Chapter 14 The Shadow War part 1
Ella cried and stumbled down after a whip slammed at her back. She felt the new wound searing through her flesh. She fought the tears from flowing out of her ocean blue eyes. She felt a hand hurriedly trying to lift her on her feet. She remembered that she have to stand up and move back to work right away or she will be hit again. She stood up to look at her fellow Fae named Ellen who is not looking good either. They immediately went back to work digging through the tunnel. She can no longer remember how long she has been a captive. Having been captured and dragged here in the Never Day takes all the hope of escape. No one in history have escaped captivity from the Dark Realm. There's no hope of rescue. No one enter this place and comeback alive. There's more than five thousand of them. A mixture of Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Fae. They forced them to work until they can't work anymore, and then the goblins eat them. They were traded and sold from one Dark Kingdom to another. They were like livestock, a valuable commodity and a symbol of wealth.
There's a rumour among the slaves that a huge wealthy Kingdom in the far eastern part of the Never Day have more than a million slaves working for them. She heard stories of numerous attempt of escape which ended in vain. The Dark Realm is a huge continent and escape is impossible. There are some who preferred to kill themselves than continue to live as a slave but their bodies are not wasted as they where eaten. Their captors also provide an incentive. They group them according to their race to build camaraderie, and kill all the members of the group if one took a suicide or try to escape.
She continued on her work mining iron that this goblins used to trade to other dark kingdoms. She have learned that goblins reproduce faster than any races. They are the largest population in the Dark Realm. That's why they were often recruited by stronger beings in the dark realm to raid Elven, Fae, Human, and Dwarven towns near the coastal areas. Goblins are expert pirate sailors. Through her peripheral she watched the goblins that are incharge in monitoring their group. She believes that this small kingdom where they're being captive holds more than a million goblins.
And then she heard it. A horn sounded and answered by several horns. The sound echoed through the tunnels. She closed her eyes and dreaded on what will come next. She have heard that sound before. It meant that the goblins are under attack by another Kingdom to get all the wealth of this territory. She have experience this before and half of the slaves where eaten by the conquering party. She began crying.
The situation on the First Fortress of the Gallan Wall is worse than I have expected. The Orcs have breached the gate and the Elves are fighting them in the streets. They have also reached the top of the wall driving the defenders back to the fortress.
Captain Ellis immediately lead us to battle the Orcs in the streets and to push for the gates. I have my battle shield and sword ready, we clashed with the Orcs. They came in different sizes all muscularly build. They came in different shades too, some are pale yellow, some gray, some spotted, some in midnight black, and some are bloody red. Some have leathery skins, some hairy and some matted.
I clashed with a red blooded leathery skin Orc towering over me by two feet. He swing his two handed sword to me and I my met it with my shield. I felt their dark aura, I think I can send any Orc to my domain within twenty feet around me if I use my dominion spell. I remembered having a very wide range than that during my battle with the Deamune King. I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that I'm only at my one percent life power. I could still use my dominion spell here and end this siege faster, but that would raise some questions to those who would witness it and I can't afford that. So it left me with option B which is to use my Avatar's melee skills.
I'm a tank build battle shielder support buffer. So I used my Shield Parry and Counter Skill. I met the heavy two handed sword with the shield in my left arm while twisting my hip and my body to my left to begin a spin. I felt the enormous force as the orcs bared down his sword to my shield using all his strength. I absorbed the force of the blow by allowing the momentum to make me spin like a coiled spring. As I spun I slashed the sword in my right hand to the body of the tall Orc severing him in two. As the first Orc died I repeated the skill several times to several orcs who faced me.
Then I saw a twelve foot Orc threw a spear to the only sorcerer in our team. She is busy throwing balls of fire towards the orcs streaming through the broken gate of the Gallan Wall. She did not see the spear coming. I'm very protective of my teammates that's what a tanker buffer support does. I already have my Supreme Awareness Skill active before we entered the fray to monitor my enemies and ally and any moving projectiles within twenty feet radius. My role is to make sure my teammates are kept alive so they can continue fighting. One of them is about to be speared and die, so I casted my Shield Sacrifice skill, a one time skill that will allow me to transfer a fatal blow from a distance to my shield. I braced and felt the blow of the spear from a distance. The spear went through the sorcerer's body but it did no harm to her. The spear faded as it passed through her and she swirled in surprise to face the Orc who threw it from a distance. I saw her snarled and raised her hand and a beam of fire shot from it burning the orc.
My shield shattered from my sacrifice skill, leaving me with my one handed sword to battle another incoming red orc. I could summon another shield but that will also raise questions. I used my dash skill and rammed my left shoulder blade to the orc's midriff catapulting us both forward to the other orcs who where thrown back by our momentum. I immediately used my spinning slash skill, and spun on my knees slashing and killing my enemies in front of me.
Captain Ellis is behind the shield wall created by his Elven Knights. They are vainly pushing the Orcs back to the shattered gate of the Gallan Wall. As a Captain, it is his responsibility to survey, observe and maneuver his team. They where being pressed very hard by the stream of orcs entering the gate. Suddenly he saw Merlin on the far right barrelled down and threw himself to the orcs which propelled them in front of the shield wall. He was astonished by Elf's savagery as Merlin slashed and hack the orcs allowing the shield wall to move forward. Fighting alone infront of the shield wall is a sure death but Merlin managed to stay alive for now.
"Shield wall advance!" They need to take advantage of the momentum created by Merlin. "Push for the gate!".