Minutes ago, he could still hear the sound of a fierce battle with nearly 10 partic.i.p.ants. However, the sounds of their clash had begun to grow weaker – indicating that the battle had reached a critical moment.

Which was exactly the most likely moment for the hunters in the darkness to strike.

Lars advanced stealthily, taking his time to approach as he did not want to spook the ambushers. The last thing he wanted was for the cloaked figures to escape.

However, he also owed a debt of grat.i.tude to Lady Zera, Elder Mash'noth, Gatyon, Katya, Sir Kenneth and many others. This was a debt that he would have to repay, at least by ensuring the safety of the homestead.

And to do this, he would weed out the roots of the conspiracy of the darkness – the power of distortion that infected people like a plague.

He soon arrived at the edges of the battle occurring outside the frontal walls of the homestead. He made his way past the hunters and warriors and found a place to watch and observed the situation. There was a tense silence among the men and women of Fetch homestead, broken every now by m.u.f.fled whispers of worry for their future.

He looked around and saw a good place to watch and wait from – a raised watch tower. He weaved his way through the crowd and made his way up – unseen to the archers within, of course. The moment he got to the top, he caught sight of the main combatants of Fetch homestead.

Lady Zera and the goblin lord were floating in the air for their fight so as to avoid hurting their companions in the fallout. On the other hand, the elite hill goblins and a number of Fetch homestead's top combatants were facing each other on the ground, lined up at a distance from one another.

It was apparent that the leaders of both sides valued the lives of their soldiers – neither sides' main troops had engaged in battle yet, merely watching on as the powerhouses clashed instead.

He saw the aforementioned leaders standing at an impa.s.se. Both Lady Zera and the goblin lord Viru looked worse for wear, armour and clothes in tatters and numerous injuries on their bodies. However, none of the injuries were truly serious, suggesting that they were evenly matched. The same could not be said for the other main combatants, though.

Captain Xiloth, Gatyon, Katya, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert were gathered near one another, bearing various wounds on their bodies. However, they fared far better than the 4 elite hill goblins who had engaged them. Of the 4 hill goblins, 1 had lost an arm, no longer able to stand and forced to retreat from battle. The other 3 goblins looked completely worn out – likely with only one more clash within them.

They were in no condition to fight much longer. And this was probably the reason that goblin lord Viru looked absolutely enraged.

However, the target of his ire was clearly not the people of Fetch homestead, but another party instead – his eyes would dart backwards to glare angrily in the direction of the east hills.

Lars scanned his surroundings once again with his soul-sense. When he found where the Divine Beast and the cloaked figures were, he smiled.

'Looks like a good show is about to start…' Lars pulled his hood up to wait.

* * * * *

Lady Zera and goblin lord Viru were at a stand-off.

They glared at each other warily with looks of resentment – Zera because the goblin had invaded, Viru because his trusted companions were badly injured and also because his loathing for the cloaked beings had reached its peak.

Viru's face was both pale and dark at the same time. He was weakened from the prolonged clash, frustrated that he and his tribe were forced into this situation and unable to find any way out of this.

He grunted in anger as he saw his deeply wounded lieutenants – the four elite hill goblins who had accompanied him into many battles throughout the years. In terms of battle strength, he and the combine goblin tribe were far superior. However, in terms of powerhouses, he was at a disadvantage. A slight one, yes – but one big enough that he did not see a favourable outcome if this continued.

And yet he had no desire to sacrifice the lives of his clansmen to fight another person's war – he spared a glance at his thousands of tribesmen gathered nearby. He did not wish to drag them into this futile battle.

He was stumped. What could he do? And so he was here, staring wordlessly at the humans' leader without any good moves to make.

The only option he had left was to use that thing… That thing that filled him with a sense of dread and made his skin crawl. But could he really trust those monsters? When they were blackmailing him and obviously just using him…?

Lady Zera, too, was aggrieved. She was deeply worried about the screams of panic and fear that had come from the residential area – however, she could only rely on Elder Mash'noth and her followers to hold the fort over there, while she did her part facing the goblins head on.

However, she had a bad feeling about things – a feeling that grew worse as the seconds slowly ticked by. She didn't want to move – the more she could delay, the more time she could give Xiloth, Gatyon and the rest to recover – but she could sense that she needed to end this battle quickly – end it NOW, or else…

'Or else what…?' Zera was filled with doubt, but she could not shake the niggling feeling she had that something was about to go very, very wrong.

'It's a good thing we prepared *that* plan already… Now to set the bait.'

Reaching her decision, she shot a scheming look at her party on the ground and, upon making eye contact, she turned back to Viru.

"Foul goblin…! Let's not waste our time anymore! Neither should we needlessly sacrifice the lives of our people! You and I, one on one in an honourable duel – let's settle this now!" With those words, Zera raised her aura then beckoned to the goblin lord, inviting him to resolve their battle. At the same time, her team looked at one another and backed off slowly while still keeping their guard up.

However, when they saw that Viru and the elite goblins did not pursue, Xiloth, Katya, Gatyon, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert swiftly leapt back onto the city walls to take refuge and observe the deciding duel.

"Disgusting creature! Do you accept my proposal?!" Zera narrowed her eyes and exhorted aggressively, drawing a look of anger from Viru.

The goblin lord – who had been silently staring at Zera for a while now – grunted as he seemed to have made up his mind as well. He waved for his lieutenants to withdraw, which they did so hurriedly. Then he raised his aura and held up his right arm which began to glow with an earthen colour of soil.

Thus far, Viru had fought barehanded. Now however, the earthen glow began to flow down from his shoulder to his arm and ended up in his hand, condensing into first a long shaft and then into a heavy head – a hefty two-handed war hammer.

"GROARRR!!!!""DIE!"

The two fighters burst into action, roaring as they struck out at each other with spear and hammer in hand.

* * * * *

Not too far away, four cloaked people and their leader who had removed his hood lay in wait.

Now that his face could be seen, he cut a strikingly handsome figure with tanned skin, silver hair and the bearing of a lord. Yet, however handsome he was, his eyes would cause s.h.i.+vers to run up one's spin. His eyes were like pools of blackness, so dark that it seemed like his eye sockets were empty, gaping holes waiting to suck one's soul in…

Among the four cloaked figures, one stood head and shoulders above the others. This figure spoke in a raspy voice, one that was also deep and booming.

"Lord Seth, they've begun. We await your command…"

The lead figure, Lord Seth, former Chieftain and Lord of Fetch homestead held up his hand in response, waving for his team to bide their time.

"Soon, soon… Soon will be our time to strike… Soon, both the Bell and the Truthstone will belong to our master…"

"Yes, Lord Seth. And… As for their leader, Lady Zera…?" The large figure asked slowly.

"…Z… Zera…?"

Upon hearing that name, Lord Seth's eyes softened momentarily, trembling as a hint of green light seemed to pierce through his entirely black eye sockets. Then the light faded and the blackness stabilised again.

"…Zera will belong to master…"