Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 158 Disordered Cycle: Ambush Gunfire

"The orcs are coming!"

This shout was hardly surprising news to the people who had lived on this scorched land for generations. The arrival of the orcs was not unexpected; their absence would have been the second shoe that kept them trembling with fear and unable to sleep.

This is similar to how, for many impoverished people who toil in the soil, hunger is the norm. If they can eat their fill this year, they will feel uneasy and wonder if they are about to face some unforeseen fate.

The orcs' southward march was delayed by a full two months this year.

For the human race's Vast Ocean Territory, this is certainly a good thing.

The precious two months meant an extra fifty tons of transport capacity, allowing Lord Chen Mo, known for his caution and amiability, to make more leisurely war preparations.

The high-hanging Penglai and the occasionally gliding Jinghong provide a crucial reconnaissance network for the vast sea.

After all, judging from the movement of the orc army later on, the orcs were capable of concealing battlefield reconnaissance on the ground and in low to medium altitudes.

Well, the orcs' delay is actually a good thing for the new "Cloud Territory," which currently only occupies a small area.

Two months is enough time for them to build the city walls higher, stockpile more defensive equipment, accumulate more food and supplies, and train the soldiers to be more proficient.

Of course, more importantly, this period of time should be used to help the soldiers recover from the defeat caused by the death of their lord and the fall of their homeland.

However, the orcs' lateness was undoubtedly a complete disaster for the ordinary people who struggled like weeds on the land of Dongguanling.

Scattered throughout the Dongguanling area are numerous settlements of commoner humans.

Since there was no longer an organized local governing body, there were naturally no more ruthless tax collectors. Miraculously, despite the consistently poor harvests, the common people were still able to barely survive.
What they need to be wary of are the two orc raids a year, the bandit patrols every now and then, the occasional swindler lord, and... the folk feuds over land and water.

Thinking about it carefully, although it's a bit tragic, it's not necessarily much worse than under some unscrupulous lords.

However, in such a chaotic situation, individual investors cannot survive and must stick together.

Local civilians would build crude fortresses in groups of families or villages as places to defend against bandits.

Large families with the means used stone slabs as the outer walls, leaving loopholes and corner towers on all four sides, making it look like a small-scale city wall fortress.

Even the less desirable ones at least had rammed earth walls on all four sides and a tall watchtower in the center.

The location of these fortresses was carefully chosen. They could not be too far from the farmland on which they depended for survival, otherwise they would be unable to take care of them; nor could they be too close to the main transportation routes, lest they become easy targets for heroes coming from the north and south.
At the same time, it cannot be too far from human society, since it still needs to trade with itinerant merchants for certain daily necessities that cannot be produced.

For example, table salt.

Once the fortresses were built, the entire village or clan would live in them. On ordinary days, the able-bodied men would carefully go out to farm and hunt, accumulating food little by little like ants carrying grain.

If they encounter bandits, they should immediately ring the bell to call them back, close the gates tightly, and defend the fortress.

Under normal circumstances, without siege weapons and usually without a mage team, bandits are helpless against this kind of fortress. If they insist on going up, it's hard to say whether they can take it down, and there will definitely be a lot of casualties.

Therefore, the bandits would mostly just surround and threaten the target, and if they could extort a little food, they would consider their trip worthwhile. They would usually move on to the next target while cursing.

The fortress became the place where humans could settle down and make a living on this land.

However, when the orc army arrives, the residents of these fortresses will have to flee.

Based on the experience gained by generations of people with their blood, they would calculate the time carefully and, before the orc army arrived, help the old and children, take as much food as possible and a little bit of precious belongings, and stumble into the shelters that had been prepared in the deep mountains and forests.

Only after the orc army had finished looting and receded like the tide did they dare to return to their homeland and clean up the mess of their houses.

This is the repetitive life of the vast majority of ordinary people in Dongguanling, struggling to survive in the gaps between fear and life.

Now, the orcs' "spring hunt" is two months late.

The villagers in this area on the east side of Dongguanling are almost frantic with worry.

The fortress leaders counted on their fingers anxiously, calculating the remaining time.

"It's too late. This year's crops are probably all ruined!"

The tribesmen in the territory were also anxiously pacing around. After confirming once again that the orcs had set off, they uttered fierce curses.

"These selfish, black-hearted devils, these stupid pigs, these scum whose brains are filled with dry dirt!"

"May the Earth Mother Goddess punish them, so that their fields will never grow a single crop again, and they will starve to death!"

This is the most vicious curse a farmer can utter.

Although the leaders were equally anxious, their remaining rationality compelled them to stop their outspoken tribesmen.

"It's fine for you to say it here, but don't go spreading it outside. If some disgruntled guy hears it and secretly reports you, and the lord comes knocking on your door, I can't protect you!"

Yes, that's right. The commoners in these human fortresses aren't cursing the orcs; they're cursing the newly arrived Lord Frostflow.

In the eyes of these commoners, this arrogant and reckless lord who came to their territory and caused trouble must have used some kind of conspiracy to delay the orcs' southward advance and completely disrupt their fragile survival rhythm that they had followed for generations.

