Maxwell

Sitting on a tree while a few hundred goblins passed under you was quite the sensation. I was almost tempted to hold my breath, but I knew the moment I did, I would cause myself to faint or something foolish like that. Instead, I sat here, patiently. When the front lines were no longer in sight, I took a stone engraved with a rune before taking deep breath as I used Void Discourse.

Near gibberish words flowed out from my location for close to a hundred meters. The effect was immediate. The goblins that heard the language went insane. Weapons, attack skills, and spells flew around freely as the goblins murdered anything near them. Blood and gore splattered on the ground liberally.

I had to stop myself for fist pumping as I quickly gained a level. The experience was lower than if I had killed them myself, but I still got a portion of the experience due to the death being caused mostly by my skill. Killing blow notwithstanding. As the killing spread to the unaffected goblins, my experience bar stopped climbing as fast. Still, I managed to snag another level before the effected goblins were completely eliminated.

Since the goblins were starting to look for me, I teleported to my next spot. I landed on another tree in the path of the goblin march. I figured that I got roughly two or three hundred goblins with that little stunt. I might not get another one off with them on guard, but I was at least going to try. Besides, it wasn’t like I could use this skill near my allies. Might as well get all I could out of it before they reached the armies.

I pulled up my friends list and messaged Razz. “Got them good. Panic set in. Let me know when they start moving again.” With that, I reached up into the hole in the tree and pulled out a wrapped bundle. My mouth started to water as I eyed the lunch. The cooks back on Alflona were really getting good at their craft.

“Goblins moving again. Give em ten minutes before they reach point B.” I dusted off my hands as I sat up. I noticed that the food actually increased my stats. I had increased mana regeneration for the next four hours. That was awesome.

Standing up, I peered into the distance as I sent Razz an affirmative. There was no dust cloud like in the movies, but I could make out the tree canopy shaking and birds flying off from the movement of so many individuals. I checked my cover to make sure the canopy hid me enough.

Ten minutes was no time at all, but it felt like an hour to me. The minutes dragged on forever in my mind. I was almost glad when the goblins started trailing under me. Compared to earlier, they were peering around as if they were being haunted. I covered my mouth to keep from laughing at the sight.

I waited a good twenty minutes for the horde to pass. The front line was long gone when I raised the runed stone to my mouth. Once again, the horrifying sound of Void Discourse washed out around me. I only managed to keep it up for about ten seconds before an arrow sank into the wood right next to my head. I looked in the direction that the projectile had come and managed to make out a tall goblin that looked more like a troll.

Something felt off about the troll-like goblin. He just felt… all around different than the goblins around him. That’s when it hit me. He was a player.

“Time to go,” I muttered then teleported to the C Point. I had been spotted so something told me that I likely wasn’t going to get another chance. At least not while that player was helping the goblin army. It was a bit earlier than I wanted, but it looked like it was time for me to give my offer.

I pulled up the system menu. It had been… almost three weeks since I last opened this menu. When you didn’t have to log out or report some sort of bug to the game masters, then there really wasn’t any reason to open the menu. In the chat menu, it asked me what level of message that I wanted to post.

Clicking realm, a box opened asking for my message. “Goblin players with Eblos. I am Maxwell. Lord of Alflona, the City-State that you are currently in the process of marching on. I have heard that goblin culture is rough. If you willing withdraw from the campaign, I promise you a plot of land in my territory, protection from the goblin Nation of Eblos, and the option of teleportation to one of the other nations.” I wanted to choke on blood at the price of the message, but I sucked it down. “If you accept these terms, please send me a friend request. I will then send you a magical contract.” With that, I clicked send.

I sat back on the branch and waited. I doubted anyone would message me right away. I would give… There was a ding in my ear. ‘Agatha has added you as a Friend.’ ‘Norrix has added you as a Friend.’ It looked like I was wrong. I really needed to stop assuming things.

“Hey!” I jumped a bit from the sudden message. “This is Agatha. I want to sign your contract, but I have to add a stipulation!”

Here we go. I sighed in disappointment. I knew that there would be some wheeling and dealing, but not seconds after I sent the damn message. “What is it?”

“I can’t withdraw from the battle. I’m under a dominion curse by one of the NPCs. I need you to kill him before I can go free.” I rubbed my temple. This wasn’t exactly something I had expected to deal with. I was all for it, of course. I mean, they were my fellow former humans. “Please! I was just in Eblos for a quest when this nightmare started.”

I let out a long breath. “Fine. I’ll send you a contract in a minute.” That was one person handled. I clicked on the other person that sent me a friend request. “Norrix? You want to accept my deal?”

“That’s right! I’m fucking tried of this nation! Just tell me you have working baths?”

“Sure do,” I replied with a chuckle.

“Sign me up,” Norrix said happily.

“I’ll send you a contract in a minute. Do you have any pull with the other players?” I asked hopefully.

“Nope. I’m a loner by trade. You might pull a few more to your cause, but there is a hardcore group at the center of this army. A troll of a goblin that’s amazing with the bow is the leader. A mister Cirg. I doubt he’s going to desert since he has a lot of power in the capital.”

“Damn. Alright, thanks for the heads up.” I closed the messaging feature then pulled up the contracts. I filled out the details. I didn’t make them too complicated. Just made sure to cover my bases, make sure that they couldn’t attack me or my holdings for six months, and would get a plot of land of one square kilometer.

I got signed copies back from the pair after only a few minutes. I couldn’t tell if they were idiots or were just too trusting. Not that I have done anything to scam them, but I could have included any number of clauses to suit myself. I did include a clause that we would attempt to slay the NPC with dominion over Agatha. Attempt being the key word there. I wasn’t risking my life or worse on the action that the NPC might flee before I finished the prick off.

Checking the time, I realized that het goblin army had stopped advancing, otherwise they would have already reached me while I was dealing with the pair. I stood up and looked around, but didn’t see anything. I messaged Razz asking for a situation report. A second later, he reported that the goblin army had come to a stop.

I must have made more of a dent than I first thought. I settled back down on the branch to wait a bit more. This was as good a place as any after all.

Six hours later, I had a signed contract from thirty players. Looking at my friends list, I found it sad that I had to do this sort of thing to fill it up. Whatever the case, I had significantly lowered the number of players that we would have to deal with. As Agatha had told me before though, there was a core group of players that refused to leave the enemy. I got mixed reports from my new friends, but the group numbered around ten.

I was sure they were going to be a challenge, but the loss of thirty plus players would still hit them hard. I teleported back to the city to check on Razz and the others. They were organizing the army to get ready to march. We had to do some damage before the goblin horde reached the towns.