When Taisetsuna and the others joined Chujitsuna Hito and Tresuria on the other side of the tree, they all saw Chujitsuna looking up at the mountain and frowning. She elbowed Tresuria and asked, “Do you see anything up there? Because the stench is making my nose want to leave my face!”
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“Yes, it is indeed strong. Smells like… rotten flesh? Or is it death? But it doesn’t seem to come from up there, or else the smell wouldn’t be here. It’s lower, maybe…”
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Her eyes stopped on two big rocks that were leaning against the mountain. There was a small space between them, near the soil.
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Tresuria approached and frowned. “It comes from here. Taisetsuna, do you think there is a cave after this and a big horde of Goblins is living there? And if it is, why didn’t the Academy do anything?”
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Taisetsuna kneeled on the floor, put some Fire Magic on her hand to illuminate inside, and looked at the hole while saying, “There are more rocks in there, and I think I see some pieces of fur. Maybe that Goblin that was watching entered here and covered the entrance when he saw someone approaching and rushed to warn his friends. This time he didn’t have time because Rampage knocked him out.”
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Chujitsuna Hito cracked her fists and opened the one-shoulder bag she was carrying. She leisurely took a quiver full of arrows from the inside and opened a vial of her translucent Poison that she carefully poured on the tips of the arrows.
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She then put the cork on the vial again, took her bow from her left shoulder and asked, “Shall we go then? I am all set. It is probably better if you grab your weapons because this stench could mean there is a big horde of Goblins in there. Or something equally dangerous.”
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Taisetsuna grabbed her sword while Nozomu was going to the Unicorns to tell them to watch their backs and to protect the horses and the deer. He returned after a few minutes, already holding his sword-breaker, gauntlets, and buckler.
Chujitsuna touched both rocks with her hands full of Magic and pushed them aside, increasing the size of the hole for them to pass through.
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Nozomu wondered what she did, and she shrugged. “I made the soil slippery and pushed the rocks. What? You thought I was absurdly strong, right? Yeah, this is one of my favourite tricks. People often mistake me for a very muscular Snake-kind when it’s just a trick. We are all very deceiving and treacherous people, remember? Hehehe! Who wants to go first?”
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Without hesitating, Taisetsuna pushed Nozomu and said, “Him, of course. He is our shield. From now on, absolute silence. Tresuria, tell that pet of yours to stop clacking his teeth. Mind your steps, don’t cause a ruckus in there. I want to check how many are inside.”
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They all nodded, and Nozomu entered, being careful not to bump the sword or his buckler against the sides of the passage. He looked around, trying to get used to the darkness, and then Taisetsuna entered, holding a Fire Ball in her free hand. They walked in silence and stopped near a narrow corridor.
Nozomu looked behind him and took a slow, deep breath. When they all nodded at him, he entered that tunnel.
The path divided a couple of times, and Taisetsuna pointed to the tunnels from where the smell was coming stronger.
After a curve, Nozomu heard a few screeches, and he raised his left palm, telling everyone to stop. He peeked around the curve and saw two Goblins pulling a bloody bone from each other’s hand.
With a quick swipe of his sword-breaker, he cut the neck of one Goblin and used the buckler to smash the other Goblin’s head against the wall.
He stopped for a moment, listening to see if there was some noise ahead, and he heard a low screech coming from a hole near where the Goblin had his head smashed.
Nozomu signalled for Taisetsuna to approach, and she pointed her Fire at the hole. Inside, dozens of baby Goblins were sleeping, and a few were eating pieces of flesh.
Without hesitating, she threw a few Wind Slashes and killed them all. After seeing her nod, Nozomu continued along the tunnel.
Behind him, Tresuria looked into the hole, and she covered her mouth with her hands, so she would not throw up. Chujitsuna Hito tapped her hand and signalled for her to be silent.
The scared Gailie nodded, and they followed the others that were already walking.
Nozomu stopped again, called for Taisetsuna, and pointed at an intersection with three separate tunnels. She went to the entrance of each and took a long sniff. She chose the middle tunnel, and as Nozomu was going to it, Hinen stopped him.
He, too, went to the entrance of the tunnels, and he chose the tunnel on the left.
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Taisetsuna approached and whispered, “I know, but the smell is stronger in the middle. This one smells like manure, and the one I chose smells like blood.”
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“How do you know what blood smells like?”
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“Trust me, I know… Unfortunately… For what we know, this tunnel can lead to their bathroom, but the middle tunnel leads to their eating cave for sure.”
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Hinen Sukemoru frowned and followed her to the tunnel she pointed. He didn’t look convinced, but she seemed strangely certain of what she said, so he didn’t argue.
A few metres ahead, ten Goblins were sleeping on the ground, and Nozomu backed up a few steps.
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He signalled for Taisetsuna to approach and asked, “Can you kill them without waking them up?”
