Chapter 123 - Battle in the Moonlight

Battle in the Moonlight

Two moons illuminated the forest. When I looked up, I realized that one was missing. This world had three moons. I wasn’t sure about the exact rotations, as they seemed to increase and decrease. But there were two of them up in the sky now, and they were not too bright. I wonder what time it was? It had been nearly five hours since the sun went down, so it was likely around eleven.

I had finished the last battle council with Virgil, and the orcs had still not attacked us yet. We thought that they must intend to attack us in our sleep, and so we set watchers in place and separated the rest into those who would sleep and those who would stay alert. It was clear now that this would be a night battle, and it would negatively affect us if everyone stayed awake the whole time. By the way, I was part of the guarding team. I’m sure I would get tired in the morning, but I could sleep once we had defeated the orcs. Of course, if that didn’t happen, it would be an eternal sleep for me. In other words, I would be fighting for the ability to sleep comfortably.

One hour passed since I was put on guard duty. It was now midnight. I was walking in the trench made on top of the earthen walls. So far, there was nothing to see.

I had asked Daniela to make it so we could walk here. It allowed you to see outside and use your bow. It would have been easy, had it been done in the beginning, but no one had thought of it then. The wall was just seen as a line of protection. So I asked Daniela to make this walkway all around the walls and then gave her a potion from my belt as a reward.

“Ah, but this is the one that I bought.”

“Well, uh, enjoy it.”

“…”

It was a refreshing way to replenish your reserve of magic. Kind of like those drinks that are a measure against hangovers. Daniela downed the bottle and then returned to the girls’ tent in an annoyed mood. She was part of the team that would be resting.

There were several other Adventurers who were patrolling the dirt walls. I saw Gardo among them and stared at him for a moment. Something was wrong. He was looking at a single point in the distance and keeping still.

“Gardo, what is it?”

“…There. Those bushes. Something is there.”

“Really? Wait a second.”

I used my Night Eyes skill in the direction that Gardo nodded in. As I stare into the darkness, my vision starts to become clearer. Beyond the bushes. There was…

“Gardo, it’s orcs!”

“I knew it!”

After this confirmation, Gardo sucked in deeply and then roared so that the entire camp could hear him.

“Orcs!!”

At this, Adventurers, who had been sleeping, came rolling out of their tents. And those who were on guard unsheathed their swords or readied their bows.

Of course, the orcs would have heard this alarm. The ones who had been peering over the bushes pulled back immediately. And then several arrows flew out from the dark. I frantically ducked behind the wall to avoid them.

“We could have taken them by surprise.”

Gardo scratched awkwardly at his chin after realizing his mistake.

“That might have worked, but we don’t know how many of them there are. What if we ambushed them, only to be surrounded?”

“That’s true. So, Asagi. What’s the plan now?”

“We’ll attack them from above the wall. Thin their numbers down.”

“Understood!”

Well, that was really the job of the bowmen. As part of the team that would fight with swords, our turn would come later. I jumped down from the wall just as the archers began to loose their arrows. I could hear the cries of the orcs from outside. It seemed to be going smoothly for now, and so I left them there and headed towards Virgil.

Virgil was holding two swords in his hands and barking out orders. I guess he was a dual-wielder. Virgil noticed me and walked forward.

“It has started then.”

“Yeah. The archers are doing their job for now. How’s the entrance?”

“Aye, I wonder where they could have been watching us from. But they have come to tear it down.”

The two of us walked to the entrance and climbed the wall in order to look down. There were several orcs below, and they were using something like sledgehammers. The wall shook with every loud hit, but it was too durable to break from that. But the wood that was hit exploded into shards in the air.

I looked at this and grinned.

“If they only knew what hell lies after this wooden barrier.”

“Indeed… Well, there is no need to wait.”

Virgil sheathed his left sword and lined his forefinger and middle finger together. With that, he made a slashing motion that started at his right shoulder and ended on his left side. It was as if he were cutting an enemy in front of him. And at the same time, he said the name of the spell.

“Aero Slicer!”

A light green-colored wind tore through the air when his voice rang. It flew straight towards an orc’s arms, severing them both completely as if it were nothing.

“GGGHRAAGGGH!!”

An expression of anger covered the orc’s face as it writhed on the ground, attempting to use its non-existent arms to stop the bleeding. It’s blue blood sprayed as it howled. Yet, it’s comrades ignored him, as they continued to run towards the wooden wall with their hammers.

“Wind magic? You can dual wield swords and also use magic. Impressive.”

“Hmm? Sarcasm, is it?”

“Never. I’m honestly impressed.”

I said. But Virgil’s mouth twisted and he snorted. I was just admiring his skill…

“Well, we might just make it if things continue like this. Perhaps they were just orcs after all…”

“You shouldn’t let your guard down. These orcs are just fodder. Their seeing how we react to them.”

