Ch.166When a woman harbors resentment, even in the heat of summer…

First, ten of them, then twenty more.

After sending a total of thirty orcs to the afterlife, we loaded their magic stones and abandoned equipment onto our cart and set up camp on a high hill overlooking their stronghold.

“The second wave that came at us was just regular orcs, right? Did they think they could win without a shaman if they doubled their numbers?”

“It might simply be that shamans are rare. They say there’s maybe one shaman for every twenty orcs, so they probably wouldn’t risk such a valuable asset recklessly.”

“Yeah. The shaman from the unit we fought earlier died first anyway.”

“Ah, right. The one that escaped would have known that much.”

“Plus, judging by their equipment, there’s likely an orc lord in that group—a commanding individual. Orc lords are smarter than regular orcs, so I think they’d prefer to use their stronghold’s defenses for a siege rather than insisting on unfavorable field combat.”

According to Jessica, orc groups can be classified into two main types.

One is led by a shaman or a physically superior regular individual. These groups display collective tactics only slightly better than goblins and have no concept of utilizing strongholds for defense.

For such groups, a stronghold is merely a place to sleep. They wander around in packs, charge all at once when they encounter enemies they can defeat, and either weaken stronger enemies with black magic before fleeing or, if unable to do so, face total annihilation.

The other type is led by a lord-class commanding individual, commonly known as an “Orc Lord.”

Orc Lords not only possess both strength and leadership but also have characteristics as craftsmen who can produce equipment. The orc groups they lead demonstrate relatively solid equipment and organic unit operation capabilities.

In particular, Orc Lord strongholds, surrounded by multiple layers of barricades and wooden barriers, have a reputation for formidable defensive capabilities.

“That certainly looks like a sturdy stronghold. It’s more of a fortress than a village.”

I examine the orc village’s situation once more through binoculars.

I can see barricades made of roughly cut wooden stakes and metal fragments, wooden partitions about as tall as a person, and orcs with bows taking cover behind those partitions.

Their basic siege strategy must be to keep approaching enemies at bay with arrows and black magic from that position.

“What are we going to do? We can’t just keep watching them all day.”

“The best option would be to draw the orcs out of their stronghold, but they’re probably thinking of luring us in as well.”

“The distance to the orc village is… just under 300 meters. A Lightning Bolt sniper shot might barely reach, but…”

“Save it for now. If the orcs are watching us, even with Lightning Bolt’s speed, there’s a chance they could dodge it.”

“Right. If we’re going to target anyone, it should be the Orc Lord or the shaman. Until then, it’s better to keep Phyllis’s abilities hidden.”

“Hmm…”

It’s common knowledge that attackers need far more troops than defenders in a siege, but unfortunately, the orcs have an overwhelming numerical advantage.

Even without considering the presence of shamans or the range of their bows, a frontal assault would be the worst strategy.

We need to create a situation where we can leverage our high ground advantage and superior individual combat power.

“…Jessica, about Diamond Dust.”

“Yes?”

“You know the version that creates large ice blocks instead of directly freezing enemies? Can you freely determine the shape of the ice?”

“To some extent. Of course, creating elaborate statues or precise specifications would be impossible.”

“Oh, I see. What about the weight and durability of the ice?”

“It’s just ordinary ice.”

Ordinary ice, huh? That should be enough.

Satisfied with her answer, I picked up the binoculars and scanned the steep downhill path from our position to the orc encampment.

The ground was generally flat with soft weeds covering it.

I remember there wasn’t much vibration when we were riding in the cart.

“Well, well… this would roll very nicely.”

Perhaps I should give a gift to these orcs holed up in their fortified stronghold.

A 100% pure block of ice to help them cool off in the coming summer.

“I have the high ground, you bastards!”

Reciting a famous line from some movie, I pressed down hard on the end of the lever, and the giant spherical ice block in front of it slowly began to roll down the hillside.

As it descended the steep hill, gaining momentum, the ice block curved gently to the right and collided with a rock at the edge of the hill, some distance from the orc village.

It shattered into several pieces.

