Chapter 105 For the Empire (1)
The cold sun hung high in the sky, right at noon.
The green-skinned army was rushing towards the dwarf lines, and war was about to break out. The green tide surged like a tsunami in the narrow pass, making the wide valley feel cramped.
Hidden on the rocks, Jima looked at the green tide filling the pass, the army moving forward like a serpent in the grass.
In Jima’s eyes, the green-skinned army could be described as disorganized and undisciplined, chaotic and loud. If they were human, it wouldn’t be surprising if a mere rumor that “our army has been defeated” could collapse hundreds of thousands of troops.
But these were green-skinned orcs. The more of them there were, the stronger they became. In the midst of their fervor, their hearts were filled with a desire to fight, making it impossible for them to retreat like humans, fearing death.
Jima had considered using rumors and manipulating negative emotions to create trouble for the orc army, just as she had previously “ignited” Shalin City, but it was futile.
Now, she wanted to give it another try. She opened her eyes of desire and looked at the sky above the green tide. The sky was a vivid green, and simply staring at it made Jima feel unstable. Her ears were filled with the echoing Waaagh sounds; her eyes burned, as if looking directly at a green sun.
Jima forced herself to hold on, and finally saw among the green the colorful clouds of desire: blue greed, pink jealousy, red gluttony, light green fury, and yellow arrogance… The color of lust was missing, or perhaps it was too faint, overshadowed by the green light.
Among these colorful clouds of desire, fury and greed were the strongest, while the rest were insignificant. If they were human, inciting fury and greed alone would suffice; excessively strong desires would break the constraints of order, leading them to kill each other in chaos.
But these were green-skinned orcs; the angrier and greedier they got, the more they wanted to swing their axes and blades, delivering heavy blows to the dwarves or humans.
What about jealousy and similar emotions?
While Jima was contemplating, she felt something crawling beneath her facial skin, an itchy sensation. This feeling was familiar, a precursor to the loss of control of extraordinary matter. She quickly turned off her “eyes of desire,” looking away without touching it with her hands.
Eventually, after the peculiar sensation in her face vanished, Jima turned back and touched her face with her hands.
It was resilient and somewhat cold, just like usual.
“Waaaaagh!”
A deafening war roar erupted below, sending small stones at her feet jumping into the air.
Even though Jima was mentally prepared, she couldn’t help but cover her ears, her heart racing. She steadied herself, managing not to shake. After regaining her composure, she spread her wings and flew into the sky. Looking down, she saw the greenskins charging towards the dwarf positions, like a tsunami finally crashing against a thin iron wall.
At the top of the slope, a dwarf commander swung his battle axe.
The rune stone throwers launched in unison, hurling a large boulder the size of a dwarf, bound with noisy goblins. Their screams were particularly piercing. The stone landed amidst the green tide, knocking down several greenskins and exposing a small patch of ground, which was quickly filled again by the tide, not halting its advance even a moment.
The green tide surged up the slope.
“Fire! Fire!”
The dwarven crossbowmen hiding behind their shields extended their steel crossbows and pulled the triggers, unleashing a rain of bolts like a waterfall towards the green tide. The green-skinned boys in front raised their small leather shields, and bolts pierced through their shields, thighs, and calves, with some bolts even going through the shields and nailing their hands to them.
Yet the greenskin lad, with several bolts embedded in him, continued to charge forward, waving the shield stuck to his forearm in an attempt to block more bolts, pushing onward. Even while bleeding profusely, with a bolt piercing through his calf, one final bolt struck his chest, and he fell to the ground, the arrow still deeply embedded in his shield pointing straight at the sky.
The other greenskins continued to step over him; from the moment he fell until his dying breath, at least twenty greenskins crossed over his corpse.
The trench blocked the greenskins’ path, and the orc boys began throwing nearby goblins into it, filling the trench and crashing into the dwarven warriors’ shield wall.
Each unit of dwarf warriors came from the same clan. Dwarves valued honor and reputation highly and were unwilling to tarnish their clan’s name. They fought bravely, refusing to retreat a single step. Swinging their axes and lowering their shields, they chopped at the thighs of the greenskins.
For a moment, the green tide notably halted. The dwarves, with their resilient heavy armor and even more stubborn temper, resisted the unprecedented green tide.
More and more greenskins were crowding the front, densely packed. Each time the rune stone throwers launched “goblin-branded” stones, they took the lives of hundreds of greenskins on the spot.
But to Jima, all of this was just temporary. It was like floodwaters temporarily held back by a dam; as the water level rose and stored power, the dam’s collapse was also predictable.
The course of the battle was not much different from what she had anticipated.
The goblins, “arriving late,” were launching wave after wave of chaotic volleys of arrows at the dwarven crossbowmen. Each time the dwarven crossbowmen retaliated, a group of goblin archers fell, but their vacancies were immediately filled by more surge of goblin archers.
