Chapter 13 The Kobold Attack

At dawn the next day, Leo was still in his sleep when he was shaken awake by Little Mouse.

Opening his eyes, what greeted him was Little Mouse's jet-black hair and eyes so bright they seemed to glow.

Seeing Leo awake, Little Mouse said anxiously, "Go fishing!"

"It's still early. What's the hurry!" Leo rolled over and was about to go back to sleep when he noticed that the sleeves of Little Mouse's clothes were wet and her two small hands were already blue from the cold.

Apparently, she had gone to the Small Fish Pond by herself early in the morning.

Little Mouse was on the verge of crying and kept shaking Leo. "Go fishing. There are so many fish!"

Hearing this, Leo perked up. He got out of the tent, picked up a javelin, and grabbed a bucket. Then he rushed towards the Small Fish Pond with Little Mouse.

The riverside in the early morning was extremely quiet. A faint mist lingered over the river surface. The herd of antlered deer that Leo had seen before had somehow waded across the river and was now on this side of the shore.

They were lying on the upstream river beach, looking at Leo and Little Mouse from afar, showing no sign of moving at all.

At this time, the Small Fish Pond was densely packed with fish. The shallow water surface was covered with the black backs of big fish, smashed the ice crust that had formed around the Small Fish Pond into pieces.

Leo stabbed the javelin into the Small Fish Pond and immediately lifted out a sturgeon weighing four or five catties.

The fierce wild sturgeon was like a loach. Even though it was penetrated by the thick javelin, it still struggled frantically and easily broke free from the javelin without a barb, falling onto the river beach and bouncing around everywhere.

Little Mouse let out a "woof" and pounced on it, engaging in a fierce struggle with it.

Leo looked around with his eyes scanning all directions and hollered and waved in one direction.

Seeing this, several patrolling militiamen who had been alerted by him came over. When they saw a pond full of wild fish in the Small Fish Pond, they were also overjoyed and picked up javelins to spear the fish one after another.

Unfortunately, the Small Fish Pond was really too small. Although there seemed to be a lot of fish, when all were fished out, it was only a few dozen catties.

Although it was far from enough to feed three hundred people, combined with the big bucket from yesterday, it could at least allow the villagers to have a little treat for their meals.

Moreover, this way of fishing was as easy as fishing in the pond at the vegetable market and didn't take up much manpower or time.

While arranging for someone to send the fish back to the settlement camp, Leo, along with several militiamen, put together seven or eight small fish ponds on the river beach in one go and scattered bait such as breadcrumbs.

He didn't expect to have such a harvest every time, but it was always a glimmer of hope.

Just as they were diligently putting together the small fish ponds, Leo and several militiamen suddenly heard the sound of a horn coming from afar in the dense forest to the west.

That was the alarm sounded by the militia scouts, and immediately the same horn sounded in the nearby settlement camp.

The originally deserted settlement camp immediately became bustling.

The elderly, the weak, women, and children all got out of their tents and hid behind the fences that had been set up along the river beach.

The tents under the other fences were roughly torn down by the militiamen and turned into temporary shelters.

Leo picked up Little Mouse under his arm and rushed back to the settlement camp with several militiamen. On the way, they saw short figures emerging from the dense forest on the west side of the river - bend peninsula.

Fortunately, the river - bend peninsula was large enough. There was still nearly a kilometer of wasteland between the western dense forest and the riverside settlement camp. Half of the area closer to the settlement camp had been burned into a pitch - black flat ground after the wildfire. Coupled with the scout's warning, the kobolds couldn't sneak up on the settlement camp.

After rushing back to the settlement camp, Leo put Little Mouse down and shouted loudly, "Militia, line up! Line up!"

In just a short while, the figures in the dense forest had already crossed the withered grass wasteland and appeared on the cleared flat ground after the burning of the wilderness.

They were a group of kobolds of all sizes. Compared to the ones that appeared last time, there were more kobolds in this attack, but their combat capabilities were even more uneven.

Most of the young and strong kobolds took the lead, and behind them followed a bunch of young and old kobolds with empty hands or holding stones.

They simply couldn't keep up with the young and strong ones. In a short while, they fell behind and could only scurry on all fours desperately to catch up.

For a moment, Leo couldn't figure out whether kobolds were creatures that had degenerated or evolved from dogs. The kobolds running upright like humans were much slower than dogs. Soon, they were caught up by the old and weak ones running on all fours behind. They jostled and shoved each other, and the scene was rather comical for a while.

