dkrc Chapter 71 [The Baptism of Blood and Fire]
Chapter 71 [The Baptism of Blood and Fire]
"Prepare for battle!" Terra's command echoed through the riotous crowd.
Kahn also put away all his expressions, grabbed an iron spear, and was the first to rush up the wooden wall.
The vanguard of the orc army, with several tall orcs at the very front carrying a huge battering ram, charged toward the tribe's simple wooden gate amidst deafening battle roars.
"boom--!"
Splinters flew everywhere. The gate, which Mason had painstakingly reinforced, only held for a moment before exploding inward, sending several guards flying along with it.
As soon as the breach appeared, the orc warriors roared, raised their weapons, and charged into the village.
"Hold on!" A dozen men wielding stone axes and wooden spears charged forward, their eyes red.
Weapon clash.
The stone axe struck the orc's leather armor, but could not penetrate its defenses.
With each swing of the orc's iron axe, a man fell into a pool of blood.
Human resistance collapsed at the first encounter.
The killing began.
The dwarf Balin had been standing at the back, watching coldly, but now the impatience on his face disappeared.
He saw an orc rush toward the woman holding the child, and his massive body moved instantly.
Balin grabbed his rune battleaxe from beside the furnace, took a step forward, and stood in the center of the gap.
One of the orcs charging at the front couldn't stop in time, and his long sword slashed toward Balin's head.
Bahrain raised his arm, completely unconcerned.
"Clang!" The longsword struck his arm guard. The runes on the arm guard flashed with a faint light. The forging skills inherited from Lin Qi gave the runes a simple decomposition ability.
While the orc was stunned, Balin swung his arm, knocking him away, and then swung his battle axe, slicing open the orc's throat.
Without retreating an inch, one man and one axe blocked the breach.
Orcs kept charging up, but the result was always the same.
Bahrain swung his tomahawk cleanly and decisively, without any unnecessary movements.
Soon, the ground beneath his feet was piled high with the corpses of orcs, their blood staining the ground red.
But he was all alone.
The orc commander noticed this troublesome dwarf.
The remaining orc army immediately split up, bypassing Balin and pouring into the village through other breaches in the walls.
Mason, along with a few craftsmen, managed to build a new defensive line at the entrance of an alley using newly made tools and tables and chairs, but it was quickly breached.
He saw an orc grinning as he raised his butcher's knife and slashed at a fallen comrade.
In the center of the village, Anya found Lia huddled in a corner of a tent, trembling with fear.
"Lia!" Anya grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. "Look at me! We need you! With your fire!"
Lia looked up, her face streaked with tears, staring at the scene outside, unable to utter a word.
"There's no time to be afraid! Your power isn't for you to hide here!" Anya was too anxious to maintain her usual gentleness.
These words struck a nerve with Lia.
Anya forcibly dragged her out of the tent.
Mason saw them and immediately understood what was going on.
"Everyone, surround her! Protect her!" Mason roared.
He and the three men who remained with him formed a fragile human wall, protecting Lia and Anya in the middle.
Lia raised her trembling hand, trying to draw the symbol in the air, but her chaotic thoughts made it impossible for her to concentrate.
One attempt failed.
It failed twice.
An orc broke through the human wall, his battle axe whistling as it cleaved towards Mason.
Mason raised a half-finished iron hammer to block.
"Clang!" Mason was jolted backward by the immense force, his hand splitting open.
He had just been knocked back when the defender on the other side was stabbed through the abdomen by the orc and fell down screaming.
Death was imminent.
Facing life and death, Lia stopped thinking too much.
She raised her fingers for the third time, this time with steady and fluid movements.
The flame symbol flashed through the air.
A spark the size of a grain of rice flicked from her fingertip.
A spark landed on an overturned barrel of animal oil nearby.
Black grease was flowing from the bucket onto the ground.
The flames spread like lightning along the oil line.
"Boom—!" The first oil barrel was detonated, and orange-red flames shot into the sky.
Then came the second, the third... a whole row of oil barrels that Mason had stockpiled for quenching exploded in a chain reaction.
A wall of fire, several meters high, erupted in the center of the orc army.
A scorching heatwave swept in all directions, engulfing more than a dozen orcs. Many more orcs were set ablaze by the flames, screaming and rolling on the ground.
The orc army's fierce offensive was abruptly halted by the fire trap.
The battlefield fell silent, but this silence did not last long.
On the verge of being breached, voices could be heard outside the village.
It was Kahn and the rest of his men, who had just returned from the hunt and arrived just in time.
Standing on the hillside, they saw their burning homes, the corpses strewn across the ground, and the orc army besieging their brethren.
Kahn dropped the bent iron spear in his hand and drew a captured orcish war knife from behind his back.
"Kill—!" Kahn roared out a single word and was the first to rush down the hillside.
The dozen or so followers behind him shouted the same thing and followed closely behind.
This small squad fiercely penetrated the flank of the orc army's formation.
This suicidal charge disrupted the orc commander's formation, buying the villagers precious time to catch their breath.
Terra, who had been struggling to survive, seized this opportunity.
Terra's gaze swept across the battlefield: Balin, fighting head-on; Kahn, charging from the flank; Mason, building new fortifications; and Lya, pale with exhaustion.
"Everyone, follow my orders!"
"Kahn! Engage them and break their formation!"
"Mason, take some men and reinforce the buildings on the east side, forcing the orcs into the fire traps!"
"Lia!" Terra looked at the girl. "Burn everything flammable! Tents, hay, their siege equipment!"
The order was issued.
Kahn charged forward relentlessly, successfully drawing the attention of the main orc force.
Mason and his craftsmen used the terrain and scrap materials to quickly build obstacles and traps, guiding the orcs' attack.
Under the cover of Anya and the others, Lia stopped creating large swathes of flame. Instead, she precisely launched sparks, igniting the orcs' weapons, provisions, and even their furs, creating massive chaos and successfully dividing the battlefield.
A tall orc captain, recognizing Lia's tactical value, ignored Karn's subordinates and charged straight at Lia, who was casting a spell.
"Protect the Fire Stealer!" one of Kahn's followers roared, throwing down his weapon and spreading his arms to block the orc captain's path.
This young man had just mocked Lia's magic tricks.
The orc captain grinned maliciously and swung his battle axe down.
"Pfft—" The young man's chest was split open.
Hot blood splattered all over a bunker that Mason had just reinforced.
In the blood mist, Lia's next spark successfully ignited the orc captain's back.
Kahn looked at his fallen brother, his eye twitched violently, and then roared as he lunged at the orc captain.
……
On a distant hillside, the orc chieftain frowned.
He looked at the chaotic battle before him; these weak humans were more tenacious than he had imagined.
His suspicions were particularly filled with disbelief about that strange fire ability.
The casualties are exceeding his expectations.
"Waaah—"
The bugle call to retreat sounded.
The orc army that had stormed the village retreated, leaving behind only corpses and burning ruins.
In the village, Kahn knelt beside his dead companion, reaching out to close the other's unseeing eyes, only to find his hands trembling violently.
Kahn raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the ruins of his homeland, over the charred orc corpses, and finally landing on Lia, who had collapsed in Anya's arms, exhausted.