Chương 103: Chapter 101

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work Now poison-free, Kaelis made short work of the goblins in his path. As his axe cleaved through armour and flesh alike, he made it look easy. In fact, he made it look too easy. Allaria couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. This was supposed to be a Tier Four quest, yet the goblins, while tough, were no stronger than the enemies they'd faced throughout their Tier Three adventures. She loosed another arrow, and it buried itself in a goblin's throat.

He looked mildly confused as he reached up to probe at the shaft. He tried to speak, but his words failed him. Instead, there was a wet, choking gurgle as blood gushed from his mouth, spilling down his chest and over his armour. He sagged to the ground, creating a gap in the goblins' rapidly thinning ranks. Through it, Allaria caught sight of a goblin standing apart from the rest. He was several metres behind the others, resting an axe casually on his shoulder. Griknar. It had to be. It was strange.

Allaria would have thought that a leader witnessing his warriors being slaughtered would be more... distressed. Instead, he wore an amused smirk. If Pete were here, he'd probably say something along the lines of,"Either this guy is an enormous pervert who gets off on watching his warriors get hacked to pieces, or shit's about to get real." Sure, it wasn't the most sophisticated explanation of events, but in Allaria's opinion, sophistication was highly overrated.

Griknar's armour and weapon set him apart from the other goblins. He wore polished crimson chainmail, with matching plate pauldrons and vambraces. Much of his face was hidden by an elaborate helm. It was bowl-shaped, with a curved horn on either side like that of a demon. A strip of metal ran down the centre of the helm, covering his nose. Allaria grew more and more uneasy as they carved their way through the last of the goblins.

She kept shooting glances at Griknar, but he hadn't moved a step, apparently content to stand back and enjoy the show. The quest had definitely been too easy so far. She had the uncomfortable feeling that Griknar was going to be on an entirely different level to the rest of the goblins. She just hoped the training they'd undergone would be enough. Kaelis leaned back to avoid the wild swing of a scimitar, then lashed out with a front kick that sent his opponent crashing to the ground.

Before the goblin could recover, Kaelis brought his axe down in an overhead swing, cleaving clean through armour and ribs before the blade buried itself in the ground beneath the creature. He planted a foot on the very dead goblin's chest and tore the axe free. Griknar took a step towards them... and clapped.

"That was bloody beautiful," he said.

"It's made me feel all tingly inside..." He leered at them and waggled his eyebrows.

"I won't say where, of course. That'd be most inappropriate of me." Kaelis and Voklum did not respond with words. Instead, they moved apart, positioning themselves on either side of Griknar. Another fifteen or so metres back, Allaria stood with Winterclaw at her side. The wolf had largely stayed out of the fighting, only intervening on the few occasions when it looked as though one of them was at risk of taking some real damage. Griknar made no move to stop them.

He eyed each of them in turn, the amused smirk on his face growing wider.

"The moment I saw the four of you, I knew you were something special. The way you hacked your way through my warriors, with no fear, no hesitation, no remorse..." He shivered dramatically.

"Ooh, the tingling has started again." He cackled. It made him sound utterly insane, and it was all the confirmation Allaria needed that her whole'enormous pervert' theory was likely dead on the mark. Kaelis, Voklum, and Allaria exchanged questioning glances. After reading the quest description, they'd had all sorts of theories about what Griknar might be like. A ruthless but calculating warrior? A master tactician? A mindless berserker? Allaria wasn't sure whether the reality was better or worse.

Winterclaw, however, made his feelings perfectly clear. He stared at Griknar in a way that rather strongly suggested he considered the goblin a complete and utter cretin. Griknar's cackling ended abruptly. He shook his head sadly and let out a heavy sigh.

"It's such a shame that potential like yours will go to waste. If you were willing to give yourselves over to Suth'tath – to make sacrifices upon his altar – you wouldn't be merely special. You'd be unstoppable. Alas... I know I won't be able to convince you. You think you're the good guys. It's so obvious. The stench of your nobility hangs in the air around you like a particularly putrid fart. It's disgusting." He tossed his axe aside and started dancing on the spot, raising his arms and wiggling his hands.

