Severing her links to the remaining light orbs, Jun let the spells burn out as they fled the site of the skirmish. As useful as they'd been, one of them detonating had nearly gotten all of them killed and Jun wasn't willing to risk their safety and tie up half her focus on something so unreliable. With the light from the spells gone, the only thing lighting the way were the pair of overcharged barriers Jun pulled along with them. It made the going faster, but they were on borrowed time. The goblins already knew they were in the area when they started searching, but after the skirmish the very light they needed to move also marked their exact position.

It was only a matter of time before they struck again. Not that all of the students seemed to understand the danger.

Ivar and his friends resisted moving, looting the dead goblins instead of getting into formation, at least until the rest of the students left without them, even the other half of their team sticking with Jun and the others. Even the dumbest and most overconfident person knew being abandoned in the wilderness with thousands of goblins about was a death sentence, and the three egotistical warriors seemed to realize they couldn't just force the rest of them to stay behind covering them while they looted and rushed to catch up.

The sound of their stumbling crashes through the woods warned the students that the three finally realized the danger they were in, if only well after everyone else. Idiots, Jun thought to herself. They three boys seemed overly focused on fighting and loot. She understood the attraction well enough, seeing all the wonderous magic items that could be bought, like storage bags. If Shiori hadn't gifted her one, she'd be desperate to earn enough to buy one herself. But money didn't matter if they were dead. She knew that better than most. None of the money she'd squirreled away on Earth had mattered in the end. The only thing that mattered was karma, something that seemed near impossible to actually track. Though she could still see her karma amount on her system screens if she wished, she'd hidden it months ago, the number never seeming to change.

Shaking her head, Jun mentally scolded herself for letting her mind wander as she scanned her surroundings again, feeding more bits of mana and hints of intent into her glowing barriers to move them along. Letting her mind wander was dangerous, especially since they could be attacked again at any moment. She wasn't sure what happened with her spell earlier, but she feared it was because she tried too much at once and lost focus on the orb. The spell flaring out had nearly blinded her classmates, and Melody paid the price.

Melody lost almost as much blood as was possible to lose and still survive, and several of the blows were in fatal locations. That she didn't bleed out before Michael got to her was a miracle.

It also meant that they were effectively on their own. If the advisors were going to intervene, they would have done so before Melody nearly died, but they didn't. Jun was sure the taciturn man that oversaw Melody's team would do something, but he hadn't appeared, still presumably off with Arwen and the other one, silently watching and judging them.

Brava, Ghorro, and Arwen quietly moved parallel to their students as they left the skirmish site behind. A quick cycle of his mana into his healing spell erased the pain where he gripped his hands too tight watching the students skirmish, repairing the microfractures in his hands. His body reinforcement training was falling behind his strength again. With the students grouped up, the other two forced him to hide from the students, staying just barely within aura perception range. He went along with it, believing the students grouped together would be safe enough even in the dark, and he was fast enough to intervene before things got too serious.

He regretted listening to them. The students' plan started off well, the goblins distracted by student Jun's light spells as they prepared for an attack. While the goblins were rallying, the students slipped down the hill in the gloom, quietly eliminating a few goblins on the way. As well as things started, it nearly ended in disaster

Brava had been forced to watch in horror as Samuel screamed, alerting a nearby group of goblins the students hadn't seen, and the monsters swarmed Melody while she was blinded, nearly killing her. He'd started to move to heal his student and smite the goblins, but Ghorro and Arwen held him back, insisting the students could handle themselves. Well Ghorro insisted his students weren't weaklings, and Arwen merely said that if they learned well, they wouldn't die while smiling that smug smile of his. He nearly pulled his weapon on the two of them, but his rational mind managed to regain control and stay his hand. Fighting the two of them wouldn't save his students, it would make things worse.

Forced to stand by, Brava watched as the students ought for their lives. He had to admit that the students could handle themselves, rallying quickly and not panicking. Better still, the three team leaders didn't fight for control in the moment, which would've made things worse. Instead, they repelled goblins from all sides, eventually holding the trail while the goblins withdrew. As relieved as he felt about that, he knew well that goblins didn't retreat, they regrouped. What attacked the students had only been a portion of the horde he saw in the area while the students rested, and it wouldn't be long until the goblin survivors alerted them all.

It was still possible for the students to get out of things themselves, but Brava wouldn't bet on it. If it came down to the students' lives, he would intercede, even if he had to fight off Ghorro and Arwen to do it.

