"Kill!"
With a single powerful strike, Night Tiger severed the giant goblin's head. Covered in blood, he let out a thunderous roar that echoed through the battlefield like a tiger roaring in the mountains, proudly displaying his kill to the others.
The surrounding soldiers erupted in cheers, their morale soaring. It was as if Night Tiger's roar had ignited a fire within them, and they fought with a ferocity bordering on madness.
This group of goblins was noticeably stronger than those they had faced earlier. Dozens of giant goblins towered among them. Still, it made no difference.
They might have been stronger than the average soldier, but their numbers were too few. Ye Hu's unit alone, a thousand strong, boasted hundreds of second-tier extraordinary warriors.
One-on-one, they might be slightly outmatched by a giant goblin. But who said they had to fight alone? With two or three warriors combining their efforts, the brute strength of a single goblin was easily overwhelmed. In less than ten exchanges, the giants fell like wheat before the scythe.
It was no exaggeration to say that Ye Hu's team could take down all five thousand goblins by themselves.
And that didn't even include the arrival of Night Wolf.
With the Night Wolf's thousand-man unit joining the fray, the tide of battle tipped decisively in the Night Tribe's favor.
The goblins, already wavering in morale, finally broke. With wild howls, they scattered in all directions, fleeing in panic.
But on open plains, fleeing from cavalry was a death sentence.
The goblins quickly learned the meaning of "you can't win, and you can't run." The warriors of the Night Tribe were like death incarnate, their blades reaping goblin lives without mercy.
The screams of the dying goblins soon filled the grasslands, echoing into the night.
Su Xingyu watched from afar, disinterested in conquering these green-skinned creatures.
His godhood had no preference for any particular race. If he could subdue half-metal giants, he could easily dominate goblins too.
But he held no affection for them. These monsters had no redeeming qualities—only vast numbers and an obscene reproductive rate.
They lacked any concept of civilization or order.
The Night Tribe was already expanding rapidly, teetering on the edge of instability. Introducing goblins into that fragile system would be like pouring oil on a fire. Chaos was inevitable.
Su Xingyu had accepted the half-metal giants because of their formidable strength and peaceful temperament. Their rarity meant they could be assimilated without disrupting balance.
But goblins? Why keep them?
Because they consume too much? Because they're poor fighters?
Even as a vassal army, they were completely unqualified.
That was why this battle was a slaughter, pure and simple. The warriors of the Night Tribe held nothing back.
Soon, not a single goblin remained standing.
"That felt amazing!" Ye Hu's body dripped with blood. He looked like a savage beast, eyes gleaming with exhilaration. But he didn't care—he lifted his head and roared into the night sky.
"Still yelling?" Night Wolf stormed over, scowling. "You told me to wait for you, and then you went charging off on your own! I'm going straight to the general to file a complaint—disobeying orders and acting without authorization? That's a death sentence!"
"Hehe… plans never keep up with changes," Ye Hu scratched his head, grinning sheepishly. "Didn't the clan leader say we must seize fleeting opportunities? It was the perfect time to break their front line. I couldn't let it slip away!"
"Don't throw the clan leader's words at me," Night Wolf growled. "He also said that military orders are as heavy as mountains. Why didn't you follow those?"
Ye Hu had no answer. He lowered his head and pleaded, "Alang, I know I was wrong. Please forgive me. I swear I'll follow your orders next time."
"This won't happen again," Night Wolf said with a sigh.
"Of course, of course," Ye Hu nodded like a bobblehead.
Night Wolf glanced at him. He knew his brother wasn't truly repentant, but since the battle was won, there wasn't much he could say.
After reorganizing their forces, they immediately sent scouts to sweep the nearby areas. They had no intention of slowing down.
Goblins infested this land like weeds. There were more than ten tribes near the teleportation point alone. The largest had several thousand members, while the smallest still numbered in the hundreds.
These goblins fed on the blood-red vines that spread across the plains. Wherever those vines grew, goblins thrived.
Nightfall.
In the camp that was rapidly taking shape, Ye Zhan stood in the main tent, reviewing a stack of intelligence reports.
"The number of these green-skinned monsters is staggering," he muttered, setting the papers down. "If they were better organized and carried real weapons, they might have posed a serious threat."
"If there aren't any other enemies in the area, it makes sense their numbers are high," his adjutant replied with a smile. "And their sheer numbers play right into our hands."
Their purpose here was military training.
If the enemy was too powerful, their losses would be too heavy. That wouldn't help new recruits.
If the enemy was too weak, the training would be useless.
But this? This was perfect. Individually weak but swarming in numbers, the goblins provided pressure without being truly dangerous.
Besides, their army included elite veterans capable of handling anything unexpected. There was no reason to worry.
"Exactly." Ye Zhan nodded. "According to Feng Da's scouting, the largest concentration of goblins is deep in the plains—at least 100,000. As for the tribes around the perimeter, estimates suggest a total goblin population exceeding 400,000. We have just 30,000. That's a massive disparity in military strength."
Goblins reproduced quickly. From birth to maturity took just two years. Quantity had always been their racial advantage, and they relied heavily on swarm tactics.
In this nearly isolated fragment of a plane, that advantage had reached terrifying levels.
"If every soldier kills ten goblins, that's only 300,000," the adjutant said, counting on his fingers and laughing. "Doesn't sound like much when you think about it."
But even with such numbers, the goblins were disorganized, cowardly, and weak. They had no discipline, and their fighting spirit crumbled under pressure.
That's why, despite the odds, neither Ye Zhan nor his adjutant felt the least bit threatened.
"If their main force is in the deep plains, then we should clear the outer tribes first."
Ye Zhan quickly drafted a battle plan for the next day: eliminate the outlying goblin tribes before moving deeper.
If their ultimate goal were total extermination, the most efficient method would be a full-force assault. Strike fast and hard, lead with elite cavalry, and break through to the heart of the goblin forces for a decisive victory.
Once the largest tribes fell, the remaining goblins would be scattered and powerless, regardless of their numbers.
But this wasn't an extermination mission.
It was training.
That meant a slow burn—clearing tribes gradually, forcing the goblins to unite, and dragging the war out to temper the new recruits in fire and blood.
Ye Zhan smiled coldly as he finalized the plan.
Tomorrow, the slaughter would continue.