Rise of the Horde

Mohrios stared down at the corrupted goblins that made their way through the pile of corpses of their peers. Hot air emitting from his nostrils as he raised his halberd.

"Taurens!!!"

"Du!!!kathu!!!"

He shouted and swung his halberd down on first goblin that charge towards him, pummeling it to the ground. The unlucky goblin got cleaved into two, blood and flesh sprayed and scattered.

The taurens covered with armor from head to toe and had no fear of the little creatures. They counter-charge at the sprinting goblins who were shrieking their battle cries.

Mohrios leaned forward, his horn gleamed of danger as he ran forward, ramming through those who were brave or foolish enough to stand on his path. Under Mohrios' lead, the other taurens rammed through the goblins and skewered them with their horns.

It was raining goblins everywhere as the taurens rammed through them and sending them flying.

"Sur'ba!!! Akarr!!!"

The taurens howled and pummeled every goblin that they saw still standing or attempting to get back on their feet. Goblins were embedded to the ground, some smashed against the walls and the unlucky ones, no longer having intact corpses as their bodies got shattered apart by the powerful swings of the taurens.

At the last gate where the ogres were, the goblins suffered a more gruesome death as the ogres enjoyed smashing them down to meat-paste.

"Tsk! Weaklings"

An ogre grunted as he batted a poor goblin upward and sending it flying. Pushing with their shields and smashing with their maces, the ogres trampled their foes easily.

On the walls, the mound of goblins finally reached the same level as the walls and they started flooding in.

"Get them off the walls!"

Xiao Chen shouted as he started picking up goblins and throwing them outside the walls. The goblins started to overrun the walls; they came pouring in, in huge numbers.

Grabbing another spear, Xiao Chen started swinging it at their foes like a baseball bat and sending them flying back.

"Shooters!"

"Focus fire on the mounds!"

He shouted as he saw the shooters started shooting again, albeit at a slower pace than before. The concentrated rain of lead and iron shattered the mounds apart as the goblins shrieked in anger towards the defenders.

"Right on time!"

Xiao Chen muttered as a hobgoblin managed to climb the walls before the mound of goblins under it collapsed. Casting the haste spell on himself, Xiao Chen sprinted forward, ramming the hobgoblin against the wall.

The impact of Xiao Chen's charge knock the wind out of the hobgoblin as he fell weakly on its knees, gasping for air. The hobgoblin looked up at the one who suddenly rammed him and saw Xiao Chen's merciless eyes, then the spearhead that got bigger and bigger in front of him.

Xiao Chen didn't give the hobgoblin any chance and pierced it with his spear, quickly ending the hobgoblin's life. Glancing left and right, they finally had control of the walls again.

The defenders started having a hard time as the goblins jumped down from the mountain of corpses. Some of his warriors have fallen after being pounced on by multiple goblins and brought down to the ground.

Xiao Chen felt a powerful pulse of energy. Unsure of what it was, he focused on it. After the pulse of energy, the corrupted goblins turned around and retreated.

Despite being pursued and continuously being pelted with iron and lead, the corrupted goblins continued on their retreat. They ignored everything else and just continued to run back east, towards where they came from.

Xiao Chen knitted his brows together in confusion and ran towards the edge of the walls to have a clear look at what was going on. He saw nothing else except the goblins retreating, which made him even more confuse.

He directed his gaze further and felt a very ominous aura originating from the east to where the goblins were retreating to. The battle was won, but the war wasn't over yet. It was just the first fight.

Only goblins and few hobgoblins were in the first assault. The other races haven't shown themselves yet. Xiao Chen was worried. Their enemies were just testing them.

The demon sent the goblins first to test the waters and scout their weaknesses. Glancing towards his cheering warriors, Xiao Chen can't help but shake his head.

He didn't want to douse out their high morale after a victory. Raising his right hand, holding the spear.

"Victory!"

He shouted, and his warriors loudly cheered.

*****

After the initial excitement of victory died down, they started cleaning the battlefield. They slayed those corrupted goblins that still stubbornly refused to die and still groaning in pain.

"Tell the warriors to be always on guard"

"Double the number of the patrol"

"And Trot'thar. I need you back, up in that watch tower"

Xiao Chen gave orders to his commanders.

"As your command, chief"

His commanders saluted, then left out of his tent. Looking at the scroll containing Gur'kan's report of the casualties, Xiao Chen can't help but feel sorry for those who had died.

He steadied his mind and focus his attention on the map in front of him. Almost everything went according to plan and their losses were only minimal.

"Chief, you got a moment"

Mohrios barged in inside Xiao Chen's tent and stood in front of him after saluting, copying how the Yohan First Battalion did.

"What can I help you with?"

Xiao Chen asked without bothering to look at the tauren and just stared at the battle map.

"We the taurens felt something unusual. The pulse of energy, you felt it too, right?"

Mohrios said and stood there dumbly, as he didn't know whether his suspicion was right, that the young chieftain could also feel it, since he stood in place after the pulse of energy came.

"Yes, what about it?"

Xiao Chen answered and rummaged through the many scrolls on his table.

"That pulse of energy comes from a demon and us being able to feel it here means the demon is just nearby. We are up against a demon that can move freely, unlike the others which were restricted in the place where they descended and the only demons that could roam around freely after descending would be a high-ranking demon"

Mohrios reported and observed the chieftain's reaction.

"Hmm... A high-ranking demon... How is a high demon compared to a great demon?"

Xiao Che curiously asked as he remembered his painful encounter with the great demon Ozshe, the great demon of madness. If their demon foe was as strong as Ozshe, then they were in for a tough battle.

"A great demon chief!?"

Mohrios questioned in surprise at the mention of a great demon.

"The difference between them would be a thousand or ten thousands of times apart, chief. A great demon leads legions of demons under it and in those legions would be thousands upon thousands of high-ranking demons depending on the strength and power of the great demon."

Mohrios continued and explained. The topic about demons was something that the taurens were knowledgeable of. According to their ancestors, the taurens were creatures that originated from the Nether, where demons and devils roamed free.