The Second WAAAGH (4)

After such a long battle, Guk had long since run out of throwing spears. His sword had been "stuck" in some unlucky bastard's forehead who knew where. He could only use whatever he picked up. Great axes shattered, spears snapped, cleavers broke—he had changed weapons no fewer than ten times on his way here. The layers upon layers of corpses behind him proclaimed his brutality and strength.

Green arcs of electricity flickered in his bloodshot eyes. This was the first time he had used this power before the boyz. Though Guk did not think of himself as one of the Weirdboyz, as the battle grew fiercer, an uncontrollable force erupted from his mind. It was as if he could hear every boy's roar—their pain, their joy, their desires.

For a moment, Guk nearly went mad. He could seemingly hear his own brain boiling, but in the end, he endured it and vented that power in a very simple way.

The result was that every boy from the White Hand Tribe present began to glow with clusters of faint green light. Their aching limbs became nimble, their spent strength returned to their bodies, and their wavering wills became as hard as stone. Their roars were no longer meaningless sounds, but a unified battle cry.

"Guk! Guk!"

They regrouped beneath that battered banner. Armored boyz led the way, with the others close behind, forming a sharp spearhead that punched through layer after layer of the Bloodtooth Tribe's formations. Nothing else mattered to them anymore. Enemies were scraps that could be crushed with ease. Life was merely something to toss aside. There was only that shadow.

The shadow. All the boyz affected by Guk's power suffered severe hallucinations. Their boss had become incomparably huge, transformed into a white giant sweeping aside everything before him.

"Stop them!! Kill them!!"

The moment that roar rang out, a chill shot from Black Husband's tailbone to his brain. His entire body trembled. All his courage and fighting spirit scattered with the wind. Then came overwhelming fury. He refused to admit that he had been frightened, and began concealing his cowardice with angry roars.

"Boss! I reckon we should first..."

An armored boss ran from the battle line to Black Husband, panting as he tried to explain his intentions, completely failing to notice that Black Husband had picked up his great axe...

"...those savages are too fierce, we gotta use—WAAAGH!!!!!"

Before he could finish, the axe blade split open his skull. Brain matter mixed with blood burst out, scattering everywhere.

"Anyone who runs, I'll kill him!!!!!!!!!!!!"

After fiercely swinging his axe, Black Husband returned to his war wagon. He had once planned to deal with Guk himself, but he no longer had such thoughts.

"Idea Bro! Gather all the Big Boom-Booms! Shoot that white freak dead!"

"Boss! The boyz are packed too close together!"

Black Husband yanked Idea Bro over, seized him by the throat, and roared loudly.

"When I tell you to shoot, you shoot!"

"Y-yes, Boss!"

The Bloodtooth Tribe's boyz were struggling to maintain their battle line. Armored boyz and bosses led the resistance against the White Hand Tribe's charge. Their weapons and armor were decent enough, but these savages before them were simply mad beyond belief. If they lost their legs, they propped themselves up with their hands and lunged forward. If they lost their hands, they bit with their teeth. Unless their heads were cut off, these deathless monsters could take countless lives with simple weapons.

"Boyz, hold steady! They're looking for a proper fight! You idiots watch over there... furballs, you thickheads, over there! See? I told you they'd circle around from that side! Get up, Dull Nose, hurry! A little flesh wound can't hold you back! What's wrong with you now? Snot Ghost's head fell off? Stop talking rubbish, he's fooling you! Look... hmm, all right, it really did."

The sounds of battle grew ever more intense. The Bloodtooth Tribe's bosses encouraged the boyz with every filthy word they knew, but a sudden rain of short spears left them stunned. Those spears had not come from the front.

They had come from behind them.

"Fuck you! Take one of these, then another, and have a kick too! Hahaha! Nicely done!"

Having just hacked down a savage waving a wooden club, an armored boss was about to brag to his mate beside him when he discovered the other boy was already dead, a short spear buried in the back of his head.

"Baldy? Baldy? Don't just lie there, get up! Otherwise you'll miss all the fun."

The sudden attack threw the Bloodtooth Tribe's battle line into utter chaos. Confusion and panic began spreading. Guk seized the opportunity, raising the spear in his hand high. A huge head was still impaled on its tip.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

"Guk! Guk! Guk!"

The boyz answered him with fanatical cries. The formation accelerated once more, a surging flood crushing wave after wave of enemies. By the end, Guk and his boyz were practically pushing the Bloodtooth Tribe's boyz forward as they advanced.

"Big Cleaver! Where's the banner? Hold it high!! Follow me!"

Suddenly, Guk realized Big Cleaver, who had been following him all along, had gone silent. He turned and saw the boy already kneeling on the ground, a short spear through his throat and another embedded in his belly. Covered in wounds, he struggled to extend the hand clutching the banner toward Guk. His blood-bubbling mouth opened and closed, yet only hoarse, rasping breaths emerged.

"You... bastard!"

Guk's fury flared. He reached for the war banner, but suddenly sensed something flying toward him. He immediately blocked with his spear and knocked the short spear away, but another followed at once. He stretched out a hand and caught it precisely, yet there was no way for him to evade the third.

"Yah!"

The short spear slipped through a broken gap at the side of his armor and plunged straight into Guk's waist. At least ten short spears had been fired at him in that volley, but only one found its mark.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

Crooked Mouth no longer breathed. Grak rushed over and took the banner. He glanced at Guk, half-kneeling on the ground, then abruptly threw away his weapon, raised the red banner with both hands, and charged after letting out a roar.

