ASSAULT ON THE RITUAL SITE

Dawn had not yet broken when Reed's forces assembled at the outskirts of the Whispering Grotto. The ancient limestone formation—a massive cave system that had once served as a holy site before the Covenant—now emanated a sickly green phosphorescence that painted the mist-shrouded trees in ghastly hues. The air itself seemed to resist their presence, thick and cloying with the scent of copper and decay.

Reed surveyed his assembled forces from the shadow of a gnarled oak. Fifty of his elite goblin warriors crouched in perfect stillness, their green skin now covered in dark ritual paint that rendered them nearly invisible in the pre-dawn gloom. Unlike the feral goblin troops used by most Lords as disposable fodder, these were the products of Reed's controversial breeding and training program—intelligent, disciplined, and fanatically loyal.