Chapter 76: Blind-sided Attack

The Siion army was uniform, well trained, and all-around excellent. That was to say that although Siion himself was known as a sloth, he did not reach his position by sheer luck. Siion was charismatic and knew how to command an army. There were even rumors that he had once slayed a dragon in his youth.

His armies, in particular, ranged from tier 1 to tier 5 which Scitus found himself facing the lowest tier. From what Scitus could now see, consisted of several types of troops which were primarily infantry and sporadically, mages.

The front line consisted of some type of shock troop alongside some standard sword infantry, in the middle consisted of mostly swordsman and the back consisted of some archers and some mages. This was true for the first army while the second army, although similar, were different in the number of swordsmen; in place of swordsmen were mages who on occasion cast defensive and buff spells on the swordsman of the same army.

Perhaps because the battlefield was in a forest, they had decided against bringing along chariots and anti-cavalry troops as well as few cavalry troops of their own. The only cavalry the two armies brought were the two generals bodyguards which consisted of roughly 30 men each. These thirty men were heavily armored and unlike the standard infantry whose armor were rough patches of protective metal armor and ham-fisted leather padding, these men truly were dressed as knights. From head to toe, they were covered in steel and they wielded incredible swords which were surely enchanted with some type of magic.

These men did not shake even when the rumbling began and even when just over the wood line they saw those mighty beasts with their enormous stature and incredible horns which could easily tear flesh, even then those men did not shake.

What piqued their interest however was singular goblin who led this minotaur horde atop a wolven stead which stood as tall as a man and as wide as a cart. He led the charge with a bright and spectacular sword that was surely crafted by some great blacksmith. With a courage that only a warrior could have he rammed the frontlines using his momentum to remove the head of an unfortunate soldier who stood in his path while his stead, used its jaw to tear into the first warrior that entered its gaze.

The goblin warrior would have been surrounded and promptly executed however the minotaur horde was close behind and using their incredible charging power tore limbs, heads, and intestines out of everyone who stood in their path. Pained screams and cries of terror echoed in that forest for a few moments until the communication mage of the first general shouted his orders to stand firm.

The second general was startled at the sight of the initial mass slaughter, in an instant, the first general had lost a two-fifths of his men but the outcome was clear from the onset, even without the sudden surprise attack, minotaurs were powerful foes that required at least a tier 2 army to deal with.

"sir were being attacked from the rear!!!" the second general's communication mage quickly relayed his findings. "what!!! is it the goblins??!!" the mage quickly shook his head, "Lamia and Medusa sir, alongside lizardfolk and a large goblin force. " So distracted by the massive horde of goblins, the second general forgot his rear. "how did they get behind us without anyone noticing?" and then suddenly as if to answer his question, a childish giggle echoed in his ear. The general turned around but found nothing. "how close is this place to the fairylands." The general quickly asked the mage who was certainly better versed in the going ons of the oasis then he. "I believe it's on the opposite side of the forbidden territory."

“relay these orders for me.” The mage furiously nodded and quickly sent the commands.

The lamia, medusa, and lizardfolk were not working in conjunction but their ability to tear through the startled soldiers was easy enough. The lamia used their eyes to slow down the enemy movements while another would tear them open with their bare hands, those who held weapons used these mighty tools to slice the frighten mages in half. Most frightful for the mages was their inability to conjure up a magic spell which was made difficult two-fold; one by their own terror and anxiety, and another by the fairies who acted as support and canceled any and all magic spells.

The lizardfolk were familiar with war and although they did not have the natural and frightening strength of the lamia or medusa, they had their many years of experience and did not easily fall behind the others. They used their tails to trip, their spears to piece and even their sharp claws to tear. The mages would die before they could even so much as scream.

To the far left were the medusa who used strange and unique techniques. They would slowly turn their enemies to stone however mages were resistant to such magical afflictions and even so, this did not spare them from death. Once the paralytic gaze of a medusa slowed a mage, her hair would contort into strange shapes and capture the mage until their entire bodies were encapsulated in a thick sheet of hair. Then in only a moment, blood would spill from this hair cocoon and the medusa would move on to its next victim. Those finally released from this prison wore faces forever immortalized with terror and contorted fear.

Finally were those of the goblin army who in-between the medusa and the lamia and acted as a buffer between them. these forces were primarily led by Alexander who with some embarrassment slaughtered the weakened mages. His troops were the weakest of those participating and therefore were instructed not to act head-on but rather help eliminate weaken soldiers and protect the stronger soldiers from any unwanted attacks. It was not just he that felt shame but his brothers in arms also. Those around them were not part of the great kingdom of monster and at that time were only allies and even so it was their allies who held most of the burden in that war.

It was during that first attack that not just he, but all his brothers in arms, Robin and William, they made a silent vow that day to grow stronger to become for fierce and terrible so that if they are ever attacked again, it will not be the lamias, minotaur, harpy, fairy, or lizard folk’s name who their enemies scream in terror but rather it will one day be goblins that they hear and scream in terror.

The second commander had quickly reordered the troops to change positions with the mages but even so, there was a heavy loss. In the mayhem of it all, no one noticed the communication mage on horseback alongside three knights flee the battlefield.

"It wasn't that which we should have feared but rather that gods ability to wrangle this many powerful allies " the Second general silently thought to himself. As soon as the swordsman reached the frontline. The monster alliance fled and at that same time, the minotaur horde fled, still being led by a singular goblin.

"after them!!!!" the first general shouted with furious rage, he had lost nearly half his troop but the minotaur did not go unharmed. Several minotaurs lay dead on the ground and the first general was sure that with the second general's assistance, dealing with the minotaur horde was not impossible. However, he had yet to receive word from the second general and did not know what had happened to his army. The communication mage next to the first general anxiously said: "sir, Arbius is not responding!!!"

The first general immediately halted and looked to the south side. The first general waited and after a long minute the communication mage relayed starling information. “sir, Arbius has called for backup.”

The first general’s eyes dilated with some shock. The many armies in the Siion kingdom answered to the seven heroes who only answered to Siion himself. “who is it?” the first general answered with a quivering voice.

“A-sun.” the mage said as he desperately held on to his stead for fear of falling off and splitting his head on the ground though that may have been preferable to what happened next.