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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Goblins, Demons, Children (3)
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The forest tonight couldn't close its eyes.
Flickering ghostly lights swayed like funeral pyres soothing the souls of the dead. Lined-up torches clawed at the silent darkness.
But they weren't majestic conquerors of the night. Hesitation dripped from their steps, and the faces revealed beneath the flames were rigidly tense. Most of them stood with senses on edge like frightened beasts, constantly scanning the shadowy thickets.
"Th-that..."
"Eek, you scared me!"
A flap from some unknown winged creature sent six or seven grown men shrieking in panic. One even mistook fireflies for goblin eyes and raised a huge fuss. Another swung a pitchfork at the sound of footsteps, nearly causing an injury.
Only one among the group remained untouched by fear: the soot-skinned giant following the guide at the front.
Kadim's face was utterly impassive, as if it had forgotten all emotion. His strides were so swift that he nearly overtook the guide several times.
The untimely test of courage finally ended as they neared the cave. Quick glances sparked fierce, silent standoffs. Prodded in the back by someone, the man who'd idly lent his hand axe stepped forward awkwardly.
"Ahem, we'll... head back to the village and wait. Goblins might suddenly raid it..."
It was a petty excuse, but Kadim paid it no mind. Those scared stiff by the demon would be no help anyway. Better to fight alone than drag along a bunch of hindrances.
Still, he couldn't go completely alone. Kadim jerked his chin toward Duncan.
"Merchant, you're coming with me."
"Y-yes?"
"Need someone to hold the torch while I fight the demon."
Kadim had sharp night vision, but he couldn't pierce total darkness perfectly. He'd need someone to provide light inside a cave where not a single ray penetrated.
"..."
Duncan peered into the cave. It gaped like a pitch-black maw. He swallowed hard without realizing it. Or was it his imagination?—faint screams seemed to echo from within.
'Ugh... really don't wanna go...'
But there was no choice. The barbarian shot him an indifferent look, while the villagers studiously avoided his gaze. No one seemed willing to step up in his place.
"...Understood, sir. Hoo, let's go."
Duncan let out a ground-shaking sigh. The villagers handed him a spare torch stand and flint, then scurried away like they were fleeing for their lives.
The two stood before the cave entrance. The light revealed a path sloping gently downward. It widened further in, with a thin gutter trickling along the edge. Kadim took the lead, while Duncan followed cautiously from behind, illuminating the way.
No demons or goblins lunged out from the entrance. Duncan carefully scanned behind stalactites and boulders for hiding spots, but not a single monster peeked out. The screams he'd heard earlier must have been his imagination after all.
Growing a bit less tense, Duncan glanced at Kadim and spoke up.
"Sir, if I may... just one question?"
"..."
"Why help those people without scolding them? They're vile cowards who offered up their own kids to a demon and fled instead of rescuing them."
He hadn't really expected a proper answer. It was just something to break the awkward silence of their wordless march.
Kadim shot Duncan a sidelong glance.
"You ever faced a living demon?"
"Pardon? Uh, no..."
Never. Demons were said to ravage the continent, but he'd always detoured whenever rumors surfaced. The only demons the merchant had ever seen were corpses on the black market.
The barbarian gave a small sigh and offered a rather long explanation.
"A human who's faced a demon head-on changes. Every noble resolve in life shatters, leaving only bone-deep terror and a desperate craving for survival. A few overcome it and stand against the demon, but you can't expect that level of mental fortitude from average folk."
"B-but sir, even so, how could they offer their own child as tribute? Even beasts know to cherish their young..."
"Sometimes survival demands wading through filth and gulping down muck. Ugly as it is, it's their choice for staying alive, so you can't just condemn them outright. Didn't you hear their excuse? They had no other options."
"Ah, no, but from the child's perspective, isn't it like the whole world abandoning them? What's the point of surviving through such despicable acts?"
"..."
