Today, an air of unrest and unease hung in the air.
It had now been three days since the day the priestess almost died.
The worry and unrest all of them felt that day were still vivid in their minds.
Everyone naturally assumed the goblins were responsible for the situation.
They were the only ones who knew their travel path and were smart enough to make a trap.
It couldn't be a human, as no human in the settlement would ever hurt the priestess.
And it also couldn't be the handsome Lucas, since he had saved her.
Why would he trap the priestess just to save her?
It didn't make sense, so that left goblins as the only possible culprit.
While the people wanted to immediately go to war with the goblins for betraying them and trying to assassinate the priestess,.
Layla convinced them that it was maybe just a miscommunication.
So today, armed with over a hundred of the strongest human warriors, the priestess was meant to go to the goblin settlement to demand a proper explanation.
Regardless of age or gender, everyone was concerned about the results of today's negotiations, as their future depended on them.
If peace talks today fell apart and the goblins were unable to clear up their names, a war between the two settlements would be inevitable.
They were originally meant to embark earlier, but due to priestess injuries, she was unable to walk for days.
As much as the citizens didn't want to let the priestess go near the goblins, they had no choice, as she was the only one capable of communicating with them.
Layla, Lucifer, and over a hundred powerful soldiers stood near the entrance of the settlement, all bidding farewell to their families.
And once they were done, they left the settlement, leaving everyone to pray to the goddess for their safe return.
**
As the whole group made their way through the forest, everyone was on high alert.
But they couldn't help but notice how Layla seemed to be unnaturally close to Lucas.
The two of them seemed to be talking about something, but it was mostly just Layla talking and Lucas saying a few words.
It would be a lie to say that the guards weren't jealous of Lucas and how close he seemed to be to the priestess.
At one point or another, almost every man in the group had a crush on the priestess, but, remembering the fate of the few brave men who had tried making a move on her in the past, quickly forgot about the idea.
A few brave guards wanted to move closer to the two just to hear what they were talking about, but no one wanted to potentially offend Layla.
In the end, the guards chose to just keep an eye out on their surroundings on the lookout for any potential attacks and gave both Layla and Lucas some alone time.
Well as alone as possible when surrounded by a hundred men.
**
"Hey Lucas," Layla said coyly, moving closer to him until she was just an arm's length away.
She wanted to hold his hand, but she felt a bit embarrassed displaying such public intimacy, so she held the urge back.
"Hi" Raze said, returning her greetings in a stoic tone.
Not discouraged by Raze's lack of interest in the conversation, she attempted to move closer to him and continue conversing, but she was stopped by Raze's upheld hand, telling her to stop.
And it wasn't just her who had stopped; as soon his words fell which ended up stopping the entire group.
"Guys, stop. I think there's something wrong up ahead."
As soon as his words fell, the whole group stopped and tensed up, ready to intercept any potential threat.
They were all especially wary of the ground under their feet.
They had heard about what had happened to the group before them.
So before every step, they ensured no one stepped on anything suspicious or out of place and that the ground they walked on was solid.
Ensuring no incident similar to last time could occur again.
And yet they all watched in silence as Raze placed his hand and ear on the ground, as if trying to sense some sort of incoming threat.
Everyone watched with their breaths held, waiting to see what he was going to see.
It was almost inaudible, and yet if one looked closely at his lips, one could read what he was saying.
'Inventory'
But before anyone could realise what those words meant, it was already too late, as the stable ground under their feet disappeared.
Causing all the guards to fall to their deaths similarly to the fate of the group before them.
Skrush~
Skrush~
Skrush~
Lifeless corpses hung alleviated in the air by the spears impaling their bodies as their bodies slowly went cold.
Life escaped from their vibrant eyes as they all wondered why and how.
The whole trip, they had all been extra vigilant about a ground trap and had done a good job just to avoid a similar fate to the past group.
And yet it was all futile; in the end, they could only wonder who had been responsible for their doom, as by this point it was obvious to everyone that this whole thing was too elaborate for goblins with their limited intelligence to pull off.
The only thought that came to mind was of Lucas muttering something inaudibly moments before their deaths.
But, alas, it was already too late.
Everyone in the group had already died.
All with the exception of Raze and Layla, who were close to him, so he managed to save her last minute.
**
"Oh god not again." Layla screamed staring in horror at the bloody and gory scene below her.
As her heart started beating faster, sweat piled up on her beautiful body, and her breathing increased.
Trauma from the event three days prior, when she was lying down there in a similar position, re-entered her mind.
Fear had already taken hold of her body and heart.
She would have had trouble even moving if not for the boy standing behind her.
She turned her head to try and find solace in the boy, who was the love of her life and had saved her life not just once but twice now.
And yet, when she turned around instead of his usual stoic and detached face that she had fallen in love, what she found a smile.
A wide grin was plastered across his face, and his eyes formed a slight crescent due to his wide smile.
His lips twitched, and his chest heaved up and down.
But unlike her, who was hyperventilating due to fear, the boy seemed to be experiencing another emotion.
Excitement.
That's right, to her complete shock, the boy she wanted to find solace in seemed happy seeing all the guards dead and her pitiful state.
He was expressing such a pure and innocent expression of excitement that was devoid of any form of malice, despite the situation around him.
Like a little kid who had gotten to play with his friends after months.
The expression was pure and honest.
It was unlike anything she had seen him express over the past few days.
Seeing him like this there was only one thought in her head.
'So this is the real him'
She watched in horror as a finely crafted steel spear manifested in his hand out of thin air.
A dreadful realisation finally struck her as she stared at the sharp tip of the spear in his hand and tried to run away.
But it was hopeless, as before she realised it, her left leg was missing as she fell to the ground, and blood gushed out of her missing limb like a fountain.
It dyed the whole ground around her red, even getting on the blue-eyed boy.
Pure anguish engulfed her senses and made her scream her heart out, begging desperately for help as snot and tears ruined her once beautiful face.
But her pleas fell on deaf ears, as they were too deep in the forest and all her guards had already died.
Still, she didn't give up, and tried to crawl away.
The boy didn't try to stop her; instead, he just observed her.
As if getting some amount of sick joy out of her desperation and pleas for help.
Eventually she stopped; her body had run out of energy due to pain and blood loss.
Her fate was already long sealed, and now, within mere moments, she was going to die.
Her eyes started growing out of focus.
In her last moments, she only had one question.
"W-w-why?" With great difficulty, she asked, hoping to at least know what she had done to earn the wrath of the boy.
"The goddess disapproves of your actions," the boy answered in a cold tone with a voice lacking even a hint of compassion for the dying girl.
Gone was the emotion he was showing before; instead, his face had grown cold, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
It was almost like someone who was just doing their job without any personal feelings.
It finally made sense to her.
In the end, Lucas wasn't the one who was evil, but rather he was merely an executioner sent by the goddess to make her pay for dissapointing her.
Finally, her last moments came to an end as her body went limp.
Her last moments were filled with nothing but pain, guilt, and regret.
A stark contrast to the way she had lived her whole life.
But it was too late; Layla, the daughter and messenger of the goddess Athex, had passed away.