When he noticed me staring at his eyes intently the bear gave me a look like he was seriously reconsidering our partnership. When it didn’t look like he was being affected at all I leaned back to look at how the goblins were handling the setback.
Slowly the fodder goblins were reforming their ‘ranks’ and retreating. It looked like the Chief was realizing they were in the way and ordering them to the side to clear the way for his more elite forces. Half of the surviving basic mobs went to the right flank, while the remaining ones streamed over to guard the horde’s left side.
I don’t know if he thought taunting would work on the leporids, but the goblin boss sent his bruisers out to bang on their shields with their clubs while the spear holders shook their polearms and screamed out insults at the now silent and frozen rabbits. When all of that proved useless, they were called back and the archers were sent forth to see what they could do. As the one with the wounded leg finally hobbled forward to join the rest of the group, they all pulled back their arrows in a very loose semblance of synchronization and held the arrows back until their leader screamed an order to loose.
As the thirty arrows were released into the air, I wasn’t sure if the poorly made bows even had the strength to fling the arrows over the barrier. Either the rabbits weren’t willing to take the chance or they just wanted to show off their superiority. At a chirp of command from one of the elder evolved bunnies all of the normal ones let out a simultaneous shriek that cut through the air and had me happy the bear had posted up behind them.
Rubbing my still ringing ears, I was amazed to see the thirty arrows blown out of the sky in random directions, I felt like I should be seeing a blade of wind like those depicted in animae, but instead, it was an invisible force that knocked them from the sky. It didn’t seem to stop there as many of the archers were knocked to the ground and some of the bows shattered in their hands. Whether it was their weaker constitutions or the fact that the rabbits had directed the sound wave at them, only twenty-five of the archers regained their feet to scamper back behind their sturdier kin.
As five more larger funnels of exp rose into the air, I watched as they broke into smaller streams, this time all of them headed back to the goblins, who ignored it like it was all something that I was imagining. Wondering at the lack of buildup from the sky gods and why they hadn’t descended to collect their due, I guessed that they had some kind of system to determine if there was a battle so they only had to send out a single column to collect the gentler version that I loved to partake in. Happy at the apparent frugality, I hoped that meant when the rabbits had carried the day I might be able to get another fix of the good stuff.
Looking at the goblins it seemed that most of the streaks of exp were diving into the already evolved monsters, who like the bear beside me showed no sign that they had gained anything or had been affected in any way. Six of the smaller braids of energy were flying into the fodder goblins, and while four of them showed no sign that they were being affected, two on the other hand were clearly having different experiences.
Both looked to be growing bigger, each one doubling in height before my very eyes. I found it was reminding me of how the troll had managed to regrow his limbs. But this, believe it or not, was happening at even more of a rapid pace. One of the two was bulking up and looked to have turned into a bruiser, the second one while gaining the same height, looked to be growing skinnier instead. While they were in the process of transforming the rest of the fodder around them seemed to be having one of two reactions. Either they were fearful and backing away; or they were staring at them greedily, clenching their wooden spears tightly in their hands.
None of them attacked while the change was happening which I found to be surprising. I would have assumed that the best time to gain an advantage would be when your opponent was clearly not in control of his faculties. The bruiser finished his transformation first, both of the evolving goblins were part of the right flank. It looked like about a little more than half of the ones on that side were backing away in fear and wanted nothing to do with the upcoming brawl. The bruiser had been surrounded by a larger amount of hopefuls. Twenty looked ready to jump him as soon as he finished evolving.
As soon as he stopped screaming in pain from the agony and looked around at the waiting circle of now smaller former colleagues. HE leaped at one of the smaller ones, eschewing the spear he dropped from his hands. Instead, he scooped up his chosen target and buried his fangs into its neck, ripping out a bite and killing it instantly. After taking his bite of flesh, he gripped it by the legs and began to swing it around wildly, using the body of his former comrade as a club on the rest of his challengers.
Looking over to the other ten that were still waiting for the skinnier target to finish his evolution, I wondered what would happen, as he didn’t seem to have the bulk to defend himself as abily as his bigger partner. As more streams of exp made their way into the sky I looked back to the first fight to see most of the challengers lying dead on the ground. As the bruiser used his makeshift club to crush the ribs of the last two he seemed to have run out of energy. Dropping the smaller goblin he was using as a club, he lept to the largest of his kills and dove fang first into the stomach of his victim to begin feeding sloppily, no doubt to harvest the needed calories to support his increase in bulk.
