Maou Razonica
patreon
Chapter 116: Everyone Turned Green.
🕑 Added 2024-10-09 15:34:38 +0000 UTCDOCS: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yGeHzlRyYe8bHDWW25QklbybKI6YkjIE1gS-wBDmcj0/edit?usp=drive_link
Haven't had a chunker this big in a while. Enjoy! Thank you for the support! I made it in time!
============= ============= ============== ============== ==============
The battered gates slammed closed, and I leaned on our sealed wagon to rest. That wasn’t our most difficult battle, but it was just the mood of the thing. All the guards and adventurers who had fought with us–sort of, we did most of the work–were also sagging in relief. Except for a few arguments, some shouted… and now two people were duking it out
“I hope they reach someone this time,” someone said tiredly. They were talking about the messengers that had suddenly come out of the gates earlier, and those they had sent prior.
“You really think they were killed?” a centaur adventurer sobbed, the bags in her eyes so very clear and visible.
“Yes. No one’s come. No reinforcements,” a human guard answered. He looked thinner than normal, like so many of the people here, but not nearly as bad as I would expect for the disaster situation they were in. “The goblins got the previous ones we sent.”
“Oh…”
“All right, everyone! Take a break!” A human woman in templar colors clapped her hands twice and dismissed the defenders. “There will be less goblins for at least a little while. Take this opportunity to rest.”
The previous defenders began to file out, along with the townspeople who were just as quietly desperate. A few more brawls broke out along the way, and I realized it was because of the wickedness in the air. They couldn’t even take this much. How pathetic.
I shouldn’t say that.
I did think it, however.
The templar approached us next. “Thank you for your assistance earlier.”
“It is nothing,” Therick replied in our stead. “We couldn’t get into the village with the goblins in the way anyway.”
“True enough,” she chuckled a little, but quickly schooled her expression back to a solid neutral. “But why come here anyway? Why continue when you must’ve encountered so many goblins along the way?”
“Why? Well…” Therick looked back at us. We all just gave a collective shrug. A metaphorical one in Moonwash’s case. “No one’s brought it up at all. That was… an oversight.”
Now she full-on laughed. For a second. “I’m glad you didn’t think of it then. I’ll send you on your way now, since I’ve already seen your badges. There’s not much to see here, especially right now, but do keep yourselves out of trouble.”
“Of course, thank you.”
“Likewise,” her voice turned to a whisper, but we were too close not to overhear. “You can come see me at the Singing Cocktails tonight, if you’d like.”
“I, uh… Okay. I will.”
She left after those silent words were passed between them. We then found the place to leave our wagons and horreks in, and then headed straight for the central district.
“No need to come with us, Therick,” I smirked. “You got a date coming up. Just look for the most expensive place later, and we’ll be there.”
Therick snorted to hide his embarrassment, as everyone else made teasing noises as well. Even Moonwash tried and it was soo cute!
“She’s a templar. I don’t think that’s happening, guys.”
I paused to look at him. Really looked at him. “She’s not doing a coercion thing, is she?”
“What? Oh, no no. It’s perfectly fine!”
“Ah. I’m glad you’re so excited then!”
“I didn’t say–” he tried to argue, but gave up.
We all laughed at his expense as he separated from the group, but Granuel and Angerly also decided to go off on their own for reasons that I was sure weren’t related. Not at all.
“What about you, Berry?” I asked as only the three of us were left to go find an inn. Casual encounters were not discouraged here, though they weren’t encouraged either. People were expected to just never bring it up in polite company, but I was very impolite.
“What?”
“You could go with them if you want.”
“Oh. I… No. People really don’t find me attractive here.”
“Alright.” I shrugged. She wasn’t wrong. People were generally still attracted to creatures of the same general shape as them, and many were vaguely humanoid. But there were exceptions, such as herself. “I just thought you might want to try. People are feeling trapped. Their inhibitions are down, more than any other time.”
“...Haell. That is a very creepy thing to say.”
