After spending some time explaining things in motion to Jarek, he finally caught on and lost his man hunting appetite as he knew who I am.
Us hiding behind a shrub, we laid our eyes and ears on the surrounding perimeter, staying vigilant to spot the oncoming raiding party.
A young lad past his 20th winter stood beside me. Donning in similar gear to mine, with an exception of the longbow half a height he's clenching in his arms and a quiver filled with arrows secured behind his cuirass. He also wears a leather jacket coloured in forest green, covering most of his upper body whereas the cuirass left exposed. With a hood that came along his jacket covering most of his skull. Beneath it lies flowing, middle length blonde hair. with a masculine face and spot on features, his dazzling green eyes could bewitch any women if he ever wished so. Having similar constitution to mine, a lean body filled with muscles, indicating his strength and training.
Despite having such appealing features for a fine gentleman, his personality is completely different, even revolting for all living beings to gaze upon.
Personality? Voice of a horny pre-pubescent child and a sissy personality. Even indications of him preferring man arse, what a bloody nightmare is he.
"Naawwwww~ captain don't be saaaad~" (Jarek)
"..."
"It's alriiight.. even without the strong beard, captain is still captain~ the best! Strongest! Wisest man in the village!" (Jarek)
"Such comforting words coming from the cunt I hate the most.."
"Naaaawwww~ Sure you jest!" (Jarek)
Not actually the one I hate the most.. third actually. First being the useless village chief, second being Andrzej whom completely destroys my pride and forced me to the verge of tears.. HOW DARE HE! I WILL NOT TOLERATE SUCH HUMILIATION!! ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGH *screams internally*
"grrrh..."
"Captain?" (Jarek)
Such intense monologue had a growl left my lips uncontrollably, I quickly snap myself out of the trance that I'm in, and refocus my senses in my surroundings.
(thud thud)
"Hear that?" (Jarek)
Noises broke the silent atmosphere we're in, indicating that some units are dozens of paces away from us.
(thud thud thud thud)
"krrek urrj nk rujjjj" (goblin?)
"Goblins marching" (Jarek) He whispered
"Bears certain weight, sounds like the whole party is approaching" I hissed in response
"Jarek, go for offensive retreat" I ordered
"Aye, captain" (Jarek)
Without another word, We ran straight back into the Obronna Line while disregarding cover and showing ourselves. With all kinds of shrubbery spreading around this area, its pointless to confirm their numbers or silently kill them one by one as both sides have terrible field of vision to keep track of the opposite forces. Much better to retreat tactically and move the fight to open lands, especially the Line, which is to our advantage.
"mmh?" (goblin)
"RYAAAAH" (goblin)
As planned, they noticed our presence and I could see the vanguard completely detaching from the main forces, in order to attempt in chasing us down. They all run slow and they also react slow. Soon, some armoured ones which seemed to be the vanguards rushed past the rest and 'caught up' to us.
"Bye~ bye~~" (Jarek)
Instantly, we turned around and halted in a sudden. A few of the goblins are right on our tails while the rest are away from us by a dozen paces or so. I pulled out and waved my longsword around the nearest freak, still sprinting on its feet, us stopping abruptly left it surprised. with a clean swiping motion, I raised my sword above my shoulders and swung left, the blade cleanly dismembered its left arm and left the torso with a deep cut. Its leather armour sliced off cleanly, revealing its slightly muscular, green abdomen. Which green blood had instantly spurted out, staining the nearby grass with it, enhancing their colours as they swayed under the moonlight.
Jarek too shot a few arrows that flew past me, striking one of the goblins aside me. One pierced through its pathetic buckler that's carved from a slab of wood, lightly piercing its left arm that's holding the shield. Once its balance is broken, the second and third went into the chest and head respectively, dealing a much needed killing blow. It's a slight waste of arrows in my opinion, but hey, as long as it works, I'm not against it.
The third little shit got stunned for a moment as it saw its comrades dying in front of it, its mouth open wide, not knowing what to do.
"kreeek.." (goblin)
Not waiting for his last words, I raised my sword up high and splitted its head open with an overhead cleave. My longsword stuck in the cavities of its chest while its head and neck is cleanly split into two, completely ignoring it's leather helm. Or just a piece of hide that's roughly stitched and wrapped on it's head like an ushanka. It stood motionless with its eyes showing only whites, then fell down on the ground while sliding along my blade. Green blood kept squishing out from the gaps of its fresh corpse, flowing down onto the ground in which it has fallen, creating a puddle of green around it.
"Keep on it Jarek"
"Aye captain!" (Jarek)
I started jogging foward without looking back right behind him, while he is back stepping while keeping barrage on the oncoming party. I kept one of my hands behind me while tugging his belt along, this way allows the duo the traverse the unstable terrain full of obstacles while still dealing constant damage.
