Chapter 20: Bats and Goblins

I could practically hear Han Zimmer's score playing in the background as I proceeded deeper into the cave, shining the lantern about. My enchanted glasses picked out details on the areas that the illumination failed to reach, ensuring that I wouldn't be ambushed.

Behind me, Stella stuck close by. She held her sword out warily, glancing around cautiously as if expecting goblins to ambush us. I approved of it. Goblins were the number one newbie killer. Many a rookie adventurer would underestimate them, only to find themselves walking into a trap set by the cunning goblins and getting wiped out.

Unlike other demons or monsters, goblins infested all parts of the continent, including the outskirts of the Havan kingdom. They were incredibly hard to exterminate. Even if you destroyed a goblin nest, another would spring up somewhere.

There was a legendary silver-ranked adventurer who specialized solely in slaying goblins. I had heard of him – he was a total badass. Clad in cheap armor and armed with little more than his wits and an assortment of simple but effective weapons, he was practically a one-man army who could annihilate entire strongholds of goblins. Well, that wasn't exactly accurate. Recently he had managed to gather a party of similarly skilled adventurers and they would hunt goblins together. Speaking of which, the next time I met them, I should bring some cheese for the lizard folk priest.

The zoo bats continued to swarm about, avoiding the two humans walking in their midst. They didn't like the light, mostly. Since they didn't pose much of a threat, I ignored them. Stella was gripping her sword tightly, as if wanting to slash them, but I stopped her.

"You want to bring every single demonic bat in the cave down on us?" I asked sternly. She scowled, but didn't protest.

Aside from the zoo bats, there were the bigger gold bats. Unlike their names, they weren't gold in color but blue, but their wingspan was as large as my entire arm and they had developed eyes, unlike the blind zoo bats. They possessed huge jaws and large fangs, and I was aware that they produced toxic saliva with anticoagulant properties. Thanks to that, they would bite a prey and suck blood. Well, they were vampires, much like myself.

These were a bit more hostile, but one look from me and they scattered, their eyes filled with fear. Stella noted their strange behavior.

"What happened? They seem to be running away from…something."

"Who knows?" I shrugged. "Maybe they mistook someone for their boss."

"Huh? Boss?" Stella frowned, but I didn't elaborate further. Instead, I continued to step inside. Then, catching sight of something at a forked path, I threw a hand out to stop my companion.

"Be careful."

"Eh?" Stella blinked in confusion. She then followed the direction of my gaze and caught sight of the thing I was staring at. It was a twisted, hideous pole with weird, alien motifs. As if some child had grabbed a piece of wood and randomly carved crude patterns into it. "That's…"

"A goblin totem. That might mean a goblin shaman is present."

"Goblin shaman?" Stella repeated. "A goblin spell caster?"

"Yeah." I glanced behind me, but there was still nothing but bats. With a kick, I sent the totem crashing down. Stella flinched at the sound.

"What did you do that for?! What if they hear the noise?"

"The goblins already know we are here," I replied. "They would have posted sentries at the entrance of the cave. We've probably gotten deep enough without noticing they are watching us. The totem is just bait."

"That's…!"

"Goblins are more cunning than most people give them credit for." I sighed and continued inward. "Also, there's another reason why I destroyed the totem."

"What reason?"

I didn't answer and instead plunged deeper into the cave. We walked in silence for a few minutes, Stella glancing around and jumping at shadows. She must be wondering if they were goblins, but they were bats.

Then she gasped and pointed. At a similar-looking fork stood before us, and yet another totem had been planted there.

"How…?"

"That's the reason," I explained. "If I hadn't kicked the other one over, we might have believed that we are going in circles. But it's not. The goblins do this to confuse us, to disorientate us."

I smiled grimly.

"They are very good at psychological warfare."

"You sound very familiar with how they fight." Stella sounded impressed.

"I learned from the best," I replied. "When I was a rookie, I started out as an adventurer, I followed a high-ranked adventurer who was known for his goblin slaying skills. He would only hunt goblins and nothing else, but his abilities are undoubtedly topnotch."

I chuckled and shook my head.

"He's a socially awkward fella who refuses to take off his armor. I hear he has finally settled down in a party, though."

"I…I see." Stella raised an eyebrow. "So…are we going to flush out the goblins in here?"

"We probably have to." I raised a hand. "They are coming."

Kicking the totem down, I then fired a barrage of icicles into the opposite tunnel. At first, Stella was about to say something, but her objections died when she heard the shrill shrieks of dying goblins coming from the direction I launched the icicles into.

"The totem is just a distraction," I explained. "It keeps the visual focus of unwary adventurers on it, thus causing them to overlook the goblins hiding in the opposite tunnel. Anyway, watch the rear. They are coming."

"Eh?!"

Stella turned around, swinging her sword in reflex. The light from the lantern was reflected off her gleaming blade and she caught sight of a mob of goblins approaching us from behind. An ambush, as I suspected.

