Maxine has been running ever since they left camp nearly an hour through dense forests to avoid being seen and she had only learned the name of the blonde haired soldier three minutes ago when one of the other soldiers called him 'Captian Bronsk.' He hadn't even shared any details of the mission with Maxine or her other fellow mercenaries. He clearly held Maxine and the other two with distain and intended to blame them if the mission failed. The mercenaries, on the other hand, politely introduced themselves as they ran beside her and had been talking to her for little while.
The mercenary to her right was a woman with short black hair, but from her build, you wouldn't guess that she was a woman. She is at least six feet tall, has shoulders as wide as a man's and has bulging muscles. She even had a very masculine face. If she hadn't introduced herself as Lira in a feminine voice, Maxine would've never believe that she was a woman.
As for the other mecenary, he introduced himself as Leeroy. He was about Maxine's height and thin. However she could easily tell that he was built for speed. She had no idea what he looked like since he kept his face and head completely concealed with a hood and mask. She knew he was a scout since as soon as they hit the forest, he put on a guillie suite to better camouflage himself.
[So, who thinks this Captain Bronsk will use us as a distraction while he completes the mission?] Maxine asked the other two.
[Distraction? That's a nice way of saying he's going to throw us to the wolves,] Lira complained, [Still, I have to admit it's looking like they will do just that. We ARE an 'expendable' resource.]
[I agree,] Leeroy said, [It's like they think we are dumb enough to charge into a group of goblins screaming our own names as a battlecry.]
[OH! So, you have seen that gaming video from Earth,] Lira commented in amusement.
[I feel ashamed that I share my given name with such a fool as 'Leeroy Jenkins,'] Leeroy said sadly, [And I only watched it because of your constant urging.]
[Still, you have to admit it's rather hilarious,] Maxine said.
[I admit it is rather amusing how foolish he was and it's also a lesson,] Leeroy said, [Only a fool charges into battle without a plan.]
[Agreed,] Maxine said, [And on that note, I could probably perform this mission by myself.]
[Braggart,] Lira said harshly.
[I'm not bragging,] Maxine said and activated her stealth technique and masked her energies for a few moments, [As you two can see, I'm quite talented when it comes to stealth and I have a wide variety of poisons at my disposal.]
[That stealth technique of yours is quite impressive,] Leeroy agreed, [However there is still a slight distortion around you when you move. An attentive sentry may still be able to spot you.]
[That's true,] Maxine agreed and noticed that the soldiers were finally slowing down, [We might as well see what Captain Bronsk has planned.] She heard the other two grunt in agreement as they all slowed to a stop.
"We are nearing the most likely location of our target," Captain Bronsk announced and he turned to Maxine and the other two mercenaries, "I need a scout to forge ahead and confirm his location before we begin our attack. Which one of you is the best suited for that task?" Is he serious?
"I'm a scout," Leeroy announced.
"Our target should be near or riding atop mid gold earth dragon. I want to know the situation around him if he's there," Captain Bronsk explained, "And don't get spotted. It will compound the difficulty of our mission." So he's not an idiot. That's good. Or perhaps the good general was the one that arranged for Leeroy to join us since she knew he's a skill scout.
"I'm not a novice," Leeroy said coldly, "They won't know I'm even there." Without any warning, Leeroy ran off to the right soundlessly and disappeared from sight. Maxine didn't even see him disturb the nearby shrubbery when he left.
"What are we going to do while we wait?" one of the other soldiers asked.
"We won't be doing anything," Captain Bronsk said, "And the next time that you speak that loudly again, I will personally cut out your tongue. Now hide your energies. The mercs have been hiding their energies for quite awhile already." The soldiers looked ashamed of themselves as they masked their energies.
[You're a battle medic, right?] Captain Bronsk asked via spiritual sense, [What's the worst injury you've ever treated?]
[I saved a young woman with multiple damaged organs and bone fractures,] Maxine replied, [She would've died within minutes had I not treated her.]
[I see,] Captain Bronsk said, [Hopefully, none of us will suffer injuries that severe.]
[As do I,] Maxine replied, [If anyone gets wounded, it will slow us down as a group.]
