Damian reflected on the information he had just received, thought about the countermeasures, went over them hundreds of times in his mind, and felt that there could be nothing wrong with the enemy's position.
The enemies are aware that there is no army in the rear that can confront them, at least not until they receive support, and that is unlikely knowing that the messengers have been killed.
Furthermore, they have so few soldiers in the rear because it is a double-edged trap. If the forward bases attack from behind, they will receive an attack from the front to take all allied fortresses in a single blow.
Harden must have considered this very well, and that is precisely why he has not attacked the rear. If he is aware of it, he expects reinforcements to be sent from the rear, having that last measure to get out of this situation without losing the fortresses.
Damian knew that everything was in his hands, so after thinking it over carefully, he said, "Luther, after a while, you must expose yourself and lead some demons into the forest. Luke, you will stay in this tree to prepare an ambush on high ground. I will take care of eliminating the enemies from a favorable position."
"We are few; this plan may be suicide. Can it be completed successfully?"
Although Damian's face still showed traces of immaturity, his expression was firm and his gaze was brave. Especially after a battle where he killed monsters, he felt confident in his abilities and trusted his plan.
At that moment, Damian was no longer the cowardly blind wizard but a superior wizard capable of giving orders and eliminating demons on his own.
Looking into Damian's determined eyes, Luther responded seriously, "Squad leader, do not worry; I will definitely be able to complete the task of attracting the enemy."
"Stay safe and come back alive."
Luther nodded and quickly headed towards the enemy zone to lure them. But before that, he removed his heavy armor, boots, and anything that could slow down his movements when running.
Damian knew that among those gathered here, Luther could move freely in the forest and was the one who knew the surroundings best because he had been here for many years of his life, so he must have mastered many movements that would allow him to complete this mission without dying.
Before dawn, he was lurking near the orc camp.
Damian used the short bow he had with him and quickly shot an arrow.
Although Damian's archery skills were average, roughly at the level of an unremarkable soldier, his target was no more than thirty meters away, so he was confident he could hit it.
At such a close distance, despite his archery skills being much lower than those of other soldiers, he still accurately hit the orc.
Ordinary scouts find it uncomfortable to carry long-range bows and cannot afford expensive enchanted bows. That's why, to increase lethality, poison is applied to the arrows, which can even kill demons.
The poisoned arrow reached the orc's throat, and it fell to the ground before it could howl.
The orc camp was laid out very formally, not only with visible guards but also with hidden sentries.
As soon as the soldier at the outpost died, the orc at the secret outpost immediately shouted.
"We are under attack!"
The camp suddenly became chaotic, and Luther immediately fled into the forest, taking advantage of the chaos.
The two sleeping orcs woke up one after another to locate the guard, who had been killed by an arrow.
Being a different species from warrior orcs, the one who had just died was a kind of tracker. This orc's individual strength was not as high as the others, but it was certainly superior to strong humans in melee combat. However, they were very intelligent, excellent builders, and especially skilled blacksmiths capable of creating good-quality armor at a low cost.
Along with their super fertility, most orc legions would incorporate a large number of easily replaceable soldiers, and Damian knew this because he had seen these ugly green creatures frequently in many places in his past life.
The status of orc races is very confusing; they should exist in tribes, but it doesn't matter if they are united under a single leader because they wouldn't gain anything from knowing this.
"I have seen arrows like this; they were shot by human scouts." A demon approached the besieging orc and pulled the arrow from its throat.
An angry orc grabbed its battle axe and shouted angrily, "Cowardly humans, I will take a group of soldiers to kill the scout."
"It might be a trap; humans often send scouts before launching a large-scale attack." A demon said these words while looking around with much confusion.
"There are not many elite soldiers in that annoying human's castle; you yourself told us that. I don't understand why you don't want to kill them, but at least we must eliminate those annoying rats in the forest. You know that even if there is a trap, the enemy's strength is not something that would cause us trouble to eliminate. You can accompany us, to be sure. There are demons scouting in the sky, and human soldiers cannot escape our eyes now that they have attacked us."
"If you insist, those humans should be asleep now, so they wouldn't cause us problems." The pale-skinned demon showed no emotion; to tell the truth, he was very interested in killing humans.
Soon, a group of orcs mounted monstrous wolves, formed an advance formation, and entered the forest at full speed.
Following Luther's tracks, the orcs advanced about two kilometers and vaguely discovered traces of Luther on the way.
The orc warrior was very excited and loudly ordered the soldiers to surround Luther immediately after finding him.
In fact, this mission was to investigate the enemy's situation. This battle could be avoided, but Damian wanted to hunt down the orcs sent to hunt Luther; precisely for that reason, he asked for it personally.
Upon discovering that the enemy had entered his range, Damian hid in the ambush location, held his breath, and shot an inconspicuous electricity arrow that glowed faintly through the air.
Damian's spellcasting skills had improved to a level where it was impossible for him to miss his target, so by compressing his magic, the spell was not flashy but had enough strength to kill an orc.
With his strength and the amount of mana he had been using, the shooting range reached 800 meters.
Shooting a target in the forest is not easy, even for an expert archer. The dense tree trunks will block the view, and the complex environment will also affect the archer's perception.
But Damian was a wizard; he could sense his enemies in the darkness because he had incredibly important spells to do these kinds of things.
A kilometer was easy for Damian to master.
The arrow carried powerful energy and fiercely pierced the trunk of a tree as thick as a bowl, subtly piercing the stomach of an orc and killing its wolf in turn.
Boom!
Struck by a magic arrow, the orc did not die instantly. The pain that filled its body made it roar in agony.
The orc was about to touch the magic arrow, but the next second, it had been hit by another arrow in its head.
"To cover!" An orc raised its thick metal shield, but with powerful force, the arrow burst through the shield and pierced the orc's arm.
"Second…" Damian was surrounded by darkness and shot a third arrow.
Luke shot magic arrows; he had asked Damian for the same spell, and after learning it, he began to use it with greater difficulty but using the same tactic as the others.
Seeing the fierce arrows coming out of the darkness, the orcs were frightened and looked to the demon who had come with them for answers.
As he was not familiar with the terrain and the enemy's situation, Damian did not dare to chase them, so he walked to a more open space and rapidly shot a dozen more arrows at great speed.
The orcs' heads can be exchanged for military merit.
Damian walked towards the orcs' bodies and took their weapons and valuable items, putting them in the shadow over his back.
Seeing Damian hand over the battle achievements, Luther's face suddenly seemed a bit surprised.
"Take it; exchange it for good armor when you get the chance."
Luther took the bag somewhat anxiously and followed with a complicated humor.
Getting orc heads is equivalent to achieving military feats; after exchanging these achievements, he could obtain good weapons and high-value armor.
At that moment, Luther was very happy.
"I thought that demon would stay to fight." Luke looked at how everyone had fled and didn't understand how they decided to leave from here, despite how proud they are.
"Maybe it was because of my magic; he must have sensed something." Damian knew that his current magic levels were something that a first-class human wizard had, but if there was a problem with this, it was that he was hiding one-ninth of his power.
He couldn't hide more because it would make battles very difficult for him right now, and it was also unnecessary to be so humble.
Luke looked at the magic surrounding Damian and felt an even greater hidden power from him. Now, if anyone else could perceive his magic, they would stop calling him a coward.