Chapter 20: Home Game (Part 2)
The goblins and hobgoblins surged toward the slingers positioned atop the earth mounds. From their perspective, the slopes looked climbable enough, especially with the villagers exposed above them.
What they didn’t notice—too busy staring upward at their targets—was that the scattered “pebbles” covering the base of the mounds weren’t pebbles at all.
“KRAAA!!”
Several goblins screamed as their bare feet tore open. The ground beneath them was covered with jagged spike stones, another defensive measure made possible by the endless supply of rocks from the nearby stone ravine.
Good thing goblins were almost always barefoot, and the slingers had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Volley after volley rained down from above. Stones launched from slings at nearly 90 miles per hour smashed into goblins with brutal force, tearing skin, cracking bones, and caving in skulls. Each impact hit with enough power to rival a modern .38 caliber round.
But the real threat hadn’t even reached them yet.
“TRAK VOM GAAAARR!!” A hobgoblin roared, thrusting its rusty broadsword forward.
“KIISSHH!!” The goblins answered with snarls and surged ahead again despite the blood pooling beneath their feet.
At the top of the third earth mound, Theo, David, Greta, and Tara stood overlooking the battlefield as the attack unfolded below them.
“The caltrops are working,” Tara said while continuing to observe the battlefield through her elven vision. “But their main force is about to arrive.”
“The what?” David glanced at her.
“Caltrops,” Greta answered. “Those sharp stones you told us to spread across their path.”
“Ah, those.” David nodded casually. “Sorry, ma’am. I usually just call ’em spiked stones. Boss Theo’s the one who named ’em caltrops.”
“Yeah,” Theo added, “I guess they didn’t have a proper name for those back in your era.”
Then he pointed toward the rear of the village.
“Anyway, can I go back to the shelter now? There’s nothing else you need me for here, right?”
“Huh?” Greta frowned at him. “What, you’re gonna hide while everyone else fights?”
“Hey, you already know I’m useless in a fight,” Theo complained immediately.
“That’s exactly why you should fight more,” Greta shot back. “How else are you supposed to improve as a leader?”
“That’s just outdated warrior logic,” Theo replied immediately. “The idea that every leader needs to be some great fighter.”
“Now, now, before you two start arguin’,” David cut in casually, “boss Theo’s actually right on this one.”
Greta frowned and looked at him.
“The bigger the army you command, the worse it gets if you’re too busy swingin’ at the enemy yourself,” David continued. “A leader’s supposed to manage the battlefield, not get tunnel vision fightin’ one guy in front of him.”
He shrugged.
“Best leader ain’t always the best fighter.”
Greta stayed silent, though the disagreement on her face didn’t disappear. In the scavenger tribes, strength decided leadership. That was how it had always worked. Tara might not look intimidating at first glance, but Greta had never seen anyone shoot a bow better than her. David was the same, his sling was just as deadly as Tara’s arrows.
But Theo?
Sure, his ideas worked. His plans worked. Greta had no issue with Theo handling village matters or telling people how to organize their daily lives. But accepting him as part of the village leadership? That was still difficult for her and for many of the older warriors. Even if the order came directly from Tara.
“The goblins’ main force is about to enter kill box two,” Tara said while continuing to watch the battlefield. “The hobgoblins are almost at the second marker.”
“Captain,” David said calmly, “signal the artillery.”
Greta immediately raised her horn.
VOOOOOOOOMMM—
The signal echoed across the battlefield.
At the second layer of the earth mound, dozens of staff slingers climbed into position. The same units that had defended the village from the scouting party earlier. Only now, their numbers had doubled. Forty men and women stood ready with staff slings in hand.
“Lock!” the sergeants shouted across the line.
The staff slingers pulled back in unison.
“Loose!”
The first volley launched. Fist-sized stones soared through the air toward the area around the second flags—Kill Zone Two—which was now packed with advancing goblins and hobgoblins.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Many goblins were knocked off their feet instantly. Others were smashed backward mid-charge as the stones crashed into bodies, faces, and ribs with crushing force.
“Loose!”
Another volley flew.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
“KREEEEEEE!!”