Arwen was not a happy elf. The students' plan was actually a decent one. Cause some chaos and confusion with light spells and sneak out while the goblins watched for an attack . The downside was that it was cowardly and pathetic, their only goal to escape as quickly and easily as possible. Unsurprising for a plan that relied upon his student with the most wasted potential. It shouldn't have surprised him that she again used a boring piece of utility magic, but it did, considering how advanced it seemed to be. At least an Apprentice ranked spell, on par with the offensive magic she refused to use. A surprising choice. He'd never thought anyone could be so stupid, but of course the useless girl would secretly practice leveling a utility spell few would even bother raising to Novice.

Unacceptable. His Master would understand his actions. Better to cull the useless before they infected those with true potential. Sneaking away from the stuck up Paladin and strength obsessed orc was easy enough. Pulling the disruption dart out of his storage ring was easy enough. The finger sized dart made of engraved wood was easily concealed in his hand, and all it took was timing his throw as he passed around a tree.

His throw was perfect, the dart piercing the heart of the girl's spell and burning up as the array on it activated, sending out a pulse of mana that overloaded the spell's structure and caused it to catastrophically fail in a blinding flash of light that caught everyone by surprise. Everyone except himself of course, but he still let himself be blinded, the better to sell his innocence with the other advisors.

But infuriatingly, the students recovered and actually won, the only serious injury one of Brava's. Begrudgingly, he had to admit that the students handled themselves well enough, at least some of them did anyways. Jun's continued focus on nonlethal spells was a habit he would either break from her, or break her. He didn't much care which happened. The twins disappointed him. Cian had the makings of a true killer, but he was too content to hold the line rather than push forward like Ghorro's student did, and Keira struggled to fight off a couple of goblins alone, her speed constrained in tight areas. Aya was everything Jun wasn't in a mage at least, though she held back out of fear of hurting allies. Another bad habit he would either break from his student, or break her.

At least the goblins hadn't given up. Though the students didn't notice the movements through the trees, through his aura perception Arwen felt the blobs of energy marking the edges of the goblin's force as they moved to cut the students off, somehow knowing exactly where they were headed. He would mold his students yet, or they would die.

A wide clearing marked the border between the more normal forest of the hill along the river and the strange snowcapped canopy of the Forest. As they got close, Jun dismissed all of her spells, relying on the faint light of the stars and moon to creep to the edge. It barely mattered. While the goblins hadn't attacked them again in the trees, they must have figured out where the students were going as an army stood between them and escape.

Hundreds of lanterns filled the clearing, and as they watched a group of lanterns split off, heading into the trees at the base of the hill.

"Humans! Come out and answer for your crimes!" A deep voice yelled out, the words of the human tongue clearly unfamiliar to the speaker.

In the dark, Jun heard someone mutter a curse as her classmates moved about. Next to her, Aya turned and whispered to Emily and Gregor, their conversation too hushed for her to hear, but she could guess.

They were in trouble. As Aya and the other team leaders whispered, Keira and the other scouts stood next to them, calling out details as they spotted them.

"Ten groups with lanterns split off into the trees to our West."

"Elevated platform in the middle of the horde, about a dozen on it."

"Mixed squads of archers and melee fighters."

"Shaman circle East by the river."

"Another shaman circle West of the platform."

"Movement on the platform. Another com—how big is that goblin?! It—"

Fear took hold of Jun's mind as an oppressive aura slammed down on them, her knees buckling from the pressure. The pressure was the same as what Arwen used on her team that first day, only worse. It felt like she was caught in the jaws of a wild beast, her chest slowly getting crushed as it bit down, squeezing the air from her lungs and stabbing into her flesh.

Next to her, Aya let out a choked gasp, her hand clutching her chest as she collapsed, tears streaming down her face. One by one, the other students collapsed to the dirt, shaking and gasping for breath.

Jun's vision started to dim, her chest seizing as her lungs refused to take in air. Panic started to take hold, her thoughts desperately looking for some way to defend herself, to save her classmates. Mentally clawing for her mana, the arcane energy responded immediately, flooding it into her defensive spell as she desperately begged the magic to protect them. A dome of glowing energy covered everyone around her as she dumped mana into the spell, but it didn't help. The aura crushed down harder, finally driving Jun to her hands and knees as tears poured from her eyes.

Her vision dimming, Jun struggled to look at the goblin horde as it started to move. The strange power seemed to whisper in her mind, taunting and teasing her with a simple promise.

Death came for them all.

