Chapter 19: Total Defeat

The horde was fast approaching. Scitus spied on their movement through his divine sight and had been carefully planning for their arrival.

Many goblins in his camp were anxiously nibbling at their nails, they feared recapture. Their fear didn't subside even when they saw William and his unit ready for battle, nor did their fear subside when Scitus cheered for their soon to be victory in battle.

The fear was not just for themselves but for their family who worked for the goblin king. Many goblins were still following him out of fear. Some knew they wouldn't lose their family, but they still greatly feared the goblin king and couldn't bring themselves to disobey him, unable to comprehend the consequences for their families

Seresa stood beside Scitus, she had rid herself of her timidity, she couldn't afford to act like a dimwit on a day like that. Her eyes glowed brightly with determination. She had been put in charge of evacuation before the battle began. She had been told of the king's ability to create fires. At the time Seresa nearly choked on her spit from the revelation. Goblins feared fire, it was incredibly destructive and could rage on for days inside a forest. Humans would often burn forests down in order to weed out goblin populations and for other reasons unknown to the goblins.

She had a second job aside from evacuation. Scitus made it clear to her that it was an important task, although she didn't completely understand it, she agreed to fulfill her master's request.

Next to the king and goblin was a large wooden platform that rose 4 feet into the air. On this platform stood Cecilia and beside her a troop of goblins ready to fire at will. Though they looked ready for war, Scitus instructed Cecilia to only fire when she thought Williams unit needed support or when ordered to.

After a long wait, the putrid smell of goblins permeated the air. Kaya, who had been freed from her post, quickly covered her nose, trying desperately to protect her nostrils from total annihilation. Though it had only been a short while, she had already forgotten the putrid smell.

As the horde approached, Kaya wondered if the goblins inside the fort could win, the enemy had at least 200 goblins while inside the fort she could count at most 100 goblins and of these 100, half weren’t prepared to fight. Many of them were still weak from malnutrition and their former living conditions.

She had begun to resolve herself, for what seemed an inevitable defeat, when suddenly a goblin picked her off the ground and began taking her out of the fort alongside over 80 of the goblins. She was slightly startled and stared at the goblin, it wasn't anyone she recognized and yet, she felt relieved that they weren't going to stay in the fort to fight the goblin horde. At the time she didn't realize it was only a temporary retreat. Perhaps if she had noticed the archers, led by Cecilia she would have realized it they were not surrendering. William stood alongside her with his troop, aptly named "the Spartan knights". The unit didn't know that their name originated from one of the most famous military states in their god's world.

Scitus looked around him, proud at how quickly the goblins had grown to trust him. He wasn’t sure if the goblins were naïve or if he had simply proven himself with what he had already done. Despite the unease of the rescued goblins, his original subjects didn’t seem fearful, “or at least they hide it well,” he thought, the grin on his face, unbeknownst to him, provided further moral to his archers and warriors.

Just on the outskirts of the of the fort, a few hundred feet away, the horde had begun its advancement. The Goblin king thought his victory was assured, the last time they were there, the ogre had dealt with all of them himself. Now that he had come to destroy them, they would cover in fear and bow at his feet. He would gain new slaves for his army and all would be right once more.

"too, have god." The Goblin murmured to himself. He too had a god on his side, the reason he had such strong fire magic and the reason he was able to start his army was because of that god. The goblin knew that if it were not for his god's assistance, he would have been dead and burned by the humans long ago.

The Goblins saw the fort ahead of them, it was defenseless, the entrance lay wide open and at its entrance was a human. The goblin horde questioned if they were in the right place, even the Goblin king began to wonder why a human stood between him and his slaves. Then the Human spoke.

"Surrender, fall!!!" At the word fall, several arrows flew into the sky, the Goblins idiotically looked up at the flying objects in the sky. Some covered in fear of the small volley only to feel shame once it landed several feet in front of them. Scitus had given them a warning shot.

The Goblins looked at each other in fear, they would be impaled if they went any closer.

