Stepping back inside the dwarven city of Dom Badaher Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, he checked his sword and his plate armor for any serious damage before he walked towards the central staircase and started his climb up towards the main entrance.
‘That was more than enough cavern exploration for today, I think I should inform Lyra about the goblin camp I found out there today. I don’t recall seeing or even hearing about anything like that the last time this all happened, not even when the military took over after we fought the demon. My guess is that something as important as that resulted in a lot of lives lost.’
For a moment his thoughts drifted back towards the second war between the kingdom and the empire, how so many people were killed that he met and spoke with died during the siege just a few kilometers from the Niveis pass. His thoughts then shifted to Calavia and the possibility that she too would have died if she didn’t leave when he told her to.
As quick as he could he forced those thoughts from his mind. ‘No, that hasn't happened yet. If I go somewhere else, somewhere far away from where the fighting happens, neither of us will be harmed by the war. We don’t need to be killed by the empire in its lust for territory and power.’
*********
Reaching the top of the stairs I passed by a somewhat familiar group of Lyra’s mercenaries who were descending into the city for further exploration. They paid me little attention as they stepped onto the stairs and I did the same.
The short and now surprisingly empty hallway that led to the cave was still guarded by two guards, like before I recognized them as subordinates of Saturio Quintilius. I suppose I have been quite lucky that I haven't had to speak with him this time around.
Lyra’s tent was exactly where I remembered it was and I walked over while taking a look at the other parts of the camp. While I did care about many of the mercenaries I was looking for Saturio in particular, I was curious where he was and was hoping that I could avoid speaking with him this time around as much as possible.
When I reached the flap I could hear a conversation happening inside, I could make out two distinct voices on the other side. There might have been more but I couldn’t tell. Listening further I was able to make out Lyra’s voice and someone else’s, it took a moment to figure it out since it had been so long since I heard the man speak but I did figure it out.
‘Of course, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Saturio Quintilius, no wonder I saw some of your men but not you. Please be reasonable and just ignore me as you leave.’
I could hear the conversation heating up slight as voices were raised without any yelling in the eevin language which I did not speak, suddenly the conversation stopped entirely and I heard footsteps and the tent flap opened up with an angry Saturio leaving.
I didn’t say anything as I watched him leave, he looked rather angry about something but I couldn’t understand their conversation so I did not know the reason. I waited until he was out of sight before I entered the tent myself and saw a frustrated Lyra seated at her desk.
The surprised look on her face showed that she wasn’t expecting me and before I had the chance to say anything she was already out of her chair and standing next to me while casting the Comprehend Language spell. With a quick tap the dim glow that signified the spell entered and then enveloped me allowing me to hear her words with clarity.
“Hello again Arthur, I wasn’t expecting you so soon. What brings you up here?” Lyra asked while she walked back to her desk and took a seat in her chair.
“On the twenty fifth floor I found a hole in one of the walls that leads to an underground cavern with all sorts of plant and animal life. It is also the way I suspect the goblins entered the city to begin with and caused so much damage throughout.”
“That was to be expected, we believe that the goblins had to gain access somewhere within the city. Was that all or do you have something else of importance to tell us, I am rather busy at the moment. Some other freelance mercenaries that have been sent by the crown have been complaining about certain decisions I have made and I would rather get ahead of anything they might say or do to the wrong people.”
What Lyra said was a little rude but I understood her situation. Saturio Quintilius is alone a major asshole, add the fact that he was willing to kill the entire expedition team to get his hands on a demon and his attitude just becomes a small problem.
“I also found something else that may present as a major issue when it comes to securing the cavern. A particularly large group of goblins have a large camp a little ways past the giant glowing mushrooms, from what I can tell they number around one or two hundred.” Lyra paused and looked at first with confusion which was soon followed by worry.
“That is… important information. Thank you for bringing this to my attention Arthur, I will be sure to use this information and plan out cavern expeditions accordingly. I don’t suppose that I will be able to convince you to avoid going down there for now, will I?”
“Sorry, but you will not. I will do my best to trim down their numbers as much as possible, but I believe you and all your mercenaries will be needed to eliminate the camp. I will be sure to update you of any major changes though, so don’t worry about the situation changing.”
*********
/- - - - - -\
Level 11, 9275, Next at 9600
Mana : 38.5/38.5
Strength 20
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Dexterity 20
Vitality 20
Constitution 20
Intellect 35
Perception 30
Charisma 10
Arcane 30
Available points : 0
\- - - - - -/
Sitting atop one of the giant glowing mushrooms which had become my favorite place to hunt for goblins, I looked over my HUD and all the changes it showed over the last week. One of the big decisions I made was to put the ten points I received for reaching level eleven into my intellect. Since it was already at thirty it now required two points to increase it for one point leading to my now thirty five points and my boosted mana capacity. When I was level fourteen my capacity was at forty two, with just another level I would have already surpassed my previous self in terms of mana capacity.
But I wasn’t just sitting atop these giant mushrooms to look at my HUD, I was also keeping an eye upon the large goblin camp to see what they were up to. Since I started my hunting within the mushroom forest the weaker goblins that I had grown accustomed to hunt had mostly disappeared and I was left with actual hunters.
