I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 204: First Wave

Chapter 204: First Wave

Only a few minutes after the horn was blown, they heard galloping as Gunnar on horseback came closer to the wall. He went to one of their boxes full of supplies and found a long shield that would allow him to remain on his horse as he swept through the goblins that were coming closer.

Sir Sven approached the wall and stood at the bottom of the ladder.

"Leif, arm yourself with a shield and lance," he ordered. "You will be testing your abilities behind Sir Gunnar and with Elon. I will take up duties on the wall with Iro."

"Yes, sir," he responded.

At this, Leif hopped over the fire and gave Sven space. He then scaled down the rope ladder near Irene and jumped when he was a few feet from the ground.

When Sven was on top of the wall with Irene, he handed her a few arrows covered in tallow and cloth.

"Fire arrows, sir?" she asked.

"The other knights and I were discussing strategies before," he admitted. "We are going to treat this black poison like black magic and hope that the theory is correct. The only way knights can stand up against magical spells tends to be what?"

She hadn’t been quizzed like that in quite a while, but she knew the answer almost immediately.

"Fire," she responded in disbelief. "I surely hope that this is the answer."

The goblins were much closer, and Gunnar waited for Leif to get on horseback before he charged towards the first few approaching.

"Don’t hold back, Iro," Sven said as he lowered his first arrow into the burning fire.

Following his lead, Irene readied the arrow on her bow and she tipped it forward until the covered arrowhead was in the fire.

Unfortunately, arrows covered like that went a shorter distance, but when they hit the ground, especially in the dry grasses of autumn, it was sure to catch fire and hopefully do something to the goblins that dared bother them.

She didn’t know if the theory that they needed to stay close to the black poison was being proven true or not because she wasn’t entirely sure what was underneath the ground that it seemed like the goblins were able to appear so suddenly.

Irene took a deep, calming breath and held it as she pulled the bowstring taught. She lined up a shot in what seemed to be a dense group of goblins, and she released the bowstring effortlessly.

All she could do was lower the weapon and watch as the arrow flew and hit where she was hoping it would. It blocked the path of a few going forward and landed on a couple of others. She saw that at least one was on fire, but what was more damaging to them was the grass that caught on fire below them.

Taking advantage of their panic, Sir Sven lined up his shot in much of the same way, and he stunned the goblins who were already panicking due to the sudden arrival of flames.

While they were more intelligent than they were before, they were still a far cry from humans. There wasn’t such a thing as logic in their brains, even if they seemed like they were actually thinking for once.

Between the two of them, five fire arrows were shot off, and they had affected the goblins, but they weren’t sure if it was merely because they were getting burned or not.

"We ought to fight at closer quarters now," Sir Sven directed. "It’s as if they’ve been thrown off course and are running in circles more than moving towards us now. I think that was the goal."

Irene put her bow over the sheath on her back so it would stay secure, and she then took to the rope ladders where she jumped off effortlessly. When she was at the bottom, she looked up to see Sir Sven doing the same.

They both then took off to the dry field that was burning, and they caught up to a few straggler goblins that strayed from the group.

"Power in numbers!" Irene taunted as she raised her sword at the awful creatures.

She slashed one of their stomachs and was pleased as it fell to the ground below her.

However, as she went to raise her sword and finish off the job, she didn’t realize she had cut something strange at the monster’s side, and a concentrated cloud of black smoke erupted from the pouch and struck her right in the face.

Having breathed in an entire lung full of the potent substance, Irene stumbled backwards a few steps before she fell flat on her back, grabbing her throat when nothing more would enter her lungs. Air was unable to reach even her throat, and no noise would escape her lips.

Sven had to take on two more goblins before he realized something was wrong with Irene.

Since the goblin she should have taken care of by then was slowly standing, he chopped its head off with his massive sword. It wasn’t given another chance to stand again.

He turned to see Irene collapsed a few feet away, her hands were on her throat as she desperately tried to breathe. Her legs kicked as she panicked. She had never felt such an awful sensation in her entire life.

To her surprise, Sir Sven got onto his knees beside her and, when it seemed like he was going to help her, she dropped her hands.

What she wasn’t expecting was the man to take the glove off of one of his hands and violently shove his fingers down her throat.

All of a sudden, the black viscous substance that she was familiar with from the past came from her lips in a violent heave as she gagged on what she breathed in. The fact that it entered her nose and mouth and immediately turned into such disgusting black sludge was unbelievably alarming to her.

She threw up everything into the grass. What was first black and viscous eventually became her food from before and water.

Her throat felt like it was slashed in two. The sensation was so painful, but at least she could gasp for air.

The knight offered her a handkerchief, and she wiped the black from her face, realizing with slight embarrassment that the black substance was coming out of her nose as well.

"How did you know how to do that?" she asked, her voice practically gone from the trauma done to her throat.

"It was mostly a guess," Sven admitted with a heavy sigh. "Purging out whatever that is seems to be our surest chance. For a moment, I truly thought you were going to die."

"Thank you," she responded weakly.

However, their night wasn’t finished. Goblins still stood further out, so they both had to go and fight for their duchy.

By the time they were finished, morning was in full swing, and they were tasked with trying to sort out the bodies of the goblins and get any useful weapons or armor they had certainly stolen from the mess of what was left of the armory in the basement of the tower.

When they were finished sorting and had begun burning the bodies, Sir Gunnar turned to the entire group.

"Leif, Felix, Iro," he began. "You must find the mages. We need the mages now more than we ever have before."