Chapter 470 - 470: Invasion [36]

Elsewhere.

Veyra fired another arrow, the projectile cutting through the air before striking one of Raghul's goblins in the chest and dropping him to the ground.

She exhaled heavily as she looked across the battlefield.

The situation was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

So many of the enemy goblins were already dead, their bodies scattered across the ruined settlement, but the same could be said for their own side. They had lost nearly seventy percent of their numbers, a casualty rate far too high for Veyra to consider acceptable.

She clicked her teeth.

If they were only fighting the goblins Raghul had brought with him, things wouldn't have been nearly this bad. Their own warriors had managed to hold their ground against them, and with enough time, they might have even turned the battle around.

But the undead orcs had changed everything.

They didn't fight like ordinary creatures.

They didn't hesitate, retreat, or show any concern for their own lives. They simply kept coming, tearing through anything in their path, and even when they were brought down, Raghul's necromancy allowed many of them to rise again.

That had put the goblins at a massive disadvantage.

Veyra's gaze shifted toward the other side of the battlefield.

Raghul had lost one of his hands to the orcs and was still fighting with only one hand, but even that hadn't slowed the tanky goblin down much.

Nearby, Dribb was still fighting.

The warrior had already taken down two of Raghul's Chosen, and a dozen of their regulars, but instead of stopping, he had thrown himself into the battle against the undead orcs alongside the remaining goblins.

Gork was still fighting the last Chosen left alive, the two locked in a brutal exchange that neither seemed willing to back away from.

Veyra tightened her grip around her bow.

They were running out of warriors. And judging by the state of the battlefield, they were running out of time as well.

Veyra heard footsteps above her.

She reacted immediately.

Without even looking up, she drew her bow, pulled the string back, and fired.

The arrow shot upward, passing through the damaged roof before phasing through the remaining obstruction and striking the goblin attempting to ambush her directly in the neck.

The goblin's eyes widened.

Its body went limp almost immediately, and it dropped through the broken section of the roof, landing heavily on the ground in front of Veyra.

She stared at the corpse for a moment.

Then she exhaled in relief.

At least Raghul wasn't here.

If he had been, the situation would have been far worse.

The moment someone died within his reach, Raghul could turn their corpse into one of his undead servants. It didn't matter whether the dead goblin had been his ally or his enemy. Once raised, they would obey him without question.

Veyra shuddered at the thought.

But even without Raghul standing over the battlefield, things still sucked.

Her eyes swept across the ruined settlement.

So many of their own were dead.

Bodies were scattered among the remains of buildings, and the sight did nothing to ease the weight pressing against her chest.

These were goblins she had fought alongside.

Goblins she had known.

Now they were nothing more than corpses.

Veyra forced herself to look away.

There was no time to mourn them.

She raised her bow again and returned her attention to the remaining enemies.

The goblins were practically gone.

At this point, all that remained were the undead orcs.

And those were going to be the hardest ones to put down.

Dribb was keeping most of them at bay, and that was largely because of the way his ability worked. The more pain he suffered, the stronger he became, meaning that the longer the fight continued, the more dangerous he became with it.

There was only one obvious disadvantage Veyra could see.

Dribb might eventually go insane.

Now shirtless, with numerous tattoos covering his body courtesy of [Hell Brand], Dribb looked less like a goblin and more like some flaming demon that had crawled out of hell itself.

And he didn't just look like one.

He fought like one.

Dribb swung his axe with savage force, tearing through the undead orcs whenever they got within reach. When his weapon wasn't enough, he simply grabbed them with his bare hands, ripping into their bodies with the same reckless brutality he used for everything else.

But even Dribb couldn't finish them off.

Not permanently.

They were undead.

As long as their master remained alive and continued supplying them with mana, they would keep moving no matter how many times their bodies were destroyed. Bones could be shattered, limbs could be severed, and their bodies could be torn apart, but that alone wasn't enough to put them down for good.

They would simply regenerate or reconstruct themselves and return to the fight.

So it didn't matter how much damage Dribb or any of the other goblins dealt to them.

The orcs would keep coming back.

And as long as Raghul remained alive and had enough mana to sustain them, the battle would continue.

Veyra heard a sharp gasp of pain and immediately turned toward the sound.

Gobbo was on the ground, an axe buried deep into his back.

Fortunately, the weapon hadn't pierced all the way through. His solid rock armor had absorbed most of the impact, cracking under the force but preventing the blade from reaching his body.

Gobbo gritted his teeth and tried to push himself back to his feet.

He barely managed to move before one of the undead orcs stepped forward and delivered a thunderous kick.

BOOM!

Gobbo's massive body was sent flying.

He tumbled across the ground before crashing into the side of a damaged building, the impact sending a cloud of dust and chunks of stone into the air.

If it had been any other goblin, that impact would have been enough to kill them.

But Gobbo was different.

A low groan came from within the rubble.

Then the stones shifted.

Gobbo crawled out, dragging himself free of the debris as fragments of his rock armor crumbled from his body. He shook his head, trying to clear his vision, before forcing himself upright.

He was clearly hurting. But he was still alive.

The two undead orcs immediately charged toward him.

Veyra reacted.

She drew her bow and fired several arrows in quick succession, aiming for the back of one orc's skull. The arrows struck one after another, forcing the creature to stagger. That got the attention of one.

But the second orc continued toward Gobbo.

There was nothing Veyra could do about that one with the pace it was moving.

Gobbo forced himself back onto his feet.

Veyra's expression tightened.

She wasn't sure he could handle another orc in the condition he was in.

He was already struggling to remain standing, and the undead creature was closing the distance fast.