A Journey Through the Sewers

We arrive in my little dwarf's forge. You can clearly tell that Sirgia has been working on other stuff besides simple toys for the establishment by the signs of use on various appliances and devices that shouldn't really be part of their crafting process. Unless she figured out a dildo with a hidden blade for some bedtime assassinations.

She brings us to a small storage connected to the workshop and starts going through some open crates, shuffling through various things, ranging from weapons, parts of armour, to tools, also in different states of completion.

Leaning far into one of the quite high boxes, she almost falls inside, but I manage to catch her before the accident takes place, helping Sirgia dive deeper while holding her by the thighs. If she was wearing a skirt or something, then this could have been quite the nice view. But, the leather shorts she usually wears are incredibly cute too.

Finally finding what she has been looking for, my adorable dwarf requests to be pulled up and I properly assist Sirgia back onto the solid ground. She's somehow gotten a grey smudge on her cute cheek so I pull out a handkerchief and clean it up, leaving a quick peck in its place, causing Sirgia to blush ever so faintly.

She brings forward something that looks like two pieces of folded material and glances up at Astrea.

"These aren't yet perfect, but I thought about what I could create for you that could be of help in fights and came up with this. Since I've never seen you practise with weapons, I think they shouldn't disrupt your current style."

Astrea curiously tilts her head and picks one of the pieces of fabric up from Sirgia's hands. After unfolding it, we quickly realize that it's a thin fingerless glove of a dark grey colour. On it's back, you can notice some white lines, forming some kind of a circuit.

The clearly fascinated catgirl quickly puts it on the proper hand and reaches out for the second glove, completing the set. Astrea squeezes her fingers into fists a few times while examining her new gear from multiple angles.

"Soft. And comfortable. Thank you."

A small smile forms on Sirgia's lips. "That's not all about them. First, the material I used is actually a metal that behaves like fabric under certain circumstances. I was lucky to find a little bit of it when I was out shopping. You don't have to worry about it getting damaged. It will protect your hands since you use them a lot."

"Thank you," Astrea repeats again with a nod.

"Second, inject some mana into the circuits etched into them. You should be able to feel them easily," Sirgia still continues.

After a few seconds, the paths on the back of Astrea's hands illuminate and we watch something unexpected happen. The material extends and wraps itself around the rest of her uncovered fingers, completing the full glove.

Next, the fabric over the same outer area, quickly swells in the form of many small squares and rectangles, covering the back of her hand, and even the fingers, in something closely resembling a short plated gauntlet. The knuckles receive slightly pointy ends.

Astrea again moves her fingers around and closes them into a fist repeatedly while clearly mesmerized by the change. The plates perfectly cover just the outer area while leaving the inner side of her palm and fingers as it originally was. And the little panels are perfectly aligned to not restrict her movements even the tiniest bit without leaving any critical gaps. What a masterpiece.

"The magical formation will keep the reinforcement up as long as it has mana and will revert the change when it runs out or you withdraw it yourself. With this, you can hit even harder things without worrying about hurting yourself. There's a magical cushioning layered under the plating, additionally protecting your bones with pressurized air. You should also be able to have an easier time blocking bladed weapons with it turned on."

I plop my hand on our adorable artificer's head and brush through her hair. "That's incredible. I'm really wasting your talent by forcing you to make sex toys."

Sirgia drops her gaze to the ground with rosiness overtaking her cheeks. "N-No… I'm not that great… This is something many other Dwarves could do… And I don't mind making those items… They actually help me get into a creative mood…"

I kneel down, softly brush her cheek while we look each other into the eyes and follow it with a tiny kiss. "You are still plenty amazing. I'm sure that you will conquer the world of artificers in no time."

She smiles more openly and also pecks my lips back. "Thank you, Master." With a quick hug, she refocuses her attention on Astrea, who is playing around with her new toys. "They actually come with a pair of boots to complete the set, but I'm not yet finished with them. I'll let you know when I'm done."

Astrea nods at her a few times in quick succession and also steps closer to hug Sirgia. So sweet.

"Great. This will certainly help a lot today and in the future. Shall we go dress up?" I ask.

"One more thing, Master," Sirgia answers and we follow her back to the main forge.

She makes an adorable dash for a small platform and brings it to one of the walls. That's when the two of us notice something peculiar hung on the metal hooks there. Sirgia reaches for and brings down a quite sizable but not overblown double-sided hammerhead with a quite short handle coming out of it.

Coming back, she stops a bit of distance in front of us. "This should be useful underground."

