Dragon Tooth

From the moment he broke out of the ground, Guk had never felt true joy from the bottom of his heart. Most of the time, he treated everything he saw with anger, indifference, and contempt. But when this terrifying weapon appeared before him, he finally understood what joy was.

"I prepared this for you long ago. Though it was not made by any master craftsman, it is the highest achievement of our civilization's technology."

In human society, it would be difficult to call it a weapon. Though it had the shape of a curved blade, it was nearly two meters long from tip to hilt. Its thickest point along the spine was as thick as two palms put together. If one looked closely at the snow-bright blade, one could see fine rippling patterns across its surface. A huge beast's head was carved into the brass-colored guard, and a translucent bead was set into the end of the hilt, gleaming with multicolored light beneath the sun.

"The latest alloy technology, the latest metalworking techniques. Human hands cannot make a weapon this large, so it had to be repeatedly forged and pressed by machines. But I believe it will be more than enough in your hands... I gave it a name in private: Dragon Tooth, after the most terrifying creature in legend."

"Dragon Tooth. That's a good name."

Grasping the cold hilt in his right hand, Guk gave a light pull and lifted the giant blade from the ground. He had not expected it to be so light. By his past experience, a weapon this huge should have been extremely heavy, yet it felt unexpectedly easy in his hands.

"Good! Good! Good!"

With just a casual swing, the fierce blade wind kicked up clouds of dust, sending chills through the human soldiers around him. If they had been facing such a Beast, probably very few of them would have been able to stand steady.

"I originally wanted to use a gemstone for that decoration, but I could not find one on short notice, so I used quartz instead."

"Me really likes this!"

Guk had not heard a word he said. He was completely immersed in the joy of getting a new weapon, and the heavy giant blade moved as nimbly in his hands as a slender sword.

"Guk, we humans once had a custom. A new weapon ought to be properly washed in blood."

At those words, Guk froze for a few seconds before slapping his forehead.

"Right! How did me not think of that? Wait here!"

He leaped onto the Squiggoth's back, let out a roar, and charged toward the chaotic battlefield while brandishing Dragon Tooth. Behind him stood a group of dumbfounded human soldiers and a smiling Diego.

"What would a dragon that had grown fangs look like..."

On the battlefield, the White Hand Tribe's sudden intervention caught the Red Eye Tribe's boys off guard. They had come to make a profit, only for a gang of vicious newcomers to appear halfway through. The chaos had come too suddenly for them to organize any effective resistance. They either ran around in panic or fought wildly, though some bosses tried to gather their forces again.

"Cai Tou! Follow me! You too! Everybody close in!"

A boss raised his axe as he desperately called his boys together. More than a hundred had already gathered around him, all holding weapons toward the outer perimeter. Even the White Hand Tribe's small number of cavalry could not break up this group.

"In a moment, we'll show these gits something! Bows! Where are the bows?"

"Here, boss!"

More than a dozen boys who used bows were selected. They would be the first step of the counterattack, but before they could begin, some boys suddenly started shouting.

"Look! What's that!"

"White, white!"

The boss looked in the direction they pointed and saw a white Ork riding a massive Squiggoth, holding an impossibly huge blade as he crushed his way toward them.

"Shoot him! Kill him! Quick!!!"

A powerful sense of danger made the boss roar. The boys with bows hurriedly nocked their arrows and fired.

Waaagh!!!!!!!

The enormous roar made every boy present tremble. Terrifying Oppression descended upon the hearts of all the Orks. Even the boys firing arrows were startled, and the arrows they loosed were blasted away by the tremendous soundwave.

"Hold the line!! Charge together!!!!!"

Forcing down the fear in his heart, the boss took the lead and raised his weapon against the terrifying white Ork. The other boys followed timidly behind him.

"Ahhh!!"

Only when he was right in front of him did the boss realize he had made a terrible mistake. This fellow was even more terrifying than he looked. A huge shadow completely enveloped him, and those reddish eyes nearly robbed him of all courage. Yet he still screamed and raised his weapon, if only to avoid embarrassing himself before his boys.

"Waaah!!!!!!!!!"

His vision blurred. Before he could understand what had happened, a tremendous force flung his entire body into the air. While airborne, he even saw the lower half of his body still standing on the ground, along with the sight of his boys being torn apart...

"Ha ha ha!!! This feels good!! Now this is what fun feels like!!!"

Guk had never felt so exhilarated. The utterly unrestrained experience of killing was addictive. Every swing of his blade was so smooth, and the warmth of blood seemed to travel through the weapon into his hands. Roars and screams swept past his ears, while harvesting lives was as simple as eating.

He had truly fallen in love with the feeling.

"Quick! Run!"

Guk was having a wonderful time, but the Red Eye Tribe's boys were not. That white bastard deliberately sought out places where boys were gathered, then plunged right in, stirring up a bloody storm of severed limbs and torn flesh. That giant blade truly seemed like the fang of an evil dragon, ripping and shredding everything it encountered.

The boys broke down. No Ork was willing to gather together anymore. They could no longer endure such a Slaughter, and their already loose formation completely fell apart.

"Come back! You stupid gits!!"

Bolba felt that he was unbelievably unlucky today. He had been watching this group of humans for a long time and had only found a chance to surround them while the other bosses were not paying attention, intending to keep the prize all to himself. He had not expected such a group of unfamiliar fellows to suddenly appear, and he had never seen that White Hand symbol before.

"Boss! Me thinks we should retreat!"

