Chương 41: Chapter 38

Her gear was ready by morning; her leather vest looked new, her gloves were polished, and her helmet had lost the hole Ivess had made using a knife. Overall, she was ready to go back into the forest and start killing greenskins once more; and everyone expected her to do this. To them, she had turned into someone who only had use when Goblins were around. Sobelle had finished her usual routine and was getting ready to leave for the forest. Chael chose to visit at this time.

She had left shortly after dinner the night before, and Sobelle assumed that would have been the last time she saw the young merchant for a while.

"Are you going to be okay?" Chael gripped her chest as she watched Sobelle put on her long sleeves followed by the rest of her gear. The young merchant giggled, it was meant to sound like she wasn't worried but the undertone of anxiety was there. Sobelle could feel it.

"Who am I kidding? Of course you are. You've done this several times already— ah—ah— what are you doing?!"

"Hugging you." Truth be told, Sobelle was incredibly scared. She still had those nightly visions where she was taken by goblins, and she woke up sweating every single time.

"I want to reassure you that I'll be fine." She also wanted to feel someone's warmth just in case it was the last time she ever got to touch another human being. This was her only chance, and she'd gladly take it.

"R-right! You're right!" Chael pushed her away suddenly and she covered her reddened face with her hair.

"Uhm. I'm going back home okay? I need to go do something else, I'm sure that my father is looking for me!"

"Goodbye." Sobelle waved as the merchant left. Chael was weird sometimes and was incredibly hard to understand at the worst of them, but maybe that was just how merchants were. Sobelle exhaled, "guess I need to go and do my own thing too." Goblins don't kill themselves, but maybe it'd be better if they did. The world would be better off that way. The forest was peaceful this time of day, Sobelle had made sure to steer clear of the hidden lake now that she actively hunted the greenskins.

Anything that led to the discovery of her second camp was simply not ideal, and so Sobelle must avoid it as much as she could. She risked losing the structures she built with Chael if the greenskins were to ever find it. Having leather against her hands felt strangely right, the new grip of her spear made wielding it feel like night and day compared to when she held nothing but wood. The lack of splinters on her gloves was pretty nice too, it was annoying to pry those off every evening.

Sobelle ventured deeper than she ever had before; the sunlight that had been ever present up until now disappeared and she was left with nothing but her eyes and hearing to stave off the darkness. It was getting hard to navigate and Sobelle had to put all her focus into walking, otherwise she'd trip and fall over something she wouldn't see. That or she'd step head first into a spider's web or even accidentally get too close to a snake.

Both of those would end up being fatal if she were to ever be bitten, and so utmost caution was how Sobelle went about when it came to moving. [Flow State] eventually activated and this was when things became even easier for her. Sobelle felt the forest around her come alive, the cold wind, the warm soil, the sounds she made when she crushed dead leaves under her boots, and even the shaking of her spear every time its butt hit the ground: all of these were felt by Sobelle.

She avoided any potential snake ambushes by tapping her spear forward before her feet, and webs were avoided with scent. Sobelle hadn't noticed it until now, but those things had a weird, dusty smell to them. Like the old broom used by her stepmother, or the layers of dust that build up on the wood of a bedframe. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Seeing was still impossible unfortunately, so Sobelle had to make use of everything but her eyes.

She eventually decided that it was better off if she were to just close her eyes entirely, so she did. Eyes closed and reliant on nothing but her ears and the feel of her skin, Sobelle continued until her nose picked up the scent of Goblins. Her mind went back to the time she went to the camp the greenskins left behind, her nose had familiarized itself with the scent and she compared her memories of this smell to the one that her nose picked up and found herself gagging in the same way.

Visceral reactions were truly rare for Sobelle, so she knew she had found her quarry. More importantly, the forest had the aroma of wood and earth, so the foul stench of Goblins stood out like a flame in the night. And speaking of flames, the greenskins carried a torch. The orange light of their stick was quite obvious within the forest's dim lighting and Sobelle used that to track them; she ducked into the bushes and followed her nose, which led her ears to soon pick up the telltale grunts made by the greenskins.

From there on out, Sobelle made quick work of her tracking and she found a small group of Goblins climbing up and down a tree. They gathered fruits, some of which were rotten. Yet they ate them anyway. Sobelle was told that the only Goblins left should be female, and she checked the uncovered breasts of the greenskins and found them to be swollen. She had checked the underside of all her targets and confirmed that there wasn't a single male present.

They were also pregnant, which was a sign that Sobelle took as something that guaranteed their deaths. Female goblins were bad enough, but pregnant ones were even worse. The risk of having these things give birth to a new generation of greenskins could not be understated. Death was the only thing that they deserved. She got ready to strike by tensing the muscles in her legs and bending them into jumping positions.

Sobelle's knees creaked as the muscles in her calves and thighs went taut, then it all released into one big burst of motion that helped build up the momentum of her run. The distance between Sobelle and the Goblins was crossed in as little as three steps. With her buckler, Sobelle struck the head of the Goblins closest to her as well as the furthest from the group. She died instantly.

Then Sobelle moved to the nearest Goblin, she pulled her spear back and stabbed the bronze tip straight through the skull of the greenskin. Juice dripped to the ground when she pulled her weapon and it spilled all over the forest floor once Sobelle started thrusting it violently forward. The Goblins who rushed her soon found themselves getting stabbed in quick succession, while those that did backed away in fear.

Their bright yellow eyes widening in something other than lust genuinely shocked Sobelle, until she was reminded that the things in front of her were female just like her. They were not aroused by her because she provided no breeding benefit to them.

'They aren't as lustful for me... Right.' Her usual tricks wouldn't work here, and even if they could, Sobelle wouldn't dare try and lift her shirt in such a dark environment. Losing any part of her armor sounded like it would only kill her, and the benefit she'd gain from it was essentially useless as well. A Goblin going wild from lust was hard to deal with, especially in such an environment.

"Rag! Woog!" One of the greenskins waved the torch she carried, her mouth was twisted into a growl that revealed blackening teeth.

"Woog!"

"You're scared?" Sobelle laughed, she hadn't expected something like this to happen but she was glad she did.

"You should be, really." In another burst of speed, she cut down the neck of the Goblin who dared to intimidate her with fire. Another greenskin charged at Sobelle with her own torch but that attempt was quickly shut down when Sobelle grabbed the Goblin's arm and twisted it. The scream of pain that resulted from her dislocated joint was like music to Sobelle's ears, though the smile that she wore disappeared once the torches fell to the floor.

With no one to keep them upright, the things died and darkness loomed over the remaining Goblins. Sobelle counted two just before it all went dark, and she intended to kill all of them. First things first, the one that tried to run was quickly killed when Sobelle threw her spear at its back. And as for the remaining Goblin, this one thought that a lack of weapon made Sobelle weak, it was wrong.

The sharp edge of Sobelle's buckler cut through its thick green hair and past its leather scalp, before it then crushed the top of its skull. Nine. She killed nine of them just now. All of them were pregnant. This was a good hunt.