I slapped the mask that covered my mouth.
“Fuck. You’re right. I wasn’t thinking. Sorry.”
“Oh, it’s fine, Haell. And… I think you’re right. Not about the inhibitions, but that maybe I should try. I’m gonna find everyone else, so bye!”
She zoomed off.
I shook my head, grabbed Moonwash’s hand, and followed.
The inn could wait.
~~~
The inn couldn’t wait!
The best place was already packed before we made it here. As in before we’d ever seen the village. They’d lowered their prices a tad to allow some traveling merchants and nobles to stay for the entire duration of the crisis. The gall!
We were forced to spend the night in a lesser establishment. I was appalled, I was disappointed, but alas I made the sacrifice as a woman of the people.
We slept in slightly harder beds than normal, and then we left the fine establishment the next day after having a good breakfast.
“Are you the harvesters?” a centaur man asked the moment we had stepped out of the inn. He was dressed in the armor and fabrics of the templars’ white and gold colors. It was more common for people of his species to be chosen to join the templars here in the plains, just by the sheer number of them.
Strange how that wasn’t the case for belfegors back in my hometown.
“Yes…” I answered hesitantly for the rest of my armored group. We were planning on going to the adventurer’s guild to take some quest about the goblins outside and beyond, before immediately setting off to fulfill it.
“You have been summon by Lord Karon. Follow me.”
He turned around and walked away without even waiting for our response. That was rude, and I felt indignation for his behavior because I wasn’t to be fucking ordered around… but I supposed meeting with this upstart lord wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
I decided to be the bigger person and just let it go.
~~~
We arrived at the nearby manor which was at the very center of the village. It was only about as large as a common mansion from Earth.
The templar continued to lead us as we went past the open gates, through some corridors, up particularly large stairs designed for centaurs to be able to use properly, and finally into a well-decorated office.
“Ah, you must be the harvesters,” said a shepherd man from behind a desk. “The adventurers who came through here just yesterday.”
“That would indeed be us,” Therick bowed to show respect.
“I see. I have a mission for you.” He looked out the window behind him. “I need you to take care of those pesky goblins for me.”
“Of course, my lord. We were planning on it. We will be going to the adventurer’s guild after this to get a quest regarding the matter.”
“Is that so?” He smiled. “It’s good that you are proactive. I’ll issue a personal quest for your party and increase the reward.”
“Thank you. You honor us.”
“I do,” the lord of the village was quiet for a few moments. “I’ll also give you the boon of my guidance before you go. Come.”
The temperature metaphorically rose and fell in the room as my anger bubbled and simmered inside me, but in a show of supreme self-control, I only glared at the freak who wished to control us.
He noticed and frowned.
Therick felt a cold sweat run down his back as he stammered. “Thank you for the offer, but my companions wouldn’t appreciate that kind of treatment, I’m afraid.”
The fucker’s frown deepened. “You would refuse my kindness? Have you no idea what manner of creatures you are facing? They will break your minds if you are weak of resolve.”
“I am sorry for this inconvenience,” Therick bowed deeper, but offered no further explanation. The noble’s eyes squinted, then his gaze roamed back to me, who was still mildly shaking with rage.
“Would you refuse this guidance too?”
“Yes,” I spat. Venom leaked into my voice even though I tried to control it.
His two templar guards tensed, but they were on the lower end of level 20. They were nothing. I could kill every last fucking person in this building by myself if I wanted. It was by my mercy that they continued to live and draw breath.
“Fine,” the shepherd man finally dismissed us after some time spent pondering, and no doubt trying to control his tiny insignificant pathetic flame of anger. “Your quest will be at the guild.”
~~~
We went to the local adventurer’s guild with the same templar who had led us to the central manor.
The adventurers inside were either drinking in the middle of the day, or desperately planning and practicing among their friends, or sometimes both at once. We ignored them and went straight to the reception. The templar handed the receptionist some papers, which she very quickly read through.
