Arganthes: The Capital of Dungeons 60 Bonus Chapter 25.5: Searching For Survivors

On the other side of the caverns, everyone had left towards Sharoo to file their report about what transpired in their expedition.

Although one individual stayed behind,

as he had been brought in for a separate mission altogether.

The individual in question was Geo Birchwood,

not only was he brought along to ensure their survival during the journey towards the cavern, but he was also in charge of rescuing and retrieving those who did or did not make it through this expedition.

As Geo embarked he quickly found multiple cases like the victims they had encountered along the way. None of them looked familiar to him, even if the victims were fresh...

None of them were part of the expedition.

"Hmm... it seems we weren't the only ones being informed by the king, does he need what he requested so desperately that it's worth it to sacrifice the many for the needs of the few?

Well... can't argue with that logic... for one to achieve greatness, many have to fall! At least I'm glad it's not me."

Geo closed his eyes, balling his fist as he shivered with excitement.

What he quickly came to find, was that he wasn't alone inside the caverns anymore. Not paying attention he didn't realize goblins had spotted him and tried to surround him.

As one tried to jump him from behind, Geo saw a body laying on the ground,

nothing like the ones he had found before... this body wasn't devoid of most tissue or liquid. Also, this body belonged to someone that was part of the expedition.

Curious to see what had happened to them and alarmed as it was someone that was part of the team Geo kneeled to examine the body. Because he did the goblin barely missed him.

Caught up in the moment Geo wasn't aware of the group of goblins that tried to attack him.

Instead, he carefully began to examine the body as it appeared to Sarah... one of the mages that tagged along on the expedition. All-over Geo could see claw marks and bruises covering her body.

The goblins now enraged by their failed attempts began to rally as they attacked from all sides. Geo looked up as it occurred to him that there might be more victims inside the caverns.

That's when he realized he what had ambushed the victims of the caverns.

"Goblins!!"

Geo screamed as he jammed his fist into the ground.

Instantly breaking apart the foundation underneath the goblins as he sank them,

only to let their head remain above ground.

"Disgusting little pests... say... did you do this to my companion?"

Geo asked one of the goblins as he joking knew he wouldn't get a valid answer. Something inside him burned up as he realized the teams were ambushed by goblins. Geo vaguely remembered something from his past life... when he was little his village was overrun by hordes of goblins, he had seen his friends and family being slaughtered in front of his eyes...

His parents had hidden him away in the freshwater well of the village, but because goblins love a dark and damp environment they soon had found him too. Killing and ripping apart his body as he east the last survivor of the village.

Now, gaining a second chance in life as he was summoned to this world he vowed to himself never to allow such atrocities to happen again in his presence...

The kind, yet sometimes awkward, but ever interesting young man had broken down...

And turned into a ruthless beast that didn't know the meaning of the word "mercy".

The goblin spits at Geo's face as it tried to break free of the ground. Something inside him snapped as he moved his hands closer to one another.

This in turn moved the now hardened earth he had trapped the goblins in closer too, as they got crushed by sheer pressure. He had a torch with him as he was unable to see otherwise.

Knowing the goblins would survive the fractured earth if left alone there was only one thing left to do. Trying out his magical abilities he tried summoning roods around the head as he began to strangle and pop their heads one by one.

Taking his time, Geo then proceeded to carefully toast their heads to ashes making sure they couldn't ever come back to torment the surrounding villages.

As he looked around, he soon realized he had gotten to a wide-open area inside the cavers, bodies lay all over the place as he looked left and right.

It was indeed true, the group that had returned consisted of fewer members than they originally entered the caverns with. But looking closer...

There was no sign of his rival, Michael. There weren't any signs of his companion Yami either or like he likes to call it Michaels slipper.

"Michael, Michael, oh where ever may you be, Michael?"

Geo sang in a tone hoping to let him find a clue of my whereabouts.