[I'm aware,] Captain Bronsk said, [What do you think our chances of success are?]
[Of killing the goblin leader? I would say about forty to fifty percent, but that's dependant on us catching him off guard,] Maxine replied honestly, [As for surviving, I would say that me and the other mercenaries are fucked. You and the other soldiers have a decent chance of getting away.]
[Why the different chances of survival?] Captain Bronsk asked.
[It's only logical that you leave the 'hired thugs' to die while you make your escape,] Maxine replied coldly, [That is what you had in mind, isn't it? Otherwise, you would've discussed a means of retreat before sending Leeroy off.]
[That wasn't my intention at all,] Captain Bronsk replied defensively, [It would reflect poorly on me to have any troops assigned under me to die and as for your concerns about retreating, I've known a lot of mercenaries. And the ones that I've known always have an escape plan. Unlike us, you are only here for the money and put your own lives first. We are here to fight for our homes.] Maxine was baffled when she heard him. Mostly because she sensed no deception in his words. What now? This is new. This guy is actually behaving like a competent soldier.
[Fair enough,] Maxine replied and felt a very slight breeze as Leeroy returned.
"Report," Captain Bronsk whispered his order.
"I found the target. He's riding on the earth dragon right now and both the goblin and dragon are on the outside edge of the army," Leeroy reported in a whisper, "But when I looked closer, I saw twelve goblins acting as bodyguards on it's back and there are a few hundred peak silver stage goblins trying to hide amongst the thousands of weaker ones surrounding the earth dragon. I do not recommend a direct assault."
"Well, shit. We're still going for it anyways, right?" Lira asked.
"Yes, my people desperately need more time and killing that goblin will buy us at least a few days worth of it," Captain Bronsk stated.
"Hold up," Maxine interrupted, "I know it seems like suicide, but what if one or two of us could draw those gold stage goblin bodyguards away? Wouldn't that increase the odds of the others succeeding in the mission?"
"It could, but whoever acts as bait in that instance is as good as dead," Captain Bronsk replied.
"Then who acts as bait?" Lira asked, "Because I get good pay from this job, but there is no amount that you could give me to run a suicide mission."
"I'm in agreement with Lira," Leeroy chimed in.
"I wasn't going to order you to do something like that," Captain Bronsk snapped.
"Sir. I volun-," one of the soldiers spoke up, but Maxine cut him off, "Five minutes."
"What do you mean by 'five minutes?'" Captain Bronsk asked.
"That's the longest I can keep them occupied," Maxine explained.
"But how? You're the weakest one here," one of the soldiers pointed out.
"Yeah, my cultivation is the lowest here, but I have three cores. So technically, I'm the most powerful one here," Maxine answered, "And I have the ability to teleport short distances. It should allow me both to avoid getting killed while distracting them and to run away when your time is up." It also gives me a great time to sharpen my blade skills, and I could hit the strongest goblin bodyguard with my Plaguebringer poison too. But for some reason, that just feels wrong. For all I know, there is a peaceful community of goblins hiding out on this planet from the rest of their race and by poisoning these assholes, I could kill the peaceful ones along with the evil ones. I don't want to take that risk, no matter how small.
"But how will you lure the bodyguards away?" Captain Bronsk asked, "They won't just chase you because you taunt them."
"I will make an attempt on the goblin leader's life. I don't know if I will be able to kill him outright, but I know I can wound him. Maybe poison him with something nasty while I'm at it," Maxine explained, "And like most bodyguards, the goblins will feel enraged that I got past them and will chase after me without thinking."
"Perhaps, but some of them could still remain behind," Captain Bronsk said.
"But even so, your odds of success will be much higher compared to charging in," Maxine pointed out.
"She's got you there," Leeroy agreed.
"Fine, but if you can't keep them busy, just run," Captain Bronsk said, "We'll just have to find another way to complete our mission." Maxine was a bit surprised at his order.
"Alright, but like I said, I'm fairly confident that I can keep them occupied," Maxine stated once more, "So, where should we regroup after the mission?"
"Do you recall the waterfall we passed on the way here?" Captain Bronsk asked, "We will rendevous there, but if we don't meet up there after sundown, head back to base."
