'Master, we have a problem,' Elyra reported through telepathy.
'What is it, Ely?' Bastion asked.
'The Chief has challenged James to a fight to the death to determine who will be the sole chief of the village. He has until midday before it begins, or he escapes and is hunted down.'
'Is it because James is now a hobgoblin?' Bastion asked.
'It would seem so.'
"Not good," Bastion called out. "James has to fight the Chief in a duel to the death."
"Do we go in now?" Seraphina asked.
"We have time to come up with a plan."
"Why don't we just rush in and start throwing bombs?" Lilia suggested.
"I don't think I have enough for 20 thousand goblins," Seraphina replied. "Besides, we'd get hammered if the Chief gets close. He's at least Rank 3."
"How about I bombard the Chief from the air with the cannon?" Ariel asked. "Goblins can't fly, right?"
"You'd never be able to hit him without tiring yourself out," Bastion answered. "The cannon is amazing for a lot of things, but it's horrible against fast opponents. Even though we don't know how fast the Chief is, we do know he has high Strength and Vitality, so he could just zip around and wait for you to come down. That's assuming he doesn't nail you with a spear throw or something."
"Can't James fight the Chief with Ely's help?" Seraphina asked.
Bastion thought it over and quickly dismissed the idea. The Chief was Rank 3 with an unknown stat distribution. His values could be anywhere from 10 to 100 times higher than James's, who only had the base values of a Rank 2, barely different from theirs as Rank 1s with maxed-out stats.
With Elyra's support through shadows, it might be possible to narrow the gap, but it wouldn't secure a victory. They would be exhausted long before landing a decisive blow. They needed a trump card to end the fight outright.
'Ely, did you plant the bomb yet?'
'No, Master. The Chief was in the room, so I couldn't risk materializing there.'
"Seraphina, how large is the kill radius of your bomb?" Bastion asked.
"About 10 meters against us, assuming we have full defenses up. Any closer than that and we'd likely barely survive."
"What about the Chief?"
"I don't know, since I don't know how strong he is, but if you detonate it directly on the basilisk's head, it should be enough to kill it in one blow."
"So, point-blank for a guaranteed kill."
'Ely, how confident are you in placing the bomb on the Chief without him noticing?'
'If we're in the middle of combat, easily.'
"Seraphina, if Ely manages to plant the bomb behind the Chief while he's focused on James, how far would James need to be to survive?" Bastion asked.
"Assuming Ely protects him with Shadow Rampart, about 10 meters. Just because the Chief is between them doesn't mean the explosion won't kill him," Seraphina replied, shaking her head.
'Ely, tell James to fight the Chief and focus on kiting him while staying alive. Use your shadows to protect him, making it appear as if they're part of his own spells. Once you've planted the bomb and James has cleared 10 meters, let me know, and I'll detonate it immediately.'
'Yes, Master.'
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Meanwhile, James was taking a literal shit in the pits where the goblins relieved themselves. It couldn't be helped, considering how terrifying the Chief was despite his increased strength. He could tell at a glance that he would die instantly if they fought.
"What did Bastion say?" he whispered to his shadow.
"Master says you must fight!" Elyra whispered back.
"Fuck!" James shouted in fear.
"I'm sorry, other Chief," the guards watching him said. "The main Chief says you are only allowed to shit."
"I thought he was only supposed to fight at midday?" the other guard asked. "He has time for a quick fuck."
"No, the Chief said he may shit. He didn't say he could fuck."
"Oh… okay."
"Will you two shut the fuck up!?" James shouted. "I need silence to think."
"Hey, you sound just like Thinker," one of the guards said. "I miss him. He always knew what to say."
"Yeah, he's been gone for months now. I wonder where he is?"
"Probably thinking while taking a shit."
"Ah, yes. He does that often."
James ignored the noise, focusing on Bastion's plan through Elyra. It was dangerous, but possible. Elyra was strong and complemented his abilities well. If they worked together, they might just be able to pull it off.
Unfortunately, the requirements were steep. He would have to survive long enough for Elyra to plant the bomb, then somehow clear 10 meters before it could be detonated. That was assuming the Chief's uncanny intuition didn't detect and throw the bomb away after it was planted, if that happened, he would definitely die.
