Walking forward towards the goblins and drakes I watched the forest closely for anyone who could classify as a commander but I wasn’t able to discover anyone out there. Drums seemed to control the overall charge of my enemies and that implicated a better commanding structure than the elves had given the goblins. Whoever guided them had to be learned in strategic planning and tactics, so I concluded that the person in question had to be some offworlder like myself, maybe another avatar like Tiria. In contrast to her he might be a goblin avatar if that even was possible.

Which would make the whole fight somewhat harder. Remembering what I knew about avatars they were hard to kill permanently which would make this adventure here a repeated fight over and over again if I couldn’t eliminate the threat permanently. By exterminating all goblins on this world, which could be somewhat hard if you regarded their uncanny ability to breed like rabbits. Maybe I should invest into biological warfare combined with some magic to solve the problem once and for all. Could lead me down the dark path I wanted to avoid.

All of these thoughts were moved to the back of my mind when the next wave of goblins and drakes moved closer to me now. They were frightened by the earlier massacre of their comrades but their leader nonetheless pushed them forwards. I let them come at me , for there were the pit falls awaiting them and all my nice poison bushes that took some punishment from the earlier explosions but still stood strong between the flood of enemies and my home.

The green pests mowed through the bushes and after only some seconds the leading figures suddenly went berserk, attacking their next in line with crazy looks in the eyes and screaming like madman, biting and clawing everything around them with abandon. Complete madness broke out in the frontline of the goblins added by the pit traps when squads of still clear minded goblins fell into my pit traps where they were impaled on the ground crying and screaming in pain and fear seeing their comrades falling down on them driving them deeper into the stokes.

My former self would have been terrified by all the killing and gore on the battlefield and even the elves were silent after witnessing the slaughter but right now these guys threatened my home, my people and me. I accelerated into a slow jog, taking large steps that shook the earth.

The goblins that happened to pass all the carnage first now saw me coming at them and I somewhat enjoyed their scared looks and how they lost all fighting will when my towering 4 meter tall figure reached them with flailing fists smashing into their formation. My fists were as big as a pumpkin, a large one, and whatever resistance their weapons and armor gave them against an elf was completely useless against me. I waded through them like an avalanche throwing broken bodies and severed limbs in every direction.

A drake came smashing into me trying to get a hold on me with his claws, so I offered it a hug and pressed the creature as hard as possible. The first vicious creature changed its tactic from total offense to desperate defense in a moment’s time when it realized that I had enough strength to break its bones easily. It raked my body with its claws and I had to admit that it had some real punch behind these weapons. They left deep scratches all over my stony body but I had the overall advantage on my side.

I squeazed it harder and a eruption of blood and gore came from the creatures’ throat, followed by the drake getting weak and slack in my arms. I shrugged and let it fall to the ground while the goblins tried to hurt my body with their puny stone blades and mauls.

On impulse I grabbed the drakes tail and swung it around a bit. It wasn’t an actual weapon like a club but its claws and hard scales made up for the less than optimal handling when I turned around fast to create some clear space around me. The bodies of goblins exploded in paste on impact and that seemed to break the fighting spirit of the poor fellows around me. Terrified and mentally traumatized beyond hope a whole section of the army turned coat and fled back to the forest.

For a moment I wanted to follow them and destroy them for good, but then I remembered that there was still an army trying to get to my walls. The bushes and pit falls had done their part and killed goblins in droves, but now the surviving pests had cleared this part of my prepared defenses and with a thirst for revenge and murder in their eyes the collected themselves again and then came running to the walls with arms in the air and screaming their war cries, filling the place with their green bodies.

I sent the command for the second minefield and the place turned again into bloody hell. Waves of compressed air and shrapnel rolled over the battlefield and turned everything in their path into primal carnage. The goblins on the edges of the effective killing zone were thrown into the air and smashed into the following army behind them, which were also turned heads over by the air wave. Small mushroom plumes showed where the mines had exploded and the ground was ripped into pieces with craters and upturned boulders everywhere. Earth, debris and limbs fell from the sky, followed by a rain of blood and gore all around the place.

