Chapter 10: Goblin Slayer

Seeing that she and the two adventurers still faced six more goblins, Lexi decided to try out one of her spells to help even the odds. Holding her blood drenched sword up high above her head, she shouted out the command word.

Holy Illumination!

This being the first spell she had cast in her new role as a futanari paladin, Lexi was immediately shocked at the swirling rush of warmth that welled up in her stomach and coursed outward through her hands, channeling itself into her sword and bursting forth in a blazing rain of fiery white light. Although only the goblins nearest to Lexi and the fighter were within the affected area, all three visibly cringed — dropping their weapons and shielding their eyes from the blinding brilliance.

Still covering their eyes with their free hands, two of the fell creatures that surrounded the warrior turned to face the paladin, whose hateful blade yet burned their sensitive eyes and skin. However, as their reactions were significantly hampered by the spell’s effect, Lexi had already exploded into motion by the time these goblins had set their sights on her. Spinning on her heel, the paladin execute a heel hook, knocking the nearest of the two goblins flat on its back.

Completing the spin, she swept the blade of her huge broadsword in a low horizontal arc, catching the second goblin straight through both knees. The pitiful creature fell howling to the ground, staring pitifully at its lower legs which still stood up straight in front of it, while its lifeblood gushed from the gaping wounds in which each knee now terminated. Fading fast, the goblin channeled all of its strength into one final act of malice, drawing a small dagger, and hurling it at Lexi, into whose previously uninjured thigh the black blade lodged itself all the way to the hilt.Your Attack Hit!

-12 HP (0/10)

“Gahhh!” Lexi screamed in pain. “You little piece of shit!”You’ve Been Hit!

-4 HP (14/20)

The goblin’s death came as little consolation. Remembering enough of the first aid class she had taken in high school to know that yanking the blade out of her thigh was probably not the best course of action, Lexi trudged forward towards the goblin she had knocked down, each step firing bolts of the most exquisite agony through her leg. The realization the she had now lost more than a quarter of her hit points had set in, as the initial wave of adrenaline wore off.

First quest or not, this was not going to be a walk in the park. With her analytic faculties now consumed by the knowledge that she could very well die in this clearing if she did not act with more caution, Lexi quickly scanned the surviving five goblins to ensure that she was not about to come under attack from some unexpected quarter.

Two were still harrying the fighter, and two were striking the mage’s etheric shield with all their might. The fifth goblin attempted to regain its footing as Lexi stalked in, but slipped in the growing pool of its former comrade’s blood, falling face first into the bloody stumps held aloft by their prior owner’s boots.

Showing no mercy or hesitation, Lexi reversed her grip on the sword, plunging the blade straight down through the back of the creature’s skull. The tip pierced through the goblin’s head with a loud crack, splitting it open like a melon, leaking blood and brains into a gory pool beneath.Your Attack Hit!

-13 HP (0/10)

Seeing the light of victory beginning to shine through the clouds of despair which had engulfed him prior to the mysterious paladin’s arrival, the fighter felt a surge of strength rise in his breast. With a tremendous heave, he smashed his shield into one of the two goblins he faced, sending it flying backwards, and pressed the other with furious slashes of his broadsword. Fear rose in the cruel creature as it backpedaled away from the fighter in shock.

“Hail and well met fair knight,” the man called to Lexi. “Before you arrived, I feared that Gretel and I would have been slain by this foul lot. But now, we ha—”

Whatever thought he was about to utter died on his lips, the sentence turning into a pained scream. In the midst of giving thanks to Lexi, the goblin he had shield-smashed had taken the fighter from behind. The tip of its black bladed scimitar found a gap in the mismatched rusty plate mail, tearing through his lower back. As the man fell to his knees, the second goblin leapt in to help its comrade finish the job, opening the human fighter’s throat with a single slash of its curved sword. The man, whose name Lexi had never learned, fell to his side, hands clutching at his throat, trying to stem the torrent of blood pouring out of his severed jugular veins — dying with a gurgled curse on his lips.

Things were going from bad to worse everywhere Lexi looked.

Two of the adventurers now lay dead, and Lexi herself was partially hobbled by a dagger still stuck painfully through her thigh — an injury which had stuck a serious blow to her dwindling supply of hit points. A glance spared at the female mage before engaging with the pair of goblins who had just slain the fighter showed her situation to be dire as well.

Her shield spell’s duration must have expired, because the goblins which it had previously held at bay now grappled with the disarmed mage, attempting to pull her to the ground. Remembering with a shock what kind of game world this was, the gleam in the two goblins’ eyes sent a sick realization churning through Lexi’s stomach. In that moment she knew what the creatures intended for the voluptuous girl — and what they would likely do to her as well, if she failed in this quest.

The threat of violent rape followed almost undoubtedly by a gruesome murder was enough to jumpstart Lexi’s adrenal glands once again, her system flooded by a fresh wave of violent energy. A cold hatred for these creatures filled her heart as she eyed the two goblins approaching her from the fighter’s remains, their black blades still dripping with the slain man’s blood, staining the grass red with each drop.

Not wishing to fall prey to a sneak attack as he had, Lexi attempted to spring forward and strike the nearer of the two creatures. However, the dagger embedded in her leg had sapped more strength than she realized, causing the paladin to stumble, landing hard one one knee. The goblins took immediate advantage of the misstep, simultaneously leaping forward to slash at Lexi.

A one-handed parry with her broadsword intercepted one blow, and she attempted to parry the other with the armor covering her forearm. The parry mostly succeeded, but the goblin was able to twist the blade as he withdrew it, slicing into the flesh of Lexi’s upper-arm, drawing another line of blood on her white skin.You’ve Been Hit!