Chapter 56: Half-Orc Crisis

Chapter 56: Half-Orc Crisis
Xisi and the others immediately packed up their belongings and headed towards the town of Belst.
After about half an hour of walking, they encountered several households of civilians who were traveling with their families along the main road in the direction of Nokexida. This was highly unusual. It was already dark, and the wilderness was dangerous. Why would these farmers expose themselves to such risks by leaving their homes?
"Mommy? Why do we have to leave our home?" a little girl, her face covered in dust, asked her grandmother with a perplexed expression.
This is a simple family of four - father, mother, son, and daughter, with all their belongings loaded on a simple handcart.
"Xiao Zhudi, the half-orcs are coming! If we don't leave our house, they will break it and steal our food. They will even eat all the children raw!" The middle-aged woman held the hand of the little girl and anxiously said, "We can only be safe by entering Nokexida."
Although she was comforting her child with her words, fear was written all over the mother's face.
"Alright, move faster! We need to hurry to Noxiesida!" the middle-aged man urged, "Hurry! We need to hurry, if we're late, there won't be any place to stay even if we manage to enter the town!"
"But Dad, I'm so tired and my stomach is so hungry!" the boy said sadly.
"Hold on a little longer, just a little longer! When we reach the town, I will buy you some milk. Hang in there, Tess, just a little longer!" the mother said, secretly calculating the expenses. She took out a small bag with some coins inside, thinking that if everything went well, she could spare a little money after settling the whole family.
But if that's the case, next year will be busy again.
"But I don't want to drink milk! I want to eat ham, I want to eat bread!" the boy said aggrievedly, two crystal-clear snots flowing from his nose and quickly freezing into ice.
"Tess! Stop messing around! We need to hurry into town!" Father scolded urgently.
"I don't want to, I don't want to! I'm so hungry, I'm so cold! I want bread, I want ham! Wah!!!" The boy cried loudly in the wilderness.
The girl, seeing the situation, also sat down on the ground and cried with her brother: "Wow!"
The loud crying was extremely penetrating, and the parents of the children were shocked. They quickly put down the stroller and desperately tried to comfort their crying children. The adults even clenched their teeth and stuffed clothes into the child's mouth: "Stop crying, stop crying! You will attract robbers like this!"
"Wow! Wow!!!" But to no avail, the child not only didn't listen, but instead cried even louder. The feet in straw shoes kept kicking, leaving several black marks on their parents' trousers.
But it was too late, attracted by the cries of the child, a group of dark shadows appeared on the horizon.
It's the robbers! The robbers are really here!
"No! No! Good heavens! Merciful Goddess!" The farmer, upon seeing the dark shadows appearing on the horizon, was terrified and almost lost his senses.
A group of bandits riding on poor horses, wielding battle axes and longbows, charged towards a family standing in the middle of the road.
"Run! Run!" The farmer instinctively signaled his family to escape. "I'll stop them! Run!"
Two young children are still standing there, staring blankly, not understanding what has happened.
"Dad?" The boy stands still, watching his father's retreating figure.
"Tes! Judy! Run, quickly!" The farmer's wife grabbed her two children and ran desperately, tears shimmering in the corners of her eyes. She knew her husband was sacrificing his own life to buy them time.
"Hand over all your valuable things!" The greedy voice of the bandit can already be faintly heard in the distance.
But the sudden response left this family dumbfounded.
"That's right, it's you. Hand over all your valuable things to me! And... leave your lives here too!" Suddenly, by the roadside, appeared a knight in complete armor, a dwarf wielding a giant axe, and a ranger dressed in green leather armor.
"They're knights! And rangers! It's a trap! Everyone, retreat!" Five bandits charged forward upon hearing the cries of the child, only to come face-to-face with a fully armed adventuring party.
A short statured leader of the robbers, holding a long spear, riding a small inferior horse, recognized the approaching person clearly, and in fear, hastily pulled tightly on the reins. As a result, the inferior horse, which already had poor reaction skills, tripped and fell forward, causing the robber to also take a tumble.
West Saisai rode past the farmer and charged towards the bandits...
Meanwhile, the arrows of the half-elf ranger had already struck the chest of the first bandit, while the other four turned their horses' heads to escape.
Just as they fiercely stepped on the stirrups, they suddenly stepped on air and rolled off their horses. When the bandits stood up, they found that the belt with the stirrup had been cut off by a sharp blade.
"Nino, well done!"
Gago's loud voice made the thief's heart go cold, "Is there another elusive adventurer?"
"There's no other choice but to fight!" At this point, only four bandits remained, with no way out and prepared to fight to the death.
