This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

"This is human flesh; it's eating the corpses of our own kind."

"What? Holy crap!"

Upon hearing that the jerky in his hand was human flesh, the mage flung it away as if he had seen a ghost. As a mage who had received a systematic education at a prestigious university, he had indeed read descriptions of orcs eating people in books, but he had never witnessed it firsthand, so he didn't immediately consider that possibility.

At that moment, the magician saw one of his classmates suddenly stumble out of a shack with a chimney, lying on the ground and vomiting uncontrollably, clearly having seen something beyond his tolerance.

Chapter 191: De-urbanization

According to the battle plan devised by Dick, the vanguard cavalry force was to use its mobility advantage to eliminate the small tribes along the way. They were required to be swift and decisive, leaving no survivors and preventing them from having the opportunity to light beacon fires to inform the rear.

Four cavalry detachments of five hundred men each were tasked with this mission. Most of the members were veterans who had fought the orcs head-on during the Winter War, as well as some survivors who had fled from the western regions. They harbored a deep-seated hatred for the orcs, and therefore showed no mercy in their killing.

Captain Lauren of the Second Squad was a knight from the Northwest. He had originally served a local viscount and married the lord's youngest daughter. His father-in-law valued him highly and regarded him as his right-hand man. The future lord's brother-in-law was his close friend, and his wife was very loving towards him and was pregnant with his child.

Laurent possessed the wonderful life that countless commoner knights could only dream of, until the orcish army invaded. Faced with the overwhelming tide of orcs, the weak territory was utterly powerless to resist. No matter how desperately Laurent fought, the viscount's manor was still breached.

Lauren watched as his father-in-law and brother-in-law died in battle, while he himself was struck by a heavy blow during a duel with a powerful orc and fell unconscious before being buried by a collapsing house.

When Lauren awoke and crawled out of the ruins, the manor was already in ruins. The orcs had left with their spoils, not only abducting people and robbing gold and silver, but also taking the corpses of the dead.

Lauren finally found his wife's...eaten corpse beside an extinguished fire.

With unwavering willpower, Lauren's spirit did not break down. Instead, he swore an oath to the heavens to dedicate the rest of his life to revenge, to slaughter all the orcs to avenge his wife, children, and friends.

When the Allied Forces were established in the Earl of Hoffman's territory, Lauren went to join them. Because of her strength as a high-ranking warrior, she quickly stood out and was recruited by Earl Hoffman.

However, the allied forces later split due to the power struggle among Marquis Richard. Lauren felt that Hoffman was a fickle opportunist, and Richard was all talk and no action, so he resolutely switched allegiance to Dick. He believed that among all the lords, this half-elf count had the most resolute fighting spirit, and following him would allow him to kill more orcs.

Subsequent events proved that Lauren had indeed made the right choice.

Lauren's tragic experience is a microcosm of the plight of many refugees in the Northwest. Although the orcs have retreated, they are utterly powerless to return to their homeland and rebuild. This is because the damned Imperial high command has yet to send a single grain of relief to the north, instead ingeniously offering tax cuts to the refugees as "compensation."

People are starving to death, and you're giving them a tax cut for the next three years? That's just ridiculous!

Without Dick setting an example by taking in large numbers of refugees and promoting the cultivation of corn, a high-yield crop, who knows how many more people would have starved to death, and how many more refugees would have turned to banditry to survive.

Therefore, many Northwest refugees regarded Dick as a hero and savior, while elites like Lauren, who had a strong desire for revenge, voluntarily joined Dick's army to make up for the shortage of middle and lower-ranking officers.

These avengers faithfully and resolutely carried out Dick's orders: to let the blood of the orcs flow across the wasteland and wipe them all out without exception! At the same time, they were to carry out a scorched-earth policy, even destroying the water sources of the settlements so that other orc tribes could no longer live there.

If it weren't for the limited time and other tasks, Lauren would have loved to dig up the earthworms in the soil and cut them in half vertically!

