Surviving The Fourth Calamity

Chapter 919: Chapter 715: The Horn of Battle Sounds Directly

The Mirar River and the bay have now transformed into thick layers of ice. Luskan, which originally needed defense on only two sides, now faces enemies from four directions.

Hill inspected Luskan’s city walls once more and finally discovered that two ice and snow walls stand at the part where the Mirar River flows into Luskan and at the estuary, only with a layer of stone added on the outermost part.

Hill had casually glanced over them earlier and was actually deceived.

It turns out they had considered future matters.

When spring blooms and Luskan reopens its water routes, these walls will probably melt into the sea.

And in winter, constructing such walls using ice is quite easy, even without the Undead Tribe present. Mages like Laila, who are high-level, can easily build them.

After circling Luskan again, Hill felt that Luskan indeed did not need him to do anything more.

Then Purwell returned to the cloud layer above the island where the Snow Palace was located and hovered there.

The Otherworldly Whale stubbornly demanded to stop at this place, wanting to always admire his beautiful reflection below.

Sitting on the terrace, Hill looked up towards the World’s Ridge, where white mountains towered into the clouds, and although the parts above the cloud had no snow, they were frozen for miles.

Hill had a feeling... it wouldn’t be long now.

It was an approaching hostility, a madness that even Natural Consciousness found suffocating. The half-orcs on the World’s Ridge were utterly irrational, created as weapons with no desire other than for hunger and reproduction.

They resembled the mindless magical beasts during Teraxil’s beast tide period but never had the day of regaining rationality.

These pitiful beings were originally created by Geush, God of the Orcs, to fight against the elves.

After the elves were completely defeated, they lost their usefulness and were abandoned on this barren mountain, struggling to survive under Dragon’s Claw.

Because some volatile and sullen real half-orcs, those children born of orcs and other races, couldn’t find a place to survive in the world... The orcs not only hated elves, they hated humans too.

These half-orcs eventually entered World’s Ridge.

The half-orcs’ tendency to obey the strong quickly made them rulers of various tribes. Under their constraint, the half-orcs of the World’s Ridge finally had some form of order.

But this also made them even more dangerous... When there is no food, all tribes would gather together, elect a recognized king, and under his leadership, attack the continent.

To these half-orcs, it’s either grabbing enough food or having enough of their kind die.

If only a small portion of half-orcs couldn’t get enough to eat, generally speaking, they would choose to attack the Ten Towns of Icewind Valley... After all, they’re a bit weaker.

But this year’s winter came too early and too quickly... certainly more than half of the half-orcs are hungry.

They will definitely choose to go south... Last time, they succeeded.

The place that used to be Agleya City was once a prosperous city state, ultimately becoming a sacrifice to the half-orcs’ mouths.

Why those undead couldn’t find peace with their deaths and poured into Baal’s temple, it was because their corpses turned into food for the half-orcs.

Witnessing such scenes firsthand, it’s hard not to blame them for their final state of wanting to retaliate against the world.

Unfortunately, Baal is not a good thing either. The fate of pouring their souls into that temple was becoming the fuel for the resurrection of the enemy.

However, wanting to make the North unsettling and letting Neverwinter City regret letting the half-orcs in, those obsessions were fulfilled quite well.

Neverwinter went from being one of the top cities in the North to its current half-dead form, largely due to the harm the Undead Swamp caused to passing caravans.

No longer wishing to dwell on past sorrows, Hill coldly gazed at the mountains below the cloud layer, and the goose feather snow falling from the clouds couldn’t obscure his vision... Those dirty grey heads occasionally peeked out.

Some half-orcs are already keeping an eye on Luskan.

Hill returned to the Magic Tower and instructed List to notify Lucy about the changes on the World’s Ridge, asking her to first inform the Temporal Artifact, and then wait for Laila and the others to finish watching the spectacle before telling them they could start working, and to go to their defensive posts and prepare.

Whether it’s Hill or the Undead Tribe, neither were too adapted to Toril’s rough combat style, so at least the shifts for rotating defenses must be arranged well, ensuring smooth transitions.

If any issues arise, how to compensate should all be prepared in advance.

Hill definitely doesn’t want any matter of not changing shifts or resting, engaging in months of combat relying purely on the willpower of some strong hero to happen in his city.

Heroes... should only exist in battles where the weak fight against the strong, while wars by strong people require order.

Hill flipped through his Magic Book, instructing List to notify him once the fighting started before quickly immersing himself in transcribing the Magic Book.

