Chương 19: Chapter 18

The all-out war between the goblins and orcs raged for hours. By this point, the goblin army had suffered more than eight hundred deaths, while the orcs had lost less than a dozen warriors in total. And yet, somehow, the orcs were losing. The battlefield had transformed into a muddy wasteland of blood, corpses, and churned earth. Broken weapons littered the ground while wounded wolves whimpered beneath piles of bodies. The orcs were undeniably stronger.

A single orc warrior could carve through groups of goblins without much effort, and even the elite hobgoblins struggled to match them. But strength alone meant little against endless numbers. Many of the orcs were barely able to stand anymore. Their armor was dented and cracked, their skin covered in cuts, bites, and stab wounds. More than half of them had collapsed from sheer exhaustion despite only suffering relatively minor injuries. Meanwhile, the goblins simply kept coming.

Every time hundreds died, more would crawl screaming from the Goblin King's flesh. The massive creature had lost ten entire levels during the battle, dropping all the way to level twenty-eight. Several hundred pounds had vanished from his body as well, leaving him looking less like a mountain of flesh and more like a grotesquely oversized stick figure with sagging skin hanging from his frame. Still, the sacrifice had allowed him to spawn an army nearly one thousand goblins strong.

"Damn you, cowardly green bastard!" Granessa roared from the battlefield.

"I'll put an end to this myself!" The War Chieftainess was drenched head to toe in goblin blood. In one hand, she held a struggling hobgoblin by the neck as though it weighed nothing. With a casual squeeze, a sickening crack echoed through the battlefield. The hobgoblin's neck snapped instantly. Granessa tossed the corpse aside and hefted her massive double-bladed axe over her shoulder before stomping across the blood-soaked battlefield.

"Open a path!" one of the orc generals roared. The exhausted orcs immediately responded. As if drawing strength from the presence of their invincible leader, the warriors pushed forward with renewed ferocity to clear a route for their chieftainess. Goblins were hacked apart, trampled beneath heavy boots, or smashed aside by shields. Anything standing in Granessa's path was ruthlessly crushed by her loyal warriors.

She marched through the battlefield with an imposing presence that perfectly suited her massive, awe-inspiring frame. Every heavy step splashed muddy blood across the ground while weaker goblins instinctively recoiled from her approach.

"I like her," Mei admitted while watching the towering orc advance.

"I hope she wins." Adam glanced at her.

"You know we'll probably have to fight her if she does, right?" Mei gave him a skeptical look.

"Do we?" Adam opened his mouth before hesitating. Honestly… they didn't really have a reason to fight her. The problem was the reason Granessa was so enraged in the first place. The burning forest. More specifically, the fact that he and Mei were responsible for it. Adam had no idea how the orcs would react if they discovered the truth. Based on Granessa's personality so far, he doubted she would calmly sit down for negotiations after learning they were responsible for burning down an ancestral forest.

Which meant it might genuinely be safer to eliminate her while she was weakened from fighting both the Goblin King and his army. In the end, Adam simply shrugged and turned his attention back toward the approaching clash between the two leaders. Earlier, the orc chieftainess had been too far away for them to properly see her status. Now, however, glowing text floated clearly above her head. Granessa - War Chieftainess (NPC) - Lv. 39 Mei blinked several times.

"Eh…? She isn't a boss? She's an NPC?" Adam stared at the floating text in equal disbelief. The two of them had automatically assumed the orcs were enemies like the goblins. Just stronger mobs. But NPCs were different. NPCs could be spoken to. Negotiated with. Reasoned with. Well… sometimes. Some NPCs were friendly. Others were very, very hostile. It was impossible to tell which category the orcs fell into. What Adam and Mei did know was that the clash between the two leaders was about to begin.

And the Goblin King was already retreating in fear. With his level having dropped so drastically during the battle, it was obvious he would lose in a direct confrontation against Granessa.

"Now you know fear," Granessa sneered while stomping forward.

"Too late!" She suddenly lunged forward, crossing the remaining distance in a terrifying burst of speed. Her massive axe trailed behind her as she prepared a devastating slash powerful enough to cleave through several goblins at once. The Goblin King stumbled backward toward the burning forest, putting more and more distance between himself and the battlefield. However, just as panic seemed to overtake him, his expression twisted into a dark grin.

"You fell for it," he laughed. All across the battlefield, blood began to move. Small rivers of crimson that had soaked into the dirt suddenly reversed direction and flowed back toward the Goblin King. Torn chunks of flesh from dead goblins and hobgoblins wriggled across the ground like living things. Then the living goblins began screaming. Their bodies collapsed into quivering piles of green flesh before sliding rapidly toward their king. Adam's eyes widened.

"He's reabsorbing them…" The Goblin King had retreated far enough that the exhausted orcs couldn't stop the process in time. Blob after blob of flesh slammed back into his massive body. His level rapidly climbed while his already grotesque form expanded outward. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. His stomach ballooned larger. His arms thickened. Layers of fat stacked atop one another until he looked less like a creature and more like a moving hill of flesh.