“And yet our archers are making quick work of them. Replant’s Adventurers are brilliant. An orc will die for every arrow we have.”

Virgil said as we watched the orcs moving in with their hammers. Indeed, there were dead orcs with arrows in them lying all over the place. In one shot. The deadly arrows caught their targets in the forehead. These were no ordinary archers…

“Those were done by the leader of the archery team, ‘Surefire.’ He never misses his target.”

“And that’s why he’s called ‘Surefire,’ huh… It’s a simple alias, but to the point.”

“I doubt that there are many archers that can beat him. See there. That’s Surefire Failnaught.”

Virgil was pointing at a middle-aged man who carried a simple bow. The bow was in his left hand, and with his right hand, he would nock, pull and release. But there were four arrows in his right hand. Apparently, he was capable of shooting four arrows at once. And they all found their targets. It was an inhuman feat.

With one shot, he could kill four orcs. With someone like that, I could believe that an orc would die for every arrow.

“That’s almost horrifying…”

“Aye. It makes you wonder just how much time he spent honing his craft… Hmm?”

As we talked, I heard the sound of wood breaking. The orcs had destroyed one of the logs that I had carried.

“Alright. It is almost Daniela’s turn.”

“I’ll call her.”

I said as I jumped off of the wall. I activated Legs of the Forest Wolf right before landing, in order to soften the impact. Then I headed to where Daniela was. She was giving out orders to the users of earth magic, who had taken their positions. This was so they could strengthen the walls by regularly pouring magic into it. Daniela could also use earth magic and would find any vulnerable spots quickly. I asked her if they didn’t need her here, but she said it wasn’t a problem.

“They should be able to do it just fine if they can use earth magic. It is a basic thing.”

She said lightly. But it was likely wisdom of the old. While she may have been overselling how capable they were, it seemed like it would be fine to take her away for now. We wanted to use her as part of the plan for the front entrance.

“Daniela, it’s almost time.”

“Understood. Girls, I leave the rest to you!”

“Yes! Miss Daniela!”

Hmm, an almost cheerful reply. And yet, there appeared to be murderous glances towards me that told a different story. It was honestly frightening. Well, let sleeping dogs lie, as they say. I better get out of here. Daniela and I rushed to the entrance. When we reached the top of the wall, Virgil looked at us and nodded.

“There you are. We are counting on you, Daniela.”

“Aye, this is nothing.”

Daniela looked down at the orcs. I looked down too and saw that another log had been broken. They would be going over them and advancing soon. Of course, they would be advancing into an abyss.

“GRAGHAA!!”

There was an orc in leather armor who was barking out orders as he pointed his club towards the entrance. Then the orcs with the hammers pulled back as numerous orcs started to rush out from the forest. These were naked and wielded clubs.

“They are really coming now! Daniela!”

“Leave it to me!”

Daniela put both of her hands on the earthen wall, the magic ran through. The orcs who vaulted over the logs…did not land on the ground. Instead, they descended into a deep hole that appeared under them

I had thought of this myself. I call it the ‘Oh, you thought you were going to attack? Sorry, here’s an abyss!’ plan.

Daniela would create a deep hole with her earth magic and orcs would fall into it. As most of her effort had gone into depth, the hole itself was not very wide, but the moonlight was dark enough to hide it. This plan would have likely failed if all three moons had shone in the sky tonight.

“Asagi, it worked! We can do this. We can!”

“Didn’t I say so?”

I said smugly as Virgil became excited. Daniela had used a lot of magic and looked tired. But she quickly emptied a potion bottle that she pulled out. Oh? I didn’t think we had any more.

“Hmm? Ah, the girls shared there’s with me. They insisted on it when I told them of my part in the plan.”

“I see… They sure are nice to you.”

“To me, yes.”

Even Daniela had noticed that these magical girls had it out for me. I didn’t hate girl on girl developments, but these girls seemed violent. They would probably knife me one day.

As we stood there, more and more orcs disappeared into the dark hole. As they had to vault over the logs, the other orcs could not see what was happening. And so they did not realize that they were falling into a hole. Besides, there was not too much of a difference between a death cry and a battle cry.

In other words, until the hole was full or was exposed, it was an automatic orc disposer. Whoever thought of this was quite shrewd indeed. But who could it be? Genius, no?

We were in a good mood about this plan’s success, and so we called other Adventurers to watch over the hole as we moved away. This was we could check the other places and give out orders. Virgil went to the main tent. Daniela returned to the magicians. I went to the raid unit. From here, we would move outside of the wall and attack the enemy. With the automatic disposer at the entrance and the rain of arrows, our swords were the perfect thing to speed this process up. The only problem was how these orcs, who were controlled by an abnormally evolved being, would move. And how much they would move. It was going well now, but things were only getting started.