Tremours were sent through the environment around. The ground shook and the walls and ceiling of the cave environment trembled, with occasionally, stalactites falling from the ceiling. The two armies of the goblins clashed – their weapons clanging against one another — however not a single one of the soldiers were killed. The White Goblin clan was proving to be superior in terms of the strength of its warriors, pushing back the army made up of goblins from all three other clans, however they did not spill their blood.

  They’d disarm them, push them to the ground and knock them out — however, would not kill anyone.

  “Hold the line! Don’t let down our Goblin Overlord!” A soldier on the front shouted to its comrades, before blocking an incoming strike with the iron shield in his left hand, before pushing back the attacker and then using the club in his right hand to knock the attacker unconscious.

  Crash.

  Not too far away from the clash between the armies, Frawn was locked in a fierce standoff against April and Kalos. The two magic casters were struggling to keep up with the Red Inventors speed — barely to even finish half of the incantations they would speak, before Frawn would cut them off with an attack from his ‘Meteors Breath’.

  The Red Inventor, had a smirk spread across his face under his mask, as he leapt around — aiming and firing his weapon. April quickly deployed a mass amount of shields, with a total of twenty four magic shields forming in front of her and Kalos. “Multi-shield!”

  The shields blocked the initial strike from Frawns weapon, however only lasted for a few seconds, before shattering into pieces and allowing his fired shots to make contact, blasting April and Kalos back — however the two remained on their feet, all the while breathing heavily, their clothes and bodies bruised, bashed and slightly singed.

  Frawn pushed through the dust cloud that was kicked up by his weapons shots, carrying the ‘Meteors Breath’ on his shoulder, while through the eyes of his mask, a fierce red gaze shone.

  Kalos scoffed.

  “Tch– this guy is singlehandedly outperforming us… If we don’t find a weakness to exploit or a way to defeat him fast, we will be the ones suffering defeat.”

  “Yeah…” April brushed off her dress, before puffing out a bit of smoke. “That firepower, reaction time and speed is unbelievably high… I guess he wasn’t a ‘King’ for nothing..”

  Frawn stepped forward with a heavy, echoing step. He let a small snicker lose, resting his free hand inside his coat pocket, while lowering his head a bit – keeping his gaze locked onto the two magic casters. “Is that all? Is this little invention of mine really enough to overpower the greatest magic casters amongst the Goblin clans?”

  April looked at him, visibly annoyed and even angered by his comment.

  “Don’t let him get to your head. Losing our cool will do us more harm than good.” Kalos looked at April, before gripping his staff a bit tighter and standing back upright, using his staff for balance. His gaze fell onto Frawn.

  “Don’t underestimate us. Just because you’ve been able to stop us before we got the time to cast any spells—”

  “Too much talking.” Frawn cut Kalos off, aiming his weapon at him and immediately charging up a shot, before firing it in the following moment. Kalos’ eyes widened, while April leapt in front of him as fast as she could, extending her right hand towards the incoming projectile. “Three Layered Diamond—!” Before she got to finish her spell, the projectile split apart and enclosed her and Kalos, blasting them back once more.

  Frawn yawned. “This is a battle – not a gladiator match. If you want to keep your heads…” He leapt forward, dashing through the dust cloud and leaping up high into the air, aiming the ‘Meteors Breath’ down at the two magic casters, right as they were weakly rising up from the last strike, throwing their gazes up at Frawn, who charged up another shot.

  “You better focus on dodging.”

  Blast.

  He fired his shot down at the magic casters, the projectile splitting apart into many different smaller projectiles, which rained down at the two White Goblins — knocking up a large dust storm, as well as leaving several craters all over the place.

  Frawn landed shortly afterwards, with a giant magic circle appearing below him, which caught him off guard for a second, as April slammed her staff, which he had manifested in the few moments of peace they had gotten in the dust cloud, onto the ground, magic circles forming around her. Her eyes shone underneath her veil. “O’ Great Spirits of fire, I call you forth—” She began her chant.

  “Seems like they managed to live that and even create a counter… Not bad.” Frawn smirked, ever so slightly amused by the situation. In his mind, things got a little more interesting with every second that passed in this battle. Kalos narrowed his eyes, gripping his staff more tightly.

