Chapter 21: Home Game (Part 3)
Whoooosh—Thud
“SKREEEE!”
An arrow punched straight through a goblin archer’s chest. One by one, goblin archers were being singled out and hunted down by Tara and her sniper squad.
The goblin army’s situation worsened with every passing minute.
The ugly truth about real battles is, the more bodies your side has lost, the harder it becomes to move properly. Dead goblins and wounded goblins now littered the battlefield, constantly tripping the ones still trying to advance.
The pile of corpses at the base of the earth mounds and in front of the phalanx had become especially bad. Those areas were already difficult to push through before. Now they were almost impossible.
The goblins could barely advance anymore. Most of them were trapped in place, forced to endure the endless rocks crashing down from the staff slingers above.
“Hmmm…” David muttered while observing the battlefield. “Fire spread slower than I expected.”
David, Theo, and Greta watched the flames Theo had started earlier. The burning ditch had now turned into a long wall of fire shaped like an L, already halfway encircling the goblin position.
David then looked at Theo with a grin.
“Boss, how about we finish ’em off?” he said casually. “Mind lighting up the right side too? Speed things up a little.”
Theo looked toward the right side of the battlefield where another long ditch filled with dried grass and wood stretched into the darkness.
“It’s farther than the first one,” Theo muttered while judging the distance. “But I think I can still hit it.”
He raised his palm toward the ditch he had been aiming at.
“Fireball!”
Fwoooosh—
The fireball shot through the air, passing above the phalanx and the slingers before crashing directly into the ditch packed with dry grass and wood. The sparks instantly ignited the fuel.
Flames rapidly spread through the trench, creating another blazing line that extended farther and farther across the battlefield.
“Nice shot, Vice-Chief,” Greta commented.
For the first time tonight, she gave Theo a small smile. A tiny bit of acknowledgment.
Theo grinned back.
“Heh. Easier the second time.”
The three of them watched as the new fire spread farther and farther across the ditch until, within less than a minute, it finally connected with the blazing line of fire from before.
“KREEE VAAS!!” one of the hobgoblins screeched.
The goblins had been too focused on the humans ahead of them and the endless barrage of rocks crashing into their ranks every few seconds.
By the time they realized what was happening, it was already too late. The route back to the river and the forest had disappeared behind a wall of blazing fire and thick smoke.
“There we go,” David said with satisfaction. “No more retreat for ’em now.”
He turned toward Greta.
“Captain, let’s finish this. Sound the retreat.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Greta immediately raised her horn.
VOVOOOOMM—VOVOOOOMM
The signal echoed across the battlefield.
The hand slingers stationed on the first earth mound immediately turned toward their sergeants, who began ordering a tactical withdrawal.
Half the squads retreated first while the remaining half continued covering them with sling fire. Once the first groups safely reached the second line, the others followed behind them.
Within moments, the entire first layer had been abandoned and the hand slingers had repositioned themselves atop the second earth mound.
“KRAAAAAHH!!”
The goblins instantly noticed.
With no more humans defending the first line, they surged forward almost on instinct. Some ignored the jagged stones tearing apart their feet, while others simply stepped over the bodies of fallen goblins to avoid the spikes altogether.
They began climbing the first earth mound in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the phalanx units also started retreating in disciplined formation. Step by step, they slowly moved backward while continuing to stab any goblins reckless enough to chase after them.
Now Tara’s archer squad and the relocated hand slingers focused on shooting any goblin that managed to reach the top of the first mound while simultaneously covering the retreating phalanx.
Between the first and second earth mounds lay another ditch packed with dried grass and wood. Several villagers were already waiting beside it, desperately striking flintstones together.
One spark finally caught. Then another. Then another.
Flames quickly spread through the ditch, forming a blazing wall directly between the advancing goblins and the retreating villagers.
Perfect timing.
The phalanx crossed the ditch just before the fire fully spread across it, then immediately reformed their shield wall on the narrow gap between the second-layer earth mounds.
And finally, it was complete. The goblin army had been trapped by fire on all four sides.
“KREEEE!!”
The goblins and hobgoblins fell into complete panic.
