by Ivan Kal
The Goblin King snarled at him. “Peace? There can be no peace between the Go’blavar and the other races! He made sure of it.”
Morgan was pretty sure that he knew who the Goblin King was referring to. What did you do, Oxy? Morgan wondered. But in the end, none of it mattered. The Goblin King and his horde were the enemy; it was as simple as that. It made him feel a bit strange that he could rationalize it like that, that killing and death weren’t really an issue for him anymore. He wondered if he was becoming a monster himself.
Morgan could feel Lucius and Vall look at him strangely, probably wondering what the Goblin King meant by saying that Morgan “looked like him” considering the two of them didn’t know about his parentage. Even Morgan himself had trouble accepting the fact that his father was probably something like a god, which was why he had been ignoring the issue for a while now.
“I guess there is no point in talking, then?” Morgan asked.
“No, there is not,” the Goblin King answered.
Morgan looked around and saw that none of the goblins surrounding them were moving to attack. They were all eerily silent and still, just watching. Morgan didn’t know why, but the Goblin King seemed intent on fighting them by himself, and Morgan had no intent of dissuading him of that choice—and yet the Goblin King hadn’t made any requests from Morgan, so he spoke softly.
“Ves, Vall, up front. Keep him busy, but don’t overextend. He’s strong. Clara, buffs up. Lucius, wait for opportunities and then strike,” Morgan said, and his team quickly settled into position. Clara’s energy tendrils reached out and attached themselves to each one of them, and at that Morgan saw the Goblin King grin, but he still didn’t move. Morgan didn’t have his bow, but he did have the gauntlet that fired energy bolts. His mind was working overtime, trying to come up with a way to fight and defeat the Goblin King. He didn’t know anything about him or his way of fighting, but he could infer some things from the way the other goblins fought.
There was no announcement for the start of the battle. One moment everything was quiet, and then the Goblin King moved. In a moment he crossed the distance and attacked. Ves stepped forward and blocked the cut the Goblin King had made toward Vall’s head, her shield denting from the power of the strike. Vall sidestepped and whirled his sword in an arc aimed at the Goblin King, but he parried. Morgan pointed his gauntlet and fired his energy bolts, but the monster whirled his sword and blocked every bolt. Ves took the moment when the Goblin King was distracted to re-summon her spirit bear, and a red mist left her hand and the bear materialized. Immediately, it jumped forward and swiped at the Goblin King.
The goblin moved out of the way with surprising swiftness, but Val swiped his sword and sent a wave of fire at him. The King stomped on the ground and a wall of earth rose up and blocked the fire, hiding him from view.
“Earth alignment,” Lucius commented in a whisper as he kept his two swords drawn, waiting for the chance to jump in.
Morgan took the time to turn his attention downward, below the ground. He felt the roots that had remained buried below the ground after his people had cut down the trees to build the town, but there were also seeds that hadn’t sprouted, that were half dead. Morgan felt them all and he knew that he could bring them back to life. Somehow inside his mind he had the knowledge of what a plant needed to grow and how to provide that growth. Before he had just pushed his energy inside and moved the plants, making them grow faster, but now he knew that he could be even more efficient by adding to the natural order.
He sent down tendrils of his energy into the ground and found all those seeds and half-dead roots and used Power Infusion. Instead of supplying all the power himself, he ordered the plants to take from the ground around them, using Power Siphon to draw the energy from the earth and sent it all to the plants. It was slow going, but Morgan kept his focus on it, even as the battle above the ground intensified.
The earth wall that the Goblin King had created shattered, sending pieces of earth flying toward Ves and Vall. Ves bashed her shield forward, sending a wave of force that stopped most of it and protected them both—but before they had any chance to react, the Goblin King had closed the distance by following just behind the debris. The Goblin King swiped his sword at Ves’s head, but her spirit bear was there to take the blow. The Goblin King’s sword sunk into the bear’s shoulder and it roared, attempting to swipe at the monster, who just jumped back. The bear’s wound looked like an angry red mark; there was no blood or even opened flesh, of course, as the bear was not corporeal.
