Burdenus grew sick of goblin meat by his fifth mouthful of soldiers. They were unwashed, covered in dirt, and certainly not a premium cut of meat. While it’d slow him down to not eat them, he didn’t want to risk getting an upset stomach. That was a price far higher than he was willing to pay.

  He raised his right front leg, knocking back the swarm at his feet, before using it to tear down the majority of the platforms built into the wall. With his left leg, he knocked down the few platforms which remained. Well over a hundred goblins soldiers died to this alone, either plummeting to their death or by having a pile of debris and corpses land onto their heads.

  All that remained was a small force left at his feet, less than a quarter of the original army that met him. Part of him was tempted to just walk over them, crushing them underneath his body. Unfortunately, not only would that be super gross, but it would risk leaving survivors behind.

  Cygnus had been following after him from a distance, so as to avoid being killed due to his weak goblin body. While it wasn’t exactly how things should work between a master and minion, Burdenus had no interest in risking the life of his lunch summoner. If he left behind even just a handful of goblins, there was a chance the small bastards would manage to kill Cygnus, severely inconveniencing him.

  Burdenus had accepted the slow, and disgusting, process of crushing the remaining soldiers with his bare claws. As he turned another goblin into disgusting green paste, a sudden roar caught his attention. Burdenus looked up, catching sight of the goblin mage, who had apparently not been within the crowd.

  More notably, however, was the monster sprinting at him. It was a disgusting thing, many times larger than any of the other goblins. The monster had pale green skin, covered in oozing gashes and oversized pus sacks, with a physique copied from a barbarian’s nightmare.

  The thing’s face was covered by a burlap sack, as broken shackles hung from its ankles and wrists. Burdenus watched in astonishment as the monstrosity closed in on him, screaming the entire time. It was as subtle as it was handsome.

  “What is that thing?” Burdenus asked aloud.

  “Your reckoning!” Replied the goblin mage, her voice amplified once more. “That is the Gobgantuar, the result of my strongest curse-magick. They can easily kill-murder even the strongest monsters in the plains!”

  Before Burdenus could reply, the Gobgantuar launched itself from the ground. With one leap, it soared to the top of the cave, angled perfectly to land upon Burdenus’s snout. It landed with a heavy thud, yet it was already back in action by the time Burdenus focused his eyes on it.

  The monster ran up to his left eye, winding back before launching a fist at the center of the dragon’s iris. In an instant, the world turned black. Burdenus had shut his eyes after the first punch landed, his left eye aching from the force of the blow.

  He felt the monster standing in place, as it unleashed a barrage of blows against the dragon’s left eyelid. While Burdenus hadn’t practiced fighting in his youth, there were certain actions he’d done a million times over. Scratching an itchy snout was one of them.

  His left claw shot towards his snout faster than lightning, impaling the Gobgantuar. The monster let out a pained cry, its hands wrapping around the dragon’s claw, attempting to snap it in half. Yet, no matter how hard it pulled, there was no give to be found.

  Burdenus slammed his left hand into the ground, taking the Gobgantuar with it. He began to rapidly blink his left eye, which had watered up from the beating. While he continued to blink, he stamped into the ground with his left foreleg, only stopping when the Gobgantuar was nothing more than paste and pus.

  “My damn eye,” Burdenus muttered to himself.

  When his eye stopped watering, he looked down to see the horde of goblins had abandoned their post, as they were all sprinting away from him. They were one large group, around forty strong, with the sole goblin mage running far ahead of the rest.

  Burdenus saw the opportunity presented to him and took it, as he unleashed the flame kept within him. His fire breath tore through the air, until its ravenous form managed to grab hold of the horde, incinerating the survivors of his initial attack.

  When the smoke cleared, Burdenus saw a massive pile of charred corpses, alongside the goblin mage who was now sprinting even faster. She had dropped her mage-stick, deciding that losing it was worth the gained speed. Burdenus wasn’t certain if he’d be able to chase after her either way, considering the cramped conditions of the tunnel.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Cygnus,” Burdenus called out.

  A minute later, an all too familiar goblin popped into view, having had to carefully navigate past Burdenus’s body to reach the dragon’s head. When he arrived, he looked over the scene of death and destruction before turning back at Burdenus.

  “Y-yes, my lord biggun of fire, who is very gracious and magnificent?” Cygnus said with a palpable nervousness.

  “There was another magic goblin like you, and she dropped her staff up ahead,” Burdenus pointed at the mage-stick. “You should pick it up before I accidentally destroy it.”

  “Cygnus will do this!” The goblin responded before scurrying towards the object he could hardly see in the distance.

  With Cygnus busy running ahead, Burdenus used this moment to rest, his lungs aching from his fire breath. It was uncomfortable to deal with, but he didn’t want Cygnus to think that he needed to rest. Luckily, this worked out in both their favors. Burdenus got an excuse to relax and Cygnus got some more magic stuff.

