Zensuon: Crystal Age

Can't spell War without Orc

Where we find out the starting battle plan of each side in the war, including the unseen ones.

Nuraka charged into the dark woods ahead. He could already see within the trees things moving. Animals? Elves? He would kill everything that moves, that would be good enough.

rrRRRRAAAHHHHHHhh! He shouted into the air, and the orcs all bellowed after him.

As lights erupted from the trees not seconds after. Each tall tree on the Elven-Orcen border glowed brightly. The first row of charging orcs squinted.

Tiiink An orc fell.

Tink tink TinnNk Another two.

A shower of arrows began to erupt from the trees.

Nuraka shouted louder and charged faster. This was not exclusive to him: All orcs, when met with violence, will meet it with violence, it was a fact. Sometimes even when they're not met with violence they'll meet it with violence, but that was neither here nor there.

The orcs carried axes, the elves were on trees. Normally this wouldn't mean much, since taking down a tree with an axe would, time, effort and concentration- none of which the orcs had in the middle of a bloody war, with arrows raining down on them. Nor the patience for it.

What they did have was strength and magical axes. They were chopping down the trees the elves dared settle on, and some of the lucky elven archers were even able to jump off in time. The elven militia never acted alone, and the orcs that were not focused on the chopping had to deal with a barrage of half-elves attacking between the lit-up trees. Said trees, as they fell, never stopped littering the area with light. The yellow baetylus on their tops still burned bright with magical light.

This gave time for the elven archers who weren't immediately decapitated to fall back and climb onto the trees further in. The orc advanced, and the half-elven line could only keep up so much with their push. The half-elven vision at night was not as sharp as that of the elven archers with the dim light coming from the trees. Without their effective support, the elven forces were soon overwhelmed by the strength and sheer numbers of Nuraka's unit.

Nuraka searched. To him a target would make itself obvious eventually, all he needed was to keep slashing, keep killing. He already forgot how many elves (or half-elves, Nuraka couldn't tell the difference) he sundered with Choppa. All he could see was that up ahead there were many, many more.

It was then that shouting from the sides came, more orcs joining the fight.

Gurog from the south and One-Eye from the north came to Nuraka's side.

"Attacks. Up. Bird" Gurog clarified. Up in the distance, the sight of giant winged creatures carrying elves was seen from both sides of the orc forces. Larger forces of elves arrived from each side as well. Nuraka continued his charge with both of his greatest generals by his side, and he will destroy the elves at their core. The charge never stops.

What Nuraka failed to see was something that you'd need a bird-eye view, for example, from a giant eagle the druids of the elves allied with, to understand.

The elven force that Nuraka met with was thin in troops and resistance, and quickly fled once charged. However, most of the orc forces to the north and south of Nuraka were more ill-equipped than his squad, and being mindless, charging orcs, were easier to route during combat into a single front by pressing onto their sides.

The stronger elven forces on both north and south pushed the orc charge down into the middle. The orcs themselves couldn't grasp they were being routed. In the elves' minds, the orcs were like a herd of violent beasts that must be cleansed, and that is what they were planning to do.