Ch 7 GS SK.
When Rou, the Overlord of this goblin horde, had learned trough one of his mind enslaved spies that several kingdoms had issued a quest to eliminate his nest, he shook his head in exasperation.
Another bunch of idiot nobles, sending another group of overconfident, under prepared and under experienced rookie adventurers to meet him.
Or would it be a middle ranking group that bit off more than it could chew?
Or maybe this time it would be an actual high ranking group that becomes over confident and is easily duped?
He'd find out soon enough.
Oh yes indeed!
As he sprung his trap on the arriving party of heroes, he was half tempted to actually cheer for these poor sods as Rou's wolf riders lured away the mounted riders from the carts.
Rou would go easy on this group, steal their wagons first and not go after any survivor from their fight with his wolf riders. They'd probably retreat after that; no adventurer took goblins seriously, both as a quest for reputation or for rewards.
If they persisted, we'll he was feeling merciful today.
He would not kill them or eat them.
He'd just mind enslave the men and send them back as spies and turn the women into sex slaves for breeding more goblins.
That was a more merciful fate than what happened to most parties that underestimated goblins.
And almost all saw goblins as an enemy you did not take seriously. Almost that is.
This was a fact that had served Rou greatly in the past year.
Being underestimated by your opponents always worked in one's favor.
Then he heard a great battle cry.
And saw that from the supply wagons, which turned out to be fake ones, there popped not one, not two, not three, but more adventurers than he ever thought possible!
And then it happened!
The flamethrowers, the javelins, the arrows, the spell, the aching cries of pain from the wolf riders as they were cut down! This all made Rou realize a few things:
These were not rookies that were underprepared.
They didn't seem like they bit of more than they could chew.
They struck with so much furry, that it was impossible to say that this group underestimated goblins.
"Come on Mi, fall back!" Rou muttered as around him his ogre sons, human bannermen and the rest of the horde followed the battle.
The ambush/bait group was being cut down like grass!
And then he saw it!
Rou saw how just as Mi was falling back, his ambush party was itself ambushed by the mounted adventurers and another group which was on foot, that they hadn't notice.
He saw how barely in the span of a minute his ambush/bait party was slaughtered, Mi, one of his many mistresses was shot in the mouth and then had her skull smashed to pieces by first a mounted Lizard, then a shabby adventurer in gutter armor.
And then they saw what they did to dumb ol' Kichi!
They shoved a huge sharpened stake right through his anus, pierced his body and emerged next to his head!
And then they pulled it back and impaled him a second time!
Rou dropped the telescope he was using there and then.
What he seen had sent him in so much shock that he remained motionless and silent for a few straight seconds!
"Get them! Kill them all!" Anger and bloodlust, and purest hate flooded him.
The part of the horde that was nearest to him surged forward.
But as they exited the three lines, Rou could saw how the adventurers had almost instantly formed a wagon train fort and everyone jumped behind it.
Recognizing what lay before him, and remembering its effectiveness from his past life as a human, he stopped the part of the horde that had rushed forward.
He could probably take out this whole group himself, but he needed to level up his goblins, also he felt their anger and thirst for vengeance as well, so he could not deny them the change for revenge.
Nor did he want to. But they could not charge that good defensive position that the enemy had set up without getting slaughtered.
And prevented those that were still in the forest from charging forth.
But that anger and hatred still boiled inside of him.
He aimed his musket and fired at the leader of the adventurers.
He could tell that he was that from the fact that he had the most flashy armor around.
Rou scored a hit, but the son of a bitch was wearing a helmet!
Out of all the heroes, in all the parties, in all the lands, the one that had brains enough to wear a helmet had to be here, so Rou could not blow his brains to smithereens!
The entire small army of adventures then ducked behind the cover of the wagons, and Rou's sensitive ears did not pick up any distant cries of anguish or anger.
So their leader was most likely alive.
And the enemy was still in good order, still disciplined, and still behind good defenses.
"Split into four battalions. One to advance, 3 will rest and we will change shifts and weapons at equal intervals. One by one they'll forward just short of skirmish distance then withdraw; I want drums and horns to be sound at random. Let's not give these roaches a moment's of respite or rest! We'll tire them out, then hack them to pieces!"
