Step four

watching the goblins fight was amusing.

they always seemed to be a little hesitant to kill each other, but after showing them first hand that killing each other was in their best interest, they quickly got over it.

i was watching a two on one fight, with the one being trained to dodge and avoid killing blows, and the two learning teamwork. the one eventually didn't dodge fast enough, and his left arm broke. seeing this, the other of the two ran in and skewered the one with his dagger.

'i'll have to get them some better equipment, or they will never improve.'

the hunting party returned, bringing with them all the animals they could hunt. when i walked over to them, i casually knocked the head off of the goblin who tried to get away with stealing. i had noticed that those who thought they were sneaky had tried to get away, but i had used these chances as an exercise. i put all the thirty four other goblins out to hunt him, and the one who brought him back didn't have to participate in the gauntlet. it was savage, the way i trained them, but hat was okay. they would thank me when they were strong enough to defend themselves.

one of my scout goblins ran up to me, using the usual greeting.

"hail overlord Cellex! i have spotted a group of six adventurers gathering near the tree line, preparing their equipment, and readying their horses. what would you have us do?"

"kill them."

he looked kind of disturbed, since i had said this like i would say good morning.

"if any goblin kills two of the adventurers, i would like to meet him. if not, then i would like to see all of the goblins who kill one. understood?"

"understood, overlord cellex! your orders will be carried out immediately!"

"see to it." i hadn't confronted the next couple of groups, instead sending out my minions to deal with them. torturing the weak just wasn't fun. it didn't give you that same sense of victory when you made them cry for their mother, or when they begged you to give them death. cowards and weaklings just weren't fun at all.

my forces were gathered, minus the one who got skewered and the one who had lost his head.

they set out, after hearing the rundown from the scout goblin. when they left, i brought out the skull, and looked through the eyes of the goblins.

"man, that is one scary girl, right?"

"yeah, i swear, we should never have accepted her deal."

"but, we can't die unless she does, right? so, that means that if we serve her, we can get stronger, and we won't have to worry about dying. thats good, right?"

"i guess your right. if we do what she says, eventually we can be the most powerful goblins in the world. and not to mention all the loot we get from these adventurers. and all of us are alive afterward to enjoy it."

"so, it's agreed that we'll follow her, and do as she says?"

"agreed."

"agreed."

the sound of agreement and confirmation echoed through the goblins ears, and for some reason he got the feeling cellex was smiling. and that creeped him out.

---

they had approached the camp silently, the adventurers were still preparing, and each of the goblins shared a round of wolfish grinning.

"ahhhhh!" war cries sounded from the throats of the goblins, and they descended upon the adventurers. they immediately took out their weapons, and turned to face the threat. one was too slow, and was tackled by three goblins, slashing and hacking at him. the second to go down was the elderly wizard, even though he was quite spry for his age, his spells took time to chant and aim, and he didn't get the chance to do so. his head caved in from a club, ending his life.

the other four were two warriors, a rogue, and an archer. the archer was quickly killed, and the rogue followed soon after. the two warriors worked in tandem, killing four goblins so far, neatly decapitating them, or cutting whole limbs off. one of the sneakier goblins came up behind them, and using his rusted dagger, slashed their throats. one after another.

afterward, the blood splattered goblins celebrated their victory by looting every thing the adventurers had. not one of them took anything. cellex had a way of knowing if their was something missing from the loot pile. she was fair, and distributed the loot according to the skill shown over the days leading up to the raids.

after securing everything, they brought back all of it, and were congratulated. afterward, they had a tournament, and the goblin to win it was the sneaky goblin who killed both warriors.

afterward, he was invited by cellex to her private quarters, a little bit scared even though he knew he had done nothing wrong.

"i hear you killed two adventurers. what is your name?"

he looked surprised to be asked this, and after nervously looking around at the inside of her room in the cave, said.

"my name is gostlin. why do you want to know?"

she smiled that smile that the goblins had named the blood smile, and said.

"private lessons."

and he felt as though all the blood had drained out of his body, and within a few minutes, that was what literally happened.

he huffed, not believing what was happening. apparently, she could bring back a particular minion within an hour if she concentrated on that individual, and that was why she needed his name.

"what, you can't be tired already. you've only died like fifteen times."

he looked at her with horror. 'fifteen times? seriously?'

"okay. i'll make a deal with you. if you can land a scratch on me, we can be done. for today."

