Chapter 225

Tom spent the next ten minutes exploring the concept of domains with Rahmat. He refined his list, but there were no more epiphanies. What he was left with was over a hundred advances he needed to make. There was nothing sexy or ground breaking. There were no shortcuts available, just weeks if not months of hard work to lay the groundwork that might… and it was only a might… result in the evolution he was targeting… and those weeks of effort already factored in his advantages. It had baked in the assumption that fate would be available to short circuit the dozens of bottlenecks which were certain to appear.

Finally, his mana crystal topped up to full. There was still one more thing to do before he could start his practice. He looked at the lesser lightning elemental that he had summoned.

Not only was the elemental type effective against goblins this particular one had done an impeccable job in helping him manage the aggression. Sure, when the monsters had peeled away from him it had been recharging and unable to drag them back, but prior to that it had been acting almost like an additional Lightning Enrage charge.

Would you like to roll over your existing contract? He sent to the elemental with a mixture of words and images.

There was hesitation from it.

Continue for longer, he clarified.

The image he got was of his world. Cold, harsh, unwelcoming where everything it touched would sap its energy and then a contrast of where it lived in the elemental planes. That place was wonderful. Existing there healed.

Not for ever, he thought. Only one more contract.

No. It sent a firm rejection.

For a moment, Tom considered accepting what he said, and then he remembered how the summoning spell was structured. A fair bit of the energy was wasted purely on forcing the contract. He wasn’t trying to save mana by recruiting this elemental, but rather because he appreciated its mindset.

Better Terms, he told it and communicated in images how wasteful it was for him to grab a random elemental. I’ll give you all the saved mana.

If you can. The elemental expressed the thought doubtfully to him. If he could construct the contract with the offered bonus, then it would accept it. Do you know how?

No.

Why ask? Why offer if you can’t deliver?

Wait, he thought back while his mind rushed. The components of the summon spell were clear in his head. He needed to alter where the contact with the elemental took place. Everything else was the same.

The spell form hung in front of him and he knew how to do it. First, he activated his title, and he felt it thrum together and begin to compile an attractive offer for any elemental he contacted. Lying through its spell presentation to avoid him having to lie for himself.

Tom let it process right up till it was ready to fire.

Five fate was sacrificed, and he concentrated on altering the spell that was forming. Removing the directing components of the spell and instead have the contract appear in front of him to be offered to any lightning elemental already in the physical plane.

The spell form resisted him, but he had chosen the right moment to strike and as far as battlefield butchery of spell forms went what he was doing was simple surgery. He was skipping the step of making the hole between realities. There was nothing complicated in the effort. The cut created stability issues. The construction shivered and vibrations started up, that threatened to shake it apart.

Tom clamped down on them.

It stabilised.

The contract appeared on the physical plane.

Well? He asked his summons.

The lightning elemental examined the contract and then accepted. It was a rich offer because he had passed on all the savings from the nontraditional method of delivery into the terms and conditions.

Job done he continued his conversation with Rahmat. Three minutes later his mana finished charging, and he was finally free to practice. “Are the others okay?”

“Yes, they’ll be here in a couple of minutes,” Everlyn answered immediately.

Knowing that he did not have long to work, he attempted to extend Earth Sense and put the filter that he desired over the top of it. The spell clicked into existence with his filters intact. Once more, a jumble of information that was almost right but not quite greeted him.

Useless, he thought as he terminated the attempt.

Tom sighed in frustration.

He was so close, but the simple fact was that getting close meant nothing. Only success mattered.

“Failed again?” Rahmat asked.

Tom nodded and waited patiently for his reserves to refill so he could launch another attempt.

Noise came from the breeder tunnel, including snatches of conversation, and a short time later the six they had sent down emerged. None of them looked happy.

“You guys aren’t getting out of the next one.” Toni spat at them. “I don’t care about experience penalties.”

“Disgusting?” Rahmat asked.

“What do you think! Next time we’re all suffering.”

