* Hello, it's me, nara, your pretty narrator. Just a word of advice to the overly sensitive: hang in there. I won't say any more. Ha Without further ado, let's get back to our story. So where were we? Ah yes, the goblin commander had mobilised his troop, who followed him down a long tunnel that led them straight into an abandoned town. A sort of ghost town built into the very heart of a mountain. The houses weren't that high up but the town itself was in a gigantic cavern with lots of street lamps stored here and there but not all of which seemed to be in working order. In any case, this is where their tunnels had led the goblins.
Leaving the tunnel, I found myself facing a long, poorly-lit corridor that went on for a long time. I also noticed that to the left and right of this corridor were abandoned houses. They weren't very big, barely 1.70 metres high, so I deduced that they weren't human constructions.
The commander was standing on one of these houses with some other soldiers and they seemed to be sniffing around for something. They were quite noisy, giving orders like some kind of strategy. From the way they were moving, I could see that they were trying to trap something, or rather, they were on the hunt.
Without orders, we stayed in a corner, watching the others. The commander was still upstairs sniffing out prey when a loud scream echoed through the ghost town. I could tell from the sound that it wasn't a human but an animal, and the scream sounded familiar.
After that, the commander turned to us to give his orders, shouting as usual. But that didn't stop us from understanding, so each group headed off in the designer's direction.
With my knife in hand, I ran ahead of a troop made up of two groups. The further we went, the closer the cry became to us. It echoed loudly in our ears but I seemed to be the only one who was bothered by it.
- I know that scream. But where did I hear it? Probably in my old life, but what kind of bug was it that made that kind of noise? Well, whatever it was, we'll soon find out.
The screech was getting closer, along with some strange noises, as if something was making its way through a pile of rubbish through the houses. It was very close to us and we were all looking at it when a giant rat burst through the window of one of the houses and landed violently in the street. She immediately managed to get up and run down the street again.
Immediately, all the others let out a loud scream before giving chase. I too quickly followed suit and gave chase.
- So that's what it was? It was the cry of a trapped rat.
We were running after the giant rat in the alleyways but we couldn't catch it. It was really fast and those who had the idea of taking it on were all pushed back. The giant rat would slam into them and throw them out of the way without stopping, and those who threw their knives weren't much better. The hunt had just begun and as I was running after this rat, I heard another scream a little way off, then another on the other side and up to a dozen other screams in the town.
- I understand. In fact, this town is uninhabited, so rats have made it their home. Phew, that's good I won't have to fight humans. But in that case, it's for these rats that we're here and... the quest for the day... it's about extermination, isn't it?
"Affirmative! The quest is called: the extermination of pests. Do you want to accept this quest?"
- Hmm, pests, rats, that seems obvious to me. Well, if it's just rats then it should do the trick. I'm a human so I know more about catching rats than anyone else hahaha I accept the quest. Well now let's go kill some pests.
Once again I went with the flow and made the same mistakes. I tried to jump on the rat from the height of a house but it whipped me with its tail. I also tried to intercept it by waiting for it at the end of a corridor so I could pop up and stick my knife in it, but it also hit me like the previous ones, sending me into the wall. After that, I tried various methods without success, so I calmed down to see the whole thing in a different light.
- Sure, they're not rats from my old world, but that doesn't mean they're invincible.
That's when I made a big, rather problematic constant. I then started to give very precise orders to my troop. I asked them to enter all the houses to find me something very specific and I also put my hands in my paws to move quickly.
My whole team immediately stopped the hunt and started searching every house they could find. And all this did not escape the eye of the commander, posted high up to monitor the hunt.
I searched two houses in vain before entering the third. They were all full of dust but nevertheless, the presence of furniture proved that the place was inhabited. I pushed tables aside, rummaging through everything I could before noticing the handle of a sword half-expanded under a bed.
I bent down to pull it out before noticing that it was indeed a working sword.
- Wow, it's a bit rusty but it's sublime. I'll keep it.
"Information: you have obtained a level 3 scimitar."
- Is that for real? That's so cool. With that, I'm sure I'll be climbing the long ladder hahaha.
I was admiring my sword when one of my subordinates came to tell me that they'd found what I'd asked for: a big, long rope.
- My mistake was thinking like a goblin, but I was human. Now I'm going to use my human knowledge to do what allowed humans to rise to the top of the chain: I'm going to set a trap. Khakhakhakha
I then sent part of my troop to bait the beast by directing it to a very specific spot. The rest stayed hidden with me, preparing their knives. Meanwhile, the others did their work and the beast headed towards us.
- The trap is as old as the hills but it still works.
Hunted ferociously by the other goblins, the giant rat ran straight into my trap and the second its hind leg landed between my ropes, the ropes tightened around its leg, stopping the rat dead in its tracks as it smashed its head against the ground.
Immediately I shouted to give the order and without waiting, everyone threw themselves at the giant rat with their knives to stab it through and through. The giant rat was trapped and tried as hard as he could to free himself but couldn't. It was a sight to behold, but I had to prove myself worthy of my title, so I jumped on the rat and slashed its neck with my sword. The sword sank into his neck, but I couldn't cut all the way through, inflicting even more pain while my subordinates continued to put holes in him.
