38 Chapter 38

The goblins froze when they saw the necromancer atop the giant spider. It began to flee as soon as the goblins had appeared. Glik roared, signalling them to give chase and sent the goblins into a frenzy. They made it only twenty meters before becoming trapped in the webs once again causing Glik to explode in a fit of rage.

He brutally hacked the ground in front of him with his sword as the female hobgoblin took aim to shoot out an arrow. She heard the trembling sound of charging beasts from behind breaking her concentration. Turning around she saw dozens of undead beasts charging their position, she took aim to fire at the largest beast she could find but right at that moment dozens of thin strings fell over her body from above.

Struggling, she tried to break free but her futile attempts only tightened the web around her. A few of the spiders dropped down and began crawling circles on her body, covering her in more and more webs. She looked towards Glik and Frakki for help but they were too busy fighting the undead beasts that had flanked them and she was unable to get their attention.

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She felt a pinch on the back of her neck as the spiders crawled back up the silky string into the trees above. She felt warm for a moment before the feeling of pins and needles echoed out through her body. Every part of her became numb until she could do nothing more than watch as the spiders hoisted her up into the trees.

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After the goblins ran into the webs Aerwyn ordered Erit and the spiders turn back and do battle. The spiders hastily climbed over the goblins trapped in their webs before leaping into the fray. Aerwyn witnessed the female hobgoblin being hoisted into the trees which wasn't part of his original plan but it was a welcome surprise. If he got more spiders, then fighting in the forest like this would be as easy as picking daisies.

Unfortunately he didn't have enough spiders and this battle soon saw it's first casualty. An undead goblin fighting Glik was decapitated which drew Aerwyn's attention. Glik was savagely swinging his sword at anything that came near while Frakki dodged and weaved Aerwyn's undead as if he was dancing.

More undead were cut off from him as two spiders were caught in their leap by goblin spears and a brexil cat shied too close to Glik's rapid strikes. He was losing too many undead far too quickly and after looking at the dozens of goblins trapped in the web, he decided to use the same tactics as Glik.

Aerwyn took aim and fired at the ground beneath the web. The explosion of purple flames engulfed a portion before spreading out rapidly along the thin strands of spider silk. He watched carefully until the last trapped goblin died, standing ready to jump into the darkness at any moment should the flames get out of control again.

The world seemed to lose all color for a moment as the shock and pain of resurrecting more than seventy goblins at once hit him. It took his breath away as dozens upon dozens of purple tendrils drilled their way out from his chest. The pain wasn't the worst he'd experienced but along with the hole in his lung he could barely stay conscious.

Three more spiders and a goblin had died by the time the purple souls had left him. Aerwyn willingly entered the darkness this time but not because his soul was weak, although it had seen better days, but because he needed to recall his flames before they got out of hand. It didn't hurt that inside the darkness he couldn't feel the pain his body was experiencing, giving him a short respite.

Inside the darkness he imagined the flames entering through his hand this time instead of engulfing him. He only had one more pair of clothes left that Tylin had given him and he didn't feel like running around naked from now on. When he opened his eyes the flames were rocketing towards him, he quickly lifted his hand out in front of him and to his joyful surprise, the flames coiled up into a ball on his palm before disappearing under his skin.

As his eyes adjusted, Aerwyn saw Frakki stab his dagger through the skull of a brexil cat in the distance. Aerwyn felt rage boil up in him, had the stupid hobgoblin just taken his offer he wouldn't of lost a single undead. Frakki's futile attempts to keep his life had costed Aerwyn nine undead and the battle was still far from over.

Aerwyn aimed his staff, waiting for the hobgoblin to turn his back and let down his guard. Two brexil cats charged from behind and Frakki rapidly turned around before plunging his dagger through another brexil cats skull. Aerwyn's rage came to a head and he could no longer restrain it as he fired a flame lance across the battlefield.

Frakki appeared to sense the projectile coming and dodged it but Aerwyn's experience from fighting Kabba showed itself as the flame lance exploded through Frakki's legs sending him flying up a meter in the air where a second flame lance was waiting for him. The second flame lance pierced the hobgoblins chest before exploding behind him, sending him tumbling into the back line of the goblins.

Aerwyn waited until he saw the white soul leave Frakki's body before turning his attention elsewhere. The newly resurrected goblins were just beginning to stand up so he painstakingly called out an order for them to capture as many goblins as they could. While he held his chest and choked out some blood from his lungs Glik had decapitated another one of his undead goblins.

