Adrian and Archer stood side by side at the base of the hill, the morning light still pale and cold. Archer's wounds had closed, his breathing steady again, but the exhaustion lingered in his posture.

  Adrian turned to him.

  "Hold still."

  Before Archer could respond, Adrian pced an open hand on his chest. A faint white glow pulsed from Adrian's palm — not a spell, but something more instinctive. The light flowed into Archer's body, knitting torn muscle, soothing bruises, and restoring vitality in seconds.

  Archer staggered back a step, eyes wide. He flexed his fingers, rolled his shoulders, then looked at Adrian in disbelief.

  "I… I could have healed myself this entire time?"

  Adrian brushed the comment aside with a small shrug.

  "Wasted mana. Don't worry about it."

  He flexed his wrapped hands once, the white fabric shifting slightly under the daylight. Archer's gaze dropped to them.

  "Those handwraps… they look like bandages. Are you hiding wounds? And I didn't think you could use magic."

  Adrian gnced down at the white strips wound tightly around his forearms and hands.

  "They're not bandages."

  He lifted one arm, letting the fabric catch the light.

  "They're a device I made. Pure mana condensed and threaded into fabric. They suppress my mana output because of my cracked core… while simultaneously siphoning it out. That lets me cast what little I can without killing myself."

  Archer stared.

  "What are they made of?"

  Adrian met his eyes calmly.

  "Pure mana. Condensed and spun into thread. They can't be cut, burned, or damaged by any spell."

  Archer blinked, then let out a low whistle.

  "You're full of surprises."

  Adrian didn't smile. He just turned toward the distant tree line.

  "Come on. The cave's not far."

  They walked in silence for a while, boots crunching on dry grass and stone. Archer kept gncing at Adrian's handwraps, then at his face, as though trying to piece together the puzzle in front of him.

  Eventually they reached the cave entrance — a jagged bck maw in the hillside, cool air drifting out like breath.

  Adrian stopped at the threshold.

  Archer drew his sword halfway, then paused.

  "You sure about this?"

  Adrian looked into the darkness.

  "Goblins die today."

  He stepped forward. Archer followed.

  Even though they walked into the dark cave, both of them could still see clearly. What met their eyes was an entire horde of goblins — dozens, perhaps over a hundred — scattered across the cavern floor. In the background, chained and broken, were the women from the vilges. Some had been raped. Some were already dead. The air stank of blood, fear, and rot.

  Neither Adrian nor Archer showed shock. Neither of them got angry. They simply readied their fighting stances.

  Adrian bent down and picked up a small rock — barely rger than his fist. He crushed it between both hands. The stone didn't just break; it glowed white-hot for a split second as mana surged through his wrapped palms. When he opened his hands again, the fragments were infused, sharp, and humming with energy.

  He flicked one pebble forward. It pierced straight through the nearest goblin's skull like a bullet, punching out the back of its head in a spray of green-bck blood. The creature dropped without a sound.

  Archer drew his bde in one smooth motion. He didn't even need to be close. He sliced the air once — a clean horizontal arc — and twenty feet ahead, a dozen goblins were carved apart at the waist. Limbs and torsos slid apart in wet, synchronized thuds. No scream. No warning. Just death arriving from a distance.

  Adrian watched the carnage for a second, then muttered under his breath, almost to himself.

  "How could one goblin cause so much trouble… for a man who can do that?"

  Archer didn't answer. He was already moving forward.

  The horde finally noticed them. Goblins unched themselves at Archer with the safest motion, as though flowing water. Archer's bde met their necks in a single, fluid sweep — heads rolling before bodies even hit the ground.

  While that happened, a goblin lunged at Adrian, extending a rusty sword in a thrust that looked almost practiced. Adrian wondered where it learned that move from. But within that instant, he used his knee to hit the back of its elbow and broke it. The goblin's arm snapped backward with a wet crack. Adrian took the sword from its grasp and removed its head in one clean motion.

  Adrian started moving forward. Goblins swarmed in front of him. He walked right past all of them — calm, unhurried — until he was face-to-face with just one goblin. As he stared that goblin down, the others around it disintegrated. Blood misted the air, organs and limbs dissolving into red vapor. Time seemed to slow as the horde thinned.

