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Having previously participated in the Southern War, Dick had witnessed the Guards' "large-caliber field guns".

The caliber was indeed large, but the excessive weight made the cannons impossible to operate effectively. Each cannon required two hundred people to work around it, hence the artillerymen jokingly called it "the difficult young lady."

The artillerymen were full of complaints about the equipment, but these complaints never reached the designers' ears, nor did they change the emperor's ambition to build bigger and heavier cannons.

How can artillery that can't keep up with the army's advance be used for offensive warfare?

"The rear guard fought well; now it's our turn to show off."

At this moment, the vanguard legion had already reached the outskirts of the orc capital. The last time they came here, only Belfast, a ship girl, provided artillery support for the expeditionary force. But this time, there was an entire artillery regiment and Lady Frederick the Great, who was even more powerful than the artillery regiment.

Since being summoned, the Great Mother has never had a chance to make a move, mainly because Dick considers her a hidden trump card to be used only when truly needed.

This campaign against the orcs will give the Great Mother a good time.

Standing atop the orcs' sacred lake, the Great Mother, in her ship-like form, held a baton as if gracefully conducting an orchestra, preparing to play a symphony called "War Overture."

Behind her, the enormous two-headed mechanical dragon had raised its cannon high, aiming at the city ahead.

The metallic scent of war excited Frederick the Great, and she couldn't help but smile slightly. She turned her head to look at the direction of the central army camp not far away, and gently stroked her lower abdomen with her right hand, murmuring something with a double meaning.

"The next song is dedicated to my beloved children."

"fire!"

With Dick's command, Frederick the Great and the entire artillery regiment began the siege. Hundreds of cannonballs traced graceful arcs through the air as they fell toward the orc city, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier.

Dick wasn't surprised. City-defense level magical barriers weren't rare. Since they used magic to negate attacks, theoretically, as long as there were enough mages, the barrier could exist forever.

But the question is, do you orc mages really have as many cannonballs as I do?

In fact, anyone with expertise could see at a glance that the magical barrier above the orc city was already on the verge of collapse after just one volley of fire. It would be exhausted after two more volleys at most. Dick's order to the artillery regiment was to conduct a three-hour preparation of fire first, and to resolutely avoid using the lives of his soldiers to fight a war of attrition if the problem could be solved with artillery shells.

As expected! The defensive barrier of the orc capital collapsed in less than five minutes, and at the moment the barrier shattered, several powerful auras burst out from within the city and rushed towards the artillery.

Dick, who was prepared, sneered when he saw this, raised his hand to beckon his harem, and took the lead to meet them.

"We've been waiting for you, powerful orcs!"

Chapter 330: Nobody's Leaving

Years later, when the northern veterans who participated in this battle recall their glorious years, they still vividly remember that magnificent and splendid battle between the Holy Ranks.

At the same time, both sides deployed as many as twenty-three Saint-level experts. However, what made the orcs feel desperate was that even with the elites gathered by the entire tribe, the human forces that only occupied a corner of the northern part of the empire could still send out far more Saint-level experts than they could!

On the Northern Alliance side, apart from the "Lagug Party" led by Dick, the other allies also brought out all their trump cards this time. Some of the strongmen were "secret guests" supported by their families for many years, trump cards that they would not use easily. Others were temporary reinforcements specially invited from outside through connections. In the end, they managed to gather a total of sixteen Saint-level experts.

It's worth mentioning that among the "foreign aid" were some of the men that Marquis Richard had invited back then, who seemed somewhat inclined to curry favor with the Northern Union and try to make amends for their past mistakes.

On the other hand, even with King Ramon personally leading the charge, the orcs could only muster seven Saint-level warriors. Even if it was a two-on-one fight, the humans would still have two extra warriors standing on the sidelines as cheerleaders.

This meant that even with their all-out assault, the orc warriors were unable to threaten the artillery positions.

"Despicable humans... This is unfair!!!"

In the midst of the fierce battle, an orc saint-level warrior roared in grief and indignation, because the human powerhouses didn't fight him one-on-one at all, but instead surrounded him in groups of three and beat him up.

