Once again, thank you to those who've reviewed and faved/followed this fic! Hope it lives up to expectations.

To just reiterate what I said in the last chapter, this fic will be a bit of a slowburner in the beginning, then pick up eventually. That said, the seeds for future conflicts will be planted fairly early on. Additionally, this chapter will be where the action starts in earnest. Look forward to it, people!

Now then, onto the chapter!

P.S. Universal links to my books available on my profile page! Just remove the spaces in between them!

Chapter 3

Illusion pouted intensely. Once again, that mean Truth had just had to interfere in yet another one of her campaigns. It really did seem like he derived an almost sadistic pleasure from adding in heaps and heaps of trouble into whatever scenario she concocted.

Really now, it was bad enough that her rolls often ended up as bad ones. Truth didn't need to get involved to make things worse for the poor civilians and adventurers that were a part of her campaigns.

Sadly, she had no choice but to accept his interference. The two of them were an inseparable pair, two sides of the same coin. Thus, it was all too natural for her 'twin' to keep meddling in her affairs. That said, it didn't make his actions any less cruel at times nor make him any less of a complete jerk! The truth didn't always have to hurt, she thought.

…Oh well, it was about time for her to move on. As much as she comes to care about the characters in her campaigns, whenever their time was up, there was just nothing that could be done. It's how things have been since time immemorable. Whenever the dice are rolled, there was nothing anyone could do to change the resulting rolls…

…No, that wasn't quite true, she thought; there was that one particular player character – the goblin slaying one. Despite his average stats, he has proven himself to be able to throw off the dice roll every now and then through wit and sheer force of will alone.

But… Illusion sighed.

But even then, as fascinating as he was to her and the others, she just knew in her heart that someday even his efforts and luck will fail him. She could only hope that he'll continue on for as long as he can alongside his lovely companions.

Errant thoughts now over and done with, Illusion decided it was time to move on. Her fragile little heart aside, she disliked being idle. There were plenty more campaigns to take over or think up from scratch. She just hoped and prayed that whomever was involved would be able to make it out alive. After all, the best campaigns were those where the adventurers and civilians involved ended up making it out alive. Happy endings were always the best.

However… just as she'd been about to move on…

!?

Illusion sensed something amiss.

A horrible, niggling sensation that made her shudder. Compelled by such a feeling to look into the world below, Illusion searched warily for the cause of this feeling. For minutes on end, she searched fruitlessly from one end of the world to the other. The length of her search was an anomaly in and of itself – normally, it wouldn't take her nor any of the others long at all to find whomever or whatever sparked their interest, but this time was different in a number of ways.

But after scrutinizing the world thrice over, she finally found the anomaly in question.

Or rather, two anomalies.

Illusion blinked cutely and leaned back in complete confusion. As one of the many overseers over this world, she was able to tell who belonged to what alignment and whatnot. However, these two… they belonged to no such alignment at all. Moreover, their very presence… somehow it felt… elevated. Not quite to the same level as herself and the others like Truth, but they were well beyond all the others in the world in terms of 'status.' Like an intermediary phase or something like that.

Just who are they? Where did they suddenly come from?

Illusion looked around, suddenly feeling irrationally worried about the others finding out about this. But when no one, not even Truth, came rushing over in her general direction, she leaned back in for a closer look at the two unknowns.

…Going by a first glance, they didn't seem particularly malicious. Why, the greater of the two anomalies was even traveling with the Hero and her party, chatting away quite amicably.

And as for the other anomaly…

Oh!

Illusion's eyes widened as it seemed like the other anomaly was about to come across what could potentially be the start of a new campaign.

Against her better judgement, Illusion sat down and got comfortable. It felt to her now that, whoever or whatever these two are, a new and interesting story was about to unfold.

Will they be immune to whatever dice rolls come their way? Or will they fall victim to it just like most others?

Illusion felt the need to know the answer to this dilemma.

…And all the while, as she was fixated on what was occurring in the world, a shift was occurring in her very own realm…


The Tarnished had ventured a fair distance away from the initial village, having spent nearly two hours doing so. By this point, the sun had lowered considerably, not quite dusk yet, but getting there. Such a time was causing the Tarnished to consider his options here.

Traveling onwards even through the night was nothing new to him and he certainly didn't fear whatever could happen. But as always, it was best to err on the side of caution, he supposed.

He was now traversing through a rather hilly area, not as much forestry around him as there had been earlier, so there were plenty of spots he could see simply by riding Torrent that could make for comfortable spots to rest up at.

