Throne of the North.

Chapter 720 The Second Orc War (Part Six)
Count Ferguson was temporarily appointed as the supreme commander of Sunshine Meadow. He originally wanted to escape to the south, or even go directly to the capital city, which was the safest place.

However, the Duke of Russell forcibly kept him in the province of Hot Springs, and Count Ferguson dared not defy the Duke of Russell's authority, so he could only become the commander of Sunshine Meadow.

This count was arguably the lowest-ranking noble in the empire. He was one of the few nobles in the empire who did not have a superhuman legion under his command, so naturally he dared not rebel.

The leaf emblem on the count's banner indicated his identity; he was not an ancient nobleman of the empire, but rather a member of the empire a century ago after northern nobles fled south.

Similar to Gerald in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Andara, except that the Ferguson family clearly lacked the confidence and dignity, they chose to become followers of the Imperial Emperor.

In other words, the Ferguson family is not a blasphemous family.

The second reason why the Ferguson family did not have a superhuman legion was because of the Marquis of Hot Springs.

To date, the empire has had four Columbus emperors. Not counting Columbus I, who received the throne from Les Henryk, Columbus II, Columbus III, and the current Columbus IV, there have been six electors in addition to Columbus himself.

The elector is the successor to the title of marquis in the empire, so the empire now has five marquises.

The Vikings were, after all, exiled.

One of these five Elector Marquises resided in the province of Hot Springs.

The Marquis of Hot Springs was very shrewd. After all, he was once a rival of the emperor. His existence prevented the Ferguson Earl's family from expanding. It can be said that Hot Springs Province was one of the few places in the empire where the Marquis had more power than the Earl.

Count Ferguson's status in the empire's high nobility circles was not high; he had always been a nobody.

This position also indirectly reveals the capabilities of this generation of Earl Ferguson.

He wasn't that outstanding.

So when a large number of orcs appeared simultaneously on the east and west sides of the Sunny Meadow, and when a large number of raven orcs flew in from the sky riding on harpies, Count Ferguson was extremely panicked.

"How to do how to do?"

Count Ferguson roared, and the minor nobles and knights guarding the nobles around him looked at each other in bewilderment. To be honest, they were helpless. Count Ferguson's panicked behavior made everyone nervous.

"Where is Commander Op? And what about Lord Isaiah? Tell them to come up with a solution quickly."

The imperial army on the sunny meadows would certainly not have only one commander, and Grand Duke Russell did not expect Count Ferguson to become the army commander. His role was most likely just a mascot to boost morale.

This is why Op Russell, who arrived at Earl Ferguson's side, was extremely puzzled.

This count, no matter what the war is like, will not threaten his life. Why is he so anxious?

“Lord Ferguson, you need not worry. We have two hundred thousand Imperial soldiers guarding the Sunny Grassland.”

"Yes, we have 200,000 soldiers."

Count Ferguson calmed down and said this while patting his chest.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency, you only need to give the order."

Military orders in Sunny Meadows are all issued through Earl Ferguson. Although he can do nothing, this name can boost the morale of the soldiers, as the nobles are on their side.

Op, at the peak of the Saint Realm, quickly helped Earl Ferguson issue orders. Commanding an army of 200,000 was no easy task. Even Op, a member of Russell, felt the stagnation. He couldn't command so many people and could only issue orders to the various nobles.

It boils down to two things: defending and attacking.

As for how to fight... Opp can only let them decide and judge for themselves.

Seeing Op's calmness, Count Ferguson gradually felt relieved and even smiled.

"It seems that this time, the orcs still cannot break through our defenses."

really?
This question lingered in Oppein's mind, and he was not as relaxed as he appeared on the surface.

Large numbers of orcs appeared from both the east and west sides, which was unexpected. In places where Earl Ferguson could not see, the imperial army was already in complete chaos.

The military orders from the commander-in-chief did not reach the easternmost and westernmost directions at all, because the knights and nobles there could not find their troops anywhere.

Unseen by the nobles, the orc army arrived from the flanks, making chaos all that the human soldiers could see.

