Two crimson eyes looked from behind the bushes warily. His sharp ears squeaked at every sound of movement around him. His big nose smelled the air around him waiting for the oddness to come.
He is Yagnar, an orc who becomes the leader of squad 2 exterminator. With Vakgar and Olru by his side as well as a few goblins from the Hoddurt Division as helpers and a few sylphs as communicators. They are tasked with destroying any Quadruple Arachnids that pass through their guarded area as quickly as possible.
Although Mige divides the entire Wilwatikta Kingdom's combat troops into 30 squads, in fact there are only two divisions of tasks in this battle, Breaker and Exterminator. Where 20 squads are tasked with breaking enemy formations and 10 other squads functioning to finish off divided enemies.
Each Breaker and Exterminator squad only has to obey every order from the headquarters and report every incident that happened to their squad to the slyph assigned as the squad communicator with the headquarters. By using this method Mige can move hundreds of monsters with just his command.
Currently the Quadruple Arachnids have entered the spring part of Bog Forest and it only takes a few more minutes to arrive at the location where the monsters have prepared traps. Mige divides the battle area into several nodes which are named and numbered making the battle area look like a chessboard.
By placing a sylph at each node, Mige will know the enemy's movements in a wide battle area like seeing it for himself from the sky. All of this could not be done without the help of the Military Espionage division which managed to create an information path between the sylphs by using the new sylph capabilities of the Vithaen division which they called CCTV.
"Enemy has entered the E4 node" Horu, a sylph who served as a communicator in squad 2 exterminator reported that Quadruple Arachnids had entered the battle area that had been prepared by the monsters.
Yagnar didn't budge because it wasn't his squad's job to greet the enemy the first time but the job of the Breaker Squads. Quadruple Arachnids have the senses to know their surroundings through smell and temperature, so even if the monsters hide behind a large rock, they will still know their existence. Therefore the first thing to do to defeat the Quadruple Arachnids is to disable their sensory abilities.
Yagnar saw a flash of red light followed by smoke rising high in the distance. Along with this phenomenon, Horu reported the state of "Squad 1 Breaker engage with the enemy and successfully burn the woods".
One of the ways that the Military Strategic Division thought of was by burning the forest, the smoke and heat produced by the burning trees would disturb the Quadruple Arachnids' sense so that they could not know the situation around them. But that time was not the right time to attack, because even if their senses were disturbed, they could still fight back if the monsters approached.
Even though they could shoot Quadruple Arachnids with their arrows from far, it would only be a waste of time and arrows because their tough exoskeleton would block the arrows that wanted to pierce their bodies. Therefore, burning trees is not to provide an opening to attack but to make Quadruple Arachnids to do what the monsters want.
"Enemy break apart. Enemy break apart. More than half to D5 node and the rest to F5 node. Squad 4 and 7 Breakers ready to engage" Horu reported the state of war with a smile on his face.
"Yes" came the excited voices of the monsters around Yagnar. The purpose of burning the forest is to break up the enemy formation. The huge number of Quadruple Arachnids poses a threat to the monsters. Even though they were able to fight the Quadruple Arachnid one on one but when the number of enemies they faced was more than five then an orc would be killed for sure.
Therefore they burned the forest and disturbed the Quadruple Arachnids' sense. They will immediately avoid the place and choose to circle the burned forest area. Even so, after passing through the burning forest area, it was very likely that the divided Quadruple Arachnid troops would reunite.
Therefore, the Breaker Squads must constantly break up the enemy formation until they arrive where the Exterminator Squads are waiting to ambush. That way when the Quadruple Arachnid's army reaches the position where the Exterminator Squads are located, their numbers will no longer be too many for the orcs to defeat easily.
"Squad 7 and 8 Breaker already engage with the enemy, Exterminator Squad be ready!" Horu relayed the battle information and Mige's orders from the headquarters.
Yagnar's eyes narrowed, his heart beating fast in anticipation of the enemy's arrival and the battle before his eyes. His hand that was holding the long spear gripped tightly.
