Hey there, everyone. Sorry once more for a fairly lengthy wait. And this time it isn't entirely due to my classes or even me just being a little too lax. No, this time around, the wait was due to quite a few deaths that have been going on around me. For the most part, said deaths were among extended family, people that I admittedly didn't know too well or at all, but seeing how aunts and uncles were shaken by it along with their own respective families makes me sad for them nonetheless.

But on a much more personal front, a former coworker that I considered a friend and respect a lot also passed as well earlier in March and it's left me rather mopey combined with everything else going on. To be perfectly honest, writing at this point feels like an escape than something I actually enjoy.

But… as with the other deaths in the family I've experienced throughout the years, this too will pass with time. With that said, once I'm done with this fic, I think I will take some time off from writing fanfics just to really de-stress. I'll still be reading and reviewing on this site and it's hardly as if taking breaks between fic writing is new to me, but this time around, I can't help but feel like my break will be noticeably different. I will likely still be writing something, but not for this site – just something original and personal to me, a palette cleanser of sorts.

Anyways, just thought I should make that clear here and now.

So without any additional fanfare, let's begin.

Chapter 31

High Elf Archer let out something akin to a shriek as she dodged.

Everything had initially been hunky-dory, or at least as close to that as possible given the circumstances, until she'd spotted a small group of people – knights, from the looks of them – briskly dashing throughout the backstreets.

If their clearly scuffed up appearance and the fact they were within the capital rather than out there on the battlefield hadn't given them away, then when they seemed to notice her, exposing their burned out eye-sockets, sure had made it clear these knights were no longer friendlies.

Put another way, Orcbolg had once again been right on the money about something bad happening.

And oh how the normally rambunctious high elf hated that fact, all the more so when one of the knights had thrown his spear at her with shocking accuracy, hence the shriek just now.

As she leaned back to dodge from atop the building, she nocked an arrow and let it loose. It was a testament to her natural skill with the bow that it still managed to strike the attacker in that small opening in his armor where his shoulder was at – not that it did much good, the thrall of a knight not reacting beyond a mere stagger from the force of the arrow.

That had been when things had really popped off.

"My, my, so much for stealth it would seem," loudly spoke a man among the small group of frenzied knights. He clearly stood out, his simple outfit a far cry from the armor the knights wore. His voice was raspy, as though his throat was burned yet he still uttered those words so easily. "Still, since we're already here, I suppose there's no longer a need to remain quiet."

With a chuckle, he waved his left hand and the frenzied knights immediately responded, spreading out in a formation, clearly anticipating incoming attacks.

But then the same man chose to go on the attack first, unleashing a huge blast of those terrifying yellow flames from under his hood that was aimed at High Elf Archer.

Grunting, High Elf Archer made a hasty retreat, outright leaping off the building and onto the rooftop of another right before impact. The blast of flames exploded upon striking her previous spot and with enough force to send her nearly tumbling off her new location. If that didn't get the attention of anyone else nearby, then the high elf didn't know what will.

In any case, that was her cue to follow up.

"It's an attack! Enemies in the capital!" she yelled as loudly as she could at that moment. As she did this, she managed to gracefully roll back and land in a crouched position, preparing another arrow. She took aim and fired in the same instant, her target none other than the man who'd done that crazy move just now.

Simply gazing upon his face – why, oh why was all his skin so charred?! – was enough to fill her with an almost overwhelming sense of terror. It was almost like when she had looked upon that wretched blade the foreign warrior had wielded, except the 'feeling' behind this man's presence was more primal in a way, chaotic. If that loathsome sword was akin to a foreign presence trying to plant a seed from which to sprout its terrors from, then this presence was more akin to an inferno of an impossible size.

The high elf wasn't one to make dramatic statements – though her friends would disagree there – but it felt like this flame, if not contained, would end up scorching the entire world away to nothingness.

Therefore, this man had to be stopped.

Unfortunately, just as it seemed like her arrow was about to strike this terrifying man in the face, he withdrew the longsword at his side and swiped her arrow out of the air in a heartbeat. He barely even seemed to put an effort into the action.

The man then sneered and reared his head back, letting loose not just one but multiple streams of flames out that snaked throughout the area. High Elf Archer screamed as one headed right for her at ridiculous speeds, necessitating yet another hasty retreat.

