Chapter 353 Cross
"You must be fucking kidding me! The King wants us to accompany him into the capital just because Green Fire is missing? What the hell? What about my troops?!" Purple Thunder banged on the marble table. Purplish thunder sparks flew around as the table broke into pieces, dirtying the floor.
"That is not my decision. I am just relaying the orders from the King." Oku showed a troubled face as he leaned on the wall of the meeting room, rubbing his temple. He had already predicted that the Avatars of Syldra and Shiva would not be happy about the change of plans.
"The King's decision is absolute." Yellow Ice said reluctantly as he rescued his drink before Purple Thunder destroyed the table right beside them.
"Screw you. Your fleet has yet to suffer a real setback in this whole campaign. Do not come crying to me when the goblins beat the crap of your army." Purple Thunder retorted back angrily. "I refuse to obey the orders of the King. Oku, you have a way to contact the Orc mages in the Thunder Army, right? Make them prepare a portal for me. I am going to assist my army no matter what."
"But, that would be going directly against the King's or-" Oku was suddenly interrupted by Purple Thunder grabbing onto Oku's shirt and bringing it up towards Purple Thunder's face. His fists were emitting a short miniature burst of lightning and Oku could feel his body to go a little numb despite his large stature.
"No! Fucking!! Buts!!! My army is suffering from significant losses because I am not there to guide them. And WHY?!?! Because I am forced to stay in this stupid castle! Just to make it seem as if we have the advantage through the element of surprise? Don't piss me off. Since when have we Orcs became as expendable as goblins? Fuck him and his royal orders!!!" Purple Thunder threw Oku to the wall and it cracked a little though his act did little to faze the Right Hand of the King. Purple Thunder's breaths were heavy and he was pacing around the room angrily until he remembered something.
"You owe me one… or have you already forgotten, Oku? I am responsible for you becoming his Right Hand. What do you think would happen if his Majesty finds out more about that 'incident'." Purple Thunder threatened Oku by pointing his finger at his face. After a couple of seconds of staring into each other's eyes, the Right Hand sighed.
"Do as you wish. However, we are even after this." Oku held onto Purple Thunder's arm and politely pushed them away.
"You better keep that damn mouth shut. Yellow Ice. Oku, just report to that useless king that I had already left the scene before the orders reached me. That should buy you some…I don't know forgiveness points from the King? That is if he still has his heart." Purple Thunder took his double edged two handed axe that was leaning on the wall and followed Oku to contact the Orc mages. But not before he slammed the door of the meeting room.
"You think I want my men to die meaningless? The King is insane and all of us in the loop can see it. In hindsight, he should have stopped after the 'failed' Kingslayer Ambush. So what if we did not get them all? Just occupying the other regions would have already boosted our economy at least two fold in the long run." Yellow Ice thought to himself. Unlike the other Avatars, Yellow Ice was a learned man. He knew how to fight and he knew what was stupid and what was right.
Not to mention, he was the previous spymaster for the King before he was cut down by Hamu. To think that he had upheaved the former Mad King to have a crazier one sitting on the throne. Judging from the current situation, Yellow Ice really felt that the war they were currently fighting was a very stupid one which they could not back out in time.
Even if they were to win it by following the new orders, it would be by sacrificing a majority of their main armies. The ratio of orcs to goblin death was already so skewed against them that Yellow Ice believed the orcs should have stopped after the attack at the Northern Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu had been pushed back even if they still think they had a chance after the Kingslayer Ambush.
"If only those humanoids were not present…I've never seen nor read about them before. And those humanoids we captured had no knowledge of a race that wears weird animals as half masks. Even assuming they're tribal by nature, the surviving orcs reported that they were ruthless, strong and powerful. " Yellow Ice finished his drink and placed it by the broken remains of the marble table.
"How can it be possible for them to have hidden so long if they are so mighty? Some of the orc survivors even reported that those humanoids fought evenly in a one on one duel against our seasoned Orc Officer who has years of battle experience under their belt. Something doesn't feel right about this whole war." Yellow Ice continued his thoughts as he walked out of the room and stared at the garden from the balcony.
"It feels as if the humanoids purposely sided with the weak goblins against the Orcs. Meanwhile, reports also show that the humans continue to abstain from interfering with the battle…" Yellow Ice remembered the reports of the human spies who decided to work for the orcs. Those greedy creatures did not care for their race as long as their pockets would fill up.