“Go!!” The goblin king shouted, ordering them to march to their death. At this point, only the Ogre walked forward towards the danger, though he knew the pain of arrows, he also knew his thick skin would protect him from death.

Bang!! A loud sound behind the Ogre stopped him in his tracks. He didn't have to look back to understand what had happened. The Goblin King had cast a fire spell on a goblin. His body was probably already severely burned, the ogre walked onward believing that the goblin would be dead before the end of the battle.

“GO!!!” the goblin king shouted once more, this time all the Goblins charged forward towards the fort.

The horde felt a terrible fear surging through them. It felt as if they had no choice but to die. Behind them was their king and in front was an unknown enemy who was capable of casting arrows from the sky. Even so, they felt that the human could not take all of their lives, so they ran forward, hoping that they would be one of the survivors. This was a goblins life.

“RAHH!!!” The goblins shouted, few in excitement, most in anguish!! They were mere feet from the fort when suddenly 6 goblins with long wooden staffs came running towards the horde. If there were others to watch the battle ten out ten would place their bets on the 200 goblin horde and if they did this. They couldn’t know the terrible fear 6 goblins could instill into an army of 200.

William was the first to make contact, with his staff he attacked an enemy’s stomach, "AHH!!!!" He shouted a mighty roar as He pushed the shocked goblin into several goblins behind him, dropping 6 or so on the ground. The other 5 followed suit dropping 5, 10, 24, of the front line to the ground. Using the hordes moment of shock, William took another seven down by whipping his staff onto a goblins leg, he heard an audible snap, and swept several other goblins along with the first

The shock was gone, and the horde began to charge forward again, trampling over their fellow comrades to attack the mysterious 6 goblins who had allied themselves with a human.

BANGSSSS. A sound as loud as a lightning strike resonated in their ears, stopping the horde once more. The 6 goblins once again, taking the horde off guard, dropped another 30 to ground.

The goblin king didn’t understand what was happening, from his point of view, his army kept stopping in front of 6 goblins, “help, slaves!!” He shouted in his mind as he concluded that his army didn’t want to win.

"ATTACK!!!!" The Goblin king yelled in utter fury. The horde suddenly charged towards the 6-goblin army. Beneath them, they could hear the pleas of their fellow soldiers to stop. One goblin a younger one no older than 16 cried from them to stop, he shouted not for himself but for his older brother who willingly dropped to the floor and protected him with his own back. The Goblin was strong and never allowed for his brother. Even as his back cracked under undeath the dozens of goblins, he held firm and protected his brother.

"Ogre!!" The king was enraged, the battle was moving more slowly than he had anticipated. The ogre hesitated for a moment before charging into the front line, tackling several goblins out of his way.

William saw the giant charging forward and ordered his unit to retreat. William could tell the ogre was running faster than any of them could possibly escape, so at the moment between the retreat order and the charging Ogre, William had made a decision.

The young Goblin charged forward towards an enemy that had, only a few days prior, broken him. An enemy that he knew he couldn’t defeat, especially not with the goblin horde still so strong. He charged partially out of his strong headed nature but a small part of him remembered the words his god gifted to him.

"I, not always there, William make decision, need not ask." In other words, His god had told him he would not always have the time to give him orders and, in those times, William would have to make a decision for himself, for his team. As the ogre got closer and the horde prepared their attack on him, William thought, "This how elder feel." The weight of responsibility solidified his will and at that moment he overcame his limits.

"HA!!" The goblin yelled as he smacked the Ogre in the jaw with the end of his staff. The attack Left the Ogre open for another attack, but William couldn't take that opportunity for he was soon overwhelmed by the horde. With his intense combat training, he was able to break several arms and fingers. Despite his ferocity and the growing fear inside the horde, the relentless attack of fists, kicks, scratches began to take a toll on William, he wouldn't be able to handle it much longer. The ogre's daze was over and now it was time for his counter-attack. William readied himself.

