355: Chapter 27, The Pinnacle Duel_1 355: Chapter 27, The Pinnacle Duel_1 “Guard, give the order to prepare for battle.”
“Belsden, let’s go and have a look.”
As he spoke, Hudson had already roused the baby bear from his slumber.
Disregarding Belsden’s resentful eyes, he urged Uncle Bear to set off in the direction the scouts had pointed.
Hudson did not want to leave the bulk of the army to personally scout the frontline, but he had no choice.
Faced with elite orcs, ordinary scouts were incapable of close range reconnaissance.
With a push of his bear’s paw, Uncle Bear stretched out, revealing a bear that stood five meters tall.
Upon witnessing this display, Hudson rolled his eyes and leapt onto the bear’s back.
Having picked up bad habits from somewhere, Belsden had grown more and more flamboyant.
Despite his ability to control his size, he still liked to present himself as a giant bear.
It was as if the exclamations from the crowd were melodious music to him.
However, the soldiers of the Layton County Legion had seen him many times and no longer reacted.
The accompanying Moxi people were different, staring wide-eyed and immediately letting out cries of surprise.
The sight of a bear soaring through the air with nothing beneath it dazzled many onlookers.
Hudson had more than once corrected Belsden about this awkward style of flight, but Belsden insisted he was running, not flying.
Before anyone could react, the bear and its rider had disappeared into the horizon.
In an instant, they arrived at the place where traces of the orc army had been found.
The giant bear once again shrunk to a miniature size, leaving Hudson’s figure in the air, as if he was walking on wind.
Anyone who saw this spectacle would surely exclaim – “Sky Knight”.
Gazing down at the orc army below, Hudson couldn’t help but reproach Belsden’s unreliability.
What was supposed to be a secret reconnaissance mission had now become a patrolling one.
Giving an innocent-looking Belsden a glare, Hudson could only forcefully suppress his anger.
Bears simply don’t understand human concepts.
With Belsden’s gravity magic, walking in the air can actually be enjoyable.
If not for this unexpected event, Hudson would not have known of that bear cub’s control over the gravity field had reached such a level.
It can only be said that he’s a crafty bear.
Whenever he learnt a new magic or developed a new way to use it, Belsden would always be the first to show off to him.
Now, even if Hudson asked, Belsden would just give him a perfunctory response.
He was just short of saying: I’m just a useless bear, don’t bother me.
Even with such laziness, he still ranked among the top powerhouses of the continent.
This shattered Hudson’s heart into pieces.
Despite his efforts to practice daily without missing a day, he was still hovering on the threshold of becoming a Great Knight.
He couldn’t let himself be distracted; the matter at hand was more urgent.
He immediately released a spell of mist magic, enveloping himself and the bear.
From a distance, they appeared as a black cloud floating in the air.
Inspecting the orc army from above gave Hudson a feeling of anxiety and excitement.
Minotaurs, cat people, goblins…
The orc army was comprised of a complete mishmash of species.
It wasn’t until he saw a blood-red wolf head banner that Hudson raised his vigilance.
Ordinary wolf cavalry weren’t scary, their combat power was not much higher than humans.
What was terrifying were the wolfmen of the orc royal family – the Silver Moon Wolf Clan.
The method to identify them was quite primitive, just look at their size.
Ordinary wolf soldiers were around one and a half meters tall; Silver Moon Wolf Clan members were at least two meters tall, with the larger ones reaching up to three meters.
A comparison of their sizes demonstrated the power of the Silver Moon Wolf Clan.
The only silver lining was that members of the Silver Moon Wolf Clan were rare, their reproduction method differed from ordinary species, they evolved from ordinary wolfmen.
This awakening depended purely on luck, even if both parents were members of the Silver Moon Wolf Clan, most of their offspring would be ordinary wolfmen.
Most of the time, members of the Silver Moon Wolf Clan appeared as commanders, like the alpha wolves amongst a wolf pack.
Hudson quickly estimated the number of wolf cavalry to be over five thousand, knowing that a conflict was inevitable.
At that moment, the two armies were less than ten miles apart.
The enemy also had a considerable number of swift wolf cavalry, making avoidance nearly impossible.
The force of the orc army in front of him was less than twenty thousand.
Even though there were a few elite orcs, they could still put up a fight against Hudson’s side.
If he were to lead his army to flee now, under the pursuit of the orc army, it might easily escalate into a total rout.
After scouting for several miles and not finding any traces of other orc armies, Hudson decided to return to the camp.
…
“Honorable Viscount Hudson, how strong is the orc army ahead?” Rakel asked nervously.
The Moxi nobles, having been battered by the orcs, had become skittish.
Just hearing about the orcs would turn their mood sour.
“Rest assured, the orc army in front of us numbers less than twenty thousand.
We need to pay attention to roughly five thousand wolf cavalry, the remaining troops are a mix of various races.
Some of these races might have strong individual combat capabilities, but in a chaotic battlefield, the strength of individuals won’t affect the outcome much.
I’ve just patrolled the area and confirmed that the fortresses on the frontline have not fallen.
This army has likely bypassed the fortresses and forced their way in from another area.”
Hudson said with an expression of ease.
On paper, the allied forces had thirty thousand troops, giving them a clear numerical advantage.
In reality, the only truly combat ready force was his Layton County Legion.
The impromptu team of Moxi people, in Hudson’s view, were essentially just there to make up the numbers.
But these words could only be thought, not spoken, for that would be too harsh.