CH 130

Commanded Orcs

***---***

I returned to Volzard in a hurry and was surrounded by a tense atmosphere.

The Orcs, who were thought to fall asleep when their bellies were full, weren't sleeping and were crowded together.

There were many with club-like things, and there were also ones with large stones, so they may be more intelligent than Goblins.

All the Orcs' eyes seemed to be directed towards the ramparts of Volzard in front of them, but they seemed to be sitting still and not moving.

On the other hand, from the top of the ramparts, the Orcs could be seen through the trees, and the adventurers who felt their gazes, turned their eyes to the Orcs, as if they were glaring at each other.

Among them were Donovan-san and Marianne-san, who seemed ready to give orders at any time.

The combined number of garrison members and adventurers supposedly exceeds 1,000, but the number of Orcs lurking in the forest is believed to exceed 10,000.

Since they were staring at each other without raising their voices, the sense of urgency surrounding them seemed to weigh on their shoulders.

I put out a shield of darkness behind Donovan-san and called out to him.

"Donovan-san, what's going on here?"

"Kent, I don't know, this is the first time I've seen this situation."

"I just took a quick look, but the Orcs are staring at Volzard in a tightly packed state."

"If that's the case, then there must be a superior species lurking somewhere."

"A superior species, is it? We took out the magic stones from the Orcs we defeated to stop the horde."

"No, they were probably under the control of a superior species before coming here."

"But, is it something that can control them like this?"

"I would say it can't be done, but it's happening in reality, so I guess it's possible."

My image of monsters was that they were savage creatures that acted according to their instincts and ate their companions if they were hungry.

"Those guys, what are they thinking?"

"Hmm? The Orcs?"

"Yes, are they waiting with some purpose? That's right."

"Wait, then ... Damn, aren't they just waiting until night comes ... Kent, come with me."

"Ye ... s ..."

No, no, if you grab me by the collar and drag me, I have no choice but to go with you.

Donovan-san went to where Marianne-san was.

"Marianne-san, are they waiting for night?"

"Night ... I see, the possibility is high."

Marianne-san, who folded her arms, returned her gaze to the Devil's Forest and nodded with a stern expression.

Most of the monsters have night-vision, so when the sun goes down, even if you prepare a lot of bonfires, the humans would be at a disadvantage.

"If they rush in all at once after dark, it's going to be a pretty tough situation."

"But, if we make a move, and the other side doesn't do anything ..."

"On this side, we have this guy ..."

No, no, if you're going to use me as a trump card, don't use that Plan, that Plan is ...

"Umm ... what should I do ..."

"I don't care what you do, just make them move, I just want to avoid a night attack. If we don't kill as many as we can during the day, we won't be able to withstand that many during a night attack."

"Then, is it fine if their leadership is disturbed?"

"That's right, can you do it?"

"Yes, I think it's possible."

"Then, Marianne-san, prepare to intercept ..."

"Understood ... Everyone prepare to intercept!"

Marianne-san nodded and quickly raised her right hand, and tension ran through the garrison.

The magicians began chanting, the archers readied their arrows, and the spearmen readied themselves.

"**, Kent."

"Yes ..."

Donovan-san strode back to his post, still holding me by the collar, and raised his voice.

"Everyone get ready! Defend the ramparts to the death! OK, do it Kent!"

"Yes, Nero, you can come and play as much as you want."

"Okay, nya, I'm coming, nya."

When I put out a large shield of darkness on the wall, Nero landed smoothly without a sound, and immediately started running.

"Whoa, what is that!"

"Isn't it a Storm Cat?"

"That has to be an ally, we can't deal with that kind of enemy."

The adventurers who lined up on the ramparts raised their voices in shock, but the Orcs panicked even more.

"Buhiiiiii!"

"Buhii, buhiiiii ..."

They squealed and tried to escape, but the dense formation became their enemy and there was nowhere to escape.

"Nya!"

When Nero swiped with his front leg, about three Orcs were slashed apart along with the trees they were trying to use as shields, and flew into the air as pieces of flesh.