Everlyn frown and then did a slight shrug. “Fine. If strategic imperatives allow it, we will all clear the next breeder den.”

“Oh.” Some of the fire departed Toni. She hadn’t expected Everlyn to yield so quickly. “I guess that’s good then.”

“You guys recovered?” Everlyn inquired. “Full Mana and all that?”

There was nodding all around.

“The cleanup was done manually with melee weapons.” Michael explained.

“Ok, let’s explore this last tunnel and then we’ll head up to the surface. Standard cave rules.” She warned as she broke off from them and jogged into the final passage.

Once more, they followed, with Tom in the lead of the main group. This tunnel was not as obnoxious as some others because it was slightly higher. In most cases, he could walk comfortably through it, unfortunately it was still a goblin cave, so the high ceilings never lasted. For a third of the time, he had to resort to his scrambling gait.

“Hold.” Everlyn ordered.

They did as instructed and a short time later, Everlyn came back.

Her eyes glittered with excitement. “It’s going to be a proper fight. There’s a chieftain, multiple shamans, and they know we’re coming.”

“Numbers?” Michael asked immediately.

“Three shamans, ten hobs, four spear gobs and maybe twenty warriors.”

“Seriously,” Michael interrupted.

“Yes, I’m not listing those for fun and giggles.”

Michael grimaced. “Rank?”

“Sixteen to eighteen.”

“We’re talking eight special units.” Michael muttered to everyone. “They’ll have skills. It’s nothing like fighting fifty warriors. It’ll be challenging.”

“We could withdraw.” Rahmat suggested.

“We’re not withdrawing.” The healer responded in annoyance. “Not after you made us clear out two breeding warrens. I’m not doing that and abandoning most of the experience gains and all the loot.”

“We don’t have to retreat,” Everlyn said smoothly. “They’re goblins so predictable. We only need to apply some extra tactics. They are positioned to attack the entrance of this cave. Trash goblins supported by the spear gobs and then the hobs. Where we are entering is dark, so they won’t see us till we’re ready to strike. In my opinion the only true danger is the three shamans. The chieftain doesn’t have any speed boosts.”

“Everlyn,” Michael interrupted. “With all due respect, spear gobs are pretty damn dangerous.”

“I’m going to use one of my abilities to blind them and the shamans. It won’t last for long and in that time I need them to be sniped.” She nodded at Keikain. “Your job is to take out the shaman and a spear gob on the far left while Toni unleashes a storm of wind blades to kill the other three. The final two shaman’s will be taken out by myself and Tom. He will open the fight with Throw Rock targeting their shields. I’ll then use my archery to exploit the opening and finish them.”

“How many stones? How strong are their shields?”

Everlyn shrugged. “I’m hoping one per shaman, but it might take two. You only need to disrupt them, not kill them.”

“I’ll send my lightning elemental as well.”

“Good plan. Once the special units are down, the fight simplifies and becomes a taunt and smack.”

“And you’re comfortable that the chieftain can be managed?” Michael asked. “I mean even if it doesn’t have a speed boost those things can still be tricky.”

“By the time him and hiss retinue chose to join the fight I expect Tom’s dodge to have built up so much defensive fate that he’ll be able to match the monster easily. Without any speed boost, it doesn’t matter how impressive the rest of it is, the creature won’t be in a position to touch him.”

“Contingencies?” Tom asked.

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“Keikain once he has dealt with the shamans needs to be prepared to pull the tunnel down behind us. If we start filling overwhelmed, then we flee. I’ll make that call. Harry, can you carve your fire rituals to launch inwards. Is that possible? I mean hack them so they behave like a fireball spell?”

“Yes, I can.”

“Any other concerns?” She asked brightly.

None of them said anything, and Tom moved down the passage toward the boss’s room and the coming fight. With a thought, two pieces of tier two stone shaped to be aerodynamic appeared in his hands. He could feel Everlyn moving almost right next to him.