"Understood. I will need a few minutes to prepare a few things before I head out," Maxine stated as she rapidly transformed into her battleform and began creating a couple dozen serpentine constructs. Next, she milked her claws of venom and implanted that venom into the fangs of her constructs. There now all I need to do is place these along the route that I'm going to lure those goblin bodyguards into. But I will have to give my constructs very specific instructions so they don't all attack the same goblin. Otherwise planting these serpents is pointless. So two per gold stage goblin should do the trick, but I doubt that all the goblins will get poisoned. If even one of them gets poisoned this way, it will be worth the effort. With a thought, she began to give her constructs very specific instructions.
"I'm not even going to ask," Lira said, "And don't you guys either."
"Alright, I'll head off. You guys just need to wait for me to make my move and just a warning, I may take a bit of time to sneak up close enough to their leader to make this attempt on his life believeable," Maxine told them before running off towards the goblin horde. And if I'm really lucky, I can kill him outright without risking the lives of anyone else.
However, she didn't immediately begin to lure the goblins. She only glanced at them for a moment to confirm their position before she ran into the forest away from her team mates and began to plant her serpent constructs along her intended route. It only took her a handful of minutes before she returned to the edge of the forest closest to the goblins.
She gave them a closer look to plan out her aproach. The goblins on the ground were densely packed. There was barely space for the to slip in between them and they moved chaotically. That made sneaking past them near impossible. Thankfully, there were some trees scattered amongst the goblins and the earth dragon was stationary. I can jump from tree to tree, but when I land, the rustling of the leaves will give me away. How do I aproach then? I wonder. Is it possible for me to move within their shadows? My constructs can do it. So why can't I? The only problem is that I will have to stay in shadows capable of containing my body. It'll be challenging, but I think I can pull it off. Hmm? Is it my imagination or is that earth dragon way bigger than it's supposed to be? And why are it's dorsal plates are leaf-shaped? They are normally diamond-shaped on earth dragons. Don't tell me this is a new species of earth dragon.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Maxine took a careful breath and attempted to sink into the shadows on the ground without creating a portal in it. Unfortunately, her first attempt failed. Thus she tried a different way only for it to fail again. She kept trying and after five minutes, she finally sank into the shadows on the ground, albeit slowly. I should've known that I can't enter my own shadow like that. I had to specify the tree's shadow in order to do it.
When she was finally submerged into the shadows, she could see out of the shadow as if looking through tinted glass and her surroundings had the same limits as the size of the shadows. These spaces were much like bottomless trenches with tinted glass sitting on top of it and she realized that this technique had two flaws. The first being that there was no air in the shadows. The second was true for her as for her constructs. If someone was perceptive enough, they would see her traversing through their shadows. I can hold my breath for an hour if I'm physically active, so this shouldn't be a big problem as long as I don't take too long. But, I have to be careful to keep an eye on the goblins above me to make sure that I can move out of there to avoid being seen.
Maxine didn't waste any more of her time and slowly moved through these tunnels. Eventually she reached the goblins and felt a headache come on. Their shadows were constantly shifting and were making it virtually impossible to travel through their shadows. Still, she persevered and eventually reached the earth dragon. She cursed mentally when she realized there were no connecting shadows to where the goblin leader was on the earth dragon's back and slowly made her way to the earth dragon's tail. Why couldn't there have been some clouds today? There isn't a single one in the sky. It would've been so much easier if there had been at least one.
After making sure there were no goblins nearby, she activated her stealth techniques and surfaced out of the shadow. Okay, now the risky part. I hope this beast doesn't notice the extra weight on it's tail. Wait a second. This thing is way bigger than I thought it was. Fuck me running. Please, god, don't let this thing notice me. Why the hell did I talk myself into doing this shit? No use complaining now. Here goes nothing.
Gingerly, she stepped onto the earth dragon's tail and paid close attention to the earth dragon's behavior as she slowly put her weight onto it. She waited for a few seconds before she put her other foot onto it's tail and she paused again. Once it was clear the earth dragon wasn't going to do anything, she very slowly climbed up the massive tail while stepping around it's gradually enlarging dorsal plates.
