8.3 - Art of War

The decision, after an hour of rest, was to charge back in. We had limited time after and people act hasty when they are hungry. We returned to the catacombs.

Entering the labyrinth once again, we meticulously checked every room on our way. The first floor and second were devoid of goblins or empty, only displaying lifeless corpses. Progressing to the third floor, most rooms were empty or occupied by a few stragglers, easily dispatched. Upon reaching the fourth floor, we encountered a group of children goblins.

"What are they?" Haruka inquired. "They're most likely baby goblins," Anna responded. "Do we kill them?" Ryota asked, seeking confirmation. "Yes, otherwise they'll grow up and cause trouble again," Silica confirmed. It was a sad reality to kill children. Even if the goblins could speak it was natural for monsters and even humans to hold grudges against each other. Even if there were honest goblins. There was no guarantee they won't harm humans. It was tragic but had to be done. The small goblins, not even a foot tall, put up no resistance as we remorsefully ended their lives. I felt sick. Ryota, Dachi, Luke, and I were the only ones who could do it. The girls couldn't do it nor as much look as we slaughter.

“Tina!” Tina had to escape outside as Silica called out chasing after her. As she couldn’t watch the cries.

"Bla!" my stomach heaved, and a guttural retching sound erupted from my throat as I watched Ryota throw up. A sickening splatter followed, it was a visceral and unsettling noise. "Bla!" "Bla" as the rest of us followed.

Silica did not return as we continued. We reached the back room of the fourth floor, where we encountered the shaman accompanied by over 40 female goblins. Most of them were unclothed, some partially covered. The goblins attempted to fight back, but our forces overwhelmed them, wiping them all out. After a short amount of time, they were easily wiped out. The Shamon looked at us with open eyes as he was already gone from the loss of blood from the arrow as it was ripped out.

We didn’t say much, as we went on. Surprisingly, the fifth floor of the labyrinth was devoid of goblins in all the rooms we checked. Perplexed by this, we heard noises and voices further down. As we approached a barricade leading to the six floors, it became evident that the goblins had deliberately blocked the stairwell. It is filled with wood and rocks. Trees and even boulders. Anna pondered their intentions, questioning what they might be trying to trap or lock inside. It could take hours breaking it down.

“ How are we going to break this?” questioned Steef

“Only option is heavy labor, can't use magic, as it might collapse the catacombs” I signed.

Shrugging my shoulders, I admitted, "I don't know. We'll have to find out. It's already getting late, with only about four hours left until morning. Should we continue now or come back tomorrow?" The uncertainty hung in the air, reminding us of the impending challenges we were about to face.

Realizing that it was getting late, and we couldn't proceed further at the moment, we escaped outside to find Silica.

"We have to call it a day here. We'll need to camp out for the night or rush back to the house. We can either stay inside the ruins or set up camp in the nearby forest.

After deliberating, we ultimately decided to camp outside. The idea of staying within the ruins, surrounded by the remnants of past battles and lifeless bodies, felt too unsettling. None of us wanted to be the first and last to navigate through that eerie environment.

Leaving the ruins behind, we walked for about 20 minutes, heading south towards the town where we could establish our camp. It was nearing 6 am in the real world, and we knew that few of us would be able to wake up early after a long night's rest.

We were starving as we set up camp, lucky Steef made a small wall around our comp using his earth magic. He wasn’t good at attack spells; I haven’t seem him heal anyone either. He said he took down one goblin by himself. Must have been a lie. Maybe it is his girl body making him weak. Whatever he's building a wall. I can’t do that. We had three tents that we brought from the moonlight as we had them attached to the horses that we resummoned. We should have brought food and not tents!

With a mix of anticipation and weariness, we settled down for the night, ready to regain our strength for the challenges that awaited us the next day. The dark forest and the looming presence of the labyrinth served as a constant reminder of the dangers we were about to face. Little did we know what awaited us on the 5th floor and beyond, but our determination remained steadfast as we prepared for another day of exploration and battles against the goblin horde.