Intermission: Just Another Normal Quest (Part 4)

It's quiet...too quiet. It might be messed up to say this, but I had hoped to hear more screams on my way back to the junction of passages. While it was terrible that they were in pain, it would mean they were alive still. As I ran through the junction and into the remaining passage all I could hear was the distant roar of the waterfall. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥.

That was the only thing I could think about as I made my way through the passage. Up ahead I saw another fork...𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘐 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦...𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥? 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬. 𝘍𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘠𝘖𝘓𝘖. 𝘙𝘐𝘎𝘏𝘛!

That's right, I ended up going with the spray and pray method again. I am...terrible. I tried to clear my thoughts as I came into an opening. Time suddenly slowed and I tried to take in the scene in front of me. 𝘞𝘏𝘈𝘛 𝘛𝘏𝘌 𝘍𝘜𝘊𝘒 𝘐𝘚 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚?!?

I saw a familiar scene. There was a person, a girl, restrained to the ground spread eagle. However, the biggest difference was she was face down and...it looked like the goblins were about to skewer her with a long wooden spike. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?!? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨?!?

Unlike a certain light novel I had read in the past, I had read that the goblins of this world were not the rapey kind. They were brutal and cannibals, but they didn't seem to care for sexual acts with other species. That made sense to me, it wasn't like I would be attracted enough to a pretty dog that I'd want to have sex with it. However, the scene I was witnessing...it almost looked like they were trying to sexually assault her with a wooden spike.

I had no idea what I was witnessing, but what I did know was that...𝘐 𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘛 𝘛𝘖 𝘒𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘚𝘌 𝘈𝘚𝘚𝘏𝘖𝘓𝘌𝘚! 𝘐 𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘛 𝘛𝘏𝘌𝘔 𝘛𝘖 𝘍𝘜𝘊𝘒𝘌𝘕 𝘏𝘜𝘙𝘛! 𝘐 𝘞𝘈𝘕𝘛 𝘛𝘖 𝘋𝘌𝘚𝘛𝘙𝘖𝘠 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘚 𝘌𝘕𝘛𝘐𝘙𝘌 𝘍𝘜𝘊𝘒𝘌𝘕 𝘏𝘐𝘝𝘌 𝘖𝘍 𝘚𝘊𝘜𝘔!

I wanted to vent, I needed to, but even as angry as I was feeling I didn't think I had the resolve to cause a massacre myself. At the Crimson Grotto I had relied on [𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫] to act so viciously...wait...𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?

Up until this point I had relied on my minions to do the dirty work, which allowed me not to fuel the passive, but now...I needed it. I needed something to help me get rid of this terrible feeling of anger and helplessness I had. I felt like if I didn't cause them as much pain as they had caused to so many others I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Maybe it was just my own self gratification, to ease my own feelings, but this was something I NEEDED. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦.

With that the world returned to normal and my minions swooped in, tearing at the goblins' mouths and pinning them to the floor. I walked over to the one Tarman was holding down, I could see its eyes move to look at me when I approached.

The room was silent other than the sobs coming from the girl. I could barely make out the words under her breath between sobs.

"...please...someone...anyone...mother...save me..."

Hearing those words, they were probably much like Fiona's when she was captured, the thought of that made me heart race as my anger spiked to new levels. I took a breath to try and calm down before replying to her.

"Be at ease. You are safe now, so is Baucus. Hold on for a second, I need to take care of them quickly."

"Eh?...who...who are you? Is this--"

"Reaping Scythe."

I didn't let her finish as I summoned my scythe, and a dim ghostly blue light slightly illuminated the pitch black room. I tightened my grip around the scythe as I looked straight into the goblins eyes. I could see its eyes bulge as it saw what was in my hand...𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳?....𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥.

Before I could change my mind, I dragged the scythe along the ground and swept through its neck. I had a momentary feeling of guilt and disgust, but it felt like it was quickly dulled. It seemed that the passive had kicked in, that or I was becoming a psychopath. Let's just go with the former. Yup. Definitely the former.

I quickly moved around the room and repeated the action until all the goblins had been executed. By the time I had finished I was feeling...good. Very, very, very good. The feeling of helplessness, the anxiety, all of those negatives were gone. All that remained seemed to be... the anger. Yes, I was still angry, and it felt even stronger than before. I wanted to unleash this anger on the rest of them, I wanted...no....𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮!

I was about to leave and go on a killing spree when a cry broke my stride.

"PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

That's right, I am here to rescue the victims AND kill the goblins. There was a victim right here, I couldn't just leave her like this right? 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘵.

Taking in a large inhale then exhaling, I tried to clear my head before speaking to her.

"Hahhhhhh...I'm sorry. Let me free you."

I could still feel the skill pulling at me, but I tried to ignore it. It must of been a bit taxing on me to ignore the call of [𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫] because the girl seemed to notice even in the dim blue light of my scythe.

"Th-thank you. I thought I would end up like Regina and Georg...are you alright?"

"Y-yes...hah...just a little tired."

I tried to brush the question aside, it wasn't like I could answer it anyways.

"You said like Regina and Georg...were they impaled by a wooden spike?"

I saw her face immediately contort in fear and she started shivering. She was shivering so much that it caused her bare modest chest to start jiggling. If this was any other time I'd of probably tried to enjoy the treat, but between [𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫] and the shit I'd seen in the cave it was the last thing on my mind. 𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭...𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 3𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.

"I-is th-that what happened to th-them?!?"

"You don't know?"

"No...it was pitch black in here...all I heard were their screams..."

True, in the pitch black room she wouldn't be able to see anything, all she would be able to do is hear...everything. Tears started streaming down her face as she seemed to recall the sounds she heard in this room.

"I'm sorry for making you remember. Stay here. I will go clear out the rest of this cave and save them...if I can."

"W-wait are you going to leave me here alone?!? What if they come back?!?"

"They won't, I killed everything on my way--"

"BUT WHAT IF THEY DO?!?"

She suddenly grabbed onto my clothes, unwilling to let me leave her. I could tell from her voice and facial expressions she wouldn't let me leave alone without forcing her somehow. Baucus was either braver or was in too much pain to stop me. She just looked a bit bruised and beaten, definitely in far better shape then everyone else I'd found up to this point.

"Eh...ok. Tarman stays with her, guards her, but doesn't say anything to her."

She looked surprised, I guess she couldn't see anyone else due to the lack of light in the room, and was surprised when Tarman was illuminated by my scythe. I had to pretend to add the command about not saying anything, hopefully it would explain to her why he would never say anything to her. 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵.

With that she seemed to be relieved enough. I felt her grip on my clothes loosen and I was able to stand up...only to immediately stumble.

"Urgh."

My head was pounding and the feelings I'd been trying to ignore were hitting critical mass. I had ignored [𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐫] for too long, it needed to be fed.

"A-are you alright?"

"Ya, don't worry, just stay here with Tarman."

With that I stood up and was about to leave the room when she called out.

"Wait! Please tell me your name! I am Rigrit Emerldon!"

"I...am just an adventurer on a quest."

With Fiona's circumstances I wanted to keep us as unknown as possible. Much like Baucus I ended up not giving her one before quickly exiting the room.