Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (34 page)

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Adder led the strategy meeting of Smoke's private army outside the emergency shelter. Smoke's second-in-command disseminated the information he was given.
"Smoke is coming here as soon as he can. Until then, we have to hold our own. He was cut off before he could finish giving me all the information, but I believe he already gave us enough." stated Adder.
"As you might already know, not all of us at are at 100%. That is why Ledur and I have decided to gamble on using him as bait. He's already outside as we speak, preparing for the monsters' arrival."
Espion raised his hand. "Should we start evacuating the Banalites now?"
"No, not just yet, but that important task is assigned to you. If we fire a red flare, you'll lead them away through the back gate. We've cleared out most of the dangerous monsters and beasts in the area around it."
Espion nodded and thought about how he would explain the situation to Banal's village chief, Sot.
"These five Gargantuan Goblins are expected to be even tougher than Mitleid, with life bars of 450,000 HP." Adder said as calmly as possible, as to not aggravate certain members.
Instantly, Rasant, Stark and Weise made loud noises. They clearly disagreed that a goblin could be stronger than the former King of Maneators.
"Quiet, please!" Adder said in a raised voice.
"Jinggu, Vijaya, Ichaival and the Banalite volunteers will take their positions on top of the third wall." Adder pointed to the two Hunters and they nodded in acknowledgement.
"The rest of us will wait for them in front of the third gate. We have less than twenty minutes left before the Gargantuan Goblins arrive. If there are no more questions, I'd like to remind you all of one more thing." Adder's voice trailed off as everyone present spoke in unison.
"Your top priority is your own life."
Smoke's private army members laughed as they repeated what Smoke would always tell them. Swiftly, everyone went towards their designated spots in an organized manner.
As they got into position, Ichaival spoke out loudly. "450,000 HP? Ha! That's just about the same as a war elephant; the Tikbalangs alone killed one of those. This'll be a piece of cake." he said cheerfully to brighten up the mood. Even though he had trouble convincing himself.
In less than five minutes, Adder and everyone else got into their respective positions. They found Ledur collapsed outside the third wall.
It appeared that he overworked himself while preparing for the incoming Gargantuan Goblins.
"Looks like Ledur won't wake up in time." Adder said out loud, "Someone take him inside." Two of the Tikbalangs carefully carried Ledur away.
"So, what are we going to do about the bait?" asked Weise.
Adder looked up to the brunette Huntress on the third wall. "Vijaya, could you come down here,  please?"
Vijaya was briefly given a rundown of Adder and Ledur's initial plan. Without hesitation, Vijaya agreed.
The main gate was intentionally left open and there was once again a wide opening in the second wall. This established a straight line of sight from the main gate to the third wall.
Forty meters away from the second wall's opening, Vijaya stood alone, accompanied only by her six falcons perched on her customized staff.
Adder and the rest of Smoke's private army remained near the gate of the third wall, where the arrows of the Banalite volunteers could still reach.
THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP!
Thundering footsteps echoed throughout Banal as five bulky Gargantuan Goblins went through its main gate.
All of the nearby houses along the path were vandalized by the three-meter-tall monsters. They smashed the Banalites' homes with their fists. Shards of broken glass scattered, pieces of wood were all over the streets and chunks of stone foundations were littered everywhere.
The five monsters continued with their rampage as they headed towards the second wall. As soon as the monsters came through it, Vijaya let loose her arrows and attacked the closest Gargantuan Goblin.
Despite being told that these monsters had high defense, she still couldn't believe that her fire arrows only dealt 970 damage points.
The attack did nothing to slow down the monster's charge. Another goblin ran beside it and both monsters were getting ready to pounce on Vijaya when the ground they stepped on suddenly started to collapse.
"Ayyyyyyyyyyy!"
Both Gargantuan Goblins started to fall into a trench that was eighteen meters deep and a hundred meters wide. Both monsters' hands were flailing all over, desperately trying to grab hold of something.
This was the only remaining trench that Gobble Goblins didn't reach during their earlier attack. Hearing about the size of Gargantuan Goblins, Ledur had been working on increasing its depth from ten to twenty meters, but collapsed before he could finish.
After she successfully lured the goblins into the trench, Vijaya's six falcons instantly started flapping their wings in unison. With all their might, they carried her back to the top of the third wall.
The three remaining Gargantuan Goblins that lagged behind jumped towards the edge of the trench. They slid down on their bellies and had their hands stretched out in an attempt to save their falling kin.
Adder saw this and instantly ordered his Condortlian Warriors to aim for those Gargantuan Goblins. Each goblin received ten throwing spears, which distracted them from catching their two brothers.
Each throwing spear's damage was only 750 points. All three goblins displayed the same life bar of (442,500/450,000 HP).
Meanwhile, the fallen Gargantuan Goblins received a damage of 41,000 points as they were pierced by the wooden spikes.
The three Gargantuan Goblins quickly went around the trench. Two of them took the shorter route while the other one took the longer.