Garug smiled viciously at the center of the horde as his words in the human tongue echoed in the night. Learning the tongue was rare, something usually only done by the slave overseers in the stronghold, but he always valued learning as much as he could. One never knew when something would be useful, and knowledge didn't weigh anything.

Here and now, it was useful to throw off the humans they hunted, make them think they might talk their way out, but that wasn't an option. Too many of the People dead and mutilated at the hands of humans, especially this group. No, the only way things ended was the humans dead or collared for taming.

Still, honor demanded they make one final offer to cornered enemies. They could surrender, and the leaders and shamans would be executed, the rest enslaved to serve the People as recompense for their crimes. It would be too good for them, but the People were honorable, unlike the monstruous lesser beings that sought only their death. He hoped they ignored the Peoples' Mercy.

A minute passed as even the echoes of Garug's words faded into memory, then another. Around the horde, he knew scouts would be watching the trees, searching for any hint of movement, any sign that the savages had some shred of honor and sense to surrender before more of the People died to their evil hands.

The traditional twelve minutes passed with no movement, no alerts from the scouts, nor signals from the teams sent to scour the woods and guard the other side of the river.

Heavy footsteps on the rough hewn wood announced someone ascending the stairs of the platform, but even if the new arrival made no sound, Garug would know who it was. The world sang of his barely restrained power, begging for it to be released. Turning around, he inclined his head at Kranesh, the horde leader surrounded by an air of power. No words needed to be spoken to confirm what any of the People would know by the horde leader's presence. The power of the Fourth Step was well and truly his, anchoring the horde leader's spirit into the world and solidifying the Peoples' connection to it.

"Have they any honor remaining?" Kranesh said, his voice the grinding of rock against rock as he spoke.

Garug shook his head. "No horde leader. They are without honor and refuse the Final Mercy," he said in a grave tone, even as his heart started to pound with excitement and anticipation. He was glad the humans refused the Final Mercy, but he couldn't let his glee show even if all of those present felt the same. The old forms must be respected.

"So be it. They spurn honor to the end. Let us cleanse the world." As Kranesh finished the final invocation, he unveiled his aura, and the world sang. New power flooded down the links between Kranesh and the members of his horde as the horde leader's aura passed over them, hardening bones, strengthening muscles, and sharpening senses and minds. Then, his aura changed as Kranesh bared his fangs, feeding his intent and vow to the People into it. To the People, he would bring honor. To the lesser beings, the mercy of service, or death.

As Kranesh's aura pressed down on the Forest, every eye in the horde watched the surroundings for a reaction. The humans they hunted were somewhere within the woods of the hill, and the horde leader's aura would draw them out in a panic as they realized that justice came for them.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"There!" a scout called out, pointing at something at the edge of the smaller trees at the base of the hill.

Following the scout's pointing, Garug saw it immediately. A light pink glow, like the sky just before dusk truly began to fall, came from a section of the woods near the Eastern bend of the river.

"There!" Garug called out, sending a signal to the closest commander. Drecu, the new leader of his former raiding group. It seemed the universe would reward him and his, granting them the honor of striking the final blow against the defilers.

Horns called out as Drecu's raiders separated from the horde and closed with the glowing light, the new raid leader up front as he chanted a war invocation.

With the forms completed, Garug bared his fangs in a vicious smile, letting his emotions show. He would enjoy this.

Horns and guttural chanting cut through the panic clouding Jun's mind. Still struggling for breath, Jun forced herself to look ahead as dozens of lanterns split off from the horde and headed straight for them. Death in the form of hundreds of goblins.

Cycling her mana, Jun struggled to push back against the aura, her thoughts racing as fear gripped her soul. Even though she died once before, it still scared her. It wasn't the pain, because death didn't actually hurt. Everything leading up to her first death did, but when death actually took her, it just felt like going to sleep. An end to pain and suffering, an end to her struggles, and then rest. An endless sleep without pain or fear. Except it had an end. A screen offering her rebirth. Karma gained somehow that let her shape her next life. A gift, yet also a curse.

For all the magic she learned, the exciting experiences she had and the wonderful people she'd met, she also lost everything she had before. She'd chosen a new world, chosen to leave everyone and everything she knew behind, not that she had much in her past life, but she still felt the loss. Her parents, her friends, her small town, none of it had been particularly great. In fact most of her past life left her feeling sad or apathetic to think about. But those experiences still shaped her. Still made her Jun. Even her name was something she held onto even as it reminded her of more pain than pleasure in her past life.

