This chapter shouldn't take me longer than expected, but don't worry, I'm always trying to make corrections and making sure things go smoothly. I don't know how much it will take me for the next chapter, but hopefully sooner since I was busy with my home, my other story and RTX.
I hope you like this chapter.
"Why we had to wake up so early?" Spearman yawned as he walked among the other parties. "Knowing that we would go to assault the abandoned castle minus well arrive at the last minute for dramatic purpose."
"This isn't the time to complain already." Paladin berated him as he walked next to him. "Besides, Guild Girl explained to us last night when we accepted this."
"I… didn't listen."
"Come on! Seriously!?" Paladin facepalmed.
"Would you stop already!? We are almost there." Fencer said to both as she accommodated her ponytail. "Are we almost there, right?" She asked High Elf Archer, who she was leading everyone.
"That guy told us that he would be waiting for us at the cliff."
"And he is a Huntsman. Did he tell you his name?"
"No, but the most I could tell is that he looked… odd." Like the way how High Elf described, Fencer tried to recall who might be. It was hard as a lot of Huntsmen weren't precisely normal at any degree.
Fifteen people walked through the woods. The trip from the town was long and noisy as everyone couldn't stop talking among themselves. They were getting closer when the woods were no longer on their way, being able to see the sky ahead of them.
"Is this the place?" Grimm Slayer asked as everyone in the group looked at the cliff.
"Indeed is, but it seems that our peculiar ally isn't seen anywhere." Lizard Priest commented while approaching further to see the abandoned castle.
"Probably he still fighting off Grimm around the area or something." Dwarf Shaman commented as he scratched his beard.
"Better take a look for yourselves." High Elf Archer told everyone. The group took a look at how the place was all about. There were three intact towers, and the fourth one was already down. The walls protecting the castle were tall that might require a fifty feet ladder to climb on. There was one single entrance, but there were a couple of holes and windows that might find it useful for the group. The courtyard was more extensive than anyone can see without chances of hiding.
The place was fortified from top to bottom. However, something seemed off for most members of the group.
"What those Beowolves are doing?" Cat Ninja asked.
"Roaming the courtyard like guard dogs." Javeline Warrior commented as she looked carefully. "But the gate isn't that strong. They could easily destroy it to head out."
"What's the hold up for them?" Spearman said impatiently.
"We don't have enough information about their patterns and how many are there. We hoped that Huntsman could tell us." Dwarf Shaman commented.
"Where that guy could be?" High Elf mumbled.
As the group focused on the castle, Goblin Slayer walked at the cliff's edge. As he tried to think on an approach against those creatures, he stumbled to a piece of paper under a small rock. He looked at the ground and crouched to inspect the paper.
"Did you find something, Goblin Slayer?" Priestess asked as he started reading in silence. She decided to read alongside him to see what was all about. The further they read the note, the more surprising it became that Priestess' pupils shrunk.
"What are you reading, Orcbolg?" High Elf asked.
"You should read this, it is important." Priestess handed the note to her companions. Lizard Priest grabbed it carefully with his claws while the other two read it. Their reactions weren't that great.
Hello friends, as you are reading this at the moment, you should know that I won't be with you as I get caught up with more Grimm trying to leave the area. As I have this much of time, I decided to leave this note with important detail about the castle and a few updates since the last time I saw.
"Well, at least that explains his impunctuality." Dwarf Shaman commented.
"Let me continue to reading it, would you?" High Elf berated.
First things first, and this is important: While I was hunting an Ursa, I got ambushed by Boarbatusks, and they weren't the type you could encounter in the wild, those were wearing to what appeared small harnesses as I let some of them alive because that picked my curiosity of who put them. I hid and waited for them to move. As the pack no longer felt my presence, those creatures headed to the direction where the castle was. I wished things weren't that complicated as I discovered something at the end of the destination.
There were creatures known as goblins that took over the castle.
"You must be kidding me!" High Elf yelled.
They acted organized, using the Grimm as their pets and giving equipment as if they were preparing for war. I couldn't understand how they were able to tame Grimm; it was definitely impossible ever to be someone or something having the capacity of that without getting their heads chopped. I wish I could tell how many are in the castle and I can't identify individually.
One thing for sure, since they don't come out much at day, I hope you could take care of it before the next morning. They have both the west and east walls being guarded against outside, but they are hiding as well. I suggest you to not only deal with them but also sneak into the castle and look for the black pool. I still couldn't get inside the castle by myself yet, so anything beyond that will be on your own. I will join you once I get the chance. Good luck, everyone.
The note ended. That left the adventures with so much contemplation about the situation. Not only couldn't get more info about what kind of Grimm they will deal but goblins getting involved and taming those creatures.
