Finn woke up lying a few feet away from the horse-woman's body. His body was all sore from the fall, but he was grateful to be alive. With a little effort, Finn stood up. He realized his leg was injured. He looked for his backpack with the potions lying not far from him and grabbed it, looking for a potion.
"Shit, they're all broken..." Finn said, disappointed, throwing his backpack aside and limping over to Darwin, who was lying on the other side of the horse-woman. "Darwin, are you dead?" Finn asked, moving Darwin's body.
"Huh? I'm still alive?" Darwin asked, waking up.
"Unfortunately" Finn joked, then turned to look at the height of the cliff. 'How the hell did I survive?'
"Ugh, my body hurts…" Darwin complained, looking at the horse-woman's body and said "At least I didn't end up like her."
"Yeah, well, we have a problem. The potions are all broken" Finn revealed, making Darwin sigh wearily.
"Shit…" Darwin replied, then turned to look at the horse-woman.
The horse-woman was lying on a small crater, her chest rising and falling rapidly, indicating the beast's labored breathing. Her squinted eyes showed pain, and the occasional movements of her head indicated that she was trying to move but couldn't.
Finn looked at the horse-woman closely. Now that she couldn't chase them, there was no danger. The horse-woman was over 8 feet tall, with a well-defined, muscular body, enormous breasts, a wide waist, and a large butt.
"What the hell is wrong with that thing? Even with its back broken, it keeps trying to rape us?" Finn asked in disbelief, watching as the horse-woman stuck out her enormous tongue and tried to lick Finn.
"That's its nature…" Darwin said, slowly standing up. "It was born, raised, lives, and will probably die, with the sole thought of mating with humans. It's all they know and all they want to know. These things adore us. We're like water in the desert to them" Darwin said.
"Why? Don't they have males or other species to mate with?" Finn asked, confused.
"They had it, but they still didn't mate with each other. They usually went to small villages looking for people to kidnap, preferably young, since they lasted longer and couldn't put up as much resistance. As for other races, they tended to avoid them, especially centaurs and mytt-horses."
"And what happened next? You're talking as if this doesn't happen anymore" Finn said, confused.
"Well, it's not supposed to. Almost 100 years ago, the centaurs and mytt-horses grew tired of the bad reputation this species gave them, so they went on a massive hunt, exterminating all the males and killing more than 90% of the females. Then they captured the rest in the animal kingdom, but obviously they can't keep them forever, and every now and then some escape, like this one."
"And why do they keep them alive? They've already exterminated almost all of their race, so why not finish the job?"
"For reproductive reasons, ironically. The mytt races, especially the centaurs and mytt-horses, are very small, to the point that incest between them is almost impossible. That's why many seek to procreate with humans, of whom there are massive numbers and, above all, they don't contaminate the blood of their own species with the blood of another subspecies" Darwin revealed.
"I see... pretty racist of them for no wanting to have blood of other species... and I suppose creatures like this give them a bad reputation and make it difficult for them to find mates with humans," Finn said, and Darwin nodded. "But what good does it do to procreate with them? Wouldn't they be creating a new species from the union between them?"
"That's the funny thing. Apparently, these beasts are the only ones that can give birth to completely pure specimens. If a human impregnates this thing, it will produce a pure mytt-horse, and if a mytt-horse impregnates this thing, it will produce a pure centaur. Although, if many centaurs or mytt-horses impregnate several of these things, then they'd end up the same; they'd all eventually mate with each other" Darwin clarified.
"Shit, are there so few individuals in those species? How many are there, roughly, between 1,000 or 1,500?" Finn asked, but Darwin shook his head, laughing.
"Ha, well, if only... I think there are a total of 50 centaurs and about 70 half-horses, at most." Darwin said
"Shit, I didn't expect it to be that bad..." Finn said, amazed.
"Yeah... although not everyone sees it that way, many get a kick out of these kinds of monsters, the stronger ones of course" Darwin revealed. "I understand there's a girl in our guild who subdued one of these."