I was about to turn back to the crowd that was still surrounding the still evolving goblin, when I saw some movement behind the feeding bruiser. Apparently, he hadn’t managed to kill all of his challengers and one had hidden underneath the bodies of his fellows. Standing and gripping his spear, he charged at the feeding monster and sent the pointy wooden stick into its neck with all of the weight that the smaller monster could put into the thrust. As the bruiser tried to stand in shock, the stick came out of his throat, spraying out blood in a vicious stream that doused his attacker.
The evolved monster took two unsteady steps towards his attacker before collapsing to the ground in front of him. Immediately the majority of the streams of energy that had been driving into his body changed focus for his killer. A veritable tornado rose up out of the now dead champion and rather than splitting into smaller streams, the entirety of it started streaming into his slayer. As the body of this new recipient began to shake and change as well, I wondered if he would find a new group of challengers that would attack him in turn. Or could it be he was safe as the rest of the group had already picked out their own target or retreated from the fight unwilling to risk their lives on a slim chance at increasing their power?
Looking back to the smaller crowd, it looked like that evolution was finally being completed, as the changed goblin stood up straight and tall rather than being hunched over. Rather than instantly attack like his now dead brother, he held his hands in front of him and looked at them intently like he couldn’t believe what was happening. I couldn’t either, as I saw an honest to god fireball start to appear in the monster’s hands, this one had a different look than the only other fireball I had ever seen on this world.
While the former one had been formed of primarily black and red energy, even from the beginning it had a hint of the yellow that I would find in the troll core or the gem that the other shaman next to the leader seemed to have harnessed in his staff. This ball of fire, while it indeed had a red cast to its edges, didn’t seem to be formed in the same process as the evil that had brought my first view of magic into existence. There was no sacrifice in front of him waiting to have his life force dragged into an awaiting cage to be consumed as fuel for the spell. This fire seemed to be created entirely by the magical monster’s will and had me considering it more like a pure force of nature, rather than an impending evil that had me instinctually wanting to stop it.
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As the surrounding fodder started charging forward in an effort to end the newly created magic user’s life and harvest its luck for themselves I thought we would swiftly see the newly born mage quickly stuffed out. Without bigger bodyguards, most mages are quick to fall to the melee if they ever make the mistake of ending up in their reach. With ten of his former friends around him, I doubted his fireball would be able to take them all out. As he threw it forward and the ball landed in an explosion that took out three of his charging enemies, I imagined that was it for him and that we would soon see another transformation. When to my surprise I saw seven spears of wood thrust out of the ground and impale the rest of the charging horde.
At the newly minted mage’s yelp of surprise, I was easily able to tell he wasn’t the cause of the change in circumstances. As he looked over to the leader and his two magic users, my gaze followed as well, looking over to see the shaman with the green tipped staff sag a little and lean into it. Apparently, he had been forced to push himself to save his fellow magic user. I had to guess from the numbers that while the melee evolutions were more normal and they didn’t mind how many of the fodder died in their creation, once a magician was created they were off limits. No doubt they weren’t willing to double down on the roulette wheel and see if the secondary killer gained the same class as the former evolved. The saved shaman dove into one of his now crispy kills and started feeding with the same alacrity as his now dead former compatriot. I looked back over to that one’s killer to see what would happen when he finally finished his own change.
This new evolving goblin looked to be growing to an even greater height than the other two before him, taller but with a bulk that was midway between the other two chosen. As the evolution continued I looked back to the assembled rabbits, I didn’t know why they were allowing this to happen unchallenged. Sure a mass of the fodder had been taken out by their own companions, but from everything I had encountered it didn’t seem like the goblins had lost much of the actual power of their force, even I could take out the fodder goblins en masse. Prior to this week, the only time I had ever killed anything had been with a gun from a distance.
I could tell when the evolution finished as the monster immediately dove into the corpse of the goblin he had ended to achieve his new greater status. As the freshly minted magical goblin had finished his meal and joined his two compatriots, the rest of the field was remarkably still while the monster worked on sating his fill. So still, that I had no problem hearing the noises the sloppy eater was making, letting me know what was in store for me, should the rabbits not uphold their end of the bargain.
Looking out at the assembled army, I had to wonder if this was some sort of double cross, or if the goblins and rabbits had some kind of weird symbiosis going on. It didn’t make sense that such a large gathering had been assembled to go after the slayer of just two pigs. Yeah, maybe we had also led the rabbits to steal some flowers the day before and taken out a patrol on the way, but there wasn’t really anything to tie the two acts together. Also, the actual amount of herbs that were taken couldn’t even be considered a rounding error as to what was left in the field.