The other streams of flame surged through the area, setting alight several buildings, be it along their rooftops or the sides. People must have been holed up in at least some of these buildings because now High Elf Archer could hear screaming.

Alas, she could do nothing at the moment – this man, with those flames and his apparent skill at deflecting arrows meant that this was horrible matchup for her.

Thankfully, the Dragontooth Warriors that had been sent to back her up finally caught up with the rapidly growing chaos. As soon as they rounded the corner, said warriors immediately locked onto the knights and rushed into attack.

The knights, having remained in formation and startingly alert this whole time, responded with violence as well. One of them thrust his spear forth as a Dragontooth Warrior closed in. Though said skeletal warrior was ultimately meant to be a mere supplement to her party's combat power, it still possessed a notable measure of skill, being able to deflect the thrust to the side and move in closer for a better swing with its fang for a blade.

However, the knight was able to pull back his spear in time to guard against the downwards swing and shove the Dragontooth Warrior back a bit. That was when the other skeletal warriors caught up and tried to bumrush the knight, only for the other knights directly by his side to charge forward and ram straight into the Dragontooth Warriors.

The Dragontooth Warriors proved fairly sturdy, not breaking under the sudden ramming, but they were shoved back nonetheless, their only real advantage being that the knights' thrusts with their weapons missing their marks thanks to there being no flesh to pierce through.

The frenzied knights, despite their minds evidently being gone, still retained some measure of their arduous training, however, for this move had seemingly been to pin the Dragontooth Warriors in place; the remaining two knights were coming up behind the other ones with their swords drawn and prepared to swing horizontally. This was a collective move that would destroy the pinned skeletal warriors without fail.

Well, not unless High Elf Archer did something about it. She may not be too effective against the apparent leader, but the knights were a different story.

With nary a second wasted, she fired off three arrows. Her new vantage point didn't allow her a good shot at their faces or other vital spots. Not even curving the arrows like how she had done on her first quest with Orcbolg would have made for a killing blow. But she could still aim for important spots like the small openings in the armor to allow for proper joint movement.

The three arrows struck true, hitting the arm joints of each knight pinning the Dragontooth Warriors down. This caused them to stagger and lose their stiffness. The Dragontooth Warriors, now freed, were thus able to respond in time to the sword swings, blocking with their own weapons before pushing back against the staggering knights.

With just this one move on her part, the knights' formation was broken but High Elf Archer held no illusion about this being able to put an end to this so easily. The only upside to this was that her yelling plus the flames from earlier had indeed drawn attention; with her sensitive ears, she could hear the forces stationed in the capital rushing to this location.

She could even hear that darn dwarf yelling as he and the rest of her party quickly ran from their previous location to here.

Still, that would take precious minutes even with how quickly they can run.

Taking a breath, High Elf Archer tried to figure out what to do next -.

-Except the man seemed to figure out his next move first.

"Ah. This may actually work out well for me," he commented before swinging his own blade in between the smallest gap that the knights left open for him. His attack struck true and reduced one of the Dragontooth Warriors to a pile of bones.

The reduction of one proved enough for the Dragontooth Warrriors' own clumsy formation to break down, the knights now swiftly overwhelming them with pure numbers and smashing the skeletal warriors down to nothing.

Immediately thereafter, the knights – the ones that still held spears, anyways – pivoted on the spot and threw their weapons at her.

With a better sense of their attacking speed and the range of that sinister man's own flames, High Elf Archer was able to dance her away across the rooftop and towards the general direction of the nearest knights and adventurers. Her movements were as graceful as a gentle breeze, the high elf now finding her groove in this fiasco as she weaved in between the thrown spears. Her dodges amounted to little more than inches of safe space, but it was still more than enough to ensure she remained untouched.

If nothing else, she had caused the frenzied knights to deprive themselves of their spears, leaving only their longswords left for use. Anything and everything that could be done to increase the odds of quickly overcoming them was fair game at this point.

Unfortunately, there wasn't anything that could be done to fully turn the odds against the man with the flames.

Thankfully(?), rather than rely on the flames to burn more of the area down, the man chose to do something else instead. With a grunt of exertion, the man leapt onto the wall of the nearest building, now holding onto the side of the wall with a single hand.

