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"All right, everyone agreed on the offensive plan from the start, so let's not blame anyone now. Our problem is what we should do next. After all, we can't afford another loss like today," Basten said, though he was pained by the losses his troops had suffered, he didn't want to linger on useless topics and immediately moved on to new ones.

"My lord, our true advantage lies not in close combat but in group battles. Attacking the fortress won't defeat the orcs; it would be best to lure them out of the castle to eliminate them," said Tas, the commander of the Thunder Knights, who hadn't participated in the battle today and thus had no losses. However, his innate love for battle made him eager for more action.

"Easy to say, but why would the orcs build that fortress if they were just going to come out and play?" Ivy, the infantry corps commander, countered, frustrated.

"If we propose a duel with their elite fighters tomorrow, it might work," said Simonnet, the commander of the noble private army, surprising everyone with his suggestion.

"You... aren't confused, are you? A duel? Do you think this is a legend?" The knight commander, despite his love for battle, did not want to rely on fairy tales.

"No, while group battles have become common in the human world, duels are still preserved in the Orc Alliance, which glorifies individual prowess. If one side challenges and clears the battlefield, the other almost always accepts. In the Western Front, this method has been used multiple times to defeat orc leaders and claim victory. However, after three Sword Emperors were stationed there, including the orc king himself using the 'Emperor Martial Overlord Technique' to severely injure the Viking Empire's 'Canghai Sword Saint,' humans had to abandon this tactic. My lord, you've heard of this too."

"Yes, it's true," Basten nodded. "Today, none of our Sword Grandmasters fought, only two Sword Heroes climbed the walls. If we propose a duel tomorrow, the orcs will surely come out to fight. According to orc customs, they'll bring their troops out to form an array. Once we win, we'll immediately launch a knight assault to crush the orcs."

"But what if we fail? What if the orcs also have Sword Grandmasters? After all, orc elites are always stronger than ours at the same level," asked a hesitant general.

"Don't worry. Our 'Thunder Knight' Tas is already a Level 9 Sword Grandmaster. The two Sword Grandmasters from the nobles are also formidable. Moreover, in such duels, mounts are allowed. While the orcs may have two Level 9 Beamons, everyone knows those creatures can't be ridden. With the 'Thunderstorm Dragon Rhino' and 'Lightning Unicorn Silver Pegasus,' we can hold our own even against a Sword Emperor, let alone the fact that we have a secret weapon," Basten said confidently.

The next day, when we received the human challenge for a duel, I couldn't help but give Catherine a thumbs up: "You were right. But I wonder if the humans can handle this 'surprise.'"

Chapter 32: Earthquake Snow Dance Armor Magic

The concept of duels was something I had long admired in my previous life. In the stories and tales I heard growing up, famous generals like Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Li Yuanba, and Luo Cheng would often engage in one-on-one battles before the main armies clashed, either cutting down their opponents with a single strike or engaging in epic battles lasting hundreds of rounds, sometimes even fighting through the night. These tales of unparalleled warriors captivated me as a child.

However, as I grew older and witnessed the wars between the Song Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, and the Mongols, I realized that no commander would ever run out to fight the enemy personally. At most, they would lead the charge during a full-scale assault. Thus, I understood that the heroes of my childhood were merely characters of imagination.

When I arrived in this world, I learned from bards that the practice of duels among warriors truly existed on the Xinghai Continent. This was primarily due to the orcs mastering aura techniques and establishing their empire, leading to a significant gap between elite fighters and ordinary soldiers. If a Sword Emperor were to slaughter regular troops on the battlefield, the losses would be unacceptable regardless of the outcome. Therefore, unless there was a significant disparity in numbers or skill levels, both sides' elites would prefer to challenge each other first, gradually evolving into the tradition of duels before the main battle.

This tradition, accepted by elites across the Mainland during the ten thousand years of orc dominance, became a staple scene in epics, accompanying the names of heroes. However, after the rise of humans, the proportion of elites among humans was far lower compared to other races. Instead, they relied on their vast population to develop large-scale cooperative warfare, using their massive reserves and coordinated formations to offset the absolute advantage of top-tier elites on the battlefield.

Later, "Sword Saint Ancestor" Reinster emerged, creating the "Nameless Sword Technique," a cultivation method tailored specifically for humans. This led to a significant increase in the number of Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold-level warriors, transforming the ratio from one in every few hundred humans to one in every sixty or seventy. The difficulty of advancing below the Sword Hero level also decreased significantly, allowing human armies to use Iron-level warriors as the foundation and have hundreds or thousands of Bronze and Silver-level warriors at their disposal. Fortunately, Reinster's "Nameless Sword Technique" only covered the Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. If it had included Sword Hero, Sword Grandmaster, and Sword Emperor levels, with the human population of five to six hundred million, the orcs might have been exterminated long ago. Even so, facing tens of thousands of well-organized human warriors could make even orc Sword Emperors retreat.

Changes in power led to changes in rules, and the ancient tradition of duels gradually disappeared under the overwhelming human tactics. So when Catherine predicted yesterday that humans might use the ancient duel system to lure us out of the city due to heavy losses, most people doubted her. However, when the humans actually proposed using the ancient "Spirit Battle" method, everyone realized how accurate Catherine's prediction was.