slayer and Jurgen seemed to have came to the same conclusion I did, my aide taking the time to reload both of his weapons with the spare power packs he was carrying while Goblin Slayer picked up a club that had been laying on the floor as he approached the corpse of the shaman he had slain on his own.
I thought the grime covered adventurer would have retrieved his sword from the corpse rather than adopting an inferior weapon to replace it, but he soon swung the club down towards its face with grim determination before I could make sense of what he was doing. At first, I thought the man had finally lost it, giving into his bloodlust and falling under Khorne's influences for whatever reason, but just before he bashed the goblin's brains out, it let out a small shriek of rage before being permanently silenced.
Goblin Slayer must have known I was watching him, because he already had a response ready for me before I could ask him how he knew the goblin was playing dead. "The high level ones are tougher and smarter than you would expect them to be. Shamans know they are more durable than they look, and are clever enough to play dead to catch adventurers off guard." He explained.
I wondered how he figured out that trick for a brief moment afterwards, but one look at the dents on the small shield he carried informed me that he had likely learned the hard way and ended my interest in the matter. It seemed that the goblins weren't the only tough ones I was dealing with, and thank The Emperor he had come with me to finish this quest. Things certainly would have gone very differently he hadn't come along today.
Goblin Slayer seemed to have found something else that he deemed worthy of his attention but, before I could rush to his side, Jurgen's shouts pulled me away from the strange adventurer before I could figure out what he was doing. "Commissar, we found survivors!"
"You did? The Emperor protects!" I shouted half-heartedly, partly in relief that the goblins hadn't devoured everything they captured with the remainder made in disdain knowing that there were some things that even greenskins wouldn't eat, snide Wizards and overconfident bare fisted Fighters apparently counting amongst them.
When I first glanced upon the two rookies, I was tempted to throw up just like Priestess had earlier. They were stripped naked and covered in cuts, bruises, blood, and sticky from head to toe and everywhere in between which left little the imagine as to what they had been subject to until our arrival. The girls were still in a daze, either from their injuries or the depravity they had been subjected to before my arrival having taken a heavy toll on their current mental state. Priestess was doing her best to comfort them, but I could tell from their blank stares that it would be a long time until either of them were ready to re-enter the world they had once been a part of an hour ago.
"You're going to be fine. We're here for you now. The goblins are gone now, we will get you to Frontier Town as soon as possible and-"
"Tend to their wounds." I interrupted, catching Priestess' tearful gaze as I did so. "Before we can move them, we need to clean them up and get them dressed. The roads will be too dangerous to travel on at night, and I for one don't want to waste any more time in this Emperor forsaken cave than I have to."
"Jurgen, if you have any bandages on you, give a few of them to Priestess and help her tend to the rookies' injuries." I ordered, finishing my hollow rant by giving both of them something to do.
My aide was eager to put his hands to use, and although she didn't show it, I could tell from the way she absorbed herself in her work that Priestess found some comfort in aiding her allies who were far less fortunate than her. As much as I wanted to join them and leave Goblin Slayer to whatever it was he found to be far more interesting than the idiots we had saved, I felt it in my palms that he knew that our fight wasn't over yet. I knew it too, as the entire reason we had come to this Warpish cavern was to save a few village girls the goblins had taken captive. Although it was quite possible that they had been devoured in the same way that Warrior had been, it seemed to me that these goblins weren't so far gone as to deprive themselves of women to pleasure themselves with. I had yet to see a female goblin, and given how Goblin Slayer seemed insistent that these greenskins reproduced naturally like most other races, a sickening thought in itself, it would have been counter intuitive for the goblins to devour the village girls they captured while taking the rookie adventurers with them instead for breeding purposes.
Something didn't feel right, and I intended to find out why as soon as possible. I made my way over to Goblin Slayer who seemed fixated on a throne of bones for some reason. At first I thought they were animal bones, but soon myself proven wrong upon a closer inspection that revealed them all to be humanoid in origin. I had some hope that they had come from some snooty Eldar that were more than deserving of such a cruel fate, but given how the closest village was only inhabited by pure blooded humans, I knew that there could only be two creatures that had supplied those remains. Whether they came from previous victims, meals, the goblins' own fallen, or a combination of all three, I couldn't tell. The only thing that was certain was the sick bastard that had taken the time to assemble the menagerie of bones together intended for their creation to be a testament to their own power and depravity. Luckily for the shaman, it was already dead because I would not have given it the same swift death Goblin Slayer gave it after seeing what became of its previous victims.
