The Crystal Temple within the principality has a long history.

  During the peak of the Holy King Empire, it was also the most prosperous era for the Crystal Temple.

  Although the Crystal Temple now belongs to the Papal State,

  the temple is not tent with just one pce.

  However, the Crystal Temple's goal has never been "domination."

  The High Priest of the temple ghoughtfully at Carlos beside him.

  He smiled but did not tihe topic.

  The time was nht, nor was the pce.

  Sometimes, personal will is not important.

  One day, Lord Carlos will uand.

  Just as the pi legio of the Principality of Ilysis sailed upstream on the Goblin River,

  they were unaware they had fallen into a trap.

  "Boss, it's the humans, they're here!"

  In the dim forest, a goblin scurried to Li Meng's side.

  "Don't rush, wait until the lead ship of the fleet reaches here before attag!"

  "Pass the ain, no one is to attack without my and!"

  Li Meng stood in the forest on the northern bank of the Goblin River.

  Outside the forest y the wide Goblin River.

  The ambush line in the northern forest stretched only two kilometers,

  while the fleet extended for several kilometers.

  Li Meng did not hope to annihite the entire huma,

  but he also did not want to see them retreat unscathed.

  He had to inflict as much damage as possible on the living forces of the Principality of Ilysis's pi legion.

  Only then could he ehat the Principality would not attack again in the short term.

  In the dim forest, the goblins were ready.

  tless green-skinned figures hid among the bushes.

  They wore simple armor and held long spears and crossbows,

  their eyes excitedly watg the river outside the forest.

  The Goblin Boar Cavalry calmed their boars to keep them silent.

  With Li Meng as their leader, the goblins had learned many things.

  Though they would still look at the boars with greedy eyes when hungry,

  they would not easily turn the boars they raised from young into meat.

  Among the many gobliall ogres.

  In the forest, they wore full armor,

  standing like metal mountains.

  The spiked clubs in their hands made them even more intimidating.

  The gobliheir distance from them.

  As time passed, the fleet in the river moved deeper into the trap.

  Ihan half an hour, Li Meng saw the leading sailboat on the river.

  The t sails made the fleet on the river particurly spicuous,

  visible from afar.

  "They're here, they're here!"

  In the forest, Li Meng grinned fiercely, resting the Big Iron Rod on his shoulder.

  "Benben, remember what I said: if you're tired, run; if you 't win, run; if you're out of magic, run!"

  In the chaotic battlefield, if Benben wao escape, no one could stop him.

  Because Benben was not alone.

  Humans had no ce to surround Benben.

  In the previous timeline, Benben and Yue'e died,

  most likely because they didn't know to run.

  They fought to the end when they saw him still fighting.

  In the chaotic battlefield, he couldn't fight strong oppos while also looking after Benben and Yue'e.

  He could only watch as they were killed.

  Benben looked down at his boss beside him.

  "Boss, I uand!"

  "Thehe show begin!"

  Li Meng turned and o the ogre beside him.

  The ogre picked up the spiked club.

  With a swing, it struck a giant "iron gong" hanging from a rge tree.

  "Dong!"

  A sudden loud metallic csh echoed through the forest.

  The sound was so loud it reverberated between heaven ah.

  The gong's sound stirred the forest into a frenzy.

  "!"

  The goblins operating the three-bow ballista shouted and pulled the trigger.

  "Whoosh!"

  Amidst the dense sound of bs snapping,

  the dark forest was filled with the sound of arrows pierg the air.

  Massive bolts shot out from the forest, heading straight for the fleet on the river.

  In an instant, they covered the hundreds of meters distance.

  "Boom!"

  With a huge impact, the ship's hull was directly pierced by the bolts.

  "Ah!"

  Some unlucky soldiers were hit by the bolts,

  pierg through the hull and plunging into the river oher side.

  The power of the bolts was astonishing.

  For a moment, the sailboats on the river were showered with wooden splinters.

  Bolts pierced through the hulls of the sailboats.

  Ihe s, humahrown into chaos, screams eg.

  "What happened?"

  The sudden attack threw the soldiers in the into disarray.

  In the of the lead ship, soldiers tried to rush to the deck.

  But with a loud "boom," the hull ierced by something.

  Several unlucky ones were thrown out.

  Flying splinters made several unlucky ones scream in pain.

  In just a few seds, a sailboat on the river had its main structure pierced by bolts.

  The massive hull split and disied.

  A rge number of human soldiers fell into the water amidst screams.

  "High Priest of the Temple, freeze the river immediately!"

  On the deck of the lead ship,

  Carlos, who had just ehe , rushed back to the deck.

  His eyes turned cold as he emerged from the .

  He swung his great sword, and with a fsh of sword light,

  a bolt pierg the ship's side lit in two.

  The arrowhead and shaft of the bolt separated instantly.

  The shaft fell onto the deck,

  while the arrolunged into the river oher side.

  The impact from the great sword made Carlos's wrist tremble.

  Carlos's expression ged as he looked towards the depths of the northern forest.

  In the dim forest, green-skinned figures could be faintly seen.

  "Goblins?"

  A fsh of surprise crossed Carlos's eyes.

  He hadn't expected goblins to ambush the fleet in the riverbank forest.

  Nor had he expected goblins to possess powerful siege crossbows.

  "Sound the war drums!!"

  Carlos's shout prompted the drummer on the rear deck to quickly beat the war drums.

  The "thump thump" of the war drums echoed across the river.

  As the lead ship's war drums souhe other sailboats followed suit.

  Temple priests rushed to the deck, raising their staffs high.

  On the deck of the lead ship,

  five temple priests ted loudly.

  The crystals at the tips of their staffs glowed with blue light.

  Billowing white mist spread outward from the ship.

  Wherever the mist passed, the river instantly froze.

  Seeing the lead ship use ice magic,

  the temple priests on the following ships also cast ice magic.

  Billowing white mist emerged, freezing the river instantly.

  The soldiers who had fallen into the river were also frozen.

  The soldiers struggling ier turned into ice sculptures.

  "Adventurer mages, prepare for defense!"

  "It's goblins, they're in the northern forest!"

  "Kill them, fight back!"

  After the initial chaos, the huma quickly responded.

  Magic of various colors flickered on the decks.

  Colorful magical barriers unfolded on each sailboat.

  Bolts shot from the forest were deflected by the magical barriers.

  Bzing fireballs rose from the decks of the ships, heading towards the northern forest.

  "Boom!"

  Explosioed in the forest.

  Bzing fmes lit up the forest.

  The erupting magical fmes destroyed everything around them.

  Not only fireballs, but also ice spears and water bullets.

  The ships' magibarded the northern forest.

  For a moment, a rge swath of trees he water's edge on the northern bank colpsed.

  xx34810