Ch 22

  Matt couldn’t just walk away after the new voice dropped that bombshell. As he turned around, he found a three-and-a-half-foot-tall goblin woman standing smugly at the front. The sheer contrast between her diminutive, otherworldly proportions and what he considered normal was revolting, yet he clung to the thought that they simply weren’t human—a notion meant to silence the nagging voice in his head that warned against even looking at her. Managing to choke out a single sentence, he said, “Explain how the release mechanism works.”

  “Good,” replied the tiny woman with a gleam in her eye as she gestured toward the only solid part of the cage. “The door in the center of this wall slips up into the ceiling when that gear over there is turned.”

  Matt was relieved to divert his gaze. Behind him, set at thigh level, he could now clearly see a handle attached to a gear embedded in the wall, accompanied by a lever atop that restrained the gear’s motion in one direction only. While he inspected the mechanism, the diminutive woman continued to explain, “All you need to do is turn the lever, and the door will start to open, setting us free.”

  “I take it that pulling back on the lever is the failsafe then?” Matt queried.

  “Oh, no,” she corrected with a small, knowing smile, “that is simply a safety measure. It prevents the springs in the ceiling from overpowering the mechanism that opens the door and closing it prematurely. The true failsafe is pulling the handle and gear out completely—it’s a much faster method to cause the door to drop.”

  Had Matt been more attentive to the tiny woman’s face, he might have noticed the sly smile curling at the corners of her mouth. He ignored it, trusting his instructions and pulled the gear out completely, only to hear the heavy metal door clatter down with a resounding bang, immediately followed by over a dozen ominous laughs echoing around him. Spinning around, he met the predatory gazes of a dozen women, each filled with a calculated hunger, while the goblin woman continued, her tone dripping with condescension, “Men are always so easy to fool. The sad part is that had you simply opened the door for us, we would have given you that head start. But now, you’ve left us no reason to care about anything, as you clearly tried to trap us completely—”

  Matt didn't even pause for more explanation; he spun around and fled the way he came, pouring every ounce of his strength into his escape. The last thing he needed was being captured by the group of goblin women, ruining his life just as Tempormr's stark warning about becoming a father echoed in his mind. The only sensible option was to avoid the grim remnants of goblin forces—the very ones he had hoped to conceal himself from when he encountered the women—and to sprint away as fast as possible.

  Fortunately, his long, determined strides kept him well ahead of the pursuing goblin women. So effectively did he create distance that he scarcely registered their presence as he stole a glance over his shoulder, just before coming to a halt at the entrance of the tunnel he had previously used to reach them. Though this brief respite didn’t allow him a full sigh of relief or a moment to catch of breath, it did give him just enough time to assess the chaos unfolding outside.

  What Matt saw defied reason: pure pandemonium reigned, with scores of goblins and nearly a hundred monsters sprawled motionless on the ground, even as twice as many clashed in relentless combat. On one hand, this disarray might let him slip by unnoticed by the goblins, but he still faced the daunting challenge of navigating through the relentless monsters. More creatures surged from the very entrance he had inadvertently led them to, each wave making what seemed like an impossible task even more urgent. Just as Matt prepared to launch himself into a desperate dash for the tunnel entrance, Tempormr’s voice resonated in his mind.

  “You truly can’t keep from causing trouble when left to your own devices.”

  “Unless you have a way out for me, I don’t want to hear it,” Matt snapped back.

  “Head back the way you came.”

  “I thought you didn’t want me having children yet.”

  “None of those women actually followed you. They are now retreating deeper into that area as they free the others. Amidst the chaos lies your escape opportunity; you’ve done such a commendable job here, and you’re clearly not ready to confront the goblin king.”

  “Great, just great! Do you at least have a map you could hand me so I can make my way out?”

  “Unfortunately, that is as much meddling as I can afford this time; others have taken notice, for the goblins are now being guided by someone else.”

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  “Wonderful, just wonderful—next, you’re going to tell me that I’m not allowed to exterminate them if I get the chance.”

  “I find it heartening that you can so readily proclaim your intent to carry out a genocide. It confirms my belief that you possess the necessary disposition to rise high with the aid of the system.”

  “Fuck, you just had to put it like that. You really have no idea how we weak mortals think—now I feel like killing them all would be wrong, even if they’d gladly do the same to humans.”