"Xenos scum." I spat underneath my breath, Goblin Slayer cocking his head towards me as I broke the silence between us. "How many more goblins do you expect to encounter down here?"
The dirty adventurer gave my question a moment of thought. "I don't know. There should have been no more than thirty goblins in a nest of this size." He sounded confused, making my paranoia feel even more justified now. His lack of fear and clear intent to continue his assault did little to inspire any confidence in me either. "The goblins kidnapped some people from the nearby village, right?"
"You're right, and I don't see them anywhere." I answered him.
"Neither do I." Goblin Slayer nodded thoughtfully. "There must be another concentration of goblins somewhere nearby. That would explain why there were so many goblins in this nest."
"Are you saying that we are dealing with more than one nest's worth of goblins?" I inquired, dreading what would surely follow if that was what we were dealing with.
"Possibly." He answered in his usual noncommittal way. "We won't know for certain until we check this cavern's final chamber."
I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but before I could utter a single word he kicked down the throne of bones, sending a flurry of bones against the wall the throne was propped against in a satisfying display of violence against the Chaos worshipping xenos. It was only when I noticed the worn, crude door that had been hidden by the throne that I realized why Goblin Slayer had apparently shown some emotion for the first time since I met him. He knew that there was something hidden behind the throne, once again proving he knew more about these greenskins than Jurgen and I combined. Despite the door being too small for either of us to travel through, a goblin could easily slip inside it.
"Typical goblin trick." Goblin Slayer muttered, getting down to one knee as he prepared to open the door, club raised to brain anything that would try to ambush him afterwards.
I would have allowed him to take the lead once more, but a sudden scuttling from behind it that grew louder with every step he took towards it forced me into action. The skin on my palms threatened to leap off of my hands just imagining what creature was clever enough to hide from the mutant goblins that we had slain. Given the many deadly creatures I have encountered with enough wit to let their lessers die in droves in their stead or were cautious enough to remain undetected by an entire army of greenskins, I made sure to keep Goblin Slayer from making a mistake that could endanger us all. The last thing I needed was to uncover another cabal or hidden army of xenos and unleash them on myself when I had other, less direct but far more effective means of taking care of them at my disposal.
"Wait, don't open that door." I ordered him. The faint scuttling I heard fell silent after I spoke, further convincing me that whatever creature was laying in wait could only spell disaster for whoever opened that door.
"We've already cleared out most of this nest. I can't stop until we kill every single goblin in this cave." Goblin Slayer repeated in his usual monotonous tone.
Annoyed as I was with the unfathomable stupidity I had been faced with today, I took great pains to respectfully approach the grungy adventurer with more care and concern for his single-minded purpose in life than I when I had been dealing with Warrior and his nonsense. "Of course we'll kill all of the goblins, Goblin Slayer. I'm simply suggesting that there is a better way to kill the last few than crawling after them." I told him.
The goblin obsessed maniac lowered his club and looked absolutely perplexed at my proposal. I could tell that he approved of what I wanted to do from the way he seemed to relax, but he clearly didn't understand how we could kill the remaining goblins or other creatures without fighting them.
"Is that so?" He asked me for what felt like the hundredth during our joint expedition.
"Indeed." I said, before turning to my aide as he watched over Priestess as she tended to the traumatized rookies. "Jurgen, did you bring any grenades with you?"
"Yes, sir! Will you be needing a krak or frag grenade? Perhaps the melta bomb?" He shouted as he rushed over to me, practically oozing excitement at what he knew I had planned.
"Krak. I don't know how many goblins are still left in this cave but, unless we want to dig a tunnel to see how much of this cave we still have left to explore, we will be better off sealing off the remaining greenskins down here so they can starve or suffocate to death in peace rather than getting our hands dirty." I told him.
Jurgen seemed to approve of my decision, as did Goblin Slayer who nodded his consent. "Of course, sir. Where would you like me to set the explosive?" He asked.
I was about to tell him to throw it on the door and to let The Emperor sort out the rest, but Goblin Slayer seemed to be quite familiar with collapsing tunnels on his enemies, far more than me at any rate. It was an interesting thought to consider, and one I frankly hoped to never see in practice. "Place them a meter above the door. If this krak is as strong as you think it is, then we will be better off using it to cause a minor cave in instead of simply sealing the tunnel." He said, surprising me with his suspicious expertise in this matter.
