Enemy from Afar

Thousands of soldiers are looking at Arthur's back, so dumbfounded to even speak. In their mind, Arthur is already a hero, an invincible protagonist who can single-handedly kill thousands of orcs.

Arthur turned to look at them and raises his hand. "Kill them all!"

"Woooooohhhhhhh! Kill them all!" The thousands of soldiers resonate with Arthur's shout with their newfound courage, they rush forward guns blazing, tossing grenades and open firing at the orcs bellow.

Seeing that his job is done, Arthur triumphantly walks back to the wall.

....

Because of Arthur's action and his super enthusiastic followers who repeatedly shout his name like a bunch of fools, his area becomes one of the loudest in the western battlefront.

It's no surprise that it garners the attention of a lot of orcs, one orc in particular stand above the others. An orc carrying a large ballista on its back. This orc name is Barktus.

Barktus is a lot different from any other orc. He's considerably shorter than normal, being only half the size of normal orcs. He is also physically weaker.

If others see him, they will notice that there is no scar on his body. That's because Barktus never got wounded. What he lacked in strength and size, he makes up for with his intelligence and his ridiculous control of mana. He's one of the orc's ten war scions. Ten of the most monstrous orcs of their generation.

If not for Barktus lowly birth, he would already be a shaman or one of the orc king candidates with his ability.

Barktus locks his site at Arthur, aiming his ballista on the latter's heart who is now returning to his fellow soldier.

With Barktus control of mana, the giant arrow flows to the sky with the speed far surpassing a bullet.

.....

Emmanuel looked at the walking Arthur with admiration and jealousy in his eyes.

Who doesn't want to be looked up to and be treated as a hero?

He walks up to Arthur trying to share some of the glory, 'he did throw him with his shield, didn't he?'

It was at this moment that he saw a small dot racing towards Arthur at a breakneck speed. He doesn't know what it was but his instinct was telling him that it was dangerous.

"Look out!" He shoves Arthur's back and quickly retrieves his shield.

"[Block]" he shouted.

The arrow collides at his shield making a loud booming sound.

"Boom!" Emmanuel is launched flying, hitting dozens of soldiers before he stops.

Arthur quickly rushes to check if he's alright.

Emmanuel slowly stands up totally confounded in what just happened.

"What the f*ck is that?" he asked Arthur.

He raises his shield displaying a giant arrow still stuck on it.

Seeing this, sweat pours down Emmanuel and Arthur's faces.

Arthur gazes intently at the orc army where his eyes lock on a particular siege tower. This siege tower is unlike the thousands of siege towers where hundreds of orcs cramped among themselves. This tower houses only one individual, an orc with a giant ballista in his back.

He immediately identifies that it was the same one that is intercepting the girl's arrow from before. An orc equal to the girl that one shot an enormous mammoth is now paying close attention to him. 'Shit! Such a steep price of acting cool' Arthur thought to himself.

He looks at Emmanuel and warns him "Me acting cool caught the attention of something dangerous and I'm guessing because of the stunt you just pull, you enter his hit list too, so better watch out for those giant arrows"

Emmanuel pull the giant arrow in his shield and shook his head while wallowing in self-contempt. 'All of this because I also want to look cool.'

Emmanuel was surprised at how calm he was considering the situation. He almost died back there but he can still perfectly control his body unlike before where he was frozen in fear just by seeing an orc.

Arthur look at Emmanuel and laughed "Hahahaha look at you being a big boy."

Emmanuel punches Arthur in the face but the latter easily dodges it. "Be serious assh*le! Unlike you who are some kind of a supersoldier, I was just a busboy before I was drafted in this shit show. So forgive me for being a little proud of myself.

"Supersoldier hahaha, I'm also just an honest individual before this" Arthur said.

"Honest my ass, so what's the plan?"

"We need to take down that orc with a ballista, as long as it is alive we are sitting ducks," Arthur said pointing at the archer tower.

"Easier said than done unless you have some kind of long-range skill you are not sharing, we can just forget it". Emmanuel said, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately I have not. That's why I'll bus ride you until you reach tier 1, with you acting as a tank we can attempt charging in. We just have to be extra careful to not get hit by that orc arrow in the meantime" Arthur said explaining his plan.

Emmanuel, however, is not yet convinced. "Assuming that I did reach tier 1, it's not just a dozen or two orcs we're talking about here. We're talking about going through a sea of orcs, A SEA!. Not to mention dozens of Ombakti we might face, we might even encounter a Gobakji. This plan is nothing but suicide"

Ignoring Emmanuel's usual antics, Arthur said."Have a better plan, I'm all ears"

"Stop being prideful and contact Lieutenant Jeffrey, ask for his help," Emmanuel said.

"He already messaged me a while back, even before I cut the giant rock in half. He said he was coming over to help but it seems that he and his group got intercepted by a Gobakji. I haven't received a message from him since. We should prepare for the worse."

Emmanuel staggers "It can't be." There isn't even a day passed and they once again lose a superior officer.

"Man up! I thought you changed a minute ago, don't prove me wrong. Let's do our best to survive." Arthur said patting Emmanuel on the shoulder.

He was about to reply to Arthur when he suddenly felt it again.

"Alr-" He stopped what he was about to say and prepare his shield but before the arrow could reach him Arthur pushed him aside.

"Boom!" An Arrow struck the place he was at.

"Are you an Idiot? I just said be alert a second ago," Arthur said, helping Emmanuel up.

Emmanuel brash out Arthurs's hand 'Is this guy taking revenge for the time I shove him earlier?'

"I saw it coming, you bastard, I was just about to block it with my shield when you push me."

Hearing Emmanuel, Arthur can't help but shake his head "Use your brain for one second will you, just a couple of that arrow will destroy your shield. Why would you block it?"

"Dodge it or deflect it and only block it when necessary."

Realizing that Arthur is right, Emmanuel can't help but inadvertently nod his head.

"Alright, it's time to kill some orc." Arthur unsheathed his blade jumping towards the mammoth again.