Chapter 248. End of the Line.

The handle on the hatch quickly spun and then the hatch slammed open. As soon as it was open, one of the goblin laborers started crawling out. I threw my javelin at the goblin, the weapon skewering him through the skull before it unleashed its electrical energy. It was overkill and the dead goblin dropped back into the train car. His fall must have dislodged several others trying to climb up given the thumping sounds and cursing coming from inside.

Khurr walked over, took a peek down inside the hatch, and fired his hand crossbow. The smaller weapon lacked the power of Glurk’s masterwork longbow, but at close range, and these tight quarters, it was the perfect weapon. He reloaded and fired a second time, and I was surprised to see the weapon fire again almost instantly.

It took me a moment to remember that Khurr had gained the Double Shot ability. He could only use it once a day, but it probably guaranteed another foe was down. Khurr reloaded, but instead of firing, he pulled a small pouch off his belt and began tinkering with the hatch.

My gnoll minion was using another of his abilities, Trapper. The minions were getting more powerful, and it was good to see even the lower tier ones, like Khurr could still be useful in the right circumstances. With the other minions fending off goblins trying to climb up onto the car, it was up to me and Khurr to defend the hatchway.

With Khurr testing out all his abilities, it was a good time for me to try out something I hadn’t used yet. I activated the Armsman’s Gloves and a simple, but razor-sharp dagger appeared, floating a foot or so above my hand. I knew its attack radius was supposed to be five feet, so I positioned myself four feet from the hatch opening and waited for another goblin to appear so my dagger could do its thing.

While I waited, I checked in on my other minions. The goblin trio had shifted to the other side of the train and had begun patrolling the rest of the car where some of the attackers had moved to try and flank us. The drone and Blieek kept the enemy from gaining a foothold on the other side and Elida stayed in the middle, ready to lend healing magic to whoever might need it.

The sound of the hatch slamming closed startled me and drew my attention. Khurr was still there standing ready with his hand crossbow loaded and aimed at the hatch. Nothing happened for almost a minute before the hatch spun open again, and another goblin laborer stuck his head out.

My dagger and Khurr’s crossbow bolt hit the hapless goblin at the same time, dropping it down into the car. I could also see a bloodied wooden spike attached to the inside of the hatch; it was part of Khurr’s trap which had also caused the hatch to slam down on anyone trying to climb out of it. While the simple trap had proven effective, it was only a single use ability, and had a one-day cooldown.

At higher levels, the gnoll would probably get more charges for the ability and could make things very unpleasant for an enemy trying to approach us in a tight space like they were doing now. The fight began to drag on, the supply of goblin attackers seemed almost endless. My dagger, and Khurr got a workout on top of the train car, and the others stopped any climbers from gaining a foothold.

I did need to cast Health Bloom twice, when thrown weapons and a goblin slinger managed to land some hits on my team. Elida also fired off one Minor Healing Burst to keep Blieek on his feet after a throwing axe had buried itself in his chest. As things stood, I felt we were well positioned to hold off the goblins indefinitely as long as they kept coming at us this way.

With the summoned being on car in front of us dead, it was overrun, and I expected the goblins to appear on the roof there to open a new avenue of attack. The expected attack never materialized, and instead of dealing with us, the goblins were focused on pushing through the cars toward the front of the train. As the attackers pushed forward, the assault on my car was abandoned.

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After finishing off the last of those assaulting our car, I could see that reinforcements for the enemy were still arriving, but they were heading into the train around the middle car where they had cleared a safe space. I knew that Gorma had taken on some reinforcements at our last stop, but the enemy still seemed to vastly outnumber us.

I contemplated sending some of my minions on a counterattack, but my orders had been to defend the car, which I was doing without much trouble. The fighting pushed further up the train, and defenders seemed to be exacting a horrible toll on the attackers. I had no idea how many fighters Etvart’s Boys had in their roster, but this attack had to hurt them.

An announcement over the loudspeaker came a few minutes later.

“Hey everybody, stop fighting. Me and Etvart have come to an understanding. We’ve got a new deal worked out that’s going to be better for everyone. Our organizations are joining together and we’re going to be one big, happy family. Welcome to Gorma Etvart Enterprises everyone! They’ll be a nice bonus handed out to the survivors once we reach our destination.”

At the mention of bonus, the goblins on both sides cheered. I expected my summoning to end with the threat being over, but I was kept around. A second announcement by Gorma clarified what was going on.

“All you summoned chumps who are still alive, yes, I see you there on car eleven, good job holding out when everyone else near you folded up like a cheap suit. Okay, here’s the deal. You’re signed on for the duration. We have one more stop which is back to our home, and I expect you to do what you can to protect the train during our last leg. It should be smooth sailing, but hey, you never know. It can be a dangerous world out there.”

Nice, Gorma had singled out my team for surviving the fight and doing our jobs. That had to help boost our final ranking as long as we didn’t blow it on the last leg of this trip. For now, we just took a break and stood watch as the goblins finished loading the cars.

It did take some time for them to remove all the bodies from inside the cars. The fight had been a particularly costly and brutal one. While the goblins seemed to have genuinely set aside any differences, I had to believe they could have solved this whole, bloody ordeal in a less costly manner. They were goblins, and I was just here to follow my summoner’s orders, not bring about some new goblin peace accords. With that in mind, I’d just keep quiet and let Gorma call the shots.

The entire process of loading, unloading, and dealing with the bodies took almost an hour. I kept a watchful eye on things as they worked, and I still had no idea what the goblins and elves were trading each other. From the looks the elves were giving the goblins, it seemed that their truce was a tentative one. The elves had murder in their eyes and were ready to slaughter the goblins at a moments notice. Given the number of archers I could spot in the trees, I would probably put my money on the elves if it came to a fight.

We pulled from the station without the elves slaughtering us all and began to roll along our way to the final stop. The forest gave way to more of the rough terrain I’d first experienced in this world. Not long after leaving the forests, I began to see smoke on the horizon. It was a large goblin city, and the whole place looked like an industrial town had run amok without any health or environmental regulations.

Clouds of oily smoke streamed from smokestacks, and the air smelled funny, almost choking me if I took too deep a breath. A greasy coating began to accumulate on my exposed skin, and I was going to be glad when the summoning was over and my body was recreated, sans any industrial pollution.

As the train pulled into a station crafted from rusty metal, I could see a half dozen similar trains lined up that were loading and unloading things into various warehouses. Another crew came out of one of the warehouses to unload our train, but this crew wasn’t like the ones we’d seen at our last stop.

Instead of goblin laborers, a haggard line of elves stepped from the warehouse and headed toward our train. There were over a hundred of them, and they all looked like they’d seen better days. Filthy and dressed in ragged remains of what were once fine garments, the elves reluctantly went about their assigned task.

It turned out it wasn’t some special goods that the elves needed from the goblins to secure trade with them, it was the fact that the goblins had hundreds of their people held hostage. Mercifully, my summoning ended as the first elves entered the train car to unload.

You have survived and successfully completed your summoning.

Your performance rating is calculated as Excellent.

Your rewards will reflect the summoning tier of 2, rank 3, and your performance rating of Excellent.

You have earned 29 experience points.

You have earned 38 summoning points.

Congratulations! You have reached Tier 2, Rank 4.

You have gained 1 point in Mind.

You will now be returned to your personal space.