Earth Defense Adventurer

Chapter Two

Easy Day was Yesterday

XXXX

Fort Fantasy

Living Quarters

Arrival Plus 3 years, 6 months, 11 days

127th Day of Spring Synchronized Date

0841 hours Synchronized Time

Adventure World

XXXX

Trooper yawns as he makes his way to the 'Mess Hall' of his little fort, Fort Fantasy.

The fort wasn't even a simple barracks prior to his occupation of it. Whatever it was, it was civilian in nature. Not that one could really tell from looking at it.

It had been the wrecked, burned out shell of a building, some foundations, the remains of some walls, and what he thinks might have been a shed of some kind at one point. Maybe not. For all he knew, this was once a village with a small manor in it. The same for the locals.

No one can remember.

It's been destroyed that long.

It didn't matter what it used to be.

It is now Fort Fantasy and as ramshackle as any shanty fort can get.

The low walls had been somewhat rebuilt and now form part of an outer barricade. This includes a ditch line which had been dug so as to stop simple siege engines, mounted attack, and goblins. Any attempt to use the low wall for foot soldiers would also be a bad idea, as the ditch was too deep to allow effective range attacks, could be flooded, and the walls were set too far back to be of any cover from the edge of the ditch. They were also topped with simple wooden spikes to help repel any Infantry trying to climb over them and were too weak to get a decent grapple line on.

Of course, part of the wall's charm, is the fact that there is more than 500 meters of open killing field in a 360 degree sphere. A few clumps of trees here and there and some wooden fencing and the nearby road were the only things in that clearing. Most notably, the wooden fencing, some of which belonged to the nearby Dairy Farm and others to other farmers and ranchers in the area, had been worked into being part of the defenses.

Since the wooden fencing had to keep in animals like horses, cows, and bulls, they had been strongly built and because of how long they had to stand without periodic maintenance, built tough to survive the elements.

As such, even though they wouldn't stop any form of attack, except mounted, they would take time to break down and clear, leaving any attacker exposed to defensive fire.

While he had been knocking down some of the oldest trees, nearing the end of their lives or dead and needing clearing, Trooper had come across what appeared to be an old shrine facility.

It was certainly no complex or temple. That is for sure. Simple living arrangements, an old tower that had somehow become buried and become a hill, an altar of some kind, and a small inn and stable, all built into a single building with a medium high wall around it.

Digging it out hadn't been hard. One of the local Temples had paid for the work to be done to recover any artefacts. Sadly, there had been nothing but rubble, but that told the story it's own story.

Researchers had poured over the debris and then rebuilt with painstaking precision, many of the items that were found.

Then, of course, the subfloor had been found.

In it, was evidence of who had originally owned the shrine. The Temple of Law.

It had actually been one of their old warrior sect's forward base of operations. A small frontier guard station and shrine. Nothing special, but it had kept peace once, provided guidance to its faithful, and now it was just a hollowed out shell like the main building of Fort Fantasy.

As such, the Temple of Law had transferred the shrine outpost to him for practically no cost.

It was close to the main building, so it would be revamped. It now doubled as both storage for non-essentials, a parking area, and the medical ward.

Funny thing about it, it was not even 10 meters from the main building. As such, it had a covered, raised walkway connected to it made of stone with a wooden top and protected side panels. The old walls also encompassed it to a degree and new additions added to it.

Goblin killing had long proven to be a vital business and pays an astounding amount of money.

Going on other quests and scavenging for resources also helped.

Even then, it would have been a lifetime project to build it up. Especially for one man, but with Goblin Slayer's help, he had managed to get a bit ahead. Though even then, he knew the fort would never be completed.

As such, he offers space to rookie Adventurers who are struggling, to the Guild for the occasional use, he gets the odd party every now and then, and then there's the local Temples, especially the Healing Temples, that need space for overflow.

As such, he does see some coin coming in.

Overall, the size and footprint of Fort Fantasy is small. Barely over 30 meters long and 27 meters wide with a non-uniformed arrangement. The main walls are barely a wooden barricade with stone lining. The gate is a simple affair of two doors and a barricade that can be dropped in.

There's a small pond, which fills every spring and now has a means to let out its overflow. A well also exists, though it tends to flood in the two rainy seasons. During the Summer, he paid a group of dwarfs to check that out and they said it had other exits once, but now it backs up, fortunately, it didn't include any bad water. So it would be fine all the time.

Trooper still follows through on EDF practices to make the water definitely safe to drink.

The EDF soldiers suddenly stops and unlatches a door and carefully and quietly opens it, prepared for anything.

But there, in her bed, Fighter is still asleep. Likely from the sedative he had given her the previous night. The teenage girl could get restless, to understate it, because of what happened to her. So Trooper had taken to drugging her with a light sedative to make sure she sleeps well.

Honestly, she should have been transferred to a better prepared and supported and staffed Healing Temple specializing in getting her back on her feet. Instead, she had been dumped on him to take care of and he was getting annoyed with it.

Fighter had fight in her sometimes.

All of the wrong kind.

Her first physical had started well and despite a female Healer's presence and that of Priestess, Fighter had freaked out without him even touching her midway through it.

His best guess was that something had set her off. Something that they hadn't realized. Still didn't know what that was either. And the end result was that Fighter had a tendency to suddenly panic without notice and her ability to sleep had been badly disrupted to the point he is lucky if she just falls asleep and stays asleep for a single night out of the local eight day week.

Still, he quietly slips in and locks the door behind him as she gently steps up to the young girl as she sleeps.

Fighter slept in the nude. Most people here did. Not Trooper, though. He slept with a pair of pants on and a shirt too.

Despite what had happened, Fighter had no trouble sleeping as she is.

Gently reaching down, Trooper moves the blankets allow him to begin checking the martial artist's pulse and as he moves his other hand over her face slow and easy to check her breathing. Both means reveal to Trooper that she is waking up slowly, but the sedative had worn off long ago to let her have a night of natural sleep.

While she'll be awake in a few moments, Trooper makes no move to depart, but doesn't worry too. Yet.

The girl is strong, plenty so that even Trooper had been pressed and with her taught skills honed by years of training and repetition. So Trooper had gotten her a small puppy as part of her therapy and the said small pup had raised his head as soon as Trooper had started fiddling with the door.

The puppy just watched him for a few moments and then laid his head back down.

Of course, saying he got her the puppy is a very clear case of outright lying.

She had ran off for two days and three nights. Trooper found her on the third day, having hidden in a neighboring farmer's dog kennel. There, she had become attached to the puppy and vice versa and the farmer hadn't minded one bit about letting her take the puppy home with her. He knew who she was and knew that having a little pup around would help her greatly.

Like having a living teddy bear that acts as a real agent of security at night.

The dark haired teen's eyes began to flicker as Trooper waits patiently. She tosses and turns a bit, which he had gathered a week in, is normal for her. He tosses and turns on occasion and concludes it to be much the same for her.

A desire to sleep and yet a yearning to awaken.

So when her eyes flicker open and readjust to the morning light, she turns her head as she senses Trooper's presence.

"Hmm? Warrior?" she mutters mistaking Trooper for her wounded friend, but as a slight glare from the rising sun strikes Trooper's face, casting an orangey glow to him and obscuring his true appearance, she suddenly seizes up and her eyes go wide and become dialated.

The puppy's sudden bark and then biting at her hand, alerts both to the fact that she had seized the animal by his tail and the sudden response causes her to flinch and as Trooper moved to avoid being punched, just in case, she regains her composure promptly as the illusion dies instantly.

"Oh-kay," Trooper says as he rubs his eyes, that glare was painful, "So certain light casting," Trooper retakes his seat, thinking it over, 'The goblins may have tortured her with a torch at some point. The question is why and how? Unless it was the Shaman throwing its magic around, but would a Shaman be that reckless.'

