"Levi, wait!"
On this side, he had eliminated dozens of orcs plus over ten wargs, leaving only one small leader gasping for breath.
Gandalf hurried over, looking at this last survivor with calculating eyes.
"I thought you'd forgotten our purpose."
"Don't worry, I can control my sword."
Levi sheathed his precious sword, while Gandalf pressed his staff against the orc leader's chest, preventing him from getting up to counterattack.
Their so-called purpose was naturally to gather intelligence from these orcs.
"Filthy creature, speak! What are you gathering here for?"
"Heh heh, cursed wizard, sooner or later we'll flay the skin from your bones..."
Thud!
Gandalf gave him a hard blow, directly reducing this orc to a sliver of health.
"Tell us your purpose, and I'll give you a quick death!"
"We will kill all the humans in this area, everything will belong to us!"
Gah...
After finishing his sentence, the small leader directly expired.
Levi looked at Gandalf.
"There are still people living nearby?"
Gandalf slowly nodded, frowning as he said with growing concern:
"As far as I know, there are some."
"Many years ago, when evil had not yet spread, when the Kingdom of Rhovanion had not yet become ruins, when Mirkwood was still called Greenwood the Great, many free peoples gathered near this fertile river valley. However, now the forest has been corrupted, it's pitch black inside, surrounded by dangers, no longer suitable for habitation. Most people chose to migrate to safer places to live."
"Many people did live here... humans and hobbits. Some left this place, some are still wandering, and some who didn't have time to leave are still gathered in this area."
"We must do something, Levi."
Gandalf picked up his staff, gave the small leader another blow to prevent him from playing dead, and called to Levi to set out.
"Where are you going?"
"Not where am I going, but where are we going... we should go warn any residents who might exist nearby, tell them to leave quickly to avoid falling victim to the orcs!"
"No no no, Gandalf, I think you going alone would be sufficient for this matter."
Levi stood in place without moving.
Gandalf turned back.
"Then what about you?"
"I'll go kill all the orcs, and won't that solve the problem?"
He felt there seemed to be a bit too many orcs in the vicinity.
Hearing this, Gandalf's steps temporarily stopped.
If anyone else had said this, the wizard would definitely have knocked their head hard with his pipe to make them sober up.
Since the orcs were preparing for large-scale raids, they wouldn't just send out scattered small squads, but would definitely dispatch raiding legions numbering at least in the thousands.
One person facing thousands of orcs alone would be suicide no matter how you looked at it.
Under normal circumstances, that would be the case.
But if it was Levi, as long as those orcs weren't constantly gathered together, perhaps...
Gandalf nodded and said, "That makes sense. Then we'll part ways here. Be careful with your actions too. Once I finish my business, I'll immediately come support you."
"May your actions go smoothly."
"You too."
In the Anduin valley east of the Misty Mountains, the two separated, heading in different directions.
Levi opened his system map... this entire area was still unexplored fog.
"Perfect, let me properly open up the map."
Rumble!
Night.
An orc holding a torch kicked down a fence, setting the wooden houses along the way ablaze. Under the firelight, his face full of tumors looked exceptionally fierce and terrifying.
"Damn it!"
"Another abandoned village."
"Where's the scout? Get him over here! Didn't he say there were people here?!"
A relatively short orc bent over and approached, cowering as he said, "I really did see firelight here earlier. Maybe, maybe they're hiding..."
Just as he was speaking, another orc came to report news, apparently having discovered something at the village entrance.
The small leader immediately led his men over.
"Freshly burned ashes, still warm..."
"There must be people nearby, find them!"
Just as the circle of orcs was about to spread out and search separately, the wargs suddenly became alert, roaring toward the shadows.
The small leader looked over and saw a human in an unremarkable linen robe slowly emerging from the darkness.
"Aha, I found one!"
The wargs excitedly pounced forward, orcs raised their cleavers, already thinking about how to divide up this unfortunate human.
However, they saw a pale blue radiance flicker, and that human slowly revealed a smile.
Wait, this person... no!
The small leader forcibly stopped his warg's forward charge, pulling hard to retreat two steps.
A moment later.
Looking at the large pile of orc and warg corpses burning fiercely before him, then at the direction the orc leader had fled, Levi felt somewhat regretful.
Coming out without riding a horse, he really couldn't catch up to that warg.
"Quite clever."
Knew to run upon seeing him.
Not bothering with where that orc had fled, Levi continued his own rhythm, gradually opening the map bit by bit, searching for abandoned villages or isolated orc squads.
Under carpet-style searching, days passed unknowingly, some quiet, some tumultuous.
"Leader, we saw smoke from that village over there. Should we go loot it?"
Upon hearing it might be a village with human activity, the surrounding wargs and orcs all began to stir restlessly, already somewhat impatient.
At the very back of the formation, someone couldn't help but let out a sigh, their eyes full of numbness.
Were more people going to be enslaved?
Obviously, even with Gandalf's timely warnings and Levi's killings, under large-scale raiding and looting, quite a few people were still captured by the orcs, either as food or as slaves.
This was an orc squad responsible for escorting captured human slaves.
Compared to other raiding squads, they were more numerous, stronger, and more vicious.
Although confident in their own forces, at this moment, hearing the scout's report, the small leader still asked alertly, "Smoke? Just one or many?"
"Many, more than one house has them."
"Are those houses old or new? Are there signs of human activity?"
The scout scratched his swollen head, struggling to recall:
"Some houses are old, but they seem to have been cleaned. I saw several pieces of clothing drying in the yard..."
"Are there many weeds by the roadside?"
The scout shook his head. "No, very few weeds. I could see the situation inside clearly at a glance."
"Good!"
The small leader showed a cruel smile.
From this, it didn't seem like that person's trap... it was a real village!
He pointed to a squad of only a few dozen orcs and ordered, "You stay here and watch these slaves. Everyone else, follow me. Tonight we feast on man-flesh!"
"Hahaha!"
A mass of orcs and wargs surged toward the village like a dark tide.
However, after entering the various houses in the village and searching thoroughly, they were dumbfounded.
"How is there not a single person?"
Some orcs looked at the fires burning in chimneys and the leather clothes hanging on wooden racks in the yards, unable to understand what was happening.
Until suddenly, commotion came from the distant squad responsible for guarding the slaves.
Burning orcs and wargs flew into the sky, screaming as they fell to the ground.
Under the night sky, this scene was extremely conspicuous.
[Chapter Complete]
***
Want more? Check out my Patreon for:
✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories
✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics
✓ Early access content www.patreon.com/meowthtl
💪 Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter!
Thanks for reading and supporting the story!