abnabooks Chapter 24: The Final Charge
Chapter 24: The Final Charge
Old Hall stood beside him, and he didn't chase after him. His magic power was already more than half depleted, but there was no sign of fatigue on his face.
"Young master. Over at Wenger's territory!" Old Hall pointed towards the mountain stronghold. "There are people on the wall watching us."
Ron raised his binoculars.
On the stockade wall, several soldiers covered in blood were leaning against the crenellations, looking down.
Their faces were expressionless, perhaps because they were too tired, or perhaps because they hadn't yet realized what had happened.
One of the burly men raised his hand, pointed in the direction Fanta was chasing, and shouted something to the people behind him.
The gate to the stockade remained closed, but the soldiers on the stockade walls began pushing the rubble blocking the breach outwards.
"They're preparing to attack." Ron lowered his binoculars. "Tell them not to come out. Fanta's formation cannot be disrupted; opening the gate will only get them in the way."
Old Hall nodded, raised his hand, and a carrier pigeon formed from magic flew out from his palm, soaring over the battlefield and heading towards the stockade wall.
That was one of the few long-distance communication methods available to the Architect Mage; it was costly, but worth it at this moment.
The carrier pigeon landed on the crenellations of the stockade wall, transformed into a line of text, and hovered in front of the burly man.
"Ashwood territory, hold the gate, do not attack, wait for us to push through."
The burly man stared at the words for a few moments, then looked up and glanced towards the top of the slope. He turned and roared at the guards behind him, "Don't move the gate! Keep guarding!"
The fleeing remnants finally collided with the rear of the attacking army.
The goblin vanguard, which was in formation, was thrown into disarray by the retreating soldiers of their own side. Their formation crumbled from back to front. Finally, two goblin heroes joined forces and killed dozens of small goblins to stabilize the formation.
But the terrifying sound rang out again the next second.
A flaming boulder flew into the sky, then disintegrated in mid-air, turning into countless stones that fell to the ground, each the size of a human head. Falling under such high gravity, even a goblin hero wouldn't dare to withstand it, let alone an ordinary goblin.
A large number of goblins' heads were smashed. Even if they didn't hit the heads, a hit on the shoulders was enough to smash half of a goblin's body.
Under a barrage of aerial attacks, dozens more goblin soldiers fell. After regrouping, Mad led the archers up the slope, rearranged their archery formation, and began firing arrows at the goblin army.
Compared to their first attempt at archery, the archers of today are much more composed and can barely manage to unleash a volley of arrows.
Although the goblin army also had archers, they used short bows, which were far less effective at range than those on Ashwood territory. Moreover, Mad and his men had a superior position and a geographical advantage.
Despite the barrage of arrows, the goblins continued their advance, slowly making their way towards Ashwood territory. Goblins fell every now and then, only to be replaced by others the next second.
But that chilling sound rang out again, and this time instead of scattered stones, it was a round stone weighing over a hundred pounds.
It landed directly in front of them, crushing the goblins in that area to death, then rolled for more than ten meters on the ground, crushing a large number of goblins.
The casualties caused by this wave of attacks were even greater and more shocking than the previous "scattering of flowers" attack. Many goblins trembled violently as they looked at the suddenly cleared area around them and their companions crushed into mud on the ground.
The remaining two goblin heroes let out a battle cry, and a pale yellow aura emanated from them, covering all the goblins and dispelling their fear.
The giant goblin began to roar in unison, its rhythmic shouts allowing the goblin ranks to slowly recover and advance.
Ron took a deep breath and walked to the trebuchet; he wanted to increase the trebuchet's firing speed.
The mage quickly pulled down the catapult, and Doron and a knight swiftly placed the hundred-pound round stone into position.
Old Hall gave a thumbs up, began to aim at the goblin army's position, and silently calculated the attack range.
This is the benefit of being able to draw diagrams; it also allows for preliminary calculations of ballistic trajectories.
With Ron's help, the catapult's preparation time was halved.
Old Hall quickly adjusted the catapult, then shouted, "Launch!"
The terrifying sound of air being torn apart rang out again, and a boulder flew out from behind the hillside, hitting the goblin army precisely and carving a bloody path through them.
Despite the aura of the battle cry, the goblin army did not panic and continued its steady advance.
However, the halo that originally enveloped them was much fainter.
Left with no other choice, the two goblin heroes roared once more, but this time, their ferocious faces also showed signs of weakness.
Ron put down his binoculars. "They're nearing their limit. Don't stop."
Another round stone flew out, and the yellow aura above the goblin army weakened again, but the goblin archers also came into range.
Although the goblin archers could not shoot at the archers on the hillside, they could threaten the criminal group in front.
"Raise your shield!" Fanta shouted.
The guards immediately formed a shield wall at the front.
Leonardo da Vinci looked at Fanta, who was shielding him with her shield, and felt as if something inside him had shattered. He whispered, "Thank you!"
The rain of arrows made it impossible for Fanta to hear what Leonardo da Vinci was saying.
"Ah! What are you saying?"
Da Vinci remained silent, focusing intently on preparing for the battle, though his ears turned slightly red.
The other criminals stared blankly at the guards who were blocking the rain of arrows in front of them. It wasn't until the laborers brought a large number of wooden planks that the criminals came to their senses and hurriedly raised the planks to block the rain of arrows that was slowly moving backward.
The terrifying whooshing sound came again, and after falling into the goblin army, the goblin's last pale yellow aura completely disappeared.
A little goblin cried out in terror, turned and ran, only to have its head chopped off by the goblin hero and thrown to the ground.
The goblin hero made a series of gibberish sounds and then killed dozens of small and large goblins before finally stopping the rout.
Ron, sword in one hand and crossbow in the other, arrived at the position of Mad's archers.
"Target: Goblin archers." Ron decisively gave the order, watching the goblin archers shooting arrows from behind.
"Yes!" Without any hesitation, Mad drew the bow to its fullest extent and pointed it diagonally to the sky.
The bone arrow flew into the sky, tracing an arc in the air before falling towards the goblin archer.
Unfortunately, the bone arrow struck a goblin archer on the head, killing him instantly.
Sanlir immediately cheered and then followed suit, drawing his bow and shooting an arrow.
The archers' attack only managed to hit a few goblin archers sporadically. Although it did not cause too many casualties, it still posed a significant threat to the goblin archers, making them hesitant to fire arrows indiscriminately.
They successfully reduced the scale and speed of the arrow rain, but for long-range attacks, they still had to rely on catapults.
The wicker baskets filled with stones flew high into the air. As the flames burned, the wicker baskets binding the stones slowly broke apart, turning into countless boulders in the air, which fell towards the goblin archers' position.
This time the stones were only the size of a fist, but their sheer number made it seem as if stones were falling from the sky.
With just one wave of attacks, a third of the goblin archers fell, forcing them to abandon their dense formation and instead fire arrows in scattered bursts.
However, the power of such a rain of arrows is greatly reduced.
Two goblins led their goblin army to within ten meters of Ashwood's army. The two goblin heroes roared simultaneously and launched a final charge against Ashwood's army.