Kidnapped to Another World

Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Site of the Goblin Invasion; Gnome Warren Entrance

We're thrown back into more fighting for survival with no end in sight and no escape. I'm beginning to feel very stressed out. We want to go and meet the dwarves partway. It will augment our defense if we can keep them as part of or as one of our fronts. But unfortunately the other teams also have the same idea but our defense line is collapsing because they aren't staying together for many reasons.

This cavern is literally filling from top to bottom with goblins. They are everywhere and so many that we can't count them. The runic shielding is literally keeping us alive, in conjunction with using the trenches to avoid getting swarmed while we move using higher elevation. We're also lucky that the other teams are around us, also having engaged the enemy but they are doing poorly.

The gnome and allied defense lines will have to collapse soon; it's only a matter of time. And when they do we too will be overwhelmed. They are already shifting and moving constantly. While our side is outfighting them, there's just too many of them to hang on!

Sometimes we have to stop to beat the goblins down and control the flow better. I renew the runic shielding spell often.

The girls with me are now too scared to even talk most of the time.

"Stay together! Stay mentally cool! Stay with the team!" I call out. "Keep your line together! Don't let anyone flank us or come in from the side."

"We're trying," Asakura said weakly. She's trying to keep ready and fight.

Rina was wheezing near us again.

Dang it. I'd have to give her treatment again soon.

My team seems to listen, but the other teams don't recognize me as an authority figure. I think that was thanks to the earth mage girl, Saiya, saying weird stuff to them.

The other gnome and human teams are falling into disarray as their members become wounded and start dying.

We see a goblin kill another gnome in the team of five to our left. To our right another survivor of our human group is killed. I feel badly, since there aren't many of us left.

"We can't hold this position for long, Shun," Asakura reminds me. She's using the higher ground to keep stuff from moving up, but she's starting to tire out. I can see sweat stains making her white blouse start to look transparent in certain places.

"I know. I'm trying to get us to a better spot and to fall back, but we also have to make this work where we don't get trapped in a corner too," I said.

In a way, we're actually lucky because we aren't a normal army and just militia. So it's not a big deal that we run away or try to escape to survive. But if we'd been in a real army and if we were enlisted with real papers and a duty promise then we'd be faced with charges of cowardice in the face of the enemy and a military style execution most likely would probably be a real possibility on this world. Still it's the right decision to move away and fall back. There's no point in dying for no reason.

We also have no obligation to these people, I remind myself. I think they'd also want their deaths to mean something, and they'd like that they could save someone by buying time.

Then we have to watch out for ourselves.

The goblins are coming at us again with a fresh group that's gotten past the others around us, now that we've taken out the previous group. Because of the fresh group coming at us, we're also unable to help the teams near us that are falling before them.