When Theo opened his eyes, he felt how refreshing and the pleasant feeling passed through his body. With each new moment, several inner wounds he got from his recent battle were quickly disappearing, and shortly, he was already standing at the top of the tower.

Throwing his glance, his brows rose in surprise when he noticed what was happening in the enemy camp below the hill. Hordes of riders appeared out of nowhere and attacked the enemy flank from the east, taking the enemy off guard.

After initial resistance that was quickly devastated, those riders continued their way, wallowing the enemy camp in chaos and changing the course of the battle. Constant magic spells, ballista-like arrows, and advanced energy techniques were like the most beautiful scenes for him and all others who watched after those scenes on the walls.

Almost immediately, the loud cheers resounded across all western walls, and survivors started their counter-attack.

This was a big hit on their morale, and quickly many realized that the battle is lost, their army is divided, elite units are trapped and busy fighting while weakest and exhausted were left to fight with a new enemy.

So, there was nothing strange that agile and fast goblins made a similar decision to retreat from the walls to help in their camp or run to the forest, leaving the slow and honorable nagas behind. Besides, the recent reinforcements that started appearing on the walls also were among serious factors that made them change their decision.

...

..

.

At the same time at the quickly-made defensive line made by the goblins that prepared to meet the enemy.

"Run, run!" cried the blood-covered goblin,

"Strategist has escaped!"

"We are on our own!"

Such news was like a cold bucket of water for everyone who still had the slightest hopes to reverse this situation, relying on their talented strategist. Almost immediately, their formations started breaking, and one by one, goblins threw their weapons and turned looking towards the forest.

Of course, there were some experienced and brave veterans among those unorganized crowd that tried to create something at least resembling organized retreat.

"Idiots, how can you leave behind your weapons, how will you protect yourself from them?"

"Have you forgotten everything you learned, stop running like an organized crowd,"

"You, really believe that their horses won't catch you?"

"I don't know about you, but I would better die, looking at the face of my enemy on the battlefield then perish from the stab in my back," cried their captain before raising his spear and jumping at the approaching cavalry group.

His example helped, and some of the retreating goblins recovered from panic before following after their captain to their last battle together.

Such scenes where goblins gathered their courage and chose to fight till the end were among the few ones. In general, most of the goblins chose to retreat, leaving their slow naga comrades behind to buy them as much time as they could.

However, it was futile, there were just too many horse riders that could fight with nagas and chase after the retreating goblins at the same time. So, the enemy that lost all battle spirit to fight was an easy one to deal with.

Knights just continued to stab or behead retreating goblins while mages and archers concentrated their arsenal at nagas that tried to resist.

Aurellia's forces pierced through their lines like a knife piercing the cheese.

In short, it was a massacre!

Unorganized, exhausted, dispirited enemies just couldn't continue fighting and chose to retreat while Aurellia's captains purposefully didn't block access to the forest on the north, prolonging the illusionary dream of retreating fools.

...

..

.

Of course, such serious changes on the battlefield didn't go unnoticed by the goblin captains, trapped behind the walls and they quickly learned that from their forces on the walls that their strategist escaped, reserve forces were attacked by the human reinforcements and that they have already lost!

So, the resistance of those who lost any hope for survival increased by bound and all of them tried to take at least one of their enemies together with them.

However, regardless of all their efforts, it was futile.

When Aurellia's forces finished dealing with their own opponents, her forces climbed on the walls where the battle was still going.

Finishing with the rest of the enemy, her mages and archers unleashed their long-distance attacks at the backs of the fighting goblins and nagas while fresh knights started jumping off the walls, initiating a rear attack at the already trapped enemy.

In short, it was a continuation of the massacre that started with the arrival of her riders.

...

..

.

Several hours later, when the darkness befell on the hill, and both Stella's and Aurellia's forces were busy clearing the hill by burning both allies and enemies, there was an interesting gathering happening inside one of the tents in the center of the hill.

Inside that tent, there was a red-haired commander, a commander with glasses, and a black-haired youth trying to get free from the embrace.

His elder sister - Aurellia finally decided to let him free after a long hug and looked at the dent on his armor with a clear worry on her face.

"How do you feel?" asked Aurellia, putting her hand at the dent while Stella also threw her glance, analyzing the comparative strength of her brother's enemy punch.

