by Aleron Kong
CHAPTER 33 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
The summoned fox fired a beam of pure golden light at Richter, and his wounds began to close. Seeing their quarry healing, the goblins squealed in anger. Three goblins led the pack, and the others followed right behind. With a mighty yell, Richter swung his elementum sword. A scout raised it rusted iron sword to block. There was a loud ping as the chaos seed’s superior weapon cleaved through the goblin’s blade and bit deep into the scout’s chest. With his other hand, Richter raised his Dense Moonstone Short Sword of Goblin Slaying. The heavy weapon was as good as a shield, sweeping aside the spear thrusts of the other two goblins.
Richter’s first victim fell, already dead from a cleaved heart. He swung his elementum blade down on the next goblin. It was deeply satisfying seeing the green metal bite deeply into the scout’s face. He was about to attack the third when a mace swing caught him in the chest.
Richter is struck by Goblin Fighter for 13 points of Blunt Damage.
The chaos seed’s swing was interrupted, but his armor kept the blow from causing too much damage. Instead, he let the force of the blow push him back, extending the distance he moved with a small hop. The goblin band surged forward, and the mace-wielding fighter pressed his attack.
Even through the pain, Richter smiled slightly to himself. They just didn’t understand. He wasn’t the same person he’d been when he arrived in The Land six months ago armed with only a crappy knife and a shittier bow. He was a fighter. He was a caster. He was a killer.
If that wasn’t enough, his Enhanced Sprite Armor made him a tank when matched against their low-quality weapons, and his elementum and moonstone blades made him a butcher, just waiting to carve. His magic made him even more deadly. It was his pitiless will which truly sealed their fates. Richter smiled because the goblins were missing the most salient truth of their soon to be ended lives. He was judgement.
The mace wielder that had struck him pressed the attack, hoping to keep him off balance. The goblin quickly swung again, but Richter was faster still. He set his feet and defended himself using the sword form, Cliffs of Dun. His clear green blade met the steelhead of the fighter’s mace, stopping the swing cold. Before either combatant could react, the Disarm enchantment in blade triggered again. The over-eager goblin could not hold onto his weapon, and it flew free from his hand. Richter’s smile deepened as he brought his other blade up and attacked using the first sword form he had ever learned, The Forest Wind.
His white blade crossed from left to right at shoulder height, and for the first time, Richter saw the true power of a Slaying enchantment. The fighter was wearing chainmail, but he might as well have been naked. The moonstone blade ripped through the rusted links, sending them scattering in all directions. It was the flesh that truly suffered, though. The goblin’s skin and muscle split open almost as if they were fleeing his blade. Hot, black blood sprayed everywhere, coating Richter’s face and landing in his snarling mouth. The devastation he caused to the goblin’s body might have been nauseating if the chaos seed didn’t find it so thrilling.
The fighter fell with a cry and Richter left him screaming on the ground. His body wove into the form, Willow in the Storm. For the next few seconds, his body moved and contorted into positions that would have made a yoga master proud. The number of goblins was too much for Richter to defend against all at once, and he began to take damage. A knife stabbed into his leg. A sword skittered off of his bracer. A spear jabbed into his belly but thankfully was repelled by his breastplate. Still, he kept his head and kept retreating backwards, never letting himself be surrounded.
Over the next two minutes, Richter took over a hundred points in damage while not being able to counterattack once. The summoned fox stayed well back from the fighting and shot him with two more healing beams, restoring his health as quickly as he lost it. One goblin stopped attacking the chaos seed and tried to kill the Life creature, but the agile fox simply danced away and continued to support its master.
At some point, Richter started laughing. Hearing his mocking peals drove the goblins to an even greater fury. Each of them hungered for his death. In their minds, if they killed him quickly enough, they could help their comrades fighting against the sprites and still win the day. It was their very anger that made Richter laugh. He knew that they had forgotten about something.
They had forgotten Alma.