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She nodded, and went past him, carefully placing her feet to not make any noise. With a few well aimed Slashes, she cut them all in half, and quickly signalled the others to follow her, before the blood spread and made the floor too slippery to walk on.
After that group of dead Goblins, Nozomu went to his place at the front again, with Taisetsuna once again behind him, illuminating his path with her Fire Ball.
At the back and closing the line was Robert Keskula, also with a Fire Ball, giving light for the others and looking back once in a while to be sure they weren’t surprised from behind.
After a few stops to hear from where the screeches and shouts were coming, Nozomu continued his walk, with Taisetsuna looking around, checking if there were other tunnels from where some Goblins could appear or another nursery with baby Goblins.
Suddenly, Nozomu stopped and raised his open palm, warning everyone. There was a powerful light after that curve, and he wondered why. He peeked around the corner and gulped at the sight.
The tunnel led to a big open space with an open ceiling. It was like a rocky clearing, almost twenty metres wide. In the middle of it, there was a plateau with a meandering path going to the top, where some Goblins were walking, carrying pieces of meat.
At the bottom of that plateau, some Goblins were using sharp rocks or their claws to tear apart dead animals; deer, a pile of Ants, and a few Scaraar.
The Goblins that were walking up the meandering path were carrying the meat those Goblins were cutting to feed the two Drakes that were seated at the top of the plateau. It was as if the Goblins were the Drakes’ underlings, hunting and killing animals to feed them.
Nozomu slowly backed away and signalled the others to follow him to another tunnel. In there, he whispered for Chujitsuna and Tresuria to block the entrance, and while the nervous Gailie made vines to grow, Chujitsuna made small marbles to come from the surrounding rocks and intertwined with the vines.
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When they finished, Nozomu tapped the blockade, and he then whispered what he saw. He let them think for a moment and then asked, “Taisetsuna, I am not sure how many Goblins are in this mountain, or if there is another tunnel connecting to the nearby mountain range, and more Goblins will rush here the moment we attack. What also worries me is if we are fighting the Goblins and those Drakes also attack us. They are big enough and have tough enough scales to be problematic.”
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Chujitsuna Hito gave a big smile and whispered, “Scales and claws from Drakes are very profitable. Let me hit a couple of arrows into the meat the Goblins are carrying to the Drakes, and we won’t need to worry about them. As soon as they eat the poisoned meat, they will die in seconds. Drakes are not that smart, and they won’t even worry about an arrow stuck in their meat.”
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Nozomu nodded and asked, “Are you sure you can hit the meat? Because if you fail and hit the rock, it will make a lot of noise and alert the Goblins.”
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“I won’t fail at this distance, don’t worry. I just need to throw a tiny rock on the path where those Goblins are walking to make them stop to check what the noise was, and then I will have an easy target to hit.”
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Tresuria slowly raised her hand. “This one… can throw a seed from a flower onto that path. It will make just a tiny noise. Or hit the leg of one Goblin and make him wonder what hit him. That should do it, right?”
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Taisetsuna nodded with a slight smile, and she spoke while squeezing the hilt of her sword. “We have a plan for the Drakes that will earn us a bunch of coins, then. Tresuria first, Chuji poisons the Drakes, and the moment they die, we attack the Goblins. Robert and Hinen cover our backs and the sides. Chuji, Tresuria, Nozo and I will kill the Goblins ahead and the ones that come running from the tunnels. Be prepared for a sudden current of Goblins from the tunnels. Nozo, no explosions on the ceiling! I don’t want to be buried here!”
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“There is no ceiling there. May I suggest we make a run for the plateau? From a high position, it will be easier to deal with the current of Goblins.”
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Taisetsuna nodded while the others were wondering what all that talk about explosions was about. “Yes, you are right. Kill the Drakes, run for the plateau, kill any Goblin in our path. Up there, we can take our time in killing the Goblins that remain. If they try to escape through a tunnel, Chuji and Tresuria will take care of blocking that tunnel. Leave at least the tunnel from where we came intact, or we will need to climb this mountain to get out of here. We will run behind Nozomu, and he will be in charge of stopping any Magic that could be thrown at us. Any questions?”
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She looked around and took a slow deep breath when she saw Hinen was raising his arm to ask, “You said explosions. Why? Explosions in caves are very dangerous.”
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“I know, that was why I said to Nozo not to do any. He caused a big explosion the last time we were in a cave full of Goblins to save me. I was being eaten alive by a pile of Goblins. This time, I prefer he didn’t need to do that, meaning that I won’t be eaten. So, everyone knows what to do? Good. Tresuria, open the passage and everyone, be silent.”
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The nervous Gailie slowly raised her hand and said, “This one… can’t kill Goblins. Putting them to sleep or knocking them out will be enough? Draiky will kill any Goblin he can, but not this one… It is already bad enough seeing Draiky kill a living being…”
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Taisetsuna placed one hand over Tresuria’s left shoulder and said in a gentle tone, “Do what you can. Just don’t let them approach you or us.”
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