Goblin Slayer - Volume 2 - Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – The Monster That Must Not Be Named

“When I say predicament, I mean—that thing,” Dwarf Shaman said when the explorers reunited the next day. 

In the deepest reaches of the catacombs, they had found a room like a chapel. Benches of carved stone filled the small room, at the end of which was an altar. A full-length mirror was set in the wall, its surface strangely watery. It was huge, nearly the size of a large battle shield. Perhaps an object of worship. 

If so, then this room was a temple or at least some holy place. 

They had taken the hidden staircase, which went down and down until, at last, it began to climb again. And at its farthest extremity had been this hall. 

And the problem—the predicament—was resting there. 

“Wh-what…is that…?” Priestess asked in a small voice, peeking out from the shadows of the hallway. 

High Elf Archer, long ears drooping, shook her head. 

“We don’t know. But…I think it’s an eyeball.” 

At first glance, one might describe it as a flying eyeball. 

The massive eye was almost the height of a person. It floated just above the floor, waiting for the adventurers in the middle of the room. 

The monster’s geometrically shaped bloodshot pupil turned this way and that. From its eyelid—if you could call it that—grew wiggling feelers. On the end of each was an eye, a vast number of them. Each one seemed to be a miniature version of the main eye in a way that was hard to describe, and each bore a glinting twinkle. Its mouth was full of sharp teeth that suggested a large cat. It seemed most unlikely to be friendly. 

The creature must have noticed them watching it from the hall, but it showed no reaction. It seemed impossible that it hadn’t seen them. It simply hadn’t yet recognized them as a threat. 

It was a truly unhallowed, otherworldly thing, a blight on this sacred place. 

“From its appearance alone, I am willing to guess it’s an agent of chaos,” Lizard Priest said, his eyes narrowing in displeasure. “At the least, it was not created by any god of order.” 

“It might serve to our credit to get rid of it, but we’re not sure what it is,” Dwarf Shaman grumbled with a shrug. 

“It’s one of those monsters whose…whose name must not be spoken,” Priestess replied, quivering. 

On an adventure, few things are more dangerous than challenging a foe you know nothing about. If you can’t establish your front and rear lines, so much the worse. 

Three of the explorers had come face-to-face with this strange creature while investigating the ruins the day before. It was Lizard Priest, their best fighter, who had ordered them to avoid combat and determined to make a tactical withdrawal the previous day. 

Wasn’t this a bit beyond goblin slaying? And shouldn’t they ask their quest giver, Sword Maiden, for her instructions? 

“That doesn’t matter,” Goblin Slayer said unhesitatingly. “This is still goblin slaying.” 

After that, there was no arguing with him. The party had not wanted to come down here in the first place. 

But what were adventurers who didn’t occasionally leap into dangers unknown? Safely, of course. 

Now, seeing the creature in the chapel, Goblin Slayer said, “Giant Eye will do for a name.” 

“Never one to get too fancy, were you?” Dwarf Shaman said with a touch of sarcasm. 

“Referring to the Bug-Eyed Monster as a Giant Eye,” Lizard Priest said, his eyes rolling in amusement. 

“Not bad. I’ll go with that.” High Elf Archer nodded, her ears bobbing. She set an arrow in her bow and tugged the string gently. 

“And,” said Priestess, pulling her sounding staff close to her, “what do you plan to do about this…Giant Eye? I guess we should start with Protection?” 

No one objected to the idea. 

“Then, in accordance with our custom, allow me to go out front. The more tanks we have, the better.” 

“I’ll stand back here and shoot like I always do, okay?” 

“Now, what about yours truly…?” Dwarf Shaman stroked his beard and looked up at the ceiling. Some tree roots had spread through the old stone. The party was probably well outside the city now, no longer under the streets of the water town. The plant life that had been growing in the fields for who knew how many years had penetrated all the way down here. Before many more centuries had passed, these ruins would probably belong wholly to the trees. 

It was simply a reminder: None could best time. 