There were no enemies left to attack. No path left to escape through. Fire and thick smoke surrounded them from every side, turning what the villagers called Kill Box One into a giant outdoor oven with several hundred goblins trapped inside.
“It… it actually worked…” Greta muttered in disbelief.
The same expression could be seen on nearly everyone watching the battlefield now. Awe. Shock. Disbelief.
The dark night had turned bright orange from the flames, while an entire goblin army burned inside the encirclement.
“So, Captain,” David said with a satisfied smile, “have you ever killed this many enemies before?”
“N-no, sir…” Greta answered quietly.
“And yet,” David continued, “you did it without even drawing that sword from its sheath.”
Greta slowly looked down at the sword hanging from her waist.
It had never left the scabbard tonight.
The realization hit her harder than the battlefield itself. Planning. Preparation. Leadership.
All her life, strength meant personally killing enemies with her own hands. But tonight an entire goblin army was dying without her even swinging a blade.
SCREEEEEECH!!
Inside the burning encirclement, the goblins instinctively tried moving away from the towering walls of fire and crowded toward the center instead.
That only made things worse.
Panic took over. Goblins shoved and trampled each other in desperation. Smaller goblins were crushed underfoot as the larger hobgoblins forced their way through the crowd, breaking bones and smashing skulls beneath their feet.
But the center wasn’t safe either. The temperature inside the kill box kept rising higher and higher.
The metal armor worn by the hobgoblins began heating up until it burned directly against their skin, slowly baking them alive inside their own equipment.
Several goblins started coughing blood.
The fire surrounding the box had created a chimney effect. Hot air surged upward while the flames sucked away the remaining oxygen below, replacing it with smoke, carbon dioxide, and unbearable heat. Now every breath the goblins took scorched their lungs.
Outside the kill box, the villagers could only watch.
Even from a distance, they could feel the heat pressing against their faces while the sounds of blazing fire mixed together with the goblins’ screeches and dying screams.
And then came the smell. A thick, sickeningly sweet smell of roasting meat drifting through the night air.
“EVERYONE! WE WON!!” Tara shouted while raising her bow high into the air.
“YEAAAAAAHHHH!!”
Cheers exploded across the village defenses.
The exhaustion from thirty straight minutes of fighting disappeared under the rush of victory. Villagers pumped their fists, shouted, laughed, and slammed each other on the shoulders in excitement.
Meanwhile, Theo, David, and Greta rejoined Tara and the others atop the earth mound. Tara looked toward David and Theo with a wide grin still plastered across her face.
“All those training regimens that looked stupid and wasted everyone’s energy,” she said, “actually paid off.”
“Sure did, ma’am,” David replied with a satisfied smile. “Three months of training bought us tonight’s victory. So what d’ya think? Worth it?”
“Hell yeah it was worth it!” Tara laughed loudly and shoved David’s halfling shoulder hard enough to nearly make him lose balance. “Never in our lives did we imagine fighting this many goblins, let alone beating them.”
“Wow…” Theo muttered while looking around at the wounded villagers in disbelief. “Nobody actually died.”
Some had arrows stuck in their shoulders or arms. A few spearmen had cuts and grazes from goblin weapons during the retreat. But everyone was still alive.
Theo turned toward David.
“You did a great job, David.”
“Nah, boss,” David replied casually, “everyone here did.”
At that moment, one of the elf archers approached the group.
“Sir,” she saluted toward David and Tara, “several goblins can still be seen across the river. Only a few dozen left.”
“Ah, good,” David said. “After watchin’ their buddies get roasted alive, they’re probably thinkin’ about retreatin’ right about now.”
He looked at her.
“Take two more scouts with you and follow ’em quietly. Find their lair.”
“Yes, sir.”
The elf saluted again before immediately leaving.
“What now, David?” Theo asked.
David turned toward the massive fire still burning across the battlefield. But now there was nothing left inside except the sound of crackling flames. The screaming had already stopped.
“Now?” David smiled.
“Now we enjoy the warm fire and celebrate the victory.”
His eyes stayed fixed on the burning kill box.
“Because pretty soon…”
The smile on his face widened slightly.
“…we’re gonna pay the goblins a visit at their own home.”
TING
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[ LEVEL UP ]
Level 1 → Level 2
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