Maxine's heart was thundering in her ears and her back was coated with sweat due to nerves. The only mercy she had while slowly stalking up the earth dragon's back was that there were no goblins along her path. She thought that was odd that she hadn't spotted a goblin bodyguard yet and kept a careful eye out for them.
She finally spotted the six of goblin bodyguards directly ahead of her sitting on the ground playing a dice game about twenty feet away from the goblin leader. She guessed that there were six more on the other side. They must be expecting a stealthy assasination attempt. No one would be dumb enough to charge straight at this damn earth dragon. With one mistake, they could be pulverized by a single swipe of the earth dragon tail. Not to mention those dorsal plates extend a dozen feet into the air. Any attacker would have to either go over or around them. That would give his bodyguards ample time to get in position and retaliate.
Maxine very slowly skirted around the goblin bodyguards and kept a careful eye on them. When one of their heads raised up, she froze in place. The goblin bodyguard looked straight at her for a moment and Maxine felt as if her heart stopped. But the goblin turned his head down the path she came after a few seconds of staring and got back to his game.
Maxine mentally sighed in relief and continued to stalk towards the goblin leader. She could sense his cultivation without even having to probe him as she took one step after another. When she was roughly twenty feet from him, his head whipped up and stared right at her. SHIT! I got spotted!
Without any hesitation, Maxine pounced at him and swiped both of her clawed hands at him. He swiftly raised up a well made short sword and managed to block one of Maxine's attacks. But he failed to even see the second one before it stabbed into his side. She emptied what little venom she had left into him before pulling her arm back and kicking the earth dragon's back to hurl herself into the air.
In the next instant, Maxine swiftly kicked the air to create a sonic boom to propel towards her serpentine constructs with desperate abandon. A moment later, a swift and powerful wind flew past her feet while the earth dragon released an earthshattering roar. Holy shit, that was close! I didn't think it's reaction speed was that fast! This only encouraged her to flee faster.
Fear had driven her so fiercely that she only looked back over her shoulder when she landed at a run near the edge of the forest. The closest goblin bodyguard was roughly one hundred feet away and only he was able to gain on her. The others were further back and were struggling to keep up with her. The earth dragon on the other hand was staring daggers at her, but otherwise hadn't moved. Thank god! That's one worry off my mind.
She sprinted into the forest towards where her serpentine constructs lie in wait and spread her spiritual sense behind her. None of them had landed on the ground, and were flying just above the tree tops. With a thought, Maxine redirected her serpentine constructs to the tops of the trees and silently hoped that her constructs would get there in time.
As she passed the first pair of her constructs, she felt that she was back into a familiar situation as her heart beat slowed to a more relaxed pace. If it wasn't for Horatio Quay forcing her to fight in all kinds of scenarios in his illusion arrays, her heart would still be racing. The only difference was she couldn't take any chances since this wasn't an illusion.
Thus while she ran, she retrieved a vial of poison from her dimensional rign and carried it using her tail. That particular poison caused any goblin to experience horrifying hallucinations. They would either flee in terror or attack whomever was closest. Now, I just have to make sure to get as many of those goblins poisoned with my venom as I can.
She began to hear startled cries behind and above her as her serpentine constructs started their attack. Maxine immediately turned around and kicked the ground to launch herself at the closest goblin as she brought her blades out from her dimensional ring.
Her sudden action caught the goblin by complete surprise and she raised her right blade to cleave him in two. The goblin raised his spear to parry the blow, but as he did, Maxine's other weapon swiped across his waist. She didn't bother with that goblin any further after that and proceeded to charge at the other goblins. It turned around to chase after her, but it's lower half of it's body fell to the ground. It screamed in pain and horror before following it's bottom half towards the ground. While I am buying time, that doesn't mean I can't thin out the strongest of the goblin horde.
Six goblins were clustered together directly infront of her and all of them had small snake bite wounds. However, all she saw as a big target for her poison and with a flick of her tail, she hurled the halucinogenic poison at them. It exploded into a mist that surrounded them entirely. Next, Maxine directed her attention at the other five. Only one of them were injured by her serpentine constructs.
