"Just sacrifice me to your cursed gods, Human," the Hobgoblin spat, "you'll get nothing from me."

"Sacrifice…"

"Hah! Don't even try to put on that act," the Hobgoblin pointedly ran her gaze over the nearby Undead and gave Ludmila a knowing look. "The Gobs here told us all about it. Your people worship those thrice-damned gods of the Slane Theocracy – and you're clearly in bed with that evil god of death."

"He is not–"

Ludmila stilled her tongue as soon as the heated words started to leave her mouth.

He's not evil, she was going to say. Surshana was the god of death, judgement, justice and mercy. The greatest of The Six, who weighed the souls of humanity and welcomed the righteous to His blessed eternity when they passed beyond the veil of life. But there was no point in correcting a Demihuman who would never know His divine grace.

It was a taunt – a sacrilegious statement spoken to incite her into ending the Hobgoblin's wretched life on the spot. On a better day, she might have entertained the notion, but she currently needed information.

"Nonna."

The Elder Lich glided forward on light steps. The Hobgoblin's defiant sneer faltered as Nonna stretched out her pale hand.

"「Charm Person」."

The Hobgoblin's cheek twitched. Its eyes dilated for a moment, and then the sneer returned.

Nonna's hand shot forward, grabbing the Hobgoblin by the throat. It issued a choking cough, sending flecks of spittle onto the stone. Gasping weakly, it's ochre complexion turned ashen grey, and discoloured marks grew from where it was being held. After several seconds Nonna flicked it away, sending it tumbling onto the ground.

"「Charm Person」."

Once again, Nonna cast the spell. A weak laugh issued where the Hobgoblin lay.

"What did you do?" Ludmila asked.

"A touch attack," Nonna answered. "I infused negative energy into the subject. Testing has indicated that physically and mentally weakening a target may influence its overall resistance."

If it did, it wasn't enough. Ludmila looked down at the form sprawled before them. She sensed that this Hobgoblin was a good deal stronger than she was – perhaps around the strength of Merry. Nonna was stronger still, yet had still failed.

Since they were an army, she thought there might be a general or some other commander influencing them all as a whole, much like how Ludmila fortified her own vassals and subordinates. The Hobgoblins had briefly used a magic resistance stance during the battle as well, and they might be maintaining it now.

Her gaze went from the fallen Hobgoblin to the one seated next to her, then the next. The last one in the row was slightly weaker than Ludmila was.

"That one should be the weakest between them," she pointed at the Hobgoblin. "It looks pretty beaten up, though – make sure you do not kill it."

"「Charm Person」."

The Hobgoblin blinked twice, then looked up at them with a slight smile. The one beside it glanced at its fellow nervously.

"…did it work?" Ludmila asked.

"No," the smiling Hobgoblin answered.

The Hobgoblin lying on the ground let out a snort, and the other two burst out in uproarious laughter. Ludmila turned around and walked away.

"I propose that they be sent to a specialist," Nonna said when she caught up to her.

"Do we have these problems when testimonies are being taken for criminal investigations?"

"Attempts to resist charm spells for the purposes of collecting statements is a violation of the law," Nonna said. "We have no problems in this regard."

Then what was a 'specialist' for? Well, she supposed it was none of her business. If they were willing to help extract any useful information out of these insolent Hobgoblins, she had no qualms handing them over.

"Then go ahead and make the arrangements once we are done here," Ludmila told Nonna. "I was hoping we would get at least some information from these Hobgoblins right away, but we will just have to take things as they come."

Now that the initiative was hers to seize, she would need to act decisively. The nearest encampment was probably expecting some sort of report within the day from the column she had just destroyed. She would need to silence that camp before they suspected that something had befallen their advance contingent and relayed those suspicions deeper into the Goblin army.

She walked over to the lines of Undead that had been raised over the course of the battle, examining the rows of Hobgoblins in their nearly uniform equipment. The quality of their arms and armour, as well as the high degree of training and discipline they possessed, forced her to reconsider just how quickly she could move and how far she could go before alerting the Goblin army's commanders. She had higher expectations as to their opponents' strength than Nonna going into the battle, but even those were overshadowed by just how well they did against the two Death Knights she had initially sent to get a feel for their capabilities.

