Chapter 481 - 480: Decapitation Raid

Chapter 481: Chapter 480: Decapitation Raid

The heavy siege ladders leaned against the city walls, pinning them down with their immense weight. The Guards on the ramparts, who tried to push them over with long halberds, couldn’t budge them an inch—much like the defenders of Wolf Castle against the Orcs’ assault.

Countless sturdy Orcs climbed the battlements and clashed with the fully armed Guards.

Long halberds clashed against battle axes; heavy crossbows and short bows exchanged fire.

Piercing screams echoed endlessly as crimson blood flowed freely.

Orcs were thrown from the battlements one after another, and Guards were torn to pieces.

At that moment, two Ettins also arrived at the base of the walls.

They hurled massive boulders to pick off enemies on the walls, all while enduring sharp crossbow arrows. Orc Shamans gathered around the Giants, supporting the terrifying monsters with Divine Arts.

The assault continued for a full half hour.

While the fierce battle raged on at the front, the two Ettins walked toward a massive war machine in the Orc camp.

They positioned themselves at the rear of the machine and, along with a group of Orcs, began to push the terrifying contraption.

WHOOSH—THUD!

A bolt from a giant crossbow on the watchtower shot out with a piercing shriek, burying itself in the ground next to the Orcs’ war machine.

The two Ettins slowly pushed the massive war machine forward, while on top of it, Orcs began to turn the siege weapon, aiming it toward Wolf Castle to retaliate.

Crude, beast-hide-wrapped siege crossbow arrows thudded into the sturdy city walls. Jars of flaming oil launched by catapults flew into Wolf Castle’s courtyard, exploding in towering pillars of fire.

Immediately after, several Orc Shamans mixed in with the attacking force began casting [Fog Cloud] on the watchtowers to interfere with their line of fire. At the same time, other Orcs started using catapults to hurl smoke bombs made from Purple Mushrooms.

The Priests and Mages inside Wolf Castle immediately responded with [Dispel Magic].

But the Orc Shamans had a decisive advantage in numbers, and they also had non-magical smoke bombs made from plants. The Mages and Priests alone couldn’t clear the smoke from all the watchtowers.

In the end, they gave up on the exhausting countermeasures and simply bombarded the Orc army below with the purest form of Evocation Magic.

Finally, the Ettins, with heavy steps, pushed the war machine to the main gate of Wolf Castle.

The two Giants leaped directly into the moat, snapped the chains holding up the drawbridge, and after lowering it, pushed the war machine to the castle gate.

The siege hammer roared as it repeatedly slammed into the thick, iron-banded gate, which visibly began to splinter and deform.

Throughout this, the surrounding Orcs continued their assault on the walls.

Countless bodies fell into the moat outside the walls. In some areas, the sharp wooden stakes in the moat were completely buried.

’This is a real battlefield...’

Colin thought unconsciously. ’If a battlefield of a thousand men looks like this, what would one with tens of thousands be like?’

At this moment, Wolf Castle and the Orc army seemed to have transformed into two giant, living creatures, locked in a fight to the death within the canyon.

BANG!

Wolf Castle’s main gate finally gave way under the siege hammer’s relentless assault, crashing inward with a loud CLANG.

The Orcs at the entrance roared and flooded into the castle.

A few moments later, the first wall was declared lost. All the defenders were forced to retreat toward the inner wall under the Orcs’ attack.

Kase asked, "Are we still waiting?"

"We still wait," said Colin, who already knew Albert’s plan.

The Half-Orc sniffled. He saw two Orcs who had been serving as Guards lying dead on the battlements; they were companions he cherished.

After taking the first wall, the Orcs in the distance halted their attack, apparently intending to rest for a while.

However, the inner side of Wolf Castle’s first wall had been intentionally designed without any defenses, allowing the defenders to stand on the second wall and rain fire down on the enemy—this was one of the few advantages they had in this battle.

"Look, someone’s coming out of that big tent," Dorn said in a low voice.

Colin looked toward the large Orc tent.

A group of Orcs wearing thick Beast Hide Armor and riding Dire Wolves charged out from the large tent and the surrounding ones, heading toward the distant battlefield.

Judging by their equipment, they had to be elite Orcs.

After those Orcs arrived, the all-out assault on the second wall officially began. The sounds of slaughter and war drums once again echoed through the quiet mountains.

"Alright, it’s our turn now," said Albert.

After Colin nodded, Dorn led the small group, creeping slowly toward the large Orc tent.

Dorn took the lead.

Even as the main assault began, there were still a few sentries around the large Orc tent, but Dorn quickly took care of them.

This showed that the Orcs were quite vigilant, but their skills were far inferior to Dorn’s and Kase’s, which was why Colin’s group was able to sneak up to the area undetected.

The group reached the outside of the large tent and drew their weapons.

Just as Kase was about to charge straight in, the tent flap was yanked open from the inside, and a low voice was heard mumbling in the Orc Language.

The Orc who stepped out locked eyes with the group outside, then immediately turned to run back into the tent.

Reacting quickly, Colin backhanded his giant sword into the Orc’s back, stabbing him to the ground. He and the others then charged into the tent.

Colin’s eyes swept across the tent, taking in the entire scene.

The space inside the tent was large. Seven Orcs stood there.

Five of them wore the same Beast Hide Armor as the elites, holding sturdy round shields and battle axes in their hands.

The largest Orc was sitting on a long bench inside the tent.

He wore a pointed steel helmet on his head and a suit of thick plate armor inlaid with snow-white bones. This so-called plate armor was quite crude, lacking any real design; it was little more than metal plates simply riveted onto beast hide.

’That must be the chief of this Orc tribe,’ Colin thought.

Standing beside this Orc Chief was a hunched-over Orc holding a long staff—likely a Shaman of some sort.

The Orc close guards drew their weapons, staring intently at the uninvited guests who had burst into the tent.

The other Orcs, excluding the Shaman and the Chief, clustered together, forming a tight shield wall.

The Orc Shaman raised his long staff high, his body twitching as if in a dance while he chanted a spell that sounded like a war song.

As he danced, the skin and eyes of all the other Orcs turned blood-red. The muscles all over their bodies swelled, and blue veins bulged on their skin like little azure snakes coiled just beneath the surface.

’It looks like the Tier Three magic, [Rage],’ Colin thought, ’but it’s slightly different from what’s described in the books. It must be a version of the spell passed down among the Orcs.’

As he was thinking this, Colin and Ale finished chanting their spells.

A speck of orange light and an Acidic Liquid Ball, thirty centimeters in diameter, flew directly toward the Orcs in the shield wall—