Siege

The Champion shackled his prey to the wall. He would be having fun with the fresh meat soon; Such an act was his favorite pastime. The only joy greater to him than butchering humans was watching their hope and dreams fade from their eyes during his "onslaught." He broke their spirit into nothing, and it was more delicious than any meal that existed.

The Champion was the boss of the puny goblins in the encampment. They all feared his might, and he reveled in it.

Soon the Champion had finished binding the human woman to the wall. However, before he could take pleasure in breaking her, he smelt something coming from the entrance of the tunnel; It smelt unfathomably delicious, enough so to even make him forget his current goal.

The Champion immediately stopped what he was doing and hurried out of the cave to secure the surely delectable food. He wouldn't let the pathetic goblins steal it for themselves.

Zulu watched as the foolish goblin ran past him and towards the center of the encampment. All he did was release the scent of a perfectly cooked steak with [Olfactory Confusion] in its direction, and it went into a frenzy for something that didn't even exist.

'Okay, that should give me a couple minutes. No time to waste.'

Thinking that, Zulu used his [Dash] skill to instantly arrive in the now unattended dirt room. His [Creep] and [Quick Feet] made it practically inaudible.

When Zulu stopped in front of the three woman, he was astonished to find that one of them was still alive and even lucid.

The woman had shoulder-length brown hair. The color of her eyes was a dull brown; It was as though they didn't reflect light at all. If one looked at her pale and frail body, they would assume she was devoid of life, yet her mouth moved when she saw Zulu.

"Please kill me," The woman muttered softly.

'Hey- hey- hey- I don't understand what it is your saying, but you don't need to worry about it any longer!' Zulu thought, tearing open her throat with a [Bite].

'I have answered your pleas. Now rest my child. Amen.'

The woman's already lifeless eyes truly faded as she spilled blood. It was as though she couldn't feel pain as she showed no reaction to her gouged trachea. She simply sat in silence and passed. The edge of her mouth even revealed the slight trace of a smile.

'She really was scarred… Well, don't you worry lady! I will be avenging you shortly,' Zulu thought as he began to burrow into the corner of the room towards the direction of the location where he infiltrated the goblin base. He planned on digging a fox-sized hole to the outside of the encampment.

'I never thought this upgrade would come in handy this way,' Zulu thought, admiring his [Sharp Claws] as they tore through dirt at a blistering pace. It only took him a single minute to reconnect with the outside world on the outskirts of the encampment. It definitely helped that the room itself wasn't constructed too deeply into the cliff to begin with.

After breaking the final wall of dirt separating him from outside, Zulu promptly spun around and dashed back into the mini-prison.

Back inside the dirt room, Zulu leaped into the air and snatched the torch between his jaws flawlessly; He'd come a long way since his first day in this world.

However, as Zulu landed on the ground, his ears twitched at the sound of a raging monster. The large goblin's bellows could be heard from inside the room. It was clear that failing to locate the source of the salivating smell had infuriated it to no end. It was likely that it was taking out its anger on some truly unfortunate goblin.

'He'll be here soon. Get a move on, Zulu,' Zulu urged himself.

Zulu carefully touched the end of the flaming torch to one of the beams. After a few seconds, the fire successfully spread to the beam before slowly beginning to move upward.

'Next up!'

There were eight beams in total, four on either side of the room. Zulu was going to torch them all. After his sixth beam, however, Zulu heard an even angrier bellow from behind.

'He's here. I'll have to resort to some more barbaric measures,' Zulu thought before using his [Bite] on the red-haired woman's shackles, destroying her restraints and freeing her.

The Champion had returned to his room after failing to find the source of the savory smell that had captivated his attention. He assumed some random goblin had taken the food before him, enraging him. However, he had no way of knowing which goblin out of the two dozen in the camp were responsible. He could only smash the skull of a random goblin to appease his anger.

After doing so, the Champion decided to make up for his disappointment by tormenting the new human woman until she mentally shattered. However, when he returned to the entrance of his room, he discovered an unknown orange creature setting fire to it. More than that, it killed one of his toys. It was unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable!

"Beast!" The Champion roared.

'Whoa, he talks?'

