Malphegor
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MoP: Ch. 79
🕑 Added 2025-03-16 19:40:59 +0000 UTC"Later, I'll go this way, CowardlySurvivor will take the right, and Lux will go left. Keep a distance of seven rooms between each of the three bombs."
"Once the fuses are set, we'll regroup and wait. After the LootGoblin leaves, we'll plant the final bomb."
"We have to finish everything within an hour. You guys good with that?"
The goblins' shift change cycle was one hour. An hour later, the goblins they'd dealt with would be fully exposed.
The three of them were confident they could pull it off, but LootGoblin trying to leave might end up trapped.
Both nodded simultaneously.
"No problem!"
CowardlySurvivor raised his hand with a suggestion, "I think just blowing up the ruins isn't loud enough. Before the explosion, we could deliberately create a commotion to lure the goblins over!"
Garble considered it and agreed. "That's doable, but it's risky. We need to ensure we still have time to light the fuse."
"We'll adjust the details as needed during the operation."
Ten minutes wasn't much time. Once the plan was confirmed, the three quickly split up.
Tap, tap, tap.
A goblin swayed its head as it walked past the light source. It glanced around casually before wobbling away again.
Garble immediately emerged from the shadows, flipped through a window, and entered a room.
Using a machete, he pried loose a shaky stone brick from the wall.
He laid down dry grass, inserted a bomb, buried the fuse, added the fuel, and finally disguised the setup.
When everything was done, only five minutes had passed.
Before the next patrolling goblin arrived, he flipped back out of the window and disappeared again.
---
Elsewhere, LootGoblin walked nervously down a corridor.
A patrolling goblin tilted its head suspiciously, staring at him. The goblins moved freely, but most of them were already asleep at this late hour.
Seeing him outside at this time was indeed strange.
LootGoblin forced himself to relax and mimicked a daytime greeting.
"Valeng! Mira!"
It was said that combining these two words carried rich meanings for goblins: It could mean "I'm hungry, let's find food," or "I'm bored, let's have fun," or even "I'm hurt, take me to a healer."
In any case, it was all up to the listener's imagination.
The patrolling goblin looked confused at first, then had a sudden realization.
Wasn't this the fellow who got poisoned by the green-tailed weasel toxin?
Still a bit dazed, their vocabulary remained limited.
Though a lowly goblin itself, the patrol goblin always felt its intellect was far superior to its peers.
In just three minutes, it pieced together the other's intentions.
Its expression shifted from wary confusion to a lewd, teasing grin.
"Sada! Fara!"
It waved its arms and approached him, raising its chin.
LootGoblin stared blankly at the gesture, unresponsive.
Internally, he was screaming, What's going on?! Why does this goblin seem like it wants to follow me?!
It wasn't just "seeming"; the goblin actually did want to follow.
As the patrolling goblin grew impatient and was about to get angry, it had another epiphany.
Ah, the poor thing was too dumb to remember the destination.
So, it grabbed LootGoblin's hand and tried to lead him.
LootGoblin struggled, using learned phrases to indicate he wanted to go alone, but the goblin ignored him.
The goblin was much stronger than him. He had no chance to resist and was dragged away.
Great, he thought, giving up futile resistance.
He turned to look at the receding original path and closed his eyes in despair.
His dinner, his escape plan… He was definitely going to report this goblin for dereliction of duty!
---
When Garble returned near the meeting point, he suddenly spotted a goblin emerging from the shadows at the corner.
"!!!"
A goblin outside its patrol schedule!
His pupils shrank, and he immediately flipped into a nearby room. Fortunately, the goblin's destination wasn't his hiding spot.
It walked straight past without even glancing inside. Naturally, it didn't see him crouched below the window.
Before Garble could breathe a sigh of relief, another set of goblin footsteps approached.
His heart tightened.
Another one. And another. And another... Four goblins in a row passed by before the noise outside finally quieted.
He exhaled slowly, suspicion rising in his mind.
What were so many goblins doing at the ruins in the dead of night?
Activating Wind Concealment, he turned invisible and peeked out. He saw them entering the room where the players had agreed to meet!
Not long after.
Lux was sneaking quietly along the wall when two hands appeared from a nearby window and yanked her inside.
"!!!"
"Shh!"
