I stood right behind the fence separating the tree wall from the rest of town. With me was my full party, The Harvesters.
“Alright! Let’s win this!” Angerly announced, hefting her massive mace up.
“I doubt any will even reach us,” Therick countered. “They’ve got an entire army out there. Adventurers, guards, templars.”
“That might have happened. If you didn’t just jinx it, that is.” I grinned, positioning myself just behind Angerly, who was a whole level above us.”
“Well, I hope they win…” Therick muttered under his breath.
I glanced at the templars serving in the rear line and chuckled. The stronger ones were here, instead of actually being out there in the frontlines. From their white fabrics and armor, to the unrelenting silence of most of their members, and the shepherd that checked on them every so often; I had my suspicions that some mindfuckery was going on there.
Actually, I was sure of it, because I asked Grandpa. I loved that man and his propensity to dish out all the state secrets. Magnificent.
Granuel was excitedly checking on his pile of rocks and boulders, meanwhile Moonwash was with my mother, showing great interest in her big paintbrush that was like a broom. My mom carried a blood-like ink that glittered in various shades of brown, which she would use later to draw rituals on the ground. It wasn’t something she could prepare in advance because the ritual would rapidly lose power once it was finished, it had to be used immediately. Deliberately drawing it slowly or leaving it unfinished was a poor option as well, the end result would just be so weakened, you might as well just have casted a spell manually. The magic responded to attempts at cheating like that, and it was not pleased.
I observed the rest of our battle line. The guards and adventurers gathered here with us were typically the lower level ones, as the others were towards the front instead or up on the tree wall. The adventurers gathered into individual parties, protecting only a set point just like my own party. Guards were more organized, lining up and forming a wall of spears and shields. The templars… hung back, occasionally giving orders and being very helpful.
We had only a small contingent of actual soldiers, the handful that were sent here in response to the news of a goblin horde.
“Ready yourselves!”
“The attack has begun!”
“Red! RED!”
“Nearly a dozen Reds, and an entire horde besides!!”
The shouts came from above, and they reached all the way down here. The goblin horde was lured to this place, to be fought on favorable ground. Even if that ground were to be the homes of so many people.
That was what the tree wall was supposed to be about. Originally planned to be both settlement and staging ground, most of the belfegors would be made to live there, and thus forced to participate in the defense no matter what. What the tree wall had become however, was something that had truly gone out of control in the eyes of the state, and I was sure that this horde, concentrated on this single southern point of invasion, would not be able to break it either.
Long minutes passed, we felt the vibrations and the tremors, the shouting and the sheer energy of the situation reaching us from here. But we could still scarcely see anything with the trees blocking our view, the battle was beyond our sights.
And then the first goblin showed herself, stuck on a dozen vines. She was easily shot down from above, but another soon followed, stepping over his fallen comrade’s body and instead getting ensnared in a different trap, a plant with a mouth that chomped down on him.
More goblins soon followed, and they triggered different traps. From spears launched out of trees, to flowers that poisoned, bewildered, and confused. The green people attacked each other, more so than they usually did. Pit traps and more mechanical contraptions opened underneath the ground. Whole boulders were dropped from above. Bushes spewed acid. Large peanuts exploded like grenades.
The goblins died to our defenses. They weren’t a very resilient army, with most of them being naked and the other half wearing only roughshod, ill-sized, and damaged armor. But they were relentless. A menace. For every one that was killed, two more popped in their place. The corpses piled up, and they were only used as a foothold for the rest.
The horde got closer to our perimeter. I could feel the whispers now, of violence, and of carnage. Torture and the ecstasy of it all!
Wicked, wicked desires that oozed off their very bodies, warped and misshapen by their own vicious hearts.
It was harder for me, I reckoned. These sort of desires existed within me, I’ve indulged in them. There was just something that existed within my soul that begged to be released in the same way that the goblins indulged themselves.
But I was more than that. Greater than my impulses. I braced myself and shouted to my party, “Brace! The enemy is upon the doors, and we will not let them pass!”
“YEEAAAHHH!!” I got a response, not just from my party, but from the people nearby too, even those atop the trees. It was a line I’d always wanted to say, in a proper setting with the proper stakes, and god did it feel good to say it!
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My mom looked over at me approvingly, albeit a bit worried, and I blushed just a little. But I did not let it distract me from either my excitement or my focus.
The green menace drew closer, already battered and broken from our armies, but still unrelentingly pushing forward. They were clawing at the fence now, but a buried plant at their feet was repeatedly pulsing its thorns laced with venom, and the goblins died gripping at the boundary.
I nodded once to Angerly, and she moved forward at my command, crushing and pushing away those at the front lines.
“Don’t let them pass! Push them back!”
I followed my own advice, and then took the sword to the goblins. They were cut down where they stood, and then nudged to fall further away. My fire mana roared, connected to me through my horns, and burning off the greenskins at critical junctures, preventing them from crossing the fence. I dug my sword into the chest cavity of one, swinging them away and towards another unsuspecting goblin.
