Chapter 11: Depravity
Axel’s heart raced as he stared at the goblins making a mad dash toward him.
"We must attack before they can group up!"
Zayn and Axel charged the goblins, Axel reaching them first.
One swung a sword down at him in a clumsy, obvious strike. Axel read the attack and brought his axe up to meet it.
Metal rang out as their weapons collided, jarring them both.
Zayn seized the opening, lunged forward, and cleanly decapitated the goblin.
Casting a sidelong glance at Mikhail, Axel yelled:
"Get the sword!"
Taking no objection to this order, Mikhail swooped it up by the hilt, with Leora close behind, ready to retrieve the next available weapon.
The closest goblin lunged at Axel, both hands clenched around a dagger. He used the axe’s longer reach to jab it back, then sidestepped as another goblin’s sword sliced past him.
Leora moved deftly, kicking the sword-wielding goblin away from Axel. Mikhail sprang out from behind her and hacked into the dagger goblin, killing it in one blow.
The dagger flew from the goblin’s grip as it died. Axel caught it and hurled it at one of the two goblins forcing Zayn onto the defensive.
The dagger nailed one goblin in the side of the head. Unfortunately, the handle struck its skull instead of the blade, but it was enough to make the creature stagger and give Zayn the opening he needed.
Axel didn’t exactly know why he was so confident in Zayn’s strength, but...
’You do the rest on that end.’
Axel snapped his focus back to Mikhail. The goblin Leora had kicked was already on its feet, lunging for him.
Before it could reach them, Axel brought his axe down and split its skull.
[You have slain a Nascent Aberrant, Goblin]
"Shit!"
Axel had swung too hard. The axe lodged in the goblin’s skull, and with another goblin closing in, he had no time to wrench it free.
So he threw both.
The axe and corpse crashed into one of the last three goblins, pinning it beneath the dead weight. Mikhail lunged to finish it, but another goblin jumped in front of him and forced him back.
Zayn, having already dealt with the other two, stepped in and disemboweled it.
Nearby, Ryon nervously hammered his stick down on a goblin trapped under Connor’s foot.
Finally, only one remained — the goblin pinned beneath the corpse Axel had thrown.
Axel stepped forward, gripped the axe handle, and kicked the dead goblin off the blade. The last goblin tried to stand, but the corpse had crushed it back down.
Eventually, it succumbed to the same fate as the others.
[You have slain a Nascent Aberrant, Goblin]
Green blood splattered across Axel’s face. He stood over the goblin’s corpse for a moment, breathing hard as green blood dripped down his skin.
Then his strength gave out.
He dropped to one knee, mentally and physically drained, and glanced toward Zayn.
The man had not only been strong enough to kill the goblins on his own — he still had the energy to search them afterward. One corpse after another, Zayn sliced open their chests and pulled out the tiny glowing stones inside.
’How well-trained is his body? No, he doesn’t look all that fit...’
’How advanced are his damned techniques for him to kill them without breaking a sweat? Could he possibly have unlocked Aether?’
No, Axel regressed and didn’t even know anything about it other than the fact that it existed...
Either way...
’Why did he look so comfortable killing these things?’
They all knew they weren’t human, but striking something with a weapon and killing it was not something most would be accustomed to.
Axel could only bring himself to do it because...
’Never mind. Let’s not go down that rabbit hole.’
Axel looked over at the rest of his group. All except for Huang Gao and Zayn looked away with some disdain or anguish over their actions.
All Axel could do was close his eyes and force out a wry smile. Whether it came from relief or a desperate attempt to ignore what they had just done, he didn’t know.
Then a horrendous sound beside him snapped his eyes open.
’Yeah... this is the usual reaction.’
Axel may have been somewhat unbothered by this gore, but not many people of the modern era had seen an axe or sword rammed through another living being. Let alone a living being that held a lot of likeness to humans.
Connor and Claire were vomiting and shaking while averting their eyes from the corpses. Meanwhile, Mikhail and Leora had turned around.
Axel panicked when he couldn’t find Ryon. Then he spotted a foot sticking out from behind one of the obsidian trees.
Even from that awkward angle, Ryon’s trembling was obvious.
But Ryon’s shaking abruptly stopped, and he stepped out from behind the tree and ’joyously’ laughed:
"Hahaha... Can you two explain why the hell you are so good at this? Why are you two goblin-slaying masters?!"
Ryon slowly walked toward them with his eyes barely open. Clear remnants of tears remained in the corners of his eyes.
"It’s not over."
Zayn spoke as if he didn’t even notice the poor mental state of the others.
Ryon’s face instantly turned as white as a ghost upon hearing him. Axel also shared in some of his fear — he was approaching his limit as well.
Ryon yelled back:
"What do you mean it’s not over? We should return before more goblins appear!"
Zayn just looked at the black wall and muttered:
"They would escape if we left now."
"What?"
The tattoo-obsessed man didn’t respond. Instead, he walked toward the goblins’ camp.
Not a single person’s face stayed anything but pale upon seeing his actions. However, not wanting to let him do something dangerous alone, they had no choice but to follow him — even the three whose facade had fallen and fear had been exposed begrudgingly trudged along.
