Chapter 88: When WAAAGH! Meets Dakka
The lone guard was a blur of motion as he dodged a horizontal slash from an orc. He quickly countered with a thrust, the tip of his weapon hitting the orc’s center chest. Another orc was already behind him, swinging a mace. He turned, raising his huge shield to block the blow. The impact sent him back a few inches.
A third orc, leaping through the air with dual blades, was met with a backhand slash to the throat. Blood gushed as the orc gurgled and fell. The mace-wielding orc swung again, and the guard turned to block, barely stopping the attack and being pushed back another few inches.
The guard paused, analyzing the situation. There were too many enemies, and his heavy shield was proving too slow for close quarters combat.
Korome watched from behind and laughed. "Hehe, even if you’re strong, you can’t take on all of us alone." The other orcs cheered, their voices a cacophony of bloodlust.
"Let me fight him!" one yelled.
"No, I’ll fight him!" another insisted.
"No! Me!" a third one said.
Korome smirked. "Too bad for you, we love battle."
The guard then dropped the heavy tower shield and kicked up the dull blade from the orc’s corpse. He then said, "Then, I’ll fight you all instead." as he changed his stance.
Korome shouted, "Attack!" and grinned. The remaining orcs charged at him. The guard dashed toward one, sliding to narrowly dodge a horizontal axe slash.
As he slid, he slashed the orc’s ankle, making him kneel before stabbing him in the head through the jaw with his xiphos. He then dashed to another, cross-slashing its chest. The orcs, despite their strength, were slow compared to him. They now kept chasing him as they watched one by one, their companions being slaughtered.
Korome gritted his teeth. This bone head keeps running and taking us out one by one. If this continues, I’ll run out of cannon fodder and we’ll fail our mission. I don’t think chief Minur will take failure lightly. Shit. If it comes down to it, I have no other choice.
He then shouted, "Stop!" Everyone stopped chasing, looking at him. He smirked and said, "Use your powers."
An orc said, "But boss, we only have one demonic pearl."
Korome smirked. "Don’t worry, I brought enough." He showed them a pouch. The orcs grinned, and their eyes and muscle veins glowed even brighter red. The skeleton as now on guard.
One of the orcs dashed towards him with an upward slash of its axe. The guard was surprised; the orc was faster than he had anticipated. There was no time to dodge, so he blocked the attack with his sword, which shattered instantly. Another orc was already behind him, swinging his mace. The blow hit his back, sending him flying towards a nearby tree, which fell down upon impact. He slumped to the ground, silent and calm.
This new variable was troublesome, but he was glad that they were stupid, otherwise they would’ve got in the market already. He used this to his leverage to buy more time. He then got up and dashed with his broken sword. He dashed and dodged, then stabbed an orc with his broken blade, assuming it was sharp enough. Unfortunately, the orc’s skin was now strengthened.
His stab was shallow. The orc smirked and grabbed his arm. The guard pulled his broken sword out and stabbed the orc’s eye, which made the orc scream in pain as blood gushed from his eyes. Another orc was already on him and slashed down the arm that the first orc was holding. He then slashed it’s eyes and backed off, but another one from behind smashed his back with a mace, sending down to the ground. He tried to stand up, but another orc came for his head, cracking his skull. Another orc laughed and slashed his leg bone. The orc screamed in victory as he took the bone and showed it to everyone.
Korome approached him, a smirk on his face. "I admit, I was kind of shaking my muscles when you used those fast strikes on us. You thought you could take all of us, but surprise, surprise, here we are!" The orcs smirked, staring down at him. Korome crouched down and said, "I don’t know why you sent your companion away, but you are far too arrogant and that will be your downfall, bone-head."
The guard, slumped on the ground, said, "But it was enough to buy some time."
"What?" Korome said, confused.
