My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 72: Blood on the Battlements

The assault bridge slammed onto Eastwatch’s battlement with enough force to shake the upper level of the siege tower. The wooden platform bounced once against the stone before settling between the two forces that had been waiting only a few yards apart.

Viridian shield-bearers surged forward almost immediately, obeying the assault officer’s command before the Caldris defenders could attempt to dislodge the bridge. The first goblin crossed with his shield covering most of his body, but a human spear struck the upper edge and drove him sideways.

A second spear slipped past his defense and entered his shoulder. He stumbled, nearly falling from the bridge, before the soldiers behind him pushed forward and carried him with them toward the battlement.

The humans were already formed into a compact line. Their shields overlapped across the narrow section of wall, and long spears extended between them toward the bridge.

The first goblin to actually reach the stone was struck hard enough to spin him around. Another managed to block a thrust, duck beneath the spearhead, and crash shoulder-first into the nearest human shield. The difference in size immediately became apparent.

The Caldris soldier barely moved, while the smaller goblin staggered from the impact. A sword came down toward his exposed side, but another Viridian shield intercepted it before a spear thrust from behind the goblin line forced the human defender back.

"Keep moving!" the assault officer shouted from inside the tower. "Do not stop on the bridge!"

More goblins pushed forward. The narrow crossing prevented them from using the numbers waiting inside the tower, forcing only a few soldiers to fight at a time. The first bodies fell almost immediately. One wounded goblin collapsed across the bridge and was dragged aside by soldiers behind him before he could completely block the path.

Another was struck in the chest and fell backward, knocking two comrades against the wooden railing. The humans attempted to exploit every moment of disorder, stabbing over their shields whenever the Viridian line hesitated.

The assault officer quickly understood that trying to overpower the defenders through a straight push would fail. The human soldiers were larger, heavier, and positioned on solid stone while the goblins crossed from a narrow bridge. Every attempt to meet their shield wall directly favored Caldris.

"Stop pushing high!" he shouted. "Go low! Knees and legs!"

The front ranks adjusted almost immediately. Goblin shield-bearers crouched lower, allowing the human spears to strike downward at awkward angles.

Short swords stabbed beneath shields rather than trying to reach chests. Axes hooked around the lower edges of human defenses. A Viridian soldier dropped nearly to one knee and drove his blade into the thigh of the man opposite him.

The human screamed and collapsed backward into his own line, creating the first real opening.

Two goblins forced themselves through it.

The Caldris formation immediately contracted around them. One was struck across the side of the head and dropped. The other buried an axe into the rim of a human shield and pulled it aside long enough for a spear from behind him to strike the defender beneath the ribs.

More Viridian troops reached the battlement before the humans could close the gap completely.

Within moments, the clean shield wall became a confused melee.

The battlement was too narrow for either side to maneuver freely. Human soldiers tried to use their greater reach, but once goblins slipped inside their spear points, the advantage became harder to maintain.

Short blades and axes became brutally effective at close distance. Viridian troops attacked arms, thighs, knees, and exposed gaps beneath shields while Caldris soldiers responded with heavier blows that could throw a goblin backward even when they failed to penetrate armor.

One human shield-bearer slammed forward with enough force to lift a goblin from his feet. The smaller soldier disappeared over the outer edge of the wall before anyone could catch him.

Another goblin was struck by a sword across the shoulder and fell against the battlement, where a human spear finished him before his comrades could pull him away.

The assault officer stepped onto the bridge himself.

He saw immediately how close the attack was to failing.

The humans had already pushed the first Viridian troops several feet back toward the siege tower. Bodies crowded the stones. The goblins nearest the wall were fighting almost shoulder to shoulder with no space to retreat and barely enough room to swing their weapons.

"Brace!" he shouted.

The soldiers behind the front line planted their feet.

"Do not match their strength. Hold them and cut around the shields!"

He entered the battlement behind the front ranks and drove his sword beneath the arm of a Caldris soldier attempting to shove another goblin backward. The human staggered, and three Viridian troops immediately filled the space.

Far below, Grand Marshal Rakhar Veyr watched the first siege tower through his viewing tube. He could not see the details of the fighting beyond flashes of movement and the changing positions of helmets above the battlements, but the fact that Viridian soldiers remained visible on the wall told him the bridge had not been cleared.

"Ballistas left and right of the tower," Rakhar ordered. "Keep their reinforcements under cover."

Viridian ballistas adjusted their aim toward neighboring sections of the eastern wall. Heavy bolts struck wooden shields and defensive positions farther along the battlement, forcing human troops to move carefully whenever they tried to approach the fighting. Catapults continued bombarding more distant towers, their stones deliberately shifted away from the section where Viridian soldiers were now engaged.

The second siege tower was still advancing.

Caldris officers noticed it as well.

Human horns sounded from farther along the eastern wall. Soldiers who had been moving toward the first tower abruptly changed direction, several units breaking away to prepare for the second approaching machine. Rakhar saw the movement and understood immediately that the pressure was beginning to divide Eastwatch’s defenders.

At the first foothold, the assault officer noticed the same thing only through its consequences. The human counterattack in front of him suddenly stopped receiving fresh bodies as quickly.