  “How much time do you need?”

  April paused her chant for a moment, looking at Kalos. “Keep him down for at least a minute. Then, get out of the way.” Afterwards, the witch turned her gaze away and continued her chant. Kalos nodded, before exhaling. “In my old age, I never expected to be doing physical activities…”

  Then, his eyes shone red for a second.

  “Alright, I shouldn't waste time.” He mumbled to himself, before leaping forward towards Frawn, which surprised the Red Inventor, as he rested the Meteors Breath onto his right shoulder. “Coming closer? Shouldn’t a magic caster keep their distance at all times?”

  He sighed, before tensing his body. “No matter - I will just—”

  “Great Vines!” Kalos suddenly shouted, stopping his momentum and slamming his staff into the ground. Then, giant vines sprawled out from the ground around Frawn, which caused him to shed a sweat. “He got closer in order to lower my guard—!” He quickly tried to leap out of the way, however the vines moved far too quickly for him to escape in time, and bound him down, immobilising him completely.

  The Meteors Breath was flung out of Frawns hands, landing off outside the giant magic circle being cast by April. Frawn looked a little more nervous now. “I got too ahead of myself— They are still highly powerful sorcerers… I shouldn’t have lowered my guard.” He glared at Kalos and April, while Kalos simply looked at Frawn with a grinning expression, brushing his beard gently.

  “Surprised? No matter how smart you may be, you can’t account for everything we might pull off.” He snickered to himself. Frawn put on an annoyed expression under his mask, however that annoyed expression then turned into a small grin. Kalos looked at him a bit more confused – noticing how Frawn was suddenly quietly chuckling to himself under his breath. “Did you lose a screw—?”

  “Thanks for proving to me that my intelligence is still unparalleled.” Kalos raised an eyebrow, while Frawn simply lifted his head up, one of his eyes under the mask shining bright purple. “I still can account for every possibility!” Kalos’ eyes widened.

  Then, he flipped around towards April. “April! Cancel the spell! We’ve been—”

  “Too late.” Frawn stated. Then, the bright white colour of the magic that April was preparing suddenly crackled, with lightning being shot out from it. April gasped. “What the—? I’m losing control… over my spell…!”

  Slowly, the colour of the magic circle changed, at first simply flickering until eventually it fully changed to a deep purple colour. Aprils and Kalos’ eyes widened wider than any moment before. A couple of Greater Strength runes lit up on the gauntlets that Frawn wore, allowing him to tear through the vines binding him with ease, before he extended his right arm towards the two spell casters.

  “Thank you for finishing the spell chant for me, White Witch. I couldn’t have done it without you.” Frawn stated, snickering under his breath, while the magic circle below him increased in power and then moved below the two spell casters. The two of them could only gasp in disbelief, before Frawn took in a deep breath and shot his right hand down towards the ground. “Pillar of Heavens!”

  The magic circle exploded with magical energy, creating a large pillar of purple light that engulfed the two magic casters in an instant. The both of them let out screams of agony and pain as their very silhouettes disappeared in the light of the purple pillar. After a bit, the pillar decreased in size before disappearing.

  April and Kalos' defeated bodies fell onto the ground, neither of them able to continue the battle. Frawn exhaled, falling onto his right knee a bit, before reaching up and taking off his mask — breathing heavily as he dropped the mask onto the ground. “That was a close one… Even a small miscalculation on my part would have resulted in my death.”

  He took in a deep breath, standing back up and walking over to where his Meteors Breath had fallen when it was flung out of his grip, picking it up and brushing it off before turning back to look at the two defeated Spell Casters. “If it weren’t for the Special Skill I gained after pledging my loyalty to his Majesty, I would have been toast in that moment.”

  After pledging their loyalty – Each of the Goblin Kings gained a new, special ability that was there to cover their weaknesses as well as to ‘fulfill’ their desire.

  Frawn gained the Special Skill [Overwrite] which allowed him to cease full control of any spell around him. The only drawback was that he wasn’t able to incite incantations and thus chant spells himself — and at this point in time, he could only cease control of a few spells at a time.

  In fact, taking control of the spell that April was casting, took a huge toll on him – even if it did not appear to be that way.

