Zectas Volume V: The Sequestered Seminary of Sawtorn (9 page)

Smoke had hoped that something like this would happen, but he welcomed their wide smiles and happy chatter even more.
Cynar and Blaise had taken out chairs and placed them in front of Diebe Den's entrance.
'They must be hear to see my training methods,' surmised Smoke.
Loud slurping sounds still resonated among the recruits as there were still some soup left over. Smoke decided to let them finish before beginning. He did not care whether Cynar or Blaise were waiting for him to start.
When they were done, Smoke asked the children to be moved to a different location.
"Alright, now that you're all fed and rested, how about we begin some simple formations," spoke Smoke in a commanding tone.
"I want twenty men to form a straight line, right here," ordered Smoke, pointing both his hands in front of him.
Immediately, the exact number of OrkElves lined up as instructed. Smoke then stepped to the side.
"Next, I need fourteen more to fall in line directly behind them," added Smoke.
He repeated dividing them into such formations until he had four battalions with equal numbered members. He gave each battalion specific names.
"Now, I want you to remember your places and especially your battalions. When I call out your battalion name, I want you to fall into the same formation," explained Smoke. "Do you understand me?"
"Aye!"
"Yes!"
"Alright."
"Got it."
"Sure."
Smoke was answered with several versions of affirmation, and the OrkElves rambunctious voices resonated throughout the field.
"Also, from now on. All of you will answer me with, Sir, yes, Sir!" added Smoke. "Got that?"
"Sir, yes, Sir!" shouted half of the made up formation, but it was clear that there was still a delay with the rest of the OrkElves.
"Good. Now, I want you to scatter, and when I call your battalion, you line up in your proper formation," reminded Smoke.
The OrkElves chattered as they scattered through the fields.
"Alpha, queue up!" yelled out Smoke.
At once a group of unruly OrkElves ran around in circles, trying to reform their assigned locations. It took almost five minutes before everyone stopped and stood in place.
Just as Smoke slapped his face with his palm, Cynar and Blaise walked up next to him.
"I must say, that this all looks new to me," said Cynar. "Your training looks... intriguing."
"All I can say is that you better have them prepared soon," added Blaise. "We're just waiting for our scouts to return. I give you about three days."
"Three days, huh?" replied Smoke. "Yeah, alright. I'll get them in shape by then."
 

* * * * * * 

Three days had passed, and Smoke's Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta battalions were still in no shape to fight against Orks. Sure, they had decreased their time to less than twenty-seconds to regroup into their instructed formations, but their time worsened again when they were given their long-spears.
Fortunately for him, Cynar and Blaise's scouts had returned empty handed as well.
From six in the morning till six in the afternoon, Smoke continued to grill the new recruits with various formations and basic attacks with the long-spears. After their grueling exercises, Smoke fed them with soup.
Everyday, he always told Cynar and Blaise that he would log out of Zectas after he was done training his recruits, but in truth he spent this time preparing for his plan to rescue Jack and the rest of the captive royals in Diebe Den.
In order to keep up with his strict timetable, Smoke sacrificed his scheduled sleep in the real world and reduced it to less than an hour. He also did not have much time to talk with Sierra, but she told him to keep at it and encouraged him to persevere.
It was not until after eleven days of the same tedious tasks and trainings that Smoke felt his recruits were ready. By then his Intimacy with them had grown to 85. He even received notifications of some of them wanting to join his private army. Of course, he declined all of them. He did not want Cynar or Blaise to suspect him.
Once Cynar and Blaise saw the improvement of Smoke's men, they asked Smoke to join his troops on their hunts for sand cheetahs and other monsters. However, Smoke refused as he wanted them to focus on mastering their basics.
Finally, after two weeks, Cynar and Blaise's scouts delivered word of Wertlosvati's whereabouts.
"Faux, ready your men," stated Cynar. "This time, let's end this."
"Alright, but I left something in my room," hurriedly said Smoke.
As he was leaving, Smoke overheard Blaise argue with Cynar.
"Are you really sure about this guy?" asked Blaise. "I mean, Faux's men don't even have combat experience."
"Don't worry about it," assured Cynar. "They might not be great attackers, but I'm sure they'll serve as great support for our main attack force."
"Fine!" retorted Blaise. "What's he doing, heading back inside the den, anyway?"
"Don't you remember Ayert?" reminded Cynar. "Didn't he always do those weird rituals before a big battle? I'm sure Faux is doing something similar."
After Smoke stepped out, Cynar and Blaise's army began heading for Wertlosvati's location. It took them almost two days to reach there, as Smoke's forces were on foot. Yet, they were not worried for the delayed travel time, as Cynar's scouts assured them that the Orks would stay for at least three more days.
