Seraphel walked into the meeting place as he wiped the blood off of his armour.

  He didn't pick the location, so he needed to scout around the area to make sure his subordinates weren't laying a trap for him. He didn't want to have to kill them all again if he didn't have to, as replacing them had just become even more difficult.

  The meeting place was something called a Mr. Donalds. The red and yellow buildings seemed to be everywhere. Fortunately, his subordinates had chosen to be smart and did not appear to be aiming for his head at the moment.

  Inside, seven drows awaited his pleasure. Every single one of them would stab him in the back at the first opportunity. That's why he had to put off this meeting for so long, lest they get ideas.

  "Report," Seraphel hissed.

  It had been almost two days since they had lost the bloodstone, and Devash—or Kwantline, as the humanoids called it—had fallen. The defeat left a bitter taste in Seraphel's mouth. Despite that, he needed to remain in the area to tie up loose ends instead of moving on like he wanted to. He was annoyed by the delay at how the Gul mishandled their mission.

  They should have systematically destroyed any potential pockets of resistance, but the Gul only wanted to feed the bloodstone and unleash the goblins like a swarm of locusts, and Seraphel was relegated to helping the goblins whenever they got slaughtered. It was pathetic, worse. He had no doubt one of the other factions would attempt to blame him for the Gul's failures.

  "We have determined how the Gul failed." one of the Drow stated.

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  "The city guard and the locals we originally drove off from Devsha joined a guild called Awoken Myths. This guild seems to be the primary force behind the Gul's destruction."

  "Another guild called the Apocalypse Force spread a plague among our number, further weakening our forces." one of his men offered

  "Finally, the Guls' greatest mistake was spreading our forces too thin. Most of the goblins aren't even aware of our defeat yet, and many more are still fighting one of the dozen local guilds," another said.

  "Can we retrieve the bloodstone?" Seraphel asked.

  "Not currently, my lord. We are still trying to determine who has the bloodstone."

  "What have we learned about the city across the river?" Seraphel asked. "Can we regroup there?"

  Seraphel listened carefully as his soldiers described the situation on the other side of the river. He considered whether it was worth it to try to get a second gate working—unlikely. He did consider sabotaging or even attacking the humans in the area until one of the other goblin hordes could reach them.

  That would be the tactical thing to do, the smart thing, but it would also make him appear weak, as he would have failed to conquer the area. That was unacceptable. It would be better to find a different operation, kill the leader, take it over, and take the credit. However, he should still do something to the humans in this area to ensure plenty of infighting.

  "We will leave this area," Seraphel said. "Lemick inform the other faction in the area of the bloodstone and that this Awoken Myths has it. Once you are done, return to us."

  Lemick gave a deep bow before he vanished.

  "We are heading south towards the ley line. On the way, we will regain our strength and claim what we can," Seraphel stated, leaving no room for debate.

  Failure might have been disappointing, but this was just one of several hundred operations. It was a minor setback, but nothing the horde couldn't overcome.

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