However, his righteous indignation only earned him a sneer from a powerful human.

"Shark arm! Is this some kind of war?!"

The battlefield is not a fighting ring. If you insist on fair competition with the enemy, you are being irresponsible to your own life and the lives of your comrades. Therefore, ganging up on the outnumbered is no big deal.

The orcish saints weren't ignorant, but as the outnumbered party being ganged up on, they felt incredibly aggrieved!

Among the seven orc saints, Ramon, the Beast King, received the highest level of "special attention." Dick, along with Lucoa, White Lancer Artoria, and Black Jeanne, launched a four-on-one attack against him.

Dick declared directly, "Whoever gets away today, this guy won't get away!" As long as Ramon is alive, the entire northern population won't sleep soundly.

The only way to show the highest respect to such a powerful man who has the ability to lead the entire orc race to rise is to exterminate him!

Similarly, Ramon also set his sights on Dick, the "Northern Alliance Leader." The Saint-level warrior's intense and oppressive killing intent had completely locked onto Dick as his target.

"Kill him! He must be killed today!" x2

The two men on the battlefield regarded each other as their lifelong enemy and the biggest obstacle that had to be eliminated.

Dick even felt that eliminating Ramon was more significant than conquering the capital!

Meanwhile, in the orc capital, the defensive barrier was destroyed and the Saint-level experts who took the initiative to attack failed to take down the human artillery positions. As a result, cannonballs soon rained down on the orcs in the city, turning most of the city into a sea of ​​fire in an instant.

Compared to the artillery barrage during the surprise attack a few years ago, the Northern Alliance Expeditionary Force's firepower has increased exponentially. It quickly caused terrifying casualties in the city, with many orcs simply "disappearing" in the flames of the artillery fire, leaving not even a trace behind.

Some orcs fled to the Beast King's Palace, praying to enter and find refuge there.

With the city's main defensive barrier breached, the Beast King's Palace is the only remaining building in the city protected by a magical barrier, as the important figures of the Elder Council are all here.

However, it was these very elders who refused to let ordinary people from outside come in to seek refuge.

The main hall was now packed with people. The elders and their families were all there. The only organized group of sorcerers in the royal city was practically risking their lives to maintain the barrier. However, their resistance was quickly discovered by the human observation posts, which soon attracted more intense and targeted firepower.

The elders paced back and forth in the hall, as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They couldn't see the battle between the Saints outside, but they knew that Ramon had taken away all the Saints in the city, yet he had failed to stop the human bombardment.

"Damn humans!"

"Elder, what do we do now? If this doesn't work, then..."

A tribal chief hesitated to speak, but the elder understood his meaning: he wanted to abandon the city and leave.

But the problem now is... it's too late!

At this moment, the Grand Elder looked around and felt that something was missing. After thinking about it carefully, he realized that the spirits of the Dead Tree Party were gone.

As crucial "allies," the elves and orcs have always exploited each other. Although their cooperation appears superficial, it has proceeded relatively smoothly.

However, now that disaster is imminent, the elves have clearly made two preparations in advance.

Realizing that the bean sprouts with pointed ears had slipped away in the chaos, the elder's expression darkened as if it were about to rain.

Just then, the cannon fire outside gradually subsided, and a short while later, Ramon led the remaining Saint-level warriors back to the Beast King's Palace from outside the city.

There were seven people when they went, but only four returned, and all of them were seriously injured. Ramon looked as if he was covered in blood, and one of his arms was twisted and hanging down, obviously broken. But the Beast King's face showed no pain. He calmly summoned several shamans to heal his wounds.

"Your Majesty...the elves have escaped!"

"It's normal for them to run away when disaster strikes."

"Then we..."

"We are orcs, not elves. Is the Grand Elder getting old? It's only been four days, and he's already forgotten what he said?"

"..."

Ramon glanced at the elder, whose face was contorted with embarrassment, with a half-smile. At the meeting four days ago, he had passionately declared that he would "defend the capital even if it costs every last soldier." But the human race's artillery barrage shattered his heroic ambitions in the very first round.

