Strike them unawares, go for the decisive blow!
Having declined Halbarad's offer to accompany him and leaving the Ranger behind in the stronghold to "watch the spectacle," Garrett gathered his materials, quietly removed two stone blocks, and slipped out through the walls.
The orcs would never have imagined that, while they were busy constructing ladders, someone from the stronghold would dare to venture outside, not to flee, but to actually launch a surprise attack.
One man launching a surprise attack on a hundred enemies.
In the mind of the orc chieftain with his oversized skull, no matter whether Garrett and his companion waited for the ladders to be completed and then defended the stronghold, or attempted to escape while the ladders were still under construction, it would be a victory for his war-band either way. In the end, they'd take the fortress with ladders; whether the enemy was slain during the assault or fled before the battle made little difference. Because of this reasoning, the orc chieftain didn't even bother to post sentries. After all, the stronghold had a keen-eyed archer, leave too few troops, and they might not return at all; leave too many, and the ladder construction would be understaffed. Either way, it didn't seem worthwhile.
To be fair, while most orcs were brutish and dim-witted, there were always a few that managed to develop some muscle in the right parts, and even some cunning. Unfortunately for this formidable orc, he was destined to miscalculate this time.
"Hurry up, you maggots! Get those ladders finished! If I'm not sitting in that stronghold by sunrise, I'll feed you all to the wargs!"
In the forest, the orc chieftain was bellowing orders at the orcs laboring on the ladders.
---
Elsewhere, a warg sniffed the air, its crimson eyes scanning the woods. It instinctively glanced toward the forest's edge, but saw nothing stirring. However, that small movement was noticed by its attentive rider.
"What is it? Did you catch a scent?"
The warg panted, then began padding toward the outskirts, carrying its rider. Once they'd traveled a fair distance from the others, they spotted something peculiar in a clearing, a stone pillar reaching straight into the sky, perfectly square, and exactly one meter thick.
The orc rider grew suspicious. He lifted his head and squinted upward. At the very top of the stone pillar, something seemed to be moving, though it was difficult to discern exactly what.
Even raising a torch provided little help; at most, he could vaguely make out a dark shape at the summit.
A bird?
A raven?
At first, the rider didn't think much of it, assuming it was some small creature. Until... the top of the stone pillar suddenly extended outward, in the direction of the orcs building the ladders.
The orc scratched his head in confusion.
"What is that? Living stone?"
Clack.
Garrett wiped the sweat from his brow, crouched on the platform's edge, and placed another stone block, extending the platform outward by another meter.
A glance downward made his legs tremble. His fear of heights was asserting itself.
"Wait a moment... is that...?"
A sudden flash of understanding hit him. Ignoring his vertigo, he leaned over the edge and looked down again. He spotted a faint glow at the edge of the platform he'd just extended, torchlight.
Narrowing his eyes, he peered down.
Not good. Looks like they've noticed me. Got to speed this up!
Taking several deep breaths to steady his shaking legs, he quickened his pace, extending the platform toward the ladder construction site, doing his best to remain concealed from those below.
But perhaps he drew too close, or perhaps among those blockheads were one or two with actual wits. When he was about seventy or eighty meters directly above the construction site, one of the orcs finally looked up. Staring at the shadowy shape in the sky, he couldn't help but ask, "What is that thing?"
The question drew several other gazes skyward. A few orcs stared stupidly into the darkness, forgetting to even keep watch.
"Blast it, I think I'm seeing things. That... looks like a person?"
"A person?"
"I swear it's just a crow."
"But what if it is a person?"
"What are you all bickering about? Whether it's a person or a crow, shoot it down and find out."
An orc archer drew his bow and aimed toward the sky. At a distance of seventy to eighty meters, if he had decent aim, there was a reasonable chance he could hit the target.
However, that chance would never come to pass.
"Look! Something's glowing in the sky!"
"Fool, isn't the sky full of glowing stars?"
"It's not a star..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a red object glowing with white light suddenly plummeted from the sky, landing directly in the midst of the group of orcs.
BOOM!
The moment it struck the ground, an enormous explosion erupted, blasting out a crater several meters wide. A nearby tree was unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast and had its branches shredded. As for the orcs at the center of the explosion, they were torn apart instantly, their limbs scattered in all directions.
Exactly as planned.
After all, TNT dealt a maximum of 65 points of damage, far beyond what these lesser orcs with barely a dozen HP could survive.
The seventy-meter height had been precisely calculated by Garrett. TNT dropped from that altitude would ignite mid-air and detonate the instant it hit the ground.
Giving the orcs zero time to react.
"What in the Nine Hells was that?!"
The explosion immediately alerted the orc chieftain. He grabbed a massive war-hammer and charged over with a squad to investigate. But when they arrived at the scene, all they found was a crater and several scattered body parts.
"What happened here?" the chieftain roared.
No one answered.
Suddenly, a sharp-eyed scout pointed to the sky and shouted, "Look! Up there!"
The orcs all followed his gaze, and saw seven or eight glowing red objects plummeting from the sky at tremendous speed, rapidly approaching the ground.
The massive orc chieftain suddenly had a very ominous feeling. He raised his huge war-hammer as a makeshift shield, but even that didn't seem adequate protection. In a flash, he retreated several steps, pulling his subordinates in front of him.
All eyes locked on the falling red lights.
Then the TNT struck the ground, one after another.
BOOM—!
Explosions, white flashes, screams... as the TNT detonated in succession, the ground was torn apart by blast after blast. The orcs closest to the center were obliterated on the spot. Even those further away were hurled into the air, many still alive mid-flight, but by the time they crashed back down, that final breath was gone.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The orc chieftain, though fortunate enough not to be at the blast center and vaporized instantly, was still caught in the shockwave. He was thrown backward, rolled across the ground, and slammed into a tree. Barely clinging to life.
Clang.
His massive war-hammer fell from his grasp, its surface charred black. Ignoring the pain, the burly orc struggled to his feet and looked toward what remained of his war-band.
What he saw was carnage.
Most of the orcs were unrecognizable, their blackened blood and charred flesh scattered everywhere. Severed limbs were either plastered to the ground or hanging from tree branches. A few lucky survivors, though hardly intact, were crawling on the ground, clearly not long for this world.
Nearly total annihilation.
Staring at the nightmarish scene, the chieftain's mind went blank.
What happened? What in the Dark Lord's name just happened?
From beginning to end, he never even saw the enemy. Didn't know what had struck them.
It was just, sudden death.
Wait, the sky!
The attack came from the sky!
Finally grasping the source of the assault, the orc chieftain was filled with terror and rage. To unleash such devastation from above... could it be... a dragon?
Just then, there was a rustling in the nearby undergrowth. Several warg-riders emerged, drawn by the commotion. Seeing the craters and mangled corpses, they froze, then spotted their blood-soaked commander.
Immediately, several orcs leaped off their mounts and rushed over, eager to curry favor. "We're here to support you!"
More warg-riders charged out, quickly spreading out to secure the area and search for the enemy. It was clear now, nearly all the remaining forces of this orc war-band had gathered here.
Realizing this, the orc chieftain's face fell.
"No—"
But it was already too late. More than a dozen glowing TNT blocks were falling from the sky again.