CHAPTER 13: Fire, Steel and Silence
I wasn't going to charge in like a damn moron.
Not after everything I'd just been through.
I might've walked out of the last fight in one piece, but that was grace of the system, not a testament to my tactical brilliance. I'd barely survived the Chief. Rordan was dead. And while I felt good now better than good, actually, my body humming with fresh energy, I wasn't about to start thinking I was invincible.
That kind of thinking got people killed.
So I stood in the center of the slaughtered den, surrounded by corpses, blood still thick in the air like a second atmosphere, and I planned.
I'd looted the orbs. Salvaged armor. Gathered weapons. I was stocked and ready.
Now came the important part:
Recon.
I didn't know how many goblins were left, but it wasn't zero. The caves were too big, too twisted, too loud when I'd first snuck through them. I'd passed a dozen turns and tunnels and chambers I hadn't explored places I'd avoided because I hadn't been ready.
Now?
I was ready.
But ready didn't mean stupid.
I moved carefully, creeping low, sword in one hand, one of the salvaged shields in the other. Ki lightly flowing through my legs, not full Acceleration Loop, just enough to keep my balance perfect and my muscles coiled. The moment I tripped something or someone, I wanted my body to be first to react.
Step by step, I eased out of the Chief's den.
The tunnel was quiet.
But not silent.
In the distance somewhere deeper in the cave, I heard it.
Movement.
Small feet. Scraping stone. Grunting. Wet chewing sounds.
Definitely goblins.
But it was scattered. Not organized.
Which meant they didn't know the Chief was dead.
Good.
'Use it.'
I took the long way around, retracing parts of the route I'd taken before, where I'd seen that big cavern full of those degenerate bastards during their freak show rituals. I passed the prison again, slowed for a second as I glanced toward Rordan's cell.
Still empty.
Still stained with ash and blood.
No new guards. No bodies removed. The goblins hadn't even checked on it. They weren't expecting survivors.
I kept moving.
My steps were slow. Focused. This wasn't a game. I'd vomited once already from the aftermath. I wasn't planning on doing it again.
I finally reached the junction where I'd first seen the side chamber, a tight corridor sloping downward, the scent of rot and waste getting thicker with every step.
I slipped inside and crouched behind a jagged outcrop of rock.
And there they were.
About twenty goblins.
All smaller than the Chief, sure but not by much. Some of them were armored, like the ones I'd fought before. Steel over leather, bronze shields. Real weapons. Nothing elegant, but not primitive either.
Three wore robes.
Mages.
Two red. One blue.
And worst of all?
They were on alert.
Not charging around with swords drawn but hunched. Murmuring. Pacing. Weapons close. Tension in their stance.
Something had rattled them.
Maybe the silence from the main den. Maybe some instinct. Maybe divine goblin paranoia. Whatever it was, it meant no more easy kills.
I counted exits.
Two.
One from where I came. One farther down—a rough tunnel leading deeper.
Not good.
I had no idea what lay beyond. Could be more goblins. Could be hostages. Could be another orgy chamber, and I really didn't want to see another one of those.
But bottlenecking them?
Now that I could work with.
If I could funnel them into a tight passage, take them in small groups like before…
Wait.
'Better.'
I looked down at the two fire orbs I'd pulled off the corpses earlier.
Still pulsing faintly. Active.
I had no idea how many times they could be used but one had been fired twice during the mage ambush and didn't explode, so I figured I had at least one or two shots per orb.
I grinned.
Backed up quietly. Slipped into a different tunnel I hadn't explored before. More branching paths, more opportunities.
Eventually I found it.
A narrow hallway with crumbling support beams, like part of the cave had once been artificially reinforced and then abandoned. Dust covered everything. Rocks had fallen in chunks, leaving a partial choke point.
'Perfect.'
I set up a couple of scavenged blades along the side wall leaned them up like quick-grab backups. Planted one of the frozen orbs in the rubble, carefully hidden behind a half-collapsed stone.
Then I climbed up a ledge just above the tunnel bend, crouched into the shadows, and waited.
Bait time.
I took the smallest rock I could find and threw it back toward the chamber then waited five seconds and threw a second one deeper down the far tunnel to confuse the sound.
Moments later, I heard the grunt.
Then another.
Footsteps. Heavy. Uneasy.
Two goblins appeared at the far end of the hallway, weapons drawn, cautious.
I stayed still.
They stepped closer.
Closer.
Right near the orb.
I threw one of the red ones.
A flash.
A blast of heat and light.
BOOM.
Flames ripped through the tunnel, lighting the ceiling orange and hurling the goblins back in a smoking heap.
I dropped down mid-blast.
Ki surged through my legs.
I lunged, clean slash to the neck of the first survivor, caught the second just as he tried to scream, blade sliding between his ribs with a wet crunch.
I dragged the bodies aside. Reset.
Waited.
More footsteps.
Three this time. Another red orb.
**BOOM.**
This time, I ran through the fire.
Didn't care.
They weren't ready.
Three quick slashes. Three dead goblins.
