Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn

by John Nest

  "Legions Tulo and Upat, stay behind me, no matter what happens," commanded Smoke, and continued to lead the charge forward.

  Looking back, he saw a few of the magic-powered Iron Knights being dismantled by the Orks. He strengthened his resolve, as he sacrificed Automaton Knights of Legions Isa and Duha. Due to this, Smoke rode Freifahrt without having to engage any of their enemies, along with the Knights of Legions Tulo and Upat, who ran closely behind him.

  Unopposed, Smoke and twenty-thousand Automaton Knights reached the Ork in-charge in less than ten-minutes. Both of them riding on huge muscular dirus wolves, but Freifahrt was slightly larger.

  Although, he may have reached his intended target, but as he saw from Igniz's eyes, Smoke and his Automaton Knights were now trapped inside the swirling masses of Orks.

  "You're either Boangi or truly brave to come and face me Inusarai," said the UrukHai in Orkish. "Now, you are trapped like an ilagair!"

  Smoke's Orkish was still Beginner Level 9, hence the few words left untranslated.

  "Kill you I shall! Prepare for your demolition," threatened Smoke in Orkish.

  The UrukHai laughed hard when he heard Smoke's speak his native tongue.

  "I commend you for choosing to katonir the most beautiful of languages," said the UrukHai. "I am Niemand, the one who shall end you!" he said and pointed his double-headed axe at Smoke.

  "Try it if you—" began Smoke, but Niemand's axe came swinging at his neck.

  Smoke quickly created a thick earth-pillar to block it.

  KLANG

  However, the double-headed axe went through it with ease. Without his Manatl staff equipped, Smoke resorted to his only other defensive option. He created a Flame Shield of Beginner Level 2.

  SHATTER

  Smoke's Flame Shield only reduced the attack by 2%, but it deflected it to lightly hit his shoulder instead. The attack, however, forced him off his dirus wolf. He tumbled on the ground, and his life bar reflected (441,500/463,060 HP).

  Scrambling back on his feet, he quickly pulled back Freifahrt's reins.

  "Don't worry about me," said Smoke. "Go! Hunt down the other Orks," he ordered Freifahrt, making sure that his mount was nowhere near this monster.

  'That was just a scratch!' he reminded himself, as he covered his wound with his right hand. 'Can't let myself get hit.'

  Despite being damaged, Smoke was glad that his 30% HP increase for this battle held firm.

  Since his riding ability was only at Intermediate Level 3, Smoke decided to fight the Ork on the ground. He knew that fighting a mounted opponent was disadvantageous. So, he launched an earth pillar underneath Niemand's mount. The Ork's dirus wolf was sent flying through the air.

  THUD

  Niemand fell on the ground hard.

  During this time, the Automaton Knights circled around Smoke and the UrukHai leader. The seminary guardians blocked the path for any of the other Orks to help Niemand.

  "Come, I shall let you taste my—" began Niemand, but an earth spike aimed at his throat silenced him.

  However, Niemand deflected it with one swing of his double-headed axe. "Ha! These puny attacks can do nothing against me!"

  Then, Smoke dug a hole beneath Niemand's feet, but before he could close it with spikes, the UrukHai had leapt out of it.

  Sixteen earth-spikes struck him before he hit the ground. Yet, they could not pierce the Ork's green skin.

  'He must have high Resistance to Earth,' surmised Smoke.

  "Igniz, to me!" he yelled out.

  "Calling for reinforcements?" taunted Niemand. "It won't do you any good."

  Then, a dark flame whizzed overhead and struck Smoke squarely on the chest.

  STUB

  Came out the muffled sound of them Synergizing. Violet smoke came out of his skin.

  "What's that suppose to—" said Niemand, but he shut his mouth when he saw sixteen flame-swords flying towards him.

  Niemand tried to dodge, but eight earth-pillars grew out from the ground and held the UrukHai in place. His arms were stretched out, preventing him from wielding his double-headed axe.

  Smoke watched as his flame-swords pierced Niemand's green skin, revealing his draining life bar (601,000/700,000 HP).

  After consuming the ability tomes given by Xantana and Chouchou, his fire attacks now had a new after-effect. Once the fiery swords disappeared, they left blisters on the Ork's skin. These marks increased the damage of the burn effects when struck on the same spot by another fire attack.

  An astonished Smoke, watched in disbelief as each of his flame-swords rapidly reduced Niemand's life bar.

  The Ork Commander struggled to break free. Desperate, Niemand tried to severe off one of his arms, but his wrists could not swing his double-headed axe to reach it properly. Instead, he only injured his arms with cuts and inflicted the Bleeding status on himself.

  As more and more flame-swords penetrated Niemand's body, the Ork Commander stopped squirming and accepted his fate.

  "Orks! Leave me!" suddenly yelled Niemand. "Everyone climb the city. Kill as many of its residents as you can!"

  The Orks near the vicinity stopped fighting the blocking Automaton Knights and charged for Votl's walls.

