After the initial disarray due to the caltrops, the orc soldiers reorganized themselves. Each of the soldiers had their own way of traversing the caltrops field. Some went near the ones who had AOE skills that provided immunity or resistance against movement restrictions. Some got behind mages who used their AOE spells to blast the ground to get rid of the caltrops. Very few individuals, such as the Cipher Flight experts, used their mana sense ability to accurately detect the caltrops and destroyed them while they advanced.
Of course, this still slowed their advances down, which was what the caltrops originally intended to do. In this way, the war tools were not wasted. The human army also never stopped sending their ranged attacks, maximizing the damage they inflicted while the orcs' advance was being hindered.
When the orcs were halfway, they found a thick fog was forming. Soon, they couldn't see anything. But they still know which directions to go, so they continued. They saw shadows in the fog coming at them. Did the human army finally choose to come out and meet them in direct combat?
When the shadows in the fog arrived, the orcs saw that they were humans, all right. But dead humans! The zombies claw and bit them while skeletal hands burst from the sand and grabbed their legs.
It was Arlcard's Sonata of the Night. Arlcard cast the spell to cover the battlefield on his side, halting the orcs' advance even further. The human army's ranged attacks never stopped. Despite the fog, allies could still see clearly what was inside the fog.
"Good Job, Arlcard!" Jack complimented. He was also sending his ranged attacks while Therras ran into the fog running interference. Jack had summoned his spirit weapon, wolves, and Ice Demon Fiend once the battle started. His wolves had also run into the fog supporting Therras while Ice Demon Fiend threw its freeze balls from range.
When the fog seemingly held the orc army from advancing, Jack saw in the distance one of the orcs floated up. This orc didn't appear to be simple. This flying orc cast a six-rune spell. When the spell formation was completed, Jack braced himself for some sort of an offensive spell. Yet, nothing happened.
But as he was wondering what spell the opponent had just cast, Arlcard's fog shivered. It was then abruptly dispersed. The zombies conjured from the fog disintegrated into nothingness.
"Cancel magic!" Peniel exclaimed.
"Cancel magic? The fusion spell that you mentioned is created from combining Dispel and Interrupt?" Jack asked.
"Yes," Peniel confirmed. "Arlcard's Sonata of the Night was a six-runes spell, so it could be canceled by the six-runes Cancel Magic. This also showed that the orc mage casting the spell either had a higher intelligence stat or a higher level spell than Arlcard. If not, the spell would fail to cancel Arlcard's spell."
With the fog gone, the orc soldiers could proceed normally again. Jack called Therras and his wolves to return, it was too risky to leave them amongst the enemies without the protection of the fog.
Arlcard cast his next wide AOE spell, Perpetual Sword of Death. It battered the advancing orc soldiers while the front-line human soldier prepared for a melee clash.
Jack used his Wings of Devastation on the approaching orcs. With the orcs already battered by Arlcard's Perpetual Sword of Death, many orcs that were about to arrive before the human army's defensive line ended up losing their lives.
Many orcs were lying on the ground. However, it was only the ones most to the front. A few rows behind, the soldiers were covered by translucent vests that seemed to be made of muddy gel.
"It's Mud Vests! An earth element spell that provides a strong defense to many targets. It also gives very high resistance against lightning-type attacks," Peniel explained.
"They must have used it in preparation to defend against my Perpetual Lightning Judgement," Jack uttered. He had used that spell for first strike advantage during the Slaughterer Plains battle. The orc officers leading this side must have been present there as well. Hence the preparation to defend against lightning. But since John asked him to save his big skills, he hadn't cast that spell.
Jack identified the one who had cast the Mud Vests spell. "Damn it! It's that orc mage again," he uttered.
The one who had cast the spell was the same mage who had canceled Arlcard's spell. He was now hovering over the soldiers who were protected by his spell. He himself was also protected by a mud vest The soldiers were now charging forward again, stepping over their fallen comrades.
