Today, we set up various traps on one of the human army's invasion routes, in others word, we're preparing to ambush them.
Most likely, the humans are planning of taking advantage of their greater numbers to attack the elven army from multiple directions. This is convenient for us too, as we can just defeat them one by one on their routes.
By the way, according to the Female Knight, the forces passing through this route is a part of the human army's main forces. While thinking that we'll be able to gain a lot of Experience Values from this fight, I worked together with Asue-chan to adjust the hunting grounds.
We lowered the level of the road compared to the surrounding area, while making sure that it still looked nothing more than a game trail. Then, we altered the terrain to turn the road ahead into an upward slope, making it look like a hill. It was a lot of work, but with the cooperation of the both of us, it didn't take that much time.
We set pitfall traps at the base of the trees on both sides of the road. Then, we dug trenchs for us to hide in at the base of trees some distance away from the road.
To increase the defenses, we installed shields made of wooden boards in front of the trenchs and hid it using the nearby bushes. Stationed inside the trenches were our long-ranged corps « Regret », armed with the repeating crossbows that Blacksmith-san and the others worked hard to mass-produce.
I also stationed « Hatred », our the light infantry corps, inside the trenchs as an insurance measure. So, even if some of the enemies managed to avoid the pitfalls and got close after slipping their way through the rain of arrows somehow, with the presence of « Hatred » it would be easy to kill them, at the very least they'll be able to buy time before they get some help.
However, it's more likely that anyone who tries to get close will fall in the pitfalls and get killed by the Kobolds hiding inside.
Soon after we finished our preparations, I got some information about the enemy forces from some of my clones. Judging from the enemy's marching speed, it'll take them approximately 30 minutes to arrive here. Knowing that, we hid inside the trench and held our breaths in wait.
Then, they arrived.
A heavily armed battalion led by a knight equipped in a rust-iron colored full-body armor riding a war-horse. He led the march while paying close attention to their surroundings, at the same time, he made sure to keep the battalion's march in order, not allowing it to lose formation and break ranks. Just like what I heard, they're definitely a part of the human army's main forces, each of them seemed to be relatively strong, as for their numbers, they're around 700.
The number of mages among them ― "mage" is a general term that refers to those who have the ability to use any type of magic. With the most common class of mages being [Wizard], there exists other classes like [Sorcerer], [Summoner], the most basic Arcane-magic class [Arcaneer], etc. - is approximately 100.
Adding in the power of magic, even with only 700 of them, they had tremendous fighting potential. However, for us who have already made our preparations to ambush them, they're nothing but a delicious prey waiting to be hunted.
TL note: yes, Rou means 'delicious'.
After they passed the mark, I passed my orders through the ear-cuffs, first we fell a huge tree and cut off the enemy's path for retreat. The huge tree fell with a loud noise, it didn't crush anyone, however, it diverted the attention of the enemy, allowing me to give out the next command while their attention is distracted.
With their retreat path cut off, it was time for our first assault. We pushed down boulders from the top of the hill at them. With their heavy equipment, it was hard to move quickly, making it a source of disaster for those who couldn't get away from recessed area which was their foothold in time. There were those who got crushed by the rolling down boulders, and those who got trampled to death by comrades desperately trying to run away.
Some of them using their weapons or magic tried to destroy the boulders. However, unfortunately for them, I enchanted the rocks so that they wouldn't break easily and they maintained their momentum. Their resistance was in vain and they fell prey to the boulders.
Of the original 700, more than 200-300 got crushed to death or became unable to fight. Many others suffered injuries as well. It would be difficult for them to quickly re-organize themselves.
Of course I don't have any intentions of giving the enemy a break, we started barraging them with the repeating crossbows. Moreover, because the bolts are smeared with a poison I made, even the slightest touch is deadly. The attack started cutting down the enemy's numbers rapidly.
In an attempt to fight back, some of them tried storming the trenches but ended up falling in the hidden pitfalls. They were met with a wretched end as they got beaten to death by the Kobolds hiding there.
However, this alone was not enough to annihilate them. The commanding ability of the Rusty Iron Knight was not something to be taken lightly.
He gathered the survivors together and arranged a formation using shields and the bodies of their dead comrades to shield themselves from the poisoned arrows, I tried concentrating the barrage on one part of the formation, but it didn't work.
Then, I tried take to them down with the boulders again, but they got destroyed by the rapid bombardment of magic shot from between the crevices in the shell-like formation, although they were enchanted to make them harder, but if they get bombarded with magic so rapidly, obviously they'll get shattered.
With the poisoned arrows and the boulders failing in reducing their numbers, we were in a stalemate. Seeing how he was doing so well with less than 100 soldiers left, I got interested in the Rusty Iron Knight.
I wanted him as my pawn, so I called off our planned attack of annihilating them with a rapid bombardment of magic and sent out our heavy armed corps « Anger », led by Ogakichi-kun who set up his tower shield and charged at them from the top of the hill.
To prevent shooting our own by mistake, I gave out orders to stop firing the poisoned arrows and watched over Ogakichi-kun and his men as they charged down.
As soon as we stopped firing the poisoned arrows, spells were colorfully fired out from the enemy lines at Ogakichi-kun, but all of them were blocked by his magic item, the tower shield, and dispersed. The enemy probably judged that it was useless to aim for Ogakichi-kun, they started targeting his men instead. However, most of them were blocked by the tower shield.
As the distance between them got rapidly closed, the human forces jumped out from the enclosure in a last ditch, but they were not able to break through the defenses of our heavy armed corps « Anger », and got systematically slaughtered by the members of our heavy armed corps who used teamwork to dispose of them quickly in 3 vs 1 fights.
