Arthur felt mentally exhausted, his brain throbbing noticeably due to his nearly dry magic, and he quickly ceased the Glintstone Magic in his hand.
He put down his staff and scratched the back of his head, easing the pain.
The first Azur Comet was able to last for nearly half a minute because he had used the Cerulean Hidden Tear in the Flask of Wondrous Physick.
This tear allowed Arthur to cast Glintstone Magic without consuming any of his own magic for 15 seconds.
The second Azur Comet , however, purely consumed Arthur's own magic, so it ended quickly.
But such a drastic consumption of magic also brought Arthur great results.
More than seventy percent of both the warg scouts and the orc warg riders behind them had died by his hand.
While the orcs had not yet reacted and were still terrified by his Glintstone Magic, Arthur quickly took out a Cerulean Flask from his spatial backpack.
He took two consecutive sips from the flask; the cold yet somewhat fiery liquid poured down his throat, rapidly replenishing his depleted magic, and his headache significantly eased.
Arthur put away the Cerulean Flask, which had only three sips left, and changed the Azur's Glintstone Crown he was wearing back to the Blaidd, the Half-Wolf helmet, and his staff also switched back to a greatsword.
After a brief moment of panic, the orcs… they actually ran away, much to Arthur's surprise.
"It's… it's that wizard in the wolf armor! It's the orc Bane! He's here!" they shouted in a panic as they ran.
Huh?
Arthur was momentarily stunned, but having experienced a large-scale orc night raid, he quickly reacted.
Could it be that those just now directly killed the orc captain leading this orc army? That's really good luck.
Arthur thought to himself, he had originally believed that orc captains would always hide behind the main force, fearing death, only emerging when victory was certain.
He hadn't forgotten to take out the flexible collector that Sellen had made for him, absorbing the souls of the dead orcs and wargs.
Once this expedition was over, the Erdtree would surely grow rapidly again.
Just then, Thorin and his war cries came from behind Arthur.
The dwarves held their weapons high, their two stout short legs striding, running not much slower than the fleeing orcs.
And the orc warg riders, unaware of the truth, saw a dense crowd (though actually less than ten) of furious dwarves charging out, thinking they had fallen into an ambush, and fled even faster, wishing their wargs could grow two more legs.
Initially, some orcs were puzzled by the charging dwarves, as there were too few of them, and wondered if it was a bluff.
But when the people from David Village also charged out menacingly with hunting bows and farm tools, those skeptical orcs completely gave up hope and fled on their wargs.
During this process, Igon shot and killed three more slow-running orcs, the pressure from the archer making the orcs' escape even more justifiable.
Thorin did not follow the dwarves in chasing the fleeing orcs but stopped beside Arthur, looking at him with a hint of surprise in his gray-blue eyes.
Arthur touched his faceguard and asked curiously, "What's wrong, Thorin?"
Thorin's Adam's apple bobbed a few times, and he said, "I didn't expect you to be able to use such a powerful Glintstone Magic. The wizard's strength is somewhat beyond my imagination."
Then Thorin's expression relaxed, and he smiled, "But this also means we have a greater chance of defeating that dragon."
Soon, several footsteps approached; Millison and Bernal came closer, followed by a somewhat hurried Gandalf.
"Millison and I just went to check the other directions of the village, worried that orcs might attack the village from those positions. But fortunately, they seemed to only plan to attack from the west," Bernal explained first when he saw Arthur's gaze.
Millison nodded, her golden eyes revealing concern, and she softly asked, "Are you hurt anywhere?"
Gandalf looked Arthur up and down with an expressive face and loudly replied for Arthur, "Injured? No, I think now in Middle-earth, only that Dragon in the Lonely Mountain could injure him. These small orcs and wargs want to harm Arthur, unless he himself is not on guard."
Arthur gave Gandalf a strange look, as he had never seen Gandalf speak so loudly before, even louder than the dwarves' shouts.
Gandalf hurried to Arthur's side, raised his aged hand, grabbed Arthur's arm, and pulled him aside.
"You…" Gandalf looked at Arthur, fiercely wanting to say something, but seeing Arthur's puzzled face, he swallowed his words back.
Arthur looked at Gandalf; the other's eyes seemed to be asking: Why can you use such powerful Glintstone Magic so casually?
However, Gandalf seemed to realize why Arthur could use such Glintstone Magic and finally sighed, saying, "I know you are of extraordinary origin, Arthur. Since you are permitted to use it, anything I say would be superfluous. But I still want to say, I hope you try not to use such dangerous Glintstone Magic against friendly factions, and try not to cause indelible effects on the ground."
Arthur nodded, "I understand that, Gandalf. Personally, I really dislike seeing beautiful scenery turn into a desolate, corrupted land due to strange Glintstone Magic."
This attack by the Pale orcs against Thorin and Arthur ultimately ended with less than twenty percent of the orc riders escaping. If Azog, the orc captain who died from Azur Comet , had known of such severe casualties, he would probably have been glad he died in this battle of unequal strength.
Otherwise, even if he led his team back, he would surely be thrown to the wargs by Azog.
After the dwarves who were chasing the orcs returned, the old hunter brought the guard and came to thank Arthur very respectfully.
Meanwhile, Gandalf left them while the two groups exchanged pleasantries and found several relatively intact orc and warg corpses to examine.
The more Gandalf turned over the crude armor worn by these orc corpses, the more grim his expression became.
He even sat unceremoniously on a warg corpse, took out his pipe, lit the tobacco, and began to puff away.
Arthur noticed Gandalf's demeanor, declined the old hunter's invitation, pulled Bernal over to chat with the villagers, and walked over to Gandalf himself.
"What's wrong, Gandalf? That expression again, like you're thinking about something important?" Arthur asked.
Gandalf exhaled a puff of smoke and said in a low voice, "Because I have indeed discovered something extraordinary, Arthur. These attacking orcs are not those who secretly sneaked into the west to plunder. Look at what they are wearing, Arthur. Although not comparable to your domain's army, these orcs are already elite, specially trained soldiers among them."
Arthur tilted his head, catching the white light emanating from Gandalf's staff, and looked at the orc corpses on the ground.