After doing all this, Lauren left a few people to guard the rescued human slaves. The main force that arrived later would take them in and transfer them back to the rear.

During this time, Lauren took a look at her fellow countrymen who were suffering from abuse and enslavement, hoping to see if there were any of her fellow countrymen. However, she did not see any familiar faces, and all of them were men. She did not see any women, which made Lauren's heart even heavier.

"Those damned orcs!"

The cavalry quickly set off again; they still had two more strongholds to take down. Directly above them, a small, miniature Seafire hovered. Yuan Qiu, who was traveling with the main force, relayed the view from the plane to Dick, who was standing nearby.

As expected of a powerful, colorfully-skinned aircraft carrier, even without standing on the water, it can still use its shipborne weapons to a limited extent and summon miniature versions of its carrier-based aircraft for reconnaissance.

"The second squad is moving toward target number seven. Squads four and three are still clearing out the enemy. Squad one... they seem to have run into some trouble... Miss Bai has made her move."

Listening to the grudges' "live broadcast," Dick kept scribbling on the battle map, noting that the four vanguard forces were making good progress. The small tribes along their route were actually "sentinels" intentionally placed by Ramon, forming a border guard line in the southern wilderness near the fjord.

However, the orc population is limited, and the location of these outposts must rely on water sources, so their distribution varies in density, making it easy for weak points to be found and breached.

The main force's target was the large settlement behind this cordon, which was Ramon's main focus and the prototype of the future orc city.

At this moment, Dick was practically possessed by Popo, genuinely unable to bear seeing the orcs become too urbanized.

The main force of the Northern Expeditionary Force consisted of 15,000 men. In addition to a large number of soldiers, they also carried a number of modified siege weapons.

These lightweight siege weapons, while ineffective against sturdy human fortresses, were perfect for dealing with orc earthen walls.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the orcs' garrison at the large settlements were unaware that the human army was approaching them and continued to carry out urbanization construction at their strongholds according to the Orc King's orders.

The stronghold's commander was named Lug, also Ramon's son. He commanded three thousand soldiers, but if necessary, tens of thousands of orcs within the stronghold could take up arms and fight. Coupled with the already well-developed city defenses, even though Lug had received notification from above that the humans were suspected of military activity and that all strongholds should be on high alert, he didn't feel there was anything to worry about.

Even if the human race sends an army of 100,000, he is confident that he can hold out for a year or two. Moreover, it won't be long before his father will lead his army to reinforce him. At that time, they can work together from the inside and outside to wipe out those weak humans!

Ruger stood on a high platform at the construction site outside the city, leaning on a precious sword he had seized from a human nobleman, coldly supervising the work of the human slaves. Beside him, a masked man in black robes was explaining the current progress of the construction site to him in broken orcish language.

Ruger didn't really like these black-robed staff members, but since Ramon valued them highly and sent him here as a supervisor, Ruger at least appeared to be very respectful.

However, because this person's orc language was not good and he was very annoying with his constant chatter, Ruger's patience was running out, and he couldn't help but think about how to get rid of this guy.

Just then, an orc cavalryman, his back riddled with arrows like a hedgehog, rode his pack animal straight to Luger, collapsed to the ground, and shouted while spitting blood.

"Commander, something terrible has happened! The humans... the humans have attacked!"

Chapter 192: The Human Race When It Gets Serious

From the moment the sentry's alarm was heard until the well-organized, marching human infantry phalanx appeared in Ruger's field of vision, only a dozen minutes had passed.

This shocked Ruger immensely. He simply couldn't understand how they could have been completely unaware of what was happening, not just a small-scale infiltration by thirty or fifty people, but a large-scale attack by a massive force, until the enemy was right at their doorstep.

It should be noted that to the south of the stronghold he guarded, there were many small tribes that had been granted fiefdoms. The Beast King Ramon followed the example of the human emperor and granted them the border areas as fiefdoms, intending to use these small tribes as sentinels to provide early warning. However, it turned out to be of no use at all.