Vall attacked from the side, his sword falling from far above his head toward the Goblin King, whose own sword rose to meet it. Then Lucius surged forward, boosted by a strong wind. He flew forward and stabbed at the Goblin King with one of his blades, only for the monster to pivot and allow Lucius’s sword to glance off his shoulder armor. Then, with superior strength, he simultaneously threw Vall and kicked Lucius in the stomach with his knee.
Morgan started as he saw the Goblin King bring his sword up in an underhanded swipe toward Lucius’s head.
But Clara beat him to the punch—she threw a spell and a field of golden energy settled around him. Morgan saw his attack visibly slow, as if he were passing through water. Lucius, on the other hand, was not affected. Even slowed, however, the Goblin King was fast, and Lucius just barely managed to twist out of the way and jump back out of range.
The Goblin King turned to look at Clara, and grimaced before exploding into motion, flying out of the golden circle and straight for her. Ves intercepted, her shield in front of her as she caught the Goblin King in the shoulder, sending him staggering a step back. The Goblin King wasted no time, and instead attacked Ves with a brutal series of strikes that Ves barely managed to repel, her shield twisting and bending under every blow.
Both Vall and the spirit bear came up from behind to help her, but the Goblin King somehow sensed them. He kicked Ves’s shield, sending her tumbling to the ground, then turned and roared. Vall stopped, frozen mid step, but the bear continued unaffected. The Goblin King stabbed the bear with his sword through the head before it could even react, and it dispersed into a red mist that flew back to Ves, who immediately screamed. Clara immediately moved to Ves and knelt next to her.
The Goblin King continued without stopping toward, Vall who was still frozen. Morgan, unable to wait much longer, reached down, pushing as much as he could to the plants growing below, but he knew that he wouldn’t be in time.
Then Lucius was there, flying over the Goblin King’s head. Twisting, he pirouetted in the air, extending his blades. The Goblin King was surprised, and one of the blades passed in front of its head. The screaming of metal on metal could be heard as Lucius’s sword caught the Goblin King’s helmet. The monster leaned back as the second blade aimed for his head as well, avoiding it, and then Lucius landed in front of Vall, swords raised.
The Goblin King stopped and Morgan could see a line of blood flow over his face behind the helmet. His expression turned dark, and he raised his hands above his head, his sword pointing to the sky. Then, with a snarl, he brought it down and a wave of force followed from the sky. Morgan could see Lucius’s eyes widen and he pushed Vall out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough to evade the blast completely himself. The wave of force came down and the cobblestone cracked for several meters in front of the Goblin King. Lucius was jumping out of the way when it crashed down on his leg. Morgan saw it get pushed down, and he heard the crack, followed by Lucius’s scream.
The Goblin King advanced, but Morgan was finally done. He raised his gauntlet and fired at the Goblin King’s back. As soon as the first hit the armor on his back, the Goblin King whirled around and blocked the rest with his glowing sword. He was more annoyed than anything else, but it had taken away his attention enough that he didn’t notice the cobblestones shift and move as grass grew out of the ground beneath him. With Phytokinesis, Morgan had complete control over it, and it rushed forward in a stream of thick strands to wrap
around the Goblin King’s ankles. The goblin looked down at it, surprised, and he swiped with his sword and cut it off—but it simply regrew and attacked him again. Morgan fired his gauntlet, and the Goblin King grimaced and jumped backward, escaping the grass.
“Is this how you fight, coward?” the Goblin King taunted.
Morgan grinned. “I’m not stupid enough to fight you with a sword.” Instead, two roots with pointed tips burrowed up from the ground near the goblin, and the Root Spears stabbed at him. The Goblin King cut them down with his sword, but four more rose from the ground to replace them. He snarled at Morgan, and then whirled in a circle around himself, cutting them all down. Then, in a burst of power and speed, he launched himself through the air straight at Morgan, so fast that Morgan could barely react. Just as the Goblin King’s sword was to enter his chest, Morgan activated Arcane Shift.
