FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 20

Rain's eyes crept open as growth stretched his limbs. He groaned and his back arched, his feet slipping across the floor as he pushed himself up.

As the surge of growth left he slumped back down breathing deep.

Opal looked down at him from where she was crouched over his head, worry creasing her brow.

"Hey." said Rain.

Opal pouted. "I thought you were gonna die."

Rain paused. "So did I. What happened exactly?"

"You got smashed up by the Orc leveler real bad. I stepped in and saved your life."

"Oh, I remember that bit."

"And then you seemed to black out and go into an eating frenzy. You ate that Orc bitch alive."

"Ah." He waved his paws in front of his face, both attached to quite healthy and undamaged arms. "I'm uninjured."

"Well you did eat a pretty big leveler, and then later, while you were still unconscious, I fed you five squished Kobolds and a few Goblins, and then all the camps food supplies, and then even later the annoying floaty Elf guy which finished off the healing, that last bit of growth was from that."

"I... see."

"Hmphh, no need to thank me."

"Thank you Opal. I mean it, I'd be dead without you."

She blushed despite herself and looked away.

"It's f-fine."

Rain gathered himself and after a moment managed to sit up and then get to his feet.

"Woah, taller again. Voice is a little deeper too."

He looked down at the Goblin who couldn't help but keep snatching glances at him. He estimated he'd gained nearly two inches of height. The wonders of eating levelers.

"Did they leave anything useful in their camp?"

Opal pulled her shiny new rapier from her side which was a match for her reacquired cutlass resting on her other hip. After showing him the sharp blade she sheathed it.

"Mhmm. That elf guy liked his quality. Sacks of coin too."

"Really? How much?"

Opal shrugged and went and fetched three bulging coin bags which she poured out onto the ground. A heaping pile of gold met Rain's eyes.

"Apparently slaving pays pretty well. That's more gold than I've seen in my whole life, not that I've ever had the opportunity to see much."

"Levelers kill monsters, but taking us as slaves is something Gobbos actually fear more. The ones who escape do not have happy stories to tell. You would know that though, right?"

Rain hesitated. He wasn't unfamiliar with monster slaving, the town of Lynthia where he lived his previous life even had a small monster slaving market. It was a bleak place that's streets often ran red with blood and the stories of casual cruelty that came out of it were enough to make your hairs curl.

"I know. Goblins are known as disposable slaves."

He hadn't actually thought of the slave market as anything but part of life and out of sight and mind in his previous life, something for the wealthy, it was always just... there. He was beginning to wonder if that thinking was wrong somehow with his shift in perspective. He shook his head. Not his problem, not now that he was an ungodly terror of a monster.

He had Opal gather the coin back together and stow it in the bottom of her rucksack.

"I can't help but notice you still have three slaves chained up." said Rain gesturing at two Kobolds and a Goblin who were watching them warily.

Opal scowled. "Yes, most got away even though I managed to get the key back. I tried to find and recapture them but they all went to ground, vanished into the tunnels. You can eat these ones now though yes?" She seemed to cheer up a little at that last bit.

Rain eyed the chains, recalling Opal wearing them. "No, not right now..."

"But why? It's free food! Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm... still recovering. They're not going to get away, are they? They can be snacks for later."

The chained up Goblin whimpered hearing that and the two Kobolds eyed Rain fearfully and backed away as far as their chains would allow.

Rain pursed his lips. "You fed me in front of them, didn't you?"

"Maybe?"

He sighed. "Nevermind. Look, I want to be stronger, unstoppable, for next time I see... those who enslaved me." He curled his paw into a fist. "I want to figure out how to do that and fast. We're two floors up from where we started. The monsters are weaker around here right?"

"Mm, Sort of. The middle dungeon just has a lot more tribal monsters whereas the lower floors have fewer but more powerful single monsters, though you can still find them here too."

"...That actually sounds like a good thing. Tribal monsters are much easier to kill and there's more to eat if I kill a group."

"Yes, the middle floors will be good for food, lots of monsters, lots to eat. Many levelers come here too, many more than the lower floors, and usually not as high a level so they are easier to kill," she grinned.

He nodded his agreement and then had her pack away the only tent that hadn't been ruined by the Orc, Eliza's tent. It was much much nicer than the old Goblin tent they had been sharing, with no patches or tears, a big upgrade. Rain picked over the camp but there wasn't much of value that Opal hadn't already taken and packed up, most the slaves had gotten away and what food there had been Opal had already fed him while he slept. He eyed the blood covered anvil hammer lying on the stone floor, a brutal reminder of just how dangerous taking a leveler head to head could be.

Rain didn't want to carry the chains the three slaves were attached to so it was left to Opal. She handled it surprisingly well, turned out that a rapier was quite good for motivation and discipline when prodded into the softer parts of the body.

They wandered deeper into the tunnels looking for easy signs of monsters or levelers. It didn't take long to find. A sandy stretch of unusually large tunnels lit by moss-light. In the sand were many many webbed footprints, an alarming amount even.

They decided to secrete the slaves in a side cave temporarily and then hide in a crevice tucked away behind a boulder so that they could spy on any potential passing traffic.

A few minutes later they were disturbed from their watch by the sound of many tramping feet.

"This is them, it's gotta be, that big a group must have been what made all those footprints," said Opal peeking around the boulder excitedly.

The owners of the many feet soon came into view. Rain already felt his mouth watering. Fish people. Fish. He liked fish.

The fish-like people were blue-green scaled, short, barely five foot tall, and had ray fins protruding from their forearms, shins, tail, head, and back. Their heads were very fish-like and large with droopy barbels and wide catfish-like mouths. They were also heavily armed with bone tipped spears and wooden bucklers.

"How many do you count? Forty four?"

"I count forty four of them yeah. I know these monsters, they're called Piscine. S'lot. Must be a big tribal lake nearby."

"Urgh, don't talk to me about lakes, I'd kill for a bath right now."

"I wouldn't do that in their territory, they are nearly unbeatable in water, they just love to drag unsuspecting Gobbos under and go into a feeding frenzy."

"Hmm really? At least they don't look as well-armed as Kobolds, better trained though..."

They watched the group march past. For the first time Rain heard a language that was not Common, the Piscine seemed to have their own unique language that consisted of burbling warbling noises that the lead Piscine of the march babbled at each other.

The marching Piscine disappeared around the corner and the pair slunk back away from the tunnel.

"The problem is that we can't beat that many Piscine in one go, there's just too many spears. They'd turn us into pincushions."

"Then we just need a strong monster to come and kill them, like the giant snake."

"Sure, but we don't have that. So..."

Rain scratched at his ear thinking hard.

"We... we just need a different kind of trap right? Maybe a more traditional trap?"

"No materials," scowled Opal.

"Yes we do, we have the remains of the slavers camp."

"... We... we do have that, that is true..."

Rain could see machinations ticking into place behind Opal's eyes.

"Got something?"

