Despite listening to the scout’s intel, nobody knew what to prepare. The previous strategy worked very well against the catapults and brutes. Even if they tripled the number from the previous wave, Stoneberry Keep would not fall. Yet, one undetermined factor threw a wrench in their works.
What was a goblin mage? How was it different from a goblin shaman?“I bet it’s just an upgrade,” Venedict scoffed. “A more powerful shaman.”Unimpressed, Sir Rowan gave the mercenary the stink eye for stating the obvious. Zen simply ignored him. They couldn’t test the mage’s ability to know what it could do. The paranoid strategist wondered if Baron Leron knew anything about a goblin mage and sent a letter to the goblin-obsessed scholar. Yet, nobody knew anything useful about the potential threat. The only hint Zen received about magicians was from the drunken priest Lorren.“According to him, magicians specialise in one of tAs the cut scene started, Zen could no longer give out commands. He relayed the plan once to Sir Rowan and his subordinates. However, the gamer had no idea if they would be able to pull off such a complicated plan. There was no direct fighting involved in this battle. Instead, he would manipulate the terrain to their advantage, assuming he could lock the magician in place.The first stage included a little theatrics to set the atmosphere. As war drums and horns sounded from both armies, the sharpshooters and soldiers started travelling to their assigned spots. Nobody moved from their spot as catapults launched false attacks.The goblin army laughed at the human army’s failure to understand the range limits of their catapults when the rock-covered snowballs crashed in front of them, creating a large cloud of snow. They laughed for a long time until they realised how the cloud of snow wasn’t clearing up.From afar, Zen could not tell what the goblins were do
Ping![You are victorious and have successfully defended against the Goblin Invasion Wave 4. You have been awarded 20 leadership Points.]Dismissing the notification, Zen quickly dashed out of the tent to look at the battlefield. The avalanche cleared, and it was now spring instead of winter. The time skip magic did its job, but it was time to face the final boss.“Zen,” Sir Rowan bowed. “Please lend us your wisdom one last time. The scouts returned with devastating information. Not even our goblin-obsessed lord knew about a higher evolution in goblins.”As the NPCs escorted Zen into the tent, the gamer learned about the existence of a goblin lord for the first time. Goblins were normally weak monsters that gathered in tribes to rob and plunder villagers. They were designed to be petty and dumb so that novice adventurers were able to farm them for easy experience. The dungeon designer probably did this as a joke. In fact, the entire side q
Zen was the last person anyone in the academy would think of relying on when training an army. He didn’t blame them either. Zen would rather exploit game bugs to clear his quests if not for the unique side quest. He didn’t know if this would work, but it was worth a try. The water formation wasn’t something he created. Instead, it was created by an ancient general before guns were invented. The effectiveness of this plan was in the speed of movement. However, he could not use this method previously when the game kept locking him out of the action.Now that the restriction was lifted, there was no reason for Zen not to teach it. Zen wasn't afraid of the numbers that threatened them with him in the centre of that formation and a small group of highly mobile army. The key was to have a low hierarchy of reporting structure. The soldiers must be highly disciplined to do as they were told, reacting to split-second changes in instructions. The water formation was der
Mentally, Zen was exhausted. He spent so many hours clearing the main quest that it was way past lunch. Now, he had already gone past dinner by an hour. Thankfully, his party and guild members had enough food from the morning’s batch to fill their stomachs. The leftovers were neatly stored in Liu Feng’s refrigerator, which any party member could access. The blind man had a special section reserved for his food that Zen meticulously prepared as part of their omerta agreement. Nobody was foolish enough to steal Liu Feng’s food, but everything else was up for grabs. Oritha was the greatest threat to the food supplies, but thankfully, the girls had a stash of instant meals in their rooms that Sasha’s family sent.The in-game army strategist considered logging out for a while to eat something before he continued the last battle. However, there was a timer for preparations. The gamer didn’t want to waste the thirty-minute preparation timer and lose focus
Whatever the humans were planning, the goblin lord was confident that the battle would not last more than an hour. Their army was superior in strength, and compared to before, they already knew all the tricks humans would employ. These humans couldn't do anything without the cover of snow to scare them. No birds or ranged attacks will work because the goblin elite army spent the rest of winter gearing up.Standing on the front line, the hobgoblins in padded armour that looked too small to cover them fully impatiently swung their maces and battleaxes. With a magician accompanying them, fully focused on holding up a defensive barrier against projectiles, they would not be defeated like the last time. The goblin lord ordered all soldiers to only attack while remaining within the barrier’s radius. Anyone who passed the barrier’s protection would not be assisted even if the enemies attacked them.The magicians were left in command of the vanguard, with the goblin lo
