Oh no… Asmodeus… when did he show up. Actually… no… this is good. We may have issues, but quite frankly, we need the reinforcements right now.

  Asmodeus: “By all means, pray tell, what is this dire situation of which you speak? As we find ourselves here, outside a goblin nest, in search of a woman who appears to be in your possession.”

  Asmodeus was resplendent… stood in his glorious white armour… as proud and clean cut as ever. By his side stood Chloe and Tilda, as well as a man who I did not recognise. I assume he was a rogue of some sort, given his light armour, short bow, and daggers. Tilda looked shocked… as if she had been stunned… petrified even… like seeing me had turned her to stone. Chloe just looked like Chloe always did… whatever shocked her about my appearance the last time had certainly worn off now.

  I had almost got all of my armour on… I was just missing my cowl. I would have felt more comfortable if they had shown up after I had got the cowl on.

  Kiyui: “Should I stop casting?”

  Dwynfel: “No… get him as far away from here as possible.”

  Asmodeus: “Getting rid of your witnesses now, are we?”

  Dwynfel: “Look, we have issues, I get it. But we don’t have time for this!”

  Asmodeus: “On the contrary. We have all the time in the world. If you think I’m letting you go anywhere, then you are sorely mistaken.”

  This is bad… we don’t have time for this… any moment now, that demon is going to emerge from that cave and that boy needs to be gone before then.

  Phoenix: “Listen to the boy, Asmodeus. If he is this concerned, he has good reason.”

  Asmodeus: “You treat him as a child. He is a fully grown adult goblin. Lest you forget, naught but lies flow from his lips!”

  Agaroth: “Oh for fuck’s sake, almost three years he partied wi’ you. Three fuckin’ years. An’ you stand there and say that shite. Sure, he lied about his race. But who gives a fuck?”

  Asmodeus: “Are you people insane? He is a goblin. They rape, they murder, they deceive. The purpose of this plan of his I do not know. But I shall be no part of it!”

  Another horrifying screech came from inside the cave. Kiyui continued casting his teleport spell. The boy looked at Kiyui’s tail in a deeply confused manner.

  Asmodeus: “What vile creature have you lured us all to, goblin?”

  Dwynfel: “It’s an incubus!”

  Asmodeus: “Oh please… what shall it do? Fuck us to death?”

  Dwynfel: “It’s corrupted!”

  Asmodeus: “You lie, you always lie, you degenerate goblin filth!”

  Agaroth: “Well fuck, that makes sense.”

  Asmodeus: “Quiet Agaroth, this is between me and the goblin.”

  Agaroth: “Oh shut the fuck up, you daft cunt! Can’t you see he’s telling the truth? You can see that boy over there that he’s trying tae teleport away. Pretty fuckin’ obvious it’s a laddie. He’s hung like a fuckin’ horse! Why the fuck else would a goblin nest keep a boy alive? Look at the tattoo on his chest! Now stop this stupid bullshit and either help us, or get out the fuckin’ way!”

  Chloe: “Asmodeus, they have a point. Dial down the piety for a minute would ya.”

  Thank the gods… at least Chloe seems to be reasonable here.

  Disembodied voice: “Give me the child!”

  Dwynfel: “Shit… here it comes!”

  The creature emerged from the cave… apart from its height, it didn’t look particularly imposing… its body looked desiccated… its eyes were in its shoulders instead of its head… it had no nose… simply two holes where its nose should have been. It looked to be about eight foot tall. It did have three other areas of concern… its penis was disturbingly thick… and long… and had sharp barbs coming out of it. Its mouth was horrifyingly wide… way more teeth than could be considered natural and the nails on its hands… they looked like knives.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  The book I read made this creature sound terribly powerful… but we should be able to kill it… it looks frail.

  Incubus: “The child is mine… it has my mark… return it to me… now!”

  Asmodeus: “Be gone vile demon! Alexander, deal with this.”

  The rogue drew his bow and shot two arrows in quick succession straight at the incubus’ head. It just held out its hand and the arrows crumbled into dust as they got close to him. The creature began to advance towards Kiyui and the boy. I moved between them and the creature and drew my daggers. Phoenix did the same with her hammer.

  Asmodeus: “Advance!”

  Asmodeus and Chloe advanced towards the creature… Tilda burst into tears and ran towards me. She reached me, fell to her knees, and grabbed me by the shoulders.

  Tilda: “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry for running away… I just didn’t know how to handle it… I’m so…”

  Chloe: “Tilda! Later! Ugly demon thing first!”

  Tilda: “Right.”

  The creature had stopped and was looking at Asmodeus with curiosity.

  Asmodeus: “Shield of stone!”

  Asmodeus advanced towards the creature with Chloe and Tilda behind him. I went to assist.

  Asmodeus: “Stay back goblin! You shall be dealt with in due course.”

  I stopped my advance and resigned myself to defending Kiyui should that thing get past them. Asmodeus charged towards the creature, leading with his shield. It pierced his shield instantly with its knife-like fingers. In doing so it knocked off his helmet, nicking his left eye and cutting his cheek open.

  While one of its hands was pre-occupied with Asmodeus’ shield Chloe attempted to slice through it with her great sword. The creature reacted instantly and grabbed the blade with its other hand. Tilda took the opportunity to swoop in and land three blows on the creature’s chest. It seemed unfazed.

  Agaroth: “The fuck? It stabbed through that shield like it were made a parchment… that’s no right. A fuckin’ rock wyrm couldn’t damage that thing!”

  Agaroth is right… it cut through the shield like it was nothing… this is not looking good. If we can just stall it for long enough for Kiyui to get the kid away. The incubus pulled the sword from Chloe and threw it away… almost hitting Agaroth with it. Fortunately, he saw it coming and dived out of the way with Katheryn. Then it did the same with Asmodeus’ shield.

  Tilda was moving so swiftly it was unable to stop her as she steadily pummelled it with repeated blows. Or maybe it was just ignoring her because it didn’t consider her a threat. The creature did not appear to be getting hurt by her blows, at best it seemed mildly irritated. Chloe drew her short sword and attempted to join Tilda in the fray… she lacked Tilda’s speed however and the creature deflected all of her blows.

  Asmodeus: “Phoenix! Cleanse it with fire!”

  Phoenix began casting a fire spell as Asmodeus began charging his lightning spear attack. They cast their spells almost in unison. The incubus ignored Chloe and Tilda as it saw the spells travelling towards it… Chloe managed to get a blow in with her sword for the first time and cut it deep just under the left armpit.

  The creature deflected the fireball at Chloe. She managed to mostly stop the blow with her sword but was still knocked down to the floor. Tilda was not so lucky… the lightning spear had been deflected straight into her. She was stunned… unable to move. The creature raised its right hand and plunged its fingers straight into her eyes… the fingers were so long and sharp they pierced the back of her skull and she collapsed to the ground.

  Chloe: “Tilda!!!”

  No…. no, no, no, no. This wasn’t part of the plan… she shouldn’t have been here… this is all going wrong. I fell to the ground. I’m struggling to breathe… everything’s going wrong… I can’t stop it… I try to help and I make things worse… my father should have killed me in that nest… then none of this would be happening.

  Phoenix: “Syphon!”

  I can’t move… I need to move… I need to protect them… I need to do something… why can’t I move… why is the floor turning white… why is everything so bright… what is happening?