Chapter 620: Deployment
Chapter 620: Deployment
After the agreement was set, the two holy men left, and Liam and his companions once again appeared at the Dinner Party, bringing the atmosphere to a climax. They didn't return to their house until the midnight banquet was over, sitting in a carriage.
The next morning, after making all sorts of preparations, Liam and his group met up with Harper at the Supreme Palace as agreed. They then used the power of the Silvermoon City Wizard Tower to teleport with a ninth-level Ranger named James to the northern Moonforest, where Oberd the Manyarrows had established his base after abandoning Manyarrows Fort.
Liam and his companions moved through the forest at a rapid pace. According to the Ranger's perspective, they didn't act like mages at all but more like certain rovers. This seasoned veteran had a keen eye; indeed, Liam and Hermione used the same techniques as the Assassins from the Assassin's Creed to travel quickly.
After advancing about five or six kilometers, the signs of large-scale destruction in the forest became evident. Entire areas were completely devastated, with trees and shrubs cut down, and even the grass stripped away in some places.
"In the Northern Lands, many Orcs raid southward during winter. This is the most dangerous time of the year. In previous years, we in Silvermoon City would have been prepared, but we didn't expect Oberd to lead a large group of Orcs south this year. If we don't drive these Orcs away or eliminate them, the disruption of trade caravans alone will prevent many small villages from obtaining essential supplies for the winter, leading to at least half of the population starving to death. Not to mention, the Orcs' power is enough to harm everyone in the surrounding areas. In fact, several Rangers and Elves have already been killed in the past few days."
Listening to the Ranger's account, Liam and his companions felt a surge of righteous anger. Soon, under the aerial reconnaissance of the invisible Rose Crystal, a small Orc raiding party was discovered. These Orcs had brought this upon themselves; if they hadn't cleared the surrounding trees, Rose Crystal would have had a harder time locating them in the dense jungle.
Under the cover of the natural environment, the group stealthily approached the Orcs, staying just out of their perception. When Liam gave the signal, Hermione instantly summoned Shadows to pin the dozen or so Orcs to the ground. Liam then conjured a large net of Lightning to envelop them. At the same time, Rose Crystal summoned a barrage of Crystal shards to rain down from above.
The Orcs were completely unprepared for this three-dimensional ambush. They hadn't anticipated an almost undetectable aerial attacker like Rose Crystal, nor had they expected a Legendary Mage to engage in such uncharacteristic sneak attacks. Thus, in a single round of attacks, the entire Orc squad was eliminated by Liam and his companions. The Ranger who accompanied them didn't even have a chance to fire a single arrow.
The disparity in levels was stark, especially when high-tier casters faced low-tier warriors. Over the next two days, Liam and his group raided over a dozen outposts and wiped out more than thirty raiding parties. The Harper had to admit that a Legendary Mage and a High Mage, if they were willing to set aside their pride and target low-level Orcs, could turn the tide into a massacre.
For example, when they attacked the largest outpost, which housed three squads and nearly two hundred Orcs, Rose Crystal confirmed there were no hostages. Liam and his companions, under the astonished gaze of the Harper, spent half an hour building an Altar in the nearby forest. They then climbed the Altar and spent seven minutes summoning a storm of Lightning that reduced the entire outpost and its inhabitants to ashes.
After two days of clearing, almost all the small and medium-sized Orc outposts and patrols in the jungle were wiped out, leaving only a few large outposts. After half an hour of searching without finding any small-scale enemies like the ones from the previous days, they gathered for lunch to discuss their next move.
"Let's go for a big one and then retreat, Big Brother", Rose Crystal suggested excitedly, hoping to end the war with a glorious victory. With Lady Elastron's sense of justice, if they made a significant contribution, the rewards would surely be greater.
"You're right. At least two hours ago, our reconnaissance revealed that the Orcs have stopped sending out raiding parties. They are now concentrated in several large strongholds, making a direct assault extremely difficult. From now on, it will be impossible to eliminate small groups of enemies like this", Liam nodded at Rose Crystal. "So we will carry out a complex plan. If we get lucky, we might even solve the Orc problem in one fell swoop—"
After discussing for about ten minutes, everyone agreed on the plan. They then gathered their things and set out towards the location of the Orcish Court, which they had scouted earlier. The journey went smoothly because, over the past two days, they had eliminated nearly a thousand Orc warriors, roughly half of the local Orc warrior population. In the wake of such heavy losses, Oberd Manyarrows had no choice but to consolidate his forces to avoid being picked off one by one.
Of course, this was a necessary move. Previously, the Orc chieftain had ordered a hundred-man elite squad led by his most favored son, Argen Threefists, to search for the attackers from a front-line stronghold. However, this squad was discovered by Rose Crystal and lured far from their base by the Harper Ranger, who then led them into a trap set by Liam.
By the time Oberd Manyarrows realized something was wrong and led his guards to the scene, it was too late. Liam and his team, using magic traps, had already wiped out the entire Orc squad and launched a counterattack, using fire and shadow to destroy the now-vulnerable front-line stronghold.
Oberd Manyarrows only saw his son, stripped of all money and magic items, along with the bodies of the elite hundred-man squad, and the front-line stronghold turned into a massive bonfire. To make matters worse, a significant portion of their food supplies, which had been stored there for easy access, was burned by Liam using Wildfire, further exacerbating the Orcs' already strained resources.
Although the previous attacks had decimated a large number of Orcs, the mysterious loss of half their warriors had made the Orcs wary. The Harper Ranger, stationed at a stronghold closest to the court, had been drumming up a commotion with dozens of constructs that Liam had temporarily created using Transfiguration. However, apart from shooting down two careless Orcs who poked their heads out, no reinforcements from the court appeared as planned.
As night approached, the Ranger, James, followed the plan and left the stone constructs in place before returning to camp for dinner. Sitting by the fire, he said excitedly, "We three—ah, no, four of us."
Rose Crystal, satisfied with the Ranger's correction, elegantly lifted her custom porcelain cup and sipped her hot tea. James, a bit embarrassed, glanced at the doll who had been glaring at him and continued, "Four of us managed to keep a thousand strong Orc warriors from leaving their stronghold. I think this will become a long-standing subject for the Bards of Silvermoon City and the entire Northern Lands to sing about."
"If we succeed this time, it definitely will", Liam said, his expression turning serious. "But we mustn't be complacent. From the information I've seen, Oberd Manyarrows is a brave and ambitious Orc leader. He won't let us slaughter his army without retaliation, especially after we killed his most favored son."
"You're right", James agreed, becoming more serious. "Orcs have an advantage at night over humans. I suspect they might use the cover of darkness to launch a surprise attack on us."
He glanced at the seven or eight tents in the camp and the large bonfire in the center, which was clearly more than necessary for four people. "But I think this camp setup is a bit too simple. These Orcs are battle-hardened veterans; they won't fall for such an obvious trap easily."
"We know!" Hermione nodded. "But our real trap isn't here. This place just needs to weaken the enemy a bit."
"Sometimes, I really can't understand your caster mentality", James shrugged. He had thought this was the final trap because Liam had placed supplies worth at least two or three hundred gold coins in the camp. He hadn't realized that they had spent so much money just to slightly harass the Orcs.
(End of Chapter)
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