Just one moment.

  One moment for everything you planned for to suddenly go up in flames.

  But how could anyone blame Rick? By now it was common knowledge that it would take one to two months at least, to traverse the distance from the Lake to the Plains. And for almost two months now, there have been now sign of Orcs entering the forest.

  Most of the scouts had been recalled, but Kris and Krel were still deep within the western side of the forest until only a few days ago, and they had spotted nothing. So, at the minimum, Rick and his group of Goblins should have weeks to exit the forest and be long gone before any Orcs arrived.

  But again, how could anyone blame Rick.

  A Tier Seven creature of almost any size would outclass its lessors in terms pure speed on most occasions. Of course, when it came to a massive monster of a beast like the Serpent, it probably wouldn’t outclass a Tier Six fox on land for example, but it would practically be unmatched in water.

  The same would hold true for flying beasts. Most of them were built for speed just by the notion of having wings and the ability to truly fly.

  A Tier Seven Rygern took that a step further.

  Something that would take two months of travel for almost everyone else, was reduced to a day. Just one day was all it took for the massive Rygern, who carried the War Chief in it’s talons to suddenly find itself hovering above the lake as Rick and his contingent who were now frozen in their tracks and the Serpent was now fully raised out of the water.

  Right after the roar of the Serpent, the world seemed to descend into silence as Two Tier Sevens hovered in the air while being glared at by another in the water, not to mention the Goblins situated on the northern bank of the lake, having to suffer under the weight of three Tier Seven beasts.

  Of course, that silence only lasted but a moment before all hell broke loose.

  A few different things began to happen at the same time.

  The Serpent in all of its anger launched itself out of the water with immense speed and power in an effort to bite the Rygern out of the air. While the Rygern released its hold on the War Chief allowing him to fall to the ground.

  Then the Rygern let out a roar of its own.

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  “ROOOAAARRR!! I’VE BEEN WAITING TO KILL YOU FOR A LONG TIME SNAKE!!!”

  And instead dodging the rise of the snake, it dove down towards it with blistering speed as mana began to gather all across its powerful scales.

  Meanwhile Rogu and Rick after witnessing the falling War Chief began to scream out frantically to all the Goblins behind them to run.

  Rick was screaming the loudest.

  “RUN!! RUN!!! DON’T LOOK BACK, DON’T STOP RUNNING, JUST RUN!!! PLEASE RUN!! FASTER!! RUNNN!!!”

  Fear, anger, sadness, an untold amount of despair. It could all be vividly felt in his voice, as the reality of the situation laid itself bare for him. They were going to die today. The War Chief wasn’t someone they could even home to contend with, and there was no Serpent to hold it back this time.

  It was then Rogu did something that Rick never saw coming. That no one saw coming.

  “Forgive me my King…”

  With almost all of his strength, he delivered a powerful and swift chop to back of Rick’s neck, instantly knocking the large Royal Goblin unconscious. Tears seemed to be welling up in the eyes of Rogu, but his determination was firmer than ever before.

  “I am sorry father…I won’t be returning home but know that I gave my life to protect the King.”

  He whispered to himself briefly as he caught the falling body of Rick and tossed him over to Loruk.

  “Royal Retrieval Team hear me now! No price is too step, no cost is too great, no sacrifice is too small! Deliver our King home! Remember to hide his markings!”

  Loruk who didn’t bother waiting for instructions from Rogu and had already slung Rick over his back and immediately started running to exit the forest, silently saluted in his heart as he heard Rogu’s final words and began pushing his legs and every muscle fiber in his body to his absolute limits.

  The rest of the Royal Retrieval team hot on his trail. All of them prepared to be the next sacrifice if needed.

  BOOOOOOOOM!!!!

  Up above the Rygern and the Serpent finally clashed in a ferocious show of Tier Seven force and just the shockwaves from the battle was enough to knock a majority of the weaker Goblins off their feet. Sending them flying into nearby trees with immense force. Some of the dying on impact or receiving catastrophic injures.

  The War Chief, who had been staring intently at the Goblins as he fell to the ground finally landed with a loud thud.

  The shockwaves of the earlier clash not affecting his body at all.

  He didn’t immediately start moving as he observed the dead or otherwise incapacitated Goblins strewn about. The fleeing squad of Goblins in the distance, and the lone Goblin who stood only a short distance away with the look of a beast ready to sacrifice himself.

  The War Chief spat in disgust.

  “So pitifully weak. Yet they dared to act out against me. Unacceptable.”

  Just as the War Chief was about to move, Rogu finally completed all of his preparations and let out a roar of determination and all of the gathered mana in his body was ignited and a massive explosion that shook the forest miles and was triggered.

  BOOOOOOOOM!!!!

  A roaring fire began to consume the nearby forest as Rogu’s final act in service to his King and his people resulted in a massive inferno of an explosion and firestorm, that sought to consume everything in its path.

  And consume it did.

  From trees to the bodies of his fellow Goblins, to nearby beasts who had been frozen in fear the whole time.

  The inferno raged on.