The rumbling was steady, an incessant pounding of boots against the ground, until the sources of the rumbling emerged in the dark of night.

Goblins. Thousands of them.

The orderly army of goblins emerged from the distant woods, marching in steady lines. The army of thousands bore many torches as they advanced in orderly formation. Despite their night vision, the demi-humans carried sufficient lighting to ensure they kept their ranks.

They marched forward, quickly closing the distance to Fetch homestead and reforming their lines 2 kilometres away from the city walls. And as their marching ceased, so too did the rumbling of the ground.

* * * * *

However, though the rumbling of the ground had stopped, the hearts of the residents were already shaken.

"Less than 600 against over 3,000…" Zera whispered under her breath, looking grim.

She was dressed in her combat garb – leather armour covering from collarbone to abdomen, with s.h.i.+n guards worn over her skin-hugging black tights that clung to her long, slim legs, leaving almost nothing to the imagination. She wore her half-moon circlet which glinted in the moonlight, just like her lush silver hair, looking like an enchanting temptress in the shadows of the night.

Elder Mash'noth was perched on the thick walls of the homestead beside Lady Zera. She smiled fondly at Zera and said, "My girl… We'll just have to try our best… For the sake of our people… For the sake of the Child of Light…"

She looked over to Lars as she spoke.

They were on the battlements with half of the Fetch council members. Zera, Physician Yu and Elder Mash'noth were overseeing the battlefield together, standing alongside the archers and signal bearers on the walls. Captain Xiloth, Sir Kenneth and Maester Albert were placed at strategic points among the troops, ready at any time to either charge into battle out of the gates or release an additional salvo of arrows.

Hearing the Divine Beast's words, Zera was tense as she stepped back from the battle front and walked back to survey Fetch homestead – to survey her people, the people her father had entrusted to her.

"Father… What would you have done if you were here…?" Her eyes grew dim for a moment as she recalled the memories of the strongest man in the world – at least, he was to her.

She a.s.sessed their supplies of food, arrows and materials for the umpteenth time and, finding that the amounts were exactly the same as the previous counts, she sighed.

As a foraging and farming community, the people relied heavily on hunting, gathering and a constant stream of agricultural produce. With their supply cut off, they only had enough food for roughly 2 weeks.

'Like we'll actually last 2 weeks… Our home will have fallen long before then.' She smiled a mirthless smile, laughing at the grim fate of their homestead.

* * * * *

 "TTOOT TOOOROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" A bugle's call sounded out a long ba.s.sy note, indicating that the goblins were preparing to attack. The war was starting.

Hearing this, she raced back to the edge of the battlements in time to see the ranks of the goblin army part as a group of elite hill goblins advanced with 4 taller cloaked figures walking a step behind them. Despite their small numbers, they bore with them an air of threat just in their slow walk forward.

These goblins were head and shoulders taller than their other kin, standing nearly as tall as the average human female. They were fierce fighters, naturally advancing to the Sand-level of Earth Pulse upon reaching adulthood. When a group of 50 of these elite hill goblins charged on foot, they could outrun horses and scatter a group of cavalry twice their number just from their sheer strength and power.

However, these elite goblins were not holding weapons but carrying a divan on their shoulders – on which was seated a regal figure wearing a crown.

If the hill goblins looked like body builders and athletes when placed beside their lesser kin, this crowned figure made the hill goblins look like children. In fact, his size, build and body contours could no longer be said to be of a goblin. He would instead be mistaken for a n.o.ble breed of orc if not for his dark green goblin skin.

The group of hill goblins continued to bear their leader forward, advancing without fear even as they entered the range of a volley of piercing arrows.

"Lady Zera, the archers are ready at any time. Shall we fire…?" The head of the archers' squads turned to Lady Zera who held up her hand and shook her head.

"No… At most we'd manage to lightly injure the goblin's leader and maybe take out a few hill goblins..."

She locked gazes with the advancing goblin lord who was looking straight at her.

"Let's see what they want."

The entourage advanced at a leisurely pace, leaving the defenders in suspense, their breaths becoming shallow as they tensed up. The goblin's leader remained silent and expressionless, only gazing straight ahead towards the top of the walls. Finally, they came to a stop 500 metres from the walls and the goblin leader stood up and leapt forward to land 100 metres from the homestead with one of the cloaked figures sprinting to keep up with him, staying just half a step behind the goblin lord.

Then the stalwart goblin lord cupped his hands together in front of his chest, striking a regal stance and called out loudly with a dignified voice.

