Arc 3 Chapter 39: Defend the pass! 3

Ding!

Quest Complete!
Survive the wave of goblin attacks.

 Level up!

Defeat the Goblin army!

Follow Tornok’s orders and help defeat the goblins army and bring peace to the Orc lands.

Akira felt happiness at the completion of the quest and leveling up to Lvl 18. He quickly put the bonus points into the usual stats and turned his attention back to the orc army that had just arrived.

From atop the fort wall he watched as Varbu and two other Orc officers rushed over to greet Tornok after noticing the approaching Orc army only a few moments before.

Varbu stopped in front of Tornok and saluted him. After a gesture from Tornok Varbu continued to walk next to him trading a few words while they walked towards the fort.

With the Orc army setting up camp near the rear of the fort both Varbu and Tornok walked towards the fort which had started to open its gate to allow them to quickly pass through.

Akira ran on top of the wall towards the gate and was able to descend the stairs to be just in time to greet Tornok as he walked through the gates.

“I’m glad you were able to make it so soon. You saved us a lot of worrying. The main goblin army arrived late yesterday,” said Akira.

“Glad to see you’re not dead. That would have put a wrench in our future plans. Now’s not the time to be talking in the open so let’s go to one of the offices,” said Tornok.

***

“I’m glad you were able to hold them off until I arrived with the army. I read your report you sent a few days ago. Do you believe the numbers are still the same as you reported?” asked Tornok, while sitting down behind the rugged wooden desk of the office.

“When they arrived yesterday, I could not see all of their forces so I was unable to get an accurate count. I still think from what we can see their army should still be around 3000. It might be less due to the fights we have had with the vanguard over the last few days,” replied Varbu.

“How many goblins were you able to kill?”

“It is somewhere in 300s give or take few,” said Akira who was standing next to Varbu.

“How many casualties did you sustain in ordered to get such a high number?”

“35, they all died yesterday when the goblins tried to swarm our defenses. We were forced to stop them from breaking through,” replied Varbu.

“From your fights the last few days, how strong do you think they are this time around? Anything we should look out for?” asked Tornok.

Varbu looked over at Akira questioningly to see if he had noticed anything unusual. Akira shook his head since he was unfamiliar with the goblins he could not tell what was normal and what was not.

“Their strength and strategy is the same as normal. Always relying on numbers instead of power and precision. There is nothing else to report,” said Varbu.

“Good, the army will start our attack at first light. The army will take over the job of protecting the palisade. You two and the troops under your command will stay in the fort and provide support for the army. You can rest while we push the goblins out of our mountains.”

***

Akira and Varbu watched from the wall of the fort as the Orc army prepared for the battle that would start in a few hours.

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The tents were already placed down clinging to the sides of the mountain leaving only a small a path through the middle for the soldiers to travel easily. Snow was already covering the tents helping disguise them.

Two large catapults were being half dragged half pulled down the path towards the front line of defenses in order to get into a better spot to shoot the enemy.

Wagons full of stones of all sizes followed behind the catapults ready to be used as ammunition.

The catapults looked very crude. Akira was afraid they might break down after only a few uses.

The wooden palisade that had been protecting the fort so well was being opened up more in order to allow for the Orcs to easily pass through.

***

When dawn’s early light reached the mountain pass the goblins that were forming up to begin a massed assault on the fort’s defenses, could see the large force of Orcs moving on the opposite side of the battlefield. They started to screech in anger, they had missed their chance to push through easily and were now going to have to face a hard fight.

Their chatter soon changed into to screeches of pain as stones from the two catapults started to rain down on them.

Akira watched the large stones fly through the air and create a horrible sight of mangled goblin bodies as the stones plowed through multiple goblins. Some of the stones bounced off the ground a few times causing more death before coming to a stop somewhere in the crowded goblin army dying the snow red.

Instead of giving them a chance to organize Tornok ordered the catapults to continue firing as he ordered the 2000+ orc warriors who had already gotten into formation into a forward charge.

Akira and Varbu were unable to do anything but watch due to the goblins distance from the fort.

The goblins gave up on trying to get into any type of formation and just ran forward as a mob to attack the fast approaching army. As Akira watched he could not help but see how different each of the armies were.

The goblin riders separated themselves from the main army due to their speed and raced forward. They slammed into the large orcs at the front of the line causing both goblin and Orc to fall to the ground.

A few unlucky Orcs were gored from the boar’s tusk and then stabbed by the goblin riders.

A well-aimed stone from one of the catapults flew through the air and opened a large bloody gap behind it after decapitating a few goblin riders.

The goblin riders continued to run away and then charge forward, again and again, slowing the Orc army’s advance only slightly.

The goblins and Orc archers started to shoot arrows into the air creating a deadly hail that wounded many on both sides, even with the goblins poor aiming there were too many warriors in the large mountain pass to not hit something. The mountain pass looked so small and cramped with the thousands of warriors from both sides rushing towards each other.

It only took a few minutes before the two armies finally clashed but it felt like he had been waiting for hours.

Although the Orcs were outnumbered by close to a thousand they were able to show their strength by plowing through the goblins that step in front of them.

The goblins were not immediately pushed back and were able to hold the Orcs off by fighting crazily as if they were insane and cared not for their lives.

