Chapter 24: Slow and Steady
Fwooosh—Boom!
“Whimper!!”
The fireball slammed straight into the demon hound’s head, making it yelp from both the pain and the surprise.
“Dang… level 2 fireball can actually sting these things now,” Theo muttered while keeping his hand raised toward the hound.
The demon hound immediately looked at Theo with fear in its eyes. At this point, every demon hound in the ravine had already learned one important lesson. Theo plus fireball meant pain.
“No! Bad dog!” its handler shouted as he hurried over beside Theo.
The demon hound instantly tucked its tail between its legs, turned away from Erika, and hurried back toward the other hounds like a scolded mutt looking for safety in the pack.
Erika was finally safe.
“Oh?” David muttered while crouching beside her. “Well I’ll be damned. She passed out.”
---
A moment later, everyone gathered for evaluation.
“Hmm… good thing we didn’t use the hounds during the goblin attack back then,” Tara muttered thoughtfully.
“Indeed,” Captain Matheo agreed. “Not only do they still tend to attack humans, but the goblins also scattered the moment they saw the hounds.”
“Yeah,” Theo added, “our whole kill box strategy would’ve fallen apart if the goblins refused to enter it.”
David then walked over after he was done giving orders for cleanup operation to the others.
Some villagers could be seen covering the blood with animal dung and manure. Others were collecting goblin weapons and scraps of cloth left behind. Meanwhile, the remaining goblin corpses had already been dragged over as snacks for the demon hounds.
“All good,” David said. “After this, the next batch o’ goblins that comes here ain’t gonna suspect a thing.”
“What do you mean next goblins?!” Erika suddenly shouted. Apparently she was still nearby, still tied up perfectly.
“Well, we can’t exactly say we’ve thinned out the goblin numbers after killing only seven of them,” Theo replied with a grin that made it painfully obvious he was enjoying this.
“Don’t worry, Erika,” Tara said calmly. “The goblins won’t stand a chance against the hounds.”
“And I also won’t stand a chance if one of the hounds suddenly decides to have me for dessert!” Erika shouted back. “Seriously! What kind of mother are you?!”
“Oh,” Tara shrugged, “just a tired one.”
“Well then,” Theo clapped his hands together with a smile, “let’s bait some more goblins.”
This had originally been Theo’s idea, with the others help refined it. Keep pulling goblins out little by little. Thin their numbers without the cave ever realizing what happened to the ones that never returned.
Granted, the goblins weren’t exactly in the best mental state for investigation. The moment they heard Erika crying for help, their brains instantly turn to horny mode.
But then again, with Erika serving as bait, they managed to lure out a total of twenty-four goblins from the lair that day alone.
---
The Village — Three Days Later
As the sun began setting, the goblin hunting team finally returned to the village. The demon hound handlers immediately brought the hounds back toward their pens while the rest entered the village.
Erika stumbled into the village sobbing pathetically after spending another full day tied up as goblin bait. For the third day in a row. As usual, several young men of the village—the ones who had not been selected for the goblin hunting team due to being hopeless Erika fans—immediately rushed over to comfort her.
At this point, the entire scene had basically become part of the village’s daily routine.
Meanwhile, Theo, David, Tara, and Captain Matheo walked through the village together.
“Hmm…” Theo muttered. “We only caught five goblins today. Think the lair’s numbers are thin enough now?”
“After killin’ forty-six of the ugly bastards over the past three days?” David replied. “Yeah, boss. I’d say their numbers are hurtin’ real bad by now.”
He then looked toward Captain Matheo.
“Make sure our men get proper rest tonight.”
“Aye, Commander.” Matheo gave a salute before separating from the group.
“Well,” Theo muttered, “guess that means we can finally release Erika and move on to the harassment phase.”
---
Goblin Lair Entrance — The Next Day
Theo, David, Captain Matheo, their men, and several demon hounds were already gathered in front of the goblin lair. The cave entrance was quiet with no goblin guards. That alone was already a good sign their numbers had become dangerously thin.
But the ones stepping toward the cave entrance weren’t the armored spearmen. Instead, it was two teenage boys carrying slit drums rather than weapons.
Then they began striking them.
Tok Tok Tok—Tok Tok—Tok Tok Tok Tok
The heavy knocking of the slit drums echoed deep into the cave tunnels, bouncing repeatedly through the underground corridors.