"That can't be good." Lizard Priest commented.
"Quite an understatement, Scaly." Dwarf Shaman sighed.
"Seriously, is there a single time where we will ever not deal with goblins at some point!?" High Elf groaned. They began passing the note to everyone to see the crucial details.
"So, it is happening again." Brawler frowned while cracking her knuckles.
"Wait, what do you mean again? You already encountered goblins taming Grimm, and you didn't tell us beforehand!?" High Elf yelled.
"Yeah, sorry if we forgot to mention that since everything happened and we thought it would be a one-time-only occurrence." Grimm Slayer said as she rubbed the back of her head.
"In any case, since we don't have enough info aside of the fact their guarding patterns. We should come up with a plan of attack." Everyone formed a circle on Priestess' suggestion.
Their plan was simple. They will form three teams that will have a specific task for each one: Infiltration team will get into the castle and destroy the black pool somewhere. Scouting team will look for any Grimm outside the walls and hoping more won't appear from the woods. Finally, the Assault team was simple as they would attack the front gate and acting as a decoy while the Infiltration team does their job.
They had to analyze their options, their abilities, and what use they could get. Infiltration team had Goblin Slayer, Grimm Slayer, Cat Ninja, Dwarf Shaman, and Priestess. Scouting team members were High Elf Archer, Elemental Fencer, Knife Ranger, and Javelin Warrior up to the task. Assault team got Spearman, Shield Paladin, Witch, Lizard Priest, Hammer Valkyrie, and Furious Brawler for the heavy work.
"Does everyone know exactly what will do?" High Elf asked the group.
"Why can't we just go to the front gate and butt our way through? That could be much easier than dividing ourselves." Spearman complained.
"If we do that, that might alert both of those creatures. We will get cornered in no time." Goblin Slayer explained.
"That is why we have different teams. That might give us better chances if things go wrong." Paladin pointed out as he looked at his bag with potions.
"We are dealing with goblins as well; we have to wait until the sun goes down." Goblin Slayer sat while looking at the castle. "We should know which kinds of goblins and their numbers are before starting. That includes Grimm."
"Sir Goblin Slayer has a point. We can prepare ourselves first." Lizard Priest said.
"In that case, I will get a heads up while you wait here." High Elf Archer pulled her bow and arrow out as she was ready for anything.
"Don't you want help to scout the area? I can help you to hide from Grimm." Ranger offered to assist.
"Can you do that?"
"As long you are on my close, I can mask our presence."
"That might good since we are not going to kill Grimm just yet. I don't want to attract trouble before we start."
"It is not going to take too much, right?" Valkyrie looked worried about the quiet guy.
"We will do some recon. It won't take us too long, hopefully." Ranger gave a reassuring smile to her. She only replied with a tight hug that almost couldn't let him breathe. "Valkyrie… please…"
"Alright, just let him go." Warrior said to the energetic girl. She released him before he and High Elf headed back to the woods.
"So… we wait… until dusk?" Witch asked.
"That is the plan." Goblin Slayer replied.
"Well, since we are not going to do much. I will take a nap before then." Spearman walked towards a tree and put his weapon down. He sat and lied against the tree as he closed his eyes. Witch followed him and sat next to him while smoking under the same tree.
"Everyone, since we didn't get breakfast before leaving town, Priestess and I prepared sandwiches for everyone." Grimm Slayer said as she lifted a basket full of food. Both girls began sharing the food one by one while checking their equipment. Lizard Priest got curious of the food.
"What is this 'sandwich' you are giving?" The reptilian asked.
"It is an easy-to-make meal that you put slices of ham, lettuce, tomato, and cheese between pieces of bread." Grimm Slayer explanation was enough to make Lizard Priest droll. Especially when she mentioned ham and cheese on the food. He took the first bite to it, and the results were as one might expect.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!"
"H-Hey! Is something wrong!?" Fencer jumped out of surprise.
"You might want to excuse him. Eating new food might give him some 'enlightenment' about it." Dwarf Shaman took a sip of his fire wine.
"Could you tell him not to do that? I almost got a heart attack."
"I'm glad he like it." Grimm Slayer smiled as she was almost done sharing the food. She approached Goblin Slayer for another sandwich on the basket. "Here, you should taste it too." The hooded girl handed it to him.
"Thanks." He started to bite the sandwich. Grimm Slayer noticed that he didn't take off his helmet. No one couldn't explain how he could do that. "Is there something else?" He saw Grimm Slayer couldn't stop staring at him.
"N-Nothing!" She focused her sight at the castle. She looked carefully. Grimm Slayer sat next to the armored guy while looking at the castle too. "Hey, Goblin Slayer. May ask you something?"
