106. The Battle of Sigma Ustali, Forger of Worlds (4)

Heavy footsteps rang out in the corridor, followed by a gunshot. An Orc that had thought itself clever and set an ambush around the corner had half its body blown apart along with the wall. It collapsed to the floor, howling.

But the owner of those footsteps had no intention of finishing it off. He merely walked past it coldly and cast it a contemptuous glance.

Frank had no intention of sneaking. As everyone knew, stealth came in two forms. The first was infiltration in the true sense, leaving no trace for anyone to discover. He preferred the second.

"A small Orc settlement lies two hundred meters straight ahead on the left. Please prepare yourself."

The Glyph Array reminded him gently over the internal comms channel. Frank gave no outward reaction, but silently quickened his pace. He took position without a sound and carefully observed them through the magnification function of his goggles.

This group of Orcs looked as if they came from the same clan. They had all smeared two crossed streaks of red paint on their right shoulders. The Glyph Array began searching its database for relevant information, but found nothing.

Was it a minor clan, or had everyone who had encountered them died, leaving no record behind?

Frank did not know, but he had already taken out his short full-auto Bolter for charging. He adjusted it to three-round burst mode, then took a flashbang from his belt.

Two seconds later, a violent flash exploded among the Orcs. Only a small number of Orcs wearing goggles stolen from who knew where were spared; most of the Orcs immediately clutched their eyes in pain and roared.

But in this situation, the more noise they made, the faster they died.

The Glyph Array automatically took control of the lighting in