Chapter 368: Holy Light Guidance

Before White Stone Intersection. Divine radiance shone incessantly; when this radiance condensed on shields, it enhanced defense; when condensed on weapons, it enhanced lethality; and when condensed on the human body, it strengthened the physique.

In the formation, Bake from Morien in the north pursed his lips tightly, his eyes calmly fixed on the Orcs ahead that were incessantly hissing, roaring, and swinging clubs in anger. Following the guidance of the specks of Holy Light around his body, he gripped his Long Spear and thrust it out with force.

Roaring in his heart: "Kill!"

The Long Spear, filled with anger and killing intent, instantly pierced the Orc's abdomen. Even though the Orc's abdomen had simple Leather Armor protection, the spear tip, condensed with divine radiance, felt not the slightest resistance, passing through as easily as a hot knife through butter.

The Orc's free hand reached toward the Long Spear, but the next moment, his companions and comrades also thrust their Long Spears out, either toward the neck, the arm, or the head and lower limbs. The Orc could not dodge in time and was pierced repeatedly.

Bake then took the opportunity to withdraw his Long Spear, and following the guidance of the Holy Light, he thrust out again in anger just as the Orc tried to reach for a companion's spear.

*Puchi, puchi*—in just a few moments, the Orc fell down unwillingly.

Bake was not moved in the slightest by this. The fighting will surging within his heart drove him to turn his gaze toward another Orc, and outside of the battle, he felt as if he had split off another will, calmly observing all of this.

The fighting and slaughter seemed unrelated to this calm will of his. At first, Bake was somewhat unaccustomed to such calm yet intense combat, but soon, he became familiar with it, and through this will, he could better survey the overall situation.

From the Holy Light flashing incessantly around his body, he even perceived another will and communicated with it.

That will was formidable and firm, as if it were a monolith, never wavering.

In the gaps of the battle's rhythm, Bake glanced at the Paladin Ian in front; the formidable will he perceived belonged precisely to Ian.

At this moment, Ian was together with the Shield Warrior beside him, raising his shield to meet the vicious Orcs lunging over from time to time, blocking all their attacks. The difference was that the ordinary Warrior held the shield with both hands, while he used only one, and with the other hand, he occasionally unleashed a sharp Holy Light Blade with his long sword, killing Orcs that had occasionally not been blocked and were about to attack other Warriors.

"Bang—"

Ian once again blocked the club strike from an Orc in front of him. The powerful force caused the divine radiance condensed on the shield to vibrate, but this radiance did not belong to Ian alone; it was formed by the thirteen Paladins of the Holy Light Brotherhood guiding and stimulating it, linking the victory-certain faith of all the Warriors.

The stronger the faith, the stronger the Holy Light.

The vibration he received here spread rapidly and did not cause many ripples.

Such a situation was also occurring with the ordinary Shield Warriors.

With protection as one and attacks sharp, the Orcs swarming from the Jilan Town battlefield were like small splashes of water constantly crashing against a reef, continuously vanishing in this impact.

The Orc Tide was not endless; once they had their fill of fighting or were scared by the killing, the Orc Tide would retreat. If nothing unexpected happened, this new Orc Tide surging from the Southern Forest would be able to disperse within these few days.

After that, it would just be sporadic cleanup work.

And Aierwen and the others would ultimately be able to survive.

But this accident, or rather, conspiracy, had already been arranged!

……

Jilan Town.

The time was approaching dusk. Although the Orcs' offensive strength was somewhat sluggish, it had never stopped. Priest Walixi and the others had already raised corpses on the walls several times and sent them into the Land of the Dead, but there would be no need for that hereafter.

After raising the corpses for the last time, Walixi and the others drove the bodies to surround the Orcs. The newly dead corpses were still fresh; although they were not as agile as when they were alive, there was not much difference, and most importantly, their basic instinct for attack still existed.

This was different from the previous few times. Before, Walixi and the others would send the corpses into the Land of the Dead immediately after raising them, which had very limited deterrence for this group of southern Orcs. But as batches of Orcs died, those coming from behind did not know of that terrifying scene.

Orcs were not creatures without Wisdom; they were just, compared to humans, irritable, bellicose, and fond of slaughter and destruction. When the first Orc was killed by its resurrected kin, the offensive finally slowed down, and the crazed Orcs finally set their targets on these strange kin of theirs.

But soon, a second Orc died at the hands of its kin, and the still-living Orcs began to hesitate.

"Roar—"

An Orc that looked like a leader roared wildly, ordering the other Orcs to attack quickly, but before it could issue a second command, it was struck by a gray air current and died instantly, and the other Orcs became even more hesitant upon seeing this.

From the moment the first Orc began to flee, Walixi knew it was done.

These southern Orcs had never seen Undead before. Before they could fully react, as long as they were guided and driven slightly, they could be made to go anywhere needed. Walixi did not doubt this, because it was the same when the Orc Tide first arose.

The initial Orc Tide facilitated the formation of the Seven Cities Alliance and the subsequent emergence of Netheril, and now, this Orc Tide might change something again.

Looking toward the northeast, at the golden light that seemed vaguely visible, a hint of malice flashed in Walixi's eyes.

……

A moment later, White Stone Intersection.

After slaying the last Orc, the divine radiance surging within Aierwen's body had dimmed significantly, and the connection with the other Paladins of the Holy Light Brotherhood also seemed tenuous, while the other ordinary Warriors were in an even worse state.

Many people were already sitting on the ground panting, and more serious cases had even lost their lives; this was unavoidable, and everyone had already prepared themselves for it. Fortunately, it was already dusk, and Orcs rarely attacked at night. As long as they persisted for a moment longer, they could return to Jilan Town to rest.

"Look! What is that?!" A Warrior who no longer had the strength to stand up struggled to raise his hand, pointing toward the southwest, his eyes full of disbelief.

It was Orcs, and they were Orcs that had bypassed Jilan Town and were running directly toward them! The others heard the exclamation and looked in the direction his trembling finger pointed—it really was Orcs!

Aside from the dead, who could truly ignore those vicious Orcs?

Aierwen also realized something was wrong. When there were villages and towns blocking the way, how could the Orcs deliberately bypass them? There must have been an accident at Jilan Town, or perhaps this was the trap he had been worried about all along?

Just then, Jiaer also came to Aierwen's side with a grave expression; this was a state of seriousness he rarely had. "Aierwen, those Fallen Ones finally couldn't hold back! What do we do now?"

Although the Orcs had a tendency to come this way, they had not arrived yet. As long as they wanted to leave, they could certainly get away, but—

Aierwen looked back at the ordinary Warriors who were almost all sitting on the ground unable to get up, as well as the countless farmlands further north. Once they left, the worst-case scenario would occur; not only would these people behind them not be able to survive, but the destruction of the farmlands would cause countless people to starve during the winter.

As for the infamy the Holy Light Brotherhood would bear for this, that was secondary.

(End of chapter)