…

An explosion hundreds of meters up in the sky signaled the start of the aerial battle between the goblin batriders and the flying horrors. The raging flames briefly created a bright flash of light which lit up the surrounding 30 meters, revealing a writhing black mass of monstrosities that covered the horizon.

Chunks of flesh rained down, and a number of injured horrors plummeted down from the sky in a rain of fire. Each flying horror that fell from the sky caused the ground to tremble where they fell, erecting large plumes of dust and smoke into the air with each collapse.

Meanwhile up in the sky, bomb strikes left the writhing mass with large circular gaps, but almost as quickly as the holes were formed they were filled again by more monstrosities.

In the face of the flying horrors the goblin batriders looked like small boats at sea. The black waves surged forward attempting to capsize each boat, but the boats were as if chained together by an invisible force.

The bombs parted wave after wave, giving the batriders a brief and sonorous respite with each blow... but sometimes a wave too big to handle came and they were forced to retreat.

Suddenly a horn sounded from the goblin village, and in response the goblin batriders parted into two groups. After which a flaming ball of granite catapulted forth into the sky surging past the empty space left behind by their division.

The ball was enormous, reminiscent of a comet as it surged forward, and where the flaming ball headed the flying horrors parted, which resulted in the formation of a pseudo-tunnel within the body of the black mass.

Boom!

The goblin batriders resumed bombing once the granite made its way past them, forcing the flying horrors into chaos. Their formation was disrupted and unable to maintain its form, and as a result several flying horrors met face to face with the granite ball.

The granite ball barreled through flying horror after flying horror, squashing them into paste—until eventually it cracked. The cracks were minuscule, but they spread quickly with each collision, and then from within the granite ball a small amount of white powder trickled out.

The white powder made contact with the residual flames on the granite ball and combusted, causing the granite ball to burst open and reveal a large amount of white powder. The white powder touched the flames all around it and detonated like a mini-sun in the sky.

Skreeeee!

The flying horrors screeched in pain, and a large 100 meter wide hole formed in their flock, but within a minute it was closed off again… then slowly, the black mass took the form of a massive reptilian head. It glared and snarled at the goblin village— and the batriders, then it opened its massive jaw and roared with the collective voices of the flying horrors.

...

At the northern battlefield Baba and a crew of goblin guards faced a group of seven deformed trolls.

Roar!

Baba’s big green body was covered in blood. His eyes red, and his body cut and bruised, but he wielded his crude stone axe with fervor, occasionally injuring the troll he faced. The creature limped on all fours, but sporadic bursts of movement using its front arms allowed it to avoid most of Baba’s attack, after which it grabbed and ate razor terrors restoring its health.

The troll never confronted Baba head on, instead opting to run away while tossing razor terrors. Baba was furious and the deformed troll knew it, so it laughed as it ran.

Baga baga baga!

Grrrrrr.

Suddenly Baba stopped in place and started growling ferociously.

A weak red light started to suffuse from Baba’s skin. The blood on his body evaporated and his skin slowly turned red, meanwhile his body grew in size until he was three meters tall... Then he roared, an angry, desolate roar that pervaded the battlefield.

During that singular moment the air was displaced, and a large red spectral image of Baba burst out from within him, shattering the bloody red light around him and sending it flying in a 10 meter long shockwave.

Razor terrors caught in the shockwave exploded into bits and pieces, while the trolls and guards braced for impact.

For a second the battlefield became quiet. The deformed trolls stopped in place, the razor terrors stopped in place, and even in the goblin guards stopped.

Then Baba opened his eyes. His once white sclera were pitch black, and his slightly blue pupils turned a bloody red. Then like a bolt of red lightning he dashed forward and chopped off the deformed trolls head.

The headless body held a struggling razor terror in its grip – as if preparing to eat it– and Its legs and right arm were still firmly on the ground, but within a few seconds it collapsed. Its knees buckled, and then its torso slumped forward. Dead.

Baba stood a distance behind the corpse, its oversized head hanging from his hand. His back pulsating as he breathed roughly. Then he roared, an indescribable roar… and dashed towards the remaining trolls, albeit much slower than before.

“Run!”

The goblin guards saw Baba’s transformation and immediately chose to withdraw. The millisecond Baba had started growling one of the goblin guards signaled for their retreat, and now while every other creature on the battlefield was frozen in place— terrified, they ran back to the goblin barricades.

Soon with the exception of the bombs going off behind the barricades, Baba was the only goblin weapon of mass destruction past the barricades. The razor terrors ran from him, and the trolls split up in a panic, but it was too late.

“You. Will. Die. For Baba!”

…

On the eastern battlefront three trolls focused on tossing razor terrors over the barricades, meanwhile logs flew in from the forest in an attempt to break the goblin’s defenses.

...

For the last twenty minutes the trolls had continued to toss more razor terrors over the barricade, and Capra had exhausted his mana; however, he had started to regenerate it ever since he switched to his new wand.

[Test Wand (3) (rare)]

Lvl. 1.

Durability: 10/10 (+1)

Damage: 10 – 30 (+10) arcane damage.

Item Effects:

[Grow]: Continued use of this item will cause it to grow more powerful, and if not destroyed it is capable of self-repair. Experience: 52/100 (leveled 1 time.)

[Poisonous Proclivity]: This wand has been enchanted with the essence of a highly poisonous fruit. All spells and abilities channeled through this wand have 40% of the damage dealt converted to poison damage.

[A Horror’s Nature]: Spells or abilities cast using this wand have a 35% chance of causing damaged targets to become terrified.

A Complicated Construct: This item was made with uncommon materials which cannot be repaired traditionally.

Only its maker can repair it.