He was trying to close the distance between them.

Grimacing at the mere possibility of a close encounter with this wicked thing of a person, High Elf Archer took to jumping away and firing an arrow in mid-jump. Normally, she'd be more mindful of her dwindling arrow stock, but now wasn't the time to be too frugal.

To her irritation, them man leaned back a bit, just enough for her arrow to fly past his head and embed itself in the wall, which he then leapt off of with a practiced grace that she hadn't expected from him.

Landing and rolling atop the roof of a shorter building nearby, the man then broke out into in run, only to then jump from that roof onto the balcony of the next building.

"Tch, you stupid little-!" High Elf Archer grumbled out as the man then took aim and let out another huge blast of those yellow flames. His shockingly quick actions had closed the distance a fair bit, even with her own jumping around. To be fair to herself, however, this area wasn't really an ideal place for a high ground battle, with only a handful of buildings being noticeably shorter or taller than the others nearby.

Thus, her only real way of escaping was to leap off the current building and onto the ground below. The rooftop she was on just now exploded from the impact, rocking the area and forcing her to weave through the debris that now fell.

High Elf Archer had to move yet again when the man also jumped down from the balcony, spear at the ready. He missed by perhaps an arm's length, his weapon stabbing a solid third of the way into the ground. But undeterred, he used the spear as a form of leverage, allowing him to literally throw himself feetfirst at High Elf Archer.

The high elf, taken aback by the move, could only twist to the side in order to guard. Even then, her slender form offered virtually no protection as the man's feet slammed against her. She barely got out a cry before she went skidding across the ground for several meters before slamming into a wall hard enough to nearly break through it. Had she guarded that blow with her arms, they likely would've fractured or even broke. As things now stood, it felt like the side of her ribs wasn't looking too good even with having tried to throw herself back at the absolute last possible second.

The man touched back on the ground and abandoned his spear, instead drawing his longsword.

He prepared to raise it high for an attack, only to have to bring the blade down to deflect the arrow that High Elf Archer managed to nock and fire despite her pain. Had he been a little slower, it would have struck him in the left armpit.

This was but a minor setback at best, but it still gave High Elf Archer enough of an opening to get up a bit and damn near run on all fours down the street.

Behind her, the man laughed. "Oh, you've some spirit, oh elder one. If only some of the people from my world had even half as much of your vigor at times."

She could practically feel the temperature spike as the man clearly prepared to unleash another burst of flames. High Elf Archer felt her breath hitch – she couldn't clear enough distance to take cover from the incoming attack.

"A pity it won't avail you much," spoke the man as he prepared to fire-.

-Only for the workings of Fate and Chance to come to the rescue.

From around the nearest corner ahead, some of the capital's soldiers arrived. Credit must be given to their training because they assessed the situation nigh-instantly and the very first soldier she saw immediately grabbed High Elf Archer and pulled her to safety around the corner.

Said corner got blown to smithereens by the blast of fire, nearly throwing her and the soldier, a young but grizzled looking woman, off their feet but better that than to be outright turned to cinders.

The other soldiers, numbering at around a dozen or so, took stock of what was just seen and quickly seemed to come up with a plan of attack. The oldest looking of the lot, a heavyset man whose build must be due to a veritable lifetime of training combined with good eating, made the first move by going around the destroyed corner to fire off an arrow from the great bow that he wielded.

Whatever happened next, High Elf Archer knew not, still trying to get her bearings.

All she did know was that, if only for the time being, she'd managed to hold out long enough for help.

She could only pray that it'd be enough.


Heavy Warrior let out a huff after finishing his swing, an action that had rendered an old farmhand in two. The way the man's burned out eyes had looked as his body fell apart… it sent a shudder down Heavy Warrior's spine but his years of hardened experience from his olden days allowed him to press on.

All around him, the fighting raged on. Spearman had raced further out into the field, thrusting and swinging away with silent fury while the likes of the strong Amazon Warrior and her all-female party were smashing their way through the leftmost flank, where the veritable horde of these frenzied thralls seemed to be the thickest. Said female party were but the vanguard, with several other adventurers and knights following swiftly behind to capitalize on the widening path.