Some goblins died immediately. Others dropped screaming onto the ground, writhing in agony as broken limbs and shattered bones left them unable to move. Even the hobgoblins weren’t spared from the barrage. Their rusty armor did little against fist-sized rocks hurtling toward them at nearly 100 miles per hour.
The goblins were now stuck in a terrible position. The staff slingers kept hammering them from above, while the hand slingers prevented them from climbing the nearest earth mound.
But the goblins quickly noticed something else. The main village path. A direct opening between the earth mounds. Compared to the slopes, it looked like the fastest route straight toward the staff slingers.
“VROK SEN TRROOK!” one of the hobgoblins roared while raising his weapon, rallying the goblins around him. Judging by how the others immediately obeyed, he was clearly one of the higher-ranking ones.
The goblins began shifting their assault toward the main path.
“They’re moving,” Tara reported while keeping her eyes on the battlefield. “Straight toward kill box one.”
“Good,” David replied calmly before giving Greta a nod. “Captain.”
“Yes, sir.”
Greta immediately raised her horn.
VOOVOOOOOOMMM—
As the horn echoed across the battlefield, more villagers emerged from behind the earth mounds.
Fifteen spearmen led by Captain Matheo stepped forward, each carrying a two-meter spear and a leather shield.
“Into phalanx!” Matheo commanded.
The spearmen moved into formation immediately, forming eight men wide and two ranks deep across the narrow path between the earth mounds. The entire entrance was sealed by spearpoints.
“KRAAAAGH!”
The goblins continued charging confidently toward the formation. From their perspective, it was only sixteen humans against hundreds of goblins.
But the moment the spearmen lowered their weapons forward, the charge slowed. Because they were no longer facing sixteen men. They were facing sixteen spearheads, and whoever reached them first would die first.
The frontmost goblins realized it immediately and instinctively slowed just before the formation, barely three meter away. But the goblins behind them couldn’t see the wall of spearpoints ahead. They kept pushing forward.
Bodies slammed into bodies as the rear ranks shoved the hesitant goblins in front, crushing their momentum into confusion and disorder.
A fatal mistake. It gave the first rank of the phalanx exactly the distance they needed.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! — SKREEEEEE!
The sounds of goblins being impaled and dying echoed across the battlefield. Some goblins who managed to avoid the first spears still tried shoving themselves forward through the spearmen.
It wasn't possible. The second rank of the phalanx immediately thrust their spears past the shoulders of the first rank, the overlapping formation stabbing straight into anything that got close.
Stab and pull. Stab and pull. Exactly like they practiced.
The goblin charge finally lost its momentum against the wall of spears.
Now the goblins were stuck. Earth mounds blocked both sides, while the center path had turned into an iron wall of shields and spearpoints that refused to break no matter how many bodies they threw at it.
“They held…” Tara muttered with visible amazement as she watched the phalanx stop the goblin swarm head-on.
“We held,” David corrected with a satisfied grin.
Below them, the goblin swarm was no longer charging. It was piling up. The goblins behind kept pushing forward, while the goblins in front kept dying on the spears. The narrow path only made it worse, trapping their own numbers against themselves.
But the goblins still showed no intention of retreating. Several goblin archers began raising their short bows, aiming toward whichever villagers they could spot atop the earth mounds.
Whoooosh—thud
“Gaah! I’m hit!”
One of the hand slingers screamed as an arrow buried itself into his shoulder. More arrows immediately followed, goblin archers firing repeatedly toward the frontline slingers.
Good thing goblins fought like goblins. They shot whenever they felt like it, from wherever they happened to stand. No coordination. No volleys. No discipline. If they fought like humans, the frontline slingers would already be dropping dead by the dozens.
“Ma’am,” David said while still watching the battlefield, “I think it’s your turn now.”
“Got it,” Tara replied as she prepared her bow.
She gave a quick hand signal, and five elves armed with bows immediately emerged from behind the earth mound and took position beside her.
“Let’s hunt those pesky archers,” Tara said to her squad.
The group immediately began descending from the third earth mound toward the second line where the staff slingers were positioned.
These were the sniper squads, the best archers in the village led personally by Tara herself. Unlike the goblins, they weren’t wasting arrows firing randomly into a crowd.
Every arrow they carried already had a target.