Jack signaled to Arad to come closer, waving his finger.
Arad approached slowly. ^How can Jack do it?^ He wondered. Jack moved several times faster than him silently.
[He's a rogue, sneaking around is his thing,]
Arad reached Jack, "What is it?"
"Look," Jack whispered while pointing at the log. "I bet this is the back entrance. We need to get inside and look for the hostages."
Arad smiled, "Should I push it aside?"
"Yes, but do it slowly. The entrance below it shouldn't be that big." Jack looked around, "It's clear, and I don't hear anything from behind the log,"
"Wait a moment," Arad said with a smile, "Let me check,"
He closed his eyes, focusing on all his senses. ^I can feel the movement below the ground. I can smell everything, so identifying isn't hard.^
"We have hostages. Two men and four women are located in a cell fifty meters deep. There is a fifth woman in a separate room, but..." Arad stopped, scratching his chin.
"What is it? Is she dead?" Jack looked at him. It was already strange that one of the hostages is kept in a separate room.
"No...She smells nice..." Arad looked at Jack.
"What?" Jack stared at Arad, "Well, it doesn't matter. I will open the locks if any, and you get that woman out."
"So we're separating?"
"No, the six people in a single room take priority. The smelling good woman remains last." Jack replied it was only obvious to try and save the majority first.
"Fine, I will push the log away," Arad crawled toward the log, pushing it aside.
As Jack predicted, the hole was only small enough to crawl through. It's only for goblins to use.
"We can't get the hostages out of here," Jack growled.
"Fine," Arad smiled, "Let's find them first, and then I will blast this hole open,"
"That's a plan," Jack smiled, crawling inside the hole and closing his nose. The place stinks more than the city sewers, a completely horrid stench.
Arad jumped in, "Let's go," He whispered.
"Oi! Where did you pick the woman's sweet smell? I want some of that as well. This place stinks," Jack whispered.
"You wanted it. Let's go to the cells first," Arad replied, pointing toward the cells.
"Fine," Jack sighed, sneaking across the cave till he saw two goblins. "Wait here," Jack crawled behind them in the dark and pulled a second dagger.
Thud! In the blink of an eye, he stood and swung at the goblins' backs. The daggers pierced their small bodies, cutting the spine and dropping them like dolls.
Arad quickly sucked the corpses as he followed Jack. "There it is," Jack smiled, seeing a large monster cage with the hostages inside.
"One, two, six!" Arad counted them, "All elves, as the reports said."
Jack approached the cage, looking for a lock.
"A human?" One of the elf men growled, "What are you doing here?"
"SHII!" Jack glared at him, "Let us get you out of here, and then you can hate on us. Long ears."
The elf man giggled, "Sorry, I didn't mean it."
"You're opening that lock," Arad looked at Jack, "I will go the other woman to save time."
"About her! The goblins here work for a dragon. They captured us as food for him. She was taken this morning to be fed to him," the man growled.
"Dragon food?" Arad looked at the elf, "Don't worry about the dragon. We might have dealt with this already," He smiled, walking toward the last woman's location.
Arad walked across the dark hallways silently, following the woman's sweet smell. Thud! He could see a goblin standing beside a door, scratching his head with a bored face.
Arad smiled. ^She is behind that door, but how could I take that goblin down silently like Jack?^ He looked around.
Arad couldn't see much of a space to sneak around, and he didn't have an invisibility coat like him.
^What magic should I use?^ Arad smiled, ^Fire and lightning are a no go. Void or gravity. Ice should work as well, but which one is best.^
^I can crush him with gravity, rip him apart with the void, or freeze him in place.^ Arad lifted his hand. ^I know it. Why not all at the same time?^
A dark gust of the void rushed from Arad's fingers. ^Use void magic to erase the air and light around him, muffling his voice.^ The goblin grabbed his neck, unable to breathe as his vision went black.
^Then, flash freezes him with ice magic.^ The goblin's body turned into an ice statue, ^Then crush him down with Gravity magic,^
The goblin's body turned into a ball of fine snow and blood, resting on the ground slime pulp.
Arad rushed toward the door, pushing it open as it wasn't locked. The moment he got a whiff of the air inside, he started drolling.
Looking inside the room, Arad saw a large table with a naked woman chained on it, smeared in raw flesh and blood.
"HMMM!" The elf woman growled from beneath her muffled mouth, trying to move.
Arad slowly approached her, "So this is what they wanted to feed the dragon," He sniffed her, "You smell nice. Did anyone tell you?" To him, she looked like a fine, juicy steak grilled to perfection.
"HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" She growled, shaking her head.
Arad looked at her, grabbing one of the meat pieces on her body and lifting it. "Wild hog meat?" He looked at the woman, gulping the meat in a single bite. "Sadly, I can't eat you, it seems. What a waste."
The woman's face paled. Who was this? Another monster. "As I expected, Posion," Arad growled, walking to the edge of the room and puking the raw meat out. "Those little bastards were trying to kill the dragon." He giggled, looking back at the woman, "You've been soaking in the poisoned blood and flesh. We need to get you out to our paladin immediately."
Arad approached the woman, grabbing the chain around her arms in his palm. CRACK! The chain shattered.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