Sirgia demonstrates her handling of the weird maul by making a few swings and blows. In the middle of one of them, some circuits etched into the hilt get illuminated and we watch as the handle swiftly extends to around one meter long.

She makes a few more skilful moves and the lines glow again, further expanding the hilt to almost two meters long, which starts to look slightly comical with Sirgia's short figure. But, she still shows her high proficiency with it while avoiding hitting any appliances and furniture. Then, the head of the double hammer reveals its circuits too and one of the sides changes into a more pointy tip, turning the weapon into an actual war hammer.

Finished with her short presentation, Sirgia reverts all the changes and retracts the weapon into its initial state, glancing up at me.

"You've really come prepared, haven't you? I'm starting to run out of words to praise you," I say with a wide smile.

Sirgia glances to the side while tightly clutching the artifact to her chest, blushing clearly. I chuckle and step closer to pat her head.

"Alright. Any more surprises?"

"I'm sorry. I don't think I've made anything that could be of much use to you in the current situation, Master. I prioritized the others since you got very strong and I thought you'd like me to do that."

"And you were perfectly right. I appreciate it, really. I love you."

"I love you too…"

Seriously. If we weren't at max Bond Level already, this little exchange would surely push it to the top. It's hard to resist the urge to just keep hugging this adorable and slightly awkward at times dwarf lady. I blame Shino for my obsession with short girls.

On that topic, out of all my current lovers, Sirgia, Cornelia and Shino are the ones at max level. Astrea recently jumped to the fourth level while Elea and Neira reached it some time ago. I think it happened during the time when I was away and they had discussed becoming my wives amongst themselves.

In the sea of Partners that aren't exactly my bonafide lovers, Bond Level 2 dominates, if I'm not mistaken. Or perhaps it has been overtaken by the girls with level 1 after we hired more employees that don't get as close to me as the working girls. I should be checking that more often.

Out of curiosity, I pull up my menu to have a quick glance at my Partners list. But, first, I take a peek at my status, partially out of habit. And that's when I notice that my bracketed values have risen slightly when compared to the last time I checked. And that can mean only one thing.

"Girls, can you check your statuses?"

They both glance at me for a moment but follow the request without any questions.

"Oh. I advanced into the fourth Tier," Astrea informs me.

"Me too," Sirgia joins.

I smile and pat their heads. "Great. It seems that our training did pay off. We have been going at it pretty much every day since my return. And I can't say that we weren't having intimate moments quite often too, isn't that right, Sirgia? Both of you were at the third Tier for quite some time already."

My precious dwarf giggles very quietly while glancing at me shyly. She did act quite clingy shortly before and then after the expedition. Not that I mind. I love spending my time with her or the other girls. And it does provide quite the benefits too.

"I'll give you some time to check for any changes. Let's meet in my chamber in thirty minutes, ready to go. Is that okay?"

They both nod. Before I leave, Sirgia pulls me down to place a tame peck on my cheek and Astrea then rubs her face into mine while purring affectionately. I'll honestly die from diabetes at one point.

I move to my room and start gearing up. Ailish materializes herself from wherever she previously was and assists me. She throws me a few potions and useful concoctions or salves for various diseases and poisons from her own collection she has brought back from the cave.

Promising to keep an eye on me and letting me know that she will intervene if things go really south, she pulls me into a deep and very lewd kiss while clearly rubbing her crotch over my thigh before disappearing into my Soul Realm. The things you have to go through having a thirsty Arch Succubus around…

As I predicted, Shino comes to see me before I head out and I let her in. A faint blush quickly spreads on her face after we make eye contact, clearly related to our previous conversation.

"It's honestly a little surprising that a hidden pervert such as yourself got this much embarrassed by just talking about a threesome." I chuckle at her.

Shino makes a visible pout but it gets quickly replaced by a soft chuckle as I pull her into a hug.

"I might have overreacted a bit, Sensei, but it wasn't really because of that but… my silly misunderstanding. I've gotten myself so excited that it must have definitely shown back then, hahaha."

"Which means you would be up for it?" I ask teasingly.

Her cheeks turn a shade redder. "If… If that's your wish, Sensei… I wouldn't say no…"

I pepper her blushing face with a myriad of little pecks. "And what would your wish be?"

"I mean… I did fantasize about it a bit… Pleasuring each other with your other woman while watching you… f-fuck a third one… waiting for our turn…"

"Such a lewd girlfriend I have. I'm sure Elea and Neira would be happy to take part in that. You would love some big Dark Elf melons to smush your face, wouldn't you?"

