Volume One: First Arrival Chapter Thirty-Three: The Great Battle

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January 18th, Year 1 of the Transmigration, high noon.

A dull drumming sound drifted from the direction of Li Village, echoing twelve times.

Beside a small earthen hut, Jiang Weixuan heard the drums and shouted from behind the stove: "Work's done, time to eat!"

The drums were signaling the time.

Back in Li Village, in the courtyard of Li Shan’s home, the water clock Xu Jingya had designed was complete. It consisted of five metal vessels arranged in a tiered layout.

The clock tracked time from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. Each hour was divided into four quarters, and at every hour mark, someone would strike a large drum covered in rock-snake skin to announce the time.

Jiang Weixuan was a chef before he transmigrated. After crossing over, he awakened a cooking talent and became the designated chef for the transmigrants.

In front of him stood a long, tiered stove with seven large pots arranged from top to bottom.

At his call, the people working at the camp construction site, as well as those at the blast furnace and cement kiln across the river, began gathering toward him.

Jiang Weixuan lifted the lids of the seven pots. Three contained the staple food, while the other four were filled with various stews.

The workers formed an orderly line, picked up large pottery bowls stacked by the stove, and served themselves according to their preferences.

Meng Xingchen, who had been sitting on the roof, stood up, ready to descend for lunch. Just then, a small black bird darted out from the woods, circled above his head, and screeched incessantly.

Meng Xingchen paused, then a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "The fish has finally taken the bait."

With a swift movement, he leaped into the forest. After a quick patrol to ensure no goblin scouts were nearby, he climbed to the top of the tallest tree and shouted toward the camp: "Prepare for battle!"

From the moment Meng Xingchen leaped from the roof, everyone had stopped what they were doing, watching him closely. Upon hearing his order, they dropped their bowls and immediately sprang into action.

Under the eaves of the earthen hut hung an iron pipe, about half a meter long and ten centimeters in diameter. Jiang Weixuan grabbed a small hammer from the wall and struck the pipe with all his might. The ringing *clang, clang, clang* traveled far and wide.

The others queued up, entering the earthen hut. When they emerged, they carried crossbows, with quivers slung at their waists.

Many of the transmigrants had never seen battle and were inevitably flustered. Xiao Yun, Zhai Yao, and others with combat experience stepped in to mentor them, calming their nerves and guiding them into position.

Zhao Lei, Chen Yang, and Guo Yu, the three earth-controllers, began raising a waist-high, thirty-centimeter-thick earthen wall along the edge of the camp base facing the forest.

This served as both cover and a steady rest for their crossbows, allowing for more stable and accurate volleys.

Nearly a hundred transmigrants stood in two rows behind the wall. The first row crouched, hiding behind the earth, while the second row kept their crossbows at their waists and held shovels and hoes, feigning panic to lure the goblins into an attack.

The strategy was to prevent the goblins from realizing the humans were prepared and fleeing.

Even with the cover, seeing only forty or fifty people appearing disorganized and wielding construction tools as weapons would surely solidify the goblins' resolve to attack.

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The panic on many people's faces was not faked. After all, it was their first real fight, and against monstrous, inhuman foes at that; it was only natural to be anxious.

Meng Xingchen stood atop the tree, observing the camp’s preparations while keeping a lookout for the goblins. By the time the transmigrants had taken their positions, the goblins had not yet appeared.

Seeing that the preparations were orderly, Meng Xingchen hid within the canopy, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

Not long after, the sounds of chaotic footsteps echoed through the woods. One set of footsteps was particularly heavy; every time it landed, the trees seemed to tremble.

Hearing this, Meng Xingchen immediately pictured the goblin chieftain. It seemed the goblins had mobilized their entire force.

Soon, goblins passed beneath the tree where Meng Xingchen was hidden. He remained still; he couldn't afford to scare them off after putting in so much effort to draw them out.

Just then, Meng Xingchen heard heavy footsteps coming from the south bank of the river.

Turning his head, he saw Li Changfeng, Tongtong, and the others approaching the dam. They would soon cross to the north bank to join the fray. The three wild oxen were with them, too.

Except for the foundation ceremony, the ore-transport team had technically been leaving and returning on schedule, but they had only been bringing back limestone from the nearby canyon.