"kreeeak!" (goblin)
"nyeet!" (goblin)
(thump thump)
Without looking back, I already know that Jarek is doing his job. Sniping the goblins one by one to reduce the numbers via precision arrow strikes. This sissy cunt is definitely a pain to interact with, but he shows such performance and dedication in defending the village, I definitely cherish his existence as a friend and superior. Feelings of proudness rose above my chest as I reveled in the satisfactory performance of my comrade, which we fought back to back in order to protect lives.. Ah... what a noble cause we are in, contributing to the safety of th.....
"Awww~ We work soooo well together~ Ain't it captain~?" (Jarek)
Ugh... My feelings got betrayed again. I still fucking hate him.
"Comrade, you ought to shut the fuck up." I said coldly
"Oh.." (Jarek)
----------------------------------------
We kept on going and cleaning them off, after few dozen paces..
----------------------------------------
"Rest of the vanguard retreated, they stopped rushing and rejoined the main group" (Jarek)
"I knew that there's a leader somewhere giving orders, but where the fuck is it?"
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With a goblin leader leading the party, an individual with its wits greater than an average beetroot would take command of the raiding party. Past experiences told me that there is always a leader leading any forces greater than a scouting team. Sometimes a heavy armoured Goblin Warrior leading the vanguard or some snarky Goblin Ranger commanding from the rear. The first possess a bulky, muscular body, often clad in heavy armour and wields a greataxe, spearheading any assaults that it could throw itself in. The latter holds a larger longbow, dealing precision shots to the enemy. Although it deals much more damage than the Warrior if not disturbed, it has very little armour as it uses the rest of the rearguard as meatshield.
Goblin Warriors could be contained if given superior numbers on our side and creates an 1v1 engagement without disturbance. Andrzej or me could easily overpower it in terms of strength and speed. Its movements are too sluggish and much less agile than a trained human. Rest of the forces would need to engage the goblins to create a battle front, which they are slowly pushed into two opposing sides, while the Warrior in the centre is contested by one of us. Once it is depleted of its stamina and killed off, the rest of the goblins seperated by our spearwall formation would lose morale and often flee, resulting in a rout. In which we attain victory.
Goblin Rangers also could do no damage if neutralized quickly. Best way is to have Jarek snipe it from afar, hence resulting in another rout from the goblins. If conditions aren't ideal to make that happen, the millita will be split into three. Centre of the echelon will mantain spearwall formation while the left and right wings break off and scatter. Both wings led by me and Andrzej respectively, we'll venture down to their flanks and unleash a charge to break the rearguards. Once disorganized, anyone free from contenders could run past the goblins and skewer that crafty fuck in the middle of the group. Once seeing their leader stabbed by any common peasant who aren't occupied, the group will lose all morale and start to flee. Which then we could dispatch most of them and even form an encirclement, slaughtering them as they file out in a desperate attempt to escape. In which we attain victory.
While weighing my options, sounds from a greatly disturbed shrub behind me had attracted my attention.
"Nyiiiiiii" (animal sound?)
"Is that a.. squeal?" (Jarek)
We both stopped in our tracks and turned back while examining the oddity.
"There's no way.. right.."
"Um, captain?" (Jarek)
"Wa..wa..wa..warthog?" I stuttered
"..." (Jarek)
(THUD THUD THUD THUD)
Right after hearing the sound of heavy hooves, A warthog-like figure rushed out of the dense shrubbery and charged straight towards us.
"NO FUCKEN WAY"
"KYAAAAAAA~" (Jarek)
The thing... the monster that's charging at us is a Warthog Rider. Fuck me. Fuck my life. Fuck everything that I stand for.
An Alpha Goblin could tame a warthog as its steed. Reports of those things acting as vanguard of goblin tribes aren't unheard of. They often mobilize such a force to clash with other goblin tribes, by the cause of petty disputes or bloodlust and hatred among tribes.
But they should belong inside the depths of the forest, not the outskirts of my fucking village!
Alpha Goblins are literally the ones who leads the rest of the goblins. Subspecies of the goblin, they retain the look of their dumber variants, while having a stronger build itself. They have intelligence that rumoured to be slightly inferior to humans, while possessing keen senses and as agile as any human fighters. Combined with the charging power of a warthog, they are definitely an unstoppable duo if fighting against a peasant army. I never knew how could those warthogs be tamed, but now ain't a good time to contemplate the cause don't it?
"Captain! It's coming!!" (Jarek)
"FECK!"
the warthog quickly covered the distance of dozens of paces and charged at us with full might. Taking advantage to the fact that we are shocked with our eyes and mouths agape it spared no time for introductions and went it for the dance of death.
Instinctively, we both scattered and jumped into two seperate directions. The warthog had almost grazed my side had I not jumped out of its way.
(Splat)
I landed on my face as I jumped away. Ah fuck.. There's wet dirt on my face, I'm on all fours right now and I look like some fucking hound prostrating to its master.
"uggh" I groaned
I quickly stood up and held my sword in front of me to take stance, also.. felt something.. wet.. fu...