And that was the trap offered by another life. If not for a trait she'd been able to afford for some reason, the universe would have taken who she was away from her, even as it gifted her another life. Losing her memories would just be another death, but one that felt permanent even if her soul lived on. It wasn't the loss of life that made death something to be feared. It was the loss of self.

Memories of the past few months raced through her. Practicing magic with Aya and adventures with her teammates, relaxing and having fun with her friends, lessons with Shiori. The confusion and anxiety and stress of dealing with strangers that obsessed over small things mixed with the excitement of experiencing a new world. So long as she was [Born of Karma], she would remember. But others wouldn't. Death and rebirth could take away Aya's fiery passion and drive, Keira's poorly hidden love of cute things, Cian's kindness, and Michael's drive to heal others. It would take Melody, Emily, Gina, and the others away from their families and friends, and take their family and friends away from them.

Protecting them meant warding off that fate for just a little longer, giving them more time to gain karma, however the Universe granted it. Perhaps enough for them to hold onto their memories if they wanted, or even be [Born of Karma] themselves. It wasn't a guarantee that they would get anything like that, but living longer would at least increase their chances. But first, she needed to get back up.

Gritting her teeth, Jun pushed against the force holding her down, fighting and clawing at it. She cycled what mana she had through her channels and pushed against the force with every ounce of force her body could muster. She threw her will against it, battering at the pressure with her mind and emotions, channeling everything she had into fighting against it. Every skill she had, she threw against the pressure. Skills she'd hardly ever used like [Karma Manipulation] and [Mental Resistance] and [Soul Sealing], things that seemed like they might help in the moment, she threw against the pressure alongside skills that seemed useless in the moment like [Cleaning], [Cooking], and [Stealth].

Something gave and Jun got a foot under her as the pressure receded. Lashing out again, Jun dug deep into her core, grabbing everything she could think of and throwing it at the pressure. [Piercing Missiles] manifested and shot out as her [Swarming Barrier] came apart in a dozen layers, her magic exploding outwards as she tried to throw it against the strange pressure. Like a nightmare, glowing tentacles ripped from her back, writhing and grasping as they sought to grab and drain whatever it was that was threatening her.

They caught something. Jun nearly missed the sensation as her snares brushed against something immaterial. It was barely there, immaterial, but her spells could touch it, faintly. And if they could touch it, they could drain it. Focusing on the feeling of that immaterial thing, Jun mentally wrapped her snares around it and pulled.

Screams echoed across the Forest.

"Fuck!" The curse slipped from Arwen's lips as a Gold ranked aura crashed down on the Forest around them, staggering him with its oppressive nature.

"Damned goblins!" Ghorro growled next to him, staggering from the sudden oppression aura.

Flicking his eyes to his left, Arwen saw Brava frown, his face cold and serious, the only sign he was affected by the aura the faint crack of bone as the Paladin clenched his fists tight.

This was bad. Pushing his students, even getting them killed if they disappointed him, by forcing them to challenge enemies just beyond them was one thing, but this was another. A bunch of low-Iron students could theoretically handle a low Silver ranked threat, even survive against Silver ranked goblins with luck, just in the realm of plausible enough that it was hard to prove Arwen negligent in his duties. A Gold was different. It wasn't just a threat beyond any of the students, it was a threat to the advisors as well. A goblin horde led by a Gold was exponentially stronger than even multiple hordes led by Silvers. It was where goblins went from a concern that could be managed by a few teams of equivalent or lower ranked adventurers, to one where specialized task forces needed to get involved.

It wasn't something he could handle alone. Briefly, Arwen considered making a run for it, leaving everyone to their fates, but that wasn't a true option for him. If anyone else made it out and reported that Arwen abandoned them, he would certainly be imprisoned and investigated by the Guild. A dedicated IAG investigator would pry all of his secrets out of him, and If that happened his Master's plans would be exposed alongside Arwen's own actions. Then he'd be lucky to just get executed by the Guild as a traitor. Far worse would be what his Master did to him when he found out. Death wouldn't be an escape from that demon.

No, getting out alone wasn't an option for him. In the short few seconds it took him to assess his options, he saw Brava make up his mind. No, that wasn't right. The sanctimonious Paladin could only act in one way, and Arwen knew as soon as he felt that Gold aura what the man would do.

"Ghorro, Arwen, get the students out, I'll buy you time," Brava said, drawing his sword as he started to move towards the students.

"Fuck that Paladin, you're not getting this good of a fight to yourself," Ghorro spat, pulling his own too large sword free.

