Chapter 12: The Defensive Battle (Part 2)

If it were daytime right now, looking down from the sky, one would see a truly tragic scene.

A camp covering about two thousand square meters was being besieged in front by a massive, swarming crowd of Orcish. They were attacking a thin shield wall; a large number of Orcish died on the war spears constantly thrusting out from the shield wall, and from time to time, soldiers holding shields would fall, be dragged into the Orcish crowd, and let out painful roars. This shield wall was getting closer and closer to the camp's perimeter wall and becoming shorter and shorter.

In front of the shield wall, a blank space about two meters in diameter moved constantly; any Orcish that entered within these two meters would have their life taken in an instant by a dancing Greatsword.

On both sides of the shield wall were five Nord Royal Guard each, clad in heavy armor and wielding Great Axes, moving to protect the flanks of the shield wall. Any Orcish that rushed close to them could not escape the fate of being dismembered. In just this short amount of time, over a hundred Orcish had already died at their hands. Of course, the Orcish officer could tell that the speed at which these big men swung their Great Axes was getting slower and slower, and they were getting closer and closer to the point of exhaustion.

On the camp's perimeter wall, about a hundred crossbowmen were gathered, firing in sections at the Orcish besieging the shield wall to reduce the pressure on the shield wall and the Nord Royal Guard. Further away, over a hundred Orcish were using crude bows and arrows to suppress the crossbowmen on the wall. From time to time, a crossbowman would be hit and lie on the ground, only to be dragged into a wooden house in the middle of the camp by villagers holding shields for treatment. Many Orcish also died under their own side's arrows.

If there were no changes, judging by the rate of death on both sides, in this kind of tug-of-war, when the Orcish casualties reached one-third, the shield wall would be the first to be wiped out, followed by the five heavy infantrymen on each side, and finally the man wielding the Greatsword.

At this moment, several flashes of fire streaked from the perimeter wall and shot into the trenches around the camp. The fire gradually lit up in the trenches, quickly forming a ring of fire one to two meters high around the camp. The back gate of the camp slowly opened, and fifteen fully armed Cavalry rode out on Warhorse clad in Iron Armor, launching a charge clockwise around the camp.

Alayen led the charge at the very front of the team, holding the reins of Allen's Warhorse. Following him were Fatis, Yamila, Cress, and eleven Swadian Knight. They controlled their Warhorse and charged toward the Orcish troops at a synchronized but rapid pace.

By this point in the battle, more than half of the Orcish had crossed the fire ring, and a large number of Orcish had been squeezed into the trenches. These Orcish in the trenches could only watch helplessly as the fire ignited from the piles of grass soaked in Fire Oil beneath their feet, setting fire to the Fire Oil that had stained their bodies. The intense pain caused these ignited Orcish to scream shrilly, and a strong desire to survive made them quickly scramble out of the half-meter-high, one-meter-wide trench, running wildly and rolling in all directions, hoping that such actions would extinguish the flames on their bodies and save their lives.

Such events directly made the chaotic Orcish troops even more chaotic. The previous chaos was still directed in one direction, but now, as the burning Orcish fled and rolled, they bumped into more Orcish stained with Fire Oil, igniting them. The Orcish who were not on fire desperately squeezed their surrounding companions, fleeing toward a further direction, hoping to stay as far away as possible from these companions who could ignite them. The entire Orcish force began to spread out along the open space between the fire ring and the camp. No Orcish cared about the shield wall that had already shrunk by one-third, the panting Nuo Huang, nor could any Orcish deliberately avoid the attacks of Allen's Greatsword.

The Orcish who had not entered the fire ring stopped in their tracks, cowering and not moving forward, while the Orcish officer, huddled at the back of the line, stared with eyes reflected by the flames, frozen in place.

At this time, in order to avoid their burning companions, the Orcish fleeing toward the south had already collided with the incoming Heavy Cavalry. They were knocked flying by the rapidly charging Cavalry as if they were dust. Some Orcish who reacted in panic ran in the opposite direction of the Cavalry, only to be killed or knocked flying by the pursuing Cavalry. Others even jumped out of the fire ring, either to be burned to death or to disappear into the vast night.

