Dark Warlock in the Apocalypse

Even if they didn't come to help, it would still be a win. With no one to stop them, the orcs could climb the ladders and breach the walls.

'But that's exactly why we have elites,' Justin thought to himself.

In a situation where sending large numbers wasn't an option, the answer was simple: send a small number of elite fighters who could handle the job. And in Justin's territory, there were several people capable of holding their own in such scenarios.

"Push harder!"

"Don't let them climb!"

After Derek had blasted the orc off the wall, the other pioneers let out battle cries and began shoving the ladders down. With their combined efforts, dozens of ladders quickly toppled backward. Once again, the goblins screamed as their ladders crashed to the ground below. The orc commander roared in frustration.

"In-gahn!"

Yeah, yeah, what are you going to do about it? Justin shrugged mockingly at the orc commander, who fumed with anger but had no options left. The orc forces lacked long-range capabilities, and the gate was too strong to breach. Climbing the walls with ladders had already proven ineffective as well.

'Any reasonable commander would retreat at this point.'

However, these orcs were driven by the wave event. Their only objective was either to kill a certain number of humans or be wiped out entirely. There was no retreating from this battle.

"Raise them! Raise the ladders again!" the orc commander bellowed.

As expected, the orc gave the same order, despite the repeated failure of their tactics. With no other means to scale the walls, the goblins had no choice but to keep trying the same strategy. Seeing this, Justin's forces relaxed slightly, grinning at the orcs' single-mindedness. After all, what was there to fear from an enemy that only repeated the same failed actions?

Justin allowed himself to ease up a little and gave his orders.

"Whenever a goblin or hobgoblin comes up, push them off. If an orc climbs, wait for them to get close, then throw them down."

"Yes, sir!"

The pioneers answered with a roar, readying themselves for the next wave of ladders. The goblins might have numbers, but the real threat came from the orcs. It was best to deal with the smaller fry first.

In the distance, the orc commander roared once again. This had to be at least the fifth or sixth time now. Next to Justin, Zachary chuckled.

"That cry used to terrify me, but now it just sounds pathetic."

"That's because it's not a war cry anymore. It's more like a scream of despair now," Justin replied with a smirk, scanning the battlefield below.

The green wave of goblins and hobgoblins still surged, their numbers barely reduced. At most, thirty or forty had fallen, most of them crushed beneath ladders or killed in the initial assaults. Very few had died from direct combat or magic. The bulk of the army remained unscathed.

But the reason the orc commander was so desperate wasn't because of the goblins—it was the orcs.

"They started with ten orcs, but now only two remain," Justin observed.

The goblins were weak, pitifully so. Even a Level 1 pioneer could take down a goblin in a one-on-one fight without much trouble. The hobgoblins weren't much stronger. For any pioneer who had hunted wild game, hobgoblins were nothing more than minor annoyances.

The true threat on the battlefield was the orcs. The orcs were the backbone of the Green Skin forces, and their numbers had dwindled drastically.

'With their orc numbers this low, the Green Skins have no chance of winning now.'

The orc commander must have realized this as well, hence the desperate cries. Justin, too, could sense that the battle was nearing its conclusion.

"All mages, prepare for an attack! Fire at will!" Justin commanded suddenly.

"Right now?" Zachary asked in surprise.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Right now."

Magic was the only form of long-range attack they had, and each mage had a limited number of casts. Up until now, they'd been conserving their magic for a worst-case scenario. But now, with the battle tipping in their favor, there was no longer any need to hold back.

"Magic Missile!"

"Energy Bolt!"

"Fireball!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The mages atop the wall unleashed their spells, filling the air with dazzling colors as their magic rained down on the Green Skin army. Screams echoed from below as the explosions of magic devastated the front lines.

The smoke from the blasts briefly obscured the battlefield, causing the mages to hesitate, but Justin shouted again.

"Keep firing! Just shoot into the smoke! If you can guess where they are, hit them!"

"Yes, sir!"

Boom! Boom!

Following Justin's orders, the mages continued firing, their spells crashing blindly into the smoke. Although they couldn't see their targets, the dense concentration of monsters meant that every shot hit something.

After a few minutes of relentless magic bombardment, the mages finally ran out of mana and stepped back to recover. That was when Zachary, looking down from the wall, grinned.

"Looks like we took out quite a few of them."

"…!"

The combined death toll of the goblins and hobgoblins had risen to about fifty. Even though the mages had fired blindly into the smoke, the sheer density of the enemy ranks meant that most of the spells had found their mark.

Satisfied, Justin turned to the exhausted mages.

"Now, fall back and recharge. We'll hold the wall while you recover."

"Are you sure that's alright?" one of the mages asked, still concerned.

"Of course it is. What are they going to do? Attack us with ranged weapons? Break down the gate?"

The Green Skins had no such means. Their only option was to keep trying to scale the walls with ladders. As long as that was the case, Justin and his comrades could handle the defense.

"Graaaahhh!"

The orc commander, seemingly realizing Justin's plan, let out a furious roar and charged toward the wall. In a display of incredible strength, he lifted a ladder by himself and slammed it against the wall with a thunderous crash.

Thud!

"Oh no!"

"He's coming up!"

As the ladder hit the wall, the citizens rushed to push it back. But the orc commander, wielding his ladder like a battering ram, swung it again, smashing the top of the ladder against the wall with enough force to knock down two of the citizens.

"Ugh!"

The two who were struck collapsed, unconscious but not seriously injured. In the meantime, the orc commander, eyes wide and bloodshot, scrambled up the ladder with surprising speed.

Thud, thud, thud!

"Stop him! Warriors, get up here!"

"He's too fast!" someone cried.

The mages who might have stopped him had already exhausted their spells, and the warriors were too far away to reach the ladder in time. The orc commander was only a few steps from the top, and it seemed inevitable that the boss monster would breach the wall.

Just as everyone's faces turned pale with dread, Justin stepped forward.

"Oh no, that won't do," he muttered calmly, pointing a finger at the orc commander.

With a flick of his hand, Justin invoked two of his most powerful spells.

"Double-Cast: Cursed Lightning."

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"Cursed Lightning."

Krakoom!

A violet bolt of lightning exploded from Justin's fingertip, striking the orc commander with devastating force.