Barely Two Days And My Party Got Wiped

It was a disaster.

Blood scattered upon the cave’s chamber floor.

A good dozen tiny green bodies lie on the ground. Some burnt, others hacked to death.

Despite the number of enemy deaths, there are still plenty of goblins kicking, literally.

Eric is on his rear, his back against a wall, utterly terrified. The ugly creatures having him encircled and taking their sweet time toying with him.

Serena is smacking goblins left and right with her staff, but the agile little bastards sneak through an opening and pin her to the ground.

This is the part where I leave things to people’s imagination.

Lastly, our good leader Kael is being given what I can only describe as a hardcore massage.

Things aren’t looking good to say the least.

Unfazed by my friends’ savage beatdown, I quickly analyze the unfavourable situation and come up with the most suitable course of action.

First we have to rescue Serena, the support, she’s in the best situation out of the other two. Her powers will be necessary if we want to heal the other two who are getting their asses handed over to them.

Unfortunately, my spells have a bit of an explosive effect and the writhing struggling body of the priestess isn’t helping me aim better.

Luckily there’s an expert marksman I can rely on, “We need to rescue our healer. My spells might accidentally hit them, think you can land the shots?”

“Leave it to me.”

Alin notches three arrows onto her bow. After drawing back the string, she lets them fly, taking out half the goblins harassing Serena.

All three arrows find their mark, each shot taking a life. Two goblins fall dead with an arrow to their chest, the third goblin dies with an arrow to the head.

The three scramble away in terror but I turn them into miss meat with a few shots of Eldritch Mote.

Seriously, this thing is busted.

While Alin rescued our priestess, I used Eldritch Mote to drive away the goblins advancing on Eric and pulverising Kael.

Each shot of mine reaped the life of a goblin. Most of my shots were

With our teammates (or what’s left of them) secured, I poured shot after shot into the oncoming pack.

Each of my shots took a life. One by one they burst into a viscera and limbs, hardly a single corpse was in one piece.

I made sure to keep our distance, driving the filthy bastards back deeper into the tunnel.

Alin helped me out a bit early on, but she tapped out early to secure the rest of our party members and checked the chamber for traps. Meaning most of the kills were attributed to me–

‘Thud.’

What was that?

‘Thud!’

Why do those sound like incredibly large footsteps belonging to an elite enemy?

‘Thud!’ ‘Thud!’ ‘Thud!’

From the tunnel a large bulky figure slowly stomped its way to us. In the dim light cast by my torch, I make out some large flat surface, much like a table, strapped to its arm.

Alin dropped the body of Serena behind us and drew her bow, notching a fresh batch of arrows.

“Get ready.” she warns, “They’re pulling out all the stops with this wave.”

As soon as she said her piece, the mystery enemy came into light.

Based on looks alone, ‘It’s a big goblin.’ was the first thing I thought.

Its face had the same cruel look as a goblin’s but packed more meat and fat.

To describe him simply, big, mean, green and ugly.

Bastard’s half a head taller than me and thrice as wide. This big fella would be a perfect fit for the WWE.

Strapped to his right arm is what I can only describe as an iron slab. From its design, it’s supposed to be a tower shield, but age and lack of maintenance have long dulled its appearance.

I can guess why they brought it out.

Behind the green-skinned sumo wrestler is a pack of angry yapping goblins, their disgusting yellow eyes shone with malice and lust.

I confirm with Alin to see if this creature is what I think it is, “Is that a hobgoblin?”

“Yes. Aim for his legs, we have to disable his movement.”

Shortly after her tip, the hobgoblin moved his shield in front and charged at us, picking up momentum. The rest of his tiny compatriots follow suit, with a lot of disgusting hooting and shrieking at what they thought would be an easy steamroll victory.

Unfortunately for them, I hate giving others the advantage.

I let loose two shots, each aimed at the legs.

‘Zwuack!’ ‘Zwuack!’

The two green bursts turn the hobgoblin’s forelegs into a fine meat and bone splatter paste.

His large frame crashes down hard on the rough stone floor, the pain from losing both his legs causes him to howl in agony.

Immobilized, I spam Eldritch Mote into the hobgoblin’s body until it resembles a meat pile.

