‘’Well? I don’t see any difference,’’ Liam said, raising an eyebrow as he watched Beet with interest. ‘’Maybe it’s mana reduction or something?’’

One of Beet’s copies made a jump, flapping its translucent wings, it landed on Ethan’s shoulder.

Ethan turned his gaze to Beet from the copy, confused. ‘’I don’t get–’’ His eyes widened as he realized that the original was a copy as well. Turning his head back sharply, he checked it again with [Mana Sense], only to find the real Beet on his shoulder. ‘’Holy shit! You can switch positions with the copies? That’s huge!’’

‘’Huge? That’s ridiculous!’’ Liam exclaimed, waving his hands. ‘’What kind of rank 2 skill could do that?!’’

Fraeya closed her slack jaw with effort. ‘’T-There has to be a drawback. That’s even more broken than Ethan’s non-stop [Blink]s.’’

After some questions back and forth, they managed to learn that there had to be a minute-long gap between the swaps, and the range was limited to Beet’s domain. Still, this was an amazing development. The swap was instant. There was no delay or any mana fluctuations whatsoever. Whether for a surprise attack or just to escape, it was a perfect skill.

‘’What about the–’’

‘’Guys!’’ Ethan called, causing everyone to turn at him. ‘’We still have two more floors, let’s clear this place first, then we’ll talk more.’’

Everyone sobered up and gave him a nod, readying themselves for the boss battle.

Ethan covered himself with void mana as he called his daggers and [Blink]ed to the upper floor. For the first time, a surprised expression appeared on his face. The floor was empty. Without wasting any time, he [Blink]ed a second time and found the top floor empty as well. Canceling his [Void Wrap], he looked around with a frown before walking toward the balcony at a brisk pace.

There, he saw the flying goblins, escaping swiftly as they turned back to look at the tower from time to time.

‘’Fuck me,’’ he murmured and [Blink]ed next to the others.

‘’W-What happened?’’ Liam asked inside the deserted room.

‘’They took off.’’

Fraeya’s eyes widened. ‘’Took off where?’’

‘’I don’t know, but I’ll find out,’’ he said, walking toward the balcony once again. ‘’You guys settle on the first floor as usual and wait for me.’’

Before the others had a chance to speak, he called his wingsuit on top of his clothes and jumped from the tower. By the time he was halfway down, he already stabilized himself in the air and used two more [Blink]s to appear 200 yards above, arranging his direction to where the goblins were heading.

He used [Mana Sense] with his eyes and detected them easily, but didn’t try to get close to them. His [Mana Conceal] was already on, but that was useless against someone with a rank-2 [Mana Sense], and while it was rare for tier-5s to advance their [Mana Sense], these goblins were at this level for a long time. Ethan was pretty sure that almost all of them had it by now.

There was still his rank-2 [Void Wrap], but with its mana consumption, that wasn’t a good choice for scouting either. So, he followed the group from high up and far away. This underground city had enough space for him to fly without worry, and the best part was the darkness around the ceiling. The lights of the mushrooms were dimming toward the soil ceiling, concealing him thoroughly.

After a short time, he discovered the place they were moving toward. Another stone tower stood at the edge of the city. Almost twice as wide as the others and even a bit higher. The tower of the crown prince! So that’s where it was. We still have three more doors unchecked in the shelter. One of them should lead here, but there might be a separate shelter for this one too. Anyway, let’s see what we have here.

Ethan made a dive toward the regular houses near the stone tower, and once he was close enough, he used [Void Wrap] and a few [Blink]s to land on a roof with a good enough outlook.

Like most of the towers, this one also had a giant catillo fungus next to it with many goblins surrounding the mushroom, kneeling or praying. The bad news was the tower itself. Whether it was the courtyard or the balconies, all were full of goblins. He waited for a little while as he considered if their old tactic would be still valid here. Just when he was about to leave, he caught sight of another group that was flying toward the tower, and it was much more crowded than the one he’d followed till here. Shit. They must be from another tower. Are they gathering here to make their last stand? It took them a week to decide, but they still changed their method.

The leading goblin in the sky turned its head toward Ethan, but he was already in [Void Wrap], returning to others in haste. He flew back just as he came here and appeared in the courtyard, sending his wingsuit to his storage ring. Passing by Beet’s shade, he joined the others inside.