“No matter how you look at it, that is a Giant Eye.” 

“Trying to be funny, dwarf?” 

“Keep it to yourself, long-ears. I’m dead serious.” 

Dwarf Shaman grimly waved away the elf’s tease. 

Dragons breathed fire, harpies sang, and snakes had their poison… Giant Eyes were able to see. 

One would not survive underestimating all those wriggling tentacles, nor the sinister eye that lurked below them. 

“We take away its vision,” Goblin Slayer muttered. “I don’t care how. Can you do it?” 

“Sure as stone.” Nodding, Dwarf Shaman dug in his bag of catalysts, then began to run his hand over the ground beneath his feet. “Gnomes are well and good. But how about I whip up a Spirit Wall?” 

“All right.” 

Dwarf Shaman nodded firmly and gave his belly a smack. 

The conversation over, Goblin Slayer set to checking his own weapons and equipment. 

Everything looked like it would function as good as brand-new, but his well-used leather armor was broken in, and that pleased him. He fixed his small shield firmly to his left arm; the sword he had ground down was good for use in a confined space. Everything in his item bag was in order. Last was, as always, his grimy helmet. 

It was awfully poor stuff for an adventurer. Even a beginner would have better-looking equipment. 

But those who knew who this man was would never belittle him for it. Goblin Slayer had exactly what he needed. 

“You could try to look a little cooler,” High Elf Archer said with a chuckle. 

“Yeah…,” Priestess said, scrunching up her face in thought before giving a little clap. “I’ve got it! How about a feather in your helmet, Goblin Slayer, sir?” 

“Not interested.” 

He summarily dismissed the girls’ input, then rose to his feet. 

High Elf Archer looked with surprise at the lantern bobbing at his hip. 

“Hey, Orcbolg. No torch today?” 

“There’s something I want to try. Fire would only get in the way,” he said and carefully closed the window of the lantern. “Let’s go.” 

At his signal, the adventurers leaped into the room and took their usual battle formation. The dwarf and the priestess stood in back, focusing themselves so they could offer their spells and prayers. 

At first, the Giant Eye only goggled at the boorish intrusion. 

It was Priestess who first realized this was actually the creature’s way of attacking. 

“O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by the power of the land grant safety to we who are wea— Ahh!” 

“BEBBEBEBEBEHOOOO!!” 

Her eyes went wide as she was thrown into the air by an invisible shock wave. 

High Elf Archer gave a shout as Priestess thrashed, then crumpled and fell. 

“Are you all right?!” she called loudly, trying to run even as she maintained a line of sight to shoot. Priestess sat up, panting. 

“Ye…yes…” Pale and kneeling, she nodded. 

That brutal gaze had violently severed the thread of spirit that connected her to the gods above. It felt as if her soul itself had sustained the blow, and her spirit ached bitterly. 

But that was not what got her attention when she stood, still clinging to her staff. 

“I can’t… I can’t use spells…!” 

The cry ran through the party before anyone could cast anything. They had two priests and a shaman. More than half the party was spell casters. The ability to use magic was nothing less than a matter of life and death for them. 

“It’s that eye!” Dwarf Shaman exclaimed, grinding his teeth. “Beard-cutter, give ’im hell!” 

“Certainly.” 

As he spoke, Goblin Slayer pulled an egg out of his item bag and launched it at the creature. It flew straight into its target, shattering into a cloud of blackish-red smoke—tear gas. 

“OOOOODEEARARARA?!?!” 

The stinging stuff flew into all of its many eyes, drawing a bellow of dismay from the monster. Of course, the Giant Eye was on an altogether different level from any goblin, and this trick was not enough to do it any damage. 

However— 

“All riiight, here I come!” 

—it was more than enough to get them their turn to act. 

Dwarf Shaman tumbled in, grabbing a handful of dirt from his bag and flinging it into the air in one smooth motion. 

“Come out, you gnomes, it’s time to build! Let all this space with earth be filled! Fear no wind and fear no waves—a solid wall keeps them at bay!” 