The barbarian's face grew rigid. No answer came to the final question. Duncan thought he'd said something wrong and paled, clamping a hand over his mouth.
But Kadim wasn't angry. He simply pondered in silence. It felt like their positions had somehow reversed.
Duncan's sense of morality felt far closer to reality's. Closer than his own warped notions, forged from cleaning up after the Hero and crossing rivers of blood.
'...Even if I return to reality like this, could I really live properly?'
It was a vague, floating question. Far more meaningful was Duncan's attempt to change the subject.
"A-anyway, sir. Are the kidnapped kids even still alive?"
Kadim closed his eyes and recalled the habits of the demons he'd encountered in his past life.
The reflection didn't last long.
"If the demon were less cunning and less wicked, it'd have killed them. But a cunning, wicked one? It would've kept them alive for sure."
"Pardon? What do you...?"
As he started to protest that it sounded backward, a rasping, eerie screech echoed out.
– Keeek, kyak!
– Kick, kiiieee...!
Red eyes lurking in gaps between stalactites gleamed in the torchlight. Blind murderous intent prickled their skin. Duncan forgot all questions and started backing away.
"Hiiik!"
The merchant stumbling over a rock and the barbarian hurling his hand axe happened almost simultaneously. The axe, casting flickering shadows in the torch's dance, struck precisely between the eyes of the lead goblin.
Thuk – !
– Kek!
It happened so suddenly that the goblins didn't even notice. They merely stared puzzled at their kin collapsing limply.
In that interval, Kadim drew the sword at his waist and charged.
"Huaaaaa!!"
Stab –
– Gruk, hihek....
The blade pierced the pea-sized Adam's apple. The goblin staggered with a deflating wheeze. Kadim kicked the body to yank out his sword, then bent to retrieve his hand axe.
Thuk –
Another goblin crumpled, its forehead smashed by the axe blade. Kadim flashed a chilling smile. The goblins belatedly snapped to attention and rushed the hulking barbarian.
– Kyeeeeek!!
One swung a club as thick as Kadim's thigh.
Kadim flicked his sword short to deflect the club. Then he pulled the blade inward and drew a swift horizontal line across its side. The abdomen split open like it had been sawn with a rusty blade, spilling twisted intestines.
– Kihik, kihihihik!
– Kyeeeeek!!
Two more leaped in like frogs.
The space was cluttered with stalactites, leaving no room for wide swings. Kadim reversed his grip on the sword, pressing the flat against his palm and holding only the edge with his fingertips. He swung it like a short pickaxe with ferocious force.
Whish - thuk, thuk!
– Kek!
A narrow fan-shaped arc. The devastating cross-crush pulverized their skulls. Unable to withstand the impact, the goblins flew back and tumbled across the ground.
Kadim regripped the sword properly before he cut himself. As expected, using a sword in such an obstacle-filled space wasn't ideal. He'd butcher the rest with the hand axe.
He yanked the axe from one furrowed brow and smashed another forehead. He crushed the hand clutching a rusty mace, then cleaved the skull from the crown. He kicked one tumbling from a waist strike and slashed its neck. He stomped a torso until the spine bulged out, then snapped it.
Under the barbarian's bloody slaughter, the goblins' numbers dwindled rapidly. Over twenty corpses piled up, leaving just three or four.
– Kyeee, kyak!
– Kihihi, kiik, kiik!
Their aggression peaked, but they hadn't lost all fear. The survivors whimpered in terror and fled in a panic. The silhouettes of the moss-green dwarves vanished into the darkness.
Duncan stared around at the bloodbath in a daze, clutching his torch aloft.
"Huck, heuk, my god..."
"Pursue them now. With most of the pack dead, they'll head straight back to the demon."
Kadim's attitude was utterly nonchalant, as if nothing had happened. Duncan followed, wondering who the real demon was.
