An ugly, evil creature was swaggering through the night on a warg.
Its hideous, dirty teeth protruded from its lips, blood-stained rusty iron pieces were embedded in its flesh as armor and decoration, and its head was covered with sparse, withered hair.
This orc captain twitched his nose, raised the poorly maintained, rusty iron blade in his hand, and pointed it at the glowing tree not far ahead.
"I smell humans! Kill them all! Peel their skin, dig out their organs, eat their bodies! Then cut down that glowing tree and bring it back to Dol Guldur to offer to our master!"
The orc captain barked his commands in Orcish, excitedly and urgently, spitting foul-smelling saliva into the air.
"Ooooh-woo-woo--!"
Behind the orc captain, orc after orc rode their wargs past him, letting out excited roars.
They weren't afraid of revealing their presence because the orcs believed their voices would bring intimidation and fear to those humans, making them even more eager to see the startled expressions on the humans' faces when they saw them.
The orcs' mounts, the wargs, moved nimbly through the forest and ruined buildings, quickly reaching the edge of the Erdtree's illumination.
Then the wargs stopped, their sharp claws anxiously pawing at the ground, digging deep marks into the weed-covered dirt.
No matter how much the orcs riding them urged them on, they would not advance further.
This was because the wargs instinctively resisted the Erdtree's light, feeling disgust and nausea when close to it.
"Grrrrrrr--" The wargs growled low in their throats to each other, communicating in their own language.
Although the light would not harm them, for evil creatures like wargs, being illuminated by it was as disgusting as a human stepping in excrement.
Ultimately, the wargs' inner evil and desire for slaughter suppressed their revulsion, and they charged forward with angry roars.
This anger was directed both at the humans who planted the tree and as a threat to the orc captain.
If, after the slaughter, the wargs didn't get enough human flesh to satisfy their hunger, then the orc captain would have to make up the difference.
Seeing the wargs continue to carry them forward, the orcs raised their rusty blades, swords, and axes, letting out howls once more.
They also heard the howls of their companions moving from the north, growing closer, which made the orcs realize they were about to collide with another orc night raid party.
"Faster, accelerate! Don't let the orcs from the north steal our food!" The orc captain, following the main force, heard the sounds from the north and raised his voice.
There was no concept of "cooperation and win-win" among Orcs; they only believed that another group of orcs was coming to snatch their kills.
The orc captain even pondered that if those humans were killed by the northern orc companions first, he would snatch the human corpses from them and then create a scene where the northern orcs died accidentally.
However, this thought quickly dissipated from the orc captain's mind, replaced by the image of a tall, white, one-armed figure.
If It knew what he had done, he would surely be killed and fed to the wargs.
The orc captain swallowed, the fear of that figure in his mind suppressing his petty thoughts, and he instead directed his brutality and frustration at those humans.
He wanted the humans around that glowing tree to feel his terror.
"Awooo--"
"Ooooh-ooooh-ooooh--"
The sounds of orcs and wargs coming from the north made the orc captain, who was still some distance from the Erdtree, increasingly agitated, meaning they would fight the humans before he would.
"Aw-aw-aw-aw-aw-woo… aw?"
But soon, the warg cries carried on the air changed from excited roars to confusion.
Just as the orc captain wondered what had happened to the other orc night raid party, he saw flashes of sky-blue light in the north, followed by the screams of orcs and the whimpers of wargs.
If it had been just one or two screams, the orc captain would have simply thought it was humans making futile resistance.
But when these sounds came in unison, in a large area, even the slightly more intelligent orc captain among a group of foolish orcs felt that something was wrong.
"Slow the march! Stop!" The orc captain immediately realized something was amiss and roared at the main force ahead.
But the wargs, already angered by the Erdtree's light, completely ignored the orc captain, especially since a human in armor had appeared before them.
This also caused the orcs on the wargs' backs, who already had little reason, to burn away what little rationality they had left the moment they saw Arthur, urging their wargs to speed up.
