Ne next four days were pretty rough for others. I noticed that without my help the barricades were being built very slowly, so I decided to resign from the hunting, and focus only on the construction. Still, as fewer and fewer stones were around, the whole process became slower, and even with my hard efforts it took us four days to build something decent, and prepare few spots to hide from arrows.
But eventually, it was ready, and on the fifth day, we actually could engage in the grand battle. All the excitement kinda died down because the reality finally got to those eager for a fight. This was a risky venture, and somebody could potentially even die.
After early morning breakfast, I headed out to quickly kill few closest groups of orc patrolling the canyon, while the rest prepared for the showdown. I cleared the perimeter around us in around an hour, then came back to bored hunters.
- Finally - said Nil when he saw me. - We are dying here.
- Watch your mouth - said Boris. - No talks about death today. stuff like that brings bad luck.
Will patted him on the shoulder, to calm him down.
- We will be fine - he said.
With the corner of my eye, I caught Nobuo. He was focused, calm and ready. Other rather more anxious, but we had no time to waste since this whole endeavor could take a lot of time.
- Take your positions, I'll engage with them, and lure them out - with those words, I started moving.
They followed me and stood in formation behind the first barricade. It was not perfect, but we suspected they won't try to deconstruct it or simply climb it, but will just aim for the opening. I just needed to grab the attention of enough of them, so only a limited amount would try to push forward.
I sneaked my way as close to the camp as possible, then for a moment watched the movements inside. They didn't seem to suspect anything, so I came out of my hiding spot, and charged the few closest guards. It took only a blink of an eye to cut them down with the help of Shadow fusion and Shadow walk.
My intentions at first were to make them rise the alarm, and charge after me, but actually getting rid of as many as possible without railing up the rest seemed a better idea, so I went with it.
I used Shadow walk to get closer to the next target and cut it down. It was a success, but some curious eyes caught me red-handed, and the shouting began. Orc yelled on top of their lungs angrily.
From the tents emerged many greenskins, grabbing weapons from strategically placed weapon racks, and if nothing was actually in arms reach, they would just go with anything.
I didn't retreat yet though but kept fighting cutting down a few more before the rest gathered. According to the plan I should be luring them out, but I still felt very much in the control, so I kept fighting. Since the pudaos created with the Void manipulation skill were incredibly sharp, I only needed one proper swing to get a kill.
This, combined with the repositioning ability provided by Shadow walk allowed me to move freely, and wreak havoc through the entire camp.
Until it became too crowded...
Suddenly an arrow out of nowhere hit me in the shoulder. I didn't even manage to get it out because I suddenly found myself surrounded. This was a clear signal to evacuate. I had no time for anything else, so I did my best to run away.
I headed towards the first barricade, as far as I could, using Shadow walk to avoid arrows, then utilizing the Void manipulation, I made myself few stepping stones to climb quickly and vanished over the canyon wall.
I removed the arrow. It didn't go too deep since my muscles were like natural armor, but still, there was plenty of damage. I used heal to fix myself and then peaked down to check on the situation.
Some orcs already reached the barricade, and more were incoming. I had to step in and cut them before it was too late. So I jumped, in the last moment using Shadow walk, and emerged midswing more or less in the middle of orc horde.
It was too crowded there for any arrows, which was a good thing, but also I didn't have enough space to fight freely and get the most out of my abilities. Still, my initial reappearance was enough of a surprise to get a handful of clueless ones, and then real though fight started.
I struggled a lot and earned few cuts here and there, nothing serious though. I couldn't move properly, and it became harder and harder to meet my expectation of the initial attack. Even though, I kept pushing, using heals to close the wounds, and doing my best to slowly move at the back of the horde.
In the end, I was not able to succeed, because they got smarter and stopped trying to fight me with just weapons. I got grabbed by a strong pair of hands a few times but managed to break free. As more of them picked up such tactic I just couldn't stay anymore. I probably managed to cut down a few dozens, before I had to evacuate again.
All the life energy was wasted, end the first barricade had to be abandoned with still plenty of orcs to kill. Although they retreated almost perfectly, I was getting worried if we will actually be able to kill all of them without somebody getting badly injured or even dead.
I grabbed few deep breaths, and ran alongside the wall, to follow the horde. Since my comrades were doing well, I had to step up to match their efforts.
I picked the right moment, then I jumped down, this time though, aiming at the very end.. Ready to utilize my full potential and cut down as many as possible, to make up for the previous setback.
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