Gerard wiped his forehead with a sigh.

The heat from his thick fur and leather armour clashed with the cold underground, creating a horrid cold sweat. He followed Lady Iris, who wore light clothes, deeper along the path leading to Amol Village.

The air was cold, the way dark.

Even with half their men carrying wooden torches, the light barely cut through it.

Water dripped somewhere in the darkness ahead, the sound echoing faintly through the narrow underground passage. Each step of their boots and armour seemed unnaturally loud, swallowed and returned by the cavern walls a second later.

Gerard grimaced again, tugging uselessly at the collar of his fur-lined gambeson.

The deeper they went, the worse the clammy sensation became. Cold air crept beneath the leather while the heat trapped underneath refused to escape, leaving sweat sticking uncomfortably to his back.

Meanwhile, Lady Iris moved ahead with relative ease.

Her lighter travelling attire shifted softly with each step.

Unlike the soldiers, she didn’t seem bothered by the oppressive atmosphere or the freezing draft flowing through the underground route toward Amol Village.

"How far until we reach the Village?" He asked, a little out of his element.

A man used to fighting battles above ground couldn’t understand the composure the dwarves held whenever close to the earth.

Deep in these caverns was like home to them.

The tunnel itself felt ancient. Rough-hewn stone walls bore old tool marks in places, while other sections looked naturally formed, warped by time and moisture into jagged shapes that, in the dim light, resembled grasping fingers.

Something skittered past, masked by darkness.

One of the men holding a torch swallowed nervously.

"What’s that!?" He swung the flame erratically, searching for the source.

Lady Iris finally slowed near a bend in the path.

"Quiet," she said softly.

Immediately, the group fell still.

Iris narrowed her eyes, then held up a hand, signalling. "All halt!"

Nobody laughed.

The darkness ahead remained thick and absolute, like a veil blocking all torchlight, more than several metres away. Now and then, Gerard thought he saw movement within the blackness, small shifting figures that vanished the moment he focused on them.

In the darkness, they remained silent for several moments.

Gerard’s heart pounded faster and faster.

The slight thump of his heart thrashing around in his chest.

"Do you hear that, Sir Gerard?" Lady Iris asked in a hushed voice.

Far deep into the tunnel, a faint scrape echoed across the stone, prompting her face to pale.

"It cannot be...!"

The faint scraping increased, at first only one, then two, and soon countless.

Goblins.

Many of them.

Gerard and the warriors stood in a narrow room, where fighting would be inconvenient. He glanced at the dazed Princess and shook her shoulders.

"Is there a place we can fight!?"

The Princess jolted slightly from Gerard’s grip, her unfocused eyes finally sharpening as the scraping multiplied through the tunnel.

Skrrrk.Skrrrk.Skrrrk.

The sound crawled across the stone like claws dragging over bone.

Her face drained of colour.

"They’re using the lower passages..." she whispered, almost to herself. "Why are they this deep? They shouldn’t be able to find the secret passage without the master key..."

Her lips trembled.

Iris’s face twisted in a mixture of emotions.

When her voice trailed off, Gerard shook his head in understanding.

Another wave of shrill goblin chatter echoed from the darkness ahead, closer this time.

Gerard tightened his grip on his weapon. The narrow chamber around them was barely wide enough for four men shoulder-to-shoulder. If the goblins flooded the corridor, numbers alone would crush them.

"Princess!" he barked more urgently. "A defensible position!"

She flinched, then pointed shakily toward the left side of the chamber where darkness concealed a smaller stone passage.

"There’s... there’s an old ore station ahead. A reinforced loading room. A place with Dwarven-made gates and a place where we can bottleneck them." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Lady Iris immediately understood.

"How far?"

"Less than three hundred metres."

A harsh screech erupted from the tunnel behind them.

Torchlight suddenly reflected off dozens of tiny eyes in the dark.

Then more.

And more.

Gerard’s stomach dropped.

The goblins found them easily, thanks to the light they needed to see.

"Move!" Gerard roared, drawing his sword to face the filthy mongrels, his hand patting Lady Iris. "Go, guide them to the loading room."

Her eyes widened, but she didn’t speak, only raising her hand and dashing towards the left passage.

"Make sure you follow our trail!" She said, vanishing into the darkness.

The soldiers moved forward immediately, boots slamming against damp stone as they rushed toward the side passage.

Behind them, the goblins exploded into motion.

Wild cackling shrieks filled the cavern.

The first creatures emerged from the darkness in frantic bursts, small twisted bodies with elongated limbs, crude blades and jagged teeth glistening beneath the torchlight. They moved unnaturally fast, scrambling over rocks and along sections of the walls like insects.

"Shields! Prepare for combat."

Gerard and his knights formed a small wall, backing towards the passage Iris took. Several men turned while retreasting, raising their shields as the first volley of sharp stones and rusted scrap came hurling from the darkness.

