The western army Gowen led numbered approximately 1700 men strong.
It was on the beginning of the month of Toura that the goblins met them.
The touch of the wind was yet cold, the twin moons still had that poor countenance from the winter, and the wings of Werdna (Goddess of Darkness) veiled the squirming ones.
âFound them!â The leader of the wolf pack, Gi Gu Verbena, drew his long sword and axe as he ferociously laughed.
âGreat brother!â Gu Big, Gu Long, and Gu Tough called out, then they sent the messengers to the king. âLet the king know, weâve found the enemy.â
Reflected on the goblinsâ eyes that could see even in the dark was a great number of humans they have never seen before.
To the goblins, the night was no different from afternoon. They could clearly see the human camp illuminated by watch fires.
âNuâŚâ Gi Gu groaned when he recalled that time they attacked the human camp. Back then the humans used wagons for fences, but this time around, the humans had a properly built fence and even a moat.
The defensive structures of the camp couldnât be that sturdy as it had to accommodate an army encompassing 1700 soldiers, but when Gi Gu thought of how difficult the previous battle was, he couldnât help but frown.
âHumans are truly meticulous.â
According to the kingâs plan, they would be attacking the human reinforcements meant to save the colonial city.
Because of that Gi Gu was expecting the humans to be panicked. He did not expect them to actually take their time, even going as far as to make camp.
âIf they hadnât made camp, I was thinking of attacking, butâŚâ
The southern goblins Gi Go led numbered at most 500. If he were to follow the guerrilla tactics the king had taught him, it should be possible, but only if the enemy had an opening.
âLetâs try pry their guard open, shall we?â
Gi Gu learned from his battle with the killer ants that pushing on despite the odds could greatly tax the army. Gi Gu may have been given the duty of vanguard, but he had not lost sight of his main mission.
The night was the hour of monsters. Currently, the enemy seemed to be biding their time, so it didnât seem wise to just show themselves nonchalantly before them.
âSend the beasts. If the enemy moves, attack!â
The southern beast tamers raised peculiar beasts. The beast tamers of the Gi Village preferred to raise double heads and triple boars, but the southern beast tamers raised southern beasts. Hence, they raised beasts such as the dino, elephants with giant tusks, or dinohius, boars with abnormally developed tusks.
On top of the warm climate of the south, the southern beasts were also bigger.
Because of that normal goblins couldnât become beast tamers in the south. Rare was the lowest class that could start on the path of a beast tamer.
âBut Great Brother⌠The king might catch up,â Gu Long said.
Gi Gu laughed. âGreat! In that case, weâll be able to show his majesty a bloodbath.â
âGreat Brother is great!â Gu Long praised.
Gi Gu patted the three siblings, then he started giving instructions.
The night had only just begun, and the twin moons that shone dazzlingly in the night sky were crescent in shape.
As the yet cold evening winds blew, Gowen looked toward the darkness of Werdnaâs wings.
The old wound in his shoulder ached as he muttered, âsomething doesnât feel right.â
For someone like Gowen, who was an old veteran, he could sense the strange uneasiness in the air.\nThe scouts heâd sent said nothing was amiss, but he still felt something wasnât right.
âWe need to go help the colonial city as soon as possible, but⌠This pressure, this feeling⌠Could it be?â
The beacons of the colonial city showed that the city was holding just fine.
The clever goblins werenât able to close in on Yuan.
The last battle with the goblins really helped Yuan grow, after all. He was no longer that same weak kid he was back then.
He was talented to begin with, so after a little polish, heâs finally become a decent commander.
âBut the battlefield isnât so simple.
Gowen was currently the western feudal lord, a holy knight, and a famed soldier renowned as the Iron-Armed Knight. But when he was just starting out, it wasnât all smooth sailing.
He would lose one battle, only to lose the next, but it was by surviving those battles that Gowen gradually became stronger.
Grasping victory wasnât an easy thing.
If they were only battling a normal horde of monsters, Gowen wouldnât be so wary and would honestly be happy over his subordinateâs progress.
But the enemy this time were those goblins.
âCould it be⌠Could it be that the goblins planned this?â
Did they intentionally surround the colonial city to flush out the reinforcements and crush them?
The colonial city wouldnât fall easily. It was made specifically to defend against the goblins, so it was only a given.
âSo they spared themselves the trouble of throwing themselves against the wall and decided to attack the main force, huh?â
A siege battle did not suit the goblins.
Such a battle would usually be fought through siege weapons or through an endless wave of human resource.
The goblins couldnât possibly have any siege weapons, so that would leave them with no other choice but to overwhelm it to take it down.
The more Gowen thought about it, the more convinced he became. The goblins mustâve abandoned the colonial city and decided to attack the main force.
âIâve been had,â Gowen grit his teeth as he came to that conclusion.
If the goblins doesnât come in the night, they might come when dawn breaks. No, theyâll probably come right before the sun rises.
âBut⌠This is a good opportunity.â
If the goblins were going to fight them on this plain, then nothing could be better. After all, the humans had the advantage on the plains. They couldnât possibly lose.
A faint smile appeared on Gowenâs face as he thought of a plan to decimate the goblin horde with.
âLetâs bring them to Pianaâs Hill.â
After thinking for awhile, Gowen went back to the tent, where his officers were gathered