"…!" Having been riding Torrent at a leisurely pace, he now pulled briskly on the spirit steed's reins, making him slow down considerably.

Up on a particularly big hill coming up, he could see what looked like a cave entrance. It seemed natural enough, but at the same time, he could tell just by how jagged some parts of the entrance looked that someone had done some extra digging to widen the entrance. Whomever had done this had certainly done a sloppy job of it.

He pulled over off the side of the dirt road, which was barely visible to the naked eye by this point and consulted the map he'd obtained from the bartender. With a single finger, he casually traced the path he'd taken up until this point until he arrived at where he estimated himself to be.

…It would seem he was effectively a stone's throw away from where the bartender had reported the goblin territory to be at.

Well, not so much a territory per say… but if the goblins of this world were anything like the ones he was familiar with in his own, then calling it their territory wouldn't exactly be wrong given their insatiably greedy nature. Goblins were terribly simple like that, wanting all and everything under the stars.

The Tarnished hummed, now reassessing the situation. From what the bartender had said, the goblins had been moving further down the road, meaning it would only be a matter of time until they reach the village he'd been at.

And if they'd settled down for the time being in a cave…

"Well, my friend, it would seem things won't be so quiet for us," the Tarnished muttered to Torrent. Torrent, for his part, snorted in a tone that clearly conveyed his agreement.

Goblins were migratory beings for the most part. But occasionally they did find locations to call their own for a time… and whenever they did that, it mean they were in the process of amassing a veritable swarm.

Obviously that wasn't something that could be allowed. A swarm of anything was never good, but goblins swarming together was especially bad.

While the Tarnished would be hardpressed to consider himself a hero of sorts – though many would probably claim him to be heroic back home – he didn't consider himself callous enough to declare this as not being his problem.

He wasn't particularly worried for his own safety at the moment, but if the goblins did continue their current path, they will eventually reach and completely overwhelm that village.

His spirit couldn't allow that to happen. And on a more pragmatic note, nipping this in the bud now would hopefully make the rest of his travel through this region much smoother.

Now deciding on his course of action, he let out a 'hyup!' and gave Torrent a light tug on the reins. As Torrent broke into a swift sprint towards the cave, the Tarnished concentrated, accessing his inventory in anticipation of what awaited him.

Sure enough, as he reached the cave and saw up closer its size, he came to the swift conclusion that while fairly large, it wasn't the sort of environment he could go swinging any large weapons in carelessly.

In which case…

Dismounting from Torrent and causing the loyal steed to dematerialize, the Tarnished changed his equipment, calling forth the entirety of Malekith's armor set save for the helmet. While not as hardy as what he usually wore by the end of his journey in the Lands Between – the Tree Crucible armor, Radahn's grieves, the veteran gloves and the large jarhead – Malekith's armor was still significantly tougher than Blaidd's armor as well as Vargram's armor while still being quite light.

And on that note, he opted to just wear Vargram's headpiece, fully obscuring his head for protection. As tempted as he'd been to equip the incredibly durable jarhead, in a cave where space could be tight, trying to maneuver such a large piece of headwear around could be dangerous despite its protection. Better to chose something much slimmer yet still fully covering, even if it did come at the expense of additional protection for his head. Even his most preferred piece of headwear – the Crucible Axe Helm – suffered from a similar problem as the large jarhead, albeit to a slightly lesser extent.

With his armor now taken care of, he considered his weapons.

Normally, he stuck to the Uchigatana, a weapon whose ability to draw blood from his foes had been the most appreciated aspect of it, especially after he'd enhanced it with an Ash of War to make it even easier to draw blood, even if it did come at the small expense of running himself through with the blade first. Meanwhile, the Blasphemous Blade had served as a secondary weapon ever since he'd obtained it, though he'd since taken to using the Dark Moon Greatsword ever since Ranni had left it for him. Perhaps he could be considered a sucker in love or whatever, but it just felt right for him to do right by his wife in this small way – a show of support, one could say.

However, in a cave, none of his usual blades may be particularly good. Thus, with some measure of regret, he stored the Uchigatana and Dark Moon Greatsword away for another time. Instead, he opted to pull out the Star Fist, which he'd enchanted with an Ash of War long ago to grant it a freezing quality. Then, as usual, he proceeded to equip a secondary weapon – the Black Knife.