As for himself and his party, Heavy Warrior focused less on clearing a path from one end of the field to the other but more on simply dwindling the number of thralls in the current area. His idea was to reduce the sheer amount of bottlenecking going on here, which was practically overwhelming by this point. With his fellow adventurers, knights, and these thralls spread out all across the capital's outskirts, it was a wonder that he could fully swing his huge sword around without hitting anything else at all.

"What, taking a breather already?" quipped Female Knight from beside him. Her almost haughty tone contrasted heavily with the expression on her face, however, one of barely restrained disgust and sadness. Not even one such as her could just shrug off the sheer amount of death she was currently responsible for.

"Ha, as if," Heavy Warrior replied as another thrall came their way… a young lad, probably no older than fourteen, if that. The boy came charging in with a one-handed shovel, which Heavy Warrior easily deflected to the side with just a nudge of his blade before whipping it around to cut the boy – the enemy – down.

Behind him and Female Knight were their charges, the younger members of their party. By all rights and logic, they should have been left behind, well away from all this insanity… but call it a hunch, Heavy Warrior had the feeling that if he'd ordered them to stay within the capital, something bad would have happened somehow.

It'd been a hell of a decision to make, but at least by having them out here on the field with him and Female Knight, they could at least make sure their three younger party members remained relatively safe.

His thoughts were interrupted as several spells were let loose from the mages atop the capital's wall, sections of the areas ahead being assaulted by flames or ice or what-have-you. It forced him to flinch and turn to his right to avoid having bits of dirt and grass fly into his eyes and mouth. Female Knight simply used her shield to protect herself while simultaneously responding to an incoming thrall with a thrust of her blade which she then pulled upwards, cutting open the thrall's stomach and chest.

Female Knight let out a heavy breath. Said action was due to not just the emotional taxation of all this, but the physical exertion as well.

By now, the battle had gone on for almost half an hour, which might as well have been an eternity when in the thick of it. Even for experienced individuals such as them, their stamina was really beginning to hit the limit.

As for the thralls, however… well, while their numbers were visibly thinning out, none of them ever seemed to tire or react to the pain of any glancing blows. Through a combination of sheer numbers and unnatural tenacity, the enemy forces sought to wear down the capital's defenses via attrition and brute force.

And unfortunately, it was steadily working – be it the work of Fate or Chance, a number of adventurers and capital soldiers had fallen, either overwhelmed by the thralls' numbers or simply getting an unlucky roll of the dice when it came to defending against a single attack.

Whatever the case may be, while this battle would likely end sometime within the next hour, if that, the number of lives lost would be unfathomable to many.

The only upside to all this was…

"…! Move!" Heavy Warrior called out before retreating as fast as he could. The rest of his party swiftly followed his lead, with Female Knight taking up the rear of the retreat.

An explosion of flames occurred not far up ahead of where they'd been and with such monstrous power that Heavy Warrior briefly wondered if the entire land would crack apart. Debris, consisting simply of chunks of ground now wreathed in violent flames, went flying in all directions. Female Knight made effective use of her current position to protect them by raising her shield at an angle to tank some debris that sailed their way.

"Damn, is that lady's power limitless?!" Female Knight cried out in order to be heard over the roaring flames and battlefield.

She was referring to the one known simply as Ranni, the 'upside' in question.

Even the most powerful and experienced of magic users could only use so many spells in a day, especially if said spells were ones that could be charged up. Same went for those who use miracles. As such, the longer the battle went on, the less frequently the mages atop the wall provided support, having to ration their remaining spells and power for more dire circumstances.

However, the mysterious blue-skinned, four-armed woman from another land appeared to have no such problem. One spell after another was cast with ease, with power that made just about anything else Heavy Warrior had ever seen looking like a mere spitball in comparison.

It was thanks to her that the battle was going so well, all things considered.

But…

"…Shit!" Heavy Warrior sensed incoming danger and raised his blade just in time to clash against a mace that had been coming right for his face. Though quick enough to guard, he'd been unable to properly leverage his strength into it and as such he was sent reeling back.

Stumbling into his younger party members, it took an effort to remain on his feet before parrying a follow up strike with the side of his sword. This time, he was a bit better prepared, knocking the mace upwards. Alas, when he then delivered a lightning fast swipe with his weapon, the attacker managed to jump back just a few feet in time to avoid the blade.

