What is the danger level of a goblin king?

Similar to the common knowledge about goblin king in fantasy novels on Earth, it is the highest evolution of the goblin species. Once a goblin king is born, it will unite all the goblins under its rule and set the goal to build a goblin country. Thus, it will set sight on the nearest country and start its conquest there.

Although a goblin king is a very dangerous being, it is never considered a very serious threat to the national security. As for the proof, there has been no goblin country established or recognized throughout the history of this world. There are many reasons for this.

First, the goblin is a weak monster. Even if it can evolve to the highest class, goblin king, a goblin is still a goblin after all. Its potential is limited, and cannot be compared to the other races and monsters in this world, such as demons, humans, or dragons. The highest level of the goblin king recorded was only 62, about the same level of a new general in Vahallad. Its strength is not something that cannot be dealt with.

The second reason is due to its army. Even though the goblins can evolve to higher species or obtain a specialized class, it is only limited to a small number. The majority of the goblin army that a goblin king can rule often consists low level no class goblins. In the world where strength is measured by levels and numbers, quantity does not mean much before the vast difference in power.

Finally, the most important reason contributing to their failure is their intelligence. Even if a goblin evolves higher, its thinking ability will improve, but it is still not considered as an intelligent being. A goblin king still lives a savage life, void of culture development. It does not learn any thing from the predecessor’s mistake. After being throned, the first thing a goblin king does is to amass the army immediately and wage war without any careful planning or preparation. Its attack may deal serious damage to the attacked country. Many people may be killed, villages or towns may be destroyed, but a goblin army cannot ever destroy a castle or a fortress. Furthermore, every country has a surveillance system set up in order to take notice any irregular movement. Such a disorganized army will be immediately noticed and countermeasure will be put into place before any serious damage can be done.

However, the current goblin king’s threat level cannot be accessed the same way, and that is already proven by the damage done. Many villages were rapidly destroyed, and the town’s defense was heavily damaged. The Brendhill town is quite a prosperous town, which means the amount of fighting power here is quite considerable. It would not have hold out if the goblin king had come here with the full army, but holding against the army alone would be possible. Yet a serious damage was done with only a fraction of an army without the king.

The ongoing situation overturns all the knowledge about the goblin king so far, especially the 2nd and 3rd factor. The goblin army’s number of specialized and evolved goblin is much higher than normal. From sir Brian’s story on the previous day, the number of goblin riders assaulting the town was more than 500 units, together with about 1500 “foot soldier” goblins, commanded by two special classes. That equals to 2 battalions of human army already, and that’s not the worst thing.

The most important reason why goblin kings failed so many times in the past is due to their undeveloped intelligence: disorganization, lack of strategy, no logistics, no formation, no anti-army or sieging weapon. The current goblin king has earned all of these mistakes and fixed them. For the first time in the history, an army of monsters knows how to act properly as an army.

…………………………….

*Rewinding back three days ago, at Brendhill town.

“Monster wave! Monster wave!” A horse riding man yelled out as he urged his horse to go faster.

The time was evening, a time when everyone either stayed at home or went to the bar to enjoy the drink, relaxing after a tired day of work. However, today was an exception, as it signaled a time when many people’s fate either ended or changed forever.

While yelling, the horse rider rose up a torch high, telling the onlookers on top of the town’s wall to notice him from afar.

As he could see the sigh of the gate clearly, the rider screamed even louder with all the air in the lung.

“IT’S A MONSTER WAVE! A MONSTER ARMY IS APPROACHING HERE!”

Hearing the message, the onlooker immediately notified the men guarding behind the gate to open it and let the messenger pass through.

Without pausing a single moment, the messenger passed through the gate without saying anything and headed straight to a mansion near a barrack.

………

Brian Londo, who was scrutinizing the document in his hand, was interrupted by the sound of a door opening.

“My lord, we have an urgency.” Cebas, the butler, relayed the situation to him.

………

*ding**ding**ding**dong *dong**dong *

A series sound of a bell echoed in the area around the barrack. It was a signal of an attack, an emergency, everyone had to prepare for battle and evacuation. After the bell rang its signal, the bells from the other places rang the same message, transmitting the warning throughout the town in only a few minutes. The town people stopped their cheerful activities and started their duties during an emergency.

Vahallad was a very good country. It took into account the safety of their citizens very seriously and established many practices for that purpose. One of them was to make the citizens learn and practice the emergency drill. Everyone was given a rule, be it elderly, woman, man, or child. They all had missions to do and perform instead of just running away randomly or hiding n panic.

The town citizens had to learn the meaning of the bell signals, and depending on the series of chiming, they could understand the current situation and have a better judgment of what to do. The previous signal was only a warning, telling that the enemy was closing in, but not yet reached the town, everyone had the time to prepare.