  They kept fighting. Adrian's infused rocks punched through skulls like bullets. Archer's sword sliced the air in arcs that killed dozens at once. Eventually, the numbers dwindled. One hundred and thirty-two goblins y dead — pieces scattered across the cave floor.

  The first chamber was cleared. But the problem was clear: this was just the front entrance. Deeper in the cave, faint echoes of movement and snarls drifted out from the darkness. Adrian wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. Archer sheathed his sword for a moment, breathing steady. They looked at each other. The hunt wasn't over.

  Adrian stepped forward and began freeing the surviving women from their chains. His movements were efficient, almost mechanical — no words of comfort, no promises of safety. He simply cut the ropes and moved on to the next.

  Archer watched him for a moment, then spoke quietly.

  "It's pointless."

  Adrian paused, gncing back. Archer's eyes were on the women whose stomachs bulged unnaturally, skin stretched thin and veined, faint movement visible beneath.

  "Even if you free them, they're going to die."

  One of the women — her belly grotesquely swollen — let out a bitter ugh.

  "You see that?" Archer said, nodding toward her. "What's inside isn't a child. It's more goblins."

  He walked over to the nearest one, pulled his sword, and pnted it tip-first into the stone floor with a clear ring.

  "I'm going to expin what's going to happen," he said, voice steady and low. "Since the goblins raped and killed most of you, you already know what comes next. But for those who haven't seen it… The goblin inside grows. It rips your skin open while you're still alive. You feel every tear. You feel it eating you from the inside. If that wasn't enough, you'd still be conscious when it finally devours you whole."

  He paused, letting the words sink in.

  "I'm going to give you an option. Choose one. Either die the goblin way — slow, screaming, torn apart from within… or I give you mercy. One clean decapitation. Instant. Painless."

  The women stared at him in silence. Some cried. Some looked away. Some nodded slowly.

  One woman — the one with the most swollen stomach — met Archer's gaze directly.

  "Don't you want to know who you're killing?" she asked, voice trembling but clear. "My name is Eleanor."

  Archer lowered his head for a second, then looked up.

  "Nice to meet you, Eleanor. I'm sorry it had to be under these circumstances."

  He drew his sword in one smooth motion. The bde fshed once. Eleanor's head fell cleanly. Her body slumped forward without a sound. Archer moved to the next woman, then the next. One by one, he carried out the mercy killings — each cut precise, each death instant. No hesitation. No tears. Just quiet, mechanical efficiency.

  When the st woman was gone, Archer sheathed his bde and turned to walk past Adrian. Adrian stepped in front of him, blocking the path. Archer stopped. He turned his head slowly and looked at Adrian with the coldest expression he had ever shown.

  "I've done this many times," he said, voice ft. "This is not my first. I cannot mention how many people I've killed in situations like this. I don't care if it's right or not. I cannot have more goblins being born. So don't try to lecture me. We passed that point now."

  Adrian stared back — calm, unblinking. The silence stretched. Then Adrian stepped aside. Archer walked past him without another word.

  The cave was quiet except for the drip of blood and the faint echo of distant snarls from deeper tunnels. The first chamber was cleared. The women were free — in the only way left. But the cave went deeper. The hunt wasn't over.

  As they pushed deeper into the cave, Adrian gnced sideways at Archer.

  "I wasn't going to lecture you," he said quietly. "I just wanted to see your mental state. I can't have you getting emotional on me."

  Archer didn't respond, but his jaw tightened slightly.

  They rounded a bend and entered the next chamber. Another horde — at least twice the number of the first one. Goblins everywhere, snarling, armed with crude weapons, eyes glowing in the dark. They didn't do anything fancy.

  Adrian stopped infusing mana into rocks. Archer stopped casting sword-projectile spells. Adrian went pure physical combat — raw, efficient, brutal. Archer enhanced his body with mana — speed, strength, precision.

  They unched forward in the same instant. The fight was already over before it began. Adrian moved like water through the horde — slipping past grabs, snapping necks with open palms, driving elbows through throats, crushing windpipes with single strikes. No wasted motion. No hesitation. Just relentless forward progress.