Trooper decides that he should immediately speak with Goblin Slayer on the matter and then visit the other five captives when possible to see if that theory is correct.

In the meantime, though…

"We've made unexpected progress today Fighter," Trooper takes her bitten hand into his own and checks the bitemarks over and finds the puppy had more nipped than bit, "and I'm certain you owe the puppy a significant portion of your time today to apologize for grabbing his tail like that."

The smile on his face, though, shows he's happy for her. They've learned a trigger. Now they can start to find the rest more easily.

"Tru-per?" Fighter blinks again, her obsidian blue eyes taking in the man as he's unarmored for once.

Dressed in a simple pair of pants and a shirt, Trooper looks like someone who isn't dressed for the day. She's seen him out of his armor before, but never like this.

"Overslept by an hour, but Goblin Slayer had wandered over and checked the fort's perimeter for me," he releases her hand, satisfied there isn't any damage, "I was tired yesterday when I put you to bed with Priestess' help."

"Thank… you…" the once vibrant way she once spoke is now long gone. Perhaps only for now. Instead, her sentences tend to be a word or two and broken in structure. No longer stringed together like anyone who has long learned language. It will be time before she talks normally again.

As she sits up, her blankets fall away, leaving her exposed.

Trooper doesn't even notice, gently taking hold of her head to get her to face him and let him check her this morning.

It's a daily routine for the two of them. He gives her a daily check up every morning he can. Looking for signs of stress, fatigue, and other issues including physical ailments. It is not something he ever expected to be doing.

And he wishes that she was placed into a more qualified facility.

"Okay," Trooper nods, the miracle of finding a single thing or having an episode interrupted as it starts, "I'll let you wander around today on your own, but no going behind the posted line, understand?"

"Yes…" the dark haired girl nods.

"No touching anything sharp and pointy either," Trooper states plainly and the girl nods again.

"Yes…"

They go through the checklist of what she can and can't do, touch, and where she can and can't go.

In the end, Trooper sends her on her way to the baths. The girl gets up, not particularly caring that Trooper is there and simply collects her bathing items and the puppy and heads out to take her bath. Not once stopping to pick up any clothing, not like she has much for clothing right now.

Trooper sighs as he leaves shortly after her, giving her time to get to the baths first, not even looking the door behind him, not it is needed, but making sure it is closed.

He yawns as he wanders down the halls again.

Trooper knows that kind of crap ain't something he should be handling. At least Fighter has nothing in her room that she can use to hurt herself. Even her clothes are simple things that she can put on and go about her day. A headache for sure for the older male, but hopefully, some day, she'll have a sense of modesty again and no suicidal thoughts.

He suddenly hears the puppy yipping happily and he shakes his head as he walks by the baths, stopping to check in on Priestess for a moment and sees the girl actually stepping out bleary eyed out of her room and on her way to the baths he just passed.

After a short greeting, he continues on his way as the girl heads to bathe.

"I wonder if she realizes she was flashing me the whole damn time?" Trooper sighs as the girl was wearing a few sizes too small shirt.

Why him?

She's supposed to be Goblin Slayer's problem, not his!

Oh well.

He'd better be gone before she realizes he saw her underwear.

Yawning again, Trooper really hates this world's 28 hour cycle with eight day weeks and having 14 months with 411 days can be really annoying.

Trooper enters the 'Mess Hall' at that moment.

The sleeping quarters are really nothing more than a few wooden walls reinforced with sandbags of all things. The roofs are barely covered over and are as much cloth as they are wood. Furniture, including the beds could range from piles of hay placed on raised boards to simple hammocks strung from the walls to some mattresses that Goblin Slayer had managed to find for Fort Fantasy.

How? Trooper didn't ask. Chances were, a village didn't need them anymore. Along with other items the two had scavenged together and separately since Trooper joined up as an Adventurer.

As for facilities for the Living Quarters…

The baths attached to them are one functioning bath, used by everyone present, and one incomplete bath without anything added to it. It's just got a few layouts and a couple of holes. The water at least runs into the functioning one and is heated as well, a little trick Trooper had learned during the downtime between the battles back on Earth.

The Toilets had sinks with running water and the Toilets were also able to be flushed. Again, simple tricks and knowledge. Some of the major cities, like Water Town, had these developments. Though they were somewhat rarer out here in the middle of nowhere.

There are eight functioning latrines each with at least one working Toilet and Sink. One of them even has two functioning Sinks and a door that leads into the actual building. The others are uncovered and lead outside only for both entrance and exit.

Largely because the walls haven't been installed or rebuilt, depending on case.

The Washing Area for clothing is essentially next to the parked E551 Gigantus, which is still being used as an anchor for the clothes lines and even the barrel is used to hang laundry out to dry!

The Common Room is essentially the only area not sectioned. Which is much of the main 'keep' of the fort. Some improvised chairs, benches, tables, and whatever else was available fills it in. The furniture is much the same as with the rooms, whatever could be made up to be of use, including a couple of improvised desks and bookshelves.

The only walls were stacks of logs and sandbags placed to create a barricade to both the elements and enemies. There were still sections of the old stone building, those provided the real strength, but not much else. Everything else had been improvised or is still a work in progress.

The Mess Hall is little more than an open kitchen area made of stone to prevent fires, some wooden boards, old crates turned into chairs and covered over, whatever branches tied together and laid across some more boards that Trooper found wherever he could.

The walls are little more than triple layer sandbags with wood sheets between them. The layering doesn't work as well as expected in the Winter and Summer is barely tolerable. The windows are the only thing that keep it cool in the Summer and those are little more than packed sandbags themselves with a bit of cloth over both sides.

Upside, at least it keeps the rain and snow out. The feet stay dry as there is planking down, over the old stone floor, to stand on. It is covered and shielded so as to keep one out of the elements directly. During Winter simple stoves keep the place at least somewhat warm and in Summer, there's always been enough water to have a simplified mister spray throughout the Mess Hall.

Overall, Fort Fantasy is a lot like a temporary FOB.

Bordering on being a camp than a fort, it at least kept everyone dried and alive despite its shortcomings.

"Good morning Trooper!" a cheery voice surprises Trooper as he enters the Mess Hall.

"Oh! Red Scout, what are you doing?" Trooper sees the young, but experienced rhea scout cooking breakfast, "If I'm not mistaken, I'm on KP today?"

"You aren't mistaken," the red headed, red theme rhea responds, "But I know you got back late and had a tough request to fill out, right?"

Her red eyes gleam with mischievousness and Trooper knows, she's just trying to score points so as not to have too much to do and to get one of the actual beds. Still, she is an excellent cook and a welcomed source of energy, when she's honest. Still, he'll let her do all the extra work as he settles down and pulls out Fighter's file from among a small stack he has been carrying all morning.

"That Fighter's file?" Red Scout tilts her head, trying to look cute, but she's Trooper writing away.

"It is," Trooper confirms as he begins detailing what happened, "Looks like a breakthrough too. A trigger event occurred, though it was interrupted when the puppy barked and nipped at her in response to her reactions."

"Oh?" Red Scout blinks, even as she taste tests her cooking, "That pup is so loyal to her. What happened?"

"She yanked his tail by accident," Trooper states as he writes in Fighter's file.

"That would do it," Blue Knight mutters as the young adult human male suddenly makes his appearance known, stepping into the mess hall with his right arm bandaged and in a sling and his use of a cane with his left hand as he walk-hops on his good leg to get into a seat, "Is what happened good for her?"

Acknowledging Blue Knight, a Steel-ranked Adventurer who had the misfortune to tangle with some of the Evil Sect's members smuggling kidnapped maidens to be sacrificed, Trooper continues writing even as he speaks.