I had to give the goblins my regards because although the survivors seemed shaken to the core they picked themselves up and again began to cluster together for another go at the walls. I watched the scene for a moment before I ran as fast as possible to the small suckers to give them what has been coming for them some time.

*******************************POV Galen**********************************

I watched the whole scene from the wall preparing my new fireball spell to welcome my sworn enemies with everything I had when the place turned crazy. On a rational level I completely understood what carnage Marcus would release on the goblins but I wasn’t prepared emotionally for the utter destruction the minefield would cause.

My heart stopped for a moment when I saw the mistreated bodies of former living beings smashed into pulp by the explosives that my lord had created. I have killed more than most of my fellow elves but that scene was on a complete other level. Realization of future wars and the destruction they would cause to all involved hit me severely and that I would also have to fight in these confrontations with my life on the line.

Besides me I heard many elves throw up after watching the scene unfold but I concentrated my gaze on my lord in his new elemental minion. The moving mountain of living stone unsettled me almost more than the carnage because I knew that there was absolutely nothing I would have been able to do against this thing. All my magical power and knowledge would evaporate facing the golem and I actually pitied the goblins for going against my master.

He caused havoc wherever he sat foot and the goblins still threw themselves against him like wolves that tried to defend their puppies. They were either too stupid or very brave to go at him, maybe both, but I respected their unbroken will to fight him. Completely useless but that had nothing to do with my respect.

I saw the army gather together again and called my men to attention knowing that the goblins had now to cross the second hurdle to get to the wall and wasn’t surprised by my master’s nasty biological weapon namely the poison bushes. I had gathered myself some of the dangerous thorns for our fletchers and knew of their properties when a not so careful guy had hurt himself with the poison.

Four strong men had to hold him down until the poison had lost enough of its potency for the poor man to regain his composure. As I saw the goblins kill each other now I made a satisfied and cruel smile knowing that each of them that died wouldn’t try to kill any of my people. Their cries and mangled bodies were a delightful noise to hear when I remembered the last fight against them at the lost village with my slain friends all around me and the goblins happily slaughtering everyone I held dear. Seeing them now on the receiving end of my master’s wrath did smooth my anger and hate somewhat.

“I just hope that Marcus won’t ever be angry enough at me to turn my way after seeing that,” I heard Ildara say beside me.

I nodded, “Yeah, that’s really frightening to watch.”

Tiria who stood only two persons away from me heard us and added, “Believe me if I tell you, that this scene here is nothing to the fights and wars occurring on Marcus’ homeworld. Even the gods are surprised again and again how much destruction and pain mortals can cause each other.”

I gulped for a moment when I looked at her and saw her hard and distanced eyes looking at the battlefield before us as if she had witnessed much worse things, reminding myself that she was a former goddess and had seen all the cruelty and menace the world had to offer. If this fight wasn’t even in the top ten, forget it top 100, then I never wanted to visit the places she had seen.

The goblins cleared the second hurdle and pushed themselves again at us, but I knew that they just had entered the second minefield and screamed to my fellow elves to take cover. My gaze crossed the one of a goblin and when he saw me diving behind the wall, and the realization of what it meant.

In the next moment a storm of fire and debris blew over the cleared wall and I knew that some parts of the goblins may have been mixed into the bloody mess that flew over us. Moments later I stood up and had problems to recognize the place before me. The landscape was turned over everywhere and the goblins laid flat somewhere back where the shrapnel hadn’t reached them. Everywhere nearer the wall blood and gore with a destroyed body here and there turned the place into a picture straight from hell.

I knew that my masters preparations only reached to this moment. From now on we would have to face the goblins head on and on knives edge.

So let them come. My magic will turn them into ashes and I will make them regret to ever have come at me and my dear ones. Hell has enough place for all of them and my master will not be the only one to spill the goblins blood today.

All around the wall the elves prepared themselves with bows and fireballs, illuminating the defensive ring with red and yellow. Today we will crush our enemies or die trying.