"I don't know, maybe. Let's go back to the camp."

They collected the secreted slaves and took them back through the path they had come by.

Rain helped stake them down then sat and watched as Opal picked around the camp examining things with new eyes.

"Maybe, maybe we could do something with this..." she said as she dragged the remains of the tents to the center of the camp.

"Well?"

"It's not complicated. We make a pit trap. We can use this canvas stitched together to cover the hole along with the tent poles. Piscine walks over, and splat, they fall in."

Rain peered skeptically at the heap of canvas. "I hope you don't mind me saying so but this plan has some flaws."

"No it doesn't, It's perfect!"

"Really now? And what's going to stop the back part of the army from stopping once they see the front half fall in?"

The Goblin paused. "I hadn't gotten that far."

"And what happens once they are in the pit? Can't they just climb out?"

"Well, that's why we make sharp things to put in the bottom of the pit."

"How? out of what?" said Rain looking around the camp.

Opal gave him a sour look before suddenly brightening up. She scampered to a pile and pulled out a slave stake, a metal rod about three foot long with a point designed to be hammered into the ground so slaves could be left securely.

"Alright, that could work, maybe, and for the back half not falling in?"

Opal turned and her eyes fell on the increasingly nervous looking slaves.

Chapter 21

A slightly manic looking red-scaled Kobold wandered through a sandy tunnel. His eyes skittered off the walls as though terrified something was stalking him.

The kobold was well armed in a manner of speaking, he held a sword in one claw. What was less obvious was that beneath his newly endowed clothing his wrist was chained to his hip so he was unable to raise it. On his front was a rectangular piece of canvas stretched over a wooden frame that hung down from his neck to his knees. On the canvas was a rather crude charcoal drawing of a Kobold doing lewd things to a female Piscine while a different Piscine looked at the scene and cried. The copulating Kobold and Piscine had a number of poorly drawn hearts floating around their heads.

Unsure of what he was waiting for the Kobold peered down the tunnel. He couldn't see much as a corner blocked his view. Still, he soon quite clearly heard the nearing tramping of many feet and began to back away. A deep growl came from somewhere behind him in the shadows and made him freeze in place out of fear. He could do nothing but watch as what appeared to be a small Piscine army rounded the corner and came into view.

The front line stared at the Kobold as they kept marching and then as their eyes wandered downward and took in the drawing attached to the front of the Kobold they began to slow and angry muttering broke out, then warbling shouts and pointed fingers. A cry of rage came from a particularly personally offended Piscine at the back.

"H-hey!" said the Kobold. "I've got nothing to do with this! It's some kind of trap! You've got to listen to me!"

The Piscine ignored him and continued to argue and point.

"Please! I'm just a poor slave being made to do this against my will! I'm not your enemy!

A more leaderly looking Piscine with gold scales and carrying a trident in his webbed hands slammed the butt of his weapon into the ground and pointed an accusing finger at the Kobold. He then asked what was probably some kind of important question. Unfortunately it was in the Piscine language and completely unintelligible.

"Oh gods they don't speak Common, Oh no no nooo."

The Kobold panicked and not knowing what else to do he shook his head in the negative.

This seemed to infuriate the leader and he screamed at the poor Kobold and took a step forward. The rest of the Piscine army took a threatening step forward too.

The leader held up a hand and as though to give the Kobold one last chance to explain himself he asked something else, biting off each word as though he was desperately trying to put aside his anger.

The Kobold listened. Paused. Then he turned and ran.

The Piscine looked on in shock. Then their eyes fell on the second different canvas rectangle attached to the Kobold's back. This one showed a quite clearly pregnant Piscine in the background while in the foreground a cheekily grinning and winking Kobold gave a double thumbs up while taking a large poo in the open mouth of a crying Piscine. The poo was quite detailed and someone had put quite a bit of time into shading it.

As one beast the Piscine army screamed their rage and stampeded down the tunnel. Howls of indignation echoed off the walls, none more so than from the leader Piscine who's eyes were bulging out of his head out of sheer apoplectic wrath.

The unfortunate Kobold fled like the hounds of hell were on his tail.

Sand flashed by, a newly built wall that diverted the tunnel into a side tunnel, then some slightly odd looking sand, then normal sand again. A flash of green to the side and a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him into a slim crack in the wall. A knife pressed into his side and that one Goblin who seemed to help the terrifying beast that ate everything appeared.

He could only watch with her as the army of Piscine charged forward and over the odd bit of sand. They lasted only a moment before the canvas and tent pole frame collapsed under the strain and a yawning chasm opened up below them. The sheer rage of the Piscine kept those at the back driving forward so those who were at the front and saw the hole coming could only howl in frustration as those behind pushed and shoved forward tipping them into it.

Opal stepped from the crack as the last few survivors stumbled to a stop and looked down in dismay at the hole that their brethren had fallen in. Not for long though as a long stick prodded one in the back and shoved him into the hole. Then the next. It took a few seconds for the remaining Piscine to realise what was happening and they turned to find Rain prodding them in one by one with an extended pole that easily out ranged their own spears. They gnashed their teeth and screamed at him but could do little as he used his overwhelming strength and range to punt them into the hole one by one.

The Kobold slave shivered. What a ruthless strategy. He feared this pair not just for his own sake but for the rest of Kobold kind.

"I am a genius!" cried Opal.

"I'll admit that went better than expected."

"Yes, yes, praise me. That was glorious!"

"Be praised," Said Rain, bemused.

Rain leapt across the hole in the ground and stood beside Opal to peer down into it, not before staking down the trembling Kobold slave however.

"Finding this hole really simplified things huh," said Rain observing the mass of death far below.

"Well it was either dig a hole or pile some rocks up to divert a tunnel. We don't really have anything useful to dig a hole with so..." She shrugged, "We got lucky this area has a lot of vertical shafts to be honest."

"Sure sure. Here tie off the rope."

Opal unwound the rope she had taken from the slavers and tied to a nearby rock and handed it to Rain. He let the coil drop and slung himself down, rappelling down what must have been forty feet of sheer rock face ending in a hard flat stone floor.

His feet hit the bottom and Opal scrambled down soon after.

A huge pile of bodies met his eyes, some still groaning as they had fallen on their comrades and hadn't been quite so fortunate to have a quick death. They wasted no time and Rain ended lives with his teeth as Opal used her rapier to poke holes, though many had holes already as they had fallen upon a number of sharp metal stakes embedded in the ground.

The Goblin then pulled down the bodies one by one and stripped them bare of any clothing and equipment. Mostly loincloths and oddly shaped cuirasses. Soon she had a line of bodies forming. Rain didn't wait for her to finish and tore into it, devouring two at a time, compressing them down inside before needing to stop to digest.

"Gods, fish is a blessed food. If it weren't for levelers and giant snake I think this would have taken my top spot in my ranking," opined Rain as the growth surge ended. The deep brine buttery saltiness and oily firm texture was something Rain found he could really get his teeth into.

