CHAPTER 390: Necromancing
While the army set up their troops we had our own small planning session for our group. We were positioned on the left flank a bit away from the main group so we would be able to hit the goblins from the side when they charged the spears. We still had the hill, which was more of a ridge, as cover. It was up to us at which point we would engage.
"So, the goblins will have a few archers and some shamans of their own. How are we going to do this?" I asked. "Is everyone using their own magical shields?"
"Everyone should be ready for an attack but it might not hurt to combine our defenses." Kaito said.
"I am going to use my ice armour and then I will focus on some area magic. Actually, do you want to do a joint casting, Koyuki? Or do you want all your mana for raising the dead?" Helena asked.
"Hm. Combat raising has not been that difficult so far but there might be quite a few corpses. Maybe I can join you for the opening spell or so? We will have to see how fast they approach and I will have to see how far away I can raise the dead."
"I can use my earth magic to create a small shelter we can hide behind with a roof to protect us from arrows. It means anyone who needs a break can go behind it, or if someone is wounded. It would just be a solid wall with a roof but it should work against most attacks. Strong magic could be a problem though." Valeria suggested.
"I will stick close to Koyuki and I can help with raising the dead." Rose offered.
I nodded. "I think once they engage the spear wall we can try a little push from our side, if things go well. Let's conserve some resources at range, maybe even hide Garm and then go for them once they are close."
Cassie grinned. "I look forward to them getting into throwing distance."
"Cassie, make sure to not explode us." Skadi warned.
Cassie nodded. "I have learned from the cave."
While we planned the army got into position and then it was waiting time. Thankfully it took less than an hour until the goblins appeared. I had no idea if they had bad scouts or did not care but the warband marched into the open without a care.
Elarin's archers made the opening move while the spearman assembled into a line on top of the hill. Once the goblins saw us they charged. The field they had to cover was about 400 metres but they were already halfway through when our troops showed themselves.
The goblins did not have an orderly line, they did not even have a proper archery division. Their bowmen were spread out among them and some arrows flew our way. More concerning were the mages. I could see a few balls of fire and some lightning going for the spear wall. Earth rose to block the lightning and a ball of water met the incoming fire. So far they had ignored our flank.
"Koyuki!" Helena said and I took her hand. I mostly supplied mana as a ball of snow and ice formed in her hands. It reached the size of a head, then she threw it. The projectile flew straight into the charging enemies and exploded into deadly shards of ice while also freezing the ground beneath. Some of them tripped on the slippery ground while others were torn apart by ice. It certainly got us their attention.
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Instead of firing off another spell Helena switched to an ice shield as magic was thrown our way. I used my own shield, as did my friends.
"I think they did not like your spell!" I told Helena, who grinned.
"They will like your spells even less once they start to fall." She replied.
Goblins, despite having shorter legs, moved rather quickly. Soon their fighters reached us but we were ready.
Garm, who had been hiding behind the hill howled and charged. Kaito, who was now riding Goro, followed. The cats were doing a good job hiding in the grass and would be a very nasty surprise for the goblins.
Hatsumi had formed her blood claws and stood next to Skadi as both of them prepared to meet the enemy. They had all the undead goblins, Frank, Bob and Chariot with them.
Rose and Thorn were next to me, so was Andy. Before the fight I had already infused the water inside his tank and he was ready. As the goblins charged up the hill he spit.
Goblins started screaming as Andy's water almost seemed to melt flesh, not with heat but with decay. Spots hit by the infused water turned black and began to rot, flesh started to fall from the goblins who were still alive. It seemed to horrify some of them and was definitely a hit against their morale, although some just seemed angrier at seeing their comrades dying.
Next followed a few explosions. Cassie had used the cats to mine a small area which took care of quite a few goblins charging us. Helena threw a volley of ice shards and Andy spit the remaining water which stalled their advancement. I briefly glanced towards the shield wall to our right and they were engaged as well. It was time to truly win our flank.
Garm's charge reversed the momentum as his heads tore goblins apart, closely followed by Katio riding Goro, whose frostfire overwhelmed any goblin getting too close. Our infantry, led by Hatsumi and Skadi, followed Garm. Hatsumi moved almost too fast to see as she sliced through goblins. Each hit fuelled her claws as you could see blood draining from the enemies wounds.
But we were far from done, the cats were still in the field and a goblin yelped in surprise as the tiny Nyx grew to her full size behind him. Meanwhile I could see a shaman raising his staff to cast a spell, only to scream as Ivy bit his food and drained his blood. He desperately tried to cast a spell but an ice shard pierced his hand and he dropped his staff. While Yoru had helped Ivy, Kasai was roasting another goblin who wanted to help his shaman.
While I watched the battle unfold I had not been idle. My magic had been reaching out, looking for targets and I found plenty. I poured my magic into the corpses surrounding our troops and they rose!
The brief engagement on our flank had been devastating for the goblins but there were plenty of them left and they had decided to push us hard. Once Helena had opened up they had started to realise that our flank was a group of deadly mages without a shield wall, a juicy and an important target.
They were technically correct, however throwing a lot of bodies at us was a mistake. My zombies rose and started to slaughter the living goblins, who in turn rose to feed my army. The more goblins they sent, the better!
"Assassins!" Rose shouted as her blade struck towards my left. I could see a small distortion move towards us and Rose hit it with her blade, only to reveal a black goblin carrying a short blade covered in something, likely poison.
Thorn kicked with his back hooves and sent another concealed attacker flying. Before he could get up a potion hit his face and covered him in flames.
Helena had stopped throwing ice shards and had formed a spear with her powers which she used to pierce an assassin coming for us.
I heard a yelp from Valeria but she seemed fine so I kept focusing on my undead. I trusted my friends to protect me and I had a job to do! Necromancing!
Sweat formed on my head as more and more zombies joined my force. I could hear thunder as a bolt of lighting flew towards me, only to be blocked by Helena. It did not take too long until the goblins broke. As they tried to flee they discovered that zombies could be very fast and outrunning Garm, Goro, the cats or spellblades was not easy.
Next to me I could hear a slurping sound. Thorn was drinking from a dead goblin he had crushed with his front hooves.
"He is such a good horse!" Rose said, while smiling at him.
"Careful, there could still be assassins." I warned.
Rose nodded. "I will keep you safe!"
"Puh, that opening spell was intensive. I need to work on my efficiency, I had to stick to ice shards and daggers after that. Well, and the spear once the assassins showed up." Helena said.
Valeria looked at us, then at the field. "You… you devastated a lot of goblins."
I nodded. "Tier three undead are hard to take down, especially if you combine them with additional zombie and spell support. Hatsumi and Kaito are helping by directing the newly risen zombies so I can focus on creating more. Sending more towards our group instead of the spear wall was a costly mistake for them. They should have focused more on assassins and used their shamans better."
Our group had done rather well. I looked towards our soldiers, hopefully they did not have too many casualties. I wondered if the goblins had sent any assassins towards them? Lieutenant Camille was walking towards us so I would find out soon.