Of course the man would offer to sacrifice himself for a bunch of brats, and the battle-obsessed orc would follow right off a cliff. Arwen was tempted to just let them fight the horde while he ran, taking the students with him, but the brats would slow him down, and he doubted Brava and Ghorro could handle the horde alone. No, they'd die and then the horde would just end up hunting him and the students. Even if Arwen ditched them as soon as he could, it still risked some of the students making it back and reporting him, or Brava or Ghorro could survive and escape themselves.

"Damn it. You idiots won't be able to kill it alone. The students can manage themselves while we deal with the horde." Fighting down his irritation, Arwen pulled out his bow and quiver of arrows, falling in behind the two meatheads.

As the three of them moved to the students, Arwen nearly missed a step as one of the students started casting magic, drawing the goblins' attention to their position. As the pale pink dome flickered into being, Arwen swallowed a curse. Of course it was the idiot girl Jun.

In a matter of seconds, a force of goblins split off from the horde, charging for the students' position. Seeing the change, Brava moved to intercept the goblins when something changed. Charging goblins tripped and fell in the snow as the horde leader's aura leapt away from the students, like something bit it!

His curiosity getting the best of him, Arwen glanced at the students, his eyebrows raising as he saw Jun flailing at something with her snares as she pushed her way back upright, veritable waves of aura pressure radiating off of her. As he watched with his aura senses, he felt the girl finally break through from peak Bronze to Iron!

Power flooded through Jun's body as her snares drank something in from the immaterial thing she seized, revitalizing her. Greedily, Jun started to rip at the thing, trying to absorb as much of the strange power as she could. The thing squirmed in her tendrils' grasp and tried to slip away, nearly pulling free but Jun stubbornly latched on, burning the strange power to reinforce her spell and hold onto it.

A screen popped up in her vision but she quickly dismissed it as her reinforced spell ripped even more of the power away, the immaterial thing flailing in her spell's grip as it drank deep. As suddenly as the flood of power began, it ended as the immaterial thing ripped a chunk of itself away to escape her grasp, pulling the strange power that held her down away with it!

With stolen power flooding through her, Jun pushed herself back up, looking around to see her classmates still collapsed on the ground, struggling to rise. Her head swimming from the stolen power, Jun looked up at the approaching goblin force, sure they were moments away as she channeled her painfully overfull mana and chunks of the stolen power into a barrier spell, sure they were moments away from being overrun.

Instead, as another dome of arcane protection manifested around her and her classmates, easier than ever before, she saw the horde in disarray, picking themselves up from the snow where they fell.

"Wh-What was that?" Aya gasped, pushing herself back up. "I-It was just like Arwen's—"

"Good, you're up," a familiar and unpleasant voice said as Arwen approached outside of Jun's barrier, a bow in hand and a quiver of arrows on his back. The other two advisors were right behind him, weapons in hand as they looked critically at their students, most of whom still picking themselves up.

"Aura attacks on low levels can be harsh. Are you okay?" Melody's team advisor asked. Before Jun could do more than look at the advisor, she felt a wave of warmth wash over her, taking several aches she hadn't noticed away.

"Thank you, sir," Melody said, pushing herself back up from the ground. "We should be fine with your healing, but what's going on?"

"No time. Students," the armored man said, addressing all of them. "As soon as you're all up, head back to the city as quickly as possible. We'll deal with the horde and catch up."

"But sir—" Emily started to say, only for Ivar to cut her off.

"Screw that! I'm not running from another battle! That's not what you taught us!" Ivar said, staring down his advisor as the orc watched the recovering goblins and fingered his weapon.

Turning his head slightly, the orcish man narrowed his eyes as he regarded Ivar. "You're all too weak for this," he growled. "Get back to the city. Being a good fighter means knowing when you're outmatched. You stay here, you die."

"Enough chatter. Students, you have your orders. We have a horde to kill."

With his orders relayed, Brava turned back to the horde as it recovered and gripped the hilt of his sword tight. Spotting the wooden platform in the middle of the horde, he noticed the figures milling about on it. A large and muscular goblin knelt on the ground, hands gripping his head in obvious pain as six more goblins tended to him.

"Large one on the platform's probably the Gold," he said, pointing with his sword. "The other six around him are probably Silvers, the rest are fodder. Let's go." Brava started to jog forward, breaking from cover as he headed straight for the wooden platform. As he moved, he channeled mana into a skill, feeling it take form and enhance his body. "[Rush to Judgment]." Brava's jog changed in an instant as the man disappeared, dozens of geysers of snow erupting between where he was and the frontline of the horde. They didn't stop there. A goblin in the front line exploded as if an invisible giant stomped on him, then another in the rank behind him as Brava used the goblins as stepping stones, charging with his sword pointed at the horde leader on the platform.

