Chapter 72: Trade-offs

Green Pearl Forest.

Barelisi led five hundred soldiers as the vanguard and had already marched over ten miles into the Green Pearl Forest, encountering Orcs no fewer than ten times during the period, though each time they were discovered in advance by Mage Sanduer.

Nearly thirty Orcs were killed in total, and after every battle, Barelisi would order men to collect the Orc heads and keep them close; as they continued to penetrate deeper, the frequency of encountering Orcs became increasingly frequent.

By the time Barelisi had collected nearly a hundred Orc heads, Mage Sanduer found him, "Captain Barelisi, if we go any further, I may not be able to look after everyone."

Was this a desire to retreat? Barelisi frowned; before setting out, Keyaan had specifically instructed him that unless they encountered a large group of Orcs that they could not defeat, or had collected 200 Orc heads, they were not to fall back.

Right now, neither of these two conditions had been met, so how could they retreat?

"Mage Sanduer, just do your best. Before we came, we were already prepared for a bloody battle with the Orcs. If the situation becomes extremely dangerous, I grant you permission to withdraw early."

With things said to this point, Sanduer said nothing more, merely keeping a Magic spell for running away prepared at all times; as long as he was certain the situation would endanger his life, he would leave.

Even a lord could not force an Official Mage to risk his life.

……

The difficulty of the Orc Tide is not that humans cannot confront Orcs head-on, but that in situations of equal or even smaller numbers, it is very difficult to contend with Orcs.

Every year on Wolf God Mountain, Orcs leave their tribes to adventure, fight, and pillage in the outside world, and their first stop is the Savile Territory to the north.

It can be said that if a large number of Adventurers and soldiers did not enter the forest to clear out a portion of them, then the decennial Orc Tide would be even harder to deal with.

While commanding the troops to advance slowly, Keyaan combined the intelligence sent back by Barelisi at the front and began to design how to guide the Orcs to a designated location for a decisive battle, and the more there were, the better.

This was the Lord's order, and it was also his own desire.

He wanted nothing more than to slaughter all the Orcs clean!

"Uncle Keyaan!"

A crisp female voice came from behind. Keyaan turned his head to look and saw a female Mage dressed in a gorgeous Mage Robe approaching him on horseback; the tall and sturdy Forest Horse made the female Mage appear even more dignified.

Of course, in Keyaan's eyes, this dignity was merely a child's forced maturity. Seeing this appearance, he couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing, "Miss Niya, is there something you need from me?"

"Uncle Keyaan, why haven't you assigned me any tasks? Father didn't send me into the forest to play!"

*Cough*—

Keyaan was also worried about a counterproductive effect. Seeing the Green Pearl Forest map in his hand, he instantly thought of an idea, "Miss Niya, I now have a very important task to entrust to you."

"What task? Tell me quickly, Uncle Keyaan." Niya immediately raised her staff and said, "I guarantee I will complete it!"

Seeming to sense its master's will, the Forest Horse beneath Niya couldn't help but snort and kick at the withered leaves on the ground.

"I am considering how to lead the Orcs to this position—" Keyaan pointed to a location on the map and continued, "We must lead all the Orcs over here as much as possible, even the Orcs from Wolf God Mountain. Can you do it?"

Keyaan actually had a decision in his heart long ago; giving it to Niya now was simply because he didn't want to let her be idle, as being idle easily led to trouble. Keyaan had been entrusted by Mage Aiboke to look after Niya.

But in truth, even without Mage Aiboke's instructions, he could not let the Lord's daughter come into contact with real danger.

Niya did not yet understand Keyaan's intentions, but being able to receive "such an important" task, she was quite delighted, feeling that she hadn't come in vain.

Taking the map handed over by Keyaan, Niya fell into deep thought. Her father had not told her all the plans, but from various signs, she could still analyze that this year's Orc Tide might be somewhat different.

Now hearing Keyaan's task, it confirmed her guess once again, but as to exactly how it was different and what plan her father had, Niya still could not fathom it.

Touching the bracelet on her left wrist, Niya ultimately dismissed the idea of asking her father.

Looking at the map in her hand again, suddenly, she seemed to have thought of something. She hurriedly found Keyaan and asked in a low voice, "Uncle Keyaan, is my father not coming?"

Before Keyaan could speak, Niya continued immediately, "Yes, it must be like this, because Archmage Olong—"

Speaking to this point, Niya lowered her voice again, "They want to sneak attack Wolf God Mountain?"

The expression on Keyaan's face did not change at all, but he still nodded imperceptibly.

"Then these soldiers—" Niya looked at the living faces around her, and the words that followed were hard to say.

"They must have a sufficiently scorching head-on battle with the Orcs, and even attract the Orc warriors from Wolf God Mountain over. This is their destiny."

Keyaan's voice gradually became low. Niya felt unbearable in her heart, but she did not know how to speak up. No one could oppose her father's decision, and furthermore, compared to completely clearing out the Orc Tide, these people—

Niya was unable to weigh this for a moment; it completely exceeded the scope of what she had learned. Magic could solve enemies and solve difficult problems, but it could not necessarily solve everything.

Perhaps this was the purpose of her father having her come here.

Niya was silent for a moment and returned the map to Keyaan.

Afterward, the two discussed the problem of how to design the guidance of the Orcs for a decisive battle. The Mage's keen insight combined with Keyaan's rich experience, and the two quickly fleshed out all the details.

As for everything that followed, it would be left to time to speak.

……

Savile Territory, the Military Camp in the southwest direction.

Ever since receiving the notice to stand by, Xia Duo had already stayed in the camp for a full three days.

In these three days, even without a Spell Laboratory to suppress and balance the Magic Net, he had "touched" out all the elements of 【Create Water】 bit by bit.

Next, he would conduct his first complete 【Create Water】 experiment. From theory to practice, he had thoroughly grasped every detail; he had full confidence that this experiment would definitely succeed.

Inside the camp room, Xia Duo flipped the Spell Notes to the record page for 【Create Water】. Even though he was already as familiar as could be, Xia Duo still gave himself one last insurance.

Entering the state of Spellcasting Focus, Xia Duo felt that today's Magic Net seemed to have slight differences from yesterday's, but if he were asked to point out exactly what those differences were, he couldn't say.

It could only be said to be a kind of intuition. Of course, compared to intuition, Xia Duo was more willing to believe it was his will becoming more sensitive during long-term contact with the Magic Net.

It was just that this level of sensitivity had not yet reached the degree where it could be described in words. (Insufficient Perception precision?)

But no matter how the Magic Net changed, it would not affect the experiment he was about to conduct.