Chapter 12: Chapter 12 – Darkness & Stone

Ferru: "Goblins! They aren't supposed to be this close to the city!"

He said, looking around at the goblins surrounding us. We naturally collapsed on each other, backs to each other. Licht began counting the number of goblins as I took out my dagger and steamgun. Calico prepared the next spell she was going to use as I watched the goblins. They skulked around under the sparse cover of trees and rocks, climbing, crawling, and sneering at us. Then they began chittering away with hoarse, high-pitched voices in a language I couldn't understand. Eerie whispers began to surround us as we waited patiently, going on the defensive.

Licht > Iris: "There's 15 of them I think. It's hard to accurately count them but we're outnumbered 5-1."

Licht spoke through my body, but I didn't mind since it saved us time. Then before either of the two could respond, with a hiss and scraping talons, a goblin leapt out from a rock and I shot it between the eyes with a snap of my Steamgun. Dark red liquid blasted out from behind its head and unceremoniously fell flat on the ground. As it died, angry hisses erupted from the shadows as several more began to pounce forward.

Calico: "Flame Lash!"

As calico spoke, a long whip of purple fire emerged from her hand and she lashed out towards a pair of goblins bounding toward us, scorching their faces as they tumbled and squirmed, running off into the shadows again. Another two leapt out at me and I shot one, missing the head and burying a bullet into its collar as it loses its form and hits the ground before scurrying off to reposition. During so I slash at the other goblin and slice its throat, the dark liquid spurting out and coating my arm as it dies.

Meanwhile Ferru had three come at him. He thrust his sword into the head of the first, killing it instantly, then using the momentum in his body, swung his gauntleted fist to smash the head of another goblin, sending it flying and blocking the bite of the third. I judged he could use some help and rushed forward, stabbing the goblin straight in the heart and killing it. At the same time, calico casted another spell

Calico: "Flame Bolt!"

Several bright purple arrows of flame appeared around her and shot out like lightning towards the goblins in the shadows, most hitting their mark. I was confident I saw one die from getting hit with two fire bolts in vital spots.

Iris: "That's 6 down, if we count the concussed goblin. There should be 9 left." I reported swiftly.

The goblins were now more cautious than before. But we held our ground and didn't break formation. My steamgun magazine could hold 20 shots, and I had only shot 2 for this encounter. I still had plenty of ammo. I'm sure Calico still had plenty of magic, and Ferru has only been scratched from the previous attack.

One of the goblins burnt from Calico's lash sprinted forwards, towards me. I shot at it with my Steamgun and only hit the shoulder, but it kept going, maddened from anger and pain as it snarled at me. It quickly reached me and stood on it's hind legs, pulling an arm back to slash at me, but I dipped under the arm and cut open its chest. As it fell to its knees, I carefully aimed and blasted its head open. As I dispatched the goblin that rushed at me, two more rushed out from the shadows at me and Ferru intercepted them, slashing apart the face of one and eagle-gripping the next before plunging his sword into it's chest and destroying the heart. That was 3 more.

Calico: "Barricade!" Calico summoned from the earth a wall of interwoven, stone spikes to limit their approach angle and watched our back as we dispatched the goblins one after another. Like this, we thinned out their numbers before finally killing the last one.

Ferru: "Phew... We finally got em all. Goblins sure are troublesome."

The light from Flare Light was beginning to dim as we stood amongst a pile of corpses.

Calico: "You can say that again. Fortunately I only needed to use cheap spells against them because of Iris here~" She said happily.

Iris: "I'm glad I could be of help. So how do we report our kills?"

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Ferru: "They're tracked on your guild tag. According to the guild staff, fresh kills, starting from the last job you took to the time of turn-in, are listed as "New". Pretty useful so we don't have to waste space carrying bits and pieces."

Made sense. While he talked I studied the corpses because Licht was interested in something. It seems the two didn't pay any attention to it, perhaps it was common for newbies?

Ferru: "Like, what if you kill a dragon, right? But you don't have some stupid-huge storage bag to hold the thing? And the guild too. Where're they gonna put that stuff? So kills are just recorded on the tag to make it easier."

It definitely could become logistically troublesome. Also, It seemed that specific parts of interest from monsters were dismantled and brought back to blacksmiths, armor smiths, cooks, alchemists, and auctions too. I guess some monster meat is good enough to eat. There was that grilled arthropod, it must've been a hunted monster. Some monsters were specifically hunted for their parts. In the terms of goblins, it seems the Talons of their hands were actually made of a metal that the goblins form in their bodies from the environment, and were gathered for use in small blades or ballistic weapons. I gathered some for the future before bringing something up.

Iris: "About these goblins... Are they supposed to have black spots all over them?"

Calico turned over and took a closer look with a confused, then pensive expression as she covered her mouth. "...No, no goblins are supposed to be completely grey. These black spots are unusual."

Iris: "Then I would like to write a special report for the guild about this" I volunteered. Licht volunteered really, but we were two souls together. Some of his interests were mine aswell.

Calico: "Go ahead, what a diligent girl you are~ Become my lil sis please~"

Ferru: "What, so she can clean up your room, calico?" Ferru responded with a snide remark, teasing her as she pouted.

While they had something like sibling banter, we continued on down the path to the location of the tunnel. Here there was an inhumanly massive pillar extending up into the darkness, at the bottom of which infront of us was a crack in the pillar, which dipped down into total darkness, devoid of light.

Ferru: "Here it is. High alert from now on, you two"

Me and Calico gave an affirmative, with Calico casting a long-lasting light spell that tracked the caster, Torch Light. Then we descended into the inky black of the Tunnel. It was Cramped, Cold, and Damp, mostly unlike the city. The city was damp too, due to the prominence of Steam. As we walked, the tunnel soon levelled out and opened up into a somewhat spacious corridor, big enough for each of us to stand together side-by-side, arms outstretched, and the ceiling was about 12 feet up.

The darkness reminded me of another detail in this world as we walked. Everyone had pale, bright skin. Or dirty grey skin from all the stone smog in the city. But there was no one of dark skin unlike Licht's world. Licht theorized it was because the majority of the humans in this world lived underground, for reasons still uncertain.

During my musing, we fought more monsters, but only goblins or things less-unusual, like giant centipedes with steel mandibles or large bat-like creatures that could make us go deaf temporarily with a single screech.

A few hours into the tunnel and we had been making small talk after having lunch. We were starting to work our way back out of the tunnel the way we had come. At this rate it would be a simple job with an unusual report, but things never were that easy, were they?

In our way, blocking the corridor leading to the exit, was a large, menacing, jet-black figure. It's four legs were covered in layered plates of chitin and reverse jointed, ending in four, jointed spikes each that stabbed the ground. These legs connected at a big, powerful spine that supported a burly, chitin-plated torso with four smaller bits that looked like they could detach, like smaller arms for precise manipulation. Then at the top were two muscular arms covered in an exoskeleton, ending in what were clearly two, huge, folded mantis scythes with vicious serrations that could chop us in half with a flick. The head looked unexpectedly soft, covered in jet-black scaly hide with a seam that ran down its lizard-like face to the throat. There were no eyes or nostrils, instead resting on the top of its head were two smooth, black domes about the size of half a cantaloupe each. The chest vibrated slightly, and the three of us heard this dull, eerie ckckckckckck sound. Then its head turned toward us and the huge scythes unfolded. It knew we were here. And it was going to kill us.