Since I had destroyed the bodies beyond recognition or hid them deep below the earth and the goblins didn’t know anything about searching for a cause of death they likely thought it was just a pack or a single dangerous animal. The hunters they had been sending were all carrying large hunting spears and they certainly knew how to use them.
While the average crossbow still had more power behind them compared to these goblin hunters it wasn’t that much of a difference, apparently there were actual trained goblins within the camp, they just went warriors or fighters. Since the new hunter goblins I had to change tactics quite a bit, instead of waiting I had started ambushing the hunters as they entered the mushroom forest from above the smallest of the giant mushrooms with powerful tier two spells I had prepared in advance.
‘Speaking of.’ I thought to myself as I saw a group of hunters carrying their large hunting spears walking towards the mushroom forest. They numbered either five or six and they wore the standard metal armor that every other goblin that wasn’t a farmer or poor wore.
Walking over to the far edge of mushroom cap opposite of where the goblin hunting party was walking to. Taking a deep breath I started running towards the far end and at the very edge I jumped with all the strength I could muster and threw myself towards the mushroom that was in my direct path. Using aeromancy I created an updraft to slow myself down enough to prevent any injuries, when I landed I bent my knees to reduce the impact on my feet. This was something I learned after several jumps.
/- - - - - -\
Acrobatics Level 2
\- - - - - -/
I did this another three times until I was standing atop a small mushroom that was far enough off the ground that I was hidden yet could easily watch everything that happened far below. Atop that mushroom I watched as the goblin hunting party entered the forest and I waited until they were past the line of mushrooms and were out of sight of anyone outside.
Slowly and carefully I descended the mushroom by climbing my wad down the stem and started conjuring up a mass of projectiles while behind the stem. My favorite Tri Earth Bolts was cast many times until I had easily thirty bolts within my control.
When all my spells were ready I peaked around the side of the stem and I smiled as the hunting party was all out in the open on a rough path. ‘Easy pickings, makes me wonder when they are going to figure out that I am just ambushing their hunters moments after they are out of view of anyone outside the forest.’
I didn’t hesitate as I pushed forwards with my mana and propelled my earth bolts forwards as a barrage. The goblins barely had enough time to even hear the bolts and even then they couldn’t do anything as they were soon struck and wounded. Watching the goblins suffer and fall to the ground felt good, it felt right. It was as if this was the way things were meant to be.
Not every goblin was killed in the initial barrage, two survived with several bolts piercing their bodies and they were more than able to let the world know just how much pain they were in. Casting the spell once more I created three more earth bolts and propelled them towards my two surviving targets with an aim towards the head for a quick and fast death.
/- - - - - -\
+ 75 Exp x 5 (375)
Level 12, 9,650, Next at 11400
+ 10 points
\- - - - - -/
‘I am not an animal, I will allow for them to die quickly and not suffer unnecessarily.’ Then the shouting stopped. I stepped onto the path where all the hunter goblins were and started looting the bodies, the first prize I took from them all were the large hunting spears they carried. Each goblin had three of these spears that had a good amount of metal as their tips, when I was done with collecting these I had fifteen.
Surprisingly none of the goblin hunters ever wore any helmets and this group was no exception, if I were to guess it would have something to do with how helmets can obstruct your vision and the ability to see your surroundings is very important to a hunter. However the rest of their bodies were still covered with the normal armor which I happily took and dumped into my bag.
The only other things of value that I could find were a few crude hunting knives and the bags each goblin carried, the bags were either empty or carried some food and water which was in a waterskin. I tossed the food and water, keeping the five bags and hunting knives. ‘I am not eating or drinking something that has certainly been in regular contact with goblins.’
Dragging the bodies off to the side of the path and near the mushrooms I used my geomancy to dig a large hole that was about six or seven feet deep, pickup up the naked goblin bodies I tossed them inside the hole along with the food and water they carried before covering it back up to the best of my ability. Unfortunately not all of the dirt went back to where it was before, and there was also a large patch of dirt that didn’t have any fungus growing atop it like everywhere else did.
‘Hopefully the fungus will regrow rather quickly and by the time anyone walks near the hole.’ The extra dirt that I had from the hole I picked up with my geomancy and scattered across the area. Little bits of nearly unidentifiable pieces of dirt ended up just about everywhere within my sight and I doubted that anyone, especially a goblin, would be able to notice.
Taking a quick look at my surroundings before I started walking away I made certain that I wasn’t being watched, when I was certain I started walking back to the hole in the wall that was a part of Dom Badaher. I was a little paranoid on the trip back, I was alone in a very dark and dangerous place with the equivalent of a torch as my only source of light. The one thing that was indisputably good however was that now at level twelve my mana reserves were the exact same size as when I was level fourteen at forty two units.
Though I was no archmage I was still very powerful and with such a large reserve of mana I was just about as dangerous and powerful as I was then. The only thing I needed to do when I arrived within Antium was rejoin the mages guild and learn more about geomancy until I can cast tier three spells. ‘I wonder just how dangerous and powerful those spells are considering how much use I can get out of just tier one spells. That powerful fireball spell that I recall Calavia using against me when we were trying out my mage staff is probably around the same power level.’