Horses galloped wildly, charging and crashing about indiscriminately. Soldiers ran aimlessly, vying for horses and fleeing without direction. Knights shouted loudly but to no avail. Nobles angrily rebuked them, but their bodies betrayed their true intentions as they fled.

"A clamor of war," a word that Earl Ferguson didn't understand at all, appeared in the Imperial army he commanded, and this chaos, with the orcs at close range, turned into a desperate massacre.

Op Russell was equally bewildered; he had been ordered by the Grand Duke to aid the defenses of Sunshine Meadow, yet he knew nothing about the bloated Imperial army.

The war suddenly broke out on the east and west sides of Sunshine Grassland. Neither side was a direct battlefield, but gradually, everyone realized something was wrong. The war? Or rather, the massacre on the east and west sides was happening too fast. The attacking orcs were beginning to affect the main battlefield of Sunshine Grassland.

What are the main battlefields?
There were massive numbers of orcs, as well as massive numbers of human soldiers riding warhorses. They maintained their advantage, and the orcs were constantly being divided up by the Empire's cavalry. The mobility of the warhorses turned the war into a chase and hunt. The presence of hot springs prevented the orcs from forming a large encirclement and they could only be passively harassed by the cavalry.

However, as the orcs from the east and west began to approach, a larger encirclement was forming, and within this encirclement, the warhorses were gradually being restricted.

They no longer had a large enough area to run and escape the orcs chasing them.

No one noticed this impending fact until Op Russell saw it: on the sunlit meadow, under the golden sunlight, the Imperial soldiers and the orcs from all directions were indistinguishable.

The moment he realized that his cavalry could not move freely forward or backward, the peak Saint-level expert felt a chill run down his spine. He finally understood what the orcs were doing: they were surrounding all the Empire's cavalry.

"How could this be? How could orcs possess such intelligence?"

Op trembled as he saw a scene of despair: countless human cavalrymen were dragged from their horses and brutally slaughtered by the orcs. Originally, the humans were constantly dividing the orc army, but now the situation had reversed. Nowhere could more than two thousand human soldiers be gathered. They were scattered across the sunny grasslands, and the scalding hot spring water had become a dead end that prevented the humans from retreating.

"How could this be?"

All the high-ranking officials gradually realized the disadvantages of the war, and by the time the nobles understood, the situation... was already beyond saving.

Screams and desperate howls filled the air. Just as the soldier on horseback tried to turn around, a ferocious leopard-man leaped up from behind and tore his back apart. The horse collapsed in agony, and only when he was dizzy and disoriented did the soldier realize that his comrades were no longer by his side.

He could only see far into the distance. The imperial army was constantly retreating, being forced back by the orcs. On such a battlefield, the fighting power of the six royal orc clans far exceeded that of ordinary human soldiers.

As the army retreated, someone finally lost sight of what was behind them and fell into the scalding hot spring. Even the toughest beastmen couldn't withstand the boiling water, let alone humans.
"The mage, where is the mage?!"

In the sky, Opp finally passed Ferguson and roared loudly.

The Empire's mages were also terrified. They didn't know where to cast their spells. Finally, seeing human soldiers gradually die out in some areas, they began unleashing elemental carnage on the orc-dense lands. Multicolored magical light rose, effectively halting the orcish advance, but things didn't go as planned.

Among the orc army, one by one, weak orc shamans stood up, raising their wooden staffs high. Turbid ripples rippled in the void, and all the orcs covered by the ripples let out beast-like roars from deep in their throats.

The deafening roar dispelled most of the magic. Not only that, the orc army began to go berserk, charging forward recklessly. They might rush into the scalding hot spring water in their irrationality, but what stood before them now was a human army that was much closer to the hot spring.

"It's...it's all over."

Opp's teeth chattered as he stared at the war with eyes wide with rage.

"Attack! Attack!"

With bloodshot eyes, Op knew that not only was the war doomed, but he himself was as well. At this moment, this member of the Russell clan finally remembered his surname. He could not leave the responsibility of this war to the Duke Russell whom he followed.

For Russell's glory, for Russell's dignity, he cannot live.

"Attack! Kill these orcs who have invaded the Empire!"

"Soldiers of the Empire, for the Empire, for Emperor Flor, attack! Attack!!!"