His voice rose several octaves.

"Ooh, look at me. I'm such a goody two-shoes! Why would I worship an Avatar of War who could grant me boundless power when I could waste my time saving the day? Ooh, I'm so virtuous and brave."

"An Avatar of War?" asked Voklum.

"I can't imagine he'd think very highly of someone who stood idly by while his warriors fought and died." Griknar blinked. He looked mildly surprised as his gaze drifted over the dozens of corpses littering the tunnel before slapping himself on the forehead.

"I'd completely forgotten about them!" he said. Retrieving his axe, he grinned.

"Not think very highly of me? I disagree. Suth'tath loves me. He says I'm his bestest boy!" He waved the axe casually towards the tunnel walls.

"Take a closer look at those." You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Allaria did so, then had to stop herself from copying Griknar and slapping herself on the forehead. She'd been so intent on the approaching goblins that she hadn't noticed the intricate patterns carved into the tunnel walls. In her defence, they weren't obvious in the orange glow of the torches. Her father would've been disappointed, though.

He'd always drilled into her the importance of being aware of her surroundings.

"The altar..." said Allaria softly.

"It's this whole tunnel, isn't it?" Griknar cackled again and began hopping excitedly from foot to foot.

"Exactly!" he cried.

"Watch this!" He raised his axe dramatically and waved it back and forth.

"Oh, great and mighty Suth'tath! It is I, Griknar, your most loyal and handsome subject. I have prepared a wonderful feast for you today, my lord. Just look at it! Starter. Main course. Dessert. It's all here! There'll even be enough for seconds if you want them. All I ask in exchange is that you spare some of that power for little old me."

"This guy is an absolute lunatic," whispered Allaria. Winterclaw nodded in agreement. The goblin corpses rose into the air. As they did, they squirmed and writhed as though they were puppets dangling from wildly jerking strings. Then their armour began to... disintegrate. It broke down into a fine red mist that coiled through the air towards Griknar, gathering around him and growing denser as it continued to pour in from the more than thirty corpses.

"Put him down!" roared Kaelis. Allaria nodded, drawing, nocking, and releasing an arrow within the space of a heartbeat. It cut through the air, heading straight for Griknar's chest. It struck the barrier... and stopped dead, as though it had hit something solid rather than a cloud of mist. Griknar and Suth'tath were not finished. Once the goblins' armour and clothing had disintegrated, their flesh began to follow. Then their muscles, ligaments, and tendons, until nothing remained but bone.

By that point, the red cloud surrounding Griknar was so dense that he was barely visible, reduced to little more than a vague outline.

"Yes!" roared Griknar from somewhere within the mist.

"Give it to me, Suth'tath!" Allaria's eyes widened... and she broke into a fit of giggles. Sure, there was an insane goblin channelling the power of an Avatar of War, tearing apart the bodies of more than thirty warriors to absorb their strength. And yes, it was inevitable that the aforementioned insane goblin would then turn that newfound power against the four of them... But seriously? Those were the words he'd chosen? Give it to me, Suth'tath? As Pete would say... phrasing!

She clamped a hand over her mouth, desperately trying to stop herself from laughing. She was a serious warrior, and this was a serious situation. Kaelis and Voklum turned to look at her, both a little taken aback. Kaelis broke first, his lips twitching as he struggled desperately to hold it together. It was a noble and valiant effort, but ultimately a futile one. He burst into deep, barking laughter. Winterclaw threw back his head and howled with amusement, while Voklum merely shook his head with a wry smile.

"That's it, my misguided friends!" shouted Griknar.

"Laugh! Laugh! Revel in the chaos and majesty of Suth'tath's power!" Griknar inhaled deeply, drawing the red mist into his lungs. He kept inhaling for far longer than should have been possible, until he had fully absorbed the cloud and was visible once more. He had drawn all the power into his body, but he had paid the price. His skin was riddled with cracks, red mist drifting from them like smoke from a dying fire.

The sight was a sobering one, and the amusement that Allaria and the others had felt only moments before evaporated immediately.