Seeing Shino hide herself in my chest, I chuckle again as my fingers play with her hair.

"Alright. I've teased you enough. Just remember that I would love to make your dream fantasies come true so don't hide them away in shame. I'm slowly working on our cosplay department. I think you would enjoy some of that."

She looks back up at me. "Really?"

"Yes, really. I just need to find a decent tailor or a few. And now that I have your help, a professional artist-designer, I kind of can't wait to see what kind of outfits you would come up with. They always were so damn sexy and creative in your art."

Shino giggles and pecks my lips. "Thank you, Sensei. I would also love that. I'll start thinking about some. Drawing sketches will keep me away from getting bored. And… I do have a few that I would like to wear… when we…"

"Oh? Like what, for example?"

"Ummm… Japanese school swimsuit?"

"I should have seen that one coming…"

Shino chuckles again. "Have you ever seen one in real life, Sensei?"

"Nope."

"Then I would be the first!"

I shake my head and pull Shino in for a brief kiss. "I'll have to double my efforts then. My cute girlfriend in a school swimsuit is certainly a sight to behold. But, before that, I have something else to do."

"I'm sorry for taking up your time, Sensei."

"Don't be. I'll always find time for my lovely girls. I'll wrap this up quickly so that we can spend some more of it together. I owe you that."

"I actually thought about asking if you'd let me come with you, but I figured out that bringing a Human along might not be the best idea and it could just make things harder for you. I'll keep my fingers crossed instead. Call me if anything happens. I should be able to track you with this bond between us and then use my Shadow Step to rush to you, Sensei."

"Alright."

Someone knocks on the door and my two partners for today's operation walk inside, fully prepared. Sirgia put on a pair of greaves and gauntlets of reinforced leather while keeping a tougher version of her shorts and vest to protect her torso, padded with additional layers of hidden metal plates. The retracted mechanical hammer hangs attached to her back.

Astrea's outfit is much lighter to not obstruct her movements. She has donned a leather tank top and shorts, wrapping up bandages around her forearms and calves. The gloves she got from Siriga are already on her hands, in their dormant state. I can easily tell that nothing here is an ordinary piece of clothing.

Shino turns to the duo and bows lightly. "Take good care of Sensei, Sirgia-san, Astrea-san."

"Un."

"I will."

They both answer with a nod and we all move out. I'm obviously dressed in my adventuring outfit, which has been tweaked by Sirgia quite a bit over time. And I obviously never take off my Grennian Undergarments when I'm walking outside since the day she chose it for me on our little date. An additional layer of protection is always welcome.

At the front entrance, we meet the rest of my lovers. Elea and Cornelia tell me to notify them after the situation gets resolved and how many people will be coming back so that they can move some of the food prepared for the open night aside and manage the flow of people, allowing us to enter through the back easily if we end up coming back at a busy hour.

After everyone gets a quick goodbye peck, the three of us leave the premises of the mansion. Astrea leads us through the city and we arrive in the part where the two of us first met. Looks like we'll be entering the sewers through an entrance she knows well.

We start moving through narrow alleyways until we reach a dead end with a huge circular hole blocked by metal bars. I can't really see how this thing is supposed to be opened as we walk closer to the entrance.

Astrea moves with confidence and kneels down on the side of the opening. She starts hitting the stone bricks laid down around the hole. After a few tries, one of them actually shakes under her knocking and her ears twitch cutely.

With a controlled smack on the very end of the stone block, it flies up into the air while spinning. Astrea catches it easily and we notice that it has a triangle-tip sloped underside with the highest point in the centre, which is the reason behind it getting launched like that.

An extension of the metal rim holding the bars is revealed at the spot previously covered by the stone brick. And it looks like it's being held up by a bolt-type locking mechanism, a very simple one and possible to move by anyone.

Astrea unlocks it and I help her lift the metal lid, holding it up for the two of them to jump down first. Our catgirl places the stone block on the edge of the cavity created by its removal. I instantly realize her intentions and nod at her, receiving the same in response.

After the two of them descend safely, I jump down too, pulling the metal bars behind me. The gate slams into the ground and the created tremors cause the brick to fall into its proper place, covering the locking mechanism, staying open for now. I feel like a real member of the Thieves Guild if any exist in this world.

We land—without a surprise—in a two-way corridor made out of dark stone slabs. This particular tunnel is wide enough to fit around four of us walking side by side and two standing on each other's shoulders, at least when the girls do it.