  No response came from Tempormr as Matt weighed his options and questioned whether to trust the mysterious entity. At least he knew the route ahead if he rushed forward, yet the prospect of escape along that path seemed unlikely. With a resigned sigh, he turned back toward the breeding pits. Even as uncertainty nagged him, he couldn’t help but feel a weight lift off his shoulders—previously, all he had seen was a vision of his own demise before Tempormr had spoken. Now, he dared to believe that with the right moves, there might be a chance to escape. That hope was the only reason he didn’t return to the hiding spot beneath the table to simply wait and hope for the best.

  Instead, he passed by the dead goblin one more time and soon found himself in a room containing the empty cage that had once held the goblin women he had unleashed. Beyond that room stretched two paths. One path sloped downward more steeply than the other, and, not entirely sure which to choose, Matt trusted his instincts that descending further wasn’t the correct decision. So, he rushed ahead, quickly entering another room that featured yet another empty cage, and continued straight through it.

  In the next chamber, barely twenty feet later, Matt was met with a scene of utter carnage. Next to six of the dozen chain-equipped beds lay dead goblins—an appalling sight. The overpowering stench and the bloodstains that marred the beds left no doubt about the room’s grisly purpose. Undeterred, Matt pushed forward, navigating through several more interconnected chambers that resembled a maze. More than once, he avoided entering a room when he caught sight of female goblins in the midst of brutal rampages.

  The savagery these goblins displayed assured Matt that he did not want to become their captive. Fortunately, they appeared singularly focused on their violent mission, allowing him the opportunity to dart down alternate paths or backtrack when necessary. Nevertheless, with every passing second, Matt began to feel as though he had chosen the wrong route, becoming increasingly trapped. In total, he must have traversed around fifty chambers before finally discovering a possible exit.

  This exit lay in a chamber much larger than any he had seen before, featuring a broad pathway that led upward. It was the first time Matt had encountered stairs in the goblin caves, and by the look of them, they had been crafted with humans—not goblins—in mind. This peculiar detail prompted him to question their origin and wonder what awaited him at the top. His curiosity quickly turned to alarm when he noticed several goblin women stationed before that path, all wearing what appeared to be scraps of cloth for clothing.

  Among them were the three goblin women who had spoken to him while he was in the cage. It was immediately clear from the way they directed the others that they were the leaders. Matt longed to dash past them, aware that they were mounting a coordinated defense. However, he also knew that if the path behind them led to a dead end, he would end up cornered. Regardless of what Tempormr had said, Matt realized that if he tried to speed past the goblin women, they would undoubtedly pursue him or attempt to block his escape. After all, he was almost certain that whatever lay ahead was so critical that any commotion would trigger an alarm about their escape.

  It was for that reason he returned to the previous chamber with beds and slid into a dark corner, waiting with bated breath. Fortunately, he had moved quickly, for only a minute later a group of goblin women swept through the room, hurrying toward what Matt figured was their rallying point. Over time, he watched as a total of 15 groups—each containing between four and seven members—drifted through the chamber. At one point, the women paused immediately after entering the tunnel connecting the chambers, whenever the noise levels rose to dangerous heights. Each time, the clamor was quickly silenced, likely by the leaders in the adjoining room. Although Matt could not determine the exact number of goblin women brought into the chambers, if the other room was so filled that they extended all the way back to his hiding spot, there had to be at least 1,000 in total.

  The situation grew increasingly tense, and Matt felt it was only a matter of time before he would be discovered when the crowd finally surged forward. As he braced himself to move, he listened to the shrill cacophony of shrieks echoing from the goblin women—a peculiar kind of battle cry in their own right. The sound, reaching his ears with a ferocity that made him grateful to have been out of their immediate vicinity when it began, nearly made his ears bleed. Taking this as his cue, he swiftly moved into the corridor and then into the vast chamber.

  In his mind, he envisioned sneaking up the stairs and trailing the goblin women to the exit, slipping past them at the last possible moment while relying on the dense woods and lurking monsters overhead to cover his escape. However, all his plans unraveled when he reached the top of the stairs and found himself face-to-face with the three goblin women from the cage, their smiles eerily welcoming. Beyond them, a dozen goblins clad in formidable bronze plate armor, wielding long spears and sturdy shields, stood in opposition to the remaining women. They blocked the only available path in what Matt recognized as once having been a grand ballroom, its faded splendor hinted at by the dilapidated chandeliers hanging overhead. Despite the overwhelming numbers suggesting that the goblin women were on the verge of breaking through, Matt’s attention was fixed on the trio before him as the smallest among them addressed him softly.

  “I know that you couldn’t resist our charms, though you’ll have to wait until we’re free before we can have any fun.”