He knows himself well that once the battle begins, he would not resist going out to watch... Mm... Given the intensity of a war situation, it would be impossible to meet Fran’s requirement of just staying in the study for transcription unless there are major matters.

So make sure to copy more books quickly, so you can report back.

Hill’s days of burying himself in books without rest only lasted three days, until the sudden blare of the horn interrupted him: it was the signal for the start of war.

List suddenly appeared: ”Sir, the half-orcs have descended the mountain. The sentries say they’ve split up, and a portion is headed east, likely towards the dwarf city Mirabar.”

Are they going to enjoy the friction of dragons? That city is securely guarded under the claws of a Gem Dragon! Those half-orcs with their broken weapons can hardly harm the dragon scales.

Moreover, Mirabar is an underground city... half-orcs playing tunnel warfare with dwarves... it’s practically offering their heads for the dwarves to train their hammers.

Hill thought for a moment before saying, ”Send a warning signal to Mirabar to express our good intentions, and tell Laila that for similar matters, she doesn’t need to ask for my permission. As long as my interests aren’t harmed, she can choose to be kind.”

”Yes, Sir.” List quickly went off to contact Lucy.

Hill looked at the Magic Book in his hand, silently bowed his head, and decided to copy these last few dozen pages.

Rarely suppressing his curiosity, by the time Hill sat on the terrace, the battle had formally begun.

Similar in height to humans, but bulkier. The half-orcs, with tusks like wild boars, their slanted foreheads, jutting jaws, and rough, scar-filled skin clearly showed where their bloodline came from.

But except for those standing at the back, who were noticeably taller, stronger, and had peculiar patterns painted on them, all others, already charging towards the city walls, had only killing desire in their cloudy eyes.

Clearly, they aren’t normal people... Half-orcs are just low in intelligence, not completely devoid of it.

The battle scene was intense, yet Hill couldn’t help but let his face darken.

Real half-orcs used to always lead the charge, after all, finding the loopholes in the city walls and quickly exploiting them isn’t something those mentally abnormal half-orcs could do.

And opportunities in war are always fleeting.

Not to mention for Gewoosh, Chief Orc God, only the brave warriors who fight tirelessly and fearlessly are worthy of being taken to the orc’s dreamland—Orc Lands.

Orcs or half-orcs reaching there would no longer face threats of death or hunger; they just need to fight every day, and they will revive with full health by nightfall. If sufficiently outstanding, they might even be rewarded by Gewoosh’s divine power.

This time, however, they chose to stay outside the mages’ range, clearly not intending to engage in battle.

Currently, no deities can send messages... including Gewoosh; he wouldn’t send any messages to the half-orcs.

And the battle by the Undead Tribe on the Luskan side ended very quickly, so it’s unlikely the half-orcs saw much.

But these half-orcs clearly knew the limits of the spell range of the Undead Tribe, and initially, they had no opportunity at all.

Hill couldn’t help standing up to observe carefully, with such accurate judgment, surely a mage intervened, and their level definitely isn’t low.

”List,” Hill calmly called his Tower Spirit, ”inform Laila and the Undead Tribe that there is a mage helping on the opposite side.”

”Isn’t it the White Dragon?” List hesitantly asked.

Initially, they thought if the half-orcs really attacked, the most likely scenario was collaboration with the White Dragon in the mountains.

They alone, when hungry, might not necessarily beat the half-orc tribe.

Hill’s anger wasn’t strong, in any world there are traitors of such ilk, not to mention in Toril, there are plenty of non-human entities.

Hill planned to take a closer look, the White Dragon couldn’t possibly abstain from involvement... unless they plan to eat winter’s snow and ice as a meal.

”No...” the ugly head of the White Dragon was indeed absent.

Could it be because of those mages? The White Dragon, though foolish, has a keen perception.

It simply implies that the White Dragon thinks starving to death is better than collaborating with half-orcs.

Hill hesitated for a while, but the first enemy that came to mind was indeed Bane’s necromancer devotees...

Only they could survive in the environment like the thirty-foot freezing World’s Ridge.

Hill was silent for a few seconds, unsure whether to sympathize with Bane, though his largest Church Santarin on the continent has been destroyed, other smaller churches are still numerous.

Temporarily dormant... Compared to other deities who can give a little direction to believers, there’s surely no response from Bane.

But his necromancers, in this circumstance, the first reaction was actually to ally with half-orcs?

Indeed, those guys needed intelligent individuals to assist... And necromancers don’t arouse the appetites of those brainless half-orcs, making them genuinely suitable partners.

But from high and mighty rulers directly downgraded to primitive eaters... When Bane wakes again, will he accept these followers mixed with half-orcs?