VOLUME 3: CHAPTER 199 – FOR WHOSE SAKE WAS THAT VICTORY?
Because of the interference of Germion Kingdom, the goblins had no choice but to retreat. Picking a fight with Germion Kingdom after exhausting themselves was nothing short of suicidal. Hence, the Goblin King could only grit his teeth as he was forced to make the decision to retreat.
Unfolding before his eyes was the scene of the Kushain believers being attacked by Germion Kingdom. Just as the name ‘Ripper Knight’ implied, the holy knight ripped apart the formation of the Kushain believers.
The Kushain believers tried to fight back, but the Storm Knight attacked them with ruthless lightning, then attacked with the rest of his forces.
After the cavalry fell, the foot soldiers followed. At this rate, the Kushain believers were sure to be wiped out.
“…Retreat,” the Goblin King muttered as he turned to the goblins who have been fighting all this time.
Accepting that a battle was lost has always been one of the things that tested a general’s capability. After all, none can fight a hundred battles and win a hundred battles.
“Gi Gu, Gi Zu! You shall be our vanguard! Trample the enemy as we make our retreat! Rashka, Gi Go, you two protect the back!”
After attacking the Red King all this time, this time the ones on the receiving end were the goblins and the Kushain believers.
With the difference in their strength suddenly reversed, the enemy started attacking the flanks of the exhausted Kushain believers.
Fortunately, for the goblins, because they had gone through the center of the camp, they were not exposed to Germion Kingdom’s attack.
“We’re breaking through the back! After me!”
Losing the Kushain believers here was truly painful. Not only were they the only ones the Goblin King had a chance of forming an alliance with among the different powers, they were also one avenue that he could’ve used to attack Germion Kingdom, which was positioned north of them.
If Germion Kingdom manages to occupy this place, then he would have to attack the holy city of Cultidian again in the near future. As much as possible, he had to do what he could for the Kushain believers here.
Which is why the Goblin King audaciously declared that he would break through the enemy and return to the border lands.
The Ripper Knight and the Storm Knight were focused on cutting down the Kushain Believers, so the Goblin King decided he would strike them in the back to cause chaos, and then retreat.
The Goblin King looked around at the battlefield, then after gathering the goblins into one clump, he swung his great sword to rid it of the blood and flesh bits, and then… he ran. And like that the goblins chased after his back.
Although they had lost, the Goblin King’s resolve hadn’t flickered one bit. The fire called resolve continued to burn within him, causing the goblins to revere him.
“The king truly is strong,” Gi Go said.
“Of course. That’s why he is our great king. He is someone worthy to be challenged,” Rashka said.
At the rear, Gi Go and Rashka were glaring at the enemy, but when they turned to the king, they saw that he was smiling fearlessly.
As the rearguard, they had to face the spearmen of the Red King.
“But for the mean time—”
Gi Go’s curved sword dazzled under the light of the setting sun.
“Let’s go home after letting loose, shall we?”
Like a demon from hell, Rashka smiled fiercely as he hit his shoulder with his giant club.
“They’re retreating! After them!” A commander of the Red King said.
Rashka smiled sadistically and took a deep breath. “Worthless scum, I will crush you!”
After seeing that the goblin forces had started to run with the King in front, Rashka swung his club.
In order to allow the goblins to escape, they charged straight into the Red King’s army.
“…”
Gi Go Amatsuki did not bother talking and instead expressed himself his curved sword, bringing death wherever he swung. With a thrust, he pierced through a man’s heart, and then as if nothing at all was amiss, in the next moment, a soldier’s head came flying.
Half an hour later, the two goblins left a mountain of corpses in their retreat.
But there was no one left to pursue them.
◆◇◆
The forces of Germion Kingdom were the vanguard of their side, and the Goblin King was leading his goblins to attack them from the back. The goblins were attacking them as if trying to drive away a flock of sheep as they retreated.
The two holy knights who stood at the very front watched that scene hatefully as they tore through the Kushain believers.
“Fuck! It’s those goblins!” Gulland said as he ground his teeth.
