Kapu Lionheart, slumbering in a deep sleep, was abruptly jolted awake by a tremendous roar.
It felt as if the earth itself was trembling, mountains collapsing. Kapu's eyes snapped open, a cold glint flashing within them.
"What's happening??"
He swiftly rolled out of bed, donned his armor in record time, and stepped out of his dwelling, the dwarven-forged longsword in his hand gleaming with a sharp, cold light.
Standing outside, he gazed into the distance. A thick fog hung over the Dwarf Valley, obscuring the moonlight and plunging the valley into darkness. Even with their enhanced night vision, the Orcs struggled to discern what lay ahead.
Only the faint glow of torches and magical lamps provided any illumination. Kapu couldn't see what was happening at the source of the noise, but he could vaguely sense a colossal figure gliding through the sky above – like a terrifying demon from the abyss.
Clang~ Clang~ Clang~
Following the massive roar, alarm bells were sounded by patrolling Orcs, instantly transforming the peaceful dwarf town into a scene of chaos.
Enemy attack!
Kapu's expression hardened. This wasn't an earthquake or a mountain collapsing. But before he could react further...
Rumble~
An even more thunderous sound erupted. The wall at the valley entrance shuddered violently, and then... the sturdy wall crumbled!
Upon hearing the unmistakable sound of the collapsing wall, Kapu's eyes widened in shock. The dwarven walls were renowned for their unparalleled strength. Even the Orcs' siege weapons had failed to breach them, yet now they lay in ruins?
Who exactly were these enemies?
Several Orc warriors responsible for guarding the wall rushed towards Kapu, bowing in respect. "My King."
"Investigate the enemy situation immediately. Also, assemble the wolf cavalry and prepare for a counterattack! Order the Third Tribe to dispatch manpower to keep the dwarves in check and prevent any trouble."
Kapu's voice remained calm. Orcs were a warrior race, accustomed to living amidst the flames of war. They had developed their own set of strategies for dealing with conflict. The enemy's identity remained unclear, but he still had ample time to react.
"Yes, sir!"
The Orcs receiving the orders immediately went to convey them, while Kapu strode towards the courtyard gate.
His residence wasn't the city lord's mansion but a simple courtyard. As soon as he stepped out, he saw Orcs emerging from their houses onto the street, inquiring about the commotion, their numbers clogging the pathway.
Kapu was about to speak when a terrifying shadow caught his eye.
"Enemy attack!" The warning had barely left his lips...
The colossal figure hunting in the sky seemed to have discovered something. It let out a horrifying shriek – piercing and earth-shattering, causing Kapu's heart to skip a beat.
Before the stunned Orcs could react, a monstrous beast clad in heavy armor, with a wingspan of 16 blades and razor-sharp wings shimmering with a cold, menacing light, swooped down from the sky above the street.
A demon had descended!
No Orc could have imagined the kind of terrifying demon they were facing. Most of the Orcs, recently awakened from their sleep, were still in a daze when they were struck by the fatal blow.
On the 30-blade wide street, the beast's wings, as sharp as the grim reaper's scythe, cut through the dense crowd of Orcs at high speed. Its enormous claws dug into the ground, tearing apart the cobblestone street as if a gigantic hook had plowed through the earth, sending cobblestones and dirt flying.
The terrifying blade-like wings, propelled by the beast's rapid descent, sliced through even the dwarven-forged weapons the Orcs raised in defense.
Like a large agricultural machine harvesting wheat, the crowded street was cleared of Orcs within a mere dozen seconds, leaving behind a trail of devastating casualties.
Only the Orcs on the sides of the street, who had been out of reach, remained.
The center of the street was now a river of blood, littered with severed limbs – a path of death.
Silence. A deathly silence.
There were no cries of pain from the wounded. The beast's attack had left only the living and the dead, no injured.
Clang~ Clang~ Clang~
The urgent alarm continued to echo through the city, but against the backdrop of this gruesome scene, it resembled a death knell, bidding them farewell.
Kapu's face contorted with anger as he witnessed the massacre. His killing intent surged.
"Disperse and regroup! Archers and crossbowmen, organize a counterattack immediately! Lion Tribe!! Invincible!!"
His enraged roar snapped the Orcs out of their daze, their plummeting morale beginning to rise.
"Lion Tribe!! Invincible!!"
"Lion Tribe!! Invincible!!"
"..."
