The Goblins attacked Buri City.

Each side loosened arrows to the other, starting a series of long-distance attacks.

Arrows and stones flew at high speed towards the guards on the wall, but it was easy for them to cover and prevent any damage.

Such mundane things won’t hurt experienced guards that are going on the defensive.

The Goblins raised wooden shields to protect themselves from the arrows, Kar grunted as he saw some of his Goblins being hit by arrows.

He raised his voice and shouted, ordering another attack, then the second volley of projectiles came.

Explosions sounded across the land and blasted away the unlucky Goblins as fiery arrows and bottles filled with combustible concoctions were thrown at them.

“Shamans!”

Kar roared, his eyes flashed for a few moments as he looked at the wall. He turned to the Goblin Shamans. pointed at a spot of the wall and drew a wide arc in the air with his finger.

Three Goblins wearing robes and bone ornaments nodded at his order, raised wooden staves and pointed at the wall, shooting a series of fireballs that rose above the wall and then descended beyond their view.

The walls of Buri City were wide, they were designed to allow personnel to run back and forth to tend any trouble that might present during a siege, they had many stairs reaching up, and passages enabling a quick response and access to any point. beyond and under the walls there were rooms for storing weapons, ammunition like arrows and even explosives

On a stair heading towards the top of the Northern Wall, a group of guards shouted in alarm as they noticed the fireballs flying towards them, they were carrying boxes filled with the flammable substance, if the fireballs hit them there would be a huge explosion and the alchemic flames would spread across the area and reach other groups of soldiers.

The guards desperately covered the boxes with their own bodies on an attempt to avoid the worst.

A shadow passed over them, a Senior Guardsman wielded his spear at high speed, intercepting the shower of fireballs and extinguished them.

“Move, quick! Get out of here, now!”

Tom shouted at the guards and they grabbed the boxes and ran towards their intended location while saying words of gratitude.

“How the fuck did they do that?”

Tom cursed as he ran to the border of the wall. If those boxes had caught fire it would have been a heavy blow for the Watch, these guards carrying the alchemic concoctions were not visible from the Goblins’ viewpoint, and they also had cover, but the Goblins had somehow located them and launched a spell that changed directions mid-air to hit them.

They had effectively pinpointed the explosives’ location and launched an attack, it was mere luck that Tom had noticed the fireballs making a strange turn.

“How…”

Tom watched the Goblins as they ran around the field in front of the Northern Wall; little green creatures with yellow sclera and red irises standing at a height like a human child’s; some were raising shields while others loosened arrows to the Watch members on the wall.

There was one Goblin that stood out among the others. He was looking at the guards while grunting orders to the rest of the raiding party. He was a bit taller than the rest of Goblins, but he wasn’t a Hobgoblin, he was guarded by 2 Hobgoblins and a dozen regular goblins.

“Is that their chieftain? No, probably a commander.”

Tom muttered while observing the Goblin leader, that Goblin had a lean body and spiky black hair, wore light leather armor and had an iron sword in his hand.

The Goblin turned his head and the two interlocked their gazes.

Sharp eyes, clear and intelligent, a calculating gaze.

Tom felt danger on that Goblin’s eyes, he didn’t know why, but he decided to follow his instincts and kill that Goblin at the first chance he got.

Tom turned his head and shouted for the Watch Captain.

“Captain! I found their leader!”

Watch Captain Teresa looked at him right as many fireballs rose to the air above the wall, the fireballs should have just flown over everyone’s heads and dissipate high in the air, but they abruptly changed direction in a sharp angle, aiming at Teresa.

She reacted immediately with her spear, the spearhead shone as she made an upwards thrust, shooting a wave of energy towards the descending fireballs.

The two attacks collided in the air causing an explosion.

Teresa strode forwards until she was next to Tom and looked at the Goblins. That was the second time a dangerous attack had come from an unexpected angle.

“What was that?”

The guards started to shout in surprise and anger, the attack had changed direction and aimed at a position that wasn’t visible from the ground.

Moreover, it was an accurate attack on an important target.

“It’s him! The leader of the raiding party, he is the one telling the shamans where to shoot.”