It was an adventurer, a blading man easily around his own height and weight. Decked out in simple but thick armor around his chest and shoulder, he proved to be surprisingly nimble for one his size. All the more impressive given the ease with which he held the large mace too.

Now if only it wasn't for those burned out eyes, the yellow flames nestling within the sockets oh so nicely…

Heavy Warrior grimaced.

There'd been some adventurers among the thralls attacking the capital. And unlike the thralls comprised of random civilians, the adventurers afflicted with this terrifying frenzy seemed to retain their skills and autonomy to far more noticeable degrees.

These very same frenzied adventurers had been spotted flitting across the entire battlefield sporadically, popping up to strike down the capital's forces before retreating momentarily.

Moreover… well, he's not sure how many others may have noticed, but the ones attacked by the thralls would sometimes become afflicted with the frenzy as well. At least, the ones who survived the thralls' attacks, that is.

This was something made aware to all of them, but seeing it happen was another matter entirely.

From behind him, Druid Girl let out a cry as she chucked a rock at the frenzied adventurer via her sling. Said adventurer lowered his mace to defend against the rock in response.

While something of a foolish move on the girl's part, it did seem to provide Heavy Warrior the opening needed to get in close before performing an downwards swing at an angle.

The mace-wielding thrall sensed the attack coming and pivoted slightly, angling himself so that when he swung his mace with both hands, he'd be able to put all his weight behind the blow. Whoever this guy once was, he was damn good.

But Heavy Warrior saw it coming, so when his attack was deflected, he was able to use that momentum to spin rapidly and finally land a swing across the side of the mace-user's torso. The thrall had leapt back slightly at the last minute, but not quickly enough to avoid damage, with blood free flowing from the new wound. Had he been even a little slower, his guts would've been spilling out.

Alas, the veteran adventurer couldn't capitalize on this, for that was when he vaguely saw another adventurer – a lithe woman armed with abnormally shaped daggers – came rushing in from the side.

Thankfully, Female Knight finally stepped in, slamming her shield into the woman and followed up with an upwards slash. But the female thrall proved nimble, having been able to somewhat halt her charge prior to the shield bash to avoid the full brunt of it and promptly slid back to dodge the slash.

"W-What should we do?" cried out Scout Boy, who wielded his weapon rather helplessly from relatively behind Heavy Warrior and Female Knight.

"Just – look out!" Heavy Warrior began, only to cry out in alarm when another adventurer under the frenzy's effect seemed to pop out of nowhere.

The adventurer was a rhea, judging by the looks of them and fairly androgynous looking one, their gender too hard to define in the heat of battle. Said frenzied rhea also wielded a short sword which was swung at an understandably shocked Scout Boy.

Whether by divine intervention or something else, however, the young adventurer was able to raise his own weapon in time to guard but was left completely open for the follow up kick that sent him onto the grass ass-first. Druid Girl didn't fair as well though, for the rhea then swung the short sword at her and succeeded in cutting her along the torso even as she had clumsily tried to move back.

Female Knight screamed. Or maybe it was Heavy Warrior himself. It was hard to tell. All the man knew for certain was that he twisted about in time to bring his sword down as hard as he could on the rhea, reducing them to mulch with the sheer force of his attack while Female Knight reached for Scout Boy and all but threw him up off the ground.

At that exact moment, the mace-wielder moved in and bashed Heavy Warrior hard with said weapon. Heavy Warrior cried out and stumbled, his sturdy armor having been the only thing that had saved him from having his back utterly destroyed by that single strike.

The final member of their party, Half-Elf Light Warrior, let out a shrill battle cry before chipping in. With a shaking hand, he lunged past the staggering Heavy Warrior and delivered a thrust with his rapier at the mace-wielding thrall.

Said thrall reached out with a hand and smacked the rapier aside before reeling that same hand back, delivering a vicious backhand that had Heavy Warrior immediately fearing that it had snapped the young adventurer's neck just from the force of it. He had never felt so damn glad to hear a cry of pain, confirming that Half-Elf Light Warrior still lived.

