Chapter 66
Chapter 66
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 66
Goblins.
They boast (if you can call it that) the weakest strength among all monster species. Even in size, an adult goblin stands roughly 90 to 100 centimeters tall. They are omnivores.
Based on these facts alone, they would be at the very bottom of the monster food chain. Yet, no orc pack ever raids a goblin village. Of course, if they encounter an orc in the forest, nine times out of ten they become a meal. In fact, in Gauri, they were bred as the primary food source for orcs and minotaurs. Despite this, goblins have steadily maintained their numbers.
The reason is that few monsters attack the villages where they live.
On the rare occasion an attack does occur, it is by large monsters with thick hides, such as ogres, trolls, or minotaurs. That is because the goblins' primary means of attack are anesthetic needles and daggers.
The goblins' hunting and combat doctrine is to first anesthetize their prey with the needles, then deliver death using daggers made from stone or scrap metal. Therefore, they are helpless against monsters like ogres, trolls, and minotaurs, whose hides resist blades.
However, other monsters such as orcs, kobolds, and werewolves never approach a goblin village. The reason lies with the existence of the hobgoblin.
Hobgoblins.
What exactly is a hobgoblin that its presence or absence makes such a difference?
Several reasons can be cited, the first being an ability akin to that of a shaman. Of course, even a shaman cannot create fire or use magic. Their sole ability is to communicate with their kin across vast distances using sound waves, akin to ultrasonic waves, rather than ordinary sound.
But this singular ability has an enormous impact. The reason is that, unlike other goblins, hobgoblins possess high intelligence. Intellectually, they are slightly inferior to humans but vastly superior to orcs.
They are also characterized by their size, reaching 150 to 160 centimeters, nearly the height of an adult human. Considering that a typical dwarf stands at 150 centimeters, they cannot be considered small. Their strength is such that they can overpower even one or two orcs if attacked.
Gerard was acutely aware of this fact.
In goblin society, the hobgoblin is an existence akin to a king. What happens if a hobgoblin is killed or abducted?
The goblins go berserk.
If killed, they relentlessly attack the one responsible until either their own tribe is annihilated or the enemy is dead. If abducted, goblins are also a species that will pursue the captor to the ends of the earth. And how would they even know to search if one were captured?
Their shamanistic ability using sound waves is no mere formality. Can they not issue commands to every goblin at once without speaking, across a distance of several kilometers? Even on this night, the hobgoblin's power was being fully displayed.
Wiiiiiiiiing.
The hobgoblin's cry, echoing through the night, continued to summon goblins. Not commanding them, but literally summoning them.
The number of goblins closing in to encircle the Haian Kingdom soldiers' encampment was not in the hundreds. It reached at least six thousand. But why would goblins surround a guard unit's encampment just because a hobgoblin called? Had this hobgoblin been abducted by these soldiers?
Of course not.
It was not that the soldiers of the Haian Kingdom were too weak, but rather that they were not nearly diligent enough. To put it bluntly, in a situation where they don't even hunt the monsters that come down from the mountains, who would crawl into the peaks just to capture a hobgoblin?
The culprit was Gerard. More precisely, it was the soldiers under Gerard's command. The day before, soldiers acting on Gerard's orders had each led a minotaur and scoured goblin villages.
While the goblins were panicked by the minotaurs, the soldiers infiltrated the village, knocked the hobgoblin unconscious, and abducted it. Then they buried it in the ground at the center of the Haian Kingdom garrison, leaving only its head exposed. What else would a hobgoblin do once it regained its senses?
In other words, 'Save me!' would it not?
Thwip!
"Ow! Damn, what is that?"
A soldier guarding the garrison scowled at the sudden pain in the back of his neck. But it was only momentary; within a dozen or so seconds, he collapsed helplessly. And so, the goblins' offensive began under cover of darkness.
Swish.
"Thud!"
"Ah, it stings!"
Thump.
The goblins crossing the perimeter moved with increasing agility. It was proof that they were now following the hobgoblin's control absolutely.
"Huh?"
"What is it, Mailo?"
"Over there, I heard something fall...."
But no matter how agile the goblins were, they could not prevent the sound of an anesthetized soldier collapsing. It had caught Mailo's ear. Following Mailo's pointing finger, his comrade turned his head toward the darkness and soon identified the swarm of goblins rushing in from the shadows. Red, gleaming eyes were surging forward like a wave.
"Damn it, goblins!"
"Mailo, ring the alarm bell, now!"
"Shit!"
Spitting out a curse, Mailo reached for the alarm bell hanging beside him.
Sting.
"Urk!"
Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!
Ignoring the pain blooming in his back, Mailo struck the alarm bell.
"Calvin, grab me...."
Thud.
"Hi... hiiiik, goblins!"
"Kah...."
Even Mailo's desperate eyes could not hold Calvin's fleeing footsteps, paralyzed as Mailo was by the terror before him.
'You piece of shit.'
The curse never left Mailo's lips as he lay collapsed on the ground, watching Calvin's back as he turned and fled.
Squelch!
"Guuuh."
Squelch, squelch, squelch!
The daggers of the onrushing goblin horde tore through Mailo's back. The fountain of blood erupting from Mailo's back became the signal for a massacre to begin.
Aaaargh!
"What is it?"
Amid the chaos of screams, no man could sleep peacefully. Roman Prinen, in command of the mine's defensive forces, rose from his bed, grabbed his longsword, and opened the window to look outside.
Thud!
"Kiiiieeeek!"
"What the hell is this!"
Slash!
