As the dim space froze over, over twenty magic arrays suddenly appeared in the cloud-covered sky, spreading across the heavens and gradually illuminating the world below.
The manifestation of these arrays caused a terrifying aura to surge wildly. Even the members of the various dark adventurer teams and guilds scouting the area felt their bodies grow heavy.
As the weight intensified, the expressions on everyone's faces twisted into horror.
"What's going on? Why can't I move?"
"What did Black Flame do?!"
They quickly realized they couldn't just walk — they couldn't even move a single finger. It was as though time itself had been frozen. And it wasn't just them; the orc army had fallen deathly silent as well, some orcs even dropping to one knee.
Then, the sky shattered and a massive black vortex appeared. Within it, a burning eye could be faintly seen — an eye alone the size of a mountain.
The moment those eyes appeared, the spatial pressure intensified even further. Every orc, including the Legendary-tier orc general, collapsed to the ground, their entire bodies trembling, eyes filled with sheer terror.
"What is that?!"
"It's over — we're all dead!"
"Damn it! This must be Black Flame's trap! We've been lured in!"
The members of the dark adventurer teams and dark guilds stared at the colossal eye, feeling death and annihilation bearing down on them with an immediacy that left them breathless. In the face of such power, they didn't even qualify as ants.
Because facing that giant eye, they could clearly sense that if it so wished, its mere aura alone could obliterate them — it wouldn't even need to lift a finger.
Every member of the dark adventurer teams and dark guilds was consumed by regret.
Just as they felt the terror of death closing in, the giant eye vanished. Then, from the enormous black vortex, pillars of fire descended like meteors, crashing toward the orc army's position.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A continuous chain of explosions echoed throughout the entire space. The ground shook violently, making it impossible to even keep one's feet.
The rain of fire lasted a full five or six seconds, turning the area where the orc army stood into a hellish inferno. Every Leader-tier orc was wiped out, and the Lord-tier orcs were left gravely wounded.
The several thousand members of the dark adventurer teams and dark guilds all drew a sharp breath.
A single strike had halved the orc army's numbers.
But before anyone had time to marvel at the devastating power, the falling pillars of fire transformed into flame giants — over one hundred of them. The weakest among these flame giants were Level 80 Greater Lords, and the strongest were Level 82 Greater Great Lords. There were fully five of those Greater Great Lord-tier giants.
"The Fire God's Lament is this powerful?" Shi Feng stared at the flame giants that had materialized, shock coursing through him as well.
He had originally thought summoning a single Greater Great Lord would be the limit. He never expected the Fire God's Lament could not only deal massive area damage but also summon an entire army of fire beings.
As for summoning a Legendary-tier monster — that hadn't even crossed his mind.
Legendary-tier monsters weren't so easily summoned. It typically required an enormous price, and a thousand magic crystals were nowhere near sufficient.
This single summoning had consumed half the magic scroll's durability, meaning the Fire God's Lament was a rechargeable magic scroll that could only be used twice, with a cooldown of two natural days between uses. It couldn't be activated in quick succession.
Still, Shi Feng was quite satisfied with that. Most rechargeable magic scrolls could indeed be used four to six times, but in terms of raw power, none of them came close to the Fire God's Lament.
The appearance of the flame army instantly threw the orc army's formation into chaos. The Greater Great Lord flame giants stood over twenty meters tall — a single swipe of a palm sent over a dozen orcs flying. In pure strength, even Greater Lord-tier orc warlords couldn't withstand them; it took forty or fifty orcs working in unison just to match a single warlord in combat.
Five flame giants, alongside the Great Lord and Greater Lord-tier flame giants, managed to fight the orc army to a virtual standstill.
The clash between the flame giants and the orcs could only be described as earth-shattering. Battle cries and explosions reverberated across the desolate plains, leaving the dark adventurer team and dark guild members watching from afar utterly dumbfounded.
Though neither side fielded enormous numbers, the intensity of this battle far surpassed a guild war involving tens of thousands. They simply weren't on the same level — any player caught in the crossfire between these orcs and flame giants would be reduced to ash.
While the orc army and flame army clashed, Shi Feng led his NPC mercenaries in a flanking move toward the fortress behind the orc lines.
This battle wasn't meant to annihilate the orc army and seize the fortress. Its purpose was to reach the fortress and set up a magic array. Shi Feng harbored no illusions about defeating the orc army outright.
After all, there was a Legendary-tier orc general among them. The flame giants were powerful, but they were completely suppressed in the face of Legendary-tier combat strength. Moreover, with so few flame giants in the army, their annihilation was only a matter of time.
When they were less than five hundred yards from the fortress, the Level 80 orc general spotted Shi Feng and his group's movement. He let out a furious roar, swung the warblade in his hand, and a streak of cold light shot forward, instantly sending the Greater Great Lord flame giant flying. A layer of ice spread across the ground in its wake.
The orc general then led a contingent of subordinates along the ice, swiftly positioning themselves in front of the gate, while the remaining orcs charged over in a frenzy.
"As expected, they won't let us through easily." Shi Feng glanced at the orc general blocking the way, then turned to Anna beside him. "Take them down!"