Beyond All Expectations (Emerilia Book 8)

by Michael Chatfield

  The walls had already reached thirty meters into the air; they’d be completed in a number of hours.

  Artillery cannons rumbled as the powering soul gems were ejected and new ones slotted into place. Wild Mana arched through the air, landing beyond Deia’s eyesight. Plumes of dirt were thrown up in the air with their impacts.

  The goblin shamans were making it harder and harder for magical spells to work in their area. The dwarves were instead exploding their rounds in the air above the goblins. That way, the spells weren’t weakened by the shamans.

  The concussive blasts were enough to mess up the shamans and their chants for the DCA aerial forces to target the shamans.

  Elves moved around and peppered them with arrows from a distance.

  Each of the shamans had personal guards willing to die for the shaman they protected. Some even threw themselves into the way of arrows so that it wouldn’t get the shamans.

  The fighting was heating up with the Goblins actually using some rudimentary tactics.

  They goblins were harder to split apart, making the ambushes harder to win. Add in the fact that these goblins had much deeper Vitality than other goblins, they were not an easy foe, let alone a one hit kill.

  Trumpets bellowed out from the mountain. The goblin forces paused their attacks before they rushed toward the mountain.

  Deia frowned as she looked at her map.

  “Looks like they’re regrouping,” Anna said from Deia’s side.

  “Which means they’re going to be a real pain in the ass later.” Deia sighed.

  The goblins weren’t too hard to deal with, but their strength was not in their tactics or the way they fought. It was in their numbers. Goblins grew like an infestation. Many of them might die young but there was so many of them being born every day that their numbers always swelled.

  They were one of the few races that were considered an adult of their race in as little as three months. Their instincts were more like animals’ than sentients’. It was one of the things that made them so vicious and such an annoying enemy. In three months, they knew how to fight, could communicate as little as a goblin could, and also knew their position within their tribes.

  With all of the goblins returning, they would now be able to pass on information on the DCA and elven forces waiting in ambush. They could also gather a much larger goblin army to attack.

  “Looks like we’ll just have to wait and see. At least this way then hopefully the goblins and whatever spawns can destroy one another,” Lox said.

  “Goblin prejudice,” Steve chimed in.

  “Oversized rodents,” Gurren spat.

  “We all know that you just spat on yourself in your dimensional bag,” Steve said.

  “I’m going to check on the rest of the guild,” Gurren said.

  “Is it in your eyes? Don’t step on anyone!” Steve yelled as Gurren walked away. Steve turned to the others, holding his hand up as if sharing a secret with them all. “Always imagined myself as a giant, you know—fo fie fe fum, rawr, crash big feet and crushing my enemies beneath my feet.”

  “Are you thinking of a giant or Godzilla?” Suzy asked.

  “Is there a difference?” Steve asked, actually puzzled.

  “I blame it on too much television,” Anna said to Deia.

  “And who was the one that uploaded all of that television?” Deia shot back.

  Anna closed her mouth and looked to Steve. “Well, he didn’t turn out too bad,” Anna said as Steve made sound effects and stomped on the ground as if he were some giant.

  The surrounding dwarves were looking from Steve to their fellows with confused looks.

  “Maybe you should hit yourself a few times with a heavy mace and you might actually believe it,” Deia said.

  A small smile rose on Anna’s lips.

  “Shake in your boots and fear the power of Party Zero, neouw bash.” Steve swung his hands out.

  “That’s King Kong,” Suzy said in a pained voice as she held her head with her hand.

  Lu Lu cooed at Suzy, licking her hand.

  Induca patted Suzy’s shoulders in comfort. “At least you’ve got one contracted creature that isn’t a complete idiot.”

  “Wonder if I could add that to my titles. Ohh—you know what’s a good song!” Out of nowhere, an electronic keyboard started to play.

  “we can dance if we wanna, we can dance all the time. But if your friends don’t dance well they ain’t mates of mine!

  “Oh God, he’s singing!” Lox turned and ran away.

  “Weak dance but it works!” Steve ran after Lox. “Come on, little cha cha!” Steve yelled, following Lox, the sounds of “Safety Dance” becoming quieter as Steve chased Lox around the growing castle.

  “I...I created a monster,” Anna admitted, her head dropping to her chest in defeat.

  “Yes, yes you did,” Deia said. It was her turn to pat Anna’s back as she let out some choked laughter.

  Eventually they once again faced outward, waiting for the goblins to attack.

  After a few minutes, Lox was still being chased by Steve, who was now singing “Down Under.”

  Even the stony-faced shield bearers had trouble controlling their expressions as their beards quivered in amusement. Party Zero hung their heads in shame, deaf to Lox’s cries and damnation against Suzy for not controlling Steve and Anna for his upbringing.

  ***

  Lox and Gurren glanced over at the castle walls. They had finally been completed after ten hours. They were stronger and larger than the walls at the Six Affinities Temple outpost. Barracks were being built into the central areas of the castle, with dwarven artillery resting on top.

  After their retreat, the goblins had not left their mountain once.

  The DCA and elves had brought most of their forces back to the castle. The land between the mountain and the castle was filled with pre-planned ambush positions as well as thousands of traps.

