The World of Tactics

Chapter Three II: Forming The Crest

"War exists and death will happen. Every day, skirmishes on the roadside are common near the border of each kingdom. What is even more common was the skirmish with monsters on the roadside. Goblins were quite the occasion and those others were not rare as well. What is rarer is encountering monsters. It is not every day, but it does happen to those unfortunate." Commented by an old man carrying a huge ax.

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Even though it was his turn, he was still quite confused about the options that he had. What appeared before him was another set of options that he could do:

[Move]

[Item]

[Wait]

The moment after, he touches the [Move] option. On the map that he is viewing. He could see that his movement was limited to only four movements. Sadly, he could not move backward nor to the sides. The only real movement that he could go was through the front of the cart. He did a few experiments. Firstly, he could move anywhere within his allocated blue movement squares and the allocated blue movement squares are not more than four squares away from his original square.

Other than that, his movement does not end until he selects the [Wait] option. As for the [Item] option, he could move to any square within his allocated blue movement squares and the other two options will still be available. However, he could guess that any action that he enacted after moving would end his turn. While he does not need to move. He might end his turn when he selects the [Wait] option. He had also discovered another option after being one square adjacent to the horse that is currently pulling the cart. The other option that opened up was the [Attack] option.

Considering that he could attack the horse which is lighting up as a white horse unit within the map. A white unit could potentially be considered a neutral unit that could be attacked by allies or enemies at any point in time. While this is confusing, he could understand that attacking the horse is a demerit for the current situation. Since he knows that he is no match against the goblins if they g**g upon him. He ends his turn while inside the cart. For now, his motive is to wait and see how things turn out. He could escape the scene if necessary.

After his turn ends, he can still move. However, he finally realized something that horrified his entire life experience. The green soldier units were the next to move. The first to move was the leader who went straight into the area reachable by the goblins waiting for the ambush. The soldiers moved exactly five squares, but the leading soldier seemed to see the goblins that were sticking out from the bushes. To make matters worse, none of the goblins were close enough that the goblins were not within the attack range of the leading soldiers.

He had concluded that a melee could not attack those that were not adjacent to the square that they were in. In addition, those units moving might have some hidden visual square limitation which is why the leading soldier did not take notice of the goblins. It might have been the terrain buff that appears every single time his touch presses on one of the map squares. Now, the leading soldiers were obviously within the attacking range of two goblins already.

After the leading soldier becomes grayed out on the map, the next green soldier unit begins to move. He was horrified again after finally realizing something crazy. Supposedly, if the time were the same and the soldiers would move together. But, now everything inside this grid-like map is taking turns to move and the second green soldier unit that just moved was also within the attack range of the other two goblins on the other side of the road. This situation was quite bad considering that two of the soldiers would be ambushed right off the bat.

After four of the green soldier units ended their turn, it was the horse's turn or neutral turn. The horse did not move more than five spaces, even though it could have moved eight spaces. Quite realistic in their current situation. He could only sigh at their bad luck. Two green soldier units and a horse were within the movement range of four goblins. As expected, after the neutral end it turns. The corner of his vision turns red for a few seconds and in the middle of his vision says 'Enemy's Turn.' Then he regained clarity again afterward.

Through the see-through walls of the wooden cart, he could see that a goblin actually popped up and went directly towards the horse. The horse could only hopelessly wait for the club of the goblin to reach closer and closer. The horse was clobbered heavily on the shin and he saw a red negative four above the horse's health bar. The horse only had two defenses, while the strength along with the weapon attack modifier of the goblin adds up to a total of six damages. With just two defenses, it was obvious the horse had four damage.

Instantly, he could tell what the goblins were doing. Even the green soldiers could only helplessly stare at the goblin that clobbered the horse before the goblin ended its turn. The next goblin came swiftly and clobbered the other side of the horse and dealt a lot of damage to the horse (4 damage). Which totaled eight damages. The horse has officially suffered more than half of the horse's health bar. The horse only had fifteen healthy. Two more attacks from the other two goblins and the horse will be no more.