Every step marked another goblin dead as Brava ran forward, his mana pumping into his skill to keep it active. Twenty steps, Five seconds. After the last step, Brava's foot touched the edge of the platform, his armored boot nearly smashing through the green wood as he pushed off it, his sword pointed at the large goblin's chest!

"Bastard's trying to get a head start! [Blood Rush]!" As the first goblin exploded, Ghorro vanished and reappeared where the goblin had been standing, his sword already swinging. As if the goblins weren't even there, Ghorro's sword cleaved through a squad before he vanished again, only to reappear a few feet ahead over the blood remains of another goblin, droplets of blood beading up on his sword as he swung, killing even more.

With every blow, Ghorro collected more blood, the red droplets clinging to his weapon and covering his armor as he appeared and disappeared. With every move he sent ripples through the horde, his weapon growing larger and larger with every kill, reaping yet more blood as he chased after the Paladin. It took him six seconds to catch up, the blood coated orc appearing just feet away from the wooden platform. Instead of slashing at the warriors around him, this time Ghorro focused his strength into his legs, springing up as he leapt into the air, clearing the platform and giving him a perfect angle on the goblins arrayed atop it. With a growl, Ghorro slashed down at them with his [Blood Blade]!

Putting the students out of his mind, Arwen reached behind him into his quiver, using his aura perception to "read" the faint signatures he left upon his arrows. Finding the right one, he pulled and nocked it to his bow as he channeled a series of skills into it. [Imbuer's Mark]. [Remote Array]. [True Shot].

Tempting as it was to try and shoot the horde leader, Arwen was not skilled enough an archer to hit the goblin from a distance, and his arrow wasn't designed to simply hit a single target harder. As the skills took hold on his arrow, he chose his target, selecting a goblin in the middle of turning around as Brava and Ghorro charged the horde leader. Arwen drew and released his shot, the arrow leaping from his bow and covering the distance between him and his target in less than a second. Moments before the arrow sank into the goblin's chest, he activated his array with a pulse of mana through the link.

A powerful magnetic field erupted from the arrow as the goblin sank to the muddy ground, drawing weapons, armor, and the hapless goblins to held onto or wore them in. Arwen couldn't help but smile as some of the goblins were impaled on their comrades weapons as every bit of metal within a dozen feet of his arrow was sucked in. Then, the second phase triggered. In the blink of an eye, the magnet field reversed, repelling the metal away, accelerating it to ridiculous speeds and shattering the metal objects into tiny shards that shredded through the horde, killing dozens of goblins in a single hit.

As goblins began to scream at the chaos, Arwen chose another arrow, laying his skills as he chose another target.

The clang of metal rang through the air as the horde leader deflected Brava's thrust with a backhand blow, his blade barely biting into the goblin's green flesh. As Brava reset his stance, a flash of red above him drew his attention for a moment before Ghorro's magic enhanced strike cut across the platform, drawing a line deep into the rough wood as all of the goblins dodged back unnaturally fast.

Brava eyed the goblins warily as the six smaller ones rallied around the largest, pulling weapons and chattering in their guttural language. From up close, he could finally get a good look at the horde's leaders lit by the steady glow of lanterns around the platform. The largest radiated with power, his Gold aura strong and clear as they sized each other up. He wasn't surprised by the goblin's strength, feeling like it was somewhere in the middle of Gold, though it slightly weakened as Brava heard what could only be one of Arwen's creations going off. As worrisome as the horde leader was, it was the other six that had him truly worried.

He hadn't been able to read their auras from a distance, the goblins surprisingly adept at veiling them, but from such a short distance he could feel them, peak Silver all, but inconsistent. The goblin woman amongst the group had an experienced aura, tightly controlled and coiled tight like a snake, ready to strike. The other five were less experienced, their aura control rougher and leaking in places. Newly ascended and less experienced with their auras, but the number of them were a concern.

The leader was an enhancer, the ebbing of his strength as more of his horde died a clear sign, but that didn't mean they could just kill the weaker goblins to beat him. No, it meant that even the weakest members of the horde could be a problem so long as the leader lived, and his Silver lieutenants would feed the leader more strength and be far more of a threat than their auras hinted at. The true peak Silver goblin girl would be nearly as much of a threat as a mid Gold. The inexperienced ones equal to low Golds.

They were well and truly fucked.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.