He sighed, then opened his eyes and leapt on the next to be eaten, slavering maw open wide, eyes alight. He gorged on the Piscine from feet to head, scales and webbing all, all of it went into his stomach, great bites letting him tear through the monster with spectacular speed.

By the time he was a quarter of the way through the army he was beginning to reduce the pauses between eating and he simply moved onto the next mid digestion banking up the growth like he had done with the snake. Opal finished laying out the dead and began happily shovelling them toward his gullet helping him consume the Piscine all the faster, she held them up one by one and literally pushed them toward his mouth letting him focus on fitting as much as possible inside himself as quickly as possible. His stomach was managing to keep up, his ease of handling so many a sign he was growing overall larger.

Rain blitzed his way through the unfortunate Piscine army, halfway through, three quarters, then as he slowed with exhaustion he came to the last, the gold scaled Piscine leader, especially tasty, but he didn't slow or he was sure he would collapse. The leader was eaten body, limb, and tail and Rain flopped over on his back, distended stomach poking in the air and heaving breaths as the wave of growth caught up to him and crashed into his body. He let out a long mindless groan as his paw pads inched across the ground and his body swelled, claws lengthening, chest enlarging, muscle expanding, bones elongating. Opal leapt on top of him as he grew shoving a hand down her shorts and grinding her hips down into her hand, a line of drool ran from her slightly parted lips as she watched and felt him grow larger beneath her, her breath shaky and arrhythmic.

Finally, it was all over, and Rain slumped on the ground as limp as a wet noodle. Opal lay herself over his chest, her eyes looking up at him half lidded, she bit her lip.

They just lay there, basking in the aftermath for a time, not a worry in the world.

"...Gods I would kill for a bath."

Chapter 22

Inquisitor Baera looked up as a fist hammered on her office door. She frowned and put her pen down beside the reams of paperwork she had gradually been working through.

"You may enter."

The door opened and a girl slumped through breathing hard. Her blonde hair was a tangled mess and lank with sweat. She looked as though she had run to her office from wherever she had come from. Judging from her appearance she was an active adventurer of the dungeon. Not that informative considering the town was built to service one. What was more curious was the huge patch of hair that appeared to have been ripped from her scalp leaving an angry red bleeding welt behind.

Baera leant to one side and rested her chin on her fist as she eyed the girl.

"Girl. What makes you think it wise to come to me in a state like this. You're so out of breath you can barely get a word out and you look like you've been in a fight with a Barber's wife."

The girl shook her head and then seemed to steady herself. "I want to report a problem. Something new."

"Please, go on. I am just in complete suspense to hear this," said the Inquisitor so dryly that it made deserts appear as oceans.

The girl seemed to realise just who she was speaking to and cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Uhm, Right. I was on a trip into the dungeon, part of a slaving team that liked to focus on minor tribal monsters like Goblins-"

"To the point girl."

"S-sorry. We were on our return trip when we came across a monster none of us had ever seen before. At first I only saw a glimpse of a shadowy figure, but later I saw it in full. It looked sort of like a bipedal wolf gone feral, with yellow eyes and black fur completely drenched in blood. Our team leader decided that he didn't want us to fight it and so we avoided it and went up two floors of the dungeon."

"I hope that there is more to this story than just a sighting or I will have you cleaning out the stables for a month for wasting my time."

"Yes! There's more. We made camp in east quadrant and thought we were safe but soon after we had gone to sleep the creature attacked and set our slaves free. It killed our Hobgoblin scout and then killed the leader of our team, a powerful Aeromancer. But what came after was why I came here."

She took a deep breath.

"The black furred monster attacked me, I fought back, and then it spoke to me. It told me that it used to be someone I knew, a Human."

Baera leaned forward, her brow furrowing.

"I, or rather a prior group that I was with, were given permission by the town's ranker to kill that person. We took him out to the dungeon for ease of disposal, killed him, and threw his remains in the big lake on the bottom floor. The black furred creature knew of this and named everyone who was there, it claimed that it was that Human but returned from the dead and turned into a monster. He promised revenge, I only escaped due to my new unique magic."

"Curious. It's true I don't know of any monster or species with that physical description and I know more than most. A human leveler that became a monster?"

"Yes! That's the thing, it sounds insane, but it's real! He had some strange ability that allowed him to consume and absorb things, I didn't get to see what he was capable of but he let slip that it's linked to growth."

"And an ability I have also never heard of. Hrmm, if you did not seem so sincere I would suspect you were making this up."

"Never! I would never lie to an Inquisitor, only a fool would do such a thing!"

"Quite. Very well, your name?"

"It's Eliza. Uhm, t-there's a reward right? It's just I recently got a special Class and I lost my new water staff for th-that and you know how, they're uhm, expensive."

"Eliza. You did well to come to me. Inquisitors place high priority on seeking out dungeon anomalies before they become an issue and nipping them in the bud. If I can confirm your words, then yes, you will receive an appropriate reimbursement. However, I will command you not to breathe a singular word about this. If this truly is as you say, a leveler somehow become monster then this is a... highly confidential matter. Now go and get yourself cleaned up and leave this with me."

The girl hesitated, bowed, and then fled from the Inquisitor's presence.

Baera rubbed her chin. "A shadowy monster? Where did I read that recently?"

She rifled through some minor reports at the side of her desk and pulled a paper free, a single sheet. A statement on the demise of half of a team of adventurers to a horde of Shroomlian monsters. Nothing unusual for this dungeon. Idiot levelers got themselves killed all the time. What was curious was that one of the survivors seemed convinced that they were being stalked by a black furred shadowy bipedal thing, and that it had caused the shroomlians to swarm and attack the team. An interesting data point perhaps grounding this Eliza girl's story. She noted that the two survivors of the team were currently accusing each other of having murdered the team's healer. She put the report back from where she had retrieved it.

She tapped her pen on the table thinking.

An Inquisitor had many responsibilities as the Queen's eyes and claws, ensuring that a dungeon didn't become a problem was one of them. There were towns and cities wiped off the map when particularly powerful monsters escaped a dungeon, or a monster species had bred out of control and spilled out over the land.

Making up her mind she put her pen aside and stood from her desk. She opened her armoire and pulled on her favourite black pauldrons over her blouse and then affixed her black vambraces to her arms, then, at last, her favourite black gauntlets. High quality and lightweight, they were decorated around the edges with gold filigree, a gift from her mother. She affixed a ruby pommelled longsword to her hip, taking care to arrange it so it could be withdrawn with ease, a habit borne from long practice.

She checked herself in the mirror. A Human face, well, mostly, a pair of black Dragon horns emerged from atop her white wavy hair, a mark of her distant Dragon bloodline. She considered herself blessed to have even this small mark, her parents, both Human, had none as the mark was rarer to manifest so many descendants later. The horns gave her an imposing figure, not that she wasn't already intimidatingly severe. She hummed contentedly with her appearance. Her parents had teased her about her vanity, she personally felt it appropriate as Dragons were known to be vain.

