The blow of an axe against a rock sent fragments of stone flying over Edmund's head.
"To the left! They're surrounding the dwarfs!"
Edmund immediately turned.
Through the smoke and shadows, he could make out several orcs descending a slope while a group of Graymont soldiers moved toward a higher position. There was no battle line to maintain. The men were spread among the rocks, the carts, and the uneven terrain, using every available piece of cover to fire before disappearing behind the stone once again.
"Second group, fall back twenty paces!" Edmund ordered. "Fire and move! Don't stay in the same place!"
The soldiers rested their bolt-action rifles against a rock or the carts.
The shots rang out one after another. Any formation or firing order had been broken long ago, and he had ordered them to fire only when they had a clear shot.
The soldiers worked the bolts quickly, loading a new cartridge before exposing their weapons again. Then they advanced from their positions between the cliffs while trying to protect a group of dwarfs who were attempting to flee toward their position.
The orcs roared and advanced among the rocks, seeking to slaughter their victims, but there was a group of adventurers stopping their advance. Edmund had asked them to secure the front line, and Brogur was more than happy with the idea of doing so.
But Edmund was not content with simply giving orders from the rear. His position as a mage had always been that, but his role could become devastating against large groups.
Edmund gripped his rifle, a weapon that was considerably more compact than the soldiers' rifles, with a design reminiscent of a modern assault rifle, although adapted to the possibilities of that world. The magazine and mechanism had been modified by Edmund, but what truly made that weapon different was the magic he had inscribed upon it.
Edmund aimed at the mass of orcs approaching his group of friends and channeled magic through his body as he prepared to fire.
A huge orc raised his axe toward Brogur, taking advantage of the dwarf's distracted state as he charged between the enemy lines.
Edmund pulled the trigger and the projectile left the barrel, and barely a second passed before he saw the impact pierce the orc's chest and tear half of him apart.
Each projectile required only a fraction of his magical energy, but as soon as it left the barrel of the weapon, it was reinforced and empowered. It was an insignificant amount compared to a conventional spell, but applied directly to a bullet, it produced a devastating effect.
"Edmund!"
Ellaria was standing on a rocky formation a few meters ahead. She fired a bolt and brought down an orc that was trying to reach one of the soldiers.
"There are more to the west, they're trying to flank us along the slope!"
Edmund looked in that direction, and although he wanted to go himself, he knew he could not abandon his position without putting some of them in danger.
"Jhon!"
Jhon appeared behind a rock and pointed toward a group of soldiers.
"Mathis, take ten men with you! Use the rocks as cover and fire from alternating positions!"
The men began to move, one firing while the others moved. Then they disappeared behind the rocks and another group took their place. A simple training exercise Edmund had taught them in recent weeks.
Edmund kept firing until he emptied his magazine and grabbed another one from his back. He only had four more left, and the soldiers' ammunition could not be any better. But the number of orcs did not seem to decrease at all, and they still outnumbered them ten to one.
"Ellaria, I need you to tell me who their leader is!" Edmund shouted as he inserted the new magazine and began firing again.
Ellaria did not respond verbally, but she made a signal in the air showing that she had heard him, and prepared to take a special bolt from her bag. She climbed to a higher position and began scanning the area for several long seconds, dodging some stray arrows in the process. She aimed the special bolt from her crossbow at a specific orc.
The bolt struck the orc's chest with a dry sound.
The giant barely staggered. The tip had become lodged among the remains of dwarven armor covering his torso, but the creature did not even seem to feel the impact. He slowly lowered his gaze toward the projectile and then raised his head, searching for whoever had dared attack him.
"Who was it?!"
His voice echoed among the rocks. The orc ripped the bolt from his chest with one hand and held it in the air, pointing it at her mockingly.
"Come out, coward! I'm going to tear your head off!"
His taunts echoed throughout the mountain range, until suddenly red smoke began to emerge from the bolt.
"I got him." Ellaria said with a smile as she returned to her previous position.
Edmund saw the small trail of smoke beginning to rise from a place away from the center of the orcs and could make out an orc twice as large as the others.
"All men, hold your positions!" Edmund shouted. "Don't advance!"
Jhon did not understand the reason for the order, but he relayed it throughout the group.
"You heard him! Hold your fire and don't pursue the orcs!"
Edmund lowered his rifle slightly. The inscriptions engraved on the weapon began to glow.
Until that moment, he had used the rifle practically like a conventional weapon, adding small amounts of magic to each projectile just after it left the barrel. It was efficient and fast. He could fire one shot after another without exhausting his reserves too much.
But what was about to happen was different. Edmund closed his eyes for a moment, with the winds of magic coursing throughout his body. It was not a small amount of energy. Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping . com.
This time, he channeled a much greater current toward the weapon.
The magical inscriptions began to illuminate one after another, running along the barrel, the chamber, and part of the rifle's body. The metal vibrated slightly as it absorbed the energy Edmund was putting into it.
The weapon began to change.
Some parts shifted with small metallic clicks. The barrel extended and was reinforced through the magical structures Edmund had incorporated during its construction. Part of the weapon's body opened to allow the energy to accumulate without destroying the mechanism.
"Victoria, secure Brogur. Edmund is going to shoot the big one!" Ellaria shouted from her advanced position.
The Estalian woman barely responded as she finished off the orc in front of her and began running to catch up with Brogur, who was a couple of meters ahead.
"Brogur, fall back or you'll get caught by the big one!" she repeated once she made sure he could hear her.
At her words, Brogur snapped out of his battle stupor and began retreating with the same momentum with which he had advanced, since no one knew how much time they had.
Edmund rested the rifle against his shoulder and his breathing became slower, until it stopped completely.
A huge amount of energy concentrated around the projectile and he pulled the trigger.
The report was so violent that the nearby soldiers instinctively had to duck. The projectile left the barrel at such a powerful speed that some swore they could see a shockwave travel through the air, and only seconds later a thunderous roar echoed throughout the area as if the fury of the heavens had been unleashed.
The dust on the ground rose around Edmund and several small stones were thrown from the nearby rocks. The projectile crossed the distance in an instant.
The orc barely had time to turn his head when he heard the thunderous sound, and then he was struck by the impact.
The explosion completely destroyed the position.
Not only did the enormous orc disappear amid a cloud of dust, stone, and blood, but every warrior who had been around him was thrown in all directions as the nearby rocks cracked under the force of the impact.
For several seconds, no one in the surroundings seemed to understand what had just happened.
Everyone stopped what they were doing: the dwarfs who were holding the position so their civilians could escape, the Graymont soldiers who were attacking the orcs with everything they had, and the orcs themselves, who could not understand what had happened to their leader.
In a matter of seconds, their leader, along with their best warriors, had fallen without fighting.
I'll be posting two chapters a day there, unlike here.