Chapter 138: The First Real Invasion

Chapter 138: The First Real Invasion

The eight markers appeared before the recovery teams had finished clearing the previous battlefields.

Noah saw two inside each empire, but his attention was drawn immediately toward Viridian when the first wave of Draeven transports descended over an agricultural province and began unloading machines far heavier than anything used in the previous rounds.

Tracked vehicles rolled from the transports one after another. Some carried infantry behind thick armor, while others mounted long cannons inside rotating turrets and moved with a weight that made the surrounding wagons and field equipment look fragile.

A Viridian observation post watched from a wooded ridge several kilometers away. One concealed ballista crew waited until the leading tracked vehicle turned toward the road and exposed its front armor.

The heavy bolt struck squarely against the machine. Instead of stopping it, the projectile shattered against the frontal armor and scattered fragments across the road.

The turret rotated toward the ridge almost immediately. The crew had only enough time to begin abandoning the weapon before the tank fired, and the resulting explosion consumed the ballista position beneath dirt, timber, and smoke.

Noah watched the surviving scouts flee downhill while the armored vehicle resumed moving as though nothing significant had happened. Several infantry carriers followed behind it, their soldiers protected by the heavier vehicles advancing at the front.

That single exchange changed Viridian’s response faster than any warning Noah could have provided. The regional commander pulled scouts farther back, ordered heavy weapons concealed rather than placed directly along the road, and began evacuating civilian traffic from the settlements ahead of the armored column.

At the second Viridian landing site, another problem had already appeared. Several thousand goblins occupied a wooded ridge overlooking a road leading toward an important river junction, expecting to attack once the Draeven formation entered the valley below.

The column never reached them. The first artillery shells landed among the trees while the nearest enemy infantry remained far beyond the defenders’ sight.

Viridian soldiers scattered as explosions crossed the ridge in successive bursts. Trees broke apart, prepared firing platforms vanished beneath disturbed earth, and units that had spent hours preparing an ambush were forced into a controlled withdrawal without seeing the soldiers attacking them.

Noah followed the bombardment back toward the Draeven base. Several large guns had been established well inside the protected perimeter, while observers farther forward relayed positions through radio and allowed those guns to attack from kilometers away.

The goblins abandoned the ridge and repositioned toward another defensive line. Several hours later, Draeven tanks and infantry carriers moved through the road beneath the former ambush site without meeting organized resistance.

Noah shifted toward Varkesh and found both invasion forces already moving toward separate objectives. One column advanced toward a walled regional city from the west, while the second threatened another major settlement farther southeast.

Varkesh attempted to slow the western column at a bridge. Thousands of goblins occupied both banks while engineers prepared the structure for destruction, and heavier weapons were positioned behind the defensive line.

The Draeven advance stopped before reaching the crossing. For nearly an hour, the defenders saw little movement beyond distant armored vehicles gathering along the road.

Then artillery began striking the far bank. Varkesh soldiers withdrew from their exposed positions as explosions broke apart barricades and damaged the prepared defensive works.

Engineers accompanying the Draeven force moved forward under armored protection once the bombardment weakened. Varkesh attempted to collapse the bridge before those teams arrived, and part of the structure fell into the river.

The destruction was incomplete. Noah watched Draeven engineering vehicles arrive before sunset and begin unloading equipment beside the damaged crossing.

Temporary supports were moved toward the river under the protection of tanks and infantry. The invaders were no longer limited to whatever infrastructure they found intact after entering hostile territory.

Varkesh launched a night attack against the construction site. Goblin soldiers approached through reeds along the bank and nearly reached the engineers before searchlights swept across the water.

Machine guns opened from prepared positions and forced the attackers into a tactical retreat.

Another group attempted to approach farther upstream, but armored vehicles moved from the bridgehead to intercept them before they could reach the river.

Varkesh stopped trying to force the crossing that night. By the following morning, Draeven vehicles were already moving across a temporary span beside the damaged bridge.

Noah shifted north and found Skargrim trying to deny the enemy access to the main mountain road. Goblins felled trees, collapsed unstable slopes, and filled narrow passages with stone before the two northern invasion forces could connect.

The obstacles slowed the Draeven formations only temporarily. Engineering vehicles moved forward behind armored units, pushing timber away and breaking apart larger obstructions with explosives.

Skargrim attacked the workers whenever possible. One raid reached the road through a forested slope and killed several engineers, while another destroyed a fuel truck after concentrated heavy crossbow fire struck it from above.

Draeven changed its procedure after those attacks. Artillery began striking the surrounding heights before engineering crews entered each narrow section, and infantry climbed the cleared slopes to establish temporary positions overlooking the workers below.

The northern goblins could no longer wait beside a road until the perfect convoy entered their trap. They were being forced to contest the terrain before the enemy column even arrived.

One Skargrim commander attempted to break the pattern with a larger attack. Several thousand soldiers descended through the forest toward an engineering column working near a mountain turn.

The first groups reached close enough to destroy two trucks and force the Draeven infantry behind their armored carriers. Their advance stalled when tanks arrived from the road behind the engineering crews.

A tank shell struck the edge of the Skargrim formation and tore through soldiers and trees.

Machine guns from the accompanying vehicles swept the lower slope while Draeven infantry spread beneath the protection of the armor.

The northern goblins began a tactical retreat before the engagement turned into a disaster.

Survivors disappeared into rougher terrain where the tanks could not follow easily, while Draeven engineers returned to the damaged road after the threat had passed.

By the end of the day, the first northern corridor was open. Skargrim still controlled enormous areas of difficult terrain, but the enemy had proven that roads could be secured through engineering, artillery, and concentrated protection.

