It only took the reptilians two weeks, and the islands were devoid of plant life. The wells had dried, and the fires had consumed everything, and what little resources the monsters and the dragonkin had left were either poisoned or set ablaze like the rest of their equipment. A single shower of rain could've saved them, but with the trident in Kukei's hands, storms and rain clouds bent to the reptilian's will.
At last, it was time for the ships to draw closer, for the dragonkin had grown too weak to flap their wings or hurl an attack. Each Siren ship landed on a different island, and a total of sixty-four combatants were dropped on the islands' bay. However, not all of them were dropped on the same spot, instead, the ships circled the island and dropped a party of five across many sections of the island.
Holding still until a certain time had passed, the parties began closing in on the enemy in the middle with no room for them to escape or hide. Running for the most part into chewed bones of humans, faunans and the monster kind, the soldier's revulsion towards the monsters grew more fiercer.
Not only were the monsters eating the citizens of Aestonia, but they were cannibalizing their own flesh and blood. As soldiers who fought alongside their friends and even families, such an act against their own kind was beyond inexcusable. To feast on the flesh of your comrade…
"By Madia, if I don't wish all hell to rain down on these bastards!" Enraged as would any other Aestonian soldier, Ross cursed at them.
"Will you stay quiet for a moment?! What if someone hears us!" Shooting back at him was Geia–the cardinal sky watcher.
"Yeah, scream at him to tell him not to scream, fantastic idea!" Complained Ruu, her patience running thin from having incurred a recent injury.
"Shhh~ I heard something, shut up…" Cutting their quarrel short by intentionally putting out a fake alarm, Jessa guided the party forward with Arth walking beside her.
While the others were meant to carry the group in a physical manner, the ones in charge remained quiet and closed in on what was supposed to be their target. A cave full of hostages, mostly women that the goblins were keeping as incubators for their children. The mere biology of those monsters was, to say the least, disturbing. Lacking adequate females in their clans, they relied on the wombs of other species to propagate.
Consequently, children of monsters nurtured in human bodies were often more resilient to disease and showed signs of shrewder instincts than what was considered normal, making the capture of said humanoid species an essential part of any monster's evolution. But rarely did the women survive childbirth, for the children of monsters were born in a bunch.
A dozen at most and triplets at the least–no human nor faunan was fit to carry such a large amount of children. And even if they were to survive, their bodies were stressed through the process over and over again. All the while, motherhood also had to take place, that is to say, feeding the children and looking after them.
"I've heard these bastards have pincers like dicks, I'm not sure if the gals wanna be on the front for that…" Ross whispered the moment their party arrived at their target. Peering out to the entrance of the cave after having weirded everyone out, the soldier took a deep breath and readied an arrow at the malnourished goblin guards. "The dick's ten points, right? Lemme line the shot…"
"Why do you always have to be so weird…" Shaking his head, Arth sat down beside him as well. Taking out his arrow, he aimed for the goblin's head. "If they scream and alert the others, someone throw this idiot as a distraction so we can run."
"As if," grabbing another from his quiver, Ross aimed in two directions at once. "Hai–hup!"
Marking the release with a trained sound, he let go of the arrows at the same time as his partner. Hitting their targets right where they wanted, the two quickly walked out to their bodies. Getting closer to the goblins that now lay dead on the floor, Ross nudged Arth. Spitting flames on both bodies, he trapped the smoke around the corpses using wind magic. Allowing them to burn themselves in trapped air, the soldier turned their bodies into charred coal in a matter of few seconds.
"Twenty points for me, ten for you." Ross boasted, annoying everyone further.
"Oh, shut it, will you?!" Arth shot back, pushing him away with his elbow.
"Enough with the time wasting, we need to go in, maybe someone's still alive in there," Jessa suggested, and taking her up on the suggestion, everyone followed in her lead.
The cramped space inside the cave was lined with moss and the smell of rotting flesh. Bones were scattered on the floor like gravel, and the bodies of friends and foes alike were left half-eaten on each side. Digging deeper into the space, they had to squeeze in through tight tunnels barely enough to squeeze their hips in. But once inside, the space expanded into a much larger structure that appeared far too complex for goblins.
"The dragonkin, this must be their work…" Ruu whispered, her eyes marveling at the dome structure with staircases spiraling up and down. Many smaller caves were dug into the walls of the dome, but with so many exits and entrances, the party was at a loss as to where they should head next.
"Nobody's home, huh…" Walking out in the middle where a beam of light was being cast from the ceiling, Ross looked around trying to find a single goblin, but there were none there. "We're gonna need a bigger search party if we're doing it clandestinely, or we can just try to call out to the prisoners. Maybe some of them can guide us with their voice?"
"That would only work if the goblins were all actually dead," Arth objected, not too fond of his partner's idea.
"I mean, do you see any?"
"Then why would the guards still be guarding this place if nobody was inside?" Cutting Ross off, Jessa stomped her foot on the ground. "We don't need the risk. How about we just look around for a few hours, and even if we don't find anything, we have a rendezvous anyways."
"She's right. A single unnecessary sound can draw the enemy's attention." Stepping forward, Geia folded her hands and stared at Ross. "The goblin leader, we haven't found his body yet, so he could very much be alive–"
As if fate itself was waiting for her to utter those words, a drumming howl of a minotaur erupted right above them. Glancing upward, they saw the shadow of a large beast falling right over them. Caught by surprise, everyone but Geia and Arth froze up at the sight.
"ARIS GUSTA!" Casting the wind spell, the male warrior pushed his party away from under the monster.
Falling against the bony ground, everyone was stabbed to some degree by something or the other, but for the most part remained uninjured. Lifting to their feet, they cast their gaze to the goblin lord, thrice the size of a large human and thrice as bulky as well. His body was covered in dried blood, and the tusks coming from his minotaur mouth were carrying the stabbed corpses of two humans.
His necklace of heads was adorned with the torn heads of children, and his hips were laden with the rotting breasts and buttocks of women–something the beast enjoyed consuming due to the excess fat in them.
Glancing at each other, the party knew they had to work together to take him down. The goblin lord was alleged to be an A-rank monster. However, being lower B and C rank themselves, they knew their chances to win were slim, but even then, with a shared word, they charged forward.
"FOR AESTONIA!" And thus commenced the battle that was nothing short of suicide for the soldiers.