"Technology wise, the goblins should be inferior…but ever since the Kingslayer Ambush, the spies reported a significant increase of lost tech artefacts being used. There is no way they could have hidden these things and they were not even the same tech that we found on that island." Yellow Ice saw a few orcs saluting at him from afar when they caught a glimpse of him. He nodded back in acknowledgement.
"Wooden sticks that shot out fire which worked similar to large cannons, metal carriages that required no mounts to drag them, slick cannons that were more effective than the largest cannons that we were using. They seem even more advanced than what we painstakingly build…" Yellow Ice sighed.
"Wait…the Kingslayer Ambush. Didn't Red Hurricane blame a half masked humanoid who assisted the goblins, for his failures? Yes, I remember now and he said that man appeared at the same time with the three generals' goblins! " Yellow Ice felt he might have the missing link for this particular war.
"The goblin sons who were supposedly kidnapped by the humans was with that masked humanoid… So it should be safe to assume that the sons somehow are the reason for that alliance now…" Yellow Ice suddenly had an epiphany and hurried to his office from the meeting quarters he was in.
He quickly ruffled through the archive reports he had kept and realised he was right. "Cross. Come out. I know you are here right now." Yellow Ice echoed in his empty room and suddenly a goblin shadow emerged from the corner.
"Yes, Sir Yellow Ice." The one eyed goblin knelt in front of him as Yellow Ice continued to go through the report.
"You were at the scene when it happened, am I correct? You reported failing in assassinating the three goblin generals' sons yourself." Yellow Ice remembered how the Orcs had purposely brainwashed and trained a group of goblins to be their spies and made them carried out a specific assassination.
The assassination of Piercestriker, Slashreaver and Ripcaller.
It was meant to take place a day later when the sons of the Three Generals attended the training war games exercise for the very first time. It was supposed to look like an accident.
But the orc affiliated goblins purposely made friends with the duty guards so they could exchange guard duties if required. The guards were lax with their security protocol and the treacherous goblins managed to substitute them. They felt that if they could push the timetable up, the faster they could escape from the exercise and not be suspected by other goblins.
The 'guard' goblins pretended to know the training exercise area well and told the sons there was a giant cliff with a deep lake as they were asking if there was anything more exciting to do than the exercise they were undergoing. The goblin generals' sons realised they could do some cliff diving and the trio happily bribed the guards to take them there which they readily agreed.
Everything was in place, The orcs were also happy that opportunity presented themselves early and quickened the assassination timetable. The accident was ready to take place as they went off course during a break towards the direction of the cliff sides.
Cross's teammates personally distracted the other guards on duty which Cross thought it was proceeding better than expected…until a human entered the woods out of nowhere and killed the goblin general's sons. And just as quick as he appeared he was gone the next moment. Unfortunately the same was true for the corpses of the goblins.
Cross was at a dilemma. There were no bodies to show and he could not report empty handed to the Orcs who were waiting at the cliffside for the corpses. Neither could he return to the goblins and explain why they left the safe zone. Even if they were to believe him that a human killed the goblins, he would have most likely been found out as a spy. A short while later his compatriots came to the scene seeing Cross stunned.
He tried to explain it to his teammates and they ultimately decided to try to reason with the orcs. The Orcs, however, were unable to enter the scene to verify anything as the goblin mages could discover their tracks. To avoid exposing everybody, the Orcs decided to provide Cross with an alibi… by killing Cross's teammates and merely leaving Cross alive. (After all, to the orcs, they were expendable)
Afterwards, the orcs cleared their tracks as much as possible and asked an Orc mage to teleport the dead bodies to the place where Cross encountered the human. Meanwhile, they brought Cross back alive to deliver the message to their King. Unfortunately only Yellow Ice being a seasoned spymaster felt he was telling the truth despite all the accusation and evidence being pinned on him.
As the King was about to order his execution, Yellow Ice interfered stating he had methods to make Cross tell the truth. The enraged King Hamu was sane enough to listen to the Avatar. Yellow Ice suggested casting an old spell from the Orc Royals to learn about the truth of the matter. He reminded King Hamu that there was such a spell, but the King did not remember the specifics too well.
Instead of looking it up and going through it the correct way, the impatient Orc King simply gorged out an eyeball from Cross and initiated the All Seeing magic spell. Although the imagery was blurred, possibly due to the incorrect steps taken to cast the spell, there was no doubt that in the shown memories of Cross that there was a human silhouette killing the goblin sons.
Hence, Cross was spared.
The Goblin managed to survive the ordeal and thanked Yellow Ice for beliving in him. Yellow Ice then decided to take him in as his guard as a spur of the moment decision. Till then, Cross quietly served Yellow Ice thankful for saving his life…in some way or another.
