Goblins have low intelligence.
But they can learn.
Over the past three days of the march, they painfully learned about the existence of exceptional human snipers.
The sniper who had ambushed the Goblin Legion with guerrilla tactics specifically targeted officers, causing significant losses among their Amirs and Janissaries.
Each night, the Goblin God-King had to promote new Amirs and Janissaries.
It was evident that this sniper would target officers again in the upcoming siege.
Therefore, Kali-Alexander prepared a deception strategy.
He supplied ordinary goblins with high-quality armor and painted their faces with distinctive patterns.
There were about a hundred of these decoys.
Meanwhile, the real Goblin Amirs disguised themselves, smearing orc blood on their bodies instead of wearing their usual armor.
Goblins, with their keen sense of smell, especially after being dominated by orcs for centuries, could differentiate the scent of orcs even in the midst of a battlefield.
The real Goblin Amirs made their presence known through scent.
Although invisible to the humans on the walls, the goblins could recognize each other’s ranks.
While human snipers were busy shooting down the decoys, the real Amirs mingled with ordinary soldiers, passing commands.
As a result, even in the absence of the God-King, and despite their frenzy, the Goblin Legion maintained its formation and continued its pre-planned charge.
"The great Kali-Alexander foresaw everything."
An old goblin, one of the oldest Amirs, and who had been with Kali-Alexander since the beginning of the war, murmured.
"In his previous life, when he was assassinated before accomplishing his great deed, he decided in this life to always have contingency plans. Even in his absence, the army could move..."
In his past life, the Goblin Legion collapsed, and the Greenskin Kingdom fell into ruin after Kali-Alexander was assassinated.
Therefore, Kali-Alexander prepared for his potential absence this time.
He arranged the troops so they only needed to charge forward, instructing the officers to oversee just this task.
And everything was unfolding as planned.
Although the God-King was captured by the enemy commander, the Goblin Legion's charge was effective, reaching right up to the walls.
"...But great God-King, we need you."
It was just as the Orc Emperor had metaphorically described.
The goblins were like dogs chasing the back of a carriage, driven by instinct, more like raging beasts.
They were wildfires, typhoons, akin to disasters that wanted to kill and burn everything in sight.
The God-King gave them direction.
Without him, the wildfire without anything to burn would extinguish, and the typhoon without steam would dissipate, leading the Goblin Legion to self-destruction.
"Return safely."
And burn this world together with us.
The old goblin repeated and signaled. The Janissaries, recognizing his gesture, waved their hands.
Kyaaack! Kirik! Kirik!
From the rear, two elite Goblin units moved forward.
The Goblin Chariot Corps. And.
Clang! Bang!
The secret weapon Kali-Alexander had prepared in secret.
The Engineer Corps.
***
Twang!
Damien gritted his teeth and loaded his crossbow.
The arrow he shot traced a beautiful arc and knocked down an armored goblin.
Whether the Amirs had multiplied or it was a mere deception tactic, he had no time to distinguish.
If any of them could be a real officer, he had to snipe them.
"Huh?"
While continuously sniping, Damien noticed something.
In the midst of the Goblin Legion almost reaching the walls, something was being prepared by their rear units.
Realizing what it was, Damien urgently shouted.
"They have catapults!"
"...!"
Lucas, deflecting the relentless rain of goblin arrows on the wall with his sword, urgently looked in the direction Damien was pointing to. At the rear of the Goblin Legion, crude but unmistakable catapults were being assembled.
Twang!
Damien hurriedly shot arrows in that direction, but the goblins, indifferent to their fallen comrades, completed the assembly of the catapults.
Goblins lacked the technical skill to build sturdy catapults capable of hurling heavy stones.
That meant what they were about to launch was-
Whoosh!
The crudely made catapult, constructed of wood and rope, spun around and launched something that was hanging from it.
It soared across the sky towards the wall, screaming.
Kyaaaack!
Lucas recognized what it was and yelled.
"Suicide bombers!"
However, the launched goblin suicide bombers did not reach the top of the wall.
The catapults were not powerful enough, and their range was too short. The suicide bomber who landed midway up the wall exploded in a lackluster display.
Boom!
The iron cladding on the wall was slightly dented, and a few bricks fell off.
But despite the unimpressive impact, the humans on the wall were not amused.
Screaming through the air, dozens more goblin suicide bombers were launched.
Bang! Boom!
Not a single one reached the top of the wall. They all exploded mid-way up or lower.
But the Goblin Engineer Corps did not give up and continued launching suicide bombers, their landing points increasingly higher.
Crack!
Finally, when one suicide bomber stuck to the iron plating just below the top and exploded, Lucas knew he had to change his defensive tactics.
"Damien! Can your party's magic guns reach their catapults?"
"Yes! But our sniping can only kill the engineers, and they keep replacing them and firing! We need to destroy the catapults themselves!"
"The only things with that range and firepower are..."
Lucas looked at Junior, who shook her head.
They were attacking just beyond the effective range of magic.
Junior could destroy one or two catapults with her magic, but it was impossible to handle them all.
Her mages didn't have the ability to attack from that distance...
That's when Damien shouted.
"What about our cannons? They have the range and the power!"