The Orcish battle cry echoed from the street where Kapu stood, spreading outwards until the entire city resonated with their shouts. The initially low morale was instantly stabilized.
However, the battle was far from over.
Boom, boom, boom~
The earth trembled.
A one-eyed giant, standing 7 blades tall and clad in 8 tons of heavy armor, charged across the land, each step leaving a massive footprint in the hard ground.
After Koso, the bronze one-eyed giant, single-handedly destroyed the dwarves' wall with brute force, he stormed into the Dwarf Valley.
The dwarf city wasn't located directly at the valley entrance where the wall stood. Instead, a vast grassy plain, about three kilometers wide, separated the wall from the city.
With Koso's 7-blade height, each stride covered over ten meters, making the three-kilometer distance a matter of minutes.
By the time he neared the dwarf city, the Orcs' first wave of troops had just assembled.
Wolf cavalry.
The elite force of the Orcs.
Five hundred of them had gathered before the dwarf city, with more on their way.
When the Orcs saw the imposing figure of the heavily armored steel giant charging towards them, a momentary hush fell over the scene. But as the battle cry from the city behind them reached their ears, their confidence returned.
The wolf cavalry roared and charged towards the colossal being before them.
Boom, boom~ Boom, boom~
The earth shook even more violently under the fury of both sides.
Five hundred wolf cavalry against the bronze one-eyed giant.
An epic clash.
Yet, in terms of sheer presence, the 500 wolf cavalry paled in comparison to the domineering aura of the heavily armored Koso.
The two sides drew closer and closer.
Rumble~
Flesh and blood collided with steel.
Seven or eight dire wolves crashed into Koso's body. But Koso's armor alone weighed a staggering 8 tons, and with his own body adding another four tons of terrifying mass, the wolf cavalry might as well have been charging head-on into a mountain, their speed amplified by the opposing force.
In that instant, both the dire wolves and the Orc riders on their backs were instantly crushed, their lives extinguished before they even hit the ground.
Koso wielded two massive blades, each 5 blades long and with a 30-centimeter thick spine. Their edges emanated a deadly aura. These were masterpieces crafted by Warren, the master blacksmith, using all the materials available in Dawn City.
Weapons of perfection.
In Koso's hands, these long blades became a deadly meat grinder, driven by his terrifying strength.
Each swing from this bronze one-eyed giant carried a force exceeding ten tons, reaching several dozen tons at full power.
The wolf cavalry met their demise upon contact with the blades. Even a glancing blow from the spine shattered their bones, rendering them instantly incapacitated.
The scene resembled a character unleashing a无双 (musou) attack in a video game, utterly awe-inspiring.
From a bird's-eye view, one could witness hundreds of wolf cavalry charging recklessly from all directions, desperately attempting to overwhelm Koso.
However, Koso's thick armor was even thicker than the length of their teeth, rendering their bites ineffective, leaving only faint white marks on its surface.
The Orc riders' weapons bounced harmlessly off Koso's armor, unable to inflict any damage.
And the bronze one-eyed giant's immense strength allowed him to shrug off even the combined weight of dozens of wolf cavalry piled upon him.
Their efforts were akin to moths drawn to a flame.
Each time Koso raised his blades, at least one wolf cavalry met its end.
He was the embodiment of death itself.
And with the sheer number of enemies surrounding him, he never had to worry about missing a target.
All he had to do was swing, and swing again.
Koso's outrageous killing power even caused a blood mist to fill the air. Before the blood from one fallen wolf cavalry could even finish splattering, the blood of the next victim would erupt several blades high.
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The entire scene was a gruesome and explosive spectacle.
The combat prowess displayed by the heavily armored bronze one-eyed giant was simply unimaginable!
Inside the dwarf city...
Castro was reveling in the release of his inner savagery. As a creature of darkness, despite being infused with the power of holy faith, darkness remained at his core.
Killing was his nature.
The thrill of taking lives intoxicated him.
"Wretched Orcs, fall before your master's feet. Only death can bring you eternal peace."
After completing a dive and ascending into the air, Castro turned his head to survey the street below, now a path of destruction carved by his forceful descent. His arrogant voice echoed throughout the city.
"Embrace your fate."
The night was his domain, and death followed in his wake.
Spotting another street teeming with Orcs, Castro flapped his wings and once again swooped down to attack.
