Karl and the Golems began to run for the inner wall, slashing at anything that came close enough to reach, but deliberately not killing targets that were already engaged, only tipping the balance in favour of the Orcs.
There was a defensive line on the inner wall, using [Boulder Toss] to knock the Orcs away from the vulnerable members of the village.
But that was where Karl needed to be. He didn’t care at all about the elderly and children of the Giant village, he was there for the slaves that he could smell, and that he had seen locked in cages along this side of the wall.
The Giants seemed to know that as well, and they didn’t really care about the slaves. They were just free labour until they were food, but they could always get more, and they had crops stockpiled.
As long as they didn’t lose the village entirely, they wouldn’t miss the slaves.
If the Orcs were willing to waste warriors to steal them, the Giants would only put up a token fight.
So, when Karl swung at the wall, breaking logs and opening the back of the cage that held the prisoners, none of the Giants tried to stop him, or even kill the escaping slaves.
They would only slow down the Orcish attack, and keep powerful warriors distracted during the fight. If the Orcs wanted them, they should have taken them at the end of the battle, if they could actually win it.
Karl got his first good look at the battered and downtrodden people inside the cage.
They came from at least four different species, none of which were human. There were some weak Orcs, looking deliberately starved. There were Elves, a blue skinned species with hoofed feet and horns on their heads, and some sort of plant people, whose skin had vines growing up it.
Those ones were nearly stationary, only glancing around a little.
Karl realized that they had put down roots to gain nutrition from the soil, and the late night attack had come during their sleeping hours. It would take them a bit before they could move again, but the others were moving away from Karl, worried that the blood covered warrior might not care about their species or their status.
With the smooth metal helmet covering his face, the slaves had no idea what species Karl was, only that he was built like a male and too slender to be an Orc. His skills increased his size proportionally, and Orcish men were much more muscular than humans were.
Karl flipped his visor up so they could see that he was a human, and gestured to the hole in the wall.
“If you will kindly follow me out of the city limits, we require this space for the ongoing battle. Once you are outside, you are free to go.” He explained.
One of the Orcish women, nearly starved with her ribs showing clearly through her skin, laughed at his explanation.
“You heard him, time for us to move. We can’t be underfoot when the masters need this space to be slaughtered in.” She declared.
The other slaves gave weak cheers and jokes as they picked themselves up and helped the ones who were rooted to the ground become mobile again.
That was when the Giants inside the wall decided to take action to prevent Karl from stealing their slaves.
The door of the cage was opened, and three teenaged Giants ran inside with clubs, swatting people aside to get to Karl.
Most of them managed to dodge, but of the horned blue people had his head crushed.
“Pathetic.” The boy snarled as he advanced on Karl.
That word seemed to trigger something in Cara, and suddenly, she was outside, attacking the boy’s face while Rae called her Golems to deal with the others, so Karl could hold the opening in the wall to secure their exit.
[You like that? Huh? I’ll show you pathetic.] The enraged Void Badger was shouting.
Karl looked back and saw that she had the Giant’s shirt in one front paw, while the other fed [Disintegration] coated punches into his rapidly evaporating face.
When the young Giant collapsed, Cara didn’t stop. She just opened her wings and started tearing apart the weaker Giants who were hiding in the city.
[Everyone, go help her out. We can’t have our new friend injured.] Karl instructed.
[I like this one. She’s pretty stabby.] Rae laughed as Remi began to form a [Thunderstorm] over the inner city.
[Not onto the slave cages.] Karl reminded her.
[Got it boss.]
As the storm started, a number of the Orcish Infantry raced through the gap Karl had made.
“Is that you?” They asked, gesturing upwards.
“Yeah, that’s my team. The beasts are with me.”
They looked around, and then paused at the black ball of rage tearing apart a building that had offended her for being in the way.
“You really did find a Void Badger. The others were laughing about it, and I thought you were joking with them.”
Then he turned to the slaves.
“Alright, let’s go. There are more Giants coming from the other villages, it’s time to leave. Gather as many slaves as you can and get moving.”
Karl passed on the instructions, and Thor put his freedom plan in motion.
It was a simple plan. Cages were made of smashing poles, so he just had to charge through them, and everyone could follow him out of the city.
Once Thor had broken the cages all the way back to the breach in the walls, Karl called everyone back to their spaces.
Cara and Rae were laughing, and the Void Badger was rolling happily in the grass, celebrating a lot like Thor did when he was happy.
[Oh, you’re like that.] Rae joked with their new sister as she laughed and mimicked a punching motion.
[She’s got a real temper.] Hawk laughed as he recalled the scene.
[I don’t like bullies.] Cara replied, rolling around on her back to scratch an itch she couldn’t reach.
[You know, if you’re itchy, you can just have Karl groom you. He lets people polish Thor’s scales all the time.] Remi suggested.
[After the fight. There are still stupid Giants around. Besides, I can see more from in here.]
While they were talking, Remi was deep in thought.
[What has you so distracted?] Thor asked quietly, so he didn’t derail her train of thought.
[If I had arms, I could grab people too. Just wrap them up and punch their face, or pat their head, or spin them in circles. Or maybe eat them.] Remi replied.
[Don’t let them make you another violent sister.] Thor pouted.
Remi giggled and waggled her head. [No, not like that. I just don’t get to eat enough random creatures. I have no idea what most of them feel like in the mouth.
But I have noticed that some of them are really annoying. Nobody would mind if I eat the annoying ones, right? But why are there always Giants? Nobody can eat them in one piece.]
Now she was just ranting, but Thor could tell that she was actually thinking about all the things she could do with arms, and the rest was just her mind getting sidetracked.
[Think how envious Lotus would be if you got to cuddle Elves before she did.] Thor suggested, doing his best to keep one nonviolent sister.
[Oh, that is great. It would even make being big worth it. They could ride my back like they ride yours, and we could go on adventures.]
