Despite my initial reservations, Tomburk and his gang proved to be competent scouts.

  We made it through Dreadwood as midnight progressed without rousing the attention of other goblin squads. When the pace slowed down a little, I asked the question burning on my tongue:

  “About the Dragon Lord . . .”

  “You bastard,” Tomburk hissed, nearly jumping out of his skin. “You shouldn’t use that name without making the sign!”

  What was the sign again? Oh, yeah.

  I touched two fingers to my forehead and watched the goblins do the same. “He’s not really a dragon, is he?”

  “Is that a joke?” Tomburk asked. “Why would he use a name like that if he was anything but?” He peered in my direction. “You’re not one of those losers, are you? The ones who refuse to abandon the wild god’s worship? The Dragon Lord gave us power and [Nightfall]. What has the wild god ever done for us?”

  Ah. This was getting intriguing.

  “So . . . the Dragon Lord”—I performed the gesture—“is somewhere beneath the ground?”

  The unnamed goblin shot me a black look. “You ask a lot of stupid questions for a scout, Ugluk.”

  It’s Grishnak to you, fool.

  Either way, his words were warning enough to dial down on my inquiry. I didn’t want to appear suspicious this close to my goal. Who could I blame it on? Ah, yes. “The goddamn elves bashed me over the head more times than I could count,” I said. “I’m doing my best to keep all I know from leaking outta my ears!”

  Tomburk clucked his tongue in sympathy. “Bloody elves. We’ll get back at them, that’s for sure. Once this war is over, we’ll be the ones in control of the North.”

  That was terrifying to think of: a surface nation of the stinky, little gobbers. I could only hope that Skeelie, and Bargheria by extension, were putting some drastic measures in place to stop the goblins. The Wood Elves had botched the chance to seize the initiative by fumbling their initial response.

  We eventually surged through a thick patch of underbrush and arrived in front of a sturdy deridum tree. It looked no different than the others around it, but I marked it on my [Map] just to be sure.

  Tomburk searched the surroundings with beady, yellow eyes. “Clear,” he pronounced and glanced at me. “Well?”

  Well, what? I pretended to scan the area. “Clear.”

  Tomburk began to respond when the female goblin snarled and shoved me out of her way. “Oh, for the love of . . . Move aside, fool!”

  She made an incision on her palm with a jagged knife, permitting the blade to run through her health armor and break her skin. Pressing her bleeding palm against the tree trunk, she muttered a single word beneath her breath. “Saluk.”

  A tired groan resounded across the forest, moments before the roots of the deridum tree slithered aside to reveal a massive hole. Space itself withered around the pit like petals flying off a flower. The dark aperture grew large enough to accommodate two full-grown men in its passage. Rune marks, formerly invisible to the naked eye, glowed dimly on the tree.

  The female goblin wrapped her hand with dirty bandages and spat on the ground. “If you cowards squirm this much at the sight of your blood, I fear to think what would happen if you experience that time of the month.” She gestured at me. “You first, ugly.”

  Ugh, that was not good. Going first would leave my back exposed which was the last thing I wanted at the moment. The goblins watched me with narrowed gazes, however. No getting out of this, huh? I lowered myself to the ground and slid down the hole into a musty tunnel.

  They followed after me.

  “Saluk,” the female goblin repeated, causing the hole to reseal itself above our heads.

  Tomburk sniffed the air. “What is that smell? Did someone let their Dread Tiger do business here again?”

  I didn’t care about the smell. I focused instead on getting my eyes accommodated to the passage which possessed nary a source of lighting. The benefits of [Nightfall] didn’t stretch below the earth, triggering a noticeable drop in visual acuity.

  “So . . .” I said.

  “You can walk right, uggo?” Tomburk snapped. “We’ll follow behind you.”

  I recalled the dangerous glints that I had seen in their eyes, back when I’d revealed the dagger. It had come down to this, huh?

  No need to prolong it. They had chosen the best location for their murder theft, considering that the tunnel only proceeded in one direction. It was a pity that we couldn’t travel far enough to locate the actual goblin camp, but I could do that on my own.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I took a few steps into the darkness. And then, without so much as a hint of premeditation, I turned and raked my dagger across Tomburk’s throat.

  Tomburk responded perfectly, having been prepared to do the same. But, he suffered a fatal miscalculation. While all four of us cast waves of greyish light upon the fabric of reality, mine was false because I was actually silver-ranked.

  Tomburk started to call out a warning to his cronies, when [Silhouette] jutted from the ground and speared him into a wall. He retched blood onto the shadow tendrils, blinking in bewilderment. “Huh?”

  The others faltered for a brief second, but it was all I needed to seize the initiative.

  I kicked the female goblin in the face and dashed behind her for the third goblin in their group. He lifted a dart-blower to his lips, probably equipped with poison, but I kneed him in the jaw before he could finish.

  To his horror and mine, the dart blower slipped past his mouth and into his throat. He clasped his neck in a bid to get it out, and I turned away at that moment to meet the female’s charge.

