Chapter 588

Chapter 588: Instinct and Knowledge (Part Two)

As dawn approached, Tiefan City finally began to settle down. In this battle, the 200,000-man vanguard of the Beastmen swept through the Blackrock army like a violent storm, clearing out all resistance within the border.

Half a month later, they turned north again, entering the territory of the Blackrock Duchy and beginning to capture one enemy town after another, constantly advancing towards the central city of Blackrock, Yan Smoke City.

Inside Yan Smoke City, within the fortress castle, there was a luxurious room.

Around the room were neatly arranged human-shaped armors, and on the walls hung huge deer antlers. A man dressed in black armor paced back and forth on the soft fur carpet.

“Worthless!”

“Five hundred thousand men! They were gone in just two weeks. Even slaughtering pigs wouldn’t be so fast, would it?”

“Can’t fight, can’t even run?”

“Sir, nearly four hundred thousand were hastily recruited. We still have many elites stationed domestically,” explained a nervous aide beside him, carefully observing this angry warlord.

“Domestic? Hmph, now it’s better. After barely suppressing the voices of the Hunting Bow faction, such a great defeat will likely cause their confidence to surge again, and then they’ll come back with a vengeance.”

“What do we do? Do we have to ally with that group of monkeys from the Hunting Bow faction?”

The warlord slammed his hand on the table with a loud crack, causing several cracks to appear.

“Perhaps we can seek help from the mages of Rourna? It was them who incited us to attack Clancia. With the current battle raging, I’m sure they won’t stand idly by.”

With a heavy breath, he suppressed his displeasure and raised his hand.

“You contact them. Oh, and call the others too; I can’t afford to lose face alone.”

“Yes, Lord Chet.”

The chief aide slowly left the room and went to contact the other warlords in Yan Smoke City.

—

After defeating the Blackrock army, the Beastman reinforcements from the ancient Gufia grasslands began to enter the Blackrock territory, countering the enemy forces.

This massive reinforcement force, although only the first 200,000 had relatively complete equipment, the remaining 600,000 only had ordinary weapons. Yet, even with these limitations, their vast numbers and robust physiques still overwhelmed the Blackrock forces.

After the failure in Clancia, the Blackrock internal Long Halberd faction now only had 200,000 defenders, nearly 100,000 of whom were hastily recruited. Only about 100,000 were the warlords’ personal guards and elite troops.

As the Beastman combat units advanced, capturing cities along the way, the Blackrock forces continued to retreat, eventually retreating almost entirely to Yan Smoke City.

The tide of the war dramatically turned. Now, they too had to defend the city against the enemy’s onslaught.

Outside Yan Smoke City, gray and white tents were set up. Unlike the neat and orderly tents of the Clancia army, the Beastmen were much more free and varied in their tents—sizes and colors differed, some brought from the grasslands, some confiscated from enemies, and some supplied by Clancia.

In the central large tent, several Beastman leaders and Clancia officers were discussing the siege strategy.

“This fortress city is easy to defend but hard to attack,” remarked an officer after much deliberation.

“Perhaps we need a lot of explosives?”

A certain alchemist suggested, saying that the enemy was the best teacher. The scene of Tiefan City being breached was something many of them still remembered, and it could be used now.

“But it would take a week to make and transport a large amount of explosives from Nide County,” said Leiton, the Beastman leader.

This Beastman, known as the ‘Disciple of the Sage,’ was among the most popular geniuses in the new generation of Beastmen, second only to the Flame Priest Nia.

Although Lolan Hill had only taught him for less than two months, this connection gave him a significant advantage over others, especially after the ancient Gufia grasslands were annexed by Clancia.

“We can’t wait any longer; the opportunity is fleeting,” said a tall and powerful Beastman, placing his hands on the map in the center of the table. His palms were unusually large, and his upper body was exposed.

The figure was striped with red and black, resembling a fierce tiger, with clearly defined muscles and veins like pythons.

“Lord Fierce Fang, what do you have in mind?” The shaman beside him looked at this tiger-headed chieftain, who was also the leader of the Crimson Stripe Tribe.

“I will lead the way for everyone.” His eyes seemed to be burning with flames.

The next day, at dawn.

While the mountains and fields were still shrouded in white mist, the battle began.

One after another, the orc warriors charged down towards the smoky city, holding up hastily made wooden shields. Their black armor reflected a faint golden light in the early morning, like a black-golden flood cascading down from the mountain.

Among these orc warriors, the most eye-catching was the ‘tiger’ leading them. This warrior of the War Sequence 8, Fierce Claw, galloped swiftly under the morning light, his body surface boiling with intense magical power, almost tangible.

As the golden-red flames continued to breathe, his figure gradually grew larger, his muscles becoming increasingly robust, veins like eggs, while the soldiers behind him seemed smaller by comparison.

Finally, the two-meter-tall orc soldier could barely reach his ankle, and his standing posture resembled a giant entwined with flames, exerting tremendous pressure on the garrison on the fortress, causing people to tremble and involuntarily collapse.

Roar—

His voice was like thunder rolling across the earth, evoking the deepest fears in people’s hearts. The sound waves advanced layer by layer, breaking through the battlements, directly sweeping up the soldiers on the city wall, smashing them against the stone walls behind, turning them into bloody pulp.

Second only to the top-tier combatants of Sequence 9, he stunned everyone the moment he appeared.

“Open fire! Open fire!” The commander of the Black Rock garrison shouted anxiously, awakening the stunned soldiers to start attacking.

Unfortunately, these lead bullets entering that massive body were like a drop in the ocean, disappearing without a trace, swallowed by the flames. This orc hero with black and red stripes accelerated continuously on the ground, charging toward the city gate like a giant mountain.

