Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (35 page)

His life bar and mana bar glowed, indicating that it had been refilled to its new maximum capacity. Smoke looked at the window in disbelief. "But I didn't even do anything?"
"That's right, you gain experience by simply being here," explained Eleve. "So, make sure that you don't die."
She grabbed Smoke's shoulder and said. "I know that you were planning to risk everything, even at the cost of your own life. But this invasion is also a great opportunity for you to grow."
"How did you know?" he asked.
"I may not have fondled you," said Eleve. "But I am your Flame Master. Besides, you look like the type of person who gives out great advice but doesn't take it himself."
Smoke fell silent and respectfully lowered his head. He remembered what he always said to his private army members, to not take unnecessary risks and to protect their lives at all costs.
'I really can't die here,' he reminded himself, imagining the levels he could gain. 'But then why did she assign me that special unit in the middle of the—'
His musings vanished as he suddenly felt his insides tingle. He was being teleported.
"I thought we were still—" were Smoke's last words, before only a fiery afterimage of himself remained.
 

* * * * * * 

On the southern side of the amethyst city, Ouragan hovered over the invaders. He scrutinized the advance of the Orks, and could see that despite their ranged attacks, these green giants kept on coming.
"Xantana, Chouchou, tell your fellow Fire Mages to direct their spells through my casting circle!" he shouted to the two Pyro Mages below him.
Xantana and Chouchou were assigned to work under him. They were originally allocated to be under Trottel, but a sudden change of paperwork brought them here instead.
The LightElf and tiger Lioumerean led their fellow Flame Mages. The power couple casted their spells with burning intensity, that it encouraged others to give it their best.
Due to Ouragan's amplifying magic, the damage of their flame attacks increased by 200%.
However, the Orks still kept on coming. Even with hundreds of Mages raining down their spells, there was still a gap in between them.
Especially with abilities such as the Comet. The long casting time alone, gave the Orks the needed opportunity to reach the city's enclosure.
Ouragan had to reduce his amplifying casting circle to one, as his left hand targeted on the Orks scaling the purple fortification.
He sent wind-cutters at the green giants clawing their way up.
"To the walls!" cried out Xantana, and they walked past the Knights, Warriors, and other melee fighters.
The few city Archers fired at the Orks, but their arrows did little to no damage.
Chouchou stood next to one of them and launched his own fire-arrows. He targeted the green giants' heads, and got in a few lucky shots, which struck the Ork's eyes.
"Hey, can you enchant my arrows with flames?" asked one of the Archers.
"Sorry, but I don't have that kind of magic," replied Chouchou.
"Less talking and more attacking!" yelled Xantana and let out more fireballs.
Despite their focus-fire on the climbing Orks, the number of incoming green giants still grew.
It was then that Ouragan stopped casting his amplifying magic and flew down towards his division.
"Everyone, back away from the wall!" shouted the old HighElf.
He then flew towards the invaders, and created four large tornadoes right outside the eastern walls. The Orks tried to grab hold on to the city's fortification, but pull from the turbulent winds was beyond their strength.
Ouragan looked down, and saw that there were still Orks hanging on to the walls. The ones who were blown away were just the ones that belonged to the MoriHai tribe. The mighty UrukHai Orks still continued to crawl up, as more UrukHai Orks walked past his tornado.
"Everyone, brace yourselves! The Orks are coming up!" shouted Ouragan. "Mages step back! Knights and Warriors, hold your ground!"
The sound of clanking armors and swords erupted. Ouragan studied the melee fighters' faces, and he knew that he had to use his other Beggar abilities.
He switched his magic wand for two enchanted swords. One had strong winds surrounding its blade while the other was made of pure ice.
The old HighElf stepped in front of the fighters and shouted. "There's nothing to fear from these monsters! Watch this old man kick their asses!"
As soon as the first UrukHai climbed up, Ouragan vanished like the wind. He sliced off the UrukHai's right arm with his wind-blade. Then, with his ice-blade, he froze the green giant's legs. After which, he pushed the Ork back down.
"Remember, we don't have to kill them," said Ouragan. "We just have to kick them out of the city!"
With that, more UrukHai Orks climbed up. The Warriors and Knights charged at the Orks, while the Mages standing behind them fired pin-point spells, always careful not to hit their melee comrades.
 

