Asher stood on the walls with range-related soldiers manning strategic positions. The Temple knights and the Stormbringers mounted the wall while the King Swordsmen, the Bladebreakers, and Nimrim Guards were behind the wall, waiting for their turn.
The Temple knights were a crossbow-wielding unit, while the Stormbringers were markswomen skilled in using the recurve bow. They were the long-range fighters and were well equipped to damage the orcs before they got to the walls.
Sapphira floated above the walls, her longsword in her hand, as she faced the horde marching out of the forest in great numbers. Alongside them were ferocious black wolves.
The black wolves were beside 7 and 8-foot-tall orcs with fangs adorning their necks and waists. Their fur battle skirts were girded with a leather belt that had the skulls of different beasts. Countless scars could be found on their green skin.
Their tusks protruded proudly and they made guttural sounds while pointing their weapons toward Nimrim. These were the Strong Orcs, the elites of the orc army and there were about 1000 of them, all able to kill gold-ranked soldiers!
While the orc warriors wielded bone culbs and spiked wooden culbs with wooden shields, the strong orcs wielded steel weapons. Some iron hammers, some great swords, some halberds, some great axes, some spears.
However, all of them had thick round shields to protect their bodies.
The aura oozing out of these formidable creatures thirsty for battle and blood struck the human soldiers under Asher and Sapphira. The sight from the gaps in the walls made several Nimrim Guards tremble but Asher’s men and the temple knights remained composed.
However, they tightened their grip on their weapons.
Suddenly, the orcs, after pulling up 400 yards away, opened a path from which a 2 meter tall orc, more stout than the strong orcs, came out on a wolf’s back. His black wolf had a scar on its face, making it look quite daunting.
This was Khan!
Clad in the fur of a white fox, adorned in red plate armor with a strange golden shield strapped to the side of his mount, this chief-class orc was a sight to behold. His expression was calm as he scrutinized the town.
His eyes lingered on Sapphira.
There was a soft twinkle of desire. There wasn’t a restraint in his desire to have this woman whose beauty could cause disaster between nations as they would relentlessly fight for her affection and devotion.
While this orc was deadly, Asher and Sapphira looked beyond what the soldiers could see. Their eyes were on the cloaked figure at the back, close to the woods.
The figure was quite short and held a long wooden staff that had an earth elemental crystal at its top.
That was an abyss worshipper!
One of the extremists that went as far as tattooing blood suns on their bodies for the deaths of their kind!
Khan pointed his cleaver at the town and uttered softly yet his deep voice reverberated.
“Go.”
Boom!
Thousands of orcs dashed toward the walls of Nimrim as they ushered war cries. Their feets stomped the ground, generating a great sound.
“Ready!”
A Stormbringer captain bellowed, and 200 markswomen lifted up their recurve bows, nocked three arrows, and aimed at the running orcs. The temple knights also aimed, awaiting the next orders.
Asher held the wall’s stones that were cold to the touch as he watched the orcs cross a 100 yard distance, cross the second 100 yards and the moment they arrived in the middle of the third, over two dozen orcs fell into the ditch. They were skewered by the spikes, dying instantly.
More fell. In a few breaths, over a hundred orcs fell to their deaths and while more were still dying, there were hundreds with damaged legs and arms!
“Fire!”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Arrows and cross bolts sliced through the air, piercing through the thick skins the orcs prided themselves in. In the next moment, there were series of explosions that took the lives of dozens, engulfing them in raging flames.
Those soaked in the oil burned without mercy and even caused the deaths of their comrades whom they ran into.
The continuous volley of arrows and cross bolts persisted until the ditch was filled with corpses and the Strong orcs with the remaining 7,200 orcs dashed forward with several rams and ladders bound with vines.
About 1,500 had died in the ditches.
This elevated Asher’s spirit.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Arrows flew from his left and right without an end. Orcs kept falling but the arrows couldn’t hold them back anymore as they reached the walls and mounted their ladders. Some carried rams toward the gate.
Without being told, the Stormbringers and the temple knights began to descend from the wall, allowing the King Swordsmen and the Bladebreakers to ascend.
Asher lifted Euodias and exhaled softly.
He tightened his grip around the hilt.
“Bring down their ladders!”
He bellowed and his men swiftly went to work, pushing off the ladders with deep grunts. Meanwhile, strong orcs slammed the town gates with their heavy rams, but there were Nimrim Guards trying to keep the gate intact.
With each hit, the gate creaked and trembled heavily but the soldiers ground their teeth and held on.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Strong orcs carried their wolves, leaped off the ground and landed on the alure. The wolves jumped from their embrace, lunging toward nearby soldiers but they faced gold-ranked knights clad in gold-ranked armor.
The battle on the wall became intense as the strong orcs took the soldiers’ attention, allowing the orc warriors to climb the ladders and enter the alure.
Asher looked around, watching the battle escalate by the minute. His soldiers were already surrounded on all sides but they stood their ground, fighting both aggressively and tactically.
However, there was a green light radiating from Sapphira.
It took care of the internal injuries the soldiers sustained from the blunt attacks.
Hovering midair, she could survey the battle, providing help to those in need at the right time.
When two strong orcs walked toward him, one from the left and the other from the right, Asher dashed toward the one on the right, causing the one on the left to chase him.
The one on the right, when he saw Asher coming, swung his iron hammer but Asher leaped above it, stepped on his head and somersaulted backward.
He flew over the one chasing him and cut open its back from its neck to its waist!
Thud!
Both the sound of his feet and the corpse rang at the same time.
It turns out… He wasn’t a novice swordsman anymore!