The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 19, Section 18: Cunning Humans

The orcish coalition crossed the river, advancing in a mighty force towards human lands.

The cavalry riding dire wolves charged ahead, followed closely by the infantry.

For some reason, the weather seems particularly dry today.

The sky was cloudless, offering no respite from the scorching sun. A blazing wind howled incessantly.

The orcs, full of imposing momentum and singing off-key war songs, charged into Bloodscar Canyon—the shortest route to the human settlement.

"This time, we will destroy 100 human villages and appease the wrath of the gods with the blood of cowardly and pathetic humans!"

The priest said so.

Haug Bloodwolf, who had lost an arm in a previous battle with a human mage, was also among this fierce army.

"Revenge! I want revenge!" Haug roared, swinging his stone axe with his remaining right arm, anticipating the moment he would personally sever human heads.

"Wait, the layout of Bloodstain Canyon seems a bit different from before?"

Just after the orc army had almost completely entered the canyon, a keen orc scout vaguely noticed something amiss.

"It seems like there's a lot of messy clutter piled up here."

In the canyon, piles of dry grass and other miscellaneous items lay scattered about. Some of the piles of grass even seemed to have a faint sheen of oil.

It's like...

Flammable material?
The orc scout looked puzzled and tried to approach one of the haystacks.

"I gonna go see."

boom!
Suddenly, a fireball crashed down from the sky and exploded in front of the orc, engulfing him in scorching flames.

"what happens?"

"It's an enemy attack!"

"An attacker who can use magic."

High in the sky, a large group of human mages appeared, chanting incantations in unison.

Hu Hu Hu.

Clusters of flames descended from the sky.

Boom, boom, boom.

The fireball exploded on the ground below.

Walls of fire, enormous rolling blazing orbs of flame, a massive cloud of burning fire... a host of fire-based continuous spell effects appeared one after another.

Scalding flames surged and churned in the narrow canyon space.

"Oh no, the fire has started."

The flammable materials piled up there were also ignited one after another, instantly turning the place into a fiery hell.

The Frostdragon clan orcs, who were the main force of the allied forces, showed significantly greater strength than the orcs of the other two clans when faced with the raging, scorching fire.

These Frostdragon clan orcs, with their snow-white fur, were either unable to look directly at the firelight and screaming in agony while covering their faces, or they were engulfed in flames and rolled on the ground.

"Just as the intelligence said. The Frost Dragon Clan comes from the North and has a trace of white dragon blood. They are physically stronger and impervious to extreme cold, but are vulnerable to fire..."

In the air, Thor, as the leader, saw the horrific scene below and, after confirming the intelligence was correct, was overjoyed.

He led nearly 200 battle mages, all of whom were mid-to-high-level mages, making them among the most elite mages in Eldoron.

"Orc archers, counterattack! Shoot those humans down from the sky!"

"Priest, cast a flight spell on me."

The orc warlords dodged the flames falling from the sky while directing their longbowmen.

The orc archers drew their bows, nocked arrows, and pulled the powerful bows taut with their thick arms, pointing them high into the sky.

Meanwhile, a dozen or so mid-level orc priests in the orcish alliance approached their respective tribal chiefs or the strongest warriors, preparing to chant divine spells to cast "Aerial Flight" on them, allowing them to fly into the air and kill the mages.

The orc tribes had also taken precautions against mid-level and high-level mages who had mastered the "flight spell" and could stay airborne for a period of time!
Thor narrowed his eyes as he saw the orc tribe below respond:
"That's enough. The mission to ignite the canyon is complete."

"As His Majesty commands, do not linger in battle!"

"withdraw!"

Thor gave the order.

These two hundred or so elite mages, roughly in groups of ten, each group having one mage, spent a few seconds chanting the incantation for "teleportation".

The remaining members either maintained suppressive fire, created "wind walls" to disrupt the archers' arrows with strong winds, or created illusions to interfere with the targets.

The entire process was seamlessly coordinated, clearly the result of hundreds of rehearsals!
Whoosh whoosh!
One by one, the "teleportation" spells were cast.

One after another, dazzling bursts of light bloomed in the air.

With a flash of bright light, the group of mages who had just launched the attack vanished without a trace.

18 seconds.

This is the total time from the appearance of the mages and the unleashing of fire to the complete retreat of everyone involved in the attack.

No one tried to conserve their spells; they all unleashed their strongest and most terrifying attacks within the limited time available.

They clearly knew that this attack would only last a short time.

"What? They all ran away?"

The orc warlords, chieftains, and priests' expressions changed drastically.

He only hit him once, and he ran away?

A quick strike and escape?
Who taught this tactic?

However, they soon had to face even more serious problems.

The canyon has been transformed into a fiery hell.

Every second, orcs were reduced to charred corpses amidst screams of agony.

