Zectas Volume VI: The Delusive Realm of Mictlan

by John Nest

  * * * * * *

  With the fiery flamberge in his right hand and Wertlosvati’s double-headed ax in his left, Igniz led the charge against the Orks. Using the Maniaxe’s Disregard Pain ability, the grunts’ barely did any damage to him.

  Smoke stayed behind Igniz and supported him with earth-attacks while yelling. “Kamuir sunod. Fatay nairs Wertlosvati!” which roughly translated to Wertlosvati being dead and the rest of the Orks would soon follow him.

  “Fatay nairs Wertlosvati!” The OrkElves followed Smoke’s lead and chanted it to their enemies. “Fatay nairs Wertlosvati!” It had become their war cry.

  The former dark ember sprite, in his Flame Knight persona, proved to be most useful.

  Smoke created two walls out of earth-spikes, which turned into a path for his symbiote.

  “Sauf and Secours, stay within the safety of the OrkElves,” said Smoke to the MaduHai Priestesses. “Prioritize healing them over me.”

  “Same for me,” added Igniz.

  Smoke was about to protest but trusted in Igniz’s fighting prowess.

  Each one of the unfortunate grunts laid out before Igniz froze at the sight of Wertlosvati’s ax. But before they could attack or fight, the petrified Orks fell victim to his Salamander’s Tongue. All the OrkElves had to do was to finish off the dying the Orks left in his wake.

  “We’re heading there!” commanded Smoke, pointing at the flying Ouragan and Chrysopelea.

  Smoke could have flown with them, but he felt that he needed to lead the remaining OrkElves or they might all perish.

  Dust clouds formed directly below Ouragan and Chrysopelea. Smoke surmised that it was caused by Tritank and his mounted Knights.

  As they drew closer, the Orks they faced became stronger and much harder to kill.

  “We’re almost there,” said Smoke out loud. “Just stay inside the pathway,” he added, observing some of the OrkElves poke their spears at the Orks. They targeted the grunts who were trying to attack them despite the protruded earth-spikes. “Fatay nairs Wertlosvati!” he screamed, joining the OrkElves’ war cry.

  As Smoke’s entire unit moved deeper into the Ork Horde, the Ork grunts took advantage of their rear. They climbed through the wall of earth-spikes where there were no spears to stop them.

  “Fubar! Fubar!” screamed one of the OrkElves near Smoke. “Sir, they’re right behind us!”

  Smoke could do nothing but watch his men in the rear being slaughtered by the Orks. He erected a third wall of earth-spikes which stopped the Orks from reaching the rest of the OrkElves in the back.

  “Stay compressed!” commanded Smoke. “Fatay nairs Wertlosvati!” He yelled again, but it clearly had lost its effect on the Orks as they fought more aggressively against them.

  With less than five hundred meters to Tritank’s legion, Smoke continued his time-consuming vigilant pace.

  Looking up, he spotted Ouragan and Chrysopelea dive down. Ouragan’s powerful twister sealed a section away from the Ork Horde.

  Smoke surmised that they were fighting against one of the OlegHai Generals—the real leaders of the Ork Horde.

  “Alright, let’s look for the second one,” said Smoke.

  As Smoke looked around the battlefield, he felt something had changed. Then, it hit him. The elemental attacks from above the mountains had stopped.

  A fourth of the Horde had broken through the Knights on the mountainside. Thus, the Magical units shifted their focus-fire on the Orks heading straight for them.

  Smoke had half the mind to go and support the fallen Knights, but a dark shadow overhead changed his priorities.

  A horned gray wyvern hissed its forked tongue. It had returned for Smoke in the most inopportune time. Ashen smog poured out from its nostrils, creating a thick haze of Ponderous Mist. It dove fast towards Smoke.

  – [ENCUMBERED] Ponderous Mist has increased your weight by ten times.

  By now, Smoke was used to this status ailment. However, the hoary fog had spread wide and affected the Orks as well.

  “Graaak!”

  “Watda!”

  Smoke heard the screams of discomfort in Orkish as the Ork grunts were addled with the Ponderous Mist. He grinned as he watched them move slowly.

  “Igniz, I’m counting on you,” said Smoke to his incarnated symbiote as their visibility vanished. Seeing nothing but the ashen smog, he created a complete Manatl around himself.

  SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD

  The gray wyvern’s sharp talons scratched the purple Manatl, but Smoke’s barrier stood defiant.

  Wertlosvati’s Maniaxe was useless inside the Ponderous Mist, but the Salamander’s Tongue’s Incinerator ability bypassed the added weight.

  Igniz, who remained outside the Manatl, unleashed hundreds of flaming shafts against the wyvern.

  Each fiery shard punctured the massive draconic creature. The wyvern cried out in agony.

  Despite the Ponderous Mist, the silhouette of the gray wyvern became clear to everyone. It was covered in illuminating pieces of the Salamander’s Tongue.

  The Ork grunts abandoned attacking Smoke and the OrkElves. Instead, they went after the draconic monster which interfered their battle.

  Dozens of Ork Grunts leaped onto the wyvern. They plunged their weapons into the wyvern’s thick scales.

  Igniz seeing the opportunity, manipulated the flaming shards. The shafts of the flamberge exploded outwards, hitting the grunts. Then, he had the pieces of the sword implode back into the wyvern again.

  The Orks were now nailed to the wyvern, both receiving the Burned and Bleeding status ailments.

  “Gaaaaak!” cried out the wyvern. It rolled on the ground scraping off the Orks and the shards out of its body. The grunts laid still, as their last hit points had already left them.

  Smoke canceled out his Manatl and pointed his glowing earth-staff at the draconic monster.

  The wyvern had less than 15% left on its life bar.

  Smoke propelled himself with a sudden burst of earth-pillars under his feet.

  As he jumped over the wyvern’s head and was about to deliver the finishing blow.

  In turn, the wyvern’s talons came rushing from the side, ready to do a dual-exchange.

  Smoke tightened his body as he was about to be hit by the wyvern’s claws, but was suddenly kicked out of the way by Tritank. The pompous Sonstwelter came out of nowhere.

  “What the?” said Smoke as he fell to the ground, off course from the wyvern. “I don’t need your help!”

  Tritank sneered. “Who says I’m helping you.” The pompous Sonstwelter then chanted out loud. “Wyvern Imprint!”

  A blue light engulfed both Tritank and the gray wyvern. It took less than three seconds for the light to vanish. But when it did, Tritank was already on top of the draconic beast.

  “Finally got my mount!” screamed Tritank, jubilant. “I’ll be back. After this one fully recovers,” he said to Smoke. “Don’t worry if you can’t get the Generals. I’ll do it when I return.”

  “Let’s go,” Tritank said to the almost-dead wyvern, which was now under his will.

  Despite its injuries, the gray wyvern could still flap its wings and flew up into the sky.

  “Here, this should help you a bit,” Tritank added. He patted on the wyvern’s head and the draconic monster lets out another Ponderous Mist from its nostrils.

  Tritank saddled Smoke, the OrkElves, his own men, and the Ork Horde with the added encumbrance weight. All of them had to fight it out inside the low visibility mist.

  * * * * * *

  A howling hurricane blocked a small section of the valley. The Ork Horde could do nothing to enter Ouragan’s powerful twister. But it was slowly losing strength as it had been sustained for more than thirty minutes.

  “Duke Chrysopelea, think you can handle a few more grunts?” asked Ouragan, flying overhead.

  Chrys looked up and saw that the old HighElf looked winded. “Sorry, but no.” He said, and created a mini-tornado of his own, preventi
ng the grunts from attacking him.

  “Then, you better fly up,” said Ouragan, his face pained. “Can’t hold the hurricane any longer.”

  “But we haven’t found the OlegHai General,” reasoned Chrys. “I’m sure he’s here somewhere.”

  Abruptly, the howling winds stopped. Ouragan fell down, unconscious.

  Chrys flew up to catch the old HighElf. “Hey, you alright?” he asked. Then, he noticed that Ouragan’s mana bar had been completely drained and that his life bar was already at 10%. “What happened? I didn’t see you get hit.”

  Ouragan faintly opened his eyes. “I used Essence Conversion. It uses my life force and converts it to mana.”

