Chapter 55: Attack! (Please Keep Reading!)

Chapter 55: Attack! (Please follow and read!)

"Nothing happened last night, did it?"

Li Wei asked mainly because in his dream many had been killed by nightmares—he worried it might affect reality.

Gu Ze shook his head. "Nothing serious. But lots of people couldn't sleep well, startled awake by nightmares in the middle of the night, making noises now and then. Kept me up all night."

Hearing this, Li Wei instinctively turned to look at George.

George was leaning against a nearby cart, eyes closed in apparent rest—catching up on sleep after a restless night.

Gu Ze glanced at Li Wei and smiled. "You slept soundly though. Aren’t you afraid at all?"

"Haha…"

Li Wei chuckled twice, offering no reply.

The march was dull. One couldn’t leave the formation to do anything meaningful.

After exhausting his mental energy practicing spells, Li Wei could only sit on the cart and gaze at the scenery.

Spring sunlight shimmered, greenery flourished, life surged vibrantly across the land.

Winter had passed two months ago, and the earth had once again donned a cloak of verdant renewal.

Clippity-clop!

Hooves approached, but Li Wei paid no mind.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The clash of swords, shields, and armor rang out.

"Li Wei."

At the call of his name, he instinctively turned.

A fully armed knight rode alongside the cart on a warhorse.

He stared for a moment, then hesitantly asked, "Leina?"

Click!

Leina flipped open her visor, revealing her face.

She smiled. "Didn’t expect to see you here in this battle."

Seeing Leina, Li Wei felt genuine joy.

"Yeah, I didn’t expect it either."

"By the way, why wasn’t I able to find you yesterday?"

When they’d assembled yesterday, Li Wei had scanned the crowd for her, but found nothing.

Leina replied, "You forgot—I’m a War Knight. My master assigned me to lead troops. Yesterday I was busy getting to know my soldiers, so I didn’t come over."

"Today, my master put me in charge of escorting supplies—that’s why I finally have time to visit."

She looked at Li Wei seriously. "Li Wei, our duel will have to be postponed."

Puzzled, he asked, "Why?"

"My master has arranged an ascension ritual for me during this war. By its end, I may become a second-rank War Knight."

"And once I reach that rank, we’ll only be able to spar when you too become a second-rank mage."

Li Wei stared, astonished. "You’re about to break through to the second rank?"

Beside him, Gu Ze also turned in surprise.

Looking at Leina, his heart trembled with awe.

She’d just turned seventeen after the new year.

A second-rank knight at seventeen—truly terrifying!

Even Gu Ze couldn’t help but envy her monstrous talent as a knight.

Leina nodded. "Yes. After our last sparring match, I advanced to high first-rank."

"A month ago, I reached the peak of the first rank. Progress slowed to a crawl since then."

Li Wei couldn’t suppress his own envy.

Such rapid advancement—wasn’t it simply too fast?

They chatted a while longer when a soldier came running.

"Commander, the High Commander summons you to the war council."

"I understand."

Leina acknowledged, then turned to Li Wei. "I must go. Duty calls."

"Mm."

She pulled down her visor and spurred her horse forward toward the main force.

She kept her face hidden because she was too young.

Her youth was a disadvantage—soldiers would find it harder to obey one so young, less likely to respect her authority. So she chose not to reveal her face.

Most soldiers preferred seasoned commanders—older leaders implied greater experience, lower chances of death on the battlefield.

Unless, of course, the commander was already familiar and trusted.

As the army drew closer to the frontlines, Li Wei began to witness the scars of war.

Along the way, he saw village after village reduced to ruins.

Fields trampled into barren wastelands.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In the distance, a thick column of black smoke rose into the sky.

Li Wei knew instantly—a village ravaged by orcs.

Orcs plundered everything: grain, humans, gold. Whatever they couldn’t carry, they destroyed without hesitation.

The army of Markeil Kingdom had halted the orcish horde, but could not stop scattered bands from slipping across the border.

It wasn’t usually formal orc armies that raided villages—it was stragglers, renegades.

Bandits. Thieves among the orcs.

If Markeil’s forces failed to hold back the main orc army, then it wouldn’t just be villages that were destroyed.

Leina returned to the supply corps, ordering her men to heighten vigilance.

Passing Li Wei, she warned, "Be careful. Orcs might be near."

"The Maple City army is large—small bands won’t dare attack us directly. But they might try to steal supplies."

With that, she rode off.

The Maple City column tightened formation, minimizing gaps between units to reduce vulnerability.

Boom! Boom!

Several logs and boulders tumbled down the hillside, blocking the road and severing the convoy’s front from its rear.

The burrowing beasts pulling the carts halted at the obstruction, bringing the entire column to a standstill.

Then came the clamor of battle cries.

Li Wei turned his head and saw—swarming down the slope like a dark tide—three or four hundred orcs charging wildly toward them.

Fewer than a hundred soldiers stood guard over the supply troops, hopelessly outnumbered.

Leina swiftly ordered her men to regroup, forming a defensive line facing the oncoming assault.

Allen the mage stepped forward. “Mages, assemble!”

Li Wei leapt down and ran to the gathering point of the fire mages.

“This,” Allen declared, “is an excellent chance to train our coordination.”

“Water mages—cast wide-area slowing spells!”

For a moment, silence. The mages hesitated, then scrambled into action.

“Freezing Rain!”

“Mist Veil!”

“Cloud Drizzle!”

A chaotic burst of magical light erupted across the battlefield. Rain fell here, hailstorm raged there, while thick fog blanketed the center, obscuring all figures within.

Worse still, most cast their spells where orcs clustered densely.

The result? A nightmarish patchwork: the heart of the field drenched in rain and hail, shrouded in impenetrable mist—while the flanks lay utterly untouched, bare and exposed.

The orcs, seeing the gap, simply veered around the chaos and surged forward along both sides.

Allen shook his head. “Fire mages—prepare to attack.”

“Do not concentrate your strikes. Spread your fire—cover as many enemies as possible.”

“Continuous long-range fireballs—launch!”

Li Wei glanced at his comrades. They cast slowly. Only after more than half had fired did he finally release a small, modest fireball of his own.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Fireballs rained down relentlessly—but from too great a distance, their accuracy was poor.

Some targeted the same foe, obliterating a single orc into ash and bone fragments, wasting immense power.

Despite the barrage, the orcs suffered little. Yet the sheer spectacle unnerved them.

Halfway through their charge, they faltered. Too many mages… far too many!

Panic seized the remaining horde. With shrill cries, they whirled and fled.

And just like that—the ambush collapsed before it truly began.

The soldiers hadn’t even drawn steel; the orcs were already gone.

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(End of Chapter)