The floating orc mage was about to cast another spell but an energy fist formed above him. The fist slammed towards the orc as abruptly as it appeared. The orc canceled his spell and waved his hand. The mud vest on him changed shape as if it was liquid and came up and formed a shell above him. The shell blocked the energy fist.
Duke Alfredo floated up as he cast another spell to stop this orc mage from taking another action.
The orc soldiers below finally reached the human army's defensive line. Soon, everyone started fighting. The orc's ranged units that stayed behind the charging melee soldiers were now also in range to send their attacks. Jack joined the defensive line in clashing with the front-most enemies.
*
On the side where Paytowin, Mihos, and Brave King were fighting against the three-headed wolf, a herd of armored wildebeests suddenly came charging at them. This forced them to disengage from the wolf. Paytowin hid behind the defensive soldiers as they used their shields to block the incoming rampage.
This wild rampage had been used by Umeza. From his skill set, Paytowin figured the orc elder was a cross between a beastmaster and a druid.
Up above them, was a large spacecraft. It was Paytowin's Mothership Bombardment. Paytowin had used the skill to provide air-to-surface support to batter and slow down the advancing orc army.
Something suddenly shot up at high speed toward this spacecraft. This thing crashed into the spacecraft and the spacecraft cracked before it exploded into pieces. Paytowin looked up in consternation as his skill was forcefully ended before its full duration.
Falling with the debris of the explosion was a figure with a pair of translucent wings. It was Umeza Giantkiller. He looked contemptuously at the army below for a brief second before his body zipped again. This time it shot down with great speed.
Paytowin immediately activated his Brave Techno Suit and ran away from there with his increased speed. The human soldiers tried using their shields to block Umeza's incoming attack.
When Umeza touched down, all the soldiers in the vicinity were blown upward while the land caved downward. Before these soldiers landed back down, Umeza's body split into multiple copies. Each copy struck the soldiers that were in the air, delivering massive damage with each strike.
Umeza then followed up with a spinning kick. His kick conjured up a twister that swept the soldiers who were about to land back down. They were now lifted back into the air again. Umeza's flashing figure was seen spinning at a blinding speed inside the twister, continuously striking the soldiers trapped inside the twister.
'He is also a battle monk!' Paytowin noticed.
After the twister dispersed, all the soldiers fell. Most had their HP zeros already. Only special elites above level 60 and rare elites survived. Those special elites were in critical condition though.
When Umeza wanted to follow up, Commander Quintus rushed forth. Beside him were another two level 65 rare elites.
"Pull back and recover!" Quintus told the soldiers who had been wounded by Umeza.
"Hah! Then you will substitute them to be my prey!" Umeza exclaimed as his claw weapon clashed with Quintus' extremely long katana.
The other two special elites came to Umeza's side to flank him. But when their weapons were thrust, Umeza had disappeared. He reappeared again above the three. His claws and legs spun and delivered attacks from complex angles. The three were unable to cope with Umeza's complex movements and were struck.
'He also knows martial art. Damn! This guy is way above our league!' Paytowin thought. He had been using his gun to shoot at Umeza, but the damages it produced were even worse than when he shot at the three-headed wolf.
Paytowin had heard from Jack that Wilted once told him that the lead designer of the game consulted an expert martial artist when designing Second World. This Umeza must be one amongst many that had been programmed with martial art movements based on that expert's input.
Umeza's level was too high compared to Quintus and his two comrades. They were easily beaten back.
Quintus wasn't willing to just give up. His body vanished when he was pushed back from Umeza's kick. Twenty shadows then appeared around Umeza. The shadows slashed at the elder orc simultaneously, each targeting his weak points.
Umeza didn't seem to fluster at all. His skin turned shiny and rigid as if diamond. It was similar to Battle Monk's steel body except this was the enhanced version called diamond body. Quintus' twenty slashes hit but the resulting damage was greatly dampened.
With a grunt, a ki outburst radiated out of Umeza, destroying all of Quintus' shadows. Normally, the user of hundred shadow strikes was immune to damage during execution. But when all the shadows were forcefully eliminated, the reappeared Quintus suffered damage due to the backlash.
