Chapter 91 Chapter 92 Covering the Retreat
The farmer archers beneath the city wall were shooting arrows at the wall in panic. In contrast to the “rain of arrows,” only a few heavily wounded orcs fell from the wall, achieving a disappointingly low kill rate.
The orc’s strong vitality could somewhat resist the arrows from the farmer archers, not to mention the large orcs in armor.
Half of the infantry regiment that was still alive was collapsing and running toward the farmer archer positions, and panic quickly spread among the archers. Several tall orcs cut down a few fleeing spearmen, raised their weapons, and roared at the farmers.
With a whoosh, the farmers turned to flee, and even the mounted retainers hitting them with whips couldn’t stop it.
A retainer wearing a dog-headed helmet raised his lance and shouted, “Advance! Don’t mind these cowards!”
“Charge!”
“For the Goddess! For Lord Dru!”
Ten retainers on horseback led their mounted followers directly through the fleeing soldiers toward the small group of orcs at the base of the wall. The warhorses first moved at a small step, then a quick pace, and when they were less than forty meters from the orcs, they bolted forward. The cavalry crashed into the advancing green-skinned orcs, and the lances wielded under their arms pierced through the armor of a large orc.
In an instant, the orcs at the foot of the wall suffered heavy casualties. The retainers, armored and riding their tall Bartos horses, charged back and forth among the orcs, reveling in the battle.
Jima shook her head at the sight of the disobedient retainers, who must have felt they were achieving great deeds, contrasting sharply with the fleeing farmers behind them. But if they had followed orders and blocked the large orcs at the wall, it could have held out a while longer.
Moreover, their victory was only temporary. With less than two hundred mounted retainers, when the orcs poured down from the wall, the retainers would have no choice but to retreat obediently.
Jenna’s voice came from behind, “Jima, are you okay?”
Jima turned her head and said, “These green skins can’t kill me.”
More than half of the city wall had fallen into the hands of the greenskins, and they had taken over the tower.
Only Jima’s tower had yet to fall. George was on the other side fighting against the greenskins, having planted the battle flag of the temple on the city wall, forcing the greenskins to engage him. There was already a layer of orc corpses stacked at his feet.
However…
“The city wall has fallen,” Jima said. “We should organize a retreat back into the castle.”
Some spearmen next to Jenna had sad expressions on their faces. George had already evacuated all the residents to the castle, which had become extremely crowded. Due to the lack of space, some had to hide in the basements of the city.
The city wall had fallen in just one morning. Without a moat and with only half the defenders remaining, how long could the castle withstand? Once it fell, there would be no place left to escape.
Saint Jenna hesitated, saying, “If we hold on a little longer, we might still be able to drive back the greenskins.”
The harsh reality provided a cruel response.
The stairs were too narrow, and the retainers below were leading mounted followers into battle. The greenskins watched as the soldiers “retreated” toward the castle, anxious and impatient.
Just then, the goblins saw it as a favorable situation and scrambled up the stairs, pushing and pulling each other. When they reached the city wall, they happily used their weapons to kill injured humans or fought over the spoils.
The orcs peered down at the not very high city wall and then at the squabbling goblins nearby, and suddenly had a bright idea, reaching out to grab the goblins.
Though the goblins didn’t know what was happening, they sensed it wasn’t good and began to flee in all directions. One goblin ran to the ladder, kicked a companion trying to climb up, and while it was running up, an orc grabbed its leg, lifted it, and tossed it off the city wall.
The goblin, dizzy from the fall, struggled to get up when the orc jumped down from the wall and stepped on the goblin’s soft belly to cushion its landing.
One by one, the captured goblins were tossed off the wall, belly up, becoming human cushions for the green-skinned youth.
Before long, the gasping-goblin pile became a pile of flesh cushions. The greenskins poured down like a rushing tide, leaping from the wall in a wave of green.
Saint Jenna stared in shock for a moment, clearly surprised once again by the greenskins’ behavior.
Seeing more greenskins jumping down from the wall and the scattered soldiers still rushing toward the castle, it was a crush of bodies.
Jima estimated that at least half of them would die at the hands of the greenskins. This was a rout, not a retreat, because there was no cover.
Jima said, “Let’s retreat together. You rest and keep the castle secure.”
She had a good plan, providing an excuse to pull Jenna along to retreat, and George would have to go too. That way, she wouldn’t have to squeeze into the castle with a bunch of people.
The spearmen guarding Saint Jenna looked at her expectantly, and Jenna nodded. She glanced at the crowded, fleeing soldiers in front of the castle and said, “They won’t make it in time.”
Jima wasn’t lying; to excuse Jenna, she said, “There’s no choice. If we don’t retreat quickly, we’ll be pinned down by the greenskins, and when the green dragon attacks, it’ll be too late.”
After that, Jima warily looked up at the sky.
“You make a good point…”
Jima let out a sigh of relief.
“But…” Jenna gritted her teeth, “I can cover them.”
“Your Holiness, what time is it now?”
Jenna looked at the mass of greenskins swarming the wall and said, “Just one divine light spell, and they’ll suffer heavy losses. Do you remember that night at Saint John’s Village? I can cast an even stronger spell called the Light of Exorcism.”
