Again we stand in line. This time, overlooking the fallen city of Dalio.

Various races are present here. There are elves, dwarfs, demi-humans and us, humans. The other races mostly consisted of adventurers, except for the knights who were all humans.

"My God."

"What have they done to the city..."

The people around me said in disbelief. We were dumbstruck at what we saw, I cannot help but think that this was once a city.

Most of the structures lay in ruins, except for a damaged few. What replaced them were tents, numbered by the thousands, made of what seems like animal hide.

Surrounding it was a wall of wooden barricades, three meters in height, laden with spikes made of wood and metal. At the distance, black smoke billows up from various parts of the city.

From here you can see movement within the city. Green-colored humanoids moving about like grass being blown by the wind.

"Such an ominous sight." [Blake]

"There have been no records of a human city being overrun by orcs before." [Kate]

"This is the first then." [Maria]

"That would explain their reactions." [Steven]

"You both looked calm," I asked Kate, she doesn't seem to be bothered by the sight of this monstrosity...

"We're normally sent out to exterminate orc villages. If you think that this is horrible, wait till you get inside of the city..." [Kate]

"What's that?" [Mooly]

Mooly points to the city. There is a commotion from the orc's side.

The orcs started amassing. Then, they bring out three humans. Each was carried by... Three Orc Lords...

"Angelica! Your mother said to cover Mooly's eyes!" [Maria]

"O-okay!" [Angelica]

"Sis?" [Mooly]

I followed Maria's instructions and quickly covered Mooly's face. Did Michelle use telepathy on her?

The three orc-lords got up to a stage-like structure. A few seconds later...

The first, was ripped in half, like paper. Their innards rained on the orcs below the stage as they cheered...

The second bit the head off and spat it out after it went rolling off of the stage another orc picked it up and played with its mouth...

The third stomped on the last... for each stomp, it painted the stage floor red. The orcs reached for the blood and covered their face using it as war paint...

These sick ass mother fuckers... is the best word that I could describe to them. Still, I'm somewhat thankful that they didn't use any women or children as an example...

It's not that I'm ok with seeing men get killed. When I saw them die, they were showing a brave front. They know that even if they lose their lives here, they knew that we will avenge them, but if it were a woman or a child... I wouldn't want to see the fear and dread in their eyes as they are...

"..." [Steven/Kate]

"Son of a..." [Blake]

"Monsters..." [Maria]

"Sister, it hurts." [Mooly]

I was speechless... I tightly covered Mooly's eyes with my hands, making sure that she couldn't even get a glimpse of what was happening.

I have seen these kinds of scenes countless times in photos, real life, and even on the dark web... but witnessing the real thing yourself will scare you to the bone, especially when you see it in detail...

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The people started cussing from the lines. I can feel bloodlust building up around me, this is bad.

"Don't attack!! They're only provoking us!" [Michelle]

Michelle, shouts. While atop of a hurricane dragon, as of now everyone here only knew of Michelle as someone who was chosen by the King to be our strategist. She used her fake name as an alias and wore a hooded cape to hide her identity.

Everyone glanced towards her direction, even those from the farthest end. There are some who were confused, was she using her telepathy to talk to everyone?

She started ordering us to move on to formation.

"Screw the formation!"

"For Dalio!"

"Kill all orcs!"

"Hey!! Kate, Mother, Father stop them!" [Angelica]

"..." [Steven]

"Those fools..." [Kate]

"Kate??" [Angelica]

A few hundred adventurers charged to the city. The idiot, leading them is a swordsman with green hair, who shouted the charge.

I can recognize a few and those were the new adventurers that I saw from the guild...

Everyone is just standing still, why aren't they stopping them?

Then, something rises from the city.

"Batriders?!"

"Here they come..." [Steven]

Orcs, riding on giant bats flew towards the charging adventurers. All of the sudden, they started throwing bombs from grenade-like flasks. {1}

Shit! There's a hero here?! I hope I don't see any Yurnero {2}, too!

The adventurers scatter in panic. Next, a part of the wall opens.

"Warg riders too?!"