Jurgen looked between the two of us for a final decision, and believing that Goblin Slayer wouldn't have spoken up if he didn't know what he was doing, I motioned to the spot that the filthy adventurer pointed out. My aide gleefully strapped the grenade into position as both Goblin Slayer and I positioned ourselves a few feet away from the tunnel we intended to collapse. After giving the matter a bit more thought and realizing that no one on this planet had likely seen any advanced explosive of any variety, whether for mining or military purposes, I ordered our entire party to retreat to the chamber's exit in the likely event that Goblin Slayer severely underestimated the krak grenade's strength.
It took us a few minutes to back away from the krak grenade as it was up to me to carry Wizard and Fighter to safety, the two girls in question far too removed from reality to walk on their own, and after having my greatcoat repaired so recently, I demanded that the two girls to be wiped down before they could leave any stains I'd rather not need to explain in the future. It was only when I could see Goblin Slayer and Priestess beside me, the latter cowering behind me after explaining what we were intending to do, that I gave Jurgen the order to detonate the grenade.
"Whenever you're ready, Jurgen." I told my aide, who was quick to raise his lasgun and fire off a quick shot at the other end of the chamber from beside me.
Jurgen hit his mark on his first attempt, showing off his superb marksmanship as if it were nothing to be proud of and sending the entire wall and several portions of the ceiling cascading down to the once hidden door. The moment I saw a boulder larger than me crash where Priestess had been tending to the fallen adventurers I was carrying, I knew I made the right choice by retreating to where we saw just how close we came to an unfortunate end. There had to be several dozen tons of stone between us and whatever else was now safely submerged under a few meters of rock, so I was confident that our mission was complete for the time being.
"Nice shot, Jurgen. Your marksmanship never fails to amaze me." I congratulated. If I had been complimenting anyone other than my aide, then they would have been right to criticize me for any disingenuity. Fortunately for both me and my foul smelling aide, he was as accurate with a lasrifle as a long time sniper was with his personal long-las. Few people could have been able to hit the wooden door from where my aide was standing, let alone the miniscule explosive a short distance above it in nigh complete darkness. Once again, my aide had proved himself more than worthy of his position without ever realizing he had done anything out of the ordinary.
"Looks like those greenskins won't be digging their way out of that any time soon." He remarked, both of us laughing at the fate that had befallen our foes.
"Isn't that a bit… cruel?" Priestess asked us suddenly.
For a moment, I thought she had forgotten what had happened to the other rookies we had taken this quest with. It was only when I noticed the guilty look on her face did I remember that she was a woman of the cloth, a timid one at that, and still just a child. I could hardly blame her for speaking up against us condemning anyone, even a bunch of heretical xenos, to an agonizingly slow death. Not while my reputation could get tarnished so easily by such a callous remark, that is.
"Perhaps, but considering what they did to Warrior and the others, I would like to think that those goblins got what they deserved." I mused.
Priestess was about to say something else, possibly musing about the possibility of a greenskin that wasn't a murderous psychopath that desired nothing more than endless bloodshed knowing how naïve she was. Before she could say anymore mindless drivel, Goblin Slayer finally broke his silence.
"The only good goblins are the ones that never come out of their stinking holes." He said before he started to head back to the surface. "Let's go. We still have more goblins to hunt."
"W-w-what? What do you mean?" Priestess asked, shocked at what seemed to her like a sudden revelation.
I don't know how she didn't realize it already, but the rest of us already knew the swarm of goblins we killed couldn't all have taken shelter in the cave we just cleared out. Not only that, but none of the girls that were supposedly kidnapped from a nearby village were anywhere to be found. There obviously had to be another nest of goblins nearby. If we didn't deal with them soon, then there was no telling what defenses they could prepare once they learned of their comrades fate.
Still, just because she didn't know something that was painfully apparent to the rest of us after years didn't mean I was going to berate her for it. In fact, goblin slaying was the last thing I felt like doing after everything I had been through. "Goblin Slayer is right, but before we can purge the rest of these vile xenos, we need to deliver our injured to the nearby village so that no harm can come to them." I raised my voice loud enough for the bullheaded adventurer to hear me
Goblin Slayer stopped for a moment and, apparently thinking there was some room for discussion left over, declared his own intentions moving forward. "You three go and report back to the Guild. I'll slay the rest of the goblins."
"No you're frakking not!" I shouted at the dense idiot, causing both Priestess and Goblin Slayer to flinch at my sudden outrage. "I have already lost one person underneath my care and nearly lost another two. I refuse to lose anyone else today, Goblin Slayer!"
