The pirate captains barked their orders, pointing their blades toward the distant Auric Spire. Its golden peak was shimmering in the morning light, framed by the massive, ornate Gold Wall. They knew the city held the immense wealth they craved; reaching the wall and breaching it would make them so wealthy that their next ten generations could eat a full-course meal every single day and still have a roof over their heads. The path seemed straightforward- a straight run through the city streets. Beside the roads, they saw only silent, deserted buildings. But they were unaware that they were walking into their graveyard.
With a furious roar and the zeal of a pack of hungry wild dogs, the first wave of thousands surged forward. The streets were narrow, and it forced the invading pirates to move together in close formation. Their confidence was high, as they were anticipating an easy plunder. However, as they reached the first intersection, the silence of the city shattered.
The silence did not break with an angry shout, but with the hiss of a thousand strings releasing at once. Arrows rained down from the rooftops, cutting through the morning air like a swarm of angry hornets. There was nowhere to hide. The pirates in the middle of the street were instantly turned into pincushions, collapsing in heaps. Because the buildings lined both sides of the road, the arrows tore through their ranks from every angle, creating a lethal crossfire that made the street an inescapable trap.
Panic erupted across the ranks of the pirates. They scrambled to find cover, slamming their shoulders against the wooden doors of the nearby buildings, desperate to escape the arrow storm. They smashed their way inside, thinking they had found safety. Instead, they found death. The houses were not empty or abandoned as they had anticipated; instead, they were rigged with deadly, cruel traps. Tripwires snapped, and floors gave way, sending pirates plummeting into pits of rusted spikes or triggering hidden mechanisms that brought heavy furniture and debris crashing down on their heads. The buildings became slaughterhouses; the walls echoed with the screams of the trapped.
Outside, those still on the road were butchered. If they ran forward, they hit another volley of arrows; if they ducked into a house, they met a brutal, hidden death.
Meanwhile, the Veridian archers moved like ghosts. From their high perches, they watched the confusion for only a moment. Whenever they realized the enemies were about to breach their current house and attack them, they abandoned their posts. Using their detachable platforms, they stepped effortlessly across the gap to the next building, retracting the bridge behind them. By the time the pirates managed to kick down the door of a house they thought held their attackers, they found only empty rooms and another trigger waiting to end their lives.
The pirates were effectively pinned. They were forced to clear house after house, bleeding manpower for every inch of progress, while the real archers were already repositioned further ahead, waiting to rain death down upon them again. The streets were quickly becoming choked with the dead, the white stone of the city turning slick and crimson under the boots of the invaders. They had come for gold, but they were finding only the relentless, cold precision of the Veridian defense.
This one-sided massacre continued for the next three to four hours. By that time, two more fresh waves of pirates were sent into the killing zone. Clearly, they had no other choice. For them to reach the Gold Wall, they had to cross the kill zone and secure each and every building, even if it cost them too much manpower and time. Each building held plenty of loot, as the residents could carry only the essentials with them. The greedy pirates found satisfaction in capturing a house and securing it; the leadership had even announced that whoever captured a house would be allotted that property. It served as motivation for them to brave the rain of arrows and deadly traps. But this whole process was excruciatingly slow and costly. The remaining pirates, realizing that they were trapped, slowed their pace and became more cautious.
The situation however taking a different shape in the Southern Alley. The Veridian Archers overlooking the street suddenly saw a shift in the pirates' movement. The leadership had warned them that when the pirates realized they were just getting obliterated, they would resort to burning the houses altogether to eliminate them- either by setting fire or by bombardment from the pirate ships. They were mentally prepared for that situation. So, when the Archers saw the pirates taking steps backward, they prepared themselves for a fiery attack.
But it did not happen. Instead, a new army appeared with a slow, confident gait. There were around two hundred of them. They appeared bigger and darker than the pirates they had faced until now. The Archers realized they were Orcs, but did not know who they actually were- the infamous Black Corsairs.
The Black Corsairs were a band of marauding pirates who plagued the South and South-Eastern coasts of Tir Luthar. It was one such Black Corsair who had captured Vespera Thal's Silver Horizon, killed all the males, and sold the surviving females into slavery after keeping a few for themselves. One such Black Corsair had tried to test his luck on the Western coast and encountered the Red Sail. Impressed by their savagery and power, the Pirate Empress herself invited them to join her armada and had appointed the Corsair Chief Bor'Zarg'Torag to be one of her admirals. The Pirate Empress was keenly observing the kill zone the Veridians had arranged for her men. She had sacrificed two thousand of her men just to gauge the total scenario completely. Then, she sent one of her most trusted Admirals and his gang to deal with it and create an opening.
The pirates gave way to Zarg and his men. The Black Orc scanned the entire perimeter. Suddenly, an arrow lodged itself, targeting the space between his eyes. With ease, Zarg caught the arrow and checked the fletching. The white feather had traces of blood. The orc sniffed it- it was still warm. The experienced Orc realized the archers' fingers were bleeding from constantly pulling the bowstrings. It was evident that exhaustion had started creeping in. They were probably not feeling it yet because they were engulfed in an adrenaline rush. Zarg ordered his orcs to stop in their tracks and give the Veridian Archers a moment of respite. It was not out of warrior courtesy or mercy, but for a far crueler reason. He realized the Archers were ignoring the exhaustion while still under an adrenaline rush. But as soon as they stopped, the excitement would slowly die down, giving space to the exhaustion that was long overdue. He just stood there like a rock with ten of his men around him, while the rest of his men sat down on the street leisurely. Arrows kept flying toward them, but the ten easily deflected them with their big choppers.
Lorian was watching everything through his binoculars from the top of the wall. He felt a kind of dread, as a chill ran down his spine. His instincts told him to issue a retreat order. But he was not sure if it was just his instinct or his protective nature. Issuing a retreat order would scatter the entire battle plan they had carefully crafted. Jax and Zara shared his hunch and asked permission to join the archers. But Lorian was not even sure what they were facing, so he instructed the duo to stay put for the time being.
Meanwhile, the arrows fired toward the black orcs were getting haphazard, lacking strength as time wore on. Zarg caught another arrow between his index and middle finger. A smile of satisfaction played on his face. He did not issue any verbal order. He just pointed his chopper forward, and the black orcs who were relaxing behind the ten suddenly sprang into action. They jumped above the shoulders of the ten like horses jumping over barriers and rushed to the unoccupied buildings. They were so fast and yet nimble that they ignored most of the traps. Anyway, the trap quality had deteriorated after the first few buildings facing the dock due to time constraints; it was not feasible to booby-trap each and every building in just ten hours. The black orcs moved like a storm, and before the archers could change their positions, the orcs' choppers reached their flesh. Some were successful in moving to the next building and even detaching the platforms. But, showing superhuman flexibility and athleticism, the orcs jumped over roofs and landed directly on the retreating archers, plunging their choppers into them.
Lorian realized the archers in the southern alley would be drowned mercilessly under this dark tide if something was not done soon.