Because the canyon was much closer, they had actually returned to the woods behind the blast furnace early, intentionally waiting until the usual time to emerge and dump the limestone by the furnaces.

Jiang Weixuan’s signal on the iron pipe had been the alert for them to rush over at full speed.

Soon, the goblin horde burst from the forest, separated from the humans by a deep, sunken ridge. The straight-line distance between the two sides was less than fifty meters.

Facing over two hundred hideous goblins at such close range, especially with the goblin chieftain’s massive physique and the tree trunk he wielded—which was as thick as a man’s torso—many transmigrants were shaken, their grip on their makeshift tools wavering.

Zhai Yao, seeing this, drew his bow and aimed at a goblin screaming aggressively. His weapon had been upgraded to a recurve bow with an alloy frame and a string made from the sinew of a Shadow Panther.

A goblin was waving a wooden club and howling, demonstrating against the humans. It never expected to be targeted from such a distance; before it could react, an arrow pierced its throat.

The goblin dropped its club, clutched its throat, and collapsed limply to the ground.

The screaming goblin horde fell silent, while the humans erupted in cheers.

The chieftain slammed its wooden pillar into the ground and let out a roar. The goblins charged down the slope toward the human position.

Zhai Yao signaled the humans to hold their fire. Only when all the goblins had reached the lowest dip in the ridge—leaving the chieftain standing alone on the rise—did he swing his hand down and shout: "Ready!"

Following the command, the first row of humans stood up, resting their crossbows on the earthen wall. The second row discarded their tools and began reloading the bolts.

When the vanguard of the goblins was less than five meters away, Zhai Yao aimed for a goblin’s eye and fired his long arrow, shouting, "Fire!"

Nearly fifty transmigrants pulled their triggers simultaneously, and a rain of bolts poured down upon the goblin line.

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The goblins in the lead were struck by at least two bolts each. The pain and the force of the impact caused them to lose their footing and tumble backward, knocking over the goblins charging up behind them.

At that moment, all the transmigrants, including Meng Xingchen in the woods and Li Changfeng’s group crossing the river, received a system notification: "Ding! Emergency mission 'Camp Defense' triggered. Details can be viewed in the mission panel."

After Zhai Yao quickly fired three more arrows, killing three goblins, he noticed five goblin casters lingering in the lowest dip of the ridge, channeling magic.

Knowing the destructive potential of spellcasters, Zhai Yao immediately shifted his aim and shouted, "Focus on the casters!"

The first row of transmigrants had already emptied their magazines and crouched to reload, while the second row stepped up to rest their crossbows on the wall.

Because of the rushed target switch, Zhai Yao’s shot was slightly off, striking a caster in the chest and successfully interrupting its spell.

Following Zhai Yao’s lead, experienced fighters like Guo Yu aimed their crossbows at the goblin casters in the back.

Facing a dozen incoming bolts, the remaining four casters were forced to dodge or deflect the projectiles with their staffs, breaking their concentration.

One caster shrieked something, and seven or eight goblins abandoned the charge to shield the casters.

Just as the spellcasters began to chant again, the goblin chieftain on the other side of the ridge suddenly roared.

Meng Xingchen had leaped from the canopy, pulling an alloy short spear mid-air and hurling it at the chieftain, who was observing the battle from the ridge.

Only as the spear neared did the chieftain sense it, shifting its body slightly so that the spear, originally aimed for its heart, pierced its left shoulder blade instead.

The spear easily punched through the bone, with the shaft protruding from the creature's chest, drawing a howl of agony and rage from the chieftain.

Meng Xingchen followed, sword in hand, thrusting toward the chieftain's back.

The chieftain let out a heaven-shaking roar. A faint red light flashed across its body, and it swung the massive tree trunk horizontally behind it.

The attack was unexpectedly fast, smashing into Meng Xingchen and shattering his image—but it was merely an afterimage. Meng Xingchen had sensed the danger when the red light appeared, leaving behind a phantom while retreating seven or eight meters away.

The force of the missed blow caused the chieftain to lose its balance, stumbling forward several steps.

Another short spear flew toward it. The chieftain barely managed to raise the wooden pillar to block in its forward momentum.

Even a trunk as thick as a man’s torso couldn't stop the alloy spear; it punched straight through. However, the spear had lost its momentum and only embedded two or three inches into the chieftain's chest.