After the grand explosion that sparked the beginning of the attack of the Black Scorn Clan on the Bloated River clan, everything had spiralled out of control.

From the burning flames, three figures jumped out, with one of them holding an additional figure who looked burnt; charred flesh releasing the crisp sound of roast while oozing wisps of smoke.

Ukur was holding Shmeija who had been the only one of the four to not manage to protect himself from the explosion of flame.

Then again, he was a Tier lower than the others.

Ukur had the blue, hazy figure of an aged goblin handling his shoulders as it emitted a protective light that had warded off the flames from his person.

The figure with the saber, who was Shirota, the pride of the clan, also had a thin film of mana that protected him from the flames while the grinning figure of Vijak was surrounded by a dark poison mist that swirled around his body.

“You’ve grown stronger. I thought a surprise like that would catch you off guard for a good laugh but you genuinely look like a leader now, Ukur,” said Vijak as the mist vanished from around him. “The same isn’t true for your apprentice though. It’s such a shame.”

Ukur grimaced as he saw Shmeija’s figure.

For a moment, he began to regret having made the choice to leave the swamps to save his clan. Perhaps he should have stayed. Maybe seeking out longevity was something goblins weren’t meant to do.

Were his kind supposed to just live short lives full of cannibalism and death?

Shirota walked forward with slow but confident steps as he wielded his saber which had been unsheathed.

It looked new, with a simplistic hilt of a dull brown and a blade that showed its gloss under the luminance of the orange flame that was strangely still burning from his side._.

“No, Shirota!” said Ukur with an urgent voice. “Even you are not his match. You cannot fight him alone.”

“Don’t worry, Master. I will not underestimate my opponent,” Shirota said with a low voice that was thick with his own trance-like ecstasy of a guaranteed victory.

Ukur wanted to bark again, but held himself. Why should he stop Shirota from fighting? He was a powerful goblin in his own right after all.

Besides…

Ukur looked around and saw his strongest warriors struggling and falling under swords and arrows, their bodies throbbing and twitching from the poison that his enemies imbued on their arrowheads.

All already seemed lost.

He shook his head, warding away the stray thoughts as he focused on helping Shmeija, his beloved disciple and apprentice from the swamps. The disciple that he had lied to all these years. He had lied to all of his clansmen. They only witnessed him making potions to give them advanced health and mana without knowing that it was all earned from the sweat of others.

Yet it wasn’t for a selfish cause.

The hazy figure above him stretched out its hands and emitted a green light that covered Shmeija who was gasping with a hoarse voice.

Shirota faced Vijak who still grinned in satisfaction.

“Are you sure you want to fight me?” he said.

He received no reply, Shirota only continuing his advance until he was a bit more than three meters away.

“You’re quite confident,” said Vijak as he stretched his hand towards Shirota.

A spark lit in the palm of his hand then it increase inside until it became the size of a fist. It was orange with a heat that built up around it, making the air dance.

“Entertain me before you perish with your pathetic clan,” said Vijak.

In the next moment, Shirota flashed towards Vijak as his saber glowed with a frightening light, Vijak pumping mana into the flame that was in his hand as he flung it at the approaching Shirota!

***

BOOOM!

From the distance, Skullius saw a bright explosion.

“Argh! I can’t see from here. Red bro, we have to move. We’re wasting precious time here!” he said.

Red Rage nodded and peeked outside for a moment before looking at Skullius and pointing in the direction he had been looking.

“There’s more goblins fighting? And many others hiding and shooting arrows? I see,” said Skullius as he stroked his skull.

He went up the opening they have made to get inside the hut and looked to see the goblins that Red Rage was talking about.

The goblins he saw were of a much higher level. There were three goblins that had levels ranging from 16 to 18. One had a sword, the other having a bow while the last had a staff.

These were the only goblins visible to see as the rest of the view was blocked by the surrounding huts.

From the other side of this ravine, roughly four figures with bows could be seen from the cover of trees shooting arrows at the goblins from this side that flew over the river on their side.

Skullius could see that their vision would most likely be blinded by the huts that made a row from that side, deciding that taking actions shouldn’t pose too much of a risk.

When he had seen the staff, he was immediately hooked on the idea of slaughtering these goblins.

“Red bro, take care of those archers. Quickly,” Red Rage nocked two arrows on its bow and shot them at the goblins archers!

The two arrows hit their targets, Red Rage already preparing to take down the rest.

Skullius rushed from the safety of the hut towards the fighting goblins.

As he did so, he pointed his staff towards the goblins that were finishing off their opponents and cast [Mana Bolt]!

The bright blue light of the skill surged and burst forth the flash of mana that zipped towards the three goblins!

The [Mana Bolt] wasn’t directed towards any of them specifically as it landed a few inches from them on the ground.

The ground exploded with dust and chunks of rock flying in the air while the goblins closed their eyes and screamed, Skullius pulling out his sword, covering it with mana and attacking the goblin who had wielded the staff.

Even though the dust also covered his vision, he remembered where the goblin was, viciously swinging his sword and feeling it slice through the unfortunate spell caster who screamed in pain.

Skullius immediately went for the staff, grabbing it and rushing towards one of the huts which actually had an entrance that wasn’t badly positioned for his inconvenient exposure.

The goblins saw their companion dying and the culprit running into one of the huts.

They immediately followed, rushing for revenge.

*

The archers who were on higher ground had noticed their comrades fall from the Red Rage’s arrows, looking at the short figure that nocked more arrows and shot them towards their positions!

One of the remaining archers was sniped in the neck as he has been about to attack Red Rage while the other managed to dodge the speeding arrow by turning his head before he turned tail and ran!

[Apostle ‘Red Rage’ has levelled up]

The Apostle had finally matched his master

‘What was that?!’ he thought as he panted from the thought of almost losing his life! ‘A demon?’

‘No! I must be mistaken! That’s not right!’

He ran along the tree lines to find a better position where he could shoot at Red Rage from.

After running for a few moments, he settled down and searched for the short figure he had seen before and tried to aim at its previous location.

He nocked his arrow and as he looked…

FWUUUP!

An arrow penetrated his neck, shocking him from both the pain and the sudden attack!

‘W…what?’ he thought as his eyes remained wide open. He dropped his bow and arrow, his beady eyes landing on the figure with blue lights coming from its sockets which stood on top of a hut with its bow!

He had been shot by this same creature?!

The goblin archer dropped as it died in a pool of its own blood while wondering what on earth was going on.

Its killer dropped down from the hut and rushed to the aid of its master without a single show of remorse.