  When Cygnus returned with the new mage-stick, Burdenus noticed that he had left behind his old one. He almost asked about it, before realizing that it didn’t matter to him.

  “Are we getting close to their treasure?” Burdenus asked, having felt that he had done enough fighting for one day.

  “This mage-stick is treasure enough!” Cygnus exclaimed, waving it around like a child with a new toy. When his eyes caught sight of Burdenus, he quickly found himself stilling. “But their gold and stuffs are close, yes, and you will have much treasure to bring back.”

  “Okay, now get back behind me,” Burdenus ordered.

  Cygnus was nowhere near an argumentative mood, especially when it came to the dragon who had killed hundreds of goblins just like him moments ago. He quickly ran past Burdenus, getting a far distance behind the dragon. With Cygnus out of the way, Burdenus continued his crawl forward.

  After rounding the corner, it was simple enough to move ahead, even as the tunnel began to slope downwards. While he crawled, dozens of traps activated, yet not a single one managed to do so much as slow down his approach.

  There were poisoned darts which failed to pierce his scales, pitfalls which couldn’t even hold his whole leg, and flame traps which were just plain redundant. The only trap which stood out to Burdenus was a massive stone wall which dropped from above, presumably with the aim of either crushing an intruder or separating a group.

  When it landed at the base of his neck, it carried the sensation of a calming massage, as the breaking stones which slammed into his back were no more than the gentle caress of a masseuse. If goblins could build something so comforting, then perhaps it was worth keeping the Aves Tribe around.

  After a handful of twists and turns, there was finally a break in the endless tunnels and traps. Ahead, Burdenus could hear the sound of movement, hundreds of voices shouting amongst each other. It was difficult to pick out what exactly was being said, but knowing there was commotion up ahead was valuable enough.

  He hadn’t killed the goblin mage, and that was now looking to be a mistake. If she had returned back to their main force, then she could have told them about Burdenus’s arrival. With how long it took him to move through the tunnels, they could have spent the past hour doing nothing but preparing their strongest defenses.

  “Cygnus,” Burdenus hissed, doing his best to stay stealthy. A difficult feat for a dragon.

  The goblin chief emerged soon after, joyously waving around the new mage-stick with every step. “Yes, my lord?”

  “Tell me what lies at the end of this tunnel. I hear noise, more than just an army of goblins would make.”

  “We might be approaching a hub,” Cygnus answered. “They are the main base-homes of the Avia Ree, big pillar city for all goblins. It is like a large cave, with many pillar homes everywhere. A lot of gold-treasure will be there for sure, just need to find where they hide it.”

  “Okay, then I’ll go in and kill them all. When I’m done, you come find the treasure and bring it to me. Understood?”

  “Actually, my lord, can Cygnus ask for big ask-favor?”

  Burdenus looked down at his minion, surprised that he had the confidence to ask for another favor in the middle of what was essentially a big favor to him. Sure, Burdenus would be directly benefitting, but this was a goblin thing. It stood to reason that this was basically a favor to Cygnus, who was his goblin minion.

  “What is it?”

  “Can Cygnus follow you out, stealth style? While you fight the Avia Ree, I will look for the special gold-treasures, and then we meet back here. This will let me find more curse-magicks! …also more gold, which is just as important.”

  Burdenus thought over the suggestion, not certain if he wanted to deal with the added hassle of not accidentally killing Cygnus. But then again, there were bound to be plenty of goblin mages, so he might be able to find a replacement if need be.

  “Fine, but if you don’t find that goat spell, I will eat your magic staff.”

  “Cygnus won’t let you down.”

  Once Cygnus returned to his position, Burdenus prepared himself for whatever resistance the goblins had prepared. He crawled towards the end of the tunnel. When he finally reached it, he found himself at a massive opening, one with dozens of wooden paths and bridges built leading out of it.

  In front of him was a sight like nothing he had ever seen before, a civilization far greater than anything humanity had shown him in his thirty years of life. A massive city had been built underground, hundreds of buildings climbing from the bottom and stretching to the top, with countless wooden and stone plankways connecting them all.

  The walls of the cave were littered with hundreds of paths, some even larger than Burdenus, with others so small he could barely recognize them as tunnels. This was not just a small pocket of civilization; It was the closest thing that goblins had to a kingdom.

  Burdenus appreciated whatever beauty of the city he could see, as nearly every inch had been blotted out. Stood on every platform, filling every building, standing wherever there was space, was an endless tide of green. This was the goblin’s kingdom, and the citizens were here to defend it.

  Patreon set up that's ten chapters ahead, and it's currently 50% off, if you're interested.