Chapter 24: Phase Two Plan

William and David both didn't know that in the previous life David had exhausted his words but still couldn't persuade the villagers to start evacuating toward Mobius Town; instead, they only believed David's words after the Goblin Army appeared outside the wheat fields surrounding the village, and fled in haste. Although David bought the villagers a moment of time at the cost of his life, the villagers of Bigen Village still suffered heavy casualties, fewer than one in ten survived.

In this life David and Bulande together persuaded Old Bulande to organize the villagers to evacuate early in an orderly manner, which is already far better than the previous life's situation.

In the Magic Forest, the Goblin Army marched forward in an orderly fashion, when suddenly a Goblin on the march felt as if it had stepped on something, and its foot was empty.

Looking down, it found a round, disc‑shaped device half buried in the soil, with dozens of spikes on top; before it could warn the surrounding Goblins, the disc‑shaped device fully activated, and dozens of spikes instantly shot out in all directions.

The surrounding dozen Goblins were pierced by the spikes, falling dead or wounded; the Goblin that stepped on the disc‑shaped device fared the worst, with more than a dozen spikes driven into its jaw, all piercing its skull.

The sudden anomaly caused chaos in the Goblin Army, and more Goblins stepped on spike traps; clusters of spikes bloomed like hesitant cacti, turning the Goblins at the front of the army into a single hedgehog.

The Goblin Army's formation became chaotic, and the Goblin Chief hurriedly raised his hand to order the troops to halt their advance.

"It worked!" John, observing from the nearby trees, said with joy.

The Elite Goblin said to the Goblin Chief, "Ribbit ribbit ribbit, whooo whooo. (There is a trap ahead; the humans want to slow our march.)"

The Goblin Chief immediately ordered, "Guhaha! (Send out all scouts!)"

The Goblin horn‑blower sounded the horn again, the Goblin Chief's command carried through the horn to the whole army, and dozens of Goblins moved to the front of the troops, clearing a path by checking for traps.

As the scouts dismantled the hidden traps ahead, the Goblin Army reformed its formation and resumed its forward march.

Seeing this, John looked at William with a questioning gaze and whispered, "Brother William, the Goblins have started moving again, the traps have all been cleared by the scouts, what should we do?"

This situation was within William's expectations; if such simple traps could already organize the Goblins' attack, he wouldn't have needed to exert so much effort, so he replied to John, "Go meet Xiao Lin and the others, tell them to begin executing Phase Three of the plan."

John nodded and immediately headed toward the direction where Xiao Lin and the others were.

William watched the Goblin scouts crouching on the ground not far away, thinking that he couldn't let them simply clear all the traps; if he could kill all the scouts, the Goblin Army would be like blind men without eyes, and their advance would slow dramatically.

With that thought, William slowly drew his Long Sword, concealed his aura, and quietly slipped toward the Goblin scout that was farthest from the others.

That Goblin scout, while crouching low to part the grass and leaves, used his scouting ability to detect faint magical currents; suddenly he felt a coldness at the back of his neck, his body went limp as if unresponsive, and his brain raced to figure out what was happening, only to see the green grass before him turn blue from his own blood, and then he completely lost consciousness.

After dispatching one Goblin with a single strike, William briefly concealed the Goblin's corpse, his figure vanished again into the shadows of the grass and tree trunks, and he silently approached another lone Goblin scout.

The Goblin Chief sensed that the army's marching speed had slowed again,

He felt something was off, he carefully tuned the air, detected a vague bloody scent, and ordered the nearby Elite Goblin, "Ribbit, goo goo."

That Elite Goblin immediately led a dozen Elite Goblins to the location of the scouts; after they checked the number of scouts, their faces darkened as they returned and reported to the Goblin Chief, "Goo goo goo, jiji ma. (Ten or so scouts are missing; they were probably killed.)"

The Goblin Chief roared in anger, ordering, "Gogo gu!"

The Elite Goblin obeyed, taking all the dozens of Elite Goblins to the scouts' position, each Elite Goblin pairing with a scout for protection.

Damn, it's really not as smooth as imagined.

William gritted his teeth; his goal was half‑accomplished. Though he hadn't eliminated all the Goblin scouts, cutting their numbers by nearly a quarter already served to delay the Goblin Army's advance.

The Elite Goblins' strength is comparable to that of a bronze‑rank adventurer among humans, equal to William's own level in his previous life, a foe he cannot handle now; the next test is whether Phase Three of the plan will work. William turned and ran toward the spot where John and the others were.

When William emerged from the Magic Forest and reached the wheat fields surrounding Bigen Village, several children's heads popped up from the stalks, waving and shouting, "Brother William, over here! Don't step there, watch out for traps."

Following their instructions, William carefully avoided the traps and entered the middle of the wheat where they were hiding; not only John and Xiao Lin, but also his father David and Bulande had returned. William curiously asked, "Bulande, didn't you evacuate with your father?"

Bulande smiled at him and said, "How could I possibly abandon my friends and run away!"

William nodded, saying nothing sentimental; friends are like that—once you understand each other's feelings, words can be superfluous. He told everyone, "I tried to kill the Goblin scouts to delay their trap‑clearing speed, but after taking out a dozen, they noticed and sent Elite Goblins to protect the scouts."

David frowned and said, "Dozens of Elite Goblins, that's really hard to deal with."

William looked at Xiao Lin and the others and asked, "How's the Phase Three plan progressing?"

Xiao Lin and the others replied, "The Excite-hair Style Trap is eighty percent complete; as you said, Brother William, we kept twenty percent in reserve."

"Very good, now we just wait for the Goblins to appear."

William thought to himself: for five consecutive months, every night he crafted dozens of traps, subtracting three hundred scout traps and four hundred Touch‑hair style defensive traps already placed in the forest, there are over eight hundred Excite‑hair Style explosive traps here—enough for several hundred Goblins to drink a pot's worth.

David watched this group of children, led by his son William, planning like a bunch of little adults, and curiously anticipated how they would handle the approaching Goblin Army.