The moment he opened the window, a goblin clinging to the frame shrieked at him. Still, befitting his position as defense captain, he cut it down with the sword he had grabbed and looked outside.
"Good heavens...."
"Kiiiiii!"
"Aaaargh!"
"Run!"
Screams echoing outside, red eyes clearly visible even in the darkness, and blood spraying through the air.
Clatter!
"My, my armor!"
Roman hastily shut the window and began searching for his armor to put it on. He had to wear full plate to resist the goblins' anesthetic needles. As long as he was careful of the poison needles, he could survive.
This was Roman's choice, and his decision caused a delay that would cost them their chain of command, leading to soldiers scattering and dying in every direction.
"Hiiiik!"
"Kiik!"
"Someone get this thing off my back!"
"Gaaah, my eyes!"
When a goblin leaped from a rooftop and clung to a soldier's back, his terror reached its peak. A soldier running wildly with a goblin on his back, another screaming and thrashing to survive after an anesthetic needle struck his exposed face despite wearing armor—these scenes blended together, amplifying the horror.
They could not see bones breaking or flesh bursting, but the fear of the invisible needles was beyond words.
Moreover, to lie paralyzed, anesthetized and fallen, unable to even flinch while watching a goblin approach to end your life—to lie sideways and watch the blades plunge into your body—that was perhaps even more gruesome.
They could not even wave a hand in resistance as they watched goblin blades enter and exit their bodies once, twice, three times. They could only watch the blades pull out of their own flesh, feel it, and scream inwardly for death to come faster.
'Cold.'
A fallen soldier felt his body growing colder as he watched the hot blood drain from him. Perhaps because of the chill night air, steam rose gently from the blood flowing out of his body. The same was likely true of the soldiers lying scattered all around.
"Form ranks!"
"Uwaaaah!"
Roman Prinen charged out in his full armor and bellowed, trying to restore the soldiers' formation. But the already shattered men had no thought of reforming, and the goblins leaped straight for Roman.
"What are you doing! The enemy is nothing but goblins!"
"Kiiiieeeek!"
Slash! Shwaaaak!
"Damn it!"
Roman cursed as he sliced a leaping goblin in half. The sound of poison needles drumming against his armor was like rain.
He had never experienced goblins acting this way in his entire life. Even when goblin packs occasionally appeared, they numbered no more than a few dozen. Those could be handled quickly with ten or twenty soldiers wearing full-body leather armor. But in this situation, cleanup was no longer the issue. The leather outfits needed to block goblin anesthetic needles were limited in number, and even the soldiers who managed to come out wearing them were set upon by dozens of goblins wielding daggers.
"You bastaaaaards!"
SLASH!
Cursing involuntarily, Roman swung his sword endlessly, cutting down goblin after goblin.
"Kriiiik~!"
"Dieeee!"
SLASH!
"Kit-kit-kit-kit-kit!"
The goblins fell helplessly before Roman's blade. Yet even as the severed bodies of their comrades flew through the air, the shrieking from the goblins' mouths grew increasingly frenzied.
"Kit-kit-kit-kit-kit!"
"Kit-kit-kit!"
"Wh-what the hell?"
"Captain!"
"Kit-kit-kit-kit-kit-kit!"
Watching the goblins stop their attacks and scream as if in a chorus, the soldiers were seized by a mixture of terror and bewilderment.
"What are you doing! Form up, now!"
"Shit!"
Seeing the soldiers standing dazed and looking around in all directions, Roman raised his voice.
"Form ranks, I said!"
"Bill, get a hold of yourself!"
"Abandon the fallen and maintain the formation!"
"Shit."
A few soldiers who had been dragging their paralyzed but still-living comrades away had no choice but to curse and retreat at Roman's command.
"Damnation, is this all...?"
Roman looked at the soldiers who had rallied around him and spoke as if lamenting. His once twelve-hundred-man garrison now numbered barely three hundred. Yet the goblins surrounding them, shrieking, outnumbered them more than ten to one at a glance.
"Hoooh."
Once the soldiers' formation was somewhat established, Roman took a steadying breath. Fortunately, most of the surviving troops were from the central army. The bulk of the fallen had been local troops conscripted in the region. Because of this, their armaments had been poor, and their uniforms and protective equipment had been a hodgepodge with no consistency. That was one reason they had fallen so easily to goblins they had always regarded lightly.
"Kit-kit-kit-kit-kit-kit-kit!"
"C-Captain."
"What?"
When an apprentice knight approached Roman and spoke, he answered with a slightly irritable voice. But the apprentice knight paid it no mind, scanning the area and continuing.
"Something is strange. I've never seen the goblins attack like this. It's as if they are acting under someone's orders. Could there be a hobgoblin?"
"Are you joking right now?"
"But look at how they're attacking! No matter how panicked the soldiers are, it doesn't make sense that we've been hit this hard. And on top of that, look at the number of goblins that have been killed. They aren't running away—they're attacking as if they intend to see this through to the bitter end!"
"Mmm."
Roman groaned at the apprentice knight's words. One of the goblins' known traits is that they flee when a strong opponent appears. The number of dead goblins littering the ground was clearly not small. Yet, as the apprentice knight said, their relentless advance as if determined to finish it was undeniably strange.
"But hobgoblins never leave their villages.... And with these numbers, this isn't a normal goblin tribe. We're looking at the combined numbers of at least five tribes. How...."
"Huk!"
"Kit-kit-kit-kit-kit-kit-kit!"
"Kiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"
Roman could not finish his sentence. The scattered fires provided relatively decent visibility. In such conditions, it was impossible not to recognize a deep green hobgoblin half again as large as the other goblins.
"How...."