Everyone else did not stand idly while Xiao Lin succeeded in drawing all the enemy’s attacks toward him. Cheng Ming was regarded as the temporary commanding officer of the assault team, and although he was an earnest person, he was far from a hesitant one. He immediately waved his hand and decisively ordered a dozen or so people to take care of the wounded individuals. The rest would then continue the charge with him.
Xiao Lin nimbly climbed up the wall using the teeth and bones embedded within the wall. As the distance was getting closer, he could vaguely see the face of the fortress’s chief defenders. They had reddish-brown skin and hideous faces, and true to his expectations, the orcs were defending the fortress. The weak bodies of the merfolk made it impossible to throw weapons with that kind of power.
The fortress was only three stories high, and with Xiao Lin’s agility, the orcs could not stop him even if they ignored Chen Dao’s bombarding and attacked Xiao Lin with all their might. It took no time for Xiao Lin to easily climb to the top.
The orcs on the city wall were ready. Xiao Lin saw several red-brown orcs roaring over as soon as he showed up. Unlike the merfolk, those orcs had very strong bodies. Even if Xiao Lin was well prepared and transformed all his attributes into strength when scaling the wall, he felt like he had hit a dead end when he faced the oncoming charge from the orcs. He staggered for a brief moment and was almost driven out once more.
Xiao Lin did a backhand slash with his sword. The orc simultaneously raised the shield on its left arm to block the swing, but Xiao Lin simultaneously swung his staff and released several flame bombs, all of which struck the orc’s leg and turned its brown skin into a crimson color. The redness were traces left behind by burns, and the orc roared even louder. Instead of retreating however, it strode forward and tried to drive Xiao Lin out of the fortress.
Xiao Lin gritted his teeth. The orcs were indeed braver and more ferocious than the merfolk. He glanced around slightly and saw that there were not a lot of orcs, only about a dozen in total that were all infantry. There were no traces of a wolf cavalry trace, but within the fortress was a large number of mermen as their main defense. Soon, more and more beasts began to swarm in his direction, which was not a good sign at all.
Xiao Lin was eager to extirpate himself from the situation. The Holy Soul Sword in his hand trembled slightly all of a sudden and he slashed it forward once more. The orc subconsciously raised a shield to defend against it, but the sword did not land on the shield. A wave of ripples appeared and the temperature of the air shot up instantaneously. It was already too late by the time the orc sensed that something was wrong. A spark exploded from the blade and finally forced the orc back.
It was flame sword aura, an external sword aura directly released through directly relaying with the fire element. It was the external sword aura that Xiao Lin had successfully mastered shortly before the monthly exam, and it was finally used for the first time.
The power of sword aura was exceptional and it was by no means comparable to ordinary swordsmanship. Even a rough-skinned orc with a simple leather armor on its body would be severely injured by the flame sword aura. Its fur had been burnt completely, and its reddish-brown skin turned black as it fell to the ground and convulsed in pain.
A noticeable frustration was also present in Xiao Lin’s spirit. His flame sword aura was undoubtedly strong, but he was only at the beginner stage and the energy consumption was tremendous, especially when taking into account how external sword aura expended both physical and mental power.
However, Xiao Lin’s predicament was not over just yet. The flame sword aura was able to cause substantial damage to the orcs, but the orcs’ fear of death was lacking, which made them surge up quickly. At that point, Cheng Ming and the others were almost reaching the foot of the fortress and it would take some more time for them to climb up.
Xiao Lin had managed to buy some time, but it was not enough. He had to make sure that he survived. He took a deep breath and judged the situation within a very short time. He wanted to retreat from the city wall and go down because his own task was considered complete. Furthermore, it was difficult for him to deal with everything alone. The Phantom Steps still had their limits, and there were always going to be unavoidable attacks as well as blind spots.
As he turned around however, his eyes caught sight of a detail within the fortress. It was an open training ground, and a heavily-armed orc was roaring in Orcish. His voice was loud, like thunder, and Xiao Lin could hear it even from the top of the fortress.
That particular orc was unique compared to the other orcs. Its body was stronger, its hair was longer, and its head was bigger. More importantly, it had a long string of exquisite-looking animal bones dangling from its chest.
At that moment, Xiao Lin remembered Planet Norma’s history by recalling Gu Xiaoyue’s notes in class, so he knew that such an ornament was equivalent to honor, with the special animal bones on the string symbolizing just how much honor they had. In short, it was more or less a ranking system of the orcs. The higher their honor, the higher their status.
Unsurprisingly, that orc was probably the commanding officer of that fortress.
Xiao Lin’s hesitation lasted for less than two seconds. He made a rough estimate of what little stamina he had. His heart skipped a beat and he immediately ditched his plan to retreat from the fortress. There was still another chance left and that was using his Warbear Leather Armor, of which the effect was a total increase in fighting spirit. The physical strength expended through continuous fighting could be supplemented through it, but its effects were very limited since it was only a Bronze-rank equipment. As an example, the physical strength that could be supplemented depended on the intensity and time of the battle, and there was no way to make use of it a second time.
Even so, such an effect could play an important role at critical junctures, making it quite worthy of its price of 2000 redemption points.
After the fighting spirit’s effect was activated, bathing Xiao Lin’s entire body in a luminous red light. He felt his exhaustion disappear in an instant, and even his spirit was in a state of extreme excitement. He somehow understood the reason why Lu Renjia made that piece and it actually seemed similar to stimulants seen on Earth. At the same time however, he also understood that his physical strength and mental energy would decline rapidly after its effects wore off.
Time was running out, and Xiao Lin once again converted all his attributes to agility. His Phantom Steps were activated once more, and the orcs could only see a blur in front of them. With the Miracle skill, the essence of the word ‘phantom’ was displayed in full view when the Phantom Steps were executed. The footwork combination allowed Xiao Lin to leave afterimages every time he made a quick move, and that was despite the huge amount of energy that would be consumed.
Individuals who had reached a certain level would not be confused by such low-level afterimages, but unfortunately, the orcs were not that intelligent. Although it was only a brief moment of effort, Xiao Lin managed to break free from the swarm of orcs after exerting all his strength. Xiao Lin went straight down to the orc commander and managed to chop off several merfolk who were trying to rush to him.