The goblin began to scream from the pain of the [Blood Contract] Skill. He had been Blood Contracted before, but this new person was overwriting the spell. The muffled sounds of the goblin's screams gained the attention of the two guards.
"Did you hear something?" one of the guards asked, looking at his partner.
"Yeah, it sounded like it came from ahead of us. I'll go check it out," the other guard said as he began to approach the location of Liora.
'Crap! They're coming this way. This plan was a fail!' Liora thought as she grit her teeth in frustration.
Liora then grabbed the goblin's neck and brutally twisted it, breaking its neck with a loud crunch. The guard heard the noise and started to become alarmed. He gripped the dagger in his hand and started to run into the forest.
"Hey! Who's there!?" the guard yelled as he came to a stop and looked in all directions. The forest was dark, so he couldn't see anything.
After a few seconds of searching with his eyes, the guard decided it was enough and turned around to leave. Just as he was about to leave the forest and return to his post, he caught sight of something that made his heart drop.
There he found the body of Galuracio lying on the ground, his neck twisted and bearing a different Blood Contract mark than the one their Beast Tamer used.
"Ga-" The guard was interrupted from screaming the name of his comrade as he felt a delicate hand cover his mouth, and before he knew it, his vision turned dark with a loud crunching sound booming in his ears.
Liora towered over the corpses of the two goblins, her face hidden by her Fox Mask. With the mask equipped, Liora could see very well in the dark as all four of her senses were heavily heightened.
'That…was brutal,' Liora thought as she gazed at her hands through her mask, recalling how she broke the necks of the two.
She picked up a stone dagger from looting the guard's corpse and decided to walk out of the forest and towards the entrance of the mine. The guard, who was anxiously waiting for his friend's return, saw Liora approaching and immediately got frightened.
"Ah! An adventurer!" the guard exclaimed as it dropped its weapons and tried to run into the mine, but it was too late for it to escape now.
"Talon, get him. Just make sure he doesn't die," Liora ordered, and Talon took off like a missile, chasing its target with lightning speed.
Talon sharpened its claws as it neared the guard and brutally clawed deep into its back.
The guard cried out in pain as it coughed up blood and fell to the ground. "Ha…ha…" the guard weakly breathed as it tried to crawl away, but he knew it was inevitable.
Talon then flew back to Liora and mounted her shoulder again. Liora petted the bird before walking up to the guard. The guard looked back to see Liora approaching and let out a surprised yelp before trying to crawl away even faster.
"Stop trying to run away," Liora said as she caught up to the guard and stomped hard on the leg of the guard. The sounds of bones crunching boomed, and the goblin cried out in pain.
"AHHH!" the guard cried as it felt its leg bones being crushed. It began to breathe much faster in pain and sheer fear.
Liora frowned within her mask and bent down on her knees, grabbing the head of the guard roughly and turning its head to look at her.
"I know you're a goblin, so stop trying to act human because you're terrible at it," Liora said. "Where are the captured humans?" Liora asked firmly.
"I…I don't know," the goblin desperately tried to lie, for if it told the location of where the humans were held captive, he would be in big trouble.
"You don't know?" Liora asked. "Are you seriously trying to lie to me? If you don't speak willingly, I'm just going to [Blood Contract] you and make things much worse for you," Liora said.
The guard's eyes widened in fear as it heard her words. "Okay, okay! I'll do it, I'll show you," the guard said in a panicked voice.
Liora smirked as she got up from her squatting position and removed her foot from the broken leg of the goblin. The goblin weakly rose to the ground, catching onto the walls of the mine for support.
"Lead the way," Liora said with a mocking grin, but the goblin couldn't see it.
The guard then began to drag its body towards the secret location where the other goblins took the women. The journey was slow because of the broken leg of the guard, making the journey take much longer.
The reason why Liora didn't take the lead was because she was afraid of a sudden ambush attack or traps that might lay about, and she didn't want to take the risk.
After arriving at the wall, the guard then took out a talisman and turned into a goblin, but Liora found it confusing as to why the guard only decided to do that now.
"Why did you turn back into a goblin?" Liora asked.
"It's to be recognized by my colleagues. If they saw a human enter this place, they'd be torn to shreds, and many goblins have died due to this misunderstanding," the goblin explained as it placed its hand on the wall and poured magic into it, making the wall rise and revealing the secret dungeon.
"A dungeon?" Liora muttered to herself in confusion.
The goblin nodded as it stepped aside for her to enter. "This is where the humans are being held captive," the goblin said. "Can you let me go now?" the goblin asked.
An evil laugh escaped Liora's lips. She then walked up to the goblin and grabbed its neck tightly before slamming it hard into the wall, creating a huge crack in it.
"Let you go? Do you take me for a fool? I'd be damned if I let a single monster go scot-free. You goblins have killed many innocents and done unspeakable crimes, and you expect me to let you go, just because you helped me find out your secret base? Don't be stupid," Liora said as she let go of the goblin, and it dropped to the ground, coughing for air.
"Move!" Liora commanded the goblin, pointing into the dungeon.
"B-but, my leg is hurt. I'd just slow you down," the goblin said.
"It doesn't matter if it takes me a long time. Finding the adventurers is all that matters to me now. Additionally, what if there are traps that could kill me inside, hm?" Liora replied.
"But there are no traps!" the goblin told her, but Liora only laughed again.
"And you expect me to take the words of a monster? Haha, no. Move it. Now," Liora replied more aggressively, raising her voice and stomping hard on the ground.
"..." The goblin said nothing out of fear and immediately got up, albeit very painfully, with the injury in its leg eating away at it.
"This way…" the goblin said as it began to lead Liora deeper into the dungeon.
As they ventured deeper into the dungeon, the inner parts of it resembled that of a massive cave, much bigger than the mine. Torches lit up the path and made Liora look around in awe—as it was her first time ever in such a place.
Liora then started to wonder about something. If this place was a dungeon, then how did it become a part of the Ruby Mines?
"I've got a question," Liora started. "How did you guys discover this dungeon? And why is it a part of the Ruby Mines?" Liora asked.
"Well…It's a long story, so listen closely."
Liora nodded. With the help of her Fox Mask, she wouldn't miss out on any important details of what the goblin was going to say.
"A long time ago, I was born in a small goblin village. I never knew my parents much, just that they would often terrorize villages and cause a lot of trouble. Back then, I wasn't intelligent—I was as smart as a human baby, even though I was already 15 years old."
"How old are you now?" Liora asked, intrigued.
"..."
"..."
"Moving on."
"Time passed, and a cloaked figure appeared in our village. He emitted a strange dark power that made the goblins fear him. The man then proceeded to Blood Contract every one of us, but strangely, he didn't kill us or anything like that.
The cloaked figure offered to become our leader and teach us everything this world had to offer. As goblins, we didn't understand what this human was saying, but after a few days, we started to gain knowledge and understanding.
The cloaked figure—or, as we like to call him, the Beast Tamer—taught us many things. And after a few weeks, we gained so much knowledge to the point we were able to speak.
The Beast Tamer then set some of us free to go out and start our own bases, capturing as many women as possible, while still keeping some of us Blood Contracted."
"Could you tell me why they wanted you to capture so many women?" Liora asked.
"Certaintly."