  Frawn looked away to where the rest of the battle was happening with a slightly curious gaze. “I wonder how the others are doing.”

  Clang.

  Woosh – cling.

  While Frawn finished up his duel against the two spell casters, Greth was locked in a heavy, one could even say an on-sided duel against the White Goblin clan's greatest swordsman — Baal. Greth was constantly being pushed back, with Baals attacks leaving no room for any openings or chances for Greth to take advantage of to try and turn the fight in her favour.

  “Come on, fight back like a true swordsman!” Baal demanded, swinging his sword down at her from above, while Greth simply leapt back, dodging the swing and quickly slowing herself down, keeping her body low. Baal within a blink of the eye closed the distance between them, swinging his sword from the left side towards the Green Goblin, which she this time blocked with her own blade — being pushed by Baal to the side, all the while her sword showed slight signs of cracking.

  “Wh-What the hell is this physical strength?! This sword is made of White Iron and it’s still showing signs of breaking apart after tanking hits from this guy for a bit.” Greth shed a cold sweat, before pushing Baals sword away and quickly trying to get a swing of her own against him — however the Silver Knight simply backed up, easily dodging her swings or reflecting them with his arms or sword.

  “Too sloppy.” He dodged a swing from her that was aimed for his right side.

  “Inexperienced.” He reflected a swing coming from above.

  “Pathetic amateurish.” He leaned back, dodging a side slash — before retaliating with a swift kick in her stomach, which knocked almost all air out of Greths body. Then, without breaking so much as a sweat, he spun around and kicked her in the side of her head, before spinning back around and pummeling her in the chest, sending her flying back.

  Greth managed to stop her accelerated motion before she crashed into the stone wall behind her, however immediately fell to her right knee, coughing up some blood as well as groaning a bit. “I feel like multiple bones in my body were shattered from that one combo…” She looked at Baal with a pained expression, while Baal simply spun his sword and slammed its blade onto the ground, dragging it after himself as he approached Greth with slow, heavy steps — his right eye practically flaming underneath his helmet.

  Greth breathed heavily, watching him approach.

  She tried to stand back up, however the pain in her stomach and chest caused her to stumble and lean forward — clutching her stomach, while blood gently streamed from her mouth. “Hmph… And you’re supposed to be one of the Kings? What a joke.”

  Greth scoffed. “D-Don’t underestimate me..!” Though she appeared to be rash and bashful, internally, she was panicking lightly. “I still haven’t recovered all my strength as a monarch… If I had, this guy would have been toast by now!” She shed a sweat, while Baal exhaled and dashed at her — closing the distance between them in an instant, before swinging his sword directly at her and with Greths current state, blocking or dodging the attack was not an option.

  Instead — she decided to go for a different approach.

  As Baal's blade approached her body, she tensed up, before her body was suddenly engulfed in a blue aura that then exploded into flames. Baal's eyes widened slightly, however he did not show ‘weakness’ or hesitation and kept his blades swinging going, eventually colliding with Greths body. However, that’s as far as it went.

  The blade ‘bounced’ off of Greths body — as if he had hit an unpierceable object.

  Baal gasped, while Greth narrowed her shining eyes and grabbed onto his sword, yanking it out of his grasp and then leaping back. “Okay– now it’s your move, Sable!”

  “...What?!” Baal pushed out.

  Then, behind him — like an unforeseen storm, Sable appeared, eyes glimmering and fists blazing. Baal quickly turned around to face the attacker, however did not have enough time to counter or block the incoming strike, as Sable pummeled him in the face — sending him crashing straight into the stone wall. The impact of his crash was so great, that it was enough to shake the dungeon lightly.

  Greth breathed heavily as her body returned to normal and she laid on the ground — Baal's sword next to her. Sable exhaled, looking at Greth. “Y’know, using your Special Skill to set up a trap for him is kind of low, even for you.”

  “Shaddup…!” Greth bit back at Sable's snarky comment, before gently closing her eyes, all the while trying to regain her breath. Just like Frawn and Sable, Greth had also gained a Special Skill after pledging her loyalty to Sallow.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Only hers took longer to manifest itself, as her soul was still recovering from being transferred to a new body. Her Special Skill was [Immovable Object] — a skill that made her resistance to all types of attacks hit the maximum amount for a short period of time. Essentially — it was a skill that made her completely invulnerable for a short period, however, at the cost of the user's stamina.

