Chapter 8

Divine came back to the cavern ready to fight, but the surviving goblins were gone.

Was there another exit or were they hiding here somewhere?

Keeping his eyes open stepped he over the narrow path next to the pit hole.

His short sword, the Dancing Feather Sword, in one hand and a stone in the other he was prepared for surprises.

Five victims of Divine's stones lay not far from the pit.

Four of the goblins had the red glow on them that indicated there was blood qi essence to collect.

'One is alive. Unconscious? Or waiting for a chance to ambush me?'

Divine looked down the pit hole and the goblin down there didn't have the red glow either.

But that goblin was unconscious for sure. Broken and bloody, lying down there in the pit.

Divine would take care of it later.

First came the one with the four dead friends next to it. It had a wound on its head and didn't move.

A fallen stick lying right next to its hand.

A few steps near that goblin, Divine suddenly sped up.

Quickly he buried his sword in the surviving goblin's breast. The red glow appeared after that.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Divine collected his experience points from the four other goblins.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Three cannibalistic goblins left.

One that had hidden itself behind that pile of bones at the beginning of the fight.

And the two others. The one that threw the knife and the one with the slingshot.

Plus the one in the pit.

So one unconscious and three with unknown status. Propably around here hiding somewhere.

Slowly and vigilantly Divine went to the one hiding place he knew, behind the bone pile, wondering if the goblin was still there.

And if it was, was it alone?

When Divine came around that pile of bones, there was that goblin kneeling behind.

The goblin heard Divine's approach. It startled and looked up.

Fear written in its face.

"No kill. No kill. Mercy. Mercy. Me follow." The goblin almost pissed itself when Divine came even closer.

Next to the goblin begging for its life was a pile of rags. The pile was bigger than a goblin.

Suddenly from a fissure in the wall not far from the pit trap sprang a goblin out to flee from the cavern.

Divine hadn't seen that one coming.

In contrast to that the goblin jumping out from the rags didn't surprise Divine at all.

The goblin was armed with a rusty knife but didn't even get a chance to use it.

Divine swung his sword first, precisely and with great speed. The goblin lost its head.

The blood didn't only flow, it flew.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Divine spared the unarmed goblin that had stopped begging a glance.

It just crouched on the ground now. Too scared to look up.

The last cannibal was already at the exit.

Divine threw the stone.

It only grazed the goblin at the shoulder.

The goblin escaped through the tunnel.

Divine didn't know if letting it escape or running after the goblin was the bigger risk. He didn't even know if he could catch it.

So he just collected his spoils.

First he picked up the Dancing Feather Sword that still waited for him inside the dead goblin.

The cowardly goblin was still at its place. Shivering all over its body.

'It also could have use this chance to stab me in the back. I have to be more careful from now on.'

Divine pushed his sword through the crouching goblin's back.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Picking up a new stone he went to the pit.

Divine threw the stone at the unconscious goblin lying in the pit.

Headshot.

The red glow signaled Divine its death.

Now he only had to get down the pit.

At least there weren't any stakes in there. Propably because the stupid goblins fell down themselves sometimes.

If they caught someone in the pit they could just kill them with stones and sticks.

But how did the get their prey out?

Divine looked around for a clue.

He didn't find any rope nor a ladder or anything else that could help a group of cannibals get a grown goblin body out of the pit.

What he did find were two rusty knifes and the remains of the goblins' dinner. The reains that hadn't been grilled yet.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

'Thank the system that collecting blood qi essence doesn't require me touching the dead.'

Since Divine didn't need to actually get the goblin's corpse out of the pit and only get close enough to collect the essence he picked up the two rusty knifes.

The knifes were embedded into the pit's wall so that Divine could let himself down slowly.

With a little conscious effort Divine collected the essence with his bare goblin foot hovering above the dead body.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

Divine quickly climbed back up.

'I still don't know how the goblins got something out of that pit. Did they use their numbers to make a chain of goblins and then pull their victims up?'

Divine was starting to get a headache from thinking about it, so he stopped.

He focused on something else.

This cavern wasn't actually half bad. Dirtier than hell but except for that...

And it wasn't like there a was a single clean place in the caverns of the Lost Tooth Tribe.

The entrance to the Lost Tooth Tribe was at the foot of the the mountain and to get to the cannibals' cavern the tunnel always went down or straight.

And in the pit he had seen moss growing. Either the liquid for its growth came from blood or there was groundwater beneath.

A water source would be heaven sent for Divine.

Drinking was vital. And washing was a fundamental comfort.

Divine promised himself to come back and check it out in the future.

Maybe bring some new lackeys to do the literal dirty work for him.

Divine went up the tunnel to return to his cave.

On the way he met the many goblins that lived in this tunnel again.

Nothing surprising happened. All of them skirted around Divine. They could smell the fresh blood on him.

Almost back at his cave Divine saw the young goblin whom he warned off from eating the glowing mushrooms.

The young goblin lay on the ground. It had bled from his orifices and died.

'Stupid goblin ate the glowing mushroom. And I even warned it.'

Out of interest Divine had inspected the glowing mushrooms in his cave with his qi sense.

They had a strong concentration of qi inside them.

No wonder.

They glowed.

And qi was like medicine. Too much and it wasn't helpful anymore, it was harmful.

Especially if one had no way to refine it.

The young goblin's weak body couldn't withstand the density and strength of the qi at all. The mushroom's qi damaged its organs until it spat blood and finally died.

[+1 Blood Qi Essence]

'Thanks for the donation. Idiot.'

Divine's cave was exactly like he left it.

His books were at their place and the goblings were sleeping in their corner.

The spirit water and the nutrition pills from before would last the goblings still for some time.

'One more trip to the small river and then I'm going to cultivate again.'

Divine left and went into the other direction this time.

A few steps up the tunnel he came upon his second cave, where he let that squatter sleep.

'It is time for that squatter to start paying me rent.'

-----------

Gobly liked the new cave.

She occupied the cave not long ago.

A few corpses had been cluttering the floor, but with a little bit of work, she dragged them out and had something to warn off other goblins.

Of course she was worried about whoever or whatever killed all those goblins. But they could have killed each other too.

And nowhere was really safe.

Gobly would run if she had to. For that she was always ready.

The cave was a little off from others except for one cave that was pretty close.

Her neighbor had a few goblings, and she had only seen him when she sneaked past his cave.

'Think of dangers and they shall appear.'

Suddenly the goblin she just thought of stood inside her cave's entrance.

She stood in the shadows of the cave, but felt like that goblin's stare saw everything.

"Me Divine. You follow." The order came in a calm tone. It came as a surprise to her.

'What does he want with me?'

Gobly took a stone in her hand and hid it behind her back.

Steeling herself she stepped into the light and showed him her face.

More than half of it disfigured from old burn scars. Even half of her head was burned and forever bald. At least her eyes had survived the experience.

Some were disgusted when they saw her, some were just scared.

The goblin Divine didn't show any reaction on his face, but turned around and left.

Hopefully he was gone for good.

And didn't come back because he wanted to take over her nice cave.

At least she wouldn't have to worry that he would want to use her body.

He was such a good looking young goblin that he would never be so desperate.

Suddenly Divine stood in her cave's entrance again. An irritated expression on his face.