Sharog and the others had been anxiously awaiting the appearance of these zombies. Though the news had been shocking, the date of the prophecy gave them plenty of time to mentally prepare.
Of course, they did more than mentally prepare, their physical preparation was not half bad either. The main reason was that Prild continued to receive prophecies that more or less accurately pinpointed the location from which the zombies would emerge. Without an accurate location, it would have been impossible to ambush the zombies as they appeared.
Thus, knowing the location they set up some various traps and weapons. With Sharog's knowledge from Vorgarag still fresh in her mind, she made elemental cannons. The traps they set up were a mix of arrays and manually triggered devices.
They had learned from Ed to place these things about nearly everywhere and having the defenses set up, they just needed troops. Unfortunately for them, the previous battle had dwindled down their numbers significantly.
Their only method to resolve this was to free the mother orcs they imprisoned from the sacred tribe. Well, to be more specific, they were promised freedom. That was as long as they charged valiantly into battle and managed to survive.
Though these orc women had been turned somewhat meek by the doctrines they grew up with they were still orcs through and through. They immediately rose to the challenge putting forth only the condition that Sharog returned their children in case they survived.
Others who had resigned themselves to their fate as prisoners had Sharog and Shel promise that they would take care of their children even after their deaths. Sharog had no qualms with either type of orc women.
On the one hand, they didn't have enough resources to care for all the women and their children, and on the other hand, the recent massacre had significantly cut down their population. The perfect compromise was to let the hard-headed ones leave and raise the children of the more resigned ones.
Sure, there was no guarantee their children would be obedient but similarly to how the women had been indoctrinated, the children could make friends with others from the tribe and ingrain themselves into the community. At that point, it'd be hard for them to think about getting revenge.
This all sounded quite fine and simple but there had in fact been lots of opposition when the public first got a whiff of this.
"Why are we letting them go? We should just kill them!" A particular blood-thirsty orc woman said while glaring daggers at Sharog, Dakgu, and Shel who were the only ones leading things for the time being.
They felt that this decision was incompetent and that problems had to be nipped in the bud. Some were more concerned about the fact that these women survived while they ended up suffering for entering the cavern under Sharog. They were concerned that either Sharog was not wise enough or that the sacred tribe women could threaten them with their numbers.
"Kill them!" "Freeloaders need to earn their keep!" "They can't freeload if they are dead!" The shouts from the masses were endless and varied but they all had one thing in common.
The orc woman had to die, be it in battle, or by their hands. It was, therefore, no surprise that they were ultimately willing to compromise. Some didn't relent on letting the women go if they survived after the battle but with the pressing time, they didn't continue to argue about it.
With less than a week of preparations, the sacred tribe members valiantly set out to the edge of the settlement. When they reached the site of the zombies they were handed poor quality weapons.
The poorest quality weapons they had were simply those not made from orc iron. Ironically enough, the Sanctuary production of these weapons never picked up so most of the weapons they were being deprived of had been theirs initially.
"ROOOARRR!!!" Nevertheless, the orc women were still pretty damn ferocious as they charged out from all manner of places. As soon as they noticed the zombies emerging from the dirt they charged out of the houses or bushes they were hiding in.
Having announced their presence, the zombies hadn't failed to notice them.
<"I know we are tired from digging but… one last time! Kill them!"> Even while seeing the fervent madness hidden in the zombies the orc woman remained unfazed. All they could see were a gateway to freedom and or a way to guarantee the future of their children. They knew no fear.
Then again, fear was something that could be easily learned. The first orc woman to reach a human knight was quickly bisected that very second.
<"Tsk"> The knight who had done the killing didn't even bat an eye. He was only focused on how frustrating it was to have to resort to monster slaying right after exiting the tunnel.
Most wouldn't have the leisure to think such empty thoughts in battle, but this knight was a middle B-class adventurer which when compared to these orc housewives was already an unbeatable level.
