A twenty foot tall troll with a crown on his head walked through the tents toward us. The enemy was dressing battle formations a thousand feet away and all I could think about was that there were so many of them. Infantry trotted into place with thick shields and one handed weapons. Behind them were archers and javelin throwers lining up. Off to the wings, I saw gnolls riding wolves ready to pincer or flank. A leadership troll stood in the center of each formation barking orders. These officers were signified by a banner that a juvenile troll carried behind them. The enemy was rapid and efficient as they formed ranks.
The ogres cheered as the Emperor passed them at the front of the massed enemy. The entire sight was impressive because of the efficiency and execution. That and there were a whole lot of bad guys here to kill and at most a hundred of us. Warg stood a few hundred feet in front of our thin line that was spread out shoulder to shoulder.
I saw the Emperor approach Warg and realized it was a warrior emperor. A shiny golden shield hung from his right arm and he held a four flanged mace in his left hand. This metal armor decorated the Emperor and it was the same leenspar color as Garataurs armor. The Emperor was wearing a kilt with metal slats and I knew it was a him when big hairy balls were barely exposed below the garment. I scrunched my face and saw Mysti giggling.
The Emperor spoke to Warg but his voice did not carry to us. The two combatants nodded to each other, Warg gave a roar that the Emperor returned, and then the fight began.
I would have expected the massive troll to be slow but that was not the case. The boss flared with anger as a rapid swing of his mace tried to smash Warg into a paste. The rhinorc rolled forward and cleaved at a vulnerable boot. The troll jumped back dodging the counter-attack and the two opponents circled each other. I would have gone in close but Warg was patiently waiting. The Emperor was not thrilled about the pacing of the fight and he bellowed a thunderous challenge at Warg.
The giant troll charged forward and I felt the ground shake as his feet slammed into the ground. Warg faked as if he were going to do the exact same roll as before. The troll bought the juke and slammed his mace down into the empty space. Warg buried the double headed axed into the metal chest plate of his foe. The power behind the swing was enough to part the metal and embed the weapon into the torso of the troll. The Emperor bellowed in pain and dropped his club to try to wretch the weapon free of his body.
Warg never released his grip and used his latched on weapon as leverage for a high jump. He grasped the collar of the chest piece as he soared high into the air. As Warg climbed higher he slammed the spike on his nose under the chin of the troll emperor. I watched him tilt his head until his rhino horn was coming out of the mouth of the troll. The Emperor was trying to pull Warg out from under his jaw.
Warg planted his feet against the neck of the troll warrior and I grimaced as my gut twisted. I knew what was coming and wanted to look away but I could not.
“Is he…” Mysti said from beside me and she never got to finish the sentence.
The jaw tore free and ripped off the Emperor’s face. Warg landed in a roll and laughed at his work as he recovered. The Emperor’s neck was open and blood poured out of him freely. The troll staggered in shock and Warg did not hesitate. The rhinorc charged with his head down and spine aligned. There was a thunderous boom when they connected and the impact toppled the giant. The ground shook when the massive warrior slammed into the dirt. The Emperor rolled on the ground writhing in pain as he clutched at his exposed wound. Warg wretched the greataxe free of the downed enemy’s chest and then cleanly severed the head from the body in one gory chop.
The enemy ogres lost all sanity at the defeat of their boss. They charged en masse for Warg who ran for our line. I noticed a green mist billowing and then forming a cloud behind him.
“Tag the enemy!” I shouted as I knew what that mist was.
A spear appeared in my hand and I shifted my weight onto my back foot while I poured mana into my physical superiority orb. When I felt there was no more left to add I unleashed my spear forward. When the sound barrier broke, it shattered in a massive pushback. A few gave me side eye as they were knocked over. Nicole pressed her staff into the ground and cast an area heal. I felt my ears stop bleeding and the ringing abated. Across our battle line, magic erupted as it was aimed at the ogres.
