As the goblins struggled to understand what was happening, Fanzell stepped forward.
The goblin chief stared, shocked.
Damn, were we tricked?
He clicked his tongue and tried to call back the hundred goblin troops he had sent to lure the enemy.
But they had all fallen to Fanzell's sword.
And Fanzell was unscathed.
From behind, the freed slaves launched their offensive spells.
Goblins, blessed with innate mana, could use magic from a young age and didn't need specific magical items like grimoire for advanced spells.
But they had a weakness: their delicate, fragile bodies.
With hundreds of spells raining down on them, the goblins suffered massive casualties.
More than two or three hundred fell.
"Goblin Magic: Aegis of Terra!"
A barrier of magic surrounded the remaining goblins.
"You puny humans—how dare you trick me?!" The chief's anger surged as he joined the fray.
He raised his hand, causing the ground below to crack open, triggering a small quake that forced many humans to their knees.
Large boulders lifted into the air, ready to crush the humans beneath them.
Just as the chief prepared to launch the boulders, Fanzell quickly stepped forward, slashing through them with his wind magic.
"Hey, Fanzell, take care of the chief. I'll handle the others!" Marcus shouted.
Fanzell nodded, though a thought lingered in his mind: Why am I even taking orders from a child?
Marcus scanned the prisoners. He noticed hesitation in their eyes. If this continued, their morale would crumble.
"This isn't the time to doubt. We've already stepped into war. Victory or defeat—it's in our hands."
"Gather up, you fools! We have to fight!" Marcus roared.
The goblins had numbers, but they relied on old tactics and were slow to adapt.
As Marcus was lost in thought, two fat goblins rallied the remaining forces, drawing them toward Marcus's position.
"Put the magic shields in front! Form two lines—one to defend, the other to attack. Support mages, gather at the back. Take turns attacking!"
With swift commands, the prisoners fell into formation.
A layer of shields formed in front of them, while offensive mages positioned themselves to strike from the sides.
Come closer...
As the goblins approached, Marcus shouted, "Attack!!!"
Offensive spells rained down on the goblins. The twin fat goblins at the front leaped into the air, each raising a hand as they conjured a spell.
"Goblin Magic: Pebble Storm!"
Countless pebbles collided with the human spells, countering each other. Some of the pebbles even injured the humans.
The twin goblins landed, smirking. But as they hit the ground, ice hands emerged from the earth and grabbed their legs. They immediately reacted, using force to shatter the ice, giving Marcus the opportunity to strike.
Several ice spears shot toward them. While the twins managed to protect their vitals, they still took damage.
Enraged, the fat twins quickly fired off another barrage of spells. Marcus deflected most of them, though some landed, injuring him in the process.
They exchanged spells in rapid succession.
The battle grew fiercer. The goblins, suffering heavy damage, were being pushed back, while the fat twins were still occupied with Marcus.
On the human side, they took turns attacking, conserving their energy for the long fight ahead.
"Tch," the fat twins clicked their tongues in frustration.
"We have no choice but to use it," one of them growled.
The twins leaped high into the air again.
"Goblin Magic: Terra-Twin Mountain Fist!"
Two massive fists of earth formed in the air and hurtled toward Marcus. He focused all his energy on defense, but his ice shields couldn't withstand the sheer force of the attack.
The twin fists blasted Marcus out of the field, sending him flying.
They landed on the ground and walked toward Marcus, who lay sprawled, blood spilling from his mouth.
Marcus slowly rose to his feet, steadying himself against the oncoming twins.
"Tch. You think you puny ants can stop us—the Twin Snakes? You're wrong, boy," one of the fat twins sneered.
Marcus stood firm, wiping blood from his lip. "Of course, we're not blessed like you. You may have strength in numbers," he replied steadily.
"You've caught us all like slaves," Marcus continued, "but now we have a seed. The seed of hope."
For a moment, the twin fat goblins faltered.
"United with others, that hope can shatter your strength," Marcus went on, his hand rising. His fingers curled as he focused the energy around him.
"I'll show you what happens when the ants strike back against the predator."
"Necro Magic: Frost – Submerge!"
The air thickened as the winds Marcus had summoned earlier coalesced, swirling with an unnatural chill.
The frost in the air condensed rapidly, forming dense layers of ice that pressed down on the atmosphere like a heavy weight.
The twins' eyes darted upwards in confusion. "What is this?"
This was no ordinary spell; unlike his previous ice-based attacks, this was a solid-state spell.
Glacial projectiles hovered, suspended by the tense moment in the air.
Then Marcus made his move.
He clenched his fist, channeling his power.
In an instant, the ice boulders crashed down.
The twins cast hurried spells, trying to chip at the falling boulders, but it was too late.
The ground trembled as the ice struck, shattering on impact, covering the area like a tomb of frost.
An icy chill hung in the air, still and unyielding.
There are still mana signatures within, he muttered. They're stronger than I expected.
The twins blasted from the ice tomb with heavy injuries.
Meanwhile, the chief fought fiercely against Fanzell. "Goblin Magic: Terra Blast!"
Boulders of rock crashed into Fanzell.
Fanzell dodged and countered with wind attacks.
The chief scanned the surroundings. The goblins were falling, the twins were severely injured, and he himself was wounded while battling Fanzell.
"AHH!" With a sudden burst of power, he kicked Fanzell, who blocked with his wind sword but was still blasted away.
"#a#sn%ksahdfkl"
He muttered something loudly. The goblins who heard quickly gathered at one point.
Even the twin fats joined them.
The chief slowly descended from the air in front of them.
"I didn't want to do this, but you gave me no choice, humans."
"I will kill you , I will kill you all!!!"
With a loud roar, "!@#lksdkl"
Suddenly, the air grew thick.
"This isn't good," a shadow of worry crossed Fanzell's face.
An ultimate spell was forming—a convergence of mana drawn from each of the goblins, so powerful it even siphoned their life force.
Every other goblin was immobilized, each protected by a magical barrier.
The chief's eyes glowed as he slowly floated into the air, rising from the ground.
Earth began to swirl around the group, at first in a gentle spiral, then escalating into a violent, whirling vortex.
The sound grew—a deadly, resonant hum that made the air tremble.
The humans could only watch in stunned silence.
The aura of raw mana emanating from the spell was so potent it rendered their attempts to cast spells useless.
"No one has ever stopped it."
"May Terra bless us."
"Goblin Magic: Great—Terra Serpent!"
With a thunderous roar, the churning earth condensed, shaping into the form of a colossal serpent—a Great Earth Snake.
The serpent hissed across the entire area.
With terrifying power, it hovered in mid-air.
Hisssss.
A gigantic serpent formed from the earth, hissing and terrifyingly screaming. Atop its head, the goblins were surrounded by a magical barrier.
It turned its head toward Marcus.
"Damn."