Mastery Is Earned

The shaft was deep. Raymond slid down the rope until he was close to the bottom. After making sure there was nothing beneath him, he released his grip and dropped the remaining distance. He bent his legs as he landed. His knees hurt slightly, but he was otherwise unharmed.

Henk appeared to have landed directly on top of the Greater Goblin that fell with him. The creature’s massive body had absorbed most of the impact, sparing Henk from a fatal injury. Even so, blood and lime dust covered his shoulders and back, and he moved with noticeably less agility than usual.

The bottom of the shaft was actually brighter than the passage above. Numerous lamps fueled with fat hung from the surrounding stone walls.

Henk was wrestling barehanded with a Greater Goblin and clearly held the advantage. He sat astride the creature, driving both fists into its face again and again.

Another Greater Goblin was running toward Henk, brandishing a long-handled quarry hammer. Raymond had landed directly between the two of them.

The creature gripped the heavy hammer in both hands. One face of its head was flat and blunt, while the other tapered to a sharp point. Workers had once used the tool to drive stone wedges and break apart rock. In the Greater Goblin’s hands, it had become a weapon capable of smashing a skull.

When it saw Raymond drop from above, the creature immediately changed targets and swung the quarry hammer at him.

In its hands, the tool was a devastating weapon. Raymond did not dare block it and could only dodge repeatedly. The space was cramped, and Henk and the other Greater Goblin were grappling behind him. With no room to create distance, he had to keep evading each attack.

The Greater Goblin swept the quarry hammer sideways. Raymond barely avoided the blow, and the weapon slammed into the rock wall. The impact shook the stone and sent fragments and grit raining down.

Raymond seized the opening and thrust his sword toward the junction of the creature’s neck and shoulder. The point failed to penetrate deeply, leaving only a shallow wound.

They exchanged several more attacks. Raymond found multiple chances to strike the Greater Goblin, but each blow left little more than a shallow cut. He could not inflict a fatal injury.

His recent sparring with Henk had certainly given him the necessary fighting skills. At the very least, Raymond knew how to spot openings while facing an opponent far larger than himself. But they had always trained with wooden swords and stopped their attacks before causing serious harm. Neither had ever truly fought the other in earnest.

Only now, facing a Greater Goblin in a real battle, did Raymond understand how different real combat was from training. He could wound the creature, but he could not easily drive a blade through its fur, thick hide, fat, and muscle.

The arming sword might also be part of the problem. It was effective against ordinary enemies, but driving it through a monster’s thick hide and muscle was asking too much of Raymond’s strength. Unless he found a vulnerable point, landing a fatal blow would be extremely difficult.

The Greater Goblin raised the quarry hammer above its head with both hands and gathered strength for another attack. It appeared intent on pounding Raymond straight into the ground. He naturally had no intention of meeting such a powerful blow head-on. As before, he dodged right, intending to escape before it fell.

A savage smile spread across the Greater Goblin’s face when it saw him move. It abruptly redirected the attack, bringing the hammer down diagonally toward him. But Raymond’s movement to the right had been a feint. The instant the hammer descended, he twisted sharply and dodged in the opposite direction, leaving the blow to strike empty ground.

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The pointed end of the hammer buried itself in a gap between the broken stones. Its wooden haft could not withstand the impact and split where it joined the head. The Greater Goblin yanked twice, but instead of freeing the deeply embedded hammerhead, it tore the cracked haft apart completely.

Raymond prepared to thrust at the creature’s unprotected neck, but the Greater Goblin tossed away the broken handle and reached for him with both hands.

Raymond could pierce its neck, but if he committed to the thrust, the creature would seize him. The familiar scene instantly reminded him of Guy, whose skull had been crushed the first time Raymond encountered a Greater Goblin.

Raymond hurriedly abandoned the thrust and pulled the arming sword back, avoiding the Greater Goblin’s grasp. Even so, its arm caught him and sent him flying. He slammed heavily into the stone wall.

The impact knocked the arming sword from his hand. Agony shot through his left side beneath the ribs, and the shock left his left arm numb. When he struggled back to his feet, even breathing had become difficult, and a thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.

Seeing him disarmed, the Greater Goblin let out a strange cry and lunged, trying to bring him down beneath its weight.

Instead of retreating, Raymond moved forward to meet it. He turned aside from the hand reaching for his head, but the creature’s other hand struck his left shoulder squarely.

Raymond sucked in a sharp breath.

Gritting his teeth against the pain, he lowered his body and slipped inside the Greater Goblin’s left arm. He drew the shortsword that had remained tucked at his waist and drove it deep into the back of the creature’s knee.

The Greater Goblin roared in pain, lost its balance, and dropped to one knee. Raymond immediately pulled the shortsword free, reversed his grip, and drove it diagonally into the hollow below the side of its neck, just above the collarbone, plunging the blade into its chest.

The strike sank deep, but only roused more of the creature’s buried savagery. Roaring, it reached back and seized Raymond, dragged him backward, and slammed him against the stone wall. It then pinned him there with its enormous body.

The violent impact made Raymond spit out another mouthful of blood, but his hand remained locked around the hilt. The impact against the wall jerked the shortsword violently inside the Greater Goblin’s body, tearing the wound wider and sending blood spraying out.

The creature tried to continue attacking him, but after struggling for a moment, its strength gradually faded. Its body lost all support and crashed heavily to the ground.

Raymond tried to stand straight, but a piercing pain ran through the left side of his chest and abdomen. Every breath felt as though something sharp were pressing against his ribs. He could only brace himself against the wall and gasp for air. After catching his breath for a long moment, he suddenly remembered Henk and turned toward him.

Henk had his back to Raymond. Blood covered his massive body, making him look especially savage in the lamplight. His fists were clenched as he continued pounding the Greater Goblin beneath him. Even though the creature had stopped moving entirely, Henk did not stop striking it.

“Henk...” Raymond called. Pain gripped his chest, and he coughed, spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

“Hngh?!”

A heavy grunt came from Henk. His fists stopped in mid-strike, and he whipped around to look at Raymond.

His dark golden eyes stood out sharply in the darkness. A bloodthirsty red light flickered within his golden pupils, and the violence in his gaze made it seem as though he wanted to devour Raymond as well.

“Henk?” Startled, Raymond took a small step back and called his name again uncertainly.

Only then did Henk come to himself. The red light in his eyes gradually receded, and the violence on his face gave way to confusion. He looked at Raymond, then at the shapeless mass of ruined flesh beneath him, and abruptly stood. “I—I—I...”

“Easy, Henk. It’s over.” Seeing him so shaken, Raymond hurriedly tried to calm him.

Henk drew a deep breath and shook his head hard.

Raymond pulled the shortsword from the Greater Goblin’s neck and found his fallen arming sword in the dim light. Then he said to Henk, “We need to get back up. We don’t know what’s happening above.”

Henk said nothing at first. He simply stared at Raymond, his golden pupils shining brightly in the darkness. “Thank you, Raymond. You saved my life. I couldn’t have fought two monsters like that alone.”

“You don’t need to thank me. You’ve saved me before too.”

Henk shook his head, his golden eyes fixed on Raymond. “I’ve saved many lives. But you’re the only one who’s saved mine—and you’ve done it more than once.”