Rick looked toward the approaching wedge of enemies, barreling in his direction with nothing but murder on their minds, his face bearing almost a plastic expression. There was no excitement here, no happiness at being able to fight his enemies, just a sense of duty and anger still unfulfilled.

  By now, the other Goblins had long since noticed the approaching enemies, and they had gathered behind the Royal Goblins, the Chiefs and the entire army included. While the Royal Guard did not command or rule over any Goblin, they were respected almost as if they did, for they were the Goblins responsible for guarding their King.

  So, when all the other Goblins, Chiefs included, saw that even the members of the Royal Guard were not hurriedly running after their King to join him in battle, they too stood still. There would be no greater desire among them than the desire of the Royal Guard to join their King in battle.

  All of them together watched as Rick started off at a slow trot that could barely be classified as a jog. Eventually, it reached the level of a jog, and before long he picked up speed until he was nearly sprinting, but not quite at full strength. The humans and demi-humans were on one side, the long Goblin line on the other.

  All of the Goblins didn’t even realize that they were holding their breath as they gripped their weapons, clenched their fists, and watched with rapt attention as their King charged forward toward the enemy.

  No words of motivation came out of his mouth. No cries of vengeance. Just a silent, determined run.

  Rick then extended his arms, and a swath of green flames materialized in his palms, flames that continued to grow in intensity as Rick neared. The approaching enemies saw him, and before long, orders for long-range attacks began being passed down.

  Various arrows and mana projectiles were shot toward Rick, though none of them hit, and anything that managed to get close was dodged or blocked by the wrathful flames.

  The flames continued to gather, and by now a long trail of green fire was following behind Rick. As he neared ever closer to the encroaching enemies, he pointed his hands forward and imbued more mana than he ever had before into his palms, then willed it forward.

  Of course, his mana responded. Green flame shot out like a dense stream from a hose and sprayed into the path of the approaching enemies, blowing forward like smoke from the chimney of a factory.

  The Spear of Touval gritted her teeth and poured forth her own well of mana, commanding the same of all her Tier Seven companions. Although their efforts were valiant and their skills vast, they were no match for the vengeance of the wrathful flames of the Goblin King, flames that were wrathful in nature and only empowered by the wrath their wielder felt.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  While the Tier Sevens of the GES could mostly protect themselves, the same could not be said for those behind them. And with the formation they had chosen, the flames did not need to be spread very wide, just pushed forward as far as Rick’s mana could carry.

  With his current stats, that was a significant margin.

  Though the flames burned furiously, they weren’t enough to quench the anger Rick felt. No, that would require physical force. As the wall of fire blocked out the view of the one pushing it forward, the enemies missed the moment when Rick left his feet and were a little late to react to his presence in the air.

  “Khaal’drez”

  Whatever it was, every single one of them heard the word that none of them could understand leave the lips of the Goblin King. Of course only those who survived would remember it.

  Power that seemed to come from the heavens above gathered in front of Rick and roared out with reckless abandon as he brought all that power down into the ranks of the enemy. Blood, dirt, gore, and whatever else had the unfortunate fate of being near the impact of that attack flew everywhere as the devastation Rick unleashed settled into existence.

  Before streams of survivors could descend upon him, Rick roared out one single word.

  “Come!”

  Right then and there, the Goblins knew that they were being called by their King. They descended upon the humans and demi-humans like a sweeping tide washing away debris in the ocean. There was little resistance, not when Rick was wreaking havoc and destruction across the battlefield.

  Even those like the Spear of Touval could not stem the tide crashing against her. She fought hard, and her strength was on full display. Every ability, every attack, everything she had was brought forward, nothing held back. Yet it wasn’t enough.

  No matter what Tier Rick had reached, he would always be at minimum a small step above his equals. That step had eventually grown into a chasm with each tier he climbed. There was no way someone on the same level as Rick would be able to match him under normal circumstances, and that rule only became more and more cemented in reality the higher among the Tiers he reached. It was even more extravagant here at the Seventh Tier. They simply did not compare to Rick, the Goblin King.

  The battle continued. Humans and demi-humans continued to die in droves. Rick was like a phantom, moving from one part of the battle to another. Eventually, the Spear of Touval grew tired of it and took another Knight Commander of Verdan, to help hold him back. They were successful. They managed to stop his relentless pursuit of their companions, but that was it. They were not able to kill him.

  Meanwhile, Rick’s Chiefs were finally free to fight with their own versions of reckless abandon. Not quite as loose as Rick but no longer constrained or forced to fight a certain way. Now they could truly go on the attack to show not their enemies, but their King, why they were worthy of being his Chiefs.

  Watching the situation unfold, Rick finally decided it was time to put a stamp on everything that was happening here. If the skill he had activated earlier would forever be remembered by the humans and demi-humans present on the battlefield, then the next skill he uttered would echo in the mind of the Spear of Touval for years to come.

  “RUKNAR”