Author's Note

First chapter of the new year, looking forward to continuing this. I'm blown away, as always, by how many seem to enjoy this so far. It's really amazing, thanks to everyone that's followed and reviewed.

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01/01/2024

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Chapter 5

A Goblin Slayer's adventures

Rated-M

M rating for mature themes, nudity, romance, violence, blood, adult themes, and of course, violence.

Music of the day

Goblin Slayer - Encounters with the Goblin Slayer

"Oh thank the gods, I thought I was a goner!" The dark elf sighed in relief, happy to finally be on his feet again. He brushed the cobwebs off of him as Goblin Slayer finished cutting him free.

"What were you doing in a goblin's cave?! Don't you know how dangerous it is down here?" Serena exclaimed, poking him in the chest, eyes narrowed at the foolish man.

"H-Hey, easy! I didn't knooow it was going to be this difficult to get through here, I thought they were just goblins!" The dark elf hissed, slapping her hand away.

Or he would have, if Goblin Slayer didn't grasp his wrist, stopping him from hitting his vampire. "Your misjudgment could have gotten you killed." He muttered lowly, hand gripped dangerously around the man's arm. "Or worse."

"I'm not an idiot! I've been adventuring around these parts for years, I know what I'm doing!" The elf hissed, yanking his hand free. "Just be lucky it was a spider and not some disgusting vampire, those creatures are filthy." He stated simply, turning to walk away. "I mean, most of them are, heh. But I've come across some pretty little things in my life, some of them vampires too. It's amazing, since they're monsters, I don't feel guilty of breaking them in before putting them out of their misery. Hahaha!"

Serena froze, eyes widening in disbelief. She physically recoiled at the despicable words the man spoke, venom rolling off of his tongue.

It wasn't just the dark elf's disgusting words that set her on edge, but her master's sudden explosion of murderous intent, so thick it filled the air of the cave.

"Excuse you…?" Goblin Slayer muttered, voice dangerously low. "...What did you say?"

Yet the elf man seemed to not notice the shift in the air. "Whaaat? Don't tell me you feel bad for those monsters? You don't look like the sympathetic type to me. In my opinion, they're free game, and I'll continue to use them however I see fit." The dark elf laughed, shaking his head as if it couldn't have been helped. "I mean, who's going to stop me?"

That's when he caught a glimpse of the young woman's eyes, her golden red orbs glowing in the darkness of the cave. She'd backed away in mortification, looking sick to her stomach. There was a long moment of silence that spread around, his face marred in confusion…

And then?

His eyes widened in surprise, unable to believe that he hadn't seen her before. That's when he felt the anger that filled the room, murderous rage directed at him.

"So then, you are no better than a goblin." Goblin Slayer muttered lowly, drawing his sword. "I slay goblins. Especially goblins that threaten to do unspeakable things against the innocent, and against my wife." He stated simply, taking a step forward.

"W-Woah woah woah, h-hold on!" The dark elf shouted, backing away. "You can't just kill me!" He snapped, stumbling backwards in fear as he rambled on in a vain attempt to save his own life. "I'm not some pushover! I'm the largest thief around these parts, I've got treasure I've stored up that you'll never find without me! Let me go and I'll-"

His vision went sideways, the vampire and the armored man in front of him suddenly standing sideways…

Or rather, he was now on the ground, head rolling around.

Goblin Slayer flicked his sword clean of the dark elf's filthy blood, kicking the body to the side. "Good riddance." He murmured, moving to step past his body.

Serena stared at the body of the dark elf man, momentarily unsure of what to think.

She was a vampire, a creature of the night that drank blood and ate flesh of mortals to survive. It wasn't so much by preference for that red life giving liquid, but by nature. It was how she was created, what her body needed to survive. And for that reason, the entirety of humanity hated her and her species.

But now that she had her beloved master by her side, she didn't eat or drink from people anymore, for fear of upsetting him, and going against his morals. So she drank from him instead, never once lifting a finger against another innocent. Her path in life had been altered, and she depended on him to sustain her, to keep her good.

He had turned her into someone considered innocent in his eyes, someone he was responsible for, someone he seemed to care for.

But goblins weren't innocent, far from it. They were monsters that deserved to be eradicated from the world, burned until there was nothing left.

Yet, that man was not a goblin.

However, that man was anything but innocent. From his words alone, he proved to be just as bad as the goblins…

No…

He was worse than the goblins, for he was capable of higher intelligence. And yet, he still chose that detestable path in life.

