Chapter 26: Burning the Village

Ogres rampaged in the wheat field, using brute force to destroy all the traps, clearing a wide road for the goblin army behind them in the wheat field.

William and the others had already safely withdrawn to the village; they were now gathered in a circle in a villager's living room discussing next steps. William glanced out the window and saw that the ogre had reached the center of the wheat field, then asked his father David:

"Dad, where are Uncle Geilan and the others?"

At this point, the situation is beyond what we few can handle; we must find strong outside help.

David replied: "Geilan and his four companions happen to be taking a quest at the Adventurers' Guild in town today. Once the villagers evacuate to Mobius Town, the news of the goblin attack on Bigen Village will surely reach the Adventurers' Guild and Geilan's group, but even if they rush over, it will take them more than an hour at the earliest, let alone the time for the Adventurers' Guild to summon other adventurers for reinforcement."

David's meaning is simple: we definitely can't hold out until then.

William frowned, he thought silently for a moment, then picked up a charcoal stick and simply drew a map of Bigen Village on the floor, pointing to their location and said to everyone present:

"Bulande, you and John's group will form a team; find buildings in advance for cover. When the goblins enter the village, use bows and other ranged weapons to attack them and draw their attention."

Saying this, William drew a line with the charcoal toward the village's southeast direction, then continued:

"When the goblins attack you, you will use the remaining traps to delay their speed, then retreat to the village's southeast. My father and I will set up traps here in advance, holding the goblins here to buy you time."

"In this short time, Bulande will lead John's group to retreat from the village's southwest. Understood?"

Bulande asked doubtfully: "But if the goblins are drawn to the southeast by you, how will you and Uncle David escape?"

"Don't worry about that; my father and I are the two strongest among us. We'll keep fleeing southeast, and before the goblins catch up we should be able to meet the reinforcements arriving to help, at which point we'll be safe—maybe even reach Mobius Town before Bulande's group."

Mobius Town lies to the southeast of Bigen Village; for Geilan's group or other adventurers rushing to support, the fastest way to reach Bigen Village is via the southeastern main road, which they must pass.

David nodded in agreement: "This plan works; just do as you said, William."

Bulande said: "Then I understand; William, you and Uncle David be careful."

William patted Bulande on the shoulder: "You too, I'm leaving John's group in your charge; even if the houses are blown up, it's fine—saving lives comes first. Alright, no delay, everyone move!"

Everyone acted according to William's arrangements; William and David took some explosive traps and headed straight to a better spot on the village's southeast to set up defenses, while Bulande led John and several children to place traps in houses on the village's north side.

The children who could use bows took them; those without bows took slingshots, pairing up and crouching behind house windows to await the goblin army's arrival.

Watching the ogre already at the edge of the wheat field not far off, and the goblin army behind it drawing ever closer, the children grew increasingly tense, their hearts pounding wildly, as if they could clearly hear their own heartbeats.

As the ogre detonated the last trap at the wheat field's edge, the road from the Magic Forest to Bigen Village was finally fully opened by the four ogres; behind them, the goblin army surged through the wheat field like a tide, rushing toward Bigen Village.

As soon as the goblins entered bow range, Bulande, hiding in a house, hesitated not at all, released the fully drawn bowstring, and the arrow flew out through the window slit, striking the forehead of a charging goblin soldier and knocking the lead goblin down.

Seeing this, the companions hiding in other houses overcame their nervous hesitation and immediately followed Bulande in launching an attack against the goblin army; in a moment, arrows, blowgun darts, stones, glass beads—anything usable—were hurled at the advancing goblins, and the dozen or so goblins in front were shot up, heads bloody, and all collapsed to the ground.

The goblin army realized it was under attack, but because the children were all hidden inside houses, the goblins could not immediately locate the source of fire and could only infer the attackers' approximate direction from the incoming projectiles.

Thus the Goblin Chief ordered the troops to advance and attack toward the southeast of Bigen Village.

"Gu-ha-ha-la."

Having received the order, the goblin vanguard unit raised their shields and charged toward the buildings in the southeast of Bigen Village.

Seeing the goblins approaching, Bulande immediately gestured to the children and said: "They've taken the bait—fight while falling back."

Having said that, he placed traps at the doorway and beside the window, then escaped through the window on the house's southeast side and entered another building.

The other children likewise set traps in Bulande's fashion, then all climbed out the windows and retreated together toward the village's southeast.

The shield-bearing goblin vanguard reached the outskirts of the village houses; the goblins behind armed with short blades kicked open doors and began searching house by house for human figures to attack.

Suddenly, an unfortunate goblin kicked open the door of the house where Bulande had been hiding, triggering the explosive trap behind the door with a tremendous boom; the few goblin soldiers who had rushed into that house, together with the whole building, were caught in the blast.

A goblin standing outside the blast's edge, who had previously worried that he'd be a step late and lose credit to those goblins, now looking at the wreckage realized that the goblins who had entered the house a step ahead of him were surely dead; he gulped dryly, his heart still pounding.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Before the rear goblins could even react to what was happening, several more loud explosions rang out, and several houses together with about twenty goblins were blown to pieces.

The goblin army halted its advance, none daring to move forward recklessly.

Watching this, the Goblin Chief's face darkened, gloomy to the point of... he had lost a hundred and fifty subordinates, and nearly a third of his troops had been wiped out by the locals before even sighting the enemy.

"Hula-la-gua! (Cunning humans!)" the Goblin Chief roared in anger, pointing at the troops ahead who dared not advance and ordering: "Hu-jie-jie-gu-la! (All enter the houses through the windows!)"

The goblin unit that had halted ahead resumed its advance; this time they dared not kick down house doors, but instead smashed the windows with sword hilts, and in small groups climbed through the windows to go inside.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Again several explosions sounded, several houses were destroyed, and the goblin force suffered another twenty-odd casualties.

The Goblin Chief pointed at the front unit and shouted angrily: "Jiji-jah-jah-gua! (Which idiot went and kicked the door again!)"

Beside him, an Elite Goblin sent a scout to the front unit; shortly afterward that goblin returned from the front and reported: "Jiji-la, jiji-guagua-la-ze. (Those ahead said they saw that when a goblin just smashed a window, the house exploded.)"

"Gua-la! Gua-la! (Damned humans! Damned humans!)" the Goblin Chief, fuming, kept pounding the armrests of his chair; the four goblins carrying his sedan chair below dared not move a muscle, fearing he'd take out his anger on them.

Bulande and his companions, hiding in a nearby house, saw that the goblins had not yet caught up and dared not retreat directly, fearing the goblins would not be lured by them to the village's southeast.

John, seeing that the goblins had not appeared for a long time, wondered aloud to the others: "Could this goblin group have retreated? If so, we wouldn't need to keep delaying—we could just pull back and be safe."

Bulande and his companions shared the same doubt, nervously looking toward the village's north; if the goblin army withdrew, that would be ideal, but Bulande felt it wouldn't happen.

Suddenly he saw firelight rising from the village's north, but this time he heard no trap explosions; he quickly told John and the others: "Oh no, the goblins are starting to burn the village—plan changes, no need to set more traps, just retreat straight to the southeast!"

They nodded and rushed out of the house; this time they didn't bother hiding, sprinting at full speed along the village streets.

The fire spread from the village's north toward other directions; a goblin hurling torches at human houses suddenly spotted a few fleeing human children in the distance down the street, shouted to his companions, and the others, pausing their questioning, abandoned setting houses ablaze, grabbed weapons, and gave chase after Bulande's group.