“Damn it all! Hurry, hurry!”
Within the Forest of Darkness was a horde of goblins desperately running.
“Pops, this pace is too fast!”
“Stupid! Stupid! I can’t believe I actually missed the king!”
The goblin at the lead swung his spear as he ran, pushing away the branches as he led his horde.
The goblin ran so fast that if the Paradua goblins could see him even they would be shocked.
The goblins running behind him could barely follow, and their weapons all showed signs of long use.
The goblin that called him ‘pops’, who was bigger than him by one size, used his axe to push away the thickets.
“Oi, you bastards! What do you think you’re doing running so slow!? Hurry up and follow pops!”
When that big goblin turned around, he rebuked the slower rare goblins and the even slower normal goblins.
In response, the goblins cried ‘Gya’ ‘Gya’ as they chased after their pops.
“Nu!?”
“Pops, there’s a beast up ahead! There’s three of ’em!”
The goblin leading and the goblin behind him noticed it at almost the same time.
“Kill them while running! No mercy shall be shown to those who impede this Gi Zu Ruo’s path! After me, Ved!”
The four-armed monkeys approached them, but they did not slow down their pace in the slightest. With four arms to help them wreak destruction, the four-armed monkey barrel was a powerful group of beasts
Gi Zu ran without hesitation into the gaps between the four-armed monkeys, then as he brought back the spear he’d been using to brush away the obstructing branches, he plunged into the barrel of monkeys.
Two of the four-armed monkeys jumped up the tree, while one stayed behind to receive Gi Zu’s attack.
If Gi Zu were to try and attack the 2 monkeys at the trees, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the attack of the monkey at the bottom, but if he were to ignore them and jump, they would attack him.
The monkeys at the top took out roughly shaved branches for weapons, while the monkey at the bottom started throwing rocks at Gi Zu.
Gi Zu only turned his neck to dodge those rocks as he made his way for that one monkey.
“GIGIyaaAAa!” The four-armed monkey cried out as it attacked Gi Zu with its arm.
A powerful wind erupted from that attack, causing the nearby branches to be blown away, but it could not even graze Gi Zu, for when Gi Zu saw the incoming attack, he immediately jumped onto the monkey, and using it as leverage, pushed himself even further.
When the monkeys at the top of the trees saw him jump, they jumped down with their weapons.
But Gi Zu was waiting for them.
“GURUUuOOAaAA!”
Gi Zu struck out with his iron spear, clashing with the monkey’s shaved branch. The shaved branch was no match for Gi Zu’s spear, and his spear easily penetrated the monkey’s body.
Gi Zu did not stop there. With his spear still lodged into the monkey’s body, he mustered his strength and threw the monkey into the other descending monkey.
“I don’t have time to play with monkeys!”
Gi Zu retrieved his spear, and without even bothering to turn around, started running.
“Out of the way, monkeys!”
Right after Gi Zu, came Zu Ved.
The monkey that Gi Zu jumped on was still dazed, but unfortunately for it, it would have no opportunity to make heads or tails of what happened, for an axe very quickly descended on its skull followed by a sharp blow.
Like that Zu Ved followed after Gi Zu.
After Zu Ved came the rest of the horde, one after another, each one leaving another blow on the helpless monkeys.
By the time Gi Zu’s entire horde had passed, there was nothing left of the monkeys but a bunch of corpses that looked like old rags.
◆◆◇
Yuan, who was tasked with the duty of protecting the colonial city, was worried over the goblins’ attack. Fortunately, the goblins couldn’t easily climb over the walls.
But then nightfall came.
To the humans who couldn’t see in the darkness, nighttime was a great disadvantage. After all, even their proud ballista would be useless if it couldn’t hit.
The goblins had tried to fill the moat behind the outer wall earlier, so Yuan had his men set up watch fires during the afternoon. That way they could light it up later in the night to let them see. He saw the goblins try to put them out, but they were prepared for them, so they had little success.
Other than sight, the howls of the beasts during the night were also a problem.
The howls of the beasts greatly unsettled the cattle, so much so that there were reports of them becoming highly strung.
The cattle were important to the colonial city. It would be horrible if they were to lose them.
By this time, Yuan had already been forced to reverse his sleeping schedule. Because of that his eyes were bloodshot and there was a deep crease on his forehead.
“Commander! The oil is ready!” A soldier reported.
“Good. Let’s teach those goblins a lesson,” Yuan said.
Since they couldn’t see well in the dark, they would remove that darkness. No matter how deep the bosom of the night god was, the power of the god of fire was greater.
Yuan picked out a good time, then he had his men ready their bows. As his soldiers took position at the top of the castle walls, Yuan was able to faintly see the goblins despite them hiding under the wings of Werdna (Goddess of Darkness).
“Oil!” Yuan ordered.
Immediately, his men dipped their arrowheads into the oil. The arrowheads were attached to a piece of wood that was easily combustible.
“Flames!” Yuan ordered.
Immediately, a soldier carrying a watch fire ran in front of the archers, lighting up the arrowheads that were pointed toward the ground
“Take aim… Shoot!”
The arrows shot in the black of the night, drawing a curve in the air as they descended. When the arrows hit the ground, the wood attached to the arrowhead caught fire, allowing it to illuminate its surroundings.
Yuan had cleverly turned his arrows into torches. When he saw the goblins and the orcs illuminated, he laughed.
When his platoon of archers had confirmed that the fire arrows had landed, they switched to normal arrows and shot at the now visible enemy.
“Ready the ballistae!”
“Shoot!”
The bowstrings drawn to the limits, the ballistae let loose powerful arrows that penetrated the orcs’ shields.
Screams resounded throughout the battlefield as the goblins were forced back.
Yuan watched smugly with his arms folded.
“We can’t lose! We have to hold until Lord Gowen arrives!”
The soldiers cheered in response.
“Well done! This evening is our victory!”
The city was in high spirits.
◆◆◇
Ra Gilmi Fishiga had his arms folded as he looked up at the twin moons veiled by the clouds. The plan they had been using until now had finally ended in defeat.
“They finally figured it out,” the orc king, Bui, said.
Gilmi nodded. “Humans truly are clever. I wonder if they have any limits at all.”
Watch fires illuminated the top of the castle walls. That small one over there was probably the enemy commander.
As Gilmi watched that figure, Bui spoke, “there’s still another card we can play.”
“The king wouldn’t want that, though. Our job is just to divert their attention,” Gilmi said.
“Right, but…” Bui said.
“Can’t stand losing and not getting even?” Gilmi asked.
When the goblin pointed out what he was feeling so bluntly, Bui couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.
“The moat should be mostly filled by now,” Gilmi said.
“Yes, but…” Bui said.
The moat nearest to the forest was already traversable since yesterday. The humans removed some of the fillings, but they were too scared of the goblins attacking and couldn’t remove much.
It wouldn’t be a comfortable walk, but the moat was definitely traversable.
“Gather the chiefs,” Gilmi said, then he looked at Bui.
“We’ll destroy that outer wall first,” Gilmi said.
Resolve burned in Gilmi’s eyes as he hit Bui on the shoulder and vanished into the forest.
