The storm hadn't broken yet.But Reed had.
He wasn't a gutter-born thief anymore. Not just a domain-lord with a cursed blade and a Hero that bled for him. He was something else now.
A threat.
And threats don't wait.
Hours before Hadren's forces would descend, Reed gathered his top lieutenants—Shia, three veteran goblins, and the Hollowspawn handler—at the war-cave.
The plan wasn't survival.
It was expansion.
"While he marches, we take ground," Reed said, stabbing a clawed finger into the dirt-map. "Every outpost, watchtower, and supply chain connected to Feyroot gets hit. At once."
Shia tilted her head. "Split our forces?"
"No," Reed growled. "Multiply them."
The goblin army fractured into three divisions:
Fang Units – Mobile scouts, fast-kill squads, trained in ambush and burn tactics.
Maw Units – Heavy fighters, Hollowspawn support, frontline brutality.
Spine Units – Builders, poisoners, engineers—tasked with spreading traps, false paths, and bone markers as psychological warfare.
Each unit carried bone totems bound with blood and ash—glyphs of Reed's command. Disobedience meant the glyphs would rupture from within.
"I don't command loyalty," he said. "I enforce purpose."
While organizing the Spine Units, one goblin tunnel-scout unearthed something buried deep in the Hollow's bedrock: a glowing black vein beneath the eastern ridge.
[New Resource Discovered: Umberglass Ore]Description: A volatile, obsidian-like mineral formed from corrupted mana.Usage: Can be forged into weapons, traps, and amplifiers.Danger: Highly unstable without proper handling.
Reed touched it once. It hissed beneath his skin.
"I want this mined. Carefully."
"By who?" asked Shia.
Reed turned to the Spine Unit leader. "Use the cripples."
With resources flowing and goblins spread across the region, the System responded:
[Domain Update: GOBLIN'S HOLLOW - Rank E+]Territory Control: Expanding (27%)Population: 109Resource Status: ModerateMorale: Fearful but Focused
New Trait Gained: Warborn Territory
Units fighting within your borders gain +10% physical damage
Hollowspawn regeneration increased by 15%
New structure unlocked: War Altar
Reed opened the new build options.
He didn't hesitate.
He selected War Altar.
Within hours, goblins erected it: a shrine made of femurs, crowned by the cracked skull of a stolen stag. Blood offerings soaked the stones.
Shia watched the goblins kneel in reverence.
"You're not just leading them anymore," she said.
Reed looked down at the altar.
"I'm becoming their reason to exist."
That night, the Hollow trembled. Not from fear. From something... new.
A beast limped through the woods—a bog hound, covered in scars, its tongue split, one eye missing. It snarled, expecting to be slain.
But it knelt.
Behind it came more. A pack.
Not goblins.
Not tamed.
Just drawn.
Then a horned figure stepped from the shadows. Tall. Thin. With bark for skin and antlers made of rusted nails.
It bowed before Reed.
"I smelled the shift," it rasped. "The Hollow sings now. The song of rage. The song of home."
Reed raised an eyebrow. "You speak."
"I remember how."
[New Creature Type Detected: Hollowbound Wildsoul]Status: Neutral → Seeks Allegiance
Offer Terms: Sanctuary, access to War Altar, right to hunt freelyRequest: Blood tithe from enemy corpses
Shia murmured, "You're not leading a goblin horde anymore. You're birthing a goddamn cult."
Reed smiled. "Let's make it louder."
He accepted the pact.
As the War Altar absorbed blood and new banners were stitched with bone-thread, a single goblin stumbled back from the outer perimeter.
Gutted.
Still alive.
On his chest, carved deep into his flesh:"COME TO ME."
Below it, the sigil of Feyroot—a white stag impaled on a black tree—had been branded into his skin with heat magic.
The goblin died whispering one word:
"Hadren…"
The storm broke overhead.