Despite their bulky appearance, the Gargantuan Goblins showed bursts of speed as they were rapidly approaching Adder and his men in front of the third wall.
Adder turned towards the Tikbalangs and pointed two fingers to the stray goblin. They gave him a nod and immediately dashed to intercept it.
Next, he pointed to the leftmost of the other two gigantic monsters and the Condortlian Warriors readied themselves to engage it. Half of them were equipped with bastard swords and round shields while the other half had their throwing spears at the ready.
"Weise, I leave the other one to you. Lead your brothers well!" shouted Adder as he focused on leading his Condortlian brethren.
Weise, Stark and Rasant stared at their assigned monster. Even though the goblin was still a few meters away, it was clearly visible that Stark was slightly taller than it.
As soon as the charging goblin came within range, Stark swung his Rzeka glaive wildly. He expected the goblin to be blasted away and couldn't believe it when the goblin caught his attack with ease.
Both of the goblin's hands held onto Stark's weapon firmly. The glaive was pried off from Stark's hands and thrown over to the side. Stark locked hands with the Gargantuan Goblin and tried to force it down on its knees.
However, a different scenario occurred when Stark was the one being forced down. "You are...stronger than Stark? Only King Mitleid...was stronger than Stark!" The red Maneator roared in disbelief.
Rasant, the fastest of the Maneators, swiftly reached the Gargantuan Goblin's back. In a single motion, he wrapped both of his barbed whips around the monster's neck and pulled on them as hard as he could.
The orange Maneator was surprised to see that the damage inflicted with his strangulation attack was only twenty points per second. "Weise, I thought you said my attack should deal at least a hundred points per second?"
"It isn't? Looks like we've got ourselves a real challenge here." said Weise.
The gray Maneator used this opportunity to get close to the goblin and started slashing the common critical areas of a humanoid-type monster. Smoke taught him to first slash the tendons that connected their limbs.
"Rasant, move to the left. Stark, I need you to give it more power." Weise instructed as he kept slashing the Gargantuan Goblin,"Brothers, remember Mitleid's last words. We've got to spread the great Maneator name across the world and serve King Smoke until he conquers all of Zectas."
Despite Weise's morale-boosting speech, his flamdius could only do 1,175 damage points to the Gargantuan Goblin, but he didn't let this bother him.
As he raised his right hand for another swing, he saw Stark suddenly being lifted from the ground and thrown over to where he was.
Both Weise and Stark were blown away to the side. Rasant, who still had his two barbed whips around the goblin's neck, went flying through the air as soon as the goblin turned around, grabbed the barbed whips and pulled him forward.
Rasant could only watch the goblin's fist coming closer and closer. He released both his whips and twisted his body around. Thanks to this, he managed to plant his hooves on the ground.
Despite Rasant's evasive action, the Gargantuan Goblin's fist still reached his body and he was punched down to the ground. The monster then kicked Rasant and flipped his body over. Now that Rasant's back was exposed, it started to clobber him with fists.
"Ayiii ayiiii yiiii yiii yiii yiii." said the Gargantuan Goblin in Gobberish. It lifted Rasant up and threw him towards his two brothers.
After they caught Rasant safely, Weise checked their life bars. Weise's life bar displayed (323,104/331,000 HP), while Stark's showed (382,298/389,000 HP).
It was Rasant's life bar, which displayed (98,325/218,500 HP), that made the gray Maneator worry. Weise looked at the goblin in front of them and dreaded what he saw.
Despite their coordinated attack, the Gargantuan Goblin still had (410,875/450,000 HP) left on its life bar.

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Near the trench, twenty Tikbalangs bravely intercepted the rogue Gargantuan Goblin. The cursed Centaurs divided into three groups and intended to overwhelm it with their superior numbers.
Six Tikbalangs went to the monster's sides, while the other eight faced it head on. The Tikbalangs attacked using a buddy-system.
The initiating Tikbalang duo saw the goblin cross its arms in defense as it charged towards them. A pair of hooves went past the monster's defenses and imprinted on its chest. The Tikbalangs were shocked to see that even with their new weapons, they only managed to do 1,050 damage points per hit.
The first pair of Tikbalangs moved to the side and gave the ones next in line their turn to attack. They were constantly moving, in preparation for the goblin's counterattack.
However, the Gargantuan Goblin did nothing but defend. Due to the goblin's passive demeanor, the Tikbalangs kept using the same attack pattern.
Then, as one of the Tikbalang duos finished their attack, their arms were interlocked with the goblin's.
"Aaargh!" cried out both of the caught Tikbalangs. They were in agonizing pain, with their elbow joints being bent the wrong way.
The rest of the Tikbalangs instantly backed off. They still had the Gargantuan Goblin completely surrounded. Suddenly, the two captured Tikbalangs were lifted up from the ground and being slowly carried off in the direction of the trench.