"I am already fine, pills worked fine, and now I am like a new version of myself," said Theo with a smile on his lips.

Such scene took place for several moments before Stella put away her blood-covered sword and attracted Aurellia's attention.

"How did you learn about our situation?" asked Stella, "I thought that it would take few more days till you arrive here."

Hearing her questions, and seeing the change in her sister's expression, Aurellia also became serious.

"At first, I didn't get any call for help, and just continued to follow after your squad's footsteps," explained Aurellia, "Only after, the order to assist you in the hunt for monsters arrived, I increased the marching pace."

"Around a day ago, a guardian knight arrived to ask me to hurry and reported the overall situation your forces met here," said Aurellia, moving her glance at Theo for several moments before returning it at Stella, "From that moment, I left a portion of my squad to look after my craftsmen and supplies that continued to move here, while I and almost all riders rushed here in the fastest way possible,"

Hearing her explanation, a wide smile appeared on Stella's lips and she quickly approached Aurellia before hugging her.

"Thank you, sister, if not for your appearance to save me today, I don't know how many more loyal members of the 5th special would have died today," muttered Stella to her ear, making it hard for Theo to hear.

However, though he didn't hear Stella's words, Theo shivered when a certain realization stuck him in his head.

In his previous life, he was still busy training in the secluded environment under his mother's care and only knew few things about the expedition that happened while he was training. His parents and sisters didn't tell him what happened there in detail, preferring not to distract him from training.

However, only later when he was elder he realized that something most likely happened with Stella during it because from the moment she returned she rarely got the right to command and lead family forces.

She started spending much more time with her family, but later when Theo started entering the inner and outside city, Theo learned about the fame his elder sister once had for her temperament, challenges, and behavior before she stopped appearing there.

It might seem as if nothing strange happened for the bystanders, but not for Theo that spent years fighting against a certain network hidden in shadows under the control of the "Restoration emperor".

A plan to destroy the reputation of the heir was just too familiar for the killer and adventurer, known to the certain public as "Shadow slayer". His instinct was crying at him that there should b something more attached to the recent goblin and naga attack!

Right as he was still deep in thoughts, Anthony's voice resounded outside of the tent.

"Commander, we have captured one of the goblin leaders and brought him here as you ordered,"

Hearing his words, Stella, Aurellia, and Theo looked at the entrance of the tent at the same time.

Quickly exchanging their glances, Stella stood up before taking her sword while Aurellia stopped near Theo in case their enemy would do something.

"Let him in," said Stella, creating an energy shield in the process.

Several moments later, Anthony entered the hall together with the injured goblin with several damaged bones on his head.

That goblin quickly threw his glance at the people inside the tent before stopping it at Stella and smiling.

"Here you are, I was wondering if others succeeded in killing you," said Gillo with a slight smile on his lips.

Just as he finished his last word, Anthony immediately hit him in the stomach, making him kneel in front of Stella.

"Wasn't the beating from my punches enough?"

The goblin didn't say anything and just continued to hold for his stomach before raising his hate-filled glance at Anthony.

Anthony wanted to inflict another hit at him when Stella raised her sword, putting the blade to his neck.

"You better start speaking goblin, or you would regret appearing in this world if I give you to certain people who know how to handle those who don't speak," said Stella with a promising and threatening flame in her eyes.

Gillo seemed unaffected by the scene he saw and started laughing instead.

"You really think, I would untie my tongue and tell you things I know," cried Gillo, laughing in the process, "I Gillo, the member of traditionalists would better die than tell you a word,"

Hearing his words, Anthony wanted to teach him a lesson but was too late when Stella's sword pierced through Gillo's leg.

*Whoosh*

Almost immediately, Gillo stopped laughing and started crying from pain instead.

"Don't worry, you won't die," said Stella, wiping the blood from her sword, "I just hit you into one of the most sensitive zones. You will feel enormous pain, but there is no significant risk of your death,"

Gillo didn't pay attention to her words and continued to lay on the ground, moving in pain.

"You, bitch!" cried the goblin when the pain subsided a bit.

However, it was another mistake, and a moment later, Stella's sword once again attacked him in the same area on his 2nd leg.

Crying and holding his wound, Gillo continued to cry.