Was this perhaps overkill for what should just be goblins? Perhaps… but seeing as it had been goblins that had slain his mother and had nearly killed him, he couldn't really see a problem with overkill. Besides, better to make sure the enemy is dead rather than risk them getting back up and going in for a literal backstab.

And besides even that, as he knew all too well by now, even on the off-chance that these goblins did kill him, they wouldn't be able to take any of his gear – no matter how times he'd died back home on his journey, all his weaponry and equipment had remained with him. The loss of his runes at those times had been quite a frustration, but infinitely better to lose runes than to lose his gear.

With a slight nod of his head, the Tarnished stepped into the cave and trekked onwards until he just was deep enough in it to force his eyes to swiftly adapt to the darkness.

His fists clenched tightly within the Star Fists he wore, the Tarnished feeling battle ready now, both in body and spirit.

"Right. Let's get this done," he whispered to himself before beginning to travel further into the cave.

Despite the urgency he still felt in trying to reach dear Ranni, he couldn't help but feel his heart beat a little faster in excitement.

It always was a joyous experience to explore and to battle. He didn't see a reason why this should change even in this new world.


"Ugh! It's always the same thing with you, Orcbolg! Goblins, goblins and more goblins!" a shrill voice whined out. "Why can't they ever pick a less dreary place to stay in?"

"Because-."

"I know why! I was just venting!"

"I see."

Priestess could only let out a quiet and sheepish laugh as she watched High Elf Archer rant and rave whilst Goblin Slayer once more responded in that same levelled and bland tone of his.

Despite – no, perhaps precisely because of – having been working together as a party for several months now, the slender and beautiful High Elf Archer still complained a good deal about all the goblin slaying missions they've taken on. Not that Priestess didn't understand – such missions were more often than not always filled with great danger, different from what she assumed was the standard on other sorts of adventures. And that wasn't even getting into all the tragedy they encountered on their journeys too, the petty and horrific cruelty of goblins being in a league of its own when compared to what other Non-Prayer Characters can dish out, such as that scary Dark Elf that had tried to enact his plan during the festival.

But even as High Elf Archer continued her grumbling from within the relative center of their formation, Priestess couldn't help but smile lightly in good humor. By this point, they've all gotten used to one another's quirks and High Elf Archer was by and large a point of brevity in these types of situations.

Though she was far from the only one…

From just a bit ahead of her, Dwarf Shaman let out a laugh that came straight from his belly. "Bahahaha! Easy there, elf! If you keep spending all that energy shouting, you'll use up all the nutrients your chest needs to be more than just an anvil!"

"W-why you…!" High Elf Archer growled out, face red from embarrassment and indignation. She shook a fist in his direction. "Quit your stupid talk!"

"My, my… truly, it is always so lively with our companions, is it not?" spoke Lizard Priest in amusement from his spot behind them all.

"Y-Yes," Priestess replied, careful not to set off High Elf Archer somehow. Plus, she couldn't help but relate to her fellow woman's struggle; she wouldn't mind having at least a few extra inches to her own petite curves. "It always helps lift the spirits."

Lizard Priest chuckled and licked his nonexistent lips with his tongue. "It most certainly does. Wouldn't you agree as well, milord Goblin Slayer?"

Their party leader, at the forefront of the group, made some sound that could barely be called a response. But by this point, Priestess liked to think they all knew him well enough by now to tell that he did agree to some extent.

But as swiftly as her spirits had risen, Priestess found herself feeling a sense of nervousness, as she always did in situations like this. Even though she's now been on a good number of goblin slaying adventures alongside her companions – her friends – she could never shake off the dread that clenched her heart every time they traversed such tight spaces such as this cave they were in. It always reminded her of her very first adventure… and of just how close she'd come to a most horrific fate.

It was only due to her friends here and especially the presence of Goblin Slayer that she was always able to keep her wits about her.

Now that all said…

"Umm, sir Goblin Slayer? What's next?" she asked from her spot within the middle of the formation.

Their formation followed as such – Goblin Slayer serving as the vanguard, due to his greater experience in dealing with caves, whilst Dwarf Shaman followed after him by just several feet. Behind him was herself and High Elf Archer, ready to serve as support with miracles and archery respectively while Lizard Priest brought up the rear. Usually, Lizard Priest would be at the front due to his exceptional abilities in combat, but the increasingly narrow cave would eventually result in him being literally in the way, preventing the others from backing him up as needed, it was reasoned by Goblin Slayer himself. Thus, they had no choice but to put him in the rear to serve as their eyes on the back, much to Lizard Priest's lamentation. Nonetheless, he took up the role of rearguard without issue.

