Deep in the Mines - Part II

Kia’s hand slipped off the dagger, dropping her from sixty feet in the air. A desperate attempt to grab hold of the demon’s long tongue proved fruitless. Gravity pulled her downward at an increasing pace.

The borum bellowed and ichor poured from its mouth. Its tongue plummeted to the earth at a faster speed than Kia.

She landed on top of the tongue, only a moment after it hit the ground. Pain forced its way through her body and she slid off the monstrous tongue, safely onto the ground.

A bright light shone through the borum’s mouth, quickly filling its whole body. The light vanished for a second, only to return with a burst that blew the large demon to bits. Chunks of demonic frog and ichor shot out in every direction.

Erik got smacked in the face by a large lump of demon flesh, knocking him onto his back. Kia shielded herself from the barrage of smaller bits that came her way. Tilaya was lucky enough to only get splashed by ichor. When it was no longer raining demon remains, the three looked to where the body was before it exploded.

Calum stood, sword in hand, completely drenched in ichor. A golden glow showed in his eyes, the telltale sign that he used a significant amount of power given to him by the Goddess.

“Calum, you’re alive!” Tilaya felt the sinking feeling in her heart lift, replaced by bliss.

Erik breathed out in relief. “Thank goodness…”

Kia jumped to her feet and put her daggers away. She stared at Calum, realizing that she may have died if he didn’t cut off the borum’s tongue.

“That… was unpleasant.” Calum wiped the ichor off to the best of his ability, but most of his body still remained covered. “It could’ve been worse, though.”

“Don’t scare us like that!” Tilaya ran up to Calum, nearly crying. “I thought you might’ve died!”

“Sorry, I didn’t think of any other way to deal with the frog.” He evaluated his friends, checking for any serious injuries. Seeing a large chunk of meat pinning Erik to the ground made him chuckle.

“Could you get this thing off me?” Erik grunted, unable to push it off of himself.

Kia sliced the massive piece of frog meat in half. The two halves slid a few inches away from each other, allowing Erik to get out from under them.

“You have my thanks,” Erik dipped his head. “But this doesn’t prove anything.”

“I think she’s done enough to prove herself, Erik.” Calum turned to the cavern entrance. “Now then, shall we make our way back up? I expected there to be more goblins, but I guess there aren’t any more around. Either that was all of them, or the others fled.”

“Or they’re just hiding,” Kia added.

“Right, that too. Tilaya, you have a spell that can locate living beings, right?”

“Yes. Give me one second…” She closed her eyes and remained still for several moments. Her eyes shot open. “We need to get out of here.”

“What’d you find?” Erik asked.

“More hostile creatures than I can count.” As soon as she finished talking, a loud rumble sounded from above.

Calum tilted his head up. “You’ve got to be kidding me…”

Hundreds of goblins crawled on the ceiling and down the walls, heading straight for the party.

“Everybody run!” Calum ran, with the others, for the cavern entrance. The goblins were quickly catching up to them. Several goblins dropped off the wall in front of them, blocking their escape.

“I’ve got this!” Erik held his greatsword and picked up his pace, charging the goblins in front of them. The creatures all readied their shortswords and ran to meet the swordsman. With a powerful swing, he knocked the goblins out of the way.

More goblins swarmed the area, nearly surrounding them. With Erik in the lead, the party managed to get through the opening, into the cave they were previously in. Tilaya turned around and cast a spell to collapse the opening.

Three goblins got through before the collapse, and several were crushed by the falling rocks. Kia rushed at the goblins, putting holes in their chests at a blinding speed. The goblins were unable to react quickly enough to survive her lethal attacks. Their bodies fell to the ground behind Kia.

The four were breathing heavily, relieved that they made it out in time to avoid fighting hundreds of goblins.

Calum turned to the others. “We were tasked with clearing the monsters… so we should probably do something about those goblins.”

Erik caught his breath and stood up straight. “What do you suggest we do?”

“I’m not sure. We can’t deal with that many goblins at once. Any ideas, Tilaya?”

“If I had a staff, I could easily wipe them out…”

Calum paused to think. “Erik, you and Tilaya should go to the surface and collect the staff we were promised. Kia and I will stay here to make sure nothing happens.”

Tilaya shifted, moving the dirt with her feet. “But what if it’s not ready yet?”

“We’ll just have to hope that it is. Now hurry, we don’t know how long it will take the goblins to break through.”

A light appeared in Tilaya’s hand as she and Erik ran down the tunnel, heading toward the surface.

Through the wall, the growls of the goblins could be heard. Calum stared at the opening Tilaya had collapsed, hoping they wouldn’t be able to break through.

“You saved my life earlier,” Kia said, trying to start a conversation. She leaned against the wall, facing the wall of dirt and stone that separated them from hundreds of goblins.

“Did I?”

“When you cut off the demon’s tongue. It broke my fall. So… thank you.”

“Oh. In that case, you’re welcome. You’ve only been with us for a couple days, but you’re already an important part of our team. I’m glad you’re here.”

Kia placed a hand on her chest, with a warm smile on her face. “That means a lot to me.”

“It’s a good thing we arrived in this town earlier than we expected. Who knows what could’ve happened if we arrived later.”

“It’s a little concerning that there was a borum here. And there are way too many goblins.” She entered a thinking position, her hand resting on her chin. “Could they be working for the Demon Lord?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. This is farther into the northern region than the Demon Lord’s influence extends, but there can’t be another explanation for this.”

“What do you think they’re doing?”

Calum sat on the ground and shut his eyes. “The miners said they’re harvesting oxite. If they are working for the Demon Lord, maybe they are making magic weapons.”

“An army equipped with magic weapons…” Kia shuddered at the thought. “That would be impossible to defeat.”

“We’re stopping their operation, so hopefully they don’t have enough oxite to make weapons for a whole–”

A green arm broke through the rubble, sending dirt flying. Another arm burst through, and then another.

Calum jumped to his feet and held his sword in front of him. Apprehension swirled in his stomach. He made eye contact with Kia and nodded.

The goblins were about to come through.