The ambush had taken almost half a day to prepare, and the battle had lasted fifteen minutes. It had cost her enemies 240 of their number, out of what must be over a hundred thousand and growing in the basin. Demihumans were still being reported moving through the ancient pass, and the possibility that they were all just as well equipped and trained as the ones she had just fought was worrisome, to say the least.

"Does raising Squire Zombies make the Death Knights weaker?" She asked Nonna.

"No. The ability activates at no additional cost once conditions are met."

The opening move of the ambush was to facilitate those conditions cleanly. For a Squire Zombie to be raised, the killing blow had to come from a Death Knight. The Bone Vultures and existing Squire Zombies worked together to subdue individual Goblins, then dragged them back to the Death Knight to be repurposed into more Squire Zombies. The method resulted in better quality Squire Zombies, as every one had its limbs and head intact rather than losing them or being outright chopped in half by the Death Knight.

"They were attacking at full strength, then? There was no magic or anything else being used to weaken them?"

"I did not identify any spells of that nature," Nonna replied, "and it is likely that the magic casters present were resisted if such an attempt was made. It is not impossible that Skills or Martial Arts were used to produce a similar result, but the Death Knights have reported no detrimental effects."

Looking over her shoulder at the Hobgoblin captives, she gauged their strength again. Was it possible that all of the Hobgoblins in the army were just that strong?

"If that is the case," Ludmila said, "this is going to be a much harder fight than expected. Merry said that Death Knights were around Difficulty Rating 105…that would be Level 35 in your terms, correct?"

"That is correct."

"And these Death Knights are defensive servitors, who sacrifice offensive power for greater defensive capability?"

"Yes," Nonna nodded. "They display the defensive strength of a Level 40 Undead of its type, while possessing the offence of a Level 25."

"They have three Skills, as far as I know of…are there any more?"

"No."

Ludmila sighed. Therein lay the crux of the problem. Lord Mare mentioned that summons were generally inferior compared to a 'real' creature, and the summoner chose what they summoned based on the specific traits that were advantageous in their situation rather than their all-around usefulness or strength. She could feel it during Adventurer training with the various opponents set against them, and the Death Knights were a prime example of this practice at work. They were spectacularly tough, could draw the attention of belligerents, create their own minions, and their offensive strength was sufficient for the day-to-day work that they were intended for when leased out.

"After observing the battle," Ludmila asked, "do you understand what was happening when the first two Death Knights were stopped?"

"I observed the outcomes," Nonna answered, "but any coherent conjectures elude me thus far."

"The contingent had two columns: each divided into a handful of identical components," she said. "The Goblins were further divided into a vanguard and a baggage train. Both were armed lightly, like skirmishers. There were a dozen Bugbears equipped to in a way advantageous their strengths, and they were used as shock troops that flanked the Death Knight. The Hobgoblins fought in formation and are all armed as defensive warriors, while there were six magic casters and six commanders providing support and issuing orders."

Ludmila waited to see if Nonna had anything to add or ask about her explanation. When the Elder Lich remained silent, she continued.

"Two of the Hobgoblins there are around my strength – one is slightly weaker, while the other is slightly stronger. The one that you tried charming at first was about halfway between you and me. Based on my experience with the Adventurers I have trained with, many warrior-types actually begin to display the same sort of focus on defence of offence that you see with the Death Knights. My recent promotion to Platinum-rank should put me slightly above Difficulty Rating 45 – Level 15 in your terms – so let's say that I'm around Level 16."

"You are suggesting that, in defensive terms, these Hobgoblins are closer to level 20?"

"That is correct," Ludmila nodded. "Their equipment seems to have held up well enough, so we can assume that they did not suffer from shortfalls in that area. In addition, they were using a defensive stance, working in a formation and benefitting from their commander. Put that all together, and these Hobgoblins could be anywhere in the low twenties in terms of defensive capability. Throw Martial Arts on top of that, and they can withstand the offensive power of a Death Knight – even one created by His Majesty. All they needed to do to stand up to a Death Knight was to bounce it between themselves, so to speak…and that is exactly what they appeared to be doing."

