The chief stumbled back a few steps and fell backward over one of the females. This time, I was ready. I cast Shadow Web, binding the chief prone. He immediately started to struggle against the bindings, and several strands broke off. I just fed more mana into the spell, making the web re-form into a thick rope that held him down. He was powerless.
“My turn,” I growled and charged him.
I started hacking at him with both blades, and my inner goblin purred with excitement and bloodlust. My strikes glanced away from his thick scales at first, but as I continued, his scales began cracking, then broke off, and I started drawing blood. He shrieked and thrashed, but I just funneled more mana into the web. I couldn’t tell how much mana I had left, but I was sure it would be enough. In the past, I’d held an Ogre boss in a similar fashion. In desperation, Hesstiag opened his mouth, and a stream of fire erupted out of it. It washed over the web, not affecting it in the slightest. I took the brunt of the attack, but my Pyrolith armor was naturally resistant to fire, and it negated much of the damage. Combined with my frenzied mental state, I barely even felt it.
I continued to strike, smash, and cut, drawing more blood out of the stupid kobold. I snarled in his face, feeling the internal pressure rising even more at the unbridled violence.
Then something changed. I sensed a surge of energy racing through his body and jumped off. I was just in time. Sharp spikes burst from him in every direction. That was his boss ability, I realized. I’d hurt him enough for it to trigger. Too bad for him, it wasn’t enough to save him. My Shadow Web was still holding him down, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
Apparently, he realized that too. Using the respite, the chief hissed something unintelligible. I raised my weapons to come back at him.
One of the females drew out a dagger and held it to the young goblinette’s neck.
I froze in place. The black ring of darkness once again formed around me.
“That isss quite enough,” the chief growled at me. “Call off your magic.”
I studied the female holding the dagger. She was just one low-level kobold. I could freeze her and …
I didn’t get to finish that train of thought. The chief hissed again, and this time, six more females rose, drawing out all sorts of crude weapons, and surrounded their captive.
I tightened my fists around the hilts of my weapons. At the height of my power, with the game controls fully accessible, I could’ve assessed my chances to take over all of the females’ minds. But I wasn’t at the height of my power. Even if only one of them was an assassin or higher-level individual, they might be able to shrug off my influence and attack. I couldn’t risk it.
Gritting my teeth, feeling the goblin in me cry in protest, I lowered my weapons and stepped away from the prone chief. Then I dismissed the web.
The kobold rose slowly to his feet, dripping blood and broken scales. “It ssseemss you have some power after all. But it doesn’t matter. You will stand and let me kill you, or my females will kill your offspring.”
“Why did you capture her?” I asked between clenched teeth.
He cocked his head at me in a very lizardlike fashion. “Why? Isn’t it obviousss? She’sss the hybrid ssspawn of a goblin traveler. She isss unique, can’t you sssense that?”
I gaped at the kobold. This was something no NPC would ever say. They called players ‘travelers,’ but they could never comprehend what it really meant, let alone conclude a way to use it to their own advantage. It looked like the rules had changed. And not for the better.
“Yesss, you sssee now,” the chief continued, seeming pleased. “Oncsse you’re dead your clan will be mine. She’ll become my mate, and I’ll use her power to become unstoppable.”
Listening to the smug little lizard-man planning his nuptials with my daughter set my mind on fire. The tidal wave of rage and emotions swelled a hundredfold, breaking my mental barriers, washing all over me. I shuddered as I suddenly became aware of everything around me. Everything pulsed with life: the kobolds, the moss, even the very air. Streams of information filled my mind, and I instantly knew everything I needed about the kobolds; their abilities and their weaknesses. The darkness around beckoned me, pleading for me to bend it to my will.
The chief noticed the sudden shift, and he stumbled backward, suddenly fearful. He raised his arms, and the six females around the goblinette held their blades against the child’s neck. The ring of hungry darkness around me thickened.
My mind swarmed with possibilities. There were a dozen things I could have done to get out of this situation, but they all carried the risk of injuring the goblin child.
“Father.” The goblinette locked her eyes with mine. There was no fear in them, only determination. “What is my name?”
My mind was now wide open, and I instantly knew what she meant. “Lirian,” I said. “I name you Lirian.”
The goblinette lowered her head, and her entire body started to glow with a deep green light. The light intensified, blinding me, and I had to look away. There was a blast, and then the light faded. When I looked back up, Lirian was standing on the floor. Her shackles and the six kobold females were nowhere in sight.
I took a decisive step toward the still-standing, wounded Hesstiag, who I now knew to be a level 25, tier 2 boss. Not that it mattered. He was just an insignificant insect.
Hesstiag stumbled away as I walked toward him. Power oozed out of me in waves, causing the shadows to eat away at the walls around us.
“Who–” he choked as I drew out my sacrificial dagger and buried it in his stomach all the way to the hilt. I overcharged Mana Infusion to the maximum and felt raw strength pouring into my muscles. Then I casually lifted the spluttering chief into the air with the dagger.
He coughed blood. “What are you?”
“I’m a Dire Totem chief, bitch,” I growled at him. “And I am the one who is going to kill you. You shouldn’t have messed with my clan.”
