The clash of steel and the screams of dying men echoed across the battlefield like a storm of agony. Blades rang against crude iron axes, shields splintered under monstrous blows and blood splattered across the frozen stone of the battlements. Staining the pale frost with spreading crimson.
Below them, the shattered gate had become a gaping wound in the city's defenses. Through it poured an endless tide of orcs, with their massive bodies surging forward and their tusked mouths open in savage roars.
They swarmed up the ladders like crawling insects, their clawed hands gripping stone as they hauled their hulking forms onto the battlements. Others simply leapt, grabbing the edge of the wall and dragging themselves up with terrifying strength.
It had become a massacre.
The guards fought with everything they had. Shields were locked together, spears thrust forward again and again into the advancing monsters. Men shouted prayers, curses and desperate cries as they struggled to hold their ground.
But against the immense strength of the orcs, their line was slowly being crushed.
"Hold yourselves together!" Captain Reignar roared above the chaos.
His sword flashed through the air, cutting down an orc that had just climbed over the battlement. The creature collapsed with a choking snarl, green blood pouring from its throat.
"We must hold until reinforcements arrive!"
"Captain, we can't hold them any longer!" a soldier shouted beside him.
The man barely managed to raise his shield before an orc's axe slammed into it. The impact broke the metal apart like dry bone, splinters exploding outward as the soldier staggered back in terror.
Suddenly, a massive orc vaulted over the wall. It landed among the defenders like a falling boulder, the stone beneath its boots cracking from the weight. Without hesitation, the creature swung its massive cleaver.
The blade carved through the air.. and two guards were cut down instantly, their bodies collapsing in a spray of blood that painted the ground red... Eventually the line faltered.
Men stumbled backward as more orcs climbed over the wall, their red eyes gleaming with savage hunger.
Reignar slammed his shield into the face of the nearest beast. The impact snapped the creature's head back for a split second, and His sword thrust forward. The blade drove deep into the orc's throat, green blood erupted across his armor as the monster collapsed at his feet.
But before the body had even fallen still, another orc climbed over the wall... Then another... And another...
Reignar looked across the battlements and his stomach tightened. Dozens of ladders now leaned against the wall, while orcs crawled up them in thick swarms. Dragging their massive bodies onto the battlements like an unstoppable tide.
"We're being overrun!" someone screamed in pure terror.
Reignar looked around him.. His men were dying.. And everywhere he turned he saw bodies and guards cut down, bleeding across the frozen ground, while their weapons slipping from lifeless hands... And still the orcs kept coming.
For a moment he stood frozen in the chaos, the screams of the dying filling the air around him.
Then he made his decision "Retreat from the wall! NOW!!!" He roared.
The order spread like wildfire. After hearing those words from their captain, men broke from the battlements, scrambling toward the inner stairs and ladders. Others were forced to leap from the high wall to escape the encroaching monsters, but some landed badly.
One man hit the ground with a sickening crack, his leg bending the wrong way. Another collapsed screaming, clutching his shattered ankle as he tried to crawl away.
But there was no time, panic spread through the retreating soldiers.
Men ran frantically, abandoning formation, each one trying to outrun the death closing in behind them. Some were cut down as they fled. Others simply ran faster, refusing to look back.
"Help me!"
A guard who had jumped from the wall lay on the ground, his leg twisted horribly beneath him. He grabbed the arm of a passing soldier with desperate strength.
"Please! Help me!"
The soldier stopped and for a moment, he tried to pull the wounded man up. But the moment he looked back... The orcs were coming.
They were climbing down the wall now, their massive bodies dropping onto the ground below... Closer... And closer.
Terror flooded the guard's face "I'm… I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice trembling. "Please forgive me." Then he tore his arm free and ran. Leaving the crippled man behind.
"No… No! Please!" the wounded soldier cried after him. "I have a family!.. PLEASE!!!"
He reached out toward the retreating men, his voice breaking as he begged for help. But no one stopped and no one even dare to look back.
Then...
A heavy thump landed behind him. The man froze.
Slowly, trembling, he turned his head. Behind him, a towering war orc stood behind him. Its body drenched in blood and its tusked mouth twisted into a cruel grin as it looked down at him.
The creature slowly raised its massive axe.
"No… please—"
The axe came down.
The blade chopped through both of his legs in a single brutal strike.
"AAAUUGHHHHHH!"
His scream tore through the battlefield as blood erupted across the stones.
Before he could even collapse fully, another orc stepped forward and drove a spear through his back. The iron tip burst through his chest as the creature lifted him off the ground like a slaughtered animal.
The wounded man screamed in agony as he dangled from the spear, blood pouring down his body.
The orc roared in triumph, raising him high like a trophy.
The nearby soldiers saw it and their faces went pale with horror. Whatever courage they had left shattered completely. And without another word, they turned and ran for their lives.