The battle of Omsford...

The next couple of days, the prince's troops continued to move along narrow roads among gorges and mountains.

The climate was getting colder...

Snowflakes were falling from the mountain tops...

Coughing was heard more and more often among the militia warriors...

There were few horses in the troops (they mostly went in the baggage train), so the army did not move quickly.

But slow movement is better than the risk of falling into the abyss because the horse stumbled on an uncomfortable icy path in the mountains...

Finally, the prince's troops entered the territory of a small mountain plateau, where the large village of Omsford was located.

Small thickets of coniferous forest along the edges of the plateau...

Cold wind...

Next to this settlement there was a large quarry for marble mining and a couple of mines (it seems that the prince once heard that copper and tin were mined in these mines).

However, at the moment, the landscape of the village of Omsford was frightening and disgusting...

Burning buildings...

The cries of agonizing agony of the local inhabitants...

Many armed goblins, whose bodies were covered in leather armor, robes made of skins and fur, or even some kind of metal armor...

Green-skinned goblins surrounded the settlement from all sides...

There were unusually many of these monsters...

They broke into houses, killed defenseless peasants, robbed and ****...

The prince took advantage of the fact that the goblin army was scattered across the plateau and that the goblins were still busy plundering the village.

Gellian decisively commanded his troops to attack the enemy in all directions, trying to catch the goblins by surprise.

In addition, Gellian ordered that he be given a heavy crossbow...

Together with a detachment of his elite bodyguards, he began to attack the nearest enemy detachment.

Soon, a bloody "meat grinder" began in the streets of the village and its surroundings...

The green-skinned, short scums quickly realized that they should pay attention to the warriors attacking from the rear...

Among the peasant huts, barns, temple and village hall, many armed persons were engaged in a fierce confrontation, trying to spill as much enemy blood as possible...

The battle lasted a long time...

Hour after hour...

In this chaos, the prince could only hope for the fortitude of his warriors...

Several goblin arrows flew over the prince's head...

In response, he fired a heavy crossbow, piercing the bodies of two goblins at once with a crossbow bolt, who had climbed onto the roof of some hut and were trying to archery attack the humans.

Suddenly, a goblin jumped out of a broken barrel lying on the ground, trying to hit the prince with two curved daggers made of dark metal.

He was very fast - the razor-sharp metal almost touched the prince's body!

Metal grinding...

Luckily, the armor of Gellian withstood the hit.

The next second, the prince's bodyguards hacked the vile goblin to **** with their longswords.

Time passed...

The fierce battle continued...

However, gradually, the enemy began to retreat under the heroic and selfless onslaught of the human warriors-militia.

Soon, the flight of the main forces of the goblin army became an obvious fact...

It was precisely a flight, not an organized retreat.

Screaming, ugly, short monsters ran in different directions.

Prince Gellian stood atop the hill, his chest heaving from the exertion of battle. The once lush green slopes were now stained crimson with blood, both goblin and human. The clatter of armor and the whinnies of horses filled the air as his knights and guardsmen regrouped around their leader.

Gellian's eyes narrowed as he scanned the retreating forms of the goblins, their scurrying bodies disappearing into the craggy peaks. He had faced these vile creatures before, but never an army of this size. It was a testament to his leadership and the bravery of his men that they emerged victorious.

"Praise be to the gods," a weary knight beside him murmured, making the sign of the divine. "We have triumphed."

Gellian nodded, his lips pressed into a thin line. "Yes, but at what cost?" He swept his gaze over the fallen warriors, both goblin and man. The battle of Omsford would be remembered, but not without a heavy heart.

As the sun began to dip below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and red, Gellian knew that this was only the beginning. The goblins would regroup, and they would return. For now, though, his men could rest and honor those who had fallen. They had earned it.

He set his rangers to pursue… the men using their great bows to harass the retreating enemies and keep them on the run for longer. Picking them off in ones and twos, the plan was to hurt them bad enough that the goblins wouldn't return for years to come…

As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the battlefield in hues of blood and shadow, the rangers emerged from the treeline with bows at the ready. Their arrows whistled through the air, finding their marks with deadly accuracy. The goblins fell like wheat before a scythe, their shrill cries of pain and terror piercing the twilight.

Gellian watched from his vantage point, a grim smile playing across his lips. "Let them feel the sting of vengeance," he muttered, his hand resting upon the hilt of his sword.

The rangers worked with a methodical precision, their bows singing a song of ****. Each arrow found its target, felling goblin soldier after goblin soldier. The retreating squads was thrown into disarray, their formations crumbling under the relentless onslaught.

As the last of the sunlight faded, the rangers melted back into the shadows of the forest, their task complete. The goblins had been routed, but more than that, they had been humiliated.

It would take more than a few years for them to recover from this blow to their pride and power.

This is what the prince hoped for.

Gellian signaled for his men to make camp. They had won the day, but the night was dark and full of terrors. The forest had already begun to reclaim the bodies of the fallen, their blood soaking into the rich, loamy earth. It was a sight that would haunt the dreams of both sides for years to come, a grim reminder of the price of war.