Hearing the provocation, the clamor that had died down from the orc leaders was reignited again. However, Badu ordered them to calm down, and then to the commander, he responded, “since Commander Quintus had said it, then it will be impolite for us to turn you down. It will not be dishonorable since you are evidently stronger than any of us. I will face you with another two of my followers.” Badu picked out two amongst the leaders who were level 51 and 53.
“I have no problem with it,” Commander Quintus replied. The purpose was to pull the strong combatants away. The more that left the reserve army who guarded the supplies, the better.
??
After Commander Quintus, the others also threw out their challenges for a duel. Laurent also took on three opponents at the same time, considering his level 70. If he was the same grade as the Duke, it would have made him the strongest amongst the human officers despite him being a healer type. However, an NPC class was not as constricted as players, so even as a healer type, he also had several offensive spells in his arsenal.
They all went to the far part of the Southern side to have their duels, which was also part of the plan. Jack and the others were sneaking at the Northern side, so they were pulled further away from Jack’s teams.
Even though it took them quite some time, Jack and the others finally made it to the last sand dune that was closest to the orc army’s rearguard. Once they came out of this sand dune, they would be exposed. They could see the rows of supplies in the distance. They were heaps of wood crates on large carts pulled by several large jackals. There were still a significant amount of soldiers guarding them, although none of them was too high a level to deal with. They were just waiting for John’s command to move out now.
As they wait, Jack saw some light shows and explosive thunder-like sounds in the far distance. That was where the high-level officers from the human side had clashed with the orc ones. Even from such a distance, they could still see the impacts of their clash, he was feeling pity and gladness at the same time. Pity because their clashes would be amazing spectacles worthy to be witnessed. While glad because if the fights were close, it would be very easy for them to become collateral damage from an accidental fire.
While he was admiring the fireworks show in the distance, he finally received John’s signal, “Team J and B, mount up and target the closest supply cart. Team A and C, follow behind, but proceed ahead until I say otherwise.”
Jack was in team J, he immediately commanded his team to summon their mounts and came out of hiding. With team B who was Bowler following by his side. John was the one that assigned the Alphabet naming for each team, he probably picked a corresponding alphabet with the players’ names to make it easier for him to remember which one in which team.
Team A was The Man’s, while team C was led by Viral Cora. The Man was given the alphabet A simply because the guy insisted on it. In fact, he threatened John with his axe on John’s neck if he was given any other alphabets other than A.
Jack and Bowler’s teams were almost halfway before the orcs realized that some enemies had somehow appeared from behind them. The orcs that saw them clamored for the other’s attention. The leader who was left in charge of the reserve team immediately organized a part of the troops to go and engage these enemies.
As the orc troops drew closer, John gave new commands, “Team J and B, go to 11… now 10… 10 again…”
All of the players and the soldiers that joined the shock troop teams had undergone drills on clock-bearing directions yesterday evening. This was to make it easier for John to give detailed instruction on the field. John fed them commands via the party chat message as he monitored their and enemies’ movements via his binoculars.
“Team A and C continue straight at 12, team E and F come out and chase after team A and C… Team J goes 10 again, team B now goes 2…”
As Jack continued to follow John’s instruction, the orc troops were drawing closer. They were also on mounts as they chased after Jack’s team. Looking at the situation he could not help but curse, “f**k! You are using me as bait!”
“Someone has to, friend. Now shut up and just follow my directions,” John replied casually.
As the orc troops drew closer, their ranged units could start to shoot their spells and arrows. Jack’s team just focus on moving so very few of the attacks reached them. The ones that arrive, were blocked by the two mage soldiers who cast the Barrier spell and put their bodies in harm’s way. The spell covered their mounts as well so they were protected. The ones that were not blocked were healed by the healers. The healers prioritize healing the mounts first as their HP was less compared to the soldiers.
As Jack and Bowler pulled away a portion of the reserve troops. The Man’s team who had gone further was also chased by another troop which the orc sent out. By this time, John had sent out most of the shock troop teams. Each of the teams went following John’s detailed instructions. For a bystander, they would see these separate groups of people going around and around haphazardly.
But as the orc reserve leaders continued to send out troops to engage teams that continued to appear one after another, a portion of the supply carts was left unguarded. At this time, team G led by Giant Steve and team T by Trinity Dawn, crashed onto these unprotected supply carts. The melee soldiers with the blunt weapons immediately went to work, while the archers equipped their flaming arrows and fired at the other carts next to them. The Mage soldiers used Magic Bind on the few guards left while their comrades went to work.
When the orcs found out about the humans destroying their supply carts, they immediately rushed over. But the carts were destroyed already before they arrived. Supply carts did not possess too much HP, while ten melee soldiers with hammers and maces would be able to make short work on them in less than twenty seconds. They quickly ran away before the orcs arrived.
And when they failed to destroy the supply carts before the enemy’s reinforcement arrived, the archers shot their flaming arrows to burn the already damaged supply carts, giving them continuous DPS. The orcs would need time to douse the fire, which for the already low HP carts, it was not enough time.
John continued to alternate between the teams for distractions and strike teams. Striking the ones that had holes while the rest created disturbances. Of course, with the supply carts dwindling, this tactic was getting harder as the orcs had fewer carts that needed protecting so they could allocate more manpower.
At this time, John had no choice but to pick the weakest one and punched through using multiple teams at one target. Casualties of course happened when such a crude method was used, but as long as the soldiers ignored the attacks and went directly to the supply carts, they still managed to achieve their objective.
Before long, the commotion reached the main army fighting in the front line and also the orc leaders who were currently in a duel with the duke and the rest.
“You despicable human! You trick us!” Warlord Abashi roared in rage as he saw his army’s rear supply line was attacked. He was also floating in the air opposite Duke Alfredo. On his back was a pair of large metallic wings that exuded a bluish aura.
Warlord Abashi was a melee type, he didn’t possess a spell that allowed him to fly like the duke. Thus he needed an external tool such as the metallic wing to allow him to contend with the duke in the air. Otherwise, a melee type like him could only look up from the ground as a magic-user blasted him mercilessly from the sky.
His metallic wing beat and created blue sparks that propelled him. He was intending to go back to his army to deal with the cowards that had backstabbed his army’s rearguard. However, as soon as he moved, a large rectangular light wall materialized in front of him. The duke had cast Magic Wall to hinder him.
Warlord Abashi swung the gigantic two-handed axe in his hand. Sparks of fire flared as his axe moved, as if the axe had friction with the air itself, creating a trail of blaze along its curved path. It crashed heavily into the Magic Wall and caused an explosion that shattered the Magic Wall, but Magic Wall also discharged a repulsing force that caused him to slid back a few meters. Taking advantage of this, the duke flew and put himself between the warlord and his army.
“You are not going anywhere,” Duke Alfredo declared.
