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

The battle mages were sleeping in reinforced tents that could survive combat spells in case of magical duels. Ironically, those reinforced structures also muffled sound, preventing mages from hearing the approach of assassins.

Vex’ahlia signaled her team: Five targets. Simultaneous strikes. Poison blades—we need silent kills.

The elites moved to their assigned tents, each carrying weapons coated in paralytic venom that would stop a victim’s heart within seconds.

Mark.

Five assassins struck five targets in perfect coordination.

Five battle mages died in their sleep, poisoned blades piercing through reinforced tent fabric and into sleeping bodies. The paralytic venom prevented screams, prevented movement, prevented any response except rapid death.

But then magical alarms finally triggered—not from ward detection, but from the death of the mages themselves. Each battle mage wore a life-force monitoring charm that would signal if their heart stopped. Those charms activated simultaneously, creating a magical shriek that alerted every mage and guard in the area.

"Alarms triggered!" Vex’ahlia reported through the network. "Continuing assault. Three more targets before withdrawal."

The fifteen elites split into three groups of five, each group targeting an additional battle mage tent.

But now the remaining battle mages were awake, aware, casting defensive spells.

The first group breached their target tent and found a battle mage ready for them, a lightning spell already crackling in his hands.

The mage released the lightning bolt at point-blank range.

One elite took the bolt directly in the chest—his armor conducted the electricity through his body, cooking him from the inside. He died instantly, smoke rising from his corpse.

But the other four elites were already moving. Two threw daggers that took the mage in the chest and throat. Two more closed to melee range with poison blades.

The battle mage died from multiple wounds before he could cast a second spell.

The second group had similar results—they lost one elite to a fire blast but killed their target mage.

The third group was luckier. Their target mage fumbled his spell in panic, and they killed him without casualties.

Three more battle mages dead. Two more elites lost.

"Eight battle mages eliminated total," Vex’ahlia reported. "Three elites killed. Withdrawing before reinforcements arrive."

The remaining twelve elites scattered in different directions, using the chaos and darkness to evade the human soldiers pouring into the mage quarters.

By the time organized pursuit formed, the elites were gone, leaving only eight dead battle mages and three dead demon warriors.

Human reinforcements arrived to find carnage and no targets. The assassins had vanished like ghosts.

In the human command tent, a staff officer reported to Elric with barely concealed panic: "Sir, eight battle mages killed. Three enemy infiltrators confirmed dead, but the rest escaped. Our magical capabilities are severely degraded."

Elric’s jaw tightened but his voice remained calm. "Acknowledged. Pull all remaining battle mages into a central secured location with triple guard. We can’t afford to lose more."

Hour Twenty-One:

The humans had been working through the evening to repair the damaged eastern gate—the gate that Urgak’s orcs had turned into a killing ground during the afternoon assault.

Carpenters, engineers, material carriers—all concentrated in one location with minimal guard presence because Elric had assumed settlement defenders wouldn’t dare attack outside their walls at night.

Thirty serpentfolk proved him wrong.

Squad leader Thresh led the raid with brutal simplicity: emerge from darkness, kill everyone, burn the partially-repaired gate, vanish before reinforcements arrived.

The serpentfolk approached from the north, using the broken terrain between First and Second Lines to get close without being detected. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The repair teams were working by torchlight, focused on their work, guards scattered and inattentive because they assumed the real threat was miles away at Second Line.

"No subtlety required," Thresh hissed to his warriors. "This is a killing raid. Fast, violent, overwhelming. Leave no one alive to continue repairs."

The thirty serpentfolk charged from darkness with weapons drawn and war-hisses that made human blood run cold.

The repair teams had perhaps three seconds of warning before the serpentfolk were among them.

Carpenters died with hammers still in their hands. Engineers died trying to grab weapons they’d left leaning against walls. Material carriers died running for safety that didn’t exist.

The few guards present tried to form a defensive line, but thirty serpentfolk warriors against eight scattered guards was mathematics that couldn’t be overcome.

The entire massacre took less than two minutes.

Twelve human engineers and carpenters dead. Eight guards dead. The partially-repaired gate doused in oil and set ablaze, flames consuming hours of repair work in minutes.

Zero serpentfolk casualties.

"Eastern gate repair sabotaged," Thresh reported through the network. "Twenty enemies killed. Gate will need to be completely rebuilt from foundation. Withdrawing to Second Line."

The serpentfolk vanished back into darkness, leaving burning wreckage and bodies behind.

When human response teams arrived minutes later, they found only death and flames.

Hour Twenty-One: Additional Raids

While the major raids were hitting primary targets, smaller serpentfolk teams conducted harassment operations across the human camp.

A five-warrior team attacked an isolated guard post, killing four guards and stealing their weapons before vanishing.

A three-warrior team sabotaged a water distribution point, contaminating a well with alchemical compounds that would make the water undrinkable.

A seven-warrior team attacked a medical station, killing two healers and stealing valuable supplies before withdrawing.

Everywhere across the human encampment, small teams of serpentfolk warriors created chaos, fear, and casualties.

Individual raids were minor. Collectively, they created an atmosphere of terror where human soldiers realized nowhere was safe after dark.

Hour Twenty-Two: Elric Receives the Full Accounting

By midnight, the human army was in chaos.

Supply dumps burning. Officers dead in their tents. Battle mages assassinated. Repair teams massacred. Guards killed at isolated posts. Wells contaminated. Medical stations raided.

And worst of all: infiltration team lost, warehouse raid failed, two specialists captured for interrogation.

In the human command tent, Elric received casualty reports with tight-lipped fury—not at his soldiers who’d fought bravely, but at himself for underestimating his opponent.