Chapter 76: First Victory
Tension was high, and the battlefield was the least chaotic it could be. Both sides were yet to clash in close, bloody combat, but from the look of things, it was bound to happen soon. The main problem was the towering walls these orcs hid behind. I couldn’t get a glimpse of their numbers, and I didn’t dare rush in without that important knowledge.
The orc commanding the horde seemed to be a skilled strategist. After the first blunder their army made, no such mistake had been repeated. It clearly understood their physical advantage would only show in close-quarters combat, so it stayed patient and had its forces advance slowly under the barrage.
The simple mission of clearing the path for our main forces to arrive had spiraled into a full-blown war between two armies, and it wasn’t looking good for us.
"Break their formation! Blow them to smithereens!" Kenza’s voice rang from behind, and suddenly the aether beams hurling forward in the hundreds stopped.
Taken aback, I looked over my shoulder and witnessed a team of five ascendants running forward with heavy aether-powered RPGs mounted on their shoulders. I quickly jumped to the sidelines, afraid to get caught up in their attack, and watched as the ZHD-77 Skybreaker launcher unleashed a loud buzzing sound, catching me off guard.
Naturally, my curiosity had led me to research aether weapons, which is the reason I know their brand names, but I had never seen them used in person. These kinds of weapons are not something you see the average person carrying around on the street.
So it was surprising seeing this weapon draw energy from the world around it. Blue fumes of pure aether power spiraled from all directions, surging into their weapons.
BOOOM!
All five fired, unleashing a deafening explosion that made me squint in discomfort. However, my eyes trailed the spherical blue projectiles — the size of cannonballs — hurling toward the seemingly impenetrable horde wall and then...