When I take a look through the spyglass I am surprised at how good the magnification is. With the spyglass I am able to see the orcs clearly, or at least some of them. From the dust cloud behind them it looks like there are still more coming.
Just from what I can see already there are several thousand orcs headed this way. It looks like this is indeed a major attack and the humans are probably doomed. I can't help but wonder if it is because I stirred things up or if this would have happened anyway.
"This is a nice spyglass! Where'd you get it?"
Soldier says "Huh? Oh, I bought it from a retiring ship captain."
"How much?"
Soldier says "I paid five gold for it."
"I'll give you ten!"
Soldier says "What's the point? We are all going to die!"
"Why would you say that?"
Soldier says "The largest attack to date was about three thousand orcs and we barely stopped them. This attack is double that, if not more!"
"Sell it to me. No orc is going to kill me!"
The soldier's expression suddenly brightens and he accepts the coins from me. Then I see him abandon the wall and the last I see of him he is headed for the harbor. As I watch I notice other soldiers sneakily making their way towards the harbor.
It looks like they are going to try and get on the ships, but that creates a problem. If all the ships leave my plan of keeping the elves on one to keep them safe is done for. That means that I need to go secure a ship now before it can leave the dock.
No one is really paying attention to me so I simply jump down from the wall. As I leave the fort and head towards the docks I see a lot of people heading that way. Mainly the people who work in the fort, they must have spotted the deserters and figured out the situation.
When the harbor comes into sight I am distressed to see that two ships have already departed. Another is currently being boarded by passengers but the last is not showing any activity. Luckily for me, the one not showing any activity is the one closest to the elves.
Since that one was the goal all along I head straight for it, only to see the elves being loaded onto it. It would seem that the ship is owned by the slavers or has been hired by them. Before I reach the ship I see the third ship finish boarding and start to depart.
That actually helps me, since it means that soon there won't be any witnesses left. The people on the three ships are going to be the only witnesses to this event. So as long as they don't see what I am about to do, then no one will know.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
The only reason this is a concern is because I don't know how long building the ship will take. It is highly likely that the humans will return to reclaim the fort before I am done. I may even need to interact with them, so having them looking for the human traitor would not be good.
By the time I reach the last ship the elves are already aboard and the crew are trying to cast off. The gangplank has already been taken up but I am able to leap up to the ship's deck easily. As soon as I do, the sailors move to stop me and throw me off the ship.
Ignoring them for the moment I check on the status of the other three ships. The first two have cleared the harbor and are almost out of sight, but the third isn't too far away. While they may be able to hear the sailors shouting I doubt they can see anything.
Still, it is better to be safe than sorry, so I don't immediately kill the sailors. Instead, I wrestle with them and make even more noise, trying to draw everyone to me. I am mainly trying to avoid having anyone think to use the elves as hostages against me.
My plan works, as the third ship gets further away, all the sailors gather around me. Even the slaver and his people come up on deck to see what the noise is about. As soon as the third ship leaves the harbor I draw my sword and use Whirlwind Attack.
The sailors that were surrounding me all die after just one attack and I charge at the slaver. They also die with just one swing, leaving just the captain of the ship and a couple of sailors alive. I quickly chase them down and kill them, then I head below decks to find the elves.
17 Level 1 Sailors defeated! 1,700 Exp gained!
12 Level 2 Sailors defeated! 2,400 Exp gained!
11 Level 3 Sailors defeated! 3,300 Exp gained!
8 Level 4 Sailors defeated! 3,200 Exp gained!
5 Level 5 Sailors defeated! 2,500 Exp gained!
1 Level 14 Sailor defeated! 1,400 Exp gained!
1 Level 6 Merchant defeated! 6,000 Exp gained!
'Huh? I got exp from humans?! That has never happened before!'
It takes me a minute to realize something even more important, the humans have levels! The humans on the peninsula don't but that is because the god in charge of it died. The humans on the mainland follow other pantheons, so it makes sense they still have levels.
That means that there are probably high level humans that I am going to have to be careful of. Even a human can become powerful if they gain enough levels, especially mages. I have gotten in the habit of not really worrying about humans, I am going to have to change that.
While I doubt that there is a human out there that can come close to matching my stats, that doesn't make me immortal. My high stats just give me an advantage, but that is not a guarantee of victory. From here on out I am going to have to keep in mind that the humans around me might have levels.
As I enter the ship's hold and find the elves I find myself wondering if they have levels too. The elves show signs of fear as I approach, but they don't try to resist. The fear quickly turns to surprise as I start ripping their chains and manacles off with my bare hands.
Elf says "Why are you doing this?"
"I am here to free you. Stillwater sent me."
Elf says "Why would Stillwater work with a human?!"
"I am not a human, this is a magical disguise."
Elf says "So, you are really here to help us? What's the plan?"
"Yes, I am. The plan is for you to stay on the boat while the orcs wipe out the humans."
Elf says "Okay, then what?"
"Then I will wipe out the orcs. After that we will leave and rejoin the elves."
Elf says "Just like that?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
By the time we are done talking I have removed the restraints from all of the elves. Then we make our way onto the ship's deck and find that the ship has drifted into the middle of the harbor. It is a good distance from the docks and should be out of reach of the orcs.