Luminous faced a different problem along the western coast. The inland Draeven force was moving toward the roads feeding one of the empire’s largest ports, while the second force advanced toward the same coastal region from another direction.

The port authorities understood the danger before either army arrived. Warehouses were emptied, merchant vessels departed with whatever supplies could be loaded quickly, and military formations began shifting away from exposed outer districts.

The damaged airship captured during Round Four was still being transported inland when Draeven scouts appeared along the northern road. Luminous immediately divided the recovery effort rather than risking everything in one convoy.

Removable engine components, navigation mechanisms, weapons mounts, and smaller parts were placed on separate wagons. The damaged hull continued along another route under heavier guard, allowing the empire to preserve at least part of the prize if the main craft had to be abandoned.

Draeven reconnaissance vehicles reached the nearby road junction several hours later. They found abandoned wagons blocking the main route and pushed the first obstruction aside without significant difficulty.

Another barricade waited farther ahead, followed by a third beyond the next bend. Luminous was not trying to stop the column permanently and was instead buying time while the airship components moved deeper inland.

The delaying action worked until Draeven artillery began striking suspected defensive concentrations farther along the road. Luminous commanders immediately ordered tactical retreats from two prepared positions before their troops could be pinned beneath repeated bombardment.

The port’s outer defenses were therefore shortened before a direct assault had even begun. The field army repositioned toward narrower routes where armored vehicles would have fewer choices for movement.

Across Noah’s world, the same change was appearing in different forms. The Draeven forces now possessed enough soldiers to guard their bases, patrol roads, escort supplies, maintain artillery positions, and still send significant formations forward.

Noah watched a Viridian raiding party approach one supply convoy through woodland beside a provincial road. Instead of finding a handful of exposed trucks, they discovered armored carriers at the front and rear, scouts farther ahead, and infantry securing the nearby high ground.

The goblins observed the formation and withdrew without attacking. Noah approved of the decision because losing soldiers for the sake of proving courage would accomplish nothing against an enemy this prepared.

His attention returned to the Viridian river front, where several thousand defenders gathered outside a town controlling an important crossing. The regional commander had chosen a ridge beyond the settlement rather than preparing a street-by-street defense.

Draeven reconnaissance located the position before the armored column arrived. Artillery struck the ridge repeatedly and forced the defenders to disperse before the main force entered the region.

Viridian responded with a tactical retreat from the town rather than sacrificing the regional army. Civilians departed along the western road while soldiers destroyed stores they could not carry and damaged bridge approaches before withdrawing toward stronger inland positions.

When the first Draeven tanks entered the settlement, they found no army waiting among the buildings. Infantry searched the streets while engineers inspected the crossing and supply vehicles moved behind the armored spearhead.

Noah watched the enemy begin constructing defensive positions around the outskirts.

Viridian had deliberately traded temporary control of the town for the preservation of the forces that would be needed later in the campaign.

Varkesh reached a similar conclusion around its threatened western city. Regional commanders ordered controlled withdrawals from outer villages before artillery could fix large formations against static defenses.

Skargrim abandoned exposed sections of the valley floor and repositioned troops along routes inaccessible to heavy armor. Luminous pulled its main field army away from open coastal approaches while smaller formations continued delaying Draeven movement.

Noah considered whether the sudden appearance of tanks and long-range artillery justified more detailed divine intervention.

He ultimately sent only one broad command through the faith connecting him to the four empires, telling them to preserve their armies and understand the new enemy before committing their strength.

The order did not translate into identical actions across the planet. Temples, rulers, generals, and military councils interpreted the command through the conditions confronting their own fronts.

Near the first Viridian landing zone, Draeven engineers expanded the original perimeter into a fortified complex. Trenches connected vehicle positions while fuel and ammunition were moved behind layered defenses protected by infantry and heavy weapons.

In Varkesh, the repaired river crossing allowed trucks to supply the advancing column without returning all the way to the original landing site.

Skargrim’s enemies established artillery on secured high ground overlooking the mountain corridor, while Luminous scouts tracked two separate advances closing toward the same coastal region.

The eight red markers no longer represented eight independent battles. Their movements were gradually forming four coordinated campaigns across Noah’s world.

The two Viridian forces were reaching toward the same network of rivers and roads. Varkesh’s enemy formations threatened separate cities while forcing the empire to divide its reserves between them.

In Skargrim, the two landing zones were working toward control of a corridor connecting the valley and plateau.

Across Luminous territory, both Draeven forces continued closing on the port from different directions.

Noah watched the fronts shift through the night as the goblin armies conducted controlled withdrawals where direct defense offered little benefit.

Several villages were evacuated, a Varkesh bridgehead expanded, and a Skargrim pass fell under Draeven control after its defenders repositioned deeper into the mountains.

None of the goblin armies had broken or lost the ability to fight. Their commanders were preserving manpower, shortening vulnerable fronts, and choosing future battlefields instead of allowing tanks and artillery to dictate every engagement.

The Draeven armies nevertheless succeeded in establishing something the earlier rounds had never achieved.

They now possessed guarded supply roads, fortified camps, artillery positions, repaired crossings, and occupied settlements from which later operations could begin.

Noah looked across the expanding enemy-controlled areas and stopped thinking about how quickly the goblins could destroy the ten thousand invaders.

Round Five had already survived the stage when earlier invasion forces were usually surrounded and dismantled.

The problem had changed completely. His civilizations now had to learn how to conduct a prolonged campaign against an enemy that possessed enough manpower, equipment, and logistics to remain on the planet for as long as the round required.