The army reached their territory just past 1800 (6pm). With half an hour of daylight left, there was plenty of time for the battle to start and conclude, based on the speed of the previous battle. It was clear that Crassius did not have any expectation of this attack surprising them. He brought his forces to the clearing's edge and started reassembling them. He even had apparently allowed them to rest for a good fifteen minutes. They had marched all day after all. A brief rest would improve their morale and allow them to refresh, if only a little.
They sprawled out and drank and ate. It did not at all appear that they were prepared for a counter attack. Not that it mattered. The earthen bulwarks were the only thing that would give his units a fighting chance. Mark was not about to order his units out of it, not that they would listen if he did. With a morale level of content, they probably would not perform a suicide charge at his behest, but it was not the goblins that Mark was transfixed on hoping for a suicidal charge at the moment.
Amidst the scattered red dots on the tactical map, there were a handful of blue blotches indicating the positions where his frogmen were scattered. A couple of them were quite close to some of the orcs lounging around unguarded. One group was even near the brute orc squad. It would have been an opportune time for them to surprise attack the strongest of their foes, but the frogmen did not move an inch.
The idea had been for the frogmen squads to attack from behind targeting orc regulars or brutes. Hopefully, they could catch some of the strongest units unaware. They had half a day to pick out and disguise their locations, moving fallen trees and other forest refuse for both concealment and to discourage enemy units from approaching. They could not be too far, the frogman’s lacked stamina on land and could not move very fast after an initial burst, but they had not needed to be. There were plenty of locations for them to hide based around the most likely route of the enemy approach.
Mark had assumed that the enemy would come straight at them from the east and he had been right. Now only a couple of the frogman locations were in danger of discovery. Every minute that ticked by increased the odds that one of the carefree orcs would notice something. Mark would love for his frogman to attack now. There was a good chance of wiping out the 6 brute orcs that had set themselves up only 30 feet away from a whole squad of frogman. With their long jump they could close the distance in a couple of seconds.
However they would then face certain death. It was a trade Mark would gladly take, but he had a much more cavalier take on their lives then the units themselves.
“Urrrggg,” Amelia grunted in frustration as she watched the screen. She would apparently make the trade as well, but the frogmen near the brute orcs were doing everything they could not to be noticed.
“Hopefully, they will at least attack from behind after the attack begins,” Mark muttered in response. If they survived this, he would have to reconsider having units operating alone away from the main force in battle. It was evidently too demoralizing, unless the unit felt they had a good chance at survival. Perhaps if they were well trained, or had a higher experience level like a veteran or elite.
“They're starting to form up,” Amelia exclaimed pointing at the red dots at the tree line that started to cluster. Mark swung the view that way. Sure enough the orcs were beginning to assemble and prepare for battle.
The sun had almost completely faded from view, and the settlement was already in shadow. Still there would be enough light to not be considered dark for another 15 or 20 minutes. If the last battle was any indicator, the fight on the surface could easily be over in that time period. The warlike orcs were far from squeamish like the frogmen. They would blitz in and either one side or the other would be left standing.
The orcs with shields took the vanguard positions. They would lead this charge. The majority of them formed up in the middle with the main army, but a squad of them positioned themselves off to the left with a couple other squads. They were setting themselves up to assault the dungeon entrance and the main circular fortification at the same time. Another minute passed as the orcs readied. They were a race basically born for battle. Despite marching all day, they did not seem overly affected. Each orc was eyeing the goblins like hungry dogs waiting to be let off their leashes.
Mark grimaced as he saw orcs light torches and move towards their buildings. They would respawn, but it would still take time. Crassius was not taking any chances this time. He was going to make it hurt as much as possible, even if they were able to survive.
“Those assholes,” Amelia said frustratedly as the buildings were all lit. Except for the generator they were made of easily flammable materials, so caught on fire fairly easily. “I really hope we can pay them back someday… you know, provided we survive.”
Mark smiled. During the last attack Amelia had almost been scared stiff. While she was certainly afraid, she was also clearly frustrated and angry. She was ready to hit back. Hopefully they did survive and they would get their chance.
With a final ‘Huraaaaah,’ the orc army surged forward.
The orcs surged forward. The round viking-like shields swung as they pumped their arms. At least up until dozens of black streaks launched from the goblin lines in a high arc. The orcs raised their shields and all of the arrows that did not thunk into the ground were caught. There might have been a hit or two out there somewhere, but not a single orc went down if one had struck true.