"…There still appears to be no sign of any Goblin Shamans nor a lord," he began after a few seconds. But the cave system means they may have nestled in deep for a future attack."

In other words, if allowed to fester for even a little longer, the appearance of a Goblin Lord wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. Such a thought made Priestess shudder, remembering what had happened back then.

His words also caused the rather cheery atmosphere to dissipate immediately. High Elf Archer let out a fierce 'tsk!' before speaking. "Guess that means we can't afford to dawdle then, huh?"

"Bah, whenever have we taken it that easy on a mission like this?" Dwarf Shaman said before taking a swig from his jar of alcohol.

Priestess clenched her staff tightly. The mission they were on now had sounded simple enough on paper when they'd picked it back at the guild, but as had become common by now, their goblin slaying adventures had a habit of becoming something much more.

As things now stood, more than a few women had already been taken captive as breeding slaves for the goblins… and that meant it wouldn't be long at all until their numbers drastically inflated.

"…Hmm?" Lizard Priest slowed in his pace as his head turned to the side.

Such an act didn't go unnoticed by the rest of them. "You notice something, scaly?" Dwarf Shaman asked.

"I believe… we may not be alone anymore in this cave," Lizard Priest said rather cryptically. But as he noticed the shift in their expressions, he immediately clarified. "Ah, I don't necessarily mean it is only goblins – it's just that I think I heard the sounds of a swift battle further back. And I don't believe there are any other types of enemies other than those nasty little creatures here."

"So… maybe another adventurer then?" Priestess questioned in confusion.

"Possibly. In any case, the fact that our new guest has just gotten into a scuffle-," Lizard Priest began, before getting cut off by Goblin Slayer himself.

"-Means that we missed a path back there," he finished. "…let's head back and check it out."

"A-Are you sure, sir?" Priestess asked, unable to keep from feeling a little bad about asking so many questions. But she just couldn't stop herself from worrying about these sorts of situations turn out. "What about the women…?"

"Given the goblin's behavior, the captives should be alive and in one piece for a while longer," Goblin Slayer explained. "And this cave system seems straightforward enough now. But once we do reach them and make to leave, we'll be risking an ambush if we don't make sure we clear out any hidden paths the goblins had prepared for themselves first."

"R-Right!"

At that statement, Lizard Priest smirked. "Then given our present formation and the size of the cave here, I suppose I will be serving as vanguard on our way back." He had his weapon out and gave it a little twirl, limbering up.

"Careful there, scaly," Dwarf Shaman remarked with a cheeky smirk. "Don't let your excitement get to you that badly."

Lizard Priest let out a quiet bark of laughter. "But of course not, my dear Dwarf Shaman. That said, I do hope you are able to keep up."

"Let's go," Goblin Slayer said.

And with that order, they all turned around and began their trek back.

As she jogged as briskly as she could within the murky cave, Priestess wondered just who could have possibly been in the cave with them.

"I hope they're okay, whoever they are…"


The Tarnished surveyed the fresh bodies with a clinical gaze before deciding to stomp roughly down on a nearby goblin's chest, his grieve smashing through its sternum with ease. Unmindful of the blood now on him, he backed off and observed the situation.

It hadn't been immediately apparent at first, but as he'd journeyed into the cave, he'd started to see some signs of tracks. He wasn't the only one in here and it wasn't just the goblins. Likely these adventurers as the bartender had said since he couldn't imagine a reason why anyone else would be in this cave full of goblins.

Regardless, whomever was in here clearly possessed some measure of skill for he'd come across a fair number of corpses, all of them goblins so far. Said goblins differed a bit from the ones he was familiar with, greener in skin tone and with somewhat different facial features, but other than that, still similar enough for his mind to immediately label them as goblins.

Additionally, whomever had slain these goblins had done so swiftly and without raising any alarm for when he'd just so happened to spot an extremely hidden side tunnel, that had been when five goblins had slid out and had looked upon the nearest corpses in evident surprise, having let out cries that had vaguely sounded like 'gorb' and whatnot to him.

And then they had spotted him and he'd been all too quick in bashing them all into near mulch with his Star Fists.

Hence the current situation.

"Very slim…" he mulled aloud as he looked at the side tunnel in question. The opening was incredibly slim – had he not seen the goblins exit from it, he might not have seen it unless he'd had reason to look closer otherwise. It was, at best, just tall and wide enough for the average child to slid through, which makes sense since these goblins had been roughly the same size as children. Combined with the general darkness of the cave, it made sense that whomever had arrived here before wouldn't have noticed said opening.

