God Agent: All Hail The Great Kobold

The sound of marching feet filled the forest as dawn slowly approached, hundreds of footsteps pressing into the earth in a steady rhythm that seemed to shake the ground itself. If Ka’z had been there to witness it, he would have been surprised by how organized the goblins were. They did not charge recklessly or move as a disorderly mob. Instead, they advanced in disciplined lines, shields raised and weapons ready, forming a crude but effective shield wall as they approached the cave entrance.

Grash and his commanders rode near the center of the formation, surrounded by several other riders who kept their eyes constantly moving across the forest. The goblin chieftain sat quietly upon his mount, his gaze fixed ahead as the cave entrance gradually came into view.

The entire army eventually stopped before the cave. The sudden silence that followed was almost unsettling.

Grash’s group stopped with them, and the chieftain slowly raised his hand, bringing the riders behind him to a halt. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the dark opening carved into the hillside. He could not see what waited beyond those walls, but he did not need to.

They had come to avenge their fallen so it didn’t matter what was hiding at the other end of the cave. The goblins had suffered losses here, and Grash had no intention of allowing those deaths to become meaningless.

He slowly reached into his belongings and pulled out a rough parchment containing a crude drawing of the surrounding terrain. The goblins were terrible cartographers, and the lines were uneven, the proportions inaccurate and several landmarks barely recognizable, but it had been enough for them to understand the area.

They had spent yesterday circling the hill after the army arrived and was setting up camp, searching for another entrance or some weakness they could exploit. They had found nothing.

Grash’s eyes moved toward the peak of the hill. His expression immediately became more serious.

Whether one came from the southern, northern, eastern or western region of the Evergreen Forest, everyone knew the same rule. Do not climb that hill. The creature living around its summit were powerful enough that angering even one of them could mean death for an entire group.

Grash had no desire to discover whether his hundred man army could survive an encounter with whatever beasts lived above. That stupid blunder nearly cost him his life back at the Eastern region.

He lowered his gaze toward the cave again and his expression twisted into a deep frown.

Goblins had once lived almost exclusively in caves, so Grash understood better than most how much of an advantage a defensive position like this could provide. A cave reduced the number of directions an enemy could attack from, forced attackers into narrow passages and allowed weaker creatures to make every step toward them costly.

Even if his army vastly outnumbered the kobolds, there was no way to completely avoid heavy casualties that’s why he brought so many here.

That was the horror of this kind of warfare.

It was one of the reasons many lesser races remained beneath the earth rather than establishing settlements in the open. Their caves compensated for the weaknesses of their bodies and made even powerful enemies pay dearly for every victory.

Grash folded the parchment and placed it away before raising his battle axe slightly. His gaze swept across the assembled goblins, many of whom were already gripping their weapons tightly. Some looked excited. Others looked nervous. A few were staring into the cave with obvious fear, remembering the stories of what had happened to the first group that entered here.

Grash did not care.

"Go... For every kobold head you bring, you will be rewarded with a slave! There will be no retreat until the enemy before us is completely crushed!"

His voice rolled across the army, and the effect was immediate.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The goblins erupted into a deafening roar and surged forward.

Dozens of feet thundered across the ground as the first wave rushed into the cave entrance, shields colliding with one another and weapons clattering against armor. The darkness swallowed them almost immediately, but none of the goblins stopped. They were creatures of the night themselves, and darkness was hardly enough to disorient them. Their eyes adjusted quickly, allowing them to make out the walls and rough floor as they pushed deeper into the passage.

The first wave quickly became the second, then the third. Goblins continued pouring through the entrance until the passage suddenly widened and the ground ahead disappeared.

The leading soldiers stopped so abruptly that those behind them nearly crashed into their backs.

"What is this?" one goblin muttered.

Before them was a large hole leading deeper into the earth. Ahead of them was a dead end, meaning this hole was truly their only way in.

Several goblins cautiously approached the edge and peered downward. The faint light from the entrance barely reached the bottom, leaving the depths almost completely hidden. Nobody could tell how deep it was, and nobody could see what waited below.

The goblins exchanged uncertain glances. One of the goblins finally swallowed his fear and jumped. He disappeared into the darkness. A moment later, his body landed below with a dull thud.

"Clear!" his voice echoed from beneath them.

That was enough.

Dozens of goblins followed, jumping down into the opening and landing in the spacious chamber below. The moment they reached the bottom, however, their confidence began fading.

Six tunnels opened before them.

Each one disappeared into darkness. The goblins stood there for several seconds, staring at the branching passages as uncertainty spread through the group. There were no markings. No obvious signs showing which tunnel led deeper into the kobold settlement. The darkness swallowed everything beyond the first few meters, and the echoes created by the cave made it impossible to determine where the sounds of movement were coming from.

One goblin scratched his head.

"Which one?"

Nobody answered.

The pressure of the soldiers behind them eventually forced the issue. They could not remain standing in the chamber forever. They had numbers, and numbers were precisely what they intended to use.

Several groups broke away and entered different tunnels. Soon the chamber emptied as goblins rushed through every available passage, their footsteps echoing through the underground network.

___ The First Tunnel ____

About a dozen goblins charged into one of the tunnels, their weapons held ready as they moved deeper into the earth. At first, they remained confident. The passage was wide enough for several goblins to walk side by side.

But the farther they went, the darker it became. Their confidence gradually disappeared as the walls began narrowing.

The ceiling lowered.

Their footsteps became the loudest sound in the tunnel, each step echoing strangely through the darkness. The goblins began looking toward the walls and floor more frequently, their instincts warning them that something was wrong.

They had entered enemy territory.

That realization made every shadow appear suspicious. One of the goblins lifted his shield higher while another tightened his grip on his spear.

Then something moved in the darkness ahead.

"Graaaaaaa!"

A goblin suddenly screamed. The sound echoed through the passage before becoming strangely distant.

"Help!"

There was a violent scraping noise followed by a heavy fall. Then came a horrifying squeal. It lasted only a few seconds before abruptly disappearing.

The entire group froze and nobody moved. The goblins stared into the darkness ahead, their eyes widening as they tried to determine what had happened to their companion. One of them slowly raised his spear, while another reached toward the small sack tied around his waist.

His fingers trembled slightly as he pulled out a small stone and poured mana into it.

Brrr!

The rune carved into the stone illuminated, producing a small flame that immediately pushed back the darkness around them.

"Light it."

Another goblin quickly stepped forward with one of the torches they had prepared before entering the cave. He held it near the glowing stone, allowing the flames to catch before pulling the torch away and raising it ahead of them.

The light revealed the truth. The passage ahead had become extremely narrow. Only a single goblin could pass through at a time.

That alone would have been enough to make them cautious, but what truly froze the blood in their veins were the pits on both sides of the narrow path.

They had been dug deep into the earth and filled with sharpened wooden stakes. Their missing companion was lying at the bottom.

His body had been impaled several times, the wooden spikes piercing through his limbs and torso. He was still alive, but only barely. His body twitched weakly with every breath while blood continued dripping from his wounds and pooling beneath him.

Nobody moved to help. The goblins simply stared.

One of them slowly swallowed, his throat visibly moving as cold sweat appeared along his brow. Another took an unconscious step backward.

They haven’t even gone deep into the cave and they have already encountered their first trap. What other horrors does this cave have in stall for them?