My team followed my lead. Granuel used both magic and his free hand to toss large boulders at the enemy. Moonwash went to the front lines and sprayed them with sharp gusts of wind while hiding behind her tower shield.
Therick was moving around, slashing and killing goblins at his perimeter, meanwhile Angerly was swinging her mace wildly, as she was the one best suited to this situation. Multiple goblins were tossed and battered by each of her attacks.
Stronger goblins were among them too, but weakened and softened by the traps and our whole armies, my power and that of my friends were more than able to finish them off.
A hobgoblin made it to the fence, a yellow alert, with a few level 20 Mutation. I commanded my full party to descend upon the vile monster. I slashed at the sapient being, finding lesser purchase into its flesh than I anticipated, but that only inspired me to hammer away at it more.
“Moonwash!” I shouted her name, when the goblin reared back for a strike. She braced herself behind her shield, and the combination of the monster’s wounds, and its poor angle with the fence in the way, allowed Moonwas to only be tossed back and lightly injured. She was back on her feet only a second later as Angerly repeatedly bashed on the large goblin’s head, being the only one who could reach from our position. Therick worked on the creature’s legs, slowly cutting through them, and failing that, putting the hobgoblin off balance.
I poured all of my helmet’s mana into burning the foe, splashes of fire descending on it from above, and Granuel took the opportunity to haul up a rock as big as he was, and then painstakingly toss it over to our enemy.
The goblin toppled, not yet dead, but it could not lift up the rock with how weakened it was, so we left it to eventually succumb to its own injuries.
Wood splintered, and a piece of fence beside us toppled whilst we were busy with a different enemy. The goblins got through, and I quickly sent Angerly to plug the gap while the rest of us returned to position.
I elected to use Therick’s help for the moment, donning my shield to interrupt the goblins, while I worked a wand in my other hand, bringing the mana toward my helm.
Therick executed my request well, and soon we were in a rhythm of him hanging back just behind me while I defended, and he struck whenever a good opening presented itself.
A level 10-ish goblin got in range, and I was pushed away by his club. Therick used that opportunity to slash at its torso, the monster succumbed to its plethora of wounds. Another goblin tossed a dagger, and I swiftly blocked it, saving Therick from facial harm. He retaliated against the monster by slitting at its throat and then pushing it away.
The rest of the line did its best too, but the goblins were not totally mindless, and Angerly was beginning to be pressured from her position. Another gap opened in the fence, and I chose to face that one myself, with my magic helm fully charged, and a greatsword held aloft.
I slashed at the tide of bodies, I burned them and pushed them away. An axe was thrown at me, and I shifted just enough to dodge. A hobgoblin stumbled inside, and I slashed at its face, keeping a wide berth from the creature as I worked on killing other less tanky goblins. The hobgoblin died soon after, by my mother’s intervention, who had been enforcing a line just beside us. She was really here just to babysit us after I’d begged to be part of the defense, and I felt no resentment for the fact. Only gratitude, especially now.
The wave of enemies had reached a new high, and the corpses left in their wake were stacked just as far. High enough to be climbed over, and exit towards the other side of the fence.
There were more hobgoblins among them, unable to be killed by the spent traps or the people up on the trees. Their help was the only reason really why things had been so easy thus far, but I feared things were about to get far more dangerous soon.
I saw Mom look over at us worriedly, she was about to give a command. I knew what she wanted, what must be done, and I said it before she could.
“Retreat!” My voice was only loud enough to be heard by my teammates. My mom gave an approving nod, though part of it really, was just that I wanted the call to be my own. To be my party’s. Instead of just being told what to do by the adults.
Meaningless. Inconsequential. Petty. But I could see the acceptance from my group, and I knew that they too would’ve been at least a little bit miffed, if someone else had made the call. Even if that someone was close to me, to us, someone that I loved.
The Harvesters deserved to make their own choices.
We left just as planned, leaving the frontlines and heading towards the part of town that had been evacuated. We found a proper house, and then climbed all the way up to its roof to get a better view of the fighting. Because of course we’re staying close enough to watch and spectate til the end!
We were far from the only ones with the same intention. The area that should've been empty were instead full of small pockets of people. From those hiding in nearby alleyways, or perched on rooftops like us. There was predictably some looting going on, but less than one would think. The Angelore Empire wasn’t really bad at maintaining order.
People were confident in our ability to defeat the enemy, which was why they were even here. Only now were some of the bystanders beginning to peel away.
The goblins crossing the boundary was a wake-up call to stop being stupid and run.
“You should go with them,” I told my friends.
“Would you?” Therick asked.
“No.”
“Then I’ll stay.”
“Yeah! I wanna see!” Angerly enthused.
“It is interesting,” Moonwash stated.
Granuel got some rocks from his pouch. “I could still do something from here.”
I lowered his hand. “Maybe later. But let’s just watch. Don’t draw more attention to ourselves.” We are already too close just to get a better view.
“Okay!” It really doesn’t take much to convince him…
[Adrenaline Gland has reached Level 10!]