Primordial Red Goblin

Chapter 136: Triage

I rushed into the chamber and killed the nearest two before any of them could react. The rest of them then attacked me and within two minutes they were all dead. I looked around and counted fourteen living women and several human and beast-kin corpses. The living women were a mix of humans, beast-kin, and elves. Along one of the walls I found the woman the aura was coming from. She was a race of beast-kin I haven’t seen before. Her tail was long and thin with very short fine hair and she had short round ears. Her hair was brown. She was unconscious. As with all of the other women she was naked and emaciated, even with all of the blood and dirt caked on her skin I could clearly see her ribs. I pulled a couple of blankets and water jugs from my rings and began gathering the women together and gave them the blankets and water.

"Stay here and be quiet, I still have two more passages to clear out." I told one of the few responsive women.

I then left the chamber and went to the next one. Inside I found a second breeding chamber. There were six goblin champions abusing several more women. The first one spotted me before I could attack and let out a loud roar. I immediately attacked and ran my sword into it’s throat cutting the roar short. The other five charged me together. The first one swung and missed as I ducked but the second one kicked me square in the ribs sending me into a nearby wall. I hit the ground and immediately jumped back up as one of them swung a club at me. I ducked and cut a deep gash into it’s thigh and stepped past it to the next and stabbed it in the gut. The next one kicked me in the side of my knee causing it to buckle. I dropped to my knee and swung my sword removing the hand of the nearest one as it swiped it’s claws at me. I rolled under another club as it passed close enough over my head to hear the whistle as it passed by. I jumped out of the roll swinging and my sword removed one of their heads. I spun around and caught a fist in the side of my head that sent me two steps to the side. I swung my sword at the next one and scored a slash across it’s chest. I dodged another claw swipe and returned to the one bleeding from it’s gut and stabbed it again and ripped my blade sideways opening it’s gut as it spilled onto the ground. A foot hit me in the back sending me forward into the champion I had just gutted. We fell together as I rolled off of it and blocked a club with my sword. I kicked the one that had just swung the club square in it’s jewels causing it to double over onto it’s knees. I slit it’s throat as I stepped past it to the next one. The one handed champion swung the claws of it’s remaining hand and lost that hand as well. I spun around to the other one just as it’s claws raked across my breastplate. I punched it in the teeth before running my blade into it’s mouth and through it’s skull. I pulled my sword out and turned to the one missing it’s hands and beheaded it. With all six of them now dead I checked on the women in the chamber. I found eight of them still alive and in the same condition as the others. I didn’t have any more blankets to cover them with so I left them with two water jugs and went to the final chamber. Inside were several more hobgoblins. Within three minutes I killed them and found eleven more women still living. I began gathering the women in the cavern at the bottom of the ledge. In total there were thirty-three living women. Thirteen of them were visibly pregnant and none of them had the strength to walk five feet let alone walk up the ledge and out of the cave.

"Stay here, I have to go outside to get my people. I will be right back with enough people to get all of you out of here okay?" I said to the ones able to understand me.

I ran up the ledge and through the passageway to rhe guards I left at the entrance.

"Master, you’re back. Did you kill them all?" Asked the lion-kin man.

"Yes I did. I need you to run back to the caravan and tell Sarah to bring everyone here. Tell Lucy there are thirty-three women in very bad condition that need her help. When they get here start sending people down to help me get them out of there." I said.

"Yes sir." He nodded before running toward the caravan.

I pulled out my communication artifact and activated it to contact the priestess in Emerald City.

"Hello? Mr. Red?" She answered.

"Yes, it’s me. I need you to contact the High Priestess immediately and have her use the artifact to speak to me. Tell her it’s important." I said.

"Okay Mr. Red. I will do that immediately." She said.

I put the artifact back in my ring and ran back into the cave. Once at the bottom I sat with the women and waited for the others to come down. After half an hour I was the first lanterns enter the top of the cavern. Lucy’s hands were glowing before she reached the first woman. She checked them all and began healing the one that needed it the most. Sarah, Amber, Lyra, and all of the sisters came behind her with Ginger and Roux and they began passing out blankets. Lucy began pointing out the ones that could be moved and the sisters helped them to their feet and supported them as they began the walk up the ledge.

"Which one did you sense?" Sarah asked.

"That one." I said pointing at the still unconscious woman.

"She’s alive, barely. And she’s pregnant." Lucy said with her hands glowing over the unconscious woman.

"These poor women." Lyra mumbled.

Sarah noticed the claw marks on my breastplate and put her fingers on them.

"What did you find down there?" She asked.

"One of those passages had six goblin champions in it and I had to fight all of them at once." I answered.

"What?" Six of them at once?" She gasped.

"Yeah, good thing you got me this armor." I chuckled.

"You need to be more careful." Amber said.

"Right. Does anyone know what race this woman is?" I asked.

"I think she is a mouse-kin." Roux said.

"Really?" I asked.

"I’m not sure. They aren’t from this continent but the tail and her small ears match the description of a mouse-kin, that and the fact that she is smaller than any other beast-kin I’ve ever seen." Roux said.

An hour after I called the priestess my communication artifact began glowing and vibrating inside my ring. I pulled it out and activated it.

"Hello?" I said.

"Mr. Red? The is Elyndra. I was told to contact you about something important." She said.

"Yes. I’m deep underground and I just cleared out the biggest goblin cave I’ve ever seen. I found thirty-three women still alive down here, and one of them has an aura similar to you and Cornelius." I explained.

"What race is she?" Elyndra asked quietly.

"I’m not sure, but one of my women thinks she might be a mouse-kin. I would ask her but she has been unconscious since I found her." I answered.

"Where are you?" She asked.

I pulled out my map and checked it before giving Elyndra the grid coordinates.

"I’ll gather some people and I’ll be there by morning to retrieve the women." She said.

"I’ll be waiting." I replied.

The artifact went silent and I put it back in my ring. It took another hour to get all of the women out of the cave. Sarah had the caravan set up in a semicircle around the entrance to the cave and the guards were guarding the perimeter. Lucy had chosen two wagons and three tents to put the women in while she moved between them healing what she could. Once outside the cave I removed my helmet and took in a deep breath of fresh air. I heard a gasp and looked over to see Sarah looking at me.

"You evolved again?" She asked.

"Yes I did. I evolved before I even made it to the bottom of that ledge. It’s a good thing too because I probably wouldn’t have been able to fight six goblin champions at once if I was still one myself. As you can see they landed a few hits and without this armor I would have a hole in my chest." I answered.