"Jump on," Kal said, summoning the Tank. Jase backed away and shook his head. Instead, he brought out Gromch and climbed on its back.

"Come on, I promise I won't dismiss again."

"I'll pass. Gromch can keep up." Jase said and gave the oblivious toad a pat on the head. Kal just shook his head and got in the driver's seat. He didn't have the time to argue with someone as stubborn as Jase. However, he decided to go as fast as possible out of spite. He could just about see Gromch leaping behind him with a terrified Jase clinging to its back. Kal had a rough idea of where the goblin nests would be from the board and from the fact that nearly all of the surrounding area had been turned into farms and cultivated woodland.

The first spot was the Broken Hills. It was a vast lumpy bog with small hills dotted throughout. The whole thing was covered in grass and brush, making it a nightmare to travel. Taking a horse or wagon into it was impossible, which kept the traders away. Kal guessed no one wanted to settle somewhere that even the most desperate tinker wouldn't visit. He crested one of the tallest hills he'd found and got a great view of the area. He spotted two of the nests quickly. Their ramshackle buildings of wood and hide were the only non-natural landmarks for miles.

Gromch thumped down next to the Tank letting an exhausted Jase roll off its back to the cool grass.

"I found the nests," Kal said. Like back at the house, his voice was projected into the area through what his overlay called a speaker. Weird how some names are obvious while others are shit like 'Glacis Plate' he wondered what kind of crazy dimension the Tank came from while Jase pulled himself together. Kal wasn't sure why but he felt like he could hit the closest nest from where they were. It was a bit over a mile away, but it just felt right. He aimed a little above what he thought was necessary to make up for the distance and with a quick warning for Jase to back.

"Are you sure you want to try from so far away?"

"Why not? If I miss, then we can always go closer." Kal said, giving the main gun another tweak to the left.

"Firing!"

Even with the warning, Jase was pushed back, and the Tank rolled dangerously to the edge of the hill. The shell flew far faster than Kal imagined and easily reached as far as the nest.

"You're meant to aim at the nest!" Jase shouted, slightly deafened by the close proximity to the Tank. Kal ignored him and lined up another shot. The last one had overshot and veered off to the left. He took his time picking out his shot, and while he did, he noticed groups of goblins running out of the nest in a panic. Some went toward the site of his last shot. The rest patrolled around the palisade of sticks that enclosed their camp.

"It'll be harder to hit them all now," Jase stated the obvious, needling his little brother like it was his job.

"Yeah, I noticed." Kal fired his second shot without warning, but Jase had already dropped to his belly and covered his ears in anticipation.

They both watched as the shell obliterated the right side of the nest. Kal returned to as close to the same position as he could and fired again. It went a little to the left this time and demolished several of the hide tents in the middle of the camp. He could see Goblins running everywhere. Most grabbed what they could and fled toward the other nests in the distance, while a dedicated few were trying to find an enemy. Kals shells found them first. By the tenth shot, he was hitting his targets with incredible accuracy. Sure he was just aiming for the biggest clumps of goblins, but he couldn't think of a single summoned monster that could pull this off at such a massive distance.

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After a few more shells, just to make sure, Kal let his main gun rest. Jase had shuffled down the hill to escape the constant noise and blasts of dirt from each shot's shockwave. He still managed to see most of the shots land on the nest. The sheer destruction the Tank caused was incredible. The village-sized nest was in total chaos. Anything that was still standing was either in the process of falling down or on fire. He couldn't make out the goblins from so far, but he couldn't imagine there were any left alive inside the nest.

"Shit! I forgot about the stolen stuff." Kals shouted as the Tank dissolved around him.

"I'm sure it's all still in there. Maybe not in one piece, but it's there."

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"Are you sure you don't want to go back and loot it now? we might need to run away and miss out on all that sweet rubble." Jase asked from on top of the freshly summoned Tank.

"Better to take out the other two nests before we walk around outside the Tank." Kal reasoned as he took up position on another hill, this one much closer to the other two nests.

The second group of goblins was a repeat of the first nest. Kal bombarded the entire area mercilessly until it was a smoking ruin. He tried his best to hit the small groups of goblins fleeing to the last nest, but moving and shooting simultaneously was beyond difficult. From the last nest poured a wave of goblins who had finally spotted Kal up on the hill. He shelled them as they closed the distance, and Jase jumped up onto the Tank while he sent Gromch into the bushes where he could surprise the frantic goblins. Kal rolled forward slightly so the whole Tank was aiming downhill. Before he could fire another shell, the machine gun on his roof began spraying the disorganized vanguard of the goblins. Every bullet tore off a limb or burst through the target, only to hit another behind them. It was sickening to watch. Blasting them from miles away had been fun. It almost didn't seem real, but Kal couldn't stop gagging at the gory sight. Jase had it far worse, however. He could see and smell the battle, and he had already emptied his stomach down the side of the Tank.

The goblins never made it within ten feet of them. The final few that remained scattered when Kal urged the Tank towards them, and he kept going. He rode them down, through the bog. The Tanks heavy treads rolling right over the broken bodies. When he was certain that there were no more within reach he turned back around to the nest.

The last nest was deserted, which they had Gromch confirm before leaving the Tank's safety. Walking through it Kal spotted the disgusting remnants of goblin life. Bones were piled high next to little benches where he could tell they had been making primitive weapons. Mere feet away he found the Toilet which was a shallow hole in the ground. In their rush to leave it looked like they had run right over the filth juging by the clear foot prints in the grass.

"It's like a really shit village. You could mistake them for dumb little green people if they had mana points." Kal mused as he rummaged through their huts. While collecting anything that looked slightly valuable, he realized he'd gone way overboard on the other two nests. The buildings didn't look like they would survive a gentle wind, never mind a Tank shell.

"I'm not even checking the other nests. I doubt anything's salvageable" he decided to Jase's relief.

"Good, I don't think my stomach could handle seeing the carnage. Or all the goblin babies."

"The what?" Kal dropped a bolt of dirty cloth and gaped at him.

"The babies, the nests are usually full of them. They probably took the ones from here and escaped while the others charged us."

Kal was pale and gagged. He knew logically that they were just monsters, and he'd never thought about goblins as anything other than murdering thieves. It never crossed his mind that their nests would contain children.

"I need to go. We've got some stuff and the nests. I'm out." he said, summoning another Tank. Jase loaded up the gathered loot onto the Tank and climbed on. It was a quiet drive back to Westmarsh.