The goblins did not retreat after their first wave was repelled.
They were gathering strength, and by the next assault, it would be impossible for Luo En and a dozen soldiers to hold the line.
Watching the goblin numbers swell, the soldiers who had barely survived the first wave began to tense up.
After all, they were just patrol troops.
As second-line forces, it was impressive that they had withstood a wave.
The true elite of the Royal Capital Guard were the knights.
Unfortunately, the only knight left here was Luo En; the previous knights were likely already dead and gone.
Even so, the soldiers maintained basic discipline. Though afraid, no one abandoned their post without orders.
This gave Luo En more confidence in the upcoming retreat.
“Brothers.”
Luo En stepped on a goblin corpse, his voice, already familiar to the soldiers, immediately caught everyone’s attention.
“We’re going to retreat… strategic advance!”
Saying “retreat” directly was too sensitive. Luo En wasn’t sure if any of these Royal Capital Guard soldiers were the type who valued honor above life, so he used a neutral term.
That’s right, it wasn’t a retreat; they were simply choosing a strategic advance due to temporary disadvantage.
Look, in the last wave, they hadn’t lost a single person. Apart from that knight Tang Deli who died acting recklessly and the few unlucky ones he took with him, how much fighting strength had Luo En preserved for the capital this time?
The Duke should be thanking him.
Fortunately, these soldiers were still sane; they knew they had families above ground, so no one wanted to fight to the death in the sewers.
After hearing Luo En’s command, every soldier praised him from the bottom of their hearts.
“Don’t lose your formation! Retreat in order, in two groups! Spearmen first, shield soldiers behind, understand!”
Luo En was no military novice. Baron Ili had not been lax in educating him on this matter, which meant Luo En knew exactly the nature of the second-line troops under his command.
Without his restraint, this strategic advance would definitely turn into a rout.
The blue-armored soldiers began to orderly withdraw from the camp under Luo En’s organization, while Luo En himself walked at the very back of the column with Astraea.
Of course, it wasn’t that he voluntarily took the rear; it was just that Astraea needed to keep an eye on whether that goblin mage on the opposite side would make any moves.
Under Luo En’s organization, the blue-armored soldiers maintained their previous formation and slowly retreated backward. But Luo En did not let down his guard; he knew this was actually the most dangerous time.
Sure enough, upon seeing the humans’ intention to retreat, the goblin mage couldn’t wait to replenish goblin numbers. It let out a “Grawk!” and the goblins excitedly charged out.
This time, the four hobgoblins were at the forefront.
“Looks like that goblin over there has a bit of brains, but not much.”
Astraea pursed her lips and casually disrupted the goblin mage’s spellcasting once again.
It knew it wasn’t time to break with the humans, yet it couldn’t suppress its predatory desire and couldn’t resist attacking this camp.
Now it was even willing to take casualties to wipe out the humans in one fell swoop.
“Enhance!”
Astraea casually slapped a buff spell on Luo En’s head. Luo En immediately felt his burden lighten considerably.
The blue-armored knight, staring at the little elf, suddenly lifted his longsword and sent several goblins flying high into the air, then they fell back among the goblins.
“Victory!”
There was no time to retreat. The Royal Capital Guard soldiers’ morale soared. The shield-bearing swordsmen raised their shields and struck, forcibly stopping the green tide in its tracks.
It seemed like they were back to the previous situation: hundreds of goblins charging against a few dozen humans’ defense line, but without causing any casualties.
The crude wooden clubs in the goblins’ hands couldn’t cause much damage to the fully armored soldiers. If it were just ordinary goblins, it would take many sacrifices to overwhelm this unit.
“Grawk!”
A hobgoblin that was about to crash into a human shield was kicked in the side by Luo En. The kick, delivered without holding back, sent the hobgoblin sprawling sideways. The shield swordsman whom Luo En had saved had cold sweat on his forehead.
“Thank you, sir.”
The swordsman’s thanks reached Luo En through the noisy environment, but Luo En had no time to respond.
There was more than one hobgoblin. The remaining three hobgoblins crashed into the human defense line.
Several swordsmen were sent flying backward, and the originally solid defense line suddenly had a gap.
Luo En had received military training, yes, but such unexpected situations were exactly where his experience was lacking.
‘Dad never taught me about this!’
The squire’s mind raced frantically, desperately trying to come up with a response.
Just as he was mechanically swinging his longsword in confusion, Astraea, sitting on his shoulders, patted his head and shouted, “Luo En! Go kill that mage!”
