They had been running for nearly an hour before the fastest beasts caught up to them.
Wolves and behind them it looked like boars, but they were strangely misshapen.
Chronos stood in the back line along with Gregory and a number of the more agile paladins. All of them were wielding spears or similarly long weapons.
"Don't let them tie you down. Strike once then retreat as long as you deal damage it will slow them down." Chronos called out.
The priests cast a blessing on the rearguard as the carriages raced down the road. The blessing was only a minor one, but they had discovered in the last fight that it did make a difference. As long as a blessing was cast it would cause serious damage to the dark beasts.
All of them lashed out then turned to run as a second line took their place. The second line attacked then retreated as well only to be replaced by a third line. The third line repeated these actions and were replaced by the first line.
Like this they intended to retreat as far as they could before anything could slow them down.
After the third repeated attack more than half the wolves had died but the strange boars were drawing close.
Gregory saw a small rapid shadow heading his way and ducked just in time to avoid an arrow. "The boars have goblin riders. Send a message to the front, watch out for an ambush."
Cursing resounded from the rearguard. Goblins might not be the strongest or the smartest, but they had a savage cunning that most beasts lacked. And worst of all if you saw one goblin there were sure to be a dozen more nearby.
They were almost as bad as cockroaches.
The goblin riders pulled back and tried to circle the rearguard only to get blasted with a divine smite from an injured paladin in the closest carriage.
"Was that divine smite casted through a thrown rock just now?"
"Don't mind him. He was a tavern brawler who was sentenced to punishment originally."
Chronos busted up laughing, a tavern brawler who became a paladin was ridiculous. He could use anything that came to hand for a divine attack. Actually, that sounded more effective than the church was likely to admit too.
When the goblins heard him laugh, they thought he was laughing at them and immediately turned to target him. Having learned from the first failure they stayed outside of the paladin's reach as they fired multiple arrows at Chronos.
With arrows coming his way Chronos went on the defensive, twirling his spear he parried several arrows and dodged several more. This was good if they were focused on him, they wouldn't shoot the paladins or caravan.
"Have you ever hit something that wasn't standing still?" Chronos taunted in orcish, the language goblins would understand best.
It was a poor taunt, but goblins weren't smart enough to care and just got upset that you were taunting them. The reaction was immediate as every goblin rider targeted Chronos.
He danced around their shots at the edge of the rearguard's formation while taunting the goblins more to keep their attention on him.
The caravan had to change directions twice to circumvent ambushes but still progressed swiftly. In this manner the retreat progressed rapidly with no casualties. Unfortunately, just as the church came into view an ambush on the edge of the fields surrounding the church halted their progress.
Nearly a hundred dark goblins had cut them off. Captain engaged them with his mercenaries while a number of paladins ran forward.
Seeing the enemy numbers Commander Stan could tell that pushing through would not be possible without casualties. "Turtle formation, keep the merchants and the injured in the center." He yelled as he sent an emergency spell into the sky.
It would take the church guards less than 30 minutes to reach them but with attacks coming from both sides and the number of injured with them, this would not be an easy fight.
As the fight continued more dark creatures started to appear in the distance. Mostly they were swamp beasts but there were a few forest beasts mixed in.
"Enemy reinforcements, contact in 15." A paladin hollered when he saw them.
Chronos stood on top of a carriage as he drew his bow. It would form arrows from his aura so as long as he had aura he would not run out of arrows. Taking aim, he shot a goblin from its perch in a tree.
Up here he would be a target, but it also made it easier to hit the enemy.
Dodging two arrows he caught one and returned it to the sender, one more down. Looking around the fight was going better than he thought it would.
The paladins had made a shield wall enhanced with aura and the priests were casting blessings on everyone they could reach. Then Sariah's voice cut through the battle. "Mass cast. Winds Grace. Bears Strength. Lifeweave."
Everyone felt their speed and strength increase while minor wounds began slowly healing and fatigue was relieved.
"That is some impressive casting." Commented Commander Stan as he stood beside a slumped over Sariah.
"I had to cut the effects time limit, it won't last very long. Finish the fight before it runs out."
Commander Stan put her back into the carriage to rest. "Don't you worry, our own reinforcements will be here soon. Alright boys shore up our wall, keep those bastards back; we can't lose now!"
"Rooaar."
The paladins let out a roar like a dragon forcing all the beasts back momentarily.
"That's right, I forgot that they are dragon paladins. I wonder if they can breathe fire too. They are probably saving that as a lastresort." Chronos thought as he took aim at another boar.
Twaang. Thunk.
That's twelve, but the goblins just kept coming; they should have long since run off if they were normal goblins. Or was there a higher rank goblin nearby?
That was when something jumped from a tree and tackled Chronos dragging him to the ground. Kicking it hard it was launched into the air landing a few feet from Chronos. A hobgoblin, no wonder they weren't running away, it was even made of shadows and darkness just like the other beasts.
Drawing his axes Chronos took a guard stance while the hobgoblin bashed its club into the ground. Chronos charged before it could ready itself for the fight. Knocking aside the club with one axe he removed its head with the other.
"Hobgoblins in the trees! Watch your heads!"
A mercenary down the line heard the warning just in time to raise his spear, impaling a hobgoblin that tried to jump on him. Shaking off the corpse he returned to the fight.
Several more hobgoblins charged from the bushes, slamming their clubs into the shield wall and knocking a few warriors from their feet.
A goblin lord suddenly rushed through the gap heading straight for the carriages. As it drew closer an evil grin crossed its face right before Commander Adams' shield slammed into its face, throwing it backwards a meter.
"I've got the lord. Close that gap and kill anything inside!"
"On it." Came Gregory's voice as he suddenly moved several times faster than the paladins or mercenaries and slit 2 hobgoblins throats instantly.
"Thank you." Said the downed paladins as they stood up and attempted to return to their positions.
Chronos went to support him as three more hobgoblins emerged from the bushes. The two of them stepped out of the protective wall to confront them.
"Move faster! We're almost there!"
Chronos could hear the church guard now, but it would still be a few more minutes before they reached them through this horde.
Taking on two of the hobgoblins was putting Chronos in a slightly difficult situation. They were far more cautious then the earlier enemies making it more difficult to land a decisive blow.
Gregory had also pushed his body to rescue the downed paladins from the previous two hobgoblins. He wouldn't be able to move at those speeds again until he had time to recover but he should be fine handling the third hobgoblin.
When trading blows with the hobgoblins Chronos realized that they took any clear opening you gave them.
He dropped his right-hand axe while blocking the one on the left and just as expected the enemy swung at him while gloating.
He dropped low while taking out his spear and piercing the hobgoblin's foot before grabbing his fallen axe and performing a spinning slash. The pinned hobgoblin was cut in two, however the other one jumped back avoiding the attack.
Leaving his spear behind Chronos charged at the last enemy. One on one the hobgoblin was no threat and was beheaded in less than a minute.
Turning to check on Gregory he saw a flash of light hit the hobgoblins eyes from Sariah's staff. Gregory slit its throat while stabbing it in the heart.
Concerned, Gregory turned to Sariah "Are you well enough to be casting again?"
"A light spell is the lowest class of spells. Even in this exhausted state I can cast that spell." She gasped as she spoke.
There was a cheer as Commander Stan killed the goblin lord, and the church guards were sweeping most of the enemies from the area. The goblins finally broke ranks and ran.
Seeing the battle wind down Commander Stan started giving orders. "Gather the injured and the dead. We'll take count once we are inside the church compound."
With that order all survivors of this battle picked up their fallen companions and started the final march to the church.