Once again, Elijah found himself unable to move or communicate. Although it was unexpected, Elijah wasn’t alarmed and quickly made a decision. Naturally, he would fight. As a ruler, it wasn’t right for him to back down without a fight.

Kegs is attempting to free your slave, Gers. You have agreed to face both of them in a battle of wills. Your willpower stat will function as your health for the duration of the battle. To win you must bring the health of both of your opponents to zero. If your health reaches zero, you lose.

Should you lose the battle of wills, Ger’s will obtain his freedom and you will suffer a penalty. For the next 12 hours your stats will be decreased by 20%.

Next, came the list of increases and decreases to Elijah’s willpower and his enemies’ willpower. The result was Elijah’s will health was well over two hundred points and his opponents will health were below ten points. Elijah couldn’t help but look down on the goblins.

Literally! The goblins were physically smaller than Elijah and he was superior in terms of will health. Even the humblest person alive would begin to feel some arrogance.

“The goblin race is either mentally retarded or natural born masochists.” Elijah arrogantly stated. However, the goblins didn’t reply. They silently glared at Elijah with ferocious expressions.

“Cats got your tongue? Maybe your upset because some human just knocked down your front door and fucked up your shit.”

Roar!

Two translucent green figures charged at Elijah. A normal person might be intimidated by their ferocity, but Elijah was unfazed. Although Elijah couldn’t use his Supreme Eyes in a battle of wills, he had immense confidence in his combat ability after his multiple spars with Elder Jeb.

Of course, Elijah didn’t expect the goblins to fight at Elder Jeb’s level. He still remembered how he easily demolished the goblins in his previous battle of wills. Even if the goblin Kegs was a better fighter than Gers, Elijah was confident it wouldn’t have a major effect on the final outcome of the battle.

Unfortunately, Elijah was correct. Working together the two goblins managed to take away two points of Elijah’s will health before they were defeated. Once again, Elijah didn’t have the opportunity to experience a true battle of wills. However, Elijah did gain something from the battle of wills.

You have successfully stopped your slave from gaining its freedom. The cost for owning this slave will decrease by one percent. Any future attempts at breaking free will be more difficult for this slave.

In the next moment Elijah was back in the communal area with Elder Jeb and the others. Elijah broke into a grin when he thought about his recent victory. He didn’t know if he would have a chance at recovering the captured goblin slave, but he was happy to gain some more information about the slavery system. In the future he could give slaves the hope of freedom and use that as the opportunity to strengthen the chains that bound them.

“Chief, are you alright?” One of the elders asked.

“I’m alright,” Elijah replied with a smile on his face. “The goblins-”

Someone is attempting to free your slave by breaking the mental shackles you placed on them. Do you wish to release your slave from its shackles or enter a battle of wills to keep it under your control?

Before Elijah could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the message that appeared in front of him. Elijah looked at the message in disbelief for a moment before he was able to respond. The first thing Elijah decided to do was confirm if he was fighting the same goblins.

Elijah confirmed that the slave wasn’t the same, but he couldn’t know which goblin was trying to free his slave without accepting the battle of wills. Without any further hesitation Elijah agreed to the battle of wills.

What followed was another beatdown. Elijah easily defeated the two goblins and he only lost three points of will health. However, Elijah noticed that his will health did not completely recover before the battle began. Elijah’s will health was still down two points when the battle began.

“-have challenged…” Elijah continued speaking for a moment then stopped after he left the battle of wills. Elijah’s mind and mouth were out of alignment, and it took him a moment to fix it.

“Chief.” Elder Jeb spoke with a concerned tone. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’m fine. I was just challenged-”

Someone is attempting to…

“Motherfucker!” Elijah screamed in his head.

Barely any time passed before he was challenged once again. If Elijah could move, his expression would have become dark at this moment. It was obvious that the goblins were trying to break him down with numbers.

At first, Elijah thought the goblins captured one of his slaves and he was surprised to see they captured a second. Now he knew the goblins most likely captured all of his slaves. However, he was a little skeptical about the situation he was in.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Goblins have never shown themselves to be a very strategic race, so Elijah was doubtful that they were doing this on purpose. Elijah talked to Elder Jeb and the other elders about slaves and none of them mentioned that this was possible. Therefore, how could the goblins know to apply this strategy?

Perhaps the goblins simply decided to try and free all the slaves they captured at the same time. They probably weren’t specifically targeting Elijah’s slaves and the village warriors might be experiencing the same thing right now. However, Elijah couldn’t be sure that this theory of his was correct.

Three battles of wills later, Elijah’s theory was proven correct. Over the next three battles Elijah managed to explain what was going on during his brief intermissions. After his fifth battle, Elijah was given a long break and plenty of time to talk with everyone.

“So, you’ve fought three battles of wills?” An elder asked.

“I’ve just fought my fifth battle. Can someone check on the warriors that came back with me? I’m sure they are experiencing something similar to what I’m experiencing.”

“What should we do?” Elder Jeb asked as one of the elders left the room.

“I’m not sure about the others, but I should be fine. Although I can’t be certain, I’m sure that the people who challenge me will suffer some penalty for their loss. Even if they don’t, I can choose to give the slaves their freedom to avoid suffering any penalties.”

