The monster's progress was steady as it made its way towards where the goblins were hiding. Every few steps it would stop and bring its head to the ground and take a deep breath. It knew there was prey nearby. Hell it had probably been tracking my carnage. That was another reason not to let that rage take over. I pressed myself down onto the branch I was holding trying my best to blend in. I did not want that guy looking up and deciding I was a snack. The beast stepped into the clearing my battle had created. It could sense there was food nearby the way it kept sniffing the ground beneath the tree I was in. I felt a pang of fear as I thought all this creature had to do was look up and It would soon smell me out. That’s when I did something I’m not proud of. I grabbed a spiky looking pinecone like fruit that was hanging on the tree branch near where I lay.

  Now let me preface this by saying I thought that I’d throw a pinecone into where some of the goblins were hiding and they’d get chased off and take the creature with them allowing me the chance to slip away unnoticed. However, if I’d been a bit more away I would have noticed how the creature which had knocked trees down so effortlessly with its tail had someone avoided every tree with the weird spiky pinecones. I would have also noticed that when it sniffed the ground it kept a healthy distance from the tree. If I had noticed these things then the effect of launching that pinecone in the general direction of the nearest group of hiding goblins would not have surprised me as much as it did. That pinecone hit the ground bounced once and all those hundreds of tiny spikes which it was covered in were fired in every direction. All I heard was a slight twang like the worlds quietest bow string and then the screaming started.

  The two goblins who’d been my original targets got a face full of the tiny spikes. They screamed as their faces were torn apart and they were rendered blind. I watched in horror as they came running from their hiding spot catching the attention of the creature whose hard scales had protected him mostly from the pinecone. It did have a few of the tiny spikes embedded in its nostrils which it had been trying to remove before the two snack size gobos walked out in front of it. Needless to say those gobos did not live very long as that triangular jaw snapped open and a mass of writhing teeth covered tentacles whipped out and pulled them in with sickening crunching sounds.

  I turned my attention to the other goblins and noticed that most of them had been hit by some of the pinecones projectiles. Their injuries weren’t anywhere near as severe, most just being skin deep. I guess the effect range on the pinecone was quite limited. I grinned as I gained a new appreciation for my tree. I started collecting more of the pinecones and launching them at both the weird tentacle mouth t-rex and the other goblins. The big fella was not happy with the bombardment and turned around searching for the source whipping from side to side. He went after any gobo I managed to flush out. My aim wasn’t the best so while many of the gobos were injured most were just scared out into the open.

  With their cover blown The goblins changed their tactics. They came out in force a lot more than I realised. Fifty of them popped up from various hiding holes and I was shocked. There amongst them was a high goblin different to any of the ones I saw earlier. He held a black staff in both hands clearly in a battle stance. He wore a thick white hood covered in strange patterns that I noticed had begun to glow with an eerie green glow. I don’t know why but the there was a profound wrongness to the sight. The energy made me feel sick but on a spiritual level as if my soul wanted to throw up. The feeling stopped as the energy poured off of him and into his staff forming a sickly green blade at the tip. He began to bark orders at the other lesser goblins and it was weird at how quickly they listened made me wonder if there was some sort of mind control of something.

  The goblins had begun spreading out in a wide ring making it hard for the creature to select a target. They all began to hold their hands out and firing out those drilling projectiles, same as the high goblins. That was such a bullshit cheat ability! The huge tentacle rex’s hard scales were doing a good job minimizing the damage from the pinecones but the drilling projectiles were definately having an effect. Blue blood sprayed from where the projectiles hit.

  The battle going on beneath my tree entered a pattern. The big guy would lung at one goblin and before they could get them they would receive a volly of projectiles straight into its back and causing it to change its target. The goblins had it locked down and I thought maybe they might be able to kill this thing that was until the huge creature’s mouth began to drip a black liquid that sizzled as it dripped onto the jungle floor. Its neck began to swell as more of this corrosive liquid slipped from its jaws. That was until it opened wide and fired a high pressured stream of the steaming corrosive black liquid. The stream sliced through the jungle bisecting and dismembering gobos left right and centre. I had to hold my breath as the creature came to stand directly beneath me. That liquid it produced smelt like rotting mushrooms and bleach.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I looked at the carnage in horror. I knew that there was magic and weird stuff in the world but to think that a single creature could do this much damage in just a matter of seconds. There were only a few gobos left and the one high goblin with his magic staff.

  The high goblin raised his staff and bellowed a command. The green energy that had seeped into his staff darkened, becoming a deep green, almost black.

  The runes across his hood and arms pulsed like beating hearts. With a twist of his wrist, the light coalesced: first into a blade, then a shield, then a dozen jagged shapes hovering in the air around him in a twisted verdant halo.

  The Tentacle Rex reared back, bellowing so loud the leaves shook free from the canopy. It stomped its feet and charged forward. The high goblin met the charge head-on. His staff slammed into the ground, sending green shards streaking toward the monster. They sliced through the air like thrown spears, some deflecting harmlessly off the beast’s scales, but a few managed to break through. Blue blood hissed and steamed where the energy cut. The creature roared and lunged, jaws snapping. The mage leapt aside, dragging his staff in an arc. A wall of green light erupted between them, the impact shaking the ground. The wall cracked but held, just long enough for the mage to thrust his staff forward again.

  The energy that had formed the blade atop his staff darkened slightly before instantly extending and smashing through the creature's chest. It let out an ear-splitting shriek and opened its mouth, unleashing its tooth-covered tentacles, now covered in the black corrosive liquid. The mage had managed to avoid most of the tentacles, but he wasn’t fast enough. One of the tentacles burned through his leg, making the goblin mage scream out in pain as he fell to his knees. I thought he was done, but that’s when his friends stepped in, and the remaining goblins came charging in, acting as a distraction. They didn’t last long as they threw their lives away. But it was enough time for the mage to act. He barked out some strange words, and the green light flared once more. This time, the constructs formed wings—vast, spectral things that flared from his back. He held his position there out of the reach of the distracted beast's jaws. Midair, the mage swept his staff overhead and brought it crashing down. From above, a titanic blade of green light descended with it. It carved through the monster’s back, splitting hide and bone. The creature let out a single howl of pain, which was lost in the sheer impact of the great blade as it bisected the beast. The mage grinned as the creature fell into two pieces. I was so glad I had the sense not to go and immediately try to get revenge. These high goblins were something else!

  Unfortunately for the mage, though, this monster wasn’t something that was going to go down easily. From both halves, the monster's innards squirmed about, turning into a writhing mass of tentacles covered in bone blades and corrosive liquid. From where I was, it was obvious, but for the injured and tired mage, he didn’t see it coming. The tentacles whipped around and slammed into him from the back, shattering his wing constructs and separating one of his arms at the elbow. The tentacles collapsed as they sent the mage crashing into the trunk of a nearby tree.

  I stared at where the mage had been sent for at least twenty minutes. He had shown such awe-inspiring power that I was rethinking my strategy for the High goblins. I needed to find a way to learn magic. I turned to the body of the beast just a few feet from where I hid. I really hoped that thing was dead this time. Still, to be certain, I waited a bit longer. A good move, as it turned out, as the black liquid the monster had been using turned into a thick corrosive mist that settled heavily on the underbrush. I saw some goblin survivors and smaller animals that had been hiding attempt to run from the fog, only to dissolve as the cloud ate their flesh. It was another hour before the corrosive fog dissipated.

  Everything was completely quiet as I looked down.

  The mage made no sign of returning. That final blow must have killed him, I thought, and if not, he probably was in no fit state to fight…A smile split my face.

  “Waste not, want not,” I said aloud.