Confusion
Time seemed to stretch on forever. Waiting for the attack they expected to come felt like agony. Eagerness bubbled inside every member of the guild that awaited the confrontation with the goblins as they watched for any signs they were on their way. After several hours of waiting, a man in black garb appeared next to Tom.
"They're coming," was all he said before disappearing again.
"Holy fucking shit, man!" Tom cried as he jumped when the member of Jay's team made his presence known.
Tom could see the smile behind the cloth covering his mouth. Just as quickly as he had appeared, he vanished before Tom's eyes.
"They sure are getting good at the stealth skill," Tom commented.
"That's what we need. But yeah, that was a dick move." Derek replied, trying not to laugh at Tom's discomfort.
Tom was about to insult Derek in return when he heard it. It was quiet at first, but it reverberated off the sides of the building. The sounds of marching feet could be heard in a steady rhythm through the streets, the occasional shout of anger echoing through the streets.
Tom rushed to the top of the walls as he looked out through the dim light of the late evening as the sun was setting to see if he could catch a glimpse of the enemy. Finally, he saw the first of the goblins as they turned a corner around an abandoned building. They were marching in a much more organized formation than anything Tom had seen from goblins before.
"Take shots at the first of the goblins. Let's see if we can get them to break formation." Tom said to the guard next to him. "Everyone fire at the front lines."
Guards readied their rifles and took aim at the approaching forces. Soon, the sound of gunfire filled the air as the first line of goblins began to fall. Screams of pain and rage sounded as the goblins began to die. Finally, breaking rank, the first line of goblins began to rush toward the walls, losing all semblance of control as their wild anger took over.
A horn sounded from off in the distance. Three long, loud blasts that sounded like a war horn from fantasy movies played out. The goblins that had broken rank shrank back from the sound and began to move back into formation.
"That's not a good sign," Derek said from behind where Tom was standing and watching the forces advance.
"It doesn't matter. We will stick with the plan." Tom replied, clenching his jaw as he waited.
The rhythmic sounds of the goblins' feet, as they marched in a uniform formation, began to fill the defenders with dread. Continuing to take shots at the enemy, Vanguard held strong and looked for opportunities to hit larger targets.
"We need to do something to bolster our troops. I suggest a firecracker or two to get the party started," Derek said to Tom as they both stood transfixed by the leader's ability to keep these monsters in line.
"Do it," Tom said.
Running down the stairs of the walls, Derek rushed to the back of the lines and found where Herbert was setting up some of his new pet projects.
"It's time. Let the first ones fly. They're about three hundred yards out." Derek said to him.
Herbert gave an evil smile as he nodded once and moved to get ready. Soon a set of guild members rushed forward with mortars in hand and set them down behind the walls. A member from each team moved to stand on the walls and began to call out the positions of the troops.
Soon, the sounds of mortars firing began to sound down the line as shots fired at angles up and down the formations inside and the whistling of falling projectiles could be heard over the sounds of marching. Explosions began to rock the area, and goblins began to scream as they died in the resulting destruction. Pieces of green flesh could be seen flying over the top of the walls as they began to die in droves.
Herbert had been working with several enchanters to add damage types to the mortar shells being fired. This meant that all along the newly formed battlefield, large crystals of ice, with goblins frozen inside, were visible, along with acid pools, smoke screens of poisonous gas, and huge balls of fire expanded out from the blast points.
Cheers sounded from the guild members as more and more shots fired off. Tom watched the goblins, who all appeared to be getting nervous but seemed resolved to stay in their formation.
"More rifles to the walls!" Tom called out over the din of the explosions and fire that was already coming from the men posted there.
A group of guild members rushed forward to stand on top of the walls to begin firing down at the approaching horde. There were far more goblins present than Tom had expected after the bombing they took from the pilots, and it began to make him feel slightly nervous about this plan. Determined not to let his emotions show, Tom swallowed his fear and continued to execute their strategy.
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"Bobby! You ready?" Tom asked as the first regiments began to near the walls.
With a thumbs up and a smile, Bobby moved to the box near the gates he had prepared for springing the traps. Several groups of goblins fell into the pit traps that had been dug and covered with the slabs of pavement and landed on the sharpened spikes at the bottom. The remaining troops marched on, barely giving the dying forces a second thought.