"Reinhardt, let Zae-tachi rush in. Fortify the surroundings with the Kobold Squad so they don't escape."

[ Understood. ]

Zae and the others emerged from the shadows of the ramparts and pursued Nero in a way that widened the hole that was created when Nero plunged in, causing further confusion among the Orcs.

Nero and Zae-tachi were overwhelming, and I wondered if it would be an easy victory ...

"Buumoooooo!"

"Bumooooo! Bumooooo!"

At that moment I heard an Orc's roar from far behind, it was repeated like an echo and spread throughout the horde, and logs and large stones flew from the forest.

"Everyone, hide behind the battlements!"

Without even waiting for Donovan-san's instructions, the people who had gathered on the ramparts hid behind the battlements, where rocks and pieces of wood hit them with a bang and debris rained down.

"Gua ..."

"Idiot, don't raise your head! Get down."

There were quite a few people who crouched after being hit by stones, but it was difficult to go and help them when the stones were falling incessantly.

"Nero, come back!"

"Nya, it hurts to get hit with a 'bachi bachi', nya ..."

The damage itself was at the level of being painful, but Nero, who makes a large target, is unsuited for throwing stone attacks, so I had it come back.

"Reinhardt, let Zae-tachi go wild inside the horde. Change the Kobold Squad to encircle them from the shadows."

[ Understood, Kent-sama, I will also go on a rampage. ]

"Fred, find the superior species and defeat them."

[ Roger ... Leave it to me ... ]

The Orcs threw stones horizontally for the ones at the front of the horde, and at an angle for those behind them.

They're many times stronger than a human, so throwing stones is like cannonballs.

As expected of Donovan-san, he is also hiding behind the parapet to protect himself from the stones.

"Damn, there are plenty of stones lying around in the forest ..."

They shoot with bows and arrows and magic while hiding behind the parapet from here, but they can't aim well, and I feel like they're outnumbered.

Occasionally, I think that Marianne-san is the one who shoots a large fireball, but it feels like it has little effect.

[ Kent-sama, I defeated some of the superior species ... but the situation doesn't change ... ]

"What do you mean? A new superior species has been born?"

[ Perhaps, the order has already been given ... they won't stop until it's accomplished ... ]

"Does that mean they won't stop until Volzard falls?"

[ Perhaps ... ]

When it was Goblins, if we aimed at the superior species and defeated them, the underlings would be confused and easily defeated, but it seemed that wasn't the case this time.

"What's wrong, Kent?"

"Yes, Fred defeated the superior species of Orcs, but the situation doesn't seem to change."

"Damn, you mean the orders have already spread?"

"Perhaps, I wonder if it's like that ..."

It seemed that Zae and the others were also fighting hard in the horde, but they seemed to be outnumbered, and the Orcs slowly left the forest and approached.

"Damn, if they would just stop throwing stones ..."

Donovan-san seemed to have killed Orcs by throwing hand spears, but in return it seemed he was hit by a stone, and his forehead was bleeding.

At that rate, it was only a matter of time before they reach the ramparts.

Members of the garrison wearing metal armor carried shields and attacked with magic, but it seemed that there were many people who fell down after receiving a direct hit from a stone.

The stones are too big for me to hold with one hand, so the impact when they hit is considerable.

When I was wondering if there was a better way, I saw an adventurer picking up the thrown stones and throwing them back.

"I see, an eye for an eye, a stone for a stone ..."

"What's wrong, Kent, did you come up with something?"

"Yes, I need to prepare a little, so please let me leave for a while."

"Please hurry up."

"Fred, come with me."

[ Roger ... ]

I dove into the shadows with Fred and headed to the dungeon.

[ Kent-sama, what are you going to do in the dungeon ...? ]

"I have business with the rocky mountain above it, not the dungeon itself."

By the way, I should tell them about the maximum outbreak.

Rodrigo-san was at the entrance to the dungeon today as well.

"Hello, Rodrigo-san."

