And next, Aelia immediately gave Elashia the answer.
"Engineers, begin operations!"
Those soldiers carrying wood began construction work at the cave entrance.
Before long, several barriers were erected outside the cave, completely sealing off the cave.
"Construction complete, crossbow soldiers on guard!"
The fifty soldiers holding crossbows immediately pressed forward, aiming their crossbow bolts at the dark cave entrance.
"Guard complete! Smoke troops begin operations!"
Those few soldiers carrying grass climbed over the barriers and dumped all the grass they were carrying into the cave.
Before long, the last smoke soldier also emerged from the dark cave.
"Smoke grass deployment complete! Fire archer begin ignition!"
At this point, the only soldier in the unit carrying a longbow lit his oil-soaked crossbow bolt on fire and shot it toward the cave.
The grass in the cave burst into flames with a "whoosh."
The firelight could be clearly seen even from outside the cave.
"All preparations complete! All units enter extermination combat state!"
With Aelia's final command, the crossbow soldiers formed two rows, standing behind the soldiers holding close-combat weapons, aiming their weapons at the dark cave entrance.
The soldiers holding close-combat weapons stood before the barriers, extending their spears through the barriers.
Those soldiers holding giant fans began vigorously waving their fans toward the cave, fanning smoke and dust into the cave.
Seeing this, Elashia exclaimed excitedly:
"I understand! Hiring Aelia was indeed the right decision!"
Cecilia beside Elashia still only smiled without speaking.
In the enclosed environment of the cave, the smoke and dust couldn't disperse at all.
Before long, painful howls from the goblins came from the smoke-filled cave.
Then some goblins began fleeing toward the cave entrance.
Staying inside would definitely mean suffocation!
But for the goblins, staying in the cave now meant waiting for death, while coming out meant seeking death.
The crossbow soldiers who had prepared long ago immediately began concentrated fire as soon as they saw goblins rushing out!
In the small space of the cave entrance, the rushing goblins had no way to dodge!
No matter how many goblins there were, those that rushed out would almost all be shot into pincushions in an instant!
"Out of arrows!"
One crossbow soldier loudly called to the crossbow soldier behind him.
"Got it!"
Then these two soldiers switched positions.
The soldier behind the one who had finished shooting had already prepared and immediately switched positions to begin shooting.
The soldier who had finished his arrows immediately began loading arrows after switching positions with his teammate, and immediately switched positions again after his teammate finished shooting!
Seeing this scene, Elashia's eyes lit up.
This was alternating fire!
Even a modern person like herself hadn't thought of such an excellent tactic!
Through this method, continuous crossbow shooting could be achieved!
Inside the cave was a hellish scene.
Black smoke filled the entire cave, making it stuffy and impossible to breathe.
A small goblin rushed to the shaman's eyes and excitedly called:
"Gwala gwala! (The enemies at the entrance still haven't run out of arrows! Their shooting hasn't stopped once since the beginning!)"
The goblin shaman, leader of this cave, coughed uncomfortably a few times and called:
"Gwa? (How is that possible? We're finished if this continues!)"
As an old goblin, this shaman had seen quite a few humans.
So the experienced goblin had already set up quite a few traps and defensive facilities in the cave, waiting for them.
But this group didn't follow conventional tactics at all!
They actually directly lit smoke grass at the cave entrance, then forced them to come out!
These humans... really weren't human!
Originally it planned to use its subordinates' lives to exhaust those humans' arrows, but... those guys' arrows seemed endless—after a full five minutes, those humans' arrows hadn't stopped at all!
It didn't know that the reason the human commander outside only brought crossbow soldiers was specifically to prevent its despicable plan of trading subordinates' lives for escape opportunities from succeeding.
Elasian standard crossbows could fire ten arrows per loading, and correspondingly, most of their arrows were short and thin.
This greatly reduced arrow costs while making them much more convenient to carry.
So an ordinary Elasian soldier could carry nearly a hundred arrows!
And a goblin extermination squad would generally have fifty fully armed crossbow soldiers!
That meant the total arrow supply was a full five thousand arrows!
No matter how large a cave was, it would only have a few hundred goblins at most.
So the arrows could absolutely never be exhausted.
Continuing to wait would only make the goblins more desperate.
The goblin shaman gathered its last remaining goblins together, preparing to launch a final breakout.
"Gwala gwala! Gogo gogo! (We can't keep dragging this out! We must concentrate our forces!)"
The remaining goblins replied loudly with hoarse voices:
"Gwa! (All in! Damn!)"
However, when they desperately rushed toward the cave exit, they saw an even more despairing scene.
Seeing the goblin shaman appear at the cave entrance, Aelia immediately understood this would be the final assault.
So she immediately ordered:
"All units! Conduct saturation strike! Permission to use backup crossbows!"
After speaking, the two crossbow units immediately reformed into one unit and began firing simultaneously!
"Gwa! Gwa! (Holy shit!)"
The already extremely dense arrows became even more terrifying—goblins would turn into pincushions almost as soon as they rushed out of the cave!
Seeing this scene, the goblin shaman shouted loudly:
"Gwaji! Gwaji! (Don't mind it, all charge! Only by charging together can there be a way out!)"
However, from the moment Cecilia and the others began preparing for action, this group of goblins' way out had already disappeared.
After the Elasian crossbow soldiers finished the arrows in their hands, an even more despairing scene occurred for the goblin shaman.
The soldiers who had finished their arrows bent down to place their crossbows at their feet, then pulled out another Elasian standard crossbow loaded with arrows from behind them!
At this moment, the goblin priest's hanging heart finally died.
These humans before them were completely different from the adventurers it had seen before!
These humans had meticulous and rigorous division of labor, terrifying resource support, absolute obedience to their commander...
These people... weren't adventurers at all!
"Focus fire on that goblin hiding in the back!"
With Aelia's command, countless deadly arrows shot toward the goblin shaman.
In the final moment of its life, it looked toward the commander of those humans.
That figure seemed somewhat familiar to it.
It remembered—that was the human most feared by goblins, the "Goblin Slayer."
In the oral tradition among high-level goblins, it was this iron-clad death god who massacred goblins almost non-stop every day!
It also remembered that it seemed to have discussed this person with a Goblin King once.
That Goblin King had said with certainty: "That guy isn't scary at all, since she's just one person, and just an ordinary person at that."
Looking at this scene that filled goblins with despair, it couldn't help but curse in its heart:
This is fucking one person?
However, it no longer had the chance to confront that Goblin King.
Countless crossbow bolts pierced through it, completely cutting off its last trace of life.