Blood and flesh splattered all over the battlefield. A large number of soldiers were dying every second. The orc warrior that rushed up was also killed by a few human soldiers. Finally, after more than two hours of fierce battle, the orcs retreated, leaving more than two thousand dead bodies behind.
The soldiers of the Blackstone Fortress finally let out a sigh of relief. They were all exhausted after a whole day of fighting. Gavin stretched his sore shoulders while the guards next to him bandaged his wounds.
The soldiers who came to relieve the soldiers who had just fought took the place of Gavin. After resting for a while, Gavin walked down the wall with his servants and headed back to the castle.
"I've heard about Sir Gavin's fighting style when I was in Calt City. I thought it was just an exaggeration, but after seeing it today, Sir Gavin is even braver than the rumors say!" Count Wayne exclaimed. He personally understood the situation on the battlefield today. The ferocity of the orcs shocked him. Most of the captains on the wall began to ask for reinforcements in the middle of the battle. Gavin was the only one who led his men and did not retreat.
He didn't ask for reinforcements even once. At the same time, his soldiers suffered the least casualties, but they achieved the greatest results. They killed more than 500 orc soldiers in the section of the wall they defended, including several orc warriors.
"Sir Wayne, thank you for the compliment." Gavin forced a smile and said, "You've seen the difference between us and the orc army today. Without the protection of the wall, we are no match for the orcs."
"More importantly, according to our intelligence, there are at least a hundred thousand orcs this time. We only have less than fifty thousand soldiers. It will be very difficult for us to defend the city with our strength. That's why I beg you to ask for reinforcements from the king immediately!"
"Also, we have lost four thousand men today, and the orcs have lost three thousand men. We can't win in a war of attrition!"
"Sir Gavin, I will ask for reinforcements from His Majesty," Count Wayne agreed after some consideration.
"But Gavin, you know that even if His Majesty agrees to send reinforcements, it will take at least a month for them to arrive. We can only rely on ourselves for this month. Do you have any ideas?"
"Sir, we can only hold on." After a moment of silence, Gavin said, "Let's ask the surrounding nobles for help first. They have quite a number of soldiers. Although they aren't elites, they should have no problem defending the city."
"Heh, do you think those nobles will be willing to send their troops here?" Count Wayne sneered. As a noble, he understood the intentions of those nobles. Even if the Blackstone Fort was in danger, those nobles wouldn't agree to send their private soldiers here.
Sometimes, even if they knew that danger was approaching, as long as it wasn't right in front of them, these nobles wouldn't care. You could say that they were short-sighted and didn't see the big picture. In fact, most nobles were like that. They had their own castles and their own soldiers. Most of the time, they believed in themselves more.
"Even if we don't hire a private army, we can still hire new soldiers. We need a lot of manpower. They won't know how to use weapons, but they can at least carry rocks and boil water. As long as they are still healthy, we can just ask them to throw rocks into the water!" Gavin said.
"Gavin, if you do that, the soldiers might suffer heavy casualties in the end!" Wayne's heart skipped a beat, and he said with difficulty. Those untrained soldiers might sound nice, but they were actually farmers. The farmers had less than a ten percent chance of surviving on the battlefield.
"Do you have a better idea, sir?" Gavin asked.
Wayne opened his mouth. He didn't have a better idea, either.
"Let's do it then!" Wayne quickly recovered. He clenched his teeth and nodded in agreement.
"For the sake of the Blackstone Fort, these sacrifices are worth it!"
"By the way, I heard there's a human city in the wasteland, right?" Wayne suddenly thought of something.
Gavin nodded and said, "You're talking about Northtown City, right? That human city was built by a young noble who bought the Land Expansion Order last year. It's a place rich in sugar and rum."
"How strong are they?" Wayne asked, his eyes glowing.
Gavin hesitated for a moment and said, "They're quite strong. I heard from the merchants who went there that they defeated goblins, kobolds, gnolls, and even the orcs."
"But I've never been there myself, so I think it's a bit exaggerated. How could they possibly defeat the orcs when it was just built a year ago? I think the lord of the settlement was just boasting. That being said, they should be quite strong since they were able to hold their ground in the wasteland for more than a year."
