Chapter 85: Blood-Soaked
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: Blood-Soaked
Hobgoblins are essentially a different species from the goblins you might occasionally encounter in the wild.
They are nearly the size of an adult human male, possess incredibly tough hides, and are reasonably intelligent. Though rudimentary, they possess metallurgical skills, allowing them to use metal weapons and even set traps to hunt adventurers.
If a party of Silver Badge adventurers were to accidentally stumble upon a hobgoblin hunting party while navigating the maze-like paths of the Ruins Section, they would have every reason to be nervous. If those bastards decided to commit to an attack, the adventurers would have to be prepared to die.
That’s the kind of monsters they are.
They aren't the kind of enemies someone like me—who hasn't even taken the exam for a Silver Badge yet—should be facing.
"Fuck!!!"
But I couldn't just stand still.
The Saintess was currently handling eighty percent of the monsters pushing into the Central Section all by herself. We couldn't rely on her help. We had to survive on our own, and to create a turning point in this insane melee, we had to return the adventurers possessed by skinwalkers to their original state.
"Kieeeeee!"
The hobgoblin in front of me let out a screech and swung its club.
In its filthy, hideous face, I could see a twisted sense of joy and lust directed at Rosier. As expected of those goblin bastards, they rushed in with their erect dicks dangling, not even trying to hide them the moment they saw a woman.
"Not a chance!"
I parried the incoming club with my shield and immediately swung my axe, splitting the charging hobgoblin’s head in half.
Blood sprayed from the skull, which had been sliced diagonally from the temple, and the hobgoblin collapsed. Another hobgoblin stepped over its corpse to approach.
"This is insane...!"
"Porter! Watch your back!"
"Agh!"
A club slammed into my head.
With a loud clang, my vision spun for a moment, but I didn't fall. It was likely thanks to the helmet the Guild Master had gifted me—made of rare metal and engraved with a shock-absorption sigil. Aside from a slight ringing in my ears, I didn't feel much of an impact.
That meant I could still fight.
"You son of a bitch!"
I swapped my axe for a sword. I needed a weapon with a longer reach that was better for thrusting.
After switching to a short sword, which was easy to swing even at close range, I gouged out the eyeball of the hobgoblin bastard who had just struck my head. I shoved the blade into its right eye socket, let go of the hilt, and immediately drew a new sword to pierce its throat.
Whenever a blade got stuck in bone and wouldn't come out, I had no choice but to abandon it. Retrieving them was a problem for later. Right now, I had to kill every goblin bastard pushing toward us.
"Shit...!"
There was no time to redraw weapons properly. I began swapping them out instantly, plunging all manner of blades into the bodies of the approaching enemies.
"Careful!"
Sasaro swung his sword, taking down a hobgoblin rushing from the side.
I couldn't cover every direction. Whenever a dangerous attack came my way, Rosier and Sasaro protected me, even at the cost of taking wounds themselves.
"Thank you."
"Save the thanks! Here comes the next one!"
A hobgoblin fell as Sasaro’s sword opened its belly. I split the head of the slumped creature and immediately engaged the next one.
I pushed back those who charged and parried their weapons with my shield, repeating the cycle over and over. Gradually, I lost even the briefest windows to swing my own weapon. There were too many of them. Just pushing back the ones right in front of me was exhausting.
'Damn it.'
How much longer do we have to hold out?
Is the holy incantation not finished yet?
Are the Saintess and Raphael even still alive?
"Paramel! Is it ready yet?!"
"It's... it's almost done...!"
Just as the sensation was fading from my left arm holding the shield, Paramel completed the Bug Repelling Blessing.
"Die! You vermin!"
Paramel screamed as if venting his pent-up rage.
An invisible ripple flowed out from the staff he held. This wasn't a standard Bug Repelling Blessing. It was a miracle closer to a sanctuary designation, capable of covering a vast area.
So that’s why it took so long. He intended to sweep them all up at once.
"K-Kuaaaagh...!"
"Bleargh...!"
"Wh-What the fuck...!"
The adventurers began to react.
The adventurers who had been attacking us while mingled with the monsters began to complain of dizziness and nausea. They started vomiting up the main bodies of the skinwalkers that had crawled into their heads.
Long, spindly insects poured out of their ears, mouths, and noses.
Some people died instantly. These were the ones whose brains had already been more than half-eaten.
"Wh-Where am I...?"
"Uh... what?!"
The adventurers who regained their senses amidst the monsters were dazed and confused. Seeing the Saintess and monsters rampaging together before their eyes, they didn't know what to do.
At that moment, Raphael, who was busy ripping the heads off High Orcs, roared.
"Grip your weapons and kill the enemy—!"
It was a roar loud enough to shake the entire Central Section. The Warrior's Roar unleashed by the pure-blooded barbarian snapped the adventurers back to their senses.
"Fuck it! Just fight for now!"
"Uwoooooh!"
Excluding those who died when the skinwalkers exited and those who collapsed from severe brain damage, the remaining adventurers grabbed their weapons and attacked the monsters.
The monsters were pushed back by the collective madness. The adventurers had begun their struggle for survival.
Bound together not by money or honor, but by the sheer will to live, their aggressive resistance began to turn the tide against the monsters pushing into the Central Section.
Adventurers and monsters tore into and killed each other.
Adventurers are notoriously difficult to manage as soldiers because of their strong individualities, but their personal combat prowess is exceptional. They are also people for whom individual survival is more important than camaraderie.
