630 Going For the Steal
“What is this? I can’t see!”
“Same here!”
“Quick! Whatever it is, disperse it with your power of the will!”
“It won’t do! It’s doesn’t do anything!”
“I can’t use spells!”
The magic shadow cape could stop one from using spells. Unless its effect wore off, anyone inside the black cloud would be prevented from casting any spells.
It was a very frightening spell, indeed. Abel wasn’t the only one who could use it. Actually, he wasn’t even close to having mastered it. He could only use it because it came with his “sky’s end” magic rune helmet. So far, he used it two times, which meant that he could use it for seven more times before he ran out.
Actually, not quite. He made a total of nine “sky’s end” magic rune helmets. If his magic shadow cape ran out, he could just keep switching to a new helmet. The orcs didn’t know this. There was even a chance that they would bet that he was going to be short of ammunition.
Instead of going for an attack, Abel just stood and listened to the orcs scream in agony. He didn’t have much time to break through their defense. The most important objective was to retrieve the war drum.
Even while blinded, the orcs could still sense the death qi that as coming out of the war drum. They quickly moved to s.h.i.+eld it behind their bodies. At the same time, they could hear reinforcements.
Their plan was simple. Even if it was just for a few seconds longer, they could just use their bodies to block Abel from getting to the war drum. As the two bearmen placed his giant s.h.i.+eld at the front, four of the head wolfrider commanders tried to close in on the orc war drum. There were also four intermediate orc priests that did the same. They could all tell where the war drum was.
Abel was short on time. He tapped on the ground with his foot, and a dragon’s essence struck towards four of the mount wolves. The orcs just finished making their formation, but an opening was quickly opened when the four mount wolves fell.
It didn’t take a lot of effort for Abel to reach the drum. When he got there, a powerful chilling qi came out of the drum. If he was just a regular human, he would’ve been frozen to death on the spot.
After taking out a bone-made portal item from the war drum, Abel went to do something about the two worgens beside him. He s.n.a.t.c.hed the bone hammers from the both of them, which helped them regain the ability to see. Not that it mattered, though. Despite their incredible strengths, these worgens were nowhere near fast enough to catch onto Abel.
Without killing any of the orcs, Abel darted away from the orcs and skeletons. Then, after stepping through the defensive barrier once more, he jumped back on his mount wolf king.
“Go!” Abel cried, and the mount wolf king went back towards the squad’s direction.
The level 13 “magic shadow cape” was activated for a total of twenty seconds. As strong as the orc team was, they weren’t able to do anything to Abel. When Abel was about ten meters away from them, the reinforcement that was supposed to come did, but he was already too far to be caught.
By the time Abel returned to the team, there was no more sound of the orc war drum. The noise was completely gone.
“Did you do it?” Head Commander Edi asked. It wasn’t just him. All the others were very keen to hear that the orc war drum was destroyed. They all knew how important it was to destroy one (and how hard it was).
Abel waved the bone-made portal item in his hand, “I did. Here’s the war drum.”
Head Commander Edi screamed, “You brought the war drum back? How? I thought it was too heavy to carry with the telekinesis spell.”
There was only one explanation. Abel was very close to the orcs when he took the war drum.
K3308 was very curious. Do you mind taking it out, K3516?”
“Watch your mouth!” Head Commander Markham said with a stare, “Maybe K3516 can do something about it, but the war drum’s death qi is still far from being safe. I’ve heard too many stories that I don’t want to be repeated.”
“Ruuuuu!”
A horn blew from over the distance. The ground below them started shaking.
Head Commander Edi screamed, “Incoming orcs! Ready your position, men!”
The attack could come from any direction. To counter against all possibilities, the eight head commanders formed a circle and had the twelve wizards inside it. They started moving in this formation, but there was a flaw that they couldn’t avoid. Despite all their training, war horses were just not as fast as the mount wolves.
More importantly, human knights were not familiar with fighting on the move. They could charge, rush, block, but nothing “indirect” was ever taught to them. Fabian strategy. Guerilla tactics. These things were only considered “cowardly,” and were almost never put into consideration.
From Abel’s understanding, the best thing that they could do was to go for a Fabian strategy. Instead of waiting for the orcs to come, they should make occasional attacks while trying to move away. Still, judging from Head Commander Edi’s look, a simple defense was probably good enough.
Head Commander Edi had something positive to say, “Hear me out, men! The miracle spirit has called for reinforcements to come to our aid! If we can hold on for five minutes, the numbers on either side will be even!”
They were about fifty miles away from Miracle City. Whatever source Head Commander Edi’s got, it was probably right.
“Oh, good saving grace! Yes! Aid is coming to us!”
K3308 was the happiest to hear this. He thought that the mission was simple, but to his dismay, they started facing off an army of powerful orcs. Whether it was due to the number or the power of the enemies, he was really starting to feel insecure.
As powerful as the twenty-men squad was, it was still just a squad of twenty men.