Volume 3, Chapter 198 - A Blow to Turn the Tides (2/3)
The Kushain believers moved in concert with the goblins, who encroached into the enemy camp, and attacked as well.
Atop the defensive towers of Cultidian were onagers and ballistae. Stones shot from the onagers in the defensive towers of Cultidian, laying waste to the many traps and fences of the enemy camp, then the many Cultidian Believers, who outnumbered the enemy, cried out their battle cry and attacked directly.
After being encouraged by Saint Mira, their resolve was higher than ever. The Kushain believers charged into the fray without regard for the descending arrows or the traps left behind.
When the enemy saw the Kushain believers’ great momentum, their faces paled, and they immediately thought that they would surely lose, but it was then that the genius tactician showed his strategy’s godlike brilliance.
“Oil and fire to the Kushain believers. As for the goblins, keep them away with an endless barrage of arrows!”
The forces of the Red King poured a flood of oil toward the Kushain believers.
With the floor slippery, the Kushain believers lost their footing, and were promptly set aflame as a fire arrow lit the oil flood.
“S-Stop IiIIt!”
The Kushain believers screamed in agony as their bodies were burnt to a crisp.
“Lord Glenn has perished! The goblins aren’t stopping!”
When the messenger reported that to Carlion, he gave another order.
“Move the soldiers positioned in the south to the north. And send out the cavalries to take the goblins from behind! The commander shall be Lord Kionel!”
Although the situation continued to escalate, Carlion only smiled as he analyzed the situation.
The reason the goblins couldn’t be stopped was because they had been fighting within the narrow spaces of Carlion’s military camp. As such, there were less avenues to attack, allowing the goblins to both recover and attack effectively.
They would bring a fresh batch of soldiers to the front, then bring their tired ones to the back. With that giant goblin at the center and the goblins around him maintaining their momentum, they are able to both attack and recover at the same time.
In that case, all they need to do is to attack the resting goblins.
“The difference in numbers isn’t so easily overcome, goblins. Especially, when the one you’re fighting is none other than the genius tactician of the Red King himself,” Carlion muttered as he watched the Goblin King swing his great sword.
“Archers, high-angle fire. Your target: the goblins at the back of their formation. Mages, concentrate your attack at the enemy’s left flank. Time your attacks with the cavalry’s charge and cover those goblins in spells and arrows without missing a single beat!”
As the spearmen desperately tried to defend against the goblins, the archers behind drew their bows and shot toward the cloudy sky. The volley of arrows shot high up, then as they fell back down, they landed right at the back of the goblins’ charge.
For a moment, the Goblin turned to glance back at the goblins behind.
As the goblins’ charge slowed down, the mages casted their spells.
Within the confined space of the defensive camp, wild bullets of flames shot forth toward the left flank of the goblins.
The goblins screamed and writhed as they burned. It was only for a short while, but with that the mages were also able to delay the goblins a little.
The commander at the scene quickly responded to the resulting imbalance caused by the two recent attacks, and he immediately attacked the right flank of the goblins from the side. Then after killing a bunch of goblins, immediately went back into the hedgehog defensive formation.
After repeating that pattern twice, Carlion was able to set a rhythm.
Whenever the goblins think they’re about to get hit, they will reflexively slow down due to anticipation.
In this way, they will be able to avoid the onslaught of the goblins’ charge, while causing much disturbance to their weakened soldiers. To make things worse, the cavalry will even start preying upon their weakened soldiers at the back.
The Goblin King clicked his tongue as he allocated some soldiers to deal with the cavalry from behind. He ordered Ra Gilmi Fishing and his platoon to move from the right flank to the back.
But that was exactly what Carlion was waiting for.
As the goblins’ front-line weakened, e ordered his casters and archers to concentrate fire.
The force behind that unrelenting volley was one that would make even the Goblin King himself think twice.
As the goblins’ charge slowed down, Carlion suddenly retreated from the frontlines and abandoned the fourth section.
“You’re abandoning it?” Cell asked.
“Yes. The Kushain believers will be recovering soon, so…” Carlion wryly smiled and nodded.
As soon as Carlion said that, the Kushain believers’ ballista shot at the fourth section, putting a stop to the battle between the goblins, who were seemingly being pushed back, and the Red King’s forces momentarily.
The goblins have been fighting since the dead of the night, so the Goblin King ordered the really tired goblins to rest for the time being.
Although the goblins hadn’t suffered much casualties, having to run around and attack for so long still exhausted them greatly. The Goblin King originally hoped to solve their stamina problem by allowing the goblins to take turn resting, but the cavalry attacking them from behind wouldn’t let them.
Carlion took advantage of their numerical superiority and ordered his soldiers to attack relentlessly to keep the goblins from resting. The cavalry who carried out his orders and fought bravely were a sight to behold.
Thanks to them the goblins couldn’t rest properly and were forced to respond accordingly.
But that only lasted until the hour of the Night God (Ya Jansu).