"Because I like you guys," said Griknar, his voice now distant and distorted.

"I'll give you one more chance to join us. Think of all the fun we can have together!"

"I'm afraid we'll have to pass," replied Kaelis.

"You may serve an Avatar of War, but we are disciples of beings far greater. My master, Peter Brookes, the Avatar of Peasants. My grandmaster, Archmagus Rel, the greatest magical mind of this generation." With that, he charged. He crossed the distance in the blink of an eye, bringing his axe around in a sweeping arc – the same blow that only minutes before had cleaved a goblin clean in two. Griknar cackled and contemptuously batted the weapon aside.

The force of the deflection sent Kaelis stumbling, and he barely managed to keep hold of his axe.

"Oh ho ho, nice try, little buddy!" said Griknar.

"But don't you see? Suth'tath's deep inside me now, filling me up. You can't beat me. Either join us or die... and I'd hate to have to kill you. I feel like we've really bonded."

"Deep inside me now?" said Allaria.

"Filling me up? You're doing it on purpose, right?" He turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised.

"You mean–" The momentary distraction was all Voklum needed. He lunged forward, his warhammer snapping out as he unleashed Avatar's Breath. The torrent of superheated air raced towards Griknar. The goblin raised his axe in front of him, and a wall of red mist burst into existence. Voklum's spell crashed against it, buffeting the barrier with the heat of a volcano, but it held.

"Toasty!" giggled Griknar. He darted forward, his barrier unravelling as he passed through it, and backhanded Voklum, sending the metallic Trialist hurtling into the wall. Griknar turned to Allaria and Winterclaw and winked.

"So," he said.

"Who'd like to go next? How about you, fluffy? That fur of yours would make a real nice cloak." Winterclaw tilted his head as he considered the goblin. Then he returned the wink, and the tunnels were bathed in a brilliant blue arcane light as the wolf returned to his normal size.

"Damn, you're a big boy," said Griknar.

"Instead of making a cloak from your fur, I could ride you into battle! Our enemies would piss themselves at the sight. It'd be–" Winterclaw bowled the goblin over before pinning him to the ground beneath an enormous paw. He glanced back at Allaria and gave an apologetic shrug that she somehow understood perfectly. Sorry about this. I know it's your quest and everything, but I've really had enough of this guy. Do you mind if I bite his head off?

"Go for it." Quest Complete: Griknar the Great Tier: Four Rating: ★ Recommended Group Size: 3-5 Even empowered by an Avatar of War, Griknar was unable to stand against you. By killing him, you have prevented countless innocents from being sacrificed in his rituals. Rewards: 37, 000 gold 120 Expedition Centre Points Bloodborne Axe * With a few carefully placed swings of his new axe, Kaelis carved an impromptu bench from a fallen log in the overgrown clearing outside the tunnels.

He sat down with a sigh and studied the others for a few moments. Voklum was leaning against a tree, his warhammer resting across his knees. Allaria had withdrawn some water and a vial of Rel'ly Good Shampoo from her inventory and was using it to clean the blood from the fur around Winterclaw's muzzle.

"So," he said finally.

"What can we learn from that quest?" Allaria looked up, her fingers covered in foam.

"I should have noticed the carvings on the wall. If I had, maybe we'd have realised something wasn't right a little sooner."

"That's on all of us," replied Voklum.

"When we first saw Griknar standing casually behind his warriors while we slaughtered them, it should have set alarm bells ringing. What sort of leader would do that? The ritual only empowered him as much as it did because of the number of goblin corpses it could draw power from. Had we attacked him sooner, before so many of his warriors had been killed, he would have been much weaker." Kaelis nodded.

"Those are both good observations. During our next quest, we should try to pay more attention to our surroundings, and keep the following in mind: if a Tier Four quest seems too good to be true, it probably is."

"Wise words, Kaelis," said Allaria. She scratched Winterclaw beneath the chin and flashed a smile.

"I learned one other thing in there too. Winterclaw is an absolute legend, and we should probably promote him to leader of the group."