She realized after a moment of reflection that he deserved exactly what was coming to him, and she felt not even a shred of sympathy for him.

After all, he was like a goblin, and goblins all deserved to die.

Her lips pulled up in a sneer at the sight of him, a filthy little man that was deserving of death.

Yet, upon trying to step past him and join her master, she spotted something golden protruding from his dirty bloody satchel. Bending over at the waist to inspect it, she found it to be a dragon-like claw made entirely from gold.

She glanced over her shoulder, locking eyes with her master who seemed to patiently watch her as she moved about. Her face flushed hot when she noticed that his gaze had passed over her plump black cloth covered posterior, and yet she felt a spark of warmth wash over her when she realized he didn't look away.

Eventually, though, she had to stand up and rejoin him. "Master, I found this for you." She beamed, holding out her gift to him.

He blinked, inspecting the claw of gold.

"I see." He muttered, head tilting to the side. "Hmm, come now. We must continue deeper, I'm sure there may be more goblins." He muttered, moving to turn away.

She pouted, lips upturning as he seemed to move on without praising her again. He stopped halfway, turning to her again as he sensed her mood shift.

He paused for a long moment, seemingly connecting the dots, before it struck him.

Instead, he slipped the claw into his pouch and moved for her. Reaching up, he placed his hand on her head again. "Good girl." He muttered softly, huffing out a pleased little sound through his visor.

She was content with just that, but then his hand slipped from her head, and to her cheeks. He cupped her cheek, rubbing soothing circles across her supple skin with his thumb.

Her eyes fluttered underneath his ministrations, biting her puffy black lips as she held back a moan.

Eventually, however, he did pull away. "Come now, we have goblins to slay." He muttered, moving deeper into the crypt.

She huffed heavily, full heavy breasts heaving as she tried to catch her breath. When she eventually did, she quickly ran to catch up to him…

"There's no goblins down here…" He murmured, stepping into the large underground crypt which was distinctly lacking in small green colored monsters.

"That's good, right Master?" Serena asked, huffing as she caught her breath after having run after him.

How in the world he seemed to never get tired while literally never removing his armor, she was sure she'd never know.

"Yeah." He muttered, sheathing his sword. "Nothing but these dead Nords…"

Glancing around them, they noticed the bodies of ancient Nordic warriors lining the walls, decades, perhaps even centuries of dust and cobwebs covering their bodies.

None of them were moving, for they were all dead.

"D-Didn't Farengar mention something about reanimated Nord zombies in these halls? Should we not worry about those?" The busty vampire asked nervously.

Goblin Slayer blinked.

"Who?" He asked.

Serena blinked. "The Jarl's court wizard? He is the one you spoke to about this crypt." She explained softly, grasping onto his forearm.

"I see." He muttered. "Sorry. I don't remember people's names that are not important to me." He stated simply.

Her eyes widened at that little detail of information, feeling a sense of fear fill her heart.

If he didn't remember the names of people he didn't care about, then did he remember her name? And if he didn't, then did that mean…?

"D-Do… Do you remember my name?" She asked suddenly, staring up quietly at him.

He glanced down to her, red eyes glowing in the darkness of his helmet.

"I-I mean, I know I only told you it once, a-and you were half asleep in my lap… S-So I won't blame you if you don't rememb-" She nervously prattled on.

But…

"Serena." He cut her off, his voice firm and filled with conviction. "I didn't forget. You are important to me. I will always remember your name." He spoke simply, yet his words held such an intimate weight to them that it made her heart skip a beat. "It's my job to care for you, which makes you my wife. That means I need to remember you, because you're important to me." He continued on, turning to glance at his surroundings.

He missed the way her eyes sparkled at his words.

"I think that wizard may be onto something, however…" He murmured, turning to glance around them as multiple undead Nords shambled out of their crypts.

Serena sighed, pouting both at realizing that their little moment together was over, and the fact that he'd forgotten the wizard's name again.

"I-It… His name is Farengar…" She murmured, moving to summon a spike of ice to shoot into the zombie that moved to attack the Goblin Slayer.

He cut down one, easily disarming it. "I see." He muttered. "I'll try to remember that for next time." He stated nonchalantly.

At least she thought so, it was hard to read his monotone voice most of the time…

"Another dead end…" Goblin Slayer murmured, walking into a long hallway that ended with a strange looking wall. "I think we're done here." He said as he moved to leave.