He scattered the dust as he chanted. 

Then Dwarf Shaman dropped what looked like a child’s toy version of a stone wall on the floor. 

It grew as they watched, until a full-fledged earthen battlement stood before them. 

Spirit Wall was like Protection, but took physical rather than immaterial form. And unlike a Protection barrier, it was impossible to see through a Spirit Wall. 

“What do you think of that?” 

But he seemed to have gotten the attention of the Giant Eye, which had presently cleared away the tear gas. 

Its squirming tentacles turned toward the Spirit Wall and glinted maliciously. 

“BEEEHOOOOLLLL!!” 

In the next instant, a dazzling light filled the sacred space. 

“Hrrg—!” 

“This will not do!” 

“Hu—Wha—?!” 

Goblin Slayer and Lizard Priest shouted and jumped back. Dwarf Shaman grunted. 

A single red line ran down the face of the Spirit Wall, bubbling up even as they watched, melting through it… 

“It’s hot—!” 

“Ahh no!” 

Priestess cried out as the exploding wall caught her. Dwarf Shaman supported her as best he could as he helped them both to flee from the debris. No sooner had it burst through their barrier than the light vanished, leaving scorch marks on the floor of the chapel. 

Heat vision? No… 

It was an intense form of Disintegrate loosed by one of the Giant Eye’s tentacle eyeballs. 

“Those evil eyes are capable of Dispel and Disintegrate!” Even their great melee fighter, Lizard Priest, could only keep his distance. No matter how tough his scales, they couldn’t deflect Disintegrate. He wanted to summon a Dragontooth Warrior as a sort of wall of his own, but it was only too clear the Giant Eye would simply give it a glare and dispel it. 

But then, to lash out with his claws and fangs and tail, making a weapon of himself, put him at risk of the heat ray. 

“J-just what are we supposed to do about this thing?!” 

“For now, fall back!” 

While High Elf Archer tried to mount an attack, Goblin Slayer’s response was sharp and sure. He drew his sword in his right hand and held up his shield on his left, putting Dwarf Shaman and Priestess behind him. 

“Got it…!” 

The elf sought safety there as well, taking the last few steps at a leap. 

“BEBEBEBEBEEEEHOO!!” 

“Hwa?!” 

She hopped to avoid the impact at her feet. The heat ray singed off a few strands of her hair, and she cursed once or twice in elvish. She tumbled haphazardly but found herself near Goblin Slayer. 

“Are you all right?” 

“Huh?!” High Elf Archer jumped back, long ears trembling in surprise. “I’m fine… Thanks.” 

“I see.” 

“Now, this is trouble indeed…” Lizard Priest, who had crawled back so as to avoid the heat ray, gave a laborious sigh. 

“BEEHOHOHO…” 

The Giant Eye showed no further sign of attacking, apparently satisfied to have driven the adventurers out of the chapel. It floated back to where it had started, watching the entranceway again. 

“It looks like…as long as we don’t…go in the room…it won’t attack us,” Priestess said, breathing raggedly and slumping against the wall. “It must be…protecting this place.” 

“Doesn’t matter for now. Rest… Here, water.” 

“Oh, th-thank you…” 

High Elf Archer wetted her lips with one or two swigs from her canteen, then held it out to Priestess. The young woman took it with both hands, then drank delicately, swallowing almost inaudibly. 

“I think…if it couldn’t see me, I could perform the miracle…” 

“But get within spitting distance, and it’ll sure see you.” Dwarf Shaman didn’t try to hide his frustration as he sat down heavily. “We can’t use spells, and it’s got a heat ray and more extremities than all of us put together. We can’t win!” 

“No,” Goblin Slayer said, rifling through his item bag. “There’s something I want to try.” 

“I just want to remind you, fire, water, and poison gas are off-limits.” 

