Lair

It wasn't long until the Goblinmancer's lair came under siege. The goblins who were outside the lair were picked off in a confrontation that forced the rest of them to retreat. 

The wooden wall erected around the entrance seems quite sturdy thanks to Strurruilk's magic to modify the goblins, resulting in enough to force the knights into a siege. The goblins mocked them with their growls while they were standing behind their tough wooden trees alongside with several materials and metals in the wall that even the strongest Knight among them had a difficult time destroying.

The goblinmancer wasn't all too keen with what was happening, he made sure he sensed his goblins from time to time but not once did he notice that the enemy had already infiltrated deep within his territory, not until it was already too late. 

Artemis and the knights actually thrust their attack inward in a thin line, doing so did not make it seem to the scattered goblin groups that there was an intruder since none of them knew except for the small bands that were unfortunate enough to be in Artemis' way. 

Filled with rage and fear, the goblinmancer stormed out from his quarters and urged one of the hobgoblins to lift him up using his hands. The hobgoblin laid his hand near the ground and the goblinmancer walked over it, as he was lifted, he gritted his teeth in anger. 

He was lifted just enough so he could see beyond the wooden palisade, the knights were few but surrounded them and there were few mages with as much magic as they were standing in the center of the knights.

There was also a peculiar man whose eyes glowed two seperate colors, the same man he planned on talking to when he possessed the goblin the other day. The man had no magic but he was surrounded with this unsung darkness that devoured magic all around it. 

"Tsk," The goblinmancer then cast a barrier spell to protect from unmagical projectiles, arrows or fire arrows themselves weren't really a problem, even the wooden wall he has were magically enhanced to be immune to fire but arrows with magic power were the big problem. 

In Artemis' view, he on the other hand had this exact idea in mind but not with arrows, no, he was going to burn the magical enhanced palisades himself using his energy weapons. 

However, Artemis was only able to use his energy weapons embedded in his palms, or several parts of his body due to the immense amount of magic pumped into him by many of the Sun God's attacks during his battle against him.

His energy level was now stable, not too much or not too low. His systems were functioning at their normal extent and would not be pushed hard without relocating power from elsewhere within his body. Artemis did not want to risk it.

Instead, he was forced to devise a new plan. Sure he could take them on head long but he wanted the goblinmancer alive, a full frontal attack that would quickly overwhelm said goblins, hobgoblins, or whatever other monsters was in there would result in him trying to escape, knowing many information about the powers of magic in this world, it was possible that the man would just teleport away. 

While he was thinking of various ways to end it all, the goblinmancer's barrier came into effect and appeared as a transparent and greenish dome that surrounded the entrance. Artemis was unimpressed and just stared at it blankly, even Caitlyn had a poker face in the form of a projection inside Artemis' mind. 

[Why not just snipe him?] Caitlyn said. 

"Oh, good idea," Artemus was not up to his game. The goblinmancer was somewhat exposed, although he was a few hundred meters inside the large cave, his upper body was exposed and within Artemis' range. Artemis drew his pistol and pointed at the goblinmancer, the goblinmancer did not flinch. 

"The hell is he doing?" Artemis asked himself. 

In an instant, a straight line erupted seamlessly from the rectangular barrel of the pistol which travelled so fast that the goblinmancer barely had anytime to react. The beam hit the goblinmancer's right shoulder, turning it into a steamy hot cut. The goblinmancer howled in pain, lost his balance, and then fell from the hobgoblin's palm.

He crashed into the ground and continued to howl in pain, his wound did not bleed, that was the only positive thing about the entire ordeal. 

With their leader gone, the goblins' morale collapsed and Artemis led the charge into the beast's lair. Artemis and his knights broke through the reinforced magic enhanced gate requiring only Artemis to simply punch it open and then they poured inside.

The goblins stood no chance, at first they were organized but now in an instant of frightened, they hesitated for a split second before they were getting slaughtered. The big ones like hobgoblins, ogres, or Cyclops were an obstacle, there were exactly more than a dozen more that needed to be killed before they could wipe out the goblins, Artemis decided to take all of them at once. 

Learning from his first fight with one of these behemoths, Artemis immediately jumped onto the back of one of the Giants, crawled all the way under his chin as it flailed about and before the beast could grab him, Artemis slit its throat open using his energy blades. Blood poured out and the giant beast collapsed into its own gurgling puddle of blood. 

He then jumped to another giant monster, then another, and another, doing the same method or others like bursting their chest, pulling out their eyes, threw an Energy Grenade into their stomach or other brutal things.

The last one, an Ogre, seeing his comrades and brothers in arms are all taken down so easily, was overridden with so much fear that it just stood and tried to storm out. This endangered not only the knights, but the other goblins who were on and around the walls. The knights immediately pulled back from the fighting and retreated to the side as the ground trembled with every step the Orge took. 

Bending his right leg behind his left, Artemis readied himself to perform the finishing move. As the Orge was about to break out of the palisades, Artemis dashed forward, he then jumped and landed on its back just as it broke out of the palisade.

Logs, dried wood, and magic energy flew everywhere similar to an explosion as the orge made its way into the forest. 

Seeing that victory was finally at hand, Toby led the knights and slaughtered the remaining goblins inside while some managed to escape into the wilderness.