"It is," Trooper makes a couple of quick side notes for reminders, "It is possible that she may had been tortured with a torch, something that happened to Sword Maiden if my sources are correct, or the Goblin Shaman had done so with its magic, therefore, she has a response to certain lighting patterns and the colors of them."

Finishing his report quickly, but efficiently, Trooper turns to Blue Knight, "How's the rash? Gone now?"

With a nod, the blue eyed white haired mail nods, "Yeah, thanks to that mixature you gave me. My arm and leg doesn't hurt as much and I think the bruising is gone from my ribs as they don't hurt anymore."

Two plates and bowls soon land before the pair as Trooper begins a brief check up of Blue Knight.

"Time to eat boys!" Red Scout smiles, "Better get it while it's hot and plentiful!"

XXXX

Adventurers Guild

East Town, Frontier

Arrival Plus 3 years, 6 months, 11 days

127th Day of Spring Synchronized Date

1043 hours Synchronized Time

Adventure World

XXXX

Trooper walks in through the front doors with a yawn and a thick binder full of health reports on the 48 wounded cases he had shoved on him, not counting Fighter, but including Blue Knight.

Coupled with already having fourteen Adventurers, including Red Scout and Priestess, call Fort Fantasy home for the time being, it was well over its limit to support.

Including himself, there were 63 people calling Fort Fantasy home. Six of the fourteen boarders had been working towards getting their own places. Two of them, both Steel ranked, have been planning to marry as both were up for promotion, one would remain on the rolls at the Guild and the other would retire to take care of the home and children. Which would only happen once they found they were with their first child.

The other four had found more permanent residency closer to town now that they had coin reserves to spend for their own homes.

Of the remaining eight, including Priestess, only Red Scout isn't a rookie. She's a Sapphire-ranked Adventurer like himself and is actually due for a review for consideration for promotion to Emerald. The remaining seven were all Porcelain-ranked, but only Priestess had less than three months time under her belt.

'But with Goblin Slayer, she's already being considered for review,' Trooper thought as he walks over to Guild Girl, 'That aside, I got 48 cases plus Fighter, which is taxing my resources.'

"Good morning Trooper," Guild Girl greets as the EDF soldier approaches her, "How are you today?"

"Wishing for a Shirley Temple," he chuckles at her face as he hears a veteran in earshot by the Quest Board groan, "They still get annoyed when I say that in earshot?"

Removing the proverbial sour lemon from her mouth, Guild Girl responds with an exacerbated sigh, "I think Priestess hasn't caught on, yet, but honestly, can you please not talk like that. I don't know why either, but for some reason, some of the priests and priestesses get upset when you talk about your nation's drinks."

Raising an eyebrow beneath his helmet, "Soft drinks are non-alcoholic, easy to drink, and unless I'm offending a Deity of the Drink, I don't think they should be getting their underwear in a twist about it."

Guild Girl could only helplessly shrug.

"Anyways, that aside," Trooper pushes what amounted to nothing out of his mind, "Here are the latest medical reports from the 49 cases that got dumped on me, including Fighter," the stack makes a muted thunk when it lands on the reception desk, "Of those 49, twelve will be fit in about two week's time, one more at three weeks, and the rest with varying degrees of injuries over the falling three months thereafter and again, I voice that they should be in proper Healing Temples, not in my overloaded, half built fort."

Guild Girl sighs to the side and shakes her head, "I've voiced the same and got the same results. Though we have an inspector from the main offices coming soon as well. So we should be able to get some of that straighten out. It would look bad in the Capital if we don't get them moved soon."

With a frustrated sigh, Trooper can only hope as he continues on, "Fighter has shown signs of recovery now."

"She has?!" Priestess suddenly glomps Trooper, "How is she!? Is she training again? Does she have-"

Goblin Slayer's armored glove covers the blond teen's mouth, "Not so fast Priestess. He said she only shows signs. She has yet to actually start recover."

The blond deflates at hearing Goblin Slayer's words.

"I'm afraid all that we found today was a trigger for her panic attacks," Trooper informs Guild Girl, but loud enough for Priestess and Goblin Slayer to hear, along with two of the other receptionists, "I'm going to speak with Goblin Slayer on several possibilities of Goblin Behavior, but it looks like we got lucky today and she was able to come out of it once an outside force applied a minor level of force."

"Minor level of force?" Guild Girl tilts her head, her pleated golden locks shifting with the movement.

"Her puppy nipped her when she accidentally grabbed his tail in her panic attack," Trooper informs Guild Girl, "Immediately, she returned to her senses. This is a bit of good news, but it will still take time. I just don't know how much."

"I see," the hallowed gold hair woman closes her eyes as she turns her head slightly to sigh before shaking it a bit and then opening her golden eyes once more, "We will have to table that for now," the woman takes the stack of files off the counter and places them on her section of the desk, "How go your preparations?"

"I only need to recruit a few more Adventurers and we will be ready for the expected month long mission," Trooper replies at once.

"Month long mission?" Priestess blinks in surprise.

"You haven't said anything?" Goblin Slayer points out, everyone sure he has a raised eyebrow behind his helmet.

Turning to face them and leaning easily on the reception counter, "Because you two have been out frequently lately. But I got a request from the military to look into some sites for the possibility of them deploying troops. I've got a team put together that will assist and confirm status. We should be gone a month, barring complications."

Nodding, "Take care then," Goblin Slayer acknowledges.

"Yes, please do!" Priestess bows a little, the cute and delicate looking girl will grow out of some day, Trooper amusingly notes.

"I will and thanks," Trooper answers easily enough, "Got to finish up my medical reports and then I leave tomorrow. Should be back sometime next month. I wouldn't worry too much. Scouts haven't reported much in the way of potential problems. Not even goblins. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing."

"Very well then," Goblin Slayer then turns to Guild Girl to inquire about goblin quests.

Priestess frowns at Goblin Slayer's lack of tact, but Trooper only pats her on the head before he turns to head over and recruit some more members. Really, all he needs is some Porcelains. They can get some field experience and training in while making for good pack mules and laborers for this mission.

Easy peasy.

He'll still double check the reports, but as far as he expects, no trouble whatsoever. He'd been personally around that way two months ago. The goblins he had found out that way were as good as dead. Between both him and Goblin Slayer that is.

XXXX

A local week later sees Trooper hiding behind a tree before turning out just long enough to toss a throwing knife into a goblin sentry.

After checking to see if his silent kill had been seen, Trooper moves silently to the next tree.

Within range of his throw were three goblins and one more above them, well outside. That would be trouble. The goblins are really enjoying themselves, so he doesn't have time to dwell.

Moving like a wraith amongst the trees, Trooper closes the range. A rock skipping along sends the goblins to alert, but then they notice it was only a rock. The three on the ground start yelling at the one above them. That one yells back down at them.

As the four argue, Trooper hurls his rock from his sling.

The one up high takes a direct hit and falls off the old parapet.

The three below laugh, each believing one of the other two threw it. They laugh like that for a good amount of time. Then realize with dread, it wasn't one of them.

It's too late.

Trooper grabs one goblin and quickly twists his head violently to the side. The sound of breaking neck bones alerts the other two, but even before the dead member of the trio can fall, Trooper lashes out grabbing both.

With momentum on his side, he smashes the two goblins into the old walls of the fort. Both make muted sounds as they are dazed and confused by the impact. Their windpipes are then crushed when Trooper takes hold of their necks and slams them together.

A sixth goblin gets a throwing knife to his face for his troubles and falls to his death as another is snatched from the air and used to beat the eighth goblin to death.

The seventh goblin dies during the beating too and its corpsed chucked at a ninth and tenth goblins who panic, but then die as Trooper crosses the distance and cuts down both with his sword.

An eleventh goblin, hiding to either ambush or alert his fellow goblins, waits behind a piece of wall debris.