Without bothering to speculate about what had happened to the smaller tribes, Ruger immediately ordered his men to sound the horns and light the beacon towers in the city.

On the expeditionary force's side, three infantry formations of a thousand men each advanced slowly in a triangular pattern, while two cavalry detachments of five hundred men each spread out from the flanks to clear out the orcs outside the strongholds who had not yet retreated back into the city.

The infantry phalanx advanced to a distance of about 500 meters from the outer wall of the stronghold and stopped. At this time, sporadic arrows began to be shot out from inside the stronghold, mostly by orc archers who acted on their own. However, the effective range of a regular bow was only about 150 meters, while the longbow could reach up to 250 meters.

This performance is only achievable with standard equipment used by the human army. Orcs' crudely made bows and arrows simply cannot reach this level, and they might not even be able to throw a spear as far as a bare-handed spear.

In comparison, although humans are not as physically strong as orcs, their military technology is far superior.

The heavy ballista, equipped with the Explosive Flame Enchantment Arrow, has a maximum range of 700 meters and a kill radius of 30 meters. If the orcs had a well-organized mage corps in their city, it wouldn't be difficult to block it with a defensive barrier. Unfortunately, they didn't, so they could only be blown to bits along with their crudely constructed earthen walls.

Under the cover of the infantry formation, a total of twenty-four heavy ballistae were pushed to a position 500 meters away from the orc stronghold. The ballistae were not very accurate at this distance, but fortunately the target was large enough that as long as the bolts flew forward, they would eventually hit something.

"Ready, fire!"

With the officer's command, twenty-four crossbow bolts, shimmering with runic light, traced graceful curves through the air before landing inside the orc stronghold's walls, exploding into dazzling fireworks.

Dick and his generals stood atop a nearby hill, gazing at the battlefield, and couldn't help but sigh.

"What's flying out is all money!"

These heavy ballistae were manufactured by the Lagug Armory and were considered "defensive weapons" that did not violate the Imperial feudal lord laws. As for the wheels with shock-absorbing springs on the ballistae's base, those were merely "decorative" additions for aesthetic purposes.

The Flame-Enchanted Arrows used in the ballistae were standard military equipment provided by the Border Legion. Dick promised his uncle, the Legion Commander, that all of these enchanted arrows would be used to attack orcs, and that half of the orc heads obtained during this expedition would be given to the Border Legion.

"My uncle is so kind! When he heard we were going to fight the orcs, he sent us half of the ammunition in the warehouse."

How much did you give him?

Banner, standing to the side, asked succinctly.

"We didn't talk about money. I just gave him a painting of very high artistic quality. It's 'Queen in the Dawn' by the famous elf painter Marinok. If it were sent to an auction, it would be worth at least 30,000 gold coins. I got it by chance (from Hammuradi's private collection)."

"grass!"

Thirty thousand gold coins is indeed a lot, but compared to the ammunition Dick got, this deal was incredibly profitable.

Dick wasn't the kind of miser who hoarded ammunition for future use; in battle, he preferred to use overwhelming firepower to save lives. In addition to heavy ballistae, the engineers who arrived later began assembling large catapults on the spot, and the projectiles they launched were even more heavyweight.

The Magic Bullet is an alchemical artifact capable of storing large amounts of magic power. The alchemists who initially researched it intended to use it as a "power bank," storing excess magic power in it and retrieving it when needed, thus providing mages with additional magic power reserves.

As a result, while this thing could indeed store magic power, it was extremely unstable and would explode violently upon impact. A fireball conjured by a high-level mage with the same amount of magic power wouldn't explode as violently as this thing, so the Imperial army used it as special ammunition for catapults.

After the four catapults were installed, the engineers placed the uncharged magic bombs on the hoppers, and then the accompanying mages were responsible for charging them.