Only the knights of the sky can see the course of the war, but the soldiers on the battlefield cannot. When they see the knights of the sky above them all risking their lives to fight against the orc army, the soldiers become more and more passionate.

With no way out, and driven by Op's willingness to die, the Imperial army launched a desperate counterattack against the orcs.

"Smash it! Smash it wherever there are the most orcs, no matter the cost!"

Behind him, Earl Ferguson's mind echoed with Op's last words as he left, and he gritted his teeth as he began to give orders to the mages.

Op made the final and most correct decision: even if it meant accidentally killing Imperial troops, they could not allow the orc army to crush Sunlit Grassland.

"We cannot lose this war."

Magic no longer cared about human soldiers. The orc shamans kept adding bestial buffs, but they still couldn't change the mages' dominance in the war. Moreover, as the war became more brutal, the terrifying spells chanted by those archmages finally came to fruition.

A spectacular explosion began to echo across the sunlit meadow.

The scalding hot spring water, flowing again and again, is no longer milky white. Bright red blood has long since seeped deep into this land, turning the once verdant, sun-drenched grasslands crimson red, a testament to the battle and carnage of hundreds of thousands of lives.

"Orcs, more orcs are appearing!"

The Dreadnoughts appeared north of the Sunlit Grasslands. Their cruel horns, gleaming in the sunlight and bearing mysterious patterns, were a divinely blessed army of Dreadnoughts. The moment they stormed into the Sunlit Grasslands battlefield, they completely tipped the scales of war.

"Damn it, where are our reinforcements?"

After a moment of stubbornness, Count Ferguson finally reverted to his true nature; Oppe had not told him how to deal with this situation.

"My Lord, perhaps we should retreat?"

A nobleman whispered something, and Count Ferguson, flustered, was about to agree to the proposal, but the next moment, the surrounding knights began to gasp in surprise.

"It's the Marquis's Armored Knight Legion!"

A flamboyant banner appeared in the south of the Sunny Grassland, the earth trembled, and a dark, imposing cavalry legion appeared on the battlefield. This was the extraordinary legion of the Marquis of Hot Springs, the only extraordinary legion in Hot Springs Province, which finally became a morale booster for humanity on this battlefield.

"attack!!!"

Commander Grimm Columbus of the Armored Knights Legion gritted his teeth and reluctantly gave the order to attack.

He was reinforcements for Sunny Meadow, but he didn't come voluntarily.

"Soldiers! For the glory of the Empire! For the glory of the Marquis!"

"Long live the Emperor!"

"Kill those evil orcs!"

"Long live the Empire!"

This order came directly from the emperor of the empire.

Who knows why the emperor in the capital city discovered the defeat in the war at Sunny Grassland so quickly?

……

The origins of the war in Sunshine Meadows lie not in Sunshine Meadows itself, but in Hot Springs Fortress.

Just an hour before the war broke out in Sunny Grassland, Hot Spring Fortress also suffered a fierce attack from a million-strong orc army. The fortress, with its two layers of walls, was attacked by orc armies from the sky, the ground, and even underground. The orc king 'Bonebreaker' personally appeared on the battlefield, commanding the orc attack with the will of a god.

It possesses profound wisdom in warfare.

Similarly, the reinforcements for Sunny Meadow also originated from Hot Spring Fortress.

Thanks to the strong demands of the Duke of Russell and the consensus reached with the Emperor, the nobles in the capital city were constantly paying attention to the war in the North, and they had only one goal.

The gods of the orcs.

Her Highness, the Prophet Witch, sits in the Imperial Palace in the capital city 24 hours a day. Her gray eyes are connected to the Hot Spring Fortress, providing the Emperor with everything that happens there.

There is only one purpose for this: to ward off the power of the gods.

And clearly, when even the Orc King couldn't help but personally appear on the battlefield, the great being, His power, descended upon this war between the Orcs and the Humans.

"This is not the first time the empire has killed a god."

Emperor Volvo Columbus of Flor addressed the nobles before him in an extremely solemn tone.

At this moment, the imperial palace in the capital city was free from political strife.

All that remains is... the thrill of killing a god.

Beneath them, the ancient and magnificent imperial capital trembled.

(End of this chapter)