Nero pulled the wounded man to his feet as we prepared to leave.
Lirian firmly pressed her feet into areas of soft ground then dipped her sharp nails in some of the blood and traced lines on a tree trunk.
I frowned. “What are you doing?”
She looked at me with surprise. “Making sure the humans think it was goblins that took their people, Father. That was the plan, was it not?”
I was taken aback by her answer. Hoshisu was on to something. Lirian was more than intelligent. There were plenty of smart NPCs around, but innovative ones were virtually unheard of. Even Vic confessed that VIs were limited in that regard. There was much more to my virtual daughter than could be easily explained.
We crossed the border back into the mists of the Badlands and settled into a cave Yulli had scouted out for us in advance.
“You won’t get away with this,” a worker said. “Our soldiers will hunt you down.”
I chuckled. “We’re counting on it.”
“Goddamn travelers,” the wounded one spat. “Half-breeds. Working with monsters. The Agent of Light was right. We should have joined his cause and killed you all.”
I crouched next to the worker. “Tell me more about this Agent of Light. Who is he?”
The worker looked away.
I contemplated several ways of making him speak before settling on the simplest one. “Yulli, make him talk.”
The scout grinned and drew out one of her arrows, pressing it under the man’s chin. He yelped as the sharpened tip penetrated his skin and drew blood.
Nero growled.
I held out a hand toward the half-dragon as I maintained eye contact with the prisoner. “Speak!”
“Kill me now, monster,” the man spat. “Better dead now than what you creatures will do to us later.” His eyes, full of hate, locked on the cougar fang dangling from my neck. I suddenly remembered that the necklace’s magic penalized interactions with non-monsters.
I started raising my hand to motion for Yulli to step away.
“No, wait!” It was Gilroy. He stared at my hand in fear. “Please don’t kill him, I’ll tell you what you want.”
“Don’t speak to them monsters,” the stubborn worker said with disgust. “They can’t be trus–”
At another wave of my hand, the man was gagged and drawn away. I turned to Gilroy. “So who’s that Agent of Light?”
“No one really knows.” He gulped at all the monsters staring at him. “He arrived about a week ago and built this weird temple in the main square. I heard he used magic to raise it.”
“And what was that part about joining him?” I asked.
“He’s preaching for the people to go out into the Badlands and exterminate all the monsters.” He swallowed hard. “Goblins in particular.”
“I see,” I said slowly. “Anything else you can tell me about him?”
Gilroy shrugged. “Not really, he’s just another dwarf traveler.”
The three other players and I looked at the young man.
“A traveler?”
24 - Round One
Discovering that one of our enemies was a fellow player was disturbing, to say the least. None of us could figure out why a player would voluntarily go out of his way to rally NPCs for a fight, especially against other players.
“Maybe he’s not aware that we’re working with the monsters?” Aly suggested. “He could just be following a quest to cleanse the Badlands or something like that.”
Hoshisu shook her head. “It’s likely he doesn’t know we’re here, but I can’t imagine any player willingly going into battle and risking getting hurt. Even Nero only fights when the stakes are high.”
The half-dragon player gave her a curt nod.
“Travelers are unpredictable and dangerous enemies,” Bob said, giving me a sly smile. The general’s emotional range and confidence had significantly increased since he gained his tier 3 boss rank.
I chuckled at the remark. “You’re not wrong, Bob.”
I was counting on the ingenuity and adaptability of my allied players to improve our chances. Having an enemy player who could think outside the box and potentially organize the NPCs against us was worrying.
“Just point him out to me, and I’ll take care of him,” Yulli said, grabbing her bow.
“That won’t accomplish much,” Hoshisu said. “He’ll simply respawn.”
“We should talk to him,” Aly said. “Explain our presence and clarify that we’re fighting to help players everywhere.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” Yulli asked.
“Then we need to capture him,” I said. “If we can’t reason with him then that’s the only way.”
“I agree,” the half-dragon said.
We stayed hidden in the cave for the remainder of the day while Yulli kept on the open fields. It was a relief to be out of the sun’s burning light. The Shadow-Touched trait made the dark cave feel warm and comforting, almost like sunbathing on a peaceful lake bank in real life.
Yulli entered the cave a couple of hours later. “We’ve got movement, Chief.”
I felt myself tense up. “Details.”
“About a dozen groups of four or five people, some of them mounted. They’re spread out over the fields and checking every nook and cranny. Two groups are headed in our direction.”
“I doubt they’ll push into the Badlands with just four people per group,” I said. “But to be on the safe side, we’ll remain hidden in here for the rest of the day. Yulli, check again that our tracks are covered.” The scout nodded and stepped outside. Hoshisu got up as well.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
She gave me a crooked grin. “I know how to be stealthy too, remember? I’ll find a hidden vantage point and keep track if anyone gets close to the cave. I’ll send you a message if I see anything.”
