Chapter 374 - 123: A Steamroll
Chapter 374: Chapter 123: A Steamroll
Although the humans’ imposing aura dealt the goblins a heavy blow, their own recent victories had at least given the goblin slaves and leaders a sliver of morale.
Seeing the humans charge, some of the minor leaders began to react, organizing goblins to plug the gaps in their defenses.
Unfortunately, it was all for naught.
This wasn’t a question of whether their reaction was too late. It was a simple matter of being crushed by brute force!
Before the goblins could even fully react, with some of their leaders yet to make a move, the human Soldiers had already charged upon them.
The goblins’ usual ranged weapons—stones and wooden arrows—were completely useless against Robson’s armored Soldiers!
Only the Magic cast by a few goblin priests could temporarily slow the human offensive.
Unfortunately, the role the goblin priests could play on the battlefield was negligible at best.
...
"For Affleck! For the kingdom!"
"Long live Affleck! Charge!"
While the goblin leaders were still adjusting their troops’ formation, the human Soldiers had already charged the front lines before Ancient Dumu Town.
"Quick! Push forward! Charge up and hold until reinforcements arrive..." a Beastman leader screamed himself hoarse, trying to continue directing his troops.
But it was all destined to be in vain.
The goblin army was large, but their combat effectiveness was worse than that of scattered stragglers. Without the help of the routed Beastman forces, the nobles of Sri County might have been able to deal with these ten thousand-plus goblins on their own.
"Charge! For Affleck!"
Facing the wall of goblins, the human Soldiers were fearless, charging straight forward with their shields raised.
"Aah! The humans are breaking through! Counterattack!"
"Iron armor! They’re all wearing iron armor and carrying iron weapons! We can’t cut them!"
...
The human Soldiers shouted war cries, raised their large shields, and simply steamrolled right over the goblins!
That’s right—they were literally steamrolling them.
While the goblin stones didn’t hurt when they hit their armor, a rock to the face was still a nasty jolt. To avoid the flying grit and pebbles, the humans simply tucked their heads behind their shields and charged.
Since their heads were behind their shields, they naturally couldn’t see what was ahead of them.
The human Soldiers and the goblins formed a line, and the point of contact between them was the very shields in the Soldiers’ hands.
In a situation like this, all that remained was a contest of pure strength. And when it came to strength, as long as no Extraordinary power was involved, if Robson’s Soldiers claimed to be second best, no one would dare claim to be the best!
"Hah!"
With a series of synchronized shouts, the goblins were shoved to the ground by the Soldiers of the First and Second Battalions, only to be finished off by the endless stream of human Soldiers charging from behind.
"Monsters! These aren’t humans! They’re monsters!"
"Beast God! Chieftain, where are the reinforcements?! Why are there no reinforcements!"
...
As the frontline Goblin Warriors were steamrolled by the human Soldiers, the goblin army’s morale instantly wavered, and they began to doubt their own previous assessments.
There was nothing they could do. The humans before them were simply too strong, far beyond their comprehension. Faced with such a scene, they could only believe these were savage beasts from the Celestial Kingdom.
"Why are we still fighting?! Let’s run!"
The goblins had been sustained purely by their fighting spirit, but as the humans continued to crush them, that spirit shattered and vanished without a trace.
On the battlefield, Goblin Warriors gradually began to flee to the rear, and more and more holes appeared in their already thin defensive line.
"Look at the sky! Look at the sky!"
"A dragon! A dragon!"
As the goblin soldiers cried out, a dragon suddenly dove from the sky, followed by the cry of a phoenix.
Two behemoths, creatures that stood at the apex of the continent, attacked the goblin army simultaneously. White flames danced through the air, and any goblin scorched by them was sent to the Celestial Kingdom before they could even scream.
"It’s the Lord! Long live the Lord!"
"Long live the Lord!"
"Long live the Lord!"
The goblins saw the dragon in the sky, but of course, the human Soldiers saw it even more clearly.
In their eyes, Everton was the Lord’s mount, which meant the Lord himself had taken to the field to aid them.
The fruits of his recent reforms were now beginning to show.
Although Robson had often fought on the front lines in the past, it had never had this kind of effect. It certainly wouldn’t have caused his Soldiers to cheer at the sky in the middle of a tense battle.
Robson watched all of this from the sky without a word. He had Everton release two more bursts of flame, then began to survey the situation throughout Ancient Dumu Town.
He had to admit, the goblin army he encountered today had some real backbone.
Based on Robson’s past experience fighting goblins, they should have turned tail and fled the moment they saw a large human army.
But not only had this bunch not fled, they actually dared to organize a counterattack!
He had the nobles of Sri County to thank for that, no doubt.
...
"The humans have broken in! The humans have broken in!"
"They’re completely different from the ones we fought before! Completely different!"
"Devils! Devils!"
Just as Blake finally managed to rally the nearby goblin troops, he received news that the frontline army had already been routed.
Instantly, the faces of the Goblin Chiefs who had come to assemble turned pale. Ancient Dumu Town was a symmetrical rectangle, and they were still some distance from the human army, so they weren’t clear on the situation at the front.
The Goblin Chiefs all turned to look at Blake.
Hearing the reports from the routed troops at the front, Blake’s mind was also in turmoil.
’But now, more than ever, they need someone to stabilize morale. No matter how chaotic I feel, I have to put on an act.’
"Bullshit! What do you mean, devils?! We are the devils!"
Looking at the routed soldiers who had fled back from the front, Blake stepped forward without another word and cut two of them down.
"This is the price for daring to undermine morale!"
Seeing Blake’s ruthless swordplay, the goblin soldiers who had fled back instantly fell silent.
Seeing that he had regained initial control of the situation, Blake felt a sense of relief.
"Those humans only managed to catch us by surprise because we didn’t know their whereabouts!"
"Mendes has already gone to rally the Beastmen.
And all of you, aren’t you always clamoring for a real fight against the humans?" Blake said, looking around at the others.
Hearing Blake’s words, the assembled Goblin Chiefs finally began to settle down.
’That’s right,’ they thought. ’It must be due to the humans’ tricks and schemes.’
"Hmph! We don’t need Mendes!
Since these humans have come, let’s show them that we goblins are not to be trifled with."
"Exactly! We have more than ten thousand troops under our command now, don’t we? We’ve trampled over the territories of plenty of humans before! What is there to fear? Let’s give them everything we’ve got!"
Spurred on by Blake’s words, the Goblin Chiefs’ spirits were finally roused once more.
After all, their egos had been inflated to the heavens recently.
Blake let out a sigh of relief and looked further south.
That was where the Beastmen and Dwarves were garrisoned.
Though he had just spoken with such bravado, he knew his own situation best. The battle had been a rude awakening. ’Right now, my only real source of confidence is the Beastman Army at our backs,’ he thought, his mind flashing back to the Beastmen’s performance at Bai Ma Ferry. ’But... are those bastards going to run away again?’
Blake swallowed nervously at the thought.
’Probably... possibly... they wouldn’t... right?’