The next volley was a direct shot and was even accompanied by a couple magic bolts which were at the very edge of their range. Once again most of the arrows and bolts thunked harmlessly into a round shield or missed entirely. The magic bolts did not have enough strength to punch through the solid wood shields. Mark noticed that one of them had even started to fizzle out before hitting ineffectually into a shield. However a couple orc imps did go down with arrows hitting below their shields into their abdomen or legs.
Only seconds later came the rest of the magic bolts. With a 3 second casting time the mages would really only get one shot before the orcs in the front reached the wall. These bolts all struck true. The mages having seen the raised shields had shifted their aim toward the exposed legs. Still only a couple actually went down, although apparently one of the imps had been trampled by his own force as Mark noted the imp counter tick down by one.
Seconds later the orcs reached the wall. Unlike last time, the orcs were not immediately vaulting over. The battle reached a sort of stalemate as the orcs tried to get over the earthen wall that was effectively as tall as they were due to the ditch at its base. The main fortification was holding. At least for now. The orc forces started spreading more to the flanks. The goblin legionnaires and hobgoblins squad sergeants were heavily concentrated at the point of impact. The flanks were mainly green goblins with a few of the higher tier goblin units interspaced quite a distance inbetween.
The entrance fortification did not look to be faring as well. The ditch surrounding it was not as deep. The hobgoblin entrance guard was exacting a toll on the enemy, but it was clear that they would not endure as long as the main fortification. They were all still alive, but somehow Mark could tell. Likely in a couple of minutes they would all be dead.
Arrows and magic bolts continued to rain upon the orcs. In addition, goblin spears occasionally were meeting flesh. The enemy counters started to tick down. Imps and orc regulars were falling. A brute orc had not been killed so far. That might change soon. Several of them were already in the thick of it, and the squad of six were only now preparing to charge across the field. They were led by a dark brown orc brute that Mark could only guess was the army leader since his power rating was at 3.8. It was not as high as the last commander of the previous army, but still it was far higher than anything the defenders had available. Those seven would be the last since the rest of the orcs were already in the thick of it.
Fireballs flew from both sides around the same time. Goblin mages targeted clumps or orcs and the orc mages targeted the precious high quality goblin troops. The orc mages could only hit a couple goblins with one shot due to being lower in elevation and only having the upper torso and heads within sight. Still when each fireball consumed a legionnaire or hobgoblin among others, it was catastrophic. Goblins with their heads and shoulders consumed fell back off the earthen step and quickly died.
The goblin fireballs landed amongst the orcs. Half splashed against shields and washed over them. However the shield bearer was effectively defended although scorched and likely forced to abandon their wooden shield. The ones that did hit the troops, consumed 3 or 4 a piece. A dozen fireballs consumed twice that amount of lives. In the grand scheme of things the exchange was in the enemies favor as gaps newly created in the defense allowed orcs to start making their way in.
Fortunately, orcs inside the walls became a favorite target for goblin archers and mages.
That was… right after the orc mages that had drawn the goblin ire with their flashy spells. Mark guessed that at least half of the orc mages had been killed almost immediately after firing their attack since they had positioned themselves further from the wall to get a good angle. The goblin archers had immediately honed in on them, and only a few made it back behind the walls and out of view of the goblins on the raised earth in the center.
The breach in the front was effectively minimized due to the goblin ranged defender's efforts, but it would not last long as the brute orc squad was charging right into it. The brute orcs were hardly slowed down. They vaulted over the walls instantly joining the fray. One brute orc was skewered through by a goblin spear as he sailed over the wall, but the orc answered by simply lopping off the head of the unlucky hobgoblin. The wound had to be serious, but the brute orc continued with the others. He might not survive the battle, but he intended to take as many goblins down with him as possible.
The seven brute orcs started the carnage. Imps and orc regulars were quickly joining them inside almost immediately. The brute orcs had opened an effective safespace for the weaker units to enter in great numbers. Other attempts to breach the walls faltered entirely as the orcs flowed back along the wall toward the path of least resistance. The battle momentum shifted entirely in the orc favor.
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The goblin mage response was immediate. Soon a dozen fireballs streaked in, all targeted on the brute orcs. They exploded around each other effectively creating one huge fireball. It illuminated the night and briefly cast a multitude of grotesque shadows out from the impact. The light quickly dwindled back to a few scattered fires still alight. The brown orc commander had managed to dive out of the way entirely. The rest were consumed along with a handful of other imps and regulars.
However several of the brutes emerged from the dying flames, their skin smoldering, but they were still on their feet. Their charred hands dug around their waist. Soon to emerge with vials that they poured down their throats. Mark did not need to see the effect to know what they were. “Health potions,” Mark mumbled.