Soon, the Goblin King appeared to weigh well over a ton. And above his head, his level rose once more. Goblin King (BOSS) - Lv. 40"Heh!" the Goblin King laughed triumphantly.

"This is the way of the king! I am my subjects, and my subjects are I!"

"You're nothing but an abomination!" Granessa swung her axe directly into his enormous belly. The blade carved deeply into him. But no blood spilled. Instead, thick pearly-white fat bulged outward from the wound before rippling unnaturally. Then it began to move. The fat rapidly shaped itself into limbs and bodies before transforming into two fully formed hobgoblin generals. The pair immediately lunged at Granessa's legs and wrapped themselves around her, causing her movements to falter for a brief moment.

"Hahaha!" the Goblin King roared with laughter.

"I'm invincible! There is nothing you can do but struggle pointlessly!" Granessa merely snorted in disdain. Without even bothering to answer his taunts, she lifted one massive foot and stomped downward hard enough to crater the earth. The hobgoblin clinging to her right leg spat blood instantly. More blood poured from its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth before its grip loosened completely. The corpse dropped limply to the ground. Granessa repeated the motion with her other foot. Another crunch echoed out.

The second hobgoblin died just as easily. The two corpses immediately melted back into fleshy blobs and slithered across the battlefield toward the Goblin King.

"You can kill my subjects all you want," he sneered, "but you'll never defeat me." Granessa's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I won't defeat you," she growled.

"I'll kill you." She swung her axe again. This time, flames erupted across both blades. The Goblin King's eyes instantly shrank to pinpricks.

"You!" he shrieked while stumbling backward.

"How did you know?!" Granessa pressed forward relentlessly and hacked into him again. Once more, no blood spilled from the wound. However, this time the pearly fat sizzled and blackened before it could transform.

"I guessed," Granessa admitted coldly.

"Why else would you abandon the forest if you weren't afraid of fire?" A cruel smile spread across her face as the wildfire raged behind the Goblin King.

"Whoever truly started this fire did me a tremendous favor. I could never burn my ancestors' land myself, nor could I order my warriors to do it." The Goblin King froze.

"What?! It wasn't you?!"

"It was not," Granessa replied calmly.

"But the result suits me all the same." The Goblin King trembled violently. Whether from rage or fear, even Adam couldn't tell. But one thing was obvious. The Goblin King had trapped himself. Behind him roared the wildfire. And in front of him stood Granessa with a flaming axe. The Goblin King gritted his teeth hard enough that loud cracks echoed over the roar of the surrounding flames. Then he turned and ran. Despite his impossibly bloated frame, he sprinted into the burning forest with shocking speed.

Trees shook as he barreled through them while firelight danced across his enormous body. Adam and Mei stared blankly as the massive creature charged directly toward them.

"Uh…" Mei intelligently contributed. They didn't even have time to move. The Goblin King slammed headfirst into Adam's invisible barrier with a thunderous crash. The transparent shield shattered instantly like glass. The backlash sent Adam, Mei, and the Goblin King stumbling backward in different directions. For a brief moment, both sides simply stared at one another in complete confusion. The Goblin King blinked. Adam blinked back.

Then Granessa stepped through the burning trees behind the fallen goblin king with her flaming axe resting casually across one shoulder. She paused upon seeing the bizarre scene before her.

"A dark knife-ear and a human?" she muttered while tilting her head slightly.

"What exactly is going on here?" Adam suddenly felt an extremely bad premonition. The Goblin King slowly pushed himself upright before glaring at Adam and Mei with bloodshot eyes filled with fury.

"I see…" he hissed. His lip curled upward viciously.

"It was you two who set my forest on fire!" Adam opened his mouth.

"Now hold on-""Fine! Fine!" the Goblin King screamed hysterically, cutting him off.

"You want to scheme against me?! Then let's see if you're worthy!" His already grotesquely rotund body began swelling outward even further.

"Oh god," Mei whispered while paling visibly.

"I think I'm gonna puke…" The Goblin King's flesh expanded grotesquely as veins bulged across his body like writhing worms beneath the skin. Then everything exploded. BOOM! The deafening blast shook the burning forest hard enough to rattle nearby trees. A violent shockwave erupted outward and extinguished every flame within a twenty-foot radius. Blood sprayed through the air alongside chunks of flesh and razor-sharp bone fragments. It resembled a living fragmentation grenade. Adam reacted instantly.

Multiple barriers sprang into existence around himself and Mei. After a split second of hesitation, he also threw another protective barrier around Granessa in an attempt to earn some goodwill. Bone shards and gore slammed against the barriers in a horrifying barrage.

"Did…" Mei swallowed hard.

"Did he just commit suicide by exploding himself?" A wet chunk of flesh smacked against the barrier directly in front of her face. That finally broke her. Mei turned to the side and vomited.

"He didn't," Adam answered grimly. Through the fading cloud of blood and smoke, he could barely make out a strange figure standing motionless at the center of the explosion. The moment he saw it, a sinking feeling settled heavily in his stomach. At last, he realized what had been bothering him ever since they started the fire.