  Aerial forces and elven rangers moved around the mountain, mapping it out as the DCA ground forces waited, ready to make any goblins that left the mountain pause so that the DCA and elven rangers could be roused and sent to attack the oncoming force.

  Still, nothing had happened.

  Dave and Deia had returned to Terra in order to see little Koi. Being away from their baby was hard on them but it brought them relief to know that if Deia fell in battle, then their baby would be safe and Deia could respawn without difficulties.

  Suzy had also returned to deal with managing the Grahslagg Corporation. Anna was meeting with Kala and Malkur; Steve had finally stopped singing and was helping Malsour out.

  Jung Lee was getting lessons from Malsour on his manipulation of materials with the Dark Affinity. Induca was teaching him about Fire Affinity.

  It was easy for Jung Lee to call on both of the Free Affinity spirits that rested within his body. However, his fine control wasn’t the best. Jekoni was also helping out, as well as being pestered by the mage’s guild members.

  They’d figured out who he was and were asking him all kinds of questions and following Jung Lee around, saying that they wished to protect the two of them from any harm. Jekoni was a revered archmage of the mage’s college, while Jung Lee was a phenomena that they couldn’t understand.

  “How long do you think before the goblins come?” Gurren asked.

  The barrier of leader and shield bearer had been erased long ago; still, Gurren showed a deference to Lox when they were fighting. It made them a good team. There couldn’t be two leaders on a line when they were fighting beside each other.

  Even Steve, with all of his quirks, acknowledged Lox as the leader of the melee fighters in Party Zero.

  Lox puffed on his pipe. Both of them were out of their armor. A fragrant smoke filled the air as Goblin Mountain was clearly visible less than two kilometers away.

  “Goblins get smarter the more of them that there are. There’s more possibility for a smart one to climb the ranks to alpha and push the others down.
>
  “I think that it will be a few days at least, or they might even wait for us to attack. We’re annoying out here but unless we attack them, then we’re at a stalemate.

  “If we were fighting in a dwarven mountain, it would be much easier to flush them out. As it stands, this is their mountain. We know the kinds of tricks that one can place in their own mountain if they desire to hold it.” Lox gave Gurren a sideways look.

  Gurren grunted in agreement. “Thankfully for us, we’re fine with staying out here. Whatever comes through that spawn point is probably going to be attacked by the goblins. They love their territory and within their mountain, they should be incredibly strong. However, if whatever creatures come through the spawn point are anything as strong as the Elsoom spores, then the goblins will probably hurt them and then be defeated. In that situation, it will then come to us to clear them out. If the goblins kill the creatures that exit the spawn point, then leaving Goblin Mountain alone would be the best plan. We would just waste lives and resources to kill off the goblins that have done little to harm anyone else. They’re far from civilization and not an immediate threat. We need our strength for the other creatures in the event.”

  “Well said.” Lox nodded slowly. “However, I do not think that the goblins will be able to hold back whatever exits this spawn point.”

  “I, too, get that feeling,” Gurren said.

  They descended into silence as the afternoon turned to night. A faint smoke circled them from Lox’s pipe as it glowed with embers.

  ***

  Deia finished feeding Koi, who was happily grasping at the air, trying to pull on her mother’s ears and braided hair.

  “You’re going to make your mother go bald if you keep pulling out all of my hair,” Deia admonished the cute little girl, who seemed to increase her attempts as a rich laughter filled the room.

  Opposite Deia was Fire, with her own boy Desmond.

  “Not too loud or else you’ll wake the other babies.” Deia looked to Dave and Mal, who were slumped in comfortable seats, fast asleep.

  Deia and Fire both gave their respective partners loving looks. Deia burped Koi; even with the meal and burping, Koi was still active.

  “Well, you can play with your toys instead of my hair.” Deia put Koi on the ground underneath a playset with all manner of objects dangling from it.

  Koi let out happy noises, kicking her legs oddly as she grabbed the different hanging items.

  “Seems my granddaughter is much more active than her uncle,” Fire said softly as she wrapped up the tired Desmond in a blanket, slowly rocking him as she took him to a nearby crib.

  “Are you sure you’re fine with looking after them both?” Deia asked as Fire returned to the couch.

  “I can’t do much right now, just try to organize people and things so that Emerilia doesn’t fall into chaos. Also, I have a number of helpers.” Fire smiled and waved at the center of the volcano where the Dracul clan lived. “They’re more than happy to look after Desmond and Koi as if they were their own children. We live for a very long time. Settling down is something that not many are willing to do in our family, making the young more precious than riches and power.”

  Deia smiled; after a moment, she sighed. “I wish that we could just stay like this, no damn Jukal, no event—just be left alone.”

  “I know, I know,” Fire said comfortingly.

  A notification made Dave wake from his slumber as Deia looked at her messages. It had been seven days since they had started building outside of Goblin Mountain. The castle had been finished four days ago. Since then, they had been just observing the mountain for any movements. It looked as if there was finally some. She looked at the short video contained in the message.

  It showed goblins, trolls, hobgoblins, and shamans all gathering in the cavern as they started to give offerings to the portal as if it were some almighty holy relic.

