Ten, eleven if you included the Cleric were left with me as the 'geckos' ran beneath us. My mind reeled when I saw these beasts which didn't look at all like geckos from my world. Their bodies were completely back, and their legs and bellies were covered in a heavy, and spiky scale pattern that looked much like my armor. Their heads looked much like a triceratops with bone plating across it spread out like a fan, it made it ideal for a mount to block arrows.
At first it didn't make sense why their bellies are so armored, but they seemed to drag their stomachs over everything crushing rocks in their path. We had twenty-three of them currently, so ten were being pulled along with ropes behind us so we couldn't go at full speed. The noise that the small convey made brought a few Kobolds to investigate but I made quick work of them with my bow.
I found out that I needed to tone down the power of my bow when I used it the first time, the release of the arrow made the gecko skid to the side as it braced. The resulting clash with the skull of the kobold ended up in a bloody mess as a chunk of the head went flying with the arrow. Using my gauntlets and the power of the bow at the same time resulted in a resounding explosion of rocks a few hundred feet away. Even William was looking at me with fear at this moment as if he was hit by that the result would have been the same as the kobold.
William explained to me that the shot would be able to kill most mages that didn't put up a defense, but an arch-mage or anyone higher would have automatic spells enchanted onto their bodies which could prevent their death. That single shot however took a strain on my body that I knew I could only handle once or twice without healing. I was breathing hard and my arms were shaking from that one attack.
As we got closer to the next goblin village there were troops already waiting for us, their weapons pointed in our direction as they were expecting a group of Kobolds from the sound of the mounts. Once they saw us their vigilance only went higher as the ones leading the group were two humans and a red skinned goblin that they had never seen before.
I halted the group of goblins at my side and told William to stay back as both me and the shaman went forward to meet with the other group. Two goblins came out to meet me, one with a staff, and the other that looked to be a goblin that was twice as big as the others. It was here that I saw the changes of the goblins that came with me, all of them were about half a foot taller than even this goblin in front of me.
"What business do you have with us human?" The goblin chief growled at me, his face reminded me of a green pug when he was trying to look angry.
"I am here to offer you something which you lack, a war leader to march your people to victory instead of cowering in your homes. The ten of us have survived on the front lines and destroyed two of the Kobold's villages." I looked as the face of the leader as his face changed a few times, I couldn't quite tell what he was feeling as his wrinkles just contorted in weird ways.
"How can you bluff like that? There isn't any way that you guys can take over a kobold village, you must be traitors!" The goblin grabbed his knife at his side and lunges at me, the shaman at my side was however faster than him being an evolved goblin. The knife quickly was plunged into the goblin leader's stomach then pulled out and stabbed into the leader three more times until he was bleeding on the ground.
"By goblin rights I am the new leader of this tribe as this was a battle of strength between two goblins. Your old leader was stupid and a coward! I follow the human, and because of that we have grown strong." The shaman pointed the knife at the other shaman and snorted, "Submit or die."
As the shaman thought it over, I let my allies in the shadows spread out from where they were hiding and hissing was heard from all around them. After feeding so many times my stranglers had increased to the size of hunting dogs each of them coming to my hips, the only one still small was Morningstar. His body was much more compact with his stable foundation, and his eyes glared at the shaman making him shake in fear.
"I-I will see to it that my village is ready for war.." he turned to leave and I smiled.
"No one is spared from war, the women and children will be attacking as well. Your race will receive a purification through the flames of war." The shaman nodded and gulped, as he ran away afraid that even more orders would come from my mouth.
As I watched him leave the goblins with me started to laugh, they all saw how weak these goblins were and knew that most of them would end up dead. This made them grin as they were once as useless as those goblins, and now they had strength to do as they wanted.
They all got down from their geckos, and looked to me to see if I disapproved of their actions before going into the village itself to eat their fill. Since I didn't stop them they merrily laughed and went to the food storage of the weaker goblins as they all scattered to not offend their superiors.
"Strength is all that matters in any society, huh?" I asked the red skinned shaman beside me, "Do you have a name?"
"This humble one is known as Wide Jaw, for the amount I can eat." He said proudly, apparently the amount of food they could eat determined how strong they would be. "But yes, with us strength determines everything. The strongest get food first, which they can give to their wives and kids, when it reaches the weakest they barely have scraps. Wives will only stay if they are fed, so the strongest have the most wives, and kids."
"Most shamans like me are pitiful though, we were the weakest of our brothers having to learn how to trick and get food using our mind. That's what makes us better at magic, our clearer heads." He frowned at this and sighed, "I always wanted to see what a goblin would be if he was smart and strong, but it seems like muscles make our intelligence drop."
I nodded slowly, "With your lifespans you can only focus on one thing, that is the difference between men and goblins."
Looking at the shaman I could tell he was bothered by his own limitations, so I smiled and pointed to the shadows around us. "Did you know that each of those creatures started off as larva that could be killed by a beetle? This is their first evolution, think about their second, third or even eleventh evolution. Individually these guys couldn't stand a chance against one of the goblins in our crew, except when using stealth."
His distraught face suddenly brightened as his eyes took on a determined glare, "Yes, we can evolve, that's how we get rid of our weakness! You know much about us other races, why is that? I was always told humans were self centered."
"Know ones enemy and you've already won the battle." I said to keep up my mysterious background, I couldn't have them thinking I actually cared at this point. Attachment would only hinder me if this floor doesn't resolve how I planned. I didn't want to have to kill this shaman if I didn't have to, he was rather dependable.
Letting the warriors do their own thing I got down from the gecko with a frown on my face, there was four larva squirming around in my bag. The success rate of impregnating the goblin's was very low, and these larva seemed to need a lot more time before I would be able to evolve them.
Outside of my mind everything seemed to be harder, and the time it took for things to happen were much longer. It made sense since the environment there was specific to their kind, though I wondered if the evolutions would be stronger or weaker due to being evolved outside my mind.
Grabbing a few kobold fingers I tossed them into the bag for the larva to eat at before putting the bag on my back again. The squirming inside of my bag made me feel a little bit uncomfortable but I could tell they were really hungry. I wanted to get more bodies for them soon before they started to cannibalize themselves.
Wide Jaw has a female goblin under his arm, and looked at me before he ducked into one of the tents. I was hoping that the goblin had a decent stamina because we were leaving once the tent was open again. Having two of the stranglers keep watch I rested against one of the geckos and let my mind wander as I closed my eyes.