Chapter 6

Orrinshire

Day 4!

Lithinian army

Shiv was inside a tent made for him, near the mountain pass. He had been here for the last 3 days ever since he knew the true objective of his enemy and so been planning many things, ordering his men various things to setup.

‘So they come today! Let us see how well things go, but before that!’

“Show Status!”

STATS WINDOWCharacter NameShivAlignmentNeutralLevel501ProfessionKingTitleKing of LithiniaFame250000Health: 15000+1000Mana: 25000+1000Strength: 436+75Agility: 401+75Stamina: 419+75Vitality:404+75Wisdom: 320+75Intelligence:330+75Luck: 0+75Perseverance: 255+75Offence: 384+420Defense:400+250Magic Resistance: 65%Affinity to Elements: 40%Dragon roars(Beginner- level 1)

Heavenly elements(Beginner –Level 1)

“What’s with this status bar? Is the high level and stat an added bonus? When did I even get the perseverance stats?”

Not only was his status off charts, the weapon Shiv carried too was way too powerful.

“Identify” Shiv shouted in his mind as stared at the sword in his hand.

BLACK DRAGON(Level-???)A black coloured sword which evolves with the wielder! This sword was forged by the Arslan, the greatest dwarven blacksmith the world had ever known! The sword has been the family heirloom of the Lithinian kingdom and the source of envy from many for centuries!

This great sword carries the strength and experience of all its previous wielders.

Durability: 8000

Attack : 2000

+500 levels to wielder

+75 to all status

+1000 to HP and mana

+25000 fame

“What is this ‘OP’ sword? 500 levels from just wielding a sword, that means 2500 stats points from just the sword. And what are these stats boosts, 75 to all the stats? Not to mention the incredible fame boost.” Shiv’s eyes were sparkling. A sword such the one his hands were the dream of all gamers, it was the very definition of a cheat weapon.

“Sire!” a man in red armour with a cross on it rushed inside the tent. It was Stryn, the commander and his face was sweating profusely. Shiv could make out the panic in his voice.

“So the army has arrived!”, Shiv understood Stryn’s cause of panic. He rose from his seat gently and then walked out of his tent calmly. He had camped at one of the short peaks near the mountain pass through which the enemy was believed to travel. He had placed half of his army at the same peak as he was. The others were at the other side of the pass. All of them were hidden from plain sight, under the best camouflage. Shiv had also brought 10 assassins with him and had sent them out to scout the area ahead.

He looked at the vast stretch of land ahead of him and could see the land being covered by something blue. As every minute passed the blue spread around, stretching over a vast area. It was like the land was being devoured by blue flames.

‘So that is a 100,000 men strong army huh. Let us give them a warm welcome!’

“Men! Shall we party!” Shiv smirked.

The men laughed too. Even though they were afraid initially, the king’s presence had eased their hearts. And so they began to move, hidden from the eyes of the prey.

---***---

Verunisian army

“Today we conquer Linford! Today we do what no other kingdom could ever do! Today we do what others said was impossible!”, the Verunisian general, Ghir Khan roared.

Roar! The Verunisian army roared in response to their general’s speech! Even though they were tired from the long distance travel, their morale was very high. They were sure that today their Empire would grow even more.

When the mountain pass came into view the army increased their pace. Within hours, they had closed in on the pass only to abruptly come to a halt.

“Why have you stopped without my order?” Ghir Khan screamed in fury.

“There is a man standing on one of the peaks, wearing the Lithinian armour, Sir! He says he wants to speak to the general.”

“Must be some deserter or maybe a messenger! Men looks like the Lithinian king has decided to surrender!” Ghir Khan laughed and ordered his horse to pace forward. When he reached the front, he saw the man just like his men had reported. Ghir Khan kept moving forward, smiling, confident. But then he stopped at once. His face no longer had that confident smirk from a while ago. Fear struck him from deep! For, in front of him was a man in red armour with a white dragon embedded on it and a black sword on his waist.

‘Why is he here. Why him of all people?’

Ghir Khan knew the man in red armour. He had heard terrible rumours about the man with the black sword. Hailed as the strongest man in the world, the man who was referred to as The Destroyer, the King of Lithinia, Orrinshire!

“W.. Wh..,Why are you here, Orrinshire?”

The general’s voice had fear embedded in it, one of the most basic emotions of any living organism, fear of a superior being.