'A girl who subdued a horse-woman, huh?... I remember that Cristel also did something similar between her first 5 years as an adventurer along with some young mytt-wolf. According to the novel, Cristel tamed the creature for the entire night until it became docile' Finn thought but then he remembered something else 'and if I remember correctly two years later she meets another one, during the winter I think, but this time she not only tames it on her own, but she captures it and turns it into her pet... curious, since Crystal suffers the same fate 3 years after the war, in her fight against the Night King she loses and is captured for almost half a year by the king, where she is used as a sex slave until she finally escaped thanks to an attack on the Night King's castle... The truth is I don't know what to think about that here they can enslave any humanoid being as long as they do not possess an intelligence similar to that of humans. After all, it's a rotten world, like the novels say' Finn thought, but then another question occurred to him. "Wait, you said these things basically worshipped us, so why did it want to kill us?"
"It didn't want to kill us. It just that when it saw us running, it deduced, correctly, that we didn't want to have anything to do with it" Darwin clarified, causing Finn to nod in understanding.
"So as long as you accept your destiny, this thing won't attack you?" Finn asked, and Darwin nodded.
"Yes, or at least that's what it says in the books" Darwin said.
Finn, curious, and knowing that the thing couldn't move at all, wanted to test that theory.
"Let's test how true this is" Finn said, and Darwin looked at him curiously.
Finn slowly approached the horse-woman, who was looking at him intently. Seeing Finn approaching on his own, the horse-woman began to calm down and stuck out her tongue again, looking at Finn without making any sudden movements.
"It seems to be working..." said Finn, slowly kneeling down in front of the beast and slowly stroking the horse-woman's forehead. "It seems to be true... although I'm still not used to its face."
"It does seem like a strange combination of human and horse" Darwin agreed.
Seeing the horse-beast's mouth, Finn wanted to take this a little further and placed his fingers over the creature's mouth, surprising Darwin. He was watching attentively in case the beast bit Finn. But the horse-woman, instead of biting, began to lick Finn's fingers lustfully, hoping Finn would be encouraged to do more.
"Yeah... don't even think about it" said Finn, removing his fingers and turning to Darwin. "It seems to be true," said Finn, ignoring the horse-woman's squeals. Finn sat down against a stone wall to rest. Darwin followed his example and sat down next to him.
The two remained silent, occasionally listening to the moans of the horse-woman or the passing air current. After a few minutes, a gallop was heard in the distance, and after a few seconds, a group of centaurs arrived in front of them.
Finn looked at them in amazement, as this was the first time he had seen a centaur other than in movies or television series. Examining them closely, he noticed that their bodies were slightly larger than those of a normal horse, and they wore long skirts with scale-shaped iron that functioned as armor, and a type of Spartan armor on their torsos. The centaurs looked at them for a few seconds, nodding at them, and then turned to look at the horse-woman lying on the crater.
The centaurs made sure to quickly tie her up with steel chains and then turned to look at Finn and Darwin, who were simply watching them capture her. The centaur chief took a few steps forward until he was standing in front of them, and Finn and Darwin stopped to greet him.
"We're sorry for this misfortune. She escaped when we were careless when we were moving her to another area. We hope this doesn't bring any remorse to us, young adventurers" the centaur quickly apologized, not wanting to get into trouble with a guild.
"No problem, accidents happen... just take care of her this time" said Finn, extending his hand and shaking the centaur's hand.
"Although she caused us some problems, it's nothing serious, as you can see" said Darwin, also shaking his hand.
"That's good" said the centaur chief, then looked toward the cliff. "Did you fall from the top?"
"Yes… the horse-woman took us by surprise. You see, we're new at handling higher-level beasts than us" Finn confessed, embarrassed.
"I understand. In that case, I apologize again" said the centaur chief. "Would you like us to accompany you to the summit?" he asked.
"No, thank you very much, but we're still in the middle of a mission" said Darwin. "You see, we're on a mission due to various reports of goblins attacking in groups and several missing merchandise. You haven't seen anything strange around here, have you?" asked Darwin.
