The Golem Mage Chapter 1116: One More War With The Family 2.

Approximately five minutes after, every mage positioned on the battlefield was fully prepared and in position for combat.

Above all else, the atmosphere vibrated with an overwhelming sense of confidence.

This unwavering belief persisted until the spatial rift tore open, unleashing the horde of goblins they were slated to confront.

The sheer multitude of goblins was staggering, a sight that could induce despair in any onlooker. Yet, the Fourth Elder of the Gordons Clan maintained a resolute gaze forward, his courage unwavering, refusing to permit even a flicker of fear to mar his countenance.

He understood that if the already precarious mage army surrounding him were to perceive a lack of confidence in their leader, the engagement could very well be lost before it truly commenced.

For the very first time, the Gordons Clan had begun to truly believe in their own capabilities, no longer feeling the necessity to conceal their strength. Bolstered by the potent pills Alec had provided, they now possessed the means to cultivate a significant number of Tier 7 mages.

This newfound prowess was precisely why they had opted to secure the city's control for the foreseeable future, especially as they needed to acclimate themselves to the sensation of holding such power.

“Arrrghh! Attack!”

While the Fourth Elder of the Gordons Clan was lost in contemplation, the hobgoblin leading approximately thirty of its kin, upon spotting the ubiquitous Gordons emblem emblazoned on numerous flags, seemed to fly into a frenzy.

Without hesitation, it propelled its entire force forward, intent on annihilating the perceived opposition.

Following their previous defeat, the surviving goblins had retreated and disseminated detailed accounts of their encounter. Consequently, the Gordons Clan had begun to forge a formidable reputation within the second dimension as the persistent bane of goblin attempts to conquer the city and establish a beachhead in the human realm.

This notoriety had compelled the goblins to investigate the human methods of clan selection for battlefield assignments, as they were certain it wasn't a coincidence that they encountered the Gordons so frequently.

Fortuitously for them, their chieftain, whose life's ambition was the destruction of that very city, possessed some insight into the human allocation system, gleaned from his numerous prior campaigns.

Despite his significantly improved combat record since joining the Wind Goblins, the unquenchable desire to conquer the city remained.

He had personally assured his goblin troops that they would not encounter any Gordons clansmen on this particular battlefield, and even in the unlikely event of such an encounter, his army was expected to decisively overwhelm them.

To that end, they had deployed nearly double the force from their previous assault, excluding the elite goblin warriors, whom he deemed too valuable to risk in a standard engagement.

However, the very first entity the commander he had promoted encountered was the sight of Gordons flags waving triumphantly at the vanguard, causing him to lose all composure and instigate a full-scale, all-out conflict.

He was convinced that their superior numbers would enable them to crush the human forces, regardless of any other factor.

Even the high-ranking combatants were not exempt from this escalation, as the chieftain surged directly towards the position of the Gordons' elite mages, with the high-ranking mages from other human clans following closely behind.

_ _

Thirty minutes elapsed.

The battle had devolved into an extraordinarily brutal affair. Although the goblins attacked the human mages with a desperate fervor, the humans tenaciously held their ground, albeit at a significant cost in lives.

Yet, even those who perished ensured that they had felled at least five adversaries before succumbing.

They had all observed the Gordons mages meticulously tallying each kill, naturally adopting the same practice.

Amidst a conflict that threatened to engulf them entirely, clinging to something positive was their only recourse, and strangely, counting their fallen enemies instilled a sense of potency.

While they couldn't match the average kill count of the Gordons, they nonetheless found a peculiar enjoyment in the grim tally.

With their backs pressed against their comrades, they continued to count and compare their grim achievements with those nearby.

Nevertheless, a palpable draining of their strength permeated the air.

The sheer volume of remaining goblins was overwhelming; at this juncture, many harbored doubts about their survival.

Their sole hope was that they had inflicted sufficient casualties and would not be surpassed by their nearest companions before their end, a testament to the competitive spirit the Gordons had fostered even in their direst moments.

However, this grim state was confined to the lower-echelon battlefield. The mid-tier combat zone, conversely, appeared to be in a considerably more favorable situation.

Despite the Tier 6 goblins commanding the mid-rank forces holding a substantial numerical advantage over their Tier 6 human mage counterparts, they had been unable to secure any meaningful upper hand.

The underlying reason for this stalemate lay in two exceptionally gifted Tier 6 mages, against whom the goblins could find no effective countermeasure: Zack of the Gordons Clan and Mabel of the Coral Clan.

Zack possessed the presence of an immortal warrior, a general who led the charge directly, supported by a select group of specialized mages. These mages, having earned pills and resources from the clan for their past battle merits, far surpassed the capabilities of average Tier 6 mages. His bone golems fought valiantly alongside him, whereas Mabel operated more as a strategist-general. Facing a formidable number of goblins, she proposed the consolidation of all their forces. Under normal circumstances, such a proposition would be met with resistance, as an army can only have one commander, leading to a loss of personal authority. However, Draco had previously advised Zack that Mabel shared Alec's unique gift for perceiving the battlefield in a distinct way. Relying on this insight, Zack readily accepted her offer, and she pledged to deploy him where his skills were most critically needed.

As Zack spearheaded the assault with his bone golems flanking him, the other mages from the Gordons Clan, along with those from allied clans, were not far behind. The shared charge invigorated them, especially with their leader personally leading the attack from the forefront. Zack's direct involvement in the charge resulted in a significant number of goblin casualties the moment the two sides clashed, as he showed no restraint whatsoever. While Zack disrupted the enemy's front lines, Mabel skillfully divided the remaining human forces, maneuvering them to strike the goblins from the flanks. This maneuver executed a pincer attack against the goblins, who had been entirely fixated on breaking through the initial frontal assault. One of the figures leading this pincer attack was the Lanzt Patriarch, also equipped in his own spirit equipment set. This equipment dramatically amplified his attack power and overall threat level, exceeding the capacity of ordinary Tier 6 goblins to withstand. Furthermore, as he confronted the entirety of the mid-rank goblins on the battlefield, not all adversaries facing him were within the Tier 6 realm. Consequently, numerous goblins met their end from a single sweep of his dual sabers, as he was simply beyond their capabilities to counter.

Meanwhile, the engagement against the high-rank goblins proved considerably more challenging for the human mages. Their ranks showed a growing number of injured fighters, yet the goblins had still lost approximately seven of their Tier 7 warriors. Orion and his brother had joined forces to combat four Tier 7 goblins. Amidst this intense conflict, the Patriarch of the Aegisborn Clan unleashed an incredible surge of strength, cleaving one of the goblins facing him directly in half. Following this display, his spirit equipment set reverted to its charging state, and that terrifying burst of power entered a form of cooldown. The three remaining Tier 7 goblins now surrounding them were visibly filled with fear. This apprehension caused them to maintain their distance, which in turn made further immediate kills unlikely. With their inherently cautious nature, the goblins opted to stay further away, seeking opportunities to attack rather than risk drawing closer and becoming the next victim of the Aegisborn Patriarch's formidable battle axe, which bore a striking resemblance to a massive fang.