“Good idea.”
The two women departed, leaving the rest of us to pass the time.
Bob and Nero started yammering about combat tactics. Aly showed off her skills at hand-to-hand combat to Lirian, who drank it in.
I passed the time by practicing area Runecraft. It was a higher form of the craft, enabling enchantment of whole areas instead of items, but the mana cost was prohibitively high. I started by drawing the three-rune confinement schema I’d already discovered but altered it by adding the Tse triggering rune. Once I poured in the required mana, I was rewarded for my efforts.
Area schema discovered: GoTseKo [Prison Trap]
Runecraft skill level increased to 70.
Activate [Prison Trap]? Yes/No
Pattern Efficiency: 100%
Mana Invested: 3,600/3,600
Effect: Physically confine a creature up to level 73 for 42 minutes.
I couldn’t help smirking. Back in Akzar, I had to sweat to power up such a powerful enchantment. Now I could do it without batting an eyelash.
The runes glowed on the cave’s entrance as the trap became active, then dimmed away. The enchantment was still there but invisible to the naked eye. I didn’t think I was going to need the trap, but it was good exercise. With that done, I sat down comfortably, pulled out the Runecraft skill book, and continued my studies.
Hours later, when the sun finally left the sky, Hoshisu and Yulli returned.
“The search parties found the place where we ambushed the workers, Chief,” the scout informed me. “They tried following our tracks, but I obscured them enough to shake them off. They have no idea where we are.”
Hoshisu nodded. “I spotted several mounted patrols running along the border, but they also came back empty-handed.”
“Good,” I said. “Then the first part of the plan is working.”
“Kyth has just messaged me,” Aly said. “The army will reach us by dawn. And then …” She looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
I grinned. “It will be time for part two.”
***
“Two hundred!”
“That’s too little, I say 500.
”
“It might spook them; 250.”
The rest of the army had arrived by dawn the next day. The players, along with Lirian, Bob, and I were discussing the best way to spring our trap. Malkyr and Cron were loudly arguing about how many foblins we should send to bait Novenguard’s forces. We already agreed it would have to be during the daytime. There was little chance the town would send its forces out at night.
Sullivan interrupted the argument. “Let’s think about it rationally. The enemy soldiers are all level 30 or higher, meaning a single one of them can handle about 50 foblins. We want them to appear like an easy target, so let’s assume they send a soldier for every 20 foblins.”
“That begs the question of how many soldiers we are prepared to engage,” Nero said somberly.
“Not all of them,” I said. “If they come out in full force with spellcasters, long-ranged archers, and scouts, we’ll be in trouble. This is our chance to hurt them, but we need the element of surprise and overwhelming numbers to make it work.”
Bob nodded. “The chief is right. Assuming our intel is correct and we’re facing 500 enemy soldiers, drawing out a quarter of them should be manageable.”
“So 2,000 foblins?” Sullivan asked, looking at the people around us.
“Sounds like a plan,” Malkyr said with his familiar boyish grin.
“Agreed,” Cron said.
Bob cleared a piece of ground and started etching a map of the area with his claw. “We’ll send the foblins in a single force from here.” He drew a line that crossed the circle depicting Novenguard’s fields. “We’ll order them to damage the fields and chase down the farmers, then retreat as soon as Novenguard sends out its forces.”
Malkyr frowned. “Why retreat?”
His sister rolled her eyes. “We want to draw them away from the walls and toward our main forces, duh.”
“As soon as they fully engage the foblins, we’ll send two agile strike teams to flank them and cut off their retreat,” Bob said. He drew two more lines from either side of the first one. “Once we block their escape route, the rest of the army will move in, and we’ll squash them with superior numbers.”
Aly nodded. “Not a bad plan, but we need to make sure to cut off their escape completely. Don’t forget we also have grenades. I suggest–”
I left them to hash it out among themselves. I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I knew best. I could strategize and take care of logistics like no one’s business, but other people were better when it came to planning large-scale campaigns. Luckily, I had plenty of players that matched those criteria. Real humans were a valuable resource.
I found Zuban standing over a group of workers in the deeper part of the marsh. Large stacks of lumber, stone, and bones were arrayed in neat rows.
Bargush was already busy at work, his four arms whirling as he stacked stone bricks and hammered pieces of wood into place.
I spotted Kuzai nearby. The demented dwarf was walking slowly in circles around the goblin builder, brandishing a couple of white bones while chanting unholy scripture.
“How’s the work going?” I asked the chief constructor.
The hob turned to me and bowed his head. “Good, Dire Totem. It won’t be long before the chief’s hut is completed and the cemetery consecrated.” He pointed to a small structure made entirely of bone. “The shrine is already complete.”
“Excellent,” I said.
