"Everyone, careful! Something's coming!"
Five minutes after the gnolls resumed their march, the spearman—gifted with the sharpest hearing in the group—frowned.
Footsteps.
They weren't stealthy. They were clumsy. Deliberately loud. As if whoever approached had no fear of being heard.
Even the shield-bearer, the least sensitive to sound, managed to catch them.
"It's goblins," someone growled. "Only six! We can take them!"
The gnoll leader, hardened by years of hunting, did not hesitate. He tore a torch from its place and hurled it forward. The flame spun through the air and rolled across the ground, illuminating the passage ahead.
Six green figures were exposed.
A fierce grin spread across the leader's face.
As the gnolls prepared for combat, they failed to notice the shadows sliding silently through the tunnel behind them.
"Fufo, spear forward! Sasha, shoot where they're clustered!"
"Puaj!"
"Ah!"
The orders were carried out immediately.
Fufo's spear shot forward like lightning, piercing straight through a goblin's skull. The body dropped without a sound.
"Yes! Die, you filth!" Sasha shouted, though her voice trembled. "Take this!"
Her arrow flew a heartbeat late but struck hard, piercing another goblin's chest.
Panic spread among the remaining visible goblins. Fufo charged without hesitation and impaled a third.
Everything suggested the battle was over.
But goblins never hunted alone.
"Huh…?"
Sasha barely had time to react.
A wet sound echoed beside her.
Something warm splattered across her face.
She touched it.
Blood.
She turned her head slowly.
The shield-bearer—who had been boasting to her just minutes ago—was clutching his throat, eyes wide, unable to understand what had happened. Behind him, a goblin emerged from the shadows with a bloodied knife.
"AAAAAH!"
The body fell.
The protector who had promised her safety lay dead at her feet.
From the darkness behind them, more green silhouettes began to emerge.
Dozens.
Grinning with rows of sharp teeth.
"Damn it!" the leader roared. "It's an ambush!"
A whistle cut through the air.
The leader rolled instinctively, but he wasn't fast enough. A poisoned arrow buried itself in his calf.
"Argh… bastards!"
Sasha froze.
Fufo was the only one who reacted with clarity.
"Now!"
His spear suddenly burst with blinding white light. The shockwave forced several goblins back.
Seizing the moment, the leader ignored the pain and lunged forward, driving his sword through a goblin archer and pinning him against the wall.
The creature shrieked—still alive, but doomed.
"Retreat!" the leader ordered.
Fufo switched to a dagger, cutting down two goblins as he forced a path forward.
Two goblins slipped toward Sasha from behind.
They never reached her.
Two crossbow bolts whistled from the darkness. Both goblins collapsed without understanding what had happened.
Fufo let out a relieved sigh when he saw the two goblins die inexplicably from those arrows. But before he could celebrate, another arrow shot through the air and pierced his throat. Realizing he was dying, he used his last remaining strength to buy time for his companions.
Using that brief opening, the two surviving gnolls broke through the encirclement and sprinted toward the exit.
"Move! We're almost there!"
The first light of dawn appeared at the end of the tunnel.
Then a rope snapped tight across their legs.
The leader fell forward.
Before he could rise, a dagger flashed.
He had no time to react.
The blade opened his throat.
As his life drained away, he saw a figure advancing slowly from the shadows.
"I'm sorry," a calm, clear voice said. "No one escapes."
A crossbow was raised.
"You—!"
The word died with him.
The bolt pierced his neck.
He fell, eyes filled with horror, unable to comprehend how a goblin could plan like this.
Silence.
Only Sasha remained.
Terror paralyzed her as she watched her last hope vanish. Then she felt the gaze of the goblin approaching her.
It was different.
Not the uncontrolled hunger of the others.
There was something restrained. Calculated.
And yes… a cold desire that made her shudder.
Revulsion twisted her stomach, but fear overpowered it.
César noticed the disgust in her eyes.
He ignored it.
"You'll change your mind," he thought coldly.
Before he could act, the goblins who had pursued the gnolls flooded into the scene.
When they saw the bodies, they erupted into savage celebration.
They completely ignored the goblin standing beside the female.
Two of them noticed Sasha and rushed toward her without thinking.
A sharp twang echoed.
A bolt pierced the first one's skull.
César did not hesitate.
The second died a heartbeat later, his throat opened by the dagger in César's other hand.
"She's my prize," César said coldly. "Anyone who touches her dies."
The goblins already under his control stepped back immediately.
Some of the others growled, tempted to challenge him.
But reason—and fear—prevailed.
They had seen how he handled the crossbow.
They had noticed that some goblins who fought the gnolls had died… by his hand.
That was enough.
César wasted no time.
He ordered the weapons gathered.
Then he bound Sasha, who was trembling uncontrollably, and hoisted her over his shoulder.
Before leaving, he glanced back.
Something felt wrong.
It had been too easy.
He had expected more resistance. More chaos.
And there were fewer goblins than there should have been.
Throughout the entire fight, there had been no sign of the tribe's chief.
His so-called father.
The uneasy feeling lingered.
But he did not stop.
"The rest is yours," he said, gesturing toward the corpses.
Not a single goblin dared block his path.
Even if the thought had crossed their minds, they suppressed it.
Hunger was more urgent.
As the goblins descended upon the bodies, César disappeared into the darkness of the cave, breathing steadily.
Over his shoulder, Sasha could only watch as the light of dawn grew farther and farther away.
And the darkness swallowed her whole.