It did not last for long as the catapults and arrows continued to wreak havoc in the back lines of the goblin mob. The Orcs were able to slice their way through the first few front ranks of the goblins. Forcing them to retreat a few steps at a time in order to not be split.

Akira was amazed at Tornok who was easily killing anyone that got in front of him. But that was not what shocked him it was that he was the leader of the orcs and was fighting on the front lines along with the other orc warriors.

He was used to kings and high ranking generals giving orders from the rear and not fighting if they didn’t have to.

Due to the overwhelming power shown by the orc warriors the goblin army who had been near the middle of the mountain pass between the fort and their camp, were now being continuously pushed back. The rate of their retreat was starting to happen faster and faster.

When the goblins were forced back into their camp the orcs did not stop pushing forwards and continued to push the goblins past their own tents and supplies.

The orcs in the rear began to destroy the tents and other equipment the goblins had left. Thus crippling the goblin army.

King Gobgob saw what was happening and ordered a full retreat he made sure to quickly leave the battlefield first while under the protection of his royal guards.

***

The orc army did not immediately follow the retreating goblins. They were resting for a short time while the officers were at the fort talking strategy.

“Warrior chief Tornok, if you can take care of the main goblin army then I should have no problem protecting the pass from any stray goblin force that may try to sneak around you,” said Murb.

“Very well, I’ll leave Varbu and Akira here as an added support just in case,” said Tornok.

Knock! Knock!

Without warning the door to the meeting room was open after the hurried knocks. Tornok’s personal aide rushed into the room.

“Urgent news! We just received a message that a small goblin army of 400 was sighted near the exit of the Deeth pass. The reports say they looked a little ragged from passing through the dangerous pass. It seems their intended target is the capital of Orcrock. What are your orders chief?” asked the aide.

“Send a message to the city guard that they are to keep on high alert and hold them off until reinforcements arrive,” said Tornok.

“Right away sir!” said the Aide before exiting the room just as quickly as he had entered.

“Change of plans. Murb, you will have to hold the fort with your 300 + warriors. Varbu and Akira, you are to take 200 orcs with you and march nonstop until you are able to reach the city. The goblins will most likely reach it first. There is no need to worry about the city as it has strong defenses. I left a sizable number of warriors to defend against any such attack. With your help, the small goblin army will be destroyed easily. It should be less dangerous there than chasing the main army,” said Tornok.

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Ding!

Reinforce Orcrock:

Chief Tornok has given you an order to head to Orcrock and destroy the small goblin army attacking it.

Difficulty: D

Reward: Unknown 

Will you accept?

Yes / No

“I will not fail you,” said Varbu thumping his chest in a salute.

“I will do my best to support Varbu,” said Akira.

“Good, I must chase down the ignorant King Gobgob and force him out of our lands. Now go every moment counts,” ordered Tornok.

***

“Gi! Giiii giiiigiii giiigii!,” screamed an angry goblin commander of the small army that was heading towards the city of Orcrock.

His anger was directed at the small group of unknown powerful people wearing black clothes. King Gobgob had ordered him to follow their orders as it was an important mission for the goblin race.

The strong people ignored the small goblin and continued to talk amongst themselves. Even if they wanted to listen to the goblin, they did not speak gibberish. So how could they know what the goblin was saying?

“Why the crap were there so many damn dangerous monsters living in the Deeth pass? Didn’t you say that it would be easy to pass through?” asked the leader of the group.

“The map shows that it is the shortest route to the capital other than the main passage. How was I supposed to know it was infested with so many monsters?” said one of the strong people defensively pointing at the pass on the map.

“Due to your blunder, we lost 200 goblins. We only have just under 400 left some of them are wounded, and Knute died as well weakening our forces again. This is not going well for us,” said the leader angrily.

“We can still complete our plan with the number we have.”

“We need him alive, can we do it with the numbers we have?”

“He will be alive, sorta.”

“You better be right, or we will all wish we had died.”

***

Akira could see the small Goblin army that was camped in front of the city of Orcrock from his hiding place behind a large rock.

The nonstop march from fort Hardstone to Orcrock was cold and exhausting. The orc warriors were currently resting while hidden from the small goblin army.

“Is it me or does the number of goblins look smaller than the reports said?” Varbu asked Akira while watching the goblin camp.

“I only counted around 100 and they look like they were all wounded,” said Akira.

“The scouts were unable to find any traces of another group nearby. I think we should be able to destroy the goblins in front of us and join the warriors in the city before more are able to return,” said Varbu.

“When will we attack?” asked Akira while gazing at the goblins who were cooking food drinking and entertaining themselves.

“About another hour when the sun fully sets, we’ll be able to more easily approach them unnoticed. Everyone should be rested enough by then,” replied Varbu.

***

The moon was slowly rising into the sky above the warriors who were still hidden from view.

“Everyone you know what to do. We need to hit hard and fast to defeat the few goblins in front of us before reinforcements arrive,” whispered Varbu to officers that stood near him.

Each of them nodded their heads and hurried back to the warriors they were to command.

“Forward!” ordered Varbu.

As one they started to swiftly move from their hiding spots and started running towards the goblins camp.

- my thoughts:
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