“Yes, my minion,” the ominous voice urged in my mind. “Let him know our wrath.”
Hearing those words caused my bloodlust to reach new heights, and suddenly, simply killing Hesstiag wasn’t enough. Instead, I activated Mana Shield, wrapping it tightly around the kobold’s body. Then, still holding his skewered form in the air, I started casting Direball, channeling it through the dagger’s blade. I could sense the ball of scintillating, volatile energy build up inside his body. His eyes widened in horror when he realized what I was doing to him, and the feral goblin in me purred at the sight. I was starting to enjoy this method of execution.
Then Hesstiag’s body evaporated as he imploded, coating the inverted mana shield with blood and viscera. The bloody mess was quickly consumed by darkness, shrinking into a small black pebble. I canceled the shield. The level 600 void crystal, all that remained of the once-mighty Hesstiag, fell to the ground.
I picked up the crystal and looked over at the frozen faces of the remaining kobold females. “And now I’m back!”
5 - Conquest
There were no prompts or game notifications in the aftermath. The game’s notifications and controls – like inventory – were still inaccessible to me. But I didn’t need them to realize what was happening.
I could feel the information threads shifting from Hesstiag to me. It was too much data for me to understand the exact message, but I could at least understand the intent. I knew I could either grab at the threads or let them fall and decay.
It wasn’t really a choice. I grabbed at the deceased chief’s authority, claiming it for my own.
My senses, already flooded with information, expanded even more. I could feel the kobold clan coming alive in my mind, bending itself to my command.
The females knelt before me, prostrating themselves over the rough floor. Shadows rose around them, darkening their reptilian skins, anointing them as Shadow-Touched beings. The goblin in me reveled in their submission, though their scaly bodies and reptilian faces weren’t particularly appealing to me. Still, I apprec
iated the gesture.
It was good to be chief.
Lirian moved, the motion drawing my eye. My internal storm subsided as I watched my virtual daughter slowly making her way toward me. Once again, I was taken aback by her appearance. She could very well have been my daughter in real life. The realization snapped me back to my senses. Looking around, I cringed at the macabre scene that was so appealing to my more feral side.
This was not supposed to happen again! The company techs had promised me that I wouldn’t be influenced by the game as before, but there was no denying the monster inside of me. They had some explaining to do when I logged out.
Which, to my estimation, wasn’t too far off. I’d already spent several long hours inside the game, so the time to log out should be fairly soon.
In the meantime, it was best to make the most of the time I had remaining. Depending on how my report would be received, it could be my last time in NEO.
Lirian came to stand before me. She was tall for a goblin, nearly my height, and lithe, like her mother. She moved with natural grace. “Father,” she said, bowing her head slightly. Her eyes were intelligent and alert, ready to take on the world.
With the heat of the moment gone, my previous apprehensions about having an NPC child returned. I still wasn’t sure how to treat her.
“Let’s get out of here … Lirian.” I felt a peculiar pang in my stomach as I said her name. Why the hell did she have to look like the real me? I lamented. She would have been so much easier to dismiss if she just looked like another run-of-the-mill goblin.
“Yes, Father.” She glanced at the spot where Hesstiag had died. “Should I gather the loot?”
In my goblin-fueled state, I didn’t take notice of the small pile of items the kobold boss had dropped. I nodded. “Go ahead and take them.” It wasn’t like I could put them in my inventory or inspect them properly, though I could sense the items were of moderate quality.
Lirian quickly collected the few items. There was a large, well-made scabbard with convenient straps that she used to attach it to her back. She also picked up a handful of gold coins and lastly a scaly leather choker that seemed to have been crafted from the chief’s own skin. She put that around her neck. Her eyes glowed red briefly as she did, and the information threads I got from her changed, adding a new crimson hue. My daughter could now breathe fire.
“Come on, let’s go outside,” I said, walking toward the door.
We stepped out and stopped in the doorway at the sight ahead of us.
Several hundred kobolds stood in silence outside the chief’s house, all looking at us. Everyone’s skin was darker than before with varying patterns of black patches. A wizened, wrinkly kobold wearing patched robes stood in front of the crowd. Tika and several of the players were on their knees, arms tied behind their backs, weapons at their throats. The bodies of several other less lucky players were scattered on the ground.
“What is the meaning of this?” I scowled, looking over my new clan members. To my relief, I saw the siblings were still alive, though badly injured.
The old kobold stepped forward and bowed. “I welcome you, Chief. I am the oracle of Clan Saberscale.” The oracle gestured at the restrained players. “These travelers tried to escape. As they are a significant resource, vital to the clan’s advancement, we have captured as many as we could.”
So this is the oracle I’ve heard about. I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t like his overconfident attitude or the fact that he was the one who used the captive players’ research to empower his clan to attack mine. And he was one of my minions now.
“On your knees,” I ordered.
The old kobold’s eyes widened in surprise, but after a slight hesitation, he bent down at the knees.
“This is no longer the Saberscale Clan,” I said loudly, looking at the crowd. “You are all part of the GreenPiece Clan now.”
“Yes, Dire Totem,” the crowd murmured its reply.