  "Rape, pillage, and bu—" added Niemand, but Smoke doubled the number of flame-swords and skewered the UrukHai leader.

  Smoke forever silenced Niemand as the last of his HP drained out of his giant green body.

  + You have dealt a fatal blow to Niemand, Commander of the UrukHai.

  + You have killed Niemand.

  + You have gained 750,000 XP.

  A few seconds later, Niemand's body vanished as it crossed over to Mictlan.

  Still protected by his mechanical legions of Tulo and Upat, Smoke walked over to the item left behind by Niemand.

  + Acquired uncommon axe: UrukHai Commander's Axe

  'Pfft! What a rip off!' he thought, disappointed.

  'Wait... If this guy was only a Commander, then where are the Ork Colonels?' he asked himself.

  "Freifahrt, to me!" called out Smoke, worried that he had not seen Wertlosvati or any of the UrukHai Colonels.

  A few seconds later, his large dirus wolf dragged a MoriHai by the arm. It then laid the Ork down in front of him.

  Pointing his right palm over the dying Ork, he pierced it with several flame-swords and ended his suffering.

  After mounting his steed, Smoke called out to his four legions. "Automaton Knights! We're chasing after those smelly beasts!"

  He yelled loudly. Yet, looking back at his special unit, he realized that Legions Una and Duha were left with 7,000 and 6,500 Automaton Knights, respectively.

  'This is great training for when I face Duke Burmistrz,' he thought, imagining leading his Avendre Mercenaries into battle. 'But I need to minimize my losses.'

  * * * * * *

  Chasing after the charging Orks who left their Commander to die, Smoke chewed on his bison jerky and drank pompom juice. He was still deciding on which strategy to make before their attack.

  'They don't have a commanding officer now,' he thought to himself on a positive note. 'So, this should be easy,'

  However, he instantly realized how wrong he was. The last order given out by Niemand was to scale the walls and ravage the city, and that was what the surviving Orks were doing.

  Despite being assaulted by elementals spells from above, the green giants pushed on and kept running towards Votl City. A random large comet would blast a few of them away, and slightly reduced their life bars. Despite this damage, these Orks merely picked themselves up and ran forward like nothing happened.

  Of course, most of these Orks still had life bars over 200,000 HP. Some even had 400,000.

  Yet, the most intimidating thing that Smoke felt, was their resilience and focus on wreaking havoc to the city.

  'They're like those bunnies from hell, that keeps on going and going and going, with a never ending supply of energy,' Smoke thought and shuddered, as he watched some of the ampu
tated Orks scale the walls with one hand.

  He even saw others stab their severed arms with axes and swords, and then used those to aid them in their ascent to the city.

  'Don't mind that! Need to focus!' he chanted to himself.

  Even though hundreds of Orks have already died, Smoke and his special unit was still greatly outnumbered thirty-five to eighty.

  'Since I can't face 80,000 Orks all at once, best to chip away at their sides,' he decided and ordered his four legions to consolidate into one the nearest outer section.

  With the Orks blindly charging forward, Smoke and the Automaton Knights took the green giants by surprise. Three mechanical Iron Knights simultaneously backstabbed one Ork, and fought them to the death.

  After twenty minutes, the Orks on the ground numbered only 30,000.

  'Good. My plan is working,' thought Smoke. 'Now, we're almost evenly matched in numbers.'

  Yet a frown covered his hidden face, after he looked up. The reason the number of Orks were reduced, was because most of them had already gone up more than half way through the amethyst walls.

  Smoke hurriedly joined the front lines of his Automaton Knights. Frantic to create a path towards the wall.

  'I need to stop them from climbing up,' he thought, determined.

  Examining his Iron Knights, he saw that most of them were already banged up.

  "Eleve can fix them, anyway," he said to himself, and ordered Legions Tulo and Upat to take the lead.

  "Isa, Duha, don't stay behind!" exclaimed Smoke. "Push forward! Tulo and Upat can't hold them off for long."

  Ten minutes later, and Smoke finally reached the Votl's fortification. Yet, 30% of his Iron Knights were still stuck behind, surrounded by a sea of Orks.

  Smoke created firewalls after firewalls, but covering an area of 50,000 Orks was beyond his current mana and level.

  So, he settled to create a path of firewalls towards him. Slowly, his Automaton Knights stepped into the flames, unscathed and intact.

  However, when he counted, Smoke was only left with 28,000 mechanical Iron Knights.

  "No matter what happens, stop them from climbing!" cried out Smoke. He then created thick firewalls after firewalls, leaving only four unburning paths for the Orks to take.

  As Chrys' poisonous green cloud corroded their HP, most of the invaders' life bars were already below 85%.

  "We can do this!" Smoke cheered the Automatons, but mostly for himself and Igniz synergized inside him.

  Suddenly, a falling shadow brought Smoke's attention to the ground, which made him look up.

  "Waaaaaaah!" screamed a falling Ork.