She spun on her heel and her armoured boots clicked as she left her office.

She snapped her fingers as she passed through, the sound like a whipcrack that hurt the ears. A red-haired human girl who had been napping in a chair in the hallway squeaked and jumped to her feet looking around in fear.

"Come Jilli. We're going to the dungeon to look into an anomalous report. Maybe you can learn a thing or two."

"Y-yes Inquisitor!" said the girl, flinching to attention and then hurriedly following after the striding Inquisitor as she blew past.

"Uhm, will it be dangerous? I have my sword, b-but."

"I do not know, It may be nothing, though my instinct tells me something is afoot. It has been a while since the Queendom has seen a serious monster emergence from a dungeon, I'd like to keep it that way."

"Of course Inquisitor!"

The pair clumped downstairs and emerged into a bustling room where scribes working under the Queen talked and exchanged paperwork. Baera strode up to the largest figure in the room, a Minotaur lazing on a chair, his hooves on the table. Several empty beer mugs lay strewn around him and a Goblin slave held a freshly filled one ready as the minotaur worked through his current one. He burped and gave the Inquisitor a sour look.

"About that time huh? Coulda given me some warning, I ain't ate yet."

"Then choose breakfast over beer next time you insufferable moron."

"Oh! Never! The nectar of the gods fuels this body of mine!"

He belched loudly and Jilli covered her nose and mouth in disgust.

"You won't be receiving coin to pay for said beer if you don't get to your hooves and move Drumus."

"Yeah yeah." grumbled the Minotaur. He slugged back the last of the beer he was drinking and then grabbed the second beer from the Goblin slave causing her to stumble forward. He then chugged that to the dregs and belched lazily once more. Then with more effort than was probably warranted he slid his hooves off the table and climbed to his feet. He picked up a well worn mace from where it lay by his chair.

"Roight, I'm ready. Let's go fuck up whatever needs fucking up."

The Inquisitor set her lips in a line. "We need to acquire one other before heading to the dungeon. Come."

The Minotaur nodded then paused. "One sec." He clubbed the Goblin slave over the head and she fell to the ground limp. He then grabbed her by a leg and picked her up in the air.

"Oh, Mister Drumus, Minotaur sir? Is- is that legal?"

"Don't worry yourself lass, it's just a rental," said the Minotaur stomping out the building after Baera, Goblin dangling in hand.

They passed by a wooden slave bin with the words 'Temp-slave drop off' marked on the side and he tossed the Goblin inside and closed the lid.

"See, their problem now."

Jilli raised a hand as though to protest but the Minotaur ignored her and stomped after Baera

Baera stalked through the streets, passing pedestrians leaping to get out of her way when they noticed who she was. The trio arrived at an inn and without preamble she kicked open the door.

The noisy interior went silent as she stepped inside and looked around, a hundred eyes watching her in surprise or fear, beers halfway to mouths, coins held in the air mid-transaction.

Her violet eyes came to rest on one large table covered in cards and coins. Her eyes narrowed seeing a shirtless Halfling lying atop a mound of coin, a pipe in his mouth.

"Ah, shit." said the Halfling.

Baera snapped her armoured fingers causing half the inn to flinch and Drumus charged toward the table. The Halfling tried to scramble away but a large meaty hand came down and grabbed him by the seat of his pants and yanked him into the air.

Baera beckoned and they began to leave. She paused at the door and glanced back.

"As you were."

The inn moved back into motion and a number of fights started over the coin the Halfling had left behind.

They stepped back into the street and continued.

"Hey hey hey! What's the big idea you can't just kidnap me!"

"You know as well as I do Fosco that you are under contract to the Queen. If you do not wish to have your debauchery interrupted then I suggest you write a letter and have your contract voided. For the moment however you are mine and I am not pleased with your previous convenient disappearances whenever an excursion into the dungeon is planned. I suggest you make an example of yourself or I will use my superior level to end you. No one will stop me and I will face no repercussions."

The Halfling quit struggling and gulped.

"Good. Now here we are."

The group pulled into the towns stable, a huge thing due to the number of travellers who came to try the dungeon.

It only took a moment for a simpering stable master to find the Inquisitor and offer the group their best horses. Five minutes later the group galloped out of town and rode through the surrounding forest until they came upon the Inquisitor's intended destination, the dungeon.

They tied down their mounts outside and entered on foot.

"Not that I'm complaining but would somebody tell me why we are here? How am I supposed to know what I'm tracking If I don't know what I'm tracking? I'm pretty good but I'm not that good," grumbled the Halfling.

They were descending one of the massive stairs that lead between floors as he spoke. Baera paused then nodded.

"You are here to track down a new monster that has been reported on as of recent events. Black fur, wolf-like, bipedal."

"Alright, I can work with that. There are no wolves in this dungeon, nearest would be mountain wolves but they are a hundred miles away at least, so If it really is wolf-like as you say then its tracks should be distinct from everything else in this dungeon. Anything else?"

She paused. "It's reported to be drenched entirely in blood."

"Really? That's a bit gruesome. You know I'm not much good in a fight right? You better protect my half-ass"

"Myself and Drumus are enough to deal with any threat."

The Halfling eyed the minotaur. "I suppose that is... comforting. Anyway, I have a skill that gives me an enhanced sense of smell. If this monster really is covered in blood as you say then I should be able to smell it."

They went on in silence until Baera held up an armoured hand. "We're here. This Is the floor it was last sighted on. Come, it should be in this direction. Be aware of your surroundings. This new potential monster is not the only threat in the dungeon."

"Yeah yeah I know, monsters, dungeon shit, whatever," said the minotaur picking his teeth with a knife.

"Hey," said the Halfling. "I can already smell something, come on, just follow me."

The group followed as the Halfling led the way through twisting passages until at last they exited onto a sandy causeway tunnel lit by mosslight, much broader than the ones they had arrived through. A medley of footprints marked the sand as though many webbed feet had passed by.

"Hrmm. Looks Piscine. I know there are some lake tribes around here. Guess they must come through here for whatever reason."

"Oh! I found something! This might be it!" exclaimed Jilli pointing at a footprint.

The Halfling shuffled over and peered down. "Curious."

"What is it?"

"There are two sets both with wolf-like aspects, one was made a little after the other. The odd thing is that the newer set is from a larger pair of paws." He got down on his knees and stared closely at the two, switching between them every so often. "If I were an inferior tracker I would tell you that we are facing two of this monster... But these paws are functionally identical, they do not have any of the micro deviations in anatomy that occur between different people of a single species."

"Oh stop trying to make yourself look good and get to the damn point Halfling," grumbled Drumus.

The Halfling glared at him irritably. "It's the same monster but grown larger."

Baera crossed her arms. "Hrmm."

"I know, it sounds strange. I suspect we are against a monster that is absurdly quickly growing in size."