"Goblins? Now that you mention it, the goblins have been behaving very strangely lately" said another centaur, joining the conversation.
"Strange, huh?" said Darwin, taking a small notebook out of his backpack as he gestured for them to continue talking.
While Darwin asked about the goblins, Finn watched as the other centaurs took the horse-woman and placed her on a centaur. One of the centaurs noticed Finn's curious look and decided she should seize the opportunity. Slapping the horse-woman, the centaur winked at Finn.
"What do you think? Don't you want to support the cause? She's already tied up and everything," offered the centaur woman.
"No... thanks, I'm just watching, maybe next time..." replied Finn, not knowing what to say.
"Or maybe you'd prefer someone smarter and more beautiful" said the centaur woman, taking off her armor and revealing her enormous breasts as she swung them in front of Finn.
"Thanks for the suggestion, but I'll have to pass. I'm in the middle of a mission" Finn said, embarrassed. 'What's wrong with these women? I wish I'd had at least a little of the popularity I have here in my old world.'
"It's a shame, honey, but if you change your mind, you can always find me or your friend…" the centaur said, approaching Finn and handing him a piece of paper. She then leaned in and gave him a quick, light kiss on the lips, followed by a wink.
Finn said goodbye and quickly returned to Darwin, who had already written down all the information the centaurs had.
"Well, thank you very much for the information" Darwin said, shaking the centaur chief's hand.
"You're welcome. It's the least we can do after capturing the horse-woman… Oh, of course. You should be careful, since one of my scouts claims to have seen an ogre around here, and not long ago we lost another horse-woman during a hobgoblin attack" the centaur chief warned before leaving for the beast kingdom.
Darwin waved them goodbye, but not without overlooking the centaur woman with her breasts sticking out. After the centaurs left, Darwin let out a long sigh followed by a big, goofy grin.
"Did you see them?!" Darwin asked excitedly.
"Who?" Finn asked back.
"The centaur women, of course!" Darwin said excitedly. "They were gorgeous, and they had asses that big!!!" Darwin exclaimed, holding out his hands.
'Wait a minute... don't tell me Darwin is...' Finn thought fearfully. "Darwin... are you... a furry?"
"You're wrong! I'm only a lover of good women!" Darwin exclaimed.
"There are good human women too…"
"Shut your filthy mouth! There's no better woman than a mytt, do you understand? There's no way a filthy human can compare to them!" exclaimed darwin
Finn wanted to keep talking, but he knew this conversation was endless, so he had no choice but to resign himself to watching the friend he'd just made sink into a pit of lust and fetishes.
'Well, at least we'll never fight over a girl again, I think...' Finn thought, trying to console himself. Then he saw the paper in his hand and gave it to Darwin. "Here, I think it'll be more useful to you..."
Darwin took curious the paper, extending it and noticing that it had a photo inside along with the address of the centaur in the animal kingdom with the words written: visit me
"Finn, you're the best friend I could have wished for!!..." Darwin said, crying with joy as he saw the photo of the naked centaur.
"Sure... let's continue with the mission" Finn said, and Darwin nodded happily, putting the photo away.
Finn and Darwin walked for about six hours along the edge of the cliff until they finally came out into what appeared to be another forest. However, this forest seemed much larger than the one they had been in before. Its color looked duller and sadder at the same time, sending shivers down Finn and Darwin's spine.
"You've been here before, right?" Finn asked, looking at Darwin.
"What, do I look like an idiot to you? Just look at the forest. Why the hell would I come here voluntarily?" Darwin replied.
"Shit… so how do we get back up?" Finn asked, seeing the height of the cliff. "We're not going to climb that, are we?"
"No way, that's about 400 meters high. I can barely see the end of the cliff."
"Then we just have to go around it…" Finn said, walking towards the forest. "We should have accepted the centaurs' proposal."
"I hope there aren't any monsters," Darwin said.
"Shut your fucking mouth, don't you see, you're going to ruin our luck!?" Finn said, upset.