In any case, he still maintained his balance and turned around as fast as he could, throwing himself at the mace-user and slamming a shoulder as hard as possible into the man's relatively unprotected stomach. The unexpected blow took the air out of the man, more out of sheer biological need rather than actual pain, but it gave Heavy Warrior the leeway to drop his sword momentarily and now wrap his arms around the man's waist.

With a grunt, he lifted the man up and threw him overhead. The man sailed for some odd yards before landing near Female Knight, who'd just fended off the dagger-user again. Female Knight, seeing the mace-user, wasted not even a second to bring her shield down on the man's exposed face. The deceptively sharp curve of her shield combined with its considerable weight and her strength allowed her to easily stab through the man's face, ending his life within a split second.

Unfortunately, her concentration on the mace-user left her open to the dagger-using woman, who silently rushed her from the side and stabbed her with one of them.

Heavy Warrior this time for sure cried out as he rushed to his partner's rescue, Female Knight's cries of pain serving as one hell of a motivator to hurry up. Female Knight did manage to retain enough sense to drop her sword and use her armored hand to deflect the thrust of the other dagger, but the one currently stuck in her along with the thrall's persistence prevented her from doing much else.

Heavy Warrior, upon getting close, grabbed the dagger-user by the back of her neck and yanked her down hard before stomping. To his immense frustration, the thrall immediately rolled to the side and got back up. Rather than rush him or Female Knight, however, the thrall retreated, perfectly content to just leave with only one of her daggers.

The other one remained firmly lodged in the one spot that Female Knight's armor couldn't protect.

Said young woman groaned and subconsciously reached for the weapon stuck in her.

Heavy Warrior grabbed her hand firmly but not roughly. "Don't." His tone brooked no argument. "You'll bleed out quickly if you do that."

And it sure as shit wasn't as if there were any medics running around out here, not when the violence was still ongoing.

Female Knight grimaced. "But the battle…"

"There's still plenty of others out there fighting right now. Losing you won't impact things too much." Rather harsh words coming from him, especially since he knew that Female Knight can be quite prideful of her abilities. But it was the truth. Silver ranked adventurer or not, she wasn't some be-all, end-all trump card on the capital's side. Same thing goes for him and even the likes of Spearman, though the man would try and boast otherwise.

They may be very accomplished individuals, but they on their lonesome or even together could fully turn the tide of every battle they get into, especially not large-scale ones like this.

No… the only one who could likely do something like that would be Ranni… and she was merely one person. Even if she likely could end this whole battle on her lonesome, it wouldn't be quickly, not quickly enough to save the lives of everyone.

"You good?" he asked of Druid Girl, now directing his attention to the other female member of his party. By now, Scout Boy and Half-Elf Light Warrior were pretty much crowding around the young girl.

"I-I think so…" she mumbled, clutching at where she'd been slashed at. The wound looked bad, but despite all the blood, it wasn't a fatal wound… though it would be if she lost blood at the rate she's going.

Thankfully, the girl proved smart enough to use the excessive amount of cloth that her clothes were comprised of to staunch the bleeding as much as possible. Scout Boy and Half-Elf Light Warrior were assisting in this regard, their attention almost solely on her.

"You know she'll come back," Female Knight grunted as she retrieved her sword from the ground, careful not to worsen the injury.

"Yeah," Heavy Warrior grunted out in kind.

"And that's assuming there aren't a bunch more like her out there," Female Knight continued.

Heavy Warrior grimaced.

If enough thralls were slain, the civilian ones at any rate, then that would allow the surviving members on his side to properly focus on the adventurers and knights that had become thralls themselves… but just how long would that take? Would he and his party be able to hold out long enough so that they and others like Spearman could focus for good on the real threats here?

And moreover…

The veteran warrior spared a quick glance towards the capital's wall… or rather, to the capital itself.

Although faintly, he could see people upon the wall redirecting their attention inwards. It would seem that some thralls had likely found their way inside the capital somehow, a way that none of them had been able to fully account for.

…This battle was beginning to go very poorly.

And whether or not it would get even worse… honestly, he wasn't sure if even the likes of Fate or Chance would be able to help any of them then.

If things were to truly change for the better, then another ace in the hole would be needed here.

They would need one very soon… or else the capital – and all of them along with it – would perish.


