Chapter 56: Charge

Tooooeeeetttthhhh

A continuous roaring sound was echoing in the air at full blast, one that was coming from a horn.

Standing on top of the fort wall, Tristan could see hundreds of figures were gradually showing up from the top of the hill. More and more of them emerged from the back of it, and made a long line as they stood steadily with their round shield brandished on their chests.

When the horn stopped its sound, these hundreds of barbarian began hitting their shields with their weapons. Various kinds of weapons; swords, axes, spears, hammers, and so on banged on the sturdy shield, causing a rhythmic yet intimidating thumping sound.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Tristan could see half of those barbarian were wearing a complete full heavy armor from head to the top. Their helmets had two horns as its ornament, while their lower and upper armor were engraved with a distinct pattern. Their current appearance looked extremely similar to the people who were on the ship that attacked him previously.

While those who wore the armor looked thoroughly equipped, the remaining of them only wore the lower armor, leaving their chest completely open.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

Those barbarian appeared to be waiting as they lined up in rows on the high ground while they kept making the taunting sound.

Looking at those people and the fact that he had no knowledge of them beside their earlier brief conflict made Tristan a little bit anxious. Hence, he planned to be really careful about this.

Before he came, Tristan had ordered all of the people who came together with him to stay and guard his sister, except for Borin, who would be his sidekick today. Thus, the reason for the current sight of them walking towards the group of orcs gathered in the yard.

When the horn was first heard, all the orcs who were hanging outside of the fort immediately went inside and gathered, excluding those who were tasked to repair the ship. Looking at the gathering orcs, Tristan wondered how the orcs would react to the assault.

Unexpectedly, he did not catch the shadow of the orc warchief. Instead, he watched as the familiar female orc stepped forward and beckoned to the orcs. It seemed that with warchief Grahl's absence, the leadership naturally fell upon Karra's shoulders.

At the moment, the red-haired female orc was standing in front of the warrior orcs with her body fully equipped in armor. Coupled with the massive glaive in her hand, Karra's current appearance was truly awe-inspiring as she stood there like a firm tower.

Tristan could clearly see the admiration and reverence the Grunts directed toward Karra from their gazes and gestures.

"Lok Tar!! Kog Zela!!"

Currently, Tristan could see Karra was yelling words that were unfathomable for him energetically. It was apparent that she was trying to increase the orcs' spirit before they went into the battle. Hearing the loud yell, all the orcs began clustering together, while also voicing the yell with even stronger vigor.

These orc warriors were seen shouting, yelling, and walking shoulder-to-shoulder; showing a frightening level of excitement as if there was nothing more important than the incoming battle in front of them.

Much to his surprise, Tristan suddenly saw Karra begin moving to the main gate with a stern gaze and stable steps. Seeing that, he realized what the orcs wanted to do and his face could not help but change because of that.

"What!? They are going for an offence?! They must be crazy!"

Before Karra completely walked out of the gate, Tristan quickly intercepted to stop the female orc.

"Stop!! Are you crazy!? Those people have the higher ground and are fully organized. It's a stupid idea to charge in just like that!!" said Tristan rapidly, scared that the female orc would ignore his words if he did not speak fast enough.

However, instead of listening, Karra glared at Tristan and shouted, "Move, elf!! We don't care! We are not afraid!!"

The two hundred warrior orcs behind her began shouting in response to her shout.

"Chhiiwikkkl!!! Chiwwiklk!!"

Seeing this, Tristan shook his head. Now he could imagine how these orcs were made as the embodiment of big muscles but no brains. Noticing that Karra wanted to move forward, he quickly stopped her again.

"Wait!! Wait!! Karra, please listen to me! You have the advantage to take defense in this fort. There's no need for you to go for the offensive and risk losing your men!"

Hearing that, the female orc unexpectedly stopped in her tracks. It seemed that Tristan's persuasion took effect on her. Unfortunately, the next thing that happened immediately destroyed it.

TOOOEETTHHHH!!

The horn sound echoed through the air one more time, and Tristan could clearly hear the thumping by the barbarian became even more loud.

Then, the orcs became unsettled by the sound; they started grumbling, a few even started to fight with each other without any apparent reason. Seeing the sight, Tristan suddenly thought that this might be exactly what the enemy was after.

It was said that the orcs had been fighting against the barbarians for years. They must have used this tactic to lure the orcs out into the traps that had been prepared.

Tristan could clearly see that even though Karra was considering his words, he knew that the orcs behind her were not going to listen no matter how 'logical' his words were. One of the Orc Champions even began to shout in fury.

Even so, Tristan still tried to not let this group of frenzied orcs go.

"Karra! At least wait until the warchief returns if you want to attack, alright?!"

The last sentence he spoke seemed to convince the red-haired orc, but the same could not be said for the other orcs. All of a sudden, the 200 hundred and more Grunts fell into chaos shouting in full spirit. Tristan turned around and understood the reason why.

Ghral, the warchief, just came out of the forest, riding at the back of some kind of a big wolf right outside the fort and directly charged towards the barbarians. By himself.

Seeing that, the 200 plus Grunts ignored Tristan and Karra, immediately charging out following the warchief. Heck, he was almost trampled to death by the uncontrollable charge.

Tristan could only watch as an army of green-skinned creatures running uphill to charge on the barbarians.