章 56: Invasion Pt.III
"Gorm-san! Don't you think that troll is strong?"
This was the leader of the Krav tribe in the West. Wielding his giant mallet and heavy rusty armor, he grinned and scratched his cheek.
"He alone has taken down fifty of those bees."
Gorm agreed with him.
"Then shall we engage in battle?"
Dressed in mere filthy rags and holding a rusty sword, the leader of the Zamp tribe suggested to them.
"Hehehe… Sure, depends on what I get from it."
The skinny hobgoblin said. He held two rusty daggers laced with poison. He was a shrewd fellow, but still one of the hob-goblin captains and the leader of the Stamp tribe.
"Please, do not suggest something so suicidal."
This time, the voice belonged to that of an elderly female hob-goblins. She also wore rags and leaned on her crooked staff for aid. She was the leader of the Tak tribe and also one of the hob-goblin captains.
"Don't you think so, Oda dearie?"
She was referencing to the young hob-goblina who was once her disciple.
"I will follow Gorm to wherever he wishes, so if he says we should charge, I will charge."
For most of the time, this hob-goblin was always next to Gorm, so her response wasn't so surprising to the other hob-goblins.
"And here I was thinking that you were the only sensible one other than me in this collection. I demand payment for the magic lessons I gave you!"
"Ah? Magic lessons? You old witch! You just beat the crap out of me with that stick of yours until I was able to create a magic circle. It was more like torture."
Oda complained.
"Hehehe. Magic doesn't come at a free price you know."
The crooked hob-goblina mused and Oda restrained herself from smacking the old lady on the head.
"I'm sorry to cut your conversation short ladies, but I have to impress Hinotori-sama so I'm going to fight that troll. He is clearly the strongest one. Imagine me telling Hinotori-sama that I defeated the strongest troll. How impressed would he be?"
"Ah, Gorm. I never knew you could take such a liking to creature other than Dorm. Makes me feel a bit sad."
The hob-goblin couldn't help but grin when that reference was made.
"I don't know why, but he just has that air of a reliable leader and one that I would want to follow to the ends of the world."
"Indeed. Very well then, shall we charge?"
"My instincts are telling me that I will get something good if I'm able to complete this successfully."
"Huzzah! Let's show that troll the hob-goblins might!"
"Like I said. I will follow Gorm to the ends of the world."
"Ah! You young ones are giving this elder a headache…. Fine! I will assist you the best I can with my support and fire magic."
Gorm couldn't help but be filled with gratitude as he listened to each and every one of their responses.
"Hahaha! Very well then! Let's GO!"
The five hob-goblins charged at the troll, while the elder stayed behind.
The battered up troll continuously fought against bees and beetles even with several piercings in his body and poisons slowly killing him from the inside. It was relentlessly clinging on to life after beating dozens of monsters coming his way in the past hour.
A beetle rammed into him, but he caught it with both hands and lifted it to his eye level. He felt insatiable rage. He was angry at the kind of situation they had ended up in. Angry that his brethren abandoned him. Angry that he would not be able to keep his promise to his sworn friend. In truth, were he not angry, he would have long died.
"DIE YA VERMIN!"
He ripped apart the beetle with his bare hands then punched the bee that was buzzing in front of him. But he noticed a shadow looming over him and instinctively blocked with his left arm.
BAM!
The sound of metal hitting something solid resounded as the copper mallet hit the troll. The troll easily threw away the one who used the weapon against him and scowled at the blond owner.
"HAHAHA! He's got a bad temper, Gorm!"
The leader of the Krav tribe warned.
"You think dropping in from above with a hammer would make him calm!?"
The leader of Zamp slashed at the troll's chest, but the troll knew nothing would happen so it planned on bringing down its hand to kill the hob-goblin. However, the hob-goblin glowed with a yellow light then moved faster than the troll had expected, and the slash left a new wound in his abdomen. This was still not enough to cause any serious damage to him. And the hob-goblins sword had broken in half, half-way through the slash.
"What the…?"
The troll brought down his mighty fist without a second thought, but then his head was hit with a very powerful blast of water which caused him to stumble. The hob-goblin looked at the direction of the water shot and it was Oda, with her arms pointing in his direction. She shot another one that caused the troll to stumble back yet again. Each and every single shot, strong enough to snap a tree in half.
The old hob-goblina was impressed with this development and wanted to comment on her pupil's improvement, but instead she teased her.
"What are you waiting for? Move!"
"Oh- Ah yes!"
The hob goblin moved. Then the laughter came booming.
"I cannot believe ya, kiddo."
Oda turned her ears to the senior.
"What is it? Finally going to give me the praise I deserve for being a genius?"
"Do not ever call yourself a genius. That is laughable."
Oda clicked her tongue at the remark.
"Hahaha! You had this much power and almost died to a damned deer? You are weak as shit! Hahaha!"
After hearing this, Oda couldn't help but try to hide the smile on her face. For the first time in a long time, the old woman praised her again. This was definitely a memorable moment, one she would keep forever and tease the old woman with. Suddenly, she had gotten more vim and put more power into her spells, using [Water Magic: Aqua] to heal her team mates who'd get punched away so they don't slow down. With [Water Magic: Water's Blessing], she had raised her own physical stats, enabling her to actively participate in the fight, while giving support to others.
In all senses, she truly was a talented mage, being able to support not only herself, but all team mates, healing them, providing long range attacks while simultaneously fighting in close combats. Not even combat mages of high levels could perform this tedious task. Oda really was nothing short of a genius. This was so impressive the old hob-goblina could only wonder if Oda was just naturally gifted, or if there were forces at play in the background.
When the enraged troll came to, he realized that Oda was the source of the water balls flying at him. He tried to grab her when she hit his head with a spear, but she instantly realized this and distanced herself, the others coming into move the troll's hand away from her.
