I looked over their faces, from the green of their skin to the glint of their eyes, seeing an alert and confused fear within. They were the eyes of people who hadn’t expected to have to fight. Recruits mostly . . . shaky youngsters, given what was supposed to be an easy duty on the fringes of the Goblin Empire.
That thought made me examine the enemy composition critically. Their ranks were uneven, a ragged line that would break easily under the concentrated charge of heavy dwarven infantry. There were warg knights on the right flank, their slavering mounts shifting and growling even while their riders snarled at them to calm down. A trio of mages stood on the left flank, and I saw a small contingent of archers in the rear. A single commander, distinguishable by the golden mane of horsehair spilling from his helm, barked orders in harsh, guttural tones, calling his soldiers to attention before marching up to the gates and staring at me past its bars.
From a distance the army would have looked impressive. But I’d seen armies like this before, in the realms of Lords of Chaos, and I knew they’d crack easily under the martial forces I had under my command. Their elites were too few, and their conscripts too many.
“Infernal?” the goblin commander asked, his proud and ugly face contorted into angry confusion. “Where is king? What is meaning of gate close? You want fight? We crush and kill?”
I laughed, my every guffaw echoed by Jeldorain within me. “Do you know who I am?” I asked. The commander paused, thinking, his small gobbo brain struggling to understand all that was happening before him. His eyes widened, the putrid yellow-green of his pupils shining in the rising light of the dawn.
“Champion!” he exclaimed. “You? You with us? Dwarf am friend?”
I looked back over my shoulder, seeing the dwarves growling, their eagerness for battle only restrained by years of gruelling drill and discipline. I raised an arm, making a fist, and they cried out, blood and war on their lips. The commander’s face fell. “We kill chiefs,” he said.
“Doubtful,” Kevinar replied, coming up along my side. “You made a large error, commander. Moving most of your army here to fight meant that it was quite easy to save the chiefs. The orcs are free. I suggest you lay down your arms.”
Behind us, the dark dwarves began to chant, Jeldorain joining in within me.
Iron in our hands, fire in our hearts,
Forge and hammer, we are Khazud’s art.
From the deep we rise, with earth’s might,
Shadows flee before our light.
Blood of the mountain, strong and true,
Enemies quake at the sight of the rue.
Hear our voices, the ancient call,
Khazud-Tharik, stand tall!
Goblins cower, the coward’s breed,
We are the ax, the mountain’s creed.
With each strike, let the anvil ring,
For our kingdom, for our King!
Echoes of battle, echoes of might,
We march as one, into the fight.
The deep is ours, we claim our right,
In the Infernals’ name, we bring the night!
Turning to face the soldiers, I raised my voice, letting it carry over the assembled ranks. “Through blood and fury, the infernals have returned. Rejoice, my anointed, for today we bathe in goblin blood.”
Great speech, Jeldorain mocked, the shade of his soul cocking its head in the corner of my eye.
I shrugged. Sounded alright to me. And behind me, a roar of approval greeted my words, the soldiers' screaming for goblin blood. Looking back out to the goblins assembled before us, I saw quite a few of them tremble, their weapons shaking in unsteady hands.
“Louder!” I commanded, my infernal voice rumbling through the cave. “Make them know our power!”
The dark dwarves began to chant again, screaming their words, leaning forward eagerly and ready to blast through the gates and lay into their hated former overlords. Ahead of us, a young goblin in the front row dropped his weapon and scrambled to retrieve it.
“Open the gates,” I cried, feeling Jeldorain’s presence surge within me. The gates swung open, and my horde of dwarves marched forward, steadily, chanting as they moved. The goblin commander ran back to his lines, barking orders.
I turned, the magic of my crown sparkling and giving extra power to my words. “Steady advance, shields at the ready. Let’s push these bastards out of our kingdom!”
I led at the front, twirling Frostchain and marching forward, my eyes daring any of the enemy to come and try to take me in combat. The goblin infantrymen set for the advance while the warg cavalry formed up for a charge on our flank and the enemy caster began to ready themselves for terrifying area-of-effect magics.
A shrill whistle echoed out over the area, and I took that as my cue. “One more chance. Will you lay down arms?”
“You bleed for Gharag,” the commander snarled, pumping his fist into the air in the same manner as I had done moments before. But other than the warg knights, his ranks stayed silent, and he turned to berate them.
At the same moment, Kevinar appeared from the shadows among the enemy casters, stabbing one of them three times before he even had time to react. The caster next to him fell backwards with a startled yelp while another caster’s head was sent flying, plopping to the floor with a loud, squishy echo. A goblin halberdier dropped his weapon and began to run, breaking ranks, only for the commander to throw an ax into his back. The goblin stumbled and squawked before collapsing into a bleeding mess.
