After Rogur completed his attack, it was as if it was the signal for all hell to break loose. Rogur managed to temporarily halt the attack on one flank, but someone else would have to be responsible for what happened on the other.

  But at the same time, the main force of the GES participants had reached the main body of the Goblins.

  A group of Goblins who looked a little different than the first time The Little Killer showed orchestrated a battle here. They had newer and shinier weaponry and armor. And it was all thanks to that same force that once came knocking with the Little Killer.

  Although some of the gear that they brought and wore with them was utterly destroyed, there were still plenty that had small to large pieces of it that were good enough to be reused, and others were left mostly whole.

  Now while Goblins considered the people who had that gear as enemies, that didn’t mean they couldn’t make use of the things they brought with them. Especially not when it was all so valuable.

  So the armor and weapons and whatever else the Goblins, TinkGoblins in particular, could get their hands on were melted, refitted, and entirely reused for the thousands of Goblins gathered here today.

  Yet…if it was so easy to fill the gap that existed between them and those that sought to do them harm, then wars might as well not ever be fought. Not in this world at least. Not when the people here could wield enough power to reshape countries.

  Of course the Chiefs knew this better than anyone, and they did their best to mitigate the amount of pressure their people would be facing.

  This was proven in full by how Rogur was fighting. Everything about it was against the things he believed in when it came to battle, but there was no other choice here. In fact, after claiming the lives of as many riders as he could, he once again had to bring his full attention on the now angered Grafai.

  Grafai was many things, and despite all of his seemingly negative qualities in the eyes of his uncle, there was one thing he definitely wasn’t: a man without feelings. Reserved and shy maybe, but he was not a man without emotion.

  So seeing his countrymen and their precious mounts fall to the sword of the Goblin before him unlocked a different sort of rage that was usually unseen from him even in the midst of battle.

  “GOBLIN! YOUR BATTLE IS WITH ME, AND I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD!”

  Grafai’s mount, seemingly in perfect tune with its rider, began gathering vast amounts of earth mana around its feet and with nothing short of exemplary control and instinctual finesse began modifying the ground as it ran to ensure a smooth yet blistering speed of running unlike what it showcased before.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  It was this ability to modify the earth it ran above that truly gave life to their ability to run on any terrain especially since it was modifying it in real time before placing a foot down without a single bit of hesitation or mistake.

  Grafai gathered mana of his own, and this time, before completely reaching Rogur, he began his attack in full.

  “BALARIAN RENDER!!”

  The High Hark of North Balarian brought his weapon down before him in a downward arc that contained the full might of a being at the Seventh Tier. The earth below him split apart so evenly that it was as if the two sides were running away from each other in a hurry but that wasn’t all.

  The attack sent forward by the High Hark wasn’t a glorified pitfall trap that would open up a hole in the earth for someone to fall in. No… that was just a byproduct of what he really did.

  That downward arcing slash was real. Formed out of mana and the strength of the High Hark, a nearly invisible slash as thick and tall as a tree was ripping up the ground in front of it as it raced towards the waiting Rogur.

  Space itself was bending but cut away by the slash that tore toward Rogur.

  Of course, Chief Rogur was a being that shared the same Tier as his attacker, so he could more than see the attack heading his way. And perhaps if this was a true one-on-one battle with no one else involved, then Rogur would’ve simply dodged the attack and followed up with one of his own.

  Unfortunately for Rogur, dodging was not currently an option.

  There were Goblins to his back.

  This wasn’t something he could allow them to face.

  The mighty Chief of the 14 Goblin Clans grit his teeth, planted his feet, and summoned all the strength and mana held within his body.

  He would not fall here.

  He would do his job.

  He would protect the Goblins.

  He would do as a Chief!

  As a loyal servant of the King must!

  “ARHHHHH!!!!!!”

  He roared out a bellow that shook practically everything but the attack that was heading his way, and lifted his sword over his shoulder before swinging it down with a skill of his own one he gained upon reaching his newest Tier.

  “GROL…VASHHH!!!!!”

  Grol-Vash.

  A word that loosely translated to mean ‘Loyal Wrath’. It was nothing short of a skill that truly looked to embody the wrath of a knight who will always point that wrath in the direction of the enemy causing harm to their king.

  A skill that was truly fitting for a Goblin such as Rogur.

  Once the skill was activated in full with the swinging of Rogur’s sword, a massive tornado of flames normally red, orange, and yellow was colored with a prominent amount of ethereal green.

  The same green that Rick shared in his own flames.

  Then the two attacks met.

  BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

  An inferno of mana was immediately born of the clash, but there was no time for anyone to stop and smell the roses of the result of such a meeting of force and ability.

  Especially not Chief Rogur.

  Grafai was already upon him, and the look in his eye said one thing:

  He smelled blood in the water.

  Despite the rage that colored his face, and the amount of power he packed into that attack, he knew it wouldn’t kill the Goblin before him.

  It wasn’t strong enough to insta-kill even the weakest of Tier Sevens as long as they were prepared and saw it coming.

  But what it did do was cause Chief Rogur to overextend himself.

  He had to protect the Goblins behind him after all.

  Which, of course, created a chink in his armor.

  One the High Hark would not miss.

  I honestly feel whole lot better and I'm looking forward to pouring that energy right back into my writing!