A voice screamed in his mind to run, but the rational side of him said there was no time. He was in no man’s land, a hundred yards from the safety of the tree line and a still a hundred yards from the brambles the goblins were hiding in. The moonlight continued to move towards him, sneaking through the shifting clouds above. Richter slowly lowered himself to the ground, deciding to trust in the powers of his Cloak of Concealment. The rare item increased his concealment in any and all terrains. It was its universal application that made it so valuable.
Richter lowered himself into pushup position and then eased himself further down. A scant inch of space hung between the edge of his cowl and the ground. Richter saw the red light reach him and held his breath. His heartbeat sounded so loud in his ears, it didn’t seem possible that others did not hear it, but again, the rational part of him knew that was impossible. He kept his attention glued to his eye gauge.
Entering Stealth had made a closed eye appear on his internal interface. As long as the eye stayed closed, his concealment was preserved. If it opened… well, basically, he was fucked. Since reaching initiate rank in the skill, the eye had gained another feature. The black color had been replaced with a spectrum moving from green to yellow to red. Predictably, if the eye was green, there was little danger of being detected, yellow showed increased risk and red… well, basically, he was about to be fucked.
Since shrouding his figure, the eye had been closed and green. One time that he had stepped on a dry twig, the deep emerald green had lightened a bit, but after a few moments, it had returned to a dark green again. Now, however, in the light of Ignam, the Fire moon, the eye turned a sickly shade of yellow. Richter didn’t move a muscle. The yellow brightened to that of a ripe lemon as the moonlight covered his whole body.
It occurred to Richter that a moon thought to embody the Basic Element, Fire, most likely was not the best light to stay hidden in. Moments passed that felt like weeks. He closed his eyes, never taking his attention from the eye gauge. He just kept repeating a silent mantra, “Please god let it stay closed.” The light finally passed, and the eye gauge turned green again. Richter breathed a quiet sigh of relief and got back to his feet.
Now that he was safely ensconced in darkness, Richter moved towards his quarry again. In the minute that had passed while he lay exposed in moonlight, more red triangles had disappeared from his map, the knowledge of their deaths communicated through the magic of Yoshi’s War Leader skill. Only five remained. The two in front of him, the one his snake was moving towards, and a last pair that six of Yoshi’s men were stalking. Richter knew those goblins would not be long for the world. He focused on his task.
Alma obeyed his mental command and flew in low, and unseen, behind the goblins in the thicket. She landed softly, her dark scales blending nearly perfect with the ground. If his spell failed, her Psi Blast would be his back up. It was not an ideal choice, as her mental attack affected people differently. Some might be completely incapacitated, while others might scream their heads off. Still, better to roll the dice, than know for certain that his prey would raise the alarm.
Richter crept closer in a hunched position, circling a bit to the left of the bush. Once he crossed the final nut clenching fifteen feet, he softly breathed a word of Power and cast Troubled Sleep. A black glow surrounding his hands, but it was invisible in the night. As soon as the one second cast time elapsed, he moved forward quickly in case the goblins resisted his spell. He had nothing to worry about, his high Intelligence proved sufficient for the task. Both goblins were sound asleep. One kicked, as if pushing away a phantom attacker, and the other moaned softly. That was the one Richter killed first.
Not seeing any reason to waste the experience, he had Alma latch onto the goblin’s head. Immediately after, Richter plunged his dagger through the goblin’s eye and into the scout’s brain. Death was instantaneous. Alma growled softly as she fed on the bolus of mental energy. She quickly latched onto the other goblin, and her master ended his life as quickly as he had the first one. She purred in savage pleasure as she digested the two scouts’ memories, thought patterns and personas.
*Still hungry, love?* Richter thought to her.
*Always, master,* was the bloodthirsty reply.
*Good. Go fly above the final goblin. When the adder attacks-* Richter’s communication was interrupted by something unexpected.
An image came to his mind of a nighttime scene. He could see a goblin looking about with unease on his face. Behind him was the pass leading to the guard post. Along with the image came a question. There were no distinct words, but Richter still understood the message, “Now?”
With a smile, he realized that his tamed shale adder had sent him an image of what it was seeing, just like Alma. The Psi Bond prompt had described a boost to his pet’s intelligence and their mental connection. If this was how it manifested, Richter wasn’t disappointed. He was surprised, though. The snake was smart enough ask for permission now. That had to be at least a couple of evolutionary steps forward by Richter’s estimation. Then he realized, maybe not. The chaos seed had assumed that because the snake was a beast, it must be dumb, but it had always been smart enough to follow his commands even before the increase in Psi Bond.
All of his musings were academic, though. Right now, he had to deal with the final enemy. The goblin was of the fighter station, and from the expression on his face, had picked up on the fact that something was wrong. The fighter hadn’t raised an alarm yet, so he wasn’t sure, but Richter knew it was only a matter of time. The goblin was only seconds from raising the alarm. It was really too bad for him that the adder was only five feet away.
*Kill him,* Richter thought to his pet with sadistic satisfaction.
The image zoomed in so quickly that it startled Richter, and then it started tilting crazily. He realized the adder had struck and was now rolling to entomb the goblin in its coils. The fighter’s life was over; he just didn’t know it yet.
Richter smiled at Alma, *If you’re still hungry you better hurry. I don’t think my pet snake is going to wait much longer.*
The dragonling shot into the air, winging towards the adder. She took full advantage of her new speed in the hope that she would be able to capture the goblin’s psychic energy before it died. Richter sent a group thought to both of them, telling them to play nice, and then started walking towards the icon on his map that showed Yoshi’s position.
CHAPTER 28 – Day 141 – Kuborn 31, 15,386 EBG
You have been awarded 771 experience (base 17,624 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 6 Goblin, Station: Scout.
You have been awarded 982 experience (base 22,437 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 7 Goblin, Station: Scout.
You have been awarded 3,067 experience (base 70,113 x 0.07 x 1.25 x 0.5) from Brain Drain against Level 12 Goblin, Station: Fighter.
Know This! As a Battle Sergeant serving beneath a Battle Leader, you are entitled to keep 50% of the total War Points earned.
For slaying twelve Goblin Scouts, you have been awarded 12 (24 x 0.5) War Points!
For slaying three Goblin Fighters, you have been awarded 5 (9 x 0.5) War Points!