"W-Wait! Goblin Slayer, surely there's something to this strange wall?" Serena asked, moving to stop him before he left.

He paused, turning to inspect it once more.

He frowned, realizing that she was correct. The wall, as it first appeared to be, had odd designs built into it. At the center was a slot that looked as if it could hold an item, a claw, perhaps.

He approached it, sheathing his sword as he instead pulled out the claw from his pouch. Looking at it, it was obvious that the claw needed to go into the slot in the wall.

But upon further inspection, he noticed that there was three symbols on the wall that matched the ones on said claw.

However, they weren't aligned correctly.

It wouldn't take a veteran adventurer to notice the fact that there was very likely a trap that would go off if implemented incorrectly.

He quickly yet carefully spun the symbols on the wall to match up with the claw, then prepared to put it into the door.

But before he could do it.

"Master, wait. Let me do it." Serena grabbed his arm, stopping him before he could attempt to put it in.

He looked down to her, frowning behind his helmet. "I don't think that's a good idea." He muttered.

"Why? What if it's a trap?" She asked.

"I'm wearing armor." He stated.

"And I'm a vampire that has higher physical strength than a human. If it's a weapon trap, I can survive it easier than you." She explained her point, listing off her reasons. "And… if I get hurt, you can just heal me with your spell." She added cutely, smiling up at him.

He stared at her silently for a long moment, before shaking his head. "I still don't want to do it." He decided firmly.

"B-But…" She tried.

"Because if you got hurt, I couldn't forgive myself." He said softly, glancing at her. "I promised someone special to me that I would try to look after those I consider important. If I let you do that, I'd be breaking my promise to her…" He explained, moving to insert the claw.

Her eyes widened as she jumped back, worried about what might happen.

The door accepted the claw, the three panels spinning around before locking into place. Goblin Slayer quickly backed up, throwing up his shield to protect him from any surprise forward traps.

…

…

…

"Oh…" He muttered lowly, lowering his shield when the wall slowly sank into the ground, revealing another way forward. "I was expecting something… more…" He murmured, moving to enter the crypt.

Moving through the tunnel, both of them eventually found themselves standing at the bottom of a hidden grotto, a waterfall pouring over from somewhere out of sight, surrounding a small stone plateau in the center. There was two things of note on the plateau, a very peculiarly placed coffin, and a stone wall with glowing blue symbols.

There wasn't a monster in sight.

"Hmm…" He murmured, moving to investigate.

He found his way across the water, walking up to the stone wall. He could feel something calling out to him, beckoning him forward.

It was strange, otherworldly, a sound of hundreds of Nords chanting slowly growing louder and louder the closer he came to it.

"M-Master, what are you doing?" Serena asked curiously, watching as the man slowly moved towards the symbols.

"They're glowing, don't you see that?" He asked, pointing towards the wall. "Perhaps this is related to the dragons that the wizard spoke of…?" He trailed off, staring curiously at the strange symbols.

Serena blinked. "Glowing? No they're not." She muttered, moving to inspect it. True to what her eyes were telling her, the stone wall looked like any other old Nord crypt with old symbols.

"Yes it is, right there." He corrected her gently, pointing directly at the glowing symbols.

"Where? I don't see it…" She asked quietly, nervous. "Master Goblin Slayer, are you sure?"

"Yeah." He muttered, placing his hand against it. "It's right-"

He stumbled backwards, a flood of knowledge suddenly flowing into his brain. He fell to the ground, grasping at his head as images and words flashed before his eyes.

"M-Master!?" She was by his side in an instant, pulling him close to her body. "Speak to me, please! A-Are you well?" She exclaimed, studying his eyes closely through his visor.

He breathed in a slow, long breath, calming himself. "I'm… fine." He muttered, moving to stand. She quickly helped him to his feet, noticing that he didn't seem worse for wear.

"What happened?" She asked, grasping onto his chest plate as if afraid something was going to happen to him.

"The wall… It spoke to me, in the tongue of the dragon…" He said slowly, shaking his head. "At least, I think. I don't know." He finally settled on saying, before turning around as the coffin from before began to open. "I'll figure it out later." He said as he drew his sword, a dangerous looking Nordic zombie clambering out of the stone coffin after them.

Serena's eyes narrowed at the undead monster, throwing her hands together as she began summoning even more of her freezing ice magic…

Chapter

5

End