When he had started this final exchange with the goblins, he had given her a command. She hadn’t liked it, but she obeyed. For the past minute or so, she had flown high above and reconned the rest of the goblin forces. The last thing Richter needed was to finish this fight and find himself surrounded by hundreds of enemies. Thankfully, no other goblins were rushing towards them. Instead, they were forming in orderly ranks outside of the inner wall. Richter knew this didn’t bode well for the rest of the battle. It meant there were capable enemy commanders who wouldn’t let their forces rush against an unknown threat. At the moment, though, he gave less than zero fucks. It meant he would live for at least a few more minutes. Once he saw there were no reinforcements coming, he ordered her back. That was when the laughing began. He only had to wait.
Richter weathered the goblins’ attacks for a few more seconds before he heard a voice in his mind, *Now, master!*
Richter executed the form, Setting Sun. Both blades swept down and out, pushing away the weapons of the goblins closest to him. It gave him half a second of respite. With a wink, the chaos seed let his body collapse into a backward roll. There was now nothing keeping Alma from unleashing her primary attack. The time Richter had spent enduring their attacks had been for more than just making sure that more goblins weren’t coming. It was also so that his little lady could recharge!
Alma flew in from straight behind Richter, her small body passing right over him. She bared her teeth and screamed in rage at the goblins that had dared to harm her master. In its tightest and most powerful beam, she unleashed Psi Blast.
The goblins had no defense.
All seven of Richter’s remaining enemies collapsed to the ground. Their arms and legs jerked as every neuron in their brains fired at once. As they convulsed, blood began to pour from their eyes, ears, noses and mouths, evidence of the health damage Alma’s Psi Blast had gained at level two. Because her primary attack had advanced to level three, even when the stun effect wore off, there was a good chance her victims would suffer from Disorient. Of course, it was a moot point. Richter wasn’t going to let them recover.
*Good job, little mama,* he thought with bloodthirsty satisfaction. *Go help the others, but hurry back. You’ve got some people to eat.*
Alma screamed in triumph and flew towards the goblins still fighting Richter’s sprite allies. Four of the goblins were down, but so were two of the sprites. It left Sion and two others to face twelve goblins, five of them fighters. The battle might have gone either way if, once again, Alma hadn’t delivered death from above. While she flew, she also sent the healing fox to support the sprites. Richter drew his bow from his Bag of Holding and nocked an arrow. The chaos seed immediately began imbuing it with mana.
Sion saw Alma flying towards them, and behind her, he saw his best friend imbuing an arrow. The fucker was pointing right at him! The aura even had those weird blue-white lightning bolts Richter had gained since learning Enhanced Imbue Arrow. He could just hear how the conversation would go. “What are you doing, Richter?” “It’s all part of the plan, Sion.” “Plan? What plan?” he would ask. Then the chaos seed would give that smug, fucking smile and say, “Don’t worry. Depending on your perspective, this is the easy part!”
The meidon sprite played that entire conversation through his head in a moment. He considered wasting time being pissed, but instead, he dropped his weapons and pulled on the armor of the two sprites fighting with him, “Move!”
All three sprites fell back, and the glow around Alma faded. A circle of sparkling golden dust appeared with the goblins in the center. They took n
o real damage, but they still started screaming and hacking in pain as the glitterdust entered their eyes, ears, and mouths. The goblins swung blindly. Richter waited another second so that he could be sure he had invested the hundred and seventy-five mana needed to trigger psi crystallization, then he released.
The arrow sped across the short space and impacted against the chest of one of the goblins. The wash of magic spread out several feet, knocking them all to the ground. Mind Fog, Stun and Psi Crystallization afflicted some of the goblins. They cried out at the injustice of it all, and their sprite enemies walked forward grimly, weapons raised. The ensuing slaughter was halted at Richter’s call.
“No! Don’t kill them. Sion, help Alma. You know what to do.” The chaos seed gave his friend a wild smile and then started walking among the goblins that were still stunned by Alma’s Psi Blast. As he moved, he stabbed each in both legs, ensuring they would stay down even if the psychic attack wore off.