  Once the skill was activated, not only was it impossible to deactivate it, but it would also drain the user from almost all of their stamina — in most cases, rendering them completely unable to continue the battle they were engaging in at that moment. Sable sighed, looking over at where she had sent the Silver Knight flying to, narrowing her gaze.

  As the dust cloud settled, she was able to spot a vague figure in the cloud, brushing off his armour, before weakly standing up. She smirked, walking over to Greth and picking up the blade that belonged to the knight, which confused Greth. “What are you…?”

  Sable then threw the sword to the knight, who had survived her punch. The weapon landed in front of the knight, which confused him at first as he lifted his gaze up towards Sable, who cracked her fists and took a battle ready stance. “Come on – pick it up. I want a fair battle between you and me.” Baal remained silent.

  Then, he stomped onto his sword's hilt, flipping it up into the air before grabbing it and spinning it, swinging it behind him and then narrowing his shining eyes under his helmet onto Sable. “...Very well. Then let us clash in a fair duel.” Sable smirked and nodded, her eyes shining brightly, while a gentle, thin layer of grey aura surrounded her body. “That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  For a brief moment, they remained still and silent.

  Then, they launched at one another — Baal ready to swing his blade and Sable about to throw her left fist in a devastating punch. The attacks of the two sides collided, sending a wave of force so strong, it blew Greths unmoving body away, as well as completely cracked the ground below them — shaking the dungeon lightly and causing some stalactites to fall.

  A dust cloud erupted at first, covering them up – before a burst of energy dispersed it, as Sable and Baals attacks had met one another, with white lighting sparking off of Baal's sword and grey flames gushing from Sable's fists.

  While the Kings fought against the strongest of the White Goblin clans members, the main army that was led here by the White King slowly began to push back the army force made up from the other clans. While no blood was being spilled, the other three clans were struggling to hold their own against the White Goblin soldiers, being knocked to the ground and suffering defeat so badly that one by one, they were unable to continue the battle.

  “Hold the line–! His Majesty has requested us to not allow a single one of them to get through!” Regalia shouted, before blocking an incoming attack from one of the White Goblin warriors and pushing him back, before disarming him and knocking him unconscious with her foot.

  Throwing a look at the other soldiers, she shed a sweat. “We cannot beat them… They keep pushing us back. At this rate – we’ll lose the Black Goblin clan camp and territory.” She grit her teeth beneath her helmet, before swinging her halberd back and dashing towards a large group of white goblin soldiers.

  She leapt high up into the air, spinning her halberd, before crashing down onto the group of warriors, pushing them all back before with a single swing knocking them all away — as well as disarming them all in one swoop.

  “Your Grace… I hope you were right to entrust the fate of our clan to that King.”

  BOOM.

  An echoing, booming sound trembled through the area as Sallow and the White King were absolutely going at it. The two seemed to be an equal match for one another, neither side managing to get the upper hand over the other individual. The White King threw a heavy punch at Sallow, who caught the punch with his left leg, pushing the fist against the ground, before throwing his own punch — which almost connected to the White King's face, only to be caught by the White King at the last moment.

  A momentary, small sweat drop formed on the White King's face as he looked at Sallow with an impressed expression and a wide grin. “I’ll give you this – you definitely do not lack strength or skill, Grey King.”

  Sallow narrowed his eyes, before pulling his caught fist out of the White Kings grip and then grabbing the wrist of the White King, before tossing the hand out of the way and pummeling the White King in the chest with his other fist — sending the White King back a bit, however not quite enough to launch him across the room. Instead, the White King simply slid back a bit, coughing lightly, before smiling and brushing off the small amount of blood that came out of his mouth.

  “Save the pleasantries for later… This is a battle – not a chit chat.” Sallow glared at the White King with a serious deathglare, while the White King simply exhaled and then laughed lightly, standing back up and brushing off his chest and shoulders, before warming up his right shoulder.

  “...Right. I shouldn’t waste my breath with needless chatter.”