Because of the periodic raids by orcs, the farming cycle in the Dongguan area is different from that in other human territories.

In previous years, the orcs would arrive in March and leave by May at the latest.

So while other territories had already begun spring planting, the inhabitants of Dongguanling were hiding and fleeing.

Only after the orc army has completely withdrawn, and after carefully observing for another ten days or so to ensure that no orc troops lingering behind will suddenly attack, will they return to their homeland and race against time to cultivate their crops.

Similarly, they must harvest all the food as if snatching food from the heavens before the orcs' autumn raids begin in late September or early October, and then embark on their escape again.

Such hasty farming will certainly result in an unsatisfactory harvest, but for the same reason, no one is collecting taxes, so they can survive!

But this year, a foolish lord came to the land of Dongguan.

He was said to be a down-on-his-luck lord who had suffered a defeat elsewhere and fled in panic.

As soon as she arrived, she made a big fuss, declaring that she would build a city at Dongguanling and fight a head-on positional war with the orcs! She even sent people around to spread messages, calling on the scattered fortress residents to come to her place to "band together for survival".

"Forming a group?" The fortress leaders scoffed upon hearing the news. "Is that what you call forming a group? That's clearly jumping into a pit and courting death!"

"Is war so easy to win?"

"How many years have the orcs fought against us humans? When have we ever truly won?"

"We can't beat them! We simply can't beat them!"

Of course, a few people harbored a dark hope: "Well, let this fool lure all the orcs away. Maybe we'll be safer this year."

But now, whether it's safe or not is unknown. The orcs arrived so late that they've essentially ruined most of the planting season for the various fortresses.

Back in April, seeing that the orcs hadn't come, the fortress leaders were bold enough to arrange for their people to rush to plant a batch of grain. But just as the green shoots were sprouting, a bolt from the blue struck.

The orc army has already left the Flag Mountain Pass.

Forget about the summer harvest; we've already lost the seeds. All things considered, it's very likely that we'll have no harvest at all this year.

These poor people didn't understand the bigger picture of the war between humans and beastmen. All they knew was that, given the current critical timeframe, even if they were lucky enough to escape the beastmen's clutches, they would struggle to survive the long winter and the lean season of next year.

They could only curse their fate, curse the orcs, and curse the ignorant lord.

Then, urged on by the leader's desperate cries, they began to flee hastily, taking their families with them.

In a way, this was actually a gambling-style hide-and-seek game with the orcs.

The gamble was on the orcs' laziness and impatience, on their unwillingness to expend too much energy venturing into the difficult-to-traverse deep mountains and marshes, thus allowing them to escape this barbaric plunder.

The stakes are humanity's very existence, its very lives, and everything else. ————

On May 2nd, the orc army held a grand departure ceremony: raising the flag, splashing wine, and sounding the bugle call to march.

On May 4th, the vanguard wolf riders had already set foot on the land of the old East Gate.

They had little interest in the dilapidated fortresses that were long abandoned.

According to a distorted tacit understanding formed over many years, when humans flee, they usually leave the fortress gates open and leave a small amount of food and valuables inside as a kind of alternative "protection fee".

To prevent the orcs from getting nothing and then destroying their own fortress in a fit of anger.

Demolishing the fortress is an act that is neither beneficial to the orcs nor harmful to the humans, so the two sides have reached a tacit understanding.

The vanguard cavalry, leading the White Wolf tribe's cavalry, began their rapid looting as in previous years, which was one of the limited perks of the advance troops.

Then, unsurprisingly, they were ambushed.

The former official road in Dongguan has been ruined over the years and is now unrecognizable. Cavalrymen often choose to travel through areas with hard soil and shallow grass.

Along the way, they chose to travel along the river, where the largest concentrations of humans often resided.

The wolf riders' large feet pounded across the old riverbank, kicking up clouds of yellow dust. These elite orc cavalrymen appeared to be loosely positioned, but they maintained an unusually tight distance between each other, and their formation was scattered yet orderly, reminiscent of a wolf pack hunting in a group.

Along the way, all the fortresses were deserted, leaving only scattered grains and crude utensils. The wolf riders cursed and hung these worthless things on their saddles, occasionally venting their anger by urinating on the human houses.

Wolfgar Broken Tooth, the chief of the White Wolf tribe, rode his giant wolf mount, cracking his whip impatiently.

This year's "harvest" was truly lackluster, which made his already irritable temper even worse.

"These two-legged sheep run faster than goblins! They leave behind nothing but garbage!"

"Don't waste time here, move faster!"

After sweeping through another area, the wolf riders roared out again, heading to the next search and looting location.

Along the way, you need to pass through an inconspicuous little valley. In the middle of this valley is a dilapidated official road, with high mountains on the east side and gentle slopes on the west side, covered with messy shrubs and jagged rocks.

Although Wolfgar Broken Tooth was somewhat agitated at the moment, he still followed military protocol and sent a small team of fifty men ahead of schedule into the valley.

The valley was even hotter and more humid than outside, filled with the smell of dust and withered grass. It was unusually quiet, with only the sounds of wolf riders running and panting.