"What if I were to tell you…a humanoid was seen with the reappearance of the three sons that you thought were dead, being stronger than before. What would your conjunction be?" Yellow Ice asked Cross.
"I'd not have any idea at all how that would be possible. Humans would definitely not side with the goblins… And I clearly saw the goblin sons died in front of my eyes." Cross replied with his head down.
"But its true right? You heard reports of the goblin sons resurfaced again. Perhaps, they were not exactly dead when they were taken. Perhaps, the goblins knew about the assassination all along and decided to make a fool out of the assassins by allying with humanoids?" Yellow Ice said and Cross was dumbfounded for a moment.
"That, I jest. But what if I were to tell you, I wish to become the next Orc King. Would you be interested in serving me as my Right Hand?" Yellow Ice asked with a smirk in his face. Cross hesitated for a while, but he guessed Yellow Ice knew about his unsurprising hatred against the King after what he did.
"If you want me to kill the King, I will gladly do so. At the very least, I can know that I died trying." Cross answered and Yellow Ice laughed.
"Oh my. Such violent tendencies! I might have to report you, Cross for being so disloyal to the throne. Or perhaps I should deal the blow myself!" Yellow Ice walked towards his office doors to close it and cast an acoustic barrier on his office. Cross had his hand at the crossbow grip and trigger in case Yellow Ice was not joking at all.
"Joking aside there is one thing in your statement that you have to amend, Cross. WE will kill the King together. After everything, it should not be too hard to convince the Orcs, that the son has followed in the footsteps of his deranged father." Yellow Ice smiled as he remembered the face of the Mad King since he served the previous king before. Even if Hamu did not show the same outward signs as his predecessor, his actions were questionable enough. And everyone should understand how someone like that needed to be put down like a sick dog if the Orc Kingdom wished to survive long term.
And If Yellow Ice were to profit at the end, who was he to say no to that?
———————–
"Holy shit!" Abdul nearly scared himself to bits when he was teleported into a plane with the others. Gupta and Ren Wei were equally terrified but their expression was more controlled than Abdul's.
"Morning there, little Giraffe. Accompanying your father this time?" Captain Bai saw Jing Ru who was secretly sniggering at the older folks and passed her four rings. She knew what the rings were supposed to do and gave a summary to the policemen.
"Since we will need to work as a team, mind telling me about your cultivation styles and your weapons?" Jing Ru asked and Abdul was the first to answer.
"Rakish Rhino." Abdul said as he brought out a six barrel rotary Gatling machine gun also widely known as the minigun. It was being accompanied by a metallic backpack from his storage ring which made Jing Ru's jaw drop. "Ahahaha! This is not really my main weapon, but this is what I always used when we went out for dungeon supplier runs back when we were younger. They made me the tank of the group if you get what I mean."
Jing Ru then noticed Abdul's natural large build. Even without his hobby as a bodybuilder, the towering stature made him a natural choice for a tank. Of course, it also helped carry that massive firepower around.
"Exculpatory Elephant. But my weapon is not as crazy as Abdul's." Gupta took out his weapon and it was a Mossberg 900 series Shotgun with a few customised modules attached to it. Notably, a customised fast reloading mechanism and a long round tube magazine extension underneath the shotgun barrel. There was a shotgun shell holder at the buttstock too. He even placed a customised bayonet at the tip of the shotgun extension tube which he had further enhanced with strength inscriptions to withstand impact so that his magazine extension will not break.
"I was honestly amazed that the store was able to replicate my little toy with the customised modules attached so fast, even after I told them it would be difficult to remove. It did not even take them a whole minute after they took the whole gun for inspection. I had already prepared myself to switch for my old modules on the air shotgun which would be a hassle." Gupta exclaimed as he looked at the live ammunition model.
"Only to suddenly get the gun thrown at me. The exact same replica with live ammunition. Even the inscriptions were all there. This shop's reputation for providing top notch quality care for the customers really is justified." Gupta boasted with glee.
"Boss Jin does care for his customers and caters to our needs. For example, this shirt, pants and even boots were from his shop, and they were all inscribed with at least a Grade 3 defence inscription." Jing Ru bragged as she twirled around like a little girl for Gupta to see.
"Looks like you are very familiar with his shop. I am just happy that I was able to buy the live ammunition with cash and not medals. With no bullets to shoot, I'd have been forced to use my weapon as a giant club, hahaha!" Abdul joked as the System had allowed the newcomers to buy the live ammunition with real life cash.
