The knights looked at the thick ice wall for only a second before going forward under Balin's command. Their weapons would have to get the job done.
One of them used a magic spear and another a magic sword. Both made of unique magic metals only available to those working for the royal family. It was therefore no surprise that the wall of earth was split into pieces in a matter of seconds.
Dirt and dust were stirred up as the debris of rock and dirt started to rapidly settle.
"Great job, Theo" Theo's squad captain commented, Theo didn't respond as he was too busy paying close attention to the gaping hole he and his fellow knight opened up.
The view became clear but all they could see were three tunnels each going in a separate direction. One was going left, one right, one forward. They had to make a choice, but each tunnel looked equally eerie thanks to the mist exuded by the thick ice.
"They couldn't have gone far" The orcs weren't mining for nearly long enough to dig very far into the other two tunnels. That meant they were some sort of decoy or hiding place.
If Balin could be honest he couldn't really see a purpose to those two tunnels. One could squint and see nothing but a half-mined wall at the end.
"Check the two ends carefully" Balin instructed. If they were made they had to serve a purpose and given that he had the orcs cornered anyway there was generally no risk with being extra careful.
Four knights up front split into two and each duo chose a direction. They walked in and probed carefully at the walls but there was nothing in the end. Just as the knights were about to return to the main tunnel, a surprising change.
The ceiling started to collapse suddenly and chunks of ice began to fall from the ceiling.
The knights were surprised but they were equally wary. With their blades having already been at hand they sliced and diced the chunks of ice. The small pieces which did manage to fall on them were from thereon painless. The armor took the brunt of any larger ones.
This had happened on both sides but they both had the same outcome. No one harmed
"Crafty" Ray commented somewhat surprised at the means employed by these orcs. He hadn't seen any triggers, so how did it activate exactly? His archer eye couldn't be so easily deceived...
"Hehehehe" Sheepish laughter.
"Hey! What was that?" One knight exclaimed having heard what sounded like a chortle.
The knight instinctively looked up towards the ceiling from which the chunks of ice fell only to be welcomed by a hazy green object.
Next thing he knew he received an axe straight to the head.
"Urgh-!" His helmet did its best to ward off the attack, but the knight was still left dazed. By the time he tried to regain his clarity, a second axe swing struck the same exact spot which his helmet had protected.
Blood splattered as an orc giggled perversely with elation. This was it! The thrill of the kill!
But this thrill was short-lived as the second knight stabbed his spear into his body. "Argh!" The orc grunted but he also didn't resist. He gripped his orc iron axe once more and made a swing at his opponent's exposed neck.
"Ah! Why you-!" The knight cursed after fortunately surviving the attack. The axe failed to dig deep into his neck thanks to the awkward movement of the skewered orc.
The knight twisted and pulled back his spear holding back a stifle from the pain brought by the laceration on the side of his neck
The commotion was small but the danger was real. After the first orc exposed himself it was only natural for the orc on the other side to do the same.
"Two dead, one injured!" Shouted someone holding back their anger. Two dead, one injured. That was two comrades fell at the hands of C-class creatures at most! Pitiful!
But humans could never overcome their innate weakness. Unless shielded by mana, it was impossible to protect one's head, heart, or neck, or any other area for potentially fatal attacks.
"Huh?" One knight exclaimed in surprise suddenly finding his ears ringing. He looked around in confusion before being left utterly astounded.
"Wh- What!?!" The squad captain Siar was left agape finding his left arm missing. To make matters worse, the knight that was in charge of protecting him had a gaping hole in his chest.
"GODDAMMIT!" An incensed shout was heard even through the ringing found in the ears of many.
A blast of wind had suddenly been shot out like a cannon from the center tunnel. That was awfully provocative. Balin was rightfully losing his mind.
Perhaps sharing his thoughts, Ray, The A-class Archer removed an arrow from his quiver.
Immediately, the dark tunnels were illuminated by blinding white light. Ray's bowstring was drawn back in full and the arrow placed in the rest shone each second more brilliantly.
