“It won’t be long now,” Sullivan said then he grimaced. “Those elementals threw a monkey wrench into the whole plan.”
“You couldn’t have anticipated that,” I countered. “The mages sacrificed their own people to sustain the rituals that summoned those creatures.”
“Still, I’d have preferred to handle this battle without your help.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I clapped his shoulder. “I’m here to serve.”
Sullivan blinked at me. “It was a little stressful when we talked before, but am I imagining things, or are you taller than usual?”
“Just a bit,” I admitted. “Goblin’s Gorge was upgraded to a city, and I reached the fourth boss tier.”
“Congrats! That should come in handy.”
“Oh, yeah. I would have had a hell of a lot harder time stopping those mages without it. One of the perks of becoming a raid boss, I suppose.”
“A raid boss?” Sullivan’s eyes widened. “Is this why I’m getting a sense of awe standing next to you?”
“Chief is powerful,” Savol said in agreement. “Makes others strong just standing close.”
I grinned. “As I said, this boss thing has its perks. Should I get in there and give the soldiers a hand?”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Sullivan said. “I need to be able to gauge their strength to improve our tactics. Don’t get me wrong, but you’re sort of an unquantifiable element.”
“Thanks, honey,” I shot back at him. “I think you’re cute too.”
He grumbled something unintelligible and walked away.
Lirian raised an eyebrow at me.
“I was just kidding, Lir,” I said. “We travelers do that.”
She nodded. “I have noticed that. I will strive to emulate you.” She gave me a wry smile. “Princess in distress.”
I laughed.
***
The defenders – and the High Magus especially – fought back valiantly, but there was no question about the outcome of the battle.
It took about another hour for the message to appear.
Your forces have taken over a town.
Storg was ours.
21 - New Purpose
The first rays of light rolled in as the army slowly withdrew from the conquered, wounded town.
It was a brand-new day in ‘Monster Kingdom.’
Lirian and I stood waiting for the others to join us while the goblin general threw adoring glances at my daughter. I followed his eyes and realized, with a start, that the young goblinette had already reached level 40.
The last of our forces stepped out of the breached walls, and the rest of the players approached us, looking haggard and battle-weary.
“Hey there, Chief.” Malkyr gave me his usual boyish grin. His enchanted greataxe was slung over his shoulder, dripping blood. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and stared at me with an awed expression. “Damn, what happened to you? You look … taller? No, that’s not it … more confident? Powerful?” He shook his head. “I feel like I’m standing next to a celebrity or something.”
The weary-looking players straightened up as they came closer. “Check out the aura buff he’s giving off,” Julee said with a whistle. “A morale boost, 20 percent to combat speed, improved health and mana regeneration …”
“Yeah, I sort of tiered up,” I said. “It comes with a bunch of handy abilities.”
“Would have come in handy during the battle,” Malkyr commented good-naturedly. “Though we pulled it off on our own.”
“I take it the fighting went well?”
“Oh yeah, that was a fun little skirmish. Even got a couple of levels out of it.”
“Casualties?” I asked.
“Less than a hundred,” Sullivan said. “Closer to 300 if we include those we lost to the elementals earlier. That’s still a pretty good ratio. Savol has already resurrected them.”
I inspected the Vassal Interface. Our energy supply had dipped by 45,000 EP. A drop in the bucket compared to the incredible 135,000 EP my clan generated daily. I still had close to a quarter million in total. “That’s a little high for resurrecting fewer than 300 soldiers. I take it some of them leveled up?”
“Oh yeah.” The strategist’s lips twisted into a smile. “Fighting giant elementals has its upsides. Everyone in the army leveled at least once. Our weakest troops are level 16 now.”
“Good. What about the town’s casualties?”
Julee winced. “Swarm took care of the High Magus. It wasn’t pretty. As in, a red smear kind of not pretty.”
“The Ogre Mages and the other bosses tracked down the town’s other leaders,” Kyth added. “It was brutal, but it was over quickly. We tried to avoid killing the others, but the remaining guards wouldn’t surrender without a fight. I’m afraid the town doesn’t have much of a militia left to mobilize for our cause.”
I nodded and turned my attention to the notifications that awaited me.
You have taken control of a new settlement.
Name: Storg
Type: Town (Level 4)
Buildings: 115
Population: 4,305
Vassal Contribution:
● Daily Energy: 13,415
● Daily Resources: 300 food, 300 gold
● Militia: 2,000 soldiers (levels 10-20) [current strength: 2%]
● Morale: +15
● Breeder’s Den: +2 level for newly summoned combatants
Capital advancement to Level 6 (Large City): 50%
Storg’s stats were almost identical to Whitebanner’s. The capital advancement notification was misleading in its simplicity. All I have to do is conquer the same amount of settlements all over again , I thought wryly. The undertaking wasn’t going to be an easy one. Especially since I’d have to take over Everance to do it.
I continued reading through my notifications, arriving at the after-battle rewards.