"I'll leave those guys to you. I'm going after the goblin shaman."

I drew a dagger – the one taken from the armory of the Demonic Emperor's castle – and muttered an incantation. The blade glowed bright and illuminated the cave far better than the lantern could ever have. The goblins both in front and behind were blinded by the sudden flash of light. Fortunately, because I had instructed Stella to deal with the goblins coming from the rear, the red-haired knight's back was turned to the light and she wasn't affected by the sudden brightness.

With a determined yell, she plunged into the reeling mob of goblins and carved them apart with her sword.

I spun the dagger in my hand and fired off another barrage of icicles at the blinded goblins. Unlike them, the enchanted lenses of my glasses had automatically darkened when the light came on, protecting my eyes from the sudden brightness. So I wasn't as visually incapacitated as them.

Within thirty seconds, it was over. The first wave of goblins had been annihilated. Unlike my mentor from so many years ago, I didn't keep count of the number I had slain. I had more important things to focus on.

Such as the goblin shaman hobbling toward me. It held a twisted staff and screeched at me furiously. Its subordinates lunged forward, bearing all sorts of crude weapons.

I didn't flinch at the horrifying sight. Instead, I twirled my dagger and pointed at them. In an instant, the entire cavern was entombed in ice. The poor goblins were all trapped inside frozen coffins, suspended in midstride.

I then tossed my dagger up and snapped my fingers before catching the weapon. The frozen figures of the goblins shattered into countless fragments, leaving them in pieces.

Only the goblin shaman remained. It fired a small fireball at me, but I merely conjured a glacial barrier to block it. Cackling wildly, it then launched a webbed chain of lightning at me, but I deflected it with any icy wall. The deadly electricity dissipated harmlessly against it. I savored the goblin shaman's shocked expression when it saw how futile its magic was.

"My turn."

I wasted no time, knowing fully well how cunning goblins could be. Before the goblin shaman could turn and run away, I pointed my dagger at it, unleashing an azure bolt that left a trail of ice in its wake. The goblin shaman brought it staff up and hurriedly chanted something, conjuring an ethereal barrier. Even so, the screen of eerie green light transformed into ice and shattered with such force that the poor goblin shaman was sent flying. Its staff was knocked out of its ground and it lay sprawled, dazed from the blast.

"Ugh!" it moaned.

I pointed my dagger at it again, but for some reason, the goblin shaman rolled about and prostrated itself before me. Its eyes wide in horror, it pointed at my right hand and jabbered incoherently.

I glanced at my hand and saw in surprise that the crest etched onto my skin was glowing so brightly that it could be seen through the handkerchief that Stella had used to bandage my hand. The goblin shaman was fixated on it, and seemed to be saying that it would submit before me.

Like hell. I wasn't going to trust a goblin. So I merely activated my dagger and speared the vile creature with a second azure bolt. It died instantly, its shocked face transforming into ice.

"You all right?" I called out to Stella. She nodded and hobbled toward me, her armor splattered with blood.

"All done here," she said fiercely. "I made sure none of those bastards escaped."

"That's good." I peered at the end of the cavern, my enchanted lenses whirring as they fed me more visual detail. "Let's see what they were hiding."

Nothing much. For goblins, they were pretty impoverished. With very few convoys coming over the mountains, and the powerful knight regiment stationed in Bravia City deterring any foolhardy raid they could launch, the goblins weren't able to collect much loot or even women. Which was a good thing.

A few cross bats flapped out from the goblin hideout, screeching softly. They were massive and fast, about half the size of a human. They avoided me, though. Even though they were normally vampire bats capable of sucking an adult dry of his blood in minutes, they kept a respectful distance from Stella and me.

Probably because they instinctively knew who I was. Interesting. Looked like bats subordinated themselves to human vampires. That was good to know.

To Stella's astonishment, I raised a hand and gestured for a cross bat to land on it. She gaped at me.

"Did you just…tame a cross bat? How is that possible?!"

"The word impossible is not in my vocabulary." Well, except for resurrecting the dead, but that was convenient, especially since I didn't want the people I took revenge on to ever come back to life. "Anyway, I'll need your help, cross bat."

Under my directions, the cross bat led me along the rest of the cave, until we spotted a bright light coming from the far end.

"That's…that's an exit?!" Stella exclaimed. "This cave opens up to another place?!"

"Seems like it. Now it's time to check out what's outside."

I thanked the cross bat and allowed it to fly off. That was a little sad. I felt as if I had a high enough value of friendship with the cross bat. Maybe I would capture one and store it in an ultra-ball next time.

"I haven't been this far before," Stella admitted. "I can't guarantee that this will lead back to Bravia province."

"Even better."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?!"

Stella chased after me, demanding an explanation. She then fell silent when she saw what was waiting for us outside the cave.

A demonic legion was marching through the forest down below.