Chapter 69
Orcs were released into the arena. Five Boyz—or "lads" in plain English—each slightly shorter than me but broader in the shoulders. Their figures looked almost square. The frames of these mushroom-grown meatheads were covered in scars, earned both in battle and in captivity from Druchii whips. The largest one had a hideously mangled face, though I wasn't sure if the term "mangled" could even be applied to an Orc's mug.
The Boyz were armed with three two-handed axes and a couple of broad choppas. Damn. Their weapons had a longer reach than the Axe of Khargan. Attempting to block Orc strikes was a bad idea even with my current physical stats. I'd have to rely on reaction and speed.
They had no armor, no shields. Their only clothing consisted of loincloths.
"One humie?!" the largest Orc with the scarred face grunted indignantly. "Zog da pointy-ears! Why's dere no good krumpin' again!?"
The enemies were underestimating me. Good.
"Lookit," another Orc pointed his choppa at the pile of greenskin corpses. "He sliced up da gobbos. Mebbe dis is a strong humie?"
"Nah!" the biggest one countered. "Gobbos is just proper gits. Wot's so great 'bout choppin' gobbos? Pah!"
"Yeah. That was actually easy," I agreed. "They barely even put up a fight."
"Nawww, dis humie's sneaky and dodgy," the one-eyed Orc suggested. "Look, he's got teef on a string."
"This?" I pointed to my necklace. "They were a gift. And I really don't want to scrap with all of you at once. It'll be bad for me and boring for you. How about I go one-on-one with your biggest boss?"
Why not try a bit of diplomacy? The main thing was to keep the Blood Chalice from emptying. I noticed that some of the goblins weren't quite dead yet. I had to stay close to them; the droplets of their fading life force would sustain my strength.
The Orcs looked at each other, puzzled.
"Humie's talkin' sense, kinda," the Orc with the greataxe supported my idea. "But why wiv da boss? Should be da uvver way. Us first!"
"Shut it!" Scarface barked at him. "Da humie's trickin' ya! We kill 'im and eat 'im!"
"You shut it! No humie's gonna trick me, zog in yer brain!"
Well now... this was getting interesting. The key was not to scare off my luck. I took a few steps back and tried not to draw the attention of the Orcs, who were now completely absorbed in their bickering.
"Why's you da boss anyway?! Mebbe I'm da boss!"
"Cuz I'm gonna knock yer block off, dat's why!"
"Waaaaagh!"
The talking was replaced by roars, and the Orcs threw themselves at one another. From an arena combatant, I suddenly turned into just another spectator. The Druchii in the stands reacted in various ways; some sneered and gave thumbs-down, while others laughed.
The Orcs went at it for real. They weren't just throwing punches; they were hacking at each other with axes and choppas. Their nearly black blood sprayed onto the arena floor from deep gashes. I hoped the greenskins would simply slaughter each other. However, within seconds, it became obvious how much Scarface dominated the rest. He wasn't trying to finish them off; rather, he was putting them in their place with powerful, precise, but non-lethal strikes. It was clear he was about to re-establish his leadership and direct them all at me. Time to join the fun.
I managed to use the element of surprise. The Orcs had momentarily forgotten my existence, so I took down the first greenskin without a hitch. I lunged at him from behind, burying the axe where his neck should have been. An Orc's head transitions almost directly into the shoulders, so the blow landed more on the back of his skull. The enchanted blade of the Chaos axe handled the greenskin's thick cranium easily.
I braced my foot against the enemy's back to wrench my axe free. The maneuver pushed the Orc forward. For a few seconds, the greenskin remained upright and even tried to turn toward me before collapsing.
By then, I had already lunged at the second brute, who was busy swinging a greataxe at his comrade. This time, the surprise factor didn't work as well. At the last moment, the Orc began to turn toward me. The strike I intended for his head landed on his shoulder. The greenskin roared, swinging back at me with the two-handed axe.
I broke the distance, raising my shield. I didn't need to block; the enemy's blade whistled past.
"Get da humie!" the wounded Orc bellowed, rushing me.
This brute was incredibly strong. In terms of raw muscle, he could probably compete with Chaos Warriors. However, his coordination and precision were shit. Attacking, he simply raised his greataxe over his head and charged. It was no trouble to let such a blow pass me by.
The Orc's axe merely sent sparks flying off the arena stones. I closed the distance and clocked him right between the eyes. I didn't put my full weight into the strike on purpose so the axe wouldn't get stuck. A massive diagonal wound split the Orc's mug in half. Blood poured out in a torrent. Yet, the enemy refused to die. He yanked his axe back, forcing me to dodge again.
A third Orc joined the fray—the one my current opponent had just been bullying. Bad. The more of them there are, the harder it gets.
However, I had the magical enhancement on my side. Five segments of the Blood Chalice were full. Energy began to flow into the strange sixth one—the one with the holes in its walls.
Gasps of surprise, fear, and admiration rippled through the stands. I realized immediately what was happening.
"What's going on, Loom-Pia?"
My body was surrounded by a pulsating, blood-red aura. I was practically glowing from within.
