Chapter 25: The Ancient Chief
"...And this one still lives."
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief raised its axe.
"Kill them."
The ruins produced the Hobgoblins the way ruins produced unexpected things: all at once, from every direction that had seemed empty a moment before. Arthur had his spear forward before the first roar finished echoing.
"Partner."
Vedas turned.
Arthur pointed at the Chief with one hand and at the incoming Hobgoblins with the other. "You handle that one. We’ll handle the rest."
Vedas stared for a moment. Then slowly nodded. "...Right."
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief stepped forward.
The ground cracked beneath its feet.
At the same time, the rest of the battlefield exploded into chaos.
The battle split into two fronts.
Athena’s spear found the nearest Hobgoblin before it finished closing the distance, and Athy called the next angle from above, and Athena moved before the call finished. Mithra flowed through the space between two charging Hobgoblins.
Her sword flashed.
One Hobgoblin fell and then another.
Melo leapt forward as silver light erupted from her tails. Suddenly, four Hobgoblins froze before crashing into the walls from becoming blind, deaf, and lost in an illusion. Before they could recover, Mithra ran past them with her iron sword flashing out four times.
Four Hobgoblins collapsed after.
A Hobgoblin lunged toward Arthur, but he simply stepped forward. His fist crashed into its face, and the creature flew through a ruined wall. Another Hobgoblin rushed him, but he caught it by the arm and threw it into two more.
And then three more charges.
Arthur inhaled, and then he used War Cry.
"FREEZE!"
The sound exploded across the battlefield, freezing the Hobgoblins.
Arthur pointed. "Now!"
The Goblin hunters didn’t hesitate.
Spears struck.
Blades flashed.
Several Hobgoblins fell before they could recover.
The Goblins stared at Arthur, and one of the hunters swallowed. "The terrifying human did it again."
Another nodded. "I think he planned all of this."
Arthur had absolutely no idea what they were talking about. He then glanced over to see a surprising scene.
He saw the Great One’s fist smashed into Vedas’ face before evading his spear. Then it headbutted Vedas into the ground before trying to split him with its axe. But Vedas rolled out of the way before it was too late. Then the axe came down again, and Vedas caught it on his shield, and the impact sent him backward three steps.
The Hobgoblin Chief didn’t stop.
Another swing.
Then another.
Then another.
Every attack carried decades of experience that forced Vedas to block. Yet even then, Vedas still tried to evade and counter. But he kept losing ground from the obvious advantage the Ancient Hobgoblin had over him.
Every exchange ended the same.
Vedas lost ground.
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief never wasted a movement.
The axe slammed into Vedas again. He stumbled back and left himself wide open. The next swing came instantly, forcing Vedas to dodge to the side and take a glancing blow off his arm, and he felt blood.
The Chief watched him recover with a scoff. "You carry weakness," it said. It gestured behind Vedas, toward where the hunters and Suri were fighting the remaining Hobgoblins. "You protect weakness."
Another step forward.
"You will die because of weakness."
Vedas set his feet.
Athena’s voice reached Arthur from the left side of the battlefield. "Should we help him?"
Mithra was watching the fight without looking away from it. "That Hobgoblin’s experience is showing."
Arthur nodded. "How strong?"
Mithra hesitated. "My best guess? It has reached the peak of a Bronze Tamer."
Athena froze. That was far beyond normal students. Far beyond what an entrance exam should contain.
"Should we really—"
Arthur interrupted. "Let’s keep believing in Vedas."
Both girls looked over.
Arthur smiled. "I think he needs this." The smile softened. "Not just for the settlement. But for himself."
He wasn’t fighting alone anymore.
He was leading.
Mithra became quiet.
Athena slowly nodded.
...
Vedas stood once more and glared at the Great One. He refused to believe protecting others made him weak. It was why he had become stronger.
Just like against the boar.
Just like against Taurus.
Just like against Mephistopheles.
Again and again.
Yet the Great One before him felt like a wall that kept rising no matter what he did. The axe crashed down.
CRACK.
His shield exploded into pieces.
Vedas flew backward and hit the ground hard enough to make him gasp. But the Ancient Hobgoblin Chief wouldn’t give him a chance to recover as it raised its axe.
Vedas couldn’t dodge.
The axe descended towards his face.
CLANG!
The attack stopped.
Vedas froze.
The Hobgoblin Chief froze.
Standing in front of Vedas was Suri. Her spear barely changed the axe’s path.
But it was enough. Her whole body was shaking with the force of what she had blocked. Her face was pale, but she stood there anyway.
She looked at him with a smile even though her hands were still shaking. "Chief." Her legs felt like they were collapsing.
But she didn’t move.
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief stared at her. "You dare to join? Knowing full well you being here can’t make a difference."
"They aren’t alone." One of the Goblin Hunters appeared next to her.
"Chief!"
One hunter stepped beside Suri.
Then another.
Then another.
Until ten Goblins stood between Vedas and the Ancient Hobgoblin.
"We will protect our chief!"
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief looked at them. "More weakness," it said. "It’s always the other way around."
"You’re wrong. Us supporting our Chief isn’t a weakness but a great strength." Gruk said before then turning to Vedas and smiling. "Why are you making things so hard for you, Chief? We are more than those whom you protect; we are the other half of your strength... Believe in us."
Vedas looked at them too.
A sequence of images swept through him.
Gruk smiling.
Suri refusing to run. "Chief!"
