NOVEL NEXT chapter 77
Over the weeks I have made so much progress. As we were awaiting word from the scouts, so we can move out I contemplated all I have gotten and chosen.
Class levels gained:
homesteader level 7 --> 9
true archer level 5 --> 7
heroic soldier level 5 --> 7
Ability levels gained:
penetrating slash level 2 --> 7
energy sight level 4 --> 8
plant sight level 2 --> 5
animal sight level 2 --> 5
material sight level 1 --> 4
owners land level 1 --> 2
counterweight level 15--> 20 upgraded to substantial counterweight
substantial counterweight level 1 --> 2
silent arrow level 7 --> 10 upgraded to silent shot
silent shot level 1 --> 2
shaped edge level 4 --> 6
piercing thrust level 5 --> 8
light load level 3 --> 5
homesteaders mile level 2 --> 4
sharp blade level 17 --> 20 upgraded to razor-sharp blade
razor-sharp blade level 1 --> 3
extreme energy precision level 3 --> 8
heavy blow level 9 --> 14
tactical advantage level 7 --> 16
charged throw level 3 --> 5
splitting arrow level 4 --> 6
tracking information level 1 --> 4
weapon enhancement level 3 --> 10
Skill levels gained:
basic architecture level 8 --> 9
basic engineering level 6 --> 7
spear level 2 --> 3
sword level 2 --> 5
archery level 10 --> 16
combat strategy level 5 --> 12
stealth level 3 --> 11
basic camouflage level 8 --> 10 upgraded to camouflage
camouflage level 2
throwing level 3 --> 9
basic battle presence level 7 --> 10 upgraded to battle presence
battle presence level 1 --> 3
basic intimidation level 4 --> 10 upgraded to intimidation
intimidation level 1 --> 3
basic awareness level 5 --> 10 upgraded to awareness
awareness level 1 --> 2
basic command level 1 --> 10 upgraded to command
command level 1 --> 4
energy manipulation level 7 --> 12
tracking level 1 --> 5
running level 5 --> 10
basic mental fortitude level 9 --> 10 upgraded to mental fortitude
basic first aid level 7 --> 10 upgraded to first aid
first aid level 1 --> 2
basic mentoring level 8 --> 10 upgraded to mentoring
mentoring level 1 --> 4
basic cartography level 3 --> 7
basic organization level 1 --> 10 upgraded to organization
organization level 1 --> 3
beginner energy emissions level 1 --> 5 upgraded to basic energy emissions
basic energy emissions level 1 --> 10 upgraded to energy emissions
beginner body level 4 --> 11
Stats:
strength +28
dexterity +24
vitality +22
endurance +4
empathy +4
intelligence +4
perception +8
constitution +8
presence +4
New trait gained:
dexterity reaches 160 new trait gained: ambidextrous
vitality reaches 160 new trait gained: power from the mind
New skills gained:
basic war tactics level 1 --> 2
New abilities gained:
active camouflage level 1 --> 3
battle aura level 1 --> 2
intimidating aura level 1 --> 3
sound isolation level 1 --> 2
troop defense boost level 1 --> 3
mind protection level 1
disease removal level 1 --> 2
booming voice level 1 --> 4
food preservation level 1 --> 3
energy forms level 1 --> 3
The traits were amazing. Ambidextrous was not a miracle fix to make everything better, but it does smooth out some annoying movements that are now easier and a lot faster. I suspect it’s a lot better for crafting or fighting with two weapons at the same time. Power from the mind seems to amplify my strength, speed and basically anything I focus on. The stronger my belief the better it is.
Taking the aura abilities was a tough call but Richard was correct again and they seemed powerful, however, why intimidating kept levelling even when not facing the enemy I did not know. The troops were not scared of me, but they did respect me.
I have had little time to focus on training the new abilities. I have only found time to practice energy emissions and energy forms. Whenever I have free energy stored up, I use it up by expelling it raising my energy emissions. Energy form is the next step and allows me to form that emission into different shapes. Currently, it's at best a party trick but I believe it’s the beginnings of energy-based magic.
Finally, the scouts returned. They told me that the army was now far enough away that when we completed our march, they should have no way of coming to the rescue of the encampment or chasing us down.
I did choose a longer route that went towards the inland instead of skirting the edge of the river because if this was some sort of a trap, I didn’t want us to be blocked in against the river.
We moved quickly covering a 5-day march in two days. One thing that was good about the big army was that it moved slower than if it was a smaller one, giving us more time to act. While the troops rested from the quick march, I talked with some of the infiltrators about their next moves.
They had already started to sow discontent among the three powers that were left behind to keep order. This time the sabotage was not made to look like an accident but made so it would seem like it was made by one of the other powers. This way as we rested the encampment slowly started to fall into chaos and fighting started to break out.
After my troops were ready a signal was given out and then the infiltrators started multiple fires near food stockpiles. Now every warrior and goblin left behind was busy trying to put out the fires and thanks to their earlier fights they held their distance from one another.
That was the moment when we made our move. We descended quickly and gave no quarter. Our first targets were food stockpile fires where the remaining forces were gathered and trying to put out the fire.
They were far enough from each other and with the general chaos of the encampment that no one noticed when we fought one group after another. We were able to finish off half of the remaining forces before we were truly noticed.
They tried to gather up and put up a defence. We had to hold on to our throwing weapons and when they started to charge, I gave the order.