Two more came from the side tunnel.
I ducked behind the pillar, grabbed the bronze blade, threw it hard, it caught one in the face mid-sprint.
I dropped down on the other and caved his skull in with the edge of the shield.
It was working.
One by one.
They didn't know how many of me there were.
They didn't know I'd been watching, waiting, planning.
They weren't fighting a warrior.
They were being hunted.
There's a certain rhythm to killing when it's not about survival anymore.
Not panic. Not desperation.
Just... precision.
I moved like a shadow stitched into the rock, slipping through tunnels that echoed with the low grunts and wet slurping sounds of goblins too stupid to realize their god was dead. Their chief, the eight-foot bastard who'd ruled this cave like a jungle king, was already cooling with a sword in his throat.
And they didn't know.
That was their mistake.
And I was about to make it their last.
The next chamber was smaller. Six of them. One mage, the rest guards. The mage was chanting something over a tied-up elf girl with bruises down her arms and filth smeared across her face. She didn't even move anymore. Just stared blankly at the ceiling like her soul had left her behind hours ago.
I didn't wait.
I didn't feel the need to warn.
I activated a light surge of Ki, just enough to sharpen my motion and dashed in low. The mage didn't finish his chant.
The sword went in under his jaw and out through the top of his skull.
One down.
The guards turned too late.
I slammed into the first with a shoulder charge, then swept the second's legs out with my returning foot. The third swung and missed, wild and wide, leaving his flank open.
Three cuts later, they were all twitching.
Blood slicked the stone. My boots were red now. I didn't bother wiping them.
I cut the elf girl loose.
She didn't move. Just blinked slowly at me.
"You're safe now," I muttered. It felt hollow. Like words said at a funeral.
But her eyes focused, just a little. A tiny flicker of life.
Good enough.
I pressed a broken staff into her hands.
"If anyone touches you again, stab them. Throat, belly, eyes. In that order."
Then I moved on.
The next three chambers were more of the same.
Different faces. Same evil.
Half-naked women, humans, elves, even a couple of beastkin shackled to walls, trapped under goblins rutting like animals. I didn't give them speeches. I didn't wait for sobbing or thanks.
I just killed.
Sometimes I struck from behind. Sometimes I threw blades.
Once, I dropped from the ceiling onto a pair of armored guards and snapped one's neck while driving a dagger into the other's eye.
I used every tactic I knew.
Trip wires. Stone traps. Fire orbs buried under cloaks to explode when disturbed. Frost orbs shoved into wine jugs, then lobbed like grenades into rest chambers.
It wasn't a fight.
It was extermination.
Like smoke clearing out a hive of roaches.
I circled back through the main artery tunnel, now dragging behind me a small caravan of survivors, maybe a dozen women, some still barely able to walk. I found spare gear. Weapons. Food.
One of the elf women whispered something I didn't catch.
I didn't ask.
They followed me because I was the only thing not trying to rape or eat them. That was enough leadership for now.
By the time I reached the final chamber, the one with the disgusting orgy pit I'd seen before, the goblins knew.
They'd barricaded it.
Idiots.
A good defense is only good when the attacker cares about structure.
I didn't.
I pulled the last red orb from my pouch and flung it straight at the wooden barricade.
**BOOM!!.**
The explosion tore through the entrance and sent flaming splinters flying. Screams followed. I didn't wait.
I activated Acceleration Loop at half-flow to avoid burning out, then charged.
Five guards came at me.
I ducked under the first blade, rolled behind them, and opened the first two from spine to throat before they turned.
The third I disarmed with a shield bash and stabbed under the armpit where the armor split.
The last two ran.
I chased them down.
One tripped. I let his own momentum drive my sword through his chest as he fell on it.
The other tried to scream for help.
I threw a frost orb.
He froze mid-word, a statue of ice and fear.
I walked past him and crushed his head with a fallen mace.
I didn't feel victorious.
I didn't feel anything.
Just done.
The last group of survivors, about twenty more huddled together in the corner of the ruined chamber. Some of them were wounded. Others half-conscious. But most... most were just empty. Like the girl from earlier.
I counted them. 31 in total.
A few looked up when I approached. One or two flinched.
None of them asked who I was.
I didn't introduce myself.
I started gathering supplies.
Swords. Food. Clothing. Anything not soaked in blood or rot.
I gave each woman a blade. Even the ones who could barely hold them. They needed something. Dignity, maybe. Or closure.
Or just one last sense of control before they stepped back into the real world.
"You're going to walk," I told them. "And you're going to live."
No one responded.
But they moved.
We left the chamber behind.
Left the fire. The bodies. The ruin.
But I didn't leave the blood.
I carried that with me.
On my boots.
On my hands.
Under my nails.
By the time we circled back to the main hall, where the Chief's corpse still lay cold. I had completed my task.
The cave was empty of goblins.
But not empty of ghosts.
I looked down at the sword still lodged in the Chief's throat. Still silent. Still waiting.
And I said one thing under my breath.
Not a prayer.
Not a curse.
Just a promise.
"I'm not stopping here."