  Then, he launched at Sallow with a whirling kick — which Sallow barely managed to block with his arms, the kicks force enough to create a small crater below Sallow. The White King grinned widely, his eyes glimmering beneath the shadow cast over his face, before gently leaping off of Sallow and immediately following his movement up with another kick that pushed Sallow back.

  Sallow scoffed gently, however wasn’t given a chance to do anything, as the White King caught up with him in almost an instant — throwing what looked to be a deathblow. Sallows eyes widened slightly, before he exhaled and swooped low, dodging the deathblow by a hair, before pummeling the White King from below, sending his head up a bit, however the White King recovered immediately, replying to Sallow's attack with a pummel to his face, before quickly jamming his fist into Sallow's torso, twisting it a bit and then sending Sallow flying into one of the walls of the dungeons cavern.

  Tremors were sent through the cave as Sallow crashed into the wall, debris falling from the fall and ceiling – followed by a couple of stalactites falling from the ceiling as well. Sallow struggled to stand back up, holding his stomach with his left arm as he looked towards the White King through the dust cloud that was kicked up by his crash.

  The White King slowly walked towards Sallow, cracking his knuckles and neck a bit, a wide and sinister grin across his face. Sallow shed a sweat. “I trained for over a week and yet I am still not strong enough to be equal to him… This sheer power that he possesses…”

  Sallow took in a deep breath, before exhaling equally as heavily before standing fully up and brushing off the light amount of blood at his mouth and glaring at the White King. “It’s truly no wonder no one tried anything with the White Goblin clan for so long.”

  “Come on, don’t die just yet. I still haven’t had my fill of fun yet.” The White King launched at Sallow once more, at inhuman speeds nonetheless. Sallow braced, lifting his arms in front of him in preparation to block whatever the White King would throw at him.

  As the White King approached, a sudden split second shine came from his left eye. Sallows eyes widened, realising what the Goblin was going to do. Then, the White King's fists ignited with white flames, before he threw a flurry of punches at Sallow, the punches moving so fast, they were indistinguishable from a blur to the naked eye.

  [White Kings Determination - Act I] Flame Parade.

  A massive dust cloud was kicked up, before the White King threw one final blow at Sallow, the strike so strong it completely dissipated the dust cloud that surrounded the Grey King and sent Sallow back into the wall again – the Goblin coughing up blood.

  “Come on! Show me the full extent of your power! The full extent of what a Goblin Overlord can do!” The White King demanded, beating Sallow into the wall. Every consecutive punch that he threw at Sallow made the Grey Goblin bleed a little bit more. Internally, Sallow's bones were being cracked and his organs slowly beginning to split open from the intense flurry of punches that he was tanking.

  The White King continued his onslaught of strikes for a bit, before pulling back one last punch, with which, he fully smashed the Goblin Overlord into the wall — a massive amount of force being sent through the dungeon, which shook everything, causing great tremors to echo, stalactites to fall and even the ground below them to split open a bit.

  It seemed to be over.

  The White King backed up, with a cold gaze locked onto Sallow's body, which was a bloodied mess, before falling to the ground with defeat. Then, the White King scoffed, stretching out and turning around, walking away. “In the end… not even you could prove to be an equal to me.”

  With Sallows' defeat, all hope seemed to be lost.

  Sable was struggling to defeat Baal – as the knight was beginning to gain the upper hand, while Frawn and Greth tried to reinforce the main army forces and push back the forces of the White Goblins army from getting to the Black Goblin clan camp.

  Stress and worry about potential lingered in the air.

  Would they really lose here?

  Only because the White King decided to not wait and instead to take action himself, before they could catch him off guard?

  Was there really nothing that could be done?

  ….

  “Bullshit.”

  A loud shriek echoed through the entire dungeon. Everyone stopped – startled and taken back by the shriek. Frawn looked around dumbfounded. “What was that…?” Greth gently tugged his shirt. “...Look at the White Goblin soldiers.”

  As soon as Frawn looked over, his eyes widened a bit. All the soldiers of the White Goblin clan had suddenly stopped and frozen — unable to move. It was clear that this wasn’t just them being confused about the loud shriek, as each and every one of them expressed confusion.

  “What the–?!”

  “I-I can’t move…!”

  “What is this—?!”