In response to the cavalry that have continually been attacking them, Ra Gilmi Fishiga led his archers to shower them with arrows.
Arrows fell like rainfall, and with no room to dodge, the cavalry had no choice but to flee far away.
Although the goblins still hadn’t rested as much as they would have liked, the Goblin King ordered them to press on as they started taking turns resting again. The wings of the Goddess of Darkness, Verdna, was a friend to the goblins.
The goblins would pop out wherever there was darkness, such as in the shadows cast by torchlights, leaving the humans greatly bewildered on how to deal with them.
As a result, the humans started responding slower and slower.
But that was exactly what the Goblin King was aiming for.
The Red King that was supposedly coming from behind had a 3 days’ distance between them and this army.
That was according to the most recent information the Goblin King got from Zaurosh, so the delay in communication also had to be taken into consideration.
The Goblin King didn’t know just how far they could push the enemy, so they had to make the most out of every second they had.
“Gi Go Amatsuki, Gi Gu Verbena! We’re charging into the enemy camp!”
The Goblin King forced himself to calm down and started attacking again.
Illuminated by the torches, the Goblin King’s visage reflected on Carlion’s eyes.
“…I suppose this much is about what you would expect from monsters.”
As soon as he received the report, the goblins’ attack resumed once more.
From the other side of the darkness appeared a goblin swordsman who lopped off the head of a soldier, a goblin who wielded an axe and worked with other goblins to kill his enemies, and a jet-black goblin who swung his great sword around, sending soldiers flying like dry leaves despite the armor they wore.
The black of the night amplified the fear of humans.
The goblins knew that full well, which is why they took full advantage of it by appearing and retreating skillfully.
They would snuff out the torchlights, then shrouded in the veil of the dark, they would suddenly attack fiercely.
“Please prepare the crossbows. And please tell Lord Migal to come here.”
Cell was surprised to hear Carlion say that to the messenger.
“You’re using that?” She asked.
That was a newly invented device in the form of a bow from the Holy Shushunu Kingdom.
It was new technology, so Carlion had to spend a fortune to purchase it.
“Weapons are meant to be used, right?” Carlion said.
“And what are you going to do about the loading time?”
The downside to crossbows is that they’re extremely heavy compared to bows, they take longer to reload, and their range is also shorter.
“Hundred-Man General, Migal, has arrived!”
Though it was already nighttime, the voice of the small platoon commander as he said that was as lively as ever.
Carlion taught him the three-stage attack and sent him to the frontlines.
“Like that it should certainly be possible to keep hitting them with arrows.”
“The black of the night amplifies fear. In order to win against that, we mustn’t allow them to approach us, we must keep on attacking,
and the soldiers must never be given time to think needless things[1].”
Carlion had originally prepared this as a trump card against the Kushain believers, but he now had to use it here. Still, he had no regrets.
Even if Carlion’s strategies were said to be godlike, it was still really difficult to endure the attacks of the Goblin King’s monsters.
Since this was the first time he would be using the crossbow platoon, they were sure to show great results.
Even the Goblin King shouldn’t be able to easily deal with a weapon he is seeing for the first time. As such, he should have no choice but to withdraw temporarily.
But the Goblin King would betray his expectations, for he quickly found a way to deal with the crossbow platoon.
He simply picked up the human corpses that littered about on the ground and used them as meat shields as they charged onward.
Even if the crossbow platoon attacked three times. With armored corpses for meat shields, the arrows simply couldn’t break through.
When the Goblin King was near enough, he threw away the corpse and started slaughtering the crossbowmen.
The moment the barrage of crossbows weakened, Gi Go Amatsuki and the others followed the Goblin King.
Because they were able to completely avoid the weakened barrage of crossbows, the soldiers grew even more fearful.
When Carlion saw that, he was shocked.
The Goblin King had dealt with the situation too quickly.
It was almost as if he had already known about crossbows.
But surely that was impossible.
“…Goblins sure are amazing,” Carlion said.
“What are you praising your enemy for?” Cell asked.
“If possible, I’d like them to fight as a monster army under the king,” Carlion said.
“Monsters and humans can’t get along. That’s why they’re called monsters,” Cell replied.
“But they are working alongside other humans. Perhaps, not being able to coexist with them was something we merely decided on our own,” Carlion argued.
“That’s…”
Cell fell silent, but Carlion smiled and apologized.
“Sorry, I was getting ahead of myself. That was a mean question.”
In the dead of the night, the goblins attacked fiercely and were able to conquer all the way up to the ninth section.
The goblins have also incurred a bit more losses, but the losses on the Red King’s side have already gone past 3,000.
This was exactly the sort of situation the Kushain believers had intended after working alongside the goblins.
No matter how amazing Carlion’s tactics were, it wasn’t possible to fight a war without losses.
The soldiers under him would also gradually grow tired.
[1]- RAWS just say that they mustn’t allow the soldiers to think of something, so I think it’s referring to the fear.
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