Instead, both of Trooper's boots crush him flat, with a muted cry being the last sound from the goblin.

Trooper quickly assails the ruined walls to the ramparts above. There, he finds a twelfth goblin coming to check on the other elven. Instead, as Trooper advances, the goblin finds himself face to foot with Trooper.

XXXX

The surprised goblin is kicked down and bounces, the air in its small lungs having been forced out from the impact of the boot to its chest rob all sound from it.

As its mind whirls and its lungs try to inhale air again, it can only see the spots brought on by both the loss of air and twin impacts it felt.

But goblins like him are quick to recover if you let them. Gasping for air, the goblin begins to jump back to its feet and draw its knife. It will gut this intruder and alert the others at the same time.

But then he finds himself lifted up and looking into a slit visor helmet with an extended faceplate and horizontal pattern grill holes for breathing.

"Good," the Adventurer states and the goblin is left with stopped mental gears.

'What?' it thinks in its own language inside of its head.

Then it finds out as it finds itself being thrown out. The sudden free flight and the feel of weightlessness causes the goblin to blink in wonder. Before gravity kicks back in and it realizes its going to fall.

Right into a large boiling pot.

Screaming in panic the whole way, the goblin forgets about the Adventurer as it watches its death literally boiling in front of it as it falls in.

XXXX

Trooper watches as all of the goblins stop what they're doing and pretty much enter a confused state.

His plan is risky as hell and likely to end in failure. Too much can go wrong. He has virtually no intelligence. Enemy troop strength, type, positioning. To top that off, he has to insure his forces are arrayed to prevent pursuit without being prematurally detected.

Then there is his force, which is heavy on the rooks, weak in heavy troops, and is likely outnumbered at least three to one if not more.

With a shrug, Trooper is just thankful that they probably thought the liquids that hit the ground were the now boiled to death goblin pissing uncontrollably as he fell to his death, screaming and getting all of their attention.

Thus leaving him undetected, in the middle of their horde, on his own, with no back up to commence a rescue operation he's making up as he goes.

Just another day in the office for the EDF.

XXXX

They all had seen one of their number go flying right into the boiling pot they had been preparing for one of the female Adventurers they had just captured. Once they were done raping them, they were going to have even more fun killing them. Then they would cook them up and eat them.

Of course, they had to make sure to get a few more goblins out of them. To replace the ones that they had killed. But that is half the fun right there. And they had two humans, an elf, and a rhea.

While the rhea might be a bit slower, rhea are nearly as good as humans and elves for breeding with.

But now… There is this strange mess.

One of their own is now messing up the pot for the human that fought with her hands. Which will mess up them killing her, cooking her some of her entails, and then feeding it to her leader. The rest of her will be cooked for them to eat.

That would be after the fun of shooting the rhea with her own bow and arrows. Then they will burn the elf at a stake, which will be even more enjoyable, as this used to be an elf fortress!

But all of that is now to the side as they will have to dump the pot and get fresh water to.

One goblin speaks up about a strange smell from the piss that doesn't smell like piss covering it and a few others.

A torch then flies by and ignites the strange, black not piss.

XXXX

Coupled with a couple of local grenades, the goblins are successfully thrown into confusion by Trooper. Also a couple of molotov cocktails help out too. The burning liquid adding to the confusion as the goblins begin to run around in circles as Trooper charges in, hammer in hand.

The first two goblins end up flying into a mess of flames and rolling over some gasoline that hadn't been lit yet.

They add to the confusion and carnage as goblins begin killing their burning comrades to keep them from lighting the whole fort on fire.

The scattered stacks of wood, timber, kindling sit in grass, some coming up to their waists. This also means that the old crates and wagon wheels filling the abandon fort are in danger of catching fire. Along with its structures and the roots of the massive trees it was built into its form.

The goblins even have oil, which there is a large supply still left over in the fort as well. If the flames reach that, they won't be able to control the fire. They'd have to evacuate.

And in this mess of confusion, Trooper slams goblins across the grounds, into the ground, or into the air.

Reaching the rhea first, Trooper kills the two goblins near her first. Another tries to jump him, but he dodges it and kills yet another. Then another jumps at him, only to catch an arrow in its head.

"Trooper!" it's Red Scout and two other Steel-ranked Adventurers.

"I told you to stay behind and guard the perimeter!" Trooper shouts back, "Top left!"

The dwarf spins out of the way and uses the momentum to bring his two axes down, splitting the limbs from the goblin that had tried to jump him.

The three hurry over to where Trooper is trying to tend to the downed rhea and fight off the goblins.

"There must be over a hundred of these bastards!" Trooper complains aloud, "This is way above Steel-rank!"

"Thank ye for the encouraging vote of confidence," blocking a stone and arrow with both of his axes, the dwarf though agrees, "Way too many 'ere. How wa'z this missed?"

"No idea," Red Scout states as she takes hold of the badly wounded rhea, "Can she be moved?"

Trooper turns and slams his hammer down the legs of two different goblins, causing them to howl in pain before he bats them away, "GO!" he shouts as he charges a group, intent on holding them off.

A stone ricochets off his helmet, robbing him of his forward movement, but he retains enough sense to step back and take a defensive stance.

"Explains that!" the dwarf yells as a stone slides off his helmet as well.

"We need to save the others!" the human woman shouts as she swing her halberd around and kills three goblins and literally disarms a fourth.

A downward cut a moment later and the screaming goblin falls two ways in two more pieces.

"The elf!" Trooper shouts as they begin fighting to her and an explosion rocks the fort as an old oil-filled pot reaches its maximum and the old, destabilized oil detonates with fury and debris, "Let's move! Move!"

As the three race for the elf, the goblins grab her and begin to actually lift her up and carry her away, rather than dragging.

Because she had been left laying on her side, the three Adventurers hadn't seen it. Her stomach somewhat bulged. The terrifying thought of what was happening.

"You gotta be kidding me!?" the dwarf shouts as the three try to catch, only to be stopped by another explosion that threw out a tongue of flame.

That wasn't oil.

"SHAMAN!" and the dwarf responds with one of his axes burying itself into the Goblin Shaman's chest and nearly taking the diminutive monster's head off in the process.

"There's another!" the polearm user shouts and the three make their way to her.

Several goblins attempt to kill the defenseless woman. They don't get a chance. The three Adventurers are on them with a roar. Axe, Polearm, and Hammer crashing into the goblins and slaying them where they stood.

This woman is badly wounded. She has been especially beaten up and slight cuts made to points of her torso. They bleed slowly, but hurt. A lot.

"One minute!" Trooper informs the other two even as he breaks out his medical kits and potions. It's a race against time, something they don't even have a second of. But if they don't, she dies.

Trooper's skill can be almost supernatural when it comes to addressing wounds.

"That's a new record!" Trooper states as he pulls the woman up, into his arms and turns to the polearm user, "Take her and go!"

The woman doesn't argue. She takes the wounded Adventurer and tosses her over her shoulder in a Fireman's Carry and then takes off running. By luck, the the polearm user is taller by a full two inches. So there is plenty of clearance for her to fly like the proverbial bat out of the fiery hell they are in.

Even as another explosion takes place and dumps a source of water, putting out some of the flames, but also knocking oil into a goblin hole and an ember ignites it, causing it to catch fire and burn two goblins hidden inside and trying to escape.

The flames catch something else underground on fire and pretty soon, back near the siege line, smoke can be seen coming from the connecting hole.

It's blocked off a moment later by a large rock and sealed in place, causing choking smoke to start to fill the fort.

The dwarf recovers his thrown axe as the pair make their way after the remaining two captives. It's not a battle as it had been. Many goblins are trying to put out flames in their nest and others are trying to stop the choking smoke.

Several, though, man the parapets. In their hands are bows, arrows, stones, and slings. They prepare to ran death on the remaining two Adventurers. Instead, they only get to be shot from there by a hail of arrows and stones from the siege line.