Wargs, huge black wolves were ridden by orcs. They are three times larger than a dual-headed wolf and probably has 3x the bite too...

These are new enemies that we haven't fought yet. It'll be dangerous for us since we don't know their attack patterns.

Batriders dived in and snatched a few, then dropped them as they gained altitude. The bodies fell like a puppet that had their strings cut in mid-air.

The adventurers went for a retreat, some are cut down by the riders as they ran. The others were eaten by wargs... or taken by the riders...

"They're gaining on us!"

"Keep on running!"

"Just a little more!"

Just as they were about to reach us... they were impaled by huge arrows.

Those arrows came from the ballistas in the city. The ones aiming them, are the orc lords...

The captured adventurers, scream as they were being taken behind the wall. As the barricades slowly close, the orc lords manning the ballista started laughing. The other orcs followed suit.

The captured adventurers' screams were drowned by the orc's laughter, as the gate closed.

Everyone within the line was really frightened. A few were already turning their backs, the morale is falling.

"This is what happens when you don't listen! We have to think rationally! Blindly engaging in battle, will only rush us to our deaths!!" [Michelle]

Michelle managed to get the situation under control.

She's right. Strategies for fighting from a small group are very different from the strategy used by armies. Adventurer strategies don't work here.

Thinking that you can take anyone on will certainly get you killed, but making an example using people is...

"I know what you're thinking." [Steven]

"But isn't this wrong? Using a person's life, just to prove a point." [Angelica]

Steven spoke beside me. He knew me really well.

"My daughter, we've seen things like this unfold a hundred times. There will always be someone who does... the unthinkable..." [Steven]

"You mean, stupid things right?" [Angelica]

"That too." [Steven]

Can't blame him though. There are a bunch of stupid people in my world too and a lot of them get compiled up in YouTube fail videos.

I released Mooly from my clutches. She rubs her eyes.

"Sis that hurt." [Mooly]

"Was I too hard?" [Angelica]

"Sorry honey-drop, we had to do it." [Steven]

"Honeydrop..." [Mooly]

Mooly frowned. She really doesn't like being teased.

"Oh come here you." [Angelica]

"Sis my hair..." [Mooly]

People see how carefree we were, despite this tense atmosphere. I'm starting to get uncomfortable with their stares.

"How do we start the battle?" [Maria]

"Leave it to my wife, I'm no good at tactics." [Steven]

Maria, says a different topic. The attention now falls on them, good job Maria!

We have the normal formation like before, but with a little improvisation.

Half of the elite knights are up-front in turtle formation and the other half stood guard at the rear, protecting the magicians.

With adventurers behind them, followed by archers and lastly the magicians. Instead of being spread out, our formation is fully compact.

Michelle has really planned this carefully.

She'll use the knights in turtle formation to soak up damage as they move in.

Then the magicians will use Heal and Supportive magic on them, while some take out the ballistas with their offensive magic.

Since we are in close proximity, everyone is able to have the full benefit of the Healing and Supportive magic.

When the batriders come, the archers will engage them from afar while they also rain arrows on oncoming orcs.

The adventurers will take out the orcs when they engage in close quarters. In doing so, they are also lessening the damage the knights will receive.

The other half of the elite knights that were behind can hopefully defend against any flanking maneuvers from warg riders. The magicians can also engage them with magic to thin out their numbers.

Michelle is in the air with a few escorts. Surveying the surroundings, she brings out the magic crystal that I gave her and uses it.

(Boom!)

Multiple explosions rang at the front. Only damaging the barricades.

This is the crystal that Maria had imbued, I told her to input the spell ▪Explosion▪ in it using her multi-cast.

She is able to easily make multiple explosions from a single cast. It was the only spell for now, that she can multi-cast properly. The only drawback is a massive energy drain.

Maria wasn't able to think up a name for it, so I suggested to call it ▪Barrage▪ Since the explosions are similar to an artillery barrage.

"Move out!" [Michelle]

The orcs were stunned by the immediate attack while using the smoke as cover we advanced.

References

{1} A reference to the Dota character Batrider.

{2} Another character but from the original Dota.