Chapter 53: Victory and Ambush (III)

The humans on the fortress cried out in outrage at such shameless ambush by the orc shaman, while Ferdinand and Duri’s expressions turned grim.
“Damn those orcs! They’re utterly despicable!”
Just as Ferdinand was about to find a way to retaliate and rescue the genius summoner, the man in black beside him suddenly stood up. He took out a short yet exquisitely crafted staff from his sleeve. As faint, inaudible spells were spoken, he pointed it toward the orc camps below the fortress.
Within moments, a vast cloud of darkness spanning dozens of meters gathered in the air, with lightning bolts flickering like serpents within it. After uttering the last few spells, a series of thunderous booms erupted, and dozens of lightning strikes enveloped the orc camps below.
“Roar…” The screams and roars were drowned out by the thunder. Hundreds of powerful orc warriors, gathered together, suffered heavy casualties from this attack. Only the orc prince and the old shaman remained unharmed, protected by the massive totems around them that generated protective shields.
“This is the Level 4 spell, Thundercloud Spell…”
The scale of this lightning spell left everyone on the fortress in awe. A noble mage of the Bronze rank was deeply shocked and murmured to himself.
As a war spell, Thundercloud Spell not only consumed a great deal of mana but was also more difficult to master than ordinary Level 5 spells. Even Bronze-tier peak mages, who could normally cast Level 6 spells, needed time to prepare before using it. If someone could cast it in such a short time alone, then their strength must be above Silver rank!
The orc shaman’s ambush clearly angered this powerful human mage, who decided to retaliate.
Within just over ten seconds, the area around the orc camps was in chaos. At least two hundred powerful orc warriors were killed or injured. This was because Thundercloud Spell was a area attack—each individual lightning strike had power roughly equivalent to that of a normal Level 2 spell. Those above Bronze rank might be injured but not killed, while most of those killed were Iron-tier orc warriors.

But those who could gather around the leader were the finest orc troops—mostly elites at the peak of black iron level, on the verge of breaking through to bronze. Such a heavy loss caused the old shaman and the orc leaders immense pain. Especially for Prince Kanzhi, these elite warriors were personally granted by his father as his guards and would form the core of his future new tribe. A severe loss would essentially mean the end of his prospects among the orc clans.

Donald, the one responsible, was furious to see the horned eagle die in his place. Though it was merely a summoned creature, he still felt extreme anger. This was his first true encounter with the terror of death. After the mage at the fortress displayed his power, he remained deeply frightened. Taking advantage of the orcs still reeling from the blow, he immediately cast a powerful spell.

“Frost Nova!”

Donald’s target was the shaman-priest leading the bloodthirst ritual at the front of the orc camp, along with the orc guards protecting him.

This innate spell, equivalent to a level-four spell in power, instantly covered the enemy. More than a dozen orcs, including the shaman, had their movements restricted by the icy force.

Furious once again, Donald pulled out a dozen level-two magic crystals.

“Damnous beasts, tremble under my wrath!”

He summoned all these crystals into one creature: a level-two undead unit, a gargoyle.

These grotesque, evil-looking soldiers were natural killers. As soon as they appeared, they let out silent screams while spreading their wings, then took to the air and attacked the orc camp at their master’s command.

As alchemical creations, each gargoyle had a hard outer shell to protect them from enemy attacks and could land on the ground to disguise themselves as rocks. Although they couldn’t attack while disguised, their defense was strong, and they could recover quickly.

Though their attack power wasn’t very high, Donald ordered the gargoyles to target the orcs’ vulnerable heads and necks. With each descent, they claimed a life. Most of the orcs’ attacks missed the agile gargoyles in the air, and even when they hit, the damage was minimal.

“Kill! Kill! Let them see the power of a summoner…”

These gargoyles were like dancers of death, each movement scattering blossoms of blood. They were nothing short of cost-effective killing machines!

The old shaman and several shaman priests accompanying him roared in fury, all trying to stop the stone goblins from killing indiscriminately. Yet against these alchemical puppets, which were not natural creatures, immune to magic and unaffected by mental control spells, these noble orc spellcasters were no threat at all—less so than the lowest-ranked orc spearmen. Just a dozen or so thin stone goblins, each over a person’s height, utterly defeated the orc army of tens of thousands, forcing them to flee in disarray. Although the earlier spell of thunderclouds cast by the human mage had already demoralized the orcs, it was still enough to show the impact Donald, the summoner, could have on the battlefield. One person breaking through the formation of tens of thousands of orcs was a sight the humans in the fortress had never seen in their entire lives. Even the Marquess, a silver mage by Prince Duri’s side, couldn’t help but exclaim, “They’re all alchemical puppets. Though not very powerful, they’re perfect for dealing with orcs like them. Has this young mage inherited the teachings of some ancient alchemist? Or has he connected with some alchemical realm? He truly cannot be underestimated!” Ferdinand, the supreme commander of the Holy Sword Fortress, had no time for surprise. Seeing the situation on the battlefield below, his face lit up with joy. Such a great opportunity surely couldn’t be wasted. “Warriors of Celt, the orcs have collapsed! Let’s go outside and utterly destroy these beasts who have invaded our homeland…” He immediately ordered the legion soldiers to open the city gates, and all the fighting forces inside the fortress rushed out to encircle and annihilate the scattered orcs! With the advantages created by the silver mage and Donald, the human coalition suffered almost no losses, while the orcs continued to suffer heavy casualties. This was a situation never seen in the wars between the two races before. In the past, humans had won through powerful professionals, advanced equipment, and sturdy fortifications, and victories were rare—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they lost more often than they won. After all, there was a significant difference in strength between the two races. But now, the situation had completely reversed.