NOVEL NEXT 139- Demonstrating My Warrior Leadership Among Goblins.
I race through the village to the gate in the palisade, where the guards are stationed.
Yeah, the villagers I pass give me strange looks as I sprint by, and so do the two soldiers at the gate, though in their case it's because of how late it is.
"I want to test a new spell I just leveled up," I lie, giving them the first excuse that comes to mind.
I try to pass off my anxiety and nerves as excitement.
I don't know if it works, but they let me through as always.
I thank them and head toward the forest, trying to walk at first; however, urgency kicks in and once I'm among the trees, I break into a run again.
My lady, I hear in my head, I ordered Galp to send his brother with two of the deer to meet you on the path and help you get there faster.
Thanks. How are things going at the village?
They are fighting. I do not want to distract them with questions.
Understood. He's absolutely right. I just hope they're winning or can hold out until I get there.
In any case, I don't doubt that Ronan, through Galp, will have given them orders on how to defend themselves better.
I continue on my way. All of this has caught me without any healing licks available and with no more mana than the four points I kept in case Mary's situation required my help as an earth mage.
I'd make a light orb anchored to myself to help Gump find me, but I can't afford the cost. Thankfully the moon provides some light, or I'd be tripping over tree roots and undergrowth constantly. Plus, I don't have any mana potions. I'm going to have to start carrying one with me all the time, just in case. I'm starting to see that this meditation thing isn't the cure-all it seemed to be because it takes way too long to recover two single mana points.
Since I'm running at full speed, when I run out of breath I slow down to a fast walk, and as soon as I recover, I'm back to running.
Congratulations, your low-level runner mastery has upgraded to medium-level runner mastery. Medium Runner Mastery. Passive. +2 Agi, +1 Con, +30% running speed.
Good, that puts me at 17 health points now.
After about ten minutes, I hear the voice of the little goblin who sweet-talked me. Yeah, the one I found injured who gave me the sad face and puppy-dog eyes—basically, the one responsible for this whole goblin village mess.
He's shouting my name. I hurry to answer.
When he reaches me, I see he's riding a skeleton deer with another following behind. Seeing me, his mount slows down and they stop beside me.
"Leader, so good to see you. I brought you a mount. A zombie bear wasn't possible because they're all fighting," he tells me.
As always, he looks at me with those huge round eyes of his, like I'm the solution to all his problems.
Geez, I don't know if he's like this with everyone or if I just look like the typical light magic pushover who's easy to manipulate.
Let's hope it's the former.
But anyway, here I am again, having to pull their chestnuts out of the fire.
Your subjects' chestnuts, my own voice corrects in my thoughts.
Right, yes, they're my responsibility. And also a future army if I know how to make them grow strong. A possible line of defense and support against those other divine beasts.
"Thanks," I reply while, courtesy of my 9 agility, I mount the skeleton deer without any trouble.
At level 5, agility and wisdom were my highest stats. A lot has happened since then; now only my intelligence, at 8, is below my agility.
As for my deer, its yellowed bones are as hard as they look. Who would have told me I'd miss the fur and flesh of one of the small zombie bears.
It's been just over half an hour since Galp warned Ronan about the attack when we arrive at the cave.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
In the days I've been away—which, though they felt like weeks because of all the mission stuff, were really only six—the exterior of the cave has changed a bit. I left last Sunday around nightfall, and today is Saturday night: exactly six days. They've cut down more trees in the nearby forest area and expanded the wooden structures attached to the cave on the mountain's exterior side.
I also notice mounds of raised earth, like freshly desecrated graves. I know exactly what they are: around the cave entrance and along the nearby forest edge, Ronan buried his wolves, boars, skeleton bears, and some other combat creatures he had raised.
Plus, the other deer are outside too. I imagine it's so they don't get in the way, since they're not combatants like the other mounts Ronan gave the goblins: undead boars and bears. I remember he said he wanted to capture and tame wolves alive, but we haven't been back here since then.
One of the females, who seems to have been waiting for me where the deer are, approaches me.
By the way, her belly, which was already prominent six days ago, is now even more enormous. It looks like she could go into labor at any moment, and according to my calculations, about half of the three-week pregnancy has passed.
"Leader, the crack Ronan told us to watch got bigger and ants came out. The totem and Galp are inside, leading the battle," she reports.
