One month later

  Tarion

  As the winter chilled my men to the bone, qi warmed me. I rattled my great blade, checking its condition. So much blood should have dulled its shine, yet it shone like brand new, feeling as sturdy as ever. This nameless sword deserved my family's pride. I swung it without restraint, making goblins flinch.

  Gotta be around fifty or sixty.

  “New order, new rules.” I levelled my greatsword at my ugly enemies on the outskirts of a Vioden village. Standing on fallow fields, I stared down a band of goblins looking for new slaves. I scanned this new type of enemy. At most, the tallest would be 5 feet 5 inches; they were compact bundles of muscles, like hairy Demetrious Johnsons. Wearing armour of wood and leather, their tailoring showed a culture more advanced than the usual goblins of games and anime. But their green skin and prominent nose on a face terrifying enough to receive PIP benefits? They were goblins without a doubt. Which was strange, as most monsters, especially of higher intelligence, migrated to the high north to hide in the mountains. Why would goblins go down so far south? And without passage through Osberg?

  “Go back to the hole you crawled from, and there won't need to be blood spilt.”

  A leader of metal and leather armour shook his head, grinning with sharp anglerfish teeth. “Human”, the goblin's gravelly voice said. “Deal is a deal. People we need.” Goblins inch forward with a pickaxe and dagger, already bloody. Behind them, captured children, women and men huddled in fear with injuries.

  “Go.”

  “ROGER!”

  Out of an Umbra Cloud, Kurt, Joshua and several more Umbra ran from behind the band of goblins, taking back the kidnappers. “They're taking our stuff! Get the humans!”

  “Don’t turn back.” Qi pulsed away wind and soil; from earth to the heavens, I slashed qi. My fabulous white energy ripped through five green bodies until the leader's sword burst it apart like fireworks with a single hit.

  Mm…

  “Ceta. Shoot them down.

  “Yes, your grace!”

  I walked forward in the rain of arrows while my men shot holes in goblins with mana. I found the leader’s eyes were still as he crouched down. I flashstepped.

  “Planning on running?” I asked a few centimetres away from the ugly monster. The goblin sprang back, but my blade caught him with a slash from the sky and bounced him off the earth. I heard a crack; the goblin foamed from his mouth. “Maybe we can take this one back-”

  An arrow punctured the leader's head, and I sighed. “Again? Why do I keep jinxing myself…?”

  My keen ears heard the archer drop from a tree half a kilometre away. “Handle the rest.”

  Flight took me, shooting me across the fields. At top speed, I followed the rustling bush and grass to the edge of a forest. Life sight saw Goblins waiting in the trees.

  I licked my lips.

  Cloak and sword disappeared into my inventory. Stretching my shoulders, I floated in the middle of the woods. A hundred goblins dropped from their hiding spots, brandishing severe blades. They parted ways as four goblins sauntered in. Closer to my height than normal humans, the hobgoblins packed even more muscle onto their wide frames. The thick armoured monsters encircled me with mana simmering from the blades and big grins.

  “Human duke”. A shielded one spoke.

  “You know me, monster?”

  “You disturb. We must know. And so you must die.”

  I became a bullet, streaking through the air to grab a goblin by the face, smashing it down to the ground. A head splat in my hand, and goblins screeched with fury.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Is that so?”

  “GET HIM!”

  A lean away from steel and a right jab forced brain matter from a goblin's nose. I leapt over shining blades, kicking a face till a neck cracked, and an axe kick knocked and broke a goblin skull. Landing on light feet, my right boot scraped the forest floor, tripping a foolish goblin behind me with a kick to the ankle. A golden back fist hit a green chin, opening a throat like a fizzy can of Coke, and I kicked the fountain of blood away with a shockwave kick.

  Swiftly.

  Goblins froze. Hobgoblins bore witness to a skill they couldn't comprehend.

  Two fingers, index and middle, close to lips, hummed with qi. My greatsword made a return, hovering without a tether.

  Fly!