Vivian and Hayley were also there, sitting around a table and quarreling with others about Beet’s new skill.

‘’Oh, you’ve returned,’’ Liam said. ‘’How was it? Anything interesting?’’

‘’How did you fly like that, Ethan?’’ Carl inquired curiously. ‘’What was that gear about?’’

‘’Call it an artifact, if you like,’’ he said, sitting on an empty chair. ‘’Before that though, we have more important issues.’’

One by one, he reported everything he saw, causing everyone to fall into silence.

‘’Are you sure it’s more than we can handle?’’ Liam asked after a moment, doubtful. ‘’We’ve improved quite a bit recently.’’

Ethan shook his head. ‘’Doesn’t matter. There are close to a thousand of them with at least four bosses and their lackeys.’’

‘’Maybe we should retreat?’’ Hayley offered quietly. ‘’We already profited immensely.’’

‘’If we could find something like a big piece of fabric, I might bundle you guys up and teleport with me from the tunnel. We can directly start fighting at the top floor and escape if necessary, but that’d be still extremely risky.’’

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

‘’Or we could ambush them swiftly like that and reduce their numbers bit by bit?’’ Fraeya proposed.

‘’No. After a few times, we’ll lose our advantage in the ambushes,’’ Liam said. ‘’They might even discover the tunnels.’’

Carl looked at the sword on his hips longingly and gave a reluctant sigh. ‘’I think Hayley is–’’

‘’Maybe I can help,’’ Vivian said, raising her hand.

Ethan’s eyes narrowed. ‘’How?’’

With a mysterious smile, Vivian leaned back on her chair and started to change her appearance. Slowly her skin turned green, her nose and ears grew long, and her teeth became sharper. Although her face was rather similar to before, there wasn’t much disparity from the goblin shamans they'd been fighting for so long.

Everyone gaped, speechless.

Ethan used his [Mana Sense] and glimpsed the mana with a strange affinity that was covering her around, but there wasn’t anything that showed her as a human. ‘’How the hell–’’

‘’Light magic!’’ Liam exclaimed. ‘’You can use light magic and create illusions? Why didn’t you tell us before?!’’

‘’You never asked,’’ Vivian joked.

Liam’s burrows furrowed lightly. ‘’We could’ve used this ability for many things. Even as distractions it would be damn helpful.’’

‘’You were doing okay by yourself so far,’’ she said, slowly changing her look back.

‘’Carl almost died, Vi,’’ Fraeya stated, a frown forming on her face as well.

‘’Relax, guys,’’ Ethan cut in. ‘’She is telling us now. We can use this. Can you use that on us too?’’

Vivian nodded. ‘’I can do many things in my domain, but the inside of these towers is too dark. I have to consume too much mana in an environment like this. Do you want to sneak into their tower?’’

‘’No,’’ he replied, his lips shaping into an amused smile. ‘’I have a better plan.’’

‘’What is it?’’

‘’Let’s have a meal first. After that, we’ll start a civil war.’’

An hour had passed with planning and preparing. Then, on the streets of the ancient Imperial City, the tallest hobgoblin, possibly ever, made an appearance with all its glamor. Its long hair was dropping on its shoulders, and there was a single white cloak on it, undisturbed by the blue light that masked the whole city.

Ethan trudged the streets barefoot as the citizens started to take notice of him one by one. They were gazing at him with mild curiosity and some even started to get close to him albeit hesitantly. Once the number of the audience was high enough, he stopped and looked up. An image of a giant catillo fungus popped up in the air, shining with a dazzling blue light.

All the goblins nearby went wild, some crying in surprise and some hissing in fear, but in the end, whether they were on the streets or in front of their homes, all of them kneeled with reverence.

He waited for some time and raised his arms before activating his [Mana Connection] and reflecting his desire through his mana. Rise!

One by one, they rose to their feet with wide eyes, shivering in excitement.

He let out a sigh of relief under his breath and sent his second command. Follow me!

This was the hardest part as he had no idea if the skill could express his intent clearly at rank-1. Relaying his emotions along with the music was one thing, and sending his desires and expectations another. Thankfully, a small part of the goblins understood and the rest followed their lead.

