Chapter 921. Sneak Attacks
Jeanny knew their situation wasn’t good, but their objective was to keep Abdu’s army from disrupting the Dragon Army. At least until the Dragon Army could rout as many soldiers from Verremor’s first army so they could afford to divert their attention to guard their back. Hence, they needed to keep Abdu’s army occupied for as long as possible.
However, it was easier said than done. The orc army was at a disadvantage due to their initial chaos, but they were not amateurs in warfare that broke apart at the first sign of trouble. With enough time, they could reorganize themselves into the effective fighting machines they were. With a superior number, they were now hitting back.
Jeanny herself didn’t have a good time. After the successful hit she scored at the initial ambush, she almost never landed any blow on Abdu after that. All she did is try her best to stay alive under Abdu’s relentless assaults. Even with the support of the players around her, she was still having trouble.
She also had the King of Beast bloodline. Her hair had turned red after activating the bloodline’s first skill, Wrath of the Beast. But the attribute increase still couldn’t bridge the power gap between her and Abdu.
She tried to lure Abdu deeper into the human army’s rank, but their formation was also in chaos now, the same as the orc army. Many orc soldiers had pushed deeper following their lord chief. They were fighting on equal ground now. She was good at leading and raising morale, but she was not like John, who could adjust their army’s formation on the spot to deal with various situations.
“Be careful!” Swellgoing warned. He had been supporting her from a safe distance. His summoned minions had been trying to harass Abdu to give Jeanny some breathers, but most had died leaving only his avatar and feral tiger.
His avatar carried a spear and a shield. Swellgoing controlled it and the feral tiger assaulted Abdu recklessly to draw Abdu’s attention away from Jeanny, but Abdu understood that eliminating the leader of the enemy army would serve to lower the morale of the enemies and boost the morale of his army. Hence, he didn’t let Jeanny go.
He performed a wide swing that created the same fiery wave that had previously swept away the two native human soldiers. Now it was Swellgoing’s avatar and feral tiger that were swept away. With the obstacle gone, he readied a strong attack.
His spear burst with an intense dark flame. He swung it twice. Flaming whips slashed to Jeanny’s left and right, closing off her escape path. Abdu then thrust his spear forward. The flame around the spear twirled rapidly and formed a flaming drill, which rushed toward Jeanny.
Jeanny braced herself to receive the attack. She was aware of the possibility that she would be a goner after this, but there was nothing she could do. The gap in strength was just too wide.
While she lamented her most likely demise, the ground before her erupted. Dirt and soil came up around her, forming a shell.
The drilling flaming spear struck the earth’s shell. The shell at first resisted the flame, but its drilling force slowly bore through the thick and sturdy shell.
Jeanny could feel the earth’s shell losing ground using her mana sense. She quickly jumped away, the flaming whips that blocked her sides had passed by. Just as she left the protection of the shell, the flaming drill bore a small hole through the shell and intense fire burst from that hole. It scorched the area where she was a second ago.
A giant dirt golem came in front of Jeanny, protecting her. Further behind was Uvira, who was casting another spell.
“Hmph! One worm after another,” Abdu grunted. He didn’t feel threatened, the newcomer spellcaster was ten levels below him.
He continued to chase after Jeanny. Uvira and Swellgoing tried their best to protect her. The other human players and soldiers tried their best to keep the orc army from coming to Abdu’s help. It was difficult already dealing with him alone, it would be a disaster if he had the support of his soldiers.
But they were losing. Both their number and average levels were below the orc army. A large majority of them were also players. As time went on, their number continued to dwindle.
Despite winning, Abdu was not happy. They had wasted time with this lot. It was already more than an hour. They were supposed to hit the Dragon army’s rear in conjunction with the first army. Now the first army was fighting by themselves, with an all-in approach that caused more casualties than the usual battles, all because he had told the first army that his army would be coming from the enemy’s rear. Now, he was being hindered from carrying out this task.
“DIE, ALL OF YOU…!!!” The large runic symbol appeared again above Abdu. The flaming spears flew and struck everyone all around. Abdu himself was covered with crimson tattoos, his strength and speed had increased.
Swellgoing had been killed. Uvira had only half her HP bar. Jeanny was still madly dodging Abdu’s relentless attacks. She had been fully focused throughout the fight. Any wrong move might cause her life. It was extremely tiring to continue concentrating non-stop like this. She couldn’t afford to slip even for a second. If her mental power was not strong enough, she wouldn’t have lasted this long.
Up above the sky, Makubwa was still tussling with Emris.
“Give it up! Your army is failing,” Emris said.
“Never!” Makubwa exclaimed.
However, despite his ardor, he couldn’t deny the situation of his troops. They had started today’s battle without proper equipment, some’s HPs were also in bad condition. They were even fighting more recklessly than usual, all in the bid for a decisive battle by pinning the enemies from two opposite sides. However, now the one who had proposed this strategy was instead getting halted. Their casualties were increasing with each passing minute. If that lord chief still didn’t come soon, then both their forces won’t have enough numbers to make a difference even if they pinned the human army in between them.
Makubwa looked at where Abdu’s army was. They were visibly winning, but the human army continued to cling and refused to disengage. They were deadly serious about holding Abdu’s army, even at the cost of their lives.
Makubwa gritted his teeth, ‘Damn that lord chief! Shouldn’t have trusted his proposal,’ he thought. Now, it was Abdu’s sneak army that threatened his own strategy to fail. And what about the interceptor army that was sent to protect the supply lines? Why were there still no supplies arriving by now?
All these depressing thoughts caused Makubwa’s concentration to waver. He was hit by Emris’ spell. A lightning lasso bound his huge body before walls of ice encapsulated him from all directions, creating an ice coffin. The coffin fell to the ground, which had now turned into a pool of lava. The ice coffin submerged into the lava as it slowly melted.
Emris took the chance when his opponent was locked inside the lava pool to cast a spell and send it to the army below. The spell took shape into hundreds of small firebirds. These firebirds flew down onto the battlefield and home in on enemy soldiers. The orc soldiers whose bodies were invaded by these firebirds were burned from the inside out. Their HPs continued to fall until they were nothing but ash.
The lava pool exploded. Makubwa flew out with rage. “I WILL KILL YOOUUU…!!!” He shouted.
“Haha, that’s the second time I have dragged you to the ground. While you have not yet fulfilled your promise about dragging me down,” Emris mocked. His body turned intangible again when Makubwa’s gigantic club came swinging.
As Makubwa swung his club frantically. A large commotion was heard from the Eastern side. The side opposite Abdu’s army’s position. Both Emris and Makubwa couldn’t help but look that way.
In the distant east where Thenitsa was, they saw this border town was currently being surrounded by a considerable force.
Makubwa left some troops behind to guard the town, but not that many. The human army needed to go through them to get to the border town anyway.
What’s more important was that the border town was not an actual fortress. They might have walls, but they didn’t have offensive artilleries. The defensive weapons had been automatically destroyed ever since the town was occupied. They could only be repaired after the war was over. The artilleries the first army possessed were the siege weapons they brought from Verremor. At this moment, these siege weapons were behind the first army, providing artillery support to their army that was engaging in the front line. Hence, aside from walls and the troops stationed inside Thenitsa, there was no other defense.
The force that was surrounding Thenitsa was human soldiers. They were scaling the walls from all four directions. Because of insufficient troops, the orcs couldn’t defend all walls. Some human soldiers had managed to climb up the wall and fought with the orcs inside the town.
“What happened? Where did those soldiers come from?” Makubwa uttered in consternation.
Emris was similarly baffled.