When fighting had broken out within the capital, something within Goblin Slayer had just… snapped.

No, perhaps that would be a bit too generous a way of putting it. It wasn't as if he suddenly lost his sanity or otherwise broke down. Instead, it'd be more accurate to say he just felt a massive shudder go through his body. There was a part of him that actually wanted to stay put rather than rush into the thick of it all.

Alas, he wasn't about to just go and abandon one of his friends.

His remaining party members alongside him, he rushed through the streets towards where all the violence appeared to be centered in, with shouting and weapons clashing aplenty…

…Along with just as many screams. Whether it be of pain or anger, he knew not.

"Prepare your catalysts," he ordered Dwarf Shaman. "Worse comes to worst, cast your Stupor spell."

"Ye got it!" Dwarf Shaman replied without hesitation.

Using Stupor in an area where not just the enemy but also allies were at could be risky, but with everything going on, it was a risk that Goblin Slayer felt was necessary.

The sooner the attack within the capital was quelled, then perhaps the sooner things could go back to normal.

Unfortunately, things were not always so kind as to go the way any of them wished.

By the time he and the others neared the general location of all the fighting, torrents of those horrid yellow flames spewed out from somewhere nearby. Said great streams of fire fanned out and scorched nearby buildings. People screamed as they were presumably caught in the resulting blazes before falling silent some odd seconds later.

And from around the corner up ahead came High Elf Archer, the deceptively young-looking girl sporting an expression of genuine panic.

"Lady archer!" Lizard Priest bellowed out to her, his politeness not faltering even in these dire circumstances.

They all watched as High Elf Archer seemingly ignored them in favor of firing two arrows down the alley she'd come from. She evidently hit her mark given her mastery, but it didn't seem to put her at ease for she instead twisted on the spot and bolted towards them.

"Get ready!" she screamed. "They're coming!"

Goblin Slayer tensed; that off-kilter feeling he'd been having ever since his encounter with these frenzied people now suddenly beginning to return with a vengeance unlike anything he's ever felt before.

More frenzied people weren't simply coming this way, oh no… something even worse was directly nearby…

…And he can feel that thing in turn sense him.

As the sole high elf scrambled on over to them, from around the same corner dashed out several capital soldiers. All of whom appeared to sport some level of injury and damage to their armor… but it was their freshly burnt out eyes that naturally grabbed his attention.

"H-Hurry up, ya damn washboard!" Dwarf Shaman exclaimed with only a marginal stutter, a testament to how even he could be frightened by something beyond belief.

As he vaguely noted said dwarf beginning to recite the incantation for his Stupor spell, Goblin Slayer drew one of his disposable daggers and flung it at the fastest of the… of the thralls that had been remarkably hot on High Elf Archer's heels.

Said thrall had been so focused on the high elf that the man didn't notice the dagger until it had buried itself in his throat, stumbling back with little more than a gurgle from having his breath cut off so abruptly. Beyond that, however, the thrall barely even reacted as he bled out.

"Protection!" Priestess cried out from beside him as she cast her miracle.

The alley they were currently in was fairly narrow, with no other cutoff points. As such, when she cast the all too familiar barrier, it formed just in time to separate High Elf Archer from the other thralls, keeping them at bay.

Just as she did this, Dwarf Shaman cast his Stupor spell, the fire whiskey he just drank being spewed out into the air just above the other thralls, numbering at around a dozen. Because it was open air rather than a properly enclosed space, Goblin Slayer doubted this tactic would be especially effective, but to his relief, it appeared to have some effect.

It would seem not even thralls, enraptured as they are by their madness, could prevent themselves from being unaffected by simple intoxication effects, their borderline mindless pounding on the barrier now taking on a more sloppy and drunken quality to it.

By now, High Elf Archer had reached his side.

"Are you-?" he began ask, only to be cut off when High Elf Archer grabbed him by the arm roughly.

"We need to go now! They're not what I was running from!"

"…!"

Unfortunately, the warning was too late.

From around the same corner, a man strode forth. Dressed in what was little better than rags, but with a presence that made the other thralls seem like nothing in comparison, it was enough to make Goblin Slayer almost cease up.