"Anything we should be wary of here?" I ask before we move further.

"Mostly oversized rodents which aren't that dangerous unless a whole pack of them shows up," Astrea answers. "Some tunnels have water or waste flowing through the middle and that's where other beasts or monsters could potentially appear."

"So, the typical stuff. Gotcha."

"The last time I was heading for the gathering, I noticed the scent of Goblins at one of the intersections so it's possible that some might have snuck past the bars leading outside of the city and settled in somewhere."

"And that's not exactly good," I say to myself. "If you stumble on their traces again, let's try to see if there really is a Goblins' Den in the sewers. I'm sure Ross would appreciate letting him know its location." Astrea lifts her gaze onto me and I glance down at her. "Something wrong?"

"If there is one, and it's not too big, could we try to get rid of it? If it wouldn't slow us down too much?"

I rub my chin. "I mean, I'm not really against the idea if we deem it achievable after scouting it first. Is there some personal reason behind this?"

"There's always the possibility that some Beastkin were captured by them. I would like to help. Goblins are really cruel. They enjoy torturing their prisoners and listening to their screams or—"

"It's okay, you don't need to list me the atrocities they commit." I stop Astrea and scratch behind her fluffy ears. "I promise we'll take down the green bastards if we stumble onto them. That is if our strength will be enough. You should never underestimate numbers."

Astrea nods and pushes her head more into my hand, enjoying the caresses for a brief moment.

"So, where to now?" I ask. She steps back and starts looking both ways. "Need a map?"

She shakes her head. "I know where we are. I'm just thinking about the path we should take. There are a few places in which the meetings happen and they switch around each month. After I find the most recent markings, it will be easy to navigate to the correct one."

"As expected. If I'm not wrong, it's not really that the Beastkin living down here can't escape—since if Goblins can find a way in, they should be able to find a way out—but they choose to remain here?"

"Partially, yes. Some clans consider it a great shame to become enslaved and would not accept their branded kin back. While part of the people certainly stays here out of their own volition, the rest is forced to stay by the leaders of the community, unable to go against the orders of the alpha. They have to listen and work for the community or they will be punished or even killed. It's hard to escape from the alpha."

"I see. But you managed to do it by coming with me."

She shakes her head. "I wasn't away for long. If I didn't come back for longer, they would send scouts to track me down and see what happened. They would not forget and try to capture me back to bring me to the alpha for punishment. Even if I was held against my will, they wouldn't care. Not coming back with resources would be my fault. I'm afraid that after noticing my scent in the sewers, they will send someone after me before we get there first."

"The more you talk about it, the more I start hating this Community. Was it always like this?"

Astrea tilts her head for a moment and one of her ears twitches adorably. "I'm not sure since during my time there I've met only one alpha, but some older Beastkin kept saying that there were some less oppressive leaders in the past."

"I guess it's time for a change in leadership again. Lead the way. Let's not waste any more time."

She nods, steps closer to brush her cheek against mine, and starts walking into one of the two directions, I think south. I give some pats to Sirgia as I pass her and we begin moving in a line formation with me in the centre. Both of them are close combat specialists while I have a slightly better reach with my Formless Blade Arts and magic.

We wander through a few tunnels of similar size to the one we started in for around half an hour. Nothing much happens during that time. I bring out a copy of the map each time we meet an intersection to track our progress by marking them on the paper.

Astrea keeps skilfully guiding us forward, not finding any markings yet. It's possible that we've jumped into the sewers at a very far point from where this month's meeting is being held and we will have some distance to cover. But, I have trust in her and know that we'll get there eventually.

After we move into an actual canal with a water flow, our path grows a little more spacious. At least whoever designed the underground did not make the footpaths on the sides of the running water narrow as hell and actually thought about it for a moment. We should be fine even if a fight breaks out in one of these tunnels.

And, of course, I had to jinx us.

As we are walking, something shoots out of the water and a translucent tentacle wraps itself around Sirgia's leg, who is behind me. All three of us notice it instantly and I cut the appendage off without a second missed, with my already prepared draconic hilt having a shortsword shaped up.

We jump farther from the canal and the feeler that has been chopped off turns into liquid, falling onto the stone floor. It begins slowly moving back to the actual water.

I'm starting to think that I know what our assailant is, judging by these two characteristics. And I guess Astrea's Sixth Sense doesn't activate when she is not the target of the attack. I was in the splash zone of the boulder the Trolls threw at us back then. Well, I still have Shino's skill on me anyway. I fucked up and used the borrowing ability during my fight with Kamil, forgetting that the operation is so soon.