Before she could resist, Garble covered her mouth.
"It's us."
She saw her companions and swallowed back a scream.
"You scared me half to death! Do you realize how terrifying that was?" she said, full of resentment.
It was like she was playing a horror game!
CowardlySurvivor laughed gleefully. "I went through the same thing earlier. You'll get used to it."
Garble quickly explained, "The meeting point was taken over by goblins, so I had to intercept you on the way."
Fortunately, his timing was spot on, and he managed to catch both.
Hearing this, Lux's expression grew grave.
"What about LootGoblin? He won't log out to check our messages right now."
CowardlySurvivor shrugged. "His disguise as a goblin should keep him safe. He just can't leave."
Garble frowned, resting his finger on his chin.
"The three bombs are set, but we have to detonate the last one in that room for the chain reaction to work."
Their bombs were simple and fragile.
Too far apart, and the chain reaction wouldn't occur; too close, and the blast's shockwave and heat would destroy the others.
Either way, the secondary explosions would fail.
"I agree!" CowardlySurvivor said immediately. "A bunch of goblins gathering like that looks suspicious. We might as well check it out."
Lux had no objections. "We just need to leave enough time for the bombs to react. Worst case, we die there."
They planned to take a quick look, light the fuse, and leave immediately.
The room was only three square meters and couldn't hold too many goblins. They'd have enough time to trigger the chain reaction.
Back in the original room, it was empty.
The three of them froze.
Garble frowned. "Something's not right. They didn't leave!"
He pressed his ear to the wall and heard faint noises.
"There's something off about this wall!" he said confidently.
CowardlySurvivor's eyes widened. "The ruins have secret doors?"
They hadn't noticed earlier!
Lux looked complicated.
"We were plotting at the entrance to a secret passage? What kind of insane luck is that!"
And they hadn't even been caught!
CowardlySurvivor rolled up his sleeves.
"I've read plenty of locked-room murder mysteries. This kind of mechanism is no big deal."
Since they were planning to take the direct approach anyway, he wasn't afraid of exposing their presence.
Earlier, it was too dark, plus the three of them hadn't been wary of any hidden traps. But in reality, finding a mechanism in such a tiny three-square-meter space was quite straightforward.
As the firelight brightened, the only moss-free stone brick on the floor practically screamed, "I'm suspicious!"
When he stepped on it, a small door appeared on the wall, about as wide as a window—just enough for one person to pass through.
The three players exchanged glances, then lined up to enter.
The passage wasn't long, and because it was frequently traversed, it wasn't even damp.
Before long, they saw a faint glow of firelight ahead, accompanied by barely audible growls.
At the end of the passage, there was a T-shaped hallway, giving them a chance to avoid being instantly spotted by the goblins.
They picked a direction at random and quietly crept toward the corner.
As the distance shortened, a strange, indescribable stench filled the air—a mix of rust, rot, and despair.
The closer they got, the louder the sounds became.
Covering their noses, the three crouched at the corner of the hallway, deliberately lying low to peek inside.
The dim lighting on the ground made it less likely for their movements to be noticed.
At first, they planned to take a quick look and leave. But once they got a clear view, all of them froze in unison.
What the hell?!
CowardlySurvivor's eyes widened as he stared at the scene inside, dumbstruck.
The space was much larger than outside, yet with so many goblins crammed inside, it still seemed crowded.
The goblins growled and laughed among themselves, and between their movements, they revealed glimpses of skin that clearly didn't belong to them.
There were people underneath them.
"Sh-..."
He swallowed the curse word stuck in his throat, his expression dark and grim.
"Why does this game make this part so realistic?"
Realistic to the point of having none of the romanticized aesthetics often seen in certain comics or novels.
The room stank terribly, with unknown liquids everywhere.
Every step the goblins took produced squelching noises, like treading through puddles.
A lifeless pair of eyes met Garble's gaze—empty and puppet-like, as though all vitality had been drained away.
Unable to bear it, he looked away.
"Viktor once said that goblins' way of life is extremely primitive," CowardlySurvivor muttered.
Their primitive methods of reproduction were clearly part of that.
Lux clung tightly to the cracks in the wall, her bloodshot eyes brimming with fury.
"These beasts!"
No, they weren't even beasts. This was worse than animal behavior!
