The goblins had just stopped for a meal the same as they had and neither side had noticed each other until the hill had dipped low enough for them to see past it.
By a rough count the goblins he could see outnumbered them five to one and Chronos silently prayed that the hill would go back up before the goblins noticed them sitting here. He wasn't afraid of a fight, but when they were this badly outnumbered many of the knights would be seriously injured or killed in the battle.
Unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered.
Crash!
A goblin dropped its bowl as it saw them.
"GOBBLDOCK!" it screamed alerting the rest of the army to their presence as it pointed at them.
"Get up! Now!" Chronos yelled as he drew Echoforge.
For a moment he wondered why a black beast, a creature with no discernable diet, needed a food bowl but he didn't have time to think further as he moved to protect those that were slow to react.
Seeing what was happening Magar slammed the butt of his staff into the ground but instead of the area around him being affected a wave of earth shot towards the goblin army causing the surrounding landscape to billow more strongly and creating several large hills in their path.
Only a handful of goblins had moved fast enough to get past the earth wave and attack the resting knights before they were cut off from the rest of their army. Chronos and a few of the faster knights swiftly ended their futile struggle.
"Everyone on your feet! Phalanx formation! Mages and priests remain in the center and attack the enemy! We're doing a retreating battle!" Magar yelled while using magic to enhance his voice.
The knights immediately cleaned up the cooking utensils and took their positions on the outside of the phalanx while the mages and priests moved to the center before the whole phalanx started moving towards where they assumed the center of the tear was.
They only had limited resources and no way to restock inside of the tear. If they tried to fight an army as large as the goblins, they would be wasting both food and energy on a pointless fight.
It was much better to focus on finding the core and purging it as soon as possible.
"Where did that army come from? That many goblins shouldn't have fallen into a tear so easily." Magar shouted as he ran next to Chronos.
"I don't know. Do you want me to fall back and stall them or move ahead to find the core?" Chronos responded.
He was both faster and more resilient than the common knight, giving him the freedom to move wherever Magar needed him most in the shortest amount of time.
Magar hesitated for a moment before responding, "Ahead, find us that core as fast as possible. If we get trapped by an army now, they'll just isolate us and starve us to death. If we need your help, I'll send a flare spell up."
"Got it. Lyla you're with me, Gregory protects Sariah. She can slow down the goblins better than anyone else."
After giving his orders Chronos transformed into a wolf and had Lyla mount him. Dashing ahead Chronos swiftly outpaced the phalanx and started searching for the core area.
While running Chronos reached the top of a hill and took a moment to look back. Sure enough, he could see the army of goblins looking like a bunch of ants as they swarmed over the hills that Magar had created.
Moving forward he tried sensing the energy in his surroundings again to find a path forward but came up with nothing.
"This place is as empty as when we started. There's been no changes at all." He growled.
"Then we keep pushing forward. Eventually we'll find the way to the core." Lyla replied.
Nodding Chronos began moving from hill to hill stretching his senses as far as he could while running.
After running for an hour, he finally caught a whiff of something that wasn't the army behind them or the black beasts. Turning towards his right he made his way through the valleys of the hills to avoid detection.
Following the scent he had smelled he was led towards a valley that was filled with statues. There were goblins, hobgoblins, wolves, drakes, and many others gathered here but all of them looked a bit strange.
When a creature was caught by a tear they would turn into a statue in the exact same state as when they entered the tear. This valley was filled with statues that had been tied up or caged.
"What do you make of this?" Chronos asked.
Lyla looked at the ropes around the goblins hands and feet before answering.
"I think someone captured all these creatures and forced them into a tear." She said with hatred in her voice.
Chronos agreed with her.
As stupid as most of these creatures were, they wouldn't willingly go towards danger unless they were being forced to by a stronger being.
That made it highly unlikely that any of them would enter a tear of their own accord. Many of the black beasts they had fought in the past had shown signs of struggle from when another black beast had dragged them into a tear.
But all of the black beasts that had come from this tear didn't have those signs on them showing that someone had intentionally captured them before forcing them into the tear.
"Let's head back. We don't have much time before the goblin army catches up to them." Lyla said.
Nodding Chronos was about to turn around when he saw a human statue covered in armor.
"That doesn't bode well." He thought.
Glancing around for others he saw a handful of armored humans amongst the statues. They looked like they had been panicking just before they were taken by the tear.
Ignoring them for now he ran to the top of a nearby hill to check on Magar and the army again. What entered his vision was an army of shining knights running over a plain as an army of goblins were forced to climb out of a deep pit behind them.
A few seconds later Magar waved his staff in the air sending out a beam of light that formed another pit behind them forcing the goblins to climb out of another hole.
"That works, how long do you think he can keep it up?" Lyla asked.
"Hopefully until we find the core." Chronos stated before returning to searching for the core.
It looked like it was going to be another long day for him.