Tom nodded at Bobby when he felt they were in range, and he mashed the button down with a fist. Firing out with a small pop as the explosives inside opened the wooden boxes, the detonation cord flew straight out into the ranks of the enemy. Many began to tangle themselves in the wire as they looked at the small objects attached to it in confusion. One particularly unlucky goblin took the weight at the end of the detonation cord to their face and died from the impact.
Smashing a second button on the wall moments later, the detonation devices spread throughout the cord and began to explode in a line straight out from the end of the trap. Goblins died by the hundreds as the explosions spread down the lengths of the detonation cord. Several of the creatures had been holding the rope and staring at it in confusion as they were ripped to pieces.
"Haha! Take that, you ugly green witch's cunt warts!" James yelled from the top of the wall as he pulled both of his handguns out and began firing down at the remaining goblins. "You get a dickshot! You get a dickshot! Everyone gets a dickshot!"
"Great, now he thinks he's the Oprah of the apocalypse," Kevin said as he watched James laugh maniacally and take shots at the poor creatures below.
"Phase two! Polearms to the walls! Stagger every other man, polearm, gun, polearm gun, now!" Tom called out as men with twelve-foot pikes began to move into position on the walls.
Ladders could be seen moving through the crowds of goblins as they moved to begin an attempt to climb the walls. When they reached the base, they began to hoist them up with goblins already attached to the ends of the walls and waiving primitive weapons threateningly at the men and women atop the walls.
The units with polearms began to catch the ladders on the end of their spears and shove them back to keep them from landing on the walls. Many of them fell, landing amongst goblins who had lined up to climb the ladders. But nearly as many were able to brace against the top of the wall, large metal hooks falling into place along the inside of the wall to prevent them from being shoved off.
"BRIAN! Get the cavalry moving!" Tom shouted as he pulled his sword from his inventory and chopped down on one of the ladders, nearly splitting it in two.
The goblins on the ladder he had split began to wobble as two others lifted the hooks off the wall and shoved the ladder back. This caused the ladder to finish splitting and the creatures still on the ladder began to totter from side to side in a comical display of about eight goblins attempting to use stilts before finally falling as well.
From the back of the horde of goblins, Tom could see a huge log being brought forward to the gate.
"Ram! They brought a fucking ram!" Tom called out to the troops below.
Members of the guild scrambled as they began to get into the several forklifts that had been found and moved huge cement barricades to the inside of the gate to block it.
"They never had this kind of technology in the Two Towers movie. Bet the Uruk-hai wouldn't have gotten through if they had." James said, moving over to where Tom was standing.
"You mean the Uruk-hai who used a bomb to blow up the walls?" Tom replied.
"Oh, shit," James said.
"Well, hopefully not, but we shall see," Tom didn't even look at James when he responded.
Engines revving could now be heard as Kedron appeared from the west and led the charge toward the goblins. Many of the goblins turned to see what was making the noise, and when they saw the incoming vehicles, their eyes went wide with terror.
"Eat shit, and choke on it!" Kedron screamed as he leaned out the window.
They hit the lines of goblins and continued to mow them down as they ran over the short creatures. Screams of agony and the sounds of bodies bouncing off of the metal exteriors of the cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans rang out as they drove straight through the enemy lines. Kedron, who had been driving the GS2, angled the vehicle slightly and rammed into the log that the goblins had been attempting to move to the gates.
It splintered from the impact, slowing the vehicle slightly, but it managed to plow through and continue out the other side of the forces.
"Eighty-six the barricades and get those gates open!" Tom called down. "Kevin! Kirsten! Smash!"
The forklifts moved the barricades back and cleared the gate as Kevin and Kirsten moved forward with the group of Barbarians. Kevin looked up at Tom for a moment, a smile on his face, then looked back at the gates as they began to open.
"Derek, you take charge. I'll see you out there," Tom said as he saluted and jumped down from the wall into the fray.
"Bastard is going to get killed one of these days jumping in like that," Derek said to himself as he shook his head at Tom's antics.
When the gates opened, a loud cry from the goblins erupted, which quickly turned to screams as Kevin and the other Barbarians let out their war cries and activated their rage abilities. Dual-wielding greataxes, Kevin took huge swipes at the goblins in front of him, sending them flying in all directions while he chopped his way into the middle of the group, the others cleaning up the mess behind him.
"All forces, CHARGE!" Derek yelled from the top of the wall.