Ethan resumed his walk with a serene expression, the image of the catillo fungus above him bright as ever, the horde of goblins behind him breathing heavily as they pursued, their eyes on the image.

Follow me! He was hollering inside, sending his wish everywhere in 100 yards. Follow me!

The hobgoblins and the goblin shamans were rushing from everywhere, flying above the buildings, and pushing each other to get closer. When he strolled most of the city and arrived at the stone tower that once belonged to the empire’s crown prince, there were about a thousand goblins behind him.

He didn’t go to the tower and instead, walked toward the giant mushroom. The real one was much bigger than the image on top of him but seemed rather dim. Next to the terrifying fungi, Ethan raised his right hand as the goblins held their breath, and touched its huge trunk unhurriedly. Along with his gentle press, the catillo fungus started to glow intensely, painting the surroundings in dark blue. At the same time, a humming sound washed over the crowd, and all of them kneeled at once.

The humming was off the script but still a nice touch, courtesy of Vivian.

Ethan removed his hand and looked toward the tower. There were many goblins on its balconies and walls of the courtyard, watching the fanfare in disbelief. He took out a stake from his ring and stabbed it to the ground. There was a head of a goblin shaman on top of it that once belonged to the boss of a different tower.

Under the confused gazes of the goblins, he stabbed the stakes one after another with different heads every time and opened his [Mana Aura], excluding everyone near him from the pressure. The target of the skill was the tower. Even though he couldn’t cover it completely, it was good enough.

Ethan opened his arms wide and willed. Rise! As the goblins stood up, he pointed his finger at the tower and willed it again. Kill your masters! Kill them and you shall be rewarded! Kill them all!

When the goblins hesitated slightly, the humming sound started once again while the image of the catillo fungus expanded its size, demonstrating its might.

A hobgoblin in the crowd let out a war cry and charged right after. The holy light around the mushroom intensified as if it was cheering. Another gave a long howl and joined with fervor. A dozen became a hundred until all of them were running in a blind rage, all the while Ethan was focusing on his [Mana Connection]. Kill! Kill! Kill!

The moment the goblins clashed in the courtyard of the tower, Ethan used [Void Wrap] and [Blink]ed on top of a roof, next to his friends. Crouching low like the others, he removed the skill. ‘’Damn. That was intense.’’

‘’Intense?!’’ Liam growled quietly, turning his head. ‘’I’m sweating all over here!’’

‘’That’s the craziest shit I've ever seen,’’ Carl commented absentmindedly watching the two thousand goblins butchering themselves.

‘’Using their religion to start a civil war…’’ Fraeya said. ‘’I have nothing but pity for your enemies.’’

‘’Why didn’t we use the same trick to ask the rulers for their artifacts?’’ Liam asked. ‘’It seemed pretty effective.’’

Ethan shook his head. ‘’Not to mention that I can’t communicate that well, the rulers aren’t like the commoners. They believe in power first. Everything else comes after. Plus, this way we can have the whole city for ourselves and leave no stone unturned.’’

Vivian appeared out of thin air and sat next to them, slightly out of breath. ‘’How did you know about their religion?’’

‘’Considering their looks at those mushrooms, I had a vague guess but only became certain after witnessing some of them praying today.’’

‘’You’re really meticulous, huh,’’ she murmured, eyes on the battlefield.

Ethan also watched the brutal battle and the never-ending fireballs without blinking. The commoners were going all out, but it was apparent that the rulers were the rulers for a reason. ‘’Do you still have mana?’’

She tilted her head, confused. ‘’Not really, but I didn’t drink any potion. Why? You want me to go again?’’

‘’Yes. Drink that potion. It looks like we’re gonna need even a bigger show this time.’’

Suddenly, the ground shook and a huge wood stake with a sharp point rose to the sky in the middle of the combat zone, swiftly reaching the floating goblin shaman and piercing its heart. Then, in the stillness of the masses, it returned to the underground along with the goblin.

‘’T-That,’’ Carl stuttered with wide eyes.

Hayley gulped, nodding. ‘’The root of a catillo fungus. Someone made a breakthrough.’’

Ethan took the scene in as the commoner goblins went downright batshit, blinking speechlessly. ‘’I guess you can keep the potion for now.’’