The trolls were not idle as the ogres charged. They too streamed forward but in locked rhythmic steps to a drum beat. I saw the first ogres hit the gas as my spear slammed through four before disintegrating. The first ogres to hit the corrosive green cloud started to melt. Their skin boiled, sizzled, and then slopped off their bodies in chunks. They died so quickly there was a pile of ogres in moments. Warg turned to run left a few hundred feet in front of our lines.
Troll shamans stepped forward and cast a wind spell. Warg saw their plan and canceled his spell. The moment the shamans pushed the air forward the corrosive gas disappeared. King Ptera and a few other casters had been waiting for the shamans to expend magic and reveal their location. They reacted by casting powerful spells far beyond what I had seen before.
A rolling fireball the size of a wagon shot forward right for the shamans. An ice storm smashed into them from above and I hurled a spear across the distance. Every moment that passed the trolls reached one step closer to our line. Most of our magic did not reach a thousand feet and troops like Desmond were stuck waiting without much to do besides try to cast a mist spell.
A dazzling array of spells arched back and forth as two sides competed from distances that continued to close. The troll shaman’s spells were landing short and that that would change as soon as they neared. Warg trotted back to me and tossed me the greataxe.
“Uhh… Why?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Kill the shamans after the first…” Warg said and was drowned out by Atrax.
“CEASE FIRE!”
A volley of arrows and javelins slammed and pounded off a magical shield. We needed one of those and this one must have been a nice orb with a high level because the size of the air shield covered the entire line with ease. A few of the last arrows made it through and there were a few screams down the line.
“Go now, hurry!” Warg command and I grunted more for the thrill of battle than for obeying his commands.
My body thirsted for me to unleash my power and I tore across the frozen ground. My feet barely touched as my speed increased with glue-like grip that sent clods of dirt flying behind me. The hundreds of enemy shamans cast roots that I cleanly ripped through and then they shot spells my way. I used the ten foot tall axe as a vaulting tool and soared dozens of feet above the enemy spells. They gasped in shock as I flew in the air on a descending course to land among them. A fireball thrummed into my chest that cascaded around me. I felt my armor melt and my chest sizzle to only notice the damage to my skin repairing from Nicole healing me.
Mere seconds before I slammed into the ground I spawned Kor and used his blubbery belly to bounce myself into a clump of shamans. The two of us went to work. I cleaved in a circular spin around me. When those closest perished to the blade I ceased my spin. I poured all the power I could into my swing and crashed the weapon into the dirt. The axe moved so fast it split the air and when it collided with the terrain a ferocious tidal wave of energy sent my foes to the ground.
There was no hesitation from me. I chopped, diced, and hacked the shamans into bits as rapidly as my physical superiority orb would allow. I removed Kor from the battlefield when I saw a circle of open space around me. The trolls wanted nothing to do with me as the remaining ogres charged for me. I embedded the greataxe into the dirt beside me with the hilt up and hurled a few spears before they reached me. The damage was extreme as giant holes were torn through my enemies. The foes in the back may have missed a spear but they tripped over the dead and dying.
With a challenging yell, I yanked the weapon out off the ground and bounded forward to clash against my foes. A spiked club swung f
or my head and forced me to pivot to the right. The greataxe in my hand cleaved his thigh as we ran past each other. I converted my momentum into a whirling circle of death. Ogres screamed and cried out in pain as I chopped at the hip level. A mighty club dashed my spin and sent me skidding across the earth. Stars cascaded through my eyes from the intense impact. Our troops advanced to give me cover as Nicole healed a punctured lung and shattered collarbone. Whichever ogre smashed me sure was powerful. I dodged friendly fire and returned to the melee scrum. I juked a mace swing while slicing an arm off. A boot the size of my chest arced my way and I twirled to escape the impact. Back into a wild spin, I went while pouring power into my body to increase my speed. The gore-drenched me in a blanket of blood and bits of flesh as my spin sliced any ogre foolish enough to get near me.
