Chương 11: The Ambush

Li Qinwu had absorbed Rotten Face's troops, bringing his military strength to its peak. He planned to return tonight for a bloody showdown, striking before the Chief had a chance to kill him. To boost the morale of the new recruits, their first meal had to be decent. He pulled out two more units of [Monster Meat], tore them into strips, and roasted them by the fire. He then produced a bag of [Grain] and distributed meat-wrapped grain to the goblins.

Grain provided ample carbohydrate energy to keep them full, and while goblins typically disliked the bland texture, wrapping it in succulent roasted meat solved the problem perfectly. Once the troops were fed, Li Qinwu ordered each of them to find a long, straight wooden stick. He had them char the tips in the fire and sharpen them against stones to create crude wooden spears. He then handed the grain sack to Gob-Large.

"Go gather Red Poison Berries. Fill this bag to the brim!" Gob-Large took the order and sprinted off. Among the new recruits, Li Qinwu found a goblin with slightly broader shoulders and longer arms. He handed him the other bow.

"From now on, your name is Gob-Bow. Watch closely; I'm going to teach you how to shoot!" He taught Gob-Bow hand-to-hand. He didn't expect elite marksmanship—the bow's effective range was only twenty meters, meaning it was basically for "point-blank" engagement. After a few tries, Gob-Bow could at least launch an arrow, though his accuracy was abysmal. Li Qinwu left him to practice and gathered the spearmen.

Opening the battlefield command interface, he grouped all the spearmen into an [Infantry] division and ordered them to form a line.

"Watch me! Do exactly as I do!" Standing at the front of the line, Li Qinwu demonstrated a basic thrust with his spear. The goblins mimicked his movements. In such a short time, he didn't expect to turn them into crack troops; he just needed them to know how to drive the point forward. With the system's forced-combat mechanic, that would be enough to get the job done. After practicing for a while, perhaps due to the system's influence, their movements actually began to look coordinated. Li Qinwu's confidence grew.

Half an hour later, Gob-Large returned panting, his bag overflowing with Red Poison Berries. With everything ready, Li Qinwu fed the group a second meal of roasted fish and ordered everyone to lie down and sleep. The goblins dropped off instantly; to them, being able to sleep on a full stomach was pure bliss. Their new Boss was simply the best! When the dead of night arrived, Li Qinwu woke them all. The rest of the tribe was deep in slumber—the perfect time to strike.

He led the goblins quietly toward the settlement. The troops assumed the new Boss was just leading them back to sleep; they had no idea how insane the next few minutes would be. Li Qinwu didn't tell them the plan because he knew goblins too well—if they heard they were going to fight the Chief, they'd likely wet themselves and bolt. It was better to keep them in the dark, drag them to the battlefield, and then use the system to force an [All-Out Charge] before anyone could react!

Thanks to their night vision, the night march was easy. They soon reached the bushes on the outskirts of the tribe. Li Qinwu ordered a halt and had them crush the poison berries, coating their spear tips evenly with the toxic juice. He inspected every single one personally. Once finished, he ordered them to stay silent and crept into the village to scout. Everything was normal; goblins were sprawled out sleeping wherever they fell, with no sentries posted.

No one had even noticed that Rotten Face's hunting party hadn't returned. As for the Chief, the fat bastard was snoring like thunder inside his grass hut. To him, subordinates were just expendables; if he lacked servants, he'd just grab a few pups and feed them until they were big enough to wait on him. The moon was high, the wind was still—the perfect night for murder and arson. Li Qinwu waited no longer. He hit [F1] to select all units and [F3] to order the charge!

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. He threw his entire force forward, intending to kill the elephant with a thousand ant bites. The goblins behind him were still confused, wondering why the Boss was standing at the entrance. Suddenly, they felt as if their souls were being guided. Every one of them gripped their spears and sprinted into the tribe, heading straight for the only building: the small grass hut.

The commotion woke the other goblins in the village. they crawled up from the ground, looking around in a daze, completely lost as to what was happening. Li Qinwu watched his nineteen spearmen burst into the hut. He felt the deal was sealed; with nineteen spears thrusting at once, even a Hobgoblin should be history.

"Jie-jie-jie-jie!!" Li Qinwu let out a maniacal laugh, already planning out his first "Five-Year Plan" for the tribe. But to his shock, a long moment passed and there was no sound of a dying Chief. There were no screams of agony. The spearmen were simply surrounding the Chief, looking lost.

