From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 285 A Small Victory

In addition to Ivy's fire storm, the orc army was also greeted by the elves' arrows raining down.

Thranduil, riding on a giant elk, held high his elegant and slender elven sword and issued orders for wave after wave of shooting.

The morale of these orcs trained by Sauron himself was very high, and even in the face of the terrifying fire magic and the death rain brought by arrows, there was no large-scale chaos. They were born for war, and they avoided their companions who were set on fire by the fire tornado. There were even supervisors with skulls of their own kind stuck in their helmets, who personally killed the orcs who were running wildly because of the burning flames, just to prevent them from rushing into the neat formation.

For an army, discipline is combat effectiveness.

Ivy ran past the line of orcs, constantly glancing at these crazy guys.

He wanted to find out the commander of this orc army.

In medieval battlefields where communication methods were extremely backward, horns, flags, and drums were all tools used by commanders to issue orders to their troops. But Ivy never saw these things on the battlefield, so he had no idea where the orcs' command center was.

The number of vanguards pouring out of the tunnel alone was already three times the number of the elves and humans combined. Ivy couldn't imagine how many people were in this army.

Without the ability to identify the enemy's command center, Ivy could not use magic to kill the general and capture the flag, thereby destroying the brain of the army.

However, when a unit suffers casualties beyond the limit, there is still a possibility of collapse, so the next test is the killing efficiency of Ivy's magic.

The orcs, who had endured two rounds of arrow rain, began to fight back. Their vanguards raised their shields above their heads and charged towards the elves. The ogres and trolls who had just walked out of the cave stood on the hillside, ready to fire the siege weapons behind them.

Ivy's second magic has arrived.

Thanks to the poor spell list of the Dazzling Warlock, in the two days since becoming a Nine-ring Spellcaster, Ivy's chosen spells were almost all large-scale lethal magic from the Evocation Department. Maybe someone would call him a barbarian with contempt, but when the fireball hit his face, there were definitely few orcs who dared to speak rudely to Ivy.

Moreover, in such a crowded battlefield, the energy spells are simple and direct enough. As long as the enemy's troops are not killed faster than Ivy's magic, victory will be within reach.

Therefore, what Ivy has to do now is to destroy the orcs' reception facilities.

Muffled noises came again from deep within the earth. Before the orcs standing on top could understand what was happening, the violent shaking caused most of the orcs who were huddled together to fall to the ground.

The war beast's body knocked down a group of orcs, turning them and their armor into blood-soaked meat patties. The beast that served as a siege platform fell down, and the weapons originally aimed at the elf phalanx were accidentally hit. The huge force of the catapult made the beast that fell to the ground bounce high, and then returned to the embrace of the earth under the influence of gravity. The giant crossbow arrows swept over the heads of some orcs, and skewered others into meat skewers with black blood.

The violent shaking of the earth did not stop, but became even more terrifying. Several cracks began to spread on the ground, like bloody mouths. Orcs who had no time to dodge were constantly swallowed by the earth, and disappeared without a trace after letting out a scream.

Even more frightening than the situation on the ground were the orcs who were still huddled in the tunnels and had not come out. Under the influence of the earthquake, the passages through which the earthworms had drilled had long been shattered, and rocks and dry soil kept falling from above, either burying the orcs alive or knocking them unconscious.

The power of magic made the ground dance wildly, and everything that failed to keep up with the rhythm was thrown away, including the small hill where the orc army was located. The original ridgeline had disappeared in the earthquake, and large rocks rolled down from the heights, slaughtering all creatures in their way.

"Scatter! Scatter!" The Orc commander shouted at his men. These guys who had a little bit of brains had already discovered that the scope of the earthquake was not that large, especially compared with the space of the entire battlefield.

The magic Ivy used was the eighth-level evocation spell Earthquake, which had a total range of 500 feet and could create a strong earthquake on the circular ground with a radius of 100 feet, which could last for one minute.

