Chapter 24: Plotting II
The ogre they had sent wasn't even amongst their main warriors, so they didn't count it as such a loss. He wasn't dead yet but received treatment from their magician.
"Will the magician go with us?" One of the elders asked. The power of magic on their side would be after all, invaluable.
"No, there is no need for the magician to follow us. The village still needs some form of protection while we mobilise all our able fighters."
The chief spoke with finality so that his decision could not be argued against. They immediately began their plan of attack. Even though this was a small ogre village, they could still produce more than 50 ogres ready and fit to fight.
. . .
"Hmm, they should be arriving soon." Aldritch had restrained himself these past days from having too much fun. He didn't want to be the man to die on top pussy. Well, there were still cheat days. Apart from that, he had long been drinking the goblins' blood, amassing BP for one specific reason.
As he would find out through some little experiments with small animals like rodents, he could also cast his 'hypnosis' skill on animals, it was a great discovery. Armed with that knowledge, he had gone ahead to make several scouts using different animals giving them specific instructions.
For these ones he placed some distance away from the goblin village, their task was to report back to him once they spotted any ogre moving close or any human like figure at all. Of course, these little animals were not able to track him at all times, so he set up a place for them to report to when they saw something, and they were only to return if they spotted something.
Aldritch made some goblins station at the receive spot to receive any of the animal scouts.
'Of course, I don't care if this place goes up in flames, I've gotten all that is good here.'
Lina had been sleeping together with Aldritch since that was his wish, so Aldritch was currently thinking to himself as he sat up on his little bed with Lisa cuddling his leg in her sleep. He did run her dry early in the morning, that was why she was still asleep even though mid day had passed.
From outside his tent, Aldritch heard footsteps hastily approach, so he stood up and got the old plain clothes he had been wearing on and wore the worn out sandals he used as his footwear. It really wasn't a befitting wear, but this was naturally not the important part now, there were more serious things to focus on.
Aldritch stepped out of his tent before the footsteps got to him.
"LORD, THE SPARROW, it returned." The goblin reported.
Of course, it spoke in goblin tongue, Aldritch was just the one who understood, after all, he could speak and understand them even though this should be impossible.
"Good, you may leave." He spoke to which the goblin returned as it had been asked to.
'The sparrow is furthest away...'
"The time has come." Aldritch let out a little smile as his plan was progressing accordingly so far.
He entered back into his tent to wake Lina up so she would begin preparing, then he headed towards the shaman's shrine to inform him to get ready. He had informed Rhyuku about his plan since he didn't have total control over him, and Rhyuku agreed.
'Goodbye goblins, you won't be missed.' Aldritch turned to look at all the goblins his eyes could see go about within the camp. He had used his ultimate command to declare a mandate, they were to fight any ogre they saw with all their might until their deaths. This was a halfassed strategy, but the best these bunch could offer.
With that, Aldritch, Lina and Ryhuku left through the back exit of the small village and into the forest. Rhyuku was to lead the way while they made their escape. They still had about three to five hours before the ogres arrived at the goblin village, it was more than enough time.
"This is far enough, call out the mounts now." Aldritch said to Rhyuku, who did as he was told.
From dirt, three horses covered in blackish fur sprouted like trees. It was unreal. The ground didn't open or split open for such a huge animal to appear from, only some cracks and disturbance in the ground could be spotted. Lina didn't look all that surprised, neither did Aldritch, despite this being the first time he had witnessed such a thing.
Each of the, got on their respective mounts and from there on Rhyuku led the group towards the ogre village.
. . .
A few hour later after Aldritch and his small group had fled the village, the ogres started appearing within visible sight. If it weren't for the forest, their full numbers would be in display. Even then, this forest was not dense at all, so the goblins keeping watch could still spot them from afar.
They spoke to one another as the orders Aldritch left in their heads activated once they saw the ogres. It was difficult to resist the feeling of just running out of the space encircled by the various stone boulders and towards the ogres, but the few of them there managed.
Maybe it was because they were hobgoblins, or maybe Aldritch made it that way so they don't lose their lives too easily and compromise his plan, or maybe it was because the mind washing was weakening after putting too many under control all at once.
In only one or two minutes, as though they were waiting for this moment, all the goblins and goblinas in the little goblin village came out from wherever they were towards the side of the village facing the incoming ogres.
"Foolish pests." The ogre chief said as annoyance was starting to build.
"Chief, I can't see any warriors amongst them, was it only a lie?" One of the chief's men spoke.
"Maybe a bluff. If it turns out to be so, then we kill them all. If we leave them be, it will only make them grow bold. We don't need them that much after all." The chief was furious at this point, so no one dared to object. Following his command, they charged forward to attack.
Of course, the goblins lost the little skirmish and like that their village terminated and wiped from the face of the earth.
'Such lowly creatures can always be found everywhere anyway.'
The ogres attacked from three directions which would be the reason for their steadfast victory, at least that would be the case under normal circumstances.
The problem during the battle and also the reason it ended up taking so long, was because the goblins that would flee in the face of overwhelming danger normally actually stood their ground and fought recklessly, going after ogre and animal alike. It ended up being more of a guerrilla war type battle. Even then, the ogres only lost five out of all their people.
The fight had dragged on into the night and they had to rest someplace close to the goblin village at a separate sight from where all the corpses were, after all the blood would attract wild beasts.
Rhyuku was nowhere to be found, and the ogres immediately attributed the goblins weird behaviour to his magic's effect and simply concluded that he had ran away. It wasn't surprising either, since he was like a slave to them even though they were supposed to be in a mutual agreement.
"I can't help this feeling that something isn't right, but..." The chief just drank his alcohol and went to sleep. He couldn't help the feeling of him missing something, a detail, some negative omen, but he just brushed it off and went to sleep.
While the ogres rested however, Aldritch, Lina and Rhyuku travelled all night towards the ogre village.
...
A/N: Hi everyone, how are you all doing?
I have some updates to share with you guys concerning bonus chapters.
After every week;
100 power stones - 1 bonus chapter
200 power stones - 2 bonus chapters
300 power stones - 3 bonus chapters... And so on.
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50 Golden Tickets - 1 bonus chapter
100 Golden Tickets - 3 bonus chapters
And so on.
All the bonus chapters will be delivered the following week, if possible, all at once