The Outpost

Vel was just a regular goblin, with short stature comparable to 150 cm or 5 feet and green skin, just like the other goblins in this makeshift fortress reserved by his demonic lord. His lord's order was to defend this place in case of an attack but immediately leave after two weeks if his lord didn't return. It had been almost two weeks, and there was no sign of his lord.

"Vel, what's up on this side?" Another goblin looked at him, named Jaran.

The only difference between Vel and Jaran was their hair, Vel has white hair while Jaran was a bald goblin. Both of them were friends and had served in the demonic army for quite a while, for a goblin that was.

"I saw torches and knights three nights ago, these humans are looking at me funny," Vel said.

"Well, are they preparing for an attack?" Jaran asked.

"No, but they are surely annoyed by my face," Vel laughed it off.

"Are there any humans that like goblins in the first place?" Jaran smiled.

The goblins were put on guard duty and denizens were on internal duty, such as cooking, cutting wood, etc. The ogres were stationed on the North part of the makeshift wooden fortress where a human offensive was most likely. Their master went south, to the Kolla mountain, right where the dragon guardian lived.

This small fortress only had 15 people remaining, 3 ogres, 7 denizens, and 5 goblins. Right now, Vel and Jaran were in the south tower at the moment, overlooking the forest on the horizon with a small narrow road leading towards the makeshift fortress.

Looking at the inside of the fortress, multiple denizens such as women and men with cat or wolf ears were roaming around. Out of all races in the demonic lord army, the denizens were the most similar looking to humans. They were practically human with animal ears and that was it.

"Arkarr and Lyka haven't returned yet, it worries me a lot," Vel commented on the current situation as he put his hand on top of his scabbard. "I don't want to lead the whole army out of here, damn it. It's not my responsibility."

Jaran just smiled while giving his friend a wooden cup filled with a glass of water, "My friend, you can do it, I believe in you."

"Well, yes, but the denizens would be more willing to follow Lyka while the ogres are certainly on the Arkarr side of things," Vel said.

Goblins were disposable, in theory, that was. Vel knew that. He formerly had 30 goblins on his team, but now only reduced to mere 5 goblins left. That all was because the goblins were only seen as cannon fodders by humans, making them their high-priority target since they were easy to dispatch.

Still, his master saw him as equal, not cannon fodders, different from some demonic lords behind him. However, he still admitted that he couldn't be more useful than the strong ogres or the denizens that were strong in magic or specialized ranged attack. If only there was a tool that would make him more useful, it'd be nice.

"Vel, look!" Jaran pointed his hand at a plume of dust from the south. Vel didn't have a pair of sharp eyes like those elf archers, but he could tell it was nothing good, especially with how that plume of dust moved closer to them.

"EVERYONE! TO BATTLE POSITION!" Vel shouted as he jumped down from the tower and grabbed his own breastplate armor and a helmet alongside his bow. He climbed up the tower again and aimed his bow at the incoming plume of dust.

He glared in shock, as the steel carriage coming to the fortress wasn't even pulled by horses, but gave out a terrifying roar instead, and it was followed by two even bigger carriages, bigger than anything that Vel had ever seen from the human side. Vel quickly came into his judgment.

"MAGE! FOCUS YOUR ATTACK ON THE FRONTAL CARRIAGE!" Vel shouted as he let go of an arrow to the speeding carriage. The arrow flew at the carriage at great speed, but instead, it just bounced off from the carriage like the arrow was made from nothing.

One of the mages threw an icicle barrage at the vehicle, but it didn't do anything. Vel started sweating, what else could disable the lead carriage? Vel told one of the denizens to form a large icicle spell against the front carriage.

"On my mark, fire on the front carriage!" Vel shouted.

The plume of dust became clearer, revealing a dark-colored carriage painted green, brown, and black with a strange weapon on top of it. However, someone was waving a white flag on the same hatch where the strange weapon was located.

"IT'S ME YOU MORON!" The man waving the flag shouted, revealing himself to be none other than Demonic Lord Franzen himself.

