"Falling back to tertiary position," he reported, his voice carrying the exhaustion he couldn’t quite hide. "Eastern sector is compromised. Need reinforcements or we’re going to be flanked completely."

"No reinforcements available," Lyra responded, her mental voice tight with frustration. "Every sector is under equivalent pressure. Hold as long as you can, then retreat to settlement core."

Hold as long as you can meant "until you’re all dead or incapacitated." Kael’mor understood the unspoken command even as he hated it.

"Understood," he acknowledged, then focused on keeping his warriors alive for another few minutes.

—-------------------------

[WESTERN SECTOR]

The serpentfolk warriors fought with predatory efficiency under their new commander—Vess’thara, who had taken command after Skar’s death. Her spear found gaps in human armor with surgical precision.

Her forty serpentfolk warriors moved with coordinated pack tactics that made them far more dangerous than their numbers suggested—flanking attacks, coordinated strikes, using their natural speed (even reduced by the forcefield) and flexibility to avoid human counter-attacks.

But Valentine’s reinforcements included specialists trained specifically to counter non-human combatants.

"BLESSED NETS!" one of Vess’thara’s warriors hissed in warning.

The weighted nets flew through the air, blessed silver mesh designed to tangle serpentfolk tails and restrict their movement. Two of Vess’thara’s warriors went down as the nets wrapped around them, the blessed silver burning their scales on contact.

Human soldiers rushed the entangled serpentfolk immediately, spears and swords targeting the helpless defenders.

Vess’thara moved with desperate speed, her tail whipping around to knock away weapons, her spear thrusting to kill the nearest attacker. She saved one warrior, but the other died before she could reach him—throat cut, body going limp in the blessed net.

"Pull back!" she hissed to her remaining warriors. "They have specialized equipment! Standard tactics won’t work!"

The serpentfolk executed a coordinated retreat, using their superior speed (even suppressed) to disengage before the humans could deploy more blessed nets.

But the retreat meant giving up defensive positions, meant allowing the humans to advance deeper into settlement territory.

And Vess’thara’s force was down to thirty-eight warriors now, exhaustion and accumulated wounds reducing their combat effectiveness with every passing minute.

A human squad armed with long spears and shields advanced in tight formation, a phalanx specifically designed to counter fast-moving enemies. The spears created a wall of points that made Vess’thara’s usual hit-and-run tactics impossible.

She tried anyway, testing the formation for weaknesses, her spear striking at gaps between shields.

The humans held formation, their discipline perfect, slowly advancing while maintaining defensive cohesion.

Vess’thara realized with growing dread that these weren’t ordinary soldiers—these were Valentine’s elite units, specifically trained to counter the exact tactics the settlement had been using effectively for days.

"Lyra," she reported through the network, "western sector facing anti-serpentfolk specialists. Blessed nets, phalanx formations, coordinated tactics. We’re being hard-countered."

"All sectors report similar," Lyra responded grimly. "Valentine’s reinforcements trained specifically to counter our defensive strategies. He studied our tactics and brought counters for everything."

That was the problem with fighting genius commanders backed by Cathedral resources: they learned from every engagement, adapted to every tactic, brought solutions to every problem their army encountered.

"How long can you hold?" Lyra asked.

Vess’thara assessed her warriors honestly: thirty-eight serpentfolk, half wounded, all exhausted and weakened by the forcefield, facing three hundred human soldiers with specialized anti-serpentfolk equipment. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Ten minutes," she estimated. "Maybe fifteen if we’re lucky. Then we’ll be overrun completely."

"Make it count," Lyra commanded. "Kill as many as you can, then retreat to settlement core. Preserve your warriors—we’ll need every fighter for the final defense."

Vess’thara acknowledged and turned back to the battle, her predatory mind already planning how to maximize human casualties in the next twenty minutes before inevitable retreat.

—-------------------

[CENTRAL SECTOR ]

Kelvin fought with sword and shield, his wounded shoulder from earlier battles making every movement painful, but his goblin frame still moving with tactical precision that came from training under Satou and Urgak.

His thirty-five remaining goblin defenders worked in coordinated units—three or four goblins focusing on single human soldiers, using teamwork to overcome individual size and strength disadvantages even with the forcefield weakening them.

But the humans had learned this tactic too. Valentine’s reinforcements deployed in squad-level coordination that prevented the goblins from isolating individual targets.

"Grimnir! Left flank!" Kelvin shouted, seeing a human squad moving to surround three of his defenders.

Grimnir responded immediately, his own small squad of goblins rushing to intercept. The two groups of goblins created a defensive crossfire that forced the humans to engage on two fronts simultaneously.

The brief coordination saved those three defenders but cost Grimnir’s squad—one goblin went down to a human spear thrust, his smaller size making him vulnerable in close combat against properly armored soldiers.

Kelvin watched another of his people die and felt the familiar weight of command crushing down on him. Every goblin that fell was someone he’d trained personally, someone he knew by name, someone who’d trusted him to keep them alive.

And he was failing them.

Not through incompetence or cowardice—the defense was as good as it could be under the circumstances. But simple mathematics were working against him. Thirty-five goblins versus four hundred humans meant that even favorable exchange ratios still resulted in his force being systematically destroyed.

A human lieutenant led a squad in a direct charge at Kelvin’s position, recognizing that killing the goblin commander would collapse the coordinated defense entirely.

Kelvin met them head-on, his shield catching a spear thrust despite the pain shooting through his wounded shoulder, his sword opening the lieutenant’s thigh. He ducked under a horizontal slash, came up inside another soldier’s guard, and drove his blade through a gap in armor at the armpit.

But while he killed two humans, another three flanked around and hit his goblin defenders from behind.

"BEHIND YOU!" Grimnir’s voice screamed in warning.

The goblins turned to face the new threat, their defensive formation collapsing as they were forced to fight on multiple fronts.

Kelvin tried to disengage from his own combat to help them, but the humans pressed harder, recognizing his tactical importance and committing more soldiers to keep him pinned.

Author Note

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