Chapter 21- Night Raid

Snow fell slowly from the sky, but heavy. Cold Wind flew through the trees, whipping the falling snow and the freshly fallen snow into a brief frenzy. Large and dark clouds coated the sky, threatening a blizzard as they blocked out the moon's light. Temperatures plummeted, forcing the few Goblin sentries closer to their fires, and taking what little shelter they could.

The Goblin tribe had created a log wall. Though most of it was just tree trunks laid on their side and lashed together and then tied to the trunk of a still living and upright tree. Good enough to keep most wild animals and even a few monsters away. But the horizontal trunks would have made it easy for even Alaster to climb over, let alone a Night Child, built for climbing.

The wall was erratic, with several sharp turns. The 'gate' was just an opening in the wall, where most of the Goblin Sentries guarded. The tribe itself was just a dozen or so small huts, made out of sticks and grass.

In the middle, a much larger hut stood, made out of stone and logs. It was roughly five meters wide and two meters tall. The circular walls were made out of stacked river stone and the roof was made of angled logs with mud stuffed between the gaps.

Alaster examined the Tribe from the top of a tree near to the Tribe. He wanted to know the layout, and unsurprisingly, a Goblin Tribe didn't have any layout. However, he did learn where the Goblins were. They didn't move away from their fires, randomly placed around, mostly around the 'gate'.

Alaster quickly climbed down from the tree and snuck his way through the woods until he reached the forest clearing the Goblins had cut. Alaster readjusted his hood, and sprinted across the clearing. He had specifically chosen a spot of the Tribe that didn't have any Goblins around, something that was easy to find.

Two Night Children appeared beside Alaster, the green eyes glowing menacingly in the dark. They stayed crouched down until Alaster ordered them forward. Alaster discovered that the Night Children seemed to prefer all fours, and they were wicked quick on them.

On his order, the Children jumped onto the log walls, their jump alone allowed them to nearly reach the top of the six meter wall, and before Alaster to blink, they had climbed over, disappearing from view.

Alaster took much longer, but it was not very difficult to climb a wall of horizontal trunks with their bark still on. Soon, Alaster was able to hop over. The Night Children were waiting on the other side, their sharp blades reflecting what little light there was with how sharp the bone was.

'Go kill every Goblin you find, and do it as quietly as you can.' Alaster ordered.

The Night Children dashed off into the darkness. Alaster walked after them, not in much of a rush. As he came upon the first fire, all he saw was four dead Goblins. Alaster continued to walk. The next fire, three more dead Goblins.

Three more fires, each with several Goblins dead around them. Eventually, Alaster came across the 'gate' where the majority of the Goblin sentries were. It seemed like they actually managed to fight back, or at least tried to. Unlike the other Goblin sentries, who hadn't gotten that chance.

Nearly twenty Goblin corpses were sprawled around. In the flashing light of the fires, the blood and body parts made a scary scene. But Alaster could only grin.

As Alaster turned to walk away, he noticed that one of the Goblins was still alive. Its leg had been sliced off, but it still crawled away. It was pale as it lost most of its blood, it was not long for the world.

Alaster did not care that it was going to die, nor did he care about ending its pain, he wanted the EXP. Even as little as the Goblin would provide. Alaster cast a [Necrotic Bolt] at it and walked away, not even bothering to watch as its back melted.

The young man walked through the Tribe, looking at the way Goblins lived. He was curious, but not impressed. Occasionally he would see one of the Night Children leave one hut, with fresh blood dripping from the claws, and run into another hut.

Eventually, the Night Children finished with the rest of the huts and crouched on either end of the entrance to the main hut. Alaster stood between them.

Nodding to himself, Alaster walked in, his Night Children rushing after him. The moment Alaster walked through the hanging and rotting hide, he was assaulted with an unbearable stench. It was not difficult to identify the source.

Every spot of the floor was covered in the naked bodies of over a dozen women. From the stench, it was not difficult to know the reason. Each of them seemed absent, as if their mind was not present. Each of them were staring blankly forward, wherever they were facing.

In the back of the room, were two small cages. An old Goblin with a gnarled staff was leaning over in front of one of them, trying to unlock it.

Alaster simply pointed to the old Goblin, and both Night Children sprinted forward, somehow without stepping on any of the women. The Goblin turned around just as the Children ran past. It fell to the ground as four large slashes opened up, blood flooding out.

Alaster walked over to the cages, carefully watching every step to not step on the women. As he went, he pulled out the furs and hides he had gathered from the dead Goblins. They were small, had large cuts from the Children, and were bloody. Not to mention the filth that was on them before. But nonetheless, Alaster carefully laid them over the women.