“I remember,” Goblin Slayer said calmly to High Elf Archer, who had narrowed her eyes at him. “I didn’t bring any implements of fire or water with me. And I doubt poison would work.” 

High Elf Archer gave a little sniff and muttered, “Fine,” giving her ears a deliberate shake. 

“Just to be sure, we are outside of town, right?” 

“I should think so,” Dwarf Shaman said, perking up his ears and cocking his head. “We walked quite a ways, and the feeling here is definitely different.” 

“No problem, then.” 

“Then it’s decided,” Lizard Priest said, clapping his hands. “As we’ve no other ingenious ideas and we must eliminate that accursed fiend, we shall rely on milord Goblin Slayer’s tactic.” 

“Thank you,” Goblin Slayer said with a nod. His helmet turned toward High Elf Archer. “I need that creature distracted, just for a second. I need someone to go inside and start running. Can you do it?” 

“Leave it to me!” High Elf Archer nodded enthusiastically, her ears twitching up and down. 

“Can you cast Stupor? I don’t want it to be able to use its heat ray.” 

“From here?” Dwarf Shaman stroked his beard, then held up his thumb and closed one eye. 

He stretched out his arm toward the Giant Eye in the chapel as if to take aim, judging the distance. 

“By the number of flagstones, I’d say… Right. I think it will work!” He gave an incongruous smile and slapped his belly as if to emphasize his boast. 

Good. Goblin Slayer nodded and turned next to Lizard Priest. 

“We need a Dragontooth Warrior. One is enough. Can you do it?” 

“I am somewhat worried about that Dispel…” 

“I’ll make sure it can’t see.” 

“Without that evil eye, I think it can be done. You can count on me.” He rolled his eyes in enjoyment. 

“Finally,” Goblin Slayer said, looking at Priestess, “when I give the signal, I want you to cast Protection on the entrance.” 

She swallowed heavily and faced him as squarely as she could. 

“Will you be able to do it?” 

“…Yes, sir! It’ll be fine!” She held her sounding staff firmly with both hands and gave a deep nod. “Let’s do it!” 

And so the battle began. 

“Well, if all I have to do is not get fried…” 

The Giant Eye rolled about to look at High Elf Archer as she came dashing into the room, as fleet-footed as a hare. She moved her svelte legs, running on top of the benches through the hall. 

The Giant Eye floated through the air, its gaze following her in the most literal sense. Its stalks full of eyeballs began to get that dangerous glint. 

“BEBEBEBEBEHOHOOOOOL!!” 

“Ohhh boy, here it comes, here it comes…” 

Shouting in a voice too high to be coquettish and too soft to be a scream, High Elf Archer leaped out of the way. Obviously, not even an elf is quicker than the speed of light. Dodging an eye as it tries to take aim, though? That’s a different story. 

The beam flashed soundlessly, burning High Elf Archer’s silhouette onto the ancient walls and floor. 

There’s some satisfaction in that, she thought, smiling as she danced nimbly away. 

Her elder sister or her cousin, both much more experienced than she, might have managed even more. It should have been easy enough to shoot at the Giant Eye while tumbling away from its Disintegrate. 

She still had much to learn. But she was not the first of her brethren to follow this path. 

She knew she had time to spare. Time was always on the side of an elf. At least, so long as she didn’t get herself killed. 

That meant the future was less important than focusing everything she had on the present moment. High Elf Archer vaulted boldly around the room without worry, without fear. 

Nothing could have been more infuriating to the Giant Eye. 

“OOOOOLLDER!!” 

The great main eye spun faster, trying to launch more attacks and more precisely. 

“Oh-ho! That’s my long-ears! She seems to be doing well for herself.” 

This meant the creature took its eyes—all of them—off Dwarf Shaman, who was laughing merrily near the entrance to the chapel. 

He reached into his bag and pulled out a red jug full of wine. An exquisite fragrance drifted out as he unstoppered it and tossed it back so quickly a few drops dribbled into his long beard. 

He sloshed it around in his mouth, then blew it gleefully into the air. 