To make things worse this single knight was only one of many. The orc women who had charged forward to encircle these zombies were swatted down like pestering flies one after the other.
The situation was looking grim for these ladies but apart from an unresolved few most continued to charge in with hardy expressions. Since they weren't fighting for themselves they could die without issue if that was what it took!
Faced with this touching determination Sharog could not allow for too many of them to lose their lives pointlessly.
"Fire the cannons!" The magic cannons had been set up atop of the incredibly high settlement wall making it hard to aim down on the small knights and mages. Still, with the help of gravity, any shots were a sure kill.
<"It's raining f*cking fire!"> A knight yelled before parrying an axe swing and stabbing the orc responsible. He looked up for a brief second and managed to faintly notice the existence of these cannons.
<"We should find a way to escape!"> He shouted understanding that the enemies had been prepared for their arrival.
A translucent dome of wind then encircled all the humans following the cast of a group of mages.
<"Brace yourselves"> One of the casters shouted as the wildly inaccurate cannon managed to hit their barrier head-on.
The dome of wind was easily penetrated and the hot orc iron that rained from above only managed to lose a second's worth of momentum before crushing a knight.
These knights were used to deaths but some couldn't help but feel frustrated as they continued to fight against the small fries.
<"F*ck off!"> A knight screamed after slashing aside an orc woman.
<"Let's escape through here!"> But he brushed aside this frustration and prioritized escape. The death of their commander had sobered many of them up.
Hearing his words, the others briefly took a quick gander at the direction he pointed to. Under the threat of axes and cannon fire, they managed to spot the direction he planned on taking them towards and noticed it was straight into the wall.
Tarin who had been eliminating some orcs in quick succession with earth spikes noticed this and realized what the knight wanted.
<"Let's go! I'll open up the wall!"> The battle started to quickly shift towards the settlement's wall. The cannons mounted on it found it increasingly hard to lower the angle proving that the decision was correct- The floor suddenly caved in.
Inside the pit were deadly metallic needles perhaps crafted by Shel and Ed's other smiths for this very purpose. The knights all did their best to avoid the needles via twisting their bodies or even attacking them while the mages simply conjured up shields or brushed aside the needles with their spells.
This short shift in attention still made for an opportunity. The orc women who were originally at a disadvantage gained the high ground and effectively the jump on the knights and mages who had fallen.
<"This is damn pointless!"> A knight said parrying a strike of an axe and causing the orc to fall onto a needle. The pressure was heavier but they could deal with it. The knight's eye suddenly widened.
<"Magic shields!!"> He screamed in panic noticing light reflect off of falling objects. These were obviously crystals and after remembering the cause of the cavern caving in he knew they were no joke.
Siar and Tarin both responded to this call, though Siar prepared an attack rather than a shield. The falling crystals were hit by a fireball and ignited while Tarin quickly rose the earth to form a dome. The dome was rather frail but it had to make do. The mana he and some other earthen mages had exhausted would not magically recover after all.
Seeing things progress smoothly Sharog was satisfied. She felt that these zombies were not as large a threat as she had originally anticipated.
"We should go down and help…" Dakgu suggested with a low voice while clenching his fists. His battle experience was lacking and the only way to improve it was to jump headfirst into peril!
Sharog didn't hesitate to agree as she also felt her strength was insufficient. Shel naturally had no reason to refuse but just as they were about to leave their spot they froze.
These zombies' attempt to shield themselves had been masked by the explosion but now it seemed unlikely that they were zombies.
The spells had made them suspicious before but they were now certain! Water was surging out of the hole washing away the dead bodies of orcs and a small amount of humans alike. The bloody water also washed away the dirt on their faces and equipment revealing the humans in their full splendor.
Dakgu, Sharog, and Shel, now knew that the battle couldn't have been so simple.
"The humans haven't given it their all yet" Sharog said noticing no hurry in their movements.. Fortunately, they too had yet to give it their all.