Blessed by Night

Chapter 77  Mal is Traumatized

Malachi appeared within a dimly lit cave that smelled nothing short of deplorable. There were small hastily made torches embedded into the walls, and all around him were pieces of shredded clothing and trinkets. He immediately recognized these types of surroundings, and he was suddenly filled with a desire to turn around and go home. A moment later, both Bianca and Aisha passed through as well and they quickly covered their noses from the rancid smell. "Hobgoblins... I would've picked a more conservative outfit if I'd know that they were in the dungeon."

"Ditto." Bianca muttered as she looked at her massive chest and exposed belly. Just like regular goblins, hobgoblins were effectively sex on legs as all of their thoughts seemed to be focused on screwing until they were soggy. The only difference was that hobgoblins were much closer to adult size and could put up a better fight while also utilizing the poison and trickery they mastered while they were young.

Suddenly, Aisha recalled that her friend had a particular apprehension to these creatures after accidentally coming across some of their handiwork on the dark side of the internet. Poor Mal had been traumatized ever since.

Even his favorite manga about a guy being reincarnated as a goblin had been completely off limits.

"You good?" Aisha asked with a mocking smile. Just before Mal could respond, the sound of several footsteps echoed off the walls of the cavern, and several monsters appeared carrying torches and rusty weapons. There were around twenty of them, and they all had mottled green skin and crazed red eyes burning with wickedness and lust. Their massive mouths hung open to reveal cracked and broken teeth of every shape and size, and long purple tongues that licked their lips in anticipation. Among this group of twenty, around half were females who were looking at Mal like he was a slab of meat. "Maeraka!!" The lead hobgoblin ordered the rest to rush forward, and it's underlings immediately moved to claim their prizes. However, they did not get very far. As soon as the goblins started moving towards the humans, ten gleaming silver knives were flung from Malachi's hands. The daggers seemingly took on a life of their own as they cut through the air at an inhuman speed and sliced up the bodies of the goblins like they were made of butter. Disbelieving screams filled the air as the bodies of the hobgoblins were pierced all over, reducing their figures into piles of mincemeat in no more than a few seconds. And yet, Malachi still proved to be unsatisfied as he sent forth a wave of bright golden flames from his hand and incinerated their remains. Only when Malachi was staring at several piles of ash and glimmering dungeon drops did he finally feel a sense of relief wash over his body. But when he remembered that the dungeon would likely have more of these horrifying creatures, his body stiffened and his mood became serious once again.

"This place must be cleansed from top to bottom..." He muttered dramatically. "Hahaha! I know you're traumatized and all that but save some work for your teammates, yea?" Aisha said as she kneeled to examine the loot. Unsurprisingly, such low level monsters did not yield anything better than the items that the three already had, so the items were put away for now and the group continued moving. "Don't you think that was a bit overkill, handsome?" Bianca asked as they walked through the stone tunnels.

Mal shook his head no as he kept his eye out for more of those foul creatures. "You just don't know, B. Something like that was the bare minimum."

"Ignore him." Aisha said as she rolled her eyes. "He's just like this because he doesn't know when to stop pressing 'next video' on YouTube." "I'm just saying there is no way I should've been able to go from rdc, all the way to extreme gore! There's a problem with the algorithm!"

"You're just too curious for your own good."

Bianca looked back and forth between the two best friends and let out a charming laugh. "You guys are really close, huh?" "He knows too much about me. He's stuck with me for life." Aisha said seriously.

"Same." Malachi agreed. The two shared an instinctual fist bump without exchanging another word, both already knowing that they were fated to follow each other in both life and death. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

The viewers watching on stream unleashed a flood of comments applauding their unusual yet rock solid friendship.

As the group continued their exploration, they realized that the deeper they explored the more the underground tunnels opened up. It wasn't long before the four of them were standing in a wide open cavern with a glowing blue stones lining the surface of the ceiling. At first, none of them believed what they were seeing, but after blinking for several minutes they had no choice but to accept the reality.

"Are those really all mana stones...?"

"It would seem like it..."

"This... is insane..."

In today's time, mana stones were more valuable than diamonds and gold. Different from mana ore which are used for construction, mana stones have much greater applications for use. Despite their use appearing as no more than cosmetic, just one of these fist sized stones is enough to power a small building for two years, and it is theorized that a football sized purple one would be enough to power an entire state for ten.

Needless to say, these stones are very rare and simply acquiring two in the same dungeon is seen as a gift from the gods. And now the three members of immortal moon were staring at thousands of them. "Looks like I'm getting a raise." Bianca said excitedly. Aisha and Malachi nodded along in stunned agreement, neither of them able to take their eyes off the glowing ceiling overhead.

Mentally, they were already imagining the absurd amount of money that would hit their accounts later and they could not have been more ecstatic. Suddenly, the heavy sound of footsteps echoed from the cavern around them, and the group were reminded that they had only just entered this dungeon, and there was much more work to be done. The group were expecting more hobgoblins, but instead of the ravenous monsters they were anticipating, they were greeted by a herd of orcs that numbered well into the fifties. "Humans! Keep them away from the treasured and take the women alive!" The lead orc ordered.

The eyes of the blessed nearly popped out of their skulls. While wasn't uncommon for monsters to talk, they did not speak in a dialect that humans could comprehend. So for one to suddenly begin speaking english.. it was strange beyond belief. "Did he just..."

"No time to worry about that, they're coming!"

The orcs did not hesitate to charge at the intruders and Bianca and Aisha responded accordingly. While Bianca pulled out twin bronze gauntlets, Aisha reached inside of her storage ring and pulled out a black and gold Naginata that was aglow with a purple light.

Malachi stepped in between the two of them, looking quite different from his usual self. His already tall frame had gone up another foot in height, making him 7'5. Powerful muscles had bloomed all across his body, and his skin was now covered with a thin layer of dark black fur.

His long dreads had shrunk considerably and now resembled a proud mane of dark black hair. The claws on his fingers were so long they resembled his knives, and seemed as though they were capable of cutting through even the thickest of metals with a single slice. He removed his mask and clipped it onto his belt, revealing his face that was no longer human but instead a monstrous lion's. "Leave at least one of them alive. We need to know what they can tell us."

""Right!""