Reaching the cages, he found that there were two women in both cages. Both women in one of the cages were dead, either starved or beaten, Alaster could not tell. But in the second cage, only one of the women were dead. The living one wasn't broken like the others, either.

"H-Hello?"

The woman had only seen the Goblin trying to open her cage, then two blurs rushed past, and then the Goblin falling dead. The light from the fire at the entrance of the room did not reach this far into the hut.

'Go outside and hide.' Alaster ordered his undead.

Sticking to the shadows, they did just that.

Alaster carefully approached with his hood down and hands raised.

"You don't need to worry anymore, all the Goblins are dead. Are you hurt anywhere?"

"N-No. Who are you?"

Alaster hesitated to mention his name, but he also couldn't think of a fake fast enough.

"Alaster. Let me open your cage." Alaster drew his sword and approached.

As he got closer, Alaster was able to see her clearer. He immediately turned around.

"My apologies! Umm," Alaster's mind rushed to think of something.

The young man had never seen naked women before tonight, but his mind simply didn't consider the mindless women as anything more than broken. The woman in the cage was different, she was still conscious and thinking, but no less naked. His mind did consider her a woman.

Thinking quickly, at least as quickly as a fifteen year old boy in this situation could, he took off his cloak and handed it to the woman without turning around.

"Umm, here. Please put this on."

"Thank you." She replied, she was not just embarrassed about being naked, but very little heat from the fire reached her.

Alaster waited a moment, trying his best to not shiver as the cold assaulted his body, now that he was without his warm cloak.

"Are you ready?" Alaster asked, feeling the blood rush to his face.

"Yes." She whispered, but he heard it.

Alaster turned around and without any hesitation slashed down at the thick rope holding the cage closed. He immediately opened the cage and offered his hand. The woman tentatively grabbed it, almost believing it to be yet another of her hopeless dreams where she was rescued.

Alaster helped her out and to her feet. Alaster immediately noticed.

"Oh, I don't have any shoes, but I do have some animal fur that we can wrap around your feet. I should have enough for everyone."

She hung her head as the words caught in the back of her throat, "Thank you, but please, kill them."

Alaster turned around and finally stared at the girl's face. She was gorgeous. Not the most pretty woman he had seen before, as he had spent a lot of time around the Noble women of Onigas, but certainly up there.

Her smooth face was marked only by an old scar over her right eye. Alaster could not tell the color of her large eyes as without enough light, they appeared black, but he knew they were not. Her full lips were chapped and bleeding, but they somehow didn't diminish anything. From under the hood, and with the help of firelight, now that she was out of the dark wooden cage, he could see a few strands of light red hair.

"What?" He questioned, not expecting that response.

She began to shake, struggling, and failing, to hold back tears, "When they were still conscious, we all promised each other to end the suffering of anyone who ended up like that. I am the last one."

Alaster was not opposed to it, he did not really want to care for the fifteen women until they reached a settlement. He doubted he would be able to even if he tried. Plus, he did need the EXP, but that was a side thought.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded.

"Do you know their names?"

"Yes." She whispered as tears fell from her face.

Alaster silently nodded and slowly approached the woman before bending down and picking her up in a bridal carry. The moment she had mentioned killing the rest of the women, he ordered the Night Children to begin weakening a portion of the wall, in case he had to make a quick exit. But now, he carried the woman to the portion, and with his order the Children quickly began to take the stones out.

By the time he reached the wall, a large hole had been created. Alaster stepped through, careful of the woman's body and his footing. As he walked away, he ordered the Children to kill the women in the Hut as cleanly as possible, and they rushed to obey, sprinting through the opening. As the EXP counted towards his Class Level, even Alaster felt dirty.

He approached a clearing in the Tribe and carefully set the woman back on her feet. Alaster had made sure she hadn't seen the Night Children, and he wanted to keep it that way until he knew more. But some things couldn't wait.

Alaster quickly pulled out the shelter parts, his mana responding much quicker after his speed leveling session. Within five minutes, the shelter was set up. He ushered the woman in and laid out his Bugbear fur for her to sit on while he quickly built a fire. As the flames warmed the room, the woman sighed. It had been a long time since she was warm.

Alaster sat across from the woman and mentally ordered the Children to begin to pile the Goblin corpses in the middle of the Tribe. He didn't think he needed it, but he also ordered them not to touch the women. He could feel the Children set to work.

"May I ask your name?" Alaster asked.

"Astrid."