The Grand Elder tried to argue that the human army's bombardment was several times stronger than it had been a few years ago, as if a powerful and continuous curse was raining down on them. The power of this attack far exceeded their previous understanding, and the battle was not going as they had expected.

"Your Majesty, perhaps... we should retreat, abandon the orc capital, and continue north... we can hide on the Holy Mountain!"

The "holy mountain" mentioned by the elder is actually the frozen glacier at the northernmost edge of the wasteland. The melted snow flows into the "holy lake" outside the orc capital, which nourishes a large area of ​​pastureland in the surrounding area.

However, the abundance of water and grass at the foot of the glacier does not mean that there will be food and drink on the snow mountain. If they really abandon the orc capital and continue to flee north to hide in the holy mountain, how many people will be able to escape? And how will those who escape survive on the glacier?

"It's all too late," Ramon said, placing his hand on the elder's shoulder in an unquestionable tone.

"Elder, cheer up, don't lose face. I really like that saying from those Earthlings: 'What goes around comes around.' This time, none of us are leaving!"

Chapter 331: A Pincer Attack from North and South

Unlike the gloomy atmosphere on the orc side, the morale of the Northern Alliance was high at this time.

On the first day of the siege, the two sides engaged in a massive "Saint-level brawl." Although Dick failed to eliminate Ramon as he had hoped, the battle resulted in the deaths of three Saint-level members of the orc side, making it an extremely fruitful outcome.

To be honest, the orcs' Saint-level experts were quite powerful, but the difference in numbers was too great. As a result, although nine of the human Saint-level experts were injured to varying degrees, none of them died in battle, while the orcs suffered three deaths and four serious injuries. Their high-end combat power was not wiped out, but it was as if they had been wiped out.

If the Northern Alliance continues to fight steadily and make the artillery work its magic, the orcs won't last long.

After nightfall, Dick received another piece of good news from Momiji: the "Ninja Club" had completed the interception and killing of the members of the Dead Tree Party.

Seeing that the orc capital was in imminent danger, these elves decisively abandoned their allies and fled in the chaos, unaware that the news had already been leaked by an "insider" and they were caught red-handed by Red Leaf and his men.

Along with the news came footage captured using a recording crystal. It showed that about two hundred Dead Tree Party elves had fled to a secluded coastal cave where they had a ship they had prepared. Red Leaf had already arrived there with her men and had taken care of the elf guards watching the ship, waiting for the elves who had escaped from the Orc capital to come to her.

In this battle, more than two hundred withered tree elves were wiped out, including a high-ranking elder.

Meanwhile, within Lagug, the intelligence agencies were also launching a full-scale crackdown, targeting spies and their hideouts who had long been under their surveillance.

No one could have imagined that in this war between humans and orcs, the first to surrender would be the Restorationist elves of the Deadtree Party.

Two days later, the main force of the rear army arrived at the front line and successfully joined forces with the vanguard.

The 80,000-strong army joined forces and partially surrounded the orc capital from the southeast and west.

Compared to the last Northern Expedition, the Northern Allied Army now possesses overwhelming military strength, a result of Dick's years of continuous farming and development.

The orcs entrenched in the wasteland have always been a threat to the northern humans. In the early stages, the north could not do anything to them on its own. However, the situation gradually turned into a situation of nurturing bandits and maintaining their own importance. Allowing those orcs to continue to roam the wasteland was actually more beneficial than harmful to the development of the Northern Alliance.

Now that the Northern Alliance has successfully developed, it naturally no longer needs these orcs.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the empire, the army hastily assembled by the third prince, Bailey, also began to take action in the south.

His "punitive expeditionary force" is actively preparing for war, ready to march north and retake the capital. However, what makes the Bailey Group feel uneasy is that Prince Heinz's army is also watching them closely from behind.

Prince Heinz's army was originally a militia formed during the Southern Wars, and at its peak, it was known as an "army of 300,000".

While this number may be somewhat inflated, the actual figure is still over 200,000. However, the quality of the soldiers at the time was uneven, and their actual combat effectiveness was questionable. Therefore, they maintained a defensive posture on the border and did not engage in much combat with the kingdom's army to the south.

