The orcs were known for having ten times the strength and five times the agility of normal humans. Not only that, they also have bones and muscles as hard as steel and a battle instinct imprinted in their blood.
However, those were neither the feared factor nor the orcs’ strongest point. The greatest weapon at their disposal was their seemingly inexhaustible, ferocious fighting spirit that would not stop until all their enemies were destroyed.
When they invaded the settlement from the desert, these orcs were only fighting with bare hands. However, as soon as they entered the settlement, they came out with a variety of weapons – axes, hammers, spears, and even rifles left by the dead.
Thousands of them covered miles of the southern line with only one purpose in their minds, to kill.
Chiwikk chiwwiikk
There was simply too much ground for the five Earth acolytes to cover. Fortunately, the reinforcement had come.
Several vehicles arrived in droves. From them came dozens of people armed with various weapons, but most had rifles in their hands. Without further ado, they began to attack the nearby orcs.
“Shoot! Kill those orcs!!”
While the rebels fought fiercely in their own assigned area, the three flaming brothers helped Emery and Thrax to cover the central line of defense from the orc hordes that were seemingly endless.
On the left flank, Klea and Chumo were assisted by Burdock who operated his huge mecha. The war machine revealed its true prowess in a battle of this scale, unleashing destruction upon the hordes with its explosive projectiles and unstoppable suppression fire.
As for Julian who was fighting on the right flank, the Roman was reinforced by the Quartermain brothers. With him being the vanguard, the two brothers could attack the orcs and retreat as they pleased without inhibitions.
As time passed, more and more rebel fighters arrived and joined the fray. Even some civilians decided to take part in the effort; they brought their weapons and started unleashing vengeance on the orc hordes. Shouts and roars were heard all over the desert plains.
“Kill them all!, don’t let any of them pass!!’
It took a few hours before the fierce battle finally ended. The defense line was still standing, albeit not without damage. Thousands of orc corpses were scattered along the line, covering the sandy desert without any gaps.
Seeing that there were no more orcs standing, the people raised their hands in the air as loud cheers resounded through the air in succession. These people were ecstatic. With their own hands, they managed to stop the abominable creatures from killing more of their friends and family.
It was a heartwarming sight that brought smiles to those who watched.
Until Emery suddenly heard the distinctive sound of familiar objects coming from the sky. His face paled as he shouted as loudly as he could.
“N-no.. NO!!! RUN!!! Everyone retreat!!”
Dozens of mechanical drones flew down from the sky towards the ground and started releasing explosive tubes.
Emery’s eyes widened when he saw those explosive tubes. He cast [Seed Bomb] and threw several of them to the sky, while Thrax also quickly took action. Stabbing his spear into the ground, he used it to send himself high into the sky shooting toward the approaching drones.
Kaboom kaboom!!
A deafening sound sounded in the air as the Immortal Gladiator destroyed one of the drones and leapt to another to destroy it as well. Landing on the orbiter he had taken out, he began chasing after the drones one by one.
“Great job, Thrax!!”
While Thrax went on the offensive, Emery himself opted to focus on defense. He raised his Light Staff and cast [Bright Shield] in succession. The reason was because the Tier 2 light spell was much easier and faster to cast, and more importantly, was sufficient to stop the explosive tubes in the air.
Just in case, he also summoned all three plant creatures, asking them to protect the civilians from the blast.
“Kuang! Ku! Ku!”
Twik had his sturdy body, while the Chizpur Fangs had their innate [Wide Guard] skill. Together, all three of them effectively protected the rebels and civilians alike from the shockwave and the aftermath of the explosions.
Emery, however, kept his eyes focused on the far sky. What concerned him the most was still the [Star Blast]. Not taking any chances, Emery used his [Twilight Transformation] and after casting [Light wings] he flew into the air, waiting for the incoming attack.
Moments later, it happened. There, a bright flash of light shot to the ground from the sky like heaven’s judgment. However, unlike what he had predicted, it headed in the right flank instead, where Julian was.
The blast struck the ground and caused an earth-shattering tremor on the ground, creating an enormous cloud of sand and a powerful shockwave that blew into the surrounding area including the central area where Emery and Thrax were.
With his side practically cleared of threat, Emery left the area in the hands of the three flaming brothers while he swiftly headed down the right flank. He left one of the Chizpur Fang to keep an eye on the situation and the other to the left flank, while bringing Thrax and Twik to the right flank.
As soon as he passed the gate, Emery was greeted with a tragic sight. Large craters, and buildings were swept off and burned. There was complete silence as the palace was filled with parts of charred corpses.
The left side was the closest to the rebel hideout, therefore there were more people compared to the other two sides. Coupled with the presence of Julian and Stildar – two leaders of their respective groups – it was actually not surprising that this area was the target of the devastating attack.
“Those Nexus bastards! Arrgghh!!” shouted Thrax angrily.
Emery quickly activated his Spirit Reading, using it to search for survivors. At the same time, he cast [Rejuvenating Mushroom] at the location where the injured were gathered. The pale complexion and screams of pain lessened as the mushrooms took effect.
He saw Stildar and Julian injured and bleeding profusely, with the latter’s shield lying beside them completely shattered.
“Urghh!!” Julian spat out a mouthful of blood, but Emery’s healing spell should be able to heal him. On the other hand, being a magus Stildar would also need several minutes of rest to recover. However, instead of resting, the man limped back and forth while screaming frantically.
“Shane!! Shane!! Brother!”
Realizing the situation, Emery quickly focused his Spirit Reading and searched for a certain person. Moments later, he found them and immediately ran towards their location – the ruins of a devastated building.
Quickly but carefully removing the debris, it didn’t take long for the figure of an old man to appear. He was buried in the rubble. Most of his body was burned with many holes from being punctured by sharp objects.
The man was at the end of his life.
“No! Shane!!” Stildar screamed as he quickly ran to his brother’s body.
Emery was taken aback for a moment because what he was seeing right now was nothing like how the two brothers normally seen, there was real pain shown by the rebel leader.
Knowing the situation was critical, Emery stepped in and cast [Nature Blessing] on the dying man. Beside him was the restless Stildar, unconcerned by the wounds and blood that was all over his body.
“Can you save him..? ..Please save him!”
“I’ll try my best,” was the only response Emery could give.
However, while he was healing the dying Shane, Emery’s eyes turned to the sky as a ship approached. From within, two dozen men flew out with three at the front were magus-level figures.
They were the Nexus Magus; Garnet followed by Rodric and Wildon.
Words that were cold as ice resounded in the air.
“Kill them all!”