Throne of the North.

Chapter 718 The Second Orc War (Part 4)
Hot spring fortress.

Grand Duke Russell was the only one of the four Grand Dukes of the Empire to come to the war against the Northern Orcs, and he was temporarily appointed at Thermopylae.

However, due to his arrival, both the then-chosen one, Volvo, and the current replacement, Commander Hilde, lost actual command of Thermopylae because of the Grand Duke's presence.

The Grand Duke and the Emperor share the Empire, and the power a Grand Duke should possess within the Empire is not simply a title.

But this Grand Duke was not prepared to face the most powerful group of orcs in the Northern Orc family—all of them.

The six royal courts of the orcs suddenly appeared all north of Hot Spring Fortress, while he only had this one defensive fortress, the only one in Hot Spring Province.

Once they cross this point, they can advance unimpeded. In Hot Spring Province, not a single rock is taller than the short cat-men. And behind Hot Spring Province, in the six provinces of the empire, there is no land with a geographical location that can hinder the orcs' advance.

It can be said that the orcs found the perfect position.

The hot spring fortress is the only defense that humanity can rely on; otherwise, all that's left is a bloody, flesh-and-blood confrontation.

"If this place falls, the empire will suffer devastating losses, and I will become the loser in this war."

Galen Russell knelt on the ground, behind him, the demigod Anselmo comforting him:

“This is not your fault. Even now, the Emperor and Hilder are the commanders-in-chief of the North.”

Even he, a demigod, was not confident that he could help Grand Duke Russell defend Thermopylae.

“No, Uncle Anselmo, this is not for the Emperor, nor for the Empire, but for Russell.”

Galen raised his head, his youthful face bearing the most gratifying and glorious features of the Russell family. He was superior to the other successors of the Grand Dukes. The Russell family of the past had been limited in terms of martial prowess and wisdom, but in this generation, these two extremes of strength had converged in this new Grand Duke Russell.

“Uncle Anselmo, the Russell family no longer needs anyone’s approval or reward, not even the emperor.”

"What the Grand Duke Russell's family wants to obtain, we can only obtain through our own efforts."

That's how this war is. I didn't get involved in their boring politics in the capital because I knew very well that the honor of the Russell family couldn't be given by politics.

"I must win, I must win this war, then the prestige of the Russell family will be unshakeable."

“The interests that belong to Russell cannot be seized even by the Emperor, and the glory that belongs to Russell is unmatched by the other three Grand Dukes.”

"This is also my era and a challenge for me."

“My father told me that a powerful knight will face an even greater challenge, and the strongest hero will become the master of the dragon. The fallen Russell is the dead Russell.”

“I am not saddened by my father’s death. He once said that if he were to die one day, it would mean he had failed.”

Anselmo was speechless. The previous Grand Duke Russell was his brother; didn't he know what that muscle-bound guy was like? Was he really going to teach Galen such a simple lesson?
Damn guy!
Even the demigod couldn't help but get angry, wishing he could resurrect the deceased previous Grand Duke Russell and beat him up, since he now had absolute power to suppress his opponent.

"So what do you plan to do?"

Anselmo calmed himself down and asked, he was not confident that he could help Hot Springs Fortress resist the six royal courts of the orcs, but the primordial power of a demigod, even if the god himself came, could not stop him from protecting Grand Duke Russell in front of him.

"In war, what means can guarantee our complete victory?"

Grand Duke Russell raised his head and asked calmly.

……

Frozen soil, Rhinoceros Horn Mountain.

The mountain, tempered by extraordinary essence, became even more majestic. At the summit of the snow-capped mountain, Ryan opened the letter from Grand Duke Russell. This grand duke was somewhat domineering, using his demigod power to open a channel to the extraordinary, sending the letter from thousands of miles away to his own Rhinoceros Horn Mountain in the blink of an eye.

"Have the six new royal courts of the orcs, under the command of the orc king, gathered at Hot Springs Fortress?"

Ryan was somewhat surprised; it was unusual for an orc to have such a brain.

Under the Empire's massive financial onslaught, what other way can the orcs possibly achieve victory? In Ryan's opinion, there is.

