Hidden Thread

Several days had passed since they drilled up from underground. Guk had the boyz widen the opening into a great gate and forcibly carve a stairway into the steep rock wall. Fortunately, the White Hand Tribe's technical skills had improved rapidly during this time, so such a project did not take too long.

By coincidence, Guk's cumbersome and exhausting suit of armor was finally finished. Because Diego had run off halfway through, many of the original designs could not be carried out. Only after all the Mekboyz racked their brains did they barely come up with an acceptable solution. Thus, a suit of steel armor weighing over a hundred kilograms was born.

Most of the previous design had been retained. The main body was made of four overlapping plates, with the thickest sections reaching a full two centimeters. His limbs were covered in plate armor, the joints linked by chains and tough sinews. The entire suit had been polished silver-white. The helmet was a half-enclosed crown-shaped design, the pauldrons swept upward, and a white beast-bone belt wrapped around the waist, connected to a long scaled skirt.

The model of civilization and the savagery of barbarism were perfectly combined in this armor. At the center of the crown atop the helmet, a polished emerald-green crystal gleamed beneath the sunlight. Guk had brought it out from underground and specifically demanded that it be installed there.

"Not bad."

He moved his body around. Aside from the rough edges making his skin itch a little, Guk was satisfied with everything else. As for the weight—

He had carried a giant bug before. Why would he care about a suit of armor?

"Boss! There's this too!"

Bucktooth came running over with a silver shield. When Guk saw it, he nearly forgot all about it.

It was the scale armor he had stripped from Stone Fist's giant beast. It had felt sturdy, so he planned to turn it into a shield. He had only mentioned it casually to Bucktooth at the time, but he had not expected the fellow to actually make it.

"Good!"

He took the giant shield and gave it a heavy slap. The dull sound confirmed its thickness. The scales had originally been dark red, but Bucktooth knew Guk liked white, so he had melted down the silver transported from Stone Fist's territory—named by Guk—and cast it over the surface of the scales. Thus, the shield in Guk's hand was now silver.

It was easy to show courage behind a strong wall—Diego had once said that. To a warrior, armor was his "strong wall." It not only protected him, but also gave him courage. Guk had never lacked courage, but such protection filled him with even greater desire to fight.

It had been many days since he last had a proper slaughter.

"Boss! Red-Eye is here!"

Truf brought Guk the news he most wanted to hear. Agugu had held back for a long time, but finally could not restrain himself and sent out over three hundred thousand boyz. The Red Eye Tribe had also expanded rapidly lately, with hundreds or thousands of boyz pouring into that fortress every day.

"Boyz!"

Guk rode atop the Squiggoth, holding Dragon Tooth high as a blood-red battle banner fluttered in the wind beside him.

In the distance, columns of green smoke slowly rose into the sky.

"Follow me!"

Waaagh!!!!!

Four hundred thousand boyz let out an earth-shaking roar. They gathered beneath that battle banner and followed their boss closely, utterly fearless of the bloody battle to come.

This time, they would take the initiative!

The rising sun was blood-red, foretelling a slaughter.

"What!"

Agugu rose furiously to his feet, crushing the bone bowl in his hand.

"They're everywhere. We've got few, they've got lots."

The dirt-covered boss brought him the news he least wanted to hear. In only a few days, the troops he had sent out had been utterly defeated in the wilderness by the White Hand Tribe's superior forces. It had been a very simple pincer encirclement: Guk held the center while the left and right flanks circled around to close in. Red-Eye's commanding bosses had plunged right into it.

The result was slaughter at Guk's hands. Not long after contact began, the commanding bosses had already been killed or wounded almost to the last. Guk slaughtered his way through Red-Eye's formation as though taking a stroll, while sudden attacks came from the flanks. Under such an assault, the Red Eye Tribe did not last long before collapsing completely. The boyz scattered and fled. Some were captured by White Hand and dragged back, others fled to different tribes, and only a few dim-witted fools returned to Red-Eye.

This boss was one of them, and he was beginning to regret it.

"You're even stupider than Snotlings! At least Snotlings know not to stick their heads in Jumpy's mouth! You! You're all a bunch of useless idiots!"

Agugu was practically exploding with rage. He roared, spraying spit across the fellow's face.

"I don't need idiots!"

He split the fellow before him in half with one axe blow, but Agugu's anger did not lessen in the slightest. He knew he probably could not keep this from the two bastards nearby. He would have to be even more careful now.

"Guk!!!!!!!!"

He hated that name beyond measure. His huge axe hacked wildly at everything in sight, quickly turning the area around him into ruins.

While Agugu raged, Dilarbok, boss of the nearby Biting Blade Tribe, was filled with confusion.

"White Hand? Guk?"

Because of some trouble in the north lately, he had been leading his boyz outside and knew little about this newly risen tribe. He had never heard the name Guk before, either.