“Drink deep, sing loud, let the spirits lead you! Sing loud, step quick, and when to sleep they see you, may a jar of fire wine be in your dreams to greet you!” 

And indeed, the spray of spirits rolled across the room and enveloped the Giant Eye. 

“BE…DERRRR…?” 

It began to wobble in the air, looking like it might just fall to the ground. 

No one knew what the agent of chaos dreamed when it finally fell asleep. 

“Ahh,” Dwarf Shaman said happily, “just look what a man can do when he’s not being stared down by a floating eyeball of death.” He wiped his mouth with his glove. 

“…Good.” At Dwarf Shaman’s nod, Goblin Slayer came bounding into the chapel. He moved with nothing like the lightness of High Elf Archer, but still showed impressive agility for someone in full armor. 

As he ran, he scattered something from a pouch he had taken out of his item bag. Before long, a dense trail of white dust was floating behind him. 

“What’s that, Orcbolg?” asked High Elf Archer. 

“Wheat flour. Don’t breathe it in.” 

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but you could’ve said that sooner.” 

She frowned and covered her mouth, but he ignored her as he tossed the wheat flour all around. 

It wasn’t long before the cramped chapel was filled with the stuff. 

Now the stupefied Giant Eye—along with everything else more than an inch in front of their faces—was hidden from view. 

“Ho, Beard-cutter, long-ears! The spell won’t last much longer!” 

Before Goblin Slayer could answer the dwarf, High Elf Archer was moving. 

“This way, Orcbolg!” 

The elf’s heightened senses let her get by without her sight. Goblin Slayer followed the clear voice out of the chapel. 

“Hrrah!” 

As Goblin Slayer came out, Lizard Priest stepped forward, tossing a huge number of fangs inside the entrance. The bones quickly swelled and joined, rising up in the form of a warrior bearing a sword and shield. The adventurers were quite used to these fearsome skeletons by now, and this one headed wordlessly into the hall. 

Watching it disappear into the quicklime smoke, Lizard Priest opened his mouth. 

“Milord Goblin Slayer, I trust my Dragontooth Warrior, but even it cannot win against Disintegrate.” 

“Not a problem,” Goblin Slayer said and turned to High Elf Archer and Priestess. “Fire an arrow. If you can hit the monster, that will be enough.” 

“That’ll break the effects of Stupor, though.” 

“Doesn’t matter. Then you immediately cast Protection on the entranceway.” He continued calmly: “Your role is crucial. If you falter, we all die.” 

“Y-yes, sir!” She nodded as confidently as she could, squeezing her staff with both hands. 

“You really couldn’t think of a better way to put that?” High Elf Archer grumbled, but she nocked an arrow into her bow. The spider-silk string whispered as she drew it tight, fixing the target of the tree-branch shaft. 

Elven archers aim not with the eyes, but with the mind. 

“…!” 

The arrow flew; they could not even hear it slice through the air, only see the weaving silhouette as it penetrated the cloud of dust. 

But she didn’t need to see anything to know what had happened. 

“I got it!” 

“O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, by the power of the land grant safety to we who are weak…!” 

This time the Earth Mother was able to grant the miracle her humble follower prayed for. 

An invisible wall sealed the entrance to the chapel. Dwarf Shaman blinked several times. 

“The powder—a sealed room—hold on, you can’t possibly—” 

Goblin Slayer shouted: 

“Plug your ears, open your mouths—and duck!” 

“BE…HOOLLLOOHOHOHO!!” 

The Giant Eye was roused from its stupor by a sudden piercing pain. 

It found its eye run through by a bud-tipped arrow. There was dust everywhere; it could barely see. 

But it could make out the humanoid silhouette coming toward it, weapon in hand. Would these intruders never learn? If the creature had anything we would recognize as feelings, it was probably quite annoyed at that moment. 

It swept around, opening its eye wide and taking aim with its tentacle eyes. Its terrible Disintegrate built up enough heat to do critical damage, and its light began to glow… 

“LDEEERRRRRRRR!!!” 