Then the orc captain saw from afar the other side throwing several clay pot-like objects at the orcs in the very front--
"Sizzle--!"
Just like the scene when he helped Thorin before, the orcs and wargs had no idea how terrifying the destructive power of the thunderbolts Arthur threw was, and this time the results were even greater.
Because when the wargs saw Arthur, they all converged on him.
Three thunderbolts, and the five wargs at the very front along with the orcs on their backs were directly blasted into charred corpses by the golden lightning, emitting the disgusting smell of burnt protein, while the rapidly spreading lightning aftershocks severely wounded and paralyzed seven orc warg riders.
This night raid squad immediately halted its charge, and the wargs beneath the orcs' crotches were also startled by the thunderbolts.
The orc captain was the same, but he waited a few seconds, and after realizing Arthur hadn't taken out any more of those clay pots, he immediately roared in anger: "He doesn't have those strange clay pots anymore, you cowards, idiots! Go on! Those with bows, shoot your arrows!"
The orcs heard their captain's command, and then they looked at each other, cautiously surrounding him.
Arthur counted the enemies before him, including the captain hiding behind giving orders, there were still 11 enemies remaining.
It was a pity. If he had thrown a [Ancient Dragon thunderbolt] just now, the destructive effect would have been even better.
It's just that he hadn't made many Ancient Dragon thunderbolts back in The Lands Between, and those he did make had long been used up.
Perhaps after dealing with this group of orcs, he should check his backpack for materials to make other throwing pots, and make more just in case.
Arthur thought to himself as he pulled out a long spear.
This spear had three spearheads, so while it looked like a spear, it was more like a giant pitchfork.
However, anyone who saw this spear would not mistake it for a comically large pitchfork, not only because of the exquisitely crafted golden shaft connecting the spearheads, but also because of the ominous three spearheads that seemed to have blood burning on them at any moment.
When facing a large group of enemies, Arthur had many ways to eliminate them.
Whether it was Battle Skills, magic, or Prayers, he could use them with ease.
It was still the same thing; before, he was worried about running out of his magic, so he chose to use a greatsword to physically expel the orc squad attacking him.
But now, behind Arthur was the Erdtree, and Rogier had just told him that the magic consumed by injecting cuckoo glintstone was gradually recovering, which meant that as long as he was within the range illuminated by the Erdtree, Arthur would no longer fear running out of magic and being unable to replenish it.
In other words, many methods Arthur previously dared not use could now be unleashed within the territory of the Erdtree.
There were many weapons that could be used to clear out minor enemies, such as Godslayer's Greatsword, or Starscourge Greatsword.
However, whether it was the golden waves released by the former or the gravity magic released by the latter, both would cause relatively severe damage to the ground, which was not conducive to his later construction of houses and other facilities here.
So Arthur chose Morgwyn's Sacred Spear, which caused less destructive effect on the ground while inflicting fatal and physically unblockable damage to enemies.
The orcs saw Arthur pull out a huge trident as if by magic, and instead of being surprised, they were pleased, believing that Arthur indeed had no more of those thunderbolts, so they swarmed forward.
In their limited understanding, users of such long-handled weapons, without the protection of a front-line guard, would find it difficult to display their skills once they got close and entangled with the opponent, ultimately becoming prey to their blades.
Through the visor of Arthur's helmet, his eyes could clearly see the messy brown short fur on the warg pouncing at the very front, as well as the grinning expression with exposed teeth on the orc's back.
The next moment, Arthur raised his hand and blew the whistle in his hand; Torrent, whose body was much larger and sturdier than a warg's, appeared, and the horse reared its front hooves and kicked the warg's head fiercely.
"Crack."
The warg didn't even let out a whimper; the sound of its neck breaking was clearly audible. It was kicked askew by Torrent, lost consciousness, and fell to Arthur's side due to inertia, along with the orc on its back.
