Chapter 92: the fisherman part 2

The display itself was a visual impact which was very terrifying, whereby everywhere you could see, you could see only green. And it was not the green of the vegetation of the forest or the bushes, but it was green full of creatures. They were holding spears and wearing armor, densely packed together, creating a truly terrifying psychological pressure. If it were any other ordinary group stuck in this situation, they would have been frantically struggling on how to escape. But when the girls of Smith’s group saw this display, they remained as calm as if enjoying just a cup of tea.They looked as calm as if they were not looking at the creatures who had lured them into a trap in order to annihilate them. It was a full encirclement where there was no way out—a situation that should bring despair and panic among them—yet to the girls, there was no despair on their faces, and they were simply analyzing the situation.

?Although the girls of Smith were calm at this moment, Sarafina was visibly tense and really anxious. Together with Linda, this was their very first dungeon, and for them to experience such a terrifying scene where they were surrounded by enemies on all sides, it was taking a severe psychological toll on their minds. Although they saw that the girls around them were not panicking,but still it didn’t help them in calming their nerves at all.

?Upon seeing their reaction, Smith reassured them in a confident tone, "Aunt,You don’t have to worry about our current situation, I can assure you that everything will be fine. You can trust the girls to find a way out of this predicament and even turn the tide against them. For us, we just need to sit back and watch the show unfold."

?At the same time, he signaled Velvet to speak, he wanted to comfort the two new comers.

?Catching his signal, Velvet tried to reassure them, by saying, "rest assured, you don’t have to worry. Although the enemies thought they were clever, but they made one fatal mistake. I can assure you that they will pay dearly for it."

Velvet turned her face to look at the settlement behind

"Since they left their homes to come here, why don’t we help them stay permanently?"

?With that, she commanded, "Okay, now everybody back inside the walls!"

the girls went back into the settlement walls and closed the door behind them. Because the settlement itself was not that large, and because the goblins were not mastermind architects who foresaw an emergency, there was only one gate. And by closing that single gateway, they securely enclosed themselves inside.

?The goblins on the other side, upon seeing that their hunted prey did not desperately try to break through, they then sounded their horns in a long session. Which was a clear signal that ordered the horde to move forward. Although they did not move in a frantic or strict military formation, they simply started tightening the ring as they slowly advanced, the goblins started pouring out of the forest like an endless stream.

?Velvet, who was standing on top of the wooden wall together with the other girls, observed the movement of the goblins. As the creatures drew closer and closer, the tide coming from the forest suddenly stopped.

?Velvet surveyed the surroundings and said, "Although the goblins have stopped coming out of the forest, we do not know if there are still hidden reinforcements. The goblins responsible for blowing the horns are not even visible, and their leader certainly won’t participate in a direct charge, so we might expect another wave. But judging from the immediate numbers, I estimate there are at least five thousand goblins in this direct charge."

?Upon hearing "five thousand," Sarafina almost choked with fear. Linda, although she did not appear overly surprised on the outside, but was internally shocked about the five thousand enemies who were charging at them, with no telling if there were more reinforcements behind. Yet, they saw that the veteran girls remained completely calm.

?Velvet continued, "You don’t have to worry, although they may seem like a lot, they are extremely disorganized. Look at their formation." She pointed toward the advancing ranks. It was clear that the goblins were awkwardly trying to form a line in the area, occasionally mismatching, leaving stragglers behind, and creating disruptions. It seemed these goblins were not used to marching in formation or fighting together, struggling just to keep line discipline as they closed in on the settlement.

?Velvet added, "If it were a regular army with a neat, disciplined formation, it could be troublesome. But they are not even a proper army; they are just a gathered rabble. Judging by their distinct lack of organization, it means they are unaccustomed to such formations, and they don’t even have proper equipment for formation fighting."

?What Velvet said was very true, because the goblins themselves mostly held crude wooden clubs and heavy spears. High-quality metal spears were very far and few in between across the entire horde.

?Velvet continued, "Dealing with this kind of mob is actually very simple. Let me show you the first step in how we deal with them."

?With that, Velvet turned to look at Astra and gave her a signal. Getting the signal, Astra did not waste any time. With quick, light steps, she ran toward one of the watchtowers and leapt directly onto its platform. With a slight mental effort, her two Pawns materialized beside her. Because the tower itself was not large, the Pawns had to materialize on the wooden walk beside the watchtower.

?With another thought, Astra pulled an arrow, nocked it onto her bowstring, and focused for a few seconds before releasing the bowstring. She did not activate her title or any skill; it was a pure physical arrow shot.

?The arrow tore through the air in a silence whoosh,where was a Hobgoblin who was shouting at the ordinary goblins in front to make them move properly. But Just as he was shouting, the arrow suddenly struck his right eye and penetrated to the back of his head while in mid-shout, the scene instantly fell into silent. The surrounding goblins noticed the sudden silence and then they turned around they found that their leader had an arrow sticking from his eye socket. Just as they were processing what to do, his body collapsed onto the dirt leaving the goblins stunned.

?Before the goblins could do anything, another volley of arrows started raining down on that small section of the horde. The goblins came out of the stunned state and upon seeing their companions killed around them, the ordinary goblins panicked and ran frantically in all directions trying to escape the deadly arrows, directly disturbing that entire area. This caused the goblins behind to panic, making that part of the formation highly unstable due to the fleeing goblins.

? the Hobgoblins and leaders tried to stabilize the line, but just as another Hobgoblin stepped forward to take control, he was shot down by an arrow from Astra. This caused even more panic, spreading to the adjacent sections of the formation.

?Seeing this opportunity, Astra shifted her fire, together with her Pawns’ arrows, to an adjacent section of the formation. Using the exact same strategy, she picked off all the leaders, creating a domino effect. There was visible unrest among the goblin ranks, turning into a potential stampede because of the fleeing goblins, and the formation itself began to destabilize and collapse.

?However, just as that side of the formation was about to collapse, the horns were suddenly blown in another rhythmic pattern. Hearing this kind of horn call, the leaders who were frantically trying to stabilize the goblins suddenly drew their weapons and began attacking their own ordinary goblins, ruthlessly killing any deserters.

?When the fleeing goblins saw that their supposed leaders were killing them for retreating, the ordinary goblins grew even more terrified. They realized that while pushing forward meant a chance of being shot down by an arrow among many but fleeing now after the order was issued meant certain death. Thus them continued pushing forward hoping to do not be the unlucky one to be shot the arrows.

?Although the formation was still advancing, the trauma inflicted by the silent rippers of arrows significantly slowed down their momentum, making their push even more chaotic as they closed in. Astra and her Pawns did not stop; they continued firing arrows, systematically picking off the larger Hobgoblins and commanders even if some managed to dodge.

?Watching this scene, Velvet nodded and thought, ’As expected. Even though I don’t know the status of the enemy’s party, to formulate such a plan of baiting us here, gathering this kind of goblin force, and hiding them for an encirclement means the other party is quite capable.’

?She didn’t expect a simple trick of destabilizing immediate morale to completely break the entire formation, she treated it as merely a probe. Seeing if the enemy commander was prepared and capable of stabilizing his troops,

?"I see that this time around, I’ve found a real commander who can give me a proper warmup," she said softly.

?Then she turned back to the group and said, "Okay now, let the real fight begin!"