“And now we wait,” Theo muttered.
The two teenagers continued beating the slit drums in uneven, rhythmless patterns while the others stayed on standby nearby. An elf stood beside the drummers, carefully watching the dark cave corridor with her elven vision, ready to warn everyone the moment goblins appeared.
Meanwhile, the men, the hounds, and their handlers kept their distance from the cave entrance. They didn’t want to spook the goblins into staying inside.
---
Then, after around five minutes, the elf suddenly narrowed her eyes.
“They’re coming.”
The two drummers immediately stopped playing and hurried together with the elf toward the prepared hiding spot.
Not long after, three goblins rushed out from the cave entrance.
“Kreee!!”
The goblins snarled aggressively—
Only for the demon hound handlers to immediately release the hounds. The hounds lunged forward almost instantly, tackled the goblins to the ground, then happily started tearing into them.
A few moments later, everyone calmly returned to position again. The drummers stepped forward and the slit drums started sounding once more.
Tok Tok Tok—Tok Tok—Tok Tok Tok Tok
This was the second phase of thinning the goblin herd. The goal wasn’t just reducing their numbers, however. There was another reason behind this strategy. Its the goblin general, and possibly the goblin shamans.
The scavenger tribe already knew that a goblin force as large as the one attacking their village would almost certainly have a goblin general leading it. And goblin generals often had goblin shamans serving under them as well.
Fightin’ those things head-on inside their own lair was a damn good way to get people killed. So instead of invading the cave, they planned to force the goblin leaders to come out on their own.
If the slit drums irritated the goblin general enough, hopefully it would leave the cave personally to deal with the disturbance. And once it stepped outside, they could simply let the demon hounds handle the problem for them.
Safe and simple.
---
Unfortunately, even after the sky started turning dark, neither the goblin general nor the shamans showed themselves.
Not long after, the second group arrived to take over the night shift, led by Tara and Captain Greta.
“Hey, we’re here for the night shift,” Tara said as they approached. “How was it?”
“Nope. Their boss still didn’t come out,” Theo muttered. “We only killed six goblins all day.”
“Hmm…” Greta crossed her arms thoughtfully. “That’s actually a pretty good sign. Means their numbers are probably getting very thin now.”
“It appears so,” Tara agreed.
“Basically, goblins are cowards who only know how to fight with numbers,” Greta continued. “Even their goblin general won’t willingly fight without an army behind it.”
“Ah… so that’s why,” Theo muttered.
“Mind you,” Tara added, “that doesn’t mean the goblin general or shamans are weak alone. They simply prefer not to fight that way.”
“Well,” David chimed in casually, “good thing we already planned fer shifts then.”
And so, they began rotating duties.
The slit drummers were replaced. The hounds were rotated out. The men switched positions and took turns resting back in the village while others stayed on watch.
There was another purpose behind this operation as well.
By constantly harassing the cave with irregular slit drum noises, they were trying to wear the goblins down mentally by denying them proper rest. A classic siege tactic. Only this time, instead of surrounding a castle, they were besieging a cave.
If this continued long enough, the goblins would gradually become exhausted, irritated, and paranoid. Sure, the captives inside would suffer mentally from the constant noise too, but at least this strategy didn’t place them in direct physical danger.
---
Inside the Goblin Lair
And the strategy worked.
The irregular knocking of the slit drums echoed repeatedly through the cave tunnels. Sometimes the sound disappeared completely, only to suddenly start again moments later. Not giving them any pattern to get used to.
Unknowingly to Theo and the others, slit drums were horrifyingly effective inside natural caves.
Their low, heavy knocking resonated far longer through enclosed rocky tunnels compared to higher-pitched sounds like horns. The sound carried deeper, echoed harder, and unlike horns, slit drums could be played for hours without exhausting the drummers too much.
Deep within the cave, inside the goblin throne chamber, the goblin general and its two shamans remained on standby. Several dozen goblins and hobgoblins surrounded them, all facing toward the chamber entrance in tense anticipation.
They had been standing guard like this for the past eight hours. Alert, tense, waiting for an attack that never came.
Yet all they continued hearing was that maddening knocking sound echoing endlessly through the cave.
“KRRAAAAAAGH!!”
The goblin general could only roar in frustration.