“My King, we can't hold them off much longer! We will cover you; find an opportunity to break through!”
A canyon lay on the eastern edge of the Great Hera Forest.
The Shadow Wolf King was cornered by the goblins inside the canyon, while the shadow wolves and gnolls at the rear desperately resisted the oncoming onslaught of the goblin forces.
Although individual goblins were weak, their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
Among them were elite units such as goblin warriors and giant goblins.
“No, there is no need,” the Shadow Wolf King replied.
A deep, bone-deep wound still lingered on one of his hind legs.
“Wait until nightfall. Once darkness descends, we will look for an opportunity to break out together.”
The Shadow Wolf King had absolutely no intention of abandoning his pack to escape.
“But our breakout attempts over the last two nights both failed. If we continue like this, not a single one of us will survive.”
“Even you, my King, will be captured by those filthy goblins and forced to breed goblin pups for them!”
The gnoll looked at the Shadow Wolf King in agony.
The idea of the Shadow Wolf King being captured to breed goblin pups was simply too horrifying.
“...I am male,” the King deadpanned.
Upon hearing this, the gnoll cried even louder.
“With goblins, who can say for sure!”
The Shadow Wolf King endured the pain and stood up.
“I will never abandon my pack and flee. This is my duty as the Shadow Wolf King!”
“Rather than leaving you all to be slaughtered, it is better to fight until the very last moment. We will fight to the death, dragging as many of those goblins down with us as possible! We will bite them hard and let them know that they shouldn't have provoked the shadow wolves!”
“We will make them regret this!”
Accompanying the Shadow Wolf King's voice was the thunderous roar of a siege ballista firing into the canyon.
The sound made the Shadow Wolf King bare his sharp fangs.
Outside the canyon, nearly two hundred goblins launched methodical, alternating attacks under the command of the goblin priests.
The corpses of both the wolves and goblins were systematically dragged back, swiftly processed by the goblins in the rear, and used as military rations.
“Gagu...”
The goblin high priest gave a distressed cry.
The Shadow Wolf King kept resisting, yet the goblin king's order was to capture him alive.
However, the Shadow Wolf King's will to resist was too fierce. At this rate, they would have to wait until he was on the verge of death before they could control him.
The goblin high priest thought of the strange humans the goblin king had met.
If only those humans were willing to take action, things wouldn't be so troublesome.
“Awoo!”
A wolf's howl echoed from within the canyon.
Following that, the Shadow Wolf King charged out of the canyon. A look of pleasant surprise crossed the goblin high priest's face as it quickly ordered the goblins to surround him.
With dark energy swirling around his entire body, the Shadow Wolf King lashed out with his claws and crushed goblin after goblin with his fangs.
Meanwhile, he completely ignored the incoming attacks from the goblins.
“To think he would charge out during the day to do the exact opposite of what is expected. A mere beast possesses only this much intellect.”
The goblin high priest brandished its bone staff, and a ghostly green light shimmered at its tip.
Instantly, countless green vines lunged to bind the Shadow Wolf King.
At the same time, the goblin crossbowmen operated the siege ballista, beginning to aim at the shadow wolves.
“Awoo!”
Spurred by the howls, the shadow wolves poured out of the canyon. Just like the Shadow Wolf King, they completely abandoned all defense and attacked frantically, desperate to take down as many goblins as possible.
“Fighting to the death just to kill more of us?”
“How laughable!”
The goblin high priest let out an unvarnished sneer.
Those humans had gifted them the highest-quality breeding beds, so their goblin tribe did not care about casualties in the slightest.
A single goblin required only thirty days to be born from a breeding bed, and another thirty days to mature and join the battle.
They had no need to worry about losses; they only needed to transport all the corpses back to feed the breeding beds and cultivate new goblins.
Speaking of humans.
Those humans showed absolutely no mercy when selling out their own kind, which was truly astonishing. But it was also thanks to them that the tribe had received a large number of human females.
“Gagu!”
The goblin high priest let out a commanding roar, and the siege ballista fired a spear-bolt with a thunderous boom.
The Shadow Wolf King's pupils dilated. Shadow energy rapidly surged from beneath him toward the incoming bolt as he curled his body inward.
Yet, the sharp projectile still ripped through his flesh. It grazed past his bones, exposing his shoulder blade.
