Chapter 5: The Key Figures on Both Sides

Chapter 5: The Key Figures on Both Sides

Looking at the sleeping Airael, Arthur threw himself back into his work.

To avoid disturbing Airael’s sleep, he minimized his movements significantly.

Overall, it was a rather quiet night.

Not just in this tent, but the entire Malong Fortress and its surroundings were unusually quiet, too quiet, in fact.

However, that was quite normal because a storm was brewing, making this the calm before the storm. Everyone was trying to make the most of this tranquil moment.

Perhaps soon, many would no longer have the opportunity to enjoy it.

In the human encampment, many soldiers were filled with fear about the impending war.

Especially those who had been pushed back, despite their courageous return, the fear in their hearts wasn’t easily shaken off.

The quiet night soon passed, and daylight quickly arrived the next morning.

As the first light of dawn broke, the human camp began to buzz with activity.

The cooks prepared breakfast for the soldiers using the large pots in the camp.

Today’s breakfast was just as lavish as last night’s dinner, aimed at ensuring the soldiers had enough energy to fight well.

By the time the soldiers finished breakfast, lining up neatly before Malong Fortress, the sun was already high in the sky.

On the city walls of Malong Fortress, the Beast King looked down upon the throngs of human troops outside, feeling quite heavy-hearted.

It seemed humans truly intended to go all out against the orcs.

This greatly exceeded the Beast King’s initial expectations.

At first, he thought the humans wouldn’t mobilize such forces just to deal with the orcs.

Because it wasn’t worth it; the gains from such a move far outweighed the potential rewards.

Moreover, even though the orcs had been raiding southward yearly, they had always been active in the north and never excessively ventured south.

However, the Beast King clearly overlooked one point: hatred accumulates.

Additionally, humans can’t always maintain rational thought at all times.

Everyone has moments of heated emotions leading to “stupid” decisions.

Besides, for the orcs, striking back at this moment wasn’t as simple as revenge.

It represented much longer-term strategic planning.

Thus, the so-called rewards were not as simple as the Beast King imagined.

For humanity, if they won, the rewards would surpass their sacrifices.

Next to the Beast King, Mork also watched the human army below.

Seeing the sheer number of human troops filled Mork with emotion.

Humans truly were a race he envied greatly.

Once, they were quite weak, but now, they stood strong.

Factors like a large population, expansive territory, and abundant resources had combined to forge the power of humans in this era.

Not long ago, the Machia Kingdom had suffered a heavy defeat, and here they were again gathering an army, even larger than before.

This was something impossible for the elves to achieve.

However, he was fortunate to have an orc ally at this moment. Though orcs were collectively not as strong as humans, they still had their advantages.

For instance, population and brute strength!

Combined with their Dark Elves, this battle was far from unwinnable.

At the forefront of the human line, Airael stood with Arthur and several higher-ups, all on horseback.

At this point, she was no longer merely “the woman by Arthur’s side,” for her actions at Mils Fortress had already gained wide recognition.

In other words, she was now a hero of the Machia Republic.

This was the treatment she deserved.

“Lord Andrew, do you think we should have the mages attack first or let our siege engines take the lead?”

After the army formed its ranks, Komit turned to Andrew and asked.

“Let the siege engines attack first! The battle is just beginning; it would be better for the mages to conserve their magic power for now.”

After a moment’s thought, Andrew responded.

Finishing his words, his gaze sharpened on the city walls.

There, he saw two figures.

One was Mork, the other was, of course, the Beast King.

Although the Beast King was also significant, at this moment, Andrew’s focus was solely on Mork.

He and Mork were the main players in the current opposing factions.

Feeling Andrew’s gaze, Mork looked back at him.

A relaxed smile appeared on Mork’s face while watching Andrew.

Though the old guy was strong, defeating him wouldn’t be so easy.

The Beast King caught the relaxed smile on Mork’s lips, and he felt somewhat more at ease.

So what if humanity was powerful? They had their own means of resistance, and besides, they had the Dark Elves as allies.

After receiving Andrew’s advice, Komit passed on his orders.

The heavy weapons among the human troops suddenly sprang to life.

Heavy catapults and long-range crossbows aimed at the city walls began their onslaught.

“Fire!”

With a command, boulders and massive bolts rained down like a torrential storm upon Malong Fortress.

The orc soldiers on the city walls and the reserve troops below rushed to find cover.

The Dark Elves were no exception.

Though they could use magic to conjure barriers against the attacks, applying their magic in this way was clearly not cost-effective.

As long as they found reliable cover, the killing efficiency of the boulders and bolts was not particularly high.

Their greatest impact lay in striking fear into the defenders’ morale.

The feeling of being unable to fight back and only endure the bombardment was certainly stifling.

The Beast King felt this pressure acutely.

All along, the orcs had suffered tremendously in this aspect.

After the barrage of ranged attacks, Komit began to send soldiers closer to the city walls.

The soldiers pushed towering siege engines closer to the equally tall walls of Malong Fortress.

“Stop them! Block them!”

Seeing this, the Beast King instantly bellowed his orders.

The orcs on the walls sprang into action, operating the fortifications to target the siege engines approaching from the humans.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these defensive weapons was somewhat lacking.

Not only were their impacts disappointing, but their accuracy was also poor.

Many of the boulders fired from the catapults missed their targets completely.

“Your Majesty, I think we should let our men take over,” Mork suggested.

The Beast King had no objections.

As the Dark Elves took over the orc gunners, the accuracy of the catapults dramatically improved.

However, in that brief moment, the humans’ siege engines had already advanced to a dangerously close distance.