Hasten and strengthen could both be kept activated for now. At a cost of 80MP each, and with my current rate of regeneration, I was back at full mana after about 45 seconds. It felt great. I moved through the now familiar bends and dips in the rock with agility that astounded myself, claws churning the rock beneath me as my muscles exploded with energy.

The humans had arrived from the direction of my lair, and then tore through the settlement. They had left a fairly clear trail of destruction, and they had only been gone a few hours. The smell of goblin blood is specific, an ammonia numbness from their strange biology. It wasn’t hard to follow, and they must have been covered in it.

I was counting on the group’s carelessness. I had been metres away from them earlier and they hadn’t known a thing. So, as the smell of viscera became stronger again, after previously weakening when I left the cavern, I knew it was time to be stealthy again. I was loath to drop my strengthen and hasten, but they skewed my perception of time and power and care was needed here.

Once again, the first voice I heard was the deep voice, assumedly of the dwarf.

“I’m just sayin’, it’s strange.” The drawling voice of the dwarf made my lips curl over my teeth. “That door was not goblin made, I would bet my father’s anvil on it. So why were they defending it with their lives?”

“Why do vermin do anything? Just to do it, I imagine.” With a scornful laugh at the end, the one who had been called Hadonis batted away the question. Why wouldn’t he? We were just vermin apparently.

“The city of Remula is quite far from here, yes?” A new voice, feminine, asked. “Could these goblins have just gotten lost? Those buildings weren’t exactly long-lived.”

“Salan.” Sharp, annoyed and explosive from nowhere, Hadonis’ voice was suddenly like razor wire. “If I wanted to hear any more of your pathetic thoughts after you said to spare the goblins, I’d torture them out of you. Shut up and find us the quickest way out of here. I’m done with the smell of goblin shit and elf sweat.”

Charming, this master Hadonis. They followed his lead and didn’t question him though. I had reached close enough to see the group by this point, though they were so involved in their frivolous arguing I barely needed to sneak. Hadonis, the one speaking most, was shining with magical items.

The group wasn’t as cohesive as they had looked around the campfire, only half a day ago. The armour I had thought was uniform across them was clearly not, Hadonis wearing actual plate under a cloak. The woman biting her tongue was Salan, the dark haired one. Stood next to Hadonis was a woman who looked similar enough to be related, their blond hair standing out. No longer seated, the dwarf was clear, not too much taller than myself.

“Enough of this. Move.” Hadonis had finished sneering at Salan and started to continue onwards. The blond female went with him, a smirk on her face. The dwarf patted Salan on her elbow, shaking his head slowly. The only other member, another blonde male, was clearly a part of this second clique.

If I had to guess, and without asking I would have to, Hadonis and the woman at his side were nobility and the other three were their bodyguards. They were certainly more attentive in general, but Hadonis was a helpful distraction for me. They were more focused on calming themselves down with a bit of whispered insults behind the man’s back.

That was no way to rule, I thought. I saw a mirror of my own ambition in Hadonis and would gladly shatter it. Could I do it alone? Without magical items and only the element of surprise?

Only action would tell, and I was finished with inaction. I activated hasten, a silver shimmer flowing over my body with a strange sensation like an egg cracked over my head. Then, a moment later, I activated strengthen. My muscles turned to supple steel, almost creaking with their tensed up power.

Good, they hadn’t noticed the activation of magic. Nothing had cast any magic around me yet, as far as I knew, and I didn’t know if it would alert the group. It did not, and I waited for 40 agonising seconds of increased perception before launching into the slightly separated group.

I had become a flash of purple lightning between their legs. If my claws could shear rock at this point, it could certainly do damage to their flimsy forms. I struck out as I passed, aiming for my true first target. Unfortunately for this group I was not some foolish “vermin”, I was a god raised monster.

Even I was surprised at the ease of it, though I’d picked my targets specifically. The dwarf carried a shield and a mace with confidence, so I expected he’d want to be the group’s tank. In the inverse, Salan carried a large staff which denoted her as magical to my eyes. I knew what a hammer could do, but magic was a mystery, so she needed to be removed from the fight first.

My clawed left hand raked from her achilles heel upwards, shredding her right leg to ribbons. Before her shout had turned from shock to agony, I continued. This had to be quick and it had to be precise. I jumped onto her back before launching myself off, mana gathering in my mouth.

I unleashed my dragonbreath perfectly. Saran smashed into the wall, completely knocked out and whiplashed. The slow to react adventurers were only just raising their weapons as I reached the spot in the air and belched my flames out. Screams filled the halls as all four of those still standing were singed and cooked by the viscous, napalm-like flames.