Looking at the way the rabbits were just standing there, stock still, waiting for the goblin’s next action. I couldn’t quite wrap my head around why they weren’t attacking or doing anything to disrupt the creation of two new powerhouses for the goblin army. A couple more of the wind blades sent out into the fodder while the transformation was going on would have ended the threats in their cradle. I know I am incredibly pragmatic, but the elder didn’t strike me as the bleeding heart type. I had to wonder if there was something else going on here. Asking the bear beside me as softly as I could, so as not to disturb the fragile silence, he merely raised his left paw a fraction of an inch before settling it back down. Apparently, he also got the feeling that something hinky was going on and had no intention of being a lightning rod.
Following his lead, I shut my mouth and resolved not to move until I was given the okay by my friend. I was too impulsive and sure of myself to be left to devine the all clear in this case.
The newly evolved monster finally finished feeding and standing to his full height started searching through the best of the spears beside him, apparently finding one he liked, he twirled it around and joined the rest of the spear holders standing behind the shield bearing brutes. I had to wonder if that was a better evolution granted by the excess energy or if it was all just random chance.
As he took his place, the goblin leader finally broke the silence, and started shouting out orders in the high pitch screaming that sounded to me like nails on a chalkboard. A lighter and more pleasant scratching than the demon I had seen beyond the portal, but I had to wonder if the languages were connected. The fodder goblin reassembled into a straight line in front of the elites, with the shield bearers standing directly behind them, as they all started to approach, the group stopped about fifteen yards away from the bramble barrier. As they held their positions rather than trying for another volley, the three magic users slowly approached to take up a position a couple of body lengths behind them.
As they huddled together talking for a couple of minutes I couldn’t understand why the rabbits were just letting them plan their attack rather than sending out more wind blades or rolling earth waves. Either one would mess up the basics mobs at the very least, if not also having the chance to take out one of the elites as well. As the three magic users apparently made up their minds, they each called over one of the fodder goblins to stand in front of them. They formed a triangle with the green staff and the newly minted standing behind their evil staff leader.
As they started chanting, a blue glow I recognized started rising off of the three fodder goblins. As the first two started gathering it in their hands, I soon saw that they were redirecting it to the yellow staff that the main mage was holding up. It seemed like that was where the energy he was collecting from his feeder goblin was being directed as well. Or at least that is what I assumed as I didn’t see anything forming anywhere else.
More and more energy began to gather around the staff and I saw it start turning the same black and red that I remembered from my initial meeting with my companion. As the ball started forming, the braiding of the black and red energies soon gave way to the evil yellow that I was quickly becoming familiar with. It started forming into a ball shape similar to the one I had encountered on my first day. Only instead of having a pinprick at the end, it was already up to the size of a baseball that I could see clearly, despite being a hundred yards away from it.
As more energy continued to pour into the rite, it seemed like they had finally crossed whatever line the bunnies had needed them to step over before they acted. Out of nowhere, with a crashing like thunder, the elder I had met appeared in between the brambles and the army of monsters. As my ears continued the ringing, that the rabbit shrieking had started. I could only be thankful that the majority of the force seemed to be directed away from us. Goblins collapsed to the ground and the ball of fire vanished like it never was. Clearly hit by the backlash, the head shaman started clutching his head screaming uncontrollably; as I looked into his face, I could see blood pouring from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. I could only imagine it was coming from other orifices that I couldn’t see as well.
The goblin leader had been knocked from his wolf and was clearly shaken. Trying to stand up back up, he was eventually able to get one foot underneath him but seemed to lack the strength to press down and force his way past the pressure that the leader of the rabbits was exerting on the goblin forces. I could only imagine him pointing a finger and screaming out, “YOU DARE!” Clearly, the boss rabbit had read his share of anime and knew how to act the part of an offended master. Leaving them on the ground screaming for several minutes he eventually grew tired of his game and turned to hop back through the briar barrier rather than teleporting back the way he came. Whether that was because he was more tired than he let on from his dramatic entrance or he just knew how to make an exit. I was sure I lacked the courage to ask him.
Finally, the goblins regained their feet and to the screaming of their leader, they began to gather up their fallen weapons and started marching away. As the spear’s tips started disappearing into the rolling hills of grass, I looked up to the sky and finally saw the expected funnel I had been missing begin to form.