With the leader dead and turned into spaghetti sauce right before their eyes, the charging goblin pack comes to a halt.

Taking this opportunity, we, I mostly mean I, but giving credit where credit’s due, Alin also landed quite a few decent shots herself.

Anyways, we slaughter the petrified goblins still processing the death of their head honcho.

They bite and scramble over one another to get out of the way, desperate to escape their boss’ fate.

Unfortunately for them, the tunnel was straight and I had a ranger with night vision on my side.

We fire a few more shots behind them, finishing the last of the attackers.

With all the goblins presumably dead, we go check on our teammates.

Eric was the nearest, so I checked on him first. Alin took Kael, who was the most beaten out of the three.

“Oi, wizard boy, can you hear me?”

Eric groans in response.

He seemed in okay condition.

“... Get away… back off… I’m a mage… of the Blue… Tower…”

I place my fingers on his wrist artery. It’s really faint, he’s clearly been injured somewhere.

Seeing no visible and…

Oh, nope, I turned him around and found a rusty contaminated razor jammed deep into his backside.

“Uuuuuuugh…” Eric groans.

…

I don’t think this one’s going to live. Even if he were, going to the toilet would be a living hell.

…

Don’t worry, I won’t say a word, I’ll tell everyone you died valiantly killing a demon or something.

…

Meh, it’s not like he was necessary and will be missed dearly by everyone.

I’m one to talk considering how I have only two spells. One of which is a glorified piece of garbage that states the blatantly obvious.

“Uuugh…”

Whilst I was monologuing, again. I need to stop doing that, half the stuff I monologue makes no sense whatsoever and I tend to forget all about it moments later.

Back to the present, Eric’s dead. Very sad, I know.

“Shoot, this one’s dead.” After making a mental note to buy myself some armor, I ask Alin on how the others fair, “How about your side?”

“The priestess’ alive.”

“What about the other guy?”

She shakes her head, “Head’s been bashed in. How about you?”

“Contaminated razor jammed into his backside, he’s a goner.”

“Dead, unconscious, dead. Sheesh, perhaps it would’ve been better to cave-in the entire place.”

“I’m… still… alive…”

Oh, would you look at that, what a tenacious prick he is.

“Can a potion do the trick?”

“It’ll heal the wound, but not the poison. None of the three brought antidotes.”

“Does the priestess happen to know a poison cure spell?”

“Spell? You mean a miracle right?”

Hunh? Why is this world becoming more like D&D?

Stop! I’m getting off-track!

“Yeah, a poison cure miracle.”

“Good, we just need to wake her up, do you happen to have smelling salts?”

“Nope.”

Well, if there isn’t any medicine on hand, we do things the good old fashioned way.

“Got any water?”

“Yes.”

Alin hands me a flask. I unscrew the cap and pour the contents onto Serena’s face.

The water drenched her hair and clothing, but did little to rouse her awake.

“Maybe I should’ve slapped her, instead.”

“That’s a terrible idea, only a barbarian would slap a maiden’s face.”

“Not like we have many options.

As we ponder how to wake her up, a foul smell wafts through the air.

‘Hack!’ ‘Cough!’

“Alin! What did you eat?”

“How dare you! Girls never fart!”

“Tell that to my grandmother!”

While we bickered back and forth over whodunnit. A puddle of filth was spreading.

The smell of feces and blood grew stronger and stro-

Wait, blood?

I turned around to check behind me, Alin did the same.

To my surprise and utter disgust, one of the bodies was lying in a spreading pool of blood, excrement and urine.

Absolutely filthy.

The person displaying themselves in such an

I rush over

…

It seems he defecated himself to death like good old Elvis.

Except he took poison through his rear orifice, not his facial one.

“Shoot, guess we took too long to try and wake up the priestess. Guess the official casualties are two dead.

“Looks like she's the only one who survived,’.” Alin remarks the obvious, “no life-threatening injuries except for some claw marks and bruising. She’s lucky, they only got through her outer clothes.”

“She might be better off, but she’s still going to have trauma from this.”

“None of our problems.” Alin coldly responds, “She should be thankful things didn’t escalate more than it already has.”

I silently agree.

Whelp, onto a much happier topic.

Children unwanted by their mothers.

“There’s probably newborns we have to kill, aren't there?”