It wasn’t enough to finish them, but that was fine. My next target was standing basically still, shrieking while trying to put out the fire. I aimed a blast of force at the woman next to Hadonis and unleashed it, still in the air. I landed right as it punched into her ribs, sending her flying down the tunnel.

My mana truly drained, the assault had taken only a few seconds. They were scattered, with two members down. I still had ten seconds of increased speed and power, and I aimed to use them. The dwarf had raised his shield slightly and was the first to enter battle readiness.

“Told you it was too easy,” he shouted backwards before stamping his foot, “It’s their leader.” His stamp seemed to shake the floor violently, but only I lost my footing. It was only a moment, but my assault was slowed enough that my buffs wore off. Okay, phase two.

“It’s a fucking kobold.” The derision in Hadonis’ pained voice made me just want to tear him apart more. “What on Gaia is a kobold doing leading goblins? And why is it that colour?”

“How does it feel? To be attacked by an overwhelming force?” I enjoyed the sheer terror which I could register on their faces. Didn’t expect me to speak, did you? Bitten off more than you can chew, maybe? Hadonis’ questions and the fact that I stopped attacking had slowed their response too.

“It speaks.” Hissed the tall, clearly elfen fighter that hadn’t had much of my attention to this point.

“Who gives a shit what it can do, kill the thing.” The blonde woman, well, previously blonde, woman was furious. She didn’t know how ridiculous she looked, but apparently she could sense it a bit, her hand searching for her missing hair. I barked out a laugh.

“You can try, baldie. Your hair looks like mine.” I ran my claws over my scaled head. I could feel my ruler’s presence doing it’s work. They were scared, but clearly veteran adventurers, they weren’t running. They wanted to parley, even though they could have likely overrun me if they had already acted. Not that they could know that. Saran moaned on the floor, trying to rise. I didn’t break eye contact with the dwarf and the elf male, they didn’t with me.

“Saran, stay down.” The elf had drawn two daggers while looking at me, one with a red blade that was clearly magical and one steel, more mundane. “Can we get out of this without further bloodshed?” He posed his question to me, and he flinched as my response was another barked laugh.

“No.” I replied simply, activating both hasten and strengthen. I enjoyed my blasts of force and my dragonbreath, but something about them lacked a personal touch. I licked some of Saran’s blood, not outwardly reacting to it’s earthy nature, and flicked the rest off of my hand towards the elf.

My speed surprised him, as I expected it would and I leapt. Three times. First onto the dwarf’s shield, then straight up to the roof. Speed plus force equals weight, it staggered him to the ground and disorientated him. My third jump launched me straight back down and I felt a satisfying crunch as I cannonballed into the dwarf’s stomach. He wouldn’t be getting back up.

I wasn’t attacking from the shadows this time, and the elf made me pay for it. I felt his dagger, the red one, slice my stomach and I hissed at the pain. It burned like acid, but I raised my hand anyway. Enough time had passed and I couldn’t miss from this distance. The blast of force hit the elf in his left leg, sending him flying to the floor and the dagger from his grip. The dwarf stirred, and in my pain I was suddenly unsure of the situation.

“Enough of this.” I made sure to make eye contact with Hadonis, who was still standing meekly metres away. Bubbling it up easily, at no mana cost, still stood on the dwarf, I cast forceful rebuke. The elf was shoved even harder into the wall, Saran howled as the storm of my mana sprawled her onto her destroyed leg. I knelt for a moment before I walked away from the crumpled dwarf’s body, not bothering to revel in his destruction. I had what I needed from that.

The cowardly Hadonis, mighty slayer of goblins, shoved the just risen assumed-sibling of his towards me as he started running away. I had no specific hate for this woman, until I saw her summon a bubble of water for defense and ice shards for offense.

“So.” I let Hadonis wander down the hall. I’d catch him soon enough. Only Baldie was left for now, as I was sure that Saran was closer to death than to safety. “You drown goblins with those things? That’s brutal. I respect the irony in that.” I gestured to the scene behind me. I could see her knees shaking.

“Wh- what are you?!” The burn-scalped woman half screamed, half moaned. With a flick of her wrist, the ice shards flew towards me but I was still under the effects of hasten. Their movement was like that of a curling puck, and I took great pleasure in grabbing them from the air. I had worried about my abilities far too much, it seemed. In a concerted attack, they might have been an issue, but disjointed and uncoordinated they were as easy to end as a chesmite.

Insects.

“I’m the overlord. It’s time for a regime change.” I owed no further explanation to this wanton murderer. I didn’t feel hypocritical, this was essentially the culling of a wild animal. It made it easy to shove the ice shard, a spear of frozen revenge, into her gut until it pierced the skin of her back. She clawed at me ineffectually, her breath being stolen by the cold and the holes in her lungs.