Unlike the previous orc spears which were only made of wood and bladed with stone, the spear in Yagnar's hand was now made of iron, making it sharper and more sturdy. They had already tested their weapons on the bodies of the Warrior Arachnid that Moku had killed and these spears were able to pierce their exoskeletons with a little force.
"Be ready!" Yagnar gave the signal to his squad. Olru and Vakgar took out their iron maces and got ready. Similar to Yagnar, the iron mace in Olru and Vakgar's hands had a ball at the end made of iron. This weapon has also been tested and is capable of cracking the Warrior Arachnid's exoskeleton.
"Enemy's formation succesfully breaking, they go to 7A node and 7C node" Horu reported with a pale face.
7C is the node where their Squad is currently located. Because of that Horu's report wasn't finished yet. "...5 warrior arachnids and 2 scout arachnids" Horu reported the number of enemies to come. Scout arachnids is the name they give to warrior arachnids who do not have claws that flank their mandibles.
"Be ready! I want this finish within 10 seconds" Yagnar shouted at his squad members.
"Yes, sir!" simultaneously they answered loudly. They no longer needed to hide because the enemy would definitely know the whereabouts of the monsters with their senses.
Right after the resounding answer echoed, the monsters heard and smelled a foreign odor that was rapidly approaching. 7 Quadruple Arachnids entered their field of vision. "Engage!" Yagnar ordered as he jumped out of hiding.
The other monsters followed closely behind him. Finding their enemy coming to attack, the Quadruple Arachnids who were already annoyed at being separated from the herd raged "SKREEEEKKK!!!" Their mandibles opened wide and a shrill sound was heard.
When they were close enough, all the goblins stopped and knelt down. They raised the crossbows in their hands. From this close range, the crossbow's arrows would be able to pierce the Quadruple Arachnids' tough exoskeleton.
*Syu! Syu! Syu! Syu! Syu! Syu! Syu!
The arrows were released and shot through the air swiftly past the orcs that were still running forward.
"SKREEEKKKK!!"
The arrows managed to pierce the Quadruple Arachnids' exoskeleton and make their movements stop for a moment. Even though they weren't killed right away it was enough to give the orcs time to carry out their deadly attacks.
Yagnar thrust his spear through the arachnid warrior's open mouth *Stab!
The warrior arachnids seemed to have froze because the tip of Yagnar's spear also managed to destroy his brain. Even though the Quadruple Arachnids' bodies were covered in a tough exoskeleton, there were still some parts of the body that could be easily injured even by an ordinary kitchen knife. Those parts are the joints, neck, and the soft part of their mouth.
Olru and Vakgar slammed their iron maces into the arachnid warriors' heads and shattered the exoskeletons protecting their brains. The three orcs didn't stop there and aimed for the remaining Quadruple Arachnids. Arrows continued to be launched by the goblins to keep the other Quadruple Arachnids in their positions until the three orcs came to finish them off one by one.
It wasn't until the seventh second after the battle started that only one Quadruple Arachnid remained. Yagnar leapt into the air with the tip of his spear aiming for the soft part of the scout arachnid's neck,
*Stab!
The tip of the spear pierced the neck of the scout arachnid but the insect wasn't dead yet and attempted to injure Yagnar with its claws. Yagnar gave him no time to injure his body and forcibly drew his spear.
*TRASS!
Yagnar's spear swung and slashed the scout arachnid's head off. Red blood spurted out and wet the dry grass around them.
Yagnar swung his spear and splashed the Quadruple Arachnid's blood that was still attached to it. He made sure that no other enemy came close by smelling and hearing.
"Horu, 7C node is clean, squad 2 exterminator is idle," Yagnar reported.
This is the code used to report that they have completed their target and no squad members have been injured so they can still be assigned to other nodes.
"Okay, 7C node is clear, squad 2 exterminator is idle!...." Horu was silent for a moment before saying "Move to 7B!" Horu continued the orders from the headquarters.
Hearing the new targets given to them, Yagnar nodded "Move out guys! We have many ants to kill!" he said as he immediately ran towards the 7B node.
"Yes, sir!" the members of squad 2 exterminator answered loudly and followed Yagnar from behind.
What happened to the exterminator squad 2 also happened to the other 5 exterminator squads who served in the first phase of the battle.
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