Chapter 46: Chapter 46: The carnage

"Fireball barrage!" Both Jean and Leander called at the same time. Jean's arrow splintered into one hundred fireballs, while Leander's into ten.

 The goblins had tried to run out of the cavern, through the entrance from which the party had come, but had crashed into the barrier stone's barrier.

Which led Dorian to believe that this was a dead end, of sorts. Or that the entrance to the caverns further in were too well hidden for something as stupid as a goblin to get through.

Dorian worried for Leander. The healer had foregone putting a barrier around himself so that there could be one around the abused Naga. Just thinking about the creature made Dorian's blood boil.

How could have the goblins done such a thing? What did the Naga even do to them? Sure, most Naga were violent, no better than mobs. But this one had a gentle feeling to himself. As if he were a kind soul.

And those dirty, green, vermin had played with him. Did unspeakable things to him. Kept him prisoner. And for what? Their own amusement? Lust? Dorian bashed a goblin in the head, making the filth's face into mush.

Morris ran past him and did an axe whirlwind, taking out an entire group of goblins that was trying to huddle away from the range of the fireball barrages.

It was a slaughter, Dorian realized. The goblins could take on the defenseless, but not on the strong. Dorian's nose scrunched up when the smell of urine and excrement hit it. Those goblins couldn't even die with honor.

With a roar, the tank focused a fireball in his hand and a wind spell in his throat.

"Firewall!" He screamed and fried alive some goblins, who thought he was the weakest one in the party and so could be engaged. Finally, there was just one goblin left. Hiding in a corner next to the closed off entrance.

"Please, no. I didn't touch the pretty. I swear I didn't touch the pretty," the goblin screamed, his loincloth having a wet spot.

"You disgusting piece of shit," Morris yelled, raising his axe high and preparing to charge. "How dare you call him like that? What, do you think he had no right to respect? To decency? You scum took it all away from him!"

"I didn't touch the pretty!" The goblin dropped into a ball and began to sob. Dorian went to it and took it by the throat.

"What is past this cavern?" He asked. The tank was still going to kill the vermin, even if he told him. But he would give him a quick death. If he did tell.

"The swamp. The swamp is there with old glow cap," the goblin yelled. "Please don't kill me! They used to do to me what they did to the pretty...."

"Don't call him that!" Jean roared, then, he stopped to think about what the goblin had said. Could it be the truth?

Dorian took the goblin and dragged it to the Naga.

"Is he telling the truth?" The tank asked in a far harsher tone than he intended. The Naga flinched and brought his hand up, as if to protect himself. Dorian's eyes softened, and he tried with a gentler tone. "I mean, did he not touch you?"

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The Naga picked from behind his hand to stare at the goblin.

"Oh, Bog, what happened to you?" The Naga asked, and Dorian got his answer. He let go of the goblin. Leander undid the barrier and the goblin rushed into the arms of the Naga, hugging onto him and sobbing.

"It is ok," the Naga tried to assure him, even if nothing was ok. "They are dead now. They will never touch us again."

"Bog was made to fight. Bog is sorry, Atha," the goblin sobbed, and the four adventurers looked uncomfortably at the two.

"Bog took care of my wounds, after the rest were done with me. He shared his meager meals with me, too," Atha, the captured Naga, clarified. Dorian looked at the hand, with which he had nearly chocked the goblin who had tried to show kindness to the Naga, and felt shame. He wanted to say he was sorry, but that sounded hollow to him.

They had all judged the goblin by the same criteria as his peers. Were there any more innocent goblins in the carnage? There was a reason why there was a rule in the adventurer's handbook to never consider mobs innocent. It was to make it easy for the adventurers to sleep at night. But that knowledge did not ease the mind of the four partners.

"We will get you out of here and heal you," Dorian heard Leander mutter. "Both of you."

"You want to destroy the nasty core, right?" Bog asked, and they all turned to him. "Can you sever Bog from it first? Bog doesn't want to die."

Dorian sent Leander a tired look, and the healer went to the goblin.

"You will never be able to use mana again," Leander told him, as his hands glowed a soft yellow. "But life can still offer plenty to you."

"Thank you," Atha told them, still clutching at the goblin like he was a plush toy.

"Atha, you are not a mob, are you?" Morris couldn't explain to himself why a dungeon core would let a mini-boss get chained up and... No, he didn't want to think on that.

"No, I am just a Naga. Born outside a dungeon. I was looking for a place to spend a couple of days, when the dungeon core moved in," the four nodded as Leander severed the connection Bog had with his mana and the dungeon core that created him. The goblin looked at his green hands in wonder.

"I feel light now. Hey, Atha, do you think we can go see the sky now?" The goblin was like a child, Dorian realized with a start. And hadn't deserved to be used by the rest of his kind.

"You will see the sky, sun and stars, if you'd like to," Dorian promised the two as they watched him with shining eyes. "But you will have to be strong and stay in here for a while. We need to clear this dungeon. So, others would be safe."

Atha nodded and Bog clutched at him tighter. The four turned and, once Dorian called for a formation with the whistle, they regrouped. They had no idea what the glow cap monster could be, but it sounded like a mini-boss. So, they had to be ready.

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