Ironically, that trait shone brightest in this kind of chaotic melee. Because they swung their weapons solely for their own protection without worrying about the person next to them, they were able to draw out 100 percent of their latent power.
The moment they shifted their targets from us to the monsters, the tide of battle began to turn.
Dozens of Silver Badge-level adventurers fought desperately to stay alive. The monsters were swept away by the chaos they caused, and the Central Section transformed into a scene of absolute carnage.
Finally, there was room to breathe. Taking advantage of the adventurers and monsters killing each other, we slowly moved to regroup with the Saintess.
"Huff... huff..."
"Saintess!"
Up close, the Saintess was not in a normal state.
Her once-pure white priestess robes were stained crimson, and her platinum blonde hair was also drenched in blood. Furthermore, the bodies of Gold Badge adventurers lay half-torn and dead before her.
She had been handling seven Gold Badges all by herself. I hadn't realized it when watching from a distance.
'Crazy. It wasn't just the Gold Badges... the Saintess handled all the variants too.'
No wonder variants like High Orc Sluggers or Warlocks hadn't come our way. She had drawn all the aggro and was dealing with them herself.
Looking at the mountain of corpses piled around her, I realized exactly why the Church refused to abandon her. If it weren't for the Saintess... we would have been massacred.
She was a madwoman who knew nothing but slaughter and insanity, but without her, we couldn't have handled this sheer volume.
"The situation seems to have settled somewhat. Filthy heretics."
The Saintess’s arm was mangled. Even though it was nearly torn off, she wore a faint smile. Did she have an ability that made the pain go away when she smiled? How could she smile in that state?
"Let's finish off the rest."
The Saintess cast a heal on herself. In an instant, her mangled arm returned to its original state, and all the wounds on her body were healed. Her clothes remained torn, but she didn't care whether her skin was showing or not. Not that any skin was visible anyway, as she was completely drenched in blood.
'Now I can finally breathe.'
With Raphael joining us as well, things truly became manageable. The Inquisitors cleared out the enemies while keeping me and Paramel in the center, allowing me to rest for a moment. My left arm was still tingling; the muscles had been pushed quite hard.
"It seems no more are coming."
"Phew..."
Soon, the monster wave stopped. The Central Section reeked of blood from the corpses of dead adventurers and monsters.
"Even in all this, there isn't a single heretic corpse."
"Those bastards."
Sasaro and Raphael ground their teeth. The Saintess, looking dazed as if her energy was spent, sat on the corpse of a High Orc Slugger with her head bowed, drooling slightly. Paramel and Rosier began to rally the surviving adventurers.
'The Central Section base camp is completely destroyed... the heretics must have taken all the supplies I brought down.'
The base camp the strategy team had established when we first descended was in ruins, and all the supplies had been stolen by the heretics.
"I'll start clearing the corpses quickly."
If we wanted to use the Central Section as a base camp again, we had to clear the piles of bodies first. You can't do anything in a field of corpses. I figured I could quickly store the bodies in my inventory and then use the Labyrinth Vine Beans Rafnel gave me to clean up the blood soaking the floor.
"Is there anything we can do to help?"
"No, not particularly. Oh, here are some torches. Could you light them up?"
"Understood."
I pulled all the torches from my inventory and handed them to Rosier and Paramel. It was time to fill the Central Section with light again. Since Holy Light consumes divine power, it would be better for the Inquisitors to rest while we used torches for illumination.
'This is incredible.'
The number of monsters killed was staggering. I wondered how much money I could make if I sold all of these. The Church would take their cut, the Guild would take a portion to invest in health services for the adventurers killed by the heretics, and so on.
'So many adventurers died too.'
Just looking at the Gold Badge adventurers, there were more than ten corpses. It was more than the seven I had seen earlier. Over a dozen had died at the Saintess's hand, and the number of adventurers who died fighting monsters was also immense.
'These people...'
I recognized the faces of some who had descended into the labyrinth with me during the campaign. If there was any consolation, it was that since they hadn't been used as sacrifices, they could be resurrected if taken back up. With the skills required to enter the Underground City, they could probably pay off their debts by working for the Church for about four years without having to fall into slavery.
"Hey, Porter."
"Yes, Saintess."
While I was in the middle of collecting corpses, the Saintess, having finished her recovery, spoke to me.
"You were right. About the Bug Repelling Blessing. I'm sorry I couldn't use it for you."
"No, Saintess."
It had been an unreasonable request to ask of someone struggling against Gold Badge-level monsters. The Saintess had handled all the Gold Badges alone, and while killing variant monsters, she had even used the Arrow Repelling Blessing to protect us from ranged attacks.
She already had more than enough on her plate; asking her to use the Bug Repelling Blessing on top of that might have momentarily overloaded her mind, making it hard to judge the situation. I understood. Unreasonable requests in combat situations lead to a decline in judgment.
Besides, I had already heard she was someone obsessed with slaughter. I knew that complaining to her would only sour the atmosphere.
The Saintess was essentially the leader of this heretic-hunting party. If a party member harbors resentment toward the leader, it only brings instability and confusion to the team. Furthermore, the fact that she apologized first meant she was still maintaining her sanity.
There was no need for me to push the leader with unnecessary words. The Saintess was already doing all the heavy lifting. We would have been wiped out if it weren't for her, so it was only right to show her respect.
"I'll be counting on you."
"Yes. Please rest, Saintess. Oh, once I'm done retrieving the bodies, I'll prepare some water. You should wash off the blood."
"Oh... a subspace pocket really is convenient."
The Saintess returned to her spot.
I wanted to wash up too. My entire body was damp with blood.