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nCeph raised an eyebrow upon seeing Eldrian return with a little girl, ignoring that, Eldrian quickly filled him in on the details further. The nearby centaurs couldn't believe what Eldrian was saying and wanted to argue, but Eldrian quickly shut them up when he pointed to the explosion he had caused.

nRecalling that he had indeed done something in the road before moving into the ruined district, they kept quiet. Afraid at what else he had hidden up his sleeve.

nAfter all, he had killed a group of orcs they would have had a tough time defending against. While this group was stronger than the one Silver had encountered, they only had three Tier 5's. Luckily, their equipment was also quite good, so they should be able to survive.

n

"Is this true?

" Upam asked, unable to believe what Eldrian had just told him.

n

"It seems to be the case. There might still be a chieftain, or possibly a warlord commanding the army. All the orcs I inspected are followers of Kugbu.

"

n

"If I'm not mistaken… It should be that orc.

" Bennidict the catkin interposed, his words causing a few of those in the room to turn blank.

n

"Warlord?

" Eldrian asked.

n

"Thankfully not, if he was he could simply march into the city and capture it alone.

" Upam wiped the sweat from his brow from the idea of an orc warlord being behind the army. They were truly monsters, far too strong to be classed as a normal enemy.

nGranted, if a Warlord tried it the magic towers would focus on him. If they were able to hit, it would likely kill the Warlord. If they failed to land a hit…

n

"No, it is a chieftain…

" Upam clarified after calming down, having recalled the destruction an orc warlord had caused on the outer walls. Where it had been free to rampage as they are outside the range of the magic towers.

nInstead of waiting for them to share what limited knowledge they knew and their fears, Eldrian decided to use his inspection function to search for the orc. He also quickly fiddled to see and make use of a marker system.

nWith the skeleton force, the orcs were unable to fully surround the city. Instead, they had scouting parties moving between their camps, which were settled in the old barracks of the outer wall, located near the gatehouses. A total of four camps, the numbers in each not equally distributed.

nThe orcs used the walls as patrol paths, and there were even sentries posted on the towers that still stood. Out of curiosity, Eldrian had inspected a few of them. It seemed that these ones were all quite strong, likely having some range abilities.

nThe orcs' intent was clearly to ensure that no one could enter or exit the city. While teleportation was still in play thanks to the magic towers, this still heavily increased the pressure on the city for sure.

nEldrian assumed that the chieftain wouldn't be moving in the patrols and didn't think it would be in one of the towers, thus he focused his search on the barracks. When he finally found him, Eldrian was a little stunned.

n'Well, **…'

nKugbu – Orc Chieftain (Elite) {Follower of Wrug}, Tier 6, Level 38

nHP: 9281

nStamina: 7734

nMana: 1022

nAttack: 666 (67)

nMagic Attack: 416-832(100-200)

nWhile Eldrian couldn't get the attribute distribution from this inspection function, the attack values clearly indicated just how strong this orc was, and his intelligence would be nearly as high. His HP was naturally absurd.

n'Okay, so annihilating the orc army is not possible- At least not safely…' Eldrian sighed, going for the leader would be near impossible. The chieftain was even surrounded by orc warriors, all of whom were elite class. Likely his personal Warband.

nThere were three Tier 6 orc warriors and seven Tier 5's in this group of his. The Tier 6's had around 8000 health, while the Tier 5's had only 2500.

n'Yeah, jumps in growth above Tier 5 is massive.' Eldrian confirmed. By the way, the strongest person in the defense of the city was only Tier 6, and they had nowhere near the quality of items to allow them to face even the Tier 6 orc warriors, or so Eldrian assumed looking at the attack stats.

nThe chieftain would walk over anyone who tried to face him.

nEldrian had curiously started picking up that monsters of all types had higher stats than NPCs. He assumed the gap would be closed through items, but he was not sure just how the monsters couldn't increase it even more with those same items.

nBack to the orc chieftain. Part of Eldrian naturally wanted to test what dropping the cannonballs onto his barracks would do. Especially if he added novas worth all his mana to it.

n'Surely I can get some information on the cannonballs, right?' He felt asking for details on Nova might be hard since he wasn't sure if runic magic was supported by his unique system, but the cannonball was an item. Albeit not something native to the world.

nIt took a moment but it worked.

nCannonball – Tier 5 – Durability 1000

nDamage: 5000

nFire damage: 50 FD

/s

nA cannonball equipped with an advanced array, ensuring that it would not explode before intended.

n'Maybe… Just maybe.' Eldrian shook his head, it wasn't really worth the risk of putting Ceph and himself on the frontlines, alone. Though, if he targeted the army first then it would alert the chieftain of their ability.

n

"Ceph, what do you think?

" Eldrian asked, sharing the details with him through their mind link.

n

"Mmm, it's risky considering we don't know his abilities.

" Ceph clearly recalled the last time they had fought the orcs. While they could likely use the dive attack with either Crystoi or the cannonballs to kill the chieftain… If they could survive the aftermath was uncertain.

nIt might turn out just as the last time had, and Ceph did not wish for that to happen.

nIt wasn't like these orcs would have their backs towards them either. While they might be lax, they are sure to have some level of alert. Being able to launch the attack without being spotted would be difficult.

n

"What are you-?

" Upam asked but decided to stop as he saw the two frown.

n

"And the local orcs?

" Eldrian asked.

n

"They're not a big deal, right?

"

n

"Yeah, we should be able to clean them up.

" Turning to the deputy Eldrian asked,

"Do you know why they didn't simply capture the city?

"

n

"We presume it is because they didn't want to increase their losses. It is by sheer luck that our magic towers were able to repel their aerial assaults, at heavy costs… Thanks to that we were able to annihilate all clustered groups entering the city. After which, they withdrew and the state devolved into this…

"

nEldrian nodded, he still didn't get why something of the rank of a warlord simply didn't walk in and kill everyone. 'Erring on the side of caution? Maybe they feared the teleportation of elites surrounding their leader. It is sure to be a massive loss…'

nEldrian suspected that this must be the case, it would also explain why the cities were able to last so long. It all depended on when the magic towers, and all the versatility they offered, were lost.

nThe orcs didn't have infinite numbers, thus they also had to consider their losses and proceed with cautions. This was great news, albeit not the best as it seemed they still vastly outnumbered the centaurs.

nAN: Hello everyone, I want to specifically thank everyone who votes for ANW daily.. It is greatly appreciated.

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