I stopped my twirling motion when the blood stopped splattering me. The ogres had backed up and dropped weapons. One defiant ogre stood and faced me while all the remaining enemies lay on the ground. Even the wolves were on their backs and the gnolls face down.
“We accept…” A voice from behind me shouted but I slammed the greataxe into the ground and cut the words off with a crashing boom.
“KNEEL!” I commanded and found my voice reverberating from across the distant canyon.
The ogre in front of me remained standing.
“We do not join our forces to the likes of you,” the ogre said with folded arms.
I willed my profile to be opened to him.
“Look at me again!” I bellowed defiantly.
The trolls rose off the ground and went to a knee, then the surrendering shamans, gnolls bent the knee, and finally, the ogres knelt. The only one left was the defiant tall ogre in front of me who grunted in approval.
“We will serve the cause,” he said and kneeled.
As one the entirety of the army poofed into the air as if they had surrendered. At my feet lay a single orb. The battlefield was barren of all gear and orbs besides those of the dead. My mind tried to wrap itself around what had occurred when I lifted the orb off the dirt.
Inside was an army with an ogre at the head of it. The color was red for divine and then the realization clicked for me. They had surrendered to my commands to become a spawnable army. I ejected my water orb and stuck in the divine army. When I went to summon them about half appeared before I ran out of mana and fell face first.
∞∞∞
I awoke to a light shaking. Nicole hovered over me and I moaned in displeasure. I rubbed my face where I had crashed to the ground and noticed there was no bruising or cuts.
“Idiot,” Warg said from beside me. I turned my head to see him seated cross-legged with a goofy grin on his rhinorc face.
“Ugh, I hate mana exhaustion here. So that just happened,” I said and noticed Mysti, Zoey, and Cyrene hovering nearby. I waved a hello from my cold spot on the ground. Not that standing would be any warmer. “Howdy ladies.”
They waved back with smiles and I saw the rest of my team cleaning up the battlefield. The TruthSayers were looting the Emperor’s corpse and the King’s company were heading home through the gate. The canyon had dramatically shifted. Gone were the massive buildings and thousands of tents. Instead, the clearing had been reduced in size and a new canyon went deeper into the mountainside.
“Yup, you changed the layout again,” Zoey said with a cheeky grin.
“Alright ladies give us a moment will you please,” I said and then it was only Warg and I. Rina ran over and bubbled us. “Did you know that would happen?”
“I had a feeling, it has been written and chronicled only millions of times. While rare, it is documented. There have been a few occurrences where there were more than two massive companies or guilds. In each of those cases - the challenger of the powers to be - was granted the ability to recruit from the ranks of the NPCs,” Warg said and I must have shown my shock. “Yes, I know what a non-player character is. What color is the orb?”
“Divine or red,” I said and Warg lost his shit.
He screamed, hooted, and hollered at the top of his lungs inside the small dome. He danced and thundered his feet against the ground in celebration and I grew confused. Rina grabbed her tail and waved the fluffy appendage at me for attention.
“You will take ages to use that orb. Your god bonus is in physical abilities. Warg is different, clearly he is a unique god. He is boosted for in-combat pet summoning. There are only a few of those orbs not hidden in a vault somewhere for the rest of time. As in only a handful have been passed down and actively used by senior council members among the big guilds. That orb will boost Warg’s standing more than the blimp. He can officially offer the trade with this orb in play. As in, he is now able to avoid having to hide that he lost the blimp. This means he will probably get a bump in the rankings to the mid-thirties which translates into more doors opening and even more recruitment. You want a third party to surpass the other two; it starts by handing that orb to Warg,” Rina said calmly as Warg was still fist-pumping the air.
As sad as it was to eject the orb, this would be a fair trade. I needed the blimp far more than I would need the orb. Rina was deceitful and tricky, but this was not one of those occasions because Warg was acting the exact way he should. Proud of having already extorted the orb by sacrificing a treasure of his own. I ejected the orb from my core and Warg stood still. I tossed him the divine treasure and he ingested it into his core immediately. The hypocrite was not running a full rotation of his own.
