The battle raged on.

Adam's formation was strong. The chief’s training had built them up as individuals, and that translated to being stronger as a group in every way. They moved faster, hit harder, and had more staying power. They were just better.

But there were also more human soldiers than Adam could imagine. His charges kept finding new pockets of resistance. The orcs couldn't stop for even a moment. If they let the humans seize back the momentum, it would be over.

Slowly, Adam's body started to betray him. His lower back started to respond with stinging pain and his lungs were on fire. Every joint and muscle was begging to quit. The worst was in his arms, it had gone beyond pain to pure numbness.

But there were still humans in front of him. At this point, he had no clue how many. He had long since stopped looking over his shield to assess the battlefield. He knew that there were enemies in front of him, and all he could do was to will his legs to keep pushing.

To his right, Max was heaving in air with huge breaths, and his shield had started to sag lower. But he kept his shield up.

It didn’t matter that neither of them could see where the blows were coming from. Dax, Sam, Luke and whatever other orcs were responsible for protecting their flanks. As for blows coming from in front of them, it was essentially impossible for a human to cut at their legs when they were moving forward. In doing so, the attacker would be putting their head in line with the shield itself, and no sane human was prepared to do that.

Every now and again they would run into a thicker part of the human army, one more packed with soldiers. When they slowed, the orcs behind them would push, helping them break through. But every push was a little lighter than the last. Adam couldn’t spare the energy to check, but he knew that others were tired, or worse, being picked off by the humans.

There’s just too many humans to deal with. Once we get separated, there’s no hope.

As endless as the supply of humans seemed, eventually Adam felt the resistance on his shield lessen, then stop. There was finally enough time to take a look around, and he immediately discovered why. The endless charge had been costly for the orcs. Just Adam’s team, two of Greenbough’s orcs, and three of their camp’s warriors had survived.

It had been even more costly for the humans. Their dead and dying were littered everywhere. Somewhere close to a fifth of their forces had been defeated. Only a single knight remained to rally the troops but Adam could read the fear and apprehension on their faces. Facing what must have seemed like an unstoppable death machine had made the rest of the humans think twice. They had drawn back to regroup.

The exhausted orcs took a moment to breathe, and it was only then that Adam was able to check to see how the chiefs were doing.

--

The chief had long since stopped trying to wipe the blood out of his eyes. That only made the stinging worse. Both he and Greenbough were covered in wounds, with one particularly nasty cut stretching from the chief’s cheek to high on his forehead.

The knights had paid for each wound with their lives. Three of them were lying on the ground, either dead or nearly so. Only seven remained, three on the chief and four on Greenbough.

Exhausted and sensing that the other battle had slowed, the knights backed off a bit to catch their breath and assess their situation. For a moment, the battle was at a relative standstill, with only a few pokes and halfhearted swings maintaining the distance between the two forces.

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The emotions that had fed the intensity of the battle at the beginning were starting to fade. Both sides had long since burned their whatever energy their adrenaline had given them. They were hanging on through pure willpower and self-preservation instincts. Neither side was prepared to run, but nobody was eager to make the next move.

--

Nobody but Adam. As tired as he was, he could see the lines separating him from the knights and the chiefs had thinned. Instinctively, he felt an opportunity. Without much thought, he charged towards the gap alone.

The humans watched as the lone orc charged at their line. They held up their shields and pointed their spears. But a few strides before impact, Adam moved left. Instead of crunching into the human defenses, he veered off onto the side. As he passed the human line, a couple spears and blades slashed at his body. Each of them struck, but none of them were able to stop Adam.

Now in the space between the two battles, Adam roared.

A couple knights tilted their head to see what the commotion was about. Seeing that it was just a single orc, they refocused their attention back to the chief.

Instead, a knight Adam hadn't seen before peeled off from the battle. He was armed with a lance and shield, a combination of arms Adam hadn’t ever faced before. It would be a difficult combination to get past. The shield would all but ensure he couldn’t take the knight down quickly, while the lance meant that a reckless charge might result in impalement.

Time to do something stupid, I guess.

Adam started working his right arm out of the straps of the shield and then charged. The knight took a couple steps forward as a countermeasure and slowed. The distance between them closed fast. Adam was close enough to see the knight's right hand trembling.

Before they met, Adam planted his right leg down hard. He then pivoted into a full spin, and launched his shield like a discus.

The shield flew through the air like a thunderbolt. The knight had been planning a lunge with his lance, and hurriedly tried to block the thirty-pound projectile flying at him. It didn't work. The orc-driven metal slammed into his helmet, knocking his head back like it was on a hinge.

Adam didn’t pause to see what further effect the shield had on the knight or to look back at the battle behind him. Neither mattered for what he was about to do.

Without slowing, Adam ran towards the group of knights, leaping into the air and landing on one of them. As he descended, the knight’s sword lashed out and, unopposed, bit deep into Adam’s shoulder. But it was a worthwhile sacrifice. Without weapons, Adam had no chance of winning against the knight. Instead, he took the chance to bear hug the knight. After all, the sword was already in Adam's shoulder. It wasn't going anywhere else.

As the other knights moved to attack Adam, they were greeted by the chief's axe. Adam's moves had reduced the knight count from seven to five. Without the numbers to survive the ancient orcs' rage, the knights suddenly found themselves on the back foot.

As Ironblood and Greenbough pressed their advantage, the remaining human soldiers in this battle hesitated. They had withstood the wholesale slaughter of their ranks, they had paid for each new wounds on the orcs with their life, and now they watched as their commanders, the knights, struggle against the two ancient orcs.

For some, it was too much. They peeled away from battle. The desertions were contagious. Soldiers who would have otherwise held strong started to run and soon, the chief's battle was left with just the knights, chiefs, Adam, and corpses.

Then something Adam never expected happened, the knights took one last look around the battlefield and ran. They even left their comrade, who was still pinned down by Adam.

The two chiefs didn't push their luck. Ironblood came over to Adam and finished the knight with a quick swing. Greenbough limped to the fallen lance knight and made sure that he would never get up again. And together, they watched as the humans broke formation and retreated.

Seeing that the other half of the army in disarray, the soldiers fighting with the warrior orcs also leaving the battle. They took their injured and slipped into the woods. The orcs feinted charges, but no one had enough strength left to truly attack.

It took all of Adam's efforts to stand while the humans disappeared from sight. Once Adam could no longer see any human-shaped shadows, he fell on his back. Around him, the other orcs and even the two chiefs sat or laid on the blood-soaked, muddy ground. It was ugly, and a stench was starting to rise.

In the back of his mind, Adam realized that the camp was a lost cause. There were only a handful of orcs left to return to it, and not nearly what it would take to maintain it, let alone hold it against attack. The humans had paid for the result with their lives, but they had succeeded.

But for now, none of that mattered.

They had survived, and there was nothing more beautiful than being alive.