"There was speculation of something like this in the report. It seems like this could indeed become a problem if left alone. Very well, please continue."

The Halfling finished his inspection of the tracks and gestured for them to follow. He led them further down the tunnel then round a corner. He paused.

"That blood smell, it's gotten, uh, quite strong."

"You think the monster is near?"

"No, this is too strong a smell for just one monster, I'm not sure what it is exactly I'm smelling."

They continued onward, passing by a part of the tunnel closed off by piled up rocks. They slowed as they came across a gap in the sand.

"Gods! The smell! it's so strong! I, I believe it's coming from that chasm."

The group edged nearer and peered over the edge,

"Wha-What, what is that? Is that all blood?" said Jilli, her face paling.

"Dear gods it's like someone painted the floor and walls in the stuff! How many must have died for this?"

"More importantly... Where are the bodies..."

"I.. I don't like this, we should go," whispered Jilli.

"Wait, hold on, where's the Minotaur?"

Baera blinked at the Halfling and turned from the hole to look behind. No Minotaur.

"That idiot probably got bored and wandered off to take a nap. You're a tracker aren't you, let's retrace our steps and see where we got separated.

They edged away from the hole, perhaps a little too thankful to no longer be near it, and began to make their way back.

It wasn't long before the Halfling found hoof prints and indeed they diverged from their path and went down a dark side tunnel.

"I'm going to strip a line of hide out of that Minotaur when I find him," growled Baera.

"I just want to find him again... I don't like these gloomy caves," shivered Jilli.

The trio entered the narrower near pitch dark passage. They had no lantern as the Minotaur had taken it with him. It wasn't long before they started to hear something. Crying.

The Halfling and Inquisitor exchanged a puzzled glance then crept around the corner.

A Goblin sat against the wall, hugging its legs and openly weeping.

"Look, that Goblin is a slave, see the slave collar?"

"Tchh. Maybe this is what drew Drumus's attention."

"Well, why isn't he here?"

"I don't know, ask the Goblin."

Fosco gave her an annoyed look but crept toward the crying Goblin.

"Heyyy, Goblin girl, did you happen to see a Minotaur come by here?"

The Goblin looked up at the Halfling with bloodshot crazed eyes.

"He ate them, He ate everyone! He's Going To Eat Us! He's CoMinG To eAt Us ALl!" The Goblin shrieked and darted into a crack in the wall disappearing from sight.

"Oh, okay." said the Halfling in the still silence that followed.

"C-can we go?" keened Jilli.

"No, look, there are tracks over here. Fosco come look," said the Inquisitor.

"I hate to admit it but I'm starting to get just a little unsettled. Maybe the girl is right."

"Just look," sighed the Inquisitor.

The Halfling grumbled and stepped over and began tracking. He beckoned the others to follow. He paused after a few meters.

"Something happened here. It looks like there was a struggle. Wait, I see blood."

The group moved warily forward and out of the gloom a bloody track appeared, a gouge in the sand as though a large body had been dragged. Then it stopped. Baera leant down and picked up the Minotaur's mace. It along with a few pieces of the Minotaur's armour and clothing lay scattered around a patch of blood and gore. There was nothing else.

"This is bad isn't it, this is really bad," whimpered Jilli.

Baera said nothing but drew her longsword and looked around, staring into the darkness.

"We need to leave. Now," said the Halfling, his voice strained.

"Start retreating. Carefully. If you see anything, call out."

They began to shuffle backwards, weapons drawn and pointing outward. The dark was quiet and oppressive.

"I... I think something is wrong," said the Halfling pausing.

"What? Forget it, we're leaving."

The Halfling turned and looked at the other two. He gulped. "I can still smell Drumus's blood nearby."

A set of teeth appeared from the dark and closed on the back of the Halfling's head side on.

His skull immediately collapsed under the pressure, his face grossly distending as his head was crushed inward. One of his eyeballs burst from his eye socket as it caved in and landed on Jilli's cleavage. The trainee Inquisitor screamed her lungs out and fled into the darkness as fast as her legs could carry her.

A longsword that was now glowing a faint blue suddenly thrust through the air as though propelled by a bolt of lightning. It pierced through the Halfling's head and almost skewered the shadowy creature on the other side if not for it moving at the last possible moment. It disappeared back into the dark.

Baera withdrew her blade and let the tracker's corpse flop to the ground.

She eyed the shadows.

"I've heard you can speak, monster."

A deep bass growl of anger was her reply, so deep and heavy that the very air vibrated and Baera could feel it trembling the ground through her boots. The sound echoed around the tunnel giving it an unclear origin.

"Angry? You do not like the one who told me that, do you? Do not worry, I will end your life and relieve you of your grudge."

"You can try." gravelled a deep voice.

Motion in the corner of her eye made her move and she twisted her sword up just in time. The creature's teeth momentarily bit down on her blade before it let go. She twisted her weapon and slashed, scoring a minor hit. A spray of blood and a shallower cut than expected. Tough body, resistant to blades. The creature vanished back into the shadows.

She held her sword up in one hand tracking where she thought it fled. Her eyes momentarily crossed her blade and she was surprised to see teeth marks on the steel somehow despite the spells she had cast on it to strengthen and sharpen the metal. Its teeth are extremely hard, shocking jaw strength.

A scuffing sound from behind and she spun. A knife flew out of the gloom aimed at her head. She parried it sending it flying through the air to clatter against the cave wall. It uses weapons? No, doesn't fit, this is a trap!

She swung her sword and twisted around as bloody teeth lunged at the back of her neck. Her sword arm came up, but too late to hit, only enough to block. The brutal trap of its maw came down on her forearm. Teeth dented metal and she looked on in shock as her prided vambraces abruptly buckled under its jaws, an unstoppable bite pressing down with such force that the squealing deforming metal dug deep into her arm. She screamed and thrashed as skin and flesh and muscle was squeezed apart under the unstoppable pressure, her sword dropped from her hand as she lost feeling, clanging as it hit the sand. She pounded at the monster's head with her free fist but nothing slowed it. Her bones began to splinter then split apart as the squeezing force of her own vambrace ground them down. The monster bass growled and savaged her arm, shaking its head and violently dragging her, Baera desperately tried to resist but the breathtaking agony was causing her to falter.

She set her teeth. It wasn't going to let her go. No choice. She slapped her hand down on the vambrace and twisted it then kicked out at the monster. Her arm felt like it was on fire, but with a wordless scream, and the grisly sickening parting of flesh, she pulled a ragged shredded stump free from her vambrace. The monster gave her a look of surprise before she pulled a device from her belt, closed her eyes, and threw it to the ground. An explosive ear-shattering sound and an eye-searing flash of light and the monster yelped. The Inquisitor opened her eyes. Her ears were ringing but she could see well enough in the dark to run and escape down the tunnel away from the thing that had maimed her.

She cradled the ruin of her arm as she fled and promised revenge, no, Extermination.