But now that he's taking a close look, the Tarnished could see that the side tunnel was significantly bigger on the other side. It was simply the entry way that was abnormally small, either due to some accident that had happened long ago in this cave or just a simple malformation caused by nature itself.

In any case, it wasn't anything that couldn't be addressed.

Rearing back his left fist, the Tarnished threw a punch at the opening with just enough strength to break off a piece of the cave wall. As stone gave way under his strength, he waited a split second in order to hear how loud it was and whether or not anything would respond to the noise. When nothing appeared to happen, he proceeded to calmly let loose a brief flurry of jabs at the stone, breaking it down until the entryway had been forcefully expanded enough to allow him easy passage into the side tunnel.

Kicking aside the rubble as to avoid tripping, he promptly entered the side tunnel, rolling his shoulders as he did so. He took note of the vaguely lit torches that could be seen at the far end of the tunnel. Whether or not the goblins lit them was irrelevant, for all that mattered was that it confirmed people had been here at some point… and recently at that too. Given the narrowness of the tunnel entrance before he'd just smashed it up, the Tarnished could only assume there must be a side entrance into the cave elsewhere.

As he considered all this, he proceeded forth slowly. Stepping as lightly as he could to avoid making noise, he listened as he could now hear something further down.

Multiple somethings – multiple goblins.

The Tarnished stayed as close to the center of the tunnel as he could, cautious of any openings that the little creatures could pop out from. Surprise attacks were one of their only specialties, after all.

…There.

Near the end of the current tunnel, which wasn't too long, a corridor of sorts curved downwards, leading deeper into the earth. From this corridor, he could hear the goblins and they were rapidly approaching. Even if he ran as fast as he could, he wouldn't be able to clear the remaining distance in time, not without making a lot of noise that could potentially alert any more goblins deeper in this place.

In which case…

Two goblins finally made their appearance, growling and barking at each other in their unique 'language.' Evidently, the goblins didn't like one another any more than they liked other people in general in this world.

So absorbed were they in their little spat that by the time they even noticed him, the Tarnished had already pulled out the Gravel Stone Seal and cast an incantation.

In an instant, he whipped his left hand forward and launched a small torrent of jagged stone. The goblins didn't even get a chance to cry out when said stones pierced right through their small bodies with ease, cutting through flesh and bone in record time. Blood spurt quite messily and the bodies promptly dropped with a thud, though thankfully not all that loudly due to the goblins' light size.

Alas, it would seem more than just two goblins had been coming up, for he then heard a few cries of surprise from further within the corridor, at least three other goblins total.

But he'd expected as much and had already broken into a run immediately after casting the incantation. This, combined with the other goblins' own lack of discipline that kept them from alerting the rest of their numbers immediately, allowed the Tarnished to close the distance without even having to go full speed.

With what little maneuvering room there was, he jumped lightly and flew towards the nearest goblin. With nary a grunt, he brought down both of his fists, covered in the Star Fists still, and utterly crushed the goblin's skull, brain matter getting all over his fist weapons. But not done just yet, he somehow managed to grab the now deceased goblin with both hands and threw it towards the goblin that was furthest back. The corpse hit this goblin hard and they went tumbling down the steps.

This gave the Tarnished the opportunity to follow up with another strike or two upon the final goblin, the only one left now. The Tarnished lashed out with a masterfully executed backhand blow that struck against the side of the goblin's neck just as it had been about to attack with the rocky club it had been holding. His blow picked up the monster, which had been just a bit bigger than the average goblin, and had smashed it into the wall, cracking it noticeably. He then brought his other fist in and fully annihilated its head, reducing it to mulch in addition to further cracking the wall.

Pulling away from the body, the Tarnished picked it up just as it had been about to fall and chucked it over and behind him, back out into the tunnel, after which he proceeded on downwards swiftly.

By this point, the sole remaining goblin, still alive and kicking even after its tumble down the stairs, had just thrown off the corpse of its brethren. It growled in rage and prepared to get up, ready to yell for the others-.

-But not on the Tarnished's watch.

He stomped hard on its stomach, cutting off its noise before it could truly begin to cause a racket. As the goblin wheezed now, the Tarnished unequipped one of his Star Fists in order to bring out the Black Knife, which he then used to promptly slit the creature's throat with just one swift slash.

