Ichor Cell-Chapter 54: Goblin Slaying II

Ichor Cell-Chapter 54: Goblin Slaying II

To describe the state of the guild hall as pandemonium would be an understatement. Adventurers argued, shouted ran around, and did just about anything imaginable when one received bad news. A mere day ago, Alex would have laughed at such a reaction in the face of puny, useless goblins.
Unfortunately, this was no laughing matter.
A goblin nest was a high priority target of elimination no matter what, not to mention that this one was close to the city
and
it already had a strong variant.
The monster guide he’d read in the library did not contain much information about goblin living arrangements, but Alex assumed that most tribes were led by a variant. It would make sense for groups to form around a powerful central figure.
“Back, back, everyone back!” The receptionist shouted at the small crowd that had gathered around the sobbing woman. “Give her some space! And someone get me a healer!”
The crowd awkwardly retreated, though a man stepped forward and pulled out a glowing gadget. “I know a calming spell.” The man said. “Should I use it?”
The woman threw a glance at the increasingly catatonic adventurer on the ground and hardened her features. “Do it.”
With a nod, the man focused on the gadget and soon enough, a small pulse of light flared from his hands. Immediately, the sobbing woman’s breathing slowed as the magic took effect.
Her chest rose and fell in steady, trembling breaths. Her eyes lost some of their frantic wildness, though the shock remained unmistakable. She blinked several times, trying to orient herself.
The receptionist gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Iris, hey, Iris, can you hear me?”
“Yeah, I… I can.” She whispered. Her voice shook. “Just give me… give me a moment.”
“What happened?” the receptionist asked gently.
The woman swallowed before answering, another tremor going through her body.
“I…” A look of terror flashed across her face before suddenly fading. “We were sent out on a scouting mission for a suspected goblin den in Westwood Grove.”
Alex grimaced. He understood the necessity of it, but the idea of having his thoughts or emotions suppressed, even for a ‘beneficial’ reason didn’t sit right with him.
“We set out before noon, hoping to get the job done before the sun went down.” Iris continued woodenly. “We found the ed sighting area and followed the tracks leading from it. We soon confirmed a goblin den, at least a thousand strong.”
A few of the surrounding adventurers stiffened, while a particularly large man muttered a curse.
“Just when we were about approach,
it
emerged.” Even through the calming magic, a shiver of fear passed through the woman. “It must have been close to twelve feet tall and half that wide. From our observations, it possesses at least two racial traits, though there is probably a third, less obvious one.”
The surroundings fell into a deathly silence as it was finally confirmed. A few people’s faces flashed with fear as they looked seconds away from bolting.
“And then what?” The same receptionist asked quietly. “We need to know as much information as possible if we are to mount an attack.”
“Then… we were discovered.” Iris explained how her group got stumbled upon by a stray goblin. “Kael… Kael was the first to realise. He yelled at us to run while he charged the variant.
Iris’s breathing hitched again, but she pushed herself to continue.
“He bought us a few seconds, maybe less. We barely had time to get out of sight before we heard it crashing through the trees behind us. It was over so fast.” Iris clenched her jaw.
“We immediately knew that there was no getting away from it, at least not as weak as we were. Rhea and Senna…” She choked back another sob. “They turned back to buy me more time. We knew we had to get this information back to the guild, no matter what. Senna cast a lightening spell on me, hoping I could outrun it.”
“So I ran. I ran as fast as I could.” Her hand drifted to her shoulder, where the blood had dried thickly. “I didn’t get far before it threw something at me. A rock, a tree branch—I don’t know. It clipped me right here.” She tapped the torn leather and the long gash beneath. “I thought it was going to take my arm off. But I got away.”
Her fingers trembled.
She looked up again, meeting the onlooker’s eyes.
“My friends… I don’t know what happened to them. I know the chances are slim, I know I have no right to ask this of you, but could you please save them?”
“Don’t worry lass.” A voice suddenly cut through the quiet. “We were planning on doing that even without your request.”
Everyone looked over.
A woman stood on the second floor balcony, her expression stern. She wasn’t dressed in ornate armour or ceremonial robes—merely expensive looking leathers. The only remarkable thing about her was how unremarkable she appeared, as well the platinum badge flashing on her lapel.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please it.
But the hall reacted to her presence instantly.
“Guild master!” A receptionist exclaimed in surprise.
‘Guild master?’
Alex raised an eyebrow, assessing the woman. For a supposed powerhouse, she didn’t look too impressive.
Seemingly sensing his gaze, the adventurer glanced at him before hopping over the railing and falling to the ground. Standing up, her gaze swept calmly across the shaken adventurers, the blood-stained floor, and finally Iris herself.
She approached the woman and lowered herself into a half-crouch, levelling her gaze with the injured woman’s without a hint of condescension.
“You did well to return alive,” she said simply. “Your comrades bought you this chance. You honoured it. Be proud of that.”
Iris’s chin trembled. “They’re still out there,” she whispered. “Or they might be. I don’t know. But they… they deserve a chance.”
“And they will get one.”
The guild master rose, turning to face the room.
“We have an emergency on our hands.” She announced. “A goblin infestation is always a problem, much less one with a high tier variant and so close to the city. Now that it knows it has been discovered, the worst-case scenario would be for the variant to flee, allowing to live and breed further.”
Hushed whispers broke out among the crowd, though no one looked particularly surprised.