Bang—

Blood and bricks splattered, the city gate was directly smashed open with a huge gap, and the soldiers on it turned into fragmented flesh, dried up by the flames, emitting wisps of white vapor.

“Ugh—ah ah! Ah!!”

The soldiers on the city wall, seeing the hideous head looming close, let out infant-like screams, scrambling and crawling backward.

But this orc hero opened his blood-filled claws and slashed through the air, dividing these Black Rock soldiers into pieces.

Such a brutal scene, even among their allied forces from Clancia, many soldiers found it hard to accept, some even lowered their heads to vomit.

Many of them were young men in their early twenties, not those seasoned veterans numb to the battlefield.

“I’m sorry, this is how our orc warriors fight. Sigh…” Leiton stood at the rear of the army, watching the roaring Fierce Fang, patting the back of a nearby officer.

Orcs used to worship battle and the taking of life. Although they now submitted to Clancia, many customs and beliefs couldn’t be changed overnight. Moreover, this was an old, radical faction.

“I hope in the future, Lady Eranie’s education can reach every child,” Leiton murmured.

For orcs to live in peace with other races for the long term, they must change these savage and bloodthirsty customs.

But each generation grows up in different environments. He was powerless to change the older generation, so he could only focus on educating the younger ones, hoping for a better future.

In the Smoky City, several warlords were discussing in a secret room. Hearing the shocking sound outside, they all rushed out and saw the towering orc standing proudly.

“How terrifying. Perhaps the legends are true. The orcs received the remnants of the ancient Giant Kingdom, and the War Sequence is said to originate from the Titan race.”

A mage wearing a purple-trimmed black robe commented on the roaring flame giant.

“Now what do we do?” Several warlords anxiously asked from the side.

“Wait. Bring out the crystal gun units. Now is not the time to be frugal.”

After Fierce Fang broke through the city gate, the orcs below…

The troops began to pour into the beacon-smoke city, and this fortress city built against the mountain had initially been constructed to monitor the orcs on the grassland. Unexpectedly, many years later, it also fulfilled its original purpose.

Most of the houses in the city were transformed from watchtowers and fortress walls, with deliberately narrow doorways and passages to obstruct the passage of large-bodied orcs.

As soon as the orcs entered the city, they quickly encountered enemy gunfire. Lead bullets shot out from the battlements and hidden openings, knocking down one orc after another, who fell in the narrow alleys.

After entering the city, the complex layers of fortresses and walls continued to play their roles. In the fortress built against the mountain, there was not only the lowest wall, but also two huge tiered platforms behind it, allowing the garrison to continue defending and layering their attacks against the enemy.

The design from the ancient Mercury Dynasty still shone with its simple yet practical value a thousand years later.

Just as the fanged orc leaped back into the city, sweeping and breaking through thick walls, the dark clouds in the sky suddenly parted.

Pale metal wings spread out on both sides of the airship, slicing through the air currents. The propellers at the rear spun rapidly, producing minimal noise. This giant airship over 300 meters long immediately captured everyone’s attention.

On the pale airship, a deep blue rose with seven petals was engraved, and high-ranking mages above Sequence 6 stood inside, emitting a powerful magical aura like the heart of a great dragon.

Then, the doors on the belly of the airship opened, revealing red-black magical crystal barrels.

Gears turned, and the magic furnaces charged up. Enchanted gold alloy shells were pressed into the barrels by mechanical transmission. The rows of barrels were adjusted by the mages inside the airship to aim at the giant orc on the ground.

The patterns engraved on the barrels glowed with a faint red light, turning from deep red to orange-red, then to a bright yellow.

Finally, the scorching crimson gold shells were fired out of the barrels, accompanied by a fierce shockwave that tore through the atmosphere and directly struck the body of the giant orc, exploding, scattering, and sending blood and endless flames flying.

The震撼的炮火声 even from nearly a kilometer away, still deafened countless soldiers, causing temporary or even permanent hearing loss.

In the midst of that terrifying sound of cannon fire, the smoke slowly dissipated, revealing the giant orc standing despite losing most of its body. Its terrifying wounds spilled gruesome flesh into the eyes of the crowd, which then slowly regrew amidst the white mist.

“Hahaha—indeed, tough orcs. Now, I can finally test the limits of this airship!”

A military officer wielding a longsword appeared on the deck of the airship. He looked down at the struggling orc below, his eyes gleaming with excitement. Under his command, the magical crystal cannons on the airship began charging again.

This time, it was more intense than any previous time.

The magic furnaces inside were pushed to their limits, creating tremendous noise and vibrations that shook every component of this finely crafted machine, producing discordant sounds. The light at the barrel tips began to glow brilliantly again.

The pale airships in the sky parted the layers of air currents, turning in a large arc in the sky, leaving long and vast trails of airstreams, aiming at the target below and pouring out crimson fury.

The orc on the ground, driven by instinct and survival, swung its bloodied claws at enemies in its field of vision, sprinting through the scorching wind. It continuously dodged the golden-red shells and charged towards the central top floor of the fortress.

Using the height of the fortress’s top floor, he shot toward the sky like an arrow, his bloodied and dusty claws lunging at the airship above.

Precision instruments and components made up this airship, a crystallization of ancient knowledge. Humans relied on knowledge and experience to construct the civilization.

Boiling hot blood surged within, and relying on the most primal instincts of life, the orcs unleashed their raw strength, fighting for survival in this world.

Bones and teeth, the most direct and primitive things, gears and machinery, the most experiential and knowledgeable things.

—Now, instinct and knowledge were in a stalemate.

(End of Chapter)