The restoration happened quickly over the course of 10 seconds as their flesh was restored. They were not completely healed but were definitely back in fighting condition. Unfortunately, for them they were left alone standing in empty space amongst the smoldering bodies of others. The goblins archers loved easy marks and all but one went down anyways to a flurry of arrows.
The brute orc squad had been effectively eliminated, but they had done their job. That last fireball was likely the last that the goblin mages would be able to manage since most had already cast one prior. The mages likely had little if any Eres rock left to restore their manna, and the archers were about to fall into the melee. Once that happened the fight would be fairly one sided.
Mark felt a sinking feeling as he glanced at the unit counters. It was actually kind of nostalgic and made him think briefly of his past on earth. He had grown up playing several different sports and watched other games that he was not a part of. In a good number of games, there was always a point where he had felt it. They were going to lose. There was no way to turn it around. They either did not have the skill or enough time.
In this case, the amount of defenders had dwindled to be about equal to the attackers above ground, and they would not be able trade off killing one for one. Even if they fought well there would still likely be around a hundred enemies left. They might have taken out the brute orc squad but there were still 5 out there. Then there were 38 orc regulars still alive. The dungeon entrance had already fallen, and those orcs started to make their way to the main battle. It all seemed hopeless.
There were still some holdouts. Nasal was leading the biggest pack of goblins to the left side of the raised platform in the middle. His group included most of the remaining 11 legionnaires. It was the last bastion for the defenders as the other groups still alive maybe had a half dozen or so.
However, they would not last for long. The orc leader was making his way in from the right or from the raised platform. Two of the brute captains came advanced from the front. Then the orcs who had wiped out the entrance guard were pouring over the walls from from the back left. The archers had been pulled into the melee. They had been fractured into a bunch of tiny groups. Mark had noted several goblin mages collapse in exhaustion, their manna reserves empty.
The frogmen were starting to advance through the clearing to join the attack. Better late than never, but they would hardly be able to turn things around. Five minutes and the fight on the surface would be over, and Mark knew the new dungeon additions would not be enough to deal with what was left.
Mark glanced at Amelia. Noticing the movement her eyes shifted to his. He did not have to say it. She knew as well. There was nothing that they could do. This would be the end for them.
However the decrease of sounds of battle made both of them snap their attention back to the screen. The orcs were just standing there, seemingly zombified. Their arms fell slack to their sides and they stood still. Everything just paused like that for a second. However a couple seconds was enough for goblins shrinking away from certain death to become emboldened.
Always the opportunists, the goblins frantically started to attack the helpless orcs. In seconds dozens were cut down. The tide was only able to shift for a few seconds, because the orcs seemingly awakened from their stupor. They began to raise their weapons in defense, although they were still being pushed back by the goblins. More from confusion than from martial prowess. The orcs had regained their awareness only to find themselves in a one sided slaughter, with goblins rapidly advancing on them. Most of the fractured groups had cut down orcs and clustered into bigger groups.
The orcs almost as one started to pull back from the goblins who took it as a sign of more weakness and pounced. The initial pull back turned into a nearly full rout, although there were plenty of holdouts as many orcs loved battle even if it resulted in their deaths. They were soon overwhelmed and the goblin force was left amidst a pile of bodies cluttering the earth.
“What the hell was that?” Amelia exclaimed, stepping closer to the screen, as if it would help her find a clue to what happened.
Mark stood there stupefied himself, before he thought of something. Soon a notification was featured on the center of the screen. Mark and Amelia had got it only moments ago, but had apparently subconsciously ignored it and mentally swiped it away like an unwanted pop up, as they concentrated on the battle. It was an all contender notice.
[Notice: Contender, Crassius Nacht, has been eliminated by another contender. Contender has been given a unique reward. Contenders Remaining 32/35]
Apparently, someone had sneak attacked Crassius while his army was out. Instead of just disappearing, the orcs had apparently gone through some sort of a reboot period, converting from dungeon creatures to another neutral faction. Awakening unorganized and being killed they had quickly chosen to flee from battle. Mark could not believe it. Not only were they going to survive, but they would retain a decent portion of their forces.
Amelia was already jumping in excitement laughing maniacally, having also read the notification. The knot in his chest unraveled instantly. Throughout the battle he had felt it getting tighter and tighter like a noose tightening around his very life. After seeing the enemy army he had started to lose hope, but finally something had gone in their favor.
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Nehemiah Rourk could not stop himself from laughing. Easy, it had been so easy. A dungeon core had been relatively left unguarded. Sure the pedestal and core had been enclosed in a box like contraption to keep it from being attacked directly, but his scout had only needed a few minutes to get past the rudimentary lock, and it had only taken that long because it was dark.