Level up! (X 2) You have reached Character Level 63. You have 2 ability points to allocate.
Killing high-level mages was proving to be even more rewarding than slaying giant scorpions. I quickly assigned the two new points into Mental and moved on to the next notifications.
Dark Mana spell school level increased to 81.
Faith spell school level increased to 41.
Despite not having cast all that many spells during my face-off against Storg’s mages, targeting the higher-level opponents was enough. My most important spell skill, Dark Mana, was now only 20 points from Master rank. I was eager to re-learn one of the long-lost trademark spells I’d wielded before transforming into a goblin.
I hadn’t cast any Faith spells during the encounter other than teleporting away, but I figured using it to escape powerful enemies did the trick.
Quest Updated: Servants of Darkness
Nihilator has tasked you with converting enough of the world’s population to grant him the raw power he needs to overthrow all other gods.
Quest Type: Mythic
Progress: 29,254/5,000,000 (0.58%)
I let out a short chuckle.
“What’s so funny, Chief?” Malkyr asked.
I looked up at him. “Oh, I was just amused by the great progress I was making in one of my quests. I just crossed the half-percent threshold toward total completion.”
“Sounds harsh,” the large man said. “What’s the quest’s rank?”
I showed him my teeth. “Mythic”
“Get out!” Julee said breathlessly. “You’re yanking our chains, right?”
I shook my head. “As Nihilator’s high priest, I’ve received a quest to convert five million people to his church. Once we take over Everance and this entire area, I might get close to two percent.”
Julee frowned. “That’s insane! I’ve never heard of such an incredibly difficult quest.”
“That’s why it’s a Mythic one, kid,” Kyth said good-naturedly.
“What’s the reward like?” she asked, still looking incredulous.
I shrugge
d. “Don’t know, it doesn’t say. I guess it depends on how well I do.”
“That’s the best kind! I’m so envious.”
“Just say the word, and I’ll hand over the mantle of the high priest – along with all the responsibilities that come with worshiping an evil, ancient beast of darkness.”
“Uh …” she hesitated. “I think I’ll pass.”
I winked at her. “Smart.”
“So what’s next, Chief?” Malkyr asked. “There are no other towns to take over, and we’ve already conquered most of the smaller villages around.”
“We now control the entire southern area of Everance’s domain,” Sullivan said. “There’s nothing that can threaten us outside the capital, but we’re still far from being able to launch an attack on it.”
I recalled that the player had estimated we’d need at least 10,000 soldiers to even consider marching on Everance. The back door I’d opened into the city via the portal system would prove invaluable, but it wouldn’t be able to transport more than a small unit before being discovered and destroyed. There was still a lot of work ahead of us.
“Now we secure our holdings,” I said, standing taller. “The first conquest phase is done. I’ll connect Storg to the portal system, then we need to establish trade routes between the major towns and monster settlements. We now have the infrastructure to trade monster goods with non-monster partners. I bet that with a little careful management we can increase the total production of food and weapons to give our army a real boost.” I paused and then paraphrased Vic’s earlier words. “It’s time to move up from micro to macromanagement.”
As much as I enjoyed fighting and vanquishing my enemies, there was nothing quite like developing a community and seeing it grow into a powerful nation under my care. I was already considering the possibilities.
“Ugh.” Malkyr made a sour face. “Commerce and logistics. Not my cup of beer. Speaking of which, I think I’ll head back into Goblin’s Gorge. I hear Daimmen got his hands on a few new kegs. Afterward, if we have as much time as it sounds like, I think I’ll go back to smithing. I miss my forge and my magical anvil.”
“You’re planning on drinking then swinging a heavy hammer on semi-molten steel?” His sister arched an eyebrow at him.
“Smithing? Didn’t you once tell me you’re into math?” Julee asked.
Malkyr shook his head seriously. “No, that’s too dangerous. I never drink and derive.”
Everyone but his sister chortled. Hoshisu rolled her eyes. “That old joke again?”
I suddenly remembered something about the twins that I’d glimpsed when Mr. Emery had shown me their files. In reality, they were both severely handicapped. My big friend probably couldn’t drive at all.
The sobering thoughts must have shown on my face because the mood changed, the atmosphere suddenly becoming heavy.
Nero stepped forward, a grave expression on his face. “Oren, I need to talk to you.”
The other players caught the undertone of those simple words and turned their attention to him.
“Sure.” I braced myself. “What’s up?”
“Remember you asked me to do a little digging via the player network about that trapped player?”
I gave a short nod.
“Well, I’ve heard back from my contact. He’s been snooping around Everance’s guards ever since he heard them mentioning the poor guy.”
I felt my heart quicken. This could be the first lead on the information I’d gleaned from the Outrider tablet. “Has he discovered anything new?”
Nero nodded slowly. “They threw the player into a special hidden prison. My contact hasn’t been able to discover the location, but he did learn the name of the jailed player.” The half-dragon took a deep breath. “And it’s someone we’ve all heard about. David Tenenbaum.”
