Rise of the Horde

It was still early in the morning; the sun had yet to show a glimpse of its majesty. The surroundings were still a bit dark, but this did not affect the orcs at all. They quickly got into battle formation.

"Let's wake them up," Khao'khen smirked. He took a quick glance at the First Kanikarr Corps, who were waiting for his command. "Give them a wake-up call, Fire!" the chieftain ordered.

"Gotcha, chief!" the leader of the corps responded with a smirk. "Let's git em gud…" laughter broke out among the trolls. A series of loud thuds from the siege weapons later and enormous rocks began soaring through the air.

The enemy soldiers who were on the walls were forcefully woken up by the impact of the attack. Alarmed and shocked, they took a peek at what was happening. The walls that they were on trembled from the impact of the rocks.

"Fortify your positions!" the commanders who were on the walls shouted. They were trying their best to calm their men down. "Inform Sir Barika that the orcs are launching a new attack!" one commander shouted.

The Yurakks and the Verakhs watched the rain of rocks. A frown was written all over their face since they knew that there wouldn't be a real attack at all. They just formed their battle formation to deceive their foes into thinking that they really were going to attack.

"What is going on out there?" Barika came out of his quarters all grumpy and still half asleep. He was aroused from his sleep while having a nice dream. "Oh sh*t," he cursed, then ducked out of the way. The door that he just come out of was smashed into pieces by a rock.

"Commander! Are you alright?" a soldier came to assist Barika, who was still in his sleeping clothes. "The orcs are preparing to launch an assault," he quickly reported after helping the man up to his feet.

"Then gather the soldiers and prepare for battle," Barika replied, the tone of his voice filled with annoyance. He then went back inside his quarters, not forgetting to crush the rock that destroyed the doors on his way with his battle energy.

"Annoying bast*rds… Launching an attack so early in the morning," Barika grumbled as he washed his face. He quickly suited up for battle and headed towards the walls. Barika saw that most of the soldiers were already gathered and were prepared to fight.

"Where are they?" Barika questioned the first sentry that he saw.

"By the outskirts of the town, sir. They have been advancing rather slowly," the soldier responded as he pointed in the direction where the enemy army was at. "It looks like they are preparing a massive attack based on their numbers. Almost the entire enemy army is on the move, sir."

"Let them come. We will give them a good fight. This fortress wouldn't fall for as long as I am guarding it." Barika declared with all confidence. It is normal for him to be confident since they are the defenders and the numbers of the enemy army are lacking, or at least that's what he knows.

"Why don't we just storm the fort, chief?" Cledus questioned, directing his gaze towards Khao'khen. He was puzzled by the horde just posing for an attack and not actually attacking. "We can take the fortress easily if we do an all-out assault," he continued.

"That is because we lack information about the number of enemy soldiers manning the fort," Khao'khen quickly replied. There were some unknown variables that he had to consider first before launching an all-out attack. He was planning to take the fort and make it as their base in attacking the capital while also serving as a fallback zone if things went awry. "And besides, we can intimidate our foes while also conserving our strength and numbers. Who knows, they might just abandon the fort out of fear," Khao'khen continued while keeping his eyes on the movement of the enemy on the walls and the horde that was slowly moving forward.

"What is taking them so long?" Barika was annoyed by the slow pace of the enemy army. It was past an hour already since the rain of rocks halted and the enemy army was still outside the range of their archers. "Tsk… They sure are taking their time."

"They are nearing the marked distance," Trot'thar reported to the chieftain. His powerful sight was a very helpful plus to the horde.

"They should begin now," Khao'khen muttered, and then, as he had planned, the horde that was advancing began to shout their war cries. The Yurakks and the Verakhs began shouting at their foes, but little did their foes know that the orcs were telling them to come out and fight them since they weren't really attacking the fortress just yet. They were releasing their frustration at not being able to do battle through their war cries.

As war cries broke out among the advancing orcs, a new wave of rocks began crashing against the walls of the fortress.

"Right on cue," Khao'khen smiled. Their posturing should be convincing enough to make the enemy think that they are going to launch an attack.

"Prepare to defend the walls! The enemy will begin rushing in at any moment!" Barika shouted as he took shelter from the rain of rocks that was causing destruction upon their ranks and their defensive positions. He was conserving his energy for the upcoming fight rather than wasting it on the simple rocks that could be evaded.

The commanders of the soldiers on the walls were shouting words to their men to boost their morale and to harden their hearts for the upcoming bloody battle.

A few moments later, the war cries got louder and louder and the rain of rocks began slowing down. "Get ready to fight!" Barika shouted after seeing that there were no longer rocks in the air as he peeked out from where he was hiding.

As the soldiers steeled their hearts to come out from their cover to defend the walls, the sight that welcomed them made them all confused. Instead of orcs rushing in, what they saw was orcs moving away from them.

"Huh? Where are they going?" Barika was puzzled by the actions of the orcs. His puzzlement didn't last long as he saw rocks soaring through the air. "Take cover!"

"What the heck is happening?" that was the question inside the mind of every Ereian on the walls. But that question will remain unanswered since the answer was with their foes.