Engagement

Chapter 421 Engagement

"How much longer until we see the enemy?" A gnoll quickened his pace and came to Iron Fang's side.

"I don't know, I don't have a map," Iron Fang shrugged. "Besides, these goblins who are leading the way look stupid, they probably can't say anything."

"They," the gnoll gripped the reins, controlling the snake-chicken beneath him, "how could goblins possibly remember the route?"

"This can hardly be considered a proper march," Iron Fang sighed. "Without a map, without a reliable guide, and without even knowing the enemy's situation, we've walked this far in the forest."

"The other side is just a goblin." The gnoll said nonchalantly, then he pulled on the reins, and the snake-chicken leaped forward, quickly reaching the goblin leading the way. "Goblin, how far are we from our destination?"

He spoke loudly, his tone utterly unpolite, but Baldy remained standing, head bowed.

In fact, he had already overheard the conversation between the two gnolls. They were talking so openly and casually without any attempt to hide anything.

Baldy was also very disdainful. He knew that gnolls looked down on goblins. As someone who could only be used to raise snake-chickens for them, the gnolls wouldn't even give him a second glance.

But just now he had a gloating expression on his face, and even hoped to see those goblins soon and then defeat the gnolls in this unfamiliar territory.

Baldy repeated "what if" several times in his mind before accepting the news that the gnoll had said that "Quetzalcoatl was defeated." If Quetzalcoatl was indeed defeated by those goblins, it would mean that these goblins were stronger and had the confidence to fight against other races.

In Baldy's mind, goblins are strong beings who depend on the forest. Since goblins can defeat evil gods, they must depend on the leader of this tribe.

However, the gnolls had the audacity to claim they could defeat this goblin tribe. Baldy had just muttered a few curses under his breath; he didn't think the gnolls had any chance of winning.

When the gnolls came up to him and asked him questions from above, he immediately lowered his head and adopted a respectful demeanor.

"No, I don't know, it should still be some distance away," Baldy said haltingly, afraid that the snake-chicken beast in front of him might kick him away.

"Hmph," the gnoll sneered, "These goblins are nothing special; they can't say anything of value."

Iron Fang watched coldly from behind. That guy used to be the leader of a mercenary group. But after the gnolls were besieged by the human army, they formed a huge legion. At that time, they were all obedient to Iron Fang. But after they settled down in the forest, these guys started to make trouble.

"At least he's following Quetzalcoatl's guidance," Iron Fang said calmly as he slowly approached the serpent-chicken beast beneath him. "He didn't deliberately lead us astray."

"Aren't we speeding up the march?" the gnoll asked somewhat arrogantly. "If all enemies are like this, then we only need one unit..."

A single charge will be enough to defeat the goblins.

"I must remind you, the enemy isn't just goblins," Iron Fang said again. He knew this guy was just the first to jump out, and there would probably be other gnolls later. His previous conversations with them had made many people's minds start to stir. If they could make contact with the people of the Kingdom of Fran, then the stronger legions would definitely gain more benefits.

"I know—" the gnoll replied nonchalantly.

But before he could finish speaking, a bird's chirp came from the bushes ahead, interrupting the gnoll's next words.

The other gnolls also began to gather around, and everyone immediately looked into the distance. Soon, a group of goblins emerged from the bushes.

When the goblins saw the gnolls, they were clearly taken aback. Then they started yelling and waving their wooden clubs, putting on a show of bravado.

"Everyone, draw your bows!" Iron Fang immediately pointed to the goblins in front of them. At this distance, their arrows should still be able to hit their targets.

As a result, when the gnolls drew their bows from the backs of the snake-chickens, the goblins all ran backward, and the arrows only hit the grass and bushes.

But the goblins' desperate escape and their mournful howls still made the gnolls burst into laughter.

"Let's pursue them now," the gnoll shouted again.

But these words only earned him a cold look from Iron Fang: "I am the commander."

"Well then, Commander," the gnoll lowered his head slightly, avoiding Iron Fang's gaze, "the enemy has already discovered us. Shouldn't we immediately charge at them and annihilate them before they go back to report?"

"Moreover," he said, raising his head to meet Iron Fang's eyes, "their presence here means the Goblin Kingdom is very close. Perhaps a single charge from us could penetrate the kingdom, scatter them, and seize victory in the chaos."

Iron Fang didn't speak. He frowned, pondering the previous engagement. He felt something was strange; these goblins had fled too quickly.

But on second thought, this was indeed the behavior of goblins. Their tattered clothes, crude weapons, their initial bluster and shouts, and their rout all proved that they were a perfectly normal group of goblins.

"Am I being too cautious?" Iron Fang frowned, looking towards the distant forest.

The feeling was strange. The goblin opposite him was behaving "normally," but in the Nightmare Forest, he felt uneasy, as if he had missed something.

"What are you afraid of?" The gnoll pulled on the reins, rode the snake-chicken out, and quickly returned with a weapon left behind by a goblin.

"This is their weapon," he said, holding up the wooden stick with a roughly tied stone attached to it. The snake-chicken's jolting caused the stone to detach from the stick and fall to the ground. "These idiots, thinking they can defeat us with this toy?"

The surrounding jackals burst into laughter, drawing their weapons and howling.

Although their weapons are varied, they are at least made of iron, making them several generations more advanced than those of goblins.

"You're afraid of an enemy like this, wet nose?" The gnoll threw the wooden club hard on the ground. He looked at Iron Fang with some arrogance and directly used the other's "country name" from before he became a mercenary.

This is considered a form of mockery among gnolls, as they often change their names shortly after becoming mercenaries to demonstrate their worth as warriors.

Just like how Wet Nose was changed to Iron Teeth, the guy in front of me used to be called "Butt Hair" in the wasteland tribe.

