The ruse had either worked, or the other dungeons had noticed that Mark had moved a large portion of the goblin forces and elected not to act. It did not matter now. In a matter of hours the goblins would assault the troll settlement. Mark would soon be able to resummon goblins to supplement the mining division, who were currently running ragged to do a bit of everything. Mark had summoned another 50 yellow hobgoblin mages, but they were keeping the barracks running. Half went to get the experience boost, while the rest worked to progress their mage class.
The new plant line did look formidable. The 85 combined units of creeping ivy and blood roses made a literal bramble wall in front of the moat. Yellow sunflowers stretched up 12 feet overhead. A vantage that would allow them to blast from out behind the defenses. Just that much should be able to delay and do some damage.
Mark's attention shifted back to the large interface. Khondur was approaching Henry.
“We wiped out three patrolllsss, but it seamsss the rest have formed lines at the edge of their settlement. They are preparing for battle. Another few minutes that way,” Khondur said pointing down the tunnel.
“I guess it won’t be a surprise attack, then. Henry send a scout team first so we can get a look at things, and formulate a battle plan,” Mark said, directing the latter half of that through the link.
Khondur left with the rest of the kobolds. They intended to cut off any who chose to flee, but Mark thought it doubtful that any would when he saw their lines. Rank upon rank, 500 trolls stood there waiting calmly. Their weapons were crude and sample, a throwback to weapons before researching the metal casting tech. Tomahawks and spears with stone tips in the hands of the smaller trolls, and tree trunks roughly held in the massive hands of 12 foot tall cave trolls.
Mark sized them all up. The lowland trolls were the smallest, but that was only compared to the other troll types. They were each six feet tall with gray skin. Hippopotamus-like teeth jutted out of their closed lips. All of them had black dreadlocks that hung to their waists, although some had the different portions of their head shaved similar to hairstyles Mark would expect from ancient Egyptians.
The regular trolls were only a foot taller, but shared a lot of the same characteristics. The hill trolls were basically eight foot tall gorillas, without the hair. They had bulky muscles and sharp incisors. The cave trolls were also hairless and stood 12 feet tall. Instead of bulging muscles they had bulging guts. Although with the way they hefted tree trunk sized clubs, they definitely had the muscle as well.
“They are just standing waiting for us…” Amelia said, shifting eyes between Mark and the screen.
“It will be fine,” Mark reassured. It was as much for himself as for her. The trolls aligned for battle all likely had power ratings between 2.5 and 5 once class and experience were taken into account.
“Henry, We will send the cockroaches in first. While they keep the trolls occupied, then have the archers pepper them. Nasal, have the archers save our best stuff for the big trolls. Then the goblin infantry and scorpions can advance. Keep the bugbears in reserve. I don’t want to have to use them if we don’t have to.”
“Yes, boss,” Henry answered. Moments later he was already shouting directions to the forces gathered.
“Well at least, the kobolds weren’t exaggerating. There were eight mounds of coal, like they said there would be,” Mark stated leaning back into the couch.
“Hopefully another three year supply. At this rate, I don’t think the battle will last half that,” Amelia added.
The cockroaches hit the tunnel's exit and went screeching right toward the troll lines. Mark would have rather them bunch up and attack as one instead attacking three abreast, but they did not exactly have the best control over them. The goblins followed hot on their heels. The goblin drummers had already started their cadence, but their beats were drowned out by 500 trolls shouting in unison.
The lowland trolls surged forward to meet the cockroaches. The cockroaches slammed into the gray wall of muscle and stone. They were about as dangerous to the trolls as bugs would be to a car’s windshield. Still after only seconds the roaches had broken into their loose ranks skittering into the gaps. The scene reminded Mark of water moving through a stream. Solid unmovable rocks and water flowing around them. If nothing else, the cockroaches were resilient. Even crushing blows from the powerful troll units would not easily bring them down.
The goblins entered the large cavern and started forming ranks. Most of the trolls were turning around and around trying to smash the persistent bastards flowing among their ranks, but a few saw the goblins and started flowing that way. The troll charge however had effectively been halted.
Goblin infantry moved to intercept the few trolls moving their way, as the goblin archers set up. The goblin infantry got slaughtered several at a time, despite having more units and better weapons. The cockroach counter was down to 60 and dropping steadily. The distraction would not last for long.
The seeming one sided slaughter ended with the first volley. Hundreds of arrows duplicated before bursting into flames. Then they rained down on the clump of trolls and cockroaches. The necrotic flaming arrow heads found hundreds of trolls. Few actually went down, but a second volley was already on the way. More and more trolls left the melee streaking towards the goblin forces. Already the few that had reached the goblins were already causing havoc.
“Henry have the scorpions and bugbears intercept them,” Mark ordered. The goblin infantry was too far outmatched. The goblin lines would buckle if too many trolls faced the weaker units.
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White spears flickered into existence, streaking toward the approaching targets. Mark watched one ape-like hill troll take a spear straight to its shoulder. A sizable chunk of flesh was blown off the creature’s deltoid, but it kept going. Lowland and regular trolls that took a magic lance were blown back, but the bigger trolls were far too resilient. Soon fireballs joined in sweeping into multiple onrushing trolls.
The spiritualists sent their black shadows forward to tear into the approaching trolls. The effort was enough to stall the trolls long enough for the scorpions and bugbears to reform the goblin ranks into a vanguard. The scorpions' tails and pinchers darted forward piercing and snatching. The bugbears slammed their hammers down. The goblin line held firmly, with one exception. The hill troll with the exploded deltoid pushed two bugbears back, and threatened a section. However Henry arrived on the scene a moment afterward. Three swings of his hammer, and the hill troll went down.
