「Oi... What was that just now?」
「...Well... It's the first time I'm hearing this sound... Ah.」
「Wha-what is it this time?」
「Do you... smell something, Claude...?」
On hearing him say this, I tried hard to smell the incoming wind.
「Ahh... something, giving a burnt smell... and...」
The burnt-resin smell had a small underlying miasma of beasts init. My expression changed the moment I smelled this. This didn't smell that I could bring myself to relax over.
「What is this...」
Just when I forced out these words, another sound came, and I gasped.
「NOT GOOD!」
Aiden and I shouted at the same time as we dashed down the slippery stone path that had frozen on top. I was unleashed into the biggest sense of danger —so huge that I couldn't recall any other situation where I had had a stronger feeling—as it struck my body like ice, numbing my limbs.
Aiden and I continued to dash at full speed, relying upon the weak light of the grass. Our breathing became erratic, and whenever we inhaled, our chests would feel pain. We nearly slipped a few times, and the knees and wrists that hit the ice walls would continue to hurt. However, even if it was so, we couldn't slow down. We had to get out of here and that too fast.
Even though we continued to move forward towards the exit of the cave, the smell of burning wood and the wild stench became thicker.
*Gii* *Gii*
The sounds could be heard with metallic sounds.
*Gacha* *Gacha*.
I didn't know what kind of people were following us, but I could easily imagine that they weren't some friendly guys.
Aiden's face was even grimmer than mine as he quickly dashed forward with tremendous speed. No matter what I couldn't possibly stop him.
Suddenly, there was an orange light swaying on the wall in front of us. From the reflection, it seemed that it was a rather large dome inside.
But how? We were heading towards the exit. How come we reached even deeper inside the cave. Did we take a wrong turn? I mean although we just had to retrace our path, not being familiar with the area might have resulted in us going off route. We should have left some marks before going into place.
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!
My skin felt a clear prickling sensation at the enemies' presence, there were many of them— a whole lot. I prayed that we would find as I stepped into the dome space with Aiden.
I have to look around and take the most suitable option— as fast as possible. I followed the deduction made in my mind and widened my eyes to access the situation like a wide-view camera snapping away.
The round dome was about 50m in diameter. The ground was covered by a thick layer of ice, but there was a large crack that opened in the middle, showing the bluish-black surface of the water.
The orange light came from two clusters of bonfires. In black metal cages, the firewood was burning away.
*Pacha* *Pacha*
Also, right around the two clusters of bonfires, there was a group of things that looked humanoid but were neither humans nor wild beasts, and there were more than 30 of them.
Each of them, or it should be said that every single one of them, weren't large. The head of the thing standing was only at my height, but their bodies with slightly slouched backs were rather muscular, especially the arms that looked weird and the hands that had sharp claws on the ends that looked like they could rip anything apart. They had bright leather armour on, and their waist had all sorts of fur, bones and little bags jingling there. Also— even though they were crude, I could feel the power from their crafting machetes.
Their skins were dark greyish-green, and they had some light bristles growing on them. All of them were fully bald, without exception, and they were growing fur only on the side of the sharp and pointy ears, like wires. They had no eyebrows, and below the protruding forehead, some eyes were so big that they didn't match their body at all, all giving off a corroded yellow. They were extremely abnormal.
I had read about them. They were the low-level monsters «Goblins». Goblins were monsters used for beginners to train and gain experience and their stats were normally very low. However, this was not enough to put me at ease. There is no way that two 7-year-old's like us could take 30 Goblins head-on.
But then I noticed that all the 30 Goblins were on their knees and had prostrated themselves on the ground and were praying to a book. A Black Book that was radiating a bright white light. Even though I couldn't understand them, it could be felt that they were glorifying and praising it. I also noticed that none of them was looking directly at the Black Book or more like the light that it was giving off.
It looked like they had not even noticed us enter. I felt a little relaxed and thought that we both could probably silently walk away without disturbing them.
However, this relaxed feeling could only last until the one that was standing closest to Aiden and me discovered us and turned around.
My bones were frozen as well the moment I felt the expression coming out from the yellow eyes of that guy. Its eyes were showing doubt and surprise, which then changed to a cruel delight and endless hunger. That was enough to make me tremble like a small insect stuck in a large spider's web.
I realized this clearly amid my overwhelming fear.
The goblin and I stared at each other for less than a second, but it was enough to terrify me. As I didn't know what to do and could only stand blankly, the goblin in front of me let out a sound, *Giii*— which may be a laugh, and stood up. However, it did so after it bowed its head towards the Black Book as if it was thanking it.
And then, it made a weird sound.
『Ray, doh so! Teeso' meefa so meeray? Teemeesola 2 teelatee Laso lasotee meetee sofa latee!』
At the same time, there were cackles, *Gigi*, *Gigi*, coming from all over the dome. From the nearest one, the Goblins all raised their machetes and stood up, giving off hungry looks.
『Teeso Mee Tee Mee~? Mee Tee Sotee Ray Meeray So Tee!?』
A goblin shouted initially. At this moment, the roar could be heard from behind, and all the goblins stopped laughing. From amidst the monsters, there was a goblin that was twice as large as the other goblins.
This guy was equipped with scale mail, and the forehead had a decorative feather that was of primary colours. The eyes that had a tinge of red below the feather let out an overwhelming evil and icy cold-like intellect that could cause anyone to faint. The goblin leader smirked and bared its yellow untidy teeth before saying in a hoarse voice,
『Tee so' tee sotee teedoh la tee sotee ray sotee Laso. Doh sotee mee sofatee. Tee' sola la ray so tee so ray meemee tee.』
As soon as he said that, all the other goblins readied their weapons. Although I couldn't understand their language it won't require a genius to decipher what he might have said-
Kill.
To what extent should I accept this term? I was lost. I should be able to take away the possibility of real death here. As I was lost in such thoughts I remembered.
Oh yeah... Aiden, how is he?
I looked around and saw him beside me, Aiden was paralyzed to the spot, the menacing aura holding him in a tightening grip. He was probably still in shock. He looked terrified and had put his hands on his head and was squatting down at the same place he was once standing. He was muttering something in a feeble voice that I couldn't hear.
Just when I gave him a jerk to bring him back to reality, I interrupted my thoughts and focused on the scene in front of me.
The Goblin leader stopped speaking, the four henchmen near him drew their machetes as they walked over to us, slowly, carefreely, baring their teeth and cackling, looking like they intended to kill us.
The other goblins, that totalled more than 20, showed exciting expressions, all cackling with delight.
*Gigi* *Gigi*
In that case, what should I do—
「There's only one choice.」
I muttered
Of course, it wasn't that simple. The difference in battle strength was too great. While the 30 goblins were all equipped with machetes and armour equipment, we didn't even have a stick in hand. But even so, we had to go.
「Aiden.」
I stared in front and quickly whispered while keeping my eyes on the Goblins.
「Listen up. You are going to escape no matter what. Don't move.」