The goblin's eyes went wide as it tried to stop the bleeding, but it promptly perished mere seconds after, for the Tarnished had used just a bit of the power of Destined Death imbued in the Black Knife to further cut down on the creature's vitality.

Letting out a breath as quietly as he could, he put the Black Knife away and proceeded to put the Star Fist back on.

So far, so good, it would seem. But he can't get too complacent. Even the weakest of beings could prove incredibly difficult under the right circumstances, a lesson he'd learned long, long ago. And for all his strength, he didn't fancy his odds trying to take on an entire horde of goblins. Even with the tunnels providing excellent bottlenecking strategies, sheer numbers could very likely overwhelm even in such scenarios.

Still, he now had a measure of the goblin's abilities so far. Only further time will tell what else the goblins of this world have to offer in comparison to the ones from the Lands Between.

Viewing the path now ahead of him, the Tarnished considered the much more spacious area and observed several paths he could now take – one directly ahead, another to the immediate left and one final path that was also to the left yet seemed to curve about almost immediately. It very likely led elsewhere entirely.

"…" The Tarnished made a sound, mulling over these options. Walking further into the area, he listened carefully so that he could use the noise as a beacon to guide him.

After a few seconds, he could detect faint and horrid laughter. It would seem the goblins were having a grand old time somewhere… and though only slightly, he could make out very human cries as well – women.

Underneath the Raging Wolf Helm, the Tarnished' eyes narrowed in controlled anger. It didn't even take a full second for him to realize what was going on here.

He must hurry.

Without yet another moment wasted, he proceeded to go for the first path to the left, which is where the noise seemed to be coming from the most.

He could only pray that he'll make it in time… though in his heart of hearts, he already knew that he may very well already be too late.


Goblin Slayer grunted quietly as he and his party made their way back the way they came. Though he didn't show it – but then, just how often did he truly show much of anything anymore? – he couldn't help but feel a horrible sense of unease wash over him.

…No, rather, this sense of unease had been niggling its way deep inside him for a fair while now.

This goblin slaying job wasn't quite the same as others before. He couldn't even chalk it up to the appearance of a Goblin Lord or Goblin Champion or anything or the sort – there were simply no signs at all to suggest such a thing. For all intents and purposes, the goblins they'd encountered so far were just part of a horde.

Certainly, given just a bit more time, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the emergence of Hobgoblins or Goblin Shamans… but as of now, this small goblin horde was just that – a 'simple' horde.

And yet… it just felt different.

For one thing, goblins were most active near night yet here he and his party were, raiding this goblin nest at a time that is supposed to be its most active period. This was because the goblins themselves were being oddly sheltered, seemingly preferring to stay in here and likely bolster their forces via their… breeding slaves rather than going out there to mark and attack any nearby human settlements.

For another thing, the goblins they've come across so far had been behaving differently as well in a more individual aspect.

Goblins are, by nature, a cowardly yet monstrous lot. When in numbers, each and every goblin becomes the very walking definition of arrogance, but when few in numbers or even on their own and when clearly out of viable options, they reveal their true cowardly self. When faced with an obvious difference in power that they can't just overcome through their own crude ways, they will whimper and put on an act in one final attempt to ensure their own survival, even if it means having to beg and try to garner pity.

However, the goblins they've fought… although not too noticeable, they'd gone down fighting. Not particularly nobly or anything, hardly like the heroes of legend that his sister used to tell him about sometimes. They'd balked at first when faced with certain death yet had ultimately just shrugged and decided to go down swinging instead.

It hadn't changed the fact that they were now dead nor had this change in them made them anymore difficult to kill… but still, it was horribly odd and in a way that the awkward adventurer was having a hard time coming to terms with.

"Milord Goblin Slayer," Lizard Priest called out, getting his attention from the front. "It would seem that someone had indeed been busy here."

The lizardman then stepped aside and motioned to what lied just ahead – a path that hadn't been there before, exposing a tunnel they all had missed, even him.

"Huh, looks like we'd been a little lax, eh, Beardcutter?" spoke Dwarf Shaman. Despite his casual words, however, he was looking pretty serious as he examined the new path. No, he was looking at the stone around it. "…Looks ta me like there'd been a very small opening at first, just barely big enough for those nasty little things to slip on through. Musta been how we'd missed it."

High Elf Archer huffed. "Well, the opening isn't so small anymore. Guess our mystery guy decided to clear the way."

"Seems so," spoke Goblin Slayer in his usual flat effect.

But he was feeling… rankled, actually. Yet another oddity to add to the growing list.

