Chương 65: Chapter 66: First Attack

The blast of trumpets roused me from sleep while it was still dark. I rolled off my cot and fell onto the hard stone of the parapet. I let out an oof, then quickly got up and grabbed my rifle and ammo belt. I didn't bother to put the belt on before I burst out of my tent to see what was going on. My UI said it was only 4: 55 in the morning. As I looked around in the dark and tried to get my bearings, I saw a fireball the size of a small wagon burst forth from the south wall.

Shortly after that, flares began shooting off from small mortars on each of the other three walls. What they illuminated made my blood run cold. Thousands of goblins were rushing the walls. The ones in the lead were carrying ladders and ropes with grappling hooks. Within seconds of the flares being sent out, I heard shouting from all the captains, lieutenants, and sergeants. From the wall next to us, Sergeant Morgan yelled out, "Load your rifles! Prepare to fire!"

He looked at me in particular and said, "I want you to put your rifle down and start pushing ladders down as soon as they get to the wall. You 'ave this whole stretch from 'ere to the wall. Got it?" I nodded, then rushed to the parapet to wait for my orders to shoot. It took about ten more seconds before I heard Woolsly yell out, "Wall Captain, my men are ready!"

"Hawker looked left, then right, and yelled, "Fire!" All four hundred men on our section of the wall fired at almost the exact same moment. Even with the flares, it was still pretty dark. I tried to pick a specific target when I fired. I got a UI notification that I'd hit my target in the leg. There was no kill notice. After the first volley, all our flares on the ground winked out simultaneously. It must have been goblin shamans using their earth magic for it to happen all at once.

I heard Hawker yell out for another round of flares and tell us to reload. All the braziers on the wall had been fed, and the walls themselves shone in places where the wards were activated. The braziers were set behind us so they didn't directly ruin our night vision, but it was still chaotic. I reloaded my rifle along with the rest of the company. As soon as the spotlight flares were sent out over the battlefield again, we were told to fire again. This time I got a kill notification.

I'd fired down on a group of goblins who were bunched up as they tried to get a ladder up against the wall. I set my rifle down and picked up the enchanted billhook I'd been provided to take care of ladders. The axe-spear hybrid weapon had the same enchantment my saw did. As soon as the goblins got their ladder up against the wall, I swung my billhook down and cut one of the supports in half. Then I used the hook to pull it over to the side.

As the ladder fell, I saw several goblins jump from about fifteen feet up in the air. I looked to my right and saw three more ladders and two ropes already up in the sections I was in charge of. No one else appeared to be trying to knock them down, so I rushed over to the first rope and cut it. I heard goblins scream as they fell. I made it to the second rope and cut it, then I got to my second ladder before others took care of the last two ladders.

I saw several UI notifications, but didn't take the time to look at them while we were fighting. No more than two minutes after I cut down the last of my ladders, I heard horn blasts coming from the goblin encampment. It seemed their gamble had failed, and they were recalling their troops. I heard gunfire continue for another minute. Then, blessedly, the battlefield fell silent. I could hear my blood pumping in my ears as I panted, trying to catch my breath. The entire fight had lasted only five minutes, max.

It had been so chaotic. Like something out of a movie. I heard Woolsly yell out, "Reload, then prepare for more orders!" I made my way back to where I'd set my rifle down and did as I'd been instructed. There were another two rounds of flares fired out. They showed at several hundred dead or wounded goblins lying on our side alone. I heard several shots fired out at goblins who were trying to crawl back to their lines. I was about to fire as well when I heard the Wall Captain yell, "Scouts only!

Everyone else remains ready!" I took a deep breath and watched as the last few goblins in range were killed. I decided to brave my notifications and saw: You have hit Goblin Warrior in the leg, 211 yards away. You have hit Goblin Warrior in the chest, 118 yards away. Kill Confirmation Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. You have hit a Warg in the head, 118 yards away.

Kill Confirmation Your actions partially resulted in the deaths of the following enemy combatants: Goblin Warrior (Times 9) Goblin Archer (Times 3) It looked like I got some XP from the goblins who died after falling off ladders or ropes. I looked at my Militia class page and saw several quests available that I hadn't had before.

Seriously wound an enemy goblin - Repeatable - 5XP Kill a non-magic using enemy goblin - Repeatable - 10XP Kill an enemy magic using goblin - Repeatable - 25XP Kill a warg - Repeatable - 10XP Cause the most amount of damage in a kill of an enemy troll - Repeatable - 25 to 50XP depending on percentage of damage dealt Participate in repelling an attack on Weston city walls - Repeatable - 10XP per attack I took all of the quests and got the following notifications You have received the following XP Seriously Wound an enemy goblin - 65XP Kill an enemy goblin - 10XP Kill a warg - 10XP Repell an attack on Weston City Walls - 10 XP Successfully load and hit a target with your weapon (Repeatable through level 3) - 2XP Fight in combat with a recognized militia (Repeatable) - 50XP per day of combat Congratulations you are now a level 4 Militiaman!