A spark of Thunder magic also raises into one of the ramparts and utterly blows away a chunk of stone and two goblins. The real fight is now on. The goblins end up having to turn their attention to the now closer, but still protected siege line that is firing on them.

"Idiots!" Trooper shouts as he and his dwarven ally trap the goblins with the two women, "But the right call under these conditions!"

"Aye," the dwarf growls as the two Adventurers advance with weapons in hand and ready.

Then the elf begins screaming. It's a sound of pain the likes of which they've never heard before. She's held forcibly down by the goblins as she screams and cries out, her words mere gibberish worse than a goblin.

Before the two males' eyes, a horrifying sight makes itself known.

The birth of a goblin.

Neither had seen such a thing before.

Now they do. Wishing fervently they weren't. The sight displaces their stomachs, but they maintain their constitutions.

They can puke later.

The goblin infant actually crawls, forcing its way out of the elf's womanhood. Sliding out as close to a mockery of giving natural birth as it can get. Blood helps to mark the goblin child's birth. As it exits the elf woman's body, lacking an umbilical cord even to connect with the woman, she shudders and passes back out, her body twitching from convulsions.

Then, as though to mock all other races, the goblin wobbles slightly on its tiny feet. Trying to stand, but then falling down. It begins to cry from there. Like a normal infant.

A Goblin Shaman picks up the small infant, cradling the small infant in a startling gentle way for such a cruel creature, and turns and smiles darkly at the human and dwarf.

Trooper's answer is a throwing knife to its face, taking an eye out and causing it to drop the Goblin Child as both Adventurers charge with furious battle cries full of indignant righteousness that terrifies all the present goblins.

Trooper and the dwarf reach the two women, with the dwarf finishing off the Goblin Shaman.

The goblins are either killed or scattered.

Trooper, with great revulsion, ends the Goblin Infant's life.

He needs to puke. Right now. But he holds it in. The women are counting on him.

Fast with his medical treatment of them, he preps first the elf.

"Take her and go!" Trooper yells to the dwarf, only to see him take three goblin arrows and a knife, "No."

But the dwarf roars in defiance!

His armored foot comes down, crushing the goblin that dared to get in close and stab him. His twin axes finish off three more goblins and he blocks several arrows. All the while, backing up with slow ease as he pulls the arrows, tipped with goblin poison, from his body and uses them to stab three more goblins to death.

"Aye," the fatally wounded dwarf laughs darkly with blood spilling from his mouth, "How did ye all like that?"

Another goblin tries his luck. It is bad luck. Thus already a short life, became a lot shorter. As did the goblin. By a head. His life ending in a split moment as its body was also split in half.

"I got the long eared lass!" putting one of his axes away, "I'll see ye back in the lines," gently taking the wounded and violated elf over his shoulders and making sure she was laying across both of them, the dwarf roars a battle cry and charges right through the goblins, stomping one too stupid to get out of his way.

With a sigh, Trooper shakes his head, "I amend my count to somewhere north of 200 or 250," he recognizes the woman, "Dammit Noble Knight! I told you to wear a damn helmet!"

Picking her up after treating her and stowing his hammer away, Trooper is rammed from behind as he goes to draw his sword.

Both Trooper and Noble Knight hit the ground together. The air is knocked out of Trooper as he pitifully groans. The goblins that knocked him down, stand atop him, ready to plunge their stolen knives and daggers into his back.

They never get the chance as another explosion goes off with the burning goblin hole.

Trooper seizes the moment and grabs ahold of Noble Knight's discarded sword.

With a swift sweep, the goblins are cut down. Finally, Trooper picks up Noble Fighter and carries her Fireman's Carry over his shoulder out of the chaotic fort. Another bolt of magic eliminates a group on a parapet trying to slam spears into both Trooper and Noble Knight.

The siege is now fully engaged as Trooper dashes to escape, squashing the had of one goblin and using the brain matter to slide over the old stone and almost slipping on spilt blood.

Despite a spirited attack to kill him, Trooper makes it to the gates and slips out. The gates jammed open by Red Scout when she first entered. The goblins had been unable to close them. Now they break, preventing them from ever being closed again.

Trooper doesn't care as he mad dashes back to the line. He reaches it unharmed and with Noble Knight safe in his arms. A great cheer goes up as the two safely enter the woods and soon are amongst fellow Adventurers with Emerald and Ruby-ranked members keeping the line formed and the goblins trapped in their damaged fort.

Trooper lays Noble Knight down next to her party members and the dying dwarf.

"Aye," the dwarf smiles, "A good way to go. That it is. A good way to go, aye."

The dwarf's eyes lose the light of life. A shuddering breath. His hands go limp.

Removing his Sapphire tag, Trooper replaces the late dwarf's Steel tag with it.

"No greater calling, no greater purpose," Trooper says with tears in his eyes, "Thank you my friend. I shall lift a cup in victory to your name and say to your ancestors, what a friend and hero you were and how proud I am to have known you. Now journey on the greatest adventure yet. Explore far beyond. We will meet you on that winding road someday."

Placing himself against the safety of a tree, Trooper rubs at his face.

All of this didn't have to happen.

Yet something happened.

What?

A soft hand on his shoulder. Red Scout kneels next to Trooper as healers fuss over the four rescued Adventurers. Trooper raises a hand to cover hers.

"Are you well?" Red Scout asks, showing her genuine worry.

With a shuddering breath, "Tired. So very, very tired. It was like that in the war too. Far too often."

Red Scout squeezes his shoulder and Trooper smiles lightly as he gives a soft squeeze to her hand in response, "I'll recover. But we can't let it be in vain."

With that, Trooper, with Red Scout's help, gets back to his feet, just in time to see a Porcelain Adventurer fall to an arrow, but two goblins are felled in response.

"Medic!" Trooper shouts as two other Porcelains pull their wounded ally out of the line of fire, "Hold the line everyone! We'll make the goblins pay! We got them trapped. Keep yourselves fortified and in cover. Check your fire. We have only so many arrows, Light Scout!"

"Here!" the elf scout drops from up high and lands easily enough, "Go for reinforcements, right?"

"Correct," Trooper confirms, "Inform the Guild of what's happening here and see if the army won't move to assist."

With a nod, Light Scout is off and disappears into the woods.

Turning his full attention to commanding the sudden siege, "Watch out for goblin holes and traps! Children can be surprisingly inventive. So expect the same from a goblin and you will survive!"

XXXX

Light Scout had only been moving for two days. Crossing a distance that had previously taken three to do. Yet by chance he ran into hope.

Goblin Slayer and Priestess had been heading in the direction of the siege with Spearman and Witch acting as messengers for the Guild.

Goblin Slayer and Priestess had already dealt with a small rabble of three goblins. Strays from the looks of things. They had searched for their nest and had not found evidence of one. Which was very good and so they had moved on, running into Spearman and Witch on a message delivery run to Trooper for the army.

Catching his breath and being healed by Priestess, Light Scout made his report to the four.

"In that old fortress?" Spearman couldn't believe it. "Since when did that happen?"

"I don't know," Light Scout responds, "Noble Knight led a party in to rescue some girls and women taken from a nearby village. They ran into trouble and were caught instead. Trooper went in alone to get them, but the goblins were too many."

"How many is too many?" Spearman wonders aloud, knowing full well that Trooper had the stuff to back up his claims.

"I lost track after counting over 50 killed," Light scout reports, "Coupled with at least a dozen outright by Trooper and maybe another two dozen inside, I'd wager well over a couple hundred of them, maybe 300 hundred, which makes no sense, they never kidnapped that many females!"

"How many higher ranked goblins were there?" Goblin Slayer inquires next.