"What the hell?! What are you doing?!" Did they run in there just to watch him sleep? At that moment, the Chief's snoring stopped. He had been startled awake! He opened his eyes to see a mob of subordinates surrounding him, let out a terrified howl, and bounced off the ground.

"Crap!" Li Qinwu realized the problem. According to the [Mount & Blade II] system logic, they weren't technically in a state of war with the Chief yet. Combined with the goblins' deep-seated habit of obeying the Chief, they wouldn't initiate an attack on their own.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the Chief roared. He viewed the hut as his core territory and allowed no one inside.

"You dare—AUGH! AAAAAGH!" The Chief suddenly jumped, clutching his backside. He reached back and pulled out a wooden arrow.

"Who shot me?! Who—AUGH! AAAAAGH!" Li Qinwu had crept up behind him and loosed a second arrow. Then, he shouted to his troops: "KILL HIM!" Because Li Qinwu had initiated the attack, the Chief was now flagged as an [Enemy]. The previously hesitant spearmen leveled their weapons and lunged.

"AUGH! ARGH!" Nineteen spears jabbed from all directions. The Chief screamed in pain.

"Traitors!!!" With a howl of agony, the Chief reached into his animal-skin waistcloth and pulled out a hatchet. It was made of Iron!

"Traitors!! DIE!!" The Chief swung wildly, the iron blade smashing the head of one spearman like a melon. Li Qinwu's pupils contracted. He hadn't expected to find iron tools in this primitive tribe. Fortunately, there was only one hatchet, and he had nineteen spearmen. Even a man fighting children will eventually be overwhelmed if twenty of those children aren't afraid to die! The Chief swung the hatchet in a frenzy, cutting down three or four more goblins. With his bulk, a single hit was a guaranteed kill.

But terror began to creep into the Chief's heart. Usually, after seeing so many of their own die, the rest would have fled in terror. Yet these goblins remained, jabbing him with spears, showing zero intent to retreat. This wasn't normal. This was completely against goblin nature! He didn't have time to think. If he didn't act, his "save file" was getting deleted. He tried to bull-rush his way out, but there were too many of them, and the spears were long. Jabbing from all sides, they kept him off balance.

Unable to break the circle, he screamed to the rest of the tribe: "Help me! Kill them! Kill these traitors!" His roar sent the newly awakened villagers into a panic. They watched in horror as their once-mighty Chief was being turned into a pincushion by his own kind. Their tiny brains couldn't process a concept as high-level as a "coup d'état."

"HELP ME!! KILL THEM!!" the Chief screamed again. He cut down two more, but he was fading. The spear wounds burned with a strange, searing heat. His head was spinning, he felt nauseous, and his strength was leaking away. The Chief still held some lingering authority. After his second cry, a few villagers actually started to edge closer, looking like they might intervene. Li Qinwu's heart hammered. He had to finish this now. If the Chief kept shouting, the others might actually be swayed!

Finding his opening, Li Qinwu leveled his wooden spear and charged! The Chief was still swinging and shouting when he felt a massive spike of pain in his abdomen. He looked down to see a goblin—taller than the rest—driving a spear deep into his gut. It was a fatal blow. He let out his most agonizing shriek of the night. His eyes turned blood-red with rage as he glared at Li Qinwu.

"You! You're a Hobgoblin!" That explained it. To goblins, rebellion was a traditional pastime. He cursed his own negligence—how had he not noticed someone evolving right under his nose? It was natural for goblins to flock to a strong leader, but how had this guy made them unafraid of death? Li Qinwu didn't stick around for a chat. He twisted the spear violently, shredding the Chief's internal organs. The Chief let out a final, gurgling scream as his strength vanished.

Li Qinwu put his full weight behind the spear, shoving the fat mountain over. The Chief crashed to the dirt, kicking up a cloud of dust. His layers of fat had protected his vitals from the initial spear thrusts, but his luck had run out. The spearmen swarmed over him. Spears rained down, jabbing nearly a hundred holes into the Chief's body in seconds. Their strength was low and the wood wasn't that sharp, so most were shallow wounds—it was less of a clean kill and more like a "death by a thousand cuts."

Unable to bear the torture, the Chief stopped fighting. He looked up at the towering Li Qinwu and whimpered weakly, "Spare... spare my life..."