I FUCKING PISSED MYSELF!!
Staring angrily at that fucking monster piece of shit, I've come to see a better picture of our current situation. Jarek is also standing up opposite of me, keeping his bow on his back while holding a small knife on his right hand, a small blade the length of a palm or two, with a wooden grip, an ideal thrusting knife to bypass armour.
And that monstrosity paces away from my, with its side facing me. Damn.. An average warthog with a grey fur coating, which just resembles a larger boar. But with much larger tusks that's as long as its head, it could skewer any regular humans from side to side, scary indeed.
And the Rider turned around.. YIKEES IT'S LOOKING AT ME!
seeing its ugly face with distorted features, it makes me think that Jarek's personality is much more pleasant in comparison. That freak is clad in iron gear.. An iron chestplace with a chainmail shirt under it, Iron shoulder guards, armguards and gauntlets padded with leather, and apparently leather pants padded with iron plates, covering its legs from front to back. Formidable looking freak this is.. Although it's not wearing any shoes, much like any other goblin. Freaks will be freaks, just a stronger freak this is.. a much.. much stronger freak.
It isn't wearing any headgear, but not that it matters much to me. Its combined height while riding a warthog is almost 2 heads higher than me, it's useless to try a high angled strike without exposing my lower torso to it, I'll get impaled by the oink freak ot stabbed by the strong freak by attacking high, simply not worth the try. Besides its spare left hand, its right held.. a metal lance. A FUCKING IRON LANCE. With a handle made of an iron rod, the entire pike protruding from it is of the same material. What kind of goblin can do that.. so unfair..
This is my first time seeing the dreaded Alpha Goblin with my eyes, furthermore a Warthog Rider. I will never be able to endure such horror unfolding before me.
There it sat, staring at both of us while being completely still. We stood up and backed off a little from that freak of nature. Half a field away behind us lies the Line.. we must get there somehow or we will get destroyed by it.
Jarek seems as nervous as me, screamed at my in panic to confirm our actions.
"Captain! What do we do now?!" (Jarek)
"We'll have to use our legs!"
"You'll get stabbed before you could stun that warthog!" (Jarek)
"NO YOU STUPID IDIOT! RUN!"
Without replying another word, we both understood the importance of this situation. We broke off into a sprint towards the Line, and pray that the freak won't catch up and impale us. I know I've left my back wide open to any attacks, but it's either do or die, we have no choice.
(thump thump thump thump)
"HYAAAAAA" (Rider)
(thump thump thump thump thump)
"Keep going!"
"Aye!" (Jarek)
We kept running and running, while hearing the sounds from the hooves of that oink bastard smashing the dirt behind us. In the distance the main force appears to be sprinting foward as well, in response to the Rider's command. Funny how could we still utter words while every bit of air we breathe should be conserved for running. There I am, running for my life like a coward. hah, great.
(THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP)
"Our Father.. Who art in heaven.. Hallowed be Thy Name.." (Jarek)
"Fuck.. my life.."
----------------------------------------
And we ran and ran.. What seemed to be a moment lasted an eternity.. we kept running, clinging on for dear life.
Soon, we finally saw the Line, in front of our vision. In front of us, the area devoid of trees or shrubbery, just a smooth gentle slope leading up to my familliar village.
Torches lit up the surroundings of the slope, forming a line, where my salvation, or perhaps a means to delay my end, was to be found upon reaching there.
(THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP)
"...as we forgive those who.. trespass against us.. and lead us not into tempt..." (Jarek)
"haa.. haa.. haa.." I pant heavily
Soon, I can see movements on the edge of the slope, moving ranks of men and women taking formation, after noticing the situation we're in, hassle and disorder can be obviously seen among the ranks. As soon as I see that, surge of emotions blasted up my mind, clouding my thoughts entirely.
(THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP)
"...but.. deliver... us from... haa... evil..." (Jarek)
"This.. this.. is.."
Now, I am able to see the faces of the ranks in detail.. Andrzej, standing in the middle of the spearwall formation, gazing down at us in disbelief. Yelling incomprehensible things at us, which closely resemble our names. Had no moment to spare to look aside or behind me though, only knowing the loud thumps caused by the horde of freaks catching up behind me, and Jarek praying to God while running beside me...
(THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP)
My eyes starts to cloud as tears swell from within, I felt the mini blobs of coldness run down my cheeks. I started sobbing unconciously while my feet were still running at full speed. I could feel the blaze in the muscles of my entire body.. Hah, there goes my stamina that I would've needed for the battle..
Why.. What sin have I commited to deserve this? O' God.. Why?
Mini droplets of water rained down my cheeks and splashed onto my cuirass, creating a brief mirror shine on some spots of my chestplate, it twinkles, it flashed into my eyes under the reflection of the moonlight.
(THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP) (sobs) (pants) (sobs) (THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP)
"...hic ..not.. an average day."
"...Amen" (Jarek)