"I don't know, I think I saw around five shamans," counting in his head, he can't be sure, "I know at least three were present and I think the dwarf said they had run into another two inside."

"Multiple groups acting as one," Goblin Slayer states, "There is something wrong with that. Continue on and tell the Guild that the goblins are more organized, which means a truly powerful goblin may be in the area and the Town Watch should double its guard and some Adventurers should go and protect Fort Fantasy, to prevent its capture while Trooper is away and many wounded Adventurers lay vulnerable."

"Understood," Light Scout takes a drink of water from his leather canteen before heading off again.

He'll need to make a day long journey much faster.

"Let's go," Goblin Slayer states as the four move out to hurriedly reinforce Trooper's thin line of Adventurers.

XXXX

Trooper lands on his feet after sliding down an old trunk. Red Scout and two rangers land with him. The three women showing their displeasure at being covered in goblin blood.

But still.

They had some success and they didn't alert the goblins either.

The goblins realized the Adventurers lacked the strength to assault them. Though, despite the thin line, the Adventurers by contrast, had a clear kill zone. The open area from the fort to the woods was too wide, made even wider through (de)constructive measures by the Adventurers, for the goblins. With magic users in reserve, the goblins had no means to rush safely.

The four made good their escape and ran on the cover of the dying light of the day. No goblin would be able to spot them with the sun in their eyes. And being nocturnal, that meant it is worse for goblins to look into the sun's light.

The pickets watch as the four return, their number only increased by one, though.

"She's the only survivor," Trooper lays the woman of some 20 years down for healers to tend to as he and his party regroup with the other high ranking members, "The rest died before we could get to them. The only reason she survived, is likely that when an explosion had destroyed a store of water, it rushed close to her to retrieve and drink some if her muddy hands are any indication."

"She's been the only one alive for at least four days," Red Scout adds and the two rangers nod in agreement, "The others expired, from the looks, directly under torture. She didn't and we found her, clinging to life."

"They're still shrugging off the effect of their failed breakout attack," Trooper adds, "With the three we rescued then, that's four survivors. The villagers are likely to be thankful, but the question still remains. How did 200-odd goblins go unnoticed for so long?"

"No offense to our rangers and scouts," an Emerald-ranked dwarf runs his fingers through his bread, "But obviously, some rangers and scouts didn't do jack squat of what they were supposed to do."

"No shit," one of the two blood covered rangers responds, holding out her cloak as she tried to ring some blood from it.

"That won't help," Trooper stops her, "Wait until this is over, I learned a couple of tricks from Goblin Slayer."

"You better," the woman growls and she isn't alone in giving Trooper the stink eye.

Feeling slightly nervous, "Right," Trooper is the butt end of several jokes at that moment.

A young swordsman suddenly approaches the group. He is one that had been posted to their rear. He's excited, but doing his best to hold it in, maintaining his composure.

"Well," the dwarf from before chuckles at the excited youth, "Out with it already. Don't keep us in suspense."

"Goblin Slayer!" the boy blurts out, "He's here with that priestess party member of his and Spearman and Witch too!"

"Three Silver-ranked Adventurers!" one of the few Ruby-ranked cheers excitedly.

The four soon enter the small meeting area and the relief is visible. Immediately, four others vacate their places to let the new arrivals sit down and to rest their feet, no matter how brief.

"My," Witch begins, "Thanks," she ends.

"Our pleasure," the dwarf smiles, "You three are a sight for sore eyes," he continues next, "This is a right mess, but with Trooper leading us, we've rescued four prisoners and saved a party that went in previously to do the same."

Trooper took over immediately at the end of that statement, "Our losses have been light, only four dead since we started the siege and one dead during the first rescue," Trooper brings the four up to speed, "We've found and destroyed and sealed several goblin holes, but suspect more. We broke up and destroyed a breakout attempt already, where we rescued three of the four captives that were used as human shields. The last was rescued only a short time ago when I lead a team of four into the fort to look for more prisoners. All others were dead, this one got lucky."

"How do you intend to carry out your siege?" Spearman inquires.

"With no survivors left and the bodies inaccessible," Trooper begins with a solemn look, "I intend to end the siege by burning the fortress tonight before their reinforcements arrive and break my siege."

"As I suspected," Goblin Slayer crosses both arms over his chest, "That would explain the upsurge in goblin attacks in recent months."

Trooper nods in agreement, "By my best guess, they've been using strays to establish smaller nests that grow into larger groupings. Then they retrieve a number of the nest's members and send them to other locations to do the same or to form the backbone of a likely goblin army."

"A Goblin Lord," Goblin Slayer answers back, "A Platinum-level goblin."

That sets off shock throughout the meeting. The idea of a goblin being that powerful is just ludicrous, but Witch had heard of something like that. So had Spearman. All of the older Adventurers had.

"It's more of a being equal in terms of rank, not power," Trooper mollifies the meeting, "Which would mean a number of Goblin Champions. Those can fight even Silver-ranked Adventurers on superior terms. Last I heard, it took almost ten Silver-ranked Adventurers to kill just one Goblin Champion."

"Six Silver-ranked Adventurers actually," Goblin Slayer corrects Trooper, "Mostly because they were three Scouts, a single Poleax, and two Archers."

"Yeah, not favorable odds," Trooper agrees, even with numbers, that would be suicide if they weren't careful, "But I'm confident that Heavy Swordsman and Lady Knight could bag a couple or more each on their own."

That relaxes everyone. Two of their strongest members. That would definitely make things better for them.

"I will destroy this fortress immediately," Goblin Slayer states as he raises up.

Trooper interjects here, "You'll have support, since they've been on alert."

"Speaking of that place," Spearman begins as Witch pulls out the letter from the army.

"This," she hands it over, "Is… for you."

Taking it with a thankful nod, "My thanks," Trooper opens it and reads the letter before letting out an angry shout and throwing it to the ground, "Oh for pete's sake! NOW they inform me of a possible goblin incursion in the area after discussing it for several days!"

"What!?" Spearman isn't the only one who rose from his seat in anger, "How long have they known?!"

Picking the letter back up and finishing reading the details, "Since before we left East Town!"

And again he tosses the letter away in disgust.

Priestess quickly picks it up and reads it as well. It's full of what was said by Trooper. Though there was mention of several issues before hand. Something had happened to a couple of their own scouts.

"Um, this says they lost a few scouts," Priestess interjects into the heated discussion.

"I saw that," Trooper states with crossed arms, "Lost before we were sent out and if we hadn't been careful, we'd have been added to those losses."

"So no warning whatsoever," Spearman growls, "What do those fools think we are? Some kind of bait for traps?"

"Who knows at this point," Trooper grouses with annoyance, "Now our only concern, at this time, should be putting a match to that fortress and torching it to the ground and killing every last surviving goblin that climbs out of a secret hole in the ground."

There is a general agreement there.

XXXX

The goblin on watch, kept a very careful watch.

Their attempt to break out the weak Adventurer line had ended in disaster. The three meat sacks of women they were using as shields were also stolen from them. The ones that tried to leave had been knocked out with Stupor magic that left them and then a number killed. Then the Adventurers retreated back to their lines and drew back even further.

They were about equal in numbers now.

But the Adventurers are also on guard. So they now have to wait to be rescued by their Goblin Lord. He'll be here soon. He was do to return and provide them with fresh supplies and then rest while they finally destroyed the nearby human village.

A flash of white caught the goblin's eyes.

Boring in on it, he could see a priestess, a young, delicate, juicy morsel!

Already he was getting hard just thinking about it. Capturing that one would make up for his letting those first four in. Of course, it wasn't his fault when the next four entered. So he could easily get first dibs on her and make her scream and beg and cry and scream, beg, and cry some more!

Oh yes, oh yes, oh YES!

He runs back and tells the others. They are caught by surprise. That Adventurers would get in so close again. Several run up to see for themselves if the watch is correct.