"It is time," another guard said as he approached the pit.
"But it isn't midday yet!" James exclaimed.
"The Chief says it's the middle of the day already."
James shook his head and gave up arguing. Goblins were stupid creatures who could barely tell time, it was surprising he had even managed to take a shit.
He left the pits and made his way to the battlegrounds, where disputes among soldiers were often settled with fights to the death, a barbaric practice that ran completely counter to progress.
Once he arrived, he was met with the sight of all the soldiers crowding around a dirt clearing. At the center stood the Chief, tall and proud, wearing his shell-like armor made from ant carapace, a crown of bones atop his head, and wielding his ivory battleaxe.
"It is good you did not run," the Chief said as James stepped into the center of the field. "I will not have to hunt you down."
"Yeah, well, I figured I might have a chance of killing you," James replied, taking his position and pulling several clay pots from his sack.
"Well said. Let the ritual combat begin!" the Chief bellowed, launching forward like a streak of lightning, battleaxe raised high.
James slammed the clay pots onto the ground, sending a thick cloud of black dust exploding into the air. He disappeared into the smoke, his silhouette dissolving as the black cloud swallowed him whole.
"Paltry tricks!" the Chief roared, stopping just outside the cloud.
He swung his battleaxe in a powerful arc, the pressure of the strike slicing through the dust. The force scattered the black smoke like leaves in the wind, revealing James crouched a long distance away.
"Graah!" the Chief bellowed, charging after him, the ground shaking with each step as the battle erupted into a deadly chase.
Before the Chief could close the distance, James smashed down more clay pots, thickening the smoke and obscuring vision while deftly evading the charge.
The Chief, wary of the cloud, repeated his previous tactics, unwilling to risk entering it. Something told him he shouldn't underestimate the shadows.
"Coward! Fight like a warrior!" the Chief shouted.
"I'm a shaman, dumbass! I'll fight like one!" James shot back, shattering another clay pot on the ground.
Ignoring his instincts, the Chief finally plunged straight through the smoke. His opponent was far weaker, and no clever trick could overcome his overwhelming power. He was relying purely on luck, hoping to land a decisive strike.
His gamble paid off as he charged through the smoke. He slammed into something solid, sending it skidding to the side. With a quick turn, he chased after it and found James shrouded in thick shadows, the darkness cracking and twisting with every movement.
"I've got you now!" the Chief shouted, charging again with deadly intent.
James was too slow to smash more pots and obscure vision against the Chief's relentless charges. Fortunately, a shadow shot out, gripping him by the waist and hurling him to the side, allowing him to narrowly evade the devastating strike.
The Chief spun around and charged again like a raging bull, giving James no time to set up any further tricks. Their cat-and-mouse chase continued for a time until James heard Elyra warn him.
"I'm running out of mana," she whispered.
Elyra never had the Wisdom to maintain a prolonged battle. She relied heavily on quick bursts of attacks to take down her enemies. To top it off, she was using free-cast magic, which took a significant toll on her mana.
"Have you planted the bomb yet?" James asked.
"Yes, the first time he knocked you away."
"Can you use the shield thing one more time?"
"Yes."
"Then use it now!"
James poured as much mana as he could into forming a thick layer of earthen armor around himself, which Elyra immediately reinforced with her Shadow Rampart. They completed the defenses just in time for the Chief to barrel through both, slamming into James with brutal force and sending him flying across the dirt field.
"Hahaha!" the Chief bellowed triumphantly, relishing the hit.
A sudden, overwhelming sense of danger flared at his back, but it came too late. A massive explosion detonated behind him, engulfing his body in searing flames. The blast tore outward in a concussive roar, the shockwave sending the nearby goblins flying. The ground buckled as fire and pressure rolled across the dirt field, hurling debris into the air and carving a blackened crater where the Chief had stood.
From a distance, James cheered, adrenaline and hard-won triumph surging through him. "Haha! Take that, you dumbass piece of shit!"
Suddenly, a powerful aura radiated from the heart of the explosion, accompanied by the thunderous sound of a heartbeat pounding like a war drum. From the smoke emerged the Chief, half a foot taller than before, his skin red and blistered, his eyes glowing crimson as they locked onto James.
"GRAAA!!!"
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