Although this area is not even as large as half a football field, Ivy's level of [Dazzling Warlock] has now reached level 19, which means that [Wild Elemental Surge] can increase the range of this spell by a total of 10d6, which is barely enough.

At least half of the seven tunnels dug by the orcs using the earthworms collapsed, and the small hill where they set out had completely disappeared.

The roar of the earth echoed across the plains between Riverdale and Lonely Mountain, greatly boosting the morale of the coalition forces.

Thranduil brandished his sword again and ordered, "Shoot!"

The elves moved in unison, and they did not waver at all even when the orcs began to charge in front of them.

The smooth movements illustrate the aesthetics of the elves, killing the orc army gracefully and efficiently.

Countless orcs were nailed to the ground by arrows, and were completely swallowed up by the earthquake cracks created by Ivy, but such attacks could not bring down the orc army. They seemed tireless and could not feel fear, with only bloodthirsty desire in their hearts.

The orcs had already charged to the front of the elven phalanx. These elegant archers calmly put away their longbows and, under the command of Thranduil, moved back to the center of the formation with exquisite and crisp movements. Instead, standing in the front were the elven infantry holding large shields and spears.

Countless spears protruded from the shield wall that reflected golden light, forming an insurmountable natural chasm. The slope composed of large shields seemed to provide a place for the orcs to land, but it also prevented the power of their charge from being fully released on the elves' phalanx.

Many lucky orcs climbed up the shield slope to the top of the square, and were about to jump in to kill, but when they landed, they found that they were not greeted by weak ranged troops holding longbows, but by powerful elf warriors who had already changed to long swords. The long years gave the elves the possibility to master the use of various weapons, and the low birth rate also forced Thranduil to use one army as multiple types of soldiers.

When armed with longbows, these elves are feared archers, and when they draw their long swords, they are a strong backing capable of blocking the orcs' attacks.

The duration of the earthquake passed quickly. Ivy annihilated a group of orcs who tried to surround her, and began to prepare for the next spell - the Nine-Ring Shaping System, Meteor Explosion.

As Ivy's only offensive nine-ring spell, Meteor Explosion has a range of one mile, and the four meteors fired can also cause a killing range of 40+10d6 feet in radius. Ivy originally wanted to keep it to snipe the possible commander of the Orcs. As long as this goal is achieved, the Orcs' army will not be a threat. Without a unified command, the Orcs can only be slaughtered by the elves and magic.

But now the commander of the Orcs has not shown up, and this army is still pouring out of the tunnel. Ivy knows that she must not let the number of Orcs overwhelm the elves. Otherwise, even if she can win this battle, when the Orcs from Gundabad arrive, the coalition of elves and humans will only be defeated. So Ivy chose to use the meteor blast at this moment, which has a boastful range and scope.

As Ivy chanted loudly, terrifying heat gathered around him. The high temperature caused the air to distort, making the orcs looking at him feel unreal.

The orc vanguard commander realized that the wizard in front of him was preparing to cast a spell again. He was about to order the ranged troops to attack when he saw four huge meteors shooting out from the wizard's side.

The whistling meteor left a gorgeous trail in the sky, and turned into a death god, slamming heavily into the center of the Orc army. The Orcs and Ogres who were the first to bear the brunt had already turned into ashes, and those who were a little further away were also thrown into the air by the shock wave of the violent explosion along with the rubble, and then fell heavily to the ground.

The nine-ring spell was more lethal than the eight-ring earthquake spell. The tunnels covered by the meteor explosion collapsed, and all the orcs within the killing radius were killed. In the range of Ivy's first few spells, there were always a few lucky ones who could run away with their half-dead bodies, but under the power of the meteor explosion, there were no living creatures on the hillside east of the Valley City.

Each meteor released by the meteor explosion can cause 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage. Even if a smart orc makes a qualified diving action at the moment the meteor hits the ground and only suffers half the damage, it is absolutely impossible to survive the strong explosion.

