Isekai Magus: A LitRPG Progression Saga

by Han Yang

  I nodded and pointed to Nee. “Well, now we know that the orc armor and orc weapons will be too big for a goblin that is upgraded, which was the test. Thank you, Nee, for enduring the pain. What spell did you unlock?”

  “Anything for such a wise and caring boss. My new spell is called.” Her yellow eyes glazed. “Blooming spree. It says once a month, so I will wait until we find something worthy of growing besides grass,” Nee said.

  “Will the goblins still respect you the same way?” I asked.

  She nodded. “You’ve turned me into a goblin ogre, regardless of what the minotaur says. I’m wafting a smell to other goblins that trolls do not. I permeate happiness and power. Expect goblins to go crazy to worship Caitlyn as I do. All because of you and your lady.”

  I fidgeted, uncertain how to take this statement. Tarla was and wasn’t my lady. More importantly, I worried other goblins would want to become trolls. The fact was they were far too expensive to make for only unlocking a single spell.

  Well, maybe we could do one of each magic type to figure out which types were worth it. The thoughts tumbled in my mind for an awkward moment while Nee kept running hands over her new body.

  In the end, I smiled and thanked Nee.

  Yermica didn’t seem upset, but she did keep glancing into the Quari Jungle with concern. I had to wonder as well, what was keeping Asha from reporting about the danger the jungle held.

  CHAPTER 61

  Quari Jungle

  “About damn time,” I muttered, seeing Charlie and Asha returning.

  The white stallion was covered in muck. His matted fur bounced as he pranced. Those two had certainly gone on an adventure.

  “You never said you were worried,” Tarla teased from beside me.

  We sat on the driver’s bench of our carriage, watching the jungle canopy pass overhead. Sprinklings of a cloudy sky materialized through the overhang. The trees on each side loomed over us, stretching to about forty feet tall. Vines connected thick limbs, and large bushes dominated the jungle floor. Off the worn road, the colorful vegetation was so dense you could hardly see into the jungle.

  A hard rain had slowed our journey, but the mucky terrain hardened as one of the last warm days visited. The lack of a blistering wind was delightful, and the moment I had been waiting for finally arrived - news of our surroundings.

  “Wow, by the creator that was an epic adventure. I certainly have an update for you, Boss,” Asha said.

  “Good news, I hope.” I gazed down at him with a smile.

  I truly had grown concerned that something nefarious had befallen my friend. We were a day and a half into the jungle, meaning he had almost been gone for four days on his mission. The only other concerning factor recently was that the cat I had sent to Bell had died.

  “Some good, some bad. To start, how have the cats and traps been doing?” Asha asked.

  I smirked, nodding rapidly. “Absolutely amazing. The number of small critters in this dense jungle is insane. I even killed off two orcs to replace them with new cats. Actually, I was contemplating on spending all our Z. It's been that good.”

  “Who would have figured a cat would be the necromancer's greatest weapon that never directly strikes his foe,” Nick said, hopping down from his mount behind us.

  The minotaur ran and hopped onto the foot portion of my carriage.

  “Are we having a meeting, Boss?” Nee shouted from up front, hustling to join us.

  Yermica trotted her ram from the rear of the caravan to join us. The narrow road only allowed minimal side traffic, and she shouted at some goblins to get out of her way.

  “Uh, I guess. Might as well. Oh, Asha, this is a goblin magus, Nee. Nee, you know Asha,” I said, catching him up.

  His eyebrows raised with curiosity. “I see I wasn’t the only busy one. By the great Den Mother, you’ve built a city on top of matogator skeletons.”

  “Yeah, I kinda had to. We even stopped for an extra six hours this morning to help process planks. The human army vanished and never arrived out of the pine forest, so I figured a decent rest would help. They must have turned back,” I said.

  “Well, that is good news. There’s an Archa Queen about ten miles southwest. I see your confusion. Plains spider, not humanoid, it kills the forest by consuming everything, much like we do. They have lots of webbing, and as the queen expands, her young become challenges. I killed a half dozen, only a quarter Zorta per.