“Given the circumstances, with my authority as a guild master, I hereby issue an emergency mission open to all present Bronze and above adventurers.” Her gaze roved over the crowd. “I am aware of the risk involved, so any who participate will be handsomely rewarded as compensation; one silver per goblin, ten per variant, a hundred for a tier two and so on.”
The crowd’s expressions shifted, wariness replaced with naked greed. A few of them looked ready to bolt outside on the spot.
“When do we set out?” The tall man with the calming spell asked. Now that he was paying more attention, Alex could see a gold badge pinned to the man’s chest, denoting him as only one rank below the guild master.
“I plan to leave within half an hour, to not give them time to prepare.” The woman replied. “Does your question mean you will be joining me?”
“Of course.” The man nodded. “I can’t exactly ignore such a massive threat right on our doorstep.”
The guild master nodded her thanks.
Taking the Gold rank adventurer’s lead, others expressed their willingness to join one by one. In the end, only one Silver and a trio of Bronzes declined to participate in the operation, citing tiredness and the late hour as reasons.
Paying them no mind, she turned to address those that had stayed. It was soon revealed that they had a group of one Gold, four Silvers and ten Bronzes, plus the guild master herself, a Platinum adventurer. A force to be reckoned with, to be sure, but pitifully little when up against a thousand goblins with a third-generation variant.
The gathered adventurers obviously knew that.
“I will personally handle the variant,” the guild master said in an attempt to reassure them. “Remus will provide support,” She indicated the Gold rank adventurer. “I know that it doesn’t seem like the odds are in our favour, but you will all likely only have to face regular goblins and the occasional variant—something I know you can handle.
“The main difficulty of this fight will be in managing your stamina to not be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, but the two of us will hopefully be done with our fight by that point.” The guild master looked them each in the eye. “You all just need to hold on until then. I’ll buy you a drink when this is over.”
With a series of grim nods, the gathered adventurers scattered to get any gear they might need after agreeing to meet up in twenty minutes.
Taking the opportunity, Alex approached the guild master despite Grenil’s insistent urging. The old man threw his hands up in exasperation, walking over to a nearby bench.
Noticing his approach, the guild master’s eyes flickered to the Wood rank badge on Alex’s shirt before focusing on his face.
“Are you here to ask if you can join the attack?” The woman guessed his purpose.
“i…” Alex faltered, before an awkward smile crossed his face. “Yeah.”
“Fine then.” The woman held out her hand, palm facing him. “Come on then.”
“Uh, come on what?” He gave her a puzzled look.
“Hit me.” She gestured with her other hand. “I want to know if you’ll be useful out there or if you’re just dead weight.”
Alex nodded in understanding. “I see… Ok, then please be careful. I puck quite a… punch.” He smirked at his own joke.
“Yeah, yeah.” The woman rolled her eyes. “I’ve heard that one before. Just do it.”
“If you insist.” Alex shrugged as he took a stance.
Pulling back his fist, he decided to infuse only his arm in order to not injure the guild master by accident. They were letting Bronze ranks into this mission, so this level of strength should be more than enough to grant him a place on the team.
With a whoosh, he swung his fist through the air and hit the awaiting hand, a small shockwave spreading out from the point of impact.
“Ow.” He pulled back his hand, gently massaging it as he stared at the unmoved woman. It was one thing for her to be able to withstand his attacks, it was a whole other for him to hurt himself hitting her.
The guild master also looked at him in surprise, a relieved gleam in here eyes.
“A body mage with strength near the top of the silver tier.” She said appreciatively. “Very good. You’re on.”
‘Only silver?’
Alex frowned, slightly disappointed with the assessment.
‘Well, I did only infuse an arm. I’m sure I can cross into gold if I go all out.’
Having satisfied his vanity, he quickly saluted the woman and went to rejoin Grenil on his bench.
“I’m in.” He said as he slid in next to the old man.
“Of course you are.” He said irritably. “But why?”
“Why not?” Alex argued back. “You heard what she said; this is a threat to the entire city. We can’t just ignore it. And besides, we need money. This is such a good opportunity. It would be a waste not to use it.”
“Bah.” Grenil waved him away. “You’re just impatient. You’d make enough money on your own eventually. This will just speed up the timeline slightly. I don’t think it’s worth joining a mission with such a low chance of success.”
Alex raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think we’re going to win?”
“I think it could go either way.” The old man shook his head. “Which is way too uncertain a chance for you to be risking your life for.”
“Aw, old man, I didn’t know you cared.” Alex joked.
“Go away.” The old man turned away from him, focusing on the plate of food one of the waiters brought in front of him.
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Alex noticed that some of the adventurers had already come back and were grouping up around the guild master. With a final goodbye, he got up and walked over to join them, nodding at the woman in charge and receiving a nod in return.
Soon enough, the rest of the strike squad had gathered, except for one Bronze that seemed to have chickened out at the last second. A few of the gathered adventurers noticed Alex’s Wood badge and sent him weird looks, but since the guild master didn’t say anything, they ignored him too.
“Well, that should be everyone.” The woman in question slowly looked at each of them, as if memorising their faces. She didn't give any grand speeches, neither did she tell them they were going to survive. she simply nodded, proud of the men in front of her.
“Let’s go.”

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Chapter 54: Goblin Slaying II