You now have 13/195 XP needed for level 5. Scrolling through my page helped calm my nerves a bit. When I closed out my UI, I looked around for Colin and saw him talking with Glenn, who appeared to be pointing out things on the battlefield. Once I confirmed he was alright, I took stock of my own situation. I didn't have any injuries. I felt a little drained, but otherwise I thought I was okay. I wasn't feeling panicked, or overwhelmed. All in all, I was okay.

That was all I could ask for after my first real taste of battle. Sergeant Morgan came over to me and gave me a hearty clap on the back.

"Good job there. I was a bit worried 'ow you'd handle it after that first round of shooting on your first drill day. You jumped into action and did just fine. Colin 'ad two confirmed kills too." I felt my cheeks flush red thinking about that. Maybe the firelight wouldn't show that too bad.

"What now?" I asked.

"Well," he said.

"Looks like they decided to give a full surprise assault a go. It didn't work so they abandoned the attempt. The wall enchantments neutralized their Shamans. I don't know if they thought they could overwhelm 'em, or didn't know about 'em. But they gave up pretty quick once they realized they weren't gonna overwhelm us without magic. Walls are just too tall, even with so few defenders. Best prepare for a siege." I nodded and leaned against the wall to look out at the enemy encampment.

Their fires were all lit again, but I couldn't see any other detail in the darkness. A few minutes later, Colin joined me. I looked over and gave him my best reassuring smile.

"I hear you did well." He shrugged then said, "I guess. I missed one shot and only wounded two of the others. I did get two kills though. Glenn said I probably did too much group targeting, instead of picking out individual targets. Honestly, I can't really remember the fight. It was so quick, but it was a lot."

"Yeah," I agreed.

"Aside from our warg encounter this is the first time I've had to do any fighting. Everything definitely feels a little hazy. I just remember running around and doing everything I could to knock over the ladders." He laughed.

"Did you hear yourself yelling? That's the only thing I remember clearly from the fight."

"Wait? What?" I said, incredulous.

"Yeah, you were yelling as you threw down the ladders. A couple of the other guys were impressed. Sergeant Morgan didn't say anything when he was talking to you?" If I'd thought my cheeks were burning earlier, they were aflame now.

"No," I said.

"Maybe he didn't hear me."

"I doubt it," Colin said.

"You were loud."

"Good, great, wonderful." I said, channeling my inner Chris Farley.

"Now I'm gonna be that guy." Colin gave a genuine laugh at my antics. He looked out and said, "Did they think this was gonna work?"

"Probably," I said, also looking out at the goblin camp.

"Sergeant Morgan said they tried to use magic but the wall wards worked. They don't have guns, or any siege weapons. They probably just hoped a surprise attack would get the job done. It didn't, so now we have to wait to see what happens." We spent the next two days in a state of constant alert, waiting for another surprise attack. When none came, we settled into a routine of watch, sleep, and a few hours each day down in the city for downtime.

I was worried about our animals, but luckily, we had let all of them roam free in anticipation of a day or two away from the homestead. The remnants of the garden would provide food for the pigs if they got hungry enough. They could break into the garden with enough effort. As long as they didn't tear up my new gate, I wouldn't care. The goats had plenty of grass and a big bale of grass hay they could easily get to. The birds were always out foraging. Luckily, we'd left the chicken coop open for them.

The river would provide water if the troughs ran out. Hopefully Buck and Spot could keep things under control. Emily had talked about how it was getting close to time to make sure we started feeding them now that winter was near. Their usual prey of rabbits and small ground animals would go to ground for winter. The only real worry was that the goblins might burn and pillage the surrounding homesteads. That would be disastrous. I could only imagine the cost of replacing everything.

I'd barely have the gold to continue on if they did. People like the Newtons, who had a much smaller cushion than I did, would be in serious trouble. I'd heard that the empire provided some recompense in the event of an attack, but it didn't make one whole. Then there was the psychological damage that an attack like this could cause. The empire would have to do something in response. And so we settled into what appeared to be the new normal.

Long, boring moments of inactivity followed by minutes of frenetic effort on the few occasions they tried something. A week into the siege, a small group of riders smashed their way through the goblin encampment with the use of magic. The news they brought was chilling.