  “Out our left there’s a series of small troll cities, towns, and villages to our north. On this side of the river, there’s trolls. On the other side, I found a few naga outposts. There’s definitely some nice targets, but that’d take us away from the Great Plains.

  “The massive minotaur city is to the right at the fork, and I had to really push Charlie hard to avoid capture. The minotaurs actively hunt their lands and use this road, so I’m not sure how that will turn out.

  “During my journey, over fifty goblins stopped me, asking for directions to my master. I guess I carry a goblin scent because it was never in debate that I was part of this army. At least to them.

  “Let’s see... What else? Oh, that’s right, there’s thousands of orcs marching hard in the opposite direction on this road. They're hurrying to join Torro,” Asha said.

  “Shit,” I blurted.

  “Yes, well, they have orders to hustle for Nara at all haste. At least they sang a battle cadence that said as much,” Asha commented.

  I tapped my foot, mulling over our options. “Recommendation?”

  “There’s a river to our north. It’ll take us off the road. Sprinkles will have to build some bridges, but the naga chain is rich, and the trolls are ripe for conquering or harvest. Doing so will give us space from the minotaur city, and we will get the hell out of the orcs way,” Asha said.

  I nudged a contemplating minotaur with my boot. “Koor?”

  The simple question was enough for him to catch onto what I wanted to know. Would us smashing through the local area anger the big city?

  Nick cleared his throat. “It’s hard to say how they’ll react. Trolls fight trolls, orcs fight orcs, naga breed like goblins, everyone owns slaves, and everyone fights everyone. The difference here is, you’re stripping the land. A lot of Ostriva species fight for dominance, once a leader is proven, the fighting stops and life continues on, not death,” Nick said, and I nodded with a huff. “If that Archa Queen expands enough, she’ll be hunted and removed as the blight she is.”

  “And if they march on us?”

  “Run. You’re good at that,” Nick said with a snicker.

  I chuckled and nodded. “This will put us further from Koor, right?”

  “Yeah, a few leagues at least. The orcs may follow us, looking for a quick fight,” Asha said, countering his own advice.

  “The trolls will have fields, and we can set formations and siege weapons. That’s our goal,” I said, firming my resolve and coming to a decision. “We leave the road for fields and dig in until the orcs pass.”

  ∞∞∞

  Occupying Sprinkles allowed me to stare down upon the troll town, quickly realizing it wasn’t a village. Instead of the jungle being used to create wooden walls, this local lord erected berms that went forty feet high. The side facing outward held a cliff, and the down sloping interior held farms.

  Expanding the town would be impossible, but the defenses were solid and the space well utilized. Of all the fantasy cities I’d seen, this was my favorite. I saw ballista atop the battlements, and towers with archers gazed at our army that continued to clear space in the trees.

  The interior homes were constructed of stone and fused together with geomancer spells. An aqueduct system ran water from a high point, likely filled by mages, and it fed sewage to the river at a point downstream.

  This town impressed me with its well thought out layout. I wasn’t surprised that at least a thousand trolls lived there.

  Our arrival stirred the enemy into a frenzy. Sprinkles was impossible to hide, an
d they saw us coming from miles away. The largest troll in the group shouted at his residents to form battle lines.

  The trolls were almost all archers, not having any infantry that I could see. Each of the soldiers carried two quivers jammed packed with arrows. After being impressed, I had honestly planned to avoid the city because sacking it would take too long.

  I left Sprinkles, returning to my body under the war table.

  When I shimmied out from under the table, I found my core members seated and waiting for me.

  I shifted into my spot at the head of the table and said, “While I’d love to level up and grow our army, this city is not worth the effort. If I wanted to live there, yeah, it’s a great town to occupy, and our army could defend it from a massive siege. But… that would leave us abandoning Bell.”