Zulu was surprised. He never expected that a monster, especially one as dull as a goblin, could be capable of speech.

"You die!" The Champion said with fury.

'I don't know what he's saying, but he sounds pissed,' Zulu thought.

Then the Champion saw that the furred beast was even trying to steal one of his women. His incense only increased further, and he charged the creature with ferocity.

Zulu grabbed the red-haired woman by her shirt with his teeth as he ducked under the violent fist of the enraged goblin. The large goblin's fist smashed into the wall over him, creating a massive crater which splintered with countless cracks.

'Damn! Just how strong is this guy?' Zulu thought, using [Dash] to zip between the large goblin's legs and towards the hole he dug. However, just before entering the tunnel, he planted his feet and dropped the woman, swiveling his head around. Immediately, he began generating a [Fireball] before launching it at the dumbfounded goblin.

The Champion could only watch in amazement as the large ball of ruby flame passed by his body and impacted the two remaining beams behind him. The seemingly smaller and weaker creature could actually use magic. He had never fought such a beast before.

The fireball detonated, expelling flame everywhere. The wooden beams — the target of Zulu's attack — were directly obliterated by the spell, crumbling to the ground. The flame scorched the large goblin's back and it howled in pain. The rightmost and only remaining woman was quickly consumed by the fire, dying shortly thereafter; Her life was dangling on by a thread to begin with.

The other beams in the room had already become fully ablaze, losing their integrity and beginning to audibly crackle and snap.

Zulu had long disappeared down his homemade tunnel with the woman caught in his jaws. The large goblin could only watch; It couldn't fit inside the compact hole even if it wanted too.

Zulu appeared outside of the encampment and wasted no time in setting the woman down before using his original hole to slip into the goblin base once again; There was one more thing he still needed to do.

The Champion recovered from his shock and recognized the situation he now found himself in. His playthings were dead and his room was burning. There was no reason to remain idle.

Breaking his stupor, the Champion calmly walked toward the exit of his room. He still had plenty of time before the beams collapsed, and he certainly did not want to appear weak in front of his minions by running scared from fire.

After a few seconds, the Champion neared the border between his room and the rest of the encampment. However, when he took his next step, a familiar orange creature appeared in front of him.

The Champion bellowed in rage, determined to rip his hated enemy apart. He rushed forward with wrath written over his expression.

However, when the Champion was only a few meters away from reaching the creature, a giant ball of flame slammed into the wall in front of him. The dirt walls shook violently before beginning to crumble; The entrance hadn't been supported with beams after being hollowed out after all.

The Champion's heart sank witnessing this scene before filling with an even deeper resentment for the orange creature. He knew that he'd been tricked, and it irked him to no end.

However, there was nothing the Champion could do to stop the proceeding events. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't prevent literal tons of dirt and rock from sealing him away from the encampment. He was completely and utterly trapped.

The beams finally gave way under the flame's relentless assault, splintering and breaking apart across the room. The Champion did his best to avoid the collapsing pieces of singed wood, though, was still struck a few times with little effect; His body was simply too powerful.

However, the flaming pieces of falling wood were the least of the Champion's problems. He might not have been the brightest monster on the block, but he understood the danger of having no supports under so much earth.

An idea came to the Champions mind as he raced towards the small hole. However, no matter how desperately he pressed his bulky body into it, he couldn't squeeze in anything past his neck.

As the Champion clambered to save his life, the cave began to rumble and the walls vibrated madly.

The Champion could only bellow in rage for a short while before being consumed under a sea of earthy debris, crushing him with the total mass of the world above.

Zulu's mana steadily recovered under the affects of [Mana Absorption] as he dashed out of the encampment and out of sight.

Naturally, Zulu had attracted a lot of attention. The goblins quickly noticed his presence and tried to retaliate against the intruder, but he was simply too fast for them. They could only watch as he fled.

However, Zulu wasn't satisfied with simply killing their leader.

'I want more. I need more. I won't stop until I've collected it all.'

Zulu jumped to the top of the palisade and landed softly on the rampart on the other side, observing the reaction of the goblins. He had merely broken their visual of him to get the jump on them in turn.

