It didn't take longer than a week for Armaros and Fanah to get more known amongst the adventurers. Between a guy who has been trained in the sword art of the Dawnbringer clan, with a body that is better than normal and a great pool of mana, alongside a woman who was a powerful former knight, who is still very powerful despite only having one arm.
They took a lot of monster hunting quests and they had managed to complete them quite easily due to their prowess. He had also got some respect for his skill and strength with the sword. While she didn't like him due to the fact that she is his slave, he did have strength that she can respect.
The two of them were now on another quest, but this time the quest was at a mountain, about killing a goblin nest in there. Most adventurers don't care much about the goblins so they don't take the quests, seeing them as too weak and unimportant.
"This doesn't have too much money for a reward." Fanah said as they sat in the carriage bringing them to the mountain.
"Goblins are annoying things to deal with. But they can become trouble if there are too many of them. They're pests, and it's better to put the pests down before they become too much." Armaros said calmly as he looked at his knife as she sheathed it.
"Still, I'm surprised that you took it. You are known to care more about money, after all." Fanah said to him as she looked outside the carriage.
"I love money, they're very good things to have. But that doesn't mean I don't know the problems I will have when these goblins become too much of a problem. If they become too bold due to their numbers, it would be a monetary loss." Armaros said as he closed his eyes and sat there.
Fanah gazed at her master for a few seconds before she looked at the other occupants in the carriage who were traveling with them and saw a few of them eyeing her stump. She glared at them as they averted their eyes as she looked outside at the sky.
It was a silent ride for the two of them as they disembarked from the carriage and went towards the mountain that was near them with their weapons ready. They found the path into the mountain, which was the way to get to the nest as he held a torch on his left hand with the sword in his right as they advanced.
He kept his senses sharp as he used mana to feel the life inside of the cave, and soon he managed to find many sources of life deep inside, and the large room inside of the mountain.
'It feels good to be able to use mana like this.' Armaros thought to himself as he felt glad of that fact.
"The goblin nest is deep inside the mountain, and there is ample space there so there are a lot of them." Armaros informed his companion as she nodded.
"Since it would just be goblins, there won't be any difficulty in clearing the nest." Fanah said as she walked behind him.
He stayed silent at her words as they walked through the tunnel, and soon enough they found an opening as he extinguished the fire on the torch as the two peered into the space in the mountain.
There weren't any goblins in the immediate vicinity but they saw ruins in the space as their eyes widened slightly before they looked at each other. The ruins itself was quite large and was wide as well, taking up a good amount of space in this cave.
"Didn't think there would be ruins here, especially this big . But it makes sense that it was how the goblins were able to easily make a nest." Armaros said quietly.
"Yes. With the ruins they already have a foundation to work on top of. I do wonder what type of ruins this is." Fanah said quietly as she looked at the stone.
"We can think about that after we are done with this quest." Armaros said as she nodded.
The two walked inside the place and looked at the ruins as the two had used their senses to feel the goblins as they were concentrated on the deeper parts of the ruins, which in itself was quite big.
'Was this a place of worship? A forgotten temple?' Armaros thought to himself as he looked at the symbols on the ruins.
It would be a logical assumption, considering its state, it might've been a place where which was used to worship a God long ago, though how long ago it was, he didn't have the means to know, not that it mattered to him anyway. He had more important things to do than think about what kind of God this place had been built for.
But as they entered the place, they felt the goblins coming in their direction in waves which caused their eyes to widen as they focused more on the cluster of goblins and this time managed to feel a goblin which had higher reserves of mana.
"A shaman." Armaros said as he frowned.
"I suppose that's to be expected considering the numbers." Fanah said as she twirled her blade.
They heard the goblins running towards them as they waited, standing beside each other as the goblins charged at them with their weapons in hand.
But the two weren't worried about it as they easily sliced through the goblins gunning for them, as their swords cleaved through their bodies with ease and with their skills, it was quite easy for them to do so that they didn't even need to use much Mana to take care of them.
The place was covered in the blood and dissected bodies of the goblins as they had taken care of the wave that attacked them.
"Let's go in." Armaros said as she nodded.