Clang!

"Argh!"

One soldier cried out as metal smashed against his helmet hard enough to stagger him sideways.

The soldier barely recovered before the goblins crashed into them.

"Hold the line!" Gerard roared.

A filthy green creature launched itself forward with a shriek, only for Gerard’s sword to cleave clean through its shoulder and chest. Green blood splattered across the stone as the corpse slammed into the ground, yet two more immediately scrambled over it.

The goblins came with no fear.

Small, vicious and starving.

They smelled women, dwarven women.

A delicacy they’d only just discovered.

One goblin darted forward and, using its small body, ducked beneath a shield, jagged knife aimed for a knight’s thigh. The man caught it with the rim of his shield and crushed the creature’s skull downward with a brutal crack.

But there were too many to fight head-on.

"Keep retreating to the passage!"

The tunnel amplified every sound into chaos: the screaming goblins, clashing steel, and frantic boots grinding against stone.

Another volley of rusted scrap flew from deeper in the darkness.

Clang! Clang!

A torchbearer cried out as sharpened metal embedded into his shoulder, sending the torch tumbling across the ground. The fire rolled wildly, throwing distorted shadows across the cavern walls.

For a brief moment, Gerard and his men saw them clearly.

Dozens of bodies rushing through the tunnel.

More pouring from cracks within the walls.

His brows furrowed.

"These bastards expected us to come..."

A sudden weight sank as he thought of his Master.

Lord Luke was currently heading east to face them at the walls.

Without the support of the Amol Warriors, he would surely face the entire might of their army alone.

"Gods be damned!"

Suddenly, Luka’s words about the dangers of underestimating goblins rang inside his mind like a death knell.

’Lord, the Shaman is like you said! Too dangerous to let live!’

A goblin leapt from the wall itself, claws reaching for Gerard’s throat. "No, you don’t, scum!" He slammed forward with his shoulder, smashing the creature into stone hard enough to burst its ribs before driving his sword upward through its jaw.

"Backstep!" He shouted.

The knights retreated in disciplined formation, shields locked tight as they gave ground toward Iris’s passage. Every movement had to remain controlled.

One stumble would open the line.

However, it seemed the swarming goblins understood too.

Iris was the weak point and their main dish.

Their shrieks became frenzied.

Several climbed across the ceiling like insects, using crude hooks and malformed fingers to cling to cracks in the stone.

"Above!" someone yelled.

One dropped directly into the formation, landing atop a soldier and dragging him down with a manic scream. Jagged teeth tore into the man’s neck before a knight buried an axe into the goblin’s spine.

Blood spread across the tunnel floor.

Gerard clenched his fist tightly around his sword, anger, frustration and power surging from deep within him.

A faint crimson mist began leaking from his pores, swirling around his sword and shield like a calm storm awaiting to unleash itself.

That’s when he noticed the strange blessing granted to him by Luka started to change.

A few boxes appeared, flashing with strange text as a sudden burst of energy and strength overflowed from Gerard’s old body.

His body trembled.

Blood leaked from his nose.

He glanced at the new skills, his brain instantly filled with countless tidbits of information.

[Corruption: +20]

[Loyalty: +50]

[Piety +100 (Target - Luka)]

——

[You have Gained Skill: Knight Commander’s Aura (Level: 1)

Knight Commander’s Aura: Inspire all knights and warriors who follow you: Boost their growth rate, attributes and combat awareness by 10% permanently]

——

[You have Awakened the Wrath Genotype]

[Wrath Form (Level 1) - You convert Miasma into destructive force and gain improved attributes while depleting your vitality and stamina rapidly.]

[Age Reduced by 10 Years]

[Charm +4]

[All Attributes + 5]

[Health: -20% per Minute]

[Duration: 5 Minutes]

The kind old knight changed; his eyes shimmered with a blood red light, his sclera turning black as his blade buzzed with a powerful force.

’My Lord, I worship you with all this old body has to give.’

His previous servitude almost appeared warped the moment his Miasma leaked, his wrinkles faded, and the pure white hair gained more gloss and a smooth texture. Gerard felt the effect of ten years instantly.

He stepped out of the shield wall, his posture perfect, strong and stable.

The tremble in his arms.

Gone!

His vision.

Healed completely.

’For granting these old knights’ earnest wish! Allow this Gerard de Alverain to protect your back and create a path for you!’

Gerard raised his sword and advanced.

Each step carried a slight bounce as he approached.

Wrapped in a blazing crimson aura, the surrounding cavern lit up with a blood-red hue.

His movements remained slow with each slight shift or flick calculated and filled with decades of dedication.

Then he smiled.

"Knights, in the name of Luka de Babylon! Slaughter them all!"

Each of the knights who once trembled in fear now appeared more confident, a faint crimson mist leaking from their eyes as a sense of madness flooded the cavern walls.

"KILL!"