15. The War of Magic
In the days that followed, Thor was quite surprised that His Majesty Arian did not command any large-scale attacks. Instead, Arian merely ordered his subordinates to carry out various reconnaissance tasks.
Some mages released their flying magical beasts—ravens, hawks, owls—casting invisibility spells on them to patrol over the orc tribes, scouting the terrain and conditions. They reported back in real-time through telepathic links between the magical beasts and their masters.
Mages skilled in divination spells were tasked with casting Arcane Eye, Eagle Eye, and Detection spells to probe the orc tribes’ current status. Some even employed otherworldly scrying to gather intelligence on powerful beings from alternate planes.
Other mages were instructed to hire villagers to collect the corpses of orcs and goblins scattered across the wilderness. Using Speak with Dead, they extracted vital information from the deceased.
Finally, certain mages were assigned to ambush and kidnap orc patrols and hunting parties. These captives were brought back to the main camp and interrogated directly using Mind Probe and various charm spells.
—Most of these spells had not even been invented during the ancient Eldoren era.
Yet for Arian, who came from the very end of time, this posed no difficulty.
He taught the required spells directly to the mages assigned to these missions.
If a mage’s knowledge system limited their ability to learn the most advanced spells, simplified versions could be mastered instead.
Every day, Arian sat in his tent on the hillside, receiving and organizing intelligence reports, consolidating them while discarding useless or false information and retaining only the core data.
Stacks of scrolls and volumes piled high on Arian’s desk.
“Why are we not launching an attack, Your Majesty?” a battle mage asked, puzzled.
Human civilization had only existed for a few centuries and had not yet experienced true warfare. The current arrangement by His Majesty completely overturned his ingrained understanding.
Arian patiently explained, “Information and intelligence are crucial in war; they determine how we plan strategy and design tactics.”
As he spoke, he flipped through the intelligence in his hands:
“From what we’ve gathered, the nearby goblin tribes are weak, almost vassals to the orc tribes. Once the orc tribes collapse, the timid goblins will scatter like birds and beasts…”
“This means the real enemy we must face is the orc tribes alone. Defeat them, and the weaker races like the goblins will vanish immediately…”
“The three major orc tribes—the Blood Wolf, Flame Axe, and Frost Serpent—are riddled with internal conflicts and mutual distrust…”
“That does give us a good opening,” another mage remarked.
At that moment, another mage entered the tent bearing fresh intelligence:
“According to the prophetic squad’s intercepted reports, representatives of the three orc tribes will meet tomorrow night at Riftstone Valley.”
“It seems our recent small-scale harassment targeting lone orc patrols has borne fruit.”
“The three orc tribes are forced to unite against us!”
“Is the time finally here?” Arian rose with a smile.
“I’ve been waiting for this a long time.”
“Let’s proceed according to plan.”
……
Today was a special day.
The three great orc tribes surrounding Eldoren were to hold a meeting, with their chieftains gathering to discuss a joint effort to resist humanity.
“Though reluctantly, we must make those hated foes cooperate.”
As night fell, the Blood Wolf clan’s chieftain led a retinue of elite warriors to the negotiation site.
“I know there is much hatred between us from the past.”
“But now, under the witness of the Orc Gods, we must put aside old grudges and unite to annihilate the cowardly and cunning humans…”
At the start, the three parties negotiated smoothly.
Three groups of orcs from different tribes drank strong spirits beneath the moonlight, chatting and discussing how to form an alliance to attack the human settlements.
“Those stinking human mages live in floating cities high in the skies; we cannot reach them.”
“But it seems now they pity their weak brethren living on the surface.”
“If our neighbors sweep through, destroying human villages one by one, those sky-dwelling mages must come down and be destroyed by us all together!”
Horg, a orc warrior of the Blood Wolf clan and the sole survivor of the Rolling Stone Village raid, felt a surge of joy drinking alongside the respected chieftains of the other two tribes. He was finally willing to set aside old grudges and unite against the human mages.
Since witnessing the deaths of all his brothers and losing an arm in that great battle, Horg bore a bone-deep terror of the human mages.
Even now, the explosions of fireballs and crackling lightning from that war echoed in his nightmares every night on his straw mat.
Fear and nightmares haunted Horg endlessly.
“If the enemy makes you afraid, the only way is to kill that enemy, offer his blood to the Orc Gods, and hang his skull around your neck as decoration. Only then will the fear vanish.”
—This was the lesson the former chieftain taught him.
Horg believed this truth applied to himself as well:
“As long as today’s negotiations succeed and the three great orc clans cooperate, even magic-wielding humans cannot withstand our legions!”
“Once we destroy the human mages, the fear and nightmares will disappear!”
“Yes, the setbacks before were tests from the Orc Gods, trials of courage from the great Gruush. I will overcome them.”
“Humans are ultimately a gift from the Orc Gods, but only warriors with strong fighting spirit and physique deserve to claim such a gift!”
At that moment, under the silver moonlight by the campfire, chaos erupted.
“What did you say? You think I’ve forgotten? It was your Blood Wolf clan that started the canyon war against our Flame Axe clan!”
Perhaps drunk or touched on old wounds during negotiation, the red-faced Flame Axe chieftain suddenly exploded.
He raised his spear and shouted curses at the Blood Wolf chieftain.
“I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.