Chapter 84: Each Calculating Their Own Moves

Karen’s sudden and fierce blaze left the enemy utterly stunned. The goblins, for their part, had been focused mainly on the Specters, convinced that Karen was simply a tool for them—a blade to do their killing and take the blame. But now that same blade had turned on them, threatening to cut down all in its path.

The chief of the Black Iron Mine Tribe was at a loss. Had Karen lost his mind in this forest? How could he dare set such a fire? Didn’t he fear being burned alive along with everyone else?

The truth was, Karen truly wasn’t afraid. Over the preceding three days, he had already cleared all the trees from his own territory. This meant his lands would be exposed to the sun, making daytime difficult for any undead below the first tier, but it also meant the flames had nothing to consume in his domain. And even if the fire did threaten his side, Karen remained untroubled. The flames were Netherfire—a magic that did little harm to the undead—and the blaze itself had been conjured by his own necromancers, who could extinguish it at will.

With no fear of self-immolation, Karen was free to unleash his fire attack without restraint.

As the flames roared through the goblin ranks, Karen’s undead legion pressed forward, loosing volley after volley of arrows to further disrupt their foes. It had to be said, Karen possessed a particular talent for kicking an enemy when they were down. This assault only deepened the chaos among the goblin ranks, sending the hastily assembled horde into utter disarray.

And in that confusion, neither Karen’s forces nor the goblins noticed that, apart from those killed in the first wave, the rest of the Specter Thieves—who had been forced to attack Karen—had used the chaos to slip away from the battlefield.

…

“How did you know he would use fire?” asked a figure swathed in a black cloak, addressing Dima as a group of second-tier Specters escaped the fray. Had Karen been present, he would have recognized this person immediately as the one who had nearly succeeded in assassinating him before.

“I studied the goblin settlements they destroyed,” Dima replied calmly. “Almost every camp bore traces of a special kind of fire, and the surviving goblins all confirmed that necromancers favor fire attacks. Then, over the last few days, he cut down every tree in his territory to build that flimsy palisade, tossing the leftover wood outside his borders. It was clear what he intended.”

Dima glanced back at the battlefield, aglow with blue fire, a sly smile curling his lips. “He’s been preparing for war since three days ago. This necromancer isn’t nearly as easy to fool as we imagined. And as for the team we left behind, I’d wager he’s already wiped them out.”

The assassin—known as Shadow—sneered in response. “Easy or not, it makes no difference. He killed our people, and he will pay for it. The goblins will suffer from this fire, but it will never defeat them entirely. That one is not so easily dealt with. And now that we’ve all ‘died’ in the blaze, the necromancer is the only enemy left for that chief…”

“Then let us look forward to their bitter struggle. When both sides are spent, we’ll call on Ryan to sweep them from the Goblin Forest entirely!” a man of medium build, who looked to be in his forties or fifties, interjected. He was the leader of the Specter Thieves, known by the same name: Specter.

…

At this point, among the three factions present, the goblins believed they had Karen and the Specters well in hand, while the Specters thought the same of the goblins and Karen. Yet as events unfolded, it was clear the Specters were the more cunning; everything so far had gone according to their designs—from the goblins’ coercion to Karen’s fire attack, and even the goblins’ anticipated response.

The Specters were certain the goblins would recover from Karen’s fire assault. And the Black Iron Mine chief did not disappoint them. As the blue flames swept the field and his vanguard fell into chaos, Chief Black Iron acted swiftly.

Retreat!

He employed a scorched-earth tactic without hesitation, knowing it was his only viable option. Once he realized that the flames were unnatural and that the undead below tier zero were beyond saving, he abandoned all such goblins, along with any first-tier fighters caught in the fire, and ordered a temporary withdrawal.

After pulling back, Black Iron did not retreat further. He waited for his chance to counterattack.

Although he was no mage himself, he had a third-tier goblin wizard at his side, one capable of sensing the energy within Netherfire. “This kind of fire,” the wizard explained, “is Netherfire—a necromancer’s spell. It spreads rapidly, cannot be extinguished by anyone lacking battle aura or mana, and will burn itself out in one or two hours at most. More importantly, once an area has been burned by Netherfire, it cannot be set alight by the same flames again.”

Armed with this knowledge, Black Iron began preparing his counteroffensive. He reformed his scattered troops, sought more information about the Specters, and summoned reinforcements from the rear. Cautious by nature, he was now on guard—Karen’s initial fire attack had cost him thousands of goblins and underscored that this necromancer was far from easy prey. To ensure victory, he would take no chances.

He had a premonition: when the flames died, his coming battle with Karen would be the toughest of his life.

Still, Black Iron was confident. He was also pleased that none of the Specters had escaped the field. In such chaos, if they hadn’t withdrawn, they must have perished in the fire or been cut down by the undead. True, there was a slim chance the Specters had slipped away, but it mattered little. Once he defeated Karen and reinforcements arrived, the goblins would scour the battlefield without mercy, executing any Specters they found and blaming their deaths on the defeated Karen.

Indeed, the goblins—under Black Iron’s lead—had their plans laid out as neatly as before. When the Netherfire finally burned itself out, the goblins rallied once more under Black Iron’s command, launching yet another assault on Karen’s domain…