"It is not dangerous for you, warm-blood," the Hypnotoad reassured me. "Your internal energy reservoir is still in the process of expanding. Its final part is unstable. The energy absorbed there begins to leak out quickly. This is problematic, but it has its benefits. Look at your left arm."
I didn't realize what he meant at first. There were aggressive Orcs with choppas all around me, you know. It's hard to keep a cool head in those conditions. Orcs with choppas can make even the most stoic pedant get emotional.
The greenskins were stunned by my new glow too, but they kept attacking. While talking to Pepe, I had to dodge strikes, breaking distance to keep the greataxe and choppa from reaching me.
"The wounds from the lower barbarian caste's spears," the Hypnotoad hinted.
Of course!
The scratches the goblins had left me had completely healed. Only dried blood on intact skin remained to mark them. So that's how it worked. This was actually huge. The sixth segment of the chalice burned out quickly, but it healed me in the process. A useful side effect. Now, to heal minor wounds, I didn't have to consume the chalice segments; I just had to fill them to the max.
Alright. Enough celebrating. Time to chop Orcs.
"It's a weird humie!" one of the greenskins yelled, stabbing a choppa toward me. "Kill 'im!"
The other Orcs clearly liked the suggestion. All four remaining brutes were now against me, including Scarface—the biggest of the lot.
Time to dance.
And I "danced," avoiding one blow after another. The Orcs lunged forward, forcing me to retreat. The arena space was sufficient for maneuvering.
An image from my childhood surfaced: the game Serious Sam. I'd had to fend off hordes of monsters in spacious arenas there too, backing up to avoid being surrounded.
"Arrrr!"
"Waaaagh!"
The greenskins weren't trying to talk to me anymore. They just bared their tusks, spat saliva, and tried to turn me into mincemeat.
One, two, three... here goes nothing!
I was tired of retreating. When the Orc with the choppa lunged forward to attack, I took his blow on my shield. Pain shot through the fingers of my left hand, but the bones held. I caught the blade of the enemy weapon on the central spike of the shield and hacked at the arm he used to hold the choppa.
Blood, a roar, and an attempt to grab me with his other massive hand. But I had already broken away, feeling the pain in my fingers subside. The red pulsing around me grew slightly brighter after inflicting another wound on the enemy.
I managed to punish the Orc's overconfidence and get away scot-free. Having tasted the maneuver, I began to act more boldly. I no longer tried to only retreat. I stayed closer, preparing a new counterattack.
The chance came when one of the Orcs with a greataxe made a very clumsy swing. He delivered a wide arc from right to left, nearly gutting his own comrade. He missed, unfortunately, but he blocked the other's path for an attack. Their axes clattered together.
I took advantage of it. I leaped at the clumsy Orc, positioning myself as far as possible from his friends, and buried the Axe of Khargan in the brute's skull. Bracing my shield against his chest, I ripped the weapon out and immediately landed a second blow on his neighbor. This was great! Two Orcs down in an instant and...
I got too cocky. The Axe of Khargan got firmly stuck in the dead man's skull. Sure, I could have yanked it out if I had the time, but I didn't.
Scarface nearly brought his greataxe down on me. I had to leave my weapon in the dead enemy's skull.
Now I was up against two Orcs. The biggest one and the one I'd wounded in the arm. Use the enchanted dagger? No, I could manage. Even with just a shield, I could turn this to my favor.
"I'm gonna mince ya, humie!" Scarface grinned, both malicious and gleeful. "Wot are ya now wivout a choppa? A proper git!"
The Orc controlled the space around the corpse where my axe was stuck. The wounded greenskin stood nearby. His right arm was hacked up, so he was gripping his choppa in his left.
Attempting to take the dead Orcs' weapons was too dangerous, but I had one more option. I bolted to the area where I had been shredding goblins earlier.
"Cowardly humie!" came the response.
Not cowardly—cunning.
I snatched up the first goblin spear I found and, spinning back around, took a short run-up. I hurl the spear with my right hand like an Olympic athlete. At least, I tried to mimic their technique. The main thing was that I had plenty of strength and speed to spare.
The thrown projectile hit the big guy. It pierced his shoulder, but didn't go deep. The Orc yanked the short spear out of the wound without blinking.
"I'm gonna shove dis stick up yer arse when I katch ya!"
Despite the threat, the Orc didn't try to run after me. He realized I was faster and more agile. I see. Scarface had restraint and some degree of intellect. What about the gimp with the choppa?
The next spear flew at him. It bit into the upper part of the Orc's thigh. The brute cursed, took the blade in his teeth, and pulled the spear out with his free hand. He tried to hurl it back at me, but the effort was significantly worse than mine. Orcs are about raw power; accuracy isn't their thing. Then I snatched up the next projectile: a goblin cleaver. It also flew at the gimp. The greenskin finally snapped.
Taking his blade in his left hand again, he let out a war cry and lunged clumsily toward me. Perfect.
I was curious if Scarface would run with him. He hesitated and even tried to call back his mindless comrade:
"Stay back, ya fat-head! Zog ya!"
When it became clear the warning wasn't working, Scarface also started stomping toward me. But the boss was too late to cover his reckless boy.