I had to use my left leg to pull out my sword before taking a step back to rush at him with all my strength and stab him in the head. He died instantly.
While the others celebrated our victory, I was more occupied by all the blood on my body and my sword. But strangely enough, it gave me more pleasure than anything else.
We started the process again and it was a complete success. Then again and again until we had five giant rats under our belts. Seeing the effectiveness of the trap, I ordered other groups who were watching us from afar to come and join us and the result was very satisfying. Standing on a house, I said to myself
- With this, I'm sure I'll get noticed. Already 11 to our credit. Now it's time. I'm going to pick the 12th myself.
While they led another to the trap, I jumped from house to house and then jumped over the beast's head and pierced it with my sword. The beast then collapsed before sliding with me over its head to the level of the trap before breathing its last.
An act that surprised them all, so I shouted to motivate them and they all supported my shout.
At the same time, another team had managed to corner a giant rat by stabbing it to death. The rat couldn't even run any more and was zigzagging, smashing into the walls of the houses. But still, they jumped on him to stab him again and again. One of them was particularly relentless and took a malicious pleasure in making the beast suffer. He stabbed it again and again and again until the beast fell to the ground before releasing a green gas from its rear orifice.
The gas quickly spread over a large part of the area and the smell it gave off was just unbearable. But as the gas spread, the commander panicked and ordered everyone to retreat. He leapt from house to house towards the goblin that had been attacking the creature and smashed it in the face with a club, sending it tumbling. He killed it with the first blow.
Everyone had received the commander's message and fled towards the entrance to the cave. But being a bit curious, I stayed behind to see what was going to happen when a big black snake with a red belly and red hair sprang out of one of the many holes in the wall.
He let out a loud cry before setting off on the hunt. It threw itself into the town and made no distinction between goblins and giant rats, they were all there. I myself saw it give a goblin a big swat with its tail as it flew over the town before jumping down to swallow it whole.
- It was panic time. What's with this monstrous snake? Why weren't we warned about this? What's more, I've got a feeling it's heading this way.
When I turned round, I saw that all the goblins were running off in all directions.
- You bastards didn't wait for me this time. So I started running too.
The snake was wreaking havoc on both sides.
- It must have been the smell the rat was giving off that made it come out of its hole. Dirty beast, he could have spared us that. Oh but here... there's no poster or quest proposal. In that case, I can get the hell out of here.
I was thinking as I ran when the snake sprang up just behind me with a rat and three goblins between its mouth. As it swallowed the last of them, wriggling in all directions, I took the opportunity to run for my life, especially as I'd never seen anything like it before.
- Are you serious? He's level 36. Which means I've got no chance of beating him. Gh haaaaaaaa
I screamed as I saw the beast hurtling down the alley in my wake. I was going at full speed but don't kid yourself, it was dead. I was finished.
- The entrance is just fifty metres away though... shit, that's how I'm going to die here too. But is it really that bad? Anyway, my reincarnation was already a failure before it even happened. It's a shame though, this will be the second time I've died a virgin...
I thought as I turned my head to see the snake's big, open, stinking mouth ready to swallow me when a big club came down on the beast full force on the right side of its jaw, making it miss and sending it crashing into a house.
It was the commander who had come to my aid by attacking the snake from the cave door. He then signalled for me to hurry up, so I put all my strength into a mad dash to reach the entrance to the tunnel. Once I'd made it, some other goblins pushed a large boulder towards the door and sealed it off in front of the goblins who hadn't managed to get in.
From behind the wall, you could hear their terrified screams at the beast, but no one seemed to give a damn. The commander crossed the crowd with his club on his shoulder before leading the way back. And so ended the hunt.
- Phew, I'm saved...eh, I don't know if I should be too happy about that though. Haa, what a shitty life, but I think the commander had the right one for me, didn't he? He kept staring at me during the hunt. Maybe I'll be promoted soon. It might be more interesting.
That's how we got into the cave. But when we arrived, there were mountains of corpses in the reception area. We were all very shocked. There must have been
- A hundred or so?
No. Many more goblin corpses and many others were still injured. The room was full of the dead and wounded, and among them were the living and the survivors who were piling up the bodies. I was heading for the walls when I bumped into something and looked up to see something, or rather monstrous goblins over two metres high.
- The goblin champions.
They were coming into the room and they too looked very unwell. The one I hit was even missing an arm. Maybe that's why he tolerated me. Above our heads, I could see the commander walking towards another slimmer and particularly well-dressed gibelin. He was holding a magic cane and carrying a large human head skeleton on his head.
He was ordering the others around before the commander approached him. After that, they talked amongst themselves for quite a while. During this time, I saw that there was some animation in one of the rooms so I went to see what it was and what I saw was shocking.
* What could have happened in the absence of our hero sham? What did you see that was so terrible that you were shocked? What does the future hold? So many questions that won't be answered in this chapter because we've already reached the end. But one thing's for sure, things are about to get serious as another unexpected quest is about to begin.