The goblin front line was reformed just in time for them to face the bulk of the troll force headed their way. Only a fraction of the cockroaches were still alive. Not enough to keep the main troll forces attention. Included in the hundred charging trolls were dozens of hill trolls and a good ten cave trolls. All of them had arrows sticking out of them, but if it affected them, Mark could not tell.
“Nasal, use the good stuff,” Mark shouted through the link, but the archers were already firing the good stuff. Double good quality enchanted piercing or flaming arrows duplicated in the air. A wall of a thousand plus arrows raked through the troll lines. There had been a good 300 plus still on their feet, but the one volley dropped half of them. There was no time for a second volley before the two lines slammed together.
The portion fronted by bugbears and the scorpions held, but trolls burst through other parts. Ten spiders stepped forward to engage any that made it through as the archers now each shot at whatever caught their eye. Mark watched as the friendly counters ticked down. The first scorpion got pulped from a couple consecutive blows from a cave troll. Several bugbears were born down by the might of the hill trolls.
The battle was far closer than Mark had expected. He had really thought that the necrotic enchanted arrows would be a little more dominant, but so far not one of the hill or cave trolls had succumbed. Only the lesser trolls had been thinned. Was it due to the strength of being 3rd level units, or just the troll's natural endurance?
But Mark did not lose all hope. Finally, several cave trolls did go down, hundreds of arrows sticking out of their bodies. Mark zoomed in on his personal interface to see that one of the cave trolls had flesh that was burnt and looked rotten. Too much necrotic and fire damage had built up, causing catastrophic system failure in the big brute.
The troll numbers were now down in the sixties or seventies. Only the arachne, archers, and spiritualists had not been touched on their side. Hopefully, that would hold, since it was the mages and archers that were actually doing most of the killing. Several spiders were down, and the eight remaining would soon struggle to protect the archers for much longer.
A cave troll lurched toward the five arachne. The tree trunk club swung past several times as the more nimble arachne nimbly dodged the cave troll strikes. Then the troll received a magic lance straight to its chest. The cave troll teetered backward but righted itself. Two more lances struck its center mass causing the troll to lurch backward several steps where it collapsed.
“Mark,” Amelia gasped, gripping the side of his arm and pointing with the other.
Her finger pointed to a hill troll that held a spider aloft. Despite both creatures having the same bulk the hill troll was far stronger, indicated by how one of his fists had sunk deep into the spider’s back. The hill troll now held it aloft and ripped out one leg at a time. The troll finished the job before slamming the spider’s body down and moving toward the goblin archers. A second later the hill troll fell backward, its hide now a pin cushion for hundreds of arrows.
The battle was proceeding ferociously fast. In another five minutes it might be completely decided. The five arachne held together in a clump to the far left. The other clump was held together by Henry. A half dozen bugbears and the remainder of the other goblin infantry had banded together.
Henry’s battle hammer whirred around, slamming into any enemy that approached. A hill troll met Henry in a one on one match. Perhaps it was the dozen arrows sticking out of the hill troll, but the battle was relatively one sided. However, Henry’s next opponent was a cave troll already moving in.
Henry separated himself from the other goblins for the engagement. Power rating wise he was probably above the cave troll, but if he had the advantage it was hard to tell. The bugbear was able to dodge several blows and deliver his own, but it was hard to see if the strike to the cave troll's side had any effect other than cause the creature to stagger a step due to the momentum. But the troll recovered a second later. Henry was over extended and took the tree trunk straight to his side. Henry was batted away.
However, It was becoming clear that the battle was likely won, provided the archers did not run out of arrows. Only a couple of spiders had survived the onslaught, but they had done their job. Three hundred untouched archers brought down the trolls one by one. Any who were not in direct engagement with the small clump of goblins remaining had quickly been targeted. Four cave trolls raged. One even surged towards the archers, but they scattered in all directions while still peppering the massive creature.
“Mark, that was closer than you led me to believe it would be,” Amelia said, shooting him a glare.
“Makes you want to unlock the troll branch though,doesn’t it. Just imagine if they had armor and real weapons,” Mark said excitedly.
“Yeah, I’m sure our friend Gale will be glad to show us,” Amelia said, smirking.
“Oh… That’s right…” Mark sat back sullen as they watched the remainder of the battle.
Gale had two branches like that, sure she would not be fielding all of what they just saw till her dungeon was level 3, but how far away was that, a couple months? For a while Mark had been wondering whether their powerful enchantments and equipment would get them through till the end. They had blunted Mareth’s last attack using far less MP, by relying on their top grade equipment, but after what he had just seen maybe that was too optimistic.
It was a good thing that they were starting to get exceptional quality gear, because after what he had just seen. They were going to need it. They could not rely on killing enemies, ‘death by a thousand cuts style’ every time. Dungeon forces would have shields and enchantments. Not to mention their forces would be better controlled.
The last cave troll was brought down, ending the fight. The counters showed the final numbers. Six bugbears had lasted along with a handful of the other types. The arachne, spiritualists, and archer division were all still untouched. The cockroaches and scorpions had basically been exterminated, but one of the spiders had held out. But the biggest high note was that both Nasal and Henry had endured. They would not have to wait weeks for either to respawn.
Henry likely had a broken arm and ribs and internal trauma, but this time their army had brought healers. The healers got to work, as the surviving goblins started scavenging from their fallen brethren.