This is how it looks now, with all the powerful orcs gathered together.

The empire does indeed have a huge economic foundation, but no matter how powerful money is, it needs a sufficiently vast territory to exert its influence. What if the battlefield is too small? The efficiency of spreading money is very slow.

Putting aside everything else, if a legendary spell can empty the magical energy of a void, then the power of a second legendary spell will be greatly reduced because there is no external magical energy to help it.

The topic of orcs becoming smarter seems to have surfaced long ago, at the very beginning of this full-scale orc invasion, but only now does Ryan truly realize that they have indeed changed.

Not only were the six royal courts gathered together, but also the Silver Moon Royal Court of the werewolves before him, terrifyingly cunning. Even with the support of the Northern Wall fortress, Ryan couldn't gain much advantage.

"Can the Hot Spring Province stop them?"

Ryan didn't know. He looked at the letter and saw the black characters on it floating up from the paper. The lines were thin yet deep and profound, twisting and swirling in the void, high and low, circling around in all directions.

"This is……"

Ryan stared in disbelief, his mouth agape. This was a sand table map of the Hot Spring Province, centered on the Hot Spring Fortress, covering an area of ​​hundreds of miles in radius?!
Ryan underestimated the power of this world's extraordinary methods in warfare, and even more so, he underestimated Grand Duke Russell's control over the war and his profound knowledge of military matters.

Grand Duke Russell knew exactly what Ryan wanted, so he used the power of a demigod to draw a map of the Hot Springs province in the void through this letter.

Ryan had reason to believe that the void map was accurate.

"The power of authority?"

Ryan was amazed, then looked at the map of the Hot Springs Province with great admiration.

"What wonderful land! It could grow so much grain and feed so many people."

Ryan was envious; the wealth of the Hot Springs Province was definitely among the top five, or even the top three, in the Empire.

After a moment of silence, Ryan looked at the view that the void provided for him. At this moment, he felt as if he had transformed into a blood eagle, soaring at an altitude of ten thousand meters, looking down at the flat land below. The land that emitted smoke was like hot springs greeting him.

"The orc army has arrived, and they have probably already launched their attack."

Ryan waved his hand, and in the center of the void map—north of Hot Spring Fortress, and then on the east and west sides, raging fires began to burn. North of the fortress, the flames spread across half of the northern half of the map.

The orcs, like this flame, were scorching the fortress that stood on the hot spring.

“How can we possibly win?” Ryan sighed deeply, then wrote a reply to Grand Duke Russell.

Hot spring fortress.

The battle cries were deafening. Fanatical orcs and fearless human soldiers fought side by side. At the very beginning of the war, Duke Russell had given his soldiers a life-giving potion to boost their fighting power. The price of the potion was terrible; no matter when the war ended, these men would all perish.

However, as the supreme authority of the fortress, Grand Duke Russell appropriately maintained his rationality and calmness, reassuring all the officers.

"You need soldiers, the more the better, no matter how many, no matter who they are, as long as they can be soldiers, put them on the battlefield."

"Not only in Hot Springs Province, but all the imperial troops on both sides of the northern border of the empire must be deployed to Hot Springs Province. A sufficient number of soldiers is the only key to victory."

"You still need money, no, not money, but the extraordinary help that money can bring, the trump card of magicians, alchemists, knights, and nobles."

"The Emperor will not allow the orcs to succeed. He must provide the funds, just like in Twilight Keep, with a massive economic and logistical support system, to keep those soldiers motivated for war."

"You need to have the power to fight against the gods. This war has broken out under the watchful eyes of the gods. There are great beings among the orcs who are intervening in the war between orcs and humans on the continent of Norris. Without the means to fight against the gods, the orcs will launch endless attacks. Even machines cannot continue to fight under such a will."

"With great power, the orcs are not afraid of human resistance. The more humans resist, the more savage and crazy the orcs become. Only great power is the authority that can make any race respect it."

"Knights, armor, longswords, warhorses, and swarms of powerful warriors are the nightmare of orcs in a berserk state."