Chapter 23

Rain sucked in air through his teeth and picked at the wound the Inquisitor had given him, a shallow slice that ran from his shoulder down to his elbow. It oozed blood.

"Who was that leveler?"

"An Inquisitor. I've heard of her. She's new to the local dungeon town.... Dangerous... Inquisitors are known to hold grudges, she will try and come for me again."

"Hrmm. Too bad that Minotaur stumbled upon us. Stupid noisy Goblin slave."

"They saw what we did to the Piscine and they knew about me so they needed to die. The Minotaur was bad luck though, or maybe good luck, we did need to separate them. Did the Goblin slave get away?"

"Yes," said Opal, looking annoyed. "I had to get out of sight quickly and I accidentally dropped the chain. They could be anywhere in these tunnels by now."

Rain shrugged but then got to his feet. Having eaten the Minotaur he now towered over Opal at an intimidating seven foot tall, the top of her head only coming up to around the bottom of his rib cage. The Minotaur had been unlucky. Unaware Rain was there he had crouched down to talk to the Goblin slave, the perfect opportunity for Rain to put his nearly unstoppable bite to use. The back of the Minotaur's neck had lasted only a moment under his jaws.

"...I had better eat the Kobold slaves if I'm going to speed recovering this wound."

"Well we have the Halfling and this too you know," said Opal waving the severed arm of the Inquisitor and letting the hand and fingers flop around.

Rain blinked down at it. The arm, or rather, hand and half a forearm, was encased in black metal armour decorated with gold. The segmented fingers of the gauntlet were incredibly intricate and beautifully crafted to provide maximum flexibility and protection.

He snorted. "Yeah, it's important to finish a meal I guess. See if you can get it out of the shell."

Opal dropped herself down on the ground to sit cross-legged and began poking around and fiddling with the armour. Meanwhile, Rain picked up the longsword the Inquisitor had dropped in the sand. The blade was still glowing a faint blue but was rapidly dimming as the spells on it faded away. The sword was exquisite, just like the armour, with a heavy ruby in the pommel and a wyrm curling around the grip, its wings outstretched to form the cross-guard.

He nibbled on his lip. Something was bothering him. This was some awfully ornate looking gear even for an Inquisitor. It appeared to be more the sort of thing a noble would carry. He recalled the black horns on the Inquisitor's head, a sign of her being some kind of half-breed. He knew little of her when he was human, she had only arrived at the town of Lynthia recently, not enough time for rumours to filter down to the castoffs of society.

He considered that the Inquisitor could come after him a lot harder than he might expect.

Well, she can come if she wants. I just need to get bigger and stronger faster than she can keep up with. Speaking of which.

He turned and dove on the Halfling tracker the Opal had conveniently already stripped. It didn't take long to make his way through the diminutive body and soon there was nothing left but a bloody smear in the sand.

Rain groaned as he felt himself get a little taller. A respectable seven-foot and a little bit of an inch. He was increasingly finding he had to eat more and more to gain height, each gained inch of height requiring more and more body mass he assumed.

"Halfling is pretty good, but I've got to deduct points for not being a full portion despite having the tastiness boost of being a leveler," he said, scratching his jaw.

"AHA!" said Opal as a clicking sound signified she had figured out the trick to opening the ornate armour. She peeled off the gauntlet revealing the pale hand beneath and then tugged it free from the vambrace, with difficulty as it was still partially trapped under the crushed metal.

She cheekily stuck her tongue out. "Here you go wolfy I've got a treat for you." She tossed the arm upward and Rain snapped it from the air on instinct. He froze.

Opal blinked at him. "Uh, you okay?"

Rain's jaws slowly began moving and his eyes rolled up. "Soooo guud," he moaned. "What even is this." His ears folded down and his tail wagged of its own accord. His taste buds ignited as the lush sensation spread, he actually had difficulty moving his jaw just from the sheer overwhelming flavour.

"It's like the most savoury yet richest meat I've ever eaten. Dear gods it's melting in my mouth!"

"Are you messing with me?"

"No! It's something about the meat." He closed his eyes as the last of it slipped down his gullet. "Rank one food, no, I might need to make a new special rank for this. Oh, it's good for growth too!" said Rain, rolling his shoulders as his body grew a little once more.

Opal tilted her head to the side. "Now you've made me regret giving it to you instead of keeping it for myself. Why was it special? You've eaten levelers before."

He shook his head as though to clear his overwhelmed senses. "It's that Inquisitor, she wasn't entirely Human, I know whatever made up her other part- it was special, just tasting that mere fraction of it- gods I want to eat whatever species that is."

Rain considered just what the Inquisitor could partly be. Most obvious was Drake or Wyverling which would be fitting for the sword, perhaps even a rare breed of Minotaur or Goatrian would cause those horns, or maybe, maybe even a Drag- but no, that couldn't possibly be... could it?

"Hrmm. Well too late to chase her down now and that other Human that ran off screaming has vanished, so I guess you'll have to make do."

Rain sighed and felt a little depressed to his surprise. Just the thought of not getting more immediately was almost too much to bear.

"Fine, if I can't have quality then I'll just have to settle for quantity. Where can I find lots and lots of monsters to eat Opal? I want, no, I need to eat and become stronger."

"Well, the Piscine seem to have abandoned this floor. Disappearing one of their armies would do that. Uhm, I do know of somewhere we could try, not far, lots of food, but it might be very dangerous."

"Alright, let's see if we can scout it out."

He handed over the longsword to the Goblin who attached it to the top of her pack. She now had three swords, a cutlass and a rapier, one at each hip, plus the new longsword.

They left the dark tunnel and found themselves by the two remaining Kobold slaves that Opal had chained up. The two Kobolds looked up at Rain with fear, backing away nervously. That fear was not without reason.

"I, I helped you with your trap! You've got to let me live! Look, eat this guy, he's way tastier than I am, just look how fat and obese his tail is!" said the red-scaled Kobold.

The fat-tailed Kobold screamed in outrage at this and attacked the red-scaled Kobold clawing at his face before a massive paw came down on his shoulder and pulled him back into Rain's jaws swiftly ending his life. He ate him from top to bottom entirely, fat tail included. He checked his injury and noted it was gradually starting to heal.

"Listen, I can help! Just let me live, please!" said the remaining Kobold.

"Sorry scaley, big and hungry over here already has me," said Opal, picking under her nails with her knife.

Rain paused and glared at the Kobold. "How?"

"H-how?" stammered the Kobold. "Uhm, uh, I can c-carry stuff!"

Rain snorted, then laughed aloud.

Opal gave Rain a scathing look.

"He has a point and your pack is getting kind of full," said Rain giving her a pointed look in return. "Besides, it makes it harder for you to do important stuff lugging that around."

"Grr. Okay fine. Don't make me regret this you scaley bastard."

She dumped her rucksack and removed the longsword which she strung across her back. Then she grabbed the chains that the other two slaves had been wearing and formed an extra long chain with which to use on the newly promoted pack Kobold.

