Sky-Scorching Sparrows were strategic weapons of the Orc Empire. Their outstanding carrying capacity and broad backs allowed these flying beasts to transport more than five heavily armored orc cavalrymen at once. They had always been the Orc Empire's most precious transport beasts.
If not for their timid nature and tendency to startle easily—and then fly wildly in all directions once frightened—Sky-Scorching Sparrows would have become heavy flying cavalry long ago.
Even so, with their unmatched carrying capacity and extremely long flight range, Sky-Scorching Sparrows played an irreplaceable role in the Orc Empire's army.
Flying cavalry had been mentioned here. Flying cavalry were like warhorses in the human world or the wolves ridden by Wolf Riders. Unlike ordinary rideable flying beasts, flying cavalry could directly participate in battle. In the human world, aside from the Griffon Flying Cavalry Squadron in the Kingdom of Saint Ellis, there had never been a second flying cavalry unit.
Sky-Scorching Sparrows were extremely difficult to breed. The loss of every one was a major blow to the empire, so humans rarely had the chance to see traces of these enormous flying beasts.
At that moment, boulders began rolling down from above the ten-meter-wide valley entrance. The squadron stationed there had begun sealing off the valley.
The tremendous noise startled the orcs in the valley. Their joy at discovering the Sky-Scorching Sparrows was cut short, and some of the orcs began assembling to charge the entrance.
After the boulders came a large quantity of timber soaked in fire oil. Just as the orcs were about to reach the entrance, a flaming arrow set the wood alight, and the towering blaze completely sealed off the valley.
The Sky-Scorching Sparrows in the sky stopped preparing to descend when they saw what was happening below. Fortunately, they were some distance from the entrance. If they had been any closer and became frightened, who knew what might have happened? The handlers sitting behind the heads of the Sky-Scorching Sparrows did their utmost to calm the giant beasts.
Amid the somewhat chaotic orcs, a squad of ten Wolf Riders stood out. The Wolf Rider in the middle wore a black suit of armor, while the other nine wore full leather armor.
"Young master, something's wrong. We've been ambushed by humans." A Wolf Rider spoke with a ferocious expression.
"Take my token and order everyone to obey me!" The young master remained calm, as though the predicament before him had barely affected him.
"The Woolf Family token is here! All orcs, heed my command and assemble by squad!" the Wolf Rider shouted, raising the token high.
All the orcs stopped their commotion. Regardless of their race, they quickly found their respective squads.
"I'm Fowler, the sixth son of the Woolf Family. All orcs, heed my command and quiet down!" Fowler looked at the orcs' obedience with satisfaction before continuing. "We are the strongest orcs. The despicable humans have surrounded us with a trick. Now we have only one path left—to fight."
Fowler looked up at the Sky-Scorching Sparrows circling overhead and shouted, "The flying beasts that will take us home are right above us. They can only land once we defeat the enemy. Do you want to go back alive? Then fight! The Beast God is with us. The orcs will win!"
"The orcs will win!" The orcs' emotions were stirred up. Though there were only 160 of them, their voices were tremendous, and echoes of "The orcs will win!" rang through the valley.
Knight Saloyan watched the scene in the valley and said to the two senior knights beside him, "I had wanted to let them panic for a while so our attack would go more smoothly. Who would have thought they'd calm down so quickly? They really are orcs who've seen plenty of battle."
Knight Bernal rubbed the hilt of his sword, his eyes filled with longing. "My lord, can we attack now?"
Knight Saloyan nodded at his adjutant. The adjutant stepped forward and shouted, "Shieldmen forward! Spearmen behind them! Archers, prepare!"
At the order, the 800 soldiers quickly formed a battle formation. The 150 shieldmen holding tall shields drove them into the ground and braced them with their arms. They formed the first line of defense.
Behind the shieldmen stood 200 spearmen. Their five-meter-long spears had sharp, slender tips made of refined iron, capable of easily piercing light armor. Each spearman held his weapon in one hand with the tip pointed outward, while his foot pinned the butt against the ground.
From the front, the formation looked like a turtle covered in spikes. The main attacking force within it consisted of the 450 archers. They used a type of longbow—simple, practical, and effective.
By then, the orcs had organized themselves. Their formation consisted of 160 orcs, all above level six. At the very front were thick-skinned, heavily muscled bear-people riding giant bears. Behind them came Minotaurs riding Blazing Bulls, followed by Wolf Riders. The Wolf Riders surrounded Fowler in the center to protect his safety.
When the orc formation drew within 150 meters of the human defensive formation, the adjutant raised his left hand. The archers automatically split into three lines. The first line, consisting of 150 archers, crouched and nocked arrows to their longbows.
"First line, fire!" At the adjutant's command, the first line of 150 archers rose and shot their already-drawn arrows into the sky.
"Second line, fire!" As soon as the first line released their arrows, they crouched to draw more from their quivers. The second line rose and fired their arrows into the sky before crouching again.
"Third line, fire!" The third line rose and released their arrows before crouching again.
The three lines of archers continued taking turns firing. Arrows filled the air in wave after wave, with almost no gap between them.
The rain of arrows came hurtling down, beginning to inflict casualties among the orcs in the charging formation. Orc after orc fell from their mounts, only to be trampled into bloody pulp by the mounts behind them. At that moment, the orcs could win only by increasing their speed and closing with the enemy.
Across that short distance from 150 meters to 50 meters, the orcs left behind more than 40 casualties of unknown condition. The spearmen in the front line could already see the orcs' sharp teeth. The collision between the two formations was about to begin.
"Battle aura!" Fowler shouted, and white light spread across the bodies of every orc.
At last, the two formations collided. The humans' dense spears pierced into the orcs' bodies, and some snapped inside the orcs from the force of the impact. The shieldmen on the front line suffered heavy losses. Orc cavalry already possessed tremendous charging power, and with the added boost of battle aura, shieldmen were sent flying again and again by the impact.
In that instant, a bloody scene unfolded before the battle formation. Orc blood and human blood mingled together. Orcs howled, humans shouted, and screams and groans rang out among them. The place seemed to have become hell itself.
After suffering the loss of more than 30 orcs, the orcs who had broken into the human defensive perimeter began to gain the upper hand. In close-quarters combat, orcs possessed an overwhelming advantage. The enormous difference in strength and speed, combined with the gap in levels, turned the battle that followed into an almost one-sided slaughter. Eager to break out of the encirclement, the orcs followed Fowler's orders and did not linger in combat, instead pushing rapidly forward.
The adjutant stood to the left of the three lines of archers, watching the battle ahead expressionlessly. He waved his hand and shouted, "Switch to blades!"
The archers silently discarded the bows that had lost their usefulness and drew military sabers from their waists. Their eyes were filled with the resolve to die. Their mission was to use every human life to wear down the orcs' fighting strength.
The adjutant also drew his military saber. By then, the orcs had pierced through the humans' first line of defense and were charging toward the archers' formation.
Stimulated by the blood, the orcs' innate Combat Instinct had been fully awakened. Their eyes revealed an intense thirst for blood. To them, the archers before them were nothing more than lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
Before the orcs could charge in, the archers in the front row rushed forward first. They wrapped their arms around the legs of the orcs' mounts with their bodies, slowing the orcs' charge so the other archers could attack them.
The adjutant charged forward as well, followed by the final two lines of archers. The archers' frenzy failed to impede the orcs for long. At last, the humans' defensive line was completely pierced through by the orcs.