I nod and enter the cave; she follows me. I notice she's carrying a spear and frown. Are the females also fighting, in their advanced state of pregnancy?
I don't mean to sound sexist, but it's dangerous for the babies and, besides, I turn around and I'm amazed that she can move with some speed despite her enormous belly (seriously, it's like a human woman was in her thirteenth month of pregnancy, if that were possible). What the hell, I should say what surprises me is that she can move at all.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts, which are just distracting me, and focus.
I'm in the cave's largest main chamber and, from what I can see, the battle has reached here.
There are piles of bones on the ground, which I identify as corpses of Ronan's skeleton animals, as well as zombies that have been brutally attacked until they ended up destroyed on the ground, motionless, and missing large chunks of flesh. The blood, however, is blackish and hasn't flowed from their corpses as it should. Though what did I expect? They were zombies.
It's the undead wolves, boars, and bears that, despite the casualties, surround the ants coming from the tunnel that connects this cave to the interior cave network.
The totem is perched on one of the pieces of furniture the goblins built from wood—a kind of cabinet—from where he's stomping his feet against the cabinet's top while casting a chant that's perfectly in rhythm. Several of the armed females surround the cabinet in case any enemies reach him.
There's no trace of the living bears and their cubs. Or the small males, since some survived. They're probably in the interior caves that were left as their lair, especially if Ronan ordered it.
The goblins, however, are fighting with their spears against the ants. In a second line behind the zombies and skeletons. These are the adult goblins, not the pregnant females or children. They're led by Gump's brother, who seems taller and stronger than I remember from a few days ago.
You're sending the goblins to fight and not the male bears? I ask Ronan mentally.
Of course, my lady. The goblins fight with spears, which lets them keep their distance. The bears would have to get into close combat, and when an ant bites, even if you kill it, it does not let go. I figured you wanted to breed more bear cubs, so unless it is absolutely necessary, I have kept them safe. As soon as the guard posted at the crack warned that the ants were making it bigger, I told Galp to order the bears to head out into the forest and, once there, seek shelter.
Well thought out. That's way better than being stuck in a cave where the ants could find them.
Well, what am I thinking? Of course it's well thought out if it comes from Ronan.
As for the invaders, they're similar to typical red ants from Earth, but they're the size of an adult dog. A big one, like a husky. Their armored bodies, the clacking of their mandibles, and their antennae give me the creeps.
Bugs.
I don't like them.
But at least they're not spiders or those disgusting, horrible, crawling worms from the troll cave.
"They're just ants, Bianca," I mutter to myself.
The female who accompanied me stares at me, puzzled. I guess she's wondering why I'm not doing anything.
I ignore her.
I need to focus. Because my natural instinct would be to draw my sword and charge in to help them. But I'm supposed to be their leader, their commander.
Bianca, think: what would Ronan do?
Damn it, the seconds tick by like a huge clock pressuring me with its tick-tock. Ronan's undead are the ones on the front line, taking all the bites so far. The goblins, since they have spears, are behind the line of animals. But no matter how fierce the boars, bears, and wolves are, the ants have good defenses with that chitin shell, and there seem to be many of them. Eyeballing it, I count more than ten that have entered this cave, with more still in the tunnel. The animals are cornering them against it, preventing them from pushing deeper into the chamber beyond those first few meters they've already claimed through bites and sheer numbers.
Tick-tock.
Okay, I have no idea what Ronan would do. I'd create a wall in that tunnel to stop more from coming out, but what surrounds me is pure rock, and I feel the earth is far away. I can't pull it through cracks like I did in the dungeon.
If only I didn't have the limitations of my specialization, I'd already have earth control at advanced level and could manipulate stone.
Tick-tock.
The totem finishes its spell, and I see the goblins seem to glow red, their muscles bulging and their bloodlust rising too. It's some kind of buff, hopefully not berserk, or they'd kill each other.
Tick…
Oh, damn it, I have to do something!
(And someone shut up my fucking superego.)
I draw my sword, ignite it with channeling—minus 2 mana points—and charge into battle for the 3 minutes this gives me.
I could've done this from the start instead of standing here thinking.
Some leader I am...
Then something wonderful happens. One of the goblins Ronan took on patrol against the orcs—I think his name was Scamp—yells for them to let me through.
Immediately, a corridor opens up, allowing me to get close to the giant ants. Even the two skeleton wolves in front of me jump aside to give me a clear path.
And there are the ants.