[POV: Sora Amano] [Location: The Left Tunnel - Deep Goblin Territory]
The deeper they went, the more the air tasted like copper and rot.
Sora moved in silence, his footsteps swallowed by the soft, damp moss that lined the tunnel floor. Beside him, Riku was vibrating with anxiety, his monocle twitching as he scanned every shadow.
"Stop shaking," Sora whispered, not looking at him. "Your gear is rattling."
"I am not shaking," Riku hissed back, clutching his belt. "I am... oscillating. It's a nervous system response to impending doom."
"Same thing." Sora stopped. He looked at the Artificer. "We're walking into a meat grinder, Riku. If we get into a fight, I need to know exactly what you have. No surprises."
Riku swallowed hard. He opened his tool pouch, revealing a chaotic assortment of gears, crystals, and vials.
"I have... prototypes," Riku stammered. "Most are untested. But I have three that are functional."
He pulled out a simple grey sphere the size of an apple.
"Item One: Smoke Bomb," Riku explained. "Basic chemical reaction. Magnesium and sulfur mixture. Creates a dense, opaque cloud. Duration: 30 seconds."
"Good," Sora nodded. "Simple is good. Next."
Riku pulled out a small, hexagonal crystal wrapped in copper wire. It hummed faintly.
"Item Two: The 'Screamer'," Riku said, adjusting his glasses. "I reverse-engineered the vocal cords of a Shriek Bat we dissected in class. If I shatter this crystal, it emits a sonic frequency of 40,000 Hertz."
Sora raised an eyebrow. "A dog whistle?"
"A sonic grenade," Riku corrected, offended. "It overloads the auditory nerves. Humans will just hear a ringing. But Goblins? They have massive ears. This will drop them to their knees with vertigo for about five seconds."
"Five seconds," Sora repeated. "That's a lifetime. I like it."
"And finally," Riku patted the holster at his hip. He pulled out the weapon—a sleek, blocky pistol made of brass and dark wood. It didn't look like a fantasy weapon; it looked like something from a steampunk nightmare.
"The Kinetic Driver," Riku said, holding it with reverence. "It doesn't use gunpowder. It uses compressed mana cartridges to fire solid steel darts."
"Ammo?" Sora asked.
"Six shots," Riku said grimly. "And I don't have a reload mechanism yet. Once it's empty, it's a paperweight."
"Six shots," Sora memorized the count. "Okay. Smoke for cover. Screamer for crowd control. Gun for high-value targets. Keep them ready."
They continued.
The tunnel began to open up. The tight corridor widened into a massive, cavernous space. And with the space came the noise.
Screams.
"NO! GET OFF!"
That was Mei.
"MEI! RUN!"
That was Hinata.
Sora signaled Riku to stop. They crouched behind a cluster of stalagmites near the entrance of the cavern.
Below them, the "Bone Room" opened up like an amphitheater of horror.
It was a slaughterhouse.
In the center, Toru Makabe was on his knees. He was surrounded. A massive Hobgoblin—seven feet of grey muscle—was looming over him, raising a club studded with rusty nails. Toru's arm was bleeding, his fire magic sputtering out like a dying candle.
To the right, Hinata was a blur of desperation. The Assassin was bleeding from a gash on his forehead. He was desperately trying to parry three goblins at once, keeping them away from Toru, but he was losing ground. Every time he blocked, he staggered.
But the worst sight was on the left.
Mei Tachibana had lost her broken spear. She was backed against a wall of skulls. Five goblins surrounded her. They weren't attacking with weapons. They had dropped their swords. They were grinning, their hands reaching out, grabbing at her clothes, her hair.
Mei was kicking, screaming, terror etched into her face.
"Get away!" Mei shrieked, tears streaming down her face.
The goblins laughed—a low, guttural sound. They didn't want to kill her. In the hierarchy of the dungeon, human females weren't food. They were livestock.
Riku saw it, and his face went green. "Oh god. They're going to..."
"Focus," Sora said. His voice was ice cold.
He looked up. Near the ceiling of the cavern, perched on wooden scaffolding, were four Goblin Archers. They had their bows drawn, aiming at the center. If anyone tried to run, they would be pin-cushioned.
"We can't rush in," Sora analyzed, his eyes darting across the room. "The archers will tear us apart before we reach the floor."
Sora looked at the Hobgoblin raising its club over Toru.
"Toru dies in three seconds," Sora calculated. "Mei gets dragged off in ten."
Sora turned to Riku. He held out his hand.
"Smoke," Sora ordered.
Riku slapped the grey sphere into Sora's palm.
"Throw it at the Hobgoblin," Riku whispered. "I'll take the shot at the archers?"