Sion watched him do this until he reached the largest goblin. Unless the sprite was wrong, the goblin was a grinder. His friend didn’t hurt this one. Richter just thrust his sword into the ground and started talking to the seizing goblin. The sprites looked at him, wondering if the lord had gone insane.
One of the other sprite’s spoke up, “What is he doing?”
The other asked, “What did he mean, ‘you know what to do’?”
Alma had already latched onto the head of one of the goblins. Her victim fell silent, overcome by the dragonling’s Brain Drain. The fighter had a blue-white crystal floating near his head. Sion quickly checked and saw that two of the other goblins did as well. While the other goblins continued to cry out, blinded and panicked, the sprite stepped towards the one Alma had chosen. Almost speaking to himself, he answered the second sprite, “This is what he meant.” Sion’s green blade pierced the fighter’s heart, and Alma gorged.
CHAPTER 34 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
While Sion executed the goblins, Alma fed on their psyches, and the other sprites saw to their fallen comrades, Richter finished the conversation he had started with the senseless grinder, “… and so that’s why it’s important to me that you know that this is personal. After what you did to that boy, and the way you disrespected his body afterward… What were you even planning to do with the body?” Richter looked down at the seizing goblin and shook his head, “No. You know what? Don’t tell me. Just know that I wish I could give you a worse death than this. I pray that your soul burns for eternity.”
His conversation done, Richter stood up again. Part of him wondered if something in him had snapped at seeing the casual torture and rape of the poor people he had failed to save. Another, larger part of him said it didn’t matter. There were more goblins to kill. The chaos seed extended both arms and his fingers contorted while he spoke a word of Power. Golden light surrounded his hands for a moment; then he turned away.
Alma and Sion had finished killing the goblins they were facing. They were now moving on to the goblins felled by the dragonling’s Psi Blast. His summoned spider had been hacked to pieces long ago, so Richter summoned a saproling for protection. The two sprites were helping one of their comrades back to his feet. Another was already up and leaning on Damien, but the last had a jagged gash across his throat. His eyes stared up sightlessly. The summoned fox had expended the rest of its healing magic healing the two fallen sprites and had already faded away.
Richter walked over to the sprite Damien was helping to stand. He was seriously favoring one leg.
“I believe it’s broken, Lord Richter,” Damien said. “He took a hard blow to the leg.”
“Leave me,” the sprite said. There was a small quaver in his voice, but his face was firm. “I will kill many of the puke skins before I fall.” Richter used Analyze and found out his name was Nusin.
“Why don’t we try something else, Nusin,” Richter said. He bent to examine the sprite’s leg.
“We do not have time, Lord Richter,” the sprite protested. “They will be on us in seconds!”
“Quiet,” the chaos seed sharply. “Right now, the goblins are marshalling their forces. We will probably need to move in the next five minutes before they start sending out strike teams, but we have the time to save your life.” He had the sprite lay down, and his fingers probed the area of the break. From what Richter could tell, the fracture was contained, and no shards broke the skin. Placing one hand on top of the Nusin’s thigh, and the other behind the sprite’s knee, Richter pulled in one controlled, strong tug. The two ends of the injured man’s femur ground together as they aligned. Nusin screamed but thankfully remained conscious. Richter then quickly cast one of his new spells, Weak Mend Bone.
Gold light extended from his hand into the sprite’s leg. Nusin’s scream stopped with a gasp that turned into a sigh of relief. Richter cast Minor Slow Heal for good measure, and then pulled the sprite to his feet. Testing it gingerly, the sprite found he was able to put weight on it, but he wouldn’t be running.
The chaos seed looked behind him, scanning for enemies. Nusin hadn’t been wrong. It had been at least ten minutes since the horns had blown. It was only because of the cautiousness of the enemy commander that they hadn’t been overrun already. All Richter could think was that precedence was being given to whatever it was the goblins were protecting. The images Alma had shown him had clearly shown the goblins taking up a defensive position around the inner barbican. Still, it wouldn’t be more than a few minutes before the enemy commander sent out a strike team to investigate. When the goblins discovered that there were only a few enemies and not a bloodthirsty horde at their gates, Richter and the sprites would be crushed. They probably wouldn’t be too happy that all of their prisoners were gone. Shit was about to go down. It was time to make some decisions.
