Goblin Slayer

The cave heaved with fleshy masses, packed in tight.

Ugh, it’s alive.

She could practically hear her sanity being shaved away: It was remarkably pleasant. For better or for worse, the king’s younger sister had had such an experience before, although she had never quite been plunged into insanity.

“What the heck is that?!” she squealed, plastering herself against the wall of the high cliff.

“Yeah, ha-ha, it’s a big one this time. Not as big as Hecatoncheir, though,” Sword Saint said, laughing merrily. Even in her blue leather armor, she looked proud and imposing. Her smile as the stinking wind tossed her hair around was like that of a beast baring its fangs.

She drew the copper sword—it turned out to be a copper scimitar—on her back, the blade gleaming dangerously. Compared to the writhing mass of flesh, though, it looked no larger or more threatening than a needle.

“Are you sure about this?!”

“Thing looks like it’s alive, so I just have to keep slicing until it dies.”

No big deal. Well, the king’s younger sister thought it seemed like a big deal, but she kept any further objections to herself.

“It’s Jupiter’s Ghost,” Sage, likewise pressing herself against the cliff wall, murmured softly. Beneath her pink hood, the king’s younger sister could see that her doll-like face was drawn and pale. Not because of the lump of flesh, bulging with veins and nerves, that threatened to crush them against the wall. She’d noticed it ever since they’d set foot on this treacherous ground.

“If we have to jump…do you think we’ll make it?!”

“I would rather not have to find out… Using Falling Control while also maintaining four Other Self spells would be immensely taxing,” Sage said. Then she added, “That was a joke,” but the king’s younger sister, it’s fair to say, wasn’t laughing.

In some sense, this is pretty much my first adventure, right?!
she thought. Her journey into the Dungeon of the Dead had been by kidnapping, then the Deathtrap Dungeon as part of the dungeon exploration contest—and finally this.

“Among the magic words of true power is a spell called Other Self,” Sage said quietly, ignoring the young woman’s state of mind. The king’s younger sister was familiar with this spell. At that very moment, all of the other selves up on the surface were thanks to Sage’s use of this magic.

It was like those goblins—they, too, had been called forth by some complicated magic.

“There was once one who thought that if they had their double incant Other Self, they would produce ever more powerful versions of themselves.”

“And did they really try it?” Where Sage spoke softly, Hero’s voice (she was dressed in green) seemed to bounce off the walls. Although her footing was no steadier than that of the rest of them, she looked as safe and comfortable as a child walking along a neighborhood fence.

“It was the height of foolishness.” Sage looked down with utter derision at the mass of flesh below them—if her words were true, the remains of that wizard.

The double had had the same thought as its master and used Other Self again. Then
its
double had done the same thing. From there, they’d continued replicating endlessly. The doubles had ultimately crushed the original, and with no consciousness of their own, they’d continued using Other Self. Chanting the spell would be to their advantage. It would make them stronger. So chant it they did. On and on. Forever.

“And this is what got us.”

The foolish mage suffered a heavenly erratum. The price he paid was tremendous—to him. But to the Four-Cornered World itself, it was trivial: the soul of a single spell user. The danger that remained, however, certainly couldn’t be taken lightly.

“There’s no question—that thing will one day swallow the Four-Cornered World whole.”

Soon the goblins would be caught up in the spell, the lump of flesh using them for food even as it continued to expand.

The search for profit, the pursuit of knowledge: These were the endeavors of sentient peoples. They were the driving force that had brought the monkeys and the beasts spoken of by the lizardmen to this point. Before they had been beasts, they had been fish living in the ocean—and even before that, they had been primordial ooze.

Imagine if that ooze had gotten its proverbial hands on unlimited power equal to that of a dragon or some such creature.

“…” Sage continued to stare silently down at the hideous lump that was now all that remained of the wizard. Left unchecked, the thing would bury the Four-Cornered World, not stopping until it had consumed every world and realm. Maybe it was the product of its persistence that after long months and years, it had finally arrived at its own sealed resting place.

Neither Sage, nor Hero, nor the king’s younger sister could fathom the will or desire of the soulless hunk of meat.

Then there was Sword Saint, who had no interest in grasping such things. “So we just have to kill it before it can do that, right?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Hero replied, her lips pursed.

“O Holy Earth Mother…”

The king’s younger sister began chanting from the depths of her heart, as every sight and every situation around her seemed beyond imagining. These three fine people with her were always fighting their way through such adventures. Now that she was with them, she couldn’t just stand around screaming in panic.
That wouldn’t look very cool, for one thing!

Her friends were up on the surface. She was, admittedly, once again having an adventure on the sly. But her own older brother had told her that at times like this, the only thing to do was grin and go for it.

“Magic’s tough, huh…!” the king’s younger sister said, clutching her sounding staff and grinning desperately.

“Absolutely,” Sage agreed, smiling a little herself. “Because spells are magic—in other words, miracles.”

Thus, truly great sages hardly ever used magic. Thus, too, it was by the direction of the very gods that the king’s younger sister was here at this moment.

“I’ve heard Jupiter’s Ghost brings disaster…” Even as she spoke, the princess was quickly going through a wide range of holy scripture in her mind, bringing her soul closer to the heavens. Doing so made one a link between heaven and earth, so one had to be careful not to get too excited all at once…

Half watching her, Sword Saint said, “You’re saying this thing down here is the reason the western frontier has been…?”

“The chicken and the egg,” Sage replied, bringing her staff to bear and turning her consciousness to her arts. “No one knows which came first.”

“Well, I sure hope it was this thing!” Sword Saint replied, gamely raising her weapon. (Her logic seemed a little bit off.)

“I wanna say, I really meant to just hang out and enjoy the contest,” Hero remarked.

“When things have gotten this far, the Hero has to buck up and do her job.”
Like how I’ve tried to do since I got caught up in this.

Hero shrugged at the king’s younger sister’s words. “When you put it that way, guess I’ve got no choice—can’t let us get beat now!”
Just like always.
Hero grinned and leaped into the fray, her black hair streaming behind her.

The party brimmed with fighting spirit—compared to them, the king’s younger sister seemed to have scant power indeed.
There’s not much I can do
, she thought. All the more reason to do it with every ounce of her strength and her heart. Letting the heroes do all the work while she sat in safety and comfort—she’d always hated that and still did.

“O Earth Mother, abounding in mercy, please, by your revered hand, cleanse this land!”

She felt her soul enveloped by a gentle hand, as if she were being embraced by a loving mother. It was all right. Everything would be okay. There was no question in her mind.

The king’s younger sister glared at the lump of flesh before her. It wasn’t just about strength or effectiveness; those weren’t everything. They absolutely were not. That was why she was here, and the other women—that was why Hero was here.

“Gah, man! I wish we could do
one
adventure that doesn’t involve the fate of the world…!” Hero said.

“If that’s what you want…,” Sword Saint began, and Sage finished for her:

“…then we must begin by saving the world.”

“Guess so…! I just knew it!” the girl, Hero, cried, and then she thrust her hand high into the air. So long as her absolute weapon, bound to her soul, was in the same dimension, it would appear in her hand instantaneously.

It was a green enchanted blade that seemed to contain the light of the sun. Her absolute weapon.

Hero grasped it firmly, then leaped into space.

“Strike…of the Sun!!”