"Hey, Kent, is it, what do you want today?"

"Yes, a large horde of Orcs from the Devil's Forest are rushing to Volzard, so please be on your guard as well."

"What, how big is the horde?"

"Probably over 10,000 ..."

"You idiot, what are they going to do without an A-rank like you at a time like this!"

"No, I'm here to pick up something to repel the Orcs."

"Something to repel the Orcs, but what is it?"

"Yes, it's this."

I pointed at the rocky mountain to Rodrigo-san, who had a strange look on his face.

"The mountain, what do you need with that?"

"I think I'll cut out a bit ..."

"Huh? Cut out the mountain?"

"Yes, I'm in a bit of a hurry, so I'll talk about the details next time. Well, Fred, please."

[ Roger. ]

I asked Fred to cut the rocks.

They don't have to be pretty, but they need to be too big for me to hold.

I had several chunks of rock that weighed about 100 kilograms cut out and put them away in the shadow space.

[ Kent-sama ... how will you use those ...? ]

"Well, just enjoy watching ... Fred, let's go back to Volzard."

[ Roger ... ]

When we returned to Volzard, the Orcs had reached the bottom of the ramparts and were beginning to climb up.

As if to support them, the ones in the Devil's Forest continued to throw stones at us.

"Reinhardt, have Zae-tachi come back!"

[ Understood, Kent-sama. You have a plan. ]

"Yeah, just wait a minute."

I put out a shield of darkness under a rock placed in the shadow space and connected it to the outside space.

Shadow movement was a magic that allowed me to move within my sight range and to places I had been to in the past.

The shield of darkness' performance was similar to shadow movement, and it could be deployed freely within the range I could see.

This time, the location where I placed the shield of darkness was about 1,000 meters above the Devil's Forest where the horde of Orcs were staying.

If we lose by throwing stones, I will drop them on their heads.

One shot wouldn't be enough, so I made a stock of about 100 shots.

The rock that came out of the shield of darkness started to fall, but it didn't go down easily.

More than ten seconds after it started falling, the rock finally reached the ground.

It was slightly blown away by the wind, and the falling point was around the exit of the Devil's Forest.

Gushiya, zun!

There was a heavy rumbling of the ground, and the rock that had crushed one orc was just sunken into the ground.

Hey, what's with thaaaat! I expected a flashy explosion, it's not filled with gunpowder like a bomb, but the ground isn't hardened with concrete or asphalt, but on the contrary, the ground was soft with humus, so it only sunk into the ground.

"Hmm ... not good enough ... Reinhardt, I'm sorry, but could you please break this rock?"

[ An easy task, how big do you need? ]

"Bigger than your fist, trying putting it there."

[ Is it something like this? ]

This time, I tried scattering the stones that Reinhardt cut for me from a height of about 500 meters, aiming a little deeper into the forest so they wouldn't fall onto the ramparts.

Zudadadada ... Bakibaki ...

"Buhiiiiii..."

There was a sound of crumbling trees, Orc squeals, and the stone-throwing from that area stopped, but the stone-throwing as a whole continued.

The attack seemed to be effective enough, but the range seemed to be too narrow.

"Should I expand the range a little more? Reinhardt, try cutting about three this time."

[ An easy task. ]

This time, I tried increasing the amount of stones by three times and the range by six times.

Bakibakibakibaki ...

There was an even louder sound than before, torn leaves fluttered in the air, and stone-throwing stopped in a wide area.

"Yeah, I wonder if it's okay like this, then, let's try it a few more times."

[ Understood. ]

Since I was peeking out of the shadows of the ramparts, I couldn't see what was going on in the area where I attacked, but if the stone-throwing stopped, there shouldn't be any problems.

After about 20 free-fall operations were performed while shifting the location, the Orcs almost all stopped throwing stones.

In exchange for that, I could smell a thick smell of blood.

[ Kent-sama, the area where the stones were dropped ... Almost completely destroyed ... ]

"Then, Reinhardt, could you give instructions to everyone and start annihilating the remaining Orcs and collecting the magic stones?"