As he looked around the wide-area he only found more members that had come along for the expedition as they had all died by heavy injuries or blood loss…

Geo didn't leave any rock unturned as she searched through every nook and cranny,

as he was unable to find lively survivors after hours of searching on end, he sighed…

*sigh*

"This rescue mission is worse than I thought… I mean, those goblins did a number on everyone.

I wonder what transpired here…"

Geo kept looking around as he found more and more victims, as he examined the bodies it became clear everyone present at the time had been ambushed, there was a lot of evidence for struggle, but eventually, the battle ended in a draw… As Geo kept looking around he eventually found the bodies of the trolls that had not survived the battle. Being the man he was,

he scavenged whatever was usable in the near future and took all the valuables with him.

"Hey… If I can't rescue them, I don't see why I can't profit from their remains, right?"

As he continued to carefully examine the area he found himself in, Geo stumbled upon the troll that was stuck in the wall. As he carefully removed him from the rubble Geo found the remains of a woman, pierced by the absurdly large tusk, it became apparent that the others had left her to die, as most were unable to even save themselves.

Geo, digging the crossbows she had on her wrists and decided to take them with him as well.

Not sure how to use them he settled for how badass they made him look

"Damn… did they leave all the loot? Well… better for me I guess?"

Geo being a man, brought up to respect the dead and hearing the stories from the church that unattended dead bodies return as undead in this world made him carefully consider to give ever victim found a proper burial

Geo noticed a huge pile of rubble at the end of the area and began motivating himself to dig through it.

"What are we gonna do when we need to keep on working? Exactly! Work even HARDER!!!"

Geo slammed his hands together as she began shouting throughout the room.

Pressure began to form between the palm of his hands as he put both hands flat on the ground.

Almost instantaneously the earth underneath began to rumble as crack began to form.

Quickly the rubble in Geo's way got cleared through the cracks, revealing the lifeless carcass of an important friend.

"Slipper! Nooo Slipper, Nooooo!!?"

Shocked Geo rushed towards Yami's lifeless body. Trying to find any signs of life he soon realized it was a battle he couldn't win. He gently lay her back on the rubble with respect of the friendship he had with Michael and her. Thinking he would bring the fur coat along around her neck, Geo gently removed it hoped to find me along the way.

As the rubble slowly cleared in front of him, Geo stumbled upon a separate room, closed off from the rest of the area. Here the shocking truth about what the goblins had been doing with the survivors came to light as the female bodies devoid of life had huge stinking white stains all over them, not to mention that their spines and neck had been broken on multiple locations. Looking closer Geo even found an infinite amount of scratch marks as the goblins must have dug their nails deeply into their flesh as they mated without restrain…

Now, the room didn't have any signs left of life… Geo looked around to make sure, only to find the offspring of the disgusting cave crawlers. Without even batting an eye, Geo proceeded to strangle the goblin chicks with his thick vines, the sharp thorns cutting into the flesh of their arms,

legs, and necks.

Finally popping of their head in such a clean way that there wasn't any sign of blood to be found. Shortly after Geo proceeded to create a huge fire of their collective bodies.

Summoning wood with his magic geo proceeded to put their heads on stakes to fare as a warning for those who would come to collect their treasure. Making sure the goblins didn't stand a chance of survival. Geo almost lost himself in a blind rage when he realized he was searching for Michael's whereabouts. Hoping to find a clue he continued to search as he stumbled upon the shrine.

Seeing how it had been removed from his original place, Geo noticed something had been removed from the altering, or at least… that what was being worshiped wasn't there anymore.

Quickly he crawled through the tunnels behind the shrine as he ended up at the other side of the caverns. Looking around he noticed some had been here shortly. As it was mid-day Geo looked around astonished by the raw beauty of nature. The open area must have been the center where the edges of the forest met.

In front of him, a young man sat down on the ground with a girl pure as white snow, as they were joking and laughing. Geo recognized that goofy smile anywhere… As he walked up to the both of them he said with relief in his voice.

"We finally meet again… Friend."

Chapter end