Inspiration shot through his mind like lightning. Luo En understood the little elf’s intention almost immediately.
He ordered loudly, “Tighten the defense line!”
The soldiers, now having a clear order, immediately had a backbone. The shield swordsmen began to close in with their comrades.
Luo En charged toward the goblin mage.
He couldn’t face four hobgoblins alone. Why not just behead the goblin commander instead?
Besides, the four hobgoblins’ main task was probably to protect the commander. With this move, he might even lure the hobgoblins away.
Though “might” is too uncertain a word for military operations, Luo En didn’t have many choices at the moment. He had to take a gamble!
With his two-meter-tall frame and heavy armor, Luo En was like a giant among the goblins.
The goblins, focused only on charging, could not stop Luo En’s advance at all. Wearing blue heavy armor, Luo En didn’t even need to swing his sword; his sheer momentum scattered the goblins.
The blue knight moved against the green tide. Seeming to have understood Luo En’s intention, the goblin mage let out an angry cry.
“Gawk!”
A spell was about to take shape in its hand. Astraea rolled her eyes and then reached out to manipulate the elements around the goblin mage.
The spell flickered a few times, then fizzled out due to insufficient elements.
“Charge, Luo En!”
While interfering, Astraea held a straight sword in her other hand and didn’t forget to cheer Luo En on.
Though Luo En was a bit tall as a mount for the little elf, the straight sword in her hand could still barely reach the short goblins.
Now Luo En only needed to charge, and Astraea helped him deal with the goblins that seemed threatening.
There weren’t many such goblins. Even though the little elf had to divide her attention to disrupt the goblin mage’s casting, she could still handle it.
Hearing the goblin mage’s cry, the few hobgoblins abandoned their human targets and ran toward Luo En.
The goblins along the way actually became obstacles for them. At this moment, Luo En was only five meters away from the goblin mage!
Luo En’s eyes showed a fierce glint. With a roar, he leaped up.
The five-meter distance was crossed in an instant. The longsword in Luo En’s hand swung down in the goblin mage’s terrified gaze.
“Gawk!”
Just managing a single scream, the goblin mage was cleaved in two by Luo En’s sword.
With the commander dead, the remaining ordinary goblins fell into chaos. Without the goblin mage to suppress their nature, they immediately entered a state of infighting.
They attacked everything around them madly. They wouldn’t stop until a new goblin leader was decided through combat.
As for the four hobgoblins, they entered a state of rage. They began to smash aside any goblin that dared to block them and then charged at Luo En with increased speed.
Luo En held his longsword, the tip raised, in a posture ready for a fierce battle.
However, the little elf, now freed from the task of watching the enemy mage, recast an Air Purification Magic on herself.
“Hehe~ You don’t need to worry about these small fry. Watch me.”
Astraea reached out and touched Luo En’s longsword: “Enchant.”
Luo En saw a magic circuit appear on his longsword, unsure of its effect.
“Use your mana core to take over and channel the elements.”
Astraea said, and Luo En obediently did as told.
With freed up energy, the little elf carefully crafted an even more refined magic circuit than before: “Enhance.”
“Holy shit!”
Luo En couldn’t help it. With Astraea’s enhancement spell, he felt he could use the longsword like a straight sword.
“Okay, you’ve been enhanced. Now go!”
The little elf slapped Luo En’s shoulder and jumped off him, also cutting down a few ordinary goblins that had surrounded them.
“What about you?”
Feeling the weight vanish from his body, Luo En couldn’t help but worry a little.
But after seeing Astraea perform a beautiful sword flourish, he felt relieved.
The little elf was only weaker than him in basic strength. In terms of swordsmanship, these goblins couldn’t do anything to her.
As long as Luo En moved quickly, he was fully capable of finishing the four hobgoblins and then coming back to pick up the little elf.
Without the little elf riding on his head, Luo En was unbound. He no longer hesitated. He took a step forward and then swung his sword at the hobgoblin that was a head taller than him.
The blade of the longsword met the thick wooden club in the hobgoblin’s hand. Luo En had prepared for a contest of strength, but to his surprise, the sword directly split the club and cut a gash into the hobgoblin.
Luo En was stunned, but quickly recovered. He turned his sword and stabbed the hobgoblin through.
He twisted hard and then pulled back the sword. There wasn’t a trace of blood on it. Luo En could see that the magic circuit had dimmed slightly, and his own mana had been consumed a bit.
The hobgoblin, with two hearts destroyed, fell to the ground in frustration. Luo En then faced the next hobgoblin.
Now, he was fearless!