The small hill of corpses disturbed Zen greatly. The water formation effectively defeated a small scouting party of monsters despite the enemy’s superior strength. The human army suffered not a single damage for the first time. It was miraculous!Everyone was resting now that the immediate danger was over. Zen had a close-up look at the monsters for the first time since he started the side quest. The hobgoblins were bigger than Venedict by a little, but the brutes… they made for a great barricade to hide behind. Hence, Sir Rowan instructed the soldiers in his lane to pile the brutes’ bodies in front of the lane leaders. There were only two brutes, but it could shield eight people. Although it was a great emergency measure, Zen didn’t know how to feel about the fresh corpses.Monsters in the dungeon usually decomposed and disappeared upon defeat. They turned into experience points and dropped loots that automatically entered a player&rsq
It was fast… too fast! Were these really humans? The goblin lord saw some of the things that transpired. However, it made little sense to him. How did the humans topple the catapult with only a few horses? Something did not add up. As expected, they still had many tricks up their sleeves. However, the good thing was how the brutes and hobgoblin they sent returned with their lives intact.BOOM!Before their eyes, the brutes and hobgoblins that managed to return to the barrier exploded. Immediately, the goblin lord sprang to his feet and dashed over before the mysterious fire could spread to the rest of the camp. With a merciless swing of his broadsword, the powerful monster used the blunt edge of it to whack all three aflame subordinates out of the protection barrier, killing them in the process. However, his quick thinking saved the rest of the camp supplies from burning up.Zen watched everything happen from afar with his lane leaders. Although he wasn&r
The soldiers at the top of Stoneberry’s wall waited anxiously for Zen’s flags to fire. The strategist remained unmoving. From their perspective, they weren’t sure if he was asleep or waiting for the right time. With nothing to hold them back, the enemies rushed forward valiantly—the hobgoblins and half of the brutes charged forward from the three magician’s squad. There seemed to be a different kind of fire in their eyes that made them scarier than before.“Permission to fire, sir?!” the garrison commander shouted from atop the walls when he saw the catapults drawing back, getting ready to fire.Zen raised his hand as a signal for them to hold their fire. It was too soon to let the cannons loose. Those catapults wouldn’t reach them due to the angle of slope and gravity unless the game developer forgot to code in realistic physics.Swoosh!As the catapults let loose, Zen quickly observed their trajectory and yelled c
Collecting the rewards for successfully defeating John’s cousin, the party members of Godly Food jumped into the portal leading to the next floor. Zen knew that the dungeon had different themes on every ten floors. The tenth floor of each themed stage would be different from the other stages in difficulty. It was why the vanguard team struggled with the twentieth floor’s boss. In addition to the stage mechanic’s difference, the final boss was also tougher to deal with. If not for the monstrous capabilities of the combatants, Zen doubted they could breeze through the first ten floors as quickly as they did.Anticipating a village or town vibe similar to the other floors from before, Zen was stunned to find himself in a rocky cave full of darkness. It had ominous vibes, and only Liu Feng moved confidently in the darkness. Everyone else minimised exploring further without a light source.“We’ll log out here,” Akiko informed Damian. “Y
After entering the boss dungeon den, Zen shivered. It wasn’t similar to a wolf’s den. If anything, it appeared closer to an actual dungeon, as if someone had deliberately attempted to imprison the boss here. The stale smell of dogs and many broken chains of different sizes on the ground spoke volumes about John’s cousin.Unlike the short werewolf, who remained in his werewolf form constantly, the boss was a monster who could transform. Depending on the moon cycle, it could be a violent and bloodthirsty monster or a broken man who lived in constant fear and misery of his curse.“He changes according to the moon cycle once the rampage begins,” Akiko explained. “I took a while to figure out how to kill him, even on the first run. He’s immune to damage on a blood moon. We need to finish it as soon as possible.”With a full party participating in a boss battle, Zen had faith they could conclude it before even the blood moon p
Finally approaching the final boss’s cave, Zen wondered if the storyline would change because they had let Han murder John brutally. His body had been hacked into pieces and scattered around the rotting forest. The maggots would get to it soon and reduce it to bones. Yet, the cruel butchering session remained fresh in Zen’s mind.Everyone in the party knew that feeling all too well. Having lived in the underworld, they sympathised with Zen, who had lived like a civilian his whole life. Although not everyone participated directly in the act of murder, they knew what it meant to take a life. Even Damian had seen it happen. He knew how to interrogate for information and was quite adept at the craft when required.“Don’t think too much about it,” Liu Feng was the first to break the silence. “He wasn’t even real. This is a game designed by the Godfather to find the next successor. It’s just another test.”Even if it wer