“I understand. I shall swap out the poster right away.”
“Ah, that will not be necessary, Kila. The… Harvesters, was it? Lord Karon has informed me that you have agreed to take this quest, yes?”
Therick nodded in confirmation. He was the registered leader of our party, and our main guy for communicating with all the ‘important’ types.
She scrutinized us. “They’re the adventurers that came from outside before, right? I’ve heard good things about you, but this is a big horde we’re talking about. We don’t know how they’ve gotten this big without anyone noticing, but based on where they’re coming from, I think they have taken an entire village. This isn’t a quest to leave to one party alone.”
We paused. A silent communication passed between us. I was honestly not entirely sure what it meant other than it was bad.
Therick sighed.
“We’ve kind of already promised to take it to Lord Karon.”
“We should’ve thought about it more, huh?” Angerly shook her head.
“We didn’t know the contents of the quest until now,” Berry protested weakly. She hadn’t urged us to reconsider either.
“That’s true, technically,” Granuel hedged. “But we were asked to take care of the goblin problem. It’ll reflect poorly on us if we don’t at least try.”
My friends grumbled some more in indecision until I spoke from where I’d only been standing menacingly.
“Let’s talk about it. In private.”
I gestured to a nearby table, and a sound bubble was put around us. The templar had not left and was still standing by the reception, likely to report on whatever we decided to do.
“We’ve gotten cocky,” I stated the obvious.
“I’d say it’s just you, but…” Therick took a swig of ale. “We’re kind of in the same boat here.”
“We’ve already decided that we’d take the quest before we left the inn.” Angerly nodded.
“It was a good inn. Not the best. Not the best. But it was good. It was good.”
I got a few chuckles out of the table.
“Haell, I don’t think this is the time for jokes,” Moonwash leaned in and gave me advice.
Moonwash gave me advice on social stuff.
Fuck.
I loved her, but fuck.
“So what do we do then?” Granuel asked. “I’m sure there are other quests we can take…”
He visibly hesitated. I urged for him to go on.
“...but this is a personal quest. Our first personal quest. We are just beginning to make a name for ourselves, and if we don’t even try…”
“Yeah,” Angerly agreed. “Reputation is important for our line of work. I say we take it.”
“I’m… not sure,” Therick said. “Wouldn’t it be even worse if we took the quest and failed?”
I didn’t know the answer to that. How the nobles thought was beyond me. But I did have my own opinion on the matter.
“We agreed to take the quest already. It’ll annoy me if we back down now. It’d feel like I’m losing, somehow.”
Angerly gave me a nod, though the rest of the table we more torn.
Someone I didn’t expect agreed with me. Well, for a definition of agreeing.
“I think we should go,” Berry gulped. “Because if we don’t then… what? Do we just leave the town to its fate? Because the goblins will come. And they will… do worse than just kill everyone here.”
That moved my friends, as it did me. We deliberated for a while longer until Moonwash spoke, as if to decide for the whole group.
“Let’s take it then. If it’s impossible, then we just retreat. Simple.”
It truly was simple.
We took the very simple quest to ‘Eliminate The Goblin Horde.’
What could possibly go wrong?
~~~
The gates began to open in front of us, our two wagons were arrayed right by the entrance, and some guards had actually been stationed around the perimeter to catch the stragglers. The houses behind them, the ones closest to the entrance, were in states of disrepair that weren’t present in the deeper parts of the village, even the ones that clearly belonged or were rented to poorer households. I reckoned it had to do with how the gates had clearly been nailed down and reinforced twice over with planks and metal.
The goblins had gotten through here before. Multiple times, even. And now they plowed for the depths of Karron again.
A green arm pushed through, the gap in the entrance was officially wide enough.
Many more green arms followed, for they were just that excited to see all of us.
The gates opened wider, and so did the unrestrained sounds of violence grew louder, for the number of them had only grown larger than when we had first arrived.