Rou said as they began their harassment campaign.
All through the night random marches, uncoordinated tunes from their marching band, and lone shots of one or more musket blasts, each shot at undetermined intervals hit the wagon fort.
But not one adventurer peaked over.
Not one adventurer seemed to shout at them in despair.
They all remained silently under the top of their wagons.
Not a single adventurer had tried to escape; there had been no attempts at raiding his forces or even counter-shots into the forest.
They were saving their ammo, strength and personal for the fight ahead.
"They got more discipline than most battalions. Hell, they got more than most armies I've butchered." Rou said to himself as the night wore on and morning was approaching.
This situation didn't make sense to Rou.
His spies had informed him of the amount of reward that was offered for slaying his lair.
It was a very hefty sum, but for this many adventurers to come? There must be almost 100 of them in that wagon fort!
Rou did a quick mental estimate of their expenses and guesses that considering the number present the adventurers would break even and get some profit out of this quest.
The only question was why?
Why would they take such a quest?
Rou knew that the world didn't see goblins as a glorious cause.
Nor did goblin nests have a reputation as been stacked with treasure.
Rou's lair was the exception, but he made sure that no one knew that.
So why did so many jump to take this quest?
"The profit alone from the reward is acceptable. But only if you don't mind not having any rent or food money for a week. Even if something as crazy as that were true, why are so many motivated to come against me?"
Rou pondered as he glared at the wagon fort.
"Who the hell are you all? You damn animals, whom I'll flay alive, then heal just so I can flail again, for killing my subordinate and one of my women." Rou thought as dawn was starting to emerge.
As the first rays of light flooded in, Rou could see how people were approaching the wagon fort from the opposite side of where the forest was. From the direction of were these rats had come from, now more rats emerged to join the other rats.
Cornered rats.
And the mighty and powerful Rou forgot one of the most basic of military rules.
Never attack cornered rats!
Army of Slayer Keep.
"Welcome back Rhea Ranger-san. Was your mission successful?" Priestess asked.
"Yeah! Complete success!" Rhea Ranger, the captain of the Ranger squad said with a cheeky grin, as she and the other members of her squad unloaded from their backs the bags that contained proof of their mission's success.
Them and Middle-Aged Monk, Half-Elf Wizard, Axe Warrior, who had been a special addition to the ranger squad for the purpose of their mission.
„I did my part, but I am afraid my miracle was not as potent as yours sanbon-cho." Middle-Aged Monk said to her. And Priestess was embarrassed by such a high praise from someone who was her senior in the holy arts.
"Any problems?"
"No Goblin Slayer-dono. Though we did encounter several enslaved adventurers who tried to attack us, and escape our trap. Poor things were so heavily mind controlled that they didn't realize they were serving a goblin. But in the end we couldn't save them without exposing ourselves to danger." Rhea Ranger said to him.
"Unfortunate, but unavoidable. That is the horrid truth of goblin slaying. Start the preparations for our plan." Goblin Slayer said as he along with Lizard Priest, High Elf Archer and Dwarf Shaman heaved the bags that the Ranger Captain and her squad brought.
"Everyone know what to do?" Goblin Slayer asked the assembled army of Slayer Keep.
"Good. Also, Priestess."
"Y-yes?"
"Remember no matter what happens in the coming minute, you are not to cast miracle on me. Do you understand? You have to save it for the plan. I may die if you save it. But everyone will die if you don't save it. Do you understand?"
"…..yes…" She replied gloomy, to which GS nodded.
He turned to Elf, Dwarf and |Lizard and they too gave a determined nod of the head.
And so they began their plan.
Rou.
From the forest, just beyond the three line Rou could see that the damned vermin were planning something.
The wagon fort was opening and realigning itself.
From it four figures emerged, all carrying heavy bags on their backs, while behind them the wagon fort was changing its formation itself into another shape.
Rou was about to find out what that shape was, when the 4 man group suddenly stopped and dropped some bags halfway between the three line and the fort and to the right side of the fort.