"You need to leave, leave that fortress. No one says that the defense of a fortress is to stay inside and wait for the enemy to attack. That fortress is large, but it's too small for the current war."

"Only by giving the fortress wings can it fly out of the encirclement of the endless orcish horde."

“War, the battlefield should not be just in the fortress. The Hot Spring Province has different advantages. No one has said that these hot springs will not become traps in war.”

"If the orcs' iron hooves will crush the hot spring fortress, then let them stumble and kill them in those hot springs."

"You need to kill the orc leader. Orcs without brains are just beasts. Take off their heads and throw them into chaos. Humanity's greatest advantage is unity. Only by using the power of unity can we tear apart the orcs' attack."

“I will assist you, in the North, within the Orcs—inside.”

As Grand Duke Russell read Ryan's letter, he learned that some people in the Empire possessed an undefeated legend, such as that of Hilder and this Baron Ryan, who was far away in the Northwind Province.

Grand Duke Russell wrote letters to them, but... only Ryan gave a different answer.

Grand Duke Russell glanced again at the letter His Highness Hilde had recently handed him, which described how he would bravely command the imperial army and how he would sincerely advise the emperor.

Archduke Russell clenched his fist and crushed all the letters.

He stood up; he was tall and had a loud voice.

“Hot Springs Province is a paradise for warhorses. Ryan is right. No one has stipulated that defensive wars must cause knights to lose their warhorses, and that their mounts must wait quietly beneath the high walls of the fortress for their masters to give the order to flee before galloping away.”

"No orc knows the Hot Spring Province like better than a human."

At almost the same time, the emperor, far away in the capital, received news from the northern border.

"Grand Duke Russell needs sufficient supplies. He requires mages to open spatial passages to send the battle mages to the Hot Springs Fortress."

"He does not want the Hot Springs Fortress to fall, nor does he want Your Majesty to bear such immense pressure as the orcs breaching the border fortress so soon after becoming emperor."

"He needs Your Majesty's support, and he will repay you with the entire borders of the Empire."

"He needs to gain military command over the provinces of Purple Mountain and Morelos, and assemble the nearest imperial troops to help him resist the orc army."

The nobleman whispered in the emperor's ear, and the emperor, who had been on the throne for less than ten days, clenched his fists, his nostrils flared, and his breathing became rapid.

"Summon the three grand dukes and all the great nobles here!"

"The Empire needs them!"

The emperor also became ruthless, and the scene returned to the province of Hot Springs. All the men were gathered together, looking at the knight in front of them with fear and unease. When they turned around, they could see nothing but his head.

"From this moment forward, you are soldiers of the Empire!"

"The Empire will provide you with food, clothing, and weapons!"

"Remember the way you came. You came here from your homes. Once the orcs cross this land, they will appear in your farmland, in your houses, and in your kitchens!"

"Can your family members stop them?"

People panicked; it was a multiple-choice question with no second option.

"Therefore, only you can stop them!"

"Look at me! Soldiers! Look at the insignia on my body. The proud Bauhinia will not abandon any soldier of the Hot Springs Province. The esteemed Duke Russell will be with you."

"I swear in the name of the Bauhinia flower, and in the name of Grand Duke Russell, that even if we lose the war, the Bauhinia flower will never be ahead of you!"

"Fight on, soldiers!"

"Take up your weapons and see what your enemies look like."

After the knight roared, the entire line of Bauhinia knights, stretching for hundreds of meters, simultaneously turned their bodies to the side.

Between the bodies, the bloody wind and the light that the eyes could see through.

In that instant, the battlefield and roars that had been blocked by their bodies resounded in the ears of all the civilian soldiers. They saw thousands of people fighting bloody battles with orcs hundreds of meters away from them.

The Bauhinia Knights who had been standing in a row had blocked everything, but in this instant, all the impacts appeared in front of them.

One after another, the flags of the Bauhinia flower fell, but the remaining people picked them up again. Their battle cries were deafening, making people's scalps tingle while also making their blood boil.

The Bauhinia Knights mounted their horses, their gleaming longswords drawn and pressed against their chests.

"Soldiers—"

"Charge!"

(End of this chapter)