It was obvious for the solders and adventurers. They had to assemble and prepare for battle. Meanwhile, the non-combatants had different tasks to do. Women, children, and elderlies prepared the luggage in case the evacuation signal came. The luggage contained money, important documents, some clothing, rations and water containers, and some survival equipment. The country had even designed a guideline of what should be brought and a backpack model for containing these things. At the same time, they also needed to arm themselves with suitable weapons, so that they could have a chance to retaliate when something bad happened. After that, they had to gather all the food inside the house in one place and decided what to do with them based on the next signal.

The usual course after the warning was a siege battle. The battle could last for several days, or even months. In which case, the citizens all contributed part of their foods to the solders and adventurers fighting out there. The army had their own food supply and their supply was quite plentiful, but there was a meaning in this action. It was to deepen the bond between the solders and citizens. By giving the food to those who fought, the citizens would feel that they actively contributed to the defense of the town. On the other hand, when receiving food from the citizens, the solders would be more resolute in protecting the place, knowing that they were defending for many people here. This simple yet meaningful action helped deepen everyone’s love toward their hometown. There would be few deserters, and in tight situation, the citizens may actively join the fighting force to defend against the enemy.

With all the drill practice imprinted in the body, the Brendhill town was now prepared for a battle in only 30 minutes. A defense formation for countering the monster wave made of soldiers and adventurers was formed. The citizens were ready to act depending on the signal.

Brian Londo, now fully equipped with his battle gear, was now standing on the gate wall and looking at the darkness outside the town. It was a cloudy night without moon or stars to shine the ground. Having the sight limited in a defending battle was a serious problem as it was difficult to track the enemy’s movement from afar. The accuracy of range units decreased. Furthermore, there was possibility of enemies using strategies utilizing sound to deceive the commander. Of course, such thing was impossible during the monster wave, especially with a goblin army.

*pew**pew**pew*

Several light balls were fired in the air and illuminated the space. The balls flew slowly in the air, separating away from the town wall about 500 meters before slowly descending to the ground. It was the work of the army mages, the “White flare” magic.

With the darkness retreating away, the whole ground in front of Brendhill town was now visible. However, instead of easing the worry, Brian’s eye brows frowned further at what he saw. Hundreds of goblin riders were lining up on the field, baring their fangs at the town. They had been quiet for a while in the darkness, but now, with no need to conceal anymore, all the wolves howled at the same time.

“Ahooooooooooo” x 500

Accompanying their companions, the goblins all held the spears and slammed on the ground in a united formation. The sound of metals hitting the ground echoed the whole plain, reaching the human’s ears. They were intimidating. They were intimidating a human army, who was superior to them and held many advantages against them.

“Hm! Looks like those filthy little green skins learn a few new trick. But no matter what, goblins are still goblins.” The man next to Brian snorted.

His name was Tyson, vice commander of the army stationed in Brendhill town. His level was 40, only slightly below Brian. He was more than 2 meters tall, taller than Brian two adult heads. Resting on his shoulder was a war hammer, representing a virtue of brute strength.

“Never underestimate your enemy, Tyson. There are already a few villages suffering from their attack in an hour. And see what they are wearing, they all wear armors and have metal spears in their hands. It’s proof of how strong they are. Otherwise, there is no way they can get that many armors and spears.”

“So what? What can a bunch of old rusty equipments do? They have probably looted around the old battle fields for anything usable and assembled an army together. Quite an achievement for the goblins, but that’s nothing to us. We are on the advantage here. The wall is high. Mages and archers are ready. Warriors of Vahallad with good strength and skills. What the hell are we careful for? They are wolf riders, not spider. They cannot even climb on the wall to reach us.”

Brian did not say anything, but his silence meant agreement with Tyson’s words. Although 500 goblin riders were quite a force to reckon with, the human army had many advantages. In a siege battle, the amount of force in the attacker army had to be at least twice the defender army. Currently, in this town, there were 800 soldiers and 200 adventurers. They had many classes that could fulfill different roles. The wall surrounding the town was 20 meters high and made of sturdy stones. This defense was not something to be torn down easily like in the villages.

After finishing their intimidation war cry, the goblin riders retrieved the spears to their backs. From the waist, the goblins took out slings and put a stone on them. Then, the wolves started moving.

“They have made their move. Archers! Get ready.” Brian ordered his troops.

As the wolf riders approached, the archers pulled the strings and aimed at the goblins. 500 meter, it was still not an effective range for them. They were still waiting for orders, not only because of army protocol and out of effective range, but also their confidence in their shooting ability and safety. A sling was definitely a ranged weapon, but what could it do? Its range was shorter than the bows, its power was weaker, and furthermore, its accuracy was worse unless one was an expert on it.

