If Alpha had a face, he would be grinning from ear to ear at this moment.

Operation: Goblin Raid was progressing smoothly. Each team had done their part swimmingly, from gathering intelligence, to contacting the captured goblins, and even poisoning the alcohol and food. Each had done their job to the letter, taking the whole thing far more seriously than Alpha had.

Though he guessed that was to be expected. To Alpha, this was just an experiment. A way to test out some new equipment and gather data on these Adventurers and ‘Cultivators,’ the native’s term for those with the strange Esper-like powers so common in this world.

Yet, for the goblins, this was their only chance to take back their home and rescue their loved ones. Even if Alpha hadn’t intervened, he didn’t doubt most would have tried to sneak into the village or attack the Adventurers in one way or another.

As it was, they were making effective use of the gifts they had ‘earned’ in Alpha’s ‘Dungeon.’

Alpha had to admit, he was somewhat enjoying his little roleplay as a ‘Dungeon Core.’

Design a few tests, set up some VR obstacle courses, throw them into a few simulated war zones, etc.

Honestly, it wasn’t much different from training new recruits in the expeditionary forces. The only major difference was that where most new recruits had to be eased into the battlefield, these goblins were already warriors. They were used to death and fighting and had taken to Alpha’s training like fish to water.

He did have to rachet up the difficulty at one point, though. Standard military pain tolerances for new recruits in VR training was set to 33%, and the goblins could accept ‘coming back to life’ after death as just more ‘Dungeon Core magic,’ just like they had the time dilation. Yet, risk and reward, especially risk in a Dungeon, seemed hard-coded into their culture and lore.

If he just tried giving them equipment, then the goblins looked at the gesture with skeptical eyes, suspecting some kind of Dungeon trick or test. No, they had to earn the rewards with their blood, sweat, pain, and even their very lives.

After all, that’s what a ‘Dungeon’ was. A place of testing, where the worthy earn grand rewards… while those who weren’t, were weeded out.

Playing this dungeon game was a careful balance of ensuring the goblins got the equipment and training they needed via these ‘trials.’ While pushing the goblins hard enough that they felt they’d earned the rewards on their own merit.

All without crossing any lines that HR nags in the Federation could cite him for later down the road, of course.

The giant female named Boarslayer had been his toughest nut to crack. The woman was obsessed with what she called a ‘warrior’s pride’ and absolutely refused to deviate from what she thought was the ‘correct way’ combat should be. Even if that meant being killed in VR dozens of times as the other goblins slowly adapted to their new equipment.

She could learn, if you could convince her something didn’t infringe on that ‘honor’. She wasn’t stupid. Far from it, in fact. The giant goblin had a natural instinct for battle that reminded Alpha of some of the more powerful Federation elites.

Even so, to call the woman stubborn was an understatement of the highest order.

That’s why when Antchaser suggested trying something… different, Alpha was skeptical. After all, the Federation’s methods had been tried true for thousands of years. The Federation had perfected the art of warfare in all its forms.

What the smartest of the goblins had suggested, however, had been to stop trying to force Boarslayer into the same tactical roles as the other goblins.

Instead, let her do what Boarslayer did best;

Charge headlong into battle and smash the biggest thing she could find with the second biggest thing.

It sounded insane, and in many cases, probably would be. Yet Boarslayer was nothing if not a special case. Besides, the woman’s enormous strength and battle prowess were too important to sideline.

So instead, they tried what Antchaser had suggested: let Boarslayer do what Boarslayer did best.

To that end, Alpha had to get creative with her new weapon. The standard Federation melee weapons weren’t going to cut it here. Plasma blades didn’t have the heft behind them to really make use of the woman’s power. Meanwhile, the heavy weapons used by the more strength-focused augmented soldiers took decades to properly master.

They needed a simple weapon with enough bulk and power behind it to act as a force multiplier for the wrecking ball that was Boarslayer. At the same time, it had to be simple and easy enough to grasp that she could get the basics down in a few translight days or weeks of training.

It was the crooked nail sticking up out of Alpha’s otherwise perfect plan, and he couldn’t quite find the right hammer to bash it in with.

So that had got Alpha thinking. If his problem was a nail, why shouldn’t he use a hammer?

With his creative circuits firing, Alpha got to work designing Boarslayer’s new weapon, and after only a few scant hours, the [Megaton] was born.

In concept, the [Megaton] was a simple idea, being little more than a massive impact hammer on a stick. But just like the [Railjack], its simplicity belied its tremendous destructive capability.

With the help of systems he’d adapted from Federation dreadnaught shielding, the [Megaton] could absorb and store kinetic energy for later use. Even the energy of the user’s own swing or the force of a blow.

That meant the faster the user could swing the massive hammer, and the harder they could hit something, the stronger the second blow from the built-in impact hammer would become. It was a near-perfect weapon for someone like Boarslayer, who relied on overwhelming force above all else.

There was only one major flaw. Despite Boarslayer’s massive strength, the weapon was simply too big for her to use comfortably. That was an unavoidable facet of the weapon’s design if they didn’t want to compromise the kinetic absorption aspect.

That’s where the second piece of the Boarslayer puzzle came into play.

The armor that the goblins had ‘won’ from Alpha were all standard Federation Expeditionary Force environmental exosuits. Form-fitting, armored, climate-controlled, and designed to mildly augment the wearer’s base strength and agility. Sure, it was a step above what a recruit might receive fresh out of training, but nothing truly impressive in the grand scale.

Boarslayer’s armor, however, had been so heavily modified that, as it stood, it might qualify as a miniature mech. Alpha could honestly say it had, at the very least, definitely crossed into power armor territory.