Not only were the existing piles of flammable materials ignited, but the continuous fire spells left by the mages, such as "Fire Wall," "Blazing Orb," and "Burning Cloud," were also left in the narrow canyon path.

The wall of fire continuously released rolling heat waves, while the blazing orbs rolled around everywhere, and the scorching burning clouds surged and churned, constantly devouring the lives of the orc warriors.

Although they were teleported away, the mages continued to focus on these continuous spells elsewhere!

Furthermore, since the mages were not on the battlefield, their concentration on these spells could not be interrupted.

The effects of a mage's continuous spells don't simply disappear just because the mage is no longer on the battlefield!

"Ahhh!"

Haug Blood Wolf, missing his left arm, dodged the onslaught of the scorching heat, only to discover:

In this narrow canyon, with firelight everywhere, there was no way to go.

In that instant, Haug, the orc whose back fur was ablaze, looked at the flames in front of and behind him, with nowhere to hide, and felt an intense fear welling up inside him:
Those humans have become smarter.

"Damn damn it!"

In the allied forces, the Blood Wolf Chieftain, carrying a giant axe, was furious.

He saw the Frostwolf Clan warriors, who were the main force of the allied forces, becoming weak and powerless in the scorching environment because the White Dragon's frost bloodline feared fire, and they all fled in panic, covering their heads.

"Who taught these mages such insidious and vicious tactics!"

"When did they find out about the Frost Dragon Clan's weakness? I only found out about it recently."

"What kind of skill is it to strike once and then run away?"

"If you're so capable, then fight my axe head-on!"

Chieftain Blood Wolf suddenly felt a sense of frustration, as if he had no way to use his strength.

This caused him more pain than defeating him in a direct confrontation.

In close combat, even the chief mages of the major schools of magic within the Eldoron Empire Council would most likely die at his hands in a few blows.

But now, these cunning mages are not engaging in direct combat at all!

No matter how strong he is personally, he can't use it.

"do not care!"

"Brothers, charge! Charge through the flames! Force your way out of this inferno!"

The chieftains, priests, and orc warlords commanded the warriors of their respective tribes.

Braving the raging flames, they ran frantically to either side of the canyon, trying to force their way out of this scorching, deadly place.

The evacuation of the troops from the direction the orcish alliance came from proceeded smoothly.

The orc warriors who hadn't yet entered the canyon and thus escaped the calamity came to their aid.

But on the other side of the canyon, closer to the human village, the orcs trying to escape encountered a terrifying undead army.

"Ahhh!"

"Zombies, so many zombies!"

Hundreds of orc zombies, emitting beast-like howls, blocked one end of the canyon, preventing the orcs ahead from escaping the sea of ​​fire.

The orc zombies raised their stone axes, spears, and clubs, and fought a fierce battle with the attacking live orcs.

As absolutely loyal undead, even if the mage is not present to control them and cannot execute precise actions, zombies and skeletons can still carry out some broad commands!

"Wait, aren't these corpses our kind?"

"They are all orcs!"

Faced with these fellow humans who have turned into zombies, forgotten their former emotions, and turned against them, the beastmen, who have always been bloodthirsty and enjoyed killing humans, also felt a great fear and resentment from the bottom of their hearts.

Haug wielded his stone axe with his only remaining right arm, using all his strength to cut down a zombie.

But the zombie, whose body had been almost half-severed, immediately got up again and let out a beast-like howl at him.

"Ahhhh!"

"These zombies are not afraid of pain at all. Cutting off half of their bodies is useless. They are too tough."

"Yes, smashing a zombie's head with a stone hammer doesn't work either."

"Are they unkillable? How can we stop these monsters?!"

Different undead have different advantages.

Compared to skeletons, which are agile, adept at precise maneuvers, and skilled in ranged attacks, zombies have the advantage of being thick-skinned and difficult to kill.

From a game perspective, he's an incredibly tanky character!

Therefore, Elion specifically instructed the mages to arrange this zombie army at the end of the canyon in advance.

It doesn't matter how many orcs we can defeat.

The most important thing is to buy time so that the orcs can't escape the inferno!

The orcs screamed as they were trapped at the end of the canyon by the zombies.

What came from behind was a sea of ​​fire, with raging flames and rolling heat waves.

Ahead lay the hideous, terrifying spirits of the dead, falling and rising again and again.

Many orcs died in despair.

Before their last drop of blood was shed, these orc warriors did not, as they had imagined before setting out, actually fight for even a second against those humans whom they considered "cowardly and powerless."

The dry, scorching winds howled, fueling the fire in the canyon.

Flames licked the earth, leaving behind piles of charred orc corpses in the canyon.

This event is historically known as the "Great Victory of Bloodstain Canyon".

The casualty ratio between humans and orcs is 0 to 10000.

(End of this chapter)