The Shadow Wolf King let out a pained wail. Seizing the opportunity, a goblin warrior lunged forward, piercing his flesh with a spear.
“Gagu!”
The goblin high priest quickly commanded the goblin crossbowmen to reload.
Right at that moment, a white figure dived down from the sky.
“Gagu!!”
The goblin high priest's pupils shrunk as it let out a frantic, roaring command.
Two giant goblins holding large metal shields positioned themselves in front of the goblin high priest, while the high priest itself scrambled desperately to the rear.
Dragon Flame Breath!
Vera swooped down low to the ground. On her back, the deep-purple High Slime spat out a stream of scorching Dragon Flame.
The metal shields held by the two giant goblins instantly melted into liquid iron, pouring over their charred corpses.
“Dragon Flame!!”
The goblin high priest's pupils contracted. It had no time to ponder why a High Slime could spit Dragon Flame; it only wanted to get as far away as possible from this reputedly evil High Slime!
The Dragon Flame did not stop, setting dozens of goblins ablaze along its path.
The goblin crossbowmen quickly showed initiative. They manned the siege ballista, rotating its frame to aim at the white dragon Vera.
Vera's draconic eyes had been locked onto the siege ballista the entire time.
She had suffered greatly at the hands of that wretched contraption last time. The moment she saw the siege ballista move, she hastily beat her wings and charged toward it.
“Gagu!”
Several goblin warriors charged out in an attempt to block Vera.
Corrosive Gas Slash!
From his position on the dragon's back, Zoe locked onto the goblin warriors. He spat out a Corrosive Gas Slash, instantly slicing the oncoming goblin warriors in two.
Meanwhile, Vera flew straight toward the siege ballista. Baring her claws, she slammed into the weapon like a cannonball.
The siege ballista only had time to emit a creaking groan before it was torn to shreds by her claws.
Having taken her revenge, Vera felt incredibly refreshed. She bit down on a goblin crossbowman hiding behind the wreckage of the ballista and violently shook her head, scattering the creature's organs all over the ground.
Zoe found the sight rather repulsive, but Vera spat out the bloody chunks without a care. She then unleashed a blast of frost breath to freeze another goblin solid.
Zoe could not help but think: Stop bothering with that useless frost breath. Wouldn't using your claws be faster against these ordinary goblins?
As the thought flashed through his mind, Zoe caught sight of three goblin priests in his peripheral vision raising their bone staffs and beginning to chant.
“Puji!”
Zoe quickly patted Vera. Stopping her breath attack, Vera let out a growl and lunged in the direction Zoe was pointing.
Acid: Heart-Piercing Bullet!
Zoe suddenly spat out an Acid: Heart-Piercing Bullet, piercing straight through one of the chanting goblin priests.
However, the other two goblin priests standing in different directions managed to complete their incantation.
A black magic circle expanded, and an invisible force enveloped the sky.
It was an anti-flight spell!
Vera had clearly not mastered any counter-magic to deal with anti-flight spells. Although she flapped her wings with all her might, her body still descended uncontrollably.
A massive creature like a dragon obviously did not rely on the physical lift of its wings beating against the air to fly.
Instead, they relied on the flight magic naturally imbued in their wings.
The essence of an anti-flight spell was to release magic that disrupted the mana flow of flight spells, rendering them ineffective.
“Zoe, Zoe! Vera can't fly anymore!!” Vera cried out in panic.
“Puji.”
「Don't panic. It's just an anti-flight spell.」
Zoe brought up a dialog box. Seeing Zoe's window, Vera quickly calmed down.
As long as she knew Zoe wasn't panicking, she wouldn't panic.
On the other hand, if she knew Zoe was panicking—well, if even Zoe was panicking, she would have been scared to death long ago!
「Besides, our reinforcements have arrived.」
On the outer edge of the battlefield, the allied army composed of various monster races charged forward, brandishing their bone weapons!
The goblins were completely blindsided by these reinforcements. Their formation was thrown into disarray instantly, and they lost their composure.
“Reinforcements are here! All wolves, follow me to meet up with them!”
The Shadow Wolf King let out a howl.
Although he had no idea why that High Slime would come to their aid, they were undoubtedly allies!
Rate on N.U.