Arthur didn't even look at the warg's corpse or the orc trapped beneath it; he directly flipped onto Torrent and actively initiated a counter-charge in the direction of the orc captain.
He didn't hate the orc captain much; it was simply because the opponent... how should Arthur describe him? Cautious? Cowardly?
In any case, this orc captain was not within the killing range of Morgwyn's Sacred Spear's Battle Skill, so Arthur needed to get close to him.
As for whether other orcs or wargs would abandon him and run towards the Erdtree, Arthur was not worried.
Not to mention that he had arranged for Rogier to be the last line of defense in the rear for safety; judging from the behavior of the orcs and wargs that had attacked him before, they didn't seem to have such complex thoughts in their minds.
The enemy was right in front of them; they would only relentlessly pursue the prey in front of them until they died or a higher-ranking orc gave a command.
Arthur had made a discovery during the previous attack: once the captain commanding this group of orcs was killed, the remaining orcs would fall into a state of disarray.
Some continued to attack him, some immediately fled, and some even fought among themselves.
The wondrous diversity of the orc species truly opened Arthur's eyes.
And this was why Arthur charged towards the orc captain; as the saying goes, shoot the horse first, capture the leader first.
Since he knew that killing their captain would severely cripple their morale, he would do it.
The orc captain saw Arthur not retreating but advancing, actively delving into the orcs' encirclement, and immediately bared his teeth, revealing a ferocious grin.
He roared, "Chop him to pieces!"
The surrounding orcs let out strange cries under their captain's roar; the orcs and wargs that were originally at the very front turned around and blocked Arthur's retreat.
"You idiots, quickly shoot your arrows!"
The orc captain continued to roar at several orcs with shortbows on their backs, who were blocked by other orcs outside. These orcs fumbled to take down their shortbows and reached for their quivers.
But before they could even touch an arrow, they heard the human warrior on horseback raise his spear high with both hands, as if stabbing into the air.
Then, in the disbelieving eyes of all the orcs and wargs surrounding Arthur, the three spearheads of Morgwyn's Sacred Spear spontaneously ignited with blood-red flames, like fresh blood, radiating a crimson light.
This crimson light momentarily suppressed the radiance of the Erdtree, and all the surrounding orcs were enveloped by this ominous crimson light.
The orc captain felt his skin being cut by invisible, sharp instruments, and intense pain arose from within his body. His skin showed one neat wound after another, from which his foul black blood flowed.
In the orc captain's eyes, dilated with fear, he saw that the black blood flowing from the wounds on his skin actually began to burn with the same scarlet blood-flame as the light from the spear in the human's hand.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah — — — — — —!!!"
The next moment, heart-wrenching, soul-piercing pain transmitted through the pain nerves to the brain, but the brain, which should have gone into protective shock, remained conscious under that ominous crimson light, causing the orc captain to emit inhuman cries of agony, and all the surrounding orcs and wargs radiated by the red light to let out chilling screams.
It was as if someone was slowly dismembering their bodies, draining their blood.
The wargs whimpered in pain, stopped their charge towards Arthur, and shook off the orcs on their backs.
The orcs thrown off either clutched their heads and slammed them into the ground until their heads were flattened, or, unable to bear the pain, trembling, plunged their knives into their own bodies to end their suffering.
And the instigator of all this, Arthur, was completely unmoved by the surrounding screams, continuing to raise his spear and make two feigned thrusts towards the sky, as if performing a prayer ritual.
With each thrust, the red light became more vivid, and the sky, seemingly pierced by the spear tip, gushed out a large amount of blood like a burst blood bag, falling like a waterfall.
Until the third thrust ended, the bodies of the surrounding orcs and wargs simultaneously burst with blood, like water bags filled with water being cut in half.
They lost their lives, dying weakly, powerlessly, and worthless on this land.
Arthur retrieved Morgwyn's Sacred Spear, and after confirming that all enemies in this area were dead, he rode Torrent swiftly towards the north where Nepheli Loux and Gandalf were located.