So much so to the right that the 4 were no longer directly between the fort and the goblin horde in the forest.
Once they stopped and unloaded some bags 3 of the 4 members party left, with the exception of the one that looked like Lizard that stayed now halfway between the distance of wagon fort and the now lone adventurer.
"Who da hell is this joker?" Rou muttered under his breath as he looked at the adventurer that was wearing weak leather armor, dirty weapons, and a cheap helmet.
The adventurer looked straight at the three line and through he knew it was impossible, he could swear that this bottom feeder was looking him straight in the eye.
Goblin Slayer looked towards the place where he knew the goblin horde was.
"Time for you all to die goblins." He said and pulled on each bag's neck noose, releasing it and sending its contents spewing on the ground.
It's contents that was all severed heads of goblin children!
Rou chocked on his own gasps of air when he saw what was in the bags.
Those were his nest's children!
Hell, those were many of his younger ogre children that he had just had with his human wives!
And if they were dead then his wives and his nest had also been slaughtered!
All dead, all killed!
"A-A- distraction! H-he knew that I knew…..this…the wagons…this was all to lure us out, so he could …..How….the lair was heavily guarded…..H—h-h—h-aaaaaa-..aaaaa."
Goblin Slayer looked at the forest in surprise that they had not burst through the woods yet.
Was it too early in the morning for a goblin killing event?
He didn't think so.
At least not for Goblin Slayer.
Perhaps he should have asked Rhea Ranger to bring back one of the burned smoke bombs with her as an extra item to provoke the goblins.
She had done her mission admirably.
Separating her unit after they left Slayer Keep.
Staying behind the main group, sneaking around the goblin horde at night and then using a combination of smoke bombs and a version of barrier miracle performed by Middle-Aged-Monk that was learned from Priestess to kill all the goblins in the now weakened lair, by blocking the exit while they used the smoke bombs to suffocate them all.
So what was wrong with the above mentioned statement?
Why was there no goblin attack?
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
A ragged, savage, demonic screech of a scream was heard from the forest and immediately a huge barrage of spells was fired at Goblin Slayers location, he immediately ran the moment he sensed them coming, he managed to dodge the first.
But the spell was so powerful that it propelled him through the air.
He landed roughly on the ground several meters away from where the barrage had hit.
The shockwave shook him to the core, and he could not stand up.
Thankfully Dragon-Tooth Warrior, which had been summoned by Lizard Priest, grabbed him and the trio ran away.
A storm barrage of super spells were thrown from the forest there and then, and it was only the natural speed and magical spell booster of Lizard Priest, along with his experience in battle that helped the two stay alive and dodge long enough for the barrage to stop.
The horde then emerged at full speed from the forest.
It was led by a huge goblin Overlord, flanked by smaller ogres, lesser champions and even a few human knights.
"Must be mind enslaved." GS thought as he peeked at their pursuers.
They charged directly at Goblin slayer, Lizard Priest and Dog Tooth Warrior.
Suddenly a great pain was felt by Rou, the Overlord, under his right foot.
The out of nowhere suffering brought him out of his blood rage and he saw that he had stepped right into the field of caltrops that had ripped apart his wolf riders, and was now impaling and ripping apart the rest of his horde!
The first few ranks fell and the rest stumbled onto them and when the whole horde stopped a huge volley of arrows from the wagon forth followed, along with a wave of 'Stupor' that also was cast by Dwarf Shaman and the rest of the casters that followed his orders.
This had all been part of their plan.
Goblin Slayer had stayed behind to open the bags himself instead of using Dog Tooth Warrior, so that the overlord would focus his rage on him and ignore the wagon forth, waste his spells on GS and not have them hit the main army and lead them into where the caltrops where.
With their mission accomplished GS and Lizard Priest had shifted directions and now ran straight towards the Slayer army.
Rou raised his hands to blast them there and then, but nothing came!
He had been so angry and so filled with hate that he had blindly fired as many spells as he could.
Now he had no more spell for the day, his home had been destroyed, his wives and children killed, along with most of the young in the den, much of his horde had been stopped in his tracks and was being cut to pieces.