Reaching a height of a hundred blades, he opened his maw filled with sharp fangs. Boom, boom, boom~
Like a dragon's breath, a barrage of fireballs erupted from his mouth.
Bang, bang, bang~
The houses below exploded upon impact, consumed by raging flames that illuminated the dark night sky.
Before the enraged Orcs could even react, Castro's massive body had descended upon them. His body, encased in sharp armor, was a weapon far more potent than any magic.
His razor-sharp wings could cleave through any weapon of lesser quality than perfection. The Orcs' armor, weapons, and shields would shatter like glass beneath his blade-like appendages.
The street was only ten blades wide, but Castro showed no hesitation, plunging his enormous body directly into its narrow confines. His 16-blade wingspan exceeded the street's capacity.
But fear was not in his vocabulary.
His bat-like wings pierced through the buildings on either side, tearing through their structures.
The blade-like wings, sharp beyond compare, sliced through the sturdy dwarven houses, even those constructed from stacked stones.
The scene was utterly outrageous.
From a head-on perspective, Castro, after diving into the narrow street, charged forward, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake. Buildings on both sides crumbled and collapsed, sending debris and timber flying. A cloud of dust billowed around the figure of this newborn king.
It was as if Castro himself carried the endless dust storm with him.
The flames ignited by the exploding fireballs, instead of being extinguished by the dust from the collapsing buildings, grew even stronger.
Destruction was Castro's middle name at this moment.
This newly emerged king was making his grand debut, announcing his power to the world.
Over two hundred Orcs perished as the street was reduced to rubble.
Soaring to the end of the street, Castro prepared to ascend once more.
But just then, a large figure leaped from the roof of a nearby building, a sharp sword in hand, aimed directly at Castro's chest as he took flight.
Craig Shadowhunter, a level beta plus werewolf warrior, his eyes glowing with a cruel blue light.
He would claim the life of this monstrous beast!
The hunting tactics of werewolves often involved lurking in the shadows, striking only when their prey was at its most vulnerable.
And Castro, having just finished his dive and ascending into the sky, was at the point where his old strength was depleted, and his new strength had yet to gather.
Craig could already envision his sword piercing the beast's heart.
Victory would ultimately belong to the Orcs!!
Castro, startled by the figure that suddenly emerged from the shadows, had no time to evade the attack. He felt the sting as the sword struck his chest.
Clang~
To Craig's disbelief, the sword that had accompanied him on countless battles for decades shattered upon impact!
As he looked up, his eyes met Castro's gaze, and in that moment, Craig swore he saw a glint of mockery in the eyes of this damned beast.
The two figures crossed paths, and the werewolf, refusing to give up, extended his sharp claws and raked them across Castro's abdomen. Screech~ A piercing sound rang out.
Unharmed.
Apart from leaving a few white scratches, Craig's claws, capable of tearing through steel, failed to damage Castro's armor.
Whoosh~
By the time Craig landed on the ground and looked up again, Castro had already flapped his massive bat-like wings and soared back into the sky.
Leaving behind on the ground a frustrated werewolf filled with rage and helplessness.
Woo~ Woo~
The sound of a long bullhorn echoed throughout the dwarf city. It was the call to war.
Craig, with a reluctant glance at Castro in the sky above, turned and sprinted towards the source of the sound.
This was the Orcish gathering call. Upon hearing it, all Orcs without assigned tasks, regardless of their location or current activity, were required to assemble immediately.
Castro also heard the sound. The Orcs who had been evading him now poured out of their houses and rushed towards the direction of the horn, their dense formation filling him with glee. He dived once more to attack.
Blood and gore ensued.
However, the number of Orcs was simply too great. Even though Castro had slain over a thousand Orcs in less than ten minutes, their corpses piling up like a small mountain, it was still insufficient to deal a fatal blow to an army of tens of thousands.
Kapu, riding atop a level beta dire wolf king standing 3 blades tall, his face grim, arrived at the front lines of the dwarf city.
A messenger was blowing the long bullhorn, its deep sound resonating like thunder throughout the valley.
Behind him, nearly ten phalanxes had formed, each consisting of a thousand Orcs.
The Orc army, numbering over ten thousand, had assembled within a mere ten minutes. The scene was truly a sight to behold.
However, among these tens of thousands, only less than a third were equipped with full armor and proper weapons.
The majority wore simple leather armor stitched together from animal hides, some even bare-chested, their muscular bodies covered in scars.