The other players and I gasped at the name.
David Tenenbaum. The first player to have ever been trapped in NEO. The only player in the world with a deeper connection than me to the game.
And I had to find him.
My path was clear. With the Mob Squad paving the road for me, I was going to conquer Everance, find David, and set him free. Then, he’d complete the tablet’s translation, revealing the location of the mysterious ‘divine cord,’ and somehow, with my daughter’s help, we were going to use it to save everyone.
I clenched my jaw in determination. I often joked it was good to be chief, but in reality, being a chief meant shouldering responsibilities and taking care of your people.
I wasn't going to fail.
I was going to save them all.
Vic!
22 - Epilogue
“This cannot stand!” A balding elder gentleman struck the meeting table. “The monster horde cannot be allowed to continue rampaging through the countryside unopposed!”
“Calm yourself, Count Najes,” a young, regal-looking man in a heavy breastplate said. “The horde , as you call them, is nothing more than a few thousand hobs and Ogres. They pose no threat to the city.”
“But Lord Everance,” the elder noble protested. “They’ve taken over both Whitebanner and Storg, both are major economic centers. Without them–”
“Your house’s interests are focused on those towns,” Lord Everance countered. “Their temporary loss will have little to no effect on the capital at large. I’m not going to send our troops merely to lessen the burden on your pockets.” Count Najes started sputtering, but the young lord didn’t let him recover. “Master Sleeve, I trust you can give us an updated threat assessment?”
A thin, sharp-featured man stood. “I can, my lord. I can confirm the presence of hobgoblins, Ogres, goblins, and kobolds in the monster force – the last of them a peculiarity, since kobolds are rarely known to join forces with goblinoid species.
“This horde is even more unusual than just that,” the spymaster continued. “Different monster species have natural rivalries, often putting an end to budding threats before they gain enough momentum to become a serious one. In this case, however, according to our observations, both in the field and using magical detection, the enemy seems to be a coherent fighting force.”
“That is alarming,” Lord Everance conceded. “Were you able to determine the reason for that?”
“I did, my lord. All of the monsters are being led by a magically powerful goblin chief. A raid boss.”
A chorus of murmurs erupted around the meeting room.
“Preposterous,” an immaculately dressed lady said. “Bosses always stick to their own clan. Raid bosses in particular.”
Sleeve nodded curtly “That is normally the case, my lady. However, this chief isn’t the only boss among them. Our most conservative estimates put the number of bosses at 40, and there’s a high probability of another raid boss among them – besides the chief himself.”
The lady paled. “Fo–forty? How?”
Sleeve smiled at her reassuringly, the expression looking more like a grimace on his sharp features. “There is no cause for concern, my lady. The horde’s levels are mostly below 30, with the chief being among the highest of them. A single elite battalion should be able to destroy them – within an acceptable cost. The city of Everance has nothing to fear.”
“But …” The noblewoman swallowed hard. “How is it possible for so many bosses to appear all at once? Didn’t we use to cull them regularly?”
“We did.” The spymaster looked at her pointedly. “Do you recall how we normally handled that?”
“Of course,” she scoffed. “We used to post paltry bounties on their heads. The travelers were more than eager to–” She stopped mid-sentence.
“Exactly,” Sleeve said grimly. “It also seems monster-hybrid travelers are supporting the invading force, while the travelers we have in the city now are few and feeble.”
A hush fell over the room.
“I will not risk a single soldier to help those fringe settlements,
” Lord Everance declared evenly. “This is not how things are done.”
Count Najes spoke up. “With all due respect …monsters have never taken over our settlements in the past. Destroy and pillage, yes, but never assumed control. What if they grow in strength and decide to attack us next?”
“Then they die,” the lord said. He looked around the room with narrow eyes. “Does anyone refute my claim?”
The spymaster cleared his throat, hastily raising both hands in surrender at his lord’s glare. “I do not, my lord, but I do believe it would be prudent to take some precautions.”
“Such as?”
“On at least two occasions, the goblin chief himself has infiltrated the settlements they were targeting, weakening them from the inside and opening a path for their main army. A few precautions inside Everance will make sure that could never happen.”
“Such as ?”
The spymaster started counting on his fingers. “One, you and the rest of the city’s ruling council should never be left unguarded. I recommend a mixed detail of high-level knights and mages assigned to each one. Two, bolster the city’s guard with our standing army and authorize them to run random checks and question individuals they deem suspicious. Three, declare a law against all monster species within city limits.”
“Don’t we already have one?” one of the councilmen asked.
The spymaster shook his head. “No monster has ever made it past the city walls, so a specific law against them was not needed.”
“It sounds a little much to me.” The armored young lord raised a gauntleted fist that emitted an intense magic aura. “But I concede that it would be best to err on the side of caution. The others should be protected.”
“What if the monsters do get strong enough to challenge the city?” another councilman dared to ask.
Life Reset: Conquest (New Era Online Book 5) Page 39