Vel slapped his own face. "PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPONS! IT'S OUR LORD!" His lord looked different than usual. Usually, in combat or in adventure, his lord wore a breastplate with a white shirt and dark pants with a gray cloak covering his body alongside a black shemagh covering half of his face.

This time, he looked rather different. Instead of the usual steel breastplate, it was some sort of black thick vest with a bunch of rectangular thin steel boxes attached to it. Instead of the shirt, he wore strange clothing of mixed green, brown, and black, with a little bit of tan, almost blending in with his surrounding. He also covered his face with a half-face shemagh, as usual.

"My lord, you have returned!" Vel shouted from the top of the tower.

"You stupid goblin, you almost killed me!" Franzen shouted. "And that's sergeant to you, Vel!"

Sergeant? The same reaction happened just like Lyka. What was the term sergeant used for. Unlike Lyka, who would question order, Vel was more obedient, mainly because he was a mere goblin. So, he immediately called Franzen whatever he wanted to be called.

"Open the gate, our lord wants to enter!" Vel shouted.

One ogre opened the wooden gate of the makeshift fortress. The steel carriage entered the fortress, followed by two larger carriages. Different from the first carriage, the larger carriages' backs were covered in tarp, probably to protect it from water.

His lord got out of the metallic carriage, holding a strange-looking black crossbow in his hands. Could it be that his lord find the hidden legendary weapon? Vel got down from the observation tower and approached his lord. However, just as he got down from the tower, a large ogre with green skin came out of the bigger carriage.

It was Arkarr. Arkarr was big, but Vel was even more amazed to see what he was wearing at the moment. Arkarr was an ogre, practically only useful in heavy combat where durability was needed. When he left, he was wearing a full set of leather armor, but now, he returned with the same clothing as Franzen, however, his armor was bulky.

"Arkarr, what are you wearing?"

Arkarr pointed at the black vest that he wore, "This is an Improved Outer Tactical Vest Fourth Generation full kit, of course, made from Aramid material and silicon carbide plates." Vel just couldn't help, but notice the amount of hibbie jibbies that Arkarr spouted out of his mouth.

Especially, finer details like that usually were usually only known by Franzen, if not denizens, not ogres. Indeed, from the get-go, Arkarr had the same odd-looking armor on its upper arms and thighs. He also wore a strange black helmet with glasses covering his face like a visor.

"Arkarr, what's the point of using glass as your protection?" Vel knew that glass was fragile. "And what's that helmet, it looks weak to me." Especially since the black helmet looked so far off from the steel.

"This is a FAST helmet with a level III ballistic visor, this helmet is the only helmet that can stop the legendary weapon from the dragon guard," Arkarr answered.

Vel also noticed the strange big crossbow that Arkarr brought. It didn't have any arrow whatsoever, but small tubular bolts, or small arrows, were dangling into the internal of the crossbow itself, it looked very oddly complicated for Vel. "What's the weapon you're using?"

"This is called MG-338, chambered in .338 Norma Magnum, a very powerful weapon, but very heavy, only for the strongest ogres," Arkarr said.

Vel tried to lift up the weapon that Arkarr carried, it was indeed heavy, even heavier than the heavy spear used by the ogres to penetrate the enemy's armor. How strong were the legendary weapons, though? Vel still had no idea, and he had doubts that mere goblins like him would be able to use it.

"How about Lyka?" Vel asked.

"She's using an M4 Carbine," Arkarr answered.

"M4 Carbine?" Vel asked, questioning what it meant in the first place.

"An assault rifle," Arkarr said.

"Assault rifle?"

"You know, the crossbows that we used are called rifles, not crossbows, see," Arkarr gave the goblin a look at the weapon that he was holding at the moment. Vel inspected the weapon generously, and suddenly, he had an idea that this weapon was called a machine gun out of nowhere, just like a memory that suddenly appeared.

"Everyone, gather around me!" Franzen announced.