“Hmm, as expected, it’s not easy to control the direction with a spherical shape.”

“Then shall we try making a horizontally positioned cylinder next?”

“OK, second shot loaded!”

“Diamond Dust!”

Jessica gathered her magical power to the limit once more and created another massive ice block with her artifact.

This time, the ice block that appeared in front of the lever was a horizontal cylinder with a diameter of 2 meters and a height of about 2.5 meters.

“Now it’s Setty’s turn.”

“Got it… heave!”

With an adorable grunt, Setty pressed down on the end of the lever.

The cylindrical ice block rolled straight down the slope at first, but then its trajectory gradually tilted to the left.

Just as I thought this attempt would fail too, it hit some bump and bounced, changing direction back to the right.

This massive siege weapon crushed the barricades, shattered the wooden barriers, sent the orcs hiding behind them flying,

then jumped over the debris before landing and breaking into pieces, completing its role.

“Ooh~ Nice shot.”

“Can ice blocks made with freezing magic really take down monsters?”

“I don’t think so. Unless you directly freeze a monster’s body, the magical power used to freeze moisture in the air has already served its purpose.”

“Hmm… well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s keep going.”

They say when a woman holds a grudge, frost falls even in May and June.

As it happens, today is May 3rd. A perfect time to bring frost to these evil orcs.

Whether it’s frost or ice, or whether Jessica personally holds a grudge against the orcs, are trivial matters.

“Will, there’s movement in the orc village. Looks like they’re sending out an interception team.”

“Any shamans?”

“None confirmed at present.”

“Then Jessica, prepare the third shot. Phyllis, stand by next to Jessica, ready to enter sniper mode at any moment.”

“Understood.”

“Should we do a cylinder shape for the third one too?”

Holding back the urge to suggest a cute star shape, I gave Jessica an OK sign, and the coldness that gathered instantly formed another large ice block.

Down the hill, five orcs had set out to stop our rockslide—or rather, our iceslide—advancing up the hill with large shields.

“Jessica, make this ice even bigger. Let’s go for an extra-large size.”

“Is that okay? If it’s too heavy, it might be hard to roll even with the lever.”

“If it comes to that, we can ask Ancestor to push it.”

“Alright… Diamond Dust!”

After Diamond Dust was cast twice more with maximum magical power accumulation, the enormous ice that filled our view slowly tilted and began to roll down the hill, even though no one had touched the lever.

It seems the change in the center of gravity as the size increased caused it to move on its own.

“Oh, perfect. Direct hit course.”

“Ah, they got crushed.”

“I never imagined Diamond Dust would be used like this.”

The massive ice cylinder easily flattened the five orcs and continued straight toward the encampment.

Accelerating down the hillside, the ice cylinder charged forward with ferocious momentum.

The orcs in the village, realizing what was happening, crawled out from behind the barriers and dodged to either side as the barricades and walls crumbled helplessly with cracking and splintering sounds.

By the time the ice cylinder finally came to a stop with a heavy “thud,” more than three-quarters of the orc village’s defensive facilities had been destroyed.

“The orcs are all rushing out!”

“Seems like they’re starting to lose patience. Let’s see, where are the Orc Lord and the shaman…”

“The big one coming around the right side of the ice cylinder appears to be the Orc Lord. He has a shaman with him too.”

“Ah, so that’s him.”

Through the binoculars, I could see that the Orc Lord wore studded leather armor and carried a large machete-like sword and a round iron shield—the typical appearance of a warrior.

It seems he prefers to leave archery to his subordinates and black magic to the shamans, while he himself thoroughly favors close combat.

“Let’s take out the shaman first. Phyllis, prepare to snipe!”

“Got it!”

Jessica wiped the sweat from her forehead and closed her eyes to activate the crystal fragment. A ring of magical characters formed in front of Phyllis’s gun barrel as she took her stance.

This was the acceleration tunnel that had delivered the one-hit-kill Lightning Bolt up to 250 meters away in the previous two fierce battles.

“Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Bullet}!”

‘Bzzt!’

The lightning that cut through the air flew in a straight line toward the orc shaman’s chest.