  SPLAT

  Smoke heard the sound of bones being crushed, as it came in contact with the solid ground.

  'That's one way to kill them,' he thought, pleased.

  As he kept on gazing upward, Smoke saw several more falling bodies.

  'Looks like it's raining Orks today!' he joked inwardly.

  Using his Telefax Vision, he spotted that it was just not green giants who were falling down, but also the Sonstwelter and Zectian volunteers.

  After having seen the demise of the fallen Ork earlier, Smoke hurriedly created a wide spiral funnel with his Earth Manipulation.

  However, this charitable structure was not biased. It saved the lives of those it caught. It slid them down its spiral slope and landed all of them safely on the ground.

  With pin-point accuracy, Smoke aimed his flame-swords at the Orks entangled together with his allies. He made sure to finish them off, before the could harm anyone else.

  "Faux! Thanks for saving us, Man," said a Paladin Lord.

  Smoke recognized him to be Edel, the Sonstwelter who earlier offered him to join his guild.

  "We were following Chrys' orders, of pushing these monsters off the ledge," explained Edel. "But these Orks are more than persistent. A lot of them grabbed on to us, and brought us down with them."

  "I'm glad you are all safe," replied Smoke.

  He glanced over at the people he rescued. Doing a quick count, he estimated them to be thirty in all, both Sonstwelters and Zectians.

  "So, how's it going up there?" asked Smoke, while launching flame-arrows at the incoming Orks.

  With the Automaton Knights surrounding them, Smoke and the fallen wall defenders were for the moment, safe.

  Edel shook his head and said. "Somehow we're holding up well. The Healers are still secured and the wall of melee fighters are still holding up."

  The Paladin Lord strained his neck, as he looked up. "Well, when we were there."

  As they spoke, more bodies were thrown off from the wall. Sadly, Smoke's earth-funnel could not cover such a broad wall.

  Looking up, Smoke knew what to do. "Edel, can you lead the others to defend this place?" he asked the Paladin Lord. "I need to do something."

  "Sure," replied Edel. "I'll have a group stand by the bottom of the funnel, to finish off the Orks that are caught. While I'll position myself in between here and the front lines."

  Then, a blue aura appeared underneath all of them.

  + You are influenced by Paladin's Prayer Aura

  > Defense + 50

  > HP Regeneration + 10

  Smoke looked around, and was impressed to see that it covered such an extensive area.

  Edel then proceeded to Heal the injured, and the other Paladins followed suit.

  'Good,' Smoke thought. He then extended both his arms downward, and began to add more earth into his funnel.

  Ten minutes past, and the area that the Automaton Knights were protecting had shrunk by five-meters. Even his dirus wolf had began to back away from the Orks.

  "We got this!" yelled Edel at Smoke, as he stopped reinforcing the funnel.

  Five more minutes in, and it slowly began to take shape of a large tree. He directed the thick earth upward, which started to broaden the mouth of the funnel.

  "There!" exclaimed Smoke. He then turned around and launched a torrent of flame-arrows. He was taken aback to see that the Orks had been held firm. His wall of Automaton Knights stood their ground, as Edel and other Paladins joined them in the front lines.

  Smoke then looked at the aura underneath him and saw that there were now two overlapping auras. He ran closer to Edel, to ask how everyone was doing.

  "I've activated my Thorn Aura," explained Edel. "And it looks like the Orks don't like the taste of their own strength."

  "Great job!" said Smoke. "Let's keep this pace and thin them out."

  A little over two hours passed since the Orks invaded, Smoke glanced at his unit. With a heavy sigh, he counted his Automaton Knights to now only number 24,000.

  On the upside, only 40,000 Orks were left on the western district of Votl. With 10,000 of them constantly trying to climb the walls. Only 25,000 remained on the ground fighting against Smoke and his men. Whereas, the remaining 5,000 fought on top of the wall against Chrys and the Vitztytl Defenders, only to fall into Smoke's funnel.

  Smoke checked his satiety bar, and saw that it was almost at 50%. He glanced at his allies and saw that they looked like they could barely stand. Only the Automaton Knights remained sturdy, as they were mechanical soldiers powered by magic.

  Posthaste, Smoke handed a group of his allies one clay-jar of pompom juice. "Share this, but don't drink it all at once," he said. Before he proceeded to the next group to do the same.

  Steadily, the morale and strength of Votl's western ground defenders rose.

  With that, the Ork numbers began to decline.

  "Faux! Looks like it's over," exclaimed Edel. A grinning Paladin Lord rushed to Smoke's side and gave him a strong pat on the back.

  "Good work, Edel," replied Smoke. "You and everyone else did great!"

  As Edel started to walk away, Smoke caught the Paladin Lord staring at him.

  "What?" asked Smoke. "Something wrong?"

  "Did you know that you're already famous?" blurted out Edel.

  "Eh?" asked Smoke, confused.

  "
The forums... Everyone's already been talking about you," added Edel. "They even say that you're already on the same level as Amahan, Tristan, and Smoke."