My planet is infested with Goblins

Chapter 85: Collapse

The western commander had barely finished forming his new defensive line when the first Viridian soldiers appeared at the far end of the street.

The barricades built from overturned wagons, furniture, timber, and stone were stronger than the improvised positions his men had abandoned closer to the wall, but he knew they were only buying time.

Behind him, the surviving Caldris soldiers were exhausted from hours of fighting and repeated withdrawals. Ahead, the northern Viridian force continued advancing through the western district while goblins from the captured battlements descended from the wall and pushed inward.

The fortified wall tower that had been left as a rear guard was still resisting, but it was already isolated, and everyone understood that no relief force would be sent to save it. The western sector had ceased to be a battle for the wall. It had become a struggle to prevent the goblins from driving straight through the district toward the center of Eastwatch.

The commander walked behind the main barricade while officers reported their remaining strength. Several companies had been reduced to less than half their original numbers. Militia units were mixed together because too many of their captains were dead or missing.

Crossbow ammunition was still available, but distribution had become difficult as Viridian occupied more of the roads leading to the outer wall. The commander listened without interrupting until one officer finally asked whether they should withdraw farther inward before the goblins attacked.

"If we retreat every time they appear, we will eventually run out of options." the commander answered. "We hold here until the position cannot be held, and then we move together. No one abandons his line without orders."

The first Viridian formation reached crossbow range soon afterward. Goblin shield-bearers filled the street while crossbowmen took cover behind walls, doorways, and abandoned carts.

They did not charge immediately. Instead, smaller groups disappeared through side streets, repeating the maneuver that had already forced Caldris away from the outer defenses.

The western commander recognized the pattern and ordered militia toward the adjoining roads before the flanking groups could appear behind him.

That decision weakened the main barricade.

Viridian attacked as soon as they got close to the line.

Shield-bearing goblins advanced behind overlapping protection while crossbow bolts passed above them. Human shooters answered from windows and rooftops. Several goblins fell before reaching the barricade, but the rest continued forward. Axe troops came behind the first line and immediately began attacking the obstacles.

The Caldris defenders fought with the desperation of men who understood that this might be their last stand. Spearmen thrust through gaps in the barricade. Professional infantry waited for openings and launched short counterattacks whenever the goblin formation became compressed. The first Viridian attempt was forced backward several steps.

Then more goblins arrived.

They came from the direction of the outer wall, where the original western siege force had begun descending into the district through stairways captured along the battlements.

The isolated wall tower still fired at them from above, but it could not stop the flow. The western commander saw new Viridian banners appear between buildings and understood that the two goblin forces were beginning to join.

A captain beside him followed his gaze. "They are coming from the wall now."

"We are being surrounded."

"Hopefully not."

The commander said it firmly, but he knew the difference between being surrounded and being almost surrounded was becoming increasingly small.

The northern Viridian formation struck the barricade again. At the same time, goblins advancing from the captured wall appeared along another street farther south. Caldris troops were forced to turn part of their line toward the new threat.

The main barricade lost more defenders, and axe crews immediately exploited the weakness. One wagon was pulled from position. A section of timber collapsed. Shield-bearing goblins forced themselves into the gap before the humans could close it.

The western commander committed his last organized reserve.

Professional infantry charged into the opening and stopped the first surge. Human shields drove the smaller goblins backward, and for several minutes the breach became a cramped melee of spears, axes, and short swords. The Caldris soldiers regained a few yards, but the commander could see how quickly they were getting tired.

Viridian simply replaced its front ranks.

Fresh goblins moved through the streets from the northern gate and the western wall.

Wounded troops stepped backward while new shield-bearers took their places. The Caldris reserve had no equivalent source of fresh men.

The human counterattack slowed.

Then it stopped.

Viridian pushed forward again.

A messenger reached the commander from the south while the fighting continued. His armor was scorched, and blood covered one side of his face.

"The southern gate has fallen."

The commander looked at him without immediately understanding the implications. "Fallen?"

"The goblins opened it from inside. Their army is entering through the gate now."

Several officers nearby heard the report.

The commander asked, "What remains of the southern defense?"

"Some units are withdrawing inward. Others are still fighting near the walls, but the gatehouse is lost. There are too many goblins coming through."

The message changed the meaning of the battle around them. Until that moment, the western commander could at least imagine that reinforcements might eventually come from the southern sector if the pressure there eased. Instead, another entire Viridian force was now entering Eastwatch.

He folded the written report and handed it back.

"Tell whoever still commands there to withdraw before they are surrounded. They are not to die defending a wall that has already been bypassed."