  She fought well for an iron-ranked monster, especially for her size. Her jagged knife clashed with certainty against my blade. She cursed as she fought me, spraying spittle across my face. And then, she over-extended, allowing my dagger to punch through her gut.

  A second strike depleted her health armor, enough that a brutal kick broke her nose and catapulted a few of her teeth. She flew headfirst into a wall, and I was reminded again that goblins possessed too little weight.

  I checked the third goblin, whose HP had depleted at a steady pace as he suffocated to death. The dart blower remained stuck in his throat, causing him to hack phlegm and spittle onto the ground.

  I plunged my dagger into his jaw to end his suffering. No need to draw out his death, even if he was a goblin.

  Tomburk snarled, still pinned to the wall. “What are you doing? What’s the meaning of this, Ugluk?!”

  “What does it look like?” I said and cleaned my dagger on the dead goblin’s shirt. “I’m killing would-be murderers.”

  The female goblin whimpered at my feet, clutching her wounded face. Who’s the ugly one now, Miss Broken Nose And No Teeth?

  “Mercy,” she pleaded.

  “Don’t beg!” Tormburk spat. “We do not beg!”

  “Here’s how this works.” I leaned against the wall and toyed with my dagger. “I need one of you to point me in the direction of the prisoners. What can you tell me about your camp?”

  “We’ll tell you nothing,” Tomburk said, and then he froze. “Wait. Our camp? You’re not a goblin?”

  “Ding. Ding. Ding. I only need one of you two alive. You have five seconds. Who’s volunteering to help?”

  Both goblins fell silent. But, it was only a matter of time. In the face of death, something had to give. And, although they were sapient—

  “Neither,” the female goblin said in a quiet voice, still cradling her jaw. “Feel free to kill us both.”

  Tomburk nodded. “You’re an elf, aren’t you? You’re using a magic trick! I’d rather die than give you what you want. And, you better kill me too. Or, I’ll reveal to everyone that the elves have found a way to fool our senses!”

  Well, that was . . . unexpected. Both goblins were meant to fall over themselves in a bid to survive per my calculations. I could respect their camaraderie in their last moments, but they had tried to kill me too.

  “Silhy,” I commanded.

  The shadow monster shoved a few more tendrils into Tomburk’s chest, ending his life. Blood splattered the female beneath him, who made a small sound in her throat and turned away.

  The darkness in the tunnel deepened as I activated [Fear Aura]. I crouched beside her. “Look at me.”

  She kept her face buried in the ground, unable to do so. A [System] notification went off, announcing the success of [Dismay].

  “Look at me,” I repeated.

  The female goblin shivered and snuck a glance at my face. I couldn’t tell what she saw under the influence of [Fear Aura], but her lower lip trembled. “Dragon Lord?”

  That was so wrong. “I’m not . . . Well, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to tell me all you know, okay? Don’t wanna end up like the others, right?”

  She shook her head.

  “I’m searching for the Dark Elves from Harkonean,” I said. “Where can I find them?”

  The goblin trembled, trying desperately to resist my aura. After a few seconds, she relented. “You’re at the right place. You can find them here. In Galagor’s camp.”

  Galagor? “And, where is that?”

  She gestured at the walls. “There are rune marks inscribed on it. Flare your magic energy. They’ll show up for you.”

  I did as she suggested. I placed a hand on the wall and compelled a burst of mana to rise to the surface. It cost only a single point of MP.

  Nothing happened.

  “You lie?” I said, reaching for my dagger.

  “No!” she stammered. “It does work! Or, at least, it should have if you were a goblin.”

  Huh. I gazed into the darkness. Nothing stopped me from exploring the tunnels on my own, but with the branching paths and the possibility of running into other goblins, I’d probably cause more harm for the prisoners than good.

  “Well, I’m not a goblin,” I said, “despite my current appearance. It’s decided, then. You’re coming with me.”

  “My L-lord?”

  “Did I speak Spanish? Did you not hear me?”

  “What’s Spanish?”

  Oh, right. “Just get up before I let your entrails out of your gut.”

  She rose unsteadily to her feet. Blood dribbled down her chin and onto her vest. Her toady eyes still held a bit of that goblin madness, but [Fear Aura] kept her cowed for now. The tunnel entrance needed cleaning to hide the occurrence of the fight, so I set her to the task. As for the others, I commanded the [System] to loot their corpses.

  “No, wait!” the female goblin said.

  Both corpses disintegrated before she could finish, leaving a smattering of dust alongside their gear and armor.

  She stared at the dust and choked. Why was she getting emotional? Monsters tended to dissipate a few days after death anyway if they weren’t looted. Tomburk and his friend had both been reduced to Goblin Ears in my inventory. Or did she want to do something with their corpses?

  Whatever the case, she cradled the empty clothes and held them to her cheek. I spared her a thoughtful moment, and then I muttered the password at the roof of the tunnel.

  “Saluk.”

  The earth gave way to the oppressive darkness of [Nightfall].