Death's Door

If I am going to gather allies, I need them to be able to enter the Holy City…This barrier is a nuisance. If it weren"t for the Holy Maidens, the barrier would have faded away entirely within less than a year. They travel the entirety of Holy City, time and again, to reinforce each section of the gigantic barrier.

I was told the Holy Maidens will be coming with their escorts in a week. If only there was a way of getting rid of them without giving away my ident.i.ty…I am not ready to show myself to the world just yet. I need to gather my forces and then strike them when they least expect it…

But in order for my plans to move forward…I must get rid of the Holy Maidens, or at least make them unable to maintain the barrier.

I cannot pull this off with a.s.sa.s.sination. They are likely very strong…and I currently have only two subordinates, both are valuable trump cards…I can"t sacrifice them just yet.

I need subordinates who can be used and discarded at a whim, those I can restock on any day, and those whose value shall be lower than the life of an insect…But it has to be someone that can be involved on my behalf and take all the blame…But where would I find such convenient subordinates…

As Runfar kept walking forward, one of the servants came with a message about recent goblin sightings. Apparently there is a nest of goblins nearby and villagers are afraid that the goblins might attack them.

Even if this is Tracoa, with so many monsters within it, many adventurers, knights, and warriors are hired daily to exterminate them. It seems, at least in regards to goblins, there were very few of them left, adventurers managed to destroy so many of their nests, now the last detected nest was the target. After that, goblins will be extinct in Tracoa territory.

Runfar then asked his staff to give him doc.u.ments that pertain to goblins. He was guided to Augustus"s library, there was an entire encyclopedia devoted to goblins. Apparently Augustus was a man of wisdom, even if it was used for disturbing purposes. His library was vast and had many things that could be cla.s.sified as forbidden knowledge.

After reading it over, Runfar couldn"t help but smile from ecstasy.

Goblins, able to eat anything, their bodies a.s.similate anything they eat, capable of growing stronger and absorbing powers and abilities of anything they eat. They are able to reproduce with females of any humanoid species they can get their hands on, goblin pregnancy takes an average of half a month, and their bodies have evolved to reach maturity within a span of a week after birth.

In initial stages, they are weaker than a child, but they are capable of limitless evolution, as they eat, train, and breed with stronger vessels, they and their offspring get stronger with each generation. With sufficient training and diet, goblins should be able to become very strong in short time. Unlike humans who take years to gain and hone their skills, the process seems to be far faster with goblins…their rate of evolution is second to none.

Unlike what is commonly believed, they are very intelligent creatures, capable of understanding human speech, they attack in packs, overwhelming their enemy. They capture females to breed and kill males for their meat. Their best abilities are their extremely fast growth and maturity, and their capacity for limitless evolution.

In other words, if a goblins breeds with someone who is able to use wind magic, the offspring of the goblin will possess power of wind magic. Also, if the goblin just eats the wind magic user, the goblin will gain the wind magic user"s power for itself.

These creatures….they are perfect.

According to the accounts of adventurers, they kidnap women for breeding and women are kept alive and are forced to bear goblins children till they eventually die. Goblins are born in a litter of at least eight.

They reproduce fast, their numbers will never completely go extinct as long as there at least a few goblins to repopulate the race…of course there are female goblins…but they are rare…so most goblins are male, due deficit of females in their species, they tend to attack human women to keep up their numbers…

They are disposable…even if ten die, within a month, more than twice their numbers will be ready for action. And their near infinite ability to adapt…I might be able to use it to my advantage.

But the first matter is…I need them to bow down to the Dark Lord.

* * *

After an adventurer team raided their nest, the goblin tribe ended up being scattered, many of them killed. Of their tribe, only eleven members remained, led by their leader who was a head taller than the other ten.

They will need to rebuild everything they have lost, food, shelter, caves, and the women…yes, the women…

But it seems like everyone in the village was alarmed and they had to run from many adventurers and knights. Their tribe, as far as they knew, was one of the last goblin tribes in Tracoa territory, there might have been others in other territories but in Tracoa, goblins might become extinct.

Then, before them, out of nowhere, a man wearing a black mask appeared. The left eye was blood red while his right eye was pure white. His hair was pitch black. He was wearing light robes and a suit fastened with many belts. He had only one weapon, a dagger in its holster.

"Well, well, well. What a pleasant day we are having, my little friends~" He approached the goblins with a smile.

One of the goblins tried to attacking him with a club, but the masked man easily avoided him and kicked him away, making sure not to kill him.