Enemy Defeated

You have slain a Human Adventurer (level 14).

Receive: +56 EP

I growled in happiness at the prompt, before swivelling around. Just in time, I raised my hand.

The steel bit through my hand easily, and sliced outwards taking two fingers with it. I roared in anger, the elf staggering before my rage-filled shout caused him to wince. That blink would cost him everything as I regained balance an instant quicker. My pounce was faster than his second slash. My teeth were strong and I tasted the earthy elven blood yet again.

My weight knocked him to the ground. I was thankful to my Display for inadvertently warning me that no, the elf was not dead, and neither was the dwarf. One of those issues was quickly dealt with as I tore my head away and took the elf’s throat with it. I had heard him speak maybe ten words, and now he had no more.

Enemy Defeated

You have slain an Elf Adventurer (level 12).

Receive: +48 EP

Oh yeah, this is the way to do it. Over 100 EP in a few moments, just for defeating these fools. It seemed there wasn’t much rhyme or reason behind the EP given for a specific kill, but humans and elves were definitely worth more than chesmites and goblins. I had time to think about these things as the fight was clearly over for now.

I didn’t want to wait for too long, so I simply gathered the magical items on everyone - including Saren’s staff. I didn’t need the upgrade to defeat Hadonis, and I was being stubborn about it. Still, leaving the items with these two was a bad idea. The fire inside was tempered a little by the blood in my mouth. I had no pity for these two, crippled by my attacks, but I didn’t need to end them. They could stay here for now.

With no enemies left behind me, and an inventory full of their loot to sort later, I activated hasten and strengthen yet again, and tore after Hadonis. He was the most covered in the smell of dead goblins, ammonia. Except… No way. No way, no way.

I found him after a minute of easy sprinting. He was disgustingly out of breath, though maybe that was the fear and not the cardio. Either way, it was as finished a fight as possible. I attacked as my buffs entered their last twenty seconds. My mana full, my anger ready to be released, I hit him as hard as I could in the back of his knee with the dwarf’s mace.

The sound he made - approximately “Whaeurrrraaaaaaaaaargh” - was sweet music to my ears.

“I can only imagine the screams of my goblins that you killed, so I’ll have you give me a rendition.” Being able to speak all languages was fun. I drank in Hadonis’ pain. This was deserved. Whatever else he was, Hadonis was a bad person and a casual ender of lives. A murderer of those I care about, and who would kill me in an instant if the situations were changed.

“Oh, I should let you know.” I made sure his whimpering had quietened so he could hear me. “I followed you by the smell of goblin blood, to start with. Except by the time you ran away, it wasn’t the ammonia from their blood I could smell, was it?”

Even in his agony, I registered shame and burst out laughing. I was right. He’d fled, urine running down his legs.

“You’re a leader up there? Seriously?”

“I’m not just a leader, I’m the son of-” I cut off the pompous idiot with a swift kick to the groin.

“You were not seriously just about to ‘don’t you know who my father is’ me, were you?” I was enjoying myself far too much. I felt like I hadn’t had a real conversation in weeks. This wasn’t exactly my idea of normal, but it was definitely real.

Then, as close to actual ferocity as he had come, Hadonis growled and attacked. It was sneaky, and I had almost failed to notice. Almost. The sword had been aimed at me and I didn’t have to guess that wasn’t an accident. Letting a moment of hope exist for Hadonis, I gave my best performance of a yelp as fire burst from the end of his sword.

I had been toying with him, but as the flames harmlessly licked around me, I grew angry again. Was this guy serious? Did he not get the memo about dragons and fire?

“That… was pathetic.” I pretended to dust off my shoulders and sent a blast of force at Hadonis’ knee, the one I hadn’t shattered yet. It obliged and then the little noble was at my mercy. “Fire, little princeling, is my domain. Here, I’ll show you.”

Using the fullness of my mana, I took a deep breath and spewed my searing flames into his face. His screams didn’t last long at all, oxygen being stolen from his lungs and the surrounding air. I closed my eyes and drank in the smell of him cooking, before moving far away because that was a pretty pungent smell.

Ting.

Enemy Defeated

You have slain a God-pacted Human (level 15).

Receive: +734 EP

Wait… what?

Ting.

Quest completed: This is my house.

You showed impeccable leadership in a time of crisis. You ensured your people’s safety, and then removed the threat.

Reward: Evolution

No, seriously wait. What?!

Then, as it had once before, the world froze into greyscale as time stopped.