"CHARGE!" Rou said, he could have and should have retreated, but he had lost too much, he was filled with too much hatred to even thing of walking away.
He still had his strength, his ogre sons, and most of his horde.
No, some of his horde left, so they charged straight into the wagon fort!
But as they did so, the strain from the spells, exhaustion form the charge, pain from the caltrops in his foot managed, and the closing distance between himself and vengeance, was starting to make Rou finally recover from his blinding hatred.
And when Rou was just a few blows away from reaching both that raggedy adventure that opened the bag, and half a dozen steps away from the main body of adventurers, he regained his wits fully and noticed something.
Namely that the wagons were no longer in a circle, but they were in a V shaped formation.
One that had the two wing tips pointed in the direction were Rou's horde was coming.
The wagon fort circle was now a funnel.
And Rou and his horde were being funneled in towards death.
It's a TRAP!"
"NOW!" Warrior hollered.
"With this the grudge is struck from the book! Sylphis give me aid" Dwarf Shaman said and opened the box that held their final trump card and used a wind spell to blow the content into the direction of the goblins.
"UPWARDS BOOST!" Wizard activated her spell which focused on High Elf Archer, instantly levitating her high above the horde who had been engulf in a white mist.
"What is this?"
"BARRIER!" Priestess said and finished her miracle.
"F-flour? Rou thought to himself in confusion. His horde had been engulfed in a cloud of white flour.
"A cloud of flour?" That was the thought in his mind as High Elf- Archer's arrow, her fire arrow, struck the cloud, making it explode.
A huge blast of fire and death emerged, deafening many and shaking even more to the core.
But Priestess's barrier, along with the v shape of the wagons, had protected the army of Slayer keep from the blast.
But the goblins were another story.
It had engulfed the Goblin horde, its general having used up all his spells and was to angry and too blinded by hate to do anything but charge, had lead them here.
Were only death awaited the Goblins.
It happened so suddenly that there hadn't been any screams at all.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
But there had been one survivor!
Rou was alive. He was to high up in rank to be killed by that explosion.
He burst through Priestess's barrier, smashing it with his body, he slammed his great axe into the ground so hard that, despite it not hitting anything, the shockwave from its passing killed the nearest adventurers, heavily wounded those beyond that, and the all of Slayer Keep's army was sent flying backwards from the force of the blow!
But Rou had not survived unscathed.
If you could call the state he was in survival.
His right arm was gone, he was bleeding heavily, half of his skin was burned and his ribs were exposed.
"N-need to hill quickly…..no spells…gotta, gotta eat something…regenerate and GET REVENGE!" Rou said as around him the about ¾ of the adventurers had not been killed or wounded by the blow and were slowly, but surely, getting up.
He quickly looked to get one of them, in order to devour him and heal his wounds with his 'cannibal' trait.
"G-gotta avoid the stronger ones..gotta….can't risk it… gotta find the weakest looking here….. a-act fast. There!"
Rou saw that laying on the ground, at his feet, was that raggedy adventure with the poor armor, battered round shield on his left arm and cheap helmet on his head.
Rou was convinced that this was the weakest here; after all why else would he act as a meat shield bait earlier and wear such worthless equipment?
The Goblin Overlord grabbed the raggedy adventurer's chest in his massive paw and started raising Goblin Slayer to his mouth, to eat him.
"C-Can't move, even if I could, this goblin overlord is too strong for us."
The Master of Slayer Keep thought as his wounded and weakened comrades could only watch in desperation as their leader was being lead to the jaws of death itself.
But that was how it was.
The dice roll, adventurers die, whole parties are wiped out, even big ones and monsters win.
And nothing and no one could stop that.
That was the truth of the world, as Rou opened his mouth and Goblin Slayer had no trick, no hidden goodie in his bag, no surprise, no ambush, nothing.
Goblin Slayer's head was now about to be bit off by the jaws of the goblin Overlord.
And there was nothing he could to about it.
He was not a hero.
He could not save or change the world.