Generally, those responsible for this task are low-level mages and apprentices in the mage guild. Mid- to high-level mages need to conserve their magic power for battle, and releasing magic power is also a good form of training. Although it is hard work, it helps to increase their maximum magic power reserves.

Among the group of mages who were struggling to inject magic into the exploding magic bullets, Xiao Ai's performance was particularly outstanding.

As Dick's official disciple, Xiao Ai had already smoothly advanced from apprentice to novice mage in just six months, and her own magical reserves were very large, higher than many intermediate mages.

So while others need three or four people to charge one ball, Xiao Ai can charge two by herself, which makes the other little mages both admire and envy her.

"As expected, a great teacher produces great students. Master Dick must have a special training method to cultivate his magical energy reserves to such a large extent, right? How did he do it?"

"That must be someone else's closely guarded secret; we shouldn't even think about it."

Soon, several bombs were fully charged. The officer used a signal flag to request permission from the central command to fire. After receiving permission, he immediately pulled the launching lever of the catapult.

By this time, the orcs in the stronghold had been blown off their feet by the Exploding Flame Arrows. Those crossbow bolts, which were about the size of javelins, would burst into flames upon landing, and the orcs' tents were very easy to ignite, so the fire quickly spread.

Luger had personally participated in the siege of the pass fortress and witnessed the power of human magical weapons, but he had also heard that those weapons were expensive and cumbersome, so they could only be used for defending cities and were difficult to use for mobile warfare.

But now it seems that the human race is capable of bringing out and using those weapons.

Ruge thought to himself that he must spread this news to his father, but the humans were clearly not going to let the people in the stronghold go. Their cavalry had already outflanked them before the attack even began, clearly intending to block their breakout.

Just then, Luger suddenly heard his personal guards exclaim in surprise. Following their gaze, Luger saw several round spheres flying over from outside the city. One of them was heading straight for him and landed on a stone mill less than two meters away from him.

With a "ding," the dark golden sphere suddenly lit up with a dark red magical light.

Having read some books about humankind, Luger suddenly remembered what this was.

"Holy crap, so that's what it was..."

Chapter 193: Nege, who suffers repeated defeats

From the start of the attack to the fall of the stronghold under heavy fire, the city that Ruger was confident he could hold for a year and a half fell in just three hours.

When the expeditionary infantry rushed into the city through the breach in the city wall, the orcs were completely unable to organize an effective defense. More than half of the leaders, including Luger, died directly from the firepower of magical weapons, and the remaining orc soldiers ran around in the sea of ​​fire like headless flies.

Some orcs attempted to break out, but they were spotted by cavalry who had circled around them beforehand, and became prey for the knights on the open wasteland.

"Show no mercy! Imagine what these beasts have done! Leave no one alive!"

Under the relentless pursuit and interception of the cavalry, less than one in ten orcs escaped from the stronghold, while the infantry that stormed into the city discovered a large number of humans in a shack area surrounded by wooden fences.

These people were prisoners captured during the orc invasion. In just six months, they had been tortured by the orcs to the point of being almost unrecognizable as human.

Many of them had lost all hope; some sought solace, while others became numb. But just when they were about to give up hope, the Northern Alliance's expeditionary force finally arrived.

After a headcount, there were more than 4,600 prisoners in the stronghold, but according to them, the number was 8,000 five months ago. The orcs forced them to do heavy manual labor such as building city walls and digging moats, but they didn't even give them a full meal. They would beat and scold them at will. What's worse, the orcs would occasionally randomly pick an unlucky person to eat.

The prisoners tearfully recounted the orcs' atrocities, saying that the orcs' actions were almost comparable to, or even worse than, those of the Japanese during World War II on Earth.

However, Dick left a thousand-man squad here to take care of the prisoners and clean up the battlefield, while the main force, after a short rest, quickly set off for the next stronghold.

Although they won their first battle, they still need to race against time and sweep away as many orc tribes and large strongholds in the southern wasteland as possible before Ramon's main force can react.