"You mean he gave Agugu a beating?"

"I only heard about it. Some Red-Eye boyz ran over here. A few days ago, Guk killed a whole lot of their boyz."

The boss who had remained at the fortress truthfully relayed what those survivors had said.

"That guy's got a white face. He's tall, huge, and covered in iron. It's hard as rock and can't be chopped through. His big blade shines like the sun, cutting heads off like chopping wood. He stands steadier than stone and runs faster than Jumpy!"

"He's that strong?"

Dilarbok scratched his bald head, his tone somewhat doubtful.

"Boss, you don't know. While you were gone, Agugu sent someone here once. He said this White Hand Tribe was mixed up with human Shrimp, and wanted us to deal with them together."

"That happened?"

He swept his gaze over the surrounding bosses, and they all nodded at once.

"Guk, Guk."

Dilarbok stood and paced back and forth a few times. He too felt that the White Hand Tribe was dangerous, but he already had enough trouble on his hands. The north had never settled down, and compared to a tribe that might be connected to humans, he cared more about that side.

"Has Agugu gone into battle himself?"

Stopping in his tracks, he seized upon a crucial question.

"Apparently not. He just sends the boyz under him while he hides inside the rocks."

"Interesting..."

"I reckon that git's scared. Why don't we wipe him out?"

The boss's suggestion drew a round of cheers, but Dilarbok did not see it that way.

He did not know whether Agugu was afraid, but he did know whether Biting Blade could destroy Red-Eye. His own tribe had suffered heavy losses in previous conflicts. Right now, even dealing with White Hand alone would likely be difficult.

"No. That Guk is cunning."

As the oldest boss of the Biting Blade Tribe, Dilarbok had rich experience in struggle. Most boyz believed the victor had to be the strongest and largest one, but he knew very well that the victor would only be the one still standing at the end.

If every boy died, then even a Snotling could be boss.

"We won't move yet. Let's see what Agugu does. I reckon Blood Skull is thinking the same way. Naz is the craftiest war boss I've ever seen."

"Don't move!"

The Blood Skull Tribe's boss—One-Eye Naz—announced his decision to the excited bosses. He had only one eye; the other had been crushed in the hands of the previous tribal boss. He was known for being fickle and cunning.

If the neighboring tribe lost a Jumpy, it had to be our boss who sent boyz to steal it—the Orks of the Evil Sun Tribe often said this. In some ways, his temperament was rather like a Snotling's. Of course, anyone who dared say it aloud would generally have their head twisted right off.

"We don't move! Let Guk and Agugu fight! Once both of them are down, I'll be the real boss!"

If something could be done sneakily, there was no need to do it openly. Naz had always been like this, and it had never failed him.

"Boss! What about the Waaagh!? The boyz are all waiting."

"Don't rush! Once I become the biggest, biggest boss, we'll have a huge one! For now, we wait! As for Dreg, leave him alone for now. That bastard likes teeth so much—sooner or later, I'll make sure he has none left!"

"Boss, but we don't have that many Big Choppas. There are more and more boyz, and doesn't Dreg have plenty over there?"

"I said leave him alone for now! Whether the boyz have Big Choppas or not isn't our problem!"

Hearing Naz's angry roar, Rooney the Freak Boy slowly backed away. He sneaked back into his own hut, then sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and began muttering.

Soon, he stopped speaking and merely swayed his head. The hut became eerily silent.

Only when footsteps sounded outside did he open his eyes. Then he cautiously pressed himself against the back of the door, gripping an iron rod tightly in both hands.

"Boss! You in there? I'm coming in."

It was the voice of one of his underlings. Rooney let out a breath, opened the door, and roughly dragged the fellow inside.

"Didn't I tell you not to run around?"

"I... my head hurts."

The boy's eyes were bloodshot, drool streamed uncontrollably from his mouth, and faint arcs of electricity flickered around him. It was a sign that he was about to lose control.

"Stop, stop, stop! Not here!"

"Boss, weren't you..."

Before he could finish, Rooney hurriedly covered his mouth.

"I told you not to mention that."

Only after the fellow nodded vigorously did he release his hand.

"Sit here!"

With great reluctance, Rooney led the Weirdboy to sit on the ground, but he could not help warning him.

"Remember, don't ever tell any other boyz about this, or your head will be gone!"

"I... I hurt!"

The other clearly had not listened. Rooney had no choice but to lower his voice and say:

"Once you get in there, find Guk! Guk! Remember those two words! He can help you!"

Before the other could speak, Rooney struck the back of his head with the iron rod. The boy's eyes rolled back, and he passed out instantly.

"Dunno if this'll work."

It was also Rooney's first time helping another boy enter the Hazy Realm. Naturally, he did not know whether they could get in under these circumstances. Still, it seemed to have worked at least a little. At the very least, the boy would not go mad, right?