The area around the dwarven crossbowmen was filled with bolts; shields were riddled with arrows, and some even collapsed under the weight, revealing dwarven crossbowmen behind them, looking like hedgehogs.
Not just arrows, but also wobbling goblin stone throwers.
Amidst the goblins’ excited screams, stones were flying toward the dwarf positions. With one shriek, a stone bound with goblins accurately smashed a goblin stone thrower, but before long, another one was pushed up, surrounded by the wreckage of the previous stone throwers.
The goblins were even establishing a shaky new stone thrower amidst the debris of the old ones.
On the dwarven rune stone thrower position, the dwarves braved the flying stones, continuously repairing their fortifications, while a few unfortunate souls were struck by stones and fell to the ground, their lives waning.
Although the dwarves suffered very few losses, there was no doubt that the dwarven army was experiencing constant casualties.
This life-and-death and bloody stalemate was instead making the green-skinned orcs increasingly excited. They hammered and smashed the dwarven warriors’ steel shields, their battle fervor accumulating more and more, culminating in a sudden eruption of a Waaagh!
This roar not only shook the cliffs on both sides but also stirred the boiling lava.
The green-skinned orcs let out joyous shouts, flashes of green light flickering across them; their muscles bulged, their axes swung heavier, and their blades struck faster. The dwarven steel shields even broke on the spot due to metal fatigue.
A gap finally appeared in the dwarven line, and the orcs rushed into it with glee. Long-bearded dwarven warriors quickly charged forward, trying to block the gap, but were kicked away by the big orcs like a soccer ball.
At this moment, the dwarven rune smith was striking fiercely against his rune anvil.
“Dong!”
A sound of metal clashing, powerful enough to compete with the Waaagh.
A surge of flames rushed toward the orc at the gap, leaving behind a ground full of scorched corpses and burned orcs.
The long-bearded dwarven warriors surged forward, cursing as they smashed the knees of the big orcs to fill the gap in the battle line.
The dwarven frontline commander let out a sigh of relief.
However, high above, Jima, observing the battlefield, shook her head.
At this moment, the long-bearded dwarven warriors were filling the gap, and with the replacement of the heavily casualties dwarven warriors, although the dwarves were well-trained and did not bunch up, they were still tightly packed, reaching a critical density level.
At this time, a goblin shaman waved a bone staff adorned with orc skulls, dancing maniacally in place.
Suddenly, a huge green orc phantom appeared above the heads of the long-bearded dwarven warriors, slowly raising its right foot.
“Retreat! Quickly retreat! Spread out! Spread out!”
The dwarven frontline commander shouted.
But it was too late; the dwarven warriors had just begun to disperse when the orc phantom stomped down hard upon them.
“Boom!”
A shockwave knocked nearby dwarves to the ground, sending severed dwarf arms tumbling through the air.
That stomp created a sizable gap in the dwarven line, smoke and dust clearing away. In the massive footprint lay nearly a hundred dwarven bodies, crushed like ants. The casualties from the explosion were even harder to estimate.
Jima shook her head: “Bigfoot trouble…”
At the moment when the Waaagh energy was most abundant, that stomp, even a squad of chosen ones from the demon race would suffer heavy casualties.
“Bigfoot trouble!”
“Bigfoot, assist me!”
“Waaaaagh!”
The greenskins roared, surging toward this gap, widening the wounds in the battle line.
Even though the dwarves were still resisting, fearless dwarven butchers charged in with dual axes, trying to fight to the death, while rune constructs moved in to attempt to block the green tide.
But that was only temporary. With the arrival of the giants accompanying the greenskin army, one swing of their clubs sent dwarves flying, as if playing golf. What had attacked the dwarven military formation before were merely the fast-paced green-skinned vanguard.
The beast warlord launched a surprise attack, leading his war boars and big orcs into the gap. He single-handedly took down the towering rune construct.
Jima watched from the sky as the dwarven line was overwhelmed and crumbled into several pieces, fighting individually.
The green tide almost engulfed the entire slope, with only a few places remaining unsubmerged. Brave dwarves stood back to back, persisting in their resistance. But it was merely a matter of time before their annihilation.
The dwarven supreme king, surrounded by the hammer warriors, looked like a lone boat tossed amidst green waves. He raised his bloodied axe, glancing around, seeing hills full of greenskins but no sight of his own troops, let alone human allies.
The dwarven supreme king cried out in despair: “Where are the humans? Where are the humans?!”
“Your Majesty, we must retreat! It’s not too late!”
“No! Just take my book of grudges!”
The dwarven supreme king was filled with grief and fury, tearing off his iron gauntlet, biting his finger, and opening the book of grudges ahead, intending to write the emperor of the human empire’s name so that future generations would remember their hatred.
At that moment, the sound of hooves approached.
A great knight commander raised his sword high, shouting, “In the name of Sigmar! For the Empire! Charge!”
The imperial knights lowered their lances and charged toward the orcs at the top of the slope.