At this point, Maxine heard more draconic roars and hoped the others didn't get hit by that earth dragon's tail. However, even if they failed, her venom would have a fifty percent chance of killing the goblin leader anyways due to how much she pumped into him and any additional injuries that they inflicted would only increase his odds of his death. Unfortunately, she didn't have time to think about it as the five goblins surrounded her and began to rush at her at the same time.
Maxine in turn charged at the goblin wielding a flanged mace directly infront of her and slashed vertically from right shoulder to left hip. A sheild appeared in the goblins hand and he deflected the attack with his mace while blocking Maxine's stab with his shield. Can't expect that trick to work more than once anyways, but I bet he won't see the next attack coming. Her tail whipped up between her legs and into the groin of the goblin infront of her. He groaned in pain as he appeared to be stunned, and Maxine capitalized on this as she raked his thigh with her left foot claws. She immediately kicked him away with her other leg and quickly spun around with a wild slash to fend off the goblins that were attacking her from behind.
The four goblins were forced to retreat to avoid getting injured, but they still moved to surround her. Maxine shifted her stance to better prepare for their attacks as they moved into position. However before they could completely get into position, the goblin with the flanged mace and shield retreated and that caused the remaining goblin bodyguards to look at each other uncertainly. It seemed they were unwilling to attack her, but also weren't willing to let her leave. However, she mentally noted that all of them looked as if they would attack out of fear, if nothing else, in the instant that she did anything.
Maxine risked a quick glance to the goblin bodyguards that she poisoned with the halucinogenic poison. Four of them were missing and the two remaining ones were viciously attacking one another. So, there are brave goblins. They are just in the minority. That's good for me. These four looking at me are probably used to attacking others with at least five on one advantage. Otherwise they would simply rush me. Still, I have a feeling they will throw their weapons at me if I try anything, but I still need to keep them occupied until the others finish their mission. Well, as long as we are not fighting, I don't mind just floating mid-air.
They floated in the air for two whole minutes when Maxine noticed that the earth dragon's roars were moving. She smiled to herself and extended out her spiritual sense in every direction to the limit. She didn't find the others fleeing, but that didn't matter. She was going to head to the rendevous point. When she found a good spot to shadow step to, she released a burst of her energies in all directions to create a cloud of smoke and she felt a sharp pain in her lower back as a spear head erupted out of the right side of her stomach. She sensed several more thrown weapons hurtling towards her before she was able to shadow step to safety and when she landed under the shade of a tree dozens of miles away, she screamed in pain. She had gained a dozen more small wounds due to the thrown weapons, but none of them were as serious as the spear lodged in her abdomen.
She quickly wrapped her tail around the haft of the spear and broke it off as close to the wound as she could to avoid it snagging on anything while she moved. Pulling it out now would only lead to rapid bloodloss and she still needed to move before the goblins tracked her down.
Maxine extended out her spiritual sense and shadow stepped until she reached the waterfall. She hid in some nearby bushes while she waited for her team mates to arrive and in the meanwhile, she intended to patch herself up.
She retrieved a purple healing potion and drank it swiftly before reaching back to feel a small piece of the broken spear sticking out of her lower back. She checked out her internal injuries and cursed. Her right kidney had been pierced through and if she hadn't taken her potion, she would be bleeding internally. What's worse is that she couldn't remove it. She would bleed too heavily if she did and would loose consciousness. That would be no different from a death sentence this close to the goblin horde. I should just return to the base camp to treat my wounds, but I can't without the others. There is a claus in the contract prohibiting that shit. Although, it might not apply to me since I'm badly injured, but it's best not to risk it. My potion was able to stop my bleeding and partially repair my kidney. But it won't be able to do much more with this spear lodged in my side and that will have to wait for once I'm back at the base camp.
Regardless of her own thoughts, Maxine sat up against a tree while being careful not to jostle the broken spear shaft sticking out of her back. She waited for ten minutes before she heard a group of people approaching.
"We need to find her fast," Lira shouted as she arrived at the clearing beside the waterfall, "You heard her scream just as well as I did, Leeroy. If she survived that shit, she should be here."