Even after many years of not being on talking terms with the rest of the family, Hans fitted right in when delving blows at the cowardly werewolf. Mai ripped out chunks of flesh with her teeth, snarling at it the whole time while Laura expertly force-fed the werewolf with different herbs with particularly nasty effects.Even with regeneration abilities, John could not recover from herbs that tasted nasty, gave him muscle cramps or made him itch all over. Laura truly knew how to make someone suffer, and Zen watched with morbid fascination at their different uses. Her apothecary skills were no less effective than those of Herbologist Hernie.“Can you heal him again?” Damian asked. “Han needs another round. Mai roughed him up a little too good.”With a priest in the party who did not worship any known religion, the torture session became smoother and more effective. No apology from John would appease the family’s anger. Although Zen did not
After listening to the story about John, Laura’s expression hardened. “That son of a bitch!” she spat. “How dare he prey on my granddaughter! Where is he now?!” Slightly terrified by the murderous aura, Zen reported that Sasha and Damian had the werewolf at Gabrielle’s hut. Mai had been ripping him a new one each time he regenerated. The girls had been doing a great job of making him miserable. Han was already there. “I can’t believe I’m last at the party. That wolf deserves to die. Even death is too cheap a price to pay after what he did to my husband and son.” For once, Zen agreed. Even if John was merely a character in the game, he deserved death. The fact that the game administrators did not grant John invulnerable stats meant that it was possible to kill the cousin of the floor boss. While waiting for Laura to pack her ‘tools’ and herbal surprises, Zen approached Liu Feng and thanked him for accompanying them. In real time, it was already past regular l
Studying advanced herbalism from Laura took more time than Zen expected. Thankfully, the game had a way of providing cheats for him. Instead of cramming all the knowledge into his head that would give him a splitting migraine, it provided a useful guidebook that would prompt him on what a particular herb does upon location and what combinations he could use it for with other known herbs. The problem was, to truly master this skill, he had to pass the final test. Laura’s pop quiz only had ten questions. However, there was a timer. While Zen could attempt it infinitely, there were thousands of herb combinations to remember. Not having any formal education in either of his past lives, the young chef faltered. “You may use anything in this cottage as a reference for your test,” Laura smirked. “All the best. I hope you won’t disappoint me.” Stressing over the best method to find what he needed, Zen tested a few things. Firstly, when Laura said that the new skill would inst
While the other party members gathered the family members for a reunion, Zen and Liu Feng finally found Laura’s cottage after taking a wrong turn. Funnily enough, it was the Seer who pointed out how they had been going in a circle before Zen realised he had misinterpreted the map. Knocking on the cottage door, Zen waited with his sworn brother. From inside, he could hear someone coughing badly. “Who is it?” the cranky old lady hacked as she cracked open the door. Instead of seeing her sloppy son or nosy granddaughter, Laura saw a cute priest and a handsome, long-haired warrior. The new adventurers surprised her. Were they lost in the forest? “What do you want?” she asked briefly before launching into a new coughing fit. It was a particularly nasty cold that had persisted for a week now without any signs of recovery. Despite all the herbal medicine she made, Laura did not see any signs of improvement. Perhaps she was getting on in age. Smiling, Zen show
It was a shame Zen was not with them. Sasha would have gone for a few more rounds, using the cowardly werewolf as a punching bag after Zen healed him. The more they dug information out from the pervert, the worse Sasha’s temper was. Damian did not stop her. The draconian needed somewhere to vent her anger, and it was best for it not to come his way. In truth, the cyborg felt a little sorry for Gabrielle, even if she were just a fictional character created for this virtual dungeon game. The cowardly cousin of the floor boss was no different from lowly thugs borrowing the influence of their powerful relatives to cause mayhem. Whimpering in fear and pain with his tail tucked in between his legs, the werewolf defect who could not transform into a human no matter the moon cycle kept a close eye on Sasha. Under the watch of the merciless draconian female, there was nowhere for him to run. He told them what they wanted to know and was alive for now. Given how tightly they w
Using hand gestures, Sasha signalled the countdown and Damian prepared his stunning spells silently. They only had one chance to catch the secret admirer off guard. Whatever he was doing was disgusting enough. Han wasn’t lying about the obsession. The stalker werewolf was plucking flower petals and chanting Gabrielle’s name to see if she would love him back. Each time the flower petals ended on a no, he would crush the flower, stomp on it and pick a new one, confessing his disturbing love to her before plucking off the petals of a new flower.“Oh, Gabrielle! What sweet rosy cheeks you have, all the better for me to bite into them when they are ripe! They were pink when you were a babe. They were red when you had a fever. I wonder if they’d bleed if I bit them… would you cry in pain and fear? It makes me so excited to think about it! Just wait a little more, my angel. You’d soon be an adult, and we could finally be together!”Disgu