Tom pointed at the Goblin leader right as the Goblin stared at them. Tom saw him grunt some orders and the Goblins started changing their formation.

“Oh, no you won’t.”

Teresa spoke as she touched a long and wide metal bracelet on her left arm. It was the artifact that controlled the magic wards of Buri City’s wall, there were only 3 of these bracelets, each in possession of the 3 people with the authority to use the magic wards of the walls and the duty to ensure the safety of Buri City: the City Lord, the Knights' Captain and the Watch Captain.

Watch Captain Teresa highlighted a rune on the bracelet with her finger and it shone for a second before disappearing.

The tips of the towers across the wall shone and emitted electricity, many arcs of lightning converged in a single point forming a giant sphere of lightning.

“[Lightning Rain]!”

Teresa shouted the command words and pointed with her finger directly at the Goblin leader.

The lightning sphere burst forth with immense power, showering the Goblins with countless bolts of electricity.

Screams and cries were heard from the Goblins as they suffered the lightning strikes, their wailing was even louder than the rumble of thunder in the area.

However, the image that presented to the Watch members as the dust began to settle wasn’t what they expected.

The Goblins had suffered, yes. Most were on the ground still trembling due to the electric discharge, but they were alive.

At the center of the impact point knelt the Goblin leader and the 3 Shamans, using their combined strength, they had managed to reduce the power of the electricity that hit the rest of the Goblins, minimizing the damage.

“How? This is ridiculous, what did they do?”

Teresa’s stared at the Goblin leader incredulously. That wasn’t done by the Shamans, if anything, they had supported him, but the key of them avoiding death was that Goblin in the center, his hands still shone with a bit of power.

Had he used a barrier? Some spell of dispersion? Perhaps a Skill? It wasn’t nullification. Did he absorb the damage or did he spread the lightning uniformly to reduce the power?

Countless questions crossed the Watch Captain’s mind, but she quickly discarded them as meaningless. How he had done it was irrelevant, there was only one thing to do: kill him!

“Tom!”

“I’m on it!”

Tom stepped forwards with a spear on each hand, neither was his regular spear, that was too valuable for what he was about to do.

These two were javelins, light spears designed and made specifically to be thrown.

Tom raised his right hand holding the javelin on the crease of his hand, lifting the javelin up above his shoulder until it was lined up with his eyes. He had a relaxed grip on it as he turned his palm towards the sky, the whole javelin shone with red light as his energy coursed it.

He extended his arm fully behind him and activated his Skill. His eyes were still locked on the Goblin leader.

“[Bursting Javelin]!”

Tom thrust forwards and let go of the javelin, it pierced the air at high speed aiming directly at the chest of the Goblin leader.

He saw the Goblin eyes widen in fear as the javelin approached, but a Hobgoblin jumped in front of him and swung a battle axe to intercept the javelin.

The two weapons clashed, both covered in red light. The Hobgoblin had also used a Skill.

But it wasn’t enough to stop Tom’s attack.

The javelin exploded, breaking the battle axe and shattering the Hobgoblin’s arm, blasting him away.

The first javelin had been successfully intercepted, but Tom had two of them.

“[Piercing Javelin]!”

Using another Skill, Tom threw the javelin on his left hand, shining with a light blue color.

This attack was even faster than the previous, the Goblin leader barely managed to raise a wooden shield, it was pierced as if it was made of paper, piercing the Goblin on his torso, he had managed to avoid the worst result.

“Are the Knights ready?”

From behind Tom, Teresa asked someone.

“Yes, ma’am!”

Tom heard a female guard reply, he didn’t turn his head, still looking at the Goblin leader, the javelin had pierced his left ribs and he stared furiously at Tom.

Tom returned the gaze coldly.

They held mutual hatred for each other and clearly recognized the other as a threat that needed to be killed at the first chance presented.

“Send the troops out! The Goblins are tired and wounded, kill them all, especially the leader!”

“Yes!”

Teresa ordered and the guards ran downstairs to give the command to the troops near the city gates.