“I’ll go search for them, I know where to look, you watch over the priestess.

Don’t come looking for me unless I specifically tell you to. Wouldn’t want you dying in a random trap or ambush.”

“Be careful, there’s only us two left.”

She nods and mutters ‘you too.’

Without looking back, she descends further into the tunnels with her daggers drawn.

Damn, I’m honestly jealous of her night vision.

I sat by Serena, propped up against the cave wall.

After making sure Alin went in to finish the goblin younglings, I checked the green screen that popped up long too long ago.

On it is a single ominous sentence.

[Would the user like to consume the souls?]

I have no idea why the screen suddenly incites me to commit spiritual cannibalism, but…

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested.

“Which souls are targeted for consumption?”

[Targets:

Deceased party members, Kael and Eric.]

I had a hunch those two were the targets.

I have little problems consuming Eric’s soul. Kael on the other hand, I’m more hesitant about.

Sure, he’s a bit dumb and somewhat overbearing, but he’s a decent guy who went out of his way to invite a person he never met into his party.

Could he have had ulterior motives? Possibly.

Does that mean I’ll think the worst of him?

No, he displayed no such intentions. Therefore, we must abide by ‘innocent until proven guilty.’

Unless I can use a spell to speak with the dead, I have no way to ascertain his true motives.

Thus, I can only think the best of him.

It’d be incredibly unjust of me to damn his soul based on suspicion alone.

I’d be no different from the Church bastards hunting me down for being supposedly a ‘heretic.’

First I better find out the specifics.

“What happens to the souls I consume?” I ask.

[Souls will be stripped of their potential and power in life to strengthen different aspects of your abilities.

It is possible for new skills to be acquired and for old ones to evolve.]

Nice! This is like a skill tree gacha!

Except… the currencies aren’t microtransactions but human sacrifices.

Yay?

I ask more about the conditions.

“Will the souls be consumed or harmed in any way?”

[Yes.]

Gotta give it to— Is this a system or a status? I honestly can’t tell. Guess I’ll use it interchangeably whenever I feel like it.

Anyways, gotta give it to the system, it’s quick to answer.

However, I don’t feel like consuming the souls of the innocent. Sure I’m in a bit of a pickle, and I don’t have the best of relations with Eric, but it doesn’t mean I’m desperate or spiteful enough to damn their souls for all eternity.”

Hmm…

I look at the goblin bodies lying next to Kael’s corpse.

Why didn’t the system include the souls of monsters? Could it be, monsters in this world have a core or mana stone in place of a heart or soul?

I ask the system this question, “Can I substitute human souls with a monster’s instead?”

[...]

Strange, what’s with the deliberation?

I ask again, “Well? Can I or not?”

[Yes.]

Ay! There we go! Took it long enough.

Wait… It can absorb monster souls, but purposefully display human souls for me to consume…

This thing is just a picky eater!!!

I almost committed a morally disastrous blunder!

Crap! If I knew I could absorb monster souls much earlier, I would’ve sacrificed the souls of those slimes from today!

Though I doubt the souls of a slime.

Surely goblins would give me a much better boost.

“Please absorb the goblin souls.”

I decided not to absorb Eric’s soul either.

Although I hate his attitude, he hasn’t committed any real reason for me to damn him to hell.

[Analyzing accumulation of monster kills.

Certain aspects are restored.

Glyph of Protection is granted.]

A defensive spell? The new skill I get from absorbing some souls is this?

Interesting.

It’s certainly useful, but I was hoping for something that would improve my offensive capabilities further.

Then again, I don’t have any gear besides my school uniform, so I’m a bit of a glass cannon.

Guess this spell was useful after all.

“Why are you staring at their corpses?”

I turned around with a jolt, not realizing she was behind me.

I quickly make up some emotional bullshittery on the spot, “It’s a shame, about the warrior not the wizard. He’s a pretty nice guy.”

“Nice, but also foolish and naive.”

“Indeed, but decent people nonetheless. Yet…”

“Yet?” she asks.

“I feel very little about their deaths.” I admit, “It’s like coming across a rotting animal carcass on the street. Disgusting and pitiful, but nothing I can’t easily move past from.”

“Is that so?” she responds dispassionately.