  “What? How could you be so reckless!” exclaimed Chrys, carrying the old man by his arms while flying upward. He scanned the mountain top, to where his own army was. “We better return to—” he stopped talking as he spotted a battalion of Knights, Bishops, and Mages led by a flashy tiger Lioumerean.

  “Wait, Trottel’s here,” Chrys said to Ouragan. “His healers can help you,” he said and dove straight towards them. He landed next to the Priests. “Take care of him,” he said to one of the clerics. “I’ll leave you here for a bit. I’m just going to see Trottel,” he said to Ouragan and ran off.

  In a matter of seconds, Chrys reached the front lines. “Hey, how did you get past the Orks?” he asked Trottel.

  “Oh, it’s you,” replied Trottel. “It was easy. I had my army charge down the mountain when I saw the Knights of Thanotl fall.”

  “What about my basecamp?” asked Chrys, worried. “Our walls are still holding, right?”

  “Don’t know,” replied Trottel, hardly paying any attention to him. “As long as will kill Wertlosvati, we’ll win this war.”

  Chrys shook his head. “Wertlosvati’s already dead. Faux’s OrkElf friend killed him.”

  “What!” exclaimed Trottel, surprised. “But why are the Orks still fighting? I thought they would surrender once their General was killed.”

  “Yeah, turns out it’s the OlegHai Generals we should be after,” replied Chrys. “Ouragan and I spotted one of them in this area.”

  Then, they saw the gray wyvern cover an area near them with them Ponderous Mist.

  “Is that the wyvern Faux was hunting?” asked Chrys out loud.

  “Never mind that,” said Trottel. “We’ve got to focus on the Orks. Faux can handle himself.”

  As Trottel was about to direct his Knights forward, twenty Orks with special armors blocked their path. These Orks were shorter than the ones they faced before. All of them were equipped with two knives.

  “They’re called the MoriHai Marauders,” blurted out Ouragan, who suddenly landed behind them.

  “Hey, you alright?” asked Chrys.

  Trottel hissed. “It will take more than that to beat the strongest Prime Wizard.”

  “Thanks, old friend,” said Ouragan to Trottel. “But you shouldn’t underestimate these Orks.”

  Without warning, the MoriHai Marauders vanished inside the formation of Ork grunts.

  “Looks like they ran off,” sneered Trottel. “Guess seeing three Prime Wizards at once was too much for them.”

  “I don’t think—” began Chrys but was cut off as two of the MoriHai Marauders leaped up to attack him with their knives.

  Chrys blocked them with a powerful gust of wind. One of the MoriHai Orks was blown away but the other evaded it and struck him in the arm.

  Ouragan sent a surge of wind, which picked up the MoriHai Ork and sent him hurtling upward. The Ork’s limbs were then severed by wind-cutters in mid-air. “They’re faster than your average Assassins,” he said to Chrys.

  Meanwhile, Trottel sent out branches of lightning from his wand and randomly fired at the Ork grunts. He kept firing until his mana bar fell below 30%. “There, am sure I got at least four or five of them.”

  Chrys and Ouragan exchanged looks as they watched the fallen bodies of only Ork grunts disappear out of existence.

  Then, both Chrys and Ouragan took to the skies. Their aerial advantage gave them a clear sight of the MoriHai Marauders.

  Chrys created an Ork-sized poisoned-filled twister and contained four of them. The ones caught in their own personal twister fell down to the ground, convulsing as the poison entered their system. Their life bars were steadily depleting.

  Whereas, a fully-recovered Ouragan unleashed ten columns of wind, launching a Marauder on each one. They flew over forty meters in the air. Only to land with their arms and legs dislocated.

  “Wait, these guys are just a distraction,” blurted out Chrys as he spotted a conspicuous movement within the Horde. “Over there,” he said to Ouragan. “Think that’s the OlegHai General?”

  “Let’s go find out,” said Ouragan. The old HighElf then hovered over the Lioumerean Prime Wizard. “Trottel, take care of the remaining Marauders,” he said and flew after Chrys, who was chasing after the supposed OlegHai General.

  From above, Chrys saw two Orks who fit the profile of being the General. One was larger but older while the other wore a similar armor to the Marauders, only more decorated.

  As Chrys dove closer, he heard the older Ork call out to the ornate Marauder. “General, escape through the fallen statues. Our men have secured a path for you,” said the Ork in the common tongue.