It must be because it has a lot of hair on its butt.

Mocking him like that, Iron Fang finally drew his weapon. "I never said I was afraid of goblins."

The surrounding gnolls were all aroused by the fighting spirit, and it would be impossible to calm them down at this moment.

Moreover, the enemy didn't seem like anything special, just a bunch of "normal" goblins. Just like Pi Mao said, if they really went back and reported it, who knows what changes might occur in the later battles.

"Everyone, give chase!" Iron Fang swung his longsword forward, then rode his snake-chicken beast and charged ahead, followed by the other gnolls who howled and gave chase.

The bushes in front of them seemed to have been cleared away, becoming much sparser, likely because they were near the edge of the Goblin Kingdom.

Therefore, this allowed the jackals to drive the snake-chicken beasts around without restraint.

Baldy took several steps back to avoid the charging jackals.

He stood there dumbfounded, an expression of disbelief on his face. "They just... just ran away like that?"

"Didn't you defeat Quetzalcoatl? Why are you still so cowardly?"

"They ran away before even fighting. When I was a military leader, I wouldn't have done that. I would have ordered my men to charge."

The goblin's actions caused his mental state to collapse once again.

When he first saw the goblins, he wanted to rush over and show these arrogant gnolls just how formidable the goblins in the forest were in combat.

If you can shock these gnolls, they won't dare to look you in the eye again. You can even become their "envoy" and negotiate with the new leader of the Goblin Kingdom.

At that time, I could stand proudly in front of the leader and then "strategize" for this matter.

Finally, the leader will definitely recognize your talent and try his best to win you over, so that you will "reluctantly" become a "high-ranking official" in the Goblin Kingdom.

Before his brainstorming session was even over, the goblins on the other side started running away with a lot of chatter. Baldy was a little frustrated, feeling that his "high-ranking position" had also vanished without a trace.

"I—" For a moment, he didn't know what to say, and after a long while, he managed to squeeze out a few words, "These gnolls were all brought by me. I must say, having Broken Tooth in the forest is indeed a good thing."

Diana sat upright on the back of the soldier ant, glancing at the goblins running back from the portal not far away.

"Will those guys fall for it?" Charles stood to the side, observing the surrounding military formation with great interest. He had to admit that Diana was indeed worthy of being the former commander-in-chief of the Holy Army; not only was her swordsmanship superb, but her troop training was also excellent.

What was originally a ragtag group has now, in just one month, begun to take shape, although the weapons in their hands and the tattered clothes they wear clearly indicate that this is a "ragtag army".

But in the forest, this is already a very strong "armed force".

"You said it yourself: lure the enemy in deep and abandon weapons and valuables along the way." Diana glanced at Charles.

Hearing her words, Charles just smiled awkwardly. In order to get closer to Diana, he had to discuss various war commands and strategies with her often. Thanks to the various related books and movies he had read in his previous life, as well as the inhuman "war criminal" level operations in some games, he was able to impress Diana to some extent. At least he could talk about the military strategies and tactics in general, and he could also give a rough account of the various plots in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Just like this time, he thought of the method of luring the enemy deep into his territory, as well as the strategy of reducing the number of cooking fires at Maling.

The goblins in the forest didn't have any valuable weapons, so they just discarded some sticks and tattered clothes along the way.

It now appears that the gnolls have taken the bait and are charging towards us at full speed.

Moreover, to ensure these guys could charge happily, the Shire's tribe had spent an afternoon clearing the bushes in the area.

They were afraid that the protruding branches and roots would hurt the snake-chicken beast.

In Charles's words, "Those are all my snake-chickens. The gnolls are just being brought over. We must not let too many snake-chickens be lost."

"Judging from the way the flock of birds is taking flight ahead, it's probably coming soon." Diana slowly drew her longsword from her waist, then glanced down at Sansio beside her.

The little fairies acted as messengers; they were small in size, could fly, and could cast invisibility and healing spells on themselves—they were practically born messengers.

"Have Bane and the others prepare for battle at any time," Diana ordered Sansio, adding as she finished, "Tell them that if they dare to perform the war dance again, I'll saw off all their horns."

Minotaur cherish their two horns. If one is damaged in battle, they will hang a ring on the damaged horn to tell others that the horn was damaged in battle.

But if the two horns on the head are sawed off, it's like a man telling others, "My second brother is missing."

"Are you really not going to make a move this time?" Charles asked as he watched Shan Xiao fly away.

Diana merely glanced at Charles. "You were the one who said you wanted to check on the team's condition, and—"

As she spoke, she straightened her back on the soldier ant's back and said, "I am the commander, you are just an observer, don't interfere with my command."

"Uh—" Ciel was speechless for a moment, and could only laugh.

In the distance, birds took flight in alarm, indicating that a large number of enemies were advancing towards them. However, the Shire tribe remained silent. Even the goblins, who were usually noisy and shouting, sat quietly in place, fiddling with the rune mortars in front of them.

Then, suddenly, a commotion arose from the distant woods, accompanied by a series of "whooshing" sounds.

A few seconds later, a group of "knights" riding strange, large birds rushed out of the forest.

They stared in astonishment at the military formation unfolding before them, while the chirping sounds they were making were as if a large hand had pressed them back into their throats.

Unfortunately, the snake-chicken beast was already fully activated and could no longer slow down.

If the speed is reduced abruptly, it will damage the leg joints of the snake-chicken beasts, and many snake-chicken beasts may break their legs.

At this point, they had no choice but to grit their teeth and charge forward.

"Hehe," Baine, the minotaur leader standing at the forefront of the army, wiped his lips and then gripped the great hammer in his hand.

"Come to Daddy."