Rika thumbed the old, faded scroll in her hand.

  “That’s all of them? Five hundred?” She asked.

  “Give or take a dozen. Should be enough.” Daz, the Shaman, replied. “You sure it’s time?”

  “This is what we’ve been building for. We’ve been ready since winter. But… so many goblins are hard to feed. They are all in the party chain?” Rika opened her party menu. She scrolled through the endless names. She couldn’t be bothered to count them. But four clan leaders, each with twelve bosses. Each of the bosses had a full party of gremlins. Even with the recent losses, there was plenty of level two gremlins. Rika made the required change. Balanced experience.

  “Should be.” The shaman said. He took a deep breath. “So, what do you want? Bear? Wolf?”

  “Give me eagle.” She replied after a moment of thinking. The shaman handed her a large potion. “How long?”

  “Should last you five minutes or so. We could double the dose… but you know the risks.”

  “I can handle it.” She croaked. He gave her another potion. “Now go.” He fled without a word. She didn’t blame him. This was going to be dangerous. Possibly too dangerous. The beast was stronger than her, by over ten levels. But, Rika is anything but patient.

  The silverwolfs are getting touchy and the humans show signs of increasing defense. It’s becoming harder and harder to expand. It was now or never.

  She had found the inkbeast scroll over a decade ago. All this time she had been holding onto it. Doing the math over and over again. It was worth enough experience. She stepped up onto a rock. Goblinoids and gremlins surrounded her. Hundreds of them. Amongst them were mercenaries. Orcs, wargs, lycans, and harpies. She eyed the single giant amongst her troops.

  All in all, a little over a thousand bodies. Her army was almost complete. After today, it would be.

  Rika activated her hypervocal chords. “GOBLINS!” She yelled. The crowd roared back. “Today, I will do battle with a great foe. In my infinite mercy, I have found it in myself to grant you the experience.” The crowd cheered louder. “This is a time of growth! The era of the goblin is at hand.”

  She opened the scroll. An image of a winged horse moved along its pages, raging in its papery confines. Rika savored the moment. So many years of planning coming to a close. The blood spilled the close calls. Soon, all of it would be worth it.

  “I am going to call the beast. Try not to die.” She whispered to her horde. It was loud enough to be heard. Then she ripped the scroll in half.

  Her wings stretched behind her as the scroll spilled ink. As it pooled before her, she drank both potions. Rika would need every bit of available power for this fight.

  Her bones settled and popped into place, extending her legs into bird-like talons. Iron feathers, light as air, settled into place around her. Her wings grew larger still. Razor-sharp edges running down the sides. Her mind seemed to spin. The ground was too close. Every gremlin caught her attention, like bite-sized snacks. For a moment, she felt her mind fuzz. Then, with sheer willpower, she snapped her focus back to the ink. Her Iron Raptor form was complete.

  The wind howled and began to pick up. Dark clouds seemed to form from nothing. An aura effect?

  Before her, a beast formed. One too powerful to slay, but not too strong to imprison within an inkbeast scroll. It had the form of a great black stallion. Its eyes were deep pools of purple rage. Large, feathered wings spread out, stretching from their long confinement. On its head was a single horn, snapped at the base. Purple electricity crackled past the wound, forming a horn or energy. Its short goatee-like beard snapped with static electricity. It screamed in triumph.

  Nyxalhorn, the Storm That Would Not Die. Today, that title would be lost.

  The beast was disoriented, still recovering from sudden freedom. It was time to strike. Rika activated burst of strength and dashed forward. Her great wings pushed her along, speeding her to the standards of a bird of prey.

  She went for the throat, but it was fast. Her claws ran down its side. A thin cut, not enough enough to slow it down. Rika growled as her instincts warned her of danger.

  Lightning struck where she was standing a moment earlier. The beast screamed and reared up on its back legs. From the broken horn, lightning crackled and lanced out. Rika was unaffected, it was more of a reaction than an attack. Several gremlins and a few goblins exploded in gore. Rika didn’t even twitch, they were just bodies.

  Still, it wouldn’t do for her army to be destroyed here. Rika needed to make sure the fight wouldn’t hurt too many.

  The beast spun faster than Rika thought it could move and kicked her with its back legs. She brought her arms up just in time to soften the blow. Still, it felt like being hit by lightning. With a thunderous boom, she flew away from it.

  Her wits were still about her, however. She spun in mid-air and caught the air with her wings. She soared up and around. The beast was breathing heavily, a mad look in its eyes. Lightning crackled in the sky above, illuminating the cheering and screaming horde. Rika screamed a challenge at it and darted upwards.

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  It took the bait. It kicked off from the ground and then rocketed towards her. It was grunting and screaming in rage. She would be mad too, if she was trapped in a scroll for decades.

  They clashed in the air three times. Hoof met claw. Energy blasted at metallic feathers.

  On the third clash, Rika dived at it, then spread her wings wide to slow her descent. A feint to throw off its timing. Then she hooked a fist into its snout. The blow would have slain any in her army outright. The beast's head only snapped to the side.

