The western army Gowen led numbered approximately 1700 men strong.
It was on the beginning of the month of Toura that the goblins met them.
The touch of the wind was yet cold, the twin moons still had that poor countenance from the winter, and the wings of Werdna (Goddess of Darkness) veiled the squirming ones.
“Found them!” The leader of the wolf pack, Gi Gu Verbena, drew his long sword and axe as he ferociously laughed.
“Great brother!” Gu Big, Gu Long, and Gu Tough called out, then they sent the messengers to the king. “Let the king know, we’ve found the enemy.”
Reflected on the goblins’ eyes that could see even in the dark was a great number of humans they have never seen before.
To the goblins, the night was no different from afternoon. They could clearly see the human camp illuminated by watch fires.
“Nu…” Gi Gu groaned when he recalled that time they attacked the human camp. Back then the humans used wagons for fences, but this time around, the humans had a properly built fence and even a moat.
The defensive structures of the camp couldn’t be that sturdy as it had to accommodate an army encompassing 1700 soldiers, but when Gi Gu thought of how difficult the previous battle was, he couldn’t help but frown.
“Humans are truly meticulous.”
According to the king’s plan, they would be attacking the human reinforcements meant to save the colonial city.
Because of that Gi Gu was expecting the humans to be panicked. He did not expect them to actually take their time, even going as far as to make camp.
“If they hadn’t made camp, I was thinking of attacking, but…”
The southern goblins Gi Go led numbered at most 500. If he were to follow the guerrilla tactics the king had taught him, it should be possible, but only if the enemy had an opening.
“Let’s try pry their guard open, shall we?”
Gi Gu learned from his battle with the killer ants that pushing on despite the odds could greatly tax the army. Gi Gu may have been given the duty of vanguard, but he had not lost sight of his main mission.
The night was the hour of monsters. Currently, the enemy seemed to be biding their time, so it didn’t seem wise to just show themselves nonchalantly before them.
“Send the beasts. If the enemy moves, attack!”
The southern beast tamers raised peculiar beasts. The beast tamers of the Gi Village preferred to raise double heads and triple boars, but the southern beast tamers raised southern beasts. Hence, they raised beasts such as the dino, elephants with giant tusks, or dinohius, boars with abnormally developed tusks.
On top of the warm climate of the south, the southern beasts were also bigger.
Because of that normal goblins couldn’t become beast tamers in the south. Rare was the lowest class that could start on the path of a beast tamer.
“But Great Brother… The king might catch up,” Gu Long said.
Gi Gu laughed. “Great! In that case, we’ll be able to show his majesty a bloodbath.”
“Great Brother is great!” Gu Long praised.
Gi Gu patted the three siblings, then he started giving instructions.
◆◆◇
The night had only just begun, and the twin moons that shone dazzlingly in the night sky were crescent in shape.
As the yet cold evening winds blew, Gowen looked toward the darkness of Werdna’s wings.
The old wound in his shoulder ached as he muttered, “something doesn’t feel right.”
For someone like Gowen, who was an old veteran, he could sense the strange uneasiness in the air.
The scouts he’d sent said nothing was amiss, but he still felt something wasn’t right.
“We need to go help the colonial city as soon as possible, but… This pressure, this feeling… Could it be?”
The beacons of the colonial city showed that the city was holding just fine.
The clever goblins weren’t able to close in on Yuan.
The last battle with the goblins really helped Yuan grow, after all. He was no longer that same weak kid he was back then.
He was talented to begin with, so after a little polish, he’s finally become a decent commander.
—But the battlefield isn’t so simple.
Gowen was currently the western feudal lord, a holy knight, and a famed soldier renowned as the Iron-Armed Knight. But when he was just starting out, it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
He would lose one battle, only to lose the next, but it was by surviving those battles that Gowen gradually became stronger.
Grasping victory wasn’t an easy thing.
If they were only battling a normal horde of monsters, Gowen wouldn’t be so wary and would honestly be happy over his subordinate’s progress.
But the enemy this time were those goblins.
“Could it be… Could it be that the goblins planned this?”
Did they intentionally surround the colonial city to flush out the reinforcements and crush them?
The colonial city wouldn’t fall easily. It was made specifically to defend against the goblins, so it was only a given.
“So they spared themselves the trouble of throwing themselves against the wall and decided to attack the main force, huh?”
A siege battle did not suit the goblins.
Such a battle would usually be fought through siege weapons or through an endless wave of human resource.
The goblins couldn’t possibly have any siege weapons, so that would leave them with no other choice but to overwhelm it to take it down.
The more Gowen thought about it, the more convinced he became. The goblins must’ve abandoned the colonial city and decided to attack the main force.
“I’ve been had,” Gowen grit his teeth as he came to that conclusion.
If the goblins doesn’t come in the night, they might come when dawn breaks. No, they’ll probably come right before the sun rises.
“But… This is a good opportunity.”
If the goblins were going to fight them on this plain, then nothing could be better. After all, the humans had the advantage on the plains. They couldn’t possibly lose.
A faint smile appeared on Gowen’s face as he thought of a plan to decimate the goblin horde with.
“Let’s bring them to Piana’s Hill.”
After thinking for awhile, Gowen went back to the tent, where his officers were gathered
He had much to do.