When they reached the room, he could observe the setup the goblin’s had created. They stood arrayed in an arc in front of the passage that Tom was about to emerge from. They couldn’t see him because the lights in the main cave were shining on them while the lip of the passage where he stood was pitch black. Tom however could see everything, and he took the time to study the enemy before committing to the fight.

“I killed the lights here.” Everlyn whispered over the party chat having obviously caught his surprised look. “I was hoping to provoke them into attacking us in the corridor, but it wasn’t to be.”

She pulled out her bow and concentrated. “When I fire you go.”

The obvious strategy that Everlyn was ignoring was if the goblins were not willing to follow them, then shouldn’t they pepper them from the darkness to kill them at range. Tom was glad no one was stupid enough to express that idea. The shaman’s hard negated the tactic and even if they didn’t the goblins’ response would be to move forward and crouch in ambush positions on the side of the entrance cave. That sort of positioning would make their eventual attack far riskier even if their ranged attacks managed to take out three or four of the monsters.

It was better by far to attack while the goblins were arrayed in a formation that disadvantaged them even if they were too stupid to realise that.

Keikain was on Tom’s left. Ready to duck under and around Everlyn once she fired to get line of sight to eliminate his targets. Toni was to his right already gathering her magic.

Tom clinically noted each of the spear gobs. They were all rank seventeen, which sounded like trouble, and he hoped Everlyn’s tricks would work. Her magic bow was fully drawn and a single arrow appeared on the string. Then a second one and a third. They weren’t her usual projectiles. These were different. They glimmered with a strange light. She kept adding them four, five, six…

When she fires go finish the shaman, he instructed his elemental.

I know. Kill shamans, then spear gobs if still alive then ensure no one attacks the others.

Exactly.

Crack.

Tom jumped at the loud noise, and then his battle instinct kicked in. He had already picked his target, and he leapt forward and launched the first rock mid air. Seven solid streaks of light left her bow and Tom followed their trajectories and noted that they would hit her intended targets.

A spear gob threw itself to the side but that light that Tom realised was moving slower than a normal arrow curved around without difficulty to follow the movement which must have been a skill. They all struck their intended target in the head. There was an explosion of light and each of the goblin’s heads was haloed by the glow. Each of the monsters reacted like the attacks were both physical and magical. They clutched at their heads, rubbing their eyes. His leap had taken him halfway to the ready monsters, and he launched his second rock. The elemental was already zooming towards the targets.

The two rocks he had thrown struck half a second apart. They both exploded inches from their shaman’s face and released a massive boom along with a wave of raw energy and shrapnel.

The shamans, of course, had been shielded. Tom was not particularly surprised any produced a third and fourth stone respectively, figuring another round would take them down.

Crack.

Tom’s arm was up and the shaman he had been targeted stumbled backward with an arrow through its heart. His lightning element was through the second shaman’s shield, and from the blaze of electricity it would not survive. Without hesitation, one stone disappeared back into his spatial storage while the third was sent flying toward Keikain’s target its pace restricted slightly as he used Accurate Throw to ensure he hit.

He didn’t wait to see if he’s attempt had been successful. Instead, he sprinted into the waiting ambush. The warriors lifted their shields and swords to block him. The spears wielded by specialists which should have hampered his capacity to charge the line never materialised because their owners were occupied still trying to blink away the blinding lights. Tom vaulted over the front warriors and landed next to a spear gob and two hobs.

Lightning Enrage swept out around him even as his senses warned him of incoming damage approaching from behind and to the side.

A small teleport forward, a twist of his back and all the weapons slashed through the air and missed him.

Tom smiled as he felt the fate being released.

Despite this theoretically being a much harder clash than the previous one, numerically, it was nowhere near as bad. Practically, it was probably easier because they had targeted and eliminated the special units. If they had failed to do that, the result would have been different.

He fell into his battle trance.

There were the chieftain and his six hobs to keep track of and the spear gobs. With a spurt of alarm, he realised that only three of the four had been taken down. His new threshold skill screamed out a warning as the last standing spear gob, ignoring the multiple long gashes down its side lunged at him. The tip of its weapon was iridescent as a number of glowing colours fought for supremacy.