Jima immediately understood. She looked at the long, narrow city wall and said, “Typically, the more powerful vortex spells are more difficult to control. The more obediently they move along a set path, the harder it is.”
Usually, spellcasters drop vortex spells directly into densely packed enemies. After that, the spells move randomly, depending on luck. Historically, incidents have also occurred where vortex spells rolled back into friendly units. Killing more of one’s own than the enemy is not uncommon.
However, spellcasters rarely manage to precisely control vortex spells, as the operation difficulty is high, and the mana consumption is significant, making it easy to spiral out of control.
Saint Jenna said, “I have made up my mind.”
Jima didn’t want to persuade her further; she was an adult capable of making her own judgments.
Saint Jenna’s fingertips emitted white light, and a censer hanging from her wrist emitted wisps of green smoke. She took a puff of smoke, and a translucent membrane enveloped her body. The arrows shot at her shield fell limp.
“The divine said that the dawn shall descend upon the night…”
As Saint Jenna prayed, a soft white light radiated from her, and a light sphere the size of a house appeared in front of her, with glowing smoke swirling inside it, boiling and becoming tumultuous, pushing forward and erupting with astonishing heat.
The boiling light sphere flew over the heads of the greenskins; a translucent stream of light cascaded down from the sphere. The greenskins touched by it found all flammable materials on them smoking, and hair igniting, with exposed skin blistering. They howled, shielding their eyes, dropping their burning axes, and fleeing in all directions.
The greenskins wearing the least armor were the first to suffer, collapsing first in the scorching light, followed by the axe heads nearby glowing red in the radiance. The large orcs were no better; the downed orcs had their armor turning red, and their bodies igniting spontaneously.
The Light of Exorcism advanced steadily for forty meters on the city wall, its trajectory perfectly straight, like a train running on a straight track, leaving behind smoking blackened corpses.
Jima’s assessment of Saint Jenna increased. To control such a high-intensity spell for forty meters was quite impressive. The level needed to be up to standard, and personal execution required even more.
“Wow, this is killing two to three times as many as George.”
Just as Jima finished speaking, the light sphere suddenly stopped, swaying as if a wild horse was trying to break free from the reins.
Saint Jenna’s face was covered in a cold sweat, with sweat dripping from her chin onto the silver censer.
“Sizzle~~”
The sweat evaporated immediately.
She gritted her teeth, blue veins bulging on her forehead. Jima could feel that she was using her will to hold on to the increasingly difficult-to-control fiery light sphere.
Jima couldn’t help but worry; using extraordinary power was akin to playing with fire. Once the will snapped, it would surely backfire. If she failed to control it, in serious cases she could twist into some kind of monster, or at least fly into a rage and fall into a state of frenzy.
Thinking this, Jima instinctively moved a bit further away from Jenna.
She didn’t try to persuade Jenna; interrupting now would be a crime.
Jenna squeezed out a faint voice between her teeth: “I… can’t let down…”
The off-track light sphere was tamed, returning to its path and continuing to roast the orcs.
Watching the orcs flee and jump down from the wall, avoiding the light sphere, Jima sighed in relief. At this rate, this wave of attacks would send them retreating. After that, even if they walked to the castle at a leisurely pace, they would have plenty of time.
Just then, a gigantic figure jumped onto the tower—it was the war chief, swinging a pair of hand axes toward Jima and her group. The axe blade struck down the unfortunate spearmen, but it couldn’t break through Jenna’s shield.
Jima reacted extremely quickly, backpedaling as the axe blade scraped by her nose, the wind lifting her hood and her glossy black hair cascading to her waist.
The war chief didn’t notice; all his attention was on the unmoving Jenna, who was still guiding the light sphere to drive away more orcs.
The war chief raised his axes high to attack when George also jumped onto the tower, rushing toward Jenna without hesitation.
Jima had just reached for her hood when a horde of greenskins charged up from below the tower, with a goblin shrieking in a sharp voice, “It’s the Screamer!”
Jima immediately pulled the trigger, the crossbow bolt piercing the loquacious goblin’s throat.
But it was too late.
The war chief glanced at Jima, his eyes immediately turning red with rage. He turned around and swung his axe at Jima.
Jima felt that no matter which way she dodged, she would be struck. Using her long legs, she immediately jumped back, leaping off the tower.
“Thud!”
The axe came down with momentum, crashing into the city battlement, sending splintered rocks flying across Jima’s face.
She looked back at the war chief only to see George standing firmly beside Jenna, protecting her. In the next moment, the large orc’s figure enveloped him.
Wow…
As Jima fell, she recalled memories from her past life of watching people parkour, altering her position mid-air like a cat, landing gracefully on the ground and rolling to reduce the impact.
I’m really capable.
Thinking this, Jima stood up, only to bump into a tall and foul-smelling figure.
A large green-skinned brute turned its head to look at her and said, “Stinky?”
Jima had just landed among the greenskins that had jumped off the city wall.
Before Jima could try to lie, the war chief roared from above, “Just hit her! She’s the Screamer!”
