Anthony took two swift steps backward to avoid the barrage of vicious swipes the hobgoblin rained down on him. The rapid whooshing sound of the crude weapon flying through the air filled his ears as he narrowly avoided each blow.

  Elara maneuvered around the enraged creature assailing him in an attempt to come to his aid, but before she could intervene, an additional three goblins appeared from the cave's entrance, forcing her to turn and engage the new threat to avoid being overrun.

  The trio of diminutive, spear-wielding enemies began to encircle Elara, attempting to surround her. The young mercenary team leader was ready to accept the poor odds and engage in the three versus one when a flash of white and gold fur sprang into the corner of her vision, instantly sinking its sharp teeth into the throat of the goblin nearest to it.

  A grin spread across Elara’s mouth as she watched Aurum thrash his head violently from side to side. The goblin trapped between his jaws let out an agonizing screech as it attempted to free itself, its green flesh quickly being torn to shreds, while a thick river of blood began pouring down from its neck.

  Anthony tried to retreat once more from an overhead swing of the hobgoblin’s hammer, but he felt the cold stone of the hillside pressing against his back, his eyes widening as he realized he was out of room to maneuver. The hobgoblin’s stone hammer seemed to move in slow motion before him, growing larger and larger as it flew toward his face.

  Without time to think, Anthony dropped to one knee and raised his sword to block the attack, gripping the weapon firmly with both hands as he instinctively sent a wave of power flooding into the blade.

  When the two weapons connected, Anthony’s superior metal sword bit clean through the relatively soft wooden handle of the hobgoblin’s hammer. The stone head detached completely, crashing into the wall behind him and exploding into a wave of debris from the force of the creature's blow.

  A small wave of dust flooded into Anthony’s eyes, momentarily blinding him and giving his enemy the perfect opportunity to slay him. A burst of adrenaline shot through his veins as he released a shout of anger and dove forward in a blind attack, lunging toward the place he last saw his enemy.

  Against the odds, he felt the tip of his blade make contact with the enemy's body. With the surge of anxious adrenaline still fueling him, Anthony wrenched downward on the handle of his weapon with all his might. A gurgling scream entered his ears, while the blade stubbornly resisted his attempts to pull it downwards—then, suddenly, the resistance eased as the blade rushed towards the ground. A moment later, the wet, slopping sound of something splashing heavily against the ground entered his ears.

  Anthony hastily wiped the stone dust from his eyes, blinking through the pain as he squinted at the blurry image before him. His stomach began to churn as he took in the gruesome sight. The piercing attack had been successful, striking the hobgoblin’s chest dead-on. But the downward force of his blade had split the creature open from sternum to groin, spilling its warm entrails onto the ground.

  The hobgoblin lay there, weakly grasping at its own leaking insides as the blood-red mania slowly faded from its eyes. Anthony stood in place, one nervous breath after another filling his lungs, before glancing toward Elara just in time to see one of her daggers stabbing into the heart of the remaining living goblin.

  Stepping towards the body of his fallen foe, Anthony leveled the tip of his sword over the dying hobgoblin’s heart. The creature looked up at him, the aggression gone from its eyes as it weakly raised its clawed hand to push the blade away. It was too weak to succeed. The hobgoblin's eyes shot open one last time as Anthony’s razor-sharp blade sank into its chest, then slowly drifted closed, the last flicker of life draining away.

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  After leaning forward and cleaning his blade on the fallen enemy’s fur clothing, Anthony walked over to Elara, who was doing the same with both daggers.

  “Well done, Anthony. I didn’t expect to see a pair of hobgoblins here. That would have been a much more dangerous encounter if you hadn’t killed its companion so swiftly.”

  Anthony nodded at her words, glancing over at Aurum from the corner of his eyes, who was currently licking the splattered goblin blood from his white and gold fur.

  “Are you ready to take a look? I’m eager to see what sort of valuables are waiting for us inside,” Anthony suggested, gesturing toward the cave.

  A grin spread across Elara’s face as she finished dusting off her clothing, holding her daggers in a ready position as she moved toward the cave entrance. After taking a quick glance inside, she muttered a few words, summoning a ball of light that began to orbit around her.

  After repeating the spell three times so that each companion had their own source of illumination, they cautiously entered the dreary cave.

  “How foul!”

  Elara was the first inside, her nose wrinkling in displeasure as her eyes found the pile of excrement that was stinking up the interior from the corner of the room. Anthony ignored the musky air and awful stink, glancing around the remainder of the interior.

  The cave was quite large, with tall ceilings and a tunnel branching off from the main chamber, stretching deeper into the hillside. A quick search of the room turned up nothing of note, so the companions turned to Aurum for help.

  At Pom’s order, Aurum sniffed at the air a few times before heading down the tunnel ahead. Elara took the lead, with Anthony just behind her, as the group descended deeper into the eerie darkness behind their canine companion.

  After only a few minutes of travel, the end of the tunnel became visible. But instead of the solid stone wall that should have been there, an intricately carved stone entrance loomed before them.

  The companions’ demeanor shifted as their eyes took in the discovery, nervous excitement rising in each of them as they stepped forward to examine the ancient doorway.

  After reaching the end, Elara ran her fingers across the dust-covered surface of the stone door, brushing away the filth that covered it and exposing the vivid image carved into its surface. Her piercing yellow eyes widened as she saw the carving before her.

  “Oh gods…” Elara whispered, her hand jerking back from the doorway to cover her mouth as she stared in surprise.

  “What is it?” Anthony asked, stepping up beside her to allow the magical orb of light floating around him to fully illuminate the doorway.

  There, etched into the stone, was a depiction of a terrifying demonic creature. Its body was that of a nightmarish black spider, while its torso and face belonged to a female demon—one that bore some resemblance to Elara.

  Anthony’s gaze flickered back and forth between the image and Elara, his eyes narrowing as he spoke in a curious tone.

  “Are you okay? What meaning does this image hold?”

  Elara straightened her posture as she heard the question, the fear slowly fading from her expression as she shook her head.

  “I’m fine. It’s a common depiction of one of the demonic gods—I just didn’t expect to see it here.”, she leaned forward to trace a finger along the image on the doorway as she spoke, “It seems this entire hillside is actually a burial ground. But for one of the demon tribes to have built a tomb here, it must have been long before Highwarden was established. This place has to be absolutely ancient!”

  As she continued, the excitement in her voice grew more apparent.

  “Demons don’t create tombs like this very often. In fact, they almost never do! That means whoever was buried here was basically demon royalty!”

  Anthony rubbed his hand across his chin as he listened to her explanation, staring at the heavy stone door that blocked their way forward.

  “Sounds like we found something good… So how do we get inside?”