"I won't disappoint you! You can count on me to provide top tier stuff carrying services!" said the suddenly hysterically happy Kobold.

"If you try to run away I will eat you while you're still alive so you can watch it happening," growled Rain.

The Kobold let out a little high pitched squeak and hurried to hide behind Opal.

The group set off into the cave system with Opal leading the way. Soon they left the area that the Piscine liked to inhabit and were moving into a more green and plant-filled cave biome. Grass began to carpet the tunnel floors and vines were strung across the walls and overhead. It wasn't long before they came across an exceptionally lush and beautiful cavern. White crystals embedded in the ceiling cast the room in picturesque natural light.

What halted Rain in his tracks though was the crystal clear and shining pool of water in the middle of the cavern.

"Oh. We're stopping here."

"Wait, what, why?!" cried Opal.

"Bath."

Opal looked over herself. Filthy and splattered in blood. Then she looked at Rain. Absolutely drenched in blood.

"But we're both perfectly clean! we don't need nasty water on us!"

Rain's brow rose at that. "You know it's not surprising Goblins have a bad reputation."

"I'm not going in! No way!"

Rain picked her up and held her over his head kicking and screaming.

He marched down to the lake and dropped down the Kobold's chain then kicked a boulder over it to keep it in place.

"Stop! Let me down! Kobold slave, I demand you stop him!"

The Kobold looked up at the Goblin as though she had just told him that monsters and levelers could all live in harmony, in other words, bonkers crazy talk.

"Uh. I'm moving this up the chain of command, that would be your call your wolfliness, pleasedon'teatme!" said the Kobold as he ducked behind the boulder.

"NUUUU!!" cried Opal as Rain took a running leap and cannonballed into the lake with a Kersploosh!

The Goblin spluttered to the surface and spat water.

"Why do you do this! This is the worst!"

"Because it's good to be clean," he said as he grabbed her and dunked her below the surface. He held her down as he tore all her clothes off before letting her swim back to the surface.

"You're so mean about it too!" she pouted, her cheeks colouring.

Rain simply grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away from the massive discoloured patch of water they had created. He then began rubbing her down with his paw pads, scrubbing her skin clean through dint of effort. He didn't even pretend shame and squeezed and pawed at her chest before moving on to the next part. Even her privates did not escape this treatment and the goblin made her gasps quite verbal. At last he came to her hair and ran his claws through her black locks over and over as she sat in his lap until it was as clean as he could manage.

The Goblin looked over her spotlessly clean body and scowled.

Rain lazed in the water and casually ran his paws over this own fur. He gave her the side eye.

"You're going to need to get used to it. I intend to bathe you at every single opportunity possible."

"GRAAH!" said the Goblin slamming her fists in the water. She turned on Rain.

"Fine. But this isn't going to be one sided."

She leapt on the wolf and began furiously rubbing his chest fur. Rain simply continued cleaning his arms and pretended not to notice. Her hands worked their way down his torso and abs until they were touching up to his oversized sheath, it had grown enormously since last time she had been with him, enough that she couldn't even get her hands around it. A lewd leer crossed her face as she began to fondle and rub at him, her breath coming in pants as her cheeks reddened. A huge paw came down and enclosed her hands however.

"We're about to attack some very dangerous monsters. Remember what happened last time? after the mushrooms? You couldn't walk straight for a full night and then you got kidnapped by slavers when your legs turned to jelly at the worst possible moment."

The Goblin made a strangled scream and slammed her small fists down on his thighs before flouncing away.

Rain sighed and relaxed back into his bathing routine.

Half an hour later he emerged from the lake and shook himself dry, his glossy clean black fur gleaming in the cavern light. He had the Kobold go and fetch Opal's clothing from the water and then he hung the clothing over a bush to dry. A little later he found Opal sulking and throwing pebbles in the lake. She looked up at him as though expecting a talk. Instead, he picked her up and put her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and marched back to her clothing while she swore up a storm. When she refused to put on clothes he began dressing her himself. He held her arms up In the air in one paw and carefully wrapped her chest with the other. Then lifted her off the ground and put her legs in the holes of her shorts before ramming them up causing her to yelp.

The Goblin looked like she was about to explode and her face was blushing bright red. Rain gravelled a laugh.

"You wanted me to do that didn't you."

Opal opened her mouth to angrily retort, paused, closed it, and bit her lip. She turned away as she reached new never before known heights of blushing.

The group set off and Opal, trying to avoid looking Rain in the eye, led the way.

Chapter 24

"This tribe is one my old tribe sometimes fought. There was always lots of bad blood between us, that's normal for Gobbos, but recently they started to win all of the battles."

"Really? What changed to make your tribe start losing."

Opal pursed her lips. "Half-goblins."

Rain tilted his head. "As in half Goblin and half... something else?"

"Yes, they aren't picky. Look."

She pointed from where they hid upon a rock shelf overlooking a cavern filled with lush foliage and jungle trees. A sandy dirt road of sorts wound through the centre of it and ended at the entrance to another cavern. To either side of the entrance were a pair of guards holding spears. They were taller than the average Goblin, at first Rain had thought they were Hobgoblins but on closer inspection he realised that they had non-goblin features. One had some Human like features, tall, a beard, long black hair, hairy arms and chest. The other had the upper body of a particularly large Goblin but its lower body was that of a snake, a Lamia.

"They look strong. Why didn't they conquer your tribe?"

"We've fought Half-Gobbo tribes before, I even have some tribal memories of past Gobbos doing it. The reason that smart Gobbos don't make their tribes into Half-Gobbo tribes is because they always always die out, they go extinct. We just needed to outlast and avoid this one and the problem would take care of itself."

Rain furrowed his brow. "Really? Why would they die out?"

"Think about it. A bunch of half breeds are born who are stronger than regular Gobbos. What happens? They take over the tribe. Then to keep the Half-Gobbo faction strong and in control they breed with more non-Gobbos. If they are breeding with strong monsters they eventually kill the regular Gobbos and split up because they are not tribal monsters. If they are breeding with levelers sooner or later a half who can level is born who then takes over the tribe from the half breeds. The leveler eventually kills every monster in the tribe for levels, as levelers do, then leaves for the surface. You wouldn't think it would be that way every time but it always is. Half-Gobbo tribes get outbred and burn out."

"I suppose it would have to have happened that way or there would be no regular Goblin tribes left."

Opal began pulling things from the rucksack the Kobold carried.

"I used to scout this place sometimes for the tribe, keeping an eye on what they were doing. I think we can take it but... I need some information."

She pulled out a simple brown travelling coat with a hood that had belonged to the Halfling tracker then removed her swords and jacket and swept the coat over herself. She then grabbed a palmful of dust and dirt and rubbed it over her face.

"I'm going inside to see."

"What? No way. That's far too dangerous."

The Goblin snorted. "I'm just another little Gobbo to the halfs, they won't give a shit, it'll be fine."