"You will not leave us behind, adventurer. You will instead follow us to the village that put out this request and we will have them tend to Wizard and Fighter so we can conserve our own supplies, then we will wait until dawn tomorrow to continue our hunt for goblins and only then will we even think about tracking down the remaining goblins. Together. As. A. Group." I commanded, slipping back into my position as a reasonably sane frontline commander who cared about his troops' well-being almost as much as fighting my enemies, but not nearly as much as I loved keeping myself alive in the process. "Do I make myself clear, Goblin Slayer?"
I could see Goblin Slayer balk as he tried to think of something to say that would change my mind, but like most people who wanted to live to see another day, he realized it was better to listen to the commissar that was yelling at him and take my 'advice' to heart.
"I understand." He said, looking quite deflated now that his work had come to an end for today.
"Good. I'm sure there will be plenty of greenskins for us to hunt down tomorrow, but until that time comes, we should all rest to ensure we are ready to face whatever challenges lie ahead of us." I said with far more confidence than I felt.
In all honesty, I wanted nothing more than to run back to Frontier Town and let someone else deal with the goblins in my place. Unfortunately, I would not only be throwing away my reputation by running away to recoup in the relative safety of my room in the Guild Hall, but should Goblin Slayer fail, there would be countless heavily armed and mutant greenskins ready to assault Frontier Town once they conquered the nearby village. Seeing the obvious risks of letting the greenskin infestation continue to fester and lacking any authority to send anyone else to deal with them, I of course had to help deal with the xenos threat whether I wanted to or not.
I had no choice but to face the unknown hordes of goblins to ensure my own safety, and I prayed to Him on Terra that we wouldn't find anything as dangerous as the ravenous hordes of goblins that nearly overwhelmed us.
If only I had known what we had sealed within that cavern, I would have done everything in my power to flee for the nearest neighboring kingdom.
Author's Corner:
Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, has only just begun his crusade against the goblins of this strange new planet he has landed on, but goblins aren't the only threat he will find himself facing. With one threat almost wrapped up and the remaining greenskins waiting to be picked off, it is only a matter of time until the most daring commissar within the Imperium raises his chainsword against the forces of Chaos plaguing this planet once again.
Usual bit aside, holy shite you guys and gals reading this are something else! Two hundred follows in two and a half months! I honestly don't know how to thank you all for the support you've shown this story, but you can be sure that I won't be slowing down on releases anytime soon. I enjoy writing these as much as you all enjoy reading them, so be expecting a lot more adventurers from our favorite luck(less?) commissar and his aide in the future!
GXY-2013: (Long comment filled with predictions for this chapter that I can't be frakked to insert)
(Typed on 6/23/21) Three-ish out of four right guesses ain't bad. Well done mate.
BooplkanThePrimarch: Nah, just suplex the Warboss into the nearest WAAAGH reactor, It did wonders for me. Nonetheless, I am glad to see the work of one of Father's loyal subjects in this Feudal World, he shall receive as many hugs as I can possibly deliver!
Indeed, if there was ever a man that needed your ultracomfort and support, it is Cain! I'm sure he is just as eager as you are to rain down promethium on those knife ears as much as you are!
Also, VULKAN LIVES! BOOP ALL THE SNOOTS MY BRUDA!
Another "Guest" I would love to see log in: I have an idea for another Warhammer crossover plot you might like doing, involving the Forest Goblins/Spiderfang Grots… what about having Kumoko be reincarnated as her spider form from the anime "So I'm a Spider, so what?"...
No, because there is no way I could ever do such a story any justice. While I know little about W40K, I know nothing more than a couple of names regarding the fantasy series that 40K was spun off of. Also, I tried reading the So What if I'm a Spider? manga before… not my cup of tanna. I thought it was interesting at first, but felt that it turned into a cookie cutter Isekai (endless power growth with empty plot) real quick and didn't recover by the time I stopped reading it in March 2020.
Still leagues better than the that one smartphone Isekai. That world is in need of an immediate Exterminatus if you ask me.
The second "Guest" of the comment section: Necrons are a friendly bunch, just a bit grumpy after waking up. They even befriended Blood Angels over their favorite activity.
Interpret my inclusion of this comment as you will.
Well, that's enough of me rambling on again. Stay lovely everyone, and thanks for continuing to support this story!
On a side note, I'm thinking of releasing another story 'soon'. If expressive gas mask noises are your thing, then you will not be disappointed... I hope.