If the fool had left even a small contingent of units to guard the core, Nehemiah would not even have thought to attempt it. His scout kobolds were sneaky due to his specialization, but would not be able to last against the far superior orc warriors. However a whole army of the orcs had left early that morning. Where they were headed he had not a clue, but it did not bode well for one of the other dungeons.
Likely, the goblin dungeon since the army had left to the east. Unfortunately, Nehemiah did not have a scout watching that dungeon at the moment. He had instead concentrated on scouting out as much of the tactical map as possible. He made a mental note to keep a watch on all the dungeons he had found, or well at least all of them near his own. Intel was power afterall. No telling what he would have been able to learn from watching the battle.
There had not been an all contender notification. Perhaps it was too early for the army to have reached there. It would have been close if they had marched all day. Nehemiah would have loved to wait, but he had no way of seeing the results. He also had no way of knowing when the orc dungeon would build more units and he would miss the opportunity. Nehemiah had been too nervous to wait any longer.
His scout had infiltrated the camp just after dark. The few remaining orcs were intimidating, but were all contained in what looked like a training facility. However they were too far to hear or see the small statured scout, and now they were seemingly free to roam as a new neutral party. Did not matter to him. Just one more roving band far away from his dungeon.
Without his specialization, Explorer’s plight, the infiltration would not have worked either, since his scouts would have shown up as red dots on the opponents tactical map. Explorer’s plight was an early or mid battle focused specialization. He started with the Foraging and Mapping techs. He gained benefits for each percentage point of the Endless bluff map that he explored, with bigger rewards for each 5 or 10 % that he revealed. The first percentage point had been a paltry 1000 MP, but they were getting increasingly better.
The 5 % reward had allowed his units to travel faster across all types of terrain and for longer, increasing the rate at which he could unveil the darkness on his tactical map. The 10 % reward had allowed his scouting units to go undetected in enemy territory provided their scout class was at least 2 levels higher than the enemy dungeon level and were not seen directly by an enemy unit. Since he had already unlocked the level 3 scout class by that point and every dungeon was still at level 1 his scouts could move freely throughout the map. In the future he could see his units being able to assassinate enemy commanders. Still he had not gotten much out of it till now.
Not everyone was dumb enough to leave their core relatively unguarded. He already discovered 5 other dungeon starting locations and uncovered 11 % of the map. Although only 4 of those dungeons were still in existence. One he had just knocked out, and the other had been knocked out by this dungeon prior. It was how he had discovered this dungeon so easily, following the war party’s trail back to the start.
Regardless, whether the under the radar ability gave him any benefits from now on he had already gotten a boon, Nehemiah thought as he examined his unique reward for eliminating one of the other contenders. It was called a covert outpost. It would not affect his settlement limit, and could be built automatically anywhere one of his units currently was. It would both spawn a unit and allow him to build an additional 5 units weekly. All of which would start with a regular experience level and any class and level he had access to. Food and other basic supplies spawned in a quantity to support up to 36 units. It was a forward operating base.
His unit that had just ended the dungeon was one of the furthest from him, so he would have it continue Northeast as far as possible. So far he had not uncovered a dungeon to the south or west of his location. He had two thoughts on that. The first was that he was at the end of the map in those directions. The second one was that the succession battle creators had placed groups on dungeons in clumps across the map, and that a few days of travel would not reach the next clump.
If the second option was correct, then his own dungeon was on the Southwestern edge of his own clump. To the west of him inside the swamp was a lizardmen dungeon. To the north was a construct dungeon. In the middle of the clump was a goblin dungeon. Then Crassius and the other defeated dungeon were to the Northeastern edge of the clump.
However if option two was true, Nehemiah had a sneaking suspicion that there might be a seventh dungeon to bring the clump to seven. That would make the math work out for five seven-dungeon clumps. If that was the case then the succession battle creators had been aiming for five dungeons to survive to fight it out for the end game.
Whatever, it did not change what he needed to do. He would clear the surrounding area looking for more dungeons. Starting his outpost three days to the Northeast was not a bad idea since it was the direction he had been finding dungeons. He had only a day to build the outpost, so he would have his scout travel as far as possible in that direction. Luckily, he had the contender capability tech, so could give the scout detailed directions.
It was the safest option. Last thing he wanted to do was to build the outpost to the South or West, then to find the edge or corner of the tactical map soon after. Since he was given 11 % completion on map discovery, he knew the map was indeed limited.