Although the Rusty Iron Knight was able to fight back against Ogakichi-kun a little, but in reality he didn't have a chance against Ogakichi-kun who improved his skills by continuously fighting against the Black skeletons recently. The reason why he was able to 'fight back' against Ogakichi-kun is because Ogakichi-kun is holding back since I ordered him to bring the Rusty Iron Knight back alive.
ADD A PHOTO TO THIS GALLERY
After 30 minutes when Ogakichi-kun had enjoyed the fight to its fullest, Rusty Iron Knight finally got knocked out and became a prisoner. Following that, I sorted out the ones I wanted to eat, *crunch crunch*.
Ability [Job - Sorcerer] learned
Ability [Job - Shielder] learned
Ability [Job - Sentinel] learned
Ability [Shield Bash] learned
Ability [Combat Technique Aptitude] learned
Ability [Sword Proficiency] learned
Ability [Guard Proficiency] learned
Ability [Job - Archer] learned
Ability [Job - Hunter] learned
Ability [Job - Item Creator] learned
Ability [Shield Wall] learned
Ability [Greater Item Appraisal] learned
The results of this battle were quite good.
We looted their still-intact equipment and valuables, then, carried the spoils and the war prisoners back to the base. We drugged the women and put them in jail while the men got collared with enslavement collars immediately.
After that, I reported to Father Elf about today's achievements.
As for the women we captured, when they give in to their their sexual urges, as a reward, I'll turn them into the personal slaves of those who made big contributions today.
I said previously that "I hate doing it by force", so you might wonder, what happened to that rule? But that goes only for those who don't have a hostile relationship with us. For those who have a hostile relationship with us, although I'll still not force them directly, I'll drug them to force them to comply instead. Now then, shall I go and start the interrogation of the Rusty Iron Knight? Just as I was thinking of doing that, Dhammi-chan embarrassingly tugged on the hem of my pants with flushed cheeks.
Huh? You want a child...? My mood heightened, and I got fired up in various ways.
Day 70 Sidestory: A Kobold's POV
Under the orders of our Lord, I and several of my compatriots (other kobolds) entered the pitfalls on the sides of the road and hid inside the cavities created in the walls.
In one of my hands was a horn short spear - a horn and stick - and in the other was a dagger - a horn - , both were covered with a poison made by our lord. Our role, is to stab to death any enemy soldiers who managed to slip through the rain of poisoned arrows, then fell into one of the pitfalls before reaching our main forces.
Although it's an important duty, it couldn't be exactly called a risky one.
Compared to those who were shooting the enemy soldiers on the surface using the weapons devised by our Lord, the "Repeating Crossbow"s, the chance of us being targeted is low.
If none of the enemy soldiers fall into the pitfalls, then, we'll not get even a scratch.
That means that there's a possibility that this battle will end without us having to do anything.
I… no, all of us, the kobolds who were placed in the pitfalls, were grinding our teeth in frustration. That's because the fact that our Lord gave us such a safe duty means that he doesn't have enough trust in us.
However, this is unavoidable. As we swore our loyalty to him only recently.
That's why, I'll ardently perform my duty, with deep loyalty, to obtain our Lord's trust.
I burned this in my heart, as I held my breath and waited for the enemy.
Before long, the enemy arrived on schedule.
Our Lord's strategy is – cutting off their path of retreat, rolling down boulders at them and shooting them with poisoned arrows – to confuse the enemy, then taking advantage of that to reduce their numbers rapidly. Soon after the arrived, I began hearing the enemies' screams.
After some time, it seems like some of them started to fall into the pitfalls, as I heard the shouts of excitement of my compatriots (other kobolds).
As I was lying hidden inside the pitfall waiting longingly for an enemy to fall in, that moment finally came.
The enemy soldier wasn't able to react when their foothold disappeared, thus they fell in the pitfall, injuring their legs due to the shock of the fall in the process.
When they fell, a dull sound of something cracking was heard, so most likely, their leg bones broke. Confused by the pain of their broken bones and the sudden change of the scenery, the enemy couldn't grasp their situation and react.
Sneaking from behind, I stabbed them with the short spear from the back. However, the tip of the short spear only grazed them, it was not a fatal injury, that's because the thick, full body armor blocked most of it. When the blow landed on the armor, I heard an unpleasant sound as sparks scattered.
The first strike failed.
Although I panicked for a moment, the enemy was wearing armor from head to toe, and their legs were wounded, making it extremely hard for them to move. Not to mention that they couldn't mount a counterattack because of their confusion and the pain from their legs distracting them.
Fortunately, I was able to retain my composure quickly and clung to their back, then I succeeded in stabbing them in the neck through the gap between their armor with my poisoned dagger.
Feeling the meat getting torn, seeing the blood gushing out, smelling the thick scent of blood. I certainly felt the sensation of depriving a life. Along with it, there was a feeling of euphoria due to gaining a great amount of Experience Values.
On the occasion of killing a much stronger creature than yourself, the large amount of Experience Values gained can cause a state called "Experience Value intoxication".
While exalted, I returned back to the cavity in the wall.
Because, this was an order from the Lord. The reason to which, I understood immediately. It's not something complicated by any means. It's simply, because more enemies will fall down from the top.
Because they are equipped with full body armor, if I were to stay in the center of the pitfall, I would get crushed to death without even realizing what happened. I see, as one would expect from our Lord. Thinking that, I cut three more enemies.
Following this, we attained victory in this battle, and we gained a large number of prisoners of war.
As a reward from our Lord, we were bestowed the bodies of the enemies we killed. Hearing the praising words of our Lord, I and my compatriots trembled in delight and shed tears.
Then, we stuffed our mouths with the meat.