[ Understood, let's clean up quickly. ]

Because the stone-throwing continued for a long time, many injured people were moaning on top of the ramparts.

Once I report to Donovan-san, I'll participate in relief.

"Donovan-san, I'm having Reinahrdt and the others take care of the remnants."

"Oh, I see ... But, to rain stones from the sky ... Even the Orcs got into a fight with the wrong person."

"Eh ... Uwaa, gross ..."

I looked in the direction Donovan-san pointed to with his chin, and I could see the Orcs that had taken my hits.

There was one that got hit and had its head completely crushed, another one that got hit in its shoulder seemed like it had half its body crushed, not just its arm.

The stones weighing more than 5 kilograms were falling down at a tremendous speed, so it accumulated.

I thought it was fire attribute for attack power, but no, no, why is the dark attribute so brutal.

"Kent-san, thank you for your hard work. You did a wonderful job again this time. As expected of my son-in-law."

"Yes, I was wondering what would happen for a while, but I'm glad it was cleared up quickly ... Ah, Lastock."

"What's wrong, what's wrong with Lastock?"

"Yes, this time's maximum outbreak was also heading to Lastock at the same time."

"Kent-san, Volzard is fine now. Hurry up and help everyone in Lastock."

"Yes, I'll go there for a while."

I dived into the shadows, gave orders to Fred and the others, and then headed for Lastock.

"Fred, please command ten Kobolds and hunt down the remnants. Everyone else, head to Lastock!"

[ Roger ... Leave it to me ... ]

[ Let's go, Kent-sama. ]

"Understood, My King."

"Goshujin-sama, Nero will go too, nya."

When I arrived at Lastock, the evacuation of the residents seemed to be over, but the fortified garrison was exposed to the rain of stone-throwing.

The Orcs threw stones from the opposite bank of the river to support the others, while they crossed the river.

The Lastock garrison was surrounded by a water moat along with a ramparts, which was shaped like a river sandbank.

Because the ramparts drew a smooth curved surface and warped upwards, the Orcs were unable to climb up even if they reached the bottom of the wall.

Nevertheless, some Orcs were swinging their fists and claws to break down the walls, and there was a risk that it might fall if things continued as they were.

"I will deal with the Orcs who are throwing stones in the same way as before, so when I give the signal, can Zae-tachi clean up the Orcs in the water?"

"Understood, My King."

I asked Reinhardt to prepare ammo again, and dropped them from high in the sky on top of the Orcs who were repeatedly throwing stones.

Dogagagagagagaga ...

A terrible sound resonated only from the stone riverbank, but the catastrophe of the attack was even more terrible.

A stone that was eaten in the brain penetrated the Orc's body vertically and reached into the ground.

Cold sweat flowed, witnessing the power of the attack that I didn't see at Volzard.

Some Orcs had dodged the density of bullets and escaped being hit by expanding the range of attacks, but they saw their companions around them transformed into pieces of meat, and stopped moving.

"What is that attack!"

"Where is that attack coming from?"

"Above! The black shadow!"

"It's like a rain of death ..."

Above the walls of the fort was Camilla in shiny gold armor, protected by knights' shields.

"The stone-throwing has decreased, now attack the Orcs below!"

The soldiers guarding the fort regained their vitality as the amount of stones thrown visibly decreased.

Until then, the Orcs had been gaining momentum, but as the number of thrown stones decreased and the attacks from the fort increased, they began to reverse it.

"Okay, everyone in the Kobold Squad drive the Orcs to the riverbank, Zae-tachi annihilate the ones in the river, and Nero will crush the ones that run away to the outside."

As Zae and the others rushed out, the river turned red with Orc blood.

[ Kent-sama, Volzard is complete ... I will collect the magic stones there ... ]

"Please, Fred. Reinhardt, let's go to Camilla."

[ Understood. ]

At the fort where the stone-throwing had stopped, the knights began to slaughter the Orcs with high spirits.