Chapter 217 : Chapter 217
Chapter 217. Encirclement and Counter-Encirclement
Xilan took the lead, his Golden Dou Qi cleaving apart the battle axe of a clan Legion Commander. His blade followed through and swept across the enemy’s throat.
Scalding black blood sprayed across his face, but he did not even blink. With a backhand thrust, he pierced another Orc through the heart.
The Sky Knight Order dove down, slaughtering the Orcs in great numbers. The Orcs’ Legendary Combatants and Sky-Rank Combat Power had reacted early, rising into the air to clash with the Kroll Kingdom’s Legendary Combatants and Sky-Rank Combat Power in a chaotic melee.
Below, the imprisoned Kadiya women cried out in alarm, only to see several Kroll soldiers rush over and cut through the iron chains binding them.
“Hide behind us, quickly!”
A woman holding a child froze, staring at these soldiers who had been their “enemies” not long ago, yet were now blocking the splattering blood for them.
It was not until a stray arrow brushed past her ear and was blocked by a soldier’s shield that she finally came back to her senses. Clutching her child, she stumbled and crawled behind a broken wall.
The battle lasted less than two hours.
The branch Legions of the three clans were no match for the Gold Legion at all. Their frenzy seemed futile and ridiculous before a disciplined army.
The last Orc Chief was pinned beneath the Wolf-Head Banner by Xilan. Before he died, he let out an unwilling roar, but he no longer had even the strength to struggle.
The flames gradually died down, and the camp became a scorched ruin.
Xilan stood beside the flagpole and watched as the soldiers cleared the battlefield. The wealth they counted was piled up like a mountain, yet no one stepped forward to touch it. The blood staining those things was more glaring than the gold itself.
“Take a small portion of this wealth and distribute it to the surviving Kadiya people.”
He gave the order, his voice somewhat hoarse.
“Also, find an open space. Take down those hanging heads and give them a proper burial.”
One soldier hesitated. “My lord, they are Kadiya people…”
“They are humans.”
Xilan cut him off and looked toward the ruins beneath the distant setting sun.
“At the very least, they should not be hung up like trash.”
The surviving Kadiya people stood in the distance, watching as the Kroll soldiers dug pits and filled them with soil. Their movements were clumsy, but solemn.
The woman holding the child walked over and bowed deeply to Xilan. Tears mixed with the grime on her face as they slid down.
“Thank you…”
Xilan said nothing. He only nodded.
Over the following period, Xilan led the main force of the Legions in a continuous search, cutting down the scattered enemy troops wherever they were found.
Such a large-scale search soon drew the main forces of the Three Great Clans: a total of two hundred thousand Orcs.
The later Orc Legions were also landing continuously along the coastline, directly forming a pocket and waiting for Xilan to bring the human Legions into it.
Before the morning mist had fully dispersed, the news brought back by the vanguard knights fell like a block of ice into boiling oil.
On the Eastern Frontier Plains, a vast, dark mass of Orc Legions was gathering. The torrent of Wolf Riders stretched beyond sight. There were at least two hundred thousand of them.
Even more alarming was the urgent report sent back by the coastal watch posts: along the coastline, Orc Warships were docking one after another, and the later Legions were surging onto land like a rising tide.
Xilan stood atop a hill and raised a Magic Artifact telescope.
Through the lens, the banners of the Orc Clans swayed densely in the wind. The howls of the Wolf Riders could be faintly heard even from several li away.
His fingertip moved across the map. The Eastern Frontier Plains were caught between two mountain ranges, and the only exit faced the coastline. That place had clearly already been sealed off by the Orcs.
“It is a pocket formation.”
Xilan lowered the telescope, his voice as cold as morning frost.
“They deliberately allowed us to hunt down their scattered soldiers and lured us deep into the Eastern Frontier. Then they used their main force to block our retreat, intending to strike us from both front and rear.”
The face of the Legion Commander beside him turned pale.
“My lord, two hundred thousand… and with more troops continuously landing afterward, we have fewer than one hundred thousand men. Fighting them head-on would be suicide!”
“Who told you we were going to fight them head-on?”
Xilan sneered and pointed toward the Narrow Pass in the mountains to the left.
“Pass down the order. Abandon the pursuit. The entire army will move toward Meilaner Narrow Pass. The First Legion will cover the rear and use magic to delay the enemy. Everyone else will seize the Narrow Pass as quickly as possible.”
“Seize the Narrow Pass?”
The Legion Commander froze.
“That place is narrow. It can only allow a thousand men to pass side by side. If the Orcs…”
“If they dare chase us in, then let them taste what it means for one man to hold the pass.”
Xilan swung himself onto his horse, and his long sword left its sheath.
“Tell the soldiers that we are not the ones who have entered the pocket. It is time for these beasts to understand what it means to catch a turtle in a jar!”
The Gold Legion’s formation rapidly adjusted. The troops that had originally been scattered in search operations were like bees returning to the hive, converging toward Eaglebeak Narrow Pass.
The First Legion, covering the rear, established a defensive line on the plains and used magic to temporarily halt the Wolf Riders’ advance.
“ROAR…”
Under the roars of the Clan Chiefs, the Orc main force launched its charge. The hoofbeats of two hundred thousand troops made the earth tremble, and their dark-tide formation surged toward the direction in which the Gold Legion was retreating.
They had clearly decided that the humans were already prey in their grasp. Even their formation became loose, and they cared only about charging forward.
When Xilan led the vanguard force to Meilaner Narrow Pass, the cliffs on both sides of the pass were still empty. He immediately gave the order.
“Mages, occupy the mountainsides on both sides. Spearmen, hold the center of the Narrow Pass. Form the shield formation in three layers!”
The soldiers moved swiftly and efficiently. Soon, the cliffs were filled with Kroll’s banners. The Mages silently chanted spells, their eyes fixed on the direction of the plains.
When the figures of the Orc vanguard appeared at the entrance of the pass, Xilan pointed his sword toward the sky.
“Attack.”
Magical attacks descended like dark clouds. The Wolf Riders charging at the very front fell from their wolves one after another.
The narrow terrain of the pass instantly squeezed the Orcs’ massive formation into a knot. The soldiers behind shoved those ahead, yet they could only watch helplessly as their companions were pierced through by magical attacks.
The Clan Chiefs were not fools either. They directly ordered the Monster Legion to excavate around the Narrow Pass while commanding the Orc warriors to retreat and form an encirclement.