* * * * * * 

With the Ork Horde surrounding Votl City, Smoke stood outside his hidden cave. He watched the battle for the city from on top of the red mountain. His Cunning of the Dire Fox sensed no enemies nearby.
'Maybe Eleve had me stay behind, so that the Orks won't notice me and my Knights,' he came to realize.
From his vantage point, Smoke could not see the side of the city where Eleve and Ouragan were defending, but he felt confident that those two could handle things on their own.
He then focused his attention on the two sides clearly visible to him, the northern and southern sides of the amethyst city.
Several elemental spells fell down on the Orks, but one element stood out above the rest. On the northern side, it was Trottel's Lightning Strikes. Even from where he stood, Smoke could hear the deafening sounds of thunder.
'As a person he is really pathetic, but it seems he's leading his men well against the Orks,' observed Smoke.
Looking to the western side, Smoke saw a flying green-robed Wizard attacking the Orks by himself. There were several magical spells coming from his side of the wall, but Smoke could tell that this part of the city was less organized.
'He did just become a Prime Wizard,' reasoned Smoke, in Chrys' defense.
Chrysopelea released a green cloud over the Orks, which Smoke assumed to be poisonous gas.
'I don't think that would stop them at all,' he thought.
With a whistle, he called out his dirus wolf. "Freifahrt, time to go!"
A large dirus wolf over four meters in length walked up next to him. The mount which he left behind in the sequestered seminary, grew twice in size and now had flaming red fur on its paws.
"Looks like leaving you behind there proved very useful," he said to his dirus wolf.
Mounted on top of the large beast, Smoke rode his steed outside the cave. There, he summoned forth his legions of his special unit.
"Legions Isa, Duha, Tulo, and Upat, fall in!" yelled out Smoke.
Straightaway, two-meter tall Iron Knights equipped with claymores responded. Moving in complete unison, they began to march out of the cave.
"Automaton Knights, stick to your assigned legions." reminded Smoke. After double-checking their formations, he shouted. "Move out!"
He ordered the 40,000 guardians of the Florissant Seminary to action.
Despite them being lifeless soldiers, the Automaton Knights moved with great speed. They easily kept up with Freifahrt who left fire-paw prints on its path.
Attacking from behind the Orks' formation, Smoke was free to pick out his target.
Suddenly, his train of thought was derailed, as another pleasing notification window popped up.

Since both his life and mana bar were untouched, they only glowed. Thus, indicating that it had been refilled to its new maximum capacity. He had gained another level. It had only been an hour since the Ork Horde invaded, and he had already increased his level by three.
Closing the good news window, Smoke focused on what he needed to next.
"Igniz, I need eyes from above," he said to his symbiote hidden inside the metallic orb on his chest.
Without delay, the dark ember sprite flew out and soared over the Orks. Although, Chrys' poison cloud slightly obstructed the view. By using his Symbiote Vision, Smoke spotted the Ork giving out the commands. He saw an UrukHai riding on top a massive dirus wolf, who wielded a giant double-headed axe.
Igniz then glanced at the southern walls of Votl. Through the eyes of his ember sprite, Smoke found that the purple fortification had turned green with Orks.
Normally, anyone would hesitate to lead his own army into a poisonous green cloud. Yet, Smoke charged in without a care. During the Magi Gagnant Tournament, he had proven that his Poison Resistance could handle Chrys' green cloud. Meanwhile, the Automaton Knights were impervious to such ailments like Poison.
"Chrys!" called out Smoke, as he entered into the horde of Orks. "Get back to your men on the wall. I'll deal with the ones on the ground!"
A surprised Chrys looked down and spotted Smoke charging towards the thousands of Orks.
"Are you sure?" called out the green Prime Wizard.
"Yes! Now, go!" cried out Smoke and pointed his right palm at the Orks in front of him.
Sixteen earth-spikes launched out from the ground and pierced through the smaller Orks.
'These are just MoriHais,' surmised Smoke, as he led the charge further into the swarm of green giants.
From his brief aerial view, Smoke estimated that there were at least a hundred-thousand Orks in this side of the city.
'Four against one,' thought Smoke, thinking up plans on how to counteract the unfavorable odds.
SHING SHING SHING
As the Automaton Knights drew out their weapons, sharp sounds of claymores echoed around him.
"Legion Isa, take the left flank," ordered Smoke. "Duha Legion, block the right."
Both divisions hurried to their designated sides. They engaged the Orks that they encountered along the way. Despite their long claymores, it still took two Automaton Knights to engage one MoriHai Ork. Unfortunately, they were already badly outnumbered in the first place. As they advanced, the legions of Isa and Duha began to thin out, as more of the mechanical Knights were left behind to fend off the Orks.
"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.