“Yes.” I further add, “ Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a psychopath or anything, in fact, I never saw any real violence back in my own world.

It’s just that, when I see someone dead in front of me. I just feel desensitized.”

“Probably because you didn’t see them die. Add it with your lack of any real camaraderie and connection., it’s no wonder you don’t feel anything.”

“Maybe…”

Seeing me still questioning my possibly skewed moral compass, she offers words of comfort, “I’ve seen all sorts of people. You aren’t as bad as I think you are, as far as I can tell. Few evil men would openly confess worries like yours to a stranger such as myself.”

Don’t worry if you feel nothing now. From what I can tell, you’re on edge. Once you get the chance to relax, maybe then you’ll feel bad later.”

I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be comforting or worrisome.

“Perhaps, but I feel like my emotions aren’t going to change much.”

“People are blind to the faults pointed out by others. You’ll see.”

“So what was it you called me for?”

“I took care

“Does that mean the request’s complete?”

“No, not yet.”

“A goblin cave always has a place where they store captives or their children. This place

“

I follow her deeper into the cave, and we leave Serena behind. She’s not in the best shape to assist us, besides, we Alin

Two or three minutes later, we arrived at the site.

We step foot into a large chamber, half the size of a football field. On the other side is a giant boulder the size of a house.

“There’s another tunnel behind the boulder.”

I can see for myself Sherlock, I might not have nightvision, but I have a torch.

I spot the corners of the tunnel peaking out from the round edges of the boulder.

“Is there a mechanism to open it?”

“Checked, nothing, seems to be just a regular boulder. Think your magic can do the trick?”

Strange, if there’s no mechanism to get it open, then that means

“Of course, gotta earn my keep. I’m pretty much deadweight in this situation without my spells.”

‘Zwuack!’

Two shots of crackling, green, eldritch energy hit the boulder. Several pieces fall off.

Hmm, I might need to take a few more shots.

After pouring a dozen shots into the boulder, the boulder finally crumbles. We shove the rubble out of the way.

To be more precise, Alin chanted some spell that summoned wind to blow it all someplace down the tunnel.

So rangers can use spells in this world. That or it’s because of her potential elven lineage.

Either way, we cautiously proceed further down the tunnel. I check the sides for hidden tunnels, Alin takes point and remains vigilant for traps.

The tunnel was large with a slight downward slope, even for goblins, ten men can walk abreast with room to swing their arms.

Could this be leading to some ruins where we can find valuable treasure?

I hope so, because I’m broke. I don’t want to have to rely on Ralph and his family’s hospitality forever, that’d make me a deadbeat.

With hope and excitement, we descended deeper in.

Down, down we went. Almost no end in sight.

Surprisingly, we didn’t encounter any traps. It’s just a plain slope.

“There’s no traps?” I look around half-expecting a giant spiked ball to come rolling down on us. It’d be the perfect area to place such a trap.

Alin nods, “It seems wherever this tunnel leads, the destination is a place those goblins frequent. That or it’s been purposefully blocked to contain something.”

“You mean a powerful malevolent could be lying on the other side?”

“Possibly.”

“Why are we doing this?”

“We need to collect information.” She responds, “Although we killed the goblins, no traces of the captives have been found. There were young, yes. One can assume the goblins consumed the captives after they served their purpose.

However, when I checked the remains, none of it belonged to humans.

That means the captives are elsewhere, and I have a feeling we’re onto their trail, as well as something bigger.”

My god, this is getting incredibly tense!

Aren’t adventures usually exciting and full of fun?

Why is my first adventure full of so much death and danger?

Eh, whatever, I’ve come too far at this point, doubt and regret will only serve to cloud my judgement.

And I don’t want to end up like a certain someone with a poisoned dagger shoved up my ass.

Fortunately, we spotted the end of the tunnel.

How am I able to spot the end of a tunnel without night vision?

It’s because there are crystals of various colours lighting up the place.

Judging by the look on Alin’s face, these are pretty valuable resources. Perhaps they’re magic stones?

Whatever it is, I can see the excitement in her eyes.

“Jackpot.” she mutters.

Jackpot indeed.

Despite striking it rich, we don’t rush down to the

It’s not the roads that kill drivers, but the crash and lapse of attention.