The team leader seemed to sense something was wrong, and couldn't help but rein in the dire wolf and look around.

The next second, a bright red, dazzling flower of blood suddenly exploded on the squad leader's forehead without warning!

Before he could even make a sound, his body suddenly leaned back and he fell heavily off the wolf's back.

Then, belatedly, came the whistling sound of bullets slicing through the air.

"call out--!"

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

This was a long-planned ambush. A sudden burst of dense, crisp gunfire erupted, completely different from the bowstring sounds the wolf riders were accustomed to. The sound was more explosive, more rapid, and more domineering.

The high-speed spinning bullet easily tore through the leather armor, pierced the muscle, and shattered the bones... The first few giant wolves and the knights on their backs didn't even understand what was happening before they fell to the ground one after another.

The orc's dying howl and the giant wolf's pained roar intertwined instantly, echoing violently through the valley.

"Enemy attack!! Take cover!!" A quick-reacting orc warrior cried out in anguish, trying to direct the survivors to find cover.

But the attack came too fast and too fiercely. The gunfire was almost incessant, wave after wave, enveloping the wolf rider squad. The crisscrossing firepower covered almost every inch of the squad's movement space.

The wolf riders' habitual tactical maneuvers, such as crouching low, accelerating to dodge, and leaping, were a complete joke in the face of this density of firepower.

Within minutes, or perhaps even less, the intense gunfire in the valley abruptly ceased.

Fifty wolf riders, along with their dire wolves, perished; only their corpses lay scattered across the valley.

Soon, the centaurs came galloping from the hidden area behind the valley.

They quickly lifted the skeleton soldiers who had crawled out of the tunnel from the ground, skillfully stuffed them into the large boxes on either side of their bodies that resembled delivery backpacks, and sped away with a clatter of hooves.

Yes, using skeletons to ambush is the most important part.

These creatures have no "human scent," and even the most sensitive dire wolves cannot detect anything amiss.

Firearms effectively compensate for the skeletons' poor individual combat capabilities. In addition, these skeletons can lie in ambush for days or even dozens of days without moving, making them perfect for ambushes.

Outside the valley, Wolfgar Broken Tooth, who was slowly advancing, suddenly straightened his massive body, and his wolf ears covered with white fur stood up straight instantly.

Although he couldn't see the specific situation inside the valley, the strange yet terrifyingly dense explosions, and the brief screams that followed—which definitely didn't belong to the victors—clearly told him that the vanguard team he had sent in had run into trouble!

The experienced orc general's eyes flashed with a fierce light.

"follow me!"

The Broken Tooth Centurion roared, drawing his sharp short spear. "Crush that valley! Drag out those rats who only dare to hide in the shadows and ambush, cut off their heads, and hang them on the tips of our spears!"

The warlike and cruel nature inherent in the wolf-orc bloodline was fully unleashed. More wolf riders let out excited howls.

Fighting is much more interesting than boring looting!
Squads of wolf riders immediately sprang into action, wielding short spears or battle axes, maintaining an offensive formation, and advancing in three directions—like three gray waves—along the valley entrance, the gentle slopes on the flanks, and the open ground outside the mountain, fiercely rushing towards the valley that had just swallowed their companions.

Then, right after the broken teeth in the second row, he saw a scene that made his eyes widen in horror!
"boom!!!"

With a deafening roar, the front cavalry squad was felled in large numbers, like mowing grass.

Hmm, the Claymore again, and this time it's a specially designed, enhanced version with command activation capabilities.

When Broken Tooth finally reached the top of the smoke-filled hill, treading the path paved with the lives of his soldiers, he could only vaguely see a few small black dots in the distance, disappearing from his sight at an alarming speed.

"Ouch——!!!"

The centurion of the White Wolf clan let out a furious, almost wolf-howl-like roar, his heart burning with immense shame and frustration.

He futilely hurled the short spear forward with all his might; the spear traced an arc in the air and landed far away in the deserted ground.

The despicable human race only knows how to use such dirty sneak attacks.

But this ambush was just the beginning.

In the period that followed, the newly formed Cloud Mist Territory professionals and the elite field troops of the Vast Ocean Territory displayed astonishing teamwork. They coordinated with each other, frequently launching surprise attacks on various squads of the orc vanguard.

The tactical approach is clear: utilize reconnaissance and range advantages to launch a surprise attack.

Regardless of the size of the victory, withdraw immediately after firing a round of ammunition, and never be greedy for credit and linger in battle.

In the words of our great lord, a strike is rewarded, a miss is no big deal, a single hit and you're done, never lingering.

The ambush footage and data were continuously sent back to the command post deep in the desert. The first batch of disciples personally trained by Lord Chen Mo, the first-term students of the Han Naval Academy, were working intensively on data analysis and battle results assessment.

Yes, the main purpose of this series of military operations is to test the effectiveness of various weapons against orcs, as well as the battlefield compatibility of various types of tactics.

No matter how advanced the weapon or how perfect the tactic in the design, it must be tested in the battlefield to be fully validated.

For example, completely different from what Chen Mo had envisioned, the drones were extremely ineffective against the orcs!

(End of this chapter)