By the time he released it, almost everyone was blinded by the holy power. The arrow flung forward at full force towards the end of the cavern.
The strong penetrative power included in that arrow resulted in the arrow continuing its path even after reaching the end. It dug a lengthy arrow sized hole into the thick ice, and hopefully, it also left a hole in some orcs.
But as the radiant light died down and the eyes of everyone present adjusted back, they were met with a disappointing sight. There was no one!
But that should have been impossible! Where could they have gone otherwise? They shouldn't have had enough time to dig so many holes! Those seemed to be the thoughts that ran through the heads and minds of all the knights and mages there to witness the event.
They had however still underestimated the number of orcs present to do the mining, this coupled with a few minutes head start meant a lot of digging preparation.
Not once had they seen the orcs and their numbers. They had only assumed all the orcs were present in this cavern due to their lack of presence elsewhere. It was impossible to know the exact amount under this presumption.
The settlement size tended to be a good indicator, but this settlement was far too large! Most of it had been abandoned. Everything was a toss-up, it just so happened their estimates compiled from the activity found in the settlement's center fell quite short this time.
Now Balin was faced with a new problem, how fast are they to press forward? If there were large tunnels or even just dead ends they might end up sacrificing a few to guerilla warfare.
It was possible to simply expend their mana in turns but while viable this wasn't optimal. The reports clearly stated the hidden threat of this floor. Similar to the skeleton, which they still did not catch, there was a problematic orc. These mobs were like some sort of champions among the regular mobs and their excessive strength was not to be messed with.
What was left then? To hope they didn't come across it? Balin could not leave everything to chance as the commander of a company. He could gamble with his own life but not that of others.
"Shield squad at the front" Balin commanded now that everyone's vision and the hearing were back to normal.
The ice tunnel was much narrower so only about five shields were at the front at once compared to before in the wide winding tunnel. This was a disadvantage for mages as much as it was knights. The larger melee weapons would not have much space to operate.
To add to the danger, the floor which was wet ground at the entrance was now slippery and uneven ice terrain.
There was some respite in this, the orcs were likely equally affected by this condition. There weren't many ways to overcome this risk without directly swapping out your weapon after all.
The sound of boots crushing ice was the only sound inside the ice tunnel. Everyone was quiet and prepared for another attack.
"ROOOOAR!!!" That was when orcs finally started to appear. These orcs were charging forward with… pickaxes?!?!
The knights up front braced themselves as 10 or so orcs started to run forward with pickaxes in hand.
The burly creatures did not occupy any less space than themselves so they couldn't all attack at once but… it didn't matter! Their physical strength was naturally stronger than that of regular humans.
The pickaxes bore small holes on the shields of the five knights up front. One of the shield-bearing knights grit their teeth as they coursed their water mana. A bubble of water instantly surrounded himself and others which caused the pickaxes to be significantly slowed down before contact.
"Push forward!" One of the man upfront was their squad commander, Varick, the man with his gruff beard shouted at the top of his lungs before digging his feet into the soil.
Mana was entered into his feet and with the water shield provided by one of his subordinates, it was easy to push against the mining orcs.
"Wah-!" Or it should have been, but those orcs weren't all playing nice.
One of them threw their pickaxe at the top of the ice ceiling. The height of the tunnel was not much more than its width but it was enough to leave considerable space above a human's head.
"Damn!" Varick yelled worried about what the pickaxe might trigger. This temporary lapse left him and the others unprepared for when one of the orcs entered the water bubble himself and gripped a knight's shield firmly.
The orc hoisted it towards himself dragging the knight with him out of the water shield. The knight tried to quickly defend himself by letting go of the shield but he was assaulted by many picks before he could answer with his fists.
The other knights also wanted to assist but with the formation broken there were wide enough gaps to create disasters.
"ROOOOOARRR!!!" One orc roared in celebration preparing himself for a noble sacrifice.