I took the blow on my shield and thrust the goblin spear into the Orc's thick neck with my right hand. The greenskin's mouth fell open. He hurled the choppa at me and tried to pull the spear out of his neck with his free hand.
I took the enemy weapon on my shield. I blocked it so that the choppa bounced slightly upward. I caught it in the air with my right hand. I grabbed the hilt expertly, immediately turning toward Scarface.
"Cunnin' humie!" he growled, literally grinding his teeth.
At first, the Orc wanted to rush me like the others, delivering a simple wide swing, but he suddenly stopped. Apparently, this greenskin knew how to think a little. He rested the axe on his shoulder, preparing an especially powerful blow, but he didn't hurry to land it. He began to close the distance with small steps.
I backed away instead, weighing the Orc choppa in my hand. I gave it a few swings to judge the weight, balance, and reach. The choppa was longer than the Axe of Khargan. The balance was total garbage. A normal person could barely wield this iron hunk even with two hands. No matter. I had the strength for it.
The Orc who had pulled the spear from his neck had bled out too much and sat down on his ass among the goblin corpses. Scarface and I stood facing each other like two samurai. A duel of will and patience, damn it.
The red shimmering around me faded. The sixth segment of the Blood Chalice was empty. Shame. I should have finished this fight before the regular segments started draining.
"Who's better, Gork or Mork?" I asked Scarface.
"Yer..." he began, but my shout drowned him out.
"They're both gits!"
The Orc's eyes filled with blood. I hoped the provocation would break his concentration even for a moment.
"Take this!"
I hurled my shield at his face to block his vision. Simultaneously, I dove right to close the distance. The trick only partially worked. Scarface paid the shield no mind. He acted blindly, correctly guessing my maneuver. The Orc swung at me like a living guillotine. An axe blow like that would surely leave a human's head a bloody mess. I didn't manage to pull back completely. The crude blade hit my right shoulder, tearing away skin and flesh. In response, I brought the trophy choppa down on the greenskin's face. A good hit, but I wasn't holding the Axe of Khargan anymore. The dull blade of the choppa—matching its previous owner—couldn't crack the enemy's skull. I only left another deep notch on his already scarred face.
The Orc roared, raising his axe for a new strike. I dropped the choppa and moved into a clinch. I grabbed the shaft of his axe with one hand to keep him from finishing me and reached for the dagger on my belt with the other.
The Orc tried to shake me off, striking me with the flat of the shaft across my face. But I held on. I stood like a wall, tensing my magic-enhanced muscles.
My right arm was damaged, but the wound was already starting to heal. The red shimmer enveloped me once more.
Pulling the dagger from my belt, I stabbed the Orc under his massive chin. This blade bit the enemy easily. Dawi-Zharr quality, after all. Even without using magic, it shredded flesh effortlessly. I tried to open the opponent's throat or reach the spine. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to kill this brute.
One, two, three...
I withdrew and plunged the blade again. My hand was already sticky with blood, and then...
"Shit!"
The Orc managed to land a hard knee to my stomach, throwing me back. A downward axe strike aimed at my head followed immediately. I covered myself with my left arm, putting up my forearm.
The magical enhancements reduced the pain to something relatively tolerable, even though the blade of the crude axe literally tore the skin and muscle from the bone. However, I managed to protect myself. The axe, having taken its bloody toll from me, slid down and struck the arena floor. This attack was weaker than the previous ones; Scarface had already lost a lot of blood.
The Orc dropped his weapon immediately. Blood was gushing from his opened throat. He was a dead man. He stared at me, baring his massive tusks. Strangely, there was no usual malice in his gaze. Instead, there was a childlike expression, as if he had perceived our terrible battle as a game.
Finally, Scarface collapsed, and I remained standing. The sixth segment of the Blood Chalice was depleting even faster than before, trying to heal my wounds, but its volume clearly wasn't enough. I had to make a difficult choice.
Grimacing in pain, I took the flesh of my left arm hanging by the bone with my right hand. The Orc had hacked a sizable chunk of meat off me. It was dangling by the skin. I pressed it firmly back where it was supposed to be, and then I consumed all segments of the Blood Chalice.
God, that felt good...
The pain vanished instantly. The injury site was enveloped in a reddish-crimson shimmer. A sparkling mist rose from my wound. The flesh knit back together. After a few seconds, only a scar remained where the horrific injury had been. And not even a particularly nightmarish one at that.
Healed. But I had to use all the segments for it, and there was still one more fight ahead.
The stands erupted in shouts, cheers, and whistling. Someone particularly ecstatic in the front rows was even applauding. On the one hand, cool. On the other, did I show too much? I just didn't realize that while filling the sixth segment, I'd be glowing like a damn Christmas tree.
"Not exactly what we expected from a battle between a northern barbarian and Orcs!" the arena announcer proclaimed. "But all the more thrilling for it! Cunning, cruelty, and brute force! That is what the new beast of this arena has shown us! A sweet victory, but the battle is not yet over! Now he must face a truly monstrous opponent! Open the main gates! Release the monster!"