400 meter, barely in effective range, only 50 more meters for an ideal distance. The archers were still waiting.

However, the goblins did something unthinkable.

A few goblin riders from the 2nd and 3rd row flung the projectiles they equipped with. They were not stones, but flasks containing chemical liquid inside.

*clang**clang**clang**clang**clang*

A white smoke formed in front of the goblin army and quickly rose up in the sky. The smoke was so dense and so tall that it formed a wall separating the two armies apart.

Realizing something wrong, Brian ordered without hesitation “Fire!”

An arrow volley immediately rained down on the goblin army. Even if the archers could not see anything, the estimation of their location had already been calculated. They were sure that their arrows could hit at least about 50% of the opponent army.

Contrary to everyone’s expectation, there were few screams from the goblins. Another volley came but there were even fewer screams. When the third volley came, there was no more scream. Brian immediately stopped the firing.

“Mages, blow away that smoke”

Multiple chants came and strong winds blew across the battlefield, sweeping the smoke wall away. However, due to the thickness, it took more than 20 seconds for the field to be visible again. By that time, the goblin riders were nowhere to be seen.

“Where the hell are they?” Tyson roared in anger.

“Sir, on the left side!” A scout pointed to a direction.

The goblin did not run straight ahead at the gate, but instead split into two groups, circled over the smoke wall, then approached the town from both sides. The distance was 250 meters away. Their formation now was different too, moving in two long lines instead of a square formation. While riding on the wolves, the goblins did not stop what they were doing, swinging the slings in circle.

The stones hold by the rope were now shining in red. With closer inspection, there were smokes coming out of them and parts of the ropes where they contacted were slightly burned.

“Gi hi hi gi gi” The leading goblin yelled out.

The goblin’s counterattack began. The red rocks drew up bright parabolic arcs in the air toward the wall. By riding on the wolves with high speed, combined with the arm strength from leveling up, the slings managed to shoot the rocks at the longer range than usual. However, in exchange for that long range, the accuracy was sacrificed. Only a few stones flew toward the soldiers, while the majority went straight at the low wall. That was not a problem though.

*BOOM*

Explosion sound rang along the wall’s length. Dust filled the air, forming a cloud where the solders stood. For the unfortunate soldiers who were hit by the rock, parts of their bodies disappeared, spilling the blood and content inside out.

“Dynamis-stone? How the hell can the goblin handle that delicate stuff?” Brian was shocked at what the goblins threw.

Dynamis-stone was a special type of mineral that detonated whenever it received a strong enough impact. It was one of the most dangerous and difficult resources to mine. Because it was not much different from stone at a single glance, one may not recognize it and accidentally hit it with the tools or dropped it carelessly. Once a stone exploded, it would cause a chain reaction, causing the nearby dynamis-stones to explode, resulting in the whole mine being blown away. It was unthinkable how such crude goblins managed to get them in high quantity.

Even though he was caught by surprise, Brian immediately commanded the solders without delay “Fire at will. Focus on those still have the stones in hand.”

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

The explosions came again, interrupting his words. However, the few key words were heard and the archers had set their priority again.

*swoosh*

“Geh!” A goblin was hit and the sling in his hand staggered in the air at that moment. A fatal mistake on the goblin side as the red rock flew at riders in front of it.

*BOOM**BOOM*

Meat pieces scattered every direction, dyeing the grass land in red blood. Part of the goblin formation immediately crumbled and disorganization started showing in their army.

The goblins near the explosion site managed to avoid death in that instance. However, the shockwave still affected them and several of the goblins which had not thrown the stones made the same mistake as the first offender.

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

It was a chain reaction. More than a hundred of riders died due to the same issue. However, Brian was once again surprised by how quickly they dealt with the problem. The goblins riders which still had the stones immediately separated from the formation and threw them at the wall immediately, while the others scattered and spread out like a bunch of ants escaping water.

Due to their hasten pace, the stones were not aimed as careful as before. Thus, only occasionally one or two managed to reach the height where it could hurt the solders. Those slingers were then pin pointed and shot to dead immediately after. The remaining stones only managed to hit the lower wall.

A solder while aiming at a rider heard a strange sound below his feet.

“What the…”

*creak**creak**creak*

Cracks formed and the ground where he was standing on slid down to the outside of the town.

“Aaaah!”

The same thing also happened at several sites on the wall and the solders there fell to death. Those places could not withstand the destruction of the stones anymore and started crumbling.

(Don’t tell me. Those things have been aiming at the wall from the beginning?)