My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill-Chapter 358

"Southern sector reporting they’re probing our wall foundations," came a report. "Sappers are using detection equipment on the base structures."

"Let them look," Lyra decided after a moment’s calculation. "The walls are solid. They’ll learn that eventually anyway. Save your arrows for when they actually try something."

"They’re learning our defensive patterns," Seraphina observed, her demon lord perception tracking the broader tactical picture. "Elric’s building a comprehensive intelligence model of our capabilities."

"Can’t be helped," Lyra replied. "We show them enough to make them cautious, but we hold back our best surprises. He doesn’t know about your corruption specialists yet. He doesn’t know about Vex’ahlia’s elite forces. He hasn’t seen our trap sequences in the approaches between First and Second Lines."

"When do we reveal those?"

"When he commits to a real assault. Let him think he understands our capabilities based on what he’s seen so far. Then show him he’s wrong."

By midday, the casualty count had grown steadily but not catastrophically.

Human casualties (Day Two morning): Thirty-seven wounded, two dead (one sapper who bled out from a leg wound, one soldier who fell into an unmarked pit trap).

Settlement casualties (Day Two morning): Four wounded (all minor—grazed by return arrows from human counter-battery teams).

The odds were favorable to the settlement, but Lyra knew that couldn’t last. Elric was patient, but eventually he’d have enough intelligence to commit to a proper assault. When that happened, the casualty rates would spike dramatically.

Hour Fifteen: The First Escalation

Elric made his move at early afternoon.

"We have sufficient intelligence," he announced to his assembled officers. "Second Line is stronger than First, but not insurmountably so. Their archer positions are identified. Their wall weaknesses are mapped. Time to test their resolve with real pressure."

"Full assault, sir?" Lieutenant Thorne asked.

"No. Escalated probe. I want to see how they respond to sustained pressure without committing our full force." Elric pointed at the eastern sector on his map. "Send three hundred soldiers against the eastern wall. Objective: force them to commit their reserves and reveal their full defensive capabilities. Maintain assault for one hour, then withdraw regardless of progress."

"That’ll cost us, sir."

"Yes. But it’ll cost them more, and it’ll tell us everything we need to know about whether Second Line can actually hold against a determined assault." Elric’s finger traced the defensive positions. "If they can hold three hundred soldiers for an hour with acceptable casualties, we know they’re strong and need to adjust our strategy. If they can’t, we know Second Line is vulnerable and we can plan for a full breakthrough."

"Rules of engagement?"

"Maximum pressure. Siege ladders, ram teams if needed, mage support. I want them to think this is a real assault, not a probe. Make them commit everything they have to hold that sector."

Within thirty minutes, three hundred human soldiers were assembled in assault formation—heavy infantry with scaling ladders, ram teams with a portable battering ram, battle mages providing magical support, archers for suppression fire.

It was a proper assault force, not a reconnaissance team.

From the Second Line command post, Lyra saw the formation assembling and felt her stomach tighten.

"Eastern sector—incoming assault force. Estimate three hundred soldiers with siege equipment. This isn’t reconnaissance. They’re testing our breaking point."

"Can we hold?" Captain Vex asked. He commanded the eastern sector with seventy-five defenders.

"You’re not holding alone," Lyra answered immediately. "Vex’ahlia—deploy fifty of your elites to reinforce eastern sector. Urgak—position your orc shock troops at the eastern gate in case they breach. Everyone else—prepare supporting fire from adjacent sectors."

Mental confirmations rippled across the network.

"Vex, listen carefully," Lyra continued, her tactical mind racing through scenarios. "Your job is to make this so bloody expensive that Elric questions whether Second Line is worth taking. Use everything—traps in the approach, concentrated arrow fire, defensive positions. Make every yard cost them blood."

"Understood. We’ll hold."

"Not hold—just make them pay. If the wall is actually breached, fall back in good order. Don’t die for stone and timber."

"Yes, ma’am."

Seraphina’s presence touched Lyra’s mind privately, separate from the general network. "This is the real test. If we break here, Elric commits to full assault tomorrow. If we hold, he stays cautious for another day or two."

"Then we hold," Lyra said simply.

The human assault began with devastating professionalism.

The Eastern Wall Assault: Hour Fifteen to Hour Sixteen

The three hundred human soldiers advanced in tight formation—shield walls protecting the flanks, ram team protected in the center, scaling ladder teams following behind, archers providing covering fire, battle mages maintaining overhead protection.

They crossed the open ground between First and Second Lines at steady marching pace, professional and unhurried.

At two hundred yards, settlement archers opened fire from the eastern wall.

Arrows darkened the sky—not precision shots this time, but massed volleys designed to break formations. Fifty archers firing in coordinated waves, creating a steel rain that crashed against shields and magical barriers.

Human casualties mounted immediately. Even with magical protection, the sheer volume of fire penetrated. Soldiers fell with arrows in legs, shoulders, gaps in armor. The formation tightened, shields raising to maximum coverage.

But they didn’t stop. They didn’t even slow.

At one hundred and fifty yards, they hit the first trap line.

Pit traps opened under the ram team’s lead elements. Four soldiers vanished into twelve-foot-deep holes lined with spikes. The battering ram itself fell partially into a concealed pit, requiring thirty seconds of desperate work to extract it.

While the humans struggled with the ram, settlement archers punished them mercilessly. Twenty more casualties in thirty seconds of concentrated fire.

But the human force had sappers whose entire job was trap clearing. They identified and marked subsequent traps, creating safe paths for the assault force to advance.

At one hundred yards, Vex activated the second trap line—not pits this time, but spring-loaded spike barriers that erupted from the ground at knee height. Designed not to kill, but to maim and disrupt.

Seven more human casualties. The formation wavered but reformed.