The Smell of a Trap

"My lord, we have a secured route for your troops to pass into the fortress." A messenger soldier met with Damian to inform him.

Damian smiled and said, "Then we will move. We were about to get comfortable here, but now that you mention it, we will depart."

There was not much difference; the fortress did not have magical shields, so it was equally vulnerable as spending the night in the forest.

"Where is Count Harden?"

"He was gravely wounded and poisoned."

"Will he recover?"

"We all hope so."

Harden's territory was built with a series of fortresses outside the main city, which had a magical shield. Normally, there were no shields in the northern zones, but there were three placed long ago by Flamme, the great mage.

But now, due to the war, the fortresses were falling one by one. Even though Damian brought reinforcements, many believed it wouldn't help, but that wasn't true.

After entering the city, Damian immediately led his soldiers to rest to recover and prepare for the next day's battle.

Most of the troops in Harden's territory were veterans with rich combat experience. Despite knowing they were going to face a brutal battle tomorrow, they acted indifferently and quickly fell asleep.

Veterans know that only by sleeping well today can they have energy for tomorrow.

Being in better shape during a fight can sometimes determine the outcome of a battle.

Although they are nervous and fear death in their hearts, they always show confidence outwardly.

Moreover, they have some special relaxation techniques; they joke among themselves and play games; and their resistance is much greater than that of the recruits, so they can sleep peacefully before the battle.

Seeing the veterans fall asleep, the recruits also relaxed a bit and fell asleep one after another in the middle of the night.

The sky brightens, and the sun rises in the east.

Damian suddenly heard the sound of a horn and immediately got out of bed and dressed quickly. He hurriedly climbed the city wall and looked up to find a dozen human captives tied outside the orc camp.

A group of men with lion heads held sharp knives and fiercely stabbed the prisoners' throats, causing large amounts of blood to gush out instantly.

Soon they separated the bones and flesh and threw everything into the cauldron to cook them.

Seeing this scene, Damian felt no fluctuation in his heart. He knew this was a way for the orcs to lower the defenders' morale.

Whether the defenders were scared by the orcs or enraged by them, it was beneficial for the orcs.

In a state of war, calmness is the first priority.

Without a calm mind, it's easy to fall into the enemy's trap.

"Bring me the heads of the young orcs, put their heads on a pike, and leave them at the top of the wall." Damian ordered some soldiers to be under his command.

Everyone was frightened when they saw the young orc heads, as orcs of that age and demons were rarely seen.

This restored the humans' courage, and when the orcs saw the heads of their offspring on pikes, many roared with anger, losing their peace of mind.

Damian had no morality against the enemy. It was either them or the demons, and everyone had to understand the need to be brutal, or they would be defeated.

When Azog the Defiler saw that Damian responded in kind and showed no weakness, he decided to act first to evaluate the strength of the enemy reinforcements.

In this battle, he decided to personally lead the team to attack the city. Azog took a heavy hammer weighing hundreds of kilograms, laughed wickedly, and suddenly advanced.

He hid under an attack cart with a ladder and easily defended himself against arrows.

The ladder had thick felt and a few centimeters of wood.

Damian began cutting their path with powerful magic, but he didn't want to exterminate all the enemies by himself, as his soldiers needed to learn how to fight and defend.

At the same time, the orc catapults also launched stone projectiles, suppressing the heavy catapults in the castle.

Neither side knew how to calculate ballistic trajectories, and they had no accuracy. The projectiles flew everywhere but did not hit key points.

Like novices hitting each other, after launching several rounds of stone bullets, Azog was close to the city wall.

He put the heavy hammer on his back, jumped from under the cart with a ladder, and took a few quick steps.

After approaching the city wall, he jumped and took two steps up the wall with the help of a powerful impact.

He reached out and grabbed the city wall's bulge. Azog roared angrily and climbed to the top of the city with all his strength.

After climbing the wall, Azog swung his hammer and struck the head of a soldier who was shooting arrows at the orcs below.

A loud bang was heard, and the heavy shield raised by the officer was dented, leaving a hole in the iron sheet.

The heavy hammer hit the officer's shoulder with such force that the bone shattered.

A miserable scream was heard, and the officer fell to the ground, groaning.

The soldiers stationed on the front line were under Count Harden's command. These soldiers were also considered elite and had fought many battles.

In no time, a dozen soldiers rushed forward, trying to kill their opponents with the strength of their numbers.

Unexpectedly, Azog's power surpassed all of them in physical combat.

With such powerful strength, the soldiers were hit like an adult hitting a child. They were no match for Azog, simply relying on the number of people to fight hand-to-hand.

Although the soldiers stabbed Azog with their spears several times, all were blocked by the orc's enchanted full-body armor.

Soon, Azog opened a breach.

Damian, seeing thousands of orcs advancing, looked towards the rear area and murmured, "In just a few moments, they will feel true terror; we will crush them at this point."

Damian's puppets were being directed towards the orc fortress—around sixty thousand puppets—who exterminated the orcs and demons of the fortress and then launched a counterattack from the rear.

The inhabitants were sent to the borders of his territory, so Damian did not hesitate to execute his plans.

In an instant, Damian launched nine fireballs. The nine fireballs fell on the demon army formation that appeared later, instantly killing and severely injuring sixteen demons.

Damian launched the super fireball, and the reinforcements from Harden's Territory also drew their bows and arrows, aiming at their enemies.

Especially the veterans of the First Squadron drew their angles and aimed at the demons, launching powerful spells.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

When they were hit with overwhelming force, all the orcs and demons were terrified.