"Do you hear that sound?"
"Aye, I hear it... the howling of wargs and the crude cries of orcs."
The wind bore their savage clamor across the wild lands.
But within these walls, silence reigned.
To be honest, despite all the preparations, Levi still felt somewhat anxious.
Unlike the Ranger beside him, he hadn't seen many such scenes. At the thought of an orc cavalry squad charging toward them, he still felt somewhat intimidated.
A hundred orcs, dozens of cavalry... it didn't sound like much, but formed in a circle, they would be more than enough to surround just two people completely.
Looking at the five stacks of iron blocks in his backpack, Levi felt some regret. He should have bought some pumpkins back in Bree... then he could have tried to see if he could summon iron golems.
"Roar!"
A beast's roar rang out, startling him into looking up.
"Here they come," Faradon said.
The two hid behind the wall's cover, staring intently in the direction of the sound.
Rustle rustle.
"Kill!"
The clamor gradually approached. A small patch of shadows burst from the bushes, exposed under moonlight. First came dozens of wargs charging forward in formation, with orcs on their backs waving weapons, heading straight for the walls with fierce momentum... their speed no slower than horses.
Seeing the enemy approach within range, Faradon picked up his bow and drew an arrow.
Swoosh...
One arrow precisely hit the warg charging at the front. The warg died instantly, and the orc riding it fell off, eating a mouthful of dirt.
Another arrow pierced through an orc's head, causing it to fall directly to the ground, motionless.
Under Faradon's precise shooting, by the time the cavalry squad reached the walls, three wargs had lost their riders and two wargs had died. However, the remaining cavalry showed no fear... instead, they were aroused to ferocity by the smell of blood. Seeing that there were only two people on the walls, they became even more vicious, with several orcs even laughing out loud.
Of course, even with only two defenders, the smooth stone wall over ten meters high couldn't be crossed in one go. Soon the warg riders at the front were frustrated, trying many times without being able to climb up, and had to retreat to regroup.
"Grargh! The intelligence was worthless! What maggot-brained fool said the wargs could leap this cursed wall!"
"When I last spied this place, the wall stood but half this height!"
The scout orc in the group hurriedly explained.
"You useless fool!"
Having been frustrated at the walls, this orc squad immediately activated their traditional skill: infighting.
Faradon tried to continue drawing his bow for output, but by now the orcs were on guard, already watching for threats from above. Several archers aimed at Faradon's position and shot, forcing him to retreat temporarily and move inside the wall, using the arrow slits prepared beforehand for sneak attacks.
However, after just a few more cavalry fell, these arrow slits were also discovered and quickly lost their effectiveness.
Levi quietly peered outside and saw that the entire squad had gathered beneath the walls.
At this moment, both attack and defense had reached a stalemate... the attackers couldn't break through, while the defenders lacked sufficient firepower to make any real impact.
The orcs outside the walls had no choice but to jeer and curse loudly. However, these insults couldn't shake him in the slightest. After listening for a while, Levi even found these orcs quite talented... they had considerable literary flair in their cursing, with one witty remark after another, using various sentence structures, rhetorical devices, and metaphors.
However, compared to the poetry-like, devastating verbal attacks of internet veterans in Levi's memory, their vocabulary still seemed too limited.
"A bunch of scum!"
In the midst of the cursing, a furious roar suddenly came from behind.
A burly orc over three meters tall, wielding a great axe, arrived at the walls with the main force. He casually shoved aside the cavalry in his way, his strength so great that he knocked over both warg and rider with one push.
"Aha, look what I found... trash that only knows how to hide behind walls, little worms!"
However, the first thing this orc leader did upon arrival was still to point at the walls and curse loudly.
"Cowards, weaklings!"
"Cowards, weaklings!" The orcs behind him joined in the jeering.
In a normal siege, failing to organize a counterattack at this point would definitely damage morale.
But Levi's side had only two people total. A hundred of you attacking two of us, and you call us cowards...?
If you're so tough, let's duel!
He couldn't help but complain internally.
However, the orc leader didn't care what they thought. After casually blocking a sneak attack arrow with his axe, he roared toward the back, "Bring it up!"
Thud!
Amid the commotion, several orcs struggled to carry over a massive wooden battering ram thicker than their own bodies, while this burly orc leader over three meters tall picked up the ram with just one hand.
Then he slammed it fiercely toward the gate.
Thud!
First strike... the wooden door cracked.
Thud!
Second strike... the wooden door deformed directly and looked ready to collapse.
Outside the walls, cheering had already begun in anticipation, preparing to rush in en masse to kill, plunder, and occupy the castle.
However, Levi remained calm.
Thud!
After just the third strike, the small gate made of wooden palisades and wooden doors completely shattered. But just as the orcs prepared to surge in, they were dumbfounded.
Behind that wooden door stood a stone wall three meters thick.
The orc leader was so angry that smoke came from his nostrils as he glared furiously at the two people hiding on the walls.
"Want to get in? No way!" Levi popped his head up and shouted, immediately drawing seven or eight arrows, frightening him into quickly ducking back down.
Seeing that the intelligence was wrong, the siege had failed, and several warg riders on their side had been killed, the leader cursed viciously for a while before suddenly waving his hand. "We're leaving!"
Then he led the hundred or so orcs back into the forest.
"They're retreating just like that?" Levi was somewhat surprised. They gave up too quickly... discovering they couldn't break through and just running away? He hadn't even made his move yet.
"No... they haven't left."
Faradon took this opportunity to come over, pointing in a direction for him to look.
Thud!
A thunderous sound rang out as a tree crashed to the ground and was slowly dragged away.
Before long, there was another tremor as several more trees fell in succession.
Even someone as slow as Levi now realized that the orcs seemed to be... making something on the spot?
Clang clang clang sounds of hammering came from the distant forest.
"Ladders," Faradon said. "They're making siege ladders."
He seemed somewhat surprised.
They had such skills?
Faradon, however, looked completely unsurprised.
Obviously seeing Levi's confusion, he explained, "Don't underestimate those orcs, Levi. Even though they're crude and evil, their craftsmanship in making armor and weapons never falls short of humans. What ordinary armies can do, they can do too."
After all, their master behind the scenes was that Dark Lord... Sauron, who could create things like the Ring and was skilled in the arts of forging.
"I see," Levi understood.
"No, I have to stop them."
"You plan to leave the castle?"
He nodded.
"I won't just sit and watch those orcs finish making their equipment."
"Too dangerous. I don't really approve."
Levi smiled.
Ranger, you know nothing about Minecraft players.
"Don't worry."
He came down from the walls, entered the castle, and took all the sulfur and saltpeter from the mineral chest, placing them together with charcoal on the crafting table.
1 Sulfur + 1 Saltpeter + 1 Charcoal = 3 Gunpowder.
5 Gunpowder + 4 Sand = TNT.
After using up all the gunpowder, Levi's backpack contained a full twenty TNT blocks.
"Have you ever heard of aerial bombardment?"
[Chapter Complete]
***
Want more? Check out my Patreon for:
✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories
✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics
✓ Early access content www.patreon.com/meowthtl
💪 Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter!
Thanks for reading and supporting the story!