On the way to meet with Zhang Mengyao's team, Yan Sheng told him what happened to their group.
The same for the other two teams, Yan Sheng and his team encountered the Dire Wolf. Unfortunate for the young man and his team, they encountered a big pack of Dire Wolf.
There were about seventy wolves and they ambushed them at the unexpected terrain. On top of that, it was not just stage-1 Dire Wolf, but also stage-2 Dire Wolf. On top of that, the leader of the pack was stage-3 Dire Wolf.
Yan Sheng was struggling to finish the stage-3 Dire Wolf. During the battle against the stage-3 Dire Wolf, Kang Zian was attacked by three stage-2 Dire Wolves.
Yan Sheng could not protect or help as he was preoccupied with the leader of the pack. Fortunately, a Tarrior came to help Kang Zian since he knew the man was his Boss's brother-in-law. He was the other one who suffered heavy injuries.
As for the slave, he suffered the same fate as Kang Zian. Three Dire Wolves ambushed him and unfortunate for the guy, he died direction as the wolves tore his neck. Tang Shaoyang has the man buried at the rendezvous point before they left.
"You were doing good," Tang Shaoyang encouraged Yan Sheng instead of blaming him. There was nothing that could be blamed on the young man, he was doing his best and kept the casualties to the minimum. It was good enough in Tang Shaoyang's eyes since Yan Sheng only has a normal Warrior Class.
"I will do better next time, Boss," Yan Sheng lowered his head as he said that. Tang Shaoyang hummed in response as he glanced at the unconscious Kang Zian. The guy fell asleep after drinking the healing potion, so he had Moon bring him on his back.
The team marched toward the garrison. They got there faster. Kang Xue and her family made a fuss when they found out the unconscious Kang Zian. Huo Hongmei was crying at the sight of her unconscious husband.
"He has drunk a healing potion, he should be fine," those words meant to assure the family. After that, Tang Shaoyang left them to look after the man. He had a more important matter to discuss with his subordinates.
"A few kilometers ahead where the fortress is. It has a sturdy wall and gate, any idea?" It was his habit to ask his subordinate first before he expressed his idea. He had a plan in his mind but he wanted to listen to what his subordinates had first.
"Shouldn't we scout the fortress first? We need to estimate their numbers and strength, after that, we can make a plan to fight them," Wei Xi was the first one to express his opinion. Scouting was a common thing to do before a war.
Wei Xi then turned toward Lu An, "Lu An was the fastest among us. We can send him to scout inside, also make sure to check their defense as well. If it's possible, we can send a few people inside to open the gate from inside,"
"I am fine with that," Lu An readily agreed to the plan. He was willing to sneak into the fortress.
"That's a solid plan, but I think it's not possible to sneak into the fortress in broad daylight with too many people, we have to wait the night for that," Tang Shaoyang voiced his thoughts about the plan. Not everyone could be as fast as Lu An, sneaking into the fortress at this time was not possible as it would be easily detected by the orcs.
"Then let's do that," Zhang Mengyao found Wei Xi's idea was the best option they have for now unless they had a better tool for the battle.
The discussion was over and it was time to execute the plan. Tang Shaoyang brought Lu An, Zhang Mengyao, and Wei Xi toward the fortress while letting his subordinates take a rest for tonight's assault.
Looking at the tall wall from afar, Lu An whispered in a low voice, "How am I supposed to climb the wall?" He muttered in a low voice. He might be fast but he did not have a necessary tool or skill that could climb the wall.
The wall was around ten meters tall, jumping was not an option while climbing normally would alert the orcs on the wall. His class might be an Assassin but he never received assassin training.
"It's a stone wall, there should be a gap for you to hold onto it. Just like rock climbing, it should be easy for you, right?" Zhang Mengyao noticed the wall was made of stone that was stacked neatly.
"I have never tried rock climbing before but I can try," Lu An answered honestly.
"What about borrowing Li Na's concealment cloak? You can hide if the orcs are alerted," Tang Shaoyang proposed the idea.
Hearing that, the three people's eyes brightened up. Indeed, with the concealment cloak, they did not need to be afraid of the orc being alerted.
Solving the issue, Lu An borrowed the concealment cloak and rushed toward the fortress. The big flaw of the cloak was he could not move while activating the concealment.
He activated his skill [Dash] while accelerating with his maximum speed. In about a minute, Lu An avoided the orc's eyes who guarded the wall and reached the wall. He created some distance from the wall near the wall before he tried to climb the ten meters wall.