“How heavy is the penalty?”

Elijah and the others continued talking for a little longer before the goblins resumed their assault. The slaves didn’t suffer any penalties to their will health other than the ones normally applied during the beginning of a battle. Also, the goblin attempting to free Elijah’s slave changed, so he couldn’t confirm of they suffered any penalties.

Due to the goblins pausing their assault Elijah fully recovered the will health points that he lost. Now that Elijah knew the goblins were planning to wear him down, he planned to be more cautious about how he fought. Although he had plenty of will health to spare, he knew that he would be fighting dozens of goblins. It would be best to play it safe and not make things harder for himself.

After the next five battles, Elijah realized his actions were pointless. Did it really matter if the goblins wanted to save the goblins he captured? Elijah was confident that the five goblins under his control wouldn’t be able to affect the final outcome of the war with the goblins if they were granted freedom.

Sadly, Elijah’s pride wouldn’t let him back down. There was a will within him that wouldn’t bow to reason and urged him to continue fighting until the goblins bowed their heads. So, that’s exactly what Elijah did.

Fifteen battles in and the goblins continued to ferociously attack Elijah. Thirty battles in and the goblins continued attacking him with the same determination as suicide bombers. At this point, Elijah had become annoyed with the goblins unending assault. However, he still had no choice but to continue fighting.

Sixty battles in and Elijah’s annoyance disappeared and was replaced with rage. “Were the goblins addicted to beatings?” Elijah thought to himself. “Did they not know that their actions were pointless, or are they doing all of this just to piss me off?”

After sixty battles, the goblins barely managed to bring Elijah’s will health below two hundred points. With each battle Elijah’s rage for the goblins grew. He continuously cursed the entire race for their stupidity and wished the most horrible fate upon them. However, after the ninetieth battle of wills, Elijah changed his tune.

Congratulations! You have remained undefeated after engaging in a hundred battle of wills. +5 to Willpower

Congratulations! You have been awarded the Will Battle Expert Ⅰ title.

Title: Will Battle Expert Ⅰ

A title awarded for remaining undefeated after engaging in a hundred battle of wills.

10% boost to attack and health in all battle of wills.

Congratulations! You are the first person to obtain the Will Battle Expert Ⅰ title. +5 to Willpower

“Perhaps I judged these goblins to harshly,” Elijah thought to himself. “There actually kind and benevolent creatures. As a way to show my appreciation, I should engage in a few more battle of wills since they enjoy them so much.”

Gone was the negative emotions Elijah felt toward the endless battle of wills. Most humans are willing to endure hardships, but they only do so if they believe the task is worth the effort. If they felt like the task was worthless, then even the most basic tasks will seem insufferable.

Fighting one hundred battles no longer seemed like a difficult task to Elijah. Heck, he would be willing to fight a thousand battles as long as the benefits kept coming, and he would do so with a smile on his face. Not long after Elijah received his new title, he received another piece of good news.

The cost of owning this slave has been brought to the lowest amount you can bring it to at this time. The chance of this slave breaking free of your control is extremely low. You now have the ability to sentence this slave to death if it shows any signs of rebellion.

Now, when the goblins tried to free one of his slaves, he had the third option of killing the slave. Elijah didn’t need to kill his slaves, but since he had the option, he would most likely use it in the future. There was no sense in letting his goblin slave go free and help his enemies.

Shortly after Elijah gained the ability to kill his slaves, he won his two hundred and fiftieth battle of will and upgraded his previous title. Also, he gained another ten stat points to his willpower stat. Next, Elijah reached his five hundredth battle of wills, but the goblins abruptly stopped attacking a few battles later.

Congratulations! You have remained undefeated after engaging in five hundred battles of wills. +5 to Willpower

Congratulations! You have been awarded the Will Battle Expert Ⅲ title.

Title: Will Battle Expert Ⅲ

A title awarded for remaining undefeated after engaging in five hundred battles of wills.

50% boost to attack and health in all battle of wills.

Congratulations! You are the first person to obtain the Will Battle Expert Ⅲ title. +5 to Willpower

Elijah was disappointed, but he wasn’t surprised. His will health barely dropped below one hundred points and that was only because he intentionally allowed it to happen. After five hundred battles, Elijah’s understanding of willpower and his ability to use his will to fight, improved greatly. It would be difficult for the goblins to hit him if he didn’t want them to.

“Have they stopped challenging you?” Elder Jeb asked when he saw Elijah stand and stretch.

“Yup,” Elijah replied with a smile on his face.

The only two people left in the communal area was Elijah and Elder Jeb. Elijah told Elder Jeb and the other elders that they didn’t have to worry about him. However, Elder Jeb said he was stay behind. Although Elder Jeb knew that the chances of something bad happening to Elijah were small, he still chose to stay behind and watch over Elijah anyway. Elijah was moved by the amount of care that Elder Jeb had for him.

“Want to hear about how I demolished the goblins?” Elijah asked with a proud expression on his face.

“Sure, I’m certain it will be very entertaining.”

“I came as quick as I could!” Jenny shouted. “Is the Chief still okay?”