Many thanks to Ji-Moonlight's Lament for the donation! While I'm at it, a note about tomorrow's updates: there will still be two, but they'll be posted rather late. I'm going to the hospital in the morning, then out for barbecue, and I'll start writing when I get back in the afternoon.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye. The dense clouds had vanished without a trace, leaving not a single cloud in the clear sky. The blazing sun hung overhead, casting countless rays across the earth. The orc army had begun assembling outside the walls, but the fierce assault everyone had expected never came. After a token probing attack, the orcs withdrew.
Rex frowned deeply as he watched the orc army recede like an ebbing tide. Something was wrong. There was no way the orc army lacked the strength to attack Southshore.
Rex had assessed this army. In the fighting on the first day and night, the orcs and their forces had suffered countless casualties-at least ten thousand. But the only true elite troops among the dead were the orcs who had attacked at night and the Gnoll Brutes. The rest were nothing but cannon fodder. No matter how many kobolds died, it would not affect the army's fighting strength.
"Osborne, stay on your guard. These orcs are acting very strangely today," Rex warned as he descended from the wall.
Rex headed toward the place where the prisoners were held. He had not forgotten that gnoll. After starving him for several days, Rex wanted to see whether gnolls really were as the records described: driven by hunger and appetite. Money and magic could not sway them; only food could motivate them.
Not many survived a major battle to become prisoners. In a civil war within a single race,