At first, Priestess didn’t know what had happened. 

She thought perhaps the place had been struck by lightning. 

It was an explosion. 

She had heard a series of popping sounds; then the room had been enveloped in a fireball. As it expanded, it decimated everything in the chapel, overwhelming all with its roar and the fury of its heat. 

“Hu—ah!” 

Priestess covered her face; even on the far side of the Protection barrier, it was hot enough to burn. 

At the edge of her constricted vision, she could see High Elf Archer curled into a ball and desperately covering her ears. Dust fell from overhead, and the ruins shook so violently she wondered if the entire structure might not come crashing down. 

Finally, the billowing smoke began to clear. 

“…Look,” Goblin Slayer said shortly. He had crouched down but seemed otherwise unfazed. 

High Elf Archer took an obedient peek into the chapel and saw that the Giant Eye was still there. 

Up above. 

It must have been thrown upward and slammed into the ceiling by the explosion. The blackened monster’s tentacles squirmed pathetically. One after another, they fell irresistibly away, as if they were being pulled off… 

Splork. 

They made a disgusting, meaty sound as they struck the floor in the middle of the room. The creature was just a crisped hunk of flesh now. It thrashed several times, spewing some kind of liquid, then finally stopped moving. 

Thus, the Watcher, the monster of chaos summoned from another realm, met its end. 

“…Seems to have done the trick,” Dwarf Shaman said flatly. He started to rise sluggishly. 

Lizard Priest offered a hand, flicking his tongue. “Wheat flour, milord Goblin Slayer? What exactly did you do?” 

“Something I heard from a coal miner.” Goblin Slayer entered the chapel with his usual bold, nonchalant stride. “He said that if a spark is lit in a room full of powder, it spreads quickly and then explodes.” 

He drew his sword and drove it into the creature on the ground, making sure there was no reaction. “But it was more trouble to prepare than I expected. And there’s too much risk of the fire spreading uncontrollably. Altogether too dangerous.” Goblin Slayer shook his head and muttered, “It won’t be any use against goblins.” 

“And it was an explosion!” High Elf Archer put her ears back and laid into Goblin Slayer. 

As well she should. Hadn’t he promised? But he was unmoved by her accusation. 

“It wasn’t an attack by fire, or water, or poison gas.” 

“You’re missing the point! You—ahhh, never mind.” 

Sighing, High Elf Archer entered the worship hall in wonder. 

I know his heart’s in the right place, but he’s not very good at keeping to the spirit of his promises. 

Luckily for them, with the Giant Eye dispatched, there seemed to be no further signs of life in the room. That agent of chaos seemed to have been the boss of this dungeon. 

Maybe that alligator, swimming around like it owned the place, had been the ruins’ previous master. Whatever the case, there had been a change of ownership. 

“Umm… What did you plan to do if it didn’t explode?” Priestess asked, keeping pace with Goblin Slayer with pattering steps. 

“As one of you said, this thing seemed interested only in defending this spot,” he answered, nudging the creature with his toe. “We would have shot arrows at it from the hall, then run before it could collect itself. We would have done that until it died.” 

Goblin Slayer nodded as if this were the most natural thing in the world. 

“It takes time, but it’s reliable.” 

“Yuck. Wouldn’t that make me the one who had to do all the work? Give me a break!” High Elf Archer had completed her inspection of the area, satisfied that they were safe. 

Nearby, Dwarf Shaman stroked his beard, trying not to laugh at her resigned tone. 

“It would be a problem for you, wouldn’t it? With all that exercise, you’d never plumpen up, and you’ll be an anvil forever!” 

“Look who’s talking. As if you couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds.” 

“Don’t be silly. Dwarves are the very picture of an excellent physique!” 

Lizard Priest shrugged happily and rolled his eyes in his head; Priestess put a hand to her mouth and giggled. 