The path, which had been widening, suddenly narrowed sharply. What had been wide enough for four men abreast shrank to barely enough for one. Kadim turned sideways and smashed stalactites and stalagmites with the poll of his axe as he pursued the goblins.
The path soon widened again. This didn't seem like a natural tunnel. The walls were damp limestone crudely chiseled, bearing clear signs of expansion. The goblins must have widened it to use as a base.
Then, Kadim's eyes twitched sharply.
A fishy stench brushed his nostrils.
"Back off. Demon's nearby."
"Y-yes? Heuk!"
Duncan retreated hesitantly. Kadim issued low instructions.
"Keep a safe distance, but don't run. The goblins might track you in a pack and kill you. If one or two approach, just jab them away with the torch."
"Uh, uh, uu..."
Kadim quickly scanned the surroundings. The smell was quite distinct—it had to be close. His blood-smeared axe blade quivered.
Yet it was strange. No demon silhouette entered his vision, no sounds reached him, no presence could be felt. Kadim narrowed his eyes and focused his mind.
He pinpointed the demon's location through the torchlight on the walls.
Between thick stalactite shadows, a bizarre outline with sharp protrusions.
Scrrch –
He sensed it and leaped back urgently, but a beat too late.
He managed to shield his face, sparing his eyeballs. But he couldn't block the three diagonal slashes raking across his forearm.
Kadim gritted his teeth through the searing pain, his expression hardening.
– Ah, human... You're one I've never seen before.
The demon licked the blood droplet from its claw and intoned chillingly.
It matched the villagers' description perfectly: grotesquely bulging eyes and sharp fangs, red skin and skinny forearms, huge claws and hands. At a glance, it resembled a goblin, but far more deformed and exuding a hair-raising aura.
However, not everything matched.
'...Damn it, it has a horn.'
A single horn, finger-length, sprouting from the temple. Proof this demon was evolving into mid-rank. Kadim betrayed a hint of dismay, biting his lip.
The demon grinned twistedly, clearly delighted by his expression.
– I like humans. Why? 'Cause they're weak and obedient? Even these pathetic goblins tremble at me... and when I tell 'em to offer their own spawn, they do it without question... Ki, kihik, kihihihik....
The combat power between low-rank and mid-rank demons was on another level entirely.
A low-rank could generally be defeated by a dozen untrained men, as long as they didn't panic first. But a mid-rank? Even an elite squad couldn't guarantee victory. The reason Kadim hadn't dodged the ambush was that the demon's agility far exceeded the norm.
– But you... you killed too many of my goblins. Starting to dislike humans. Beg for forgiveness.
"..."
– I'll give you a chance. Don't use that arm anymore. Cut it off with your axe. Chop off the arm, chew up all the bone and meat, then you can leave. Not before.
At least the horn was still that small—a stroke of luck. It must have just started evolving after kidnapping the kids. A fully horned mid-rank would've been a tough matchup for Kadim as he was now.
The demon twisted its neck grotesquely as it approached Kadim. A harsher voice, like metal grating on metal, spilled out.
– You, why not listen to me?
"..."
– Ah, listening now? You'll obey from here on, right?
Kadim scowled. It had blabbered on for a while, but lost in thought, he hadn't heard a word. Not that it was worth listening to anyway.
So Kadim replied as he reached for his waist.
"No, I don't listen to bloodsacks."
Splash –
He tore open the leather pouch and gulped down the sticky blood.
A thick stench spread. The corrupted blood-scent permeated the air. The demon's eyes flickered wildly for an instant upon smelling its kin's blood.
– What... Human, why would you...
Old blood, but not without effect. Starting from his nerve endings, his blood surged through his body. His vision shook, vertigo hit. Muscles swelled, hot breaths puffed out.
The duration wouldn't be long. Vowing a swift end, the berserker tossed the pouch aside. Kadim raised his hand axe, crimson eyes gleaming murderously.
The moment it faced that gleaming edge, the demon felt an unfamiliar dread seep into its spine.