But turning the cannon fire to the enemy's rear would leave the frontline vulnerable.
Lucas hesitated for a moment but then made up his mind, especially as suicide bombers began to successfully climb onto the wall.
Kirik, kirik...!
The first goblin suicide bomber to climb onto Crossroad's walls grinned wickedly.
Ding-deng!
Lucas's blade of light swiftly decapitated the creature. The goblin's body, spraying green blood, fell and exploded below the wall.
But more suicide bombers continued to drop onto the wall. Lucas shouted.
"Artillery unit! Change target! Destroy their catapults!"
The artillery captain urgently objected.
"That will leave our frontline exposed! The Goblin vanguard will reach the walls!"
"Use all artifacts to cover the gaps in the fire network! Destroying the catapults is the priority! Hurry...!"
Just then, one of the suicide bombers, unfortunately, landed right in front of a cannon.
"Oh no!"
Damien quickly drew his pistol [Cerberus] and shot the goblin's head off, but its body was already exploding.
Boom!
The explosive power of the goblins' bombs was crude. Crude, but sufficient.
Shreds of goblin flesh flew in all directions along with gunpowder and flames, reaching the stacked cannonballs.
Boom!
A cannon exploded. Artillerymen, caught in the blast, screamed as they were burnt to a crisp and flung in all directions.
"Damn it!"
Junior, in an attempt to prevent a chain reaction, hastily unleashed a water spell. The fire was quickly extinguished, but several nearby cannons were damaged by the explosion or rendered inoperable due to the gunpowder getting soaked.
Groaning soldiers nursed their burns. Gritting his teeth, Lucas commanded.
"Those damn things... Aim for the catapults! Now!"
Artillerymen, teeth clenched in determination, adjusted their aim from the goblin vanguard to the distant catapults.
"Aiming complete!"
"Fire!"
Boom-boom-boom!
The cannonballs, launched by the most experienced among the human soldiers, struck true. Their crossfire, honed over fourteen defensive battles, swiftly demolished the Goblin Legion's catapults.
However, the frontline's defensive fire weakened in the meantime, and the Goblin Legion's vanguard eagerly pushed forward.
"Deploy all artifacts! Don't hold back, use everything we've got!"
At Lucas' order, the alchemists activated every available artifact.
Beams of magical light scorched the enemy lines, flames and whirlwinds erupted, magic cannons spewed fire, and various magical devices tossed, repelled, or teleported enemies away in a desperate struggle.
Yet, the Goblin Legion kept advancing.
Thud-thud-thud!
The long-awaiting chariot brigade charged forward, taking the lead.
"Chariots incoming!"
"Block them!"
But the means to stop them were lacking.
Despite being pummeled by arrows, sniped, and toppled by magic, the chariot brigade relentlessly reached the wall.
Boom!
A chariot, upon hitting the wall, exploded magnificently.
The chariot was loaded with explosives, not the crude bombs used by the suicide bombers but high-grade explosives amassed by the Goblin Legion.
"Insane..."
Lucas muttered, watching the goblins crash into the wall and explode one after another.
The chariot brigade represented the highest class of goblin military, capable of handling fierce beasts and driving chariots. They were the elite among their kind.
Yet, they were used as kamikaze weapons.
Thrown without hesitation.
In exchange for hurling massive amounts of explosives at the wall, the lives of these elite soldiers were also burnt away.
As a result,
"The wall...!"
A scout shouted.
"There are cracks forming in the wall!"
Most of the wall, a culmination of the Empire's technology, withstood the explosions.
However, a clear crack had formed in the right end of the wall.
The problem was that the Goblin Legion noticed this crack, and their vanguard had already penetrated the defensive fire network, reaching the base of the wall.
Kirik! Kirik!
A group of goblins, their exact wave indistinguishable, clung to the cracked right end of the wall. And then,
Boom!
They exploded.
The end of the wall, engulfed in flames, trembled violently, and the edge crumbled, falling below.
Soldiers screamed, scrambling away from the collapsing section.
"Damn it all!"
Lucas ground his teeth.
"How much of their entire force are suicide bombers...?!"
"Here they come again!"
"Cannoneers! Restore the fire network! Now!"
The cannons once again targeted the enemy lines, and the restored fire network began to pulverize the goblins.
But the defensive line was showing clear signs of fracturing, shaking along with the wall...
'My Lord!'
Lucas bit his lip, looking towards the grey fortress where Ash was conducting a solo operation.
'We can't hold out much longer, hurry...!'
The next operation.
The counter-offensive that the human side had prepared needed to be initiated...
'My Lord...!'
The grey fortress, into which Ash had voluntarily locked himself with the enemy leader, was now covered in the bodies of goblin soldiers. It was no longer grey but overwhelmingly green.
Clank! Clank!
Turrets, smeared with goblin blood and corpses, were desperately operating, grinding down the goblins.
"Kyahak, Kyahahat-!"
The Troll King, standing alone in front of the grey fortress, continued to fight despite being impaled by hundreds of goblin spears and swords.
And within that fortress -
Thump!
With a clear sound of flesh being punctured.
Ash's thrown dagger embedded itself in Kali-Alexander's chest.
--TL Notes--
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