"No," Sora shook his head. "Save the bullets. We need them for the big guy."
Sora stood up. He didn't yell. He didn't announce his presence. He wound his arm back and hurled the sphere.
It sailed through the air, a perfect arc over the heads of the archers, dropping straight toward the center of the room.
The Hobgoblin grunted, swinging the club down to crush Toru's skull.
CLINK.
The sphere hit the ground between Toru's legs.
FWOOSH.
An explosion of thick, grey smoke erupted instantly. It expanded with violent force, swallowing Toru, the Hobgoblin, and the immediate area in a choking cloud.
"COUGH! COUGH!"
The Hobgoblin roared in confusion, swinging its club blindly. It hit nothing but air.
"Now!" Sora hissed.
He jumped.
Sora didn't take the stairs. He vaulted over the stalagmites, sliding down the steep rock face of the cavern wall. He hit the floor running, diving straight into the smoke cloud.
Inside the smoke, it was chaos.
Sora couldn't see, but he remembered the layout. He remembered where Toru was kneeling.
He slid across the floor, grabbing the collar of Toru's robe.
"Move, you idiot!" Sora growled.
"Wha—?" Toru gagged on the smoke.
Sora yanked him backward, dragging him out of the cloud just as the Hobgoblin's club smashed into the spot where Toru had been a second ago.
CRACK. The stone floor shattered.
They tumbled out of the smoke into the open air near Hinata.
"Sora?!" Hinata yelped, nearly dropping his dagger. "You're... you're here?"
"Eyes up!" Sora barked. He stood up, scanning the room.
The smoke was clearing. The Hobgoblin was furious. The Archers on the scaffolding were confused, trying to find a target. The five goblins surrounding Mei had stopped, looking at the new intruder.
Sora had no mana. He had a rusty machete and a scavenged shield. And he was standing in the middle of thirty enemies.
"Riku!" Sora yelled, pointing at the group surrounding Mei. "Make them dance!"
From the high ground at the entrance, Riku leaned out. He held the copper-wrapped crystal. He threw it hard.
The crystal smashed against the wall right above Mei's head.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!
The sound wasn't audible to the humans—just a dull pop and a ringing sensation.
But to the Goblins?
It was agony.
The five goblins grabbing Mei shrieked, clutching their long, pointed ears. They fell to their knees, disoriented, blood trickling from their ear canals. The Archers on the scaffolding dropped their bows, stumbling drunkenly.
"Mei!" Sora shouted. "Kill them while they're down!"
Mei, still trembling, looked at the goblins writhing on the ground in front of her. She saw the lust in their eyes turn to pain.
She didn't hesitate. She grabbed a rock from the pile of skulls.
"Don't... touch... me!"
CRUNCH. CRUNCH.
Mei brought the rock down. Once. Twice.
"Good," Sora muttered.
He turned back to the center. The Hobgoblin shook its head. It was too big, too thick-skulled for the sonic grenade to incapacitate it fully. It just looked annoyed.
It locked eyes with Sora.
"You..." the Hobgoblin growled in broken Common. "Little... rat."
It charged.
The ground shook. Seven feet of muscle moving with terrifying speed.
"Sora! Run!" Toru screamed, trying to conjure a flame but failing.
Sora didn't run. He didn't block. He looked around.
Environment Scan: Floor: Uneven cobblestone. Debris: Rusted iron chains hanging from the ceiling. Enemy: Right-handed swing. heavy momentum. High center of gravity.
Sora dropped his machete.
"What are you doing?!" Hinata screamed.
Sora waited. He watched the club rise.
3... 2... 1...
The Hobgoblin swung. A horizontal haymaker meant to cut Sora in half.
Sora dropped to his knees. He slid forward on the slick, blood-covered stones, passing under the swing. The wind of the club ruffled his hair.
As he slid past the monster's legs, Sora grabbed the loose end of a rusted chain dragging on the floor.
He rolled, coming up behind the Hobgoblin. He wrapped the chain around the monster's thick ankle.
"Pull!" Sora gritted his teeth, heaving back with all his Strength (which was only 3, but physics was on his side).
The Hobgoblin tried to turn. The chain went taut.
Its legs tangled. Its momentum carried it forward.
THUD.
The massive beast crashed face-first into the stone floor.
"Riku! The eyes!" Sora roared, jumping onto the Hobgoblin's back.
The monster thrashed, trying to buck him off like a rodeo bull. Sora held onto the coarse grey hair, his muscles screaming.
Up on the ledge, Riku leveled his prototype gun. His hands were shaking.
Target acquired. Distance: 20 meters. Windage: Negligible.
"Don't miss, don't miss, don't miss," Riku whispered.
