Chapter 106: The Great Northern War (2)
The enemies multiplied endlessly and struck the city walls.
“Ahhh...”
“Caska, there’s no time to sigh.”
“I know. I know.”
Caska pulled on her bowstring.
Their job was to relentlessly pull on their bowstrings until the city walls came down, so she nocked another arrow and prayed that her arrow would pierce just one more orc. Then, as she lowered the tip of her arrow to aim, she prayed that the city walls would hold on just a bit longer.
The city walls trembled. The enemies were close now.
The dark elf magician’s fire struck the center of the enemies, but the orc sorcerer’s magic neutralized it. The ball of fire turned into dozens of flames and dissipated into the air.
‘Where’s the enemy’s sorcerer?’ Caska wondered.
She scanned the battlefield to gauge the situation and spotted the orc sorcerer among orcs clad in shabby armor who were looking up at the city wall. The sorcerer stood out because he was the only one wearing a robe.
“I’m aiming for the sorcerer,” said Caska.
“I will join you,” said her commander.
Caska and her commander aimed their arrows at the same time. The sorcerer’s eyes seemed to be looking at them as he slowly scanned the city walls. His yellow eyes gave off the feeling of something putrid.
Despite the great distance between them, the sorcerer made eye contact with Caska. His expression seemed to be smugly saying that he knew everything about her.
Caska suddenly had the urge to vomit. She moved the tip of her finger and released the bowstring. Her arrow and her commander’s shot into the air side by side. They pierced through the air and headed toward the sorcerer's forehead and eyes.
The sorcerer waved his staff, and the arrows stopped in front of his eyes. The two arrows then changed direction and turned around. The sharp arrowheads seemed to glare at Caska and her commander and retraced the trajectory they had traveled, sliding back toward Caska and her commander.
“Get down!” Caska yelled.
She flattened herself against the ground as the arrows charged toward them because of the reversal spell. As she closed her eyes, Caska heard something explode. Something that smelled like blood spilled onto her right shoulder. The dark elf next to her collapsed with a thud.
‘I’m on the battlefield. Life and death are just fleeting moments.’
She got back up without looking around to check on her fallen comrade.
Her superiors had changed multiple times as she protected the city, and another newly assigned commanding officer had just turned into a corpse at her feet.
“What a loser... just dying like that,” muttered Caska. She pulled back her bowstring, but the orc sorcerer was nowhere in sight. Her arrow trembled as she lowered her aim.
The orcs were crawling up the city walls. Caska focused on an orc who had placed his feet on a ladder and started to climb it.
The ladders were so low that the orcs appeared to be hanging from the wall even after climbing it. Nevertheless, they continued to ascend the wall like ants without looking behind them.
Caska’s gaze met the eyes of the orc supporting the orc who was climbing the ladder. While maintaining eye contact with him, she shot her arrow toward the orc climbing up the ladder.
‘Do you also feel nauseous like me?’ she wondered.
Her arrow flew downward and struck the head of the orc on the ladder.
‘No, I was mistaken,’ Caska realized.
The orc below climbed up the ladder, taking the place of his fallen comrade without any changes in his expression. Caska’s hands moved rapidly, and she nocked another arrow on the bowstring and fired it at the orc. That orc died, and another orc climbed up the ladder in his place. No matter how many she killed, more orcs swarmed up the ladder like toy soldiers. Failing repeatedly couldn’t kill their morale.
“Caska! Do you have any arrows left?” Caska’s comrade asked.
Caska fumbled through her barrel of arrows. The once abundant stash of arrows had diminished to just two arrows.
She nocked her second last arrow on her bowstring and replied, “No.”
“Dammit! What are they doing at the back?!”
Caska ignored her comrade’s words and solemnly aimed her arrow.
‘Just two shots left. Where is the sorcerer who killed my superior?’
She looked around the entire battlefield in search of the orc sorcerer from before. Caska had to kill him, but all the orcs she saw seemed the same.
‘How did these detestable guys increase their numbers to this extent and create such a large army? Did their whole species turn into soldiers? Is every single orc marching into battle with their weapons and trying to knock down our city walls? What an accursed species!’
“Filthy pieces of shit.”
Then Caska finally spotted the orc sorcerer. He was muttering something with his staff raised.
