"Can't have you warning everyone just yet," Vegeta said pleasantly. "Where's the fun in that?"
But Brak had already rung the bell. The damage was done.
Shouts crossed the settlement from multiple directions at once.
"Intruder! Eastern perimeter!"
"Two sentries down!"
"Get Chieftain Urgak!"
The first group to reach the eastern edge consisted of five regular goblin fighters — the ones still waiting for their naming cycle, training under Grimnir's instruction every morning. They came in fast, spears raised, shouting the battle cries they'd been practicing.
Vegeta looked at them and sighed. "Brave."
His shadow exploded outward.
Tendrils of darkness shot in every direction simultaneously — faster than the eye completed a tracking motion. They wrapped around the five goblins before the spears got within range, lifting them off the ground, winding around arms and legs and torsos with the patient efficiency of something that had done this many times.
