As the village chief said, the Goblin lair is located on the other side of the forest in so ruins of unknown origin—neither particularly ancient nor mysterious, just a small abandoned fortress. After years of exposure to the elents, it had collapsed by more than half, but at least its functions were still barely operational.
"Are we really going in?"
Holding her Magic Wand, gumin looked bitter.
"Why don’t I just release a Burst Magic right here?"
"I think there’s still ti..."
The Priestess of the Goddess shook her head and replied softly.
"No, no, no, I think it’s too late for that."
"You just want to be lazy, don’t you?"
"What’s wrong with being lazy? If we’re too late, going in would just be more disgusting, right?"
"But we’re adventurers."
At this ti, Ais softly spoke up, and upon hearing Ais’ reply, gumin sighed deeply.
"Fine, you better protect ..."
"Leave it to ."
Watching the three quietly discussing at the front, l and her companions in the back were equally puzzled.
"Hey, l, what are they talking about?"
"I’m not quite sure either..."
As they spoke, the group arrived around the abandoned fortress, and soon they saw Goblins standing guard outside the half-collapsed Daimon of the fortress.
"One, two, three..."
The Priestess of the Goddess counted, then looked towards Ais.
"Ais, let’s stick to the plan. I’ll go first."
"Got it."
Ais nodded, then gripped her Longsword tightly, and the Priestess of the Goddess stood up.
"Great Earth Mother Goddess, protect us, and silence the land—Silence!"
As the Priestess of the Goddess pointed her Magic Wand forward, faint Spiritual Light sprinkled down like powder. The Goblins guarding the gate looked up in surprise at the beautiful Spiritual Light drifting from the sky, reaching out in panic as if to shout—yet that was all, as their voices were muffled, making their actions look like they were performing a mi.
At the sa ti, the light around Ais flickered a bluish-green, and she dashed forward like the wind.
Her sword flashed.
The foremost Goblin had no ti to see the assailant before falling to the ground, and Ais, making a swift successful strike, leapt onto the second floor of the collapsed fortress. At this mont, the two Goblins responsible for oversight above seed to react, brandishing their weapons and charging at Ais. However, Ais rely raised her Longsword, easily parried the Goblin’s weapon, and then stabbed it to death with a single stroke.
In a flash, the Goblins on lookout duty were wiped out. Ais glanced left and right, then gestured to the back.
"Let’s go."
Seeing Ais’ gesture, the Priestess of the Goddess grabbed gumin and rushed forward, and the others quickly followed, arriving at the entrance.
By this ti, the power of the Silent spell had dissipated, and everything seed to return to calm.
"Can you see anyone up there?"
The Priestess of the Goddess looked toward Ais and asked, and Ais shook her head.
"No, they should all be below."
As she spoke, Ais cast her gaze towards a pit beside the ruins, which seed to be an entrance to an underground warehouse or sothing similar before, but now it was obviously an entrance for the Creatures.
"I can’t stand it, why do Goblins always like to burrow like rats."
Seeing this, gumin was even more displeased, as on the surface, she could have unleashed Burst Magic to her heart’s content. But now... she had no choice but to endure.
"Ais, you lead, gumin and I will be in the middle, l and you guys cover the rear, be careful of what’s behind and underfoot."
The Priestess of the Goddess inhaled deeply as she looked into the Pitch Black hole, then softly issued the order, and the group marched into the underground passage.
"Ugh...!"
The first thing that hit them was the stench of rot and decay, causing l and the adventurers of the Red Pledge to grimace in pain, and the Red-Haired Mage to involuntarily open her mouth to retch, only for gumin to quickly clap a hand over her mouth.
"Shut up, do you want to die?!"
"Mmm... Mmm...!"
"Swallow it down!"
Although the Red-Haired Mage shot an angry look at gumin, gumin returned the glare with ten tis the ferocity, her crimson eyes flaring even redder. Under gumin’s imposing aura, the Red-Haired Mage had no choice but to swallow back whatever was rising up.