He pulled the trigger.
PHUT.
The compressed air hissed. The steel dart flew true.
It struck the Hobgoblin in the left eye.
"GRAAAAH!" The monster shrieked, thrashing wilder. It wasn't dead, but it was blinded on one side.
"Again!" Sora yelled, holding on for dear life.
PHUT.
The second dart hit the Hobgoblin in the neck.
PHUT.
The third hit the shoulder.
"It's not stopping!" Riku panicked. "Thick hide! The darts aren't penetrating deep enough!"
The Hobgoblin managed to push itself up to its knees, roaring. It reached back, a massive hand grabbing Sora by the grey armor.
"Got... you..." the monster snarled.
It yanked Sora off its back and slammed him into the ground.
"Gah!" Sora coughed, the air leaving his lungs.
The Hobgoblin raised its fist. It was going to paste him.
Sora looked up. He saw the fist coming. He saw Riku lining up another shot. He saw Toru and Hinata frozen in fear.
I have no mana. I have no skills.
Sora's hand scrabbled in the dirt. His fingers closed around something sharp.
It wasn't a weapon. It was one of the darts Riku had fired that had bounced off the monster's armor.
The Hobgoblin roared, bringing its fist down.
Sora didn't try to stop the fist. He thrust his hand upward.
He jammed the steel dart into the soft, unarmored armpit of the monster—straight into the cluster of nerves and arteries.
SQUELCH.
The Hobgoblin froze. Its arm seized up, the fist stopping inches from Sora's nose.
"Biology," Sora wheezed, blood trickling from his mouth. "Learn it, you ugly fuck."
Sora scrambled out from under the frozen limb. He grabbed his fallen machete.
The Hobgoblin was stunned, its arm paralyzed, its eye bleeding.
Sora didn't do a fancy spin. He didn't shout a special move name.
He climbed the monster's leg, stepped on its knee, and drove the jagged, rusty iron bar through the monster's remaining eye and into the brain.
CRUNCH.
The Hobgoblin went rigid. Then, slowly, like a falling tower, it tipped over.
BOOM.
Silence.
The remaining Goblins—the archers, the warriors—stared at the dead leader. They looked at the grey-armored human standing on top of the corpse, dripping with black blood.
They looked at Mei, who was smashing a skull with a rock.
They looked at Riku, aiming his gun from the high ground.
The Goblins dropped their weapons. They screeched and ran, scrambling into the cracks and tunnels, fleeing the Bone Room.
Sora stood on the corpse for a second longer, his chest heaving. Then he hopped down, wiping the black blood from his face.
"Is everyone..." Sora coughed. "Is everyone alive?"
Toru stared at him. "Sora?"
Sora looked at him. "Yeah."
"You... you killed a Hobgoblin," Toru whispered. "Without magic."
"Gravity killed it," Sora corrected, sheathing his machete. "I just helped."
Mei walked over. She was shaking violently. Her clothes were torn, and she had bruises on her arms where the goblins had grabbed her.
She looked at Sora. Then she looked at the dead goblins she had bashed.
"They were going to..." Mei's voice broke.
"I know," Sora said softly. He took off his grey cloak and tossed it to her. "Cover up."
Mei caught the cloak. She wrapped it around herself, burying her face in the fabric. She didn't say thank you. She just sobbed.
Hinata limped over, helping Toru stand. "We thought... we thought Ren was coming."
"Ren is busy," Sora said, checking Riku's position. Riku was climbing down the rocks to join them. "He's fighting the big boss. You guys got the B-Team."
"You saved us," Toru said, looking at the smoke still lingering in the air. "Sora... I..."
"Save the speeches," Sora cut him off. He looked toward the entrance of the Bone Room. "We aren't done."
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
A sound echoed through the deep tunnels.
It wasn't the hyena howl. It wasn't the goblin bell.
It was a deep, resonant horn. A war horn.
The ground began to vibrate. Dust fell from the ceiling.
"What is that?" Riku asked, landing beside them. "Seismic activity?"
"No," Sora gripped his machete, though his hands were shaking from exhaustion. "That's reinforcements. The Hobgoblin was just the squad leader. We just pissed off the whole hive."
Sora looked at the battered group. Toru was out of mana. Mei was traumatized. Hinata was wounded. Riku had three bullets left.
And Sora was just a guy with a rusty bar.
"Can you walk?" Sora asked Mei.
Mei nodded, wiping her eyes. "I can run."
"Good," Sora turned to the dark tunnel leading away from the horn. "Because we're leaving. Now."
But as they turned to flee, the horn blew again. Closer.
And from the shadows of the deep tunnel, hundreds of red eyes opened.