Banor Pov
'I didn't think things would turn out so well.'
I thought from the top of the tree where the other two wandering knights and I hid right after the wizard in charge of the small army attacked. Turning your back on an enemy is never a good idea, but in this case, it was the right one for several reasons, as seen in the mess below.
There's that saying: when you want something to go well, it will go badly.
That's not what happened to us.
In fact, things turned out even better than anyone expected.
The black monster wasn't in anyone's plans, but fate seems to have helped us here.
Finding a lone goblin near the village was easy; dragging it here wasn't too difficult after it "calmed down."
It was also "easy" to find tracks of other goblins and animals, even though it was already night, and to leave bait for them. Just a few bloody chunks of meat from animals outside the Ordeal.
Thrown on the ground or rubbed against the trees near the camp, they worked very well to lure our "targets" to the camp of the Baron's small army.
What surprised me was that, even with several mages, none of them noticed us when we placed decoys around the camp.
Was this them being complacent, or were the abilities gained from the Ordeal operating on a different principle, even though they were also fueled by Aether?
This is a topic I'd love to bring up in my old order, but well, we can't do many things we'd like in life.
– It would be best if we go now. Even with only three more, it would still be a help to the others who are attacking the village, right?
One of Lord Andreas's wandering knights asked.
– Let's wait just a little longer. We need to make sure that as few or none of them as possible make it back.
– With things as they are, it'll be a miracle if even one of them can use their head. – the other said.
But he wasn't wrong. Panic messes with reasoning, especially with those who think they're strong, and when they realize they're not that great, they have a mental breakdown. This causes them to either run off in disarray (when they can) or make increasingly stupid mistakes.
Like, for example, forgetting about the exit crystals that anyone can use.
Which is exactly what's happening now. Even though several are fighting, either against the shadow monster or the others we "threw" ourselves on top of. Others tried to run out of the area, only to be caught by the goblins waiting in the shadows, with swords and arrows.
And in this confusion, they ended up forgetting the crystals they were surely carrying in their pockets to get out. After all, they wouldn't be so stupid as to come in here without them, right?
A while back, a group of challengers entered without bringing healing items and ended up... badly, but they still brought the crystals to get out.
And these were peasants from another village, apparently. They still remembered to bring the crystals—a nobleman's knights, even low-ranking ones, couldn't be dumber than that, right?
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Connor's POV
My breathing became erratic. Fear and anger came in waves, one after the other, as I watched the larger goblins emerge from the main hut.
I saw them looking around and seeing several of them crushed or severely injured, but they didn't show much of a reaction.
He then made some signs and sounds that I couldn't hear, and the goblins with robes and tattoos went toward the fallen ones. The robes goblin healed them, but the one with tattoos killed them and then revived them.
As far as I knew, this was a technique forbidden on the entire continent. I don't quite remember the name, but it was something like a meat doll or something.
The fact was, it was something condemned by several temples, including the Great Temple. Which insisted on dictating how people should live, and even gave "help" to those who followed them.
If any of their representatives were here, they would certainly consider all goblins abominations, with no respect for the dead, and would do everything they could to exterminate every single one of them. Not that I saw any problem with that.
But that's a problem. All the effort we put in was practically for naught. The goblins had dropped to 40 but are now back to 90, and even a layman like me knew that as long as those two goblins were there, things would go well for us.
I could try to hit them from here, but that would give me away, and I know from experience that his attacks can reach me even from here.
Shouldn't I go warn the others quickly before—
*BOOM!!!!!!*
Damn, too late.
'I need to be quick.'
They were already forming three lines, 30 on each side. They quickly split up and headed for the source of the stones.
Meanwhile, he and the other larger goblins concentrated on the gate Mr. Andreas had just destroyed, with most of the goblins revived.
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Max POV
Even though we were almost 15 meters away, the force of the explosion still managed to push us back a bit. The smoke and dust it generated weren't helping anyone either, but at least it was another distraction for the goblins.
– Hey, how are you?
My brother asked.
– Just a slight ringing in my ears, what about you?
– Same, who would have thought that little ball would actually do so much damage?
'Everyone who knew how powerful the spells in the balls were geniuses.'
– Hey, did you just—
– Both of you!! We don't have time for this. They're already coming.
'Already?! That was too fast…'
I thought, watching some figures appear behind the smoke, but they were advancing strangely slowly.
'Wait... No! Not so much if you think about it. The goblins aren't very smart, but they're certainly not stupid. They must have realized that the closer they stayed to the falling rocks, the more of them would be lost. That's why they retreated, which gave them time to organize themselves, even if only a little.'
– No, there's still something strange. – Cali said, clenching her fists as she watched the dust clearing and the goblin cults, her eyes shining in the ever-increasing darkness.
– What do you mean?
– I heard Connor tell Mr. Andreas that several of the goblins had gathered near the gate to try to respond to our attacks, since that's where the most casualties were coming from.
True, we also saw them respond with their own rocks and arrows.
– A mystery of why so many casualties, right? – my brother asked with a smile. It's amazing that he could still muster up his courage even in that situation.
Usually this would earn my brother a punch in the gut, but this time Cali didn't even react, just tightened her stance.
– ...If you didn't react, things are really bad.
My brother Mavak said, grabbing his shield and readying his short sword. While I was already channeling Aether into my two-handed sword.
I only had to count to 3 to see the goblins, but even from here I could see they weren't normal. The glow in their eyes wasn't the same as when they were hunting in the forest; it seemed to have a lifeless glow, like an ember about to go out.
With them 7 meters away, I could see that several of them had wounds on their legs and arms.
Considering the number and size of the rocks we were throwing, this didn't surprise me. What was surprising was that some were still walking even with crushed legs, or holding stone daggers in arms broken in four different places.
We've fought goblins several times, and even if they can fight with a cut or even an arrow to the arm (which was very rare), they still showed pain and refused when they thought they couldn't win. Well, at least they tried.
These ones had wounds that would make them run without looking back 11 out of 10 times, but they still advanced? Why? And how?
It was because we were attacking their home and they had nowhere to run? Maybe.
But something in their eyes, in that gleam that didn't quite feel like a gleam, told me something different.
– Could it be... No, it can't be... But—
– Impossible... Right? That's something that couldn't possibly happen...
Even faintly, I could hear Cali and Anna saying something. Judging by their reactions, the strange feeling I felt wasn't limited to me alone. Not taking my eyes off the goblins who were gradually approaching, picking up speed now that they were 10 feet away, I opened my eyes wide and used the reflection of my blade to gauge the others' reactions.
"Something's definitely wrong here."
When I saw how the others looked, pale, breathing heavily even though they weren't throwing stones, and trembling slightly.
'No, wait a minute, where have I heard about that...!!!!'
– OH SHIT!!!
It seems my brother has also reached the same conclusion as me.
We weren't fighting normal goblins, we were fighting cursed flesh puppets created from the bodies of the goblins we killed.
'I think this will complicate our strategy.'
I thought, channeling even more Aether into my sword.