Thragg looked upon the Frostfish tribe goblins kneeling before him and Drogan. They were still at the pond atop the hill, but this time, Thragg had been marked with the black dye upon his forehead as a signifier that he had wrested control Drogan.

At the same time, Thragg raised Drogan’s arm up in the air in triumphant posture.

“All of you are now under the rule of the Sovnar!” said Thragg. “But do not fear, for new and great purpose will be given to you. Your chieftain, Drogan, a wise one of Gob as he is, shall still lead you, for I him, you have placed great trust and faith.

You know Drogan, and you know how much he has done for you. If he did not believe that the Sovnar’s rule would grant you greatness and plenty, then he would have fought to the death to continue leading you.

And now, he shall still lead you, only under the Sovnar’s banner.”

“The title of a ‘Sovnar’ is one of great importance,” said Drogan.. “There has only been one Sovar in all the history of Gob, that being the very first blood of Gob to rule over us all, the one to raise our kingdoms and might in the Old Age.

A Sovnar is a title that brings forth a golden era. That we serve under one now is a blessing.”

“Where is the Sovnar?” said one of the kneeling goblins.

“Far north. Gaining power. But soon, he will return, and when he returns, not even the gods themselves will stand to his might,” said Thragg. “Until then, I shall guide your people into uniting the rest of the tribes under us.”

Thragg knew that there were five more tribes to conquer. These tribes, however, were ones that Frostskulls and Frostfish tribes had little contact with, for they were farther west and farther north. They had adapted and evolved differently to their colder, more mountainous regions and had not been seen in over a century.

It was likely they were vastly different than the goblins were now, but the blood of Gob would still speak to them regardless. 

Thragg heard a commotion from the back of the goblin crowd, and soon enough, he saw the goblins parting way to make a path for three panicked hobgoblins. They stumbled over their steps, crumpling down in exhaustion when they saw Drogan and Thragg.

The three hobgoblins were noticeably wounded. Arrowheads stuck out from their backs, burns lined their arms and legs, and one of them had a blood red claw pierced through his stomach in an inevitably lethal wound.

“The goblins on watch duty,” said Drogan with urgency as he stepped forwards, meeting the goblins.

The most wounded hobgoblin collapsed on the ground before Drogan before he could speak.

“What is it!?” said Drogan as he immediately tended to the most wounded one, laying him on the ground in a more comfortable position.

Drogan hovered a gauntleted hand over the lethally injured goblin, and strands of his blue Unity mana formed and flowered into the hobgoblin’s body. Wounds began to patch up, burns knitting over with new flesh, and the arrowheads fell out as new flesh pushed them out.

But the crimson red claw remained embedded in the hobgoblin’s stomach. Yet, with Drogan’s healing, the hobgoblin would likely survive for some time more.

The other hobgoblins spoke on behalf of their fallen comrade.

“Adventurers, chieftain!” they said with urgency.

“Adventurers?” Drogan stood up, his tone pondering.

“Did you not have peace with the surrounding villages?” said Thragg.

“Yes, and I do not think the villages would have easily broken it,” said Drogan. “We are a buffer between the villages and the Lizans to the north of the lake, and the Lizans do not take as kindly to humans as I do.”

“You trust the humans?” said Thragg.

“I trust them to the degree that they trust me, no more, no less, and that degree is one that should not be breached by a betrayal such as this,” said Drogan. He grew still for a few seconds, thinking, for it seemed that Drogan was one that never acted without atleast spending some time to ponder his actions.

A rare but commendable trait for goblins. “I suspect that it is a party of rogue adventurers. Ones that desire our cores and flesh for materials, for I do not know of much other reason why they would hunt us unprovoked.”

Drogan tightened the strap on his shield and steadied his blade in his hand. “Regardless, we shall see.”

The threat in his voice was heavily evident. 

Thragg cracked the knuckles on his four arms. “Yes, we shall.”

==

Down by the lakeside, Thragg and Drogan approached, taking a more hidden route around the hills. The rest of the goblins along with ten champions were left behind by the hills to be guarded and because they would not be able to fight adventurers of any real strength.

This left Thragg, Drogan, and four champions as a strike and scouting force against the adventurers. According to further information from the hobgoblins, the adventurers had approached with an ambush attack, slaying the goblins with ease.

It was a group of five adventurers, and they had easily dispatched and killed seven of the ten goblins that had been on watch duty. The adventurers were of significant strength, but then again, it was difficult for hobgoblins who had not seen much of what true strength was to determine how exactly mighty these adventurers were.

They only knew that the adventurers were ‘strong’ and had varied abilities. One used magic, one a mace and an axe, one a bow, and finally the strongest a strange weapon of living flesh that fired red claws.

They had gotten the star rating of the strongest one, and it was at 5 stars which immediately worried Drogan, but Thragg had assured the chieftain that a five star adventurer would be of no consequence.

This, Thragg was confident in believing, for he had come across three-star adventurers in his time and knew that as he was now, he could defeat a hundred such humans with no real issue. 

Thragg might have a more cooled, measured battle lust compared to his brethren, but that did not mean he lacked it. He was rather eager to test his might against proper adventurers to truly compare his and the champions’ might against the star rankings of the adventurers.

The adventurers had also evidently been looking for the rest of the goblins and were notably confused when the vast majority of them were gone, having been summoned to watch the duel between Thragg and Drogan.

Thragg knew that the Sovnar’s orders were to absolutely avoid tinkerers at all cost, but at the same time, he could not simply abandon these goblins. If he needed to, he was willing to see the greater purpose and force the goblins to leave with him, but at the same time, if the adventurers were weak, then he believed this was a prime opportunity to capture the adventurers and gain information from them.

After all, soon enough, the adventurers would one of the greater threats that the Sovnar would face. Gleaning their movements and purposes would be of great tactical usage to the Sovnar in the future.

It did not take long for Thragg, Drogan, and the champions to find the signs of the adventurers on the lakeside. Thragg’s group had circled around the lake and first found signs of the carnage the adventurers had wrought, but the adventurers themselves had left some time ago, taking care not to leave tracks, as if they were stalking prey.

Seven dead hobgoblin bodies completely dried out into desiccated husks, their skin turned brittle and wrinkled, the blood and liquid utterly drained out of them.

Drogan knelt by the corpses, nodded in respect for their loss, and then snapped out a tooth from one of them. He grasped the tooth tight in his palm, blue mana flowing out from him and starting to gather around his palm.

Then, his eyes lit up with a faint blue sheen.

“I see the path they have taken,” said Drogan. “They have gone to the hills, but they do not know the way to our homes and burrows. I have no doubt that they asked the villagers for our locations, but the villagers have granted them false leads.

One that leads to a ravine where there is no escape with a proper ambush.”

“Then we will show these adventurers that taking the blood of Gob is not a crime to be punished lightly,” said Thragg.