I buried my sword into the ground and burned the scene in front of me into my eyes.
Right now, the elves were chasing after my goblin subordinates. Their swords buried into the retreating backs of the goblins, giving rise to many death throes.
—Not yet…
“My king! Please forgive me.” The wide-eyed Gi Jii knelt before me and bowed his head.
“Go,” I curtly said as I waved my hand to dismiss him, then I pulled out my great sword.
The Sword that Dances with the Black Flames, Flamberge.
I carried that sword that was as long as I was tall on my shoulder, then I turned to the counter attack platoon behind me and declared, “We are the warriors of the Demon Children of ChaosGoblins… Fear is cowardice! So howl!”
In the next moment, a great battle cry bellowed out from the horde.
“Attack!” I ordered the goblins over that great cry, then I turned toward the approaching enemy and ran toward them.
The enemy was so numerous it was almost as if the land had been replaced by them. Exhaling a faint breath, as if to release all that pent-up vigor I had, I inclined my posture forward and glared at the enemy.
“GURUuOoOoAaA!” I howled.
The howl continued behind me.
I measured distance between our approaching armies with my eye, then I directed ether to flow into my great sword.
“Turn me into a blade!Enchant”
As ether rose from the dancing-shaped blade of my great sword, I swung it.
The enemy was there to greet it, but the long sword he used to try receive my sword was cut alongside him.
After severing the enemy in two, I swept with my great sword to wipe away the flowing blood from its blade, then I bared my fangs once more.
This time the enemy welcomed me with their shields, so I sent flying away with them. Just a little, a crack had formed on the enemy’s formation.
Stepping forward, I swung my great sword overhead and swung it down on a clump of enemy soldiers.
As I wrecked havoc on the enemy soldiers, the sound of iron clashing with iron rang behind me.
The now pursuing goblins were fighting with the enemy elves.
They were equipped with blue-silver steel (srilana) equipment, but they were all actually just normal class. As a race, they were weaker than the Gaidga, slower than the Paradua, and were less dexterous than the Ganra, yet they desperately followed my back into the enemy platoon that had just destroyed Gi Jii’s forces and were counterattacking.
They lined up their spears and fought desperately while covering each other and substituting the injured whenever needed.
The elves fought desperately too.
The place we were fighting at was one of those stopover villages between Sinfall and Sheng. This one in particular was closest to Sinfall.
It wasn’t easy coming up with a plan that minimized losses against these clever elves, so I prioritized minimizing our losses and buying time over protecting the villages.
In order to raise goblin commanders, I have intentionally led this counterattack platoon myself and protected the other platoon as they retreated. To that end, I even chose to personally undertake the duty of stopping the enemy.
The enemy seems to have noticed my intentions, considering their attacks have become even fiercer.
—But…
I ground my teeth.
The corpses of my fellow warriors who I couldn’t save filled my vision. We couldn’t attack any earlier because of the plan. The reason this counterattack could become a success was because the enemy was properly lured. That’s why we were able to stop them now. That’s why we were able to execute this counterattack.
But while I might understand that in my head, I still couldn’t stop the rage burning within me from rising.
I swung my great sword fearlessly and took down enemy after enemy.
Killing my subordinate is like taking away my limbs.
—You will pay!
“GURUuRUooOaAaAa!”
In my fury, I bellowed out The World Devouring Howl. Its great power suppressed everyone around me, but then arrows came shooting from afar.
—As usual, their response is fast. The enemy is serious too.
I swept with my great sword to fend off the enemy’s concentrated attack, but I couldn’t fend everything off. There were countless arrows clad in ether mixed in with the normal arrows.
Wind, water, fire, those varied arrows came pouring down on me endlessly. At the same time, I had to deflect the attacks of the enemy pouring in from the flanks, while I cut the enemy down.
There wasn’t a second attack, however.
—This should be a good time.
“Retreat! To the right!” I pointed my great sword to the right and commanded.
I stood at the rearguard of the retreating goblins.
We all ran until we reached a narrow road, where arrows then shot from the sea of trees at our flanks.
These were of course Forni’s archers.
Like that we successfully retreated to Sinfall.
◆◆◇
The assassin, Gi Ji Arsil, left the Fortress of the Abyss and departed for the elven territory. According to the messenger that arrived a few days ago, the king was currently fighting a difficult battle with the elves.
“There sure are a lot of goblins. I thought the last horde was big. Who would’ve thought there’d still be so much left?” One of the eight flags of the demihumans, Mido of the werewolves, said while walking beside Gi Ji.
The fang tribe, the werewolves, were great warriors who possessed exceptional strength and speed. They ran the plains with their friends, the gray wolves, so it was fairly unsurprising that they were able to bring the king’s message quickly.