This was always part of my plan. I might not be a great military strategist, but I could plan ahead and make sure our forces were as ready for battle as possible.
I watched Bargush work for a few more minutes. The walls of a rudimentary shack grew before my eyes. I waited for him to finish then stepped inside and tossed a few gold coins into the flimsy wooden chest inside.
New Monster Settlement Established
Conditions:
- Chief Hut: 1/1
- Cemetery: 1/1
- Tier 1 Boss: 1/1
You have met the minimum requirements to establish a permanent settlement [War Camp.]
Would you like to assume command? Yes /No
Yes, I thought contentedly.
The GreenPiece Clan has claimed a new settlement.
Please select a name for the settlement.
Attack Base Alpha, I projected.
Vic snorted in my mind.
Just do it, Vic.
I raised an eyebrow. You mean, ‘Don’t get your knickers in a bunch,’ right?>
Whatever. Is it done yet?
Excellent.
With a flick of my mind, I brought up the interface. It was much more basic than the one for Goblin’s Gorge, but for my purpose, it was enough. I navigated to the Energy tab and clicked on the single most important option.
Resurrection
Available energy: 245,346
-empty-
I grinned in satisfaction. With the ability to resurrect my troops close to the area of engagement, I pretty much guaranteed our victory. Any NPC we’d kill was gone for good, but my soldiers would just keep on coming.
It was a bit unfortunate that the new camp didn’t share Goblin’s Gorge’s many blessings. Eternal Night would have been especially useful here, but I didn’t dwell on it. The important part was to set the resurrection point to here, and I’d accomplished that.
I work with the tools I have at my disposal, Vic, I replied. The odds are stacked against us either way.
My unruly companion chuckled.
“I miss Aidanriel,” I muttered.
But I couldn’t bring out the golem yet. Aidanriel had a big part to play in phase three.
I only had one more thing to do here. Learning from my past mistakes, I knew I had to have someone who could act as a backup in case something happened to me. Concentrating on the interface, I linked its controls with Bob, granting my general the ability to use the resurrection system at his discretion.
I returned to my military think tank to discover that the battle plan was already finished. I understood the gist of it. It was my army after all, and I wasn’t about to be left out of the loop, but I didn’t need to know the finer details either. A six-phased strategy for a single skirmish was a little too complex for my taste.
All eyes turned to me.
“Alright, Chief,” Malkyr said with a broad grin. “Everyone’s in position and ready to go.”
I looked at Bob, and the general nodded at me. “We are ready.”
“Okay,” I said. “Send in the foblins.”
***
Charles was plucking the last bits of bacon from his beard and munching on them. It was close to the end of his shift atop the watchtower, and he was planning on getting a new plate at breakfast as soon as it was finished.
“Anything out there, guardsmen?” the wall captain asked him from the level below.
Charles shook his head. “Just some of the farmers coming into town, Captain. No sign of goblins.”
“Keep a sharp eye out,” the officer said. “There must have been at least two dozen of them to take four of our men.”
Charles’s face paled so much it was visible even through his dark beard. “I think it’s closer to 2,000 goblins, sir.”
The officer scoffed. “No way. We’d have known if there was a force that size anywhere in the area.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.” The officer paused. “Why?”
Charles pointed outward. “Because
hundreds of goblins are pouring out of the Badlands, sir.”
Before he even finished speaking, alarm bells started to ring along the walls as the other watchers spotted the approaching horde.
The officer nearly stumbled as he turned toward the barracks. “Sound the alarm!”
***
This was our turning point. The moment we’d been preparing for; building, fighting, training.
The foblins spilled out of the mists and into the plateau like a horde of ants. They greedily devastated the fields they passed through, pulling out corn and potatoes, eating them raw, then pulling out the entire plant to rot away. They were wild and barely manageable, but as a general, Bob’s increased authority allowed him to point the chaotic creatures in the right direction. The foblins engulfed two whole fields and even butchered some wandering livestock.
They didn’t go any farther than that though. Which was the whole plan.
A chorus of alarms and horns came from Novenguard. Barely a few minutes after our attack had started, the main gates opened, and a force of soldiers streamed out of it.
At least 50 mounted soldiers and a similar number of pike-wielding warriors moved out together, and the heavy gates closed behind them with a bang.
“Shit,” Sullivan cursed. “They’re coming at us in two waves.”
As if his words launched the enemy into action, the riders sprinted away from the foot soldiers, their horses closing the distance rapidly.
“We’ll have to wait until the second force engages,” Bob said.
“But those riders will wipe out the goblins if we don’t reinforce them,” Malkyr protested.
Sullivan shook his head. “Bob’s right. If we go all out now, we’ll get the riders, but the second force will retreat. This is our best chance to strike at the defenders away from their walls.”
Life Reset: Human Resource (New Era Online Book 4) Page 41