Even as he jumps up and down and points, something suddenly slams into the side of his head, near where his jaw meets his skull.

He's confused initially. Reaching up, he feels the shaft of the arrow. Protruding from his head.

A moment later, he keels over dead.

The remaining goblins panic as they come under concentrated fire. The Adventurers had clearly decided to attack. A bombardment of arrows rains down onto them. Many are wounded and killed as panic sets in.

One goblin hears glass breaking and turns his head.

Then gulps as his eyes goes wide at seeing oil and gasoline running down the bark of the old wood from broken bottles attached to arrows.

It only takes an ember, a spark, or a direct hit by another arrow, those ones on fire, to start multiple massive blazes that rapidly grows out of control.

XXXX

"Light those ugly bastards up people!" Trooper shouts as he releases another arrow, tipped with oil in a bottle, "Tonight is Overdone Goblin!"

"YEAH!" a great cheer went up from the Adventurers.

As everyone watches, the old elven fortress is turned into a large bonfire. The flames of which can be seen in the village as they wait, under a small guard's protection, for news from the battle taking place near their homes and fields. The smoke travels, high into the sky as the fortress burns.

"Mama?" a young girl turns to her mother, "Why are you crying?"

Dropping to her knees and taking her young daughter into her arms, the woman replies.

"Because we're safe now."

The Adventurers on guard detail raise their weapons in cheer. The fortress must be completely engulfed by now. They are victorious!

XXXX

The fortress rocks from explosions as goblins attempt to flee douse the flames, but nothing is working.

Fires are raging out of control. Burning everything they find. Leftover oil and gasoline from Trooper's infiltration and the general lack of sanitation among the goblins, have left the place even more of a tinderbox. A few good flames and the whole place lit up well. Because their funeral pyre.

"Old elven fortresses," Goblin Slayer admires the moment, "Burn nicely."

"Alright!"

"Yeah!"

"It's better this way."

"Look at it burn!"

Goblin Slayer ignores the cheering Adventurers as he turns to Priestess.

"If they weren't rescued by Trooper, then there was no one left to rescue."

"Yes," she responds back, "I know."

Before he can say anything, Goblin Slayer head jerks to the side with a loud clung! Trooper recognizes the sound easily enough.

"Take cover, enemy counter barrage!"

The previously cheering Adventurers scatter and dive for cover. A few stones land here and there along with a couple of arrows. The attempts to hit the Adventurers as they dive for safety. Return fire is made to silence the counterattack.

Priestess rushes to Goblin Slayer's side, "Are you alright!?" she looks to his head.

"Calm down," Goblin Slayer steps forward and takes aim with his bow, "He's got a sling, but can't muster much force at this distance."

Before the goblin can strike again, Goblin Slayer hits him squarely with an arrow.

The counterstrike is defeated with arrows and stones from the Adventurers.

"Let's go," Goblin Slayer starts walking forward, stopping for a movement to half turn to Priestess, "That new Miracle you recieved?" he explains, "We'll need it."

Standing up taller, "Right," Priestess follows Goblin Slayer.

XXXX

As the goblins abandon their firefighting efforts and head for the only exit, they find the Adventurers gathered, waiting.

This will be a fight. The goblins know that. They don't care. As long as they take a few with them then and a couple of them escape. That is all that matters right now.

So they charge.

Right into a trap.

XXXX

"O Earth Mother

Abounding in Mercy"

XXXX

The goblins draw and ready their weapons for the last dash. Through the priestess in front of them and then through the Adventurers behind them. If this is their end, so will it be for many Adventurers.

XXXX

"By the Power of the Land

Grant Safety to we who are weak"

XXXX

They reach the broken gate and pick up their pace. Death to the Adventurers who defy them. Death to all who are beneath them. Death to these damn fools!

But it was not to be.

XXXX

"PROTECTION!"

Priestess shouts as a translucent golden-tan barrier erects in the entry space of the gates.

Her new Miracle, is the Defensive Miracle, Protection. It stops all of the enemy's attacks and rushes. It is like hitting a solid wall.

But for allies of users of Protection, they can fight back. Through the Miracle. Against their enemy.

Yet, for this moment, that is unneeded.

A few goblins get by. They turn to see the bright light behind them. Trapping their fellow goblins. Then they turn back.

As Goblin Slayer charges in and kills them all.

"I'm sorry. I was slow with my Miracle," Priestess apologizes.

Picking up one weapon from one of the dead goblins, Goblin Slayer tests it before speaking, "Never mind."

As they turn back, everyone watches the goblins pound against the Protection barrier. Flames and smoke overcoming them. They never had strong lungs to begin with. Those that don't die right away to fatal levels of smoke inhalation, die by being burnt to death.

"It worked," Goblin Slayer notes, but also doesn't miss the melancholy expression on Priestess' face or in her posture.

"Let's move out people," Trooper orders as it is clear that the barrier will hold and by the time it collapses, it will be a wall of fire on the other side by then. "We got more goblins to find and kill to make sure none escape this place at all."

"Tell me when you're done praying," Goblin Slayer informs Priestess, "I'll join the search for survivors," he informs her, "Stay alert, though. Some may have escaped."

"He's right missy," Trooper replies, "There are many ways they could have still escaped. Such as jumping from towers, finding an abandoned escape route. We found multiple tunnels already dug. So there are quite a few ways they could get out actually."

"Then you both thought that far ahead?" Priestess askes, wondering why they thought so far ahead.

"Of course," Goblin Slayer responds, "Imagination is a powerful weapon…"

XXXX

Noble Knight stares blankly at the column of smoke and fire. It is so massive as though to darken the lighting sky.

XXXX

Several goblins are ambushed at various places trying to escape and are ruthlessly killed by the Adventurers who find them. Even the rookie Porcelains are more than enough to overpower and kill them. The power of shock, terror, and surprise is no longer on the goblins' side.

It is against them.

XXXX

"And those that fail to use it, die first."

XXXX

After massacring another knot of goblins, Goblin Slayer walks back towards Priestess.

The dark skies above have start to release rain. To the Adventurers on the ground, it is a gift of life. With cupped hands, they gather as much as they can to drink fresh water. To quench their thirst after their short siege.

Others let it wash away the events from their bodies. To be rid of the smell of battle. The scent of death from the fiery end of the old fortress.

Trooper only sits back and let's it fall on his helmet and plate sections of his armor. The sound comforting to him. Reminding of home as a child. Rain on the the tin roof his father always loved to hear the rain hit.

That soothing sound that lulls his tired body to sleep, as search parties still fan out, but find nothing more.

"Acting my rank can be..." Goblin Slayer struggles for a moment, "difficult," he admits to Priestess.

The young teen… Takes that as his tacit permission to give prayer even to the goblins that have died. To all that have died in this short siege. This deadly battle.

XXXX

Fort Fantasy

Living Quarters

Arrival Plus 3 years, 6 months, 28 days

144th Day of Spring Synchronized Date

1921 hours Synchronized Time

Adventure World

Fighter looks up as Trooper and Red Scout with the others return who had left. They are back remarkably early. They've been gone only two weeks. She can only suspect, that this had something to do with the guards that had arrived to defend Fort Fantasy.

"How are you guys feeling?" the guard captain pushes some drinks forward to the group. As well as something light to eat.

"Half miserable in general, half relieved to be home," Red Scout replies without the usual excitement in her voice.

"What happened?" Blue Knight asks as he moves just enough to let a tired elf ranger just plop onto the bench next to him and then grabs her when she sways, letting her rest against him as she nuzzles up close, just to feel calm.

"Our first target was occupied by something around 215 or so goblins," Trooper informs everyone and Fighter nearly launches herself upwards, if not for a healer from one of the Temples putting her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Around 215?" the guard captain manages to work his mouth. "How?"