But because they weren’t very bright, they ended up quarreling with the goblins in front of the Fortress of the Abyss, causing much annoyance to the demihumans who came to fulfill their part of the cultural exchange.
Behind Gi Ji Arsil were 80 normal goblins from the knight class, Gi Ga Rax, and 50 volunteer warriors from the tribes.
“For the king, we will offer even our flesh and bones,” Gi Ji said, still glaring at the direction where the goblins and the elves where fighting.
Mido shrugged. “Well, we also have debt with our benefactors that need to be paid. I’d like to go in high spirits too, but…”
Rumors are said to move faster than the wind itself.
True to that saying, word of the matter regarding Jirad’s enslaved demihumans had already reached the demihumans outside the elven forests.
Gi Ji turned to the fiercely smiling Mido. “Descendant of the crystal, right? Have you also sworn fealty to the king?”
Mido broke out laughing. “Bwa ha ha ha! Like hell we’d swear featly to some goblin.”
But almost immediately after he stopped laughing and turned to Gi Ji with an angry glare. “But I’m not without sense of duty. That goblin bastard raised a friend’s children, so… I have a duty to him. For that I will lend him my strength.”
Gi Ji nodded to the words of this demihuman chief who was also known as ‘Tyrant’. “…I know a man just like you. A goblin whom the king lauded a swordsman; a warrior who pointed his blade at the king.”
“Oh? Seems like someone I could get along with.”
“He was strong, so strong that he didn’t hesitate to wield his sword against the gray wolves for the sake of his brethren. But because he was so strong, he pointed his blade at the king.”
“What happened to him?”
Gi Ji shook his head, almost as if he was trying to shake away the image of that distant back, then he looked ahead of him again. “He went somewhere far away, but… I’m sure one day he will come back.”
Right now, Gi Ji couldn’t reach that goblin he admired.
“…We have to be strong,” Gi Ji said. “Other than us, the king doesn’t have anyone to protect him.”
Gi Ji and Mido entered a village ruled by the Eight Flags and began preparations for the trip to the elven territory.
◆◆◇
The coalition force led by Pale and Felbi already numbered 400 after receiving the support of Sheng and Jirad.
With manpower and the power of blue-silver steel equipment, the strength of their force was indeed something to be feared. That coupled with Pale’s strategies, which has survived the storms of the human world, and Felbi’s heroic leadership at the frontlines, they have already secured 10 victories all-in-all.
Though most of those were only from small skirmishes fought in the stopover villages between the large villages of Sheng and Sinfall, they still spoke of the greatness of the two leaders. Especially Pale, whose achievements were so dazzling it could only be said that she was blessed by the spirits themselves. Where she fought, the enemy would surely retreat.
Contrast Felbi who often stood at the frontlines with a smile on his face, earning him the title of the Forest God’s Favorite Child, Pale rarely smiled; yet that figure of hers as she led with the draw of her bow was extolled as the personification of the god of bows, Za Ruga.
Like this Pale became famous.
Being supported by her comrades in war and the chiefs of Sheng and Jirad should by no means be a bad thing. Unfortunately, the chiefs had another agenda. They hoped she would become Fenit’s rival; that’s why they supported her.
When Fenit Symphoria, the man who currently possessed the most power among the sylphs, saw Pale Symphoria basking in glory, he became furious.
After Sheng and Jirad recovered from Shure Forni’s trap, they had been supporting Fenit’s soldiers while sending soldiers to the other forests. It was actually because of them that Pale and Felbi were able to fight. Otherwise, Pale’s battles would have been much more difficult. Especially since Symphoria hasn’t actually been supporting Pale and Felbi.
The more the threat that was the Goblin-Elf Coalition subsided, the more Fenit was reminded of the threat that was Pale.
“As expected of the Symphoria,” Jirad Nash praised.
“Indeed, I’m sure Fenit is proud,” Priena added.
“…Of course,” Fenit bitterly agreed with a sneer.
Pale was supposed to have fallen into a predicament, but now? She had climbed her way out of the ditch and was shining brilliantly.
Fenit felt threatened.
“…It seems the goblins won’t be a threat anymore. I’ll be going home then,” Fenit said, turning heel despite the protests of Jirad Nash and Priena.
Fenit’s soldiers surely wouldn’t be happy to receive such a sudden order. An elf tried telling Fenit that as he left, but when Fenit saw who that elf was, his brows creased for an instant, then he sneered and walked away.
That female elf followed after him.
—276 days until the battle with the humans.
◆◆◇◇◆◆◇◇
Level has risen.
57 to 59
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