"I greet you, Lady Zera of Fetch homestead and Divine Beast Elder Mash'noth of the North Light Temple! May I have the pleasure of a conversation with your esteemed selves…?"

Zera and Mash'noth exchanged a suspicious glance, unsure of how to respond.

"Talk…? What are his intentions…?" Zera spoke first, doubt in her mind as she kept a watchful gaze on the goblin leader.

From what her senses told her, the crowned goblin was at least on par with herself at the Mountain-stage. Coupled with his superior physique and a goblin's c.o.c.kroach-like vitality, a sneak attack from this distance would be deadly.

"…It's suspicious but… I can't figure it out either." The white cat flicked her tail from side to side unconsciously, eyes narrowed to slits and preparing herself for combat.

"Then we can only listen and see what he wants." Zera's fingers toyed with the wooden shaft of her spear as she approached the edge of the walls.

* * * * *

"Well done, sire. You'll be well rewarded for your cooperation…" The cloaked figure by the goblin lord's side whispered with a raspy, echoing voice. The voice sounded like three voices speaking together, slightly out of sync and caused the goose b.u.mps on the goblin lord's skin to rise.

Viru, the valiant lord of the Bad Lands goblin tribe grit his teeth, wis.h.i.+ng he could strike down the vile creature there and then, but restrained himself. He had to endure – for the sake of his, his wife and his children…

"Cut the c.r.a.p. You still dare to call me sire while holding my entire tribe hostage…?" Though he restrained himself from striking, the goblin of superior intellect responded angrily under his breath.

"Heh heh heh… Sire, what in the world are you speaking of…? Heh! Everyone knows that it is these treacherous humans who kidnapped your tribe and stole the treasure… You know that everything I do is for your benefit… I serve only you, my lord… Heh heh heh…" The cloaked figure cackled madly and a miasma of darkness emanated from it's body, wafting over Viru's body.

Hearing the ear-rending laugh nearly made Viru lash out instinctively. His heckles rose and the Earth Pulse within him grew slightly turbulent. Despite himself, he felt fear grip his heart in the face of dark power that he couldn't fathom, much less face.

"Vile thing! Withdraw your foul aura immediately! How can I, Viru, fight your battles if I am crippled by your taint?! "

Upon hearing those words, the cloaked figure fell silent, the dark aura around it *writhing* dangerously, a murderous aura suffocating Viru and causing his Earth Pulse to nearly lose control.

And then, the dark aura disappeared, withdrawn.

Viru panted, forcibly standing still in his original position in front of the homestead's gates. He hurriedly regulated his energy and recirculated his Earth Pulse. He felt relieved. If he didn't even make it through this violent battle ahead, he could forget about rescuing his family. He couldn't afford to be disadvantaged even before he started.

As he recuperated his combat power, he then heard a young human girl's voice call out from atop the walls.

"Very well, leader of the goblins. We shall hear what you have to say."

Before he could respond, he heard the nasty raspy croak beside him, "Then, *sire*, I'll leave you to do your job… Retrieve the Bell of the North Heaven and your tribe will live… Oh and…"

The cloaked figure suddenly pressed up against his side, placing it's rotting face by his ear, frigid breath blowing against the back of his neck as it said, "…Your little daughter was oh-so tasty…"

"RAAAAGGHHH!!!!!!!!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!!!"

Viru's eyes turned red with rage and he roared, smas.h.i.+ng backwards at the cloaked figure, but to his shock, his hand only swung through the air.

The figure was already gone – but he could still feel the cold air on his neck.

Eyes flas.h.i.+ng with murder, he turned to face the leader of the homestead.

* * * * *

Lars' stood up from his cross-legged position. He had been cultivating Earth Pulse while monitoring the battle.

He hadn't been worried at first when he sensed the 5 main combatants the enemy had. 1 was a peak Legendary combatant - a Mountain-level Earth Pulse fighter with 10 Life Foci, while there were 4 other sources of dark energy. This was not enough to overwhelm with Fetch homestead; the battle would be a war of attrition.

It would likely take several days for the stalemate to be broken – more than enough for Lars to reach the limits of Earth Pulse and perhaps even extrapolate it further to exceed those limits…

However, he was standing at this moment because he needed to take action.

Cries of alarm were arising in the east quarters where the weak, the elderly and mothers with their young children had taken refuge. Fluctuations of dark energy began to condense all across Fetch homestead, but the greatest concentration was right there in the east quarters.

Very quickly, the cries turned from alarm to panic, terror and despair.

Lars frowned. He had not expected to have to face these creatures once again so soon.

Crawlers.