From Ivy's perspective, four meteors with long tails even created a small mushroom cloud on the ground. However, because the direction was not completely perpendicular to the ground, the rising hot air was quickly blown away by the cold wind with dust, and the mushroom cloud spectacle no longer existed.

Even though they already knew of Ivy's existence, no one on the battlefield had ever seen such a doomsday-like scene, so they all stood there in a daze, staring at the orcs who were thrown out by the shock wave of the explosion and were struggling to get up.

"Now, Thranduil!" Ivy's voice echoed across the battlefield and into the ears of the Silvan Elf King.

The silver-haired Elf King came to his senses, raised his sword and shouted an order: "Charge! Warriors of the Woodland Kingdom! Drive these ugly orcs back to hell!"

The giant-horned elk took the lead. Its huge antlers were like moving chevaux de frise, picking up all the orcs blocking its way. Then the elven king on its back beheaded him with one strike.

The elven warriors behind the king actually maintained the general formation of a square formation and launched a charge. The orc vanguard who had previously crashed into the square formation had been consumed to pieces and could only stay where they were, roaring helplessly, and then died miserably without causing any splash at all.

A new roar was heard from the direction of Lonely Mountain. Twelve dwarves without mounts set out on foot. Standing in the front was Thorin, wearing a crown.

It is advisable to use the remaining courage to chase the poor bandits.

The orcs who had lost their tunnels were nothing more than rootless duckweed and could be easily wiped out by the coalition forces.

Just when the Orc army was in danger and its formation was about to collapse, a low horn sounded from afar.

Hearing this sound, the orcs desperately climbed over the scattered ridges, threw away all their weapons and equipment, and began to run for their lives.

There was no doubt that the horn was the signal for the orcs to retreat.

Ivy looked around in the center of the battlefield, but couldn't find where the horn guiding the orcs came from.

Thranduil, riding a giant elk, had also rushed to his side. Compared to humans, the elves' ears were undoubtedly more sensitive.

"Behind the mountain." Thranduil pointed his long sword into the distance, pointing out the direction to Ivy.

Tapping the horse's belly with his heels, Golden Horn carried Ivy towards the ridgeline that was half destroyed by the earthquake spell. Along the way, Ivy easily freed the heads of several orcs from their bodies.

It was not until they crossed the ridgeline that Ivy stopped this meaningless action.

Behind the ridgeline is a valley with exposed black rocks, and in the valley is an army of orcs all over the mountain.

There were more orcs than Ivy had seen outside Dol Guldur, and God knew where they came from.

The command platform of the Orc army was carried on the back of a huge giant. On it was a scarlet flag with a bone pole and a huge black horn.

Ivy didn't see the conspicuous pale orc Azog. Instead, he saw a black knight in heavy armor. A black mist was floating around him, making it difficult to tell the truth. However, Ivy could clearly sense the terrifying murderous aura even from such a long distance.

"What is that?" Thranduil also stepped onto the ridgeline.

"The Nazgûl," Ivy replied softly. "The pitiful slaves of Sauron."

No wonder the Orc army that attacked Valley City was so fearless and tenacious. It turned out that their superior was supervising the battle from behind.

"Is he really back?" The giant deer under Thranduil pawed its hooves restlessly, kicking up a lot of dust and gravel.

"It is absolutely true. Gandalf and I saw it with our own eyes," Ivy replied softly.

He knew very well why the Ringwraiths appeared in this place, and they came for the two Rings of Power in his hands. As the strongest force in Sauron's hands and the highest-level commander, each of the Ringwraiths was extremely important to him. After enduring in Middle-earth for so many years, his return was almost absolutely impossible to fail. Therefore, taking back the ring from Avy, occupying the Lonely Mountain, and completing the revival of the Kingdom of Angmar were the last instructions left by Sauron to the Ringwraiths before returning to Mordor.

"The gap in numbers is too big. We can't fight these orcs outside the city!" Thranduil turned around and ordered the elves under his command to retreat to the camp outside the valley city.

(End of this chapter)