There was a jarring thud as an army of trolls, gnolls, and ogres spawned all around us. The defiant ogre warlord kneeled for Warg. At least seven thousand trolls spawned on the field and we all watched them intently.
“March companies by rows! Into the next room! Charge!” Warg command and the ogre nodded.
There was an organized thundering of footfalls as the army ran for the new canyon pathway. The units beat drums and marched with the front of the formation in a full run. Warg ran for the first few companies as the army formed up neatly. There was a lockstep discipline they had lacked earlier that echoed against the walls. I figure this was possibly a bonus from Warg or an occurrence from combining into one orb. The front was already hundreds of feet into the canyon when I decided to see what would happen.
I peeled myself off the cold ground and started with a slow run to catch up. My mana was hovering just above empty and I sighed. Randomly the army despawned and Warg was trotting my way with frustration etched on his horned face.
“The rooms have not spawned. News flash we lied to you earlier before I decided to give you the blimp. We private portaled here. I am going to go have fun with this toy in other parts of the warring verse. Maybe even take it to a citizen vs citizen planet. Expect occasional pop-ins from a TruthSayer. I will buy these army orbs by the handful if you get them. Remember my position strengthening means your position increasing,” Warg said as he walked past me for his troops.
“Hold up,” I said and he paused. Rina went to shield us and I waved her down. “I need funds, not your funds because you need your funds. If you are broke from me using you as a bank that doesn’t help you grow.”
Warg frowned at this then nodded. “I will figure something out and I appreciate you giving them all to me for free!”
The laugh was deep from within his belly and he lost control and rolled on the ground. That was not what I meant and he couldn’t stop the laughter from spilling out. Eventually, he slowed and rubbed under his eyes on his leathery face.
“I am glad we are partners Gryff, I may even miss you when you leave. I know you want to go home so badly and I respect that. Respect me for what I am. An experienced operator here. I will send a liaison to help you and report on you…” Warg paused and then looked over at my team. “What would you want to add to your team?”
“An accountant,” I said and he roared in knee-slapping laughter again. This time I did not get it. I was not sure that I enjoyed this. I was amusing the massiv
e rhinorc so thoroughly at my own expense. “What, even I need someone to handle the books.”
“You dunce,” Rina quipped and Warg belted her with a powerful blow to her face that sent her to her knees. Sure he had been sweet to her in front of me but here were his true colors in full reveal. Rina was his obedience toy and he beat her at will or whim.
“Laughing and name-calling are two different things. Apologize,” Warg commanded Rina as she knelt in the dirt with a bloody cheek. Nicole zapped her with a healing and Warg bit his cheek with his molars to restrain a retort.
Rina whimpered and said, “I am sorry Gryff.”
“Better, you are healed and it is behind us. Gryff you will learn kitsune are amazing accountants. They are renowned for their math skills throughout the universe. Unless your kitsune is a god in the body of a foxy creature. Then her math skills are shit and you ask her to do accounting and she pouts while whimpering,” Warg said and now I understood his laughter.
“No to you sending an accountant then because I will be hiring one. You’re the warring verse expert, send someone you recommend,” I said and paused while seeing Rina snuggle tightly to Warg. Such a twisted relationship. “A portal guide would be epic but I understand that might reduce your combat efficiency.”
“But it will improve yours. I have to think of this both ways. Your secret is out. No fucking way those dipshit guards don’t blab about you converting a fucking army into a single orb. Yet your freeing of the dwarves will go smoother with the helmet idea. Oh, and make friends with that King Peter fella. If you don’t, he might let bad guys in through his portal network en masse. Even a backwater planetary king can make life hell for an invasion force if they control the means to the entrance. Or you can have a spy come in and scout out a private portal spot. Anyway, the point remains, and he will make a better friend than foe.”
Gryff Boxset Page 151