Even High Elf Archer found herself drawn to chuckle, and Dwarf Shaman’s booming laugh followed her. 

Goblin Slayer didn’t laugh, but… 

“… 

“Phew…” With a breath, he sheathed the sword he had been holding in his right hand until that moment. 

The tense atmosphere that had dominated their explorations melted away, giving way to a surprising feeling of comfort. 

They had won. 

“Now, then… This is most intriguing.” 

The last laugh had echoed away in the dim chapel. 

Lizard Priest pointed quietly to the thing that still hung above the altar: a gigantic full-length mirror. The surface of it trembled like water, weird ripples spreading across it. 

The mirror and the beguiling, intricate metalwork surrounding it had not been so much as scuffed by the explosion. It couldn’t be more obvious that this was not a normal looking glass. 

“Could it be…an object of worship?” Priestess leaned forward slightly, approaching the altar. 

“You might best refrain from touching it carelessly.” 

“Yes, but… We can’t not investigate it, can we?” 

“We are short a scout or a thief in this party,” Dwarf Shaman said. 

Priestess reached out with one pale finger and gently touched the surface of the mirror. 

Ploop. Her finger sank into it. 

“…?!” 

She instinctively pulled her hand back, and the surface of the mirror rippled like a pond. Tiny waves ran out from where she had touched it, rolling across the entire surface. 

“Oh! Uh, this…” 

“Get in formation,” Goblin Slayer ordered, replacing Priestess near the mirror as she hurriedly drew back. 

Each of the party members drew their weapons and readied for battle as the mirror kept shifting. The rippling surface twisted and turned crazily and, after a time, began to shine with a strange light. 

They saw a wilderness, they knew not where; it was covered in peculiar green sand. A sun glinted in the disturbingly dead twilight sky. 

But what drew their attention most of all was a massive, bizarre mechanical device. Small human silhouettes struggled to push it along; as it moved, it wobbled slowly, like a round mortar in a track. 

No—they weren’t humans. Goblin Slayer knew what they were. 

“…Goblins.” 

It was a gang of cruel-faced imps. Another goblin with a whip in his hand and his mouth open wide—shouting in rage, no doubt—tried to hurry their labor. What were they doing and to what purpose? It was fearful even to imagine. 

For the machine and its huge gears were unmistakably made of human bones. 

“What in the world…?” 

“The home of the goblins, I suppose.” 

Beside a shuddering Priestess, Lizard Priest nodded slowly. He came forward at a leisurely pace and touched the mirror again with the claw of one scaled hand… 

Suddenly, the image in the mirror twisted. 

It folded in on itself, ran to one side, spun, and began to dissipate as though it had been caught up in a sandstorm. 

“Oh…!” 

High Elf Archer exclaimed at the scene barely visible in the swirling picture. Her long ears flicked, and she pointed with her gorgeous hand and cried, “Look at that!” Everyone looked. “Just now I saw—I saw the ruins in that jungle! Where we were the other day!” 

“In the jungle?” Goblin Slayer muttered. “The one with the unusually well-equipped goblins?” 

“Is that all you remember about it? But yes. That’s the one.” High Elf Archer nodded at Goblin Slayer, her ears fluttering with excitement. “What do you think the chances are that the ones there were sent from here?” 

“You think this is an ancient relic that can produce a Gate?” Dwarf Shaman whispered, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. 

He had good reason not to. Gate, a spell that could link two places, had been lost long ago. 

Scrolls like the one Goblin Slayer had used were about the only places one encountered the spell anymore. And even those were expensive items that had to be fished out of old ruins first. 

The idea of a magical item that could invoke that elusive spell at any time was boggling. The adventurers, of course, didn’t know exactly how to use it, but if they could figure it out… 

Just imagine the price it would bring. More than they could count. 

“So somebody was summoning goblins with this thing—” 

High Elf Archer backed slowly away from the mirror as if it might attack her. 

“—gave them weapons and made them live down here—” 

Dwarf Shaman picked up the thought, closing one eye and grimacing at the looking glass. 