"I know, but we don't have much time. Those goblins won't be far behind us. Wait, do you smell that?" Leeroy asked and Maxine heard him sniff the air, "She's here and she's hurt. Follow me." Within seconds, Leeroy and Lira found her and she saw the concern in their eyes as they reached down to help her up.
"Don't touch me!" Maxine yelled at him and slapped their hands away with her tail, "My blood is an acidic poison. I'll get up on my own." She attempted to stand, but a sharp pain in her side took her legs out from under her. Fuck, I forgot. All that fighting got my adrenalin going and now that it's gone, nothing is dulling the pain from this fucking spearhead in my gut.
"We don't have time for this shit," Lira complained as she grabbed Maxine by her upper arm, the only place without any of her blood, and began running while dragging Maxine behind her. Leeroy grabbed her other side and helped Lira drag Maxine. And there goes my idea of shadow stepping back to base. I can't do it when you are holding me so damn tight.
"Can you guys fly instead of running?" Maxine asked through gritted teeth, "All of this bouncing around isn't doing my wound any favors."
"We can't do anything about that now. Our persuers are flying over head and I do not want to be turned into target practice," Lira answered, "But if you could do something about that tail of yours, we could move faster."
"That I can do," Maxine replied as she reverted to her base form, but she nearly passed out due to pain from the shifting of her muscles around the spear head. She hadn't realized how much her lower back muscles shifted to acomodate her tail when she transformed. Thankfully, the spearhead wasn't cutting her, but having her torn back muscles stretched around it was no picnic.
"Don't pass out on us," Lira admonished Maxine, "Stay awake. It won't be much longer until we get you to the medics. They should be able to safely patch you up." Just shut up and run faster.
When they finally reached the base camp, Maxine could hear Captain Bronsk yell, "MEDIC!" The next few minutes invovled Maxine being dragged to the medical tents.
When she was laid down on a surgery table, she reluctantly withdrew her Shadow's Embrace armor back into her body. Moments later the medics walked in wearing hazmat suits and cut apart the mid-section of her tank top to get easier access to her wound. One of the nurses injected Maxine with something for pain, but she knew that it wouldn't work on her.
One of the medics pulled out a pair of pliars and used them to grasp onto the spear head sticking out of her back. "Try your best not to move too much while I remove this damn thing," the medic told Maxine before he began pulling it out of her. Maxine was able to withstand the pain of it being removed for a few seconds before she passed out.
By the time she woke up, it was all over and she was put in the recovery room. Her wound was thoroughly banadaged. Unfortunately she was still wearing the remains of the clothes she always wore under her Shadow's Embrace armor. Her blood had partially dissolved her tank top before the medics chose to cut it up, and her pants weren't in much better shape. I'm glad I packed lots of spare clothes. Although, if I get injured every couple days, they won't last very long.
"Wow. Why the hell do you hide your face when you look like that?" Captain Bronsk asked as he walked in. Maxine was confused as she reached up and touched her face. Both her mask and veil were gone. I guess I can't blame someone for removing my veil while I was unconscious, but still, I must be pretty out of it to not notice it was missing right away.
"I don't like the attention that my appearance brings," Maxine replied as she reformed the mask of her essence armor, "You would be surprised how many rape attempts that I've fended off. By hiding my face, they're less tempted to try."
"I see. I'm sorry for mentioning it," Captain Bronsk said apologetically and changed the subject, "I've petitioned to my superiors for you to get a bonus. It was the least I could do and it was your plan and bravery that lead to the success of our mission. It's too bad that you will probably be in that bed for the rest of this invasion. Your wound is rather severe."
"I doubt that," Maxine retorted, "I heal extremely fast and I have special healing potions that greatly increase my rate of healing. I should be on my feet in two to three days."
"Remarkable," Captain Bronsk commented, "Well, I've used up the last of my free time. I hope to see you again on the battlefield. I need you there to watch my back."
"Same to you," Maxine replied honestly before he left the medical tent. He is completely different than I thought he would be from my first impression of him and I'm glad that he proved me wrong. Still, I'm surprised that I havn't been debriefed yet. Perhaps they're waiting for me to recover for a couple days before they do or Captain Bronsk's debrief was enough. Either way, I will find out later. Time to get some shut eye.