Building a Harem in a Noble House

Chapter 111: The Brands On Their Guts!

Sweat trickled down my back under the heavy plate mail, the kind that chafes if you don’t keep moving... So that’s what we did. We continued out of the battle arena and continued deeper into the cave. The air in this dungeon reeked of damp stone and something sharper, like burnt meat mixed with rot. Signs that the goblins lived here. The echoes of our fight had stirred up trouble, and now we could hear the chittering voices bouncing off the walls, getting louder by the second.

The horde came rushing out of the shadows like a green tide. At least two dozen goblins, maybe more, their beady eyes glowing with that feral hate. They were scrawny things, but there were so many, armed with jagged knives, clubs, and a couple of rusty spears. One squealed something in their guttural tongue and pointed right at us, and they all charged.

"Here we go,"I muttered, planting my feet.

The first one leaped at me, swinging a club wild. I sidestepped and brought my claymore down in a heavy arc, cleaving through its shoulder. It dropped with a gurgle, and I yanked the blade free, already scanning for the next. Meredith was a machine beside me, her swing taking out two at once, the blade whistling through the air. She didn’t flinch as blood sprayed across her visor.

They swarmed us, trying to get under our guards. One grabbed at my leg, its nails scraping against the greaves. I stomped down hard, feeling the crunch under my boot, then hacked at another that was climbing Meredith’s back. She shrugged it off like it was nothing and impaled it on her point.

As the fight dragged on, I started noticing strange markings on their bodies. Every time I got a clean hit and their rags tore open, there was a symbol burned on their chest like a brand: it was an eye, burnt right into their stomachs, the skin around it puckered and red. The Goblin Raider had also been branded, something I’d noticed when we’d stripped its gear for anything useful. What the hell was that about? As much as I would’ve liked to ponder it, I was too busy trying to protect myself against a spear thrust from a nearby goblin.

I parried the thrust and countered, my claymore slicing through its arm. It howled and fell back, but three more took its place. The cavern narrowed here, which was good for us–fewer angles for them to flank. But they were relentless, throwing themselves at us like they didn’t care about dying.

Meredith channeled something then; I felt the air hum around her. She raised her free hand, and a burst of radiant energy shot out, like sunlight exploding in the dark. It hit a cluster of five goblins square on, searing their flesh and sending them crumpling in smoking heaps. They screamed, the smell of charred meat joining the mix.

"Nice one," I grunted, using the opening to press forward. My arms were burning from the swings, but I couldn’t let up. I swung low, taking out knees, then high to finish them. One got lucky, its knife glancing off my shoulder plate, but it barely dented the armor. I repaid it by driving my pommel into its face, then finishing with the blade. The floor was slick with their blood now, making every step a gamble.

Meredith was holding her own, her claymore a blur. She bellowed some prayer under her breath–I caught words like "devotion’ and ’war’–and her next strike glowed with that same holy fire, cleaving through three in a row. The goblins faltered for a second, fear in their eyes, but then they rallied, more pouring from a side tunnel. I lost count after twenty; it was just a blur of green skin and flashing steel.

I took a shallow cut on my thigh. Nothing vital, but it stung like hell. The goblin that did it laughed, showing jagged teeth, until I silenced it with a thrust through the chest. Pulling the blade out, I saw the eye symbol again, staring up at me like an accusation. All of them. Every single one. This wasn’t random; these bastards were marked, organized. My mind raced. Was this a cult? Was that Raider telling the truth about that sorceress deeper in the cave? No time to consider it; another wave hit.

We backed up against the wall, shoulder to shoulder. I swung in wide arcs, keeping them at bay, while she picked them off with precise stabs. One tried to jump her from her side flank; I caught it mid-air, my claymore biting deep. It slid off the blade, symbol exposed once more.

"Are you noticing the same thing I am?" I yelled over the sounds of clattering metal.

"What?" She shouted, decapitated another with little effort.

"The brands! On their guts!"

She glanced down at the one she’d just dropped. Lo and behold, the eye was there, starting up at her with permanent rage attached into its gaze.

"I’ve seen a few. I assumed it was some sort of cultural marking."

The horde thinned as we wore them down. Bodies piled up, tripping the ones behind. I was soaked in sweat and blood, my muscles screaming, but we were winning. Meredith unleashed another spell, a wave of force that knocked half a dozen flat, then she waded in, hacking them apart. I covered her flank, my claymore rising and falling like a metronome.

Finally, the last one squealed and tried to run. I swept behind its knees before it could so much as cross the carb. Meredith finished it with a stomp.

Silence fell, broken only by our heavy breathing and the drip of water somewhere.

I leaned on my sword, chest heaving. "That... was a lot."

The cavern looked like a slaughterhouse, goblin corpses everywhere, all with that eye burnt into their bellies. I wiped my face on my gauntlet, smearing gore.

Meredith sheathed her claymore with a clank, rolling her shoulders. "You’re bleeding," she said, nodding at my thigh.