She hesitated whether to use the city’s magic defenses again to make sure or saving the energy and trust the troops to eliminate the Goblins.

Using the city defenses required to consume large quantities of Mana form the Mana Stones reserves. While the city had a vast amount of those in reserve, it was a commonly practiced policy to use other methods if one could avoid using the magic wards.

She decided to not use the magic of the wall if it wasn't needed, the knights and the adventurers going with them should be able to handle those wounded Goblins.

By her side, Tom grabbed his spear.

"Captain, will you use the magic wards again?"

"I don't think it's necessary, at least not yet. The troops on the ground will take care of them."

"Alright."

Tom nodded but raised his spear like the javelins before.

"But I should at least make sure that Goblin is dead, don't you agree?"

Teresa chuckled in agreement.

"Go for it."

The city gates opened, knights and adventurers ran out of the city, ready to attack and eliminate the Goblins in front of them.

Not a shred of mercy on them, no sympathy, only hatred and disdain, Goblins were only seen as monsters, pests to be eliminated.

“Hurry up! Go back!”

Kar growled as the wound from his side sent a wave of pain through his body. The javelin had pierced his wooden shield as if it wasn’t even there, not even slowing down a bit, and opened a clean hole through Kar’s ribs before lodging itself on the ground behind him.

Kar ordered the retreat and the Goblins started to run back to the forest, however, they were organized, they ran maintaining formation while shooting arrows to the approaching troops.

Kar looked to the side, a few meters away from him, Tur lay dead, burned and shredded by the javelin that was meat to kill Kar.

He gritted his teeth, his friend was dead because of him, Tur had died protecting him.

No, it was that human’s fault. He was the one who had tried to kill Kar, the one who had killed Tur.

Kar was enraged, but he couldn’t let his grief to overcome his rational thinking, there were other lives depending on him.

He was a leader, and a leader did not make emotional decisions, much less when angered, he would avenge his friend if the chance presented, but he wouldn’t let other Goblins be killed, that would waste Tur’s sacrifice.

Kar poured healing potion on his open wound and it stopped bleeding, slowly but surely closing the hole in his flesh.

Before running in retreat with the others, Kar glanced back at the city, not to the approaching troops, but the guardsman on the wall, the spearman who had nearly killed him and took his friend’s life.

He had another weapon on his hand now, it wasn’t a javelin, but a more standard spear used by the guards. Was he going to throw again?

Kar felt a shiver down his spine, this man was dangerous, those 2 javelin throws from before had proved it.

Kar couldn’t use his barrier skill again yet, he had just used it to disperse that giant lightning attack from before, he barely had any strength left to run.

A spear covered in red light crossed the distance of over 200 meters between the guardsman and the goblin, like a crimson shooting star auguring death for its target.

Kar felt the earth under him shake. When the spear was barely 10 meters away from him, the ground in front of him exploded, raising dust and stones into the air.

The crimson spear entered the cloud dust not a second later, and a bright blast lighted up the area. The shock wave pushed Kar, making him fall to the ground.

While coughing, Kar stared reproachfully at the figure in the cloud of dust and smoke in front of him.

“You are late, idiot Chieftain.”

“Hahahaha, you are alive, right? Then I made it in time.”

A deep voice answered Kar’s complaint as the smoke dispersed, a tall and muscular red figure stood with his fist extended, his back towards Kar.

There were bits of fire across his arms and shoulders, yet it didn’t bother him at all, sparks flew around him as he drew back his arm.

He was a gray-haired red Hobgoblin with the Gift of Fire.

Barefoot and bare-chested, proudly displaying the tribal tattoos on his chest and arms, black bandages covered his hands and wrists, faulds and tassets of steel protected his waist, hips, and thighs over black leather pants.

He had a wide manic smile on his face as he looked at the troops in front of him and he laughed with a booming sound under the gaze of the Watch members standing high on the walls.

The red figure, akin to a flame demon, spoke in Likia Kingdom’s language.

“Be afraid… and burn!”

Flames danced around his body as he launched his first attack on the knights and adventurers on the ground.

Feneh, Chieftain of the Blaze Cave Tribe had arrived!