A goblin finally got through, tearing chunks of its arms in the process, and Therick stabbed it in the head to finish the job. More immediately followed, and Berry held back the tide as Granuel shot his projectiles from one of the wagons. The gates yawned further open, and Angerly smashed into the great mass of them with her heavy mace. Our killzone began to get clogged, and I allowed the goblins to trip over each other as I picked out the stronger ones to assassinate with a resounding roar.
“Hurry up with the gates!” Moonwash shouted blandly, and the soldiers cranking the gates open redoubled their efforts. More of them came to help spin the levers, and it became harder and harder to hold back the tide as more of the green fuckers could stream through at once, but we persevered. My massive unrestrained waves of wrath and fire proved consequential in thinning the numbers of the horde as they went through.
I ducked and rolled away with my friends.
“Noonsun Beam.”
Moonwash spoke the words into the world, and all of existence glowed a bright white. There was a slab of earth just behind us and before the wagon, and in it was written down a ritual of the sun. The magical element was mainly controlled by the army, but Granuel had managed to buy a good amount from some enterprising sundertops, stored in the taboo repositories of their dead brethren that we’d bought from the black market.
And of course, my girlfriend was able to learn how to wield the magic well enough from the limited amount of mana we could obtain. I was so proud of her.
“Hot,” Angerly pointed out the obvious. A beam tore through from the slab of earth, and through the open gates. Goblins burned within that heat, as even those who were skirting around the sides were not left unscathed. Sun magic was apparently, and obviously, stronger during the day when the sun shone high in the sky.
“Go!” Moonwash shouted again. The ritual had concluded. She had already jumped from the ritual slab to go drive one of the wagons. Granuel was in charge of the other one.
“You heard her!” I grinned and charged into the fray. The sun ritual had left an opening in the horde of goblins, but it would soon close again if nothing was done. So I did something and became a whirlpool of wrath and hellfire. My three melee friends took the other side, and we held back the goblins long enough for the wagons to get through unimpeded.
We then had to run to catch up to our speeding vehicles. Angerly ran forward to smash through and toss off anyone in the way. Berry took the read guard, and Therick killed and crippled the goblins giving chase. I burned the veritable mass of them trying to crush us from both sides, and then I shot a nasty fireball to distract a weaker nascent goblin shaman (she had a crude magic staff) that suddenly showed itself from one side of the thinning horde. Granuel followed it up with some earthen bullets from his wagon, and Moonwash completely chased off the level 30 monster with her following fireball.
The remaining four of us finally made it into the wagons, and we all jumped back in to travel comfortably through the still goblin-infested road.
~~~
“Goblins have a main camp,” Moonwash said. Our two wagons were right next to each other right now with the windows wide open to facilitate conversation between everyone. “Our quest is to find them.”
“There are three villages that could be their home base,” Granuel chewed on a piece of honeyed jerky. “If it’s true that they’ve successfully taken over a village.”
“It has to be true.” Berry traced along a map that we could not see for she was on the other wagon with Granuel. “I’ve been on these missions before, and goblins have little capability to make their own industry, but they love to take over existing ones.”
“Let’s narrow it down, then,” I said, then gestured to myself and Moonwash. “We’ve eradicated a small camp before. We just need to find the direction where the concentration of goblins keeps increasing, right?”
“Luine and Baston were with us when we did that,” my girlfriend countered. “They did the tracking. It’s not that simple.”
“Well, you’re right. I definitely can’t do it. Should’ve done more to learn those lessons. No reason not to try though. Granuel, Therick, you think you can do it!?”
“Sure.”
“We can try.”
“Good enough,” I shrugged. “If you miss, then we’ll just check the other villages, like we would’ve likely done anyway.”
~~~
A pair of goblins came closer, and I killed them like it was a chore. The frequency of the attacks, and the sheer utter weakness of every single one of them, had made me… bored.
I was killing my enemies in bloody fucking ways.
That should not be boring.
