Near the tower in the middle of Trident, on top of a rooftop covered in ice, the goblin gave its final breath. With a swing of their staves, the mages melted the ice. Finn was soaked and covered in purple blood, but he let out a sigh of relief.
“How did you know where he was?” he asked Natalie.
“The mages told me.”
A man dressed in a white robe crossed flew a bit closer to the rooftop. “A capable mage always knows what comes in contact with his magic. Thank you for your service, young lady. Of course, we would have killed the monster ourselves if not for the chance it would have blown up.”
‘So, we were expendable?’ Finn swallowed his thoughts and told them about the remaining goblin.
“...That one’s trapped between a couple of buildings. If he goes boom, who knows how many will die.”
[Meanwhile...]
At street level, in one of the countless alleys carved within this area of Trident, one lone goblin was waiting for his chance to attack. From inside his black bubble, he felt more and more enemies surrounding him. No matter how many flames he sent their way, they seemed to have a way to either block or dodge them.
Suddenly, he heard countless footsteps approaching from the tower's direction. ‘The army? Had the others failed?’
A shiver ran down his spine, so he sent another wave of fireballs in every possible direction to calm himself. Screams resounded from afar and the footsteps now seemed to move away from him.
“You haven’t killed anyone.” Tommy's voice cut his grin short. “If you make a move, we will kill you. If you wait any longer, the city guards will arrive. Surrender now and there might be room for mercy.”
A chuckle resounded from inside the goblin's bubble. “If not for my mission...”
“You’ve failed your mission. Our friends have already alerted the guards, and it’s only a matter of time before the army gets here.”
As if on cue, people with heavy footsteps were heard parting the sea of fleeing citizens and heading straight for the goblin. At the same time, he could feel a disturbance in the mana above, as if concentrated pools of mana were flying over the rooftops.
‘Mages!’ The goblin’s eyes went wide. He panicked for a moment, tried to find a way out, and when nothing useful reached his senses, he grabbed the black crystal tighter and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Humans!! Elves, dwarves, the lot of you, my Master will avenge my death. She will destroy you all!”
The black bubble encasing the goblin grew bright. Feeling the volatile magic brewing within, Annie shouted “Tommy, get back!”
The boy was only an alley away.
Annie peeled off a large piece out of a nearby wall and sent it hurdling down towards the goblin. While she turned to run, light beamed out of the black ball and covered her surroundings. At the same time, she felt someone enter the light, grab the goblin’s bubble and jump towards the sky.
Hercule smashed head first into Annie’s wall, and after passing it thanks to the sheer thickness of his skull, he threw the ball upwards with all of his might. The mages above sent tendrils of mana to try and seal it, but before it could pass the fourth floor, the black ball exploded.
The sound was deafening. Luca’s ears popped and he collapsed several storeys before catching onto a window. Bricks and debris were falling towards him, so he let go and ran after landing.
The fourth floors of the two nearest buildings were almost completely destroyed. Half of the third floors was gone, and one could see into the second floors through multiple holes in the ceiling.
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Annie, who was on the third floor, suffered major burns despite covering herself in stone. She fell head first towards the ground and lost consciousness halfway.
Fortunately, Tommy caught her in his arms right before the end. Soon after, the other teens and a number of dwarves arrived to inspect the area.
However, the worst had passed. There were no more goblin attacks that day. Finn theorized that there were only three goblins, one for every battlefield, who had snuck past the wall thanks to the northern one’s illusions.
Of course, the army could not afford to trust a mere 15 years old’s words. They requested reinforcements from the wall, and by nightfall the area was packed full of soldiers.
After getting healed by the mages, the teens were ordered to report to the city hall. There, they met Rob, the last surviving elf in Luca’s party. A few hours later Branson also arrived.
Luca and Rob hugged their comrade and started crying their eyes off. The secretary had sent someone to recover the corpses, but it was far too little far too late.
“What’s taking him so long?” asked Finn while clenching Trent’s bow almost to the point of breaking it.
“The Marquis should return from his run soon,” said the secretary. “According to reports...”
The secretary began a fantastical tale, but Finn was too tired to listen. While Luca and the rest mourned their friends, Tommy stayed huddled in a corner, his arms around his knees as if he was being punished. Michael and Natalie were sleeping in each other's arms, and Annie was standing in the middle of the room, wobbling back and forth like a zombie.
“It will take more time for our forces to take care of the stragglers,” the secretary concluded her story. “The Marquis insisted that he personally supervise the affair, so you may have to wait a while longer.”
The lady left to bring the teens some food and coffee, and Finn let his body drop on one of the benches. There was not a single nerve or muscle that did not hurt.
Out of nowhere, Annie joined him, dropped her head on his shoulder and immediately fell asleep. The girl was wearing a long, brown robe as replacement for her burned clothes.
Earlier that day, Finn had seen her almost die in front of him. A shiver ran down his spine and he bit the inside of his cheek, before wrapping a hand around her shoulders and resting his head on hers. The remaining teens shuffled for a while longer, but before the secretary could return with the coffee, everyone was fast asleep.
[The secretary’s tale]
Marquis Flintbender found the beach covered in monsters. An army of giant crabs and snakes littered the sand, while battalions of oversized sharks covered the skies. His dwarven army was starting to have difficulties containing it, and Amara Ironhand was lost amongst the crowd.
Her signature spatial slash could be seen at times, when up to a hundred monsters suddenly collapsed into bits, but there were just too many of them.
Flintbender frowned. “So, it’s a six out of 10.”
The old dwarf tensed his muscles and jumped. Like an oversized bullet, he put holes in all the sharks which got in his way.
His goal was the middle of the beach. Once there, Flintbender spun in midair, dropped like a meteor and struck the sand with his axe.
“Earth, hear me!!” The beach started to tremble. “Crush my enemies and swallow the unworthy!”
The sand parted underneath the monsters and lava shot out from below. Geysers of lava reached almost 30 feet tall sending snakes smashing into sharks and roasting crabs like in an oversized kitchen.
The survivors ran in every direction looking for safety, but the worse had yet to come. All around them, the geysers changed shape into something infinitely more terrifying: The lava formed what could only be described as Ivan Flintbender's torso, then his head, his arms, and finally his weapon.
What started out like hundreds of small volcanoes erupting at the same time turned into an army of giant, molten lava dwarves with oversized axes which they swung with gusto. Thousands perished in an instant, sliced in half, melted, or both.
With the beach being too small for the molten dwarves, they often swung into each other, at which point they merged, formed even bigger lava monsters and continued laying waste to the opposition.
If not for Amara retreating the second she saw Flintbender jump, and if not for the lava springing only in areas covered solely by monsters, that day, Ivan would have buried both enemies and allies alike.
The bulk of the monster's invasion was swallowed by the earth within less than 10 minutes. Then, right when Flintbender lifted his axe and the lava started retreating back into the ground, the monsters suddenly lost all sense of cohesion.
They started rampaging and attacking anything in their sights, be they humans or other monsters, it no longer mattered. The only exceptions seemed to be creatures of their own kinds. Snakes grouped up and clashed against the crabs, the sharks attacked everyone from above, and the remaining clownfish were caught in the crossfire and crushed.
At this point, the dwarves could almost stand back and watch as the enemy destroyed themselves. However, Amara Ironhand would not let them be. She shouted an order, and the dwarven army was forced to pick up their axes and finish the job.