For a moment, I think that we will be left alone after the failed sneak attack, but my wishes do not come true and a slimy blob crawls onto the sidewalk from the water stream. As expected, it's a Slime. A Great Slime most likely, with its size being around Sirgia's height.

"Oh well. I'm sorry, little one, but you don't look like letting us pass after this unfortunate accident. While I do feel slightly bad for having to kill you, my lovely jelly girlfriends kept reminding me again and again that you guys don't think a lot before reaching the King or Queen stage and that I should attack on sight. So, please, kindly die for me."

I shove my shortsword into the ground and invoke a skill. A much bigger blade emerges from under the Slime and aims for its core. Unfortunately, it seems to be at least somewhat experienced and quickly moves the dark orb out of its path, nullifying the whole attack.

"Leave it to me, girls," I say while retracting the hilt back. "This will be good practice."

Astrea's fists and Sirgia's hammer would have some trouble getting to the core without exposing themselves to the acidic nature of the enemy, so I hastily switch the form of my weapon into a nice and long spear.

Stepping forward, I thrust the tip into the blob, going after the core, obviously. Again, the Slime avoids my attempt with ease and shoots a jelly tentacle my way in response. I quickly draw the polearm back and spin it around to mutilate the feeler.

Seeing that one won't work, the Slime sends a bunch of them after me, forcing me to dodge around. But, while I'm avoiding its appendages, I naturally make my own thrusts back at my opponent. As I thought, this really is a great exercise.

But, to not dawdle here too long against a single Great Slime, I cast Confusion from my Charm Magic repertoire and make another attack. Most likely expecting it—or just having an insane reaction time after its membrane gets pierced—the Slime still manages to move the core out of the way.

Unfortunately for it, I do something I haven't tried against it before by stepping much closer to its body and angling the butt of my spear up into the air. As quickly as I can, I make an additional thrust without pulling the tip outside and manage to land a hit with the element of surprise and its weakened state helping me out.

As the blade at the end of my weapon pierces through the orb, shattering it into a few chunks, the whole Slime loses its tension and splats onto the ground. Rest in pieces, dear friend. Gods. I way overused that phrase in my teenage gaming days. Just with a slightly more rude ending.

"Good job, Master." Sirgia walks closer to congratulate me and Astrea follows after her, nodding.

"It was nothing. You can't really praise me too much for dealing with a Slime."

"Slimes are often underestimated a lot, which leads to many deaths. Especially amongst people like us, who fight directly. Choosing a proper weapon and approach should be praised, Master."

"Alright. I accept your praise." I pat Sirgia's head, evoking a small smile from her. "Let's move on. I'm warmed up now. Not that I want to stumble on more surprises." I collect the remains of the core and we continue our journey through the sewers.

During the next two hours, we fare against some Toxic Rats and Mad Mice in the areas with running waste. The former is dealt with mostly by me, due to their quite annoying abilities to spit acid or cover their fangs and claws with it, but the girls decimate the latter without my help.

Contrary to the common belief back from Earth, it's the Mad Mice that are the larger species in this world, with some getting much bigger than a dog or a wolf, while the Toxic Rats are usually quite tiny.

Nevertheless, the sight of two adorable girls painting the walls red from all the carnage they wreck amongst their opponents is just something else. It's pretty much my first time witnessing any of my precious partners in real close combat.

Yes, I did take a few peeks at Elea's group back in the slave auction, but they were basically buck naked and underequipped. And Cornelia massacred our opponents during the way back with magic. So, yeah, first actual team battle with proper gear.

And I didn't exaggerate it by saying that they paint the walls red. Both of them specialize in blunt attacks, more or less. Sirgia easily turns the smaller enemies into a bloody paste with her hammer, expertly smashing the heads of the bigger ones, which also results in quite the explosion of crimson.

Astrea's attacks rely more on speed and agility, but with the bonus provided by our bond, she does occasionally rip a piece of the rats' bodies with her punches or creates a gaping hole through their stomachs or chests. And that's without turning the gloves on. Man, I love seeing her move so swiftly.

We take short breaks after each encounter to drink some water. I don't really suggest snacking on anything in this environment unless we'll get actually hungry. I'm pretty sure they do have strong stomachs considering their circumstances, but better safe than sorry.

After three hours since the descent, we finally stumble on a recent marking. From there, Astrea picks up the pace a little and we wander around much less, following the instructions given by the guiding symbols.

