Inspecting the goblins gathered before him, Thrag inwardly nodded at the growth of their small goblin village. It had only been a few days since they had accepted the religion of Corruption, and they had already come so far.

Clothed in leather armour, made from the hides of the boar that resided in the depths of the forest, the warrior goblins were ready for battle. With the return of the scouting units, the bell for conquest had now been rung, all they were waiting for now was the order to depart.

Six beings were towards the forefront of this army of battle-hungry goblins. The three scout unit commanders, Sherna, Wirak and Kornac, the twin prodigies, Carnelius and Carnelia, and finally, the young Imp of Defilement, Depravus. Among the goblins, excluding Thrag, they could be said to be the strongest warriors in the growing village.

For most goblins, it would be quite a shock seeing Depravus mentioned in this list, but he had quickly distinguished himself through the kidnapping missions assigned by the First Priest. The young demon had infiltrated the human town, that sat on the forest outskirts, without alerting the many warriors living there.

This was quite the feat, as many goblins had attempted the same thing in the past only to lose their heads without being able to put up much resistance. Despite knowing of the insurmountable blade of Death awaiting them, the allure of human women was too strong for the hedonistic goblins to resist.

Letting out a deep sigh, Depravus could only shake his head at his brethren, unlike what the other goblins believed, the mission hadn't been perfect. Getting into the town was easy, but once he got inside, that was when the issues began. Since no goblin had come out of the village alive, the young demon didn't have any intel on the various locations within the town.

Because of this, he had to sneak around searching for the targets of the mission which, unsurprisingly, led to him being caught by two patrolling guards. Luckily for Depravus, they were low-level warriors, allowing him to silently dispatch them while also using the powers of corruption to gain a rudimentary understanding of the town's layout.

Armed with this intel, Depravus shifted his focus to the south side of the town, which was home to the poorer inhabitants of the town according to the information he had forced out of the two guards. This made things significantly easier for the imp, who was able to pinpoint multiple targets for abduction.

However, it would seem the others had forgotten all together about his encounter with the two guards but it wasn't like that affected him in any way. In fact, it made both veteran and rookie warriors alike show him a great deal of respect, he had managed to achieve something thought to be impossible. When he thought about it that way, perhaps it was better an exaggerated version of the events was being spread.

Shaking his head to rid himself of these thoughts, Depravus returned his attention to the First Priest's pre-battle briefing, just in time to catch which group he would be joining.

"Wirak, you'll be taking the River tribe, and you'll be joining him, Depravus. Make sure to use this opportunity to learn as much as you can from Wirak"

Cheers could be heard as the other warriors who had been assigned to the River tribe conquest felt their opponent's defeat was practically guaranteed now with the addition of the Imp of Defilement.

As for the twins and the remaining scout unit commanders, they were all assigned to the conquest of the Scorchskin Tribe. The goblins of this tribe were known to wield fire-related abilities so more powerful fighters were sent to deal with conquest. Even though they had grown stronger, Thrag remained cautious, there was no telling how a situation would develop. The only thing that could be done was to reduce the chances of failure as much as possible.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

After passing down all the orders and saying what he needed to say, the priest signalled for the two groups to depart immediately. Thrag had wanted to join his people on these glorious conquests, however, he had his own set of orders to complete. Casting his gaze towards the centre of the village, the priest seemed to be lost in his thoughts for a moment before turning his head towards where the warriors had stood moments ago.

"May the Lord of Corruption bless you"

----------------------------------------

On the banks of a rushing river, innocent laughter could be heard as small, green beings frolicked around a shallow area of the river. Not far from the riverbank was a straight pathway that led through the thick foliage and trees to a large clearing. A wall, just over two metres tall, composed of thick logs was the first thing that came into view upon entering the clearing.

Along this wall, there was a gap where two goblins dressed in relatively heavy armour stood lazily, idly chatting about the events of the previous day. Neither of them noticed the occasional rustling of the leaves or the traces of purple mixed in the green of the verdant shrubs.

Behind these two guards was an earthy plain, which housed an array of mud huts and beast-skin tents, strewn about with no sign of organisation. It was as if the inhabitants of this village had simply chosen a plot of land at random and constructed a home of sorts for them to reside in.

Despite the random placement of the hut and the tents, towards the centre of the village, there was a single hut. There was a large area of empty space around its radius, an obvious show of respect towards the owner of this hut. Other than this and the two guards by its entrance, the hut was no different to the others that were littered about the village.

Unlike the two guards who stood at the village's entrance, these two goblins maintained a straight posture, their eyes observing their surroundings with great attentiveness. Both had one hand gripped around the hilt of their sheathed swords, allowing them to react as quickly as possible to any sort of attack. This was the difference between the standard village guards and the chief's guards - the elite warriors of the River Tribe.

Furrowing his brow before rubbing his eyes in confusion, one of the guards looked towards the village entrance as a purple being entered the confines of the village. His partner responded in a similar fashion to the appearance of this being while slowly drawing his weapon. Despite their many experiences, they had never seen such a creature before in their lives. It was because of this, that they were ready to cut down the strange being as soon as it entered within their attacking range.

The fear of the unknown always made one make rash decisions, but the two guards realised they had made the right choice as the creature's form became clearer as it came closer. Held in each of its hands, by their hairs, were two heads, from which blood dripped without stop. Shock was apparent on the faces of both of the heads as if they couldn't believe they had been killed in such a manner.

Both guards recognised the faces of the deceased, they were the two goblins who were responsible for guarding the village entrance. This increased the wariness of the guards, they hadn't even heard any sounds of their fight which could only indicate one thing. Those two had been killed in a single attack!

Sweat trailed down their foreheads as the purple being drew closer, with each step chipping away at their courage. If they had the choice, fighting such a being wouldn't have even been a consideration - it was terrifying. And though both guards wanted to run as far away from this being as they could, they had a duty to fulfil as the elites of the River Tribe.

Three steps.

Two steps.

One step.

The next step never came. The guards shared a look of confusion, with their thoughts apparent on their countenances.

Why did it stop?

But that was the least of the concerns, it still wasn't in their striking range. Both were planning to release all their strength in a single attack, but the creature had decided to stop just one step outside their range. One step!

A coincidence? The two were not naive enough to believe such a thing, it had definitely stopped there on purpose. The sneer marred across its face only served to confirm their thoughts. It was playing with them.

"You look like you're about to shit yourselves."

No rebuttal came from the guards, because it was true. They really were.

Seeing the lack of response from the two stood before him, Depravus could only shake his head before continuing.

"Look, I don't want to take any more heads off necks today, so do me a favour and bring out your chief"