Oda then fired a water spear at him, merely pushing him back. The Stamp leader jumped so high, he reached the troll's eye level, then swiped at his eyes, cutting them out.
"Keke-"
In the middle of his laughter, the troll caught the hob-goblin and flew him towards the old hob-goblina as if he could still. The old hob-goblina couldn't react, but luckily Gorm jumped in time to move her out of the way.
At that moment, she lost concentration and her assistance disappeared, meaning the hob-goblins were back to their regular stats.
"Oda! Reinforcement! Now!"
Gorm ordered, but there was nothing. Frustrated, he looked back at her to see why she hadn't activated it, but all he saw was a blade in Oda's chest. Her eyes were wide open with shock and blood trailed down her mouth.
The other hob-goblins weren't aware of this and charged on fearlessly, expecting the buff to come out. Sound drowned out from Gorm's ears as an annoying ringing intensified in his ears. As if the battlefield mattered not, he rushed to her side.
"Ah?"
The troll was confused, but before he could figure it out, he fell to the ground. A powerful kick came flying at his face. It was the leader of Stamp. He managed to cut the trolls tendons before it even noticed. Still, this wasn't enough to knock the troll out for good.
"Kekeke… Stupid Troll. You can't even figure out that I cut your tendons."
The troll stretched out its beat up arm to punch the shrewd hob-goblin, but the Krav leader stepped in the way, stopping the punch with his body, before proceeding to yell at the Zamp leader. He came in from the top with a stinger in hand and stabbed into the forehead of the troll.
Still, the troll's body kept on moving.
"W-Woah boy!"
The Zamp leader let out a cry as he was being juggled about on the troll's shoulders. He flipped off and landed on the ground, his right fist now aching like hell. Using his own strength to try to penetrate the monster's skull was painful. Still, that wasn't the worst of it. How was it still moving with a poisoned stinger literally in its head? Did it have no brain working up there? The captains were starting to feel dread. That is, till the sound of the troll's hand falling lifelessly to the ground sounded in their ears.
When they looked, Gorm stood next to troll, glowing with a yellow aura and holding a sword that was on fire. His eyes contained rage that managed to scare the Krav leader.
This angered Gorm cut off the head of the troll in one swoop, mercilessly ending its movement completely.
"Hahaha! That was one heck of a fight, Gorm!"
The leader of Krav patted Gorm on the back.
"Hehe, still embarrassing that it took all six of us hob-goblins to take down one beat up troll."
The Zamp leader said.
"What are you talking about? Even beat up trolls are dangerous opponents, you know?"
The Krav leader defended.
"Oi, why are you covered in Blood? You didn't take any damage, did you?"
The Zamp leader asked when he saw Gorm's hands. Gorm didn't respond, but his eyes trailed somewhere. All the hob-goblins picked up on this and saw Oda lying on the ground. They all suddenly felt all sorts of emotions. But one thing was for sure, they would get revenge.
BOOM!
BAM!
The ground shook mightily and there was an explosion.
_____________________________________________________
The rat men underground cave
The underground cave was unusually busy today. Normally one would see hundreds of rat men moving in and out spreading any information they heard like the biggest gossip hub. This time however, though the rat men were fewer, the information exchange was way faster. It was due to the fact that they were currently in battle and everyone was on edge. The one with the most trouble was the leader of the rat men who had to listen to every single one of the reports and respond with quick solutions.
"Leader! The trolls have entered the forest!"
"Let the trappers handle the ones that they can!"
"Leader! The trolls fell for five of the traps!"
"Only five? How many of them died?"
"Seven!"
"Send out the ambush squad. Minimize their numbers as much as possible!"
"Yes sir!"
"Sir the trolls are plowing down the trees!"
"Ah? Do you need me to tell you what to do? Tell the ambush squad to leave! Let the treants do their thing!"
"Leader, thirty trolls pushed past the forest!"
"The frontal assault squad can deal with them if they are only thirty, no?"
"Leader! The frontal assault unit managed to fend off the trolls. Most of them ran away. There is only one troll alive!"
"Ha! What'd I say? What about casualties?"
"We have over fifty bees and thirty beetles down. The injured are currently being carried through the tunnels to the medic stations for healing!"
"Good. Everything is going smoothly. Just as Lady Hinotori planned."
'Th-This is genius! To have foreseen this far. After this I will have to pledge my loyalty to you.'
He internally swore to become Hinotori's subordinate after the war. That is if they survived.
"Leader! The ogres and orcs are moving in together!"
"We'll use the traps to slow them down. Tell the spiders in the ambush squad to set up webs to slow down the enemy. They should also create poison muddles to hurt them. Those who possess magic should attempt to cause as much damage as possible to the opponents to lessen the burden on the assault force."
"Yes sir!"
"Do we have any information on the movements of the ogre tyrant?"
"As of now, he and the kings are still standing at the borders."
"Good. The moment he makes a move, tell me!"
"Sir! The enemy has entered the forest! The ambush squad is engaging now!"
The leader then got up from where he sat.
"Wait, leader! Where are you going?"
"Ah? I must earn myself a name, you know? I cannot disappoint Lady Hinotori, you know? Keep me updated on everything."
"Very well then, sir!"
"Also, what is the status on the guppies and nymphs that were going to be ambushing? I haven't heard anything about them."
"Well, the thing is, sir… The nymphs are going to-"
BOOM!
BAM!
The whole cave shook heavily and the rat man leader's heart started to sink. However, if he let something like this faze him, he would never become strong.
"What's happening out there?"
"Sir, I believe you should take a look for yourself."
The rat man nodded and ran for the surface as quickly as he could.
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