The Goblin King shot through Morgan’s body, and he turned around only to see the Goblin King land on the ground and whirl around in surprise. It took him barely a moment to recover, however, and the Goblin King shot forward once more, swinging his sword at Morgan. With his Arcane Shift not yet recovered, Morgan quickly raised his hand and summoned his Energy Blade. The Goblin King’s sword smashed into his blade of energy and sent Morgan flying. Holy shit, he’s so strong! Morgan thought as he flew through the air and then crashed, rolling to soften the impact somewhat. As soon as he stopped, he looked toward the Goblin King, and he reached down to the ground and the plants beneath.
Grass shot between the stones to slow the goblin down, and his spears tried to impale him. But the Goblin King was just too good—he cut down every spear and the grass barely held him.
“Coward!” The Goblin king roared.
Seeing that his assault wasn’t working, Morgan focused his mind on two roots that had been cut in half and ordered them to regrow. Now, instead of a single tendril, eight roots grew at a rapid rate from each of the stumps. Sixteen smaller spears stabbed at the Goblin King at the same time, and the goblin gestured with a hand, raising a wall of earth to stop eight of them, while he cut down the other eight with his sword.
Morgan felt his energy supplies becoming dangerously low, and the fatigue slowly settling in. The change that had happened earlier made him better at manipulating plants, and his head was filled with knowledge and his body with power, but his mind also felt somehow drained. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to control them for much longer. Morgan refrained from firing with his gauntlet, as that was an added energy expense; instead, he focused on his Root Spears, but the Goblin King was too fast and too strong for him to do more than keep him busy. Then Vall arrived, whatever ability that the Goblin King had used to freeze him no longer affecting him.
He attacked the distracted Goblin King, swinging his sword in an arc aimed at the goblin’s neck. The monster somehow sensed it and dodged, but Vall’s attack had forced him to step closer to one of Morgan’s roots. Morgan lashed out with the root at the Goblin King’s back, but again the Goblin King twisted to evade—only this time he was a moment too late. Morgan’s root speared him in the shoulder through the gap in his armor. Even as Morgan willed the spear tip inside of the Goblin King to grow, to spread and burrow deep, the Goblin King’s sword came up and cut the root off, then grabbed with his other hand and ripped the growing spear tip out, throwing it to the ground.
Vall pushed forward. Taking advantage, he lashed out with a series of swipes and thrusts that the Goblin King parried with his blade. Then as Vall raised his hand for an overhead attack, the Goblin King kicked one of his legs out and Vall fell forward, right at the tip of the Goblin King’s sword. Morgan lashed out at the goblin with his roots while the grass beneath Vall wrapped around him and pulled him back. The Goblin King’s thrust missed, and he changed his attack midway to cut through the roots attacking him.
Vall fell to the ground with grass wrapped around him, and Morgan immediately released his grasp. Morgan dropped to his knees from the strain and watched as Vall got back to his feet just in time to see the Goblin King’s sword curving through the air at him. Vall parried and his sword burst into fire, causing small wisps of flame to lash out at the enemy. The goblin pushed Vall away, making him stagger backward a step, then whirled his sword and cut upward right through Vall’s wooden hand. He took off everything from just below the wrist, leaving half the palm and thumb still attached. Vall jumped backward as he lost the grip with his other hand and his sword flew out of his grasp.
The Goblin King narrowed his eyes at Vall and raised his sword. Morgan forced himself through his fatigue to control his roots, but they were sluggish, his control sloppy. I won’t make it in time, Morgan thought as the Goblin King’s sword sailed through the air aimed at Vall.
Instead of trying to evade, Vallsorim stood his ground, and punched upward at the sword with his arm. The Goblin King’s sword met the remainder of Vall’s wooden arm and cut into it almost all the way to the stump. Morgan saw a chance and abandoned control of his roots, sending a tendril of his power to the wooden arm. He ordered it to grow around the sword, to trap it. The Goblin King’s eyes widened as the wood grew, and he tried to pull the sword out, but it was now completely stuck. So strong was he, however, that the move pulled Vallsorim toward him, and Vall used that momentum to jump and kick at the Goblin King’s head, ripping the sword out of the goblin’s grip and sending him tumbling backward.