"So what?!" Goblin Slayer thought as he summoned every bit of his willpower, every drop of his hatred, every fiber of pain in his body to put strength into his arms, which he used to grab onto Rous tongue and squeezed it so hard that he pierced the skin were the blood vessel were!
"So what if the dice fall that way!" The jolt of pain was so great that Rou quickly threw Goblin Slayer away.
"So what is a man dies!" Goblin Slayer held firm and did not let go of the tongue.
"So what if nothing changes? So what if in the end it ends up like this? So what! That does not matter!" The force and panic behind Rou's action of throwing Goblin Slayer away, and the adventures tight grip on the tongue meant that when he did so, Rou ripped out his own tongue!
"All that matters is that all goblins die! And that Slayer Keep lives! The dice do not decide for me! They do not decide for us!" Goblin Slayer thought as he hit the ground with great impact.
His armor cushioned a part of the blow, but he still felt several ribs crack, blood in his lungs and stomach and he felt how all the joints in his right arm was dislodged.
But he had won!
The screams that were muffled by torrents of blood from Rou's mouth, was their church bells of victory as the Overlord bled trough the great wound where his tongue once was.
Rou eventually lost so much blood that he collapsed to the ground and was now on his back.
Life was fading from him, but he still refused to die yet.
His hatred was keeping him alive.
Goblin Slayer got up to his feet, and walked slowly towards Rou.
"Eeyoulll fffhaaay! EEyouu fffhhaayy tthhhooor dddddhiiiisssss! EEE EEEEEMMMMMMMM WWWWWWOOOOOUUUUUUUU! EEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEMMMMMMMM WOWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!" Rou said, without a tongue and drowning on his own blood, for his part Goblin Slayer noticed that there was a strange thing on the Overlord's belt, which he took.
"He must have had some shape shifter power, since this is human size, far too small for him."
Goblin Slayer thought as he examined the strange weapon, it looked like one of the dawi weapons that Dwarf-Shaman had described to them the night before.
He had also included how they worked.
"Eeyoulll fffhaaay! EEyouu fffhhaayy tthhhooor dddddhiiiisssss! EEE EEEEEMMMMMMMM WWWWWWOOOOOUUUUUUUU! E EEEEEMMMMMMMM WOWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!"
"What did you say?"
Goblin Slayer said as he armed the weapon with his left land, fortunately it was small enough to be used with one hand.
" EEE EEEEEMMMMMMMM WWWWWWOOOOOUUUUUUUU! E EEEEEMMMMMMMM WOWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUU! Eeyoulll fffhaaay! EEyouu fffhhaayy tthhhooor dddddhiiiisssss"
"Doesn't matter." Goblin Slayer said as he aimed the small, primitive flint action shotgun at Rou's head and emptied both barrels into it.
"In the end you are just another dead goblin." Goblin Slayer said after he had blown of Rou's head.
But then he realized that something dreadful had just happened.
"Wait, this one's an ogre. A bigger one, but an ogre…Not a goblin…pity." Goblin Slayer said as around him a cheer went out from the Slayer army.
Immediately they started getting up and helping the wounded and puling the dead away from the fire and goblins corpses.
Goblin Slayer felt how exhaustion gripped him, and he lay on the ground to take a rest.
As he did so he gave a final look at the new weapon he took.
"I like it. Short range, light, nice spread. Good against hordes. I like the shot and what it does to its target. Rip and tear." Was the last word said before unconsciousness gripped him.
As the Master of Slayer keep rested, as the Slayer Army started to heal it's wounded, as the goblin horde of Rou burned.
One goblin was still alive.
But it was not for long.
He was too wounded to survive, soon he would be dead, but before that Sei, the goblin magician, had one last spell to perform.
Sei, along with the other spell casters, had joined Rou in h is rage and hatred for the adventurers and fired with pure hatred and blind rage at Goblin Slayer after he opened the back filled with the heads of their lair's children and women.
But he had not used up all of his spell.
So with his last breath, he cast his last spell and sent the memory of what happened here across the wind to other goblins and monster, along with a single word that when asked:
"What happened?"
Sei would give this as an answer:
"Doom"