Aerywn wiped his mouth and looked towards Rorik's fight with Glik. It didn't appear to be going well as Glik's speed and erratic swings kept his undead back while his chain mail made it difficult for them to damage him. Two brexil cats charged in from behind, one appeared to be the distraction while the other attempted to get inside the chain mail by the opening at Glik's feet.

Glik didn't bother with the distraction, instead stabbing his sword down through the other brexil cats chest and in one fell swoop sliced the creature in half as he lifted his blade. Rorik appeared to have had enough of this farce as he howled a command. A direwolf charged at Glik from behind and when Glik turned to swing Rorik pounced on him.

Glik didn't stop fighting even after he was brought down to the ground, instead his swords swings became more frantic and dangerous. Rorik attempted to keep him still but Glik's blade met with Rorik's leg, severing it from the barghest's body. Given the situation and considering Rorik's personality Aerwyn couldn't blame him for what happened next. Rorik howled before opening his terrifying jaws and clamped down on the hobgoblin's head, bursting it like a watermelon.

Aerwyn sighed and lowered his staff which was locked onto Glik. Surprisingly, this was his first time he would be receiving a B Grade soul, so it wasn't all a loss. Aerwyn felt weak and didn't feel like choking on blood once more so he reached out to Rorik along with the freshly resurrected Frakki, ordering them to capture the remaining goblins.

The spiders were doing a great job at capturing goblins but two more spiders had fallen in rapid succession. More than half of the goblins lay either paralyzed or tangled in webs leaving only about a hundred and fifty left fighting. Aerwyn decided on calling the spiders back for now as he would need them for what came next in his plan.

He gave Erit free reign to fight now. She had promised him that she would attempt to capture the goblins alive with webs instead of impaling the tiny goblins with her massive fangs. Aerwyn felt light headed so he just laid down atop Erit as she and the rest of the undead finished the battle.

The sun was rising once it had finally ended and Aerwyn sat back up to inspect the situation. Over three hundred goblins and one hobgoblin lay tangled in webs beneath him. Aerwyn didn't have anywhere near enough souls to resurrect them all so he planned to bring them back to Ardin for now.

As far as he knew there were no more goblin tribes nearby, which meant that he wouldn't be able to create more should they all die. So now he had a decision to make.

"Frakki, how quickly.. do goblins reproduce?" Aerwyn asked. His breathing had been getting better but he still struggled to speak a full sentence without gasping for air.

"Very quickly, great one. Pregnancy for goblins only lasts a month and there is always a minimum of five to a litter. Although rare, it's not unheard of for goblin females to birth upwards of fifteen offspring at a time." Frakki kept his eyes glued to the ground, refusing to look up. Whether that be due to guilt for causing Aerwyn such trouble or due to respect, Aerwyn couldn't be bothered by it.

"I've noticed that.. there are no children or elderly.. among the goblin villages I've raided. Why is that?"

"Great one, goblins mature to adulthood in just two weeks and the birthing season begins at the end of winter. So unless you raided within the first few weeks of spring, you wouldn't see any younglings. As far as elders are concerned it's rare for a goblin to live a full twenty five years of life and even if they did i don't believe a great being such as yourself would be able to notice such trivialities."

"Hmm... If you breed so rapidly why.. aren't there more of you? The forsaken.. lands should be filled with goblins." Speaking so much was beginning to make Aerwyn lightheaded so he sat back down on Erit's back.

"There are only eight goblins from the previous generation in my tribe besides me, great one. The forsaken lands are an unforgiving place, goblins die everyday from hunting or gathering food. Between our short lifespans, lack of food, and the dangers of the forsaken lands it's rare for goblins to live even three years."

"If i keep.. some of the goblins alive... will you be able.. to make them breed?"

"I-i try can. Ahem, i mean i can try, great one." Frakki nervously fumbled his words.

"Good, that shall be.. your job for now on. Erit bring me the female.. hobgoblin."

"Master! Surely you don't mean to breed the goblins yourself! If i was a person-" Erit began to use her voice magic before being cut off by Aerwyn.

"I-" Aerwyn began having a coughing fit as he tried to refuse.

"-I want to resurrect.. her. Just do as i.. say Erit."