Chapter 24: Finale (1)

“The Goblin Lord also promised us to open a path to our enhancement. He said, if we stay loyal to him, he has the ability to make us Orc Warriors, Orc Defenders, or even the mysterious Orc Shaman.”

“What? Really?” I was shocked to hear this. Not long ago, I had this talk with Logier about how hard it was to enhance and how much orcs desire for that. If that Goblin Lord could really do it, undoubtedly more orcs will join him once they come to know of this. For monsters, anything is doable in face of strength. Only after strength does come pride. I learned this after my time as a monster for a while.

“That’s so. After telling us about the poison, he said this. The medicine he will give us to suppress the poison would also make Enhancing a lot easier for us in the long run. He guaranteed that before the orcs defeated by him, we will already step towards our enhancement.”

With each consecutive revelation, I started to feel the bleakness of this war. Even if the orcs have strength and strategy, the goblin lord had overwhelming strength and numbers. With his potions and chemicals, he could build a powerful army given enough time. What need was there for a strategy?

Since Gyuk had nothing else to report, I gave him the order to continue his observation on the goblin lord as well as the core force of goblins. I also ordered him to sabotage them as much as possible while making sure he wasn’t discovered. Cutting off the link, I looked at Logier who was sitting across me and said, “Logier, we have to hurry up and attack the goblins with full force from now on. That goblin lord who attacked you, it seems he is planning to make some big moves against you people.”

“We are already ready for the fight. Order us!”

Nodding to him, I took in a deep breath and relayed my thought up a plan, “We will do guerrilla warfare from henceforth.”

“Guerr…what? What is that?” Logier asked me confusedly. He couldn’t even pronounce the word perfectly. Despite the situation, I snickered. Shaking my head I explained, “Guerrilla warfare is a kind of irregular fight where we will use sabotage, hit-and-run, ambushes, raids, etc. to fight against them. Also, from now on, if you kill a goblin, use their blow dart against them.”

“Eh? What?” Logier looked clueless. It was clear he didn’t understand a single thing I said. Shaking my head, I explained it slowly and dumbed it down enough for him to understand.

“Friend, the way you are asking us to fight… it’s against our nature…” Logier hesitated to fight the way I proposed. But I didn’t give in this time. The enemy turned out to be more dangerous than anticipated; there was no room to hold back anymore. Since I have taken up the role to be the orc tribe’s advisor, I will see that to the end. Even if my enemy was a reincarnator like me, I am not afraid.

Since I planted a spy amidst the ranks of my enemies, I had no fear of any surprising course of events. The only problem was the enemy’s arsenal. Unlike them, we didn’t have much to speak of. Forget about something like potions, we didn’t even have a decent weapon to fight against them. Thus, I asked them to collect the weapons dropped by the goblins, and use them against them. I knew this will be a little off-putting for Logier and the orcs as a whole, but there was no way out aside from this path.

“Think about it, Logier. The enemy not only has huge numbers, potions, and poisons, but also some of the powerful members of your tribe. Don’t you forget the Goblin Lord is a unique class too. With so many odds stacked against you, do you have the confidence to win fair and square?” I asked looking at Logier who was still hesitating to come into a decision.

“No!” he answered after struggling for some time. Even someone of his intelligence would understand when the situation turns bad. It was practically impossible to win if they fight how they were doing these few times. The enemy clearly had an overwhelming advantage.

“Therefore, instead of sticking to your old means, you should adopt new methods to win against your enemy. Here I am, giving you tips about those methods, so you should just trust me and do as I say.” I tried to convince him to let go of his old school thinking. Now that I was this powerful, I no longer afraid of surviving on this first floor. Even if the goblin lord becomes the ultimate winner of this war, I had the confidence to live my life the way I want. But, I had already taken the responsibility of Logier’s family on my shoulders, I can’t be selfish here. Not now at least.

Finally, after a little more coercion, he agreed and assembled the troops. Gyuk only took around seventy strong orcs, the rest were very loyal to Logier. As they stood on the mouth of the entrance to the forest, I started to assemble them according to what I remember seeing on TV. I am not a commander nor I have any experience in leading one, I was just copying the things I saw, that’s all. In the end, I divided the army into a few parts.

The first group, which included Logier and a few others, would attack from upfront. Second group, consisting of those who could move faster than others, will flank the enemy and attack from behind. The third group only consisted of me, who will hide and provide support to whichever group needed it. This time, after hearing everything from Gyuk, I decided to actively join. Unlike before, I had accumulated more than enough power to protect myself. There was no reason why I shouldn’t join in this war.

After I divided the groups, we dove into the forest. Unlike before, we are not simply rampaging around aimlessly. This time, we are strictly following the path taken by Gyuk. I asked him about it and found the place where the goblin community was hiding. Therefore, we were not going in the dark this time. At the same time, I had a group of around two hundred orcs circle all the way around the forest and lay in wait for my signal.

