Chapter 25: Ogre

The rustling sound kept echoing in the woods, and William and the others hiding in the wheat field, staring toward the forest, grew increasingly tense. As the first goblin scout on reconnaissance stepped out of the woods, hundreds of goblins surged out of the forest like a breached flood, appearing on the grass before the wheat field outside Bigen Village.

At this moment, the roughly one hundred goblins standing ahead of the goblin army were all grimy and disheveled; some still had blue blood oozing from wounds inflicted by the trap's spikes, looking quite miserable.

Although the scouts' reconnaissance had cleared most of the trigger‑activated defensive traps that William and his group had set up, beforehand David and William's party had killed a considerable number of the goblin army's scouts, so the scouts' reconnaissance range could not cover the goblin army's entire marching route; moreover, the main force could not wait idly in the rear for the scouts to clear every trap ahead before advancing, which is why many goblins still stepped on the traps William's group had hidden, inflicting heavy losses on the goblin army.

The goblin chief stood at the very front of the army, gazing at the vast expanse of golden human farmland ahead, detecting no sign of human activity whatsoever; yet the calmer it was, the more convinced the goblin chief became that humans were still lying in ambush here.

He could not believe that, after his army's movements were exposed, humans had only set traps in the forest.

The goblin chief waved his hand and said, 'Goo-goo-la.'

The several dozen goblin scouts who had been scouting ahead of the main force, together with the elite goblins protecting them, once again walked at the front of the army to scout.

John saw the goblin scouts already entering the wheat field and whispered to William, 'William, should we detonate now?'

William raised his hand to signal and said, 'Wait a bit longer; we'll decide after more scouts and elite goblins approach the trap.'

Soon, the leading goblin scout discovered the explosive hair‑trigger trap John and his companions had set in the wheat field and began to dismantle it.

Seeing the goblins already starting to disarm the trap, John felt anxious and whispered, 'William, do we still need to wait?'

William gave no reply, but kept his eyes fixed on the goblins' movements; as soon as he saw most of the scouts had neared the trap area, he immediately ordered, 'Detonate now.'

This hair‑trigger trap can be set to two modes: one works like a touch‑trigger trap, detonating when its mechanism is touched; the other is remote‑controlled, adjusting the magic rune of the magic crystal inside the trap to match the rune of the magic crystal held in the operator's hand, so that crushing the held crystal also detonates the trap.

A single remotely controlled magic crystal can be linked to the magic crystals of multiple traps, meaning one crystal in the operator's hand can simultaneously control several hair‑trigger traps; this is the most complex trap Finley taught John that he can master.

Upon hearing William's command, John immediately crushed the slime's magic crystal he had been holding in his hand.

"Boom—boom—boom—boom—boom..."

Continuous explosions erupted in the wheat field, rolling waves of hot air hurling the goblins scouting near the traps and the elite goblins protecting them high into the air; the golden wheat field instantly turned into a long wall of fire blocking the goblin army's path.

The sudden explosion sowed chaos within the goblin army, and the ranks instantly became noisy.

"Success!"

John and his companions hidden in the wheat field saw that over half of the goblin scouts checking the traps had been blown up by their own side; the tension they had felt upon seeing the goblin army vanished completely, and they all excitedly waved their little hands.

At this moment, even the children who had never seen a corpse before, once they realized the enemy's stance, immediately adapted to the brutal battlefield scene,

They did not become so frightened by seeing corpses that they lost their reason.

"Very well, the enemy's scouts are almost completely wiped out; now let's see how you cross this wheat field full of traps. After you spend considerable time detouring and reach the village, the villagers will have already evacuated to a safe distance."

William thought to himself; although he did not speak, he could hardly conceal his excitement—his plan was proceeding smoothly, and if nothing unexpected happened, he would be able to completely resolve this goblin attack on Bigen Village.

The goblin chief gazed at the corpses of his scouts blown into chunks of flesh and at the remnants of his scout unit, devastated by casualties; his fury built up to the limit.

From the start of the battle to now, his side had lost nearly a hundred goblins, yet he had still not gotten a clear look at the enemy.

He turned his gaze to the noisy troops behind him, his face darkening to the extreme; the chaotic goblin army, seeing his grim expression, instantly fell silent, afraid to make any sound.

The goblin chief surveyed his troops; seeing that no one dared to act rashly any longer, he ordered, 'Hoola-la! Jigu!'

Flocks of startled birds rose from the Magic Forest behind the army; afterward, William and the others felt the ground beneath them trembling. Lowering their heads, they saw the small stones on the wheat field surface jumping up and down in rhythm with the tremor.

After confirming it was not an illusion, they all turned their gaze back toward the Magic Forest.

As the ground's trembling grew more violent, four huge figures as tall as large trees appeared before everyone.

"That's it!" William's pupils dilated instantly, his fists clenched tightly, and he said resentfully, 'Damn, there are actually four ogres hidden— I didn't expect the goblins to have a reserve.'

No wonder I hadn't heard in my previous life that the other members of the White Eagle Squad had come to repel the goblins; four ogres plus hundreds of goblins constitute a force that the five‑person White Eagle Squad can no longer handle.

Four ogres as tall as a two‑story human house advanced, and the goblin army scattered to both sides to clear a path, fearful that a moment's inattention would get them trampled to death by an ogre's foot.

Ogres are a higher‑rank existence among goblins; they are huge in size, their skin green like most goblins, but covered with scaly protrusions, thick and rough, granting them extraordinary physical defense and immense strength.

Because of their enormous size, weapon‑making is prohibitively costly; they usually wield large clubs made from thick tree trunks.

A few ogres have bluish skin; this kind is also called the double‑headed ogre, possessing two heads each capable of independent thought, and among ogres it is rare for them to wield magic.

After the goblin chief's order, the four ogres marched straight into the wheat field, swinging their massive wooden clubs while heavily trampling the ground.

"Boom! Boom!"

Trap after trap was detonated by the ogres, but limited by William's strength as the trap maker, the explosions' power was at most effective against elite goblins comparable to bronze‑rank adventurers; they inflicted no damage on ogres whose strength matched silver‑rank adventurers and who possessed extraordinarily strong physical defenses.

David frowned, his complexion unpleasant, and told everyone, 'These are ogres; even I can handle only one at my limit—everyone, retreat to the village quickly!'

The children had no objection to David's order, all bending low as they cautiously walked through the wheat field toward the village.