The previous raid on the stronghold went smoothly, but it still took three hours to capture. That was enough time for the orcs inside to light signal fires and send messages back. Now it all depends on how fast the orcs can transmit intelligence; they probably don't have much time left.

As Dick had feared, less than two days after they captured their first stronghold, Ramon, far away in the orc capital, received an urgent report that a human army had crossed the fjord and entered the wasteland to fight.

Less than a day later, more detailed and accurate intelligence was delivered to Ramon, and he quickly concluded that this was the main force of the human race, and the news that they were coming from the sea was just a smokescreen.

"Hmph! Looks like we've fallen for their trap."

Realizing his previous assumptions were misjudgments, Ramon quickly adjusted his strategy, ordering the Beast King's main army, originally deployed east of the Orc capital, to immediately march south. Before mobilizing the troops, Ramon, having been tricked by the Elders' Council before, decided to play another trick this time.

He knew the elders would definitely not agree to let him lead the main force to take it. The last time the human race raided their base, it left a psychological shadow on those old Dengs. They lost three Saint-level experts in that battle, and they were afraid that the orc capital would suffer another blow. This time, there would be no Saint-level experts in front of them.

So ever since then, the elders have racked their brains to keep Ramon in the orc capital, because they believe that as long as Ramon doesn't run around, his Beast King's main army and those few Saint-level experts won't go anywhere.

In order to keep Ramon in check, the elders were forced to make many compromises.

So while Ramon ordered his legions to march south, he himself did not move. Instead, he took a mere ten personal guards and returned from the military camp to the orc capital, where he held a banquet and invited all the elders to drink.

Didn't they want to keep Ramon in check? Then Ramon will use himself to keep them in check, preventing them from causing trouble for the Beast King's main army heading south.

As for command of the legion, Ramon handed it over to his son, Nege.

To be honest, Neg's record in the previous wars was not good. He was present in several of the most devastating defeats, which made Neg begin to doubt his life. Was he just too weak, or was he just unlucky? Every time he met Ramon, he felt ashamed.

Neg was initially puzzled because after suffering repeated defeats, his half-siblings mocked him, and many wanted to take advantage of his misfortune. However, Ramon was not disappointed in him and still valued Neg despite his repeated defeats.

Ramon simply spoke earnestly about Nege's self-doubt.

“Failure is not terrible. The reason I have high hopes for you is because you can reflect on yourself. Unlike your other brothers, you don’t always make excuses for your failures. Instead, you try to analyze the reasons for your failures. This is rare and is why I am willing to give you another chance. I believe you will do better and better.”

Ramon's words flattered Nege, and this time Ramon simply handed over the command of his most powerful main force to him. You can imagine how excited Nege was.

However, before setting off, Lamont specifically instructed Nege to be cautious in this battle. He advised that the goal should be to force the invading human army to withdraw from the wasteland, and to avoid direct combat as much as possible.

“I need you to act like you’re fighting a grueling battle and are about to be defeated, so I can continue negotiating with our elven allies. Those arrogant fellows always think they’re the smartest, looking down on humans and even more so on us orcs, but that’s not a bad thing…”

Carrying Ramon's orders, Nege personally led his legion of 30,000 orcs south. Several Saint-level experts also received Ramon's instructions, ordering them to follow Nege's orders. However, unlike his other orc brothers who became arrogant after gaining power, Nege maintained a cautious attitude. After all, he had suffered greatly before, and he couldn't afford to be careless.

They traveled at a great pace for the first half of their journey, hoping to leave the orcish capital as quickly as possible. Fortunately, the orcs were physically strong, and Ramon was able to hold back the elders of the council. However, they slowed down once they reached the central part of the wasteland, trying to gather as much intelligence as possible before engaging the enemy.

Based on the various reports from the front, Nege vaguely sensed a familiar feeling; it seemed that he was facing the same "old adversary" as before.