……
The battle quickly came to an end, with five bandits. Two of the more vicious ones were shot dead by the half-elf and one was stabbed to death by Cissy. The remaining three immediately knelt down and begged for mercy.
"Th-thank you, sir knight! And thank you, brave warriors!" Seeing their lives spared, the farmer then knelt down in excitement. "Thank you! It is thanks to all of you that our family's lives were saved. May I have the honor of knowing your name?"
"My name is Xisi, Knight Xisi Ace."
"Were these bandits attacking your village?"
"No, it was the half-orcs who attacked Bester. My family and I saw the flames nearby and tried to escape to Noksidar..."
"Has Baelster been attacked by half-orcs?" Gargon quickly asked. In his influence, Baelster has a strong defense force, including a unit of dwarf warriors. After establishing full trade with humans, Baelster also sends dwarf patrol teams to protect caravans on the main mountain pass in the Miste Mountains.
"There shouldn't be," the farmer said with a lingering fear in his heart, "but by the time I realized it, Belst was already surrounded by a group of half-orcs... I had no choice but to quickly escape to Nocksida with my family."
"What's the matter with these thieves?"
"They took advantage of the chaos and robbed. There are still many farmers and hunters like me who haven't entered Belst Town on the road."
…………
After discussing, Sisay and the others decided to move forward towards Belst overnight. Before leaving, Sisay killed the other three bandits and hung their bodies on the branches by the roadside.
"Didn't you let a group of thieves go before?" Gilles asked, puzzled.
"It's different," Cesar explained, "Those thieves were desperate villagers who couldn't survive otherwise. They resorted to thievery out of necessity. I killed their leader and habitual criminals who had blood on their hands, but I spared those who still had a conscience. These thieves, on the other hand, are ruthless individuals who kill without hesitation. They took advantage of their fellow countrymen being attacked by half-orcs to rob them. That's why I need to hang their bodies on the tree branches as a warning to nearby thieves."
"Half-orcs are actually not bad, their combat power is only slightly higher than goblins..." Kargor said worriedly, "But clearly this siege on Bellstead is organized and on a large scale, I suspect that there are powerful orcs involved. Once Bellstead is captured, the battlefield will turn into a real hell."
The Misty Mountains are vast, with the dwarves being the most powerful force, followed by the orcs, specifically referring to their breeding ability, which is not inferior to humans.
These orc guys look very dirty, with warty growths on their leaden gray skin, wearing either ragged or simply animal skins. Their foreheads are sunken, mouths protruding, and their small eyes shine with wickedness. These guys are similar in physique to the height of a bent human, with the tallest reaching human height. Their hair is messy, their skin color like a corpse, with long hands, and a considerable number of them are hunchbacked and lame. From the fresh wounds on some of their bodies, it can be seen that their blood is black. The weapons in their hands appear somewhat crude, nothing more than wooden clubs or stone axes, and the like.
Half-orc individuals are not particularly outstanding in terms of ability, but once a strong orc appears in a half-orc tribe, they will constantly assimilate other half-orc tribes and then launch attacks on neighboring dwarf or human forces. It can be said that strong orcs are like officers and generals among the half-orcs, because they are not only more agile than ordinary half-orcs, but also able to tolerate the burning of the sun during daytime operations. In addition, they are smarter, stronger, and larger in size. The bright red eyes are the most obvious distinguishing mark between strong orcs and half-orcs.
Therefore, the strong orc also has professionals, such as spearmen, swordsmen, archers, and berserkers. Among them, the strong orc berserker is the most terrifying warrior. When they are born, they wear a helmet full of blood, which fills them with a desire to kill their enemies. They carry double-edged swords and give up armor, making themselves agile to kill nearby enemies. They do not feel fear or pain at all.
The Misty Mountains are extremely massive and have a complex terrain. The seven dwarven tribes occupy most of the good locations in the mountains, such as the slopes and sunny sides. At the same time, the bottom valleys of the Misty Mountains, those dark and deep caverns, are likely to be connected to a half-orc lair.
At the same time, it should be noted that the threats in the Misty Mountains are not only the half-orcs, but also stone giants, mutated beasts, evil mud monsters, and it is said that there are even undead creatures that cannot be freed. Any one of these creatures is extremely powerful, and there may even be legendary beings among them.
Therefore, despite the rich mineral resources in the Misty Mountains, humans and elves are unwilling to settle there and instead ally with the dwarves to support their attacks on other forces. Of course, the dwarves, humans, and elves have had the idea of eliminating the orcs once and for all, but even when the joint forces of the three races besieged the orcs, the results were minimal and they were never able to completely exterminate them. The orcs, under the command of powerful orc leaders, would always attack other forces, ranging from a few years to over a decade.
(End of this chapter)