Soon, the Heavy Cavalry crushed any Orcish who dared to block their path and arrived at Allen's side. They did not slow down, merely bypassing Allen's position and leaving Allen's Warhorse behind. Before the Warhorse had even stopped, Allen reached out and grabbed the horse's armor, flipping onto it. However, he did not join the ranks of the Heavy Cavalry to charge with them; instead, he controlled the speed of his horse and, wielding the Greatsword in his hand, joined the Rhodok Skilled Spearman and Nord Royal Guard in killing the stragglers who were scurrying like rats.

By the light of the fire, most of the Orcish within the fire ring had noticed the Cavalry charging toward them. At this moment, the chaos finally reached its peak.

A large number of Orcish approached by the Cavalry attempted to jump directly onto the perimeter wall to seek a chance at survival, but most of them were blocked by the branches on the wall, fell to the ground, and were crushed by the Cavalry. A small portion of the extremely lucky Orcish were killed by the crossbowmen, either shot to death or hacked to death.

Even more Orcish jumped over the fire ring and launched a charge toward the Orcish troops outside the fire ring. Fear and the pain of burning caused some of the Orcish to rampage through their own ranks.

Many Orcish who had not entered the fire ring began to retreat slowly. The shrill screams of the Orcish jumping out of the fire ring and the roar of the Warhorse running inside the fire ring stimulated them, making them afraid and causing a sense of terror. Finally, some Orcish could not take it anymore; they began to push away their companions and flee rapidly toward the rear, only to be whipped to the ground.

The Orcish officer suppressed the fear in his heart. He knew he could not let them run. If these Orcish ran, they ran; there would be no bad outcome. If he failed, the outcome of returning would be miserable beyond compare; being fed to wolves might be the lightest punishment.

He brandished the whip in his hand, constantly lashing at the Orcish around him, shouting loudly: "What are you running for? Don't panic! Our numbers are still large, far more than the Humans. Once the fire goes out, we charge... uh... uh... uh." Before he could finish, a crossbow bolt shot into his neck. Many Orcish saw his death, and no one could stop them from fleeing anymore. Then, the nearly thousand-strong Orcish army scattered in a short time, running wildly in the direction they had come from.

Bandak on the perimeter wall looked coldly at the Orcish officer still twitching on the ground, spat fiercely on the ground, and re-strung his Siege Crossbow, preparing to kill the next enemy.

At this time, the entire battle entered the final stage.

The fire in the fire ring gradually diminished. Allen, riding on his horse, stopped the act of slaughtering Orcish and observed the situation on the battlefield. He knew he had won this round. Although there was something a little bit off, nearly two thousand Orcish had been killed by his troops, and nearly half were fleeing toward the direction of Carrock. For the remaining ones, death was only a matter of time. Allen lifted his helmet and let out a heavy breath.

"Awoo."

The Orc King's second move: over a hundred Wolf Rider finally rushed over from the direction of the Old Ferry. They had originally intended to leave the dirty work to those Orcish infantry; once the Orcish infantry broke through the camp gate, they would charge in directly to slaughter the civilians and loot everything they wanted. Therefore, they had deliberately slowed down a little on the way. They did not expect that by the time they arrived, the nearly two-thousand-strong Orcish force had already been routed.

The leader of the Wolf Rider cursed the officer who commanded the Orcish troops in his heart, looked at the messy battlefield, and then led all the Wolf Rider to speed up and pounce on Allen's troops.

At this time, Allen's Heavy Cavalry were still pursuing and killing the fleeing Orcish. The Rhodok Skilled Spearman were almost all injured, the Rhodok Crossbowman were quickly shifting positions to prepare to defend against the direction from which the Wolf Rider were charging, and Gangding noticed the rapidly pouncing Wolf Rider, struggling to gather all the Nord Royal Guard together, standing in front of the Rhodok Skilled Spearman, raising the Great Axe in his hand, and preparing to meet the charge of the Wolf Rider.

A flash of determination crossed Allen's eyes. He knew he had been happy too soon and finally knew what that little bit of "off" was. But the situation at this moment did not give Allen much time to think; he could only do his best to deal with the crisis before him.