If the thralls could be considered to be the equivalent of freshly born goblins, then this man, this thing, was more like an especially powerful and experienced goblin lord or even akin to that paladin he'd fought up in the mountains that time.

The man's hood had fallen back, exposing his horrifically burnt off flesh, what little was left charred beyond recovery. By all rights, he shouldn't be alive. And yet here he was, walking forth with what could generously be called a smile.

"There you are," his raspy voice somehow rang out.

Then he released a huge blast of those yellow flames, which scorched the thralls ahead of him into nothingness. It impacted against Priestess' Protection with such violent fury that the barrier actually shattered.

This in turn elicited a scream from Priestess, who'd been maintaining the barrier through her own willpower. Its sudden destruction had evidently had a backlash effect on her somehow.

Immediately, Goblin Slayer grabbed hold of the staggering Priestess. "Fall back!" he cried to the others-.

Only for the man to let out another great ball of flames that shot towards the spot just ahead of Goblin Slayer.

The resulting explosion was immensely powerful. Combined with the sheer proximity of it, it was enough to blow them all right off their feet…

…And towards the general direction of the man.

Lizard Priest was the first to scramble to his feet, letting out a warrior's cry as he swung one of his fanged blades at the man – only for the man to easily use a longsword he'd been holding to deflect the strike before kicking at Lizard Priest's side, knocking him into and through the nearest wall. Had Lizard Priest still not been dazed and shaky from the explosion just now, perhaps things would have been different but alas, it was not the case.

High Elf Archer, the second closest to the man, could only groan before she was roughly kicked aside by the charred man, now allowing him a clear path to Goblin Slayer himself.

Dazed, Goblin Slayer could only look up at the approaching man, his eyes widening beneath his helmet as that horrid feeling intensified.

And that was when something within him truly snapped.

With an uncharacteristic roar, Goblin Slayer threw himself up off the ground as quickly as he could and went for a shield bash. Alas, sudden burst of energy or not, his form was sloppy due to his still addled senses, allowing the man ample opportunity to slide to the right to avoid the attack. Undeterred, Goblin Slayer somewhat spun and went for a stab with his short sword, only for the man to grab his wrist in mid-thrust and use Goblin Slayer's own uneven footing and momentum to lift and throw the silver ranked adventurer off his feet.

Like Lizard Priest, Goblin Slayer was thrown against the wall, only not through it. Still, the impact left quite a few nasty cracks in said wall in addition to rattling his bones.

He tried to kick himself off the wall, only for the man to deliver a kick of his own to slam him back into place. Then the man slapped the short sword out of his hands and grabbed hold of Goblin Slayer's wrists.

"Finally," spoke the man, his burnt out eyes boring into Goblin Slayer's own as he held him in place. "We meet at last, my dear Lord of Chaos."

"What are you-?" Goblin Slayer muttered out as he tried to struggle.

His unfinished question went unanswered, however, as the man continued to speak, more captivated by his own words rather than anything else. "Ah… I can feel it, the great Frenzied Flame's mark still within you. Weakened to be sure, but still persistent, like embers continuing to burn slowly."

Then the man's body began to smell horribly, his charred body beginning to heat up and flak apart as flames began to well up from within him.

"…I see what I must do now," the man said. "Allow me to serve as kindling, my lord. I assure you, together, we will transform those flickering embers back into the mighty flame it should have been."

The man's body finally burst apart, releasing a human sized and human shaped yellow flame that now immediately overlapped Goblin Slayer's form.

And then the young man known as Goblin Slayer felt his world fade away into an abyss.


A rather sudden and dour note this ended on, perhaps. A reflection of my more recent mood? I honestly don't know. With that said, I won't be letting recent events in my life change the outcome I've always had planned for this fic, so rest assured that this won't be ending on some especially sad downer ending.

From the beginning, I've always sort of planned for Shabriri to do something like this. While seeing the world burn was always his surface level goal, his true goal had really been to essentially create a Lord of Chaos that would scorch all life away instead. May not seem like a big difference on paper, but in practice, there is a difference indeed.

Anyways, long and short of it, shit is now really going down. But things aren't over just yet – there's a few other characters that will be getting the limelight on them soon and they'll be stepping up in a big way. Hope you will all look forward to that.

Until next time, everyone. Stay safe and take care.