Chapter 107: Dangerous Attraction

Gobagh!

The goblin let out an intangible mass of sound as the vines wrapped arounds its neck, strangling it. It was the second of a group of six that had been stealth-killed by Nathan. Nathan had his plant squeeze down on the neck of the creature, preventing it from yelling out to its companions, as its life slowly slipped away. Nathan pulled the bodies of the dead goblins out of sight and quickly moved away. He didn’t know why, but ever since they arrived in goblin country, just like blood hounds, the Goblins began to track Nathan everywhere he went. Nathan decided to go up ahead of the rest, while the goblins searched him out, Ash and Jasmine can keep watch and figure out the reason why.

Goblin: “Garabggah!

Nathan watched as the Goblins arrived in his sight. With unnatural precision, the four Goblins made a bee-line for Nathans hiding spot.

Nathan: “(How the hell are they doing that?)”

Nathan quickly moved away from where he was and headed to the adjacent side, only to have the goblins quickly turn and follow him. He was happy they didn’t find the goblin bodies he had stash nearby, but this was ridiculous. Even if he remained invisible to the naked eye, if they continued to follow him around with pin-point accuracy, it would make things unnecessarily difficult.

Nathan looked off into the distance, where his party was hiding and watching. Ash and Jasmine was keeping a close eye on the goblins movements as they made their way over to Nathan. Making eye contact with the two, they both shook there his heads. They couldn’t figure out why the goblins were able to deduce Nathan’s location so easily. Nathan sighed and change direction, heading to where he set some plant traps.

In the distance Ash and Jasmine, converse on what exactly what was happening.

Jasmine: “You’re sure he’s invisible, there basically following right behind him?”

Ash: “I doubt they wouldn’t be attacking if they could see him. But I get, they are a bit close for comfort. Do Goblins have some sort of ability to track?”

Jasmine: “What, of course not, their the lowest of the low, bottom feeders; prayed on by anything and everything. The only thing they got going for them is there extreme numbers, due to the fact that the little puke-bags can do the deed with almost any other species.”

Even the strongest could be taken down by a horde if not careful. If even one report of a goblin sighting near a city, the city guard will immediately move to exterminate the lot of them.”

Ash: “I know about that, but that none of that tells us what’s happening here.”

Jasmine: “Well, we won’t figure it out if we lose them.”

Ash: “Yeah, but make sure to go unnoticed, we aren’t invisible right now.”

Jasmine: “Right.”

They lost sight of Nathan just up ahead and by the time they arrived; Nathan had already killed the goblins and was currently searching the bodies. He turned to the two with an annoyed face.

Nathan: “Good job with the stealth, it was almost like you weren’t even here.”

Jasmine: “Sorry.”

Nathan: “Whatever, did you figure something out?”

Ash: “Nope, you?”

Nathan: “Nothing.”

Jasmine: “This is the strangest thing I’ve seen; goblins aren’t usually so good at tracking.”

Nathan: “A lot more intelligent than I thought they would be.”

It was a six-man squad, with two lookouts that were watching both the front and the back in case of frontal attacks or ambushes from behind. Nathan didn’t think they would be this organized.

Nathan read a lot of fantasy novels back on his original world. Besides a choice few, most stories depicted goblins as lowlife, unorganized group of scavengers, with no companionship beyond what’s needed to survive. However, the goblins he just killed seemed just the opposite.

Nathan: “And none of them have an accessory.”

Jasmine: “Accessory, you mean the bone filled necklace things?”

Nathan: “I guess, not sure what it looks like.”

Ash: “His trial was to get a Goblin accessory.”

Jasmine: “That’s what you want, you want get one from any of these mobs. The accessories worn by goblins is a sign of leadership, you would need to at least find a Goblin Chief to get one.”

Nathan: “A chief.”

Jasmine: “Bad news for you, since the goblin chiefs hardly ever venture out of the nest.”

Nathan: “Seriously, did you know this?”

Ash: “No, I told you, I only know a little about goblins. The city guard usually handles all business with them.”

Jasmine: “The library has plenty of info on them.”

Ash: “Why would I learn about something I had no intention of engaging?”

Nathan: “*sigh* So I guess will have to just go into the nest.”

Jasmine: “What, are you serious?”

Nathan: “I need the accessory, why would I joke?”

Jasmine: “Ugh, because going down into a goblins nest is suicide, not right now anyways.”

Nathan: “Why?”

Jasmine: “I’ll show you what I mean; you need to see it before you decide to do something like that.

_

_

Nathan, Ash and Jasmine watched from on-high, up in the trees, as several stubby green-skinned men stood across from one another. As they ventured closer to the nest, the amount of times they ran into Goblins had doubled. Ash and Nathan noticed a particularly large group coming their way. Ash quickly swept Jasmine off her feet, and together with Nathan, quickly bounded right up into the tree tops with Nathan quickly having released some seeds to the ground as he went. Moments later the situation, a group of goblins stalked out of the bushes, searching for undoubtedly for Nathan.