Kapu urged his dire wolf forward, his gaze fixed upon the terrifying giant a thousand blades away.
By now, the bodies of nearly three hundred wolf cavalry lay around Koso. Yet, the bronze one-eyed giant remained largely unscathed, his two massive blades stained red with blood, then cleaned, then stained again.
Elite wolf cavalry, with average levels between alpha and alpha plus, some even reaching level beta minus, who had brought countless nightmares to the border troops of the Nolan Empire, were now being slaughtered like lambs, one by one, with each swing of his blades.
The Orc's ace unit was being massacred! And not just any massacre, but a blatant, unadulterated slaughter. Kapu's face had darkened to its limit.
Even he would sustain significant injuries if faced with such a large number of wolf cavalry. Yet, they had fought until now without even breaching the defenses of this damned giant.
Unbearable!
Fury burned within him.
"Assemble the troops!! Deploy the siege crossbows to hunt down the flying beast in the sky. Craig, come with me. I'll personally slay this damned one-eyed giant!!"
Kapu, his stature even more imposing than a lion, spurred his dire wolf king towards Koso.
Craig, who had just arrived on the battlefield, snatched a dire wolf from a fallen cavalryman and followed closely behind.
They had to contain this giant, or their losses would continue to mount.
The Orc commanders immediately mobilized the assembled troops, preparing to surround both the giant and the flying beast still wreaking havoc in the city.
"Siege crossbows, prepare to take down the beast in the sky!! Heavy armored units, prepare to follow Lord Kapu and encircle the one-eyed giant. Spearmen, protect the crossbow carts and archers!!"
"Three wolf cavalry battalions, take three thousand troops and guard the wall immediately to prevent enemy reinforcements from entering."
"Alani, keep an eye on the dwarves!!"
"Wild Boar, lead a portion of the troops to extinguish the fires within the city."
"..."
The Orcs, as a race constantly embroiled in warfare, quickly recovered from the initial panic of the surprise attack.
Their high-ranking generals began issuing orders to their subordinates, setting their plans into motion.
But just as the Orc army was about to carry out their assigned tasks, Kapu, who had charged to Koso's side, suddenly turned his head and looked towards the mountain peak on the right side of the Giant Valley. His face paled.
He sensed a surge of magical energy, a powerful spell being cast without any attempt at concealment.
Where did these spellcasters come from??
Before he could utter a word...
The dim sky above was suddenly painted with a massive crimson cloud, engulfing the entire Orc army as if doomsday had arrived.
Magical energy swirled violently, its presence felt even by the Orc warriors who possessed no magical aptitude.
Kapu's face contorted in horror. The shamans of the Lion Tribe were back in their homeland, guarding their territory. He hadn't brought them to the Dwarf Valley.
Faced with such a terrifying magical assault, he was utterly powerless to respond.
"All troops, scatter!!" He barely managed to shout a warning before...
A scene of unimaginable horror unfolded.
Within the red cloud that illuminated the sky, countless fiery spheres materialized.
The fireballs varied in size, the smallest being one blade in diameter, the largest a staggering three blades.
Like falling meteors, the fireballs, trailing long tails of flame, descended from the sky at breakneck speed, bombarding the densely packed Orc army below.
Boom~
The Orcs, who had just assembled and were still huddled together, had no chance to escape. The scorching heat from the explosions swept through their ranks.
Each exploding fireball claimed the lives of dozens of Orcs.
And the crimson cloud in the sky, as if possessed by a malevolent force, began to expand, unleashing even more fireballs like a meteor shower.
This was true apocalypse.
Boom, boom, boom~
The earth cracked and shattered, the sky ablaze with the searing light of flames.
Chaos. Utter chaos.
With dozens of fireballs detonating every second within the Orc army, the hastily assembled ranks disintegrated into pandemonium.
In the face of this cataclysmic magic, this irresistible and unstoppable force, no one could muster the courage to fight back.
It was futile. They couldn't possibly battle against the fireballs raining from the sky.
They scattered in all directions!!
The Orcs desperately fled towards the edges of the red cloud's reach.
Those on the periphery managed to escape the battlefield quickly, but those trapped in the center found themselves desperately fighting for survival, jostling with their comrades for any sliver of space.
Some Orcs, in their frantic attempts to escape, even shoved their fellow Orcs aside, abandoning them to their fate.