…Change… wasn't something that was easy for him. Not even close. Yet his party had certainly exposed him to all sorts of changes since meeting them, changes that were still throwing him off even now. And as that had happened, the nature of the 'adventures' he'd been had started to change as well.

He was still unsure of what to make of such changes… but he could admit at least this much:

He wasn't liking the current changes on this adventure. The goblins' behavior was just different enough to warrant genuine unease from him in a way that he hasn't felt in a long time.

"It would also appear that whoever is here, they're quite strong," Lizard Priest then said, motioning to the bodies of some goblins that hadn't been the result of their doing.

Goblin Slayer glanced down through his helmet at the bodies in question and quietly hummed. From the looks of it, the goblins had been killed in just a single hit, maybe even two… but the amount of gore left behind in addition to the mangled states of the bodies greatly implied it hadn't been due to any type of blade, but rather a great deal of blunt force.

"D-Do you think they could be dangerous? To us?" asked Priestess, clutching her staff tightly.

"Hard to say, girly, hard to say," Dwarf Shaman answered. "The fact this person bashed these goblins in this hard either means they didn't know how much strength to actually use… or they really wanted to make sure they were dead and gone… or had some issues to work out."

"We're not going to know if we don't go on," High Elf Archer chipped in. Despite the severity of this new situation, there was a glimmer of light in her eyes that hadn't been there before. She lived for mystery and being able to unravel it. To explore new and unknown places, garner fortune and fame and in general just have a good time… a 'proper' adventure… that was the sort of thing the two thousand year old elf loved most. It would seem this adventure was beginning to meet her standards, if only by a bit.

"She's right," spoke Goblin Slayer, still lost in his own thoughts, though not enough to not contribute further to this conversation. "Let's go. Stay in the same formation for now."

As his party affirmed to this, the disturbed Goblin Slayer pressed on most cautiously.

As a man possessing no talent of any kind as his master had made clear during their training, all he could ever do was think on what his next move was to be, to just think in general and never stop…

This was something that he'd had no real problem with, for it helped him stay relatively organized.

But now… now with all these small yet increasingly stacked changes happening, his thoughts were being shaken hard.

And he didn't like that one bit.


The Hero groaned and moaned as she stretched. "Ahhhh, so much better!" she cried out as she finally worked out the small kink she'd had in her back earlier.

By now, it was fully nighttime, meaning it was time to rest up.

By this point, they'd finished battling their way through those forest giants and had made their way to the nearest town thereafter just in time to book two rooms for the night. Sage and Sword Saint in one room…

…And her and the enigmatic Ranni in another.

"My my, still so lively," spoke the blue skinned woman in question.

Hero laughed a bit. "What can I say, it's a charm point of mine! Kinda like your skin is!"

Normally, such a remark would undoubtedly come across as sudden and rude, but the Hero couldn't help but think that Ranni would be okay with it.

Sure enough, the woman was, simply chuckling in response. "I suppose so," was all she said in a tone of amusement.

Then immediately after that comment, the woman looked away from Hero and out the sole window of the room.

This gave Hero just the time needed to quietly shed her armor so that she could sleep in the clothes underneath. As she did so, she idly eyed Ranni as discreetly as possible.

Ranni sure made for an unusual sight, what with the blue skin and four arms, but she and her party had shrugged it off easily enough – after all, in a world full of lizardmen, dwarfs, elves, rheas, and a whole lot more, Ranni's appearance didn't stand out that much.

Rather, it was just… well, Ranni's very presence, Hero guessed. Been a long time since she's heard anyone spoken in such fancy old-timey talk like she did. She's probably only ever heard of kings or otherwise super high tier royalty speaking like that in stories of old, so hearing that in these times was a bit of a surprise.

And then there'd been that battle earlier too! Even without a staff or some other medium, Ranni had been able to just blow away forest giants with ease! It'd been enough to nearly make her go all 'whoa!' and 'so cool!' and stuff and she knew for a fact that Sage had been on the verge of drooling at the thought of what sort of magic Ranni must know.

So yeah, to put it mildly, she and her friends had come across one heck of a person. It was enough to even make her pause and think of the possibilities.

But while having Ranni officially join their party would be a blast for a whole bunch of reasons, Hero managed to keep herself from practically begging the blue-skinned woman to join them.

Once again, all she could do was attribute this odd restraint on her own part to Ranni herself, the whole 'presence' thing she'd thought of just a moment ago.