Ash signaled to Nathan that the Goblins were in position. Just as the goblins looked up toward the trees, Nathan activated the trap.

*Goraaaaaaa*

The goblins screamed in terror as they were suddenly hoist into the air and ensnared. The confusion on their faces quickly turned to pain as they were being crushed. They were being squeezed so hard that soon they couldn’t even scream. A sickening snap filled the air as the bodies of the goblins all went limp. Nathan gave them all a few more squeezes in making sure they were good and dead, before he and Ash hopped down from the tree.

Ash placed Jasmine back on the ground, allowing her to walk on her own.

Ash: “Sorry about grabbing you so suddenly.”

Jasmine: “Not at all, thank you for saving me.”

Nathan: “How is this Jasmine?”

Jasmine: “Let me see.”

Jasmine did a quick survey of the corpses, making sure there was no broken skin.

Jasmine: “Yes, this is fine, with this we won’t have to worry about them showing up for this.”

Nathan: “Good, I didn’t think that the scent of blood was a type of alarm.”

Jasmine: “I’d say more like send them into a frenzy. Goblins are hunted by anything and everything, so if you just haphazardly cut them, you’ll just be luring more to your location. God help you if you get any on you.”

Nathan: “So to keep from being swarmed-”

Jasmine: “Make their death swift and soundless.”

Nathan searched the body of the goblins as Jasmine spoke, hoping that he would get lucky.

Nathan: “How close are we to the nest?”

Jasmine: Not far, you see the tip of that mountain? They make their nest in the caves that run through it. Once we get over these hills we should see the bottom.”

Just as she finished speaking, Nathan gave-up on his search of the goblins bodies.

Nathan: “What are the chances that one mob goblin is wearing an accessory?”

Jasmine: “If a goblin was wearing an accessory and it wasn’t a chief, then that mean that goblin was planning to challenge one of the ‘current’ chiefs for their position.”

Nathan: “Chiefs…as in more than one?”

Jasmine: “There are at least seven Goblin Chiefs, at least in a nest this big.”

Nathan: “That’s good; we got a good chance of finding one when we go inside.”

Jasmine: “Wait.”

Nathan: “I get that its dangerous, but I don’t have a choice.”

Jasmine: “Well it’s not usually that dangerous for someone as strong as you, as long as your smart, but it’s just that there’s something going on with the goblins right now.”

Nathan: “……….Do you hear that?”

It was faint, but the distinct sound of battle was resonating throughout the area.

Jasmine: “Ah, perfect, what a stroke of luck, come on.”

Jasmine lead them up a hill, keeping low just in case, and sticking to the foliage for cover. As they got to the top of the hill, Ash and Nathan were shocked to the sight.

Goblin A: “Gorbagggghhhhhh.”

Goblin B: “Jiejiegh.

Nathan: “What the?”

Down to the bottom of the hill a battle was taking place. A small army of Goblins were taking on another army of goblins. Nathan watched as one goblin bashed in the head of another, then the goblin itself was smashed from behind and beaten to death by two others. Many other similar scenes were happening below. The stench of blood and death was rank as each side furiously slaughtered each other. Nathan looked down at the hellish landscape in confusion as to what was going on.

Ash: “Why the hell are they killing each other?”

Jasmine: “It’s what I wanted to talk about. Right now two tribes are fighting. The Northern goblins nest run by a “Goblin Don” is currently being invaded by the forces run by a Goblin Shaman of the southern nest.”

Ash: “A fricking Goblin Don and Shaman, when did such powerful variants show up on the first floor?”

Jasmine: “Where have you been, people knew of this for a while now. Why do you think, most of the adventurers are staring clear of this area?”

Nathan thought it was weird that he hadn’t been seeing any other people. Except for Zane’s group, he hadn’t really seen anyone else, but even Zane hadn’t come this far.

Nathan: “Damn that Matthew, (When he said he wanted us gone he meant it. This is gonna take much longer than predicted.)”

Ash: “I don’t think he knew; he wouldn’t send you to do something like this. Not against something like a Don or a Shaman. They’re both pretty damn strong.

Nathan: “He would, if he believes a certain ’someone’ was with me at all times.”

Ash: “Ah, if you put it that way.”

Matthew probably thought that with Iris with him, Nathan could readily accomplish any task without much problem, but at the moment, she was out of commission.

Jasmine: “Who are you talking about?”

Nathan: “Ugh, well.”

Ash: “That’s not important. Right now we should think about what to do.”

Nathan: “No way we’re getting past all of them without being noticed.”

Ash: “What to do...”

Nathan: “I can try to put them all to sleep?”

Ash: “But that won’t help with the ones on the inside, we don’t know how far it goes down. Oh…what about using your poison?”

Nathan: “Same problem, don’t know how many there are inside, I might run out of mana by the time we even get half of them. We can try sneaking in.”

Ash: “But you’re attracting them, even if get inside, they will come looking for you.”

Nathan: “We don’t have to be there long, just enough to find a chief, steal their necklace and get out.”