Caska stood behind a guard to hide her figure from the orc sorcerer’s view, but she left enough of a gap for her arrow to pierce through. She emptied her mind to feel the flow of the wind with her body as she aimed her arrow. After all, the most beautiful pottery wasn’t produced through painstaking scrutiny but with a clear and focused mind.
Just like how a potter’s daily thoughts created the most beautiful curve, Caska calmly pulled her arrow, the embodiment of her murderous intent, backward to the fullest against the bowstring while she envisioned her arrow piercing the orc’s neck the way she pictured what she wanted to eat for dinner.
The arrow departed from her string and closed the great distance between her and the orc sorcerer in an instant. The arrow flew toward his neck.
Caska muttered, “So annoying.”
During that brief moment, the sorcerer had opened his eyes wide, stopped his chanting, and pulled over the guard who was in front of him. The arrowhead pierced the neck of the guard instead of the sorcerer and came to a stop right in front of the sorcerer.
Caska immediately nocked another arrow. She still had one shot left. She swiftly fired her last arrow at the sorcerer, who was trying to take off.
However, she had underestimated the sorcerer’s speed. He moved more quickly than she had expected, and her arrow ended up piercing his calf. The sorcerer tumbled to the ground and crawled forward while looking behind him.
Caska threw away her empty barrel, took out a dagger from her waist and thrust it into the head of her dead superior.
“What are you doing, Caska?!” her comrade exclaimed.
“Shut up.”
Blood spurted all over Caska as she pierced the brain of her dead superior. She dug the dagger deeper inside his head. Then she took out the arrow that had pierced him, releasing warm steam from his skull. She nocked the blood-soaked arrow on the bowstring. She pulled her arrow back as far as possible, staining her cheek with blood as her hand brushed past her face. She could almost taste the blood’s metallic taste staining her lips.
Caska smiled bitterly and muttered, “Really... So annoying.”
Her arrow sliced through the air.
‘Everything is meaningless.’
She wanted to kill all of them.
‘I’m so fucking tired of you guys. Just fucking die.’
However, the orc sorcerer muttered something, and a protective barrier formed around him. Caska’s arrow failed to reach its target, stopping short and striking the magic barrier instead. The force of the arrow caused a crack to form on the barrier, and the barrier collapsed afterward. The arrow fell feebly to the ground.
The orc sorcerer let out a sigh of relief and took a deep breath. Orc soldiers quickly ran toward him and surrounded him to protect him with layers of shields.
Caska didn’t have any arrows left. She let out a hollow laugh and then kicked the railing on the wall.
“Dammit!” she shouted.
“Caska.”
“Dammmiittt!” Caska grabbed the hem of her comrade’s garment. “Give me one of your arrows. I have to kill him no matter what.”
“I don’t have any.”
“Why don’t you have any arrows?!” Caska shouted at the top of her lungs.
The orcs were gradually climbing up the city walls, and the archers’ supply had been cut off for a long time. Caska could see the supply squad transporting arrows in the distance, but it would be a while until it was her unit’s turn.
“Stop being childish and use your knife,” Caska’s comrade chided.
“I’m not good with knives!”
“You were pretty good earlier.”
“...”
Caska angrily kicked her superior’s corpse.
“Stop it,” said her comrade.
Caska glared at the orc sorcerer with bloodshot eyes. He was backing away from the battlefield with his guards protecting him. That sorcerer had been tormenting dark elves on the city walls since the beginning of the siege. If they excluded the orc warriors fighting on the front line and leading the attacks, the orc who really analyzed the situation and commanded the orc troops was that bizarre orc sorcerer. He was basically a commanding officer.
Right then, Caska saw something.
“What’s that?” she asked.
The thing that caught her eye was a huge greatsword glistening under the hot northern sun, and that greatsword was resting on the shoulder of an orc walking over to the battlefield. Covered in tattoos, the orc had an intimidating appearance.
“Is he a member of the chiefdom?”
“But...”
That ridiculously large greatsword looked more like the flag of a flag bearer walking ahead of an army than a weapon. The orc with the greatsword and the orc sorcerer ran into each other. The orc sorcerer shouted at the newly arrived orc, but the latter didn’t respond. He instead brought down the greatsword from his shoulder.