A circle of golden light appeared around the Goblin King as Clara, now standing near Lucius, cast her slowing field once more. Lucius was still on the ground, but he had one of his swords in hand and he swiped it just above the ground and toward the Goblin King, sending a blade of air skimming the ground. Before the monster could react, it reached him and cleaved his foot at the ankle clean off. The Goblin King released a short scream of pain and tumbled to the ground, and Morgan saw his chance. He pushed all that he had left back to his roots, and four of them broke through the ground. Raising above the Goblin King, they curved downward and stabbed right through his armor and into his chest. Not leaving anything to chance, Morgan pushed for them to grow and puncture the Goblin King’s insides. The goblin screamed in pain and then abruptly cut off as Morgan punctured his lung. His energy ran out, and Morgan dropped to his hands, gasping for air.
A moment later, Clara reached him and knelt down next to him. “You all right?” she asked.
Morgan nodded his head, not bothering to answer. She reached down and helped him to his feet. “Ves?” Morgan asked.
“She’s fine, just unconscious. Her spirit bear getting dispersed like that hurt her,” Clara said as they walked over to where the Goblin King was lying. Vall was over by Lucius, helping him stand. As they walked, Morgan looked around them. The goblins continued to remain motionless, just watching, following them with their eyes. Morgan wondered what all that was about—he worried that at any moment they could charge and attack, and by his counting there were at least several hundred goblins around them.
They reached the body of the Goblin King, and Morgan looked at him. The four Root Spears were still buried in his chest, and blood was slowly leaking through the wounds. Then Morgan blinked as he noticed the Goblin King’s eyes focus on him.
“Still alive, huh?” Morgan said. He could feel the life energy inside of him leaving him rapidly, and he knew that he would be dead soon.
“I hate you all,” the Goblin King wheezed. “I was meant to rule…to soar among the stars…to conquer… I should’ve never went to Earth…”
Morgan frowned at his words, but before he could ask any questions, the Goblin King’s eyes rolled back and Morgan felt him die. As if a spell was broken, the Goblin King’s last breath sent a wave of change through the rest of the goblins. They moved, growling and speaking in their guttural language.
“Oh, we are so fucked,” Morgan said as he looked around. But what he saw was not quite what he had expected: the goblins seemed almost confused. Half of them looked scared, and as they looked at their dead leader they t
urned and ran back toward the walls.
The other half, on the other hand, had a very different reaction. They grew angry and bloodlust filled their eyes, and then they charged at Morgan and the rest of his group.
Morgan winced as he attempted to use his Phytokinesis—the only thing he managed was to send a stab of sharp pain into his head. Clara brandished her staff, standing her ground, and Morgan reached down and grabbed the Goblin King’s sword. Vall and Lucius stood near Ves, and kept their weapons ready.
Then, just as the wave of goblins reached the halfway point between them, a ball of fire landed on top of their first line. Morgan’s head whipped around to the source and he saw Titus standing there behind a group of charging Sky Guards and orc warriors, the ones who had survived the walls and retreated ahead of Morgan’s group. Titus threw his spells as the ascended and orcs smashed into the goblins, ripping into them. The goblins were taken off guard and were slaughtered in the first clash—the remainder tried to fight, but the Sky Guard and the orcs had too much of an upper hand both in strength and in ferocity, if not in numbers.
The remaining goblins died, and soon they, too, started running away.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
About a day later, Morgan was relaxing in the bath in the Great Hall. The battle yesterday had taken a lot out of him. The goblin horde had been defeated, but not without cost—they’d lost around half of their ascended, and the orcs had lost a third of their warriors—but compared to how many goblins had died, that was nothing. Everyone included in the fight had leveled up. Some of the ones who had been lower levels had gained ten levels from all the exp they had gained, with most getting at least two. Morgan’s friends had all gotten between two and three levels, with Vall and Lucius getting two and Ves three, respectively, while Clara got four.
The goblins that had survived and ran away had headed back north, and Lucius had sent several patrols to follow them and make sure that they returned to their mountains. The town had survived mostly intact; a few buildings had been damaged in the fighting, but not many. The wall, however, had been wrecked by the ogres’ stones, and it would be a while before they could repair it.