Active Skill:

[Bolt]: Fire a bolt of arcane energy dealing [Wand Damage + 55% Base Magic Damage] to target. Cooldown 1 seconds. Cost 2 mana.

User Requirements: Wand level cannot exceed wielder’s level.

Item Description: A strange wand made with unknown methods. It possesses significant potential.

Weight: 0.25 kg

The active skill on the wand was enough for Capra to kill a razor terror with one shot every second, and the mana cost was low enough for him to still regenerate mana, although more slowly.

That was the benefit of wands. Normally mages had to use spells because they had terrible basic attack damage, however, wands gave mages a low cost way to attack from a distance.

[Test wand (3)] had been the first wand Capra enchanted successfully. Its durability was extremely low because it’d been essence forged purely using flying horror essence, but in exchange it’s growth rate was much higher than Baba’s axe. Which was a worthwhile exchange as far as Capra was concerned— after all a wand rarely received any damage in combat, so high durability wasn’t important.

With a swish of his wand, the [bolt] spell from [Test wand (3)] manifested itself as blue-green streak of lightning, and if a razor terror didn’t immediately die when hit it, it would usually die within a second or two due to the continued poison damage.

System Notification: [Bolt] deals 84 mixed damage to [Razor Terror]. You have slain razor terror. Awarding experience. +5 karma.

Ever since the trolls had started throwing over razor terrors Capra had become one of the main fighting forces for the goblins. A good spear thrust from a goblin could also one shot a razor terror, but for the most part the razor terrors rained down with such frequency that the goblins had little chance to thrust their spears.

If too many goblins let up on tossing bombs then the razor terrors would deal irreparable damage to the barricades, and create an entry point to wreck even more damage. So even though many goblins wanted to help their comrades they often couldn’t.

It was at this point that a bolt of black lightning shot forth from behind the barricades, streaking towards a deformed troll.

Bang!

The troll was too slow to evade and took the lightning strike head on. Its skin was charred black, and a chunk of its right side crumbled into ash. It roared in pain.

In a panic the troll rushed to eat a nearby razor terror, but before it could swallow it a storm cloud that had unknowingly formed above its head struck down with lightning.

Zap!

The troll dropped the razor terror due to the unexpected strike, and grimaced. It looked up at the storm cloud a bit shocked at the unexpected phenomenon, and swung angrily at it, briefly dispersing it. Then it set its sight on a new razor terror. But the cloud once again materialized over its head. It tried to dodge, but the storm cloud followed it like the air above the trolls head was its home.

Workdidi walked out of the goblin barricades. [Shadow defenses] working at full force and shredding any razor terrors that got too close into pieces. The goblin shaman looked across the battlefield, staring at the countless razor terrors and the deformed trolls. Then he took a moment to close his eyes, and when he re-opened a pair of red eyes manifested simultaneously above him.

Skree!

The razor terrors within 20 meters of Workdidi started to squirm in anguish. They shook their heads in pain, while moaning miserably, but they found no relief. Some smarter razor terrors attempted to run, but their movements were shakey and slow, and within 3 seconds they were all dead.

Workdidi’s eyes had become something akin to the incarnation of an evil god. Countless shadow tendrils wrapped around him and whipped out towards his surroundings, each tendril attacking anything dumb enough to approach within a seven meter radius, showing that Workdidi’s [Shadow Defense] was at least level 10.

“Die.” He muttered, while pointing at the still struggling deformed troll.

Immediately a black lightning bolt obliterated the other half of the trolls body, causing a second cloud to manifest above its head.

Seeing the spells he wanted to learn in use left Capra stunned. The [Curse of Lightning] was much more powerful than he had realized. The lightning bolts from the storm cloud all had a very high probability of striking the targets head— although that wasn’t always the case. Resulting in massive damage.

The troll of in the distance flopped to the ground attempting to catch and eat razor terrors without the assistance of its hands, but the strikes from the storm clouds above its head incapacitated it… until eventually it was but a charred body on the ground.

Workdidi took a moment to look back at Capra appreciatively.

Capra hadn’t been aware, but Workdidi had watched him closely from the beginning of the battle, he’d seen how swiftly Capra dealt with the razor terrors, he even saw the couple of times Capra nearly lost his life due to overconfidence.

“Go. Help eastern side.”

Quest Notification: Shaman Workdidi has re-assigned you to the eastern battlefront. If you wish to continue earning contribution points, go now. Assure the eastern battlefront doesn’t fall.

Reward: 1000 Contribution points.

Accept? Y/N

For a second Capra thought to ask why, but after seeing that he could earn an easy 1000 contribution points he decided against it.

“Okay.”

…

The trip to the eastern battlefront was brief.

Capra walked through the goblin village, forcing his way through the crowds of frenzied workers and large bone contraptions the goblins used to launch granite balls into the sky and within a few minutes he saw the eastern battlefront.

Unlike the western battlefront he’d just been at, the eastern battlefront was in absolute pandemonium. Countless razor terrors had been flung over the barricades preventing the goblins from tossing bombs.

The goblin spearmen could each kill a razor terror with one strike— but where there had only been three trolls tossing razor terrors, now there were six, and close to 60 razor terrors were tossed over the barricades per second. Luckily not all of them survived the trip over the barricades, but it was still too much for that section of the barricades to handle.

“Nature’s fulmination!”

Capra chose a wounded goblin spearman and cast nature’s fulmination. Immediately the goblin’s wounds started to close, and razor terrors within 2.5 meters started taking damage.

Within three seconds the razor terrors in that 2.5 meter range were dead, but Capra couldn’t relax because in the time it took him to kill five razor terrors...180 more were sent flying in.