After the Southern War ended, the cabinet ordered Prince Heinz's militia to disband on the spot.

Prince Heinz outwardly followed instructions and dismissed a large number of militia soldiers, but in reality, he screened this massive ragtag army, eventually reducing it to 50,000 men. Under the guise of "defending the border," he brazenly formalized and regularized this 50,000-strong army.

After the riot in the capital, Prince Heinz expanded his army again with these 50,000 men as the core. The Dragon Sleep Valley family behind him was very powerful and provided strong support.

Before the punitive expedition, the army sent people to try to contact Prince Heinz. Bailey took the initiative to show goodwill, hoping that this "little prince uncle" would support him, and even promised to share the great power of the empire with him.

However, Prince Heinz remained unmoved by Pelé's offer, maintaining an ambiguous attitude that made Pelé uneasy.

Although Prince Heinz was not as high in the line of succession as him, he did indeed have a right to the throne.

At this moment, in Southpine Castle, where the Prince's army headquarters was located, Prince Heinz was reading the latest battle report sent by his subordinates. The melee in the capital was still going on. Under the instigation of some people, not only did the rebel camp break out into internal strife, but even the nobles who were still loyal to the royal family and the guards were divided.

The only noteworthy force was the 2nd Guards Corps under Reinhardt's command.

With Reinhardt's true identity revealed, the unit's situation has been precarious. Neither the rebels nor the Royal Guard consider him one of their own, leaving them caught in a pincer movement.

Even under such dire circumstances, the Second Army Corps, with only a few thousand men, managed to withstand multiple rounds of attacks and establish a safe zone within the capital region to shelter and protect refugees.

Meanwhile, further north, Dick's Northern Alliance is focusing all its efforts on defeating the orcs while other factions are preoccupied with vying for control of the capital. So far, everything is going smoothly.

Prince Heinz estimated that it wouldn't be long before the Northern Alliance took over the Orcish Lands, and with a month of rest, they would be able to head south.

All he had to do was wait and then coordinate with the Northern Alliance forces in their operations.

"Time waits for no one, elder brother, you must hurry."

After reading the battle report, Heinz couldn't help but mutter to himself. Then he turned to look at the side where a beautiful woman with a pair of curved dragon horns was sitting on his desk. In her loosely clenched hands, she held a few wisps of eerie, writhing smoke, and in the smoke, he could see some distorted faces.

Seeing this, Heinz knew that the thing was actually a human soul that had been separated from the body, so he casually asked the woman.

Who is that?

"I don't know. They're just a few mediocre sorcerers who came to assassinate you."

The woman waved the "human soul" in her hand, looking as casual as a housewife who had just bought a few loaches from the market. She looked at Heinz and asked.

"Want me to help you get revenge? I've taken their souls, and I can now remotely control their bodies. The mastermind should be right there."

"No need. I can probably guess who sent them. Besides, it's unnecessary to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Your power is likely to cause suppression by the laws, so it's best to use it sparingly."

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

The beautiful woman replied calmly, then waved her hand and crushed a few wisps of human souls before rising and floating into Heinz's arms. Their two identical pairs of bright red vertical pupils gazed at each other with deep affection.

Chapter 332: The Day the Orcs Died

Inside the Beast King's Palace, Ramon silently sharpened his steel knife. Outside, the booming sound of cannons had continued for a day and a night. The entire orc capital had been almost completely ravaged by the artillery fire, with burning ruins and the pitiful cries of the orcs everywhere.

After sharpening the knife in his hand, Ramon gently scraped the blade with his fingertips, his slightly upturned lips suggesting he was very satisfied with its sharpness. He then stood up and walked towards the row of orc tribal elders who were being forced to kneel on the ground by the guards.

One of the elders saw Ramon approaching them with a butcher's knife and roared at the top of his lungs.

"Ramon! Are you insane? We are tribal elders, how dare you..."

Before the old, wrinkled orc could finish speaking, Ramon had already swiftly beheaded him. The orc's head, its eyes wide open in death, rolled past each kneeling orc noble, and the scene fell silent for a moment. But after a short while, Ramon heard someone sobbing softly, and at the same time, the smell of urine filled the air.