"I guess that was enough to untie your tongue,"

"You better start answering my questions, or I can introduce you to the further bits of knowledge I learned when I was dealing with prisoners," said Stella, putting her sword a bit higher near the special organ on the thighs, responsible for reproduction.

After experiencing her skills, and noticing where she was aiming next, Gillo paled before looking at her.

"Okay, okay, I will speak, but you have to promise a swift death without any tortures," cried Gillo, grasping the best outcome he had for himself here.

Stella didn't say anything and narrowed her eyes, looking at him.

"Depends from the information you can provide," said Stella.

"Now, why have you joined this war?"

"Nagas and their allies proposed too good things to decline. Our lives were nothing in comparison to the staff they gave us,"

"What was that?" asked Stella.

"Their territories and promise to get all the war spoils after the end of the war,"

"How many more goblins are out there in this area?" asked Stella another important piece of information.

"There were only 4 squads, consisting of 1.000 goblins in each, and you have already dealt with more than half of them," said Gillo, "There are no more goblin squads in here."

"What about nagas?"

"I don't know," said Gillo, but paled when Stella's sword became closer to his special organ, "I am telling truth! I really don't know. Their leader Hessa didn't share any intel with us and just came with those 2.000 nagas to help us,"

"I see," said Stella before looking and narrowing her eyes.

"Show your base location on the map," said Stella, giving him a map.

A moment and Gillo pointed at several locations in the forest.

The interrogation continued for some time, Stella learned many interesting details about Gallus, their traps, and ambush locations in that forest.

Gillo seemed to calm down while he was sharing all that information with Stella, and believed that he succeeded in misleading the human commander from the real truth.

However, unfortunately for him, Theo was also here, listening to his words. With each passing moment, he felt that this situation was too strange and wanted to ask a certain question when Aurellia's question outpaced him.

"Stella, I feel that this goblin is hiding something from us. Something important," said Aurellia with a clear clue in her words.

Stella that concentrated too much on war-related things quickly realized that the overall situation was too strange.

In fact, if those nagas bought their service in exchange for certain resources for participation in the war, it was just too strange for the goblins to attack her elite squad filled with experienced knights and mages. They could inflict much more damage if they chose to attack the expedition army rear when her squad and Aurellia's squad reached the front lines.

The numbers of local scouts and knights left to patrol the forests would be insufficient and goblins could have done much more damage if they chose to wait a bit more.

Narrowing her eyes and putting the blade a millimeter away from his precious zone, Stella raised her glance and looked at Gillo.

"Now, tell me bought your service and ordered to attack my squad," said Stella, tightly gripping her sword, and releasing a dangerous aura when a certain realization stuck her.

"I have already said, it was nagas!" cried Gillo, trying to hide the truth.

However, moments later, he felt a pain in his arm before she returned her blade to the previous location near his precious organ.

Crying from pain, he was reminded about her skills and paled, starting to sweat in the process.

Right now, there was nothing left from the dignity of the brave-behaving warrior that seemed to enjoy looking in the eyes of death.

"I won't repeat, you better tell everything you know, or the next one would be your precious friend there,"

Hearing her words, Gillo greeted his teeth, making himself silent before raising his glance at Stella.

Releasing a desperate sigh, he gathered his last bits of courage.

"It was the ...."

Just as he wanted to finish the last part of his sentence, something happened to him, and Gillo widened his eyes, raising his hand to his heart area.

A moment later, a dead body fell to the ground.

Almost immediately, Stella, Aurellia, and Anthony rushed to the goblin to check his condition.

"He is dead," said Anthony, looking at Stella.

"I know, but how he died?"

All of them continued to look at Gillo in search of the answer and none of them noticed that the black-haired youth was shivering when he saw what happened with Gillo.

For the bystander, it might have seemed that he trembled in fear, but only he himself knew that it was because of rage.

Theo recognized this familiar technique and knew who used them when he was fighting against the "Restoration emperor".

Now, all his doubts and thoughts are ordered in the puzzle and he realized that the strong network, his enemy used during their war already tried to get rid of his elder sister, using third sources.

The prelude for the war incoming war has already reached his family! He needed to get as stronger as possible!

The enemy wouldn't wait till he recovers his strength.