Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo by John Nest, You The Reader

Suddenly, Adder's BlitzSturm came crashing down on one of the Varanus Indicus and sliced its torso in half.

"Warriors, now!" shouted Smoke.

Simultaneously, ten Condortlian Warriors climbed onto their Centaur comrades' backs and jumped over Smoke's Manatl. All of them delivered swift strikes across the backs of the Varanus Indicus behind them.

At the same time, Smoke canceled his Manatl and drove his charged white metallic staff into the chest of the nearest Varanus Indicus, instantly depleting the monster’s remaining HP.

Smoke was about to attack the next closest mutated Lizardite, but Adder's BlitzSturm beat him to it and sliced through its body. Meeting Adder’s gaze, he acknowledged his desire to keep fighting despite his weakened state, but still stayed close to him to ensure his safety. As the battle continued, Smoke’s team overpowered their enemies.

After almost an hour since they entered, Smoke and his men finally cleared the third room of the black mansion. They all dropped to the floor from exhaustion and took out their emergency rations to replenish their HP and MP.

While eating a piece of jerky, Smoke stood up and gathered the remaining pieces of paper on the desk. He then turned to his men and said half teasingly, "Alright, we have one more room. Remember to stay alive."

Adder and the rest of his team groaned loudly, but knew he was being serious. After all, they all swore to wipe this black mansion clean of Horrabelle's wickedness.

CREEEEEEEAK

Slowly, the door of the room they were in opened.

Smoke’s men tightly gripped their weapons and prepared themselves for the worst. Most of their life bars were still below 50%.

A sigh of relief escaped from them as Sierra and her team entered through the door. Smoke walked over to Sierra and Ledur in order to greet them.

"Glad you finally made it inside," he said.

"It was all thanks to Ledur. He was all over the place, impaling golems left and right with his earth spikes. The rest of us were mostly just cleaning up after him," chuckled Sierra.

Ledur then went over to Adder. "Thank you, brother. I saw the Centaur children that were rescued earlier."

"We should have gotten here sooner," replied Adder somberly. "I can't even imagine what they must have been through."

Smoke placed his hand on Adder's shoulder. "They are safe now. In time, the new memories they make in Verbrannt will help them lead normal lives again."

Quickly, he scanned all the Vagrant Vigilantez present and found that all of them had over 50% on their life bars. He then looked at his gathered friends and said, "There's still one room left.”

Sierra, Adder and Ledur nodded in agreement.

They soon arrived in front of the door of the last room in the black mansion. Smoke could sense at least two hundred monsters on the other side of it. He told Ledur to get ready to seal the door, in case the monsters look too tough for them to handle.

CREEEEEEEAK

He opened the door slightly and took a peek inside. The room was as spacious as the other three, but instead of casting circles with monsters or children strapped inside them, there was a massive cage with one-meter tall green monsters inside it. The cage was filled with Gobble Goblins.

The goblins instantly looked at the DarkElf. Most of them backed away from the cage door as he slowly walked over to them. Only a handful of elderly goblins were prepared to confront him.

"Greet you me. I Smoke. I friend you," said Smoke in crude Gobberish.

One of the goblins answered him, "You must be one of Crucibelle’s underlings. She also used our lovely tongue and deceived us with her words."

Smoke energetically shook his head and waved his hands. "No, no, no. I kill Crucibelle. I friend you."

He then showed them the Berserker's Ring of Flames.

The elderly goblins looked at each other and nodded curiously. Then, one of them spoke in Lacerta, the most common language in Zectas. "Please stop talking in Gobberish. My