  For a moment, the two just circled each other in the sky, looking for an opening. Rika felt her feathers begin to lift. Energy was being gathered in the air.

  The beast wasn’t looking for an opening. It was stalling! Rika snapped her limbs close to her body and wrapped herself with her metallic wings.

  When the lightning struck her, it ran down the cage of metal she had formed. This was anticipated. Still, she fell like a stone. The lightning scorched her, and her wings felt stiff. Then the beast kicked her, spiking her towards the ground. Goblins and gremlins ran out of the way as she hurtled towards a group of them. She left a line of smoke in her wake.

  Rika fought her body, forcing nerves to activate. She unfurled her wings at the last moment, caught the air, and curved away from the ground. She had just enough time to snatch a fleeing goblin from the ground. The force she felt would have snapped the bones of any lesser goblin.

  It screamed as Rika dragged it into the air. The equine was gaining altitude. The coward was fleeing.

  While climbing, she felt her strength leave her. The burst of strength had run out. She popped a pill and refreshed her daily abilities, then reactivated it. She couldn’t afford to slow down.

  Nyxalhorn bellowed like a cross between an elk and an eagle. Thunder answered its call. The storm seemed to reach down to catch it. The wind picked up as the clouds descended.

  Rika threw the goblin. It arched up, flying impossibly far, and landed on the beast. The goblin grabbed onto it in panic. But, the beast wasn’t going to let it simply ride it. It spun, losing several dozen yards of height, and hurled the goblin off of it. Then it blasted the goblin with lightning. It crisped to a black charcoal, then fell back to the ground.

  But, that was enough of a distraction. Rika had closed the distance between them. She drew her wings close to her body and flipped upside down. The equine kicked at her, but Rika’s talons struck faster. She sliced at its belly and latched onto its legs.

  With a quick shift of her weight, Rika flung the beast down, causing it to lose control of its flight. As she dove after it, Rika could feel the energy building for another lightning strike. She was not confident she could survive another.

  The initial blast, she could survive. Her metal wings were chosen so energy would run through them and pass over her body relatively harmlessly. But, they might not recover in time to save a fall a second time. She had an idea, but it would require tight timing.

  With another call from Nyxalhorn, the wind quickened further. Rika ignored it as she moved into a dive after it. Just before she hit the equine, she flipped and slammed into its talons first. One was locked behind its head, digging in behind its ears. Blood dripped from the strength of the razor-sharp grip. The other dug into the flesh, catching purchase at the base of its wings.

  It tried the same trick, flipping her off its back. But Rika wasn’t a simple goblin. She held tight, then grabbed its wings, one in each hand. The beast screamed in rage and frustration.

  Finally, the build-up of static electricity slowed. The strike was imminent. She twisted her hips and spread her wings. One to the sky, the other touching the tip of Nyxalhorn’s broken horn. She could feel the power sparking off of it.

  Then the second lightning bolt struck. It slammed into her wing, down the line of metallic feathers, and into the broken horn.

  Nyxalhorn screamed and convulsed. So, it wasn’t immune to its storm. Rika grinned. The fight was over, she just had to finish it.

  Holding onto the wings, she pulled with all of her strength. She felt her talons dig deeper and deeper into the thrashing monster. The two of them plummeted.

  Rika found herself cackling as the wings began to pop and crack. The wind screamed past her ears as they fell faster and faster. A horde of green monsters scattered from the impact zone.

  Finally, she kicked off of it with her full strength. It slammed into the ground like a meteor, causing a plume of dirt and dust to rise.

  But it wasn’t dead. Broken, bleeding, and bleating, but not dead. It lifted its head to call on the storm once more.

  Then Rika landed on it, slamming one foot onto the side of its head. Something cracked. The beast was no more. Nyxalhorn, the Storm That Would Not Die had been broken. Rika dug into its chest and ripped out its heart. She savored the first, electrifying bite.

  [You have devoured - Unicorn, level 40. Experience Gained.]

  Rika stood tall, hands in the air and blood dripping down her face. Despite her shaking legs and a myriad of minor wounds, the horde went crazy. They screamed in victory.

  Years ago Rika had done the math. She wasn’t as dumb as the other goblins. She knew how things worked. She knew the formula for experience gained. Five hundred level two and three gremlins were fed experience from a single level forty monster. It was just enough. Every gremlin reached level five.

  The second part of her plan. Keeping the gremlins from learning about the system. She knew early on when a monster without access to the system hit level five, it evolved automatically. The choice was made for them to suit their nature.

  One by one, gremlins began to glow. They grew and screamed as the rush of evolution hit them. Some became bugbears. Some hobgoblins. One or two kobolds. To her surprise, there was a group of trolls. But, by far, most grew into goblins.

  Rika roared in victory. It had worked. She had an army under her control. Her enemies that knew about her army of gremlins would never expect them to suddenly evolve overnight. The attack would come out of nowhere.

  In response, over a thousand monsters roared back.

  “NOW!” She screamed. “WE WASH THE WORLD IN GREEN!”