"Calm down, those are just superstitions…" Darwin replied, but then they heard a noise.
Crack!
The sound of a branch breaking alerted Darwin, who turned to see where the sound was coming from and then looked at Finn, only to realize he was already running away.
"Wait!! Don't leave me!!" Darwin shouted, running towards Finn.
The two ran again, not caring if they were still injured or not. One thing was clear: this forest was not for D-class adventurers. Finn and Darwin ran through the bushes, leaving behind whatever was following them. Their direction was simply to follow the edge of the mountain until they found a rise.
After running for a few minutes, the two stopped to rest and find a place to sleep since it was getting dark. The two cut through the bushes, creating a small place to sleep, hidden from the sight of the monsters.
—
"Ugh, my body still hurts from the fall" Finn complained, sitting on the bank of a stream.
"Be glad you feel something. We were so close to ending up like that horse-woman or worse" Darwin said, washing his face.
It had been a day since they entered this forest, and they were still looking for a way out.
"By the way, it seems it's not normal for goblins to talk" Darwin mentioned, getting Finn's attention.
"What?" Finn simply asked.
"Yeah… according to what the centaurs told me yesterday, it seems goblins shouldn't be able to talk… or wear armor… or work as a team… or strategize at all" Darwin said, making Finn look more serious.
"So all this time we've been reporting the goblins' strange behavior as normal?!" Finn asked incredulously.
"Looks like it" said Darwin.
"Shit, now we're going to look like idiots in front of the guild!" said Finn, frustrated.
"Amelia's going to be really mad..." said Darwin, worried, and Finn nodded.
"Yeah, I don't know why, but something tells me this won't be a normal mission like it's supposed to be" said Finn, putting on his shirt.
"Calm down. I'm sure we'll find a way back up soon" said Darwin optimistically.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Several footsteps a little far away alerted them, causing them to quickly draw their swords. Slowly, the two crouched down, approaching the bushes where they heard murmurs and laughter.
"Hehehehe, the silly humans don't know what's attacking them."
"Hihihi, it's easier to attack those fatties than armed humans."
Finn and Darwin peeked out from between the bushes, seeing a group of 15 goblins along with a large amount of merchandise and what appeared to be meat. The goblins danced around the loot and celebrated another of their victories.
"I hope that meat is animal meat, although I doubt it" whispered Finn.
"We have to attack them now while they're distracted" whispered Darwin, but was stopped by Finn's hand.
"Wait, look" Finn pointed at some silhouettes approaching.
They were another group of goblins, about 20 of them. Among them were four harpies chained up and with broken wings. Apparently, the goblins had captured them but decided not to kill them like they usually did.
"Great, great, we have four more. Once we take them to the lair, the great witch will be very happy; he'll surely reward us," said an excited goblin.
"Yeah, those stupid ogres won't get all the rewards anymore!" said another jumping goblin.
The group of goblins quickly grabbed all the loot and the harpies and marched toward their lair. Finn and Andrew didn't hesitate to follow them stealthily in order to find out what was happening.
"This is worse than I thought" Darwin whispered. "I've never heard of goblins teaming up with ogres, much less a witch."
"Don't forget the hobgoblins from last time. It's very likely they're involved too" Finn affirmed. 'This is new. This didn't happen, or at least I don't remember it being mentioned in the novels.'
Finn and Darwin followed the group for what seemed like an hour until they reached the entrance of a cave in a mountain located right next to the cliff where they fell.
The goblins entered without any concern, unaware that they were being followed.
"What the hell!?" Darwin exclaimed, still whispering, while Finn looked shocked and incredulous.
In front of them were several buildings and paths made of wood, hanging from ropes and chains, that ran throughout the interior of the mountain. There were rooms, construction areas, and even iron cells for holding captives. Goblins, hobgoblins, and ogres lived in this large cave, or hidden city, confirming Finn and Darwin's suspicions.
"An entire civilization… dozens, no, thousands of monsters living together" Finn said, astonished.
"And that's not the worst of it" Darwin pointed, pointing to the designated place for the cells.