  “This section of jungle has the best fields in the area. If the orcs divert, you’ll want to stage here. We can maybe clear enough space in the few days we have, but it would be endless work whereas this is already done,” Asha said.

  I nodded with a sigh. “I noticed. However, the defenses are too tough. We would need to build… uh. Like eighty-foot tall ramps, and at least a hundred of them. Or lose most of our army breaching the gate.”

  “This was Koor before Koor became Koor. At least the defense you’re telling us about seems to be minotaur made,” Nick informed us, the towering minotaur barely fitting in the large carriage.

  “Alright, I’m making the call. Sprinkles, continue creating the road to the river and construct a bridge until I take over your body,” I ordered, and the cyclops proceeded to return to working a new road with the humanoid minions.

  “Let's move to the naga fields. They’re shorter, narrower, and probably less firm, but I doubt the orcs will build a bridge to chase us,” I said with a sigh.

  “I really like this location,” Asha repeated, just in a different way. “And the orcs won’t need a bridge. This river reaches the road, but the naga field will be less work with no enemy at our backs.”

  “Not every battle should be fought, and before Nick can bust my balls, yeah, we’re running,” I said with a scoff. “Anyone want to meet with the trolls to see if they want to trade?”

  Nee raised her hand quickly. It was distracting how human she appeared now.

  “We could use vegetables, and we’re almost out of fish,” she said, “The cats are bringing a ton of red meat that we can likely trade for.”

  “Alright, send a delegation to see if they’re open to trade. Say we’re moving through the area to get out of the way of an orc army,” I told her.

  “You got it, Boss. If they have anything else interesting, I’ll send a runner,” Nee said, taking on the responsibility.

  “Sprinkles won’t be able to build anything complex,” Asha noted.

  I tapped the table while frowning.

  “I’ll get back into Sprinkles to hurry the process along. Use gators to clear the path while I build,” I ordered. “Any comments before we shift?”

  “I got nothing,” Tarla said. “I’ll be working on my winter cloaks.”

  “I’m processing the kills from the cats and keeping the grubby gremlins grabbing all the goods to become goblin ogres,” Yermica said.

  Nee snickered and said, “Yeah, that’s all the goblins are talking about. They’re not going to stop anytime soon, either.”

  Asha cleared his throat and said, “I’ll be scouting our flanks and helping the caravan as needed.”

  “Heading to trade,” Nee said.

  “I’ll join Nee,” Nick said. “It should help spread the word we’re only trying to set formations for another army passing through.”

  “Alright, so we shift,” I said, adjourning the meeting.

  I headed out and into the jungle to relieve myself. My caravan was in the middle of the formation, deep inside the jungle. We had two or three days until the orcs started to head the opposite direction to join Torro, giving us at least a little bit of time to prepare.

  I simmered with disappointment that we were cowering in the jungle. Avoiding losing fights, while smart, left me demoralized. Deep-down, I wanted to make the orcs move instead of hiding in the woods.

  The problem was that I had built my army for speed, not for fighting in narrow passages. Matogators were wide, and with the platforms on their back, they were unable to turn sideways to squeeze between jungle trees. We were restricted to roads or open areas. Both didn’t work well for the coming threat that not only outnumbered us but could also outmaneuver us by easily moving between the jungle.

  I let the angst drop, knowing there was a whole lot of work to be done. I rocked the carriage, entering again. My new bobcat sat in Lumpy’s spot. The cats were killing so well again, we had set bait points around the caravan. They’d paid for Nee’s transformation with today’s hunt alone.

  Tarla bit her lower lip, giving me a lusty gaze when the door sealed shut. I froze, realizing I had become prey to a different type of cougar. When her robe hit the floor of the carriage, and she seductively sauntered by me for the bed, I succumbed to her wonderful ways.

  Ten minutes later, she adjusted her outfit, not getting it back on the same way it was before I tore it off. That was our reality; two lovers finding moments when we could. I had just sacrificed ten minutes of bridge building to rock the carriage in a different manner.