  I pointed, and my sword killed, severing limbs and heads at supersonic speeds; grey streaked across the wood, zipping around like refracted light.

  With its job done, my weapon rested beside me and, in a flash of blue, went into my inventory.

  Ten lived, either by the skin of their teeth or by shielding themselves. The four hobgoblins stood undeterred.

  “We kill him, and it's over!”

  A bullet punch pinballed five goblins. With a weave, a right hook killed. A left forearm sparked, blocking a blade from a hobgoblin. A stiff front kick was blocked by a shield, shoving the hobgoblin aside. I heard the air whistle and flew under an arrow. As I found my next target. Two axe-wielding hobgoblins jumped, slashing down with mana blades.

  Palms resonated with the air; I broke in the air, letting axes slam into the earth. Saved from decapitation, my left hand held down an axe, and a left roundhouse kick crushed bones with a golden kick. On my right an enemy swung down, but I caught a wooden handle.

  Spin…

  Circles of qi appeared on my left hand, spinning on 3 axis like an aerotrim. Revving like a buzz cutter in my palm, I flash-stepped, digging through the hobgoblin's chest. The corpse spun away, landing by the archer hobgoblin's feet with a blended heart.

  Two left.

  Before it could hook an arrow, Qingging allowed me to get close and lifted the hobgoblin from its feet with an uppercut to its stomach. A golden fist broke apart the monster’s heavy armour as blood gushed from its back.

  Flight broke the sound barrier as I thwarted the last hobgoblin escape.

  “I will let you go if you can-”

  My greatsword blinked in my hand. Sword pointed down, I guarded against a sudden thrust. Slash, jab, slice, slice. I dodged his blue-imbued blade with ease. I hit back a strike; the hobgoblin struck back harder from above. The ground cracked from the pressure. I was focused.

  Reflect.

  A chipped weapon was shot into the sky, leaving a lone Hobgoblin bewildered. I grabbed a shield aimed for my neck, easily removing it from his arm. A sword floated by the monster's neck with my qi.

  “Why kidnap humans?”

  Hobgoblin spit bounced off a wall of qi. “KILL ME ALREADY!”

  My hand spread wide. Tethers of white qi spread the hobgoblin, holding it like a helpless puppet. A flick of the finger, and a greatsword stabbed deep into its leg.

  “ARRRGGGGHHHHH.”

  I tugged on it roughly. “Why so impatient? We have…” I looked at the sun high in the cloudy sky. “We have time.”

  Hours passed.

  “They are remnants of the old ways.” While a carriage bumps me along. I washed blood with bubbling water on my fingertips. Vanessa relaxed on a seat opposite me, tired after a day of healing villagers hurt the goblins.

  “There were Wolfburn men?” Vanessa asked.

  “No, an opposing faction of sorts. They found the same way here that the shaved and bandits did. And had been using it to disturb the towns and villagers far from the city's reach. Wolfburn, tired of the complaint by his serfs, made a deal that the goblins were to limit there and send some of the kidnapped to them.”

  “Dirty business”, Vanessa said, taken by sadness. “I talked to some of the villagers… The elders spoke of their people being taken by the monsters since they were young. It had always been a part of life in the Vioden Farmland. So in hearing that their children and grandchildren were taken, they responded not with shock and anger but with coldness.”

  “They are farmers who are worked to the bone by an unforgiving duke,” I said. “Children are tools to work the land and handle the load. So when some of the tools go missing, they can always make new ones. Life goes on.” Fire flickered on my finger, and I inspected my blade.

  “Have you thought of a name yet, Tarion?” Vanessa's soothing voice brought goosebumps to my left ear. Without me noticing, she sat beside me, smiling. She hugged me close as I threw my greatsword into my inventory.

  “No, still haven’t.” I leaned on my arm, watching the road to the Maize. “I shouldn’t.”

  I willed the window away. Pushing my anger deeper down. “I can’t. If I do…” Vanessa looked in my eyes with silent understanding. Empty of purpose, her warmth helped me with the coldness.