Unfortunately, he had countless allies between him and the goblins, and turning around now was basically impossible because of the momentum they had built up attacking the Kushain believers.
“What about Sivara?” Gulland hoped Sivara might be able to go, but as expected, the Ripper Knight was also too busy attacking the Kushain believers.
Normally, these Kushain believers should have already lost the line here, but they were persistently resisting.
Perhaps things would be different if the elite platoon were at the rear, but the forces behind Sivara and his cavalry were the refugees from the holy war.
Sivara and Gulland agreed that they couldn’t expect much from them, so they instead decided to use their elite soldiers to break the enemy open, and then rely on these refugees to finish them off with sheer numbers.
Although it would be difficult to rely on refugees if this were an even battle, but with them clearly in the winning position, they could easily take advantage of the brute power of raw numbers.
The job of these refugees was none other than to trample the already broken enemies.
Whether they liked it or not, their morale was at an all-time high after being chased away from their homes and forced to suffer in another town.
These people probably wouldn’t listen to any pleas for surrender.
Hence, they kept on advancing while they continued to lay waste upon the persisting Kushain believers.
“Damn it!” Gulland cussed and then turned back to the Kushain believers.
Since things have gone this far, there was only one thing left to do. He would annihilate all of the enemies in front of him, then he would use the momentum from that and chase after the goblins.
Gulland closed his eyes to all the losses of his own forces as he smiled fiercely.
“You’re in the way! Ravaging Storm (Barbatos)!”
Gulland used his Blue Thunder and struck the Kushain believers with lightning.
“This is easy! Ha ha ha!”
He would kill the enemy in front of him. Nothing had changed. When he realized what he could do, Gulland laughed in madness.
Meanwhile, the Red King’s forces who were previously under attack by the goblins and the Kushain believers were busy reorganizing their army.
“The goblins are retreating. Are you sure it’s okay not to pursue?” Cell asked.
Carlion, who was already so exhausted from the recent battles, bitterly smiled. “It’s still fine for now. We’ll rendezvous with the main army first, then we’ll give chase. Besides…”
“Sir Carlion, a part of the Kushain believers has—”
Carlion didn’t finish what he was about to say because someone had called out to him, but if he had, he would’ve probably said something along these lines…
—Besides, shouldn’t we weaken anyone who might become an enemy in the future?
After the goblins successfully caused chaos to the rearguard of Germion Kingdom’s army and retreated into the darkness of the night, the goblins were more exhausted than the Goblin King had expected.
The goblins were so tired that they couldn’t move at all without resting. That was a considerable exhaustion considering how great their stamina was.
After spending a night in the meadows away from the battlefield, they had to start running again to make their way back to the borderlands.
The goblins quietly walked while chewing on food meant for travels. They didn’t even spare the monsters they passed a glance.
The goblins only numbered 3,500 now, but considering how much they lost compared to the enemy, this should have been an overwhelming victory for them. Unfortunately, because they failed to break the encirclement and had to abandon the Kushain believers, this had to be considered as their defeat.
The Goblin King positioned Gi Ji’s assassin platoon, who excelled at finding enemies, and the elves, who had good ears, at the back as they headed back to the border lands.
Although They were never attacked while retreating, when the king arrived at the borderlands, things had progressed far quicker than he expected.
On top of the western region being in a state of tension, the Order of the Blue Knights were also leading 20,000 soldiers from Pena to retake the territory that the Goblin King had taken.
Gi Ba and Zaurosh couldn’t stand a chance against them and had no choice but to withdraw immediately.
To make things even worse, reports say that the Red King was advancing from the east. When the Goblin King heard that, even he couldn’t help but groan out loud.
Before he knew it, they were in danger of the very thing he feared the most: being surrounded.
Without any allies to call upon, the Goblin King could only imagine the great armies approaching from the east and the south. The Goblin King grew anxious.
Should he just abandon the borderlands and retreat?
—Abandon this land after shedding so much blood for it?
“Your Majesty, I have a request,” Gi Ba Hagar said, rousing the king from his thoughts. “Please visit those injured in the battle.”
Oh? The Goblin King thought to himself, as he admired the goblin before him.