“—and then that foul beast was guarding it.” 

Lizard Priest finished with a slap of his tail. 

“What do we do, Goblin Slayer, sir…?” 

Priestess looked at him in distress. 

Goblin Slayer didn’t answer. 

“No…” He slowly shook his head side to side, then walked off with a bold, decisive stride. 

He rolled the corpse of the Giant Eye over with his foot, pulling out a sodden cloth that could just be seen beneath it. 

It had probably been carried there by the blast. It was singed, covered in soot, and filthy, but when he uncrumpled it, a hideous war banner was revealed. It bore a crude drawing in the blackish-red pigment of dried blood. 

A single eye. 

The picture was childish, but what it signified was frighteningly clear. 

The crest meant that they would have retribution for the stolen eye. It was the goblins’ symbol, proof that the adventurers had found their citadel. 

“I knew it was goblins,” Goblin Slayer muttered. 

As if in response, howling voices came from the depths of the earth. 

Voices of immense hatred. Voices of jealousy and lust. Voices that sought to steal, to rape, to kill. Cruel shouts rife with greed. 

From the farthest reaches of that dirty hole, the noises came up out of a darkness that seemed the province of nightmares. 

“…Ee…” 

Priestess squeezed her staff with both hands and trembled. She knew those sounds, knew them in a way that sickened her. Those voices—those goblins—! 

“Ah-ha… Our blast will have echoed down to them.” Lizard Priest sucked in a sharp breath, craning his neck. 

The voices seemed to come from everywhere at once, from each of a number of corridors that led out of the chapel. Footsteps and echoes from the clanking of weapons and equipment played over one another, coming closer. 

They didn’t have much time. 

“If this is where the little devils are coming from, then we cannot ignore it.” 

“So, you’re sayin’…” 

Dwarf Shaman pulled out his bottle of fire wine and took a great swig. 

His face stiffened and turned slightly red, then burst into a strange smile as if to ward off his dismay. 

“…they’re comin’ to take this place back?” 

“Hey… Oh, man… Can’t we catch a break?” High Elf Archer sat down weakly. Her ears drooped pitifully, all her energy of moments ago gone. Her delicate face fell, and it looked as if she might cry. 

Priestess came up next to her, wearing much the same expression. With fearful, trembling, stiff hands, she gripped her sounding staff so tightly her skin began to turn white, and her eyes were quavering. 

But she looked at Goblin Slayer, though not beseechingly nor in desperation. She only gazed directly at him. 

“Goblin Slayer, sir.” 

Her slight whisper caused all of them to focus on him. Just as they had with the ogre, just as they had with the goblin lord, so they did now. In their most dire moments, this was the man who would manage something. It might have looked like they were giving up, but they weren’t—not quite. 

For if they did, who would turn to Goblin Slayer as a leader? 

In the broadest terms, it was a sort of trust. 

“……” 

Goblin Slayer silently scanned the entire room. 

The crumbling chapel. The mirror containing the awesome power of Gate. The goblins closing in from every direction. The four exhausted adventurers. 

They had been backed completely into a corner—or had they? 

“What have I got in my pocket…?” 

He wasn’t looking for an answer, only talking to himself. It was a riddle he had never understood. Even now, he wasn’t sure he grasped it. 

There was nothing there—except his hand. 

A hand that might hold nothing. Or everything. 

Didn’t it always? 

And if it did, then… 

“…” 

He looked at High Elf Archer, who made no move to flee despite her evident fear. 

At Dwarf Shaman, fortifying his courage with wine. 

At Lizard Priest, who was spoiling for the coming battle. 

And Priestess, who was looking squarely at him. 

Then he nodded, and said quietly: 

“Don’t worry.” 

It was impossible to make out his expression behind that steel helm. 

But to Priestess—no, to all of these, his only companions in the world— 

“It won’t be a problem.” 

—it seemed that, ever so softly, he was laughing.