Five Tikbalangs stood in front of the monster and tried to stop its advance with their hoof strikes. The Gargantuan Goblin did not budge and only kept on walking.
Seeing that their attacks were ineffective, the Tikbalangs in front of the goblin stopped attacking and resorted to forcefully pushing the monster, but they weren't strong enough to do so.
The rest of them fought in a frenzied state. They wanted to attack the monster at the same time, but there wasn't enough room around it for all of them.
Blow after the blow, the Tikbalangs wildly delivered their strongest attacks to the goblin's back, sides and head, but they still couldn't force it to release its grip on their two captured brothers.
The caught Tikbalang duo fought back. They tried to do a headbutt, but they couldn't reach the goblin's head. They tried to bite its tough black skin, but their teeth could only do 10 damage per second.
They even resorted to kicking the Gargantuan Goblin's shins, which resulted in 50 damage points per hit. Despite the Tikbalangs' low damage, their collective steady attacks slowly lowered the Gargantuan Goblin's life bar to (389,400/450,000 HP).
Hoof strikes to the head inflicted the most damage, reaching up to 1,550 points. With their relentless attacks continuing, the Gargantuan Goblin finally stopped walking a couple of meters away from the trench.
Yet it was the Tikbalangs who felt that they were the ones being cornered. In one solid motion, the goblin performed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree turn, knocking some of the Tikbalangs to the ground.
The monster then took two steps forward and threw the Tikbalangs it held towards the trench which held two more Gargantuan Goblins. The Tikbalangs in front of it tried to catch their brothers, but they were all suddenly tackled by the goblin.
The two Tikbalangs desperately screamed as they fell down the trench.
 

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Fifteen Condortlian Warriors equipped with round shields and bastard swords, circled around their designated Gargantuan Goblin, but the monster did not cower in front of their formation.
Instead, it pulled back its left fist and smashed it into one of the round shields. Its bearer was blasted away, tumbling down head first.
Fortunately, the skull-helm and round shield gave the Warrior ample protection from the hard ground. Despite this, he still received a devastating damage of 14,000 points. The Warrior's life bar revealed (110,750/124,750 HP).  
The Warriors outside of the formation attacked with throwing spears. Shortly afterwards, a rain of arrows followed the spears.
Ichaival lead the Banalite volunteers from the on top of the third wall. Although they've only just recently learned how to handle the bow, they were still able to hit their mark half of the time.
The Banalites fired their arrows in long intervals ,as their attack speed was even slower than Jinggu's ballista. Additionally, each of their attacks could only deal 30 points of damage to the Gargantuan Goblin.
Ichaival ordered his falcon to carefully synchronize with the Banalites' attacks, as it dove in whenever their arrows landed. Ichaival however, kept on attacking with his Phantom Arrows, which launched six arrows at once. With his pinpoint accuracy, he was sure to hit only the goblin.
Each of Ichaival's arrows could only do 840 damage points and his falcon's talons could only do 80, but they still kept on with their puny attacks.
Smoke inculcated two things to his private army. First was to always be cautious, especially when their lives are on the line. Second was that no matter what the circumstances are, they should always give it their all.
Ichaival and the Banalites continued with their ranged attacks as the Gargantuan Goblin did nothing to defend against them nor did it try to avoid Ichaival's diving falcon.
The monster was solely focused on the shield-bearing Warriors.
Whenever the goblin moved, so did the circle of Condortlian Warriors. After two minutes, the goblin's life bar displayed (340,800/450,000 HP).
Adder and his men were steadily reducing the goblin's health. Unfortunately, the Gargantuan Goblin did not move as expected.
It suddenly sprinted towards the third wall. The Warriors in front of the Gargantuan Goblin were forced to run backwards, while the Warriors behind it chased after the monster.
Then, the goblin stopped in its tracks, turned around and ran straight for the Warriors chasing after it. It caught two of the shield-bearers off-guard and pushed them hard to the ground.
Its fists relentlessly pummeled the fallen Warriors as it stood over them.
The Warriors closest to them brandished their bastard swords and slashed the Gargantuan Goblin, but the monster simply responded with several jabs, knocking back back its attackers.
Each of the goblin's strikes to the pinned-down Condortlian Warriors dealt 20,000 damage points. They only had 20% of their life bars left. One more attack and the two of them would be done for.
Adder leapt over the Condortlian Warriors. With both his hands on his double-bladed BlitzSturm, he pierced through the goblin's black skin and plunged the sword deep into the Gargantuan Goblin's shoulder.
Adder inflicted the highest damage yet: 9,999 points. The monster cried out in pain as it reached out to grab its attacker.
Adder forcibly removed his BlitzSturm and rolled away, as he couldn't land properly after dodging the goblin's attempt of catching him. The monster looked at Adder with pure anger.
It raised its arms high in the air. Before Adder could return for another attack, the Gargantuan Goblin slammed both of its fists into the Warriors' skulls, killing them.