The subordinate goblins tried to win with numbers, but the masked man nonchalantly avoided their attacks, almost like he was able to predict them ahead of time.

With mighty punch, all weaker goblins were sent flying.

Every one of them except for the leader is at the beginning stages of their evolution. That is good.

Their leader was size of a well-built human being, standing at three meters tall, very muscular, wielding a stolen sword. His subordinates on the other hand were shorter than an average person, looking diminutive in comparison to their leader.

"You must be their leader. I know you can understand me and so can everyone else under your wing. So let"s cut to the chase."

Goblin leader looked at the masked man in surprise, and then he replied.

"It is as you say, all of us can speak human tongue, yet you are the first one to speak to us rather than treating us as unintelligent beasts. What an interesting adventurer you are."

"I am neither adventurer nor a knight."

"Are you not here to exterminate us?"

"No, quite the opposite- I want all of you to become my underlings."

It took a few seconds to sink in, the leader laughed out loud, the other goblins followed the suit. It was a guttural laugh that resembled pig"s noises.

"Ha ha ha…Me, serve you? A human? You must have hit your head rather hard to be spouting such nonsense~"

"Believe me, I am dead serious."

"Then my answer is…no. I will not serve a human inferior to myself!"

He proceeded to attack the masked man without warning, drawing his sword in a downward slash.

Masked man dodged the blade and within an instant he proceeded to impale the goblin leader with his right hand.

His hand emerged out of the leader goblin"s back, holding his still beating heart. Then he proceeded to pull his hand out of the goblin leader"s body, still clutching the heart.

Goblin leader"s body was extremely tough, it was hard to damage him even with a sword… then how did he do it just with his hand? Goblins couldn"t help but shudder as they saw his right hand holding the heart.

At closer inspection, his right hand was not normal at all; it was completely skeletal, clutching the heart with its claw-like fingers.

Then, much to their horror, he moved his mask a little, exposing his mouth, and then proceeded to take a bite of the goblin leader"s heart.

They watched, trembling, as he ate the heart of their leader piece by piece; he was done in less than a minute. He proceeded to lick his lips of the blood.

He was no human. He was a monster. Monster here to consume them all.

Satisfied, he rubbed his belly, before burping a little.

"Delicious~" they heard him say.

Were they going to become this monster"s next meal?

"I hate repeating myself. So listen well, I will give you a choice; either join me and prosper or… I will eat you. It is fine with me either way. I seem to have developed taste for your flesh. Next I can try frying the meat, would you like to try that?"

Goblins did not know what to think. This man, no, monster, was telling them that their fate is either serve him or be eaten by him.

They had no other choice. Their choice was obvious.

"If I join you, what will you have me do? What will happen to those who refuse?" one of the goblins asked.

"If you chose to join me, I shall become master of you and your your descendants until the end of time. You shall follow all of my orders exactly as I command. Those who refuse shall become nutrition to me and those who chose to join me. Now then…what do you chose?"

He brandished his crystal dagger, pointing at them.

Not surprisingly, one by one, they chose to join. Their survival instincts were telling them that there was no way they will survive if they refuse, they were at beginning stages of their evolution; they were far too weak. Even their strong leader was killed so easily. It was either this or end up on the menu.

"Perfect. Now each one of you must sign this contract with your blood. Just a droplet of blood from each one is fine.

Once it has been sealed with your blood, I shall be the lord of you and your descendants. Now, each one of you, seal it with your blood!"

Fearfully, they acted accordingly.

Using their leader"s sword, each one cut their hand or finger and deposited a droplet of blood.

After the last one had done so, the masked man himself proceeded to seal it with his blood.

"Starting from now, I am your lord and master for eternity. You shall follow my orders exactly, otherwise…." He looked at the goblins.

At the moment he directed his attention at them, the goblins felt an unbearable pain within their bodies, each one ended up feeling like their bodies were skewered with burning blades.

"I will not tolerate insubordination. This is my first and final warning. Now…"

Bow before your master

The mental command through the master-slave contract was received instantly. Their bodies were unable to resist his orders. Each one ended up genuflecting before him, his orders echoing inside their skulls until they obeyed.

Master-Slave contract is absolute, unless master frees them; they are under his absolute control

"Perfect. Now then, Camilla, do you mind using concealment on all of them? After all, I need a way to sneak them into my territory."

"It shall be done, milord" another person appeared out of nowhere, this person looked like a humanoid with scales and a tail.

How long was he hiding there? Was he there the entire time?

"First phase of the plan is complete. I will have much use for you, my expendable forces…"