---***---

Lithinian army

“W.. Wh..,Why are you here, Orrinshire?”

‘Orrinshire? So here I am called Orrinshire huh.’

Shiv spoke, “I assume you are from Verunisia! By what name are you known, general?”

“I..I am called Ghir, Ghir Khan, the great general of the empire and loyal vassal of his majesty, Mithron the fourth!”

“I see, general Ghir, if possible can you please go back the way you have come. This mountain pass is under the banner of Lithinia, under my rule and I have not given permission to anyone to walk into my territory, that too with such a huge army.” Shiv shouted out loud calmly.

This calmness caused Ghir Khan to panic even more. He had an army of 100,000 behind him and yet the man in front of him was calm, Ghir saw no fear in the man’s eyes.

‘What is he? Does he not know any fear?’

“I refuse, King of Lithinia! I am here under the order of his majesty, to lay waste to your land and seize the fort of Linford for his majesty, the great!”

“Is that so general! Very well. For the crime of encroachment and insult to the King of Lithinia, I hereby judge you guilty”. As those words escaped his lips, the young king lifted his right hand high up in the air.

“Justice shall prevail. Let judgment be done.” With those words, he swung his lifted right hand down and in the next moment death courted the Vernusian army.

---***---

Verunisian Army

“Let judgment be done”, as soon as those words escaped from the Lithinian’s king, huge magic circle appeared in the sky behind him. The Vernusian army readied their shields as they expected an offensive mage attack. But what awaited them was not fire or water or lighting, all that the magic circles produced was an intense yellow light so bright that any who looked at it had their vision robbed for a few minutes.

The great army panicked, their formation collapsed. Being robbed of their vision the army was in disorder. Ghir Khan was lucky as he had closed his eyes before he was affected but unfortunately, the horse wasn’t so clever. Ghir Khan left behind his horse as he began running towards his army, trying to get away from Shiv.

He was now deep within his disordered army. ‘I must take command immediately; else I will lose all my men.’ When he reached the position where he had been in the start, he was provided a horse by his subordinates. He got on the horse and was about to give his order to attack when he noticed something flying towards him at an unbelievable speed!

“Arrows, equip your shields, take cover”, but all was in vain. The army was still blinded, even though the light the mages had produced faded away.

The sea of arrows struck the soldiers accurately, killing anything and everything. Ghir was about to give another command when an arrow grazed his face, wounding him slightly.

Ghir was taken aback, how could they hit so accurately from that far away. He felt his throat going dry! His body was like it was on fire! His breathing got rough! His hands went numb! Slowly he began losing control over his body! “Poison”, this was the last word of his life! And thus the general fell, even before the war began!

---***---

Lithinian army

“Sire! The general has fallen just like you predicted!”, reported an ecstatic Stryn. They had just shot down the enemy general itself. To boost the situation, they had not suffered even a single death on their side!

He was truly overjoyed! His king had just turned the tides of the war in an instant!

“Not yet Stryn! There are things to do! They won’t give up that easily! The second in command will think of this as an opportunity to rise in ranks. So he will surely march forward. And that stupid greed of his will lead us to victory when the main battle begins!”

“Yes, Sire! Forgive my behavior!”

“Stryn, give the order to the mages! Mobilize the assassins! Let the archers retreat, they have done enough for now!”

“Yes, Sire, as you command!”

---***---

Lithinian army

“Lady Amber, the king has ordered the mages to begin.”

“Right away, Sir Stryn!”

Amber then turned back and ordered her subordinates to mobilize.

Amber was the head of the magic unit, an archmage herself! She had served the kingdom for more than 10 years now. When she first heard of the possibility of a war she was scared! She had never been in a war before! Nobody she knew had ever been in a war! The country had been in peace for hundreds of years!

Even though Amber had been in the Private army of the king, she had never once met him! All she heard were baseless rumours, which she never believed! But today she had no other choice but to acknowledge the truth!

The truth that all the rumours of the king’s power and intelligence were proved true with a single attack!

When the king had first ordered that he wanted to delay the enemies with just 500 men, she had scorned at the foolish king! ‘What an idiot! 500 against 100,000? Is he even a king?’ she had rebuked him when the order was given out.

She was on watch when the enemy arrived! The sheer vastness of the enemy had made her tremble!

Amber saw the king walk out of his tent, giving orders to Stryn. She smirked at the foolish king who was slowly walking towards the enemy! He could hear him shout for their general! She also saw a well-built man riding on a magnificent horse coming out of the army!