The large goblin’s armor was not only equipped with much thicker armor than the standard version, but the strength augmentations had been boosted to a level that should have torn her arm off every time she moved. If the woman wasn’t already a monster, that was. 

Honestly, it wasn’t something that would have ever been approved for actual use by the Federation, but Boarslayer had fallen in love from the moment she first put it on.

With her new weapon and armor, Boarslayer became a veritable natural disaster, wreaking untold destruction in the VR simulations.

Though both Alpha and Antchaser thought part of it was just the woman working out some of her frustrations from the previous training.

So, when it came time to implement their plan to retake the goblin village and put the Adventurers in their place, Boarslayer wanted to be front and center.

Who was Alpha to deny her?

After all, every good plan needed an eye-catching distraction.

—————————————————

“RAAAAAWWWR!” Boarslayer once more wordlessly roared as she swung [Megaton] at the focus of her wrath. The shattered remains of a dozen or more shields lay scattered around the Adventurer. How many exactly, she didn’t know; Boarslayer had stopped counting after the fifth.

Why did someone need so many shields?!

What use were shields in the face of overwhelming power?

Boarslayer swung the hammer again, reveling in the feeling of the impact, the sound of metal on metal, and the Adventurer’s cries of mounting frustration and rage.

This is what combat was supposed to be. None of the skulking about or mind games Antchaser and the Dungeon Core insisted on. None of the kicking around helpless weaklings just because you were bigger and stronger, like the Adventurers seemed to love doing.

No; just two warriors facing off, one on one, testing their strength against the other. The fact that Bosco was half drunk and still shaking off the effects of the poison didn’t really bother her. A real warrior should always be aware of what is happening in their body. That he was unskilled enough to be poisoned in such a way wasn’t her problem.

Again, she swung her hammer, and again, Bosco blocked the blow, barely, with a summoned shield. A glancing blow from his axe scraped across her armor in retaliation, but it barely left a mark before the man was sent flying.

Bosco rolled for several meters before coming to a stop near the bonfire. The fire had dimmed somewhat, the fuel from the gate being quickly consumed, but it cast just enough light for Boarslayer to see the Adventurer grinding his teeth. The man’s left arm hung limp by his side, a patchwork of bruise and torn muscle.

That he’d managed to take so many blows from [Megaton] was a testament to the Adventurer’s resilience. Boarslayer had tested the artifact extensively during her trials with the Dungeon Core. She understood what kind of weapon of mass destruction she held in her hands.

But even Bosco’s durability couldn’t keep up, it seemed. Boarslayer grinned beneath her helmet.

She heaved the weapon over her shoulder and slowly walked into the bonfire’s light.

Bosco stood on shaking legs and spit out a mouth full of blood. “You think this is over, goblin? Not a chance. I knew you lot were dim, but did you forget I wasn’t alone? I wasn’t running, you fool, just bringing you closer!” Bosco grinned and called over his shoulder, “BOYS! “

Only silence answered.

The man furrowed his brow and looked behind him, only for his eyes to widen and his jaw to slack. The gathered Adventurers were indeed behind him. Yet, not one of them remained standing. Most lay on their side, still, their arms and legs tied behind their back. Some were not so lucky, if the crimson pools glistening in the firelight underneath them said anything.

Roughly a dozen figures walked between the Adventurers. Each looked like a miniature version of Boarslayer, though their suits were less heavily armored, and did less to add to their overall profiles. Several moved from Adventurer to Adventurer, checking their bonds or stabilizing those who needed it.

Even his team leaders were down, each guarded by at least two figures on either side.

As for Seeker, Bosco had lost track of the man when they exited the longhouse. Who knew where he’d run off to…

Boarslayer laughed as she spoke, the helmet she wore giving her voice a slightly echoing quality. “Whoever said we were alone, either?”

Bosco turned back around and stared at Boarslayer.

The burning fire of rage in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a different fire. “Ha… hahaha… hahahahhahahaha!” Bosco burst into laughter, covering his face with his good hand.

The man shook his head and sighed. “I see… so this is how it ends. Just like my mother predicted; done in by goblins and thrown in some random hole in the ground.”

He then turned and spoke to Boarslayer. “Well, are you going to keep hiding behind that fancy armor of yours? Or are you at least going to do me the honor of letting me see the face of the warrior who bested me?”

Boarslayer paused and tilted her head. She was silent for a moment, before her armor hissed, and the helmet folded down, like scales overlapping each other.

Bosco met her eyes and nodded as he spoke. “I see…—” the Adventurer then smirked, “—as ugly as I thought!”

Bosco’s good arm suddenly bulged, swelling in size. Faster than the eye could follow, the man threw his axe toward the exposed head of Boarslayer. His axe flared with a pulse of spirit energy and quickly transformed into a green spinning blade in mid-air.

The air screamed as the spinning blade of death rocketed toward Boarslayer, and Bosco’s smirk shifted into a wicked grin.

Only for Bosco’s spinning axe to stop cold, as a shimmering field of blue energy sprang into existence in front of Boarslayer. The axe pushed harder against the energy barrier as if it had a mind of its own, but a shower of glowing sparks was the only result.

After a moment, the axe used up all of its energy, and fell lifeless to the ground.

Both Bosco and Boarslayer stared down at the spent axe, though the looks they wore were vastly different. Boarslayer simply humphed and stomped on the axe handle with a massive, armored foot, cleanly snapping it in two.

Boarslayer turned toward Bosco. It was her turn to grin.

The giant woman took a single step forward and vanished.

The next breath, she reappeared in front of the man, [Megaton] already mid-swing. With an audible ‘thump,’ the giant hammer caught Bosco directly in his chest.

Between one heartbeat and the next, the Adventurer became a blur, and he rocketed backward, crashing through the front of the longhouse. 

The building rumbled, then collapsed in on itself.