"Soooo…. What's got your interest out there?" Hero asked as she finally plopped down on her bed across from Ranni.

"Oh, nothing of any note, young one," Ranni replied. "Merely admiring the moon, thou see. It's always served as a calming presence to me, ever since I was thy age if not younger."

Moon? Didn't she mean moons? After all, there's two of 'em in the sky out there.

"Huh, ok," Hero replied, shrugging. Not like it was that big of a deal. "Sorry we couldn't get around to helping you more today though. Didn't think it'd take us that long to get here."

Even with Ranni's help to get past the forest giants, they'd accidently been forced down the wrong path and had had to backpedal a fair distance before they'd gotten on the right path back to civilization. Thus why they'd gotten here so late into the night and had to stop at the inn.

The other woman shook her head. "It's of little concern. While returning home is indeed my topmost priority, additional information is always appreciated. So, if it is still no trouble for thee and thine friends, I would like to join you for tomorrow's travels as well."

"O-Oh, sure thing! This town is fairly big, so we can take some time to walk around and stuff. Not like we have anything to get to right away, so we can take a bit of a break."

"Mm, I see. Most pleasing to hear." Ranni folded all four of her hands together in almost eerie sync. "I look forward to tomorrow then."

Hero smiled brightly – only to then barely suppress a yawn.

Ranni laughed lightly. "Perhaps thou are more tired than initially thought. Feel free to turn in for the night – I shall remain up a while longer before turning in as well."

Hero laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head but didn't argue. "If you say so. Just don't go staying up too long, you hear?" she remarked in a cheeky tone.

Ranni merely smiled in response.

With nothing else to say, Hero flopped fully onto her bed and turned over, facing away from Ranni before closing her eyes. Before long, the events of today and yesterday finally hit her and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.


Ranni waited a few minutes before turning her attention back to the moon outside.

Or rather, the two moons. An odd sight if she ever saw one.

And though it paled in comparison to the Dark Moon she served as a vassal to, she couldn't help but feel something amiss about the moons of this world… no, just one of them – the greener of the two.

Why such a feeling was slowly washing over her, she had no idea. But it did feel almost ominous, a sign of something to come.

…Perhaps she and her consort weren't the only ones to somehow appear in this world? It was hard to tell. Unlike back in the Lands Between where she could rely on the stars to observe events of all kind, here no such 'vision' was afforded to her. In some respects, she could be considered blind. Not quite unlike how things had been back when Radahn had used his powerful gravitational magic to hold the stars at bay, but the source behind this was evidently much different.

That said…

"Perhaps…" she began quietly. "Perhaps there may be a way to read the stars here…"

Though this world was clearly different, that didn't mean she couldn't try to exert some measure of her and the Dark Moon's influence. If she could rely on the stars here to observe the world, then perhaps she could use that to find her consort that much faster and bring a swift end to this journey before anything else could go awry.

But for now, such an option will have to wait. Though far from fatigued, the Lunar Princess would much prefer she was well and truly at her full strength before attempting such a thing, just in case a great deal of strength was needed to accomplish it, which she was certain it would be.

With yet another course of action now planned for tomorrow, Ranni proceeded to head to bed.

And so, for the first time in a while, she properly took a rest.


As promised, the ball is already rolling here. The first section of this chapter alone should make that especially clear, ha ha.

That said, it'll be a fair while before the ball really picks up speed, if you don't mind me continuing this metaphor. At least a few more chapters or so are going to go by, further setting things up before things really start to pick up.

In any case, hope you guys like the little bit of action introduced in this chapter. You can definitely expect even more in the next chapter as I really show the Tarnished go at it.

On that particular note and just for the sake of giving random bits of info, this particular Tarnished, in terms of level, has fully maxed physical stats (99 vigor, endurance, strength, and dexterity) while the remaining stats (mind, intelligence, faith, and arcane) are around 70 to 80. So yeah, I'd say he's pretty damn strong, but not fully maxed out OP levels of strong.

But even with such a level of strength, he's still going to be far from invincible because let's face it, even when fully maxed level in Fromsoft games, it can still be all too easy to die if one isn't careful. This basic fact will apply even in this fic, so don't expect the Tarnished or even Ranni who is obviously a powerful sorceress and vassal of the Dark Moon to be just blazing their way through everything with ease. They will be properly challenged alongside GS characters and will be struggling to achieve victory just like we players do in Elden Ring, ha ha.

Well then, don't really think anything else needs to be said at this point, so I will leave it here for now.

Until next time, everyone. Take care!