"Garrett, wait a mont!"
On his side, Garrett had eliminated dozens of orcs and over ten wargs, leaving only a single chieftain alive.
Gandalf hurried over and examined the last survivor.
"I thought you'd forgotten our objective."
"Don't worry, I can control my blade."
Garrett sheathed his sword, while Gandalf pressed his staff against the orc chieftain's chest to prevent him from rising and retaliating.
Their objective, naturally, was to extract intelligence from the orcs.
"You vile creature. Speak! Why have you all gathered here?"
"Heh... Cursed wizard, you'll be flayed alive by us eventually..."
Thud!
Gandalf struck him forcefully, reducing the orc to a bloody ss.
"Reveal your purpose, and I'll grant you a swift death!"
"We're going to slaughter every human in this region! Everything will belong to us!"
Screech.
With those words, the orc chieftain perished on the spot.
Garrett looked toward Gandalf.
"Are there still people living nearby?"
Gandalf nodded slowly, his brow furrowed as he spoke:
"To my knowledge, yes, there are so remaining. Many years past, before shadow spread across these lands, when the Kingdom of Rhovanion hadn't yet fallen to ruin and Mirkwood was still called Greenwood the Great, many free folk lived around this fertile river valley. But now the forest is corrupted and shrouded in darkness, the surrounding area has beco perilous and no longer suitable for living. Most people chose to relocate to safer places."
"Many people once dwelt here, n and hobbits alike. So have departed, so are still wandering, and others haven't had opportunity to escape, still scattered within the region."
"We must take action, Garrett."
He lifted his staff and delivered another blow to the orc chieftain to ensure he wasn't feigning death, then addressed Garrett as he prepared to depart.
"Where are you going?"
"Not just , we should go warn any nearby inhabitants and urge them to flee before they fall victim to the orcs."
"No, no, Gandalf, I actually believe... you alone are enough for that task."
Garrett remained where he stood, unmoving.
Gandalf turned back to him.
"And what of you?"
"I'll eliminate the orcs. Wouldn't that solve the problem?"
Garrett suspected that the orc presence nearby was abnormally substantial.
Hearing this, Gandalf paused montarily. If anyone else had spoken those words, he would have rapped them on the head with his pipe to restore their senses.
If the orcs were planning a large-scale assault, they wouldn't dispatch rely scattered squads, there would be a raiding force numbering in the thousands.
One man alone, facing thousands of orcs, was undoubtedly a death sentence.
Usually.
But if it was Garrett... as long as the orcs didn't remain tightly grouped constantly, perhaps...
He nodded. "You make a valid point. Then let us separate here. Be careful. Once I complete my task, I'll co to your aid imdiately."
"May your mission proceed smoothly."
"And yours as well."
In the Anduin Valley on the eastern side of the Misty Mountains, the two parted ways and headed in different directions.
Garrett opened his map interface. This entire area remained shrouded in unexplored fog.
"Perfect. Ti to clear out this map."
---
Boom!
At nightfall, an orc, torch in hand, kicked down a wooden fence and set the roadside cottages ablaze. The firelight made his scarred face appear even more twisted and nacing.
"Another abandoned settlent."
"Where's the scout? Get him here! Didn't he say there were people in this place?!"
A rather diminutive orc approached, hunched and cowering. "I did see lights here earlier, maybe they're hiding..."
Just as he spoke, another orc rushed over with a report, sothing had apparently been discovered at the village edge.
The orc sub-chieftain imdiately led a group to investigate.
"The ashes are still warm... just burned!"
"There must be soone nearby. Find them!"
Just as the orcs were about to disperse and search, the wargs suddenly growled in warning, snarling toward a shadowed corner.
The sub-chieftain looked over and saw a human slowly erging from the darkness, draped in a plain linen cloak.
"Aha! Found you!"
The wargs excitedly leaped toward him, and the orcs raised their crude blades, already imagining how they'd divide up this unfortunate human. But then, a flash of pale blue light flickered, and the human slowly revealed a smile.
This person, no, sothing's amiss!
The sub-chieftain yanked on the reins, pulling his warg back and halting its charge. He even retreated several steps.
---
Monts later, staring at the massive pile of burning orc and warg corpses before him, and glancing in the direction where the sub-chieftain had escaped, Garrett felt sowhat disappointed.
He hadn't brought a horse this ti, no way he could catch that fleeing warg.
"Pretty sharp," he muttered.
Even rely seeing him was enough to make them flee.
He didn't bother pursuing the escaping orc. He simply continued at his own pace, steadily uncovering the map, searching for abandoned settlents or isolated orc squads.
Under this thodical sweep, quiet yet chaotic days passed unnoticed.
---
"We saw smoke coming from a village over there. Should we go in and loot?"
The mont the possibility of human activity was ntioned, the surrounding wargs and orcs grew restless, eager and impatient.
At the rear of the group, soone released a quiet sigh, their eyes filled with despair.
Were more people going to be enslaved?
Clearly, even with Gandalf's tily warnings and Garrett's relentless campaign, under such large-scale raids, many people still ended up captured by the orcs, either as provisions or as slaves.
This was an orc squad specifically tasked with transporting enslaved humans captured during raids. Compared to other raiding parties, they possessed greater numbers, stronger forces, and were far more brutal.
Although confident in their own strength, the sub-chieftain still asked cautiously upon hearing the scout's report: "Smoke? A single source or multiple?"
"Multiple, more than one house had it."
"Were the houses old or new? Any signs of human activity?"
The scout scratched his swollen head, struggling to recall:
"So houses were quite ancient, but it appeared soone had been maintaining them. I even saw garnts hanging to dry in a courtyard..."
"How much overgrowth was there along the roadside?"
The scout shook his head. "Hardly any. I could clearly see everything inside at a glance."
"Excellent!"
The sub-chieftain grinned wickedly.
Appears it's not a trap by that warrior, it's a genuine village!
He indicated a small team of several dozen orcs and commanded, "You stay here and guard the slaves. The rest, accompany , we're feasting on man-flesh tonight!"
"Hahaha—!"
A horde of orcs and wargs charged toward the village.
However, after searching house after house throughout the settlent... They were bewildered.
"There's no one here?!"
An orc examined burning fires in hearths and leather garnts drying on lines in the yards, confused about the situation.
Until suddenly, commotion erupted from the direction of the team guarding the slaves.
Orcs and wargs wreathed in flas were hurled through the air, landing with agonized screams.
Under the night sky, the scene was blindingly obvious.
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