The messenger left.

On the southern side of Eastwatch, the situation was already deteriorating too quickly.

The open gate had transformed the Viridian presence inside the southern district from hundreds into thousands. Goblin formations marched beneath captured banners while officers divided them between the major streets. Some remained near the gatehouse, but most moved inward immediately.

The remaining Caldris soldiers along the southern wall now faced enemies on both sides. Viridian still occupied the connected battlement breach and continued receiving soldiers through the siege towers, while the force entering through the gate spread behind the surviving human positions.

The isolated Caldris tower that had once anchored the wall defense was now surrounded by goblins who no longer needed to capture it before advancing.

The southern commander understood that the wall was lost.

"Pull everyone who can still move off the battlements," he ordered. "We form deeper inside the district."

An officer pointed toward the remaining tower. "What about the men inside?"

"They hold until the withdrawal clears. Then they leave if they can."

The order was harsh, but there was no other practical choice.

Caldris troops began abandoning stretches of southern wall that had been defended since the siege began. Crossbowmen fired their last covering volleys before descending through internal stairways. Militia followed professional infantry toward the streets.

Viridian troops advanced behind them, planting banners over battlements that had been contested only minutes earlier.

The southern withdrawal quickly encountered the greater problem created by the open gate.

Goblin companies were already moving through the district below.

One Caldris formation descended from the wall and found the road toward the center blocked by Viridian shield-bearers. The humans attacked immediately, desperate to reopen the route before more goblins arrived.

Their charge pushed the first goblin rank backward, but another Viridian formation appeared from a neighboring road and struck their flank.

The Caldris formation broke apart.

Some soldiers escaped through side streets. Others were surrounded.

The same pattern repeated across the southern district. Units withdrawing from the wall discovered that the city behind them was no longer secure. Streets that had been routes for reinforcements and supplies were becoming Viridian-controlled corridors.

The southern commander tried to gather his forces around a broad avenue leading toward the center, but fewer soldiers reached him than he expected.

The sector was disintegrating into separate groups.

Back in the west, the first barricade finally collapsed completely. Goblin soldiers flooded through the opening while the Caldris reserve withdrew in formation. The western commander did not wait for a rout to begin.

"Second line. Move now."

Crossbowmen fired from upper floors to cover the withdrawal. Professional soldiers retreated backward in groups, keeping shields toward the advancing goblins. Militia dragged wounded men with them whenever possible. Viridian pressed but did not rush blindly, securing intersections as it advanced.

The western commander reached the next defensive street and turned to count the men arriving.

There were fewer than he wanted.

Another officer approached from the southern connecting road. "Goblin troops have been sighted coming from the south."

The commander stared at him.

"Southern troops?"

"Yes. They entered through the gate and are spreading east and west."

That ended the question of whether the western sector could be stabilized.

The northern goblins were pressing from one direction. Viridian troops from the wall were pressing from another. Now formations from the fallen southern gate were beginning to move toward the western district as well.

The commander looked toward the barricade his men had just begun assembling.

"Abandon this position."

One captain turned sharply. "We just reached it."

"And if we stay, they will close behind us."

"Where do we go?"

"Toward the center. Every unit we still have moves inward."

The western withdrawal became broader. Remaining troops abandoned streets near the wall and fell back toward Eastwatch’s central districts. The fortified western tower was left isolated behind them, its defenders no longer connected to the main Caldris force. Viridian soldiers occupied the abandoned barricades, intersections, and wall stairs without needing to destroy every resisting pocket.

On the southern side, the same decision was being made almost simultaneously. Caldris officers stopped trying to restore a continuous defense. Surviving formations were ordered toward the center before the goblins entering through the gate could cut every route.

The two sectors did not collapse in one dramatic rout. They collapsed through a series of positions that could no longer be justified, streets that could no longer be held, and units that had to retreat because staying meant isolation.

By the time the withdrawals were fully underway, Viridian banners covered broad sections of both the western and southern walls. Goblin formations controlled the southern gatehouse, western battlement approaches, and increasingly large portions of the districts below. The human defenders were still fighting, but they were no longer defending Eastwatch’s perimeter.

They were retreating from it.

Across the western streets, Caldris soldiers moved toward the center while Viridian troops advanced behind them. To the south, the same movement was unfolding on a larger scale as thousands of goblins continued entering through the open gate.

Eastwatch’s western and southern defenses had not merely been breached. They had ceased to function as separate fronts, and what remained of the Caldris army was being forced inward toward an ever-smaller portion of the city.

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