  This was a ritual by the shamans. The offerings would be burnt away as an offering in order to increase the strength of those going into battle.

  There were thousands of creatures packed into the goblins’ city. The video cut to a group of hobgoblins. All of them wore vastly different clothes and had a pair of guards at their back.

  These must be different goblin tribe leaders.

  One of the hobgoblins was talking; all of the other tribe leaders were faintly red as they watched him with heat in their eyes. As he finished, the tribe leaders were swept up in his words; their weapons came free of their sheaths as they waved them in the air.

  The shot changed to the city.

  The entire Goblin Mountain was cheering: a green and brown mass of goblins—with specks of gray for the rock trolls—waved their weapons about, excited for the oncoming battle.

  “Looks like we will be returning to Goblin Mountain.” Deia looked to Dave. They hadn’t spent as much time with Koi as they would have liked but they were fighting for her future. They knew what was to come and they wouldn’t shirk their responsibilities. Nor would they bring Koi close to the danger that they would need to deal with.

  “I will look after the little one,” Fire said, reassuring Deia as she picked up Koi.

  Koi complained about being taken away from her toys, her face screwed up as she began to cry.

  Deia’s eyes were wet as she kissed Koi’s head. Dave hugged them both, kissing the top of Koi’s head, too.

  Mal, who’d woken up from Koi’s crying, rose from his seat, sensing something was amiss.

  Deia handed Koi over to Fire with a shaky breath.

  “Look after yourselves and defeat that goblin army and whatever comes through that spawn point,” Fire said.

  Oson’Mal nodded as well, his face filled with complex emotions. With their ability to respawn, he wasn’t scared of them dying, but still there was a part of his mind that continued to fear losing them as they went off to these battles.

  “We’ll see you soon,” Dave said.

  In a flash, they disappeared from Fire’s apartment, using a modified magical circle that Dave had given Fire plans for.

  Deia took a deep breath as they stood in Pandora’s box. She got her emotions under control as her face hardened.

  “It’s hard to leave her behind but we have to.” Dave held her hand, his face filled with understanding.

  “I’m her mother and she’s been born for only a few weeks and I’ve been gone for nearly a third of that time,” Deia complained.

  “You’re a great mother and we’ll have plenty of time to spend with her after all of this,” Dave reassured her, bringing her into a hug.

  Deia hugged him back, her fears and worries slowly lessening. After a few moments, they released each other.

  “Now’s not the time to get sappy. We’ve got a goblin army to fight!” Dave said, trying to channel his inner excited gamer.

  Deia gave a weak smile and nodded. “Let’s go and see what these goblins can do.”

  They walked hand-in-hand out of Pandora’s box.

  BAE Chapter 12: An Army Rises

  Induca looked at the timer that was slowly rolling downward in her Event tab.

  Spawn Point (Goblin Mountain)

  Days

  Hours

  Minutes

  Seconds

  0

  7

  15

  49

  The goblin army had gathered all of their considerable strength, filling the mountain and the tunnels through it. For nearly two and a half days, they had been giving resources and material offerings to the portal.

  They had burned the different resources within massive fires, shamans throughout the mountain working as one, chanting together and burning the materials in sacrifice. Light surrounded the goblins, making them stronger.

  As the ceremony came to the end, the hobgoblin who ruled under the mountain waved a crude hammer in the direction of the castle.

  That had been just a few minutes ago.

  Induca looked to the feeds that showed the outside of
the mountain from the Aleph automaton scouts.

  The goblins, their slave trolls, and their hobgoblin elites rushed out from under the mountain. They grouped together in tribes but there was no tactics to their movements and they weren’t part of a formation.

  Imbued with the power of the ritual and with such a massive army around them, the members of the army grew bold as they let out their warbling war cries.

  “Artillery, fire!” The dwarven artillery commander’s voice rang out.

  Dwarven artillery pieces rocked backward as artillery spells shot from their barrels and Mana clouds created a halo around the end of the gun’s barrel.

  These were the newest dwarven artillery, the kind that could use grand workings as shells and were made from heat-resistant materials and heat sinks that recycled the heat into charging the internal soul gems.

  A few seconds after the first artillery spell had left the barrel, a second was released. The artillery pieces bellowed, filling the skies with the glow of multiplying artillery spells.

  The first shells didn’t detonate as their shamans’ range had increased with them working together. The second didn’t work either, but the third did. The explosions created miniature suns in the sky for just a few seconds.

  The dwarves adjusted their following shells to the effective height of the third volley of spells.

  Under the vicious pressure waves and debris that was tossed up, a number of the goblins died, but it was nothing like the effects would have been if the rounds were allowed to land.

  “We could hit them harder and hurt them more, but instead we’re going to just try to slow down their attempts to leave the mountain. This feels strange,” Induca said.

  “I know what you mean. We could use a massive fuel air bomb spell on them and decimate them but instead we’re standing here, hoping that we don’t kill too many of them in seven hours so that they will turn around and kill whatever comes out of the spawn point,” Deia said.

  “Bit of a strange conversation,” Suzy commented.