He was a long-term spear user and recognised the abilities being used were weaker versions of Power Strike fused with Explosive Impact and Rend. His threshold ability agreed with his alarm. If that hit him… it would be problematic.

Time slowed to the ridiculous level that warned him that excluding his teleport there was no way to fully avoid the strike.

The spear gob activated a fourth skill, Impeccable Aim if he was not mistaken.

In the slowed time, Tom grimaced. The spear thrust impossibly sped up and the shaft bent on its own to allow the tip to follow him. Tom teleported, twisted and then for good measure parried with his dagger. It was lucky he went all out because the spear kept twisting way beyond what the wooden shaft should have allowed.

It followed him with almost as much flexibility as Everlyn’s light arrows had demonstrated.

He braced his arm and felt like the dagger was stabbing a car. The force associated with the blow was immense but a parry was not a block it was a deflection and the spear flashed past him. While dodging a sword thrust from a warrior goblin, he glanced down at the dagger he had used to block. It glowed red from the energy released in the collision. A chunk the size of a dollar coin had been burned through the blade. He dropped it as the handle began to smoke.

As he spun, a goblin overextended. He broke the arm and pilfered a rusty knife.

The spear gob thrust at him again.

With wide eyes, he watched the colours of the weapon. How many skills could it stack?

Alarm bells rang.

He fell flat on the ground deliberately choosing to take blows from two other goblins to avoid that single spear that went over his head. Tom saw the flash of orange and red on it. If it connected, it would have needed at a minimum a significant amount of his mana to heal.

Pain arced through him as the two attacks he had ignored landed. An axe dug in and chipped his ribs. The other strike, a spear scored a strike on his shoulder that only hurt a little. Both wounds were as bad as each other. When he hit the ground, he healed them both, having to resort to his mana crystal to do so.

Then he was on his feet actively parrying another attack from the spear gob and wondering when the reinforcements would come.

Out of the corner of his eye. He saw the chieftain’s party moving.

Kill the spear gob. He ordered his elemental which was just returning to him. It barely had to change direction, and there was a crackle of electricity behind him. Tom surged forward away from the spear gob, expecting it to stab him in his back and his threshold skill to go crazy. A warning came, but it was nothing like what he had been fearing. The goblin was distracted by the lightning elemental and its attack only infused a single Power Strike rather than the more deadly combinations.

Tom twisted slightly to direct the attack away from his private areas and to his leg. There was a stinging pain and a superficial cut as the spear went through his tier three pants.

Then he was away from it even as he felt the lesser lightning elemental glorying in its success at killing its target.

Tom smiled. Everlyn was right. This had been a fun fight, and the primary threat remained.

The chieftain that he charged towards.

It and the surrounding hobs saw him coming, and he was amused to see the way the minor monsters stepped back almost as if to give the chieftain a chance to attack Tom by itself.

Lightning Enrage blasted out at them at two-thirds strength the moment they were all in range.

The lesser lightning elemental was exhausted. Come distract them, he ordered while simultaneously telling it that the moment the battle was over, he would release it.

The sparks dug into the chieftain, and it narrowed its eyes in overwhelming fury. It was big for a goblin, coming up to Tom’s shoulder, though it probably weighed fifty percent more than him and it was all bulging muscles. Its preferred weapon was a two-hand sword that it was swinging with casual indifference due to its strength being off the chart.

The sword that was sweeping in front suddenly flashed down at his head. Tom already knew that he didn’t want the attack to land, but his threshold benefit let out an alarm confirming his fears. Besides delivering massive physical force, there was a nasty curse on the blade.

A teleport took him clear, and his spear appeared in his hand. He thrust forward, infusing his spear with Power Strike. He scored a hit on the creature’s knee, but in contrast to usual it was little more than a scratch as his spear tip was deflected by the bone.

Casually, he swayed out of the way of two attacks from the hobs. They were only distractions at this point. Even the chieftain did not pose a real threat to him. It had overwhelming strength, vitality, enhanced durability and curse magic, but lacked the speed to cause Tom issues.