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seeing my only chance out, i made a mad dash, but instead of rushing blindly in, i stopped jus out of range of her arms, an threw my dagger. she hadn't expected this, thinking that he would try to rush blindly in and hit her, but instead threw the knife. her head moved a second too slow, and it nicked her ear, a single drop of red falling from it.

for a second, they both looked at the knife silently, but cellex broke into a big grin, but for some reason he wasn't afraid of it. i looked genuinely happy.

"good! okay, you did it. go to sleep, i'll wake you in a couple hours when the rest of the minions resurrect.

"as you command, overlord cellex." before he left, cellex gave him something.

"oh, before you leave, make sure to eat this."

after leaving, a little confused, she turned toward her desk, or what she counted as a desk, and started practicing her reflection magic. more advanced forms allowed one to enter and exit reflections, but for now looking through them would be enough. while the goblin scouts had been out, she had told them to put reflective pieces of metal around the forest, and having marked them, she could find them quite easily through her similarly marked mirror. their was a duo of adventurers, one a girl and the other a boy, and they looked strong. she started smiling the blood smile, and the goblins turned over in their graves.

---

walking through the forest at night was strange, as their should have been more noise. it seemed that this new overlord was already affecting the environment. it needed to be dealt with, and quickly.

sialas was roaming around, exploring the forest, and reminding him of the cat part of her. she didn't have the tail or the ears that most demi-humans possessed, but had all of the mannerisms. after walking through the forbidding trees for a while, they came across the scattered remains of the previous adventurer group. they had been torn apart, and brutally.

the clearing they were in was oval in shape, and we entered from the left side, if the previous adventurers remains was the bottom of the clearing. suddenly, a voice rang out.

"well well well, what do we have here?" a little girl had come strolling from the forest, and she was swinging something in her left hand.

my first instinct was to find out if she was okay, but i restrained myself. her first victim had told me she took the form of a little girl. i drew my sword, and asked in as threatening a voice as i could manage while looking at her ridiculously cute face,

"are you the overlord, cellex?"

"why, yes! i'm so glad that my friend was able to tell you! did you also get my message?" she was talking about the short message written in blood on the side of the horse, which insulted every adventurers mothers, fathers, offspring, and basically everything about them. that was one of the reasons there were so many groups heading out, even though they kept getting killed, they felt they had to punish the person who insulted them. bunch of fools.

"i did, and i respect your opinion, but when you go around ripping peoples arms off, i have to draw the line."

her eyes lit up. "did he tell you what i did with the second arm?"

i paused for a second. "i could infer. and i think you should be ashamed of yourself."

i had bought enough time stalling for sialas to get behind her, since she was so distracted talking to me.

"your mine-" cellex grabbed sialas's arm without looking, and said.

"but i'm not. in fact, i think i'll do the same again. at least, to bastards like you adventurers." and saying so, she slammed sialas into the ground, as though she weighed no more than a feather.

i rushed forward, calling her name, but cellex threw her into the tree's, and when i arrive she easily dodged my swing, coming up behind me. whispering in my ear,

"lets have some fun, he he."

i turned around and brought my shield up to defend, but she wasn't there.

"oh, that was rude. someone should teach you some manners." and i suddenly felt a breeze. on my ribs.

"AHHHHHHH!" she broke my leg, and as i fell, she started snapping my fingers. one-by-one.

*snap* "do you know," snap "why i hate adventurers," snap "so much?"

i could only scream in pain.

"its because," snap "they took away," snap "the only things i cared about." she switched to my other hand, and said.

"do you want your mother?" snap snap, "do you want daddy to come and save you?" snap snap, "cause mine can't." snap. she started ripping the skin off of my hand, and mixing in wood chips from the ground. she kept on hurting me until a little light seemed to shine through the trees. i finally had the strength to talk, and i asked a question.

"why do you hate humans so much?" he asked with a pleading look in his eyes, and said, "if you hate humans, you don't have to hurt sialas. she's a demi-human, so she didn't do anything to you. please, let her go."

i looked at this adventurer, and replied.

"i don't hate humans. people can't choose what they are born as, but people like me who were born with strength can punish bastards like you who go into adventuring. but, i will listen to your request. only come back when you're currupted. until then, remember me." then i bit into his chest, and when i had revealed his heart, i left a curse.

after, i brought the cat demi-human back to him, and after healing him of his fatal wounds, i left him there.

"now, i just have to wait."

"he he."

"and then i'll have a knight in bloody armor come to serve me."

"he he."

end of step four