Chapter 12: Rescue part 2

The day Prior, Scitus had sent a reconnaissance team. One to find the location of the prisoners and the one Cecilia and Yuki had, was to infiltrate the Purple goblin's tent and steal anything of note. For Arisa and Yuki, this was a simple task and so stealing the book that was left quietly on one side of the tent was done with ease. The book contained some secrets, the first that Scitus noted was a malicious Aura, it was why Arisa and Yuki noticed it in the first place. He recalled them very glad to hand the book to Scitus. The malicious aura poured seemed to pour into Scitus but he did not feel the same anxiousness that Yuki felt when handing it over to him. The moment he dared open the book the malicious aura poured into him seemingly in an attempt consume him but before it could so much as reach his knuckles, a dark aura burst forth from scitus's fingers and consumed the malicious aura and replaced it with a faint black aura. Scitus had unknowingly broken the curse placed on the book and granted it a small blessing. The book was known as a tome, a magical book with odd inscriptions that were difficult to read without either significant mental ability or decent magical ability. The tome in Scitus's hand was of a particular rare make that poured part of its contents directly into the holder's mind, so long as they had sufficient mana to spend.

This was how Scitus quickly learned two spells, FIRE, and ANTI FIRE. Two of the most basic types of fire magic in the world. Though it was mundane in power compared to other fire spells, the length of time it would ordinarily take to learn the spell was not small and that was without mentioning Anti Fire, a rather rare magic spell even among spellcasters.

The sudden ability to cast fire magic drastically changed Scitus's plans. He smiled as he clutched the book in his hands and moved into a small cave that Bison had found during the encampment search. It was smaller than the one Scitus had found, only extending a few hundred feet, and shrinking the deeper one entered until one was met with a small hole no bigger than a large rat. After some investigation with his fire magic, he decided it would be a could place to regroup. The entrance was only big enough four at most ten goblins to enter making defense simpler and with his magic ability, he could easily overpower the purple goblins fire magic.

Scitus closed his eyes and activated his divine sight. The majority of the goblins were heading towards the fire with the purple goblin leading the way, dispersing the fire where ever he went. This was different from Scitus's expectations but made little difference in the overall plan.

“Robin, five, goblins and the ogre are guarding the center tents.” Robin nodded knowing his god probably wasn’t observing him. He pointed to Arisa and Yuki, “through the left!!!!” he then pointed to Bison, who was holding a black duffle bag, and Nell, “through the right!!!”

Teal and Robin sped their space up, outpacing even their comrades. 

"Are we saving the humans?" Arisa asked Robin who for a moment did not respond but finally said, "If we can." Arisa's heart sunk but knew they weren't the priority in this. Arisa' gaze grew fierce, she will make saving them a possibility.

The darkness was beneficial despite the strong moonlight. Teal and Robin stopped before entering the encampment, waiting for Yuki and Arisa signal.

The corrupted goblins were idling around laughing amongst themselves, sometimes mocking the ogre and other times laughing at their own jokes. Their leader explained there was danger and yet they took no caution and this was their downfall.

From out of nowhere a Female goblin jumped from out of the darkness stabbing the torch bearer and in that moment of flickering darkness, another goblin ran from a corner and stabbed a second goblin before quickly disappearing. In an instant, two goblins were heavily wounded and incapable of moving. They were miraculously still alive because as monsters, they had incredible resilience.

Many humans believe to fully kill a monster at least several organs need to be destroyed, apart from the heart and brain which do result in instant death. Even the goblins eliminated in the forest by the unit were still alive, slowly bleeding out.

The three remaining goblins grew anxious still unable to comprehend what had just happened. It was so quick and so silent that there was no time to react. Then from the corner of the tent in the distance, they spotted a female goblin eyeing them. "HA!!!" one goblin yelled as if to say, "AFTER HER!!!" the three goblins chased after her, along with the ogre who was obligated to stay near the goblins. Just the final goblin was about to cross the corner tent, he stopped and looked back to where the slave tent was. He turned to see his allies, along with the ogre running towards an unknown destination, he turned back to the slave tent and whispered, "Time."