Hold on, a driver could still die if the road was incredibly slippery or because of another drunk driver, but that’s besides the point.

Gotta come up with a better analogy next time.

My hand

“Don’t touch them, we can report to the guild later and they’ll give us proper shares. What you harvest now can’t compare the rewards they give you.”

I nod, following her lead. It’s much better to invest in credibility than short term cash.

We walk down to the end of the end of the tunnel, at the entrance to the crystal caverns beyond, I can make out cliffs on the other side. All covered with bright luminescent crystals, beneath their gentle light, I can see glistering ore veins of unknown elements.

It seems we stumbled across an underground ravine magic ore vein of sorts.

Damn that’s a mouthful that I didn’t think I could say in one go.

“Get down!”

Alin suddenly pushes me with such strength I momentarily mistaken her for a barbarian. The torch flies out of my hand and sputters out.

I shot her an incredulous look that practically said, ‘What on earth are you doing!?’

She loudly whispers, “Look!” and points ahead.

I obey and see scores of green figures dotting my peripheral vision.

Directly on the other side of the ravine is an ant line of goblins engaging in cheap labour capitalists back home would drool over.

The line stretched on endlessly, sometimes thinning as goblins entered branching tunnels, at times thickening as empty carts came back in to collect the mined ores.

Surprisingly few crystals were among the ores being carted. Guess the crystals are either worthless or something beyond a goblin’s comprehension.

On one short segment where goblins were mining, I lost track at twenty goblins.

“Oh, for crying out loud. They’re making a mine?”

“No. A colony.”

“A colony?”

“Yes, it's complicated to explain, but in short, these goblins are led by a higher variant of goblins.

A typical goblin cave has a goblin chief who can lead a maximum of fifty goblins. Judging by the hundreds present, these ones are led by a goblin warlord.”

“Does that mean Brooks is in danger!?”

“No. It’s a hotbed of adventurer activity, for every goblin there is here, there’s one to match in Brooks.

From what I can discern, these tunnels they’re digging all lead to different places.

This ravine is likely a logistical hub for them to launch attacks all over the Frontier on small or isolated settlements.”

‘Phew!’ I let out a sigh of relief, I thought we were about to enter a goblin apocalypse and see some gruesome scenes only ever depicted in… um, well, dark fantasy…

I’m seriously digging a hole for myself here.

Meh, whatever, we found a magic ore mine and a colony of goblins, surely this’ll be enough to fetch a nice reward at the guild.

“Okay, the town’s not in danger, we found a giant magic ore vein and have important info on large-scale goblin activity. Why aren't we leaving and reporting this to the Guild?”

“From the looks of things and based on the nest we exterminated, they’re planning a large-scale raid on multiple settlements and villages, and it’ll happen soon. I estimate we have less than a week’s time before they finish carving the remaining tunnels.”

My eyes widen in realization and fear of what she said, cold sweat runs down my neck.

One of these places could be Ralph’s ranch or Tros.

There’s no way I’m letting that happen.

“What should we do?”

The ranger thinks for a moment, “How many times more can you use that spell of yours?”

“Indefinitely.”

“Can you cast them in frequent intervals?”

“One after the other in rapid succession.” I answer, “But I haven’t learned to mentally cast it yet, so I need to say the name out loud.”

“Bummer, but no matter.”

Before I can ask her what plan she has in mind, her head swivels upward to the ceiling in an attempt to scan for something.

Shortly after, she turns to me, “You see the large red crystal above us?”

I look up and spot a large crimson cluster pulsating light, “Yes?”

I have a feeling this is going to end like a Michael Bay movie. Flames and explosions.

Sure enough, Alin’s next words are, “Blast it.” She goes on to explain, “The crystal’s Detonite, hard to break, but once the inner core is breached, the air will react with the inner elements and trigger an explosion.”

“What about the captives?”

“Trust me, it’s better to kill them.” She responds mechanically.

…

“Do you do this often?” I can’t help but ask.

“A few times.”

“What was the first time like?”

She was slow to respond, “Awful. A few of them had good futures, great potential or so I heard.

In the end, it all came down to luck and readiness.Perhaps they ignored a blatantly obvious trap like the hidden

Whatever the case, the result is the same. Regret, despair, and the permanent loss of one’s purity.