Yet, despite their enthusiastic march, Cynar, Blaise, and Smoke stopped one-kilometer away from their prey. One of Cynar's scouts informed him of the latest developments. Alarmed by the news, Cynar himself insisted that the three of them formalize a strategy.
The UrukHai Orks numbered two-thousand strong. Whereas, Cynar and Blaise's OrkElf army numbered four-thousand-two-hundred. The OrkElves might have held the advantage in numbers but the Orks, however, held the superiority in raw power and battle experience. Not only that, the Orks were resting on an open field. The minute they came into view, Cynar was positive that the Orks would blindly charge them.
All three of them were mounted on dirus wolves as they talked about the unforeseen circumstances.
"So, you two understand that the odds are against us?" Cynar asked both Smoke and Blaise.
"I don't have a problem with facing them by myself," began Blaise. "But if we fought under this conditions, I'm afraid we'll lose more than half of our men. Even with most of them injured."
"I'd have to agree," concurred Cynar. "Wertlosvati's life isn't worth this much."
Cynar then turned to Smoke. "I'm afraid we have to wait for a better chance, Faux. Like last time when we had them cornered and they had lesser men."
Smoke strongly shook his head. He knew that it might take them another two weeks if they waited for another chance, and he did not have that kind of luxury.
"Wait, what if I can trap them?" offered Smoke.
"Can it, Faux," retorted Blaise. "Don't you think Ayert tried that already?"
"Yeah, Faux, I'm surprised that you came up with the same idea as Ayert, but that wouldn't work," explained Cynar. "It quickly turned south when the Orks worked together to climb out of the pit. We couldn't properly attack them as only the ones closest to the edge were accessible. In the end, we only made them angrier."
Once again, Smoke shook his head. "I don't mean trap all of them. Only about a third of their forces, two-thirds if we're lucky."
"That way there will still be some leftover, who we can fight, while the others will still be busy trying to get out of the trap," further expounded Smoke.
Cynar and Blaise looked at each other.
"What do you think, Blaise?" asked Cynar.
Blaise scratched the back of his neck. "I hate to admit it, but it does sound like it could work."
The Flame Knight then turned to Smoke. "But are you sure your troops can handle the mightiest of Orks stampeding towards them? We are talking about the UrukHai, here."
"Yes, I'm sure," answered Smoke. "All of them share the same hatred you have for the Orks."
With their strategy ascertained, Cynar and Blaise's OrkElf army calmly marched towards the resting UrukHai.
Their advance picked up dust-clouds, alerting the Orks of their presence. At once, the UrukHai responded as anticipated. All of them blindly charged towards Smoke and the rest of the OrkElves.
Smoke then signaled everybody to stop and hold their ground. All of them were lined up in a wide formation. Smoke's men were on the left side, while Cynar and Blaise's were on the other.
With his Digger's Wand at the ready, Smoke pointed it at the Orks. Patiently, he waited for them to be nearer before unleashing his powers on them.
"Waaarraaaaah!" cried out the mounted Orks, charging at them on top of their dirus wolves.
Yet, before the savage Orks could attack, Smoke dug up a deep trench right under the wolves' feet. Instantly, hundreds of the leading UrukHai and their mounts fell in.
The Orks right after them, stopped dead on their tracks.
"Dabalutir, kim aldabul!" yelled one of the Orks in Orkish.
"What did he say?" Smoke asked Cynar and Blaise.
"He said to leave you alive," answered Cynar.
"It also means that they plan to torture you, instead of killing you," added Blaise.
"That makes sense," said Smoke, nodding his head.
"But what bothers me is that I don't see Wertlosvati anywhere," pointed out Cynar.
"Maybe he's just out in the back?" suggested Blaise.
Then, the Orks charged from both opposite ends of the trench. Yet, not all of the UrukHai started running. Some of them remained and tried to help out the ones who fell in.
As the charging Orks on the left were still huddled. Smoke dug up another trench on the left side, dropping at least four-hundred Orks into his second pit.
Smoke's troops of one-thousand-two-hundred OrkElves faced off against three-hundred UrukHai.
Whereas, Cynar and Blaise's mounted army of almost three-thousand OrkElves clashed with one-thousand-five-hundred Orks. The angered Orks braved the long-spears of the mounted OrkElves. Three to four wooden poles instantly shattered against the green bodies of the mighty UrukHai, as they focused their attacks.
Yet, their broken weapons served their purpose. Thanks to their combined efforts, Cynar and Blaise's men killed at least four-hundred Orks in the initial encounter alone. They drew out their short-swords and braved the melee battle against the UrukHai.