He ducked away from the larger goblin and put a hob between the two of them. He figured he should concentrate on staying clear of the boss monster until all the lesser creatures were dead, then collectively they would whittle the chieftain down.

Squelsh.

The hob he had used as a barrier fell apart split down the middle into two pieces. The chieftain, with its giant sword in hand snarled and then charged him.

That impulsiveness, Tom thought, that disregard of its fellows, that was exploitable.

He smiled and avoided a number of minor attacks from behind by duking sideways. Then he both shifted abruptly backwards and increased his speed with a teleport. He grabbed the arm of a goblin warrior, which had overextended and threw it.

The chieftain’s sword blurred and chopped its smaller brethren in half. The boss roared at him and Tom retreated. He used his superior speed granted by his dodge ability to weave in and out of the other goblins. If there was a choice between waiting for a goblin to get out of the way or killing it the chieftain always chose violence.

It was ridiculously easy and in short order the goblin boss had killed more goblins than Tom and his elemental had done combined. The fight was laughably undemanding. Tom fought for space while keeping the other minor enemies focused on him. The lightning elemental harried the chieftain continuously, frustrating it and slowing it down to give him even more time to avoid it. While he distracted the chieftain, the others killed the minor mobs without getting too close.

Crack.

The last hob fell with an arrow from Everlyn through its neck and an earth spike going through its leg. Tom was not sure which attack would count as the killing blow, as they had struck almost at the same time and both were fatal.

Tom lunged forward with his spear tip glowing blue and struck the same knee as previously. Once more, the tip skittered off bone and failed to do any significant damage. He backed away, and the chieftain followed him and turned its back on the others.

“It has got enhanced durability but no noticeable healing.” Tom called out to them.

He dodged an overhead blow, and the sword split the hard stone ground, cutting a foot into the rock. With a grunt, the chieftain yanked his weapon out.

“Tank and spank.” Everlyn called out cheerfully.

Tom focused on his job. When his mana regenerated, he would dive in close and release Lightning Enrage. Then the monster would either drive him back or retreat itself to open distance between them. For the goblin, it meant it was functioning in the perfect range for its sword, and Tom personally was happy with the extra time to react. The monster kept swinging at him, but it had no tricks to produce a sudden burst of speed that might have exposed him.

Arrows and magic attacks flew. Both Rahmat and Thor would dance forward and land skill enhanced blows in the seconds following Lightning Enrage before retreating until Tom next used the ability. At their rank, it was too dangerous to engage at other times in case it spun suddenly and tried to decapitate them.

The monster kept fighting until it abruptly collapsed to its knees. Its massive sword digging into the stone and its hate-filled eyes glared at Tom.

He stood in front of it. There was a light sheen of sweat on his face from the start of the fight, but his breathing was not at all laboured. The last ten minutes of the fight had been an exercise in concentration, not exertion.

Crack.

The creature shuddered and jerked forward as the arrow slammed into it. However, it did not look at the humans behind it. Instead, it pushed itself back to its feet. It stood with its hands on its embedded sword. Using it to support its weight. Tom could see it processing its options.

Vibrations went through it and it bent at the waist. Tom guessed that was wind blades slamming into the wounds on its back. The muscles in its arms were trembling with exhaustion. Tom expected to fall at any moment.

It roared at him.

Crack.

It jolted again. Tom saw the realisation appear on its face. The acknowledgement that there was no escape. The monster pulled out its sword out of the ground with a roar.

He tensed, concerned about a berserker ability.

The sword was in its hands.

It swayed side to side.

The will blazed in its eyes.

A desire to kill.

It took a shaky step forward and then its front leg gave way and it crashed to the floor.

For a moment Tom stared. It’s back made it look like it had been flayed alive. Then he realised that while there was a lot of blood there were no spurts of it.

It was he realised abruptly dead. The fight was over.

Tom heard a ding to indicate a notification.

“Thank God I thought it was never going to die,” Thor declared.