The accommodation for the weapons exchange was something Another Jin had suggested and was gladly accepted by the System. Mainly because the ideas behind some of those customised designs were great to copy.
"You may be surprised but Jing Ru is actually a veteran in his dungeon store. My little girl scored a few First Clear runs before. So if she ever gives you an order, you better listen!" Ren Wei bragged with a chuckle and his two brothers saluted to Jing Ru. "Mdm, Yes, Mdm!"
Jing Ru giggled a bit then realised Gupta's belt was filled with shotgun shells and even a side waist plate that carried customised stick loaders which she had seen being used in air rifle competitions before for fast reloadings. Gupta noticed her look and asked if she knew about any of this.
"Ah…a fellow air rifle enthusiast, and here I thought Ren Wei trained you on guns because it was easier for him to do so." Gupta commented which made Ren Wei threw a loaded magazine clip at his head.
"Nahhh! Dad's not that mean. He allowed me to choose what I want. Besides, he's a very good teacher even if his attendance at home maybe lacking." Jing Ru teased her father a bit as she picked up the loaded magazine and threw it back at Ren Wei. All he could do was catch it and not blame her. Gupta secretly whispered a 'Nice job! to her while Ren Wei was not looking.
"Okay, fellow cultivators. Enough talk for now. The party is beginning. This is your current mission and it will continue to take up every ticket you own until the event is over. If you wish to stop anytime before your current ticket expires, just hit the exit button in your Pandamonium app." Captain Bai said briefly and everyone understood before he showed them the Gob Gob Kingdom map.
"Usually, we would send newcomers to the Northern Region but seeing that you are accompanied by a Pandawan it would be a less than ideal choice for Jing Ru. So in your case, we've decided to send you lot to the Western Region where she is sorely needed. It is also because we deemed that your cultivation grade is high enough, so we are entrusting you guys to be able to fend of yourself." Captain Bai explained as he zoomed in the area.
"We do not have too much intel about the orcs but what little we learned makes us believe that they will be attacking anytime now. Maybe by the time this plane fly over the battlefield, it would have already started. If not, I'd advise you to take your time to survey the surroundings and take the best spot to secure the defence of the area. " Captain Bai advised.
"Oh my god, looks like an old school coastal defence kind of scenario. Feels like Normandy." Gupta took a look at the console screen and commented.
"You are not wrong, Boss Jin and the goblins had created a similar scenario and took Normandy as inspiration. The goal was to allow you guys to tide over the attacks. Of course, with fewer problems than the Germans were facing. Our back is quite secured according to Intel but do not be surprised if Orcs come from behind too. Anything can happen." Captain Bai smirked as he warned them.
"Also just for this scenario, we have added some more option after some feedback. If you need extra ammunition or resources, dial up the emergency call button via the Pandamonium App. You can phone call or video call, your choice. The red Pandas NPCs will be answering you. As I notice some of you do not have medals, the raid points that you earn along the way can be used to purchase additional resources. If you lack the required points, it will be on real cash credit until the end of the raid. " Captain Bai said but he suddenly came nearer to the group and his voice became more gentle.
"However, because this is a relative fair business, we have capped the credit to 700 Yuan (Approx 100 USD). You can put in more cash if you want but a voice authorisation with a double confirmation is required. Once you agree you'll be allowed to buy more resources or even guns if needed." Captain Bai gave a wide smile before he stepped back and changed into his angry look again.
"That's rather friendly," Gupta noted. He purposely took out 3000 Yuan (Approx 450 USD) from the alternate police budget for this particular raid and felt that it might not even be enough. "Oh well, that Triad Boss did 'sponsor' us with suitcases loads of money…should not be a problem." He remembered the detective couple emphasised that there was no need to be stingy when it came to training at Dungeons and Pandas. As long as they remembered to get a receipt which was weird to Gupta since it's always the other way around. However, the freedom to make purchases without having to fill out tons of forms was a welcome change.
"Heh, maybe they are trying to catch some corrupt cops." Abdul casually remarked when Gupta explained to him previously when he showed him the cash.
"In any case, we are arriving soon. I am sorry, Pandawan Jing Ru. If you're wondering, the monsters who usually act as guardians won't be able to participate in the battle. But no worries, some are already on standby in the Western Region. They will act as the cultivators' proxies if needed." Captain Bai remarked which only Jing Ru understood.
"Alright! Saddle up! The landing pod's over there!" Captain Bai ordered as he pushed the red big button at the side of the plane and the cargo backdoor began to open. The Veteran Police Squad had secured their seatbelts and was ready to leave the plane.