"That's great!" Wayne's eyes glowed when he heard the word 'strong'. He immediately filtered out the first half of his sentence, "If that's the case, let's ask the lord of the settlement for help. Didn't he want a territory and become a noble? If he helps us defeat the orcs, I'll recommend him to the king. Not only will he be given a title, he'll even be given a land! "
"Alright, I'll send someone to contact Northtown City," Gavin shrugged and agreed. In his opinion, even if Northtown City agreed to help, the army they sent out would not be very strong. As for Duke Wayne's promise, it was fine to just listen to him.
Nobles had always been like this. If Northtown City dared to take the initiative to attack, Gavin believed that the lord of the settlement would not be able to wait until the end of the war. Once the lord of the settlement attacked, he would not even be able to withstand the first wave of attacks from the orcs.
Under the cover of the night, Gavin picked a few knights and quietly left the fortress. They then moved northeast. The orcs did not block the fortress. After all, there were mountains on both sides of the fortress. It was impossible to surround it. The orcs' camp was not close to the fortress. They also had to prevent the human knights from ambushing them during the night.
The next day, the orcs began to move out again as soon as the sun rose. This time, the orcs pushed the siege weapons that they had built overnight to attack the fortress. However, the number of siege weapons was reduced by half compared to the previous day.
However, the battle today was even more intense than the previous day. This time, the orcs sent out even more soldiers to attack the fortress. They did not have enough siege towers and siege chariots, so they used ladders instead. These orcs did not care about casualties at all. Since the morning, more orcs had been climbing up the fortress walls.
"These damned orcs, are they crazy?" Gavin said as he wiped the blood off his face after killing the last orc on the wall with a single slash.
"At this rate, we won't be able to last more than thirty days!"
"The orcs are panicking!" Duke Wayne looked at the orcs that had temporarily retreated. The other orc army in the distance was already ready.
"They don't care about casualties, and they're taking turns to attack us. This method is putting a lot of pressure on us, but the orcs are not having it easy either."
"Why do you think these orcs are so desperate?"
"Why?" Gavin looked at the orcs in the distance and sat down on the ground.
"I think it's because of food!"
"Food? You mean the orcs are running out of food? "Gavin's eyes lit up.
Wayne nodded and continued, "I've been observing for the past few days. There's very little cooking smoke in the orcs' camp. It's far from enough to feed so many orcs."
"Then we just have to hold on for a few days, and the orcs will retreat when they run out of food." Gavin stood up excitedly.
"It's not that simple!" Wayne shook his head and said, "Even if the orcs are running out of food, the pressure on us will be even greater."
"Without food, the orcs will go even crazier. They will desperately try to take down this place. There are huge amounts of food waiting to be harvested behind the Blackstone Fortress."
"The orcs will definitely attack us with all their might after they run out of food! That's why we're under even more pressure than before! "Duke Wayne said with a serious face.
"The closer they are to death, the crazier they will be. After the craziness comes silence, and the darkest moment comes before dawn!"
.....
The Northern Citadel was actively preparing for war. Suhlen was also very concerned about the orcs' attack. Even the Northern Citadel had to be careful when dealing with an army of over a hundred thousand orcs. The Eagle's Nest had also sent out many Harpies to investigate. Every movement of the orcs was recorded and reported to Suhlen.
Sheriff Harris was very busy during this period of time. He sent out all three hundred security guards to patrol the city twenty-four hours a day to prevent people from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble. The two thousand militia were also reorganized. These militia did not need to go to the battlefield. They just followed the security guards to maintain the stability of North Town City.
The army of the Northern Citadel had also been recalled. They would move out as soon as Suhlen gave the order.
Lord's Castle.
Suhlen tidied up a room and turned it into a war room. Other than those who had missions, the rest of the generals and heroes were all there. There was a giant sand table in the middle of the room. The sand table vividly marked out the locations of the Blackstone Citadel, the orc army, and the Northern Citadel.
"Who do you think will win in the end?" Suhlen asked the generals.
"I don't know." Boulder and Johnson looked at the sand table and then at Suhlen. They looked like they didn't know anything. Suhlen was not surprised by their reaction. He was already used to it.
Kane looked at the sand table for a while and said, "I think the orcs will win. Based on the previous reports, the Blackstone Citadel doesn't have many defenders. According to the orcs' strategy, the Blackstone Citadel won't be able to hold on."
"What about you?" Suhlen looked at Karina, Grace, and the others.
"I think the humans will win. After all, the orcs don't have much food …"
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