  “Follow me,” said Chrys to Ouragan, who had just arrived.

  Chrys created an Ork-sized twister and tried to capture the ornate Marauder.

  However, the Ork easily evaded Chrys’ attack. He then took out two wavy knives that were at least a meter in length.

  “Is that the OlegHai General?” asked Ouragan.

  “Looks like it,” replied Chrys. “Careful, he’s got some fancy knife.”

  “That’s called a kris,” replied Ouragan. He then sent out a jet of air but failed to hit the Ork as well.

  Unexpectedly, the Ork vanished. Only to materialize behind Chrys. The wavy blades plunged into his back.

  Ouragan was about to help Chrys but dozens of Ork grunts had surrounded them. The old HighElf was forced to leave Chrys to fend for himself while he created a powerful tornado around the two of them, preventing the other Orks from entering.

  Chrys tried to free himself, but the wavy blades were stuck good. “Fine! Don’t get off me!” he said and trapped himself and the Ork inside his own green twister which was filled with poison gas.

  The powerful winds were about to pick the Ork up, but the ornate Marauder wrapped his legs around Chrys’ waists. “Boangi, dilir kar kafildir nakir.” he yelled in Chrys’ ears. He pulled out one blade at a time, only to stab it back in. The twin blades alternated with each other, each strike lowering Chrys’ life bar.

  Chrys tried choking the Ork but could not reach him. His punches also did little damage as he focused on Intelligence and magic. Desperate, he activated the wind-cutters within his poison twister and slashed the Ork’s back with it.

  It was a struggle to see who would last longer. The Ork kept stabbing him from behind, while his poisonous gas and wind-cutters worked at the Ork’s life bar.

  Just as Chrys watched his red life bar go down below 5%, a notification window popped up.

  + You’ve dealt a fatal blow to the MoriHai General: Schaf

  + You’ve killed the MoriHai General: Schaf

  + You’ve gained 3,000,000 EXP

  + You’ve gained a level

  Chrys ended his poisonous twister and fell down next to the fallen MoriHai General. He picked up the kris and wondered out loud. “You’re not the OlegHai General? But I—”

  Then, Chrys caught a glimpse of the older Ork, who called this one his General earlier. He winked at Chrys as he disappear into the crowd. The sneaky OlegHai General had taken off his ornate armor and hid with the Ork grunts.

  * * * * * *

  Encumbered by the Ponderous Mist, Smoke launched four earth-spikes, hitting the Orks who popped up next to him. His visibility was limited by the gray fog.

&nbs
p; “Igniz, we need swords!” shouted Smoke.

  At once, sixteen flame-swords materialized in mid-air. Their orange glow gave some clarity through the murky mist.

  Smoke used his Fire Manipulation ability and took control over half the swords that Igniz made.

  Since Smoke could no longer use his synergized state with the incarnated Igniz, this was what he came up with in order for him to use flame attacks.

  Fighting almost blind, Smoke had the OrkElves form a chain, holding the person in front of them by the shoulder. He led one file while Igniz, who stood right beside him, led the other. The men following Smoke, kept thrusting their spears towards the left side, while the OrkElves behind Igniz attacked to the right. The MaduHai Priestesses named Sauf and Secours scattered themselves in between their two line formation, optimizing their support range.

  The Ork grunts, who were also in the dark, only felt the sudden attacks. Whenever Smoke or Igniz heard an Ork scream, they sent their flame-swords to finish the job.

  Pushing through the mist with this formation, Smoke spotted a tiny creature which camouflaged perfectly with the gray mist.

  “Big Brother Igniz!” squeaked Daga. The little gray mouse scampered through the fog and hopped on the incarnated symbiote’s shoulder.

  “Where’s Meneur?” asked Smoke, who felt ignored.

  “Oh, right!” blurted out Daga. “I came looking for you because she’s up against Dastard.”

  “Damn it! Why is she being so impulsive?” said Smoke out loud. “Where is she now?”

  “She’s somewhere west of here,” answered Daga.

  Smoke nodded. He then yelled out to his men. “We’re going after Dastard.”

  They continued with their two-file line up as they advanced westward. The Orks were more affected by the Ponderous Mist as they were much slower than the OrkElves.