Chapter 436: Was It Really Divine Punishment?

"Divine Punishment? What divine punishment? Could it be that just now's thunderous boom?"

Watching their subordinates continuously pouring out of the castle, Moral and the others froze mid-smile.

They faintly heard the words "divine punishment," but failed to grasp the gravity of the situation.

After all, as leaders and rulers, they certainly weren't as foolish as the lower-class orcs.

Of course, they had heard the thunderous boom just now.

But that shouldn't have anything to do with divine punishment, right?

Divine punishment always descends from the sky.

The sky just now was perfectly normal.

Splash! Splash!

"Great Leader Moral, disaster! Something's happened inside the castle—sudden flashes of fire and thunderous booms, then dozens of orc warriors collapsed!"

"Now the warriors all believe it's the humans' divine punishment! They're fleeing in terror!"

At that moment, the Bloodthirsty Bat Knights, tasked with overseeing the battle, descended from the sky and urgently reported the events inside the castle to Moral and the others.

"Flashes? Thunderous booms? Dozens of orc warriors collapsing? How is that possible?"

As the Bloodthirsty Bat Knights spoke, Moral and the others, who had previously disbelieved in divine punishment, turned pale.

The Bloodthirsty Bat Knights clearly wouldn't lie to them.

This bizarre situation was truly beyond their comprehension.

"Great Leader Moral, what should we do? Should we order the warriors to retreat first?"

"Retreat? How? The orcs on the slope can retreat—but what about those in the rear garden and on the walls?"

Moral's face turned ashen.

Though retreating from the castle now was a reasonable option.

They had already committed too many orc warriors.

If they ordered a retreat, the orcs in the rear garden and on the walls would be abandoned outright.

Thus, Moral hesitated.

Of course, his indecision didn't last long.

For as soon as Gervas gave his order, Migen swiftly ignited a fuse on the wall.

This fuse, protected by hollow bamboo tubes, was aimed at the edge of the slope.

Hiss-hiss-hiss!

The fuse burned rapidly, extending along the bamboo tube pathway down toward the cliff face beside the slope.

Boom! Boom!

Moments later, the ground in the middle of the slope violently shook—first collapsing violently, then exploding.

Flames mixed with thick sand and stones shot into the sky; there were four explosion points, affecting a twenty-meter radius.

Before the orcs within the blast zone could even comprehend what was happening, the next instant they were hurled into the air.

"I… we're flying…?"

This was the final thought of the flying orcs.

After that thought, their vision plunged into darkness, and consciousness vanished.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Then came the sound of bodies landing like sacks of rags.

"L-Lord, this… this power is too immense!?"

"Pretty impressive, right?"

"Im… impressive?" Migen blinked, unsure what "impressive" meant.

"It means spectacular?"

Migen understood and immediately nodded frantically. "Spectacular! Extremely spectacular, Lord! In all my years, I've never seen anything so spectacular!"

"If I didn't know this was our own setup, I'd swear it was divine punishment!"

A twenty-meter radius, flames and sandstone flung thirty meters into the sky, even hurling orcs over ten meters through the air.

Such terrifying power exceeded Migen's understanding.

And this was Gervas's ultimate arrangement.

It not only inflicted effective casualties on the crowded orcs on the slope but also severed part of their escape route.

The explosion created a ten-meter cliff.

With the cliff now present, the orcs above were trapped on the slope.

"This… this… divine punishment… is it really divine punishment?!"

Even Migen, the perpetrator, was stunned—how much more unbelievable would this seem to Moral and the unaware orcs?

Moral had been half-skeptical, but after witnessing the explosion on the slope and feeling the earth-shaking roar, fear took root in his heart.

"It's truly divine punishment! Leader Moral, we must retreat!"

"Yes! Leader Moral, if we stay any longer and divine punishment strikes us, we won't survive!"

The surrounding leaders and captains trembled in terror.

Moral finally gritted his teeth: "Retreat!"

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!

Horns blared instantly.

"Run! Everyone, run! These humans have the gods' aid—we can't defeat them!"

With the horn blasts, the orcs finally found an outlet for their panic.

The orcs who hadn't yet charged up the slope turned and fled without hesitation.

They fled with ease—but the orcs still on the slope suffered terribly.

Because the slope had been shattered, the ten-meter drop left them with no escape.

Even though orcs possessed immense physical strength, they couldn't defy the laws of physics.

Especially with shattered rocks scattered everywhere below.

Falling meant either instant death or, at best, broken bones—no different from death.

Thus, they could only watch helplessly as their comrades fled into the distance!

The Storm Legion felt no mercy toward these orcs.

Strike while the iron is hot.

Taking advantage of the orcs' clustered formation and shattered morale, the spearmen launched a counterattack.

"Spearmen! Advance!"

"Spearmen! Thrust!"

Plop! Plop! Plop!

One orc after another fell into pools of blood.

This wasn't over—the cannons were brought onto the walls!

"Cannons! Fire!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Amid the thunderous roars, the orcs finally tasted the despair of being slaughtered without resistance.

"Damn it!" Moral had ordered the retreat, but hearing the chorus of screams behind him, his heart bled.

"Lord Moral, hurry and leave!"

His subordinates feared he'd be foolish and urged him urgently.

Though over a thousand orc warriors were lost, the enemy had unleashed divine punishment—an unstoppable force.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

At that moment, distant roars echoed from the sky.

The orcs froze.

The next instant, they stared in horror toward the sky above the castle.

A group of over a dozen flying beasts was chasing after them.

Among them, five were human griffon knights.

"Griffon knights! There are human griffons here too?! We've been tricked! This is the damned humans' trap!" Moral's eyes burned with hatred—he now believed the intelligence had been a conspiracy.

After all, griffon knights were exclusive to the human nobility; minor nobles could never possess them.

"Quick! Retreat!"

Moral no longer delayed—he feared that if he waited any longer, even his own men wouldn't escape.

The Bloodthirsty Bat Knights, to cover the ground troops' retreat, had no choice but to confront the pursuing griffon knights.

Bloodthirsty Bat Knights and human griffon knights were old rivals, evenly matched in strength.

But this time, Gervas's side had ten Swiftwing Hawks assisting—naturally, the Bloodthirsty Bat Knights were at a disadvantage.

In the end, sacrificing one Bloodthirsty Bat Knight, they held off the Swiftwing Hawks and griffon squad for half an hour, buying time for the ground forces to retreat.