How had they ruined such a lovely and beautiful thing!?
It wasn’t right!
I summoned balls off hellfire. I shot canonballs of the element and of wrath to devastate enemies from afar. I did it until I found myself smiling again, and reveling in the slaughter. This was what I was meant to be!
And then my boredom was further quenched when a particularly special goblin came into view.
“Guys! Guys! Keep the other gobs away from me! I’ll take this one myself!”
My party agreed to my request like the good friends they were, and I charged towards the goblin lord for our promised duel. Standing at about a head shorter than me, the monster wore armor that was almost the right size, and she wielded a fantastreel sword that was clearly of a good make, if ill-maintained.
It almost snapped in half when she received my opening slash. The goblin eventually regained her footing but I got a good cut on her shoulders before that happened. The wound festered and spread because of my curse. Her expression twisted into further bloodrage, but it was still so cute compared to what I felt. I smiled and received her counterattack.
It was stronger. Stronger than me for we both used magic to enhance our physiques, but crucially, not overwhelming. Any other level 40 that could use magic to further enhance their stronger physiques would’ve broken me right then and there.
I grinned.
I focused on defense after that one clash. Our swords danced through the air, and my weapon met her stronger slashes at just the right angles. I was far more skilled than my opponent who might’ve literally been born yesterday, and I received all her attacks without fail. In the meantime, my mind was also hard at work, along with my horns. Hellfire rushed around us like a twister, and so did wrath magic saturate the battlefield. I even managed to create some curseflame, which forever burned my enemy in one grisly screaming end.
She could unfortunately not continue any longer after that one. Goblins were also particularly brittle for their level.
But it was a glorious battle, and a glorious end.
I acknowledged the might of my opponent.
I was satisfied.
Thank you.
~~~
“This is worrying,” Granuel said. “That was a goblin lord! A level 40!”
“Maybe it’s the only one?” Berry hoped.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” I shook my head and burst her bubble. “If they’re really in the village, then most of their forces would be concentrated there, including their elites. Unless if they’re already on the move right now.”
“Are goblins actually known for that?” Angerly asked.
“Err. It’s what my gut tells me. And I think it’s broadly true for the wholescale goblin exterminations I’ve taken. Something’s wrong if there is a lord or shaman among the dregs.”
“What do you propose we do then?” Therick asked.
“Nothing for it, keep going.” I shrugged. “What else can we do?”
“But what if we see more of them?” Berry asked. “Those stronger ones.”
“I can duel one by myself. If it’s two, then we’ll be stretched thin, but I think you guys can stall it and all the other dregs at least while I kill the other one. If it’s three… that is when we run.”
~~~
The walls of Eluth Village came into view.
But before that, was the sheer depravity that surrounded the ill-maintained ramparts of the village.
The farm that should’ve surrounded it was gone. In their place were mounds of assorted flesh turning green. More prey was being dragged in, and we even saw a few dead humans among them. It was difficult to capture someone alive, especially for such vicious and eager creatures.
Those were the better parts of this hellscape.
Worse were the cacophony of screams from dozens of suffering animals, monsters, and people who they did manage to capture alive. They were each being stabbed, peeled, and subjected to a grinder of subpar and rusted tools. Body parts were missing, out of the difficult battles they must’ve fought, the sheer callousness of their captors, or their hunger.
The goblins did need to eat, and sometimes that came in the form of foraging in the flesh mounds, killing each other, or consuming their still-living and currently-transforming prey.
I looked back at my companions but I found them retching, puking, and crying. They were almost as green as the goblins. Even Moonwash came up to me and held my hand. Nothing had prepared us for a true nest of goblins. Certainly not from those who had taken over a village. It was a well-known thing among scholars that the slow death of sapients brought forth stronger variants.
“I think…” Berry began. “I think this might be the horde that’s too much for us to take.”
“Let me scout out the area first,” I did not answer her directly. Even my voice had a slight tremble to it. “Granuel, can you see anything from here.”