It happens all at once, breaking one’s mind, body and soul.

So believe me when I say it is better to let their souls return to the Great Cycle to be cleansed.”

Gosh damnit.

I’ll be frank, I don’t really give a crap about innocents dying. I mean, sometimes it’s unavoidable.

People die all the time, car crashes, murder, workplace accidents, etc.

Sure, it’s tragic, but it’s got nothing to do with me.

Yes, I know, I’m an apathetic shithead, but that doesn’t mean I’m some android who shrugs off everything with indifference.

I might be indifferent to people dying like with Kael and Eric, but that’s because I wasn’t responsible for their deaths.

But committing murder, or in this case, indirect manslaughter? The me indoctrinated to follow the Earth’s norm and

Frick!!! Don’t isekai bastards go through a moral dilemma several novels into the series! We’re barely a third of the way through the first volume!

Wait… What the hell am I even saying!?!

As I’m stewing mentally, Alin mistakes my silence for hesitation caused by a moral dilemma, (though to be fair, I am reluctant to kill the victims) and apologizes, “I’m sorry that I’m asking you to do this, but we’re running out on time. From the looks of things, these guys are nearly finished carving out the final passageways..

Soon, they’ll launch coordinated attacks all over the Frontier, isolating entire settlements and destroying countless farms. Hundreds will suffer at their hands.

It won’t just stop here.”

What!? How can it get worse?

“I used to be a warrior in my homeland. I know the events that’ll follow. Gobling

The heck? Was she part of the military? Why am I encountering so many former soldiers?

Also, where is she even from to be so experienced? Actually, better question, how old is she?

Unaware of the insulting thought I had, Alin prattles on, “While cities and towns are busy sending in adventurers and soldiers to tame the chaos. Demons and other forces of evil take advantage of this opening to carry out their schemes and rituals.

We either sacrifice potential victims who may never integrate back into society.

Or assemble a larger party who knows when they’ll arrive.

By the time the details are confirmed, the request gets issued, the group is organized and the gear is acquired. An entire village or two might be burnt to the ground with more ”

…

“Are we allowed to do this?”

“What?”

“It seems like something we’ll be reprimanded and investigated for.”

She stares at me with a deadpan look, “You’re joking, right?”

“Unless th

“After everything I said, you still hesitate!? You don’t think I killed

You are lucky, whoever they are, they’re strangers. You don’t know these people.

Back in my homeland, There were times I had to put down my sister-in-arms and those I grew up knowing! They died in my arms with a smile! A goddamn smile! Happy to be freed of the suffering they were forced to endure!”

“So what’s it going to be? We can leave right now and call for reinforcements, or put an end to the colony early.”

…

Why am I still hesitating?

In terms of pros and cons, the benefits clearly eliminate the consequences.

We prevent the colony from growing, I gain a ton of experience, use the soul consumption to get skills, save the neighbouring towns, and collect a hefty reward from the guild. Win-win for everyone.

But there’s something about letting the captives die that just doesn’t sit well with me.

Suppose it’s the modern mindset clashing with the gritty realism of this medievalistic world.

Ignorant of my thoughts, Alin presumes I agreed with her plan, “I’ll cover you. Bring the ceiling down.”

Like a shinobi out of a manga, she leaps up onto a ledge and takes position, ready to snipe the goblins that’ll come running when the ceiling comes crashing down.

I aim my finger at the spot Alin pointed at.

Whilst I focus on the target, I offer a silent prayer to the victims of the goblins whose already ruined lives would be brought to an end by me.

Shit, since when did a character in isekai have to euthanize innocents this early on?

Actually, why the hell am I committing manslaughter in another world and being hunted by the church.

Fuck, I’m just glad I’m not in front of the poor saps.

If this whole world turns out to be some trash isekai novel whose idea of entertaining the audience is forcing me into dilemmas with vast far-reaching consequences, I am going to flip.

‘Pfoo.’

Don’t worry, think of this like putting down strays back in the animal shelter.

…

What!? It was for one day okay! I accidentally got mistaken for an actual employee and had to put down five dogs!

‘Hmmmm! Haaaa!’

I breathe in and out.

You know what?

FUCK IT!

“Eldritch Mote!”