The fortress had four monsters guarding the wall near the gate so he had to choose another side to avoid being found. Even though he never tried rock climbing before, Lu An easily climbed the wall. Even he himself was surprised to find out about this.
Just as he was about to reach the top, he heard steps and a small growl. Lu An immediately stopped to climb and activated the concealment.
Not long after his body disappeared under the concealment cloak, an orc peeked out from the top. The orc was wearing a crudely made steel helmet. Its eyes scanned the wall and the thing below.
It was growling confusingly as its hand hit the helmet. The orc seemed to notice something.
[Basic Detection]
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[Monster - Orc]
Affiliation: Orc Tribe
Evolution: Stage 2
Class: Orc Guard
Level: 41
Skill: [Berserk Strike]
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Lu An used this chance to cast [Basic Detection] on the orc. The guard was actually a stage-2 monster. His hand was itching to pull the sword and severed the orc's head. However, he did hold down as his mission was to scout the fortress. He did not want to disappoint his Boss.
The Orc Guard stayed for a little longer before it went back. Lu An did not move as he listened to the footsteps. After making sure the Orc Guard was gone, he continued to climb up.
He was a bit nervous inside but everything went smoothly. The orc almost found him out but thanks to the Concealment Cloak that always helped him. He scouted the fortress, for like an hour before he came back with the vital information about the fortress.
There were many huts of different sizes inside the fortress. The orc uses the huts as quarters for them to rest. He kept casting [Basic Detection] to measure how strong the fortress was.
Most of the orcs were stage-1 Orc Warrior while dozens of them were stage-2 Orc Guard.
"It should be easy if most of the monsters are stage-1 and stage-2," Wei Xi commented after hearing the report from Lu An. He was not arrogant but their people were indeed that strong.
Lu An shook his head, "No, there is the leader of the fortress. Three of them, and they are stage-3 evolution, Orc General," he finished the report.
In the center of the fortress, there were three giant huts. The Orc General occupied these three huts, and he managed to sneak into the hut without being noticed.
"They should not be a problem, right?" Wei Xi looked toward his Boss. He had heard that in the first expedition they encountered an unidentified monster called Death Reaper. Stage-3 Orc General should not be a problem for them.
"Good, we will attack the fortress at night. Have you checked the gate? Can you open the gate alone or you need help?" Zhang Mengyao got what Wei Xi tried to imply and she agreed to that. The Orc General should not be a problem for Tang Shaoyang.
"I need one helper to pull up the gate," Lu An had checked the gate's mechanism. The gate could be opened by pulling two levers located on the opposite side. He needed one more person to help him open the gate from inside.
"I will go with you," Tang Shaoyang volunteered himself, "You should lead the group to attack, use your shield wall if necessary," he instructed Zhang Mengyao.
At night, Tang Shaoyang used the darkness to sneak into the fortress. The Orc source of light was only the torches they put around the wall that gave them a limited vision. The darkness was also the reason why the wall was guarded by more orcs.
Tang Shaoyang climbed the left sidewall of the gate while Lu An was on the right side. They slowly climbed up to the top wall.
Four Orc Guards on each side, to not alert the other orcs, they had to kill the four orcs at the same. Tang Shaoyang activated his [Spirit Integration] with Karan and signaled Lu An on the other side.
When he counted to three, both immediately leaped out to the top wall. Not expecting the ambush, the Orc Guards were caught off guard.
Tang Shaoyang approached the four Orc Guards and pulled them into his chest. He had his arms around their neck, and he squeezed it hard until a cracking noise resounded. He broke the Orc Guard's neck, causing them four to die instantly.
On the other side, Lu An activated [Dash] and [Fatal Strike] afterward. Decapitating all four Orc Guards in one strike.
After killing the guards near the gate, Tang Shaoyang and Lu An jumped off the wall. They immediately pulled the lever and the steel gate slowly getting lifted.
At this moment, Zhang Mengyao and the others who waited near the fortress saw the gate opened. She led the group and charged toward the fortress.
At the same time, the noise of the gate being opened was loud. The noise alerted the other orcs who were on the wall. The orcs then saw two humans opening the gate.
Deng! Deng! Deng!
The orc nearest the bell immediately hit the bell to alert their people that the fortress was under attack. Right after the bell, orcs poured out from the huts and rushed toward Tang Shaoyang and Lu An who were in their sight.