Chapter 255: The Hero Who Saved Lake-town

The rescue operation went quite smoothly. Because it was the dead of night, the guards responsible for watching the captives had all been taken out. Not until everyone had their ropes and chains undone did they attract any attention from the Orcs.

However, this was only the first step of the rescue. It was certainly impossible to lead these hundreds of people away without making a sound.

Among the captives were the elderly and children, and their escape speed could not be fast. They had to delay long enough to give them a chance to get away.

Regarding this, Wayne gathered a few of the more reliable-looking men among the captives, then took out some weapons he had collected previously from his space bracelet and said to them:

"There is only one chance. In a moment, I will create chaos in the Orc camp to attract the attention of those soldiers."

"You must take everyone and escape back to Lake-town."

"With such a thing having happened, the Wood-elves should offer you assistance. As long as you make it through tonight, you should be considered safe."

After saying this, he went over the details with those few men once more, then put his Invisibility Cloak back on and left the place where the captives were being held.

The one responsible for this operation to raid Lake-town was a War Chieftain from the Grey Mountains named Guluote. Among the many Orc clans in the Grey Mountains, his clan had a moderate number of members, barely counting as a mid-tier force.

However, do not look at the fact that Guluote had only a few hundred Orcs under his command—fewer than the residents of Lake-town. The Orc race has a strong reproductive capacity and is a race where everyone is a soldier. Just in terms of combat units, the number of warriors he had was more than seven or eight times that of Lake-town.

It was precisely by relying on such a large number of warriors that they were able to defeat the entirety of Lake-town in a single afternoon, seizing a large amount of supplies and captives.

Originally, this War Chieftain had been living quite well in the mountains, with his primary enemies being the Dwarves from the Iron Hills region. Who would have known that a sudden order from the highest level would force him to immediately take his warriors and travel thousands of miles to raid Lake-town.

And because the primary enemies of the Grey Mountain Orc clans had always been the Dwarf clans from the Lonely Mountain and the Iron Hills, they had long since surpassed most of their kind in terms of warfare and forging capabilities, second only to the Orcs of the Mordor region.

After the night's revelry ended, Guluote came to rest beside a huge rock near a bonfire. Because alcoholic beverages were quite rare among Orcs, this was the main reason they could not help but drink their fill tonight.

Compared to the dirty, damp mud ground, the area beside this rock not only provided shelter from the wind and rain but was also quite dry; it was a good spot he had specifically reserved for himself to sleep.

However, as he slept, Guluote suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. An inexplicable coldness jolted him awake, and his most loyal Warg partner also let out a warning-like long howl.

Without even thinking, Guluote's strong body immediately rolled to the side. Then, he felt a pain in his neck, and a large amount of fresh blood flowed down the right side of his neck; it seemed his artery had been cut directly.

This discovery caused Guluote's heart to shake violently. He immediately covered the wound on his neck and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

While shouting, he looked toward the spot where he had just been lying.

He saw that under the illumination of the bonfire, a tall figure clad in blood-red armor had appeared there like a ghost, holding a cold, gleaming short sword in their hand.

Before he could even see the person's appearance clearly, he heard a voice spoken in the Common Tongue enter his ears:

"Tch! Is this thing a dog or a wolf? To think it actually smelled my scent."

The person's figure suddenly vanished, then instantly appeared behind him.

This time, Guluote did not have time to make any reaction. The sharp short sword in that person's hand performed a horizontal slash in an instant. Amidst the flashing blade light, Guluote's head rolled off his neck, leaving behind only an expression of wide-eyed rage.

However, because of Guluote's warning and the long howl of the giant Warg beside him, many Orcs in the military camp were awakened, and all of them looked toward Wayne's position in unison.

Looking at the corpse of the War Chieftain on the ground, as well as the many companions beside them who had been killed in their sleep at some unknown time, the scene erupted into intense cursing and shouts of battle after a moment of cold silence.

Having had his location discovered, Wayne could only abandon his original plan to continue assassinating more Orcs and blew the whistle to summon the Deathclaw.

As the melodious whistle blew further and further away, a dull beast roar mixed with excitement and agitation instantly resounded through the night sky.

