“Lady Shiva, it’s a pleasure to fight with you on the battlefield.” Nubwort, the Black Disaster, an Elite Orc General which every Orc paid respects to, slowly walked towards the Shaitan of Primitive Ice and kneel to greet her. Most did not expect Nubwort to be the religious kind of person and hence surprised by the gesture he made.
Shiva was not only the Orc’s Herald of Winter but their God of War as well, particular to the Orc Navy. In past history books, the Orcs had always prayed to the Shaitans for blessings before departing into battle. They believed that these gods would grant them the strength to survive the harsh battlefield, regardless of how dire it was.
But to see an Avatar not just wielding the Shaitan’s powers but being embodied by the Shaitan themselves, it made the Orcs on this particular battlefield to be truly blessed. It was ever fighting Orcs’ dream to be able to see their Gods in action.
Interestingly, records had shown that the Shaitan Avatars did not live long assuming the Shaitans possessed their bodies for the battlefield. Most could not handle the tremendous power of a god for so long since their bodies too fragile to be a long term vassal.
However, in Frost Echo’s case, the Orcs were confident that even if their King fought alongside with Shiva against Queen Mab’s ice soldiers alone, it would be a walk in the park. Needless to say, he could be reborn again, so it was not much of an issue of self sacrifice but a matter of duration.
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To Shiva, Nubwort’s kneeling was a common sight to her and didn’t respond favourably. In fact, she cared nothing from their world other than her Avatar’s existence. What he does matters to her since he was representing her.
As for those prayers and offerings from her followers were solely the Orcs’ way of thanking her for the deeds she did for them. She had always found them annoying, unlike the other Shaitans who adored it and basked in the glory of those praises.
Thus, the Elite Orc General was none of her concern at all, and she maintained her indifference regardless of Nubwort’s status and past achievements.
However, Frost Echo did secretly nudged her to give the Orc General a chance to prove himself. And for that, she sighed with her mouth closed as she stared at him intently for a moment before giving him a command. If he really wished to earn her trust and favour right now, Nubwort had to fight for it. Hard.
“Do what you need to. Remove the threat as effectively as possible. I do not want to owe too huge a debt to ‘your’ Master.” Shiva replied which Nubwort nodded affirmatively.
If possible, Shiva wanted to concentrate on killing Queen Mab before Frost Echo’s body gave way to strain. (Another reason why she resorted to the stairs as compared to charging against the Queen of Winter Court without any plan.)
Utilising the System’s main communication channel, Nubwort sent a few coded messages to every single Orc officers on the battlefield and the officers in charge of their companies, in turn, signalled their troops to relay the message.
Everyone was surprised with the new commands, but a number of them began to smirk at the orders given. In the meantime, Nubwort also requested System’s permission for the commands given (albeit it was more of a courtesy move by the General) which it later directed the request to Jin since he was already watching the whole scene unfolds.
“Orc General Nubwort, I had never doubted your military tactics and your willingness to embrace new technology had made me recognise that you are a General that thinks. So, go ahead and fulfil your Shaitan’s orders. Also, thank you for asking for permission, your request had humbled me.” Jin answered truthfully, and for the few times in his life, the Black Disaster felt greatly appreciated.
“Commanders, Permission had been granted. Switch your weapons! Serial Line Formation!” Nubwort shouted, and every single Orc smiled as they activated the Rune Magic placed in all of their weapons, causing them to glow dimly before activating the changes.
Jin had his face stuck on the screen, fascinated by the changes in the battlefield. The runes had enabled swords to turn into assault rifles, axes into shotguns, lances into larger calibre rifles and bows into heavy machine guns.
“Give an Orc a sword, he can kill ten humans. Give an Orc a rifle, and he can kill a hundred. ” Frost Echo sniggered at the swap of weapons which made Queen Mab even more confused. She did not understand why the Orcs would forgo their metal swords and blades for pieces of metal rods. Not to mention, they were holding it so weirdly and with no pointed ends to fight against her ice soldiers. It was starting to look like a joke to her, and her confidence grew even further.
But what she did not know were that those rune weapons were first few mass manufactured products done right in Industry Sector 1. With the consistent innovation of modern manufacturing and Jespa’s Rune Making skills, all the weapons that the Orcs held were transmutable with just a voice command and vice versa.
It was becoming the greatest feint of all time in Jin’s opinion. Increasing the versatility of the soldiers and allowing them to possess both superior melee and ranged capabilities? It was a wet dream of every tactician.
Even though Queen Mab had no idea what was going on with her opponent’s side, she had enough of ‘wait and see’. A lift of her finger and her Ice Army charged forward senselessly towards the Orcs. Yet, Queen Mab saw no movement from the Orcs, which made her a little anxious. Nevertheless, her confidence caused her to not suspect anything else, and that was ultimately her downfall.
“FIRE!” Nubwort shouted when the Ice Army Cavalry were the first to reach his lancers’ line of sight. Like fireworks, the Lancers’ shots gave a deafening blare that nearly startled Shiva for a moment.
In no time, the Ice Cavalry suffered tremendous losses, each bursting into dust as the large calibre bullets pierced through the Ice Barrier like a needle going into a piece of cloth. But because they were made out of ice, a number of them continued to push forward with broken bodies and horses.
Thus, the second wave of volley came into action. The Orc Swordsmen (or Riflemen) had begun aiming for the legs. And even if they did miss, they knew that there would be collateral damage from the back due to the straight forward design of the battlefield, collapsing the waves of ice soldiers bit by bit. Likewise, if the remaining Ice Cavalry did manage to come into melee range, the Axemen (Shotgunners) made short work of their determined cause.
Although she did not understand what was happening, Queen Mab promptly ordered her archers to fire after she observed how the Orcs quickly dispatched her first wave of soldiers. But this time, she did not remain idle as a series of ice spikes was seen emerging out of the ground, where the Orc Army positioned themselves at.
The Orcs knew it would not be that easy and was prepared to take in some losses at their end as well. However, they had nearly forgotten that they had a God with them after the excitement of seeing their enemies falling so easily.
With the appearances of random Ice Spike breaking their formation as well as an impending rain of ice arrows, Shiva had also begun to assist her Orc Army in countering such attacks.
The ice spikes were magically blunt and became an elevated ice platform for her soldiers to fire even more freely. At the same time, she had employed floating snowflakes that enlarged to become ice barriers to block the rain of ice arrows or ice ‘rain’.
Shiva had also moved the entire stationary army on a piece of ice block, like a surfboard riding on a tidal wave. Thanks to Nubwort’s commands and past training, the Orcs adapted with the sudden changes in the battlefield, enabling them to take advantage of Shiva’s advances and pressing the offensive against Queen Mab’s charge.
To the Orcs, they never had that much fun ever since the Goblin Raids. Seeing how the ice soldiers falling that easily, they could not contain the anticipation for the upcoming battle against King Baal’s demon army.