Where humans or elves would usually be seen, this time there were a large number of tied-up female monsters, from harpies and lamias to a horse-woman being held by three ogres. Finn and Darwin suspected that this was the horse-woman the centaurs lost not long ago.
"They're starting to mate with creatures of other races. I don't know if this is good or bad. On the one hand, they no longer constantly attack humans, and on the other, they reproduce more easily and quickly" said Finn. "With just this, in a matter of months they'll have an entire army of thousands of goblins ready to fight."
"We have to go back and inform the guild… But we can't leave without knowing who the witch is helping them. I don't know how anyone could ally themselves with these pests" Darwin said, and Finn nodded, watching carefully where the goblins they had been following were heading.
The goblins arrived at a wooden platform suspended right in the center of the mountain, tied with several ropes and steel chains, and sat down to wait patiently. A few seconds passed when a goblin dressed in long black robes and carrying a staff made of human bones emerged from a small tent. The goblin was escorted by two ogres on each side and a group of hobgoblins, who were waiting outside his tent.
"I see you brought more slaves and great treasures… good, very good" said the strange goblin, speaking in a much more civilized manner.
"Hmm, we've brought everything you asked for, great witch. Now can we be rewarded more?" asked an anxious goblin.
"Rewarded, huh? Yes, this would merit a great reward, but I see this isn't all you've brought me… You bunch of useless idiots lured two adventurers to our base!" exclaimed the goblin witch, raising his staff and alerting Finn and Darwin.
The tip of the staff, which was a human skull, glowed brightly before the goblin warlock swung it at the entrance, causing it to collapse immediately.
"Shit, we're discovered!" Darwin said, looking at the collapsed entrance.
"Kill the humans, don't let them get out of here alive!" the warlock ordered.
Finn and Darwin stood watching the goblins and hobgoblins approaching rapidly.
"This is bad!" Darwin exclaimed. "We have to find a way out, and fast."
"But how? There are a lot of goblins and hobgoblins, and there are also ogres" Finn said.
"…we have to split up. Run around and take on as many goblins and hobgoblins as you can. We've already faced them. You shouldn't have any problems with them. Just avoid the ogres. They're class C monsters, and sometimes even class B" Darwin said, looking down, managing to spot a platform not far away. "Understood?"
"Run, wreak havoc, and stay away from the fatties. Easy peasy, like a roguelike game." Finn nodded and ran toward one side of the path he was on and jumped onto another platform.
'What's a roguelike game?' Darwin thought, but it didn't take long for him to do the same as Finn.
Finn ran across the platform, swinging his sword back and forth, killing and dodging goblins. He only had a bit of trouble with the hobgoblins, but nothing he couldn't handle after facing several of them before.
'Goblins are like simple children lining up to receive their punishment... although maybe that's because I'm a Class D adventurer' Finn thought, kicking a goblin off the platform. 'Goblins aren't a problem for me... though.'
Finn took a blow from a hobgoblin, staggering him slightly. 'Hobgoblins are on another level. They're almost as strong and fast as me, but above all, they're smarter and more strategic than a normal goblin. That's what causes me the most trouble.'
Finn grabbed the hobgoblin's next punch, pulling it up and using it as a sack to throw it towards the goblins. Running to one corner, he cut the ropes holding the platform up, then ran to the other corner, also cutting the rope and using it to swing to another platform, while the goblins on the previous platform fell into the depths of the mountain.
'Sigh, this was supposed to be just an easy mission' Finn thought, looking at the hobgoblins in front of him.
"Nihihihi, stupid human, entering our base was your biggest mistake. This will be your grave!" said a hobgoblin, launching himself at Finn.
Finn dodged him and grabbed him by the leg, slamming him against the wood, creating a large hole in it.
"The truth is that what you say is very likely, but…" Finn ran to one side of the platform and gave a great leap to finish breaking the platform in half while he held onto one of the halves and the hobgoblins fell into the void "…I'm going to kill as many of you as I can, ugly bastards."