  Ready for a new adventure, I laid down. After a chant about obedience, I fled my body, easily finding Sprinkles at the front of the caravan.

  The big guy was yanking trees out, clearing a path. We only had a few hundred feet to go until our caravan arrived at the widest part of the river.

  I drove my mind’s eye into his body, letting the transition settle.

  The moment I had control of Sprinkles, the lethargic skeleton became the energetic boss. The goblins knew right away from the shudder of the frame, but I always clapped to let my protectors know we were shifting gears.

  The first thing I did was head to the river’s edge, trying to find a narrow gap. Right at the opening for where the troll fields meet the jungle was the best spot. This was near where their sewage dumped, but I could build a makeshift bridge with only having to pile rocks in the middle.

  Downstream an assortment of rocks rested on the riverbank that I could use to stack up the river. Clear the road, pile some rocks until they became supports, and then assemble the bridge.

  Having a plan, I returned to the start of our caravan. The trolls in their city relaxed somewhat when Nee left the tree line with a yellow banner.

  For a moment, I watched the Nee and Nick head out to greet the troll delegation. The trolls seemed relaxed, so I headed back to work.

  Each step back to Mini and the others was carefully placed. When I arrived, I shooed them back.

  My large hands plucked out trees, flinging them toward the spot I wanted to build the bridge. Once I had a large enough area cleared, I got down on my hands and knees.

  It was the quickest way to remove the entire tree and roots. Pushing them over instead of picking them up not only saved me time, it saved the others time because I could rake the flat of my hand across the road.

  I progressed forward, getting almost to the river when I heard a shrill cry. A roar of a minotaur pulled me out of my work. I rose to my knees, seeing Nick fighting the troll delegation. He parried blows while backpedaling.

  Nee lay dead on the farm field. Her cause of death was evident.

  A series of mounted trolls spurred their elk into a charge. Their target was clear - the minotaur.

  Goblin archers and mages countered by rushing their matogators forward.

  Snap! Snap! Snap!

  The repeating release of crossbows drowned out the war cries. A volley of bolts zipped over Nick’s head, downing three of the trolls trying to find an angle.

  I shoved my body off the jungle floor, erupting into a dead sprint. With a fluid motion, I quickly yanked my shield off my back.

  I surged by Nick and the foes
he was thinning out. The mounted trolls tried to conceal charging spells, their heavy armor fooling into thinking they were knights. Thankfully my high vantage point revealed their deception.

  Without a doubt, they were skilled mages.

  Every one of them condensed pink magic, and I knew in an instant this was planned. Pretending to reach down for Nee’s corpse, the enemy unleashed a huge spread of expanding foam magic.

  I planted my hand down and vaulted up. I entered a forward somersault, soaring over the pink magic. My huge frame propelled me forward and right into the troll knights.

  A quick back swipe of my shield crushed elk and rider alike. The dead soared away from the city, flying into the jungle. Those who lived spun to retreat, their ploy a failure.

  I rolled back, still low to the ground. I snatched Nee off the farm field, picking myself into a run. Ballista snapped, spells crackled, and the final two who fought Nick died in rapid succession.

  Ping.

  Pong.

  Blue magic shimmered, telling me I’d been hit by some long-ranged magic, but my goblin mages managed to withstand the onslaught with their shielding.

  After I reached the tree line, I gazed down at the dead troll in my hand. For the slightest of moments, I considered turning one my greatest allies into a minion.

  No, I’d revive her, her loyalty had never wavered once.

  I ordered Sprinkles to set her outside my carriage and then left his body.

  When I returned to mine, Tarla had the door open, gasping at a dead Nee that had just been set down.

  When I tried to find my calm, my heart palpitated angrily. I had to find my calm. I wasn’t sure why I was so upset since we had won, but I sure was mad.

  I reached out to Nee, immediately receiving a connection.

  Resurrect Nee of tribe Moonguard (YES) or (NO)

  “Interesting. No points. She must be neutral,” I muttered and selected yes.