Chapter 32: Snowball

Chapter 32: Snowball

Deformed, green bodies stretched out as far as the eye could see. Humanoid creatures of varying shapes and sizes filled the landscape. In a small corner of the forest populated by goblins...

Chaos had crept in.

The goblins screamed wretchedly. More and more rushed to face the invader. But it was hopeless. Their charge was little more than a funnel into a meat grinder.

Neave took a swing with his massive steel sword. His foot landed with a resonant thud, and the metal whistled in a deep pitch as golden mist and runes enveloped it. The phantom image of the centipede appeared, golden runes glowing all over its carapace. The influence of the true strike seeped into the phantom and brought it to life. It flew out and tore through the hordes of goblins, crushing their bodies as it slammed into them, biting and tearing their throats and stomachs out.

Neave opened his mouth wide and swallowed dead goblins whole. Or rather, as whole as they could be after encountering him.

His carnage left no dead bodies behind as he greedily ate up any chunk that dropped to the ground. Soon enough, several taller goblins appeared on the horizon. These were not quite as misshapen as those that rushed him first; several could even pass for green-skinned humans.

The goblin behind them was the most eye-catching. With a bit of make-up and long hair to cover the pointy ears, it would be easy to disguise him as an average human or humanoid spirit beast. It held a well-forged axe and donned fine steel armor. It ran toward Neave so fast that the wind it picked up left the hobgoblins pulling their makeshift capes back down from over their heads.

***

A relatively small crew of cultivators made their way through the endless forests of the wilderness surrounding Pavarrie. They were one of the many groups tasked with finding the demon child. Except, this group was tasked by none other than themselves.

A rather ambitious goal, judging by their advancement.

The group leader was a hunched man at the first step of the silver path. He was also the only silver path cultivator in the entire group, and the group was merely nine cultivators strong. They marched onwards, gazes stern and backs up straight. One of the members lingered at the back of the group. He was breathing hard, and his steps slowed ever so slightly. The leader of the group sighed and turned around.

“Oh, for fucks’ sake! Can you pick up the damn pace!? We have finally found a trail, so unless someone is ahead of us, we must be the closest to finding this child!”

The shivering cultivator looked at yet another bloody patch of soil next to a tree that had been snapped in half.

“I’m sorry, boss, but I’m pulling out of this job!”

“What!? You can’t be serious...”

The man turned around and ran away. The leader of the group scoffed and turned.

“I hope that traitor gets eaten by a wild monster.”

Another one of the cultivators looked hesitant again.

“You want to run away as well!?”

“No, no, heavens’ forbid. But... We are seeing far too many signs of a nearby goblin camp.”

The leader groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, I can tell. Don’t worry, though. The boy will also run into them if he keeps going this way. Judging by the signs of combat, he must be exhausted. That may even be our chance to get him.”

“What do you think happened to the corpses?”

“I don’t know, man. The kid probably put them into a dimension ring to hide his trail.”

The other man paused yet again. Glancing at yet another patch of blood.

“I don’t know, boss, if that child truly thinks this is hiding their trail...”

“From this moment onwards, if anyone wants to complain, leave by yourself, or I will kick you the hell out! Do you all understand?!”

The men nodded.

“Good. Let's keep moving then.”

***

Neave spotted the armored goblin running at him. Judging by its features, it must be either one powerful hobgoblin–

Or an archgoblin.

The gold path cultivators were frowning too. This wasn’t normal. Perhaps the nature of the book was even more sinister than they had initially assumed.

Their thoughts were interrupted when they felt a large crowd of thirty or so cultivators entering within the range of their spirit senses. This was usually the part where they confronted them and told them to either back off or be forced to.

Now, however... They ran to the group of cultivators.

***

Lank’s shoulders sagged, and he sighed as he felt the gold path spirits approaching.

He was no amateur or a fool. The job was over.

Three gold path cultivators ran up to them, and one bronze rank cultivator ran in their direction from behind them as fast as he could.

The blonde man stood in front and introduced himself.

“My name is Radeon, and I’d like to offer you all a deal. Are you the leader of this group?”

“Let me guess. It will involve you kindly telling us to fuck off and offering to pay some pittance for the ‘inconvenience’?”

“No. We would like to ask for your help.”

Lank frowned.

“Is this about the demon child?”

“Indeed, it appears that...”

“Then fuck no.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me, you asshole. We aren’t going to fucking do it. You’re asking us for help either because the child is more dangerous than you thought or because you need meat shields. Me and my men aren’t fuckin’ meat shields. There’s no need to pay us either. If the danger is that serious, we’ll gladly pick our shit up and leave.”

The brunette woman yelled out.

“No, wait! We aren’t asking either you or your men to become meat shields. You are right. This child is likely more dangerous than we’ve anticipated. Not by much, though! We would be the ones standing on the front line! We are fully confident in defeating the child. You are a professional, right? You must understand we are just doing risk management. We’d equip your men with the best gear we have on our hands. Full plate armor and crossbows! My dimension ring has enough quality silver rank gear to equip an entire battalion.”

Lank’s eyebrows shot up.

“Damn, woman, you must be bloody fucking rich.”

“We will even give every single one of you a high-value monster core!”

Lank responded with a hint of hostility in his tone.

“That won’t be necessary.” He continued, “If you’re that loaded, however, I’d be willing to cut you a deal for enough cash.”

“How much do you want?”

“Enough to get me and my boys to the Bonmiele Theocracy.”

The gold path cultivators looked at each other and turned back to Lank.

“Would you settle for being teleported to the border instead?” She said with a sly smile.

Lank grinned.

“I sure as hell fucking would. Pull the damn gear out. Boys! Put whatever this woman gives you on your sweaty asses, and let’s get going!”

All the cultivators behind him smiled.

“It’s time to finish the hunt.”