Caska felt an adrenaline rush from seeing the orc handle such a heavy weapon with ease. She could immediately tell that he wasn’t like the other orcs she had seen before. He was in his own league. Right then, the greatsword swung horizontally through the air, splitting the sorcerer and his soldiers into halves. With just one horizontal slash, their blood, intestines, and bits of their spines flew in the air and scattered everywhere.
“Ah...” Caska’s comrade uttered, his mouth gaping open in shock.
Caska was utterly shocked too.
The orc with the greatsword then trampled over the horrors he had created and walked toward the orcs charging against the city walls. Caska’s gaping mouth turned into a smile upon seeing what happened next. Each time the orc swung his greatsword, more of the chiefdom orcs died.
The chiefdom orcs weren’t paying any attention to what was going on behind them. They were preoccupied with clinging onto the city walls and ramming their siege weapons against the city gates. The orc with the greatsword simply walked up behind them and lopped off their heads one by one. Blood sprayed into the air each time a life was taken. The orc was executing a carnage that Caska had been unable to bring forth with her arrows.
“So cool.” Caska’s shoulders trembled as she laughed. “That orc guy is so cool...”
There was a loud bang, and the city gates finally busted open. The chiefdom orcs swarmed inside. The dark elves tried to block the enemies with spears from behind a barricade, but it wasn’t enough to stop the flood of orcs.
Right then, a huge roar shook the earth. All of the dark elves and orcs turned their heads toward the source of the sound. It was a roar so powerful that they forgot they were in a life-and-death situation. Their ears buzzed from the shock.
“Calmahart is a crook,” said the source of the sound.
The chiefdom orcs’ expressions changed upon hearing their chieftain get insulted. Calmahart was a holy being to them. He was the one who would make them conquerors of the northern region and then owners of the world. Yet, this orc was insulting the chieftain... alone, in the face of a large army.
“Calmahart is a pussy, and he will die by my hands,” the lone orc continued. Then he raised his greatsword and grinned. “Do you have a problem with what I’m saying?”
One of the chiefdom orcs shouted, “You’re crazy!”
“Who is this guy?!”
One by one, the orcs raised their weapons against him. The orcs’ siege around the city entrance and walls lost its momentum.
“There seems to be a lot of complaints. In that case...” the orc with the greatsword said. He raised a hand and then beckoned at them with his finger. “Come.”
The chiefdom orcs gave in to his provocation. They all turned away from the dark elves and ran toward that lone orc. Like a swarm of ants climbing up a tree, they stomped on the earth and charged at him. His life was now at stake; he was about to be surrounded by numerous orcs.
Right then, the supply squad arrived with a cart full of arrows and handed them to Caska. Caska instinctively grabbed a handful of arrows, threw them onto the ground, and hurriedly nocked an arrow.
“What is everyone doing?!” she exclaimed. “You guys should be supporting him! Wake up!”
There was no commander to guide her unit anymore. They were all dead, but Caska was still alive. She was the commander now. The dark elves in her unit came to their senses and nocked their arrows one by one.
The orc was about to be enclosed by the enemy orcs.
“If you don’t want to die, then kill! Shoot like crazy!” Caska shouted.
A rain of arrows filled the sky, and the lone orc’s blade flashed as it split the earth. The chiefdom orcs crumbled to the ground.
“This is no joke...” Caska remarked.
She grinned and fired her arrows in succession.
The blood that had splattered on her face from when she had crushed her superior’s head had dried up. Her blood-covered smile on the battlefield was madness itself.
“Do you think that orc will die?” asked Caska’s comrade.
They could no longer see him. They didn’t know why an orc was fighting against other orcs or why he had gone into the enemy’s lines on his own.
“He will probably die,” said Caska with a smile. “But if he doesn’t die and is still alive when this battle is over...”
Suddenly, the cold gleam of the greatsword flashed brilliantly among the orcs, ripping through them and sending them flying into the air. Caska shuddered at the sight of the orc’s fierce gaze amid the fountain of blood.
“Then I don’t mind giving him my first kiss,” Caska expressed with a laugh.
“Hey...” muttered her comrade.
Caska released another arrow. It flew into the air and pierced the head of a chiefdom soldier who had been lunging toward the back of one of her comrades.
She smiled as she nocked another arrow and added, “I mean it.”
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