Within twenty minutes, the sun seemed to respond to the [Goblin Emperor's] urgent mood and set.
The [Goblin Emperor], following the strategist's advice, had timed it precisely—from their appearance before humans until sunset took less than half an hour.
He knew that only this way could human army morale be struck to its lowest point, making the subsequent battle relatively easier.
...
Watching the sun set, Cecilia loudly commanded:
"Crossbowmen! Load your bolts!"
The goblin attack was coming!
The sound of soldiers "click-clacking" as they loaded crossbow bolts immediately rang out on the city walls.
Soon the soldiers had filled their hand crossbows with arrows.
"Gu! Gugu!"
The goblins' shouts could now be heard quite clearly.
Watching the goblin army beginning to charge toward the walls from the distance, Cecilia directly ordered the knight order using magic crossbows:
"Crossbow teams one through ten prepare to fire!!"
Cecilia was very clear that using magic crossbows to bomb these ordinary goblins charging over wasn't actually cost-effective.
One crossbow bolt's explosion could only take out two to three hundred goblins' lives, but would simultaneously cause ten knights who could otherwise play huge roles on the battlefield to lose combat ability for at least a day.
But this was also the Elasian Imperial Guard's standard method.
At the start of battle, the explosive effects of magic crossbows could heavily strike enemy morale while greatly boosting friendly morale through this method.
However, these soldiers were all veterans who had experienced quite a few battles and were thoroughly familiar with all this.
"Swoosh!"
As the goblins charged into the magic crossbows' attack range, the knights who had long been prepared immediately fired the magic crossbows!
White giant arrows constructed from the knights' internal [Qi] immediately roared toward the goblin army charging together in clusters!
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"...
Deafening explosions rang out across the plain, and flames that spread like dancing across the battlefield appeared with the explosion sounds.
As Elasia's trump card weapon, the [Magic Crossbows] had a terrifying kill radius of a full thirty meters while also causing quite terrifying fires.
The horrible explosions and raging flames immediately devoured thousands of goblins on the battlefield.
"My god, you really weren't lying—this weapon is indeed powerful."
The [Goblin Emperor] standing atop the [Goblin Giant's] head couldn't help but sigh.
But the strategist beside it smiled easily as he said:
"Your Majesty, this weapon's destructive power is indeed unbelievably powerful, but it's not without weaknesses."
"It's only suitable for attacking high-level combatants. For large groups of cannon fodder, it poses no real threat."
"Each firing of this weapon will cause ten of the opponent's high-level combatants to lose combat ability, and Elasia only has a few thousand knights—they absolutely cannot keep firing continuously."
The [Goblin Emperor] nodded.
"Alright, it seems you're indeed correct."
Then it issued commands to the [Goblin Kings] awaiting orders through the [Goblin Giant's] massive voice.
"Guagua! (Continue sending more ordinary goblins to participate in the attack!)"
...
Cecilia was extremely nervous at this moment.
This time Elasia's conventional tactics hadn't worked.
Looking at the goblin army that had returned to its original size after being refilled shortly after the explosions, the soldiers seemed even more terrified.
Although supported by extremely high training levels, these soldiers hadn't fallen into chaos due to fear, but Cecilia was very clear that fear's effects could manifest at any time.
Especially during shooting, crossbowmen affected by fear were very likely to make many unimaginable mistakes.
And right now, Elasia simply couldn't afford any mistakes.
She knew that in less than two minutes, these goblins would charge into the range of the heavy crossbows installed on the city walls.
And in less than one minute, they would charge into the attack range of the repeating crossbows.
Although there would be mages' illumination spell support later, if soldiers shot while in panicked emotions, the effectiveness would definitely be greatly reduced!
If they couldn't use ranged weapons to weaken these goblins' combat power to a sufficiently low degree within this range, it would be troublesome when close combat began on the walls!
However, at this critical moment, a girl's ethereal singing voice suddenly rang out in midair!
Cecilia looked up—
That scene made her dazed for a moment even on such a tense battlefield.
Under the pure white moonlight, a pink-haired girl in moon-white imperial robes floated in the air, singing an unknown song to the soldiers on the city walls with a gentle voice.
Although that voice was extremely gentle, it filled anyone who heard it with courage!
There were extremely many soldiers stationed on the city walls, but without exception they all clearly heard the girl's inspiring song!
The girl's singing didn't last too long, but when it ended, fear had already dissipated from this army!
Elashia looked toward the soldiers on the city walls and instantly activated the speech enhancement effect of [Struggling Me]!