"Retreat my arse! We got so many, and they got so few! Hurry up and gather everyone to kill them!"

Bolba angrily jumped up on the cart and began pounding his war drum again, but this time, not many boys answered him.

"Cowards! A bunch of cowards!!"

"Boss! Bad news! That white one is coming! Me is leaving first!"

"What white—"

Bolba turned his head and saw clouds of blood mist rising continuously among the fleeing mob. Amid the wreckage flying through the air, a fang-like giant blade shimmered with bloody light beneath the setting sun.

"Damn it!!! Move, move, move!!!"

Sensing that things had gone badly wrong, Bolba immediately turned his cart around to flee. But when he turned, he found the Ork cavalry closing in on him as well. He seemed to have no way out.

"Ahhh! Forget it! Whoever you are!"

Bolba's blood boiled, and he drove his cart toward the direction the crowd was fleeing. Facing one was better than facing a whole group. At least he still had a chance.

"Waaahhh!! Me'll ram you to death!"

The boys scattered aside, and Bolba finally saw the mad killer: a white freak. Howling, he swung his whip to lash the Squig, trying to knock down the fellow blocking his way. But he clearly did not know what had happened to the last fellow who tried that...

"Come on!"

Laughing loudly, Guk accelerated to meet him. More than ten meters before the collision, he violently yanked the reins, steering the Squiggoth sharply to the left, then raised his blade and swung it with the motion.

"Waaah waaah waaah!!!!"

In an instant, Bolba flew off the war cart. Guk's strike not only sliced the cart-pulling Squig into two pieces, but also chopped the war cart straight into parts. Before such a sharp blade, everything became a joke, and Bolba, unable to dodge in time, lost both his feet as well.

"No! Wait... Ah!"

As he struggled to rise from the ground, a sturdy spear lifted him into the air. The strike that pierced straight through his heart left him unable to speak again.

"What was that."

Green Tooth muttered as he forcefully flung the corpse aside. He lowered his head and touched the thing beneath him called a saddle. Guk had made One-Ear rush to produce it before their departure. It was only crudely assembled from wood, but after riding on it, Green Tooth found it remarkably convenient in battle. Many movements that had previously been difficult became easy, which was why the White Hand Tribe's cavalry could reap the Red Eye Tribe's boys so effortlessly.

"Boss! Hurry and call the big boss! Tell him to stop chasing them! If he keeps going, he'll get too far away!"

The words of the boy beside him brought Green Tooth back to his senses. He looked back and found Guk still laughing wildly as he pursued and killed the fleeing boys. To be honest, even Green Tooth found that laughter rather frightening.

"Big boss! Big boss!"

Guk, who was killing to his heart's content, heard the familiar shouting and stopped. Turning around, he saw Green Tooth and Turok racing toward him. Without realizing it, he had already moved far away from the original battlefield, and the trail of shattered corpses showed the path he had taken.

"It's getting dark!"

"Me knows. Back we go!"

Leaving some boys behind to deal with the battlefield, Guk led the boys and carts back to Diego's side. At that moment, Diego was saying farewell to the officer.

"...When you return, tell Yusuf everything you saw today exactly as it happened. Also, you have fought the Orks and observed their methods of battle. You will fight them again in the future. Teach these experiences to the new recruits. Do not waste them on meaningless boasting in taverns."

"I will, sir."

The officer nodded, then glanced at Guk, who was walking over. After hesitating for several seconds, he finally spoke what was in his heart.

"But sir, will we need to fight him?"

"Perhaps we will, perhaps we will not. But you must prepare for the worst. Not just you. All of us must."

"Understood."

"I know that facing such terrifying creatures requires great courage, but we have no way back. Behind us stand our country and our people. Anyone can retreat, except you and me."

"Yes, sir!"

The officer gave Diego a firm salute, then began directing the soldiers to form ranks. At last, they could leave this terrifying place.

"Diego, do all of you fight with this weapon?"

But Guk suddenly stopped the group. He seized a rifle slung across one soldier's back, leaving the soldier looking terrified and unsure what to do.

"Yes."

Diego had expected Guk to ask such a question, so there was no surprise on his face. He raised a hand to signal the officer not to be nervous.

"Too small, and not powerful enough. Can't fight proper with this. Me says you should learn how to use blades."

Though his tone was casual, Guk's eyes never left the rifle. He wanted to understand the secrets of this weapon. He had arrived long before the humans and Orks began fighting and had watched for quite some time. Its power was not actually that great, but if its size were enlarged...

"Hehe, there's nothing we can do. We are not as strong as you, so we can only use weapons like these. It is because of gunpowder."

"Gunpowder? That weird smell?"

Guk sniffed the air. A slightly pungent scent lingered within it, one he could occasionally smell on Diego as well.

"It is a kind of... fuel that pushes bullets out of the barrel. It can only be found in places where it snows, and there is very little of it. Only soldiers can use it, so we cannot make them very large."

Diego naturally understood what Guk was thinking and chose to lie. This was the greatest advantage humanity could retain. No matter what, the Orks could not be allowed to learn of it.

"So that's how it is. Me thinks this thing is useless."

Releasing the rifle, Guk lost interest in the weapon. He had never even heard of snow, so such places must be very far away. Its scarcity made it even more meaningless. Among Orks, numbers were the foundation of everything.

"Yes, which is why we need friends like you."

"That's right, you're me friend now! Ha ha! Boys, load up all the stuff! We're going back with our friends to have a good drink!"