The ogre lifted its enormous arm, William's head was going to be smashed to bits, but he was never one to surrender even in the bleakest of situations. Time slowed down, the adrenaline in him had reached its peak. His focus entirely devoted itself to the ogre's herculean arm, he didn't notice the voice of someone shouting arrows, nor did he notice the Goblins suddenly cower in fear of them, he didn't notice the attacks on him had stopped. He only noticed the ogres arm as it came crashing towards him. In that instant, William remembered Robin and Teal practicing how to avoid strikes the night before. He didn't know if he could do it, but he knew that he would die if he couldn't at least partially replicate it. William's forearm blocked that path of the strike. The enormous weight on him felt as if he was being forced to lift the world. "Yes, this kill me." He thought as he used his other arm to push the ogre's fist out of the way, but the arms force was too strong and William's arm broke under the weight of the attack but he managed to escape by a hair's breadth, he didn't realize that even though he couldn't push the ogre's arm away, he had pushed himself out of the way, his arm had sacrificed itself for his head.

“OGRE!!!! WE WIN!!!”

William heard the shouts of Scitus as he proclaimed their victory. William couldn't believe that victory cry, those last moments of battle felt eternal, though the entire battle didn't last longer than 15 minutes. The ogre looked directly at Scitus, he couldn't believe they had lost already, most of the horde was still intact, the ogre was about to continue his attack when the feeling of a sharp blade reached his throat.

“we win!!” The Ogre stopped, he would not survive having his throat slit and even if by some miracle he did he would not be able to finish the battle.

"Kill me." The ogre asked the mysterious goblin that clung to his back. The ogre welcomed death at that point, He did not want to continue fighting for such a terrible king.

“Look.” The voice said as he released the blade from his throat. What the ogre turned to see was something he was not expecting. Near the center of the horde stood Robin and in his bloodied hands he raised the severed head of the Tyrannical Goblin king.

"WAH!!!!!!" Robin Yelled in victory. The goblins once again rose from their cowered stances and looked at the Goblin who had killed Their king. It took several moments from them to realize what was truly happening; their king had fallen.

"WAHHHHHH!!!!!!" The horde of goblins that had by then risin to their feet shouted in glee. The fear they felt only a moment ago had been washed over by immense happiness, they were freed from the clutches of a terrible king.

William in his tired state dropped to his butt and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t think Robin would be able to kill the king so quickly. He laughed to himself as he remembered his Kings words.

The Battle was never meant to defeat the army, that would be impossible with so few trained soldiers and their chances of victory were even lower because of the ogre. No, Scitus already knew the best way to defeat the enemy with as few casualties as possible. The king was feared among all the goblins, he had to be killed at all costs. But even then, there were goblins who truly supported the Goblin King, these were the corrupted goblins. So as Scitus prepared for battle, he had ordered the Assassin knights to go infiltrate the enemy army and execute or disable the corrupted goblins, something easy to do when smell could identify them.

So while William and his unit attacked head-on, The assassin knights worked in the background identifying and disabling the corrupted goblins. And once they were all quietly disposed of Robin went for the kings head, something even robin felt was too easy a victory.

That had been the plan from the beginning and Scitus also planned other alternatives such as flanking the enemy from all sides or frightening them with the lybird to give room for an escape. He had even planned to kill even the normal goblins if he had to though that was only under extreme circumstances.

With the battle over the goblins hiding in the sides of the forest came out to cheer alongside the rest, and as the magical black aura healed Scitus's subjects injuries and his new allies from the battle, Several mothers and sisters and grandparents ran with all their might to look for their family. They had tear-stained faces partially from joy and a tinge of fear whether their brother, sister or father was alright.

Seresa also came out to look for Scitus, to return his godly instrument back to him, the lybird. Scitus had instructed her to use it to startle the enemy, it nearly gave her a heart attack the first time she used it, she was also is the one who made the Arrows warning. Perhaps it was a sister's sixth sense that made her use that warning when she did, but it was also Scitus's quick thinking that ultimately saved William. Scitus ordered Echo one and two to make a holographic arrow volley, to startle the goblins.

Goblin horde vs La Guardia Result: Goblin horde Total Defeat