She had already driven away the fear in the soldiers' hearts, and now she wanted to awaken their courage!
She knew the goblins were about to charge into the crossbows' firing range, so she had to make a long story short!
Elashia's voice, enhanced by her skill, immediately echoed throughout—
"Soldiers! I am Elashia, Empress of the Elasian Empire!"
"This war is different from any war you've seen before! The enemy of this war is not just enemies of a few people or a group of people as in the past! Not even just enemies of our Elasia!"
"But enemies of all humanity!"
"If we fail! We will never be able to return to our past lives! All of Elasia will become a goblin slaughterhouse! As monsters, the enemy will never accept our surrender!"
"This battle has no winning or losing, only death or life!"
"So, for the tomorrow of Elasia and humanity! I, Elashia, in the name of myself and the Elasian people, command you—eliminate the enemy!"
Enhanced by both [Courage Anthem] and [Struggling Me], Elashia's words immediately ignited the soldiers' emotions!
They finally realized at this moment that they faced enemies they had to defeat!
The silent city walls were immediately drowned by the soldiers' shouts!
"Let's do this! Damn!"
"Long live the Elasian Empire! Long live Her Majesty Elashia!"
"For Elasia! For Her Majesty the Empress!"
...
The atmosphere on the city walls underwent a tremendous reversal in just these few minutes!
The shadow of fear was instantly dispelled, while the flame of courage immediately burned fiercely in the soldiers' hearts!
Just then, the [Illumination Spell] marking the enemy's entry into attack range was also activated by the mage corps centered on Erin!
Immediately, a small sun that lit the earth bright as day appeared in the sky behind the soldiers!
Seeing the opportunity arrive, Cecilia immediately ordered:
"Heavy crossbowmen! Fire!"
The heavy crossbowmen receiving Cecilia's command immediately pulled the triggers of the heavy crossbows mounted on the city walls!
If magic crossbows were siege weapons, then these heavy crossbows mounted on city walls were the divine shields of defense!
The heavy crossbows mounted on the city walls were like repeating crossbows magnified dozens of times—whenever soldiers pulled the trigger, an arrow with terrifying force would pierce through several goblins!
And after the heavy crossbows' bolts were spent, several soldiers would carry arrow cases weighing nearly a hundred jin to complete rapid reloading!
With most other weapons factories currently shut down, Elasia's production lines produced almost nothing but crossbow bolts besides magic crossbows, so crossbow ammunition was now more abundant than ever!
The goblins charging into the heavy crossbows' firing range immediately suffered terrifying strikes!
After releasing her skills, Elashia didn't land on the city walls but continued hovering behind them.
She had to ensure she stayed in a safe place, because besides herself, there were no other mages in all of Elasia who could cast healing spells.
Moreover, flying in the air did make it convenient for her to observe the battlefield promptly and release healing skills in time.
...
"Gua! (Fuck!) What is that light?"
The [Goblin Emperor], blinded by the mages' [Illumination Spell], cursed angrily.
"This... this slave isn't too clear either... it might be human magic..."
The strategist, whose eyes were similarly blinded by the suddenly appearing white light, was actually in no better condition than it—his human eyes, having adapted to darkness, were directly blinded for quite a while after being hit by this white light that could illuminate the entire battlefield.
The [Goblin Emperor], blinded by the light, immediately flew into a rage.
Having thought it could smoothly capture this human capital, it simply couldn't stand this!
It forcefully pounded the [Goblin Giant's] head and shouted loudly:
"Gua! Gua! (Command all the [Goblin Kings] for me, have all their troops charge up!)"
"Your Majesty... don't be hasty..."
Although there was a plain below the Imperial Capital, you had to know that no matter how wide a plain was, the combat units it could accommodate were limited!
This battlefield could only accommodate less than forty thousand goblins—any more might cause problems!
Especially facing the Elasian Royal Imperial Guard, an army that heavily emphasized ranged attacks!
"Your Maj—"
However, the strategist who wanted to continue persuading, seeing the [Goblin Emperor's] blood-red eyes, could only close his mouth.
Compared to whether this battle went smoothly, he was more concerned about his own life.
The [Goblin Emperor] blinded by that light clearly had already lost its head!
The strategist, extremely familiar with this [Goblin Emperor], knew very well that if he foolishly tried to dissuade it at this moment, it might very well pull out its axe and smash him to death in its fury...
So he could only watch helplessly as nearly one hundred thousand goblins charged into a battlefield that could only accommodate forty thousand goblins...