The children waving.
Arthur smiling. "You’re their hope."
And suddenly something clicked.
A Chief protects.
A Commander leads.
The realization hit him harder than any attack. His grip tightened around his spear as he grasped Gruk’s words’ true meaning.
"Suri."
She looked at him.
"Get into formation on the left side."
Her eyes went wide. "Yes!"
He turned. "Hunters on my right... Gruk helped me with the planning."
Gruk smiled. "Of course, my Chief."
The battlefield changed.
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief narrowed its eyes. "You think numbers matter?"
The giant axe came down, but Suri was already moving. The axe smashed into stone and sent cracks racing across the plaza. The Chief turned toward her to strike again, but that was exactly what Vedas wanted.
The turn exposed its right side.
One of the hunters charged immediately. His spear stabbed toward the exposed ribs. But the Hobgoblin Chief twisted and knocked the weapon away.
But that movement exposed its back.
Vedas was already there, and his spear thrust forward.
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief jerked aside at the last moment. The attack missed anything vital, but it still drew blood. The Hobgoblin stopped smiling. For the first time since the battle began, it stopped looking at Vedas alone.
A smile spread across Vedas’ face.
Then across the other Goblins as they stared at the Hobgoblin Chief.
For a second, the Ancient Hobgoblin Chief didn’t see Goblins. But ten smiling warriors with the chief behind them.
"Keep moving!" Vedas shouted.
Nobody stayed still.
That was the key.
Every time the Chief focused on one opponent, another attacked from the side. Every time it turned toward that threat, someone appeared behind it. The giant creature found itself constantly rotating.
Constantly reacting.
Constantly forced to choose.
Its axe swept toward a hunter, but Suri stabbed from behind. The Chief forced itself to stop and spun toward Suri. But then Vedas attacked its side and injured it, making the Chief roar out in pain. It quickly recovered and clashed once more with Vedas.
But then a hunter slammed his shield into its back. This led the Chief to stumble forward before Vedas’ fist crashed into its face and sent it flying.
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief roared in frustration. The giant axe crashed down again, and this time the target was Vedas.
The plaza exploded beneath the impact. Stone flew everywhere, but Vedas was already moving.
"Now!"
The command echoed across the battlefield.
Everyone reacted instantly.
Suri struck first, her spear followed from the opposite side. Then another spear from a Goblin Hunter came, and another. The Chief blocked one before evading the other. But it couldn’t stop all of them.
Even more blood appeared across its body.
The wounds were shallow.
But they kept piling up.
The hunters began understanding and stopped waiting for instructions. The moment the Chief faced one person, the others moved automatically.
Then it happened.
A hunter thrust from the front and the Chief moved to block. But Suri attacked from the left, forcing the Chief to turn again. Exactly as planned, and Vedas appeared.
Armor Pierce activated.
Mana exploded through the spear.
Vedas thrust.
The Hobgoblin Chief froze before looking down at the spear buried in its chest. For a moment, nobody moved. Then the Ancient Hobgoblin Chief laughed as blood ran from its mouth.
Its gaze shifted toward the throne standing in the darkness at the center of the plaza. Toward the figure sitting upon it. Then its eyes returned to Vedas. For the first time since the battle began, there was respect in them.
"You finally learned."
Vedas frowned. "What?"
"...The King..."
Blood spilled from his mouth.
"...chose well."
The Ancient Hobgoblin Chief looked relieved before collapsing to the ground while Arthur frowned at those words.
The remaining Hobgoblins froze before rushing away and disappearing into the ruins. No one chased them as a silence settled over the throne plaza.
Silence settled over the throne plaza.
Arthur smiled and shouted. "I told everyone." He pointed proudly. "That’s my Chief."
Vedas trembled before smiling at Arthur, who was still across from the room.
...
Notifications arrived in Arthur’s vision in a sequence that was not unhurried.
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Level Up]
[Goblin Warrior]
[Level 17 → Level 20]
He blinked at them. Then a new screen appeared, different from the others in the specific way that things were different when they were not updates but arrivals.
[Requirement Complete: Level 20 Reached]
[Requirement Complete: Loyalty of 10 Goblins]
[Ancient Trial: Available]
The entire throne plaza began shaking.
Athena froze. "What is happening?"
The ruined city trembled.
The crown symbols began glowing before golden light spread through the stone. It reached the nearest wall. Then the broken tower behind it. Then the collapsed archway at the plaza’s edge.
The ancient capital was lighting up from its center outward, as though the city remembered what it had been and was trying to show them.
Vedas stood in the middle of it with his spear in one hand, and Suri and the hunters arranged around him without having been told. He looked at the light spreading through the stone and could not find anything to say about it.
Melo had shrunk back to her smaller form at some point. She sat on Vedas’s shoulder and looked at the throne with all three eyes open.
Everyone else was looking at the throne too.
It had been visible since they entered the plaza, recognizable from the mural, but the darkness between the columns had hidden its details.
The gold light reached it now.
The throne at the center of the plaza slowly illuminated.
On the throne sat a skeleton.
Ancient armor, the same silver-black from the vision, still intact in the way that things built to last remained intact. A crown on the skull, tilted but present. One hand resting on the arm of the throne and the other on its knee.
The golden light reached the throne last.
The crown lit.
The empty eye sockets filled with gold.
The skeleton didn’t move.
Not yet.
Then...
Its eyes opened.
And looked directly at Vedas.
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