Nonna looked over to the Hobgoblins. Maybe the Elder Lich was finally putting some serious thought into what she was saying. By her own words, Nonna had some influence with the other Elder Liches in the Sorcerous Kingdom, and she also reported to Lady Albedo. Ludmila wasn't sure how far Nonna would go in speaking her mind to a superior, but even a report that mentioned their discussion might help.

"When we returned on the first night of this army's arrival," Nonna said, "you immediately drew up a request for additional forces. Did you predict all this simply from observing them for a few hours?"

"No," Ludmila frowned. "This is already beyond my expectations. What I sent for was what I thought would be suitable for half the number out there, and the best of their number at the equivalent of Gold rank. I also wasn't aware of this equipment of theirs…there are just too many oddities. Have there been any reports to the administration about activity in the Abelion Wilderness? Even if they are being led by Hobgoblins, an army of this calibre does not just pop up out of nowhere."

"There have been no advisories issued by the administration concerning activity in the Abelion Wilderness. Also, the large population of Goblinoids in the Great Forest of Tob does indicate that this number can indeed 'pop up out of nowhere'."

"Next, you are going to tell me that this Goblin army that appeared in Carne Village just popped up out of nowhere as well, fully trained and equipped."

"This is also true."

Ludmila stopped in her tracks, casting a critical eye in Nonna's direction. Did Elder Lich administrators lie? It didn't seem like a joke, either; in their time working together, Nonna offered little humor to speak of, if any at all.

"At any rate," her steps resumed, deciding to press ahead in their conversation, "we still have the camp reports from the Shadow Demons performing reconnaissance. The vast majority of this army is still Goblins, and the Goblins in this contingent were in line with my expectations. We will just also have to expect that a strong core force of Hobgoblins may be present in any of these camps. We will also have to be very careful about the first few camps that we remove. Once enough Squire Zombies are raised…"

Ludmila's voice trailed off when she reached the line of Goblins. As she examined its crude equipment, then the Undead Goblin itself, she suddenly realized that something was wrong.

"Nonna," she asked, "Why are so many of these Hobgoblins weaker than the Goblins?"

"Because the Hobgoblins are mostly Zombies," Nonna answered.

"Zombies…not Squire Zombies?"

"A Death Knight is limited in the number of Squire Zombies it can raise at once," Nonna told her. "Twenty-four is the maximum one may have at any one time."

Ludmila glanced back at the Bugbear, now realizing why they hadn't been raised. The two Death Knights sent forward had reached their limit of Squire Zombies. She quickly counted up the strongest Zombies lined up in the ranks and, surely enough, there were 96 Squire Zombies between the four Death Knights. Annoyingly, a third of the Squire Zombies had been made from the poorly-equipped Goblins, while nearly all of her Zombies were Hobgoblins in their finely crafted plate mail.

She suppressed a sigh. Another complication – this time resulting from her lack of thoroughness when it came to understanding what she had under her command. Vaguely speaking, her initial plan was to carefully build up an army of Squire Zombies until she could reverse the Goblin army's advance. The reason why she had requested more Death Knights was to speed up that process to a degree that the Goblin army would not be able to respond appropriately.

"Is there a limit to the number of Zombies that a Squire Zombie can raise?"

"No," Nonna replied. "A Squire Zombie does not share the same limit as a Death Knight. They will continue to raise Zombies so long as they land the killing blow."

There was that, at least, as little as it appeared to be worth. A level 17 Squire Zombie might be able to stand up to a Hobgoblin or a Bugbear, but the Level 1 Zombies could be killed by even Goblins.

"Will this affect our current plans?" Nonna asked.

"It will," Ludmila's voice was grim, "but we cannot afford to squander this opportunity. We at least have to silence the first camp, as planned for tonight. Let the Linum sisters know that they can begin with their disruptions as well. We'll exchange the Death Knights here with new ones so we can continue to build up our forces – the Squire Zombies and Zombies here will remain part of the attacking force. Make sure any of these remaining fires are put out; I don't want any smoke spotted from the basin when dawn comes around."