"Good question," Trooper supplies in response, "An investigation is ongoing now. But we got them all. All 215 plus something of them. Just don't ask how a mere 50 Adventurers bottled so many up on our own."

"We got lucky," the elf ranger murmurs before falling fast asleep in Blue Knight's arms.

"We rescued an Adventurer Party that had gone in to rescue the maiden kidnapped from a local village," Red Scout sighs sadly, "They fell for a simple trap and then were almost wiped out if not for our timely arrival. They still had to be rescued."

"They were captured and to my dying day, I will never forget seeing a Goblin Infant be born," Trooper shudders before taking a deep, calming breath, "The four included Noble Knight as their leader and she, again, ignored my advice to put a damn helmet on. She'll never be an Adventurer again, they messed up her mind and the concussion from being hit by a sling thrown stone had left her with permanent brain damage."

Pouring himself a drink and taking a sip of the hot cider that had been pushed to Trooper and the others when they returned, Trooper thought it over some more, "We might get lucky with the Monk and Ranger recovering fully and returning, but Elf Wizard is being medically discharged from the Guild. She'll barely ever walk normally again, but her body is too badly damaged to ever survive the rigors of our line of work again."

"Damn," Blue Knight strokes the sleeping elf ranger in his arms.

"Several dead on top of that, more than that wounded," Trooper takes another sip as he remembers the smile on the late dwarf's face, "My recommendation to promote one of the fallen to Sapphire-rank, posthumously, has been approved. His part of the earnings we got, are being sent to his next of kin, along with a letter notification of his promotion and a short letter from me praising his loyalty, courage, and devout sense to help others."

The others nods, grateful that the Guild can recognize and honor courage.

"Another chapter in our lives now is done and the page shall turn to the next," Trooper mutters aloud as he thinks it over, "Big party for our victory tomorrow. I'm going to hold up that drink for our victorious dead."

"So say we all," Red Scout responds.

"So say we all," everyone agrees, even the sleeping elf ranger.

XXXX

"The Goblin King has lost his head!

To a critical hit most dire!

Thus the king's repugnant plan...

Come to a most fitting end...

And the Princess reaches out.

To her Rescuer, her Friend...

But he is Goblin Slayer!

In no place does he abide…

...But sworn to wander,

Shall not another by his side."

"Tonight, this is as far as the story goes, of the Frontier's hero…" the bard doffs his hat and sweeps it before himself, "Goblin Slayer!"

Later on, the bard is counting the coin he got. He is quite lucky to have heard of that Goblin Slayer. A powerful Adventurer that only hunted Goblins. Though it is said he sometimes does have another by his side.

A faithful friend and a soldier from another land. Simply called Trooper. The man is being said that he commanded a siege on an abandoned fortress taken over by goblins. That thanks to his leadership and understanding, that eight maidens had been rescued, including a failed Adventurer Party, and the fortress reduced to ashes.

Though even then, it is said that Goblin Slayer and two Silver-ranked reinforcements had arrived to put an end to the fortress full of goblins once and for all.

'People do love a tale of an unconquerable savior…!' the bard thinks to himself as he examines each coin, 'And for money like this, so do I!' he thinks excitedly, 'Perhaps a tale of Trooper would be good. A hero misplaced from his own world by an evil enemy's failed Teleportation magic, that become an Adventurer, because he needs the means to fight evil? That should work.'

"You..." a young, commanding woman's voice suddenly catches his attention and he turns to see a young woman dressed in green and white traveling clothes and simple leather and cloth armor with a brown hooded cloak cover her features, "The Adventurer you sang of… is he real?"

"But of course miss," the bard states with a happy look on his face, 'Not I ever met him,' pointing to the west, "I hear he lives in a town on the Western Border, two to three days from here, apparently with an apprentice he took some time ago, though I only learned so much myself only a short while ago and did not have the time to change my lyrics I'm afraid," he chuckles, just in case, he was glad he ran into those twin Battle Healers, "They've a large Guild too- Try asking there, I'm certain you'll also find his apprentice at the very least."

"So he's in a town because he took an apprentice," the hooded young woman states as she absorbs the information.

"Yes, I learned recently there was also a battle with a large group of goblins too and both were of note in which a mere fifty Adventurers overpowered a large, fortified horde of some two-hundred goblins on their own, including many who were only recently became Adventurers, inside of an abandoned fortress, protecting all the lands around it from the evil within it."

Removing her hood, "Well that's both convenient and good news," the man can't help but blush as he sees the lovely, young looking high elf girl before him, though he suddenly worries when her companions step forward, "Orcbolg, the Goblin Slayer," she says as though tasting the words on her tongue, "And his apprentice too."

XXXX

A/N:

Damn. Just damn.

When I get going, I get GO-ING!

Now this is fun stuff right here. Simple, easy. Fun as hell.

I can skirt by with the barest of details with this. But where is the fun in that? Fortunately this provides a great amount of straight forward material.

But as we can see, Fort Fantasy, a fort in name more than anything else. Poor Trooper gets dumped with a lot by a bunch of pencil pushers in the Guild. Yet he sees things through to the end.

We now have an expansion on the the old Elven Fortress. A major battle, all things considered. A titanic win for the Adventurers, though it came at a cost.

With only 50 members, they suffered a high casualties before emerging victorious.

While seven dead and double that in wounded might not sound like much, remember, there were only 50 of them. That means they took almost 50% losses in that fight. Which is why they kept calling their siege line just a line. Since there were so few of them to fight, they couldn't even form a proper entrapment and had to fight with everything they had to keep the goblins bottled up.

The goblins, though, didn't have a clue as to the numbers of the Adventurers. Those that were also part, since the original expedition to check the old fortress and other places of interest was expected to last some time, it had well over 70 members. The remaining 20 were split between healers, who did not fight, and the rest stationed to defend the nearby village. Plus one departed to get reinforcements.

So the numbers game was not in the Adventurers' favor, but because the goblins couldn't get a clear idea of those mere 50, they didn't exit to rush them, especially as they took severe losses early on.

Battles aren't always about strength. LIke Goblin Slayer said, "Imagination is a powerful weapon."

Not only for how to kill an enemy, but to convince an enemy he is R-Triple-D or Really Deep Doo-Doo, when he might actually hold the advantage, all of the advantages.

We get Fighter's return, some throw away characters who fought and some died, and others who get named, but won't play much of a role.

But, at the end, we get High Elf Archer's entry.

What will happen next?

Because Trooper is there.

But not as a superman that by sheer appearance, all goes well. Noble Knight is medically out. Same with Elf Wizard. Rhea Ranger and Human Monk might fully recover.

We also saw one die to save them. Then others get wounded and reports about dead who fought.

Trooper won't be an invincible superman. He got jumped in the end, rescuing Noble Knight. But he was able to recover, because he knew the dangers and took precautions.

It should also be noted, contrary to popular belief, the Failed Female Rescue Party, was not a bunch of green rookies.

Noble Knight, herself, was at least Steel-ranked. The others in her party might have been Steel or Obsidian-ranked. So it is not just Porcelain-ranked Adventurers being wiped out. But others, who don't know the dangers and take no precautions.

And it doesn't need to be a Goblin Lord or a Goblin Paladin leading either.

Even without a Goblin Shaman, goblins are inherently dangerous.

Goblin Slayer took the time to learn their ins and outs and thus build an idea of what they do and how they go about it. Which is why when their behavioral patterns shift, he knows something is very much amiss. This leads him to being called Goblin Slayer for a reason.

He doesn't just kill them.

He knows them.

As Sun Tzu said:

'Know yourself and know your enemy and you shall never fear battle.

Know yourself, but not your enemy and you shall have defeat for every victory.

Know neither yourself nor your enemy and it is the sound before defeat.'

-Art of War