Rise of the Horde

Chapter 54

The sound of the battle horn disturbed the supposed to be a tranquil silence of the night, the thumping sounds of foot and hooves, and the shout of the warriors.

Quickly Xiao Chen rose from his sit, he fell asleep on his table while thinking of how to stave off the upcoming attacks of their foes. The presence of a high-ranking demon on the battlefield wasn’t included in his previous plans.

His face full of worry, Xiao Chen sprinted towards the walls and caught sight of Trot’thar quickly descending from the watchtower.

“What did you see?”

Xiao Chen quickly asked as Trot ‘thar’s feet made contact with the ground.

“Goblins, chief!”

“Along with tall strange looking silhouettes behind them, probably trolls.”

Trot’thar reported as he and the chieftain headed towards the walls.

.....

Darkness was still enveloping the surroundings, and Xiao Chen can only spot vague silhouettes of their enemies. He panned his sight from left to right and he saw a rough outline of the enemy battle line.

The taurens, trolls and ogres didn’t have the same vision capability of the orcs who, despite the darkness, could still see fairly well. They had a hard time assembling their line, even with the help of the torches that they carried.

“Drae’ghanna be the vanguard of the ogres with your group?”

“Trot’thar, send your group to replace the taurens!”

Xiao Chen commanded. He needs to make sure that their defensive line will hold. The Vermilion Bird and Azure Dragon group quickly took position in front of the ogres and taurens.

After settling the best possible defensive line, Xiao Chen patiently waited for their foes to approach. He focused his ears on the movements of their enemies, he soon picked up an audible sound of their opponents charging forward in huge numbers.

Trot’thar, being the one with the best vision, started firing the weapon in his hands as soon as he saw their adversaries within the range of the enormous weapon in his hands.

A few moments later, the other huge crossbows also started firing, raining down lead and iron upon their enemies. Xiao Chen could make a rough outline of the taller creatures behind the goblins that Trot’thar suspected to be trolls.

And he was absolutely right, corrupted trolls were charging towards the walls carrying something on their shoulders. Straining his eyes as hard as he could, Xiao Chen finally had a clear sight of what the trolls were bringing forward.

“Shit... Ladders! They have got ladders!”

Xiao Chen shouted, alerting his warriors on the wall.

“Aim for the ones bearing the ladders!”

“Shooters! I need you here!”

Xiao Chen shouted commands rapidly, keeping a close eye on the progress of the trolls carrying the ladders.

Lead and iron, big and small, unceremoniously rained down on the trolls. They fell down in the most gruesome way as they got their bodies shattered and torn apart by the merciless storm of lead and iron.

Some ladders made it through and are quickly leaned on the walls as the trolls quickly scaled them. A ladder made of wood and vines was placed in front of Xiao Chen. Dropping his equipment down, he grabbed both rails of the ladder.

Xiao Chen’s gripped tightened upon the rails if the ladder as he pushed it forward, his muscles bulging and veins emerging at the weight of the ladder with trolls climbing on it.

He ducked down, narrowly evading the swing of a troll that made it to the top of the ladder, annoyed by Xiao Chen evading its strike, the troll threw his wooden club at Xiao Chen.

Xiao Chen’s head jerked back as the thrown wooden club squarely hit him in the face after raising his head back.

“Why you little!”

Xiao Chen grumbled unhappily, letting go of the rails of the ladder and grabbing the long tusk of the troll. With a powerful tug, he pulled the troll to the walls.

Still maintaining his hold on the troll, Xiao Chen slammed it down against the walls four times.

“Keokh!”

The poor troll gasped for air and groaned in pain after its tusk that Xiao Chen gripped broke off, sparing it from more slamming. Xiao Chen stared at the broken tusk on his hands, a wry smile crept up on his lips.

The groans of the troll near him caught his attention. Slowly, he moved his gaze towards it. Fear was apparent in the eyes of the troll. It was pleading for mercy.

Xiao Chen picked it up by the left leg and dangled the goblin in the air. A stone hit Xiao Chen at the back of his head, making his head jerked forward. He turned around and saw a troll staring at him with a stone in its hand.

He charged forward towards the troll who had its hands trembling upon noticing its limp kin on Xiao Chen’s gripped, with a full mighty swing, Xiao Chen slammed the limp troll in his hands against the troll that threw the stone at him.

He sent the two unfortunate trolls down the walls with a powerful momentum, bringing with them their brethren who were climbing up the ladder to the ground.

Xiao Chen then grabbed the rails of the ladder again and successfully toppled it with the absence of the trolls trying to scale it. He glanced left and right and saw trolls on the walls trying to push back his warriors.

He picked up his spear and started batting trolls away, left and right as he made a stride towards the first gateway. Blood, tusks, flesh and bones flew everywhere as Xiao Chen pummeled any troll that got in his way.

*****

“Don’t give an inch!”

“Push!”

Gur’kan bellowed as he led his group in repelling the combined efforts of the corrupted trolls and goblins. Spears were neatly pointing upwards behind the wall of spiked iron shields, skewering any troll or goblin that tried to be smart and jumped over the shields.

“Give them everything you got!”

“No mercy!”

Gur’kan kept on shouting as he rallied the warriors under him. The shooters made their presence known from time to time but most of their attention was on their foes with the ladders.

Xiao Chen observed the situation in the first gateway a little longer to make sure that they will hold the line without additional help from the others. Gur’kan caught sight of the chieftain atop the walls, watching as they fought off their foes.

“The chief is watching!”

“Don’t embarrass me!”

“Show what you have learned!”

Gur’kan yelled towards the surrounding warriors.

The orc warriors of the White Tiger group fought with more ferocity and vigor. They made a raised platform with their shields behind the vanguard that were repelling their foes.

Orc warriors climbed on top of the platforms made of shields and started throwing spears at their enemies. Gur’kan looked up to the chieftain, who was watching them with a proud smile on his face.

Xiao Chen acknowledged Gur’kan and the White Tiger’s efforts in creating new ways to repel their foes with a nod.

*****

Chaos was all over the place, on the walls and on the ground. Corpses, limbs, bones, blood and guts are littered everywhere. Xiao Chen felt his arms going numb after swinging it many times. His breathing was already ragged, but he must keep on fighting.

The early rays of the sun finally peaked over behind the mountains, giving the much-needed light and warmth to the dark and cold battle occurring. The taurens looked up to the sky that was slowly getting brighter and brighter; they had waited for so long.

Upon noticing that the surroundings became brighter, Xiao Chen inched forward towards the edge of the walls. There he saw a still huge number of enemies trampling over the corpses.

Xiao Chen made huge strides towards the Trot’thar who had the battle horn strapped on his back. A corrupted goblin charged towards Xiao Chen when he was facing the other way.

He gave a glanced towards the goblin behind him. The goblin leaped towards Xiao Chen’s back with a crude dagger on his hands. Xiao Chen gave the fallen goblin a mighty back hand slap and sent it flying off the walls.

He was already so tired that he got no time to entertain his foes properly. Casting the Haste spell on himself, Xiao Chen picked up a shield and sprinted forward.

“Coming through!”

He shouted. The orc warriors and shooters got out of his path quickly as he rammed through the goblins and trolls, knocking them away.

After arriving behind Trot’thar, Xiao Chen threw his shield towards a troll who just made its way up the ladder, sending it back down on the ground with a crash.

Xiao Chen blew hard on the battle horn, catching the attention of his warriors.

“Taurens and Ogres!”

“Prepare to engage!”

“Orc warriors, disengage!”

He shouted, and slowly the taurens and ogres made their way to the frontline while the orc warriors slowly retreated and made way for them.