As we are making our way through a canal with waste, being very attentive to our surroundings to not get ambushed by another pack of rats or other rodents, Astrea's ears suddenly twitch and she stops while starting to sniff the air in front of her.

"Goblins. It's the same scent as the last time."

"So, they might really be here, huh. Do you want to go after them now?" I ask.

"I think now is better. We don't have to protect anyone. And if we find survivors, we can bring them back to the Community to get treated. They won't let useful people die."

"And those deemed useless?"

"Will be granted a quick death. But it's rare. They usually exploit people as much as possible, removing only those that really can't be treated or are on the verge of death already."

"Somehow, I don't feel like they ask the patients for their opinion and I can't say that I like it. But, maybe I'm just forcing my views here."

Astrea shakes her head. "No. I think the same. If someone asks to end their suffering, that's okay. But if they don't, it's no different than execution. Even if a clan or community is ruled by the strong, they do not abuse the weak since the weak are its foundation. A clan can't exist without a foundation. Strong need weak to rule over them."

"I couldn't agree more. You know, I feel like you would be a great alpha, Astrea."

She glances at me for a moment and then drops her gaze to the ground, clearly pondering.

"I... I want to return home… with you."

I step closer and lower myself to rub my cheek against hers as she usually does to me.

"Alright. No use thinking about that now. We'll cross that bridge when it comes. I will obviously not ask you to stay behind. I love you and I want you to be happy."

Astrea reciprocates the gesture and purrs affectionately. She gives my cheek a faint lick and we separate.

"Does the alpha have to always stay with the community? Can't they just appoint someone as their right-hand man and just come to check on things from time to time?" Sirgia asks her after coming closer.

Astrea tilts her head as she dives into her thoughts again. Her tail starts moving a bit more enthusiastically.

"Maybe… Maybe it is possible. But, if I became and stayed the alpha, I'm not sure if I would have anyone I trust enough who is also amongst the strongest. My friends are much weaker than myself and I don't think they would want to stay either."

I place my hand on her silver hair and brush through it with my fingers. "We can brainstorm this problem after dethroning the current alpha. Let's focus on the Goblins for now."

They both nod and we change directions, leaving the path leading to the community for the sake of the trail left by the green vermin. Astrea clearly isn't happy about focusing all her efforts put into her sense of smell on their scent, but she pushes through valiantly, without complaining even once.

After another hour of following their tracks, we finally stumble on our first opponent. Or rather three of them. Astrea spots them way earlier than they can notice us, even with their racial Darkvision.

They look quite like I had imagined, recalling some of the most common visualisations of these little monsters in popular fiction. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like they have access to a good source of cloth as only one of them has its waist covered; the rest flail their genitals around as they walk. Or the lack of it, since in this world, both genders of Goblins exist, and we do have a single female in the group.

I've obviously studied books on Goblins early since they are a common enemy you can stumble on around the world. They are as vicious as their Earth's fictional counterparts. Not as much lust-filled as in some works, but they do make use of their captured prisoners to increase their numbers too. If they don't kill them before that.

And with both genders present, they don't just gang up on women, but on men too. Supposedly, a Goblin born that way instead of inside their own species grows stronger much quicker and has a much easier time evolving. I'm fairly sure I know which goddess out of the two decided to bring them into this world if they didn't just somehow spring to life after her banishment.

To not cause too much disturbance, I start by sending out my Void Chains in the form of wide straps to coil them around the mouths and throats of the three Goblins. At the same time as I do that, the girls rush ahead.

Astrea breaks the neck of one opponent with a spinning kick in mid-air while Sirgia turns one side of her weapon into a spiked end and punctures the head of the second one to avoid creating a loud noise.

They slowly lay the dead bodies on the floor as the chains disappear and get to the last Goblin together. Astrea twists its head from behind while Sirgia holds it up from the front. And with it also on the floor, the first encounter has been cleared perfectly.

We pull the trio to the side before continuing further. Throwing them into the river in the middle isn't the best idea as another Goblin could possibly spot the bodies travelling with the current and alert the whole encampment if there's one.

And, it looks like those were the far sentries as we begin to notice ugly carvings and markings on the walls while walking forward. Astrea soon reports hearing their gnarly voices from up ahead, just as we arrive closer to a bigger entrance guarded by two more of these bastards.

We can clearly see a huge intersection inside, most likely in the form of a wide and tall hall with many connectors and paths in or out. A perfect place to set up a camp and have a great view over its entirety.

Well then. How shall we approach this?