Luckily, the cart was mounted on the back of the horse, which took one square adjacent behind which obstructed the last goblin. The third goblin has one less strength than the first two. Just the small difference and the horse was left with four health points. The last goblin had no choice but to target one of the green soldiers within attack range. Due to the difference in levels and stats (Soldier at level 10 while goblin at level 6), the last goblin dealt one damage to the soldier. Meanwhile, he could see the sharp bronze lance stabbing into the goblin, which dealt a lot of damage in return (5 damage).

He observed the remaining goblins' movements. The remaining goblins also got closer to the edge of the bushes. However, he could get the gist of what the goblins were planning at that distance. He could tell that when the horse was in panic mode, it would flee ahead, which would carry the cart forward as well. Directly to the group of goblins lying in wait for the horse.

Just when he thought of it, it was his turn again. It was now or never. He made his move and grabbed his training lance and moved directly outside of the cart and moved to the left side of the cart and touched down on the dirt. Now he is right beside the leading soldiers and beside his turn then. He was able to move out of the three-by-four-square cart and was able to end his turn afterward. It was a good start for now.

It was the green soldier's turn. The leading soldier cries out after the things that have already transpired, "Goblins! Protect the young master!" The leading soldier had quite a charismatic voice, it was loud enough to startle him and the remaining soldiers awake. He had already known what was coming and that is why he got out of the cart, seeing the panicking horse on the horse's status. Only if he was in command was he able to control the green soldiers, but that is only if he could.

The leading soldier targeted the goblin on the left side of the horse. With an iron lance that has a plus-four damage modifier, including the leading soldier's strength and with the soldier's current weapon mastery (7 Strength + 1 weapon mastery). The attack in total was sitting exactly at twelve. This was close to the soldiers that his father was leading right at the moment. With the first strike, the leading soldier was able to deal exactly a sky-high-nine damage to the goblin. To which was way over half of the goblin's current health bar. He could see exactly how many the goblin's health points were left. It was sitting at five points.

When the leading soldier attacked the goblin, the goblin had to counterattack, which dealt zero damage due to the leading soldier's high defense of six points. The goblin could not deal any damage because the goblin's total attack was just six. The second soldier attacked the goblin that was already damaged and dealt another four damages. With this second attack, the goblin's current health plunged to four health points.

The goblin counter-attacked and dealt another damage to the second soldier. The third soldier on the right side of the cart took the chance to cover up the second soldier and killed off the low-health goblin. From his observation, he saw a "+5 EXP." For a goblin to provide that much experience for the soldier. That was a debatable amount of experience. Viewing the third soldier's status screen, he could see that this third soldier was getting closer to leveling up to eleven.

Then the final soldier took the chance and went to the left side of his. The soldier's action was admirable and it had effectively cut off one of the directions that the goblin could attack him. After the end of the last soldier's turn, it was the horse's turn now. As expected because of the fear effect on the horse. The horse knocked the first goblin's head-on, which dealt five damage. The two other goblins adjacent to the horse also got rammed by the cart the horse was pulling, which deals four damage for each attack. Too bad, the horse truly went into the encirclement of the grouped-up goblins.

Due to his fast thinking, he was able to escape the encirclements. Just when he thought that he could get a breather. He finally realized that he was exposed on two sides. The goblin that had one health remaining set its target on him and clobbered his stomach. The point of impact set his stomach ablaze with pain. He yelped like an injured dog. However, he gritted his teeth in instinctual fear and stabbed forward. His training lance plunged into the goblin and at the tip of the lance was the breathless corpse of the goblin.

He had witnessed the death of the first goblin and he had only felt a mild disgust in his stomach. Now, being the one to end the other's life. He threw up everything he had in the afternoon in one huge mouthful. Before he could adjust himself, mentally. When the goblin that attacked him died, the square that was occupied was opened up. Another goblin took the place of the now-dead goblin and smacked his head. The pain was immense, but he somehow managed to release his lance from the cold corpse and dealt a counter stab. He was not given any rest at all and the last nearby goblin was able to move to the other open adjacent square and give him another smack. This time, the goblin wounded his left arm and had a little anger swelling from the pain. He stabbed his last thrust.

It might have been the three throbbing pains. He felt his eyes heavy. He fell onto the ground with a thud and his vision blackened. The only thing that he could see afterward was a system message that said: "Levelled Up!" His mind then blanks from the pain and into the dream world he goes to.