’No matter how I think of it, this is too risky.’
His vision may not have been the best, a little blurry from exhaustion, but he could see the goblins in there. Those green things were running around in a frenzy.
Oddly, though, even when Zayn, who was ahead of them, stood at the entrance to the enclosed area, the goblins inside didn’t attack him. Zayn turned to the group, who were lagging, and spoke candidly:
"Don’t let any escape."
Axel looked at Zayn with a look of absolute confusion.
"Pardon?"
Then Axel took a better look at the goblins.
’So that was why they didn’t attack Zayn.’
"Tch."
Claire clicked her tongue at the ground, defeated.
Axel also heard someone gulp and take a step away. Who it was, he didn’t know. His attention was affixed forward.
The remaining goblins were what appeared to be children. They were small in stature compared to the ones they’d just fought, and none of them seemed to have a weapon.
Axel dropped his sword, letting it fall to the ground, and a few tears began forming in the corners of his eyes.
He had quite a fondness for children, regardless of their nature, especially ones who had lost their parents... let alone watched their parents die in front of them. Not to mention, Axel was the leading cause...
Images of that day flashed through his mind. Quickly, he straightened his thoughts to prevent his mental unrest from showing.
’Think of the present, not the past. Think of the present, not the past. Savior, Savior...’
Still... Axel couldn’t let this happen. He knew they were enemies, but he couldn’t condone killing children, no matter the situation.
Zayn started taking a step forward.
"Stop!"
Reaching out, Axel grabbed Zayn’s arm.
Zayn spun, while a look of absolute confusion and horror swept across his face.
A look Axel didn’t dare comprehend...
’Was it that unusual for someone not to support what he was about to do? Why is he giving me that look as if I’m nothing but trash?!’
In a weak voice, Axel asked:
"I know they’re goblins, but how can you be so merciless?"
He couldn’t bear to witness this crime.
Zayn looked at Axel while appearing absolutely bewildered and spoke a single word:
"Disaster."
What did he mean?
A mix of fear, confusion, contempt, and a bunch of other troubling emotions tumbled through Axel’s mind.
"Disaster? Am I some sort of human disaster just because I refuse to slaughter children?"
Axel wasn’t wrong, right?
’It’s normal to not want to kill them, right?’
Connor yanked Zayn back and slammed his axe down on a child goblin that was trying to sneak up on him.
"You’re kind, Axel. But..."
The small goblin was completely annihilated, with the axe having smashed its skull completely and then some. Its brain and blood were splattered all over the remaining goblins.
Connor continued:
"T-they are our enemies. Zayn’s judgment is right, no matter how immoral. To live, we must k-kill them."
Zayn stammered and clutched his head as if it hurt.
"No. That’s not what I..."
Axel couldn’t make sense of Zayn’s words.
’This is all so damn confusing.’
Connor, taking on a serious look, walked toward the small goblins. He paused momentarily and, without looking back, said:
"Just rest. We’ll do this sinful deed... I was too scared and just watched you and Zayn fight for your lives... I don’t know what this strange place is, and I don’t like it. I don’t want to take part in this bloody affair, but I doubt I will survive if I’m hesitant to kill an enemy right in front of me... So, if I don’t take this plunge into depravity now, when will I?"
With an uninterpretable tone, Connor stepped forward.
Demonically inspired, Claire, Mikhail, Leora, Huang Gao, and Ryon hesitantly followed.
Thus began the unilateral culling of the goblin children.
"Kweee! Kweeeeee!"
The small goblins screamed as they were mutilated one by one.
’Depravity...’
Was that really what was necessary to survive?
"HELP!"
A sudden shout far off in the distance made Axel shoot to his feet. Darting out from the camp entrance, Axel spotted a familiar man running in their direction.
It was the man wearing puppy pajamas who belonged in the northern group...
The problem was what was behind the man.
A horde of at least twenty goblins was chasing the man, who had something or other wrong with his leg.
Axel quickly spun around to see his group already staring off in the distance at the scene, except for Zayn, who still sat dazed in the camp.
Axel opened his mouth and began to scream at the man:
"Don’t worry, we’r—"
Huang Gao shoved his hand over Axel’s mouth, covering it.
Axel fought the restraint and barely managed to free himself for a mere moment.
"Guys, we have to help him! Hey! Let go of me!"
Nobody dared to follow that order.
’Hey! Stop!’
They knew they wouldn’t survive. Huang Gao and Connor quickly wrestled Axel to the ground and dragged him back into the enclosure against his will.
’Let me go!’
Axel watched as the man in the puppy pajamas fell to the ground and the goblins pounced. The first thing torn off was his ring finger.
’No!’
The pajamas were ripped to shreds. Then they gorged themselves on his flesh.
’No.’
They gnawed and nibbled until his entire backside had been eaten to the bone.
’No...’
Axel, gagged and held back, could only watch as Ryon and Mikhail shut the gate.
The battle earlier had instilled within him a false confidence.
***
If the trial were that easy, then more than sixteen of them would have survived.