The goblins were utterly dumbfounded by the events that had occurred in such a short period of time right under their noses. First, their boss freaked out at seemingly nothing and even killed one of their own. Then an orange creature appeared, burying the boss under the earth with a fireball. After all of that, the creature disappeared from their sight and into the oak forest. They didn't know how to react to such a sudden and bizarre situation; They had no one to lead them now after all.

However, while they were frantically deciding on what to do, a fireball woke them from their stupor. The unlucky target of the spell was decimated, exploding into multiple red chunks.

Zulu stood on the rampart, grinning from ear to ear.

'Got him while his back was turned.'

Zulu had located the only goblin shaman in the encampment and used the goblins' collective confusion to take it out of the lineup before the real battle began.

Then Zulu realized something.

'It seems I'm low on mana. Dispel [Olfactory Confusion]. I only have enough mana for one more [Fireball] at best. I'm going to have to rely on my body for this one. Well, they're only a bunch of Rank 1's at the end of the day. I should still be wary, though.'

Zulu wasn't wrong in his thinking. Other than the Champion and shaman, no goblins above Rank 1 remained. Nonetheless, their numbers alone made them a force to be reckoned with; Quantity is its own quality after all.

In the encampment, there were at least twenty goblins. They all wielded crude weapons made from bones and rock, strung together with thatch. Only a lucky few had proper metal weapons forged by human blacksmiths; No doubt, they had taken them from humans they either killed or captured.

'Looks like I've got to make a show of force. Hesitant opponents are the easiest kind to defeat.'

Zulu built up one final [Fireball] before jumping high into the air off the rampart. When he reached his peak in the air, his jaws snapped shut and the fireball fired forward like an arrow, crashing into a dense group of goblins.

Zulu had aimed for that spot on purpose; He was trying to kill as many goblins as possible with a single decisive blow.

In an instant, five goblins were incinerated; Their feeble Rank 1 bodies were unable to endure the powerful flames.

Zulu soon followed the fireball in falling to the ground, immediately catching the focus of the goblins in the encampment.

However, the goblins were hesitant to engage the powerful opponent. The small orange creature's ability to throw around such destructive fireballs was terrifying.

Of course, they had no way of knowing that Zulu was actually out of mana, but he didn't give them the chance to imagine the idea. He immediately pounced on the closest goblin, severing his neck with a single [Bite].

'Whoa! My Rank 2 [Bite] and Rank 2 [Razor Teeth] shred through anything Rank 1 like butter. HAHA! I am unbeatable! Bow to your fox overlord, you dirty goblins!'

However, before Zulu could begin his slaughter, the goblins had already dropped their weapons and began fleeing in all directions.

'No, wait! My Essence! Please, don't run! I'm just a harmless little fox!' Zulu begged inwardly, but the goblins did not hear his internal pleads.

The goblins were frantically trying to escape the small orange demon. It had killed not only their shaman, but also their boss. It had the power to annihilate five of them with a single spell and jaws strong enough to decapitate them in a single chomp. The orange creature was simply too horrifying! Thus, they ran.

Zulu didn't sit still and let them escape. He chased down the goblins, tearing off their legs before gouging out their throats. Like this, he managed to systematically track down and kill most of them.

Inevitably, a few managed to slip away into the forest. However, Zulu could no longer care to hunt them down. Both his mana and stamina were exhausted, and he was incredibly hungry. He'd have to settle with the results of the battle for now, as reluctant as he was.

'My essence…'

Zulu could only sigh; He was just too greedy.

Looking around the encampment, it was strewn with a dozen red-green bodies. The bloodied corpses were missing limbs and gullets, and some were even headless. The ground had become drenched in sickly red liquid, creating countless puddles throughout the encampment.

'Did I go too far? No, definitely not. Whatever it takes for Essence. Maybe I should eat that woman as well? No, I need her.'

Zulu collected the corpses of the goblins — including the chunks of the goblin shaman — and piled them in the middle of the encampment. It was a habit he had created after his first siege on the chef rat den.

Zulu then left the encampment to retrieve the female guard, dragging her inside through the gate.

'I guess this place is mine now. Not that I'll be staying here,' Zulu thought, his gaze landing on the unconscious red-haired woman beside him.

'As much as I despise your species, you're going to be my ticket into finding a light mage.'