"Okay." He said with his usual dull tone.
"How long you been killing goblins?"
"As much as I can remember."
"And why you are killing only goblins? Why not other creatures?"
"It is personal."
"How so?"
"…" Goblin Slayer didn't say anything else to the hooded girl. Even if she couldn't see his face, she felt that he was giving the cold shoulder. What did the goblins do to him? Why so vengeful towards those creatures? It wasn't so hard to see how dangerous they were but couldn't get an answer from him.
"Sorry for asking." Grimm Slayer stood up and left him alone before things could become awkward between them. She decided to sit next to Priestess and listen to everyone's conversations. She remained quiet.
"So, tell me, who's that your people don't visit Remnant?" Paladin asked Lizard Priest.
"Same thing as Faunus and Padfoot people. They don't like them." Ninja commented.
"Indeed. You can say that Remnant isn't the most tolerable when it comes to other races." Lizard Priest said as he was finishing his sandwich. "My people and the Faunus used to be in friendly terms until recent years that we strayed away from each other."
"What happened?" Priestess asked.
"The White Fang." Ninja said with a grimace. "That's what happened."
"White Fang?"
"An extremist group formed by both Faunus and Padfoot people that wanted equality in Remnant. It started as a pacifist group by doing protests, but the results weren't satisfactory enough and started to use violence." Cat Ninja eyes turned away from the group, looking ashamed.
"I mean, Remnant as a whole isn't fully racist with them. Some kingdoms accept them for the most part." Brawler said.
"Kingdom of Atlas, however, is a different story." Fencer said with the same expression as Ninja's.
"Is Atlas that bad?" Priestess asked.
"Probably more." Fencer put her spellbook away. "Trust me. I'm from there."
"Yeah, good thing she got over her racist phase." Brawler said with a teasing tone.
"I wasn't racist!" The sophisticated girl yelled.
"Not anymore."
"Isn't that cute?" The banter between the Huntresses made Dwarf Shaman laugh. "Well, people tend to change with time."
"I couldn't agree more." Lizard Priest said as he started to take meditation pose, praying for his ancestors.
The rest of the group tried to let some of the time fly, probably hours. They started to lose track on time as some of the Huntsmen and Adventurers were playing various games such as dices or cards. Others kept checking their equipment and potions before the battle. Spearman kept sleeping while Witch smoked and observed the rest. Her face didn't change much which some of the Huntresses found it unsettling. Javelin Warrior, on the other hand, didn't mind as to how quiet she was.
"How's he feeling?" The redhead asked.
"Sleeping… as usual." She replied with her usual lowkey voice.
"Does he always do that?"
"He trained… all night." Witch put her smoking pipe away for a brief moment as she started to eat the sandwich that Priestess and Grimm Slayer shared to everyone.
The day was passing fast, and they were starting to get bored of the situation as they didn't expect to hold up before beginning with the Raid Quest. They waited for High Elf Archer and Knife Ranger to return from scouting the area.
"Are they going to be fine by themselves?" Priestess asked.
"You shouldn't be worried. Nothing can't catch Ranger off guard." Warrior explained.
"Unless you are her." Paladin commented off-handily as he pointed out at Valkyrie, which prompted that Huntress to laugh mischievously.
"With Long-Ears being around, she can at least get an advantage with her surroundings." Dwarf Shaman was relaxing next to a rock while enjoying his fire wine. A few minutes later, as everyone was already comfy with the day, they started to hear noises coming between the bushes. Some of them drew their weapons while taking a cautious stance.
Spearman woke up and grabbed his weapon while carefully aiming towards those bushes. He tried to approach them by slowly walking and getting ready to make a move. He charged his weapon for a powerful strike.
"Hold on! It's us!" It was Ranger who got both arms on the air.
"Man, you got us a good scare." Spearman lowered his weapon in relief.
"We got something that you might like to hear." High Elf Archer appeared right behind Ranger.
"Did you discover anything new?" Fencer asked as the good Archer began to extend the map while using a pin to mark a point of interest.
"This is our biggest chance." She smirked as everyone gathered around to check the map. Their eyes couldn't stop looking at the new details that were added from the scouting. Only one point was something that Goblin Slayer got interested as he noticed how useful it might be for Infiltration team.
"What do you think?" Grimm Slayer asked the armored guy.
"It might work." Goblin Slayer looked at the sky as the sun was getting into position.
"Is everyone ready? Let's get started!" High Elf Archer yelled with enthusiasm as the rest of the group began to get their weapons ready for the plan. They knew exactly what to do; all they needed was enough courage. It would be all or nothing.