Gi Ba was – for better or for worse – a battle goblin. Without any care for allies he thought single-mindedly only of how much suffering he has brought to the enemy humans.
Which is why the Goblin King could only look at the goblin before him oddly as he quietly agreed.
“Is this for the humans too?” The Goblin King asked as he stood up to test Gi Ba.
“…Yes, Your Majesty,” Gi Ba replied.
When he heard Gi Ba’s reply, this time he was so shocked that he couldn’t help but open his eyes a little wider.
He knew from a report that Gi Ba had once worked with Shumea to expel some bandits, but he still couldn’t believe his ears.
Before long, however, something warm filled the Goblin King’s heart.
There was nothing more joyful than to see the goblins grow right before his eyes.
This wasn’t a growth on the lines of levels or evolution. No. At this point, the Goblin King has already started to consider those as trifle things.
This was a growth where his retainers were finally starting to accept the path he has shown them.
Gi Ba, who was so hateful of humans, was now actually asking him to look after those very humans.
Strange things do happen indeed.
The Goblin King acquiesced and did just as requested. He looked after the wounded. Be it goblins, humans, or elves… He looked after them all.
He held the hands of the goblins who called out his name as if they were praying to a god, he promised medicine and treatment to the humans in pain, and he promised victory to the elven warriors who had yet lost their resolve.
Each time the Goblin King consoled them, his shoulders grew heavier.
Like this the Goblin King personally visited all the injured soldiers of his army.
◆◇◆
By the time the clan leader of the Red King, Brandika, had rendezvoused with the army from Fatina at Cultidian, a day had already passed since the goblins had retreated.
Just as the Goblin King had predicted from Gi Ji’s report, the Red King had indeed arrived after three days.
Already more than half of the Kushain believers have been killed. Although their army was already half destroyed, Brandika believed that this was when things would really become scary.
All that hatred that the late patriarch, Benem Nemush, had accumulated from his holy wars were now aimed at the people of Cultidian.
Even Brandika couldn’t help but be disgusted at the sight of living people being sliced into thin pieces and skewered relentlessly.
“What a stupid thing to do,” Brandika muttered.
If they showed the Kushain believers something like that, they would obviously only make them resist even more desperately.
The holy knights were currently trying to extinguish that flame, but it was probably too late.
They may have had a secret agreement, but Germion Kingdom wasn’t planning on participating in the siege.
With this the Kushain believers could no longer move, but the same was true for Germion Kingdom.
From here, Pena would poke the Order of the Blue Knights that was hungry for success and send them toward the goblins, then the Red King could finally set out to rule over the south with the perfect system they came up with.
“…So where’s the guy who thought up all this?” Brandika asked,
But when Cell shook her head, he could only knit his brows.
“Is it bad?” He asked.
“No matter what I say, he won’t listen. It’s as if…” Cell said.
“Where is he?” Brandika asked.
He didn’t want to hear the next words.
After she told him where Carlion was, Brandika brought Vardis over his shoulder and walked.
Carlion seemed feeble even from a distance.
“Hey, Carlion!” Brandika called out.
“You arrived safe, clan leader,” Carlion said as he turned around.
When Brandika saw Carlion’s face, he became speechless.
The shadow of death… There was no mistaking it.
Brandika had seen much death. Be it in the dungeons, in the battlefield, or in the villages they were hired… So there was no doubting it.
This was the face of a man on the verge of death.
“Carlion…” Brandika said.
“Please don’t say anything. I know my body the most, so please… Please just let me accompany you until you become king,” Carlion said with a faint smile as Brandika stood there speechless.
“Don’t say something stupid. Mark my words, you’ll live to see the day I become king… Even if you have to crawl on the ground.”
“Ha ha ha! Then I guess I’ll have to take care of my health, won’t I?”
“You bet. Just leave work to someone else and rest up. This is an order.”
Brandika forced Carlion back into his tent, then he turned to Cell.
“I don’t care how much it costs, find him the best doctor.”
“Alright.”
After seeing Cell off, Brandika looked up at the sky.
“Stupid idiot. A brat shouldn’t be saying he’s going to die before me.”