Allen pulled the reins sharply, directing his stubborn Warhorse to cross the trench where the fire was gradually disappearing, and charged at full speed toward the direction of the Wolf Rider.

No one noticed that in the bright moonlight, a dozen black dots were flying rapidly from the west toward this side. Before Allen could collide with the Wolf Rider, the figures of the black dots appeared before Allen's eyes.

"Li~ ah~"

Arriving with them was that sky-shaking cry. The ones making such a sound were the Great Eagle living in the Misty Mountains. As early as two days ago, they had noticed the unusual gathering of the Orcish, and today they followed the Orcish's tracks and discovered Allen and his group. Finally, after multiple observations, they determined that Allen and his people were not the Humans who had attacked them with Purple Willow Longbow. At this moment, led by the Eagle King, they once again helped the people of order to stop the evil of the dark forces.

A dozen Great Eagle with wingspans of several meters wiped out hundreds of Wolf Rider in a few dives. The Wolf Rider were grabbed by the Great Eagle one after another and then thrown onto their companions. Few of the attacked Wolf Rider were able to stand up again, and only a few stragglers who managed to dodge the Great Eagle's attacks and reach Allen remained.

Allen easily dealt with the remaining Wolf Rider, put away his weapon, steadied his mind, dismounted, and shouted to the Great Eagle circling in the sky: "Thank you for saving our village in our time of need. In the future, if there is any command, we will surely do our best."

Allen knew who these Great Eagle were. Some said these Great Eagle were all Maia, and others said only the Eagle King was a Maia. But no matter what they were, these Great Eagle were alive before his eyes, and they had helped him.

An exceptionally huge Great Eagle landed in front of Allen. The Warhorse behind Allen began to feel uneasy, broke free from the reins Allen was gently holding, and ran toward the camp.

Allen looked up at the Great Eagle, knowing this was the leader of the Great Eagle. Whether it was the Eagle King, Allen dared not confirm. He bowed deeply to the other party and said: "Thank you again for your help."

The Great Eagle's eyes reflected Allen's figure, and it opened its mouth to speak:

"No need for courtesy, young Human. We are very willing to have ruined the Orcish's plans. It's just that it has been a long time since any Humans were willing to settle in this dangerous wasteland. Can you tell me why you chose to settle here?"

Allen steadied himself, knowing the Great Eagle wanted to probe their new neighbor, and said: "My people and I migrated from a very far place to avoid the civil war of Humans, hoping to find a new life here. At the same time, a few days ago, we rescued over a hundred fellow countrymen who had been captured by the Orcish. If possible, I also want to protect the northern fellow countrymen living under the shadow of the Orcish."

The Great Eagle heard Allen's words, thought for a long time, and said again: "Young Human leader, I hope you can find a new life here. If you are willing, I can have my subordinates pass on information about the Orcish in the Misty Mountains to you, but on the condition that you must not attack my subordinates."

This was, of course, a good thing that Allen could not ask for more. He said: "That is of course. If there is any place where we can help in the future, please tell me, and we will surely repay your help with all our might."

"Then goodbye, young Human leader."

As it spoke, the Great Eagle before him spread its wings and flew into the high sky amidst a gust of wind.

Allen waved at their figures and turned to walk toward the camp. There was no help for it; since the horse had run away, he had to walk.

The battle in the camp had also ended. Bandak was leading all the intact crossbowmen to finish off the Orcish outside the camp who were not yet dead, to end their suffering. James led some of the villagers to treat the wounded warriors. Other villagers, led by Karl, began to collect the corpses on the ground. The Orcish ones were piled up far away; except for leaving a few for James to study, the others would be burned with fire later. Their own people were neatly arranged together to be buried when there was time later.

As for Alayen, Fatis, Cress, and the Swadian Knight, they went lightly equipped to pursue the fleeing Orcish.

Only then did Allen, who realized his whole body was sore, sit down on the side of the perimeter wall and lean back to rest.

At this moment, he saw the Simulator frantically prompting him in the corner of his vision.

【You have gained nine points of Soul Energy; amounts less than an integer are not counted.】

【Soul Energy is used to open new worlds.】