"Forward three paces!" he shouted. "No farther!"

The goblins surged.

They did not attempt to run down the battlement. Instead, they fought only to create space around the bridge. Shield-bearers pushed outward in a rough semicircle while spearmen stabbed between them. Crossbowmen from the upper level of the siege tower fired whenever human soldiers exposed themselves behind the fighting line.

A bolt struck a Caldris officer in the upper chest and sent him backward.

The human formation faltered for a heartbeat.

Viridian exploited it immediately.

Several goblins rushed forward and dragged one wounded human aside while others occupied the space he had left. The foothold widened from barely enough room for the first ranks to stand into a section large enough for incoming soldiers to form behind them.

The humans responded with another organized counterattack.

A fresh group of professional infantry advanced along the battlement under overlapping shields. Spears extended over the front line. They moved steadily rather than charging, compressing the goblins back toward the siege tower inch by inch.

The assault officer saw what they were doing.

"Rear ranks, brace the front!"

Viridian soldiers behind the shield line pressed their shoulders into the backs of those ahead. The human formation hit them like a moving wall. Several goblins lost their footing. One fell beneath the others and disappeared from sight. Another was forced backward until his heels nearly reached the edge of the battlement.

The entire Viridian position contracted.

The assault officer slashed at a spearhead that passed beside him and shouted for the front rank to drop lower.

Goblin soldiers obeyed.

Instead of trying to meet the human shields squarely, they crouched and attacked beneath them. Axes struck ankles. Blades stabbed at knees. One goblin threw himself almost flat against the stone and drove a short spear upward beneath a human shield. The defender collapsed, disrupting the line around him.

Viridian troops attacked the opening.

The human push stopped.

More goblins crossed the bridge.

That was the advantage Caldris could not easily solve. Every Viridian soldier killed near the bridge was replaced by another from inside the siege tower. The humans were inflicting casualties, but as long as the connection remained open, the foothold continued receiving fresh bodies.

A Caldris officer recognized the problem and shouted toward men carrying axes and hooks.

Several defenders broke away from the fighting and moved toward the edge of the tower bridge. One carried a clay vessel with flame flickering from its open top.

The Viridian crossbowmen saw them.

Two bolts struck the first man before he reached the bridge. Another defender lifted his shield while the soldier carrying the burning vessel moved behind him. He managed to throw it.

The container shattered against the outer frame of the siege tower.

Flaming liquid spread across the timber.

Goblin soldiers inside shouted warnings, but fire crews below had already seen it. Water splashed against the burning surface. Wet hides were pressed over the flames while the fighting continued only a few feet above them.

Rakhar watched smoke rise from the first tower but did not order a withdrawal.

"Fire crew is responding," Varek said.

"I see them."

"If the tower catches—"

"It has not."

Rakhar turned toward the second machine.

"Get that one to the wall."

The second siege tower crept closer beneath increasingly desperate defensive fire. Human ballistas targeted it, but Viridian catapults continued hammering the surrounding tower positions. A heavy bolt struck the siege tower’s upper frame and lodged deep in the timber without stopping it.

The goblins pushing below roared and kept moving.

When the second tower finally reached the wall, another enormous cheer swept across the Viridian lines.

Eastwatch’s defenders now faced two threatened battlement sections.

Rakhar immediately ordered the second assault company to prepare its bridge.

At the first foothold, human resistance weakened just enough for the Viridian assault officer to recognize his opportunity.

"Advance to the next tower marker!" he shouted. "Hold there!"

The goblins pushed along the battlement several yards. They fought over bodies, abandoned shields, and broken weapons. Humans used their greater strength to shove goblins toward the wall edge, while Viridian soldiers crowded inside their reach and attacked with short weapons.

A standard-bearer finally emerged from the siege tower.

He crossed the bridge with the imperial banner held low to avoid obstructing the soldiers ahead. Once he reached the battlement, he climbed onto a section of broken masonry and lifted it.

The Viridian standard rose above Eastwatch’s wall.

The reaction below was immediate.

Thousands of goblins saw the banner and erupted into another thunderous cheer. Soldiers pushing the remaining siege towers shouted louder. Catapult crews raised their fists before returning to their machines. Even wounded goblins being carried toward the rear looked back toward the battlement.

Rakhar allowed himself a brief smile.

"Now keep it there," he said.

The banner represented only a tiny section of wall. Caldris still held the towers on either side, and more defenders were already gathering farther along the battlement. Eastwatch had not fallen, and even the eastern wall remained overwhelmingly under human control.

The goblins had gained only enough space to stand on.

For the moment, that was enough.

The assault officer looked back toward the siege tower and saw fresh helmets appearing on the bridge. Another company was climbing from the lower levels, shields raised and weapons ready. Behind him, the first ranks formed a tighter defensive line against the next Caldris counterattack.

"Make room!" he shouted. "Fresh troops coming through!"

The Viridian soldiers shifted just enough to open the path. More goblins poured across the wooden bridge and onto Eastwatch’s blood-covered battlement while the human defenders formed another shield line only a short distance away. The first foothold had survived, but both sides could already see that the fight for the wall had only begun.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!