Chapter 175 - Day DXV, Part IV

- They are coming, prepare! - shouted Hatta.

Everybody mobilized. Weapons and shields were pulled out. We were not ready, but still, had to fight.

Then I saw something strange. Orange lights shooting up, judging by distance probably from the forest, and flying very high into the sky.

- What the hell is that? - asked Boris, pointing at them.

- I don't know - I replied. - But I guess we will find out soon.

The light arched through the air and came falling down. Those were fireballs, that just rained from the sky, exploding on the roofs. Fortunately, far away from us. The noise shook the ground, and people instinctually ducked down.

- What the fuck was that?! - asked Will.

- That's magic - said Midnight. - Fire magic. I can do the same... Well, at least one or two.

- They have fire mages, prepare! - Yelled Blue.

Then a battle cries from far away reached our ears. Large numbers of enemies were coming at us. They were still far away though.

- They are coming from the goblin territory! - Shouted Hatta.

- I'll go and check if we are not being flanked - I replied, and then used shadow walk, to climb the closes building.

From there I jumped to the next one, and next one, and then shadow walked again to climb the highest one in the vicinity. Only then I was able to see the hordes of orcs, charging our way. There were hundreds of them, maybe thousands.

I spend a moment observing their forces, focusing on breathing to replenish my lost Ki.

The first part of the army was made of the regular ones I already fought multiple times, but the next wasn't. I saw heavily armored, bigger, and bulkier types. Behind them were another kind. Red-skinned, almost completely naked ones, armed with axes. And the fourth type seemed to be mages. Wearing long robes made of leather, with hoods and quarterstaffs decorated with bones and skulls.

Some of that I learned about later, upon seeing them closer.

There were no enemies on any of the other sides. It seemed like only the greenskins came to attack us.

I quickly made my way down.

- It's just orcs. A lot of them. Far more than we fought in the canyon. Different types.

- Can we deal with them? - asked Hatta.

- Maybe. If we play it smart...

- You've been fighting with them for the longest - Blue pointed out. - What do you think we should do?

- Don't let them surround us. They will eventually get inside those buildings  - I pointed at barracks - and get to the wounded. We need to keep them coming from one direction, which means we should distract part of their forces. I'll flank them and do my best to keep busy as many as possible.

- I'll help you. I can fight while surrounded. They won't kill me easily - said Blue.

- What about blood, didn't you lose much fighting with Williams, and now with the werewolf boss?

- I already took care of that.

- We will flank them from the other side - said Will. - Nobuo, Boris... Juan?

- I'm in.

- My men can help you - proposed Blue.

- We need them here - said Hatta.

- Ok. Since everybody more or less knows what to do... Let's go - I said.

- Peter, what's going on? I heard explosions... - asked Nadia.

I failed to notice her, as I was busy with the conversation.

- Go back to the barracks. It's not safe yet.

- I can help.

- Go to the barracks, please!

She nodded and hesitated for a moment, but did go eventually. I didn't move until she disappeared behind the door. Then I rushed to buy a proper weapon in the device. The others organized themselves. Hatta gave out orders to his men. They brought Amit, as we needed the strongest warriors here. He switched with two regular Wuxia soldiers.

Another bunch of fireballs rained from the sky. This time way closer though. We needed to move, and distract them before they could set us on fire.

- You ready? - I asked Blue.

He nodded and started transforming. Will was already on his way to flank the orc forces. I saw them rushing to the alley, to go around.

I used shadow walk to get on top of a building. Blue followed, climbing his way up. Then we went from roof to roof, trying to cover as much distance as possible, to engage with the orc horde before they got too close to the rest of the defenders. We had to keep a bit of distance, to not get spotted too soon.

They were only a few minutes away from us, half marching, half running towards the city center. We had to strike them past the initial lines, to split their forces, so a bunch would hopefully go further, to engage with Hatta. I was actually scared we might make them split and spread through the whole city. A situation like that could be dangerous.

After a solid moment of running, the first ones passed by us. We were few buildings away from them, so they couldn't spot us.

- I'll engage and do my best to cut a part of them from the mine forces, so Hatta won't be swarmed. I'll probably go very deep, but you shouldn't. Make sure they won't spread. Keep them intact. Kill as many as possible. If it gets too hard, run.

Blue growled at me. I took that as a yes, and jumped down to the alley. Echo of hundreds of footsteps sounded like thunder down there. I couldn't see them, as the path was not exactly straight, but they also couldn't see me.

I needed a few breaths to calm myself down before the battle. I was nervous, very nervous, as stakes were higher than ever. I knew the regular orcs, but not those different kinds. There was also the boss. Who knew if we even had enough in us to take him down.

I mumbled a quick prier to the universe and started running towards them. I burst out of the alley at surprised greenskins, shadow walked in the middle of their ranks, activated both shadow fusion, and reinforced myself, and my weapon, with ki. Then summoned all sixteen shadows and started wreaking havoc around.

Blue joined, leaping down from the roof.