In less than a minute, the scene inside had their hearts clenched in agony.
CowardlySurvivor closed his eyes and took a deep breath before pulling out a machete from his backpack.
"Damn it, I can't stand this!"
Lux sniffled and drew his weapon as well. "I'm with you!"
Before Garble could say anything, the two had already charged out.
"Leeroyyyy Jenkins! Hand over the hostages! Get the hell off of them!"
Catching the goblins off guard, they managed to take down two nearby goblins with swift strikes.
But the goblins quickly reacted, transitioning into combat mode and lunging at the two of them.
While the goblins had the advantage in numbers, CowardlySurvivor and Lux had superior stamina and weapons.
For a moment, neither side could gain the upper hand.
Garble shook his head and delivered a powerful kick to a goblin attempting to ambush CowardlySurvivor, slamming it into the wall.
CowardlySurvivor turned his head in delight. "Garble?!"
"I never said I wasn't joining."
Garble carefully helped up the helpless individuals on the ground. They didn't seem to notice what was happening around them. However, the goblins had thrown them down, they remained in the exact same positions, motionless.
If it weren't for their warm skin and the faint rise and fall of their chests, he might have thought they were mannequins.
Clearing his head of any stray thoughts, he called out, "Let's get them out of here first!"
Their lack of resistance made things easier.
Players, who were used to carrying out heavy manual labor daily, found it surprisingly easy to drag three lightweight women out of the room.
CowardlySurvivor and Lux supported them while he covered their retreat.
By blocking the one-person-wide passage, they rendered the goblins' numerical advantage useless.
"Ahh!"
A goblin seized an opportunity and bit deeply into Garble's thigh, causing blood to gush out.
Bang!
Garble delivered a punch and a kick, sending the goblin flying.
Wiping blood from his eyes, he sneered, "Hah, your bite hurts less than a mosquito. Used up all your strength earlier, huh?"
In response, more goblins filled his field of vision.
From behind, Lux's voice rang out.
"Garble, we're out!"
Leaning against the wall, Garble smirked. "Alright, goodbye!"
He grabbed a pouch of sand from his backpack and scattered it behind him.
The remaining goblins shrieked and collapsed, clutching their eyes in pain.
"See? Carrying extra tools always comes in handy!"
Laughing softly, he bent down and slipped into the narrow passageway like a fish, tossing items from his backpack along the way to create obstacles.
Before long, he reached the exit.
The moment he emerged, CowardlySurvivor and Lux sealed the passage and piled stones and bricks to block the entrance.
Clutching his bleeding leg, Garble glanced at the goblin lying on the ground, his brow furrowing.
"What's this?"
"We didn't come out at a great time. One of them showed up, so we knocked it out," CowardlySurvivor explained briefly.
Lux looked at the three women leaning against the wall, worry in his eyes.
"There was too much commotion earlier. More goblins will show up soon. Garble, you'll have to take them away."
All three were badly injured, especially Garble, whose thigh wound was still bleeding heavily, with bone faintly visible.
But Garble, having undergone a second transformation and mastered wind magic, was the only one with a chance of escaping with the hostages.
As battle-hardened veterans, they made life-and-death decisions with remarkable calm and decisiveness.
Garble nodded without hesitation. "Alright, take care of yourselves!"
CowardlySurvivor and Lux quickly secured the three women to his back and chest.
Lux gently touched his leg wound, releasing a soft white light. The edges of the wound began to coagulate, stopping the heavy bleeding despite the scarred appearance.
"My Holy Light spell can only do this much," Lux said, his pale face betraying his exhaustion.
"Time is tight. Be careful on the road!"
Before he could finish speaking, the blocked passage began to tremble, as if a horde of goblins was ramming against it.
CowardlySurvivor and Lux rushed to press their hands against the passage's entrance with all their strength.
"Garble, go! If you don't leave now, it'll be too late!" CowardlySurvivor gritted his teeth, his voice resolute.
"Remember, the bomb takes 30 seconds to detonate!"
With a final word of caution, Garble stopped looking back and carried the three women through the gap in the wall…
Comments
lohan seibert raimundo
Obrigado pelo capítulo
Malphegor
I tried to tone down the darker stuff, unless you want it dark, but that would change the established tone of the story