"Not a sound—none at all!"
gumin glared at l and the others, whispering so quietly it was barely audible, and l and company nodded hastily, spooked by her reaction. They were quite familiar with this Great Mage of the Red Demon Clan, who, despite only using Burst Magic, was usually cheerful and easy to get along with. But now, she seed anxious and irritated... perhaps because going underground ant she couldn’t use Burst Magic?
The sll in the tunnel was atrociously foul, and frankly, l and the others would have rather passed through quickly. But Ais and the Priestess of the Goddess were extrely cautious, with the Priestess carrying a wand topped with a Magic Lamp casting soft light to brighten the way. They proceeded step by step, not forgetting to remind l and her companions behind them.
"Don’t lean against the wall."
"Don’t step in any puddles."
"Watch the darkness."
With that, the group reached the fork at the end of the road.
"Go left first?"
"Right."
Faced with gumin’s inquiry, the Priestess of the Goddess pondered for a mont before providing an answer, which once again left gumin with a look of despair. But she said nothing more, rely following silently behind.
The stench on the right was several tis more pungent than that on the left, so much so that l found it hard to bear. Her fellow companions showed visible signs of discomfort. However, the Priestess of the Goddess and Ais had unusually serious expressions as they walked to the door at the end of the right passage. The two exchanged a glance, then Ais abruptly pushed open the door and drew her sword while leaping back.
There was nothing inside.
"......"
Huh?
At that mont, l was suddenly startled.
"What’s wrong, l?"
The sll here made speaking feel nauseating, yet her nearby companion still inquired in a low voice.
"I think I heard sothing..."
In truth, there was no need to listen further.
When the group entered the room, they already saw everything in front of them.
It looked like a toilet, with goblin excrent and food scraps everywhere, but beyond that, sothing else more shocking existed. In the corner of the room, a young girl lay sprawled. Under the magic radiance, it was clear to see she was completely naked, her entire body appeared to be burned as if by fire. Her skin was peeling, oozing putrid pus.
"This is...!"
"Hurry, rescue her!"
Before the Priestess of the Goddess could speak, the blond female knight from l’s group imdiately dashed toward the girl. She quickly reached the girl’s side, crouched down, and extended her hand toward the girl.
"Are you alright? We’re here to save you..."
"Swish!"
The female knight didn’t know what had happened.
As she reached out, Ais suddenly appeared beside her, thrusting the longsword at the girl. Before the female knight could scream, the longsword stabbed heavily into the decaying heap of garbage beside the girl. At that mont, a goblin wielding a dagger jumped from the pile, lunging at the female knight—then it was imdiately impaled through the skull by Ais’s longsword, collapsing to the ground as a corpse without a chance to scream.
"Be careful."
Ais sheathed her sword, glanced at the stunned blond female knight, and spoke coolly. It was then the blond female knight seed to grasp what had happened, dropping to the floor helplessly.
"These goblins are cunning. When you lower your guard, you’re as good as dead."
After saying this, Ais walked to the girl’s side for a closer inspection.
"This should be the village chief’s daughter."
"So severe..."
In truth, the Priestess of the Goddess didn’t need to say it aloud; others could sowhat discern it too. The girl was covered in wounds, severely burned, her entire body rotting and turning green, barely clinging to life.
"Do you have a way?"
"I... can try."
anwhile, another girl from l’s party approached, extending her hand.
"Large-scale Healing!"
With the flash of magic radiance, the girl’s wounds gradually healed, and seeing this, the group breathed a sigh of relief.
"Now, could you please take her back?"
The Priestess of the Goddess turned to the female knight and spoke.
"But..."
"The mission’s objective is accomplished. However, it’s not over. We must continue exploring, and so we’ll rely on you, alright?"
"...I understand."
The blond female knight hesitated, but nodded before carrying the unconscious girl and running toward the dungeon’s exit.
Watching this, l and her companions exchanged uneasy glances.
What’s happening?
They weren’t fools, clearly seeing the girl’s injuries and imagining her ordeal... but who did this?
Goblins?
Such weak creatures?
Would they be capable of such acts?
"Let’s move forward."
The Priestess of the Goddess sighed, heading to the other side. l and her group quickly followed after a glance at their retreating figures.
But unlike before, a deepening sense of unease settled within the party.
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