"Bastards!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The arcs in Guk's eyes gradually faded. He could feel that the short spear had likely pierced some of his internal organs. He gripped its shaft tightly and tried to pull it out, but the searing pain made all strength drain from his body.

"Go, go, go!! You useless gits!! All together!!"

Seeing that the invincible white monster had been brought down, Black Husband immediately grew excited. He could practically see himself chopping off the other's head while the entire tribe cheered for him, every boy looking at him, their boss, with worship in their eyes.

"Quick! Charge over there!!"

He could no longer suppress that urge. He fiercely smacked the head of the boy driving his wagon, and the massive war wagon immediately surged forward, crushing every boy in its path as it sped straight toward Guk.

"Stop him!!!!"

Grak quickly rushed between Guk and Black Husband, trying to organize the boyz into a wall of flesh to shield Guk.

"Move!"

Guk looked up at the war wagon rampaging through the crowd and let out a low roar. Grak turned to him in confusion.

"I said move aside!! I can deal with weaklings like this!"

Guk rose to his feet, his left hand clamped tightly around the spear shaft. He took a deep breath, then yanked hard.

"Kill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Indescribable agony swept through Guk's entire body. Every muscle trembled, and even his roar shook with pain, but he forcibly pulled the short spear out. The price was enormous, of course. Along with the spear came not only thick blood, but bits of torn flesh from his insides.

"Boss! I'm convinced!"

Grak was stunned by the sight. When he felt a destructive aura radiating from Guk, his legs involuntarily carried him out of the other's line of sight—and that line led directly to Black Husband, who was crushing his way forward.

"Charge! Charge! Crush him to death!!!!"

Black Husband held his axe high, roaring madly as spittle sprayed all over the boy beside him. He was nearly insane. That monster had stood up again! Why could it still stand? Was its body full of rocks?

Black Husband could not understand, nor did he want to. He only knew that he would definitely kill it, just like he had killed that Bloodtooth boss.

Guk did not move. He still gripped that short spear. Blood had completely dyed his lower body red. The contempt in his eyes made the other boyz think he was not facing a thundering war wagon, but a Snotling riding a Squig.

Closer and closer. Black Husband could even make out Guk's blood-smeared face and those cold, gleaming eyes...

Whoosh~!

"WAAAGH!!"

Before Black Husband could understand what had happened, the boy driving his wagon screamed and flew backward. A short spear was buried deep in his chest, nearly piercing straight through him.

"Aaahhh!! I'll stomp you flat, you freak!!!"

The intense sense of danger nearly drove Black Husband mad. He raised his whip and savagely lashed the Squigs pulling the wagon. Chaotic images tangled in his mind. Death and victory alike left him unable to control himself.

"WAAAAAAAGH!!"

"Waaagh!!!!"

At this moment, the leaders of both tribes placed everything on the gambling table. Guk did not dodge. Instead, he charged toward his opponent, each step leaving a deep footprint in the ground.

One step! Two steps! Three steps!

Just as when he had slaughtered the Harpies, Guk took a brief run-up and suddenly leaped, like a soaring white Big Bird. For an instant, gravity lost its proper hold over him.

"Shoot him! Shoot him! Get out of the way!!"

The instant Guk stood up, Idea Bro sensed something was terribly wrong. He jumped about in panic. Once the boyz had drawn the bowstrings tight again, he shoved them aside, braced a Big Boom-Boom himself, and aimed at Guk just as he was about to leap.

With a bang, the Big Boom-Boom did not fire a short spear. Instead, it was struck by an invisible sledgehammer, returning to a pile of parts in the blink of an eye. Several large fragments smashed Idea Bro's face bloody. Before he lost consciousness, all he saw was that white figure soaring high...

"Is he really an Ork?"

Black Husband was dumbfounded as well. His muddled brain could no longer think any further. In the instant Guk passed over the Squigs, his fist about to kiss Black Husband's big face, that was his only simple thought. He did not even remember to bring down his raised axe.

"WAAAGH!"

The next moment, bloody teeth and a great axe flew through the air. Black Husband wailed as he fell from the wagon and slammed heavily into the ground.

Guk slowly walked toward him. Black Husband sensed him and struggled to stand, but the tremendous ringing deep in his ears robbed him of all balance, leaving him unable to rise no matter what he did.

"Mm! Cough, cough!"

Suddenly, Black Husband felt a pair of sticky palms wrap around his head, then his entire body was lifted into the air. He immediately grabbed the other's wrists and tried to pry them apart, but they were like cast iron. No matter how hard he struggled, they would not budge.

"What's your name?"

A deep voice drifted into his ears. Black Husband kicked his legs and painfully forced out several words.

"You bastard!"

"Good."

An intense pressure closed in from both sides of his head. Black Husband realized what was happening and struggled even more frantically. He pounded the other's arms with all his strength, his legs kicking wildly up and down as he tried to get back on the ground.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!!"

The pressure grew stronger and stronger. He could even hear his bones slowly cracking. Warm fluid kept flowing from the corners of his eyes, his nose, and his mouth. He began screaming, but his boyz did not come to save him...

Crack!

That was the last sound Black Husband heard. After that, he could feel nothing at all.