It was time. “Forward march!” I cried over my shoulder, advancing with my walls of regimented dark dwarves. More goblins broke ranks, and part of me wondered if the battle might already be done.
The idea was reinforced when a long bar appeared above me, its left side painted an azure blue and labeled Champions of the Shadowed Vanguard and the right side painted a crimson red, its label reading Army of the Goblin Empire. Above the bar were the words BALANCE OF BATTLE, and already our forces owned an easy 70% of the bar.
Charge them. Crush them. Let me feed! Jeldorain roared in my mind. I grimaced, feeling a long stream of saliva release from the corner of my mouth to slop to the ground. I could feel his hunger rush through me, and I let it out in one massive, guttural roar.
“Charge!” I screamed, loping ahead as the chanting dwarves clanked after me. Swinging Frostchain above me, I let it fly into the first goblin who came into range, lifting him up and flinging him back the ranks behind him. On my flanks, the dwarves shot past, their shields held before them in a solid wall of steel. The goblins prepared themselves, and braced their motley assortment of spears and halberds, but stumbled back under the assault as the dwarves crashed into them. The cries of battle rose up around me and I pushed forward, smashing left and right, keeping all of my special attacks in reserve as I crushed the inferior enemies before me.
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I heard the snarl of warg knights rushing in, and strode in their direction, tearing through the ranks of goblins who stood between us.
A goblin threw himself in my path, his halberd raised, but I swung hard and cleaved through his armor and bone easily.
These goblins — they aren’t much past 1st level, are they? I asked Jeldorain. Another desperate soldier tried to take me unawares from behind, and I twirled, my weapons ripping through him and sending a spray of blood into the air. A third dared to stand in my way, and a moment later I stepped over his crumpled body into sight of the oncoming wargs.
Around me, all was a cacophony of metal and screams. Within, Jeldorain's laughter was non-stop, his infernal desire growing as the metallic scent of blood curled through the air.
They're fodder, Ryan. Just fodder for the war machine, he sneered. Sacrifices to our altar.
Ahead, the warg knights galloped forward to meet my challenge, their mounts' eyes filled with their own tremendous huner. The beasts were massive, heavier than the ones I’d fought at the camp, and I wondered about their level. This might well be some noblie elite regiment, sent to keep order over the undisciplined first levels represented in the main force.
Kill them, and the army will break, Jeldorain advised. Then the feast shall begin!
The riders pushed forward, each holding long flaming spears leveled for my chest as they galloped. An unfortunate dwarf was knocked out of his ranks and he stumbled into their path. He screamed as his body exploded into all-consuming flame, the knight who skewered him temporarily weaponless and pulling out of ranks to presumably equip something new.
I didn’t see them able to do that before! I exclaimed.
Jeldorain’s soul cocked his head and examined the situation with a critical eye. These knights are no doubt paladins of Gharag. His main elemental sphere is fire. I suspect we can counter them well with frost.
I nodded, raising Frostchain and igniting my Frostfire Infusion, the blade shimmering as it became a thing of pure ice, over which dancing blue wisps of flame. The knights showed no reaction to the spell, continuing to close the distance between us and finally, battle was met.
The first warg knight barreled into range, its lance aiming directly for my heart. With a grunt, I sidestepped, then used Swing to latch onto a stalactite and propel myself into a low arc over the ground, the warg's momentum carrying it past me. As I landed, I swung my weapon in a wide, devastating Whirlwind Attack, striking all of the warg knights around me. One knight howled, the attack having critically hit him in the leg and slicing it off at the knee. The bloody appendage flew into the face of another mount and blinded it with bloody splatter.
The others wheeled and jabbed, and I raised my shield, blocking three strikes before a fourth struck through. The lance struck my side with a moderate force, the sharp tip piercing through my armor and into flesh and dropping my hit points by a full 10%. Incredible pain followed, and a brief debuff flickered in my side vision, but disappeared a second later.
I grimaced, knowing how bad things would have been if I hadn’t failed whatever save that debuff represented.
“You’ll need more than that to take me down,” I bellowed. I slashed out, catching the knight in his black enameled chest plate, and throwing him off his mount. Pivoting quickly, I readied for the next assault. Just in time, I called up my Glacial Shield, ice crystallizing in the air to form a barrier as the knight's lance shattered against it. The impact sent shards of ice flying, sparkling in the growing shadowed rays of a cavernous dawn.
Using the momentary disruption, I sucked down a mana potion and summoned Jeldorain, invoking my Soul Divergence. My body shuddered as the spell took hold, a frigid aura spewing from the pores of my body. Jeldorain's essence coalesced beside me, his sudden appearance throwing chaos into the ranks of the warg knights.