The guerrilla tactic was all about taking the enemy by surprise, then deal as much damage as possible in the confusion and retreat. We would be doing the same thing; only, instead of the retreat, we will keep on charging. Orcs had a higher stamina value than humans, and nearly all adult or juvenile orcs were born with a passive that decreased their stamina consumption. Therefore, they can keep on fighting longer than humans. After knowing this little titbit, I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

As we traversed through the forest, and through the path taken by Gyuk and co, we gradually began to see proof of goblins’ existence. Of course, what other proof could it be other than their poop all over the place? It seems, even with that goblin lord’s help, these green things couldn’t get rid of their unhealthy habits. That being said, at that moment, I was not complaining. That’s because these disgusting smelly things were like markers that leading us to our destination.

I was walking through the darkness provided by long thick trees, which inadvertently increased my speed and defense to some extent. More importantly, I was close to invisible to others in this form. This way I could provide all the support Logier and the others need when the time calls for it.

Piii!!

Suddenly a blow horn honked, which was loud enough to break glasses. It was the signal goblins use, to warn others about the approach of dangers. Having already fought them for a while, orcs knew about all their behaviors. As soon as they heard the horn honking, they immediately fell into an aggressive formation with Logier in lead.

On the other hand, the orcs who were to circle around quietly, traversed through the thick bushes and took in their position for an ambush. It would have been great if they have some long-range weapons, but since they don’t have any of those, these tactics wouldn’t be able to show its full destructive power.

I sat on a thick bush, surrounded by two powerful orcs as I concentrated on the link between Gyuk and me. A second later, I saw Gyuk’s consciousness pulled towards the same purple cloudy space with a blank look on his face.

“Where is Goblin Lord?” this was the first thing I asked after having Gyuk come over.

“Currently he is in a cave, trying to make more of powerful goblins. He invented a potion that would force juvenile, infant goblins to leap a level, i.e. in case of a juvenile they would become adults, and infants would become juvenile. But these potions have a very high mortality rate so one out of fifty goblins were successfully powered up.”

To be honest, his answer really didn’t surprise me, moreover, it also explained the absence of juvenile and infant goblins from the picture. Little by little, I was starting to understand the ruthlessness of the Goblin Lord. In the face of his benefits, he didn’t care about anything else, going as far as sacrificing his own race. Perhaps it was because he held no attachment towards them and only saw them as expendable soldiers. Either way, he was someone who could go any length to achieve his goals.

To me, it was a bit scary. But, for my future I have to do it, I have to face this person-turned-goblin and know about the truth of this world. I wanted to know what happened and why did I become a monster after my death. Second, I wanted to plant a nightmare seed inside that person and have him work for me. His ability to create unique potions was too valuable to give up on. Since I had already planned to build an army to march against the Aseavell Empire and that bastard king Aurii III, there would no way I will skip on such a talent.

“And where are you now, what are your orders from him?” I further probed about the situation.

“The Goblin Lord had us guard his personal cave which he calls lab. He said, no matter what we are not to allow anyone to enter it without his permission.” Gyuk, in his monotone, emotionless voice, replied to my question without missing a beat.

“Then who is commanding the goblins right now?”

“It’s a goblin who had Enhanced to a Goblin General. I had an exchange with him, and couldn’t even receive five blows even after I took the potion given by the Goblin Lord.” After that Gyuk began giving me a thorough explanation about the fight he had with that particular goblin. Physically it was a little bit weaker than Gyuk, but, what made it strong was its agility as well as the collection of skills it possessed. Moreover, it could command any goblins freely due to its skills.

After hearing everything about it, I put it on my ‘be careful’ list first. Then I sent an orc with the information about this goblin to Logier and others who were in front lines. My motive was to make him aware of the dangers lied ahead and to be careful of it. I came out to reality and saw the fight has already begun.

Groups of adult goblins were engaging against the orcs with their own set of weapons. At the moment, Logier was dealing with two goblins that looked stronger than everyone around them. Moreover, from their emotionless faces, I could tell they were given the same potion that could make them unable to feel pain.

“Cast Illusion” I mumbled while looking at the two. The range at which this skill could affect was around fifty meters, obviously, it was only a rough guess. Since the battle was happening within my range, I didn’t back out on using skills.

Cast Illusion succeeds! Target will remain under your control for the next 5 minutes.

-1 MP

Cast Illusion succeeds! Target will remain under your control for the next 5 minutes.

-1 MP

The goblins, although they were physically strong, lacked INT and WIS. Moreover, those two stats were so low that the effect of the skill increased to five minutes. I didn’t bother with deceiving them, I simply killed them in the illusion realm, thereby sending them to a vegetative state. Logier used his crudely made ax to behead them on the spot.

Although two powerful goblins were killed just like that, the war was far from over. The second attack from goblins came in the form of a familiar, purple-tinted darts, aiming at the orcs who were advancing at unprecedented speeds.

The final battle was just around the corner.