“Damien, take Nusin over the cliff and down to the river bed. The two of you should be able to move back towards the valley entrance. The rest of the plan stays the same. Me, Sion and the other sprites will lead the goblins through the valley to the ambush site.”
“Absolutely not,” Damien said firmly. “The Battle Leader gave me express instructions to keep you alive, Lord Richter.”
“He can’t go alone,” Richter retorted.
“I will be fine,” Nusin interjected. Both Richter and Damien ignored him.
“I agree with your plan, Lord Richter. You have just allocated the wrong people. There is another member of our team that has been wounded as well. You, Sion and I will lead the goblins, while the other four go along the riverbed. If you think I will agree to anything else, I promise you that I will be damned to the Hell of Bloody Goblin Shit first!”
Richter just looked at him for a moment, and then nodded. Still, he had to ask, “Hell of Bloody Goblin Shit? You made that up, right?”
Damien returned his gaze with a stony face but then ruined it with a wink. “We should move out in sixty seconds. We still need to make them chase us, though.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Richter said with a glint in his eye. “I’ve got that covered.”
“I am going to guess that you do not feel like sharing your plan?” Damien asked.
Richter’s smiled.
“Yoshi was right,” Damien said, shaking his head. “You are a major pain in the scrot.” Richter’s face froze for a moment. Not because he was offended, but because what the sprite had just said was such an obvious improvement over pain in the ass. Damien kept talking, “It looks like Sion is almost done dealing with that trash. Whatever your grand plan is, you might want to implement it.”
The chaos seed looked over and saw that, indeed, only the two grinders were left alive. The rest had been given the coup de grace. Despite what Sion had said about disliking murder, he seemed to have no problem ending the goblins’ lives. His Companion was actually raising his blade over the one Richter had spoken to while Alma was latched onto the goblin’s head. The chaos seed’s heart started hammering wildly, and he shouted, “Wait!”
R
ichter ran over to his confused friend. Focusing on Alma, he sent a thought, *Can you neutralize the effects of your Psi Blast?*
*Why?* Alma asked, her voice languid with pleasure. After consuming the psyches of so many sentient creatures, she was feeling no pain.
The chaos seed explained his plan aloud so that Sion could hear as well. Alma sent an evil little chuckle through their psychic connection, and the sprite just laughed. She readily agreed. Soon the goblin was blinking his eyes in confusion, but no longer seizing. The dragonling detached from the grinder’s head. She and Sion moved over to their last victim and Richter leaned over and used Analyze.
Name: Pild-nacRace: Goblin Station: GrinderDisposition: Charmed (Hatred)
Goblins can have subclasses that determine their specific powers. Most are a common variant however that are broken into different stations reflective of their physical and magical characteristics. Prolific breeders and woefully aggressive, goblins are a plague on other races. The goblin Grinder receives better training than many other stations, and unlike most goblins, has an innate intelligence equal to most humans. No less aggressive, these foes are not to be taken lightly. If they advance far enough, Grinders can obtain Professions. Grinders receive four points to distribute per level, and each level gives +1 to Constitution.
Level: 17
Health: 430Mana: 100Stamina: 310
Strength: 28
Agility: 21
Dexterity: 25
Constitution: 43
Endurance: 34
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 12
Charisma: 14
Luck: 15
He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he saw that his Charm spell was still in effect. The spell had an hour duration, but as with all things in The Land, nothing was set in stone. The hour was only a maximum boundary. This was especially true for a spell like Charm. It could convince an enemy to fight for him, but it couldn’t make the creature completely go against its own nature or best interests. Richter couldn’t make the grinder cut his own throat, for instance. Trying to would break the enchantment. Hell, his spell was so low level that even asking Pild-nac to hold hands with Sion might break the enchantment, seeing as how the racial hatred between goblins and sprites ran so deep.