As soon the goblins chased after her, Bison and Nell arrived and entered the storage tent. Swiftly and without care for damaging the goods, they both began to stuff the duffle bag with meat, vegetables, and fruits that the enemy had obtained. Most of it was rotten but that didn't matter, their mission was to steal everything the enemy had so they would be preoccupied with hunting instead of chasing them down.

Goblins didn't often store food. Though, when in camps as large as the one they are in, it was a necessity. Ordinarily, they store fruits and vegetable in small amounts. Large camps ordinarily store meat. As time passed, the meat would gradually rot, but goblins had strong resistance against disease and would eat even maggot infested meat if necessary.

the freshest meat was always given to the elder while the older meat was given to the children. Max made an exception to that tradition, as he occasionally offered fresh meat to the tribe but was just as often refused for they believed he had earned the fresh meat

The two were finishing up in the tent when suddenly, "I need help!!!" Arisa's anxious voice resounded in their minds. Nell was the first to react, running out of the tent. He quickly found where Arisa was and entered the grimy tent she had called them to.

An awful smell permeated the air, one that didn't belong to a corrupted goblin. A gruesome sight was before him, as he saw eight atrophied women with bloodied wrists where rope once lay. One was no older than eight and another was fifteen, the rest were in their twenties. The sight turned Nell's stomach and was forced to look away. "We've untied them, but they won't move."

Arisa and Yuki had led the guards away, pretending to escape before returning to free the human slaves but after freeing them the human women wouldn't even blink. Nell forced himself to look again. Their eyes were filled with a dreadful fear that paralyzed them were they sat. They were bruised, bloodied and dry tears stained their face. The only source of light was a small glowing stone on one of the women's neck. She, unlike the others, had a fierce gaze that wouldn't relent. She Stared at Yuki, Nell, and Arisa with eyes of absolute hatred. She wanted to kill them but was unable to move, she hadn't eaten well, and her legs had grown feeble.

Nell turns to Arisa and nods, trying to reassure her. Nell had been a slave once long ago. He understood what it felt to be chained to the ground unable to move for weeks at a time. Freedom, even when in front him, seem an impossible dream. He still remembered what allowed him to be free, truly free beyond just physical shackles.

"Tear this place down," Nell said while breaking the wooden branches that held the animal skin up. Arisa, Yuki and soon after Bison aided Nell in tearing the large tent down and in a matter of minutes, the tent was torn down and the moonlight shined brightly down on the human slaves who cried at the wonderful sight. Even the fierce woman showed small tears for she never thought she'd ever see the moon again. She tightens her fist as she stood up. Her legs fumbled beneath her feet, but before she fell, bison took her shoulder and held her up. The sight was odd, for she was a tall human and he was short, to the outsider it appeared as if he was dragging her. The woman shouted, "WHAA!!!!" and forced her feeble legs once more, stabling her self. She stood proudly as she gazed at her fellow captives and used her voice for the first time in weeks. Her words were foreign to the goblins but it had a clear meaning to the captives who slowly stood up with some help from the unit.

"Up! Up! Arisia shouted with tears in her eyes as she helped the woman stand. The tall woman took a good look at the tearful goblin and couldn't help but be surprised, the other three had similarly solemn looks with eyes that seemed to understand. Then a loud thunk resounded from a few tents back where she saw two goblins fiercely fighting. 

……

A few moments before the humans were rescued, only a few meters away a different tragedy was underway.

The black goblin sat on the bloodied husband who was miraculously still breathing. He was waiting for the would-be rescuers to approach. "HA!!!!" a goblin shouted from outside the tent and then the sound of footsteps leaving the area. The black goblin tightened his fist in preparation for whoever approached.

A young goblin bursts into the tent brandishing a jagged rock in his hand. The black goblin flinches as the stone impacts with his cheeks. The goblin tightens his hands into fists and lunches another attack, but before it can meet target a black hand squeezes his wrists. "what, do?" The black goblin hadn't expected his enemy to be a corrupted goblin.

The corrupted goblin responds with a kick to his opponent's legs with no effect. "WEAK!!!" The black goblin shouts as he uses his left hand to punch the corrupted goblins rips and then the goblins head. The black goblin releases his grip and the corrupted goblin collapses as blood leaks from his mouth.