“It’s time you tussle with a real infernal,” Jeldorain roared. He threw his shield at the closest warg night, its edge braining the warg and sending it into a groggy slump as he swung Frostchain hard, bashing the goblin in the shoulder and knocking him sideways. Bending down, he blasted the mass of them with Winter Gale, thick icy fog enveloping them. As the mist cleared we could see that two of the knights had fallen, frozen and helpless, before him.
“Cover me,” Jeldorain bellowed. “I’m going to eat those gobsicles.”
While I rushed to block, the infernal proceeded to lift the first of the icy goblin knights and crunch through him, plate and all, eating the thing as if it were indeed a frozen treat. The remaining knights wheeled, their actions unsure.
“We can bite through metal?” I asked Jeldorain, keeping an eye on the knights and their mounts.
“Only if frozen and helpless,” he gurgled through the crunch and rip of chilled metal and flesh.
“Good to know,” I said, arching my back to let forth my own frozen spew.
The knights had had enough, though. They turned and broke, just a single one of them getting caught in my attack, and resisting it well enough that he kept going afterwards.
I threw back my head and laughed into the cavern ceiling, the echoes of my roaring glee rolling over all of the army combatants. Turning to get a feel for the situation, I saw that the dwarves were tearing through the goblins, shields clanging against halberds and hand axes slipping past to deliver deadly life-ending blows. The goblin soldiers were openly terrified, fighting for their lives. But they had yet to break, and I gave them a modicum of respect for holding their ground.
Past them, the magic-users were nowhere to be seen except the corpses of three of their number who now lay silent, their bloody rusty stains on the dust-strewn stone floor.
Kevinar was nowhere to be seen as well, but that was how things usually were with him.
Jeldorain finished with the first knight corpse and belched loudly. Beside him, I cupped my hands to the sides of my mouth. “Hey, Gobbos! Your knights are running away”
The army, almost as one, turned their heads to where I stood. And to where the backs of their elites could be seen receding out of the cavern mouth and into the wilds beyond.
“Ga’bak Du’Rok!” the goblin commander screamed, turning and fleeing. The goblin soldiers turned, their eyes widening in horror at the sight of their elite forces abandoning them.
“Any idea what he said?” I asked Jeldorain.
“Run away. We are defeated,” Kevinar answered stepping from the shadows to join me at my side.
The rout was complete. Goblins scattered in all directions, their ranks dissolving into chaos. Some threw down their weapons and begged for mercy, while others simply ran, hoping to escape the slaughter. The dark dwarves pursued them with a grim determination, cutting down those who tried to flee.
The battle was done. The cavern floor was littered with the bodies of the fallen. Blood and gore stained the ground. The echoes of battle had faded, being replaced by the victorious roars of the dark dwarves as they pursued their scattering foes out of the cavern.
Above, I saw that the battle bar had been replaced with large all caps golden text that read VICTORY! But what came next surprised me.
Level up. Leadership aura attuned. Select one leadership ability, General:
- Inspiring Presence: Your presence on the battlefield inspires your troops, increasing their morale and combat effectiveness. All allied units within a certain radius gain a boost to their attack and defense stats as well as increased resistance to fear and mind control effects.
- Tactical Mastery: Gain the ability to issue strategic commands that can change the course of battle. You can direct units to perform coordinated maneuvers, flank enemies, or set ambushes. This ability also grants a bonus to the movement speed and reaction time of your troops.
- Battlefield Medic: Enhance your ability to heal and support your troops during combat. You can channel healing energy to wounded allies within your aura, gradually restoring their health over time. Additionally, this ability can reduce the duration of negative status effects and debuffs on your allies.
- War Cry: Unleash a powerful war cry that temporarily boosts the attack power and speed of your troops. The cry also demoralizes enemies within hearing range, reducing their combat effectiveness and making them more likely to flee or surrender.
- Defensive Bulwark: Create a protective aura that fortifies the defenses of your troops. Allies within the aura gain increased resistance to physical and magical damage. This ability can also erect temporary barriers or shields that can absorb incoming attacks.
Choose wisely, Ryan. I feel positive that this is just the first of many battles that you will be leading in the future, Jeldorain advised.
I nodded. There would be many battles, I was sure. But I’d win them all. Visions of my wife and children flashed through my mind, our home out in the rolling tall grass of northern Wisconsin. I’d fight everything this world had, if I had to.
I strolled forward, Kevinar on my left and Jeldorain on my right, out of the cavern and into the morning dawn.
THE END OF BOOK 1