  “Did that shriek immobilise them…?” Greth asked. Frawn narrowed his eyes, slightly confused by the situation. However, what he witnessed next only caused him to shed a gentle sweat, before smiling.

  From behind the frozen White Goblin soldiers, a white shadow dashed, easily tearing through over a dozen soldiers in less than a second, before stopping in front of the two of them. “...Took him long enough..” Frawn commented, while Araneida shrieked again, removing the dust cloud that she had kicked up, before looking at the White Goblin soldiers with a glare.

  Araneida has activated [Ultimate Intimidation].

  The other clans soldiers looked around confused, before Regalia lifted her halberd in the air. “Stand tall my comrades! The Master of his Majesty has finally come to aid us in battle!” The other goblins exchanged gazes, before all lifting their weapons into the air, with a loud cheer echoing through the cave, before they charged at the immobilised White Goblins, easily now pushing them back.

  “Lady Araneida,” Frawn kneeled before the spider, who turned around to face the Red Inventor. “Where is his Majesty's master?”

  The spider pointed towards the sight where Sallow and the White King were duking it out. Frawn looked over, smiling gently. “Please, ensure that this is our victory – Human.”

  The White King looked around confused. “What was that shriek…?” He commented to himself. Then, his eyes widened a bit, before he quickly flipped around – however was just a split second too late to block the incoming strike, which sent him flying away. The White King slowed himself down, before shaking his head and looking at the mysterious attacker.

  Through the kicked up dust cloud, a pair of amber orange eyes shone, before a shortsword sliced the dust cloud apart. Jack stood there, with a grin across his face, before spinning his shortswords and resting them onto his shoulders. “Looks like I came back just at the right time.”

  The White King shed a sweat. “I couldn’t sense him approaching…” The White King rose to his feet. “You are the human who controls the Goblin Overlord and the other Kings, correct?”

  Jack looked over at Sallow's defeated body, before exhaling gently. “Perhaps… Does it really matter? After all…” His eyes glimmered as he turned his gaze back towards the White King, pointing one of his shortswords towards the White King. “Soon, you’ll be joining them to serve under me.” The White King looked frustrated by this sentence, launching at Jack with immense speed.

  “In your dreams–!”

  Jack dodged the strike, leaping out of the way, before morphing his right leg into a zebra leg, kicking the White King in the face and sending him flying straight into the wall of the dungeon cavern. The entire dungeon shook, while Jack morphed his leg back to normal and sheathed his shortswords back up. “Though I’d love to break you apart myself…”

  The White King weakly rose out of the debris, blood trickling down the side of his back from the spot that Jack had kicked. Jack turned around, walking up to Sallow's bloodied body, before throwing his gaze over his right shoulder at the White King. “I’m not the one meant to do that.”

  Jack took out his last Greater Healing Potion, opening the bottle and splashing Sallow with it. The wounds and blood covering his body quickly recovered, allowing the Goblin Overlord to come back to consciousness, before looking up at the smiling Jack, who tossed the empty potion bottle away. “...My Lord…”

  “Come on, get up. You have a King to slay.”

  Sallow looked at Jack with an admiring gaze for a moment, before nodding and rising back up to his feet and glaring at the White King, who scoffed and cracked his knuckles. The Goblin Overlord stepped forward, cracking his fists as well, while Jack narrowed his eyes.

  “Before you begin, here’s a little gift.”

  He extended his right arm towards Sallow. Great Skill [War General] has been activated.

  Sallows' body shone with a bright amber orange glow, before a massive amount of air force shot from it, enough to make the White King shed a heavy, cold sweat. Sallow looked at his hands, taken back by the sudden surge of power he felt, throwing a look back at Jack, who crossed his arms. “It doesn’t last long — use it while you can and take away the crown from that King.”

  Sallow narrowed his eyes and nodded, turning to glare at the White King, who took a defensive stance.

  Jack smirked. “With this…”

  [ STATUS ]

  Sallow - Goblin Overlord

  Health: 2,300 (+50%); 3,450

  Magical Energy: 3,100 (+50%); 4,650

  Strength: 1,020 (+50%); 1,530

  Defence: 900 (+50%); 1,350

  Agility: 800 (+50%); 1,200

  [ STATUS ]

  “There is no way Sallow can lose.”