“There are a lot more in the village. Some bigger ones. And shamans with staves.”
Plural. Multiple shamans. That was indeed a problem.
“Is there anyone savable? Or anyone watching us from afar. I wanna fly and take a closer look.”
“That’s dangerous. They have ranged shamans! But… no. I don’t think you have to worry about getting spotted.”
Hmmm. Well, Granuel wasn’t wrong about the shaman being a danger to me even in the air, but I didn’t think they had the best aim, so I just had to fly higher.
Having made my decision, my wings unfurled behind my back and I began to soar up into the air. From here, I could see that there were still goblins streaming towards my friends, but they handled them with little problem. So I flew higher and higher, feeling the wind become stronger in return. It destabilized me, I wobbled in the air, but I managed to regain my balance and inch forward slowly until I could behold the inside of the village from high in the sky.
I saw a tide of green, more packed than in the outside. A goblin shaman shot a wicker spear towards me, but it entirely missed. Just being a little off meant being dozens of meters off at these distances. But I wanted a better look, so I readied a wrath bullet of my own as I slowly glided down and hovered in the air lower in the air.
I could make out the people being tortured from here, and some of them suffered in a more… systematic and measured manner. Those were the ones under the personal ‘care’ of the shaman, who had pierced his victims with small spears formed out of the miasma that permeated this place while taking care not to kill them. It was still so fascinating how they were able to use the diffusing wicked mana in the air, and how they were able to establish a connection. It was not a feat I’d seen replicated by anyone else. Not even Elfrafim.
I scouted out the rest of the village while I could, and found three more lords. They too took a more measured approach to their tormentations, if not to the level of the shaman, and it was at this point that I peeled off my mask and just let it rip. My vomit rained down, and it appeared they might have taken offense.
Another projectile shot towards me, and it was intercepted by my own. The two collided in a manner halfway between winds and liquid, but what was important was that they managed to stop each other. Another shot of wicked magic flew up towards me, and I slashed it with my sword. That diffused the projectile, but some still made it to me, and fewer yet made it past my armor.
A bit of flesh and skin peeled off, but nothing too egregious. I took that as my cue to leave and returned to my friends.
~~~
“I have to admit,” I sighed heavily as we sat atop a grassy hill for a full meeting, “I don’t think we can take that.”
My friends were speechless.
“I agree,” Moonwash agreed.
“I do too,” Therick hedged after her. “I’m just surprised.”
“Super surprised,” Berry nodded seriously.
“I didn’t expect that at all!” Granuel shouted.
“Are you really Haell?” Angerly worried. “I didn’t think you knew the word surrender.”
“Oh come on!” I pouted. “I’m not that fucking stupid!”
They laughed… because it would truly be stupid to think that I was stupid.
“So, are we leaving then?” Berry asked.
“Well…” I hesitated.
“Ah, there it is.”
“She’s gonna go anyway!”
“I didn’t say that!” I crossed my arms and huffed. “But I do have an idea.”
“”Oh no.””
“Listen! Not you too Moonwash!”
I explained my plan to them, once we had gotten all the jokes out of our system.
============= ============ ================ ============= =============
AN:
I told you I’ll elaborate on how bad the goblins truly are!
And uh. I too feel green. Shit, is this their doing!
But seriously. It’s so dark. I didn’t actually plan on going this dark, but when I put together all the pieces of the goblin lore I’d scattered throughout the story, this is just the picture it made. And it kind of bothered me that I didn’t do it justice in the earlier chapters, even if going this hard does also make me a bit nervous.
ANYWAY.
Haell woke up in the wrong side of the bed this chapter, but everyone has those annoying moments.
Didn’t rly intend to spend this much time on one plotpoint, but it ended up being a lot. The goblins would’ve logically been a stronger force than they could take with how the scenario was set up.
Comments
ZephanyZephZeph
But Haell knows our world and the magic of air superiority. We're gonna drop bombs on the fuckers!