“Throw, Ready, Throw, Ready, Throw, Melee weapons.” This disrupted their charge, and some started to run away, “CHARGE.”
To minimize damage to our side I charged into the middle of the loose enemy formation and started to spend my energy like I was squeezing out a sponge.
Huge arcs of my two-handed sword that was glowing brightly with abilities left huge areas filled with dismembered goblins. It didn’t take long until the rest either fled or surrendered. It was a good thing because my energy was starting to run low but luckily my calculations hold up and I could have still retreated to the battle line if I was in any trouble.
There weren't any elites left behind. The goblins that were left in charge weren’t better than the troops we had. Next came the hard part but it needed to be done. First, we killed every breeder and then started to separate the few hundred captives that we had.
We gathered them in smaller groups and led them away from the rest of the captives. The infiltrators pointed out the helpers they had and the non-combative goblins that were asked to leave.
“Thrust.” I gave out the order and another group of survivors was killed. Some were taken out that were helping the infiltrators. “Thrust.” I only have done this once before to prisoners of war and it haunted me for a long time. This was tame in comparison yet still wrong. “Thrust.”
The only ones that were left alive in the encampment were us and the ones that helped the infiltrators. I didn’t bring them along instead gave them orders to disperse into the surroundings and after we had won this war, they would have a chance to join the tribe. Let’s hope that the Chief would agree to this.
We had to make it back quickly, so everything was put to the torch. We ate as much food as possible and then lit the food on fire as well. We razed the entire encampment and started to head back. When we were closest to the army on our way back our scouts informed us that the army stopped. I believe they finally heard the news about what happened back at the encampment.
It seemed that my plan to try to discredit the tribes worked because after a small battle amongst the army the tribes withdrew and to our last knowledge were moving towards the burnt-down encampment and most likely beyond that to the lands that they used to inhabit.
But just in case I had to send some scouts to keep an eye on them and a few of the best infiltrators to figure out if it would be possible to get them to our side. But not reveal themselves to them if they weren’t sure about them.
We made it to the forward camp and were able to rest a bit before we had to back up everything and clear out the camp. We started moving towards the dam camp.
It looked like the army was marching straight towards the dam. From our scout observations, they had figured that the dam was the only way past the now flooded forest. I overestimated the enemy scouting capabilities and I guess that our job at killing and limiting the range helped a lot as well.
The dam would be the best place to fight. The waterfall site would be the second one, but it was quite a lot wider than the dam. But we had already fixed that. If it came to a fight there, we built spike walls which can be placed if needed shrinking down the fighting line.
What I was really worried about was the shamans using magic and somehow freezing a large area of the river so they could cross. But there was no way to plan against that unless I was willing to infiltrate the army and try to assassinate 2 shamans. I absolutely was not that crazy.
I watched as the rest of the troops that were in the raid marched into the distance and I was left with the relief force that was going to move around and try to kill some more scout parties. I didn’t want to give them too much breathing room and killing scouts hopefully stopped them from going further out and finding the alternate route.
The next four days were a tough time when I only got time to sleep when we were waiting for an ambush. Otherwise, I constantly needed to be awake to help track and escape from the enemy scouts. My troops were relieved four times. I kept at it until the army made it too close to the dam to make it non-viable to go out and try to kill some more scouts.
It took two more days which I spent on helping make the wall sturdier and safer for our troops. Currently, they weren’t training anymore but they were on either watch or rest until the big battle begins.
I warned the commanders, and the Chief that this would not be a simple one-battle fight to win the war, but it might stretch on for weeks. But the longer it took the better it would be for us as the goblins would be without food for the entire time.
I knew that goblins were resilient bastards but that much abuse would even break their bodies. I suspect that the leadership will hold up a lot longer than their troops and we would need to sally forth to actually finish this war.
On the 3rd morning, I could finally see the approaching army and while the numbers were impressive the goblins themselves were not. Most of them seemed to not be able to walk straight but I’m guessing a little bit of rest would help with that a bit, but no food to replenish them to their full strength will leave them weak.
I was the first to notice them, but I didn’t give an indication that I saw the goblins. So, I had another 10 minutes to observe in peace until the alarms started up and the troops started to assemble and moved towards the dam's wall.
The dam itself was about 10 meters across and about 25 meters long. It was made primarily of round rocks and walking across it is a bitch and a half. The wall was about my height with our side having two steps that took a goblin to a perfect height to throw and yet have cover from the enemy.
The wall extended further than the dam but not by much and started to taper off slowly. In the middle, there was about a 5-meter gap where a gate would be. We could have made a smaller hole, but we felt that the bigger target would be a bit more enticing for the enemy to try to send troops through.
The wall was curved a bit inwards so it would form a bowl against the dam, further funnelling the enemy into the hole. What I focused on the most when I was helping build the wall was making the outer wall smooth so there were no good ways for them to climb.
It looks like the goblin leaders didn’t want to waste too much time and after a few hours, they were in line and moving double time closer to the dam. I didn’t wait until they were in throwing range but started to use arrows to start the fight.
The goblins were nice enough to make me more, although they had stone tips and weren’t the best but for this kind of fight, they would be good enough. So, with my longbow, I aimed, charged up splitting arrow and released. Then even before the now multiple arrows started their downwards trajectory the next one left my bow. And just like that, the big battle begins.