Then, sounds of zipping whistled through the forest, coming from the market. Different colored trails of light flew through the trees and toward the orcs. One orc was hit in the face by a fireball, and his head was instantly swallowed by fire. Another was hit in the eye with a sharp icicle. He was stunned, knelt, and then died. Another one just stared as a small gray stone came under his feet. Three seconds later, sharp spikes erupted from the earth, impaling his body.
Then, a thundering explosion came, and an orc nearby had his stomach blasted. a gaping hole appeared as his intestines came out.
Korome looked, stunned. "What? What kind of sorcery is this?" He looked ahead and saw multiple skeletons lined up, shooting at them. "Are those sticks?" he thought. "They’ve got magic." He then saw two skeletons pushing something with a long, large hole at the end. "What’s that?" he wondered.
Then, BOOM! Another explosion ripped through the night. The orc standing beside Korome didn’t even have time to scream—his head vanished in a mist of red, his body twitching before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. The stump of his neck pumped blood in sickening spurts, splattering the grass and staining the boots of those nearby.
The other orcs froze for half a second, their bravado instantly cracking. Then the screams came.
"His head—his head’s gone!"
"They’re killing us from afar!"
"Run! RUN!"
The forest echoed with the chaos of orcs stumbling over each other, their fear outweighing their strength. One tripped and was immediately impaled by stone spikes erupting from the ground, his blood spraying across his comrades. Another had his arm blasted clean off by a fireball, his agonized shrieks cutting through the night before a second shot caved in his chest.
Korome felt his muscles seize up. His body wanted to flee, but his pride screamed to stand. Still, his legs moved on their own, carrying him backward as if some primal instinct had taken over.
"Is this... fear?" His voice cracked as he stumbled. His mind reeled. "What kind of insane sorcery is this?!" He laughed, but it was a broken laugh, twisted by despair. He grabbed his face, smearing blood across his cheek. "They have magic! The undead—THEY HAVE MAGIC!" Tears rolled down his face, mingling with the dirt and blood. "We can’t win against this! They can kill us before we even touch them! Hahahaha!"
The orcs, once arrogant raiders, were now little more than terrified beasts. They tucked their tails and scattered into the forest, running blindly while streaks of light and death kept cutting them down. The battlefield was no longer theirs. It belonged to the skeletons.
Meanwhile, the reinforcement squads moved with military precision, lining up in ranks as magical trails flared from their rifles. At their head strode the master blacksmith, Dolrik, his hammer strapped to his back as though daring any enemy to come close.
He approached the battered lone guard, who was missing an arm and a leg but still stood tall, his bones cracked yet unyielding. Dolrik grinned and helped him steady himself.
"Have Lord Karl and the others arrived?" the guard rasped, his jaw clicking faintly as he spoke.
Dolrik shook his head. "Not yet. But we thought..." He gestured to the skeletal riflemen raising their glowing weapons, "...we should test these new toys before Lord Karl inspects them. And what better test than a bunch of orcs dumb enough to raid us?"
The guard looked at the glowing rifles, then shifted his gaze toward the massive wheeled cannon being pushed forward. Its black barrel glinted menacingly in the firelight. "What’s that?"
Dolrik puffed his chest with pride. "Our latest prototype, based on Lord Karl’s memories. They called it a Pak-38—a German anti-tank gun, fifty-millimeter caliber." He patted the barrel like it was a pet. "The original ones used smokeless gunpowder. Mine uses the Fire stones. A controlled combustion chamber forces the projectile out at terrifying speed." He scratched his cheek, sheepish. "Though... the rifling still needs a little tweaking."
The guard chuckled dryly. "Lord Karl will love it. You know he’s obsessed with these kind of weapons."
Dolrik’s pride swelled again. "Exactly why I built it like this. But..." His grin faltered as he looked at the scattered remains of orcs littering the ground, the forest still echoing with their dying screams. His tone dropped. "...I think after tonight, nothing will stay the same."
The guard followed his gaze, then at the rows of skeletons holding elemental rifles like trained soldiers.
"Yeah," he said, his hollow voice steady. "It definitely won’t."