The two walked inside, going deeper into the cave as they met up with more goblins and some traps, which they easily dealt with as they advanced with their weapons ready for an ambush while keeping their senses open.
As they got closer to the core of the ruins, they were met with more goblins which were slightly getting stronger, but to the two of them they weren't any problems as they pushed through the goblins, their blood splattering on the ruins and some on the two humans.
As they reached the deepest parts of the ruins, they found themselves in a large room where more goblins were there. The goblins with bows shot arrows at them as the two dodged them and charged at the melee ones.
Armaros and Fanah quickly took care of the goblins and charged towards the ones with bows as they also dodged the magical attacks from the shaman as it cried out in anger at its nest being destroyed by the two humans.
But it was for naught as Armaros decided to use magic as well as he sent a bolt of lightning at the shaman, causing it to cry out in pain as it was electrocuted as he stabbed his sword through the head of the last archer goblin on his side.
Fanah meanwhile saw the opportunity as she hurled her sword at the shaman, the blade piercing through the head of the shaman, killing it immediately as its body slumped down as she slammed her foot down on the head of the last goblin on her end as its head burst from the force, causing blood and brain matter to splatter her leg and ground.
"We must also kill the babies if there are any." Armaros said as Fanah nodded while retrieving her blade from the shaman's corpse.
The two tried to find other lives in the ruins and were left confused when they didn't find any life of the children.
"That's odd. A goblin nest this big is bound to have children, even if there aren't any human girls." Armaros said with a frown on his face.
"It is also concerning that all these goblins were here without human beings and goblin offsprings. If they are not born in this nest..." Fanah said as she frowned as she held her blade.
"They were gathered here. But it's difficult for so many goblins to be brought together by a simple shaman." Armaros said as he looked at the shaman.
The two of them looked around the place, feeling suspicious about this entire situation, before they felt a chill going down their spines as they got into fighting stances.
"You have good senses, for children." A masculine voice echoed around them as the two tried to find the source.
"Who are you?" Fanah asked as she got into a stance.
The only response they got was a chuckle before suddenly a large monster appeared in front of them. It was two heads taller than Fanah, bulging muscles and a humanoid male body. It's red eyes glared at them and his sharp teeth were in full display as he held a great sword in his right arm while only wearing a tunic as the eyes of the two humans widened.
"An Ogre?" Fanah said in shock at seeing that.
'Shit.' Armaros thought to himself as he looked at the monster.
Ogres were A rank monsters as they are a cut above the rest due to their immense physical and magical strength, alongside the intelligence that they gain. Ogres were known to have worked alongside the demons in the war 2000 years ago alongside the other monsters and they were scarcely seen.
They are a malevolent species of monsters which evolve from goblins, a great change from the weakling monster into the hulking being in front of them. Due to their experience, Ogres are dangerous and unless it was an A rank adventurer, people are adviced to only engage as a team or run away.
The ogre smirked at the expressions on the two humans as he chuckled at the sight, finding amusement in their fear.
"It is always delightful to see the fear in your eyes." Ogre said with a grin.
"You're the one who gathered these goblins?" Armaros asked as he wanted to buy some time to think of a plan of action.
"Of course. There is no way so many goblins would be staying together without women in their grasps unless they were ordered to. It was amusing to see them be killed, at least you have some skill." Ogre said to them with a grin as he hefted his large weapon.
"Why did you gather such a force of goblins if you're just going to watch them die?" Fanah asked as she got ready to act.
"To see if the humans coming here are strong enough to give me entertainment." Ogre said as he surged with mana.
'Double shit.' Armaros thought to himself as he felt the mana.
The ogre then charged immediately, reaching the two humans as their eyes widened as they used their own Mana as well. But he swung his blade at Fanah as she blocked it, due to the speed. But she was flung back from the force of the strike as she crashed through a wall as she grit her teeth as Armaros' eyes widened.
He then had to jump as he narrowly dodged the attacks from the ogre as he landed on the ground as he made distance between them as he looked at the thing.
'Why can't it just he a normal quest?' Armaros thought to himself as he couldn't help but curse his luck or lack of it.