Chapter 608 - The Counterattack Begins

"Right, then I guess our first task will be to start counterattacking. Upam, you should focus on keeping the line for now. I'll inform Silver when you can start sending relief to those who had been caught in the ruins of the city."

"Once we start this, the orcs might finally pull the trigger, however..." Eldrian looked at the map again, not wanting surprises he decided to go all in. Ignoring the allies, he used his inspection function on all the enemies within range of the city. 

This cost him just shy of 45 million XP, but it was certainly worth it. Scanning through the list, Eldrian noted all the dangerous enemies. 'Also possible that the map function might miss ones with special items or abilities.'

'But this at least shows that we have a chance.'

All in all, the orcs had the following numbers of importance: A thousand orc warriors, all above Tier 5, around a hundred who were Tier 6. Some had higher statistics, likely also having range abilities. Eldrian noted these specifically as dangerous targets. 

Of the rest, there were around another thousand who were elites but only orcs. A few thousand veterans. The former was a mix of Tier 4 and 5's, and the latter of Tier 3, 4, and 5.

Then there were also three shamans, each being in a different barracks. Two Tier 5, and one Tier 6. 

[Agrob - Orc Shaman (Elite) {Follower of Wrug}, Tier 6, Level 41], Eldrian noted that Agrob was not a follower of Kugbu, which might mean that there was a possible power dynamic going on.

[HP: 3493]

[Stamina: 3569]

[Mana: 3138]

'Solid stats, dangerous...'

[Attack: 276 (80)]

[Magic Attack (Average Tier 6 spell) : 1400 (188)]

'Crap, truly dangerous. Assuming the shaman can cast in just a few seconds, it can spell our death. And even in melee, it will put up a good fight.' Eldrian had just about the same damage with Crystoi, allowing him to presume that the Shaman had at least a Tier 5 weapon. 

This in itself was dangerous, as it would also have unique abilities of significant power. It might also allow the shaman to increase its spell casting in some ways. 

Eldrian thanks his lucky stars that he had decided to go all out with the inspection function. Not knowing of them -and specifically of Agrob- could have led to a devastating disaster. 

'Still, while there are a number of strong orcs, the army itself is lacking. Outside of the commanders and their followers,' Eldrian had noted that Agrob had a total of 36 followers, four of whom were orc warriors, 'The orc army isn't that strong.'

Of course, only Eldrian could think like that. To Silver, even the Tier 4 orcs would be hard to defeat. She would likely win, but only in a one versus one and if she approached the fight with a plan. If she didn't act with care, she would not be able to survive, not to mention winning. 

'Well, they are going to regret leaving them with so few elites.' Eldrian naturally wasn't referencing the orc class, but rather people of the chieftain's or shaman's levels. Just 4, they couldn't be everywhere. And they would be the targets of the magic towers should they dare step too close. 

Grinning, Eldrian started feeling hyped. It was like this army was customized just to be at his level, maybe a bit above. But those in the city should offer him some good combat experience while not being too big a risk. 

Naturally, it was actually the other way around, he had finally reached a level of strength where not everyone was stronger than him. 

Upam finally decided to interrupt Eldrian who was deep in concentration. Ceph had already left to go hunting. "Sir Eldrian?" It had taken Upam some time to wrap his head around what Eldrian had said moments before. 

"Ah, apologies, I was just inspecting the situation.", 'Ceph, remember to be careful. There are probably around a hundred or two hundred orcs in total who might be able to stand against you, stat-wise.'

Eldrian added the latter since Ceph with his natural dynamic casting should be able to fight above his belt. Still, he wanted Ceph to be careful and not get cocky. 

"Right, we will start clearing the orcs now. Hold out for a bit longer." Leaving the stunned centaurs and single catkin to their confusion, Eldrian contacted Silver to inform her of the news. 

[{Silver} - Are you serious?]

The reply came a number of seconds later, Silver having needed to retype it a number of times as she simply couldn't accept that this was the new situation. It was supposed to be a tough battle, every inch of ground gained through the cost of blood!

The cannons were supposed to be the central point, not Eldrian!

[{Eldrian} - Yes, the orcs inside the city are all within our ability to handle. They are comparable to Unwilling undead, not too difficult, but still dangerous. Stay with the NPCs and keep the line, actually. Contact Elizabeth and organize another thirteen cannons, three inner and ten outers. Also, outer cannon ammo, and one annihilation.]

Silver hadn't replied even by the time Eldrian had crossed the barricade again. She was stuck reading the message over and over again, it seemed like Eldrian had already concluded how everything would progress going forward. 

'Right, time to get my XP back... And help those trapped!' Eldrian added the latter quickly to his mumbling, the situation had simply turned out so much simpler that his thoughts kept creeping back to that of a player's.

Naturally, the orcs who were alone stood no chance against him. He normally caught them unprepared with a swift beheading. After some time Eldrian got bored of this. Though he persevered to make sure those hiding nearby would be safe. 

'Right, most people should be safe. Time to move to some experimentation.' Next, Eldrian started using different combinations of runes to try and see what was the most effective. 

Nova was certainly a go too, but it used far too much mana and took nearly ten seconds to prep. Eldrian wanted something quick but deadly. 

Time passed quickly, night rolling in as Eldrian sighed in disappointment.  Alas, it seemed that he did not know many effective runes.

Of the books Two had gone through, many mentioned similar runes and combinations. While Eldrian had basically robbed the magic association's entire library of their books on runes, these were all books mostly available to the public. 

Eldrian didn't have any books of masters, those were naturally kept by either the master himself, his descendants, or apprentices. Eldrian had already noticed this before when he had found that he didn't even know half the runes the dwarves were using, back when he was visiting the floating smithy. 

'Mmm, I'm curious. I can mix mageia and runic, what about spell modules too?'

Looking at the three orcs busy grilling something on a fire made from random debris, Eldrian felt it was a good chance to test it. 'Let's see, for now, a Tier 4 amplification rune along with my... Why not try the Tier 5 variant of Frost Needle?'

Unlike all the Tiers before where it was a single target spell, at Tier 5 it became a rain of deadly icicles. It was called Chalázi págou. 

'Mmm, but I've never tried to cast or even envision it.' Pausing, Eldrian recalled the structure of the spell module. A task in itself that was quite momentous. 

AN: Hello everyone, I want to specifically thank everyone who votes for ANW daily.. It is greatly appreciated.