‘Here comes the general! Now are you going to beg before him?’ Amber was full of mockery towards the king! She gazed at the king to see what the foolish king would do next only to find that very king smiling at her! Amber was taken aback a little but managed to return the smile. ‘Moron!’ was what she said in her mind!

Amber was quite as she witnessed the events unfold before and was surprised when she saw the enemy general trembling!

“W.. Wh..,Why are you here, Orrinshire?”

She heard the general stammering. She was amused, surprised. She wondered why a general with 100,000 soldiers would stammer just by speaking the king’s name? Confused at the events before her, the woman scratched her head involuntarily.

“Justice shall prevail. Let judgment be done.” She heard the king’s voice!

‘Judgment? Yeah, we all will die!’ she thought but was surprised by the sudden bright light!

“What is this light? Why was I not told about this?” She roared at her subordinates when the light faded. She was about to rush towards the king to kill him herself when she saw something raining down from the sky! ‘what use are arrows from 400 archers! The opponents are 100,000 str…’ and then her thoughts stopped!

She saw the enemy in disorder. She saw the frontline fall, then she had the shock of her life! She saw the general Ghir, who a few moments ago had challenged the king, falling from his horse!

She then looked at the king! He was looking at her with a smile! She understood that look!

‘How was that? Am I not great?’, that was what those eyes were saying.

‘Ah! This is my king.’ She smiled, she admitted defeat! And so she kneeled and bowed to her king, pledging her life to him for he had shown her why people feared him so much, and why he was called the absolute strongest. She understood that the title did not purely refer to his personal strength, it was a title that was given to one who could change the tide of a war with just a wave of his hands.

It was then that Stryn had delivered the king’s order to begin! She stood and looked back at her subordinates!

“You heard the king! Let judgment be done!”. Loud chants erupted from all over! The mages had begun their mission! They had witnessed the archer’s feat and now it was their turn to shine!

---***---

Erwin Grigod was happy! Even though his army was under attack, he was happy! He had finally achieved what he had waited 5 years for. He was now the commander of 100,000 soldiers. Well, maybe 1000 or 2000 soldiers less. Pleased with the situation, Erwin took command!

Once Ghir had died, the stream of arrows had stopped! Erwin then commanded “All arms to the front! March”. And since the annoying light too had faded out, the unified army began its march! They were now nearing the place where Shiv had stood earlier. The army was searching the mountain peaks carefully for any traces of enemies!

Erwin was cautious too, he did not want to die like Ghir! The army then began crossing the pass! It was then that they heard a thunder-like the sound! Which was then followed by the screams of his men!

“What is going on?” Erwin asked looking at the direction of the screams. He froze! From the mountains, he saw huge spiked balls rolling down! The sheer number of balls that came down made Erwin lose his sanity.

The spikes crushed anything that was on their way! The army was once again in disorder! But this time, the army began running in random directions to escape the spike balls.

The balls kept coming down from the mountain! Those which had already reached down were now rolling towards the army as the mountain pass had a slant to it!

“Where are the mages! Bring them here! Now!” Erwin roared with anger.

“Sir, we can’t!”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“The mages and priests are stuck!”

“Stuck? In what?”

“They are stuck to the ground.”

“Ground? No! no! no! Quagmires!”, Erwin now understood that everything was a trap! The king’s appearance and the arrows were all bait! Bait to lure him towards the trap and he had fallen into it so easily! Erwin was mad, infuriated!

“Retreat! Everyone retreat! Save as many mages as you can.” He roared turning away from the mountain pass! He looked back and he could see a pool of blood! He knew he had lost a lot and this loss was not negligible like the one they suffered due to the arrows.

‘I will have my revenge Orrinshire, I swear.’

That day the Verunisian army suffered a loss of 15000 soldiers and almost all their mages and priests which were another 5000. The army lost 20000 even before the war had begun!

---***---

Lithinian army

“Sire they have retreated!”

“The death toll?”

“We think that 20000 have died, including all of their mages and priests”.

“Good! What about the assassins?”

“They have started their operation.”

“Wonderful. Now Stryn shall we obliterate them?”

“Of course Sire! Wild dogs should be taken down.”

“You sure read my mind Stryn”

The two men smiled at each other, their faces dark and eyes cold.

Amber who was behind the two flinched! ‘These two are devils, devils!’

---***---