On the opposite side, Smoke kept yelling out commands. "Alpha, cobra strike formation. Bravo, support Alpha with rattler defense. Charlie, engage the Orks on the left wing with viper venom. Delta, hold your boomslang formation."
Smoke had named their battle formations after snakes, as he coated all of their long-spears and short-swords with poison pellets.
The numerous OrkElves scattered like a swarm of flies, but always reformed their formation in less than ten seconds. Their strange movements confused the Orks, allowing them those precious seconds to deliver their deadly strikes.
Despite having entire platoons out to attack, Smoke still designated special OrkElves to play the roles of defenders. Due to this, they were equipped with poison coated short-swords and clay-shields made with his Earth Manipulation.
Smoke's personally trained OrkElves struggled at first, but his constant commands and well-timed supportive earth spikes, helped them get into the groove of fighting with the UrukHai.
The Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta battalions worked independently, but at the same time, also as a whole. Smoke's commands coupled with the OrkElves snappy response to execute, dealt killing blows on the UrukHai in a most efficient manner.
By the time the trapped UrukHais climbed out of the trenches, Smoke's army were barely injured and had finished off their first wave of Orks.
Now, with their boosted morale, gained from the experience of surviving against the UrukHai. They readily welcomed the emerging Orks from the trench. From a safe distance, they stabbed the surfacing Orks with their long-spears, forcing the green monsters to fall back into the deep trench.
After ten minutes, Smoke's OrkElves finished on the Orks on their end and went to support Cynar and Blaise's troops.
The two OrkElf leaders had lost a fourth of their men, and were struggling against the UrukHai.
Mounted on top of his dirus wolf, Smoke led his troops towards Blaise and Cynar.
"Alpha, queue up next to Bravo and take the Orks on the left. Charlie and Delta, do the same on the right side," suddenly yelled out Smoke.
All four platoons executed Smoke's order in less than thirty-seconds.
"Now! Execute Black Mamba!" commanded Smoke.
The shield-bearers of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta were in the lead, while the long-spear wielders attacked from behind them. This simultaneous strike from all four directions huddled the UrukHai into a tight formation.
Smoke then concentrated all of his mana into creating a large dome. It was almost as large as the one Ledur made when they trapped Horrabelle. He encased more than four-hundred Orks inside the air-tight dome.
"Cynar, order your troops to surround the trench. Blaise, have your men finish off the Orks I wasn't able to catch," yelled out Smoke. "Cynar, don't let the Orks climb out."
"Who are you to order us a—" began Blaise, but was quickly interrupted by Cynar.
"Blaise, let's do what he says," reasoned out Cynar.
Smoke nodded at Cynar, silently thanking him for backing him up.
"My dome should hold the ones trapped inside for a while, but I'll make sure that they won't get out," explained Smoke.
He leapt off his dirus wolf, climbed on top of his earth-dome and opened a small hole. He then crushed poison pellets with his hand and dropped them into the dome, sealing it once more.
"Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta, run to the trench and finish off the Orks," commanded Smoke from on top of his dome.
Before the Orks could climb out, they were mercilessly met with long-spears. Smoke observed from above, searching for a place to aid.
Yet, it was clear that the Orks were done for. He then spotted the Ork Commander who let out an order to leave him alive.
Smoke leapt down next to him and bound his legs with earth-shackles. Two thin earth-pillars protruded out from the ground and shackled the Ork's hands as well.
"Where do you think you're going?" asked a grinning Smoke. "I thought you planned to torture me?"
Suddenly, Cynar rode up next to them on his dirus wolf.
"Don't kill him, Faux," ordered Cynar. He then leapt off his mount and choked the Ork with his bare hands.
"Askar Wertlosvati? Dalikar Ishulti Dawon," vehemently said Cynar.
"Ha! Wertlosvati Nakadaganar," answered the Ork. "Walti kawnaw makardakup niyar."
"No!" shouted Cynar and released his hold on the Ork Commander.
With one swift motion, Cynar got out his knife and slit the Ork's throat.
"What happened?" asked a surprised Smoke.
"Wertlosvati already left two days ago," explained Cynar. "He said that my worthless father had been called to some kind of Ork summit."
Smoke and Cynar left the bleeding Ork to die, and rejoined their troops in finishing off the surviving Orks.
After twenty-minutes the field turned red with blood. Smoke canceled out his earth-dome, revealing the items dropped by the trapped UrukHai.
The OrkElves hurriedly began gathering the loot.
While a mounted Smoke was grinning from ear to ear, staring at a pleasant window notification.