Trapped in Another World With No Magic

Chapter 160: Prodding the Devil of the Wood

Field Marshal Klur rides in the shuttle assigned by Ucahote to Grendel Six. They had to retrofit it for a combat role not yet attempted in the Fievegal. The goblins of Klur's elite unit are bloodthirsty and ready for death. They have been granted a privilege as a vanguard and special forces unit of the Fievegal, and with their relatively successful mission to exterminate dumgob raiders and rescue captives with only a few members of Grendel Six lost to 'Kernuules', which is the name given to the forest archfiend that attacked them by Daniel.

Like all things, Daniel honors both ally and enemy with names befitting their status. Goblins have been given the team name of 'Grendel', a powerful monster from Earth. Likewise, Kernuules, pronounced kaer-noo-less, is a reference to two different forest gods of Earth.

The shuttle is being piloted by a sentient golem named Feno'xion, a former Chi'rinnis man. Klur often hopes that Grendel Six missions can remain entirely manned by goblins in order to prove the worth of the diminutive and often-devalued members of the demon kin. Unfortunately, there are no goblins that volunteered to become soul-bound to the Citadel, since most equate it to Alkus Gristak. And, on the flip side, goblins as a race have unfortunately earned their poor reputation.

Even Grendel Six is manned primarily by goblins consumed by a craving for violence, but have chosen to steer that craving towards honorable causes and missions to serve the Fievegal.

"We are arriving over the hot-zone," reports Feno'xion, informing the goblins that they're approaching the forest where Kernuules reigns.

"Grendel Six! Tie in and take stations!"

The goblins move quickly, standing up from their rear-facing seats just behind the cockpit, and they divide out the static lines tied into the ceiling of the rear bay of the shuttle by two rails running from front to back. The goblins aren't tall enough to reach the rails themselves, but the static lines will keep them from falling out of the shuttle if Feno'xion needs to make sudden maneuvers.

Staged in the troop bay near the rear ramp are crates of explosives, including incendiary and anti-magic bombs to try to eliminate Kernuules if it survived Neith's final double-edged attack.

Klur instructs, "Olk, Locke: side guns. Bantar, Urm, reloading. The rest of you, passing and arming bombs. Let's move!"

"Yes sir!" reply the loyal goblins proudly, moving according to their assignments, which their order of tying into the static lines allows. A third rail contains two static lines that Klur and Floria are tied to, with Floria remaining as close to the cockpit as possible, and Klur jogging to the ramp to supervise drop operations. He calls out, "Ramp!"

Hap is the young goblin closest to the ramp's controls, and he presses the button to open it. Immediately, the hold is filled with wind, though it quickly stabilizes, since the shuttle is moving more slowly now. The goblin field marshal walks out onto the ramp as it passes a slight angle up, riding it to its lowest position at a downwards angle out of the hold.

The shuttle is cruising roughly four hundred yards off of the tree tops of the forest, which doesn't feel so high, given the endless treetops in every direction. They're deep in the forest, which is roughly near where the attack began, according to the team's recollection of events.

As he scans the area, Klur has to take a moment of pause as his bird's eye view shows the true nature of their battle.

The path is difficult to see, thanks to the treetops... with the exception of a large, deadened scar in the forest where divine judgment came from the sky to deliver Grendel Six and their rescued captives from the aggressive woodland devil.

The first main mission Grendel Six was assigned to was a success in whole, but the goal of being solely manned by goblins was countered by the arrival of the Dragon General Neith.