Chapter 406: Bullying You for Short Arms and Slow Legs
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Dense crossbow bolts flew from the distant forest.
They sparsely landed among the orc army.
Struck orcs screamed and collapsed under the effects of the poison.
Most of them, with their strong vitality, didn't die immediately.
This led to another severe consequence—seeing them incapacitated, the other orcs got other ideas.
Weapons and equipment were stripped clean, and anything valuable was looted.
If lucky, they were left behind to await death.
If unlucky, they were beaten half to death on the spot.
In their current situation, death seemed inevitable.
The trailing adventurers showed no mercy.
What tormented the orcs most were the countless iron caltrops scattered across the ground.
Unless wearing iron shoes, every orc's feet were riddled with bloody punctures.
Fortunately, the wounds were small, and even with poison, the orcs could barely manage with their average constitution of 11.
Moreover, the cold-blooded Ironhide Grigg came up with a horrifying method:
"Drag the corpses forward!"
Several orcs in special shoes dragged rows of unfortunate corpses ahead, forcibly clearing some of the caltrops.
Though many remained, hindering their march, it was enough to allow them to continue moving.
Additionally, Bay Territory showed some restraint.
"Just create obstacles for them, but don't completely block their path."
"With 80,000 orcs, it's better to use traps to thin their numbers than to risk our soldiers' lives in direct combat."
Yaya nodded and carried a container filled with caltrops, scattering them along an S-shaped flight path in the orc army's direction.
Adventurers observing this gained a clearer understanding of Bay Territory and Yaya.
"Victory is the ultimate face-saver!"
"As long as it works, any method is worth trying!"
As employers, Bay Territory and Yaya ensured every adventurer was exceedingly satisfied.
Meanwhile, they realized:
"Even if we stop cooperating with Bay Territory in the future, we must never become their enemy!"
Wealthy and ruthless opponents!
Absolutely terrifying!
After finishing her section, Yaya handed the remaining work to the kobolds brought over via emergency teleportation.
In addition to placing caltrops, they dug more underground traps!
As long as the entrances were small enough to prevent the burly orcs from entering, even the strongest couldn't harm the hiding kobolds.
Confirming that the entire territory had entered a state of emergency mobilization, Matthew and Yaya returned to the front of the orc army.
Matthew held up his staff, pointing at the vast orc horde below. Feeling the faintly threatening gazes, he smiled and said:
"See that? Even if they're powerful and numerous, they can only look up at us because they can't fly."
"Mastering space always grants the most straightforward advantage."
Understanding this, Yaya immediately thought of exploiting her strengths in battle.
Maximizing her advantages…
"Ah, so that's why floating cities are so formidable?"
"Because they can fly!"
Matthew nodded appreciatively at Yaya's succinct summary:
"Exactly. An individual's ability to fly has its limitations, so they decided to take entire cities and even kingdoms into the air."
This also explained why floating cities hadn't made significant efforts to halt the orc armies in the northwest.
Which, in turn, led to catastrophic losses for the land-dwellers.
Long before the floating cities fell, the Netheril Empire's ground territories were already in ruins.
Ultimately, those in floating cities no longer saw the lower-class populace as part of their empire.
No point dwelling on it.
Having aerial superiority, Matthew intended to maximize its use.
He didn't plan to unleash a barrage of spells for mass slaughter.
His target was the siege weapons and supplies carried by the orc army.
Why bring in kobolds?
To sabotage these cumbersome siege engines!
Soon, fireballs rained down from the sky, precisely hitting the orcs' transport wagons.
The destructive power of Fireball, even without targeting bodies, was fully displayed.
Initially, the orcs thought the attacks were aimed at them.
Only after wagons and siege equipment were destroyed one after another did they realize the real target.
However, to the orc commanders, these supplies and equipment were far more critical than ordinary soldiers.
Thus, they devised countermeasures.
Before the fireballs reached the supplies, orcs were ordered to "take the hit" directly!
Whether willingly or not, the impact took out large numbers of orcs nearby.
Some commanders distributed the supplies among their troops, reasoning that Fireball couldn't destroy everything.
But merely enduring the bombardment without retaliation severely hurt their morale.
From initial anger and frustration to resignation, and finally to apathy by nightfall.
Nearly half of the orcs' supplies were destroyed.
Especially the conspicuous siege engines and grain carts.
Those were Matthew's favorite targets!
At an altitude of 500 meters!
Most orcs could see Yaya and Matthew, feel immense pressure, yet could only helplessly watch, unsure when the Damocles Sword above might fall.
At the front, Ironhide Grigg merely glanced at them silently.
The humiliation he felt was immense. He ordered his elite Black Orcs to disperse and quietly advance toward Bull Fortress.
Meanwhile, reeling from such losses, Grigg was already considering how to assemble his own aerial force once this was over.
This kind of legitimate dimensional superiority was utterly disheartening!
Despite the monotony of the "work," Matthew continued destroying most siege equipment to gain a greater edge in the upcoming battle.
As the scarlet moon rose, he departed, leaving behind orcs unafraid of death yet battered and broken.
But the orcs' brief relief didn't last.
The adventurers who had vanished earlier returned, enthusiastically offering the orcs their "friendly greetings."
Having lost much of their supplies, the orc army could no longer organize sufficient patrols to fend off these nighttime skirmishes.
Especially since avoiding the scarlet moon's light stemmed from a primal fear deep within them.
Otherwise, why were the orcs so eager to leave the Savage Plateau?
That place was closer to the scarlet moon…