Ash: “We don’t know where they are, we don’t know the layout of the caves and the entire time we will be chased by goblins looking for you.”

Nathan: “At this point, we really don’t have a choice. If we head back to Loegrey now, I feel like something troublesome will happen in the guild, not to mention that idiot prince.”

Nathan and Ash passed back and forth suggestions, but Jasmine decided for them.

Jasmine: “Look, it seems you two still plan on going inside no matter what. So if you really want to get inside unnoticed, then-”

Nathan: “You know of a way inside?”

Jasmine: “Well, it’s not easy to get to, but if you can reach it, there’s a way into the nest that is completely unguarded. I’ll show you, but it’s up to you from there.”

Nathan: “That’s fine; we won’t ask you to go inside

Jasmine led Nathan and Ash away from the battle scene, to a forested area not far away. Along the way, they ran into random Goblin enemies, but they made short work of them.

Nathan: “Huh?”

As Nathan moved about the forest he had the sudden feeling that he was being watched. No, it wasn’t a feeling, the scent was faint, but there was definitely someone following them.

Ash: “What’s wrong?”

Nathan: “There someone who’s been watching me for a while now.”

Jasmine: “I don’t see anyone.”

Nathan: “They’re keeping their distance, just close enough to observe.”

Ash: “Another group of Adventurers?”

Jasmine: “Maybe, but it’s strange they would intentionally come here doing this goblin riot. Well don’t mind it too much; where we’re going there no way they can actually follow us.”

Nathan: “Okay, I guess.”

Nathan kept his wits about him. Though Jasmine said to ignore them, it was difficult to ignore the obvious attempt to follow them. Never getting closer or farther away, the mystery people stayed just out-of-sight, no matter what, Nathan couldn’t get a bead on their exact location.

Jasmine: “We’re here.”

Ash: “Here?”

Ash and Nathan looked around, they had made it to the base of the mountain, but all they could see is a wall of mountain.

Nathan: “There’s nothing here.”

Ash: “No entrances.”

Jasmine: “Look up.”

Nathan and Ash turned their heads skyward and was quick to locate an entrance above them. The entrance was on a cliff which was nearly twelve stories off the ground and with no walkable way up. The only way to reach it was to climb straight up the side of the mountain.

Ash: “Yes that would definitely be a pain to get to.”

Jasmine: “Also the reason why, most just enter through the front. Climbing this thing is nearly impossible. No would want to waste their time doing it.”

Nathan: Well, yeah, if was anyone else.”

Nathan planted two seeds into the ground, which quickly sprouted ‘Snyare’ plants. Jasmine grimaced upon seeing them wrapped around Nathan’s and Ash’s torso.

Nathan: “Alright Jasmine, this is where we part ways, are you gonna be okay heading back?”

Jasmine: “Ugh, about that, I’ve decided to come with you.”

Nathan: “Oh?”

Jasmine: “Well, I haven’t really been gone that long and I rather not go back too early.”

Ash: “What about all that stuff you said earlier, about it being dangerous?”

Nathan: “And we still haven’t figure out why their attracted to me, so it will probably be a lot of fighting.”

Jasmine: “Well I still owe you for the Mimic thing and for other things as well.”

She glanced towards Ash, who figured out what she was speaking of.

Jasmine: “Plus, heading there by myself, might not be the best of ideas.”

Nathan: “Well then.”

Nathan grew another plant that went to wrap around Jasmine, but she dodged the first attempt that it made to grab her. Nathan snickered at Jasmine’s reaction, no doubt the results of the other night.

Nathan: “Don’t worry Jasmine, these ones won’t do ‘that’, I promise.”

Jasmine looked back and forth between Nathan and the plant and reluctantly allowed the plant to ensnare her. Once all three plants were safely coiled around them, they began rising high into the air. Nathan and Ash were calm, seeing as how they were both under the influence of Nathan’s abilities. However, Jasmine was not and she flailed around restlessly while they rose, half worried about the height and the other half about the Snyare that coiled more around her body, trying to prevent her from falling because of her flailing around. When they finally reached the ledge, Jasmine dropped to her knees.

Ash: “You gonna be okay there?”

Jasmine: “We just rose several stories into the air, the question is, how are you two okays?”

Nathan: “Hahahahahaha!”

Nathan placed a hand on her shoulder and activated ‘Tranquil’, wrapping her in a white aura, returning her to a calm state-of-mind.

Nathan: “Is that better?”

Jasmine: “Huh, yes much better, thanks.”

Nathan: “Your, not gonna ask what that was?”

Jasmine: “It calmed me down, who cares what it was?”

Nathan: “Hmmm, I think we’re gonna be good friends.”

Nathan had his plants retract back into the ground before joining the others as the entrance to the cave. It was dark and soundless tunnel, as far as Nathan could hear.

Nathan: “Both of you ready?”

They both nodded to him in confirmation.

Nathan: “Here we go.”

With that, the three entered into the cave, plunging into a nest of Goblins