Death was the ultimate fear. Even the bravest of Orcs, when confronted with this world-ending catastrophe, could not resist the primal terror that gripped their souls.
The Orc commanders' desperate shouts were drowned out by the pandemonium.
Chaos spread like wildfire, fueled by the magic raining down from the sky.
Upon witnessing this scene, Koso let out an excited roar. He abandoned his pursuit of Kapu, the Lion Tribe's king, who had drawn close, and instead charged towards the densely packed mass of Orcs, ignoring the wolf cavalry that relentlessly pursued him.
He craved more Orcish blood, eager to expand the scope of their victory.
For Dawn City!!
Beneath his armor, Koso's expression was one of pure excitement and anticipation. He would once again make a significant contribution to Dawn City and earn the rewards of his great master!
Kapu, however, abandoned his pursuit of the damned giant and abruptly changed direction, heading towards the source of the magical energy.
If he didn't deal with these spellcasters, the Orcs would suffer even greater losses!!
"Craig, you handle that giant. I'll hunt down their spellcasters!!"
Kapu's voice was laced with fury. From the moment he was awakened until now, barely fifteen minutes had passed.
The Orcs' losses were already beyond simple words. If he failed to respond effectively, the Lion Tribe might very well be reduced to a mere shadow of its former glory!
This hatred could only be quenched with blood.
The enemy's tightly coordinated and well-timed attacks had disrupted his rhythm, leaving him with the feeling that a sinister hand was manipulating events from behind the scenes.
The warriors, awakened from their sleep, were unable to reach their peak combat condition. The darkness of the night added to their confusion, slowing the Orc army's response time significantly.
After finally assembling their troops, they discovered that the steel beast in the sky, capable of effortlessly slaughtering hundreds of Orcs, and the steel giant that could overpower their wolf cavalry, were merely decoys.
The enemy's true objective was to lure him into gathering his army, only to unleash a devastating magical strike upon them!!
These damned, treacherous bastards!! I swear upon the Hunting God that I will sever your heads!!
Meanwhile, Castro, soaring through the sky in search of an opportunity, was overjoyed to see the chaos unfolding below.
"Receive the baptism of my master, filthy Orcs!!"
He flapped his blade-like wings and dived once more.
Just then, a massive fireball from the red cloud above struck Castro's body.
The fireball exploded, causing no harm to Castro, but briefly enveloping his armor in a layer of flames.
At this moment, Castro resembled a demon from hell itself, bringing death and fire in his wake.
Swish~
On the open ground, the densely packed Orcs had nowhere to hide. No one survived the path of his blade-like wings.
The scorching flames took on a ghastly hue as they mingled with the splattering blood, creating a scene of pure horror.
Both the bronze one-eyed giant and the king of the Dawn Bats, clad in their perfect-grade armor, unleashed an overwhelming force upon the ordinary Orcs.
And Kapu, riding his dire wolf king, finally reached the location of the spellcasters he had detected through the magical energy.
Within a vast clearing, hidden amidst a dense forest, stood hundreds of spellcasters. Two figures at the center emanated an aura that clearly marked them as level beta mages.
The positioning of these spellcasters was meticulous, and all of them were channeling their magical energy towards the two level beta mages.
Vampires? Sensing the presence of lower-ranked bloodsuckers among them, Kapu's expression darkened. Why were these damned creatures of darkness targeting the Lion Tribe??
After carefully observing the vampires' actions, his face contorted in anger. "Damn bastards, a compound spell? Vampires!! You shouldn't have provoked the great Lion Tribe!!"
His killing intent surged.
At this moment, Kapu deeply regretted not bringing the tribe's shamans from the Lion Tribe's territory to the Dwarf Valley. If the esteemed shamans were present, they would have surely detected the enemy's despicable scheme in advance.
"Oh ho? Finally arrived. I've been waiting for you for quite some time..."
Just as Kapu was about to unleash his fury, two figures, their auras no less imposing than his own, appeared before and behind him.
Betty, wielding her giant sword, gazed at the lion-man seated on his dire wolf, her eyes burning with the desire for battle.
This was a formidable opponent.
And she craved a challenge.
"Foolish humans, despicable vampires, you will face my boundless wrath!!"
Kapu's massive lion head twisted into a snarl, his aura erupting as he urged his dire wolf to charge towards Betty, who stood at the forefront.
These individuals had to die.