The black goblin kicked the goblin, pushing him into several goblins before grabbing his neck and pulling back to the center. The corrupted goblin ignored the damage, he knew he had lost. His mind was preoccupied with the crying goblin only a few feet from him. He wasn’t strong enough to protect her and now he would die without getting to see her smiling face.

The black goblin lifted the corrupted goblin up and punched him until his ribs cracked and his eyes hazed over. When the black goblin had confirmed the bloodied goblin unconscious he released his grip again and began kicking him harder than before. The goblins were forced to watch as the corrupted goblins blood splattered all over them.

In his moment of wrath, the black goblin neglected his back. He suddenly felt a sharp pain pierce him. With one swift motion, he turned his body as he whipped his fist only to miss its target by a hair.

There stood a lone goblin who wore a cold expression as if to say, "you mean nothing to me." The goblin released the dagger, knowing it was too deep and prepared for the black goblins attack which came in the form of a powerful fist. The fist collided with the goblins wrist and would have surely broken it if not for the goblins swift downward almost river like motion that guided the fist down. The force behind the fist was too much for the black goblins legs to resist and the black goblins face was forced forward only to meet a left elbow. The black goblins felt the sudden shock rattle his brain causing him to further lose his balance and fall to his knees.

The expression among the crowd was absolute awe as if they were watching David face Goliath in person. The person before them was teal, the second in command and second strongest assassin knight.

Even so, teal was still young and had little battle experience with others and so he made a mistake. His eyes for only a single moment looked around him to confirm the hostage's safety. At that moment the black goblin grabbed onto Teal's leg and stood up, lifting teal along with him. the black goblin lifted teal just high enough to punch him with his left hand again, and again. Teal could almost feel his insides tearing but he wouldn't give up so easily. As his sturdy body weakened and blood leaked down and into his nose, Teal arced his body forward and spit into the black goblins eyes. Then he grabbed hold of the black goblins left arm, that was instinctively reaching for his eyes, and twisted his wrist causing a clear snap to resound inside the tent. The black goblin screamed as his right hand tightened its grip on Teals leg. Teal clenched his bloodied teeth as he resisted the pain flowing through him.

The black goblin with some strength still remaining lifts teal up as high as he can before slamming him to the ground. Teal instantly felt the pain of his arm breaking as it hit the ground. As the adrenaline rushed through him, he managed to see a rock near him when he fell. He's still good hand swiped it as the black goblin lifted his body again. Teal attempted to spit on the black goblins face again but the black goblin averted it by turning his cheek. Teal didn't care, his objective that time was only to distract him. Using the jagged side of the stone, he swiped it against the black goblins still functioning wrist. Suddenly feeling the sharp pain, the black goblin released teal. Teal coughed blood as his back hit the ground, only barely missing another rock.

Seemingly undeterred, Teal revealed a bloody smile that brought a chill deep into the black goblin's bones. Wanting to rid himself of this discomfort, the black goblin pulled the blade from his side and lunged towards the fallen Teal. Teal watched as the blade neared him and in at just the right moment he rolled to the right, twisted his hip and kicked the black goblins head.

The black goblin turned to face teal and then suddenly with a wet thud he dropped dead. A black blade was attached to the side of his head. Teal turned to the one that threw the blade. Robin stood near, extending his arm to aid his friend onto his feet. Teal groaned as his body ached but gladly took that hand.

The two had waited for that opportunity. The tent was large, yes, but the many slaves that inhabited it covered most of the area. Two people fighting inside the small space would prove disadvantageous, and so they came up with a secondary plan. Teal would fight alone and if an ideal opportunity presented itself, Robin would make sure to take it.

Robin pulled the blade out of the dead goblins head and cleaned it with the fallen goblin's cloth.

Robin turned to the half-dead goblin that arrived before them. He wore the smell of the corrupted, but how could Robin bear to kill him while his lover cried over his unconscious body.

“I, come, late. Forgive.” Robin sullenly motioned but quickly straighten his back and released the people from their bondage.