Amidst the rumbling sound of heavy footsteps, the Deathclaw's powerful body, as if cast from steel, immediately rushed out from its hiding place. It panted heavily, running wildly on two legs, trampling the Orcs who dared to block its path into meat paste like toy models along the way. It moved without any hesitation, solely to reach its master's side faster.

After Wayne severed Guluote's head, he casually tossed the filthy Orc head onto the ground, then performed a Blink toward the location where the Deathclaw was running, casually casting a Chain Lightning spell, knocking down five or six more Orcs.

Once the two sides converged, Wayne climbed back onto the Deathclaw's back and began directing his pet to slaughter its way through the entire Orc camp.

Unlike the Orcs of the Misty Mountains, who were small-bodied and like Goblins, the Orcs of the Grey Mountains were also called Great Orcs.

Their body sizes were generally similar to humans, and a few tall members could even reach a height of about two meters. Furthermore, most of them wore iron armor, and the weapons in their hands were quite refined.

Although the Deathclaw still possessed an overwhelming advantage in dealing with them, it could no longer slaughter them like cutting vegetables as it had with the Misty Mountain Orcs.

At the very least, with the Deathclaw's bite force, it felt strenuous when biting onto iron armor, and its claws could not cut through metal as easily as they could cut through flesh.

Facing these Orcs clad in iron armor, Robin adopted more of a stomping and swatting attack style, utilizing its immense strength to directly shatter their internal organs, much like a car collision.

However, after the initial confusion and shock, the Orcs' savage and cruel nature regained the upper hand. There were four or five hundred Orc soldiers in this military camp, and they were in an open area.

It did not take long for Wayne and Robin to be completely surrounded by the Orc soldiers.

Warriors and Wargs constantly attempted to climb onto the Deathclaw's back along its skin, attacking Wayne on the dragon's back while searching for weak spots on the giant beast to strike.

Afterward, they even brought oil barrels and ropes, attempting to use sturdy ropes to bind the Deathclaw's legs to trip the giant beast, or to use the power of fire to directly ignite the Deathclaw's flesh.

As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands; even with the Deathclaw's toughness, it could not withstand an excessive number of enemies.

Fortunately, there was still Wayne as a helper on the battlefield. Alchemy Bombs and Thundercloud Storms played an excellent role at this time. Whenever he discovered where the Orcs were densely packed, or which Orcs had found ropes or other items that posed a threat to the Deathclaw, he would strike hard, eliminating the threats in the bud.

The night was very long, and the battle between the Deathclaw and the Orcs lasted for a long time.

The two sides gradually transitioned from the initial probing, to the intense confrontation in the middle, and finally to maneuvering and testing.

Ultimately, after a battle that lasted almost two hours, this group of Orcs from the Grey Mountains suffered a rout and scattered in all directions because they could no longer bear any more deaths.

After a night of fighting, even the Deathclaw, with its astonishing stamina, could not help but stand amidst the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, panting heavily.

However, as the most powerful beast in the post-apocalyptic world, Robin's recovery ability was still very strong. After the man and beast rested on the battlefield for an hour, they followed the path they had come by and began to return to Lake-town.

Because of the stamina consumption, the return speed was slower than the journey there. Wayne even encountered the group of captives fleeing toward Lake-town halfway along the road.

When these captives, who had escaped death, learned that Wayne had defeated such a massive Orc army with just one man and one beast, there was no one who did not hold feelings of gratitude toward the two of them.

Regarding this, Wayne did not show false modesty. While taking over command, he also informed them of the current situation in Lake-town.

The group traveled through the night in a grand procession and finally returned to Lake-town before noon, successfully reuniting with their families.

As the person who had contributed the most to this operation, Wayne naturally received the treatment of a hero from everyone.

Facing this hero who had saved the entire Lake-town, all the residents of Lake-town were willing to follow his orders. Under his command, they began to extinguish the fires in the town, collect the corpses of the townsfolk, search for usable supplies, and build temporary refugee shelters.

And when time reached noon, a group of Wood-elves clad in magnificent armor finally arrived in Lake-town in a hurry from Mirkwood across the lake, bringing a large amount of supplies.

They brought emergency supplies for these Lake-town residents who had survived the disaster.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 256 =====