CH 143: Empty Resistance

The goblin woman was slung over Jasmine’s right shoulder, limiting her arm’s movement. She didn’t have room to throw properly, and trying to stab or slice with it would risk Firewater’s wife falling off again. Her left arm had limited mobility, partially alleviated by Ana’s magic.

She pulled her knife from its sheath with her left hand. She didn’t need to hit the woman, she just needed her to duck. She flicked her wrist and sent her knife flying towards the lone woman. As expected, the clearly panicking woman ducked in fear from the knife.

Jasmine jumped the woman, barely clearing her. The goblin woman cried out as Jasmine’s landing jolted her battered body.

“Fuck me!” The goblin groaned, clinging weakly to Jasmine’s arm.

Jasmine readjusted her and kept moving. She didn’t have time to worry about her pain right now. The assassin made it out of the stronghold and was sprinting towards the woods.

Terra watched the woman, fear slowly creeping in. She shot one last arrow, a feeble attempt to stop the assassin, but the distance was too far. She had wasted most of her mana on attacking her fellow Ravian.

“Gods…” She muttered as she stumbled for a moment. She scoured the courtyard looking for her employer. The one woman who could turn the tide was nowhere to be seen. Did it get to her?

“Oh shit,” Terra muttered to herself. She felt the wind pick up, sending a shiver through her sweat-covered body. “Where the fuck are you?”

Claire didn’t relax until Jasmine disappeared into the woods. She had followed her lover through Elsie’s magic, kneeing the ducking woman flat. She now stood in the gap in the wall, staring down at the panicking women as the sun began to set.

Ursa carved a path towards Claire, forcing the traffickers into a corner. Some tried to scatter, while the others tried the less threatening option. Claire focused on controlling them, rather than outright killing them. Using their collapsing formation against them. She needed obstacles.

It was all up to Firewater now.

Claire would trust their newly gained ally to get his revenge. He was somewhere within the stronghold, searching for the woman in charge. All she needed to focus on was keeping these women away from her backline.

The strange thing was their archer, who hadn’t moved in minutes. She hadn’t even fired an arrow since Jasmine disappeared. She was up in her perch, frozen like a statue.

Claire was too focused on controlling the woman in front of her, she didn’t notice the ground tremble. From the trees, Firewater’s legion of goblins were marching in perfect formation. Nearly one hundred goblins dressed in steel armor were marching towards the stronghold. The front line advanced in lockstep towards the gap in the wall.

The elite ones were already scaling the walls to Claire’s side. They dropped down, scaring both her and the traffickers. Claire watched the realization dawn on the women’s faces upon seeing the goblins.

Panic was an understatement. Weapons clattered to the ground as they all fled, trampling the less fortunate. Even the ones fighting Ursa stopped, many being struck down. Claire watched the elite goblins dash towards the stronghold.

Claire barely kept herself from slashing when something tapped her shoulder. She spun with her sword and shield ready, pointing it at the goblin with the Admiral hat. It had a toothy grin with its hands up.

Claire blinked. It gestured with its hands, asking her to move. Claire nodded hesitantly as she saw the goblins behind it. She moved without saying a word, getting a sharp bow in response.

The goblin let out a garbled series of commands, pointing to the archer and the fleeing women. Units broke off, some giving chase to the fleeing traffickers while others moved to surround the walls.

Claire watched on with awe as Jasmine emerged beside her.

“Scared the shit out of me too.” Jasmine said with a chuckle. “This wasn’t part of the plan…”

Claire shook her head, finally finding her voice. “No, but… makes this easier.”

“True, but there goes valuable experience,” Jasmine said coldly as she watched the goblins cut down the fleeing women.

Claire, for one dark moment, agreed with her sentiment. But then a creeping cold formed in her chest. She grimaced at the thought.

“Jazz,” Claire muttered. “That’s horrible…”

Jasmine shrugged. “I don’t know. Given the tattoos on these women, I’d say it’s justice.”

Claire felt nauseous thinking about. She looked at the blood on her armor and exhaled slowly. “Still… I don’t like thinking that way.”

“Well, the boys that escaped are safe, but scared of the goblins.” Jasmine continued. “Just have to worry about the ones still inside. And Ursa, she might run out of opponents.”

Claire grimaced again upon seeing Ursa cut down another fighter. The women still fighting were few and far between. Whoever was left was being hunted down by units of goblins.

It all felt too easy.

None of the women put up any real challenge, except the archer. The rest were sloppy; their form was paper-thin. They had the equipment and numbers advantage, but their resistance was pitiful. The saying Jasmine drilled into her during training was correct.

Practice matters more than levels.

These weren’t some ragtag crooks either. Their gear was expensive, their camp was established. They even had the backing of nobles. So how did these women even gain power or influence?

Reyna and that Ravian archer were the exceptions here, but the rest seemed too much like fodder. They looked tough and were willing to do anything for money, yet had no bite.

It was all so confusing.

If they were this weak, anyone could have broken them. So why did it take them? Why couldn’t anyone else have done it?

Ursa crushed the last of the fighters. Her eyes locked onto the archer’s perch where the Ravian used to be. She let out a howl before her skin cracked. Her joints moved and changed as she shed her human skin.

The goblins shifted uneasily. Their blades shook in their hands, and yet none dared to move. They feared her. They feared the wolf.

Was that the answer?

Were the real fighters werewolves like Ursa? If so, where were they? Most of the women were accounted for lying among the dead, and Firewater had only mentioned Astrid and the Ravian transform.

Claire pondered the question as she watched Ursa’s wolf form run into the building, her axe clenched in her jaw.. Claire took a deep breath, noticed by Jasmine.

“Bit anticlimactic, but better than a drawn-out fight,” Jasmine muttered as she leaned against Claire.

“Yeah. You can say that again.” Claire sighed, her voice flat. “Barely met any resistance, like the bandits from before…”

“Mmm, remote area,” Jasmine said, wrapping her arm around Claire. “You don’t post your best fighters here.” “I-I guess, but…” Claire couldn’t quite put into words what she was so upset about. Did she want to fight more? “I don’t know.”

“Too easy, right? Like anyone could have done this?” Jasmine chuckled. She gripped Claire tightly. “That’s exactly the problem. It would have taken the Knights less time to route these traffickers out, but clearly, they haven’t.”

“Did both sides just get lazy then?” Claire asked, feeling the hole in Jasmine’s shirt. The arrow wound was mostly healed, but still bleeding. “Didn’t expect anyone to cross them or to call them out?” “So it seems, but Astrid will almost surely put up a fight,” Jasmine said.

As if on cue, a window on the second floor shattered. A body was thrown out of the stronghold and tumbled to the ground. Green blood splattered the field, as Firewater shakily got to his feet.

His armor was damaged, a mix of bite marks and claw marks littering the steel. He pointed his sword at the window he flew out of, letting out another warcry. In a blur of movement, his assailant jumped down to meet him.

A humanoid wolf landed on its hind legs. It looked different from Ursa’s hybrid form, more sickly and missing patches of fur. Its wounds quickly healed as it snarled at Firewater.

“That must be Astrid.”