  Archer flowed beside him — bde a blur, cutting through limbs and torsos in clean, economical arcs. Mana-enhanced steps carried him across the chamber in blinks, every swing precise, every kill instant.

  The goblins didn't stand a chance. Within minutes the chamber was silent again — bodies piled, blood pooling on stone.

  They cleared the second chamber the same way. Then the third. And that's when they were met with the most horrendous sight yet.

  The goblins were literally raping the women right in front of them.

  Before Adrian could even move, Archer acted. In an instant, he raised his sword, mana surging along the bde. He recited the incantation under his breath — voice low, cold, final.

  "In all that is in front of me, my bde will meet the neck. Distance does not matter. Angle does not matter. By the words of the Air Sovereign…"

  The air itself seemed to scream. Every goblin in the chamber — dozens of them — was sliced apart in a single, invisible wave. Heads tumbled. Torsos separated. Limbs fell in wet clumps.

  The women — freed from their attackers — colpsed to the ground, sobbing, shaking. Archer lowered his sword slowly. Adrian watched him for a long second, expression unreadable. They didn't speak. There was nothing to say.

  As they moved deeper into the cave, the tunnel opened into another rge chamber. Archer walked ahead, cutting the chains of the surviving women with careful, practiced swings. Most were too weak to stand, but they clung to life with desperate hope.

  One woman — stomach grotesquely swollen, skin stretched to tearing — was already in the final stage of birth. Neither Adrian nor Archer noticed at first. Then it happened. A small goblin tore through her abdomen from the inside, ripping flesh with tiny cws. The woman screamed once — a raw, wet sound — before the creature began eating her alive, burrowing deeper.

  Adrian and Archer reacted instantly. Adrian lunged forward, crushing the newborn goblin's skull with a single bare-handed strike. Archer's bde fshed — severing the creature in half before it could fully emerge. But the damage was done. The woman convulsed once, then went still.

  The other freed women — those still able to move — stared in horror for only a heartbeat. Then something snapped. They rushed at the scattered rusty weapons the dead goblins had dropped. Knives. Broken spears. Shards of metal. Without a word, without hesitation, they turned the bdes on themselves. One slit her throat. Another drove a spear through her chest. Another bashed her own head against the cave wall until she stopped moving.

  Within seconds, the chamber was silent again except for the drip of blood and the faint crackle of dying torches. Adrian stood motionless, watching the scene unfold. Archer lowered his sword slowly, expression unreadable. Neither spoke. The women had chosen death on their own terms — not the goblin way.

  The cave stretched deeper still. More snarls echoed from the shadows ahead. The hunt continued.

  Adrian stood motionless, watching the scene unfold. Archer lowered his sword slowly, expression unreadable. Neither spoke. The women had chosen death on their own terms — not the goblin way.

  They pushed deeper.

  The next chamber was different. No horde greeted them. Instead, a single figure sat on a crude throne made of stacked rocks.

  A goblin — but not like the others. Humanoid. Taller. Broader. Skin darker green, almost bck. Eyes burning with intelligence and boredom. He rested his right fist against his cheek, elbow on the arm of the throne, watching them enter without even tilting his head.

  When Adrian and Archer stepped fully into the chamber, he spoke — voice low, gravelly, almost amused.

  "So… you're the ones who've been killing my children."

  In an instant he released a wave of bloodlust and malice so thick it made both men visibly sick — stomachs churning, vision blurring, knees buckling for a heartbeat.

  Archer gritted his teeth.

  "Let's run."

  Adrian's voice was steady, even as he fought the nausea.

  "If we turn our backs, we're dead men."

  In the same instant the Goblin King vanished.

  He reappeared already mid-swing, a massive double-edged longsword in his grip.

  Adrian raised the rusty sword he'd taken earlier to block.

  The impact shattered everything.

  The rusty sword broke in half. Adrian's arms snapped at the forearms. The force sent him flying backward until he smmed back-first into the cavern wall.

  Bones cracked. Blood sprayed from his mouth, eyes, and ears. His hands twisted at unnatural angles.

  The Goblin King turned slowly toward Archer.

  Archer's face was pale, fear clear in his eyes for the first time.

  "Now," the Goblin King said, voice dripping with boredom and malice, "you face the Goblin King