"It's too risky."

"You want to eat and become strong? You said yourself that Inquisitor is going to come for you. You have to be ready."

"I... just... just be careful," said Rain sighing.

Opal flashed him a white-toothed grin. "Easy. Now watch."

"W-wait, you can't leave me alone with him!" whimpered the Kobold, chained to a rock behind them.

Opal flatly ignored that and slipped down from the rock shelf and disappeared into the jungle foliage, climbing down a tree to reach the ground.

Rain watched silently as the hooded figure of Opal made her way out of the brush and onto the road and then hiked her way up it to the round opening guarded by the two Half-Goblins.

They pointed their spears at her and barked a command. Rain nearly leapt off the shelf to go after her but with difficulty managed to control himself, his claws scoring the stone as he held himself back. Opal meanwhile put on an act filled with simpering body language. She nearly fell to her knees she was so supplicant, repeatedly nodding her head and pleading with her hands. One of the halves eventually laughed and shook his head. He knocked the other's spear aside and she was allowed in. She entered through the circular tunnel and disappeared.

Rain leant back against the rock with a sigh. He rested his arm on his knee and settled in to wait.

About an hour later she returned and scrabbled back up the tree and leapt onto the shelf discarding the cloak.

"Okay. I got what I needed. This should be easy breezy. Probably. Maybe. Hopefully.... I think."

"What did you see?"

"A big cavern, but not open, it's nearly all filled with trees as I thought. That's what makes me think we can do this. All the trees mean they can't fight in a big group or find us easily."

"Makes sense. I can probably take on any Goblin or Half-Goblin one on one, just not the whole tribe at the same time."

"Exactly. The only problem is that Gobbo tribes always have multiple escape routes, it's how you got into my old tribe's camp remember? So while we can get in and take out a few of them most of the tribe will flee and vanish into the dungeon if they think they can't win."

Rain snorted. "You found all the escape tunnels didn't you."

"Yuss. There's three of them, not many, but this is a very defensive tribe for Gobbos. They made a lot of enemies by being so aggressive and bloodthirsty."

"We sneak in, block all the exits then kill the tribe bit by bit while they have no escape. You're getting scarily good at thinking up traps."

She grinned. "I know." Then pursed her lips. "Though there are some strong looking Half-Gobbos in there. This Gobbo tribe is wow, so slutty. They really banged anything they could get their grubby little hands on."

Opal grabbed the Kobold's chain and they slipped down into the jungle. They didn't take the road but slunk through the dark shadowy jungle following the wall of the cavern. Ahead Rain saw the two guards, this time from the side and close up. They were on a slight rise but not far from the edge of the foliage they hid under.

"You need to kill them both quick, can't let them get inside and call the alarm."

Rain nodded his agreement and set his feet, half crouched and ready.

Opal watched until they seemed particularly distracted, both talking to each other and looking away from where they hid, and then she dropped the hand she was holding up.

Rain moved. His feet drove down into the soil so hard it compressed beneath them. He exploded out of the foliage like a demonic shadow, his paws came down on the Lamia-goblin's shoulders and his jaws snapped shut on his neck like a bear trap instantly severing his spine. He rode the falling corpse to the ground and keeping his momentum fell on the second guard as they started to scream holding their spear up to try to defend themselves. Rain jabbed him in the gut ending the scream in a gargle then he grabbed his head and forcefully twisted, snapping his neck. The Human-goblin flopped to the ground dead.

Opal emerged from the foliage with the Kobold and slunk up by the side of the round tunnel to look in. After a moment she sighed in relief.

"No ones coming, looks like that scream wasn't heard, there's still no one there. Here, let's take them inside."

Each grabbed a guard by the arms and they dragged them through the short two meter tunnel. On the other side trees and bushes grew up close and they found a tree surrounded with dense foliage a little away from the entrance. To the Kobold's horror he was tied to the tree with the two half goblins either side of him. He gave the two corpses a wide eyed look.

"Y-you're just going to leave me here?! With these??"

"Yup!" said Opal brightly.

They returned to the tunnel. On this end of the tunnel was a massive thick stone disc to one side. Pegs were driven through a section of the disc with which ropes had been attached and left to dangle.

"This is the main door thing. They all heave on the ropes and pull the disc over the entrance blocking it off when they need to defend from other monsters or levelers or monster tribes."

Rain examined the disc and then stepped to one side and set his shoulder against it. He then heaved. His feet slid against the ground as he strained, but after a moment the disc began to ever so slowly move, inch by inch, then picking up speed it rolled over the entrance sealing it off. Opal drew her cutlass and then hacked all of the ropes attached to the pegs until there was nothing remaining. While Opal was doing that Rain found a wedge-shaped rock and together with another rock he hammered it under one side of the disc using his abundance of strength, ensuring it was nigh impossible to remove.

Opal gave him a thumbs up and they dashed off into the jungle. She led them around the perimeter until they came across a hole in the ground.

"Uh, got any ideas?"

Rain scratched his chin and frowned looking around, he then looked at a nearby tree growing next to the cavern wall. He moved up to it and tried pushing the trunk but to no avail. He then tried wrapping his arms around it and heaving, it moved, but only a little. Frustrated he climbed between the tree and the wall and pulled up his feet against the bark, then using the wall as leverage he shoved outward with all his might. He snarled and pushed himself to the limit. The tree cracked, and then with a groan it began to fall, finally crashing down over the hole and blocking it with its trunk. He couldn't have imagined doing something like this when he had first stumbled ashore on the great lake starving and soaked, he'd come a long way, his strength outpacing even his size.

Opal jumped around the trunk trying to see if she could slip down any gap. She could not and gave Rain the nod before they moved on. They were about to leave when a Goblin dashed out of the jungle.

"H-hey what was that noise? Wait, what is that monster you got with you!?"

Opal froze before quickly shifting disposition and making placating gestures.

"I was coming back with a new nice monster for the tribe to breed with and this tree fell on the hole I came in through just as I was getting out!"

"Uhh, really? Huh. Lucky you didn't get squashed... Wait why are you so clean apart from your face?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's embarrassing but if you must know I tripped and fell in a lake, I've only just got around to reapplying some nice dirt."

The Goblin eyed her suspiciously.

"I... don't know, that sounds kinda- ghurk!"

Opal stabbed him in the neck. Several times. Then dragged his body under a bush.

"Did that Goblin really just find the fact that you are clean more suspicious than the fact you have a monster like me with you?" said Rain in disbelief.

"You wouldn't get it. It's a Gobbo thing."

She grabbed his paw and pulled him back into the jungle. They quickly found the second escape tunnel. This one was more easily blocked with a nice nearby pile of rocks, they shoved and heaved them into the hole filling the bottom of it.

Soon enough they were on the way to the third potential escape route having yet to see another Goblin. That luck abruptly came to an end however as the final escape tunnel was right next to a camp of Half-Goblins.