"Don't panic. They're just a bunch of kobolds," Ulyan let out a sigh of relief when he saw them. He held a bow and stood on top of the freight car with several archers, loudly reassuring the villagers.

"Stay calm! Stay calm! Do as I taught you!" Leo gathered twenty militiamen, suppressing the impulse to charge recklessly, and told them to stand in the formation they had practiced. "Get the slings ready!"

There was also a group of young and strong villagers who mustered up their courage and stood by the fence on the flank of the militia formation, holding hoes and forks to bolster their morale and add to the imposing presence.

The twenty militiamen formed a long, thinly spaced line. They stuck the two javelins assigned to them into the ground, held shields in one hand, and took out their slings with the other, loading them with cobblestones.

They had already had many real combat experiences and were no longer as panicked and scared as they were at the beginning. Those who had survived until now could already be considered veterans among the militiamen.

Saying they were fearless in the face of death was an exaggeration, but they wouldn't be thrown into a panic by a group of kobolds like they used to be.

As for Leo, who had merged with the original owner's hot-tempered soul, on one hand, the atmosphere of the real battle sent shivers down his spine and made his blood pressure skyrocket. On the other hand, he was itching to dash out first.

Fortunately, the elegance of a modern person restrained this barbarian impulse.

Watching the kobolds reach a distance of a hundred meters, Leo swung the sling in his hand and gave the order, "Get ready!"

The militiamen swung their slings in unison with Leo's movements.

"Throw!"

Cobblestones of all sizes soared dozens of meters through the air and landed haphazardly. Most of them hit the ground, and only a few hit the charging kobolds.

Among the few kobolds knocked down by the cobblestones, only one struggled to get up on the ground. The rest staggered to their feet but were knocked down again by the kobolds behind them.

The vitality of kobolds was much stronger than that of humans. One kobold's skull was even caved in, but it still managed to get up.

Leo wasn't disappointed at all. This was well within his expectations. Without proper training and sufficient numbers, this long-range attack was better than nothing, but only just.

For the slings to be effective, they had to rely on long-term training and concentrated firepower coverage. It was nothing short of a pipe dream for the militiamen who had only trained once to kill the enemy with slings.

However, the slings were not entirely useless. At least they threw the already chaotic kobold formation into even greater disarray, and the momentum of their charge was halted.

Many kobolds clutching javelins and stones couldn't wait to strike back. However, they clearly overestimated their own capabilities. Most of the stones and javelins landed on the ground in front of the militia's formation.

On the contrary, Ulyan and several archers on the wagon behind them loosed arrows that soared over the heads of the militia formation, knocking down several kobolds in quick succession.

"Prepare javelins!"

At Leo's command, the militiamen picked up their javelins one by one.

"Throw!"

Twenty javelins hurtled out and instantly pierced through the bodies of seven or eight kobolds, pinning them where they stood.

Hitting the charging kobolds in a tight formation seemed easier than hitting the tree trunks in the small forest.

Without having time to savor the results, Leo shouted without hesitation, "Prepare javelins!"

"Throw!"

After two rounds of javelin throws, the remaining kobolds had charged to within ten meters. Leo continued to shout, "Shield formation!"

After throwing their second javelins, the militiamen immediately picked up their weapons and closed in on Leo. Twenty round shields were closely packed together, with only a few short spears and sword tips jutting out from the formation.

The largest and most brawny kobold warrior at the front excitedly bared his sharp fangs, slobbering and growling as he sprang into the air, attempting to leap over the shield formation.

"Die, you little runt!" Just then, Leo in the middle of the shield formation let out a fierce roar. He swung the flail in his hand in a full arc and hurled it out like a sling.

Propelled by great force, the heavy flail shot out like a cannonball and crashed head-on into the leading kobold warrior.

The body of the leaping kobold warrior spun in mid-air before crashing to the ground. Its head had already exploded into a pool of blood.

Looking at the shield formation right in front of them, the young and strong humans on both sides holding sickles and pitchforks and ready to charge at any moment, and the tragic state of their leader, the heavily wounded and dead kobolds suddenly let out a series of whimpers. The chaotic kobolds collided with each other, huddled together, then turned around and fled.

This was the true nature of kobolds: bullying the weak and fearing the strong, being cowardly and fleeing at the first sign of trouble.

Without the kobold leader to hold the front line, the kobolds scattered even faster than Leo had anticipated.

Looking at the fleeing kobolds, Leo let out a sigh of relief.

The settlement camp was severely short of military strength. Being able to drive away the kobolds without suffering any casualties was the best outcome for him.