“Release the travelers,” I ordered. The kobolds moved quickly to follow my order, cutting the binding ropes.
“Took you long enough,” Malkyr grunted, rubbing his bruised wrists.
Tika sprinted forward as soon as her bindings were cut and wrapped her arms around Lirian in a tight embrace.
I looked at the oracle. “You don’t happen to know where the shard your soldiers took from my temple is?”
“I have it inside my house, Totem chief,” he said, not meeting my eyes.
“Fetch it.”
He straightened slowly and disappeared inside the nearby building. A moment later he returned and handed me a jagged piece of black stone. I could instantly feel the aura of Nihilator’s unholy power emanating from it. I carefully tucked it inside my armor.
“Go back to your house, and stay there until I come for you,” I ordered.
The oracle frowned slightly then bowed again and hurried away.
Malkyr, Hoshisu, Nero, and two half-goblin players approached me. “I can’t believe we made it,” one of the half-goblins said in relief. “Thanks a lot, man.”
I shook my head. “It was the least I could do. I’m only sorry I couldn’t act quickly enough to save these guys.” I looked at the corpses of the fallen players.
“It wasn’t so bad,” the player replied. “They died quickly, so not too much pain.” He chuckled. “I can’t say as much for the rest of us.”
I suddenly realized that the five were wounded and limping. I cast Heal Followers twice in rapid succession, bringing them all up to maximum health.
“Thanks, man,” Malkyr said. “What now?”
“I just need a few minutes to tie up things in here,” I said. “You’re ready to leave?”
“We should probably bring a few of the projects we were working on with us,” Hoshisu said. “And make sure no one is left behind, hiding. Not everyone is cut out to handle combat at this level of realism.”
“What about them?” I asked, motioning at the dead players.
“They’ll respawn back in Goblin’s Gorge in an hour,” Malkyr said dismissively. “Saved them the trip of going back up there on foot.”
“Alright, you go ahead and do what you have to,” I said. “I still need to have a few words with the oracle.” I had to decide if I was going to hand him over to Xelliax for retribution. If I didn’t like his answers, at least one crystal spider would come out of this happy.
I glanced at Tika and Lirian. They were still hugging it out.
I had some time to kill with an oracle.
I had some time to kill an oracle.
***
The inside of the house looked like an alchemy shop. Benches were lined along the walls holding all sorts of underground plants along with crystals of various colors. A stone table loaded with delicate tools – burner, silver mortar, and some glass containers – stood in the center. It was much higher-end than what I’d expect of a primitive subterranean monster clan to have. I peered inside the mortar; it held a partially crushed crystal.
The oracle was sitting patiently in a stone chair, waiting for me to address him.
I ignored him and continued to study the structure. There was a huge wooden chest beside the entrance. I opened it, revealing dozens of small pouches. The first one I checked was filled with some sort of white powder.
“What is this?” I turned toward the old kobold.
“Powdered webcrystal,” he said. “Useful for combat. It agitates the skin and eyes and if inhaled can cause internal bleeding.”
“I remember,” I said darkly, having been on the receiving end of the substance not long ago. I put the bag back in the chest. “Alright, start talking and don’t hold back.”
He bowed his head. “I am yours to command, Totem chief. What would you like to know?”
“Let’s start with the players. What was that all about?”
He looked at me in puzzlement. “Travelers can do research,” he explained as if talking to a child.
I frowned. “Yeah, I know. So?
”
“The gods put great value on their findings,” he explained. “We exchanged them for boons and blessings that increased the clan’s strength immensely.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “What sort of blessings?”
“Several that increased our egg layers’ productivity,” he said. “They can lay more eggs more frequently, and the duration for hatching has been cut substantially.”
“So that’s how you managed to come by with an army to raid my clan every two weeks,” I realized.
“Yes, Totem chief,” he said. “The previous chief and I also received a few personal advantages. For example, I got this alchemy lab and the ability to work it and produce simple magic items.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Like the shackles you put on my daughter?”
“Well … yes,” he admitted. “She is strong-willed and has a strange power about her. She required proper restraints.”
I guessed it was flattering, in a way. “What did the chief receive?” I asked.
“Harder skin and the ability to breathe fire.”
That explained why he was so damn tough for a creature that was a boss tier below me and half my level.
The situation here was pretty clear now. The kobolds saw an opportunity to increase their strength at the expense of my clan and our players and went for it. I couldn’t fault them for following their nature. That left only one other issue. “I guess you discovered that the webcrystal gave your clan combat advantage and started harvesting it?”
“Yes, Totem chief. I was able to exchange some of the travelers’ research for magic whistles that harm the spiders to get to their webs. The powdered crystal is magically potent, but I’ve not yet discovered how to use it for anything other than throwing it at enemies.”
“Shadow-crap,” I muttered. The kobolds acted as kobolds do, and I couldn’t fault the oracle for that. Which put me in a bit of a dilemma; I disliked the oracle, but he was still a boss and therefore valuable, but I’d promised to bring him to Xelliax. It also didn’t look like the crystal spider was actually killing his victims but entombing them in crystal instead, so I wouldn’t be able to simply resurrect the kobold until he died and who knew how long that would take. If at all.
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4) Page 9