Green Horn

The moment Guk returned to Red-Eye Fortress, he received shocking news—Dilarbok was dead.

Dilarbok, boss of the Blade Bite Tribe, had bought it without even scraps left behind. The main force he had led out had nearly been wiped out as well. Most of the surviving boys had fled back to their own turf like their souls had left them, while some had run to Red-Eye Fortress. It was these boys who had brought such startling news.

"Burned to death?"

Guk scrutinized the trembling boss before him, his voice full of suspicion. The tribal chiefs gathered along both sides of the hall also began muttering among themselves.

It was because what this guy said was simply too bizarre. Orks with horns on their heads? Strange green fire? It all sounded completely nonsensical, like the wild boasts boys made when they were shooting the breeze.

"I reckon he got scared, so he made up a big lie to fool us!"

Grak roared in his booming voice. Quite a few bosses nodded, while the guy kneeling on the ground shook his head desperately.

"I—I didn't!"

Half the teeth in his mouth were gone, and his words wheezed like a bellows full of holes.

"What did they call themselves?"

"Green... Green Horn!"

Seated upon the throne of bones, Guk tapped the skull on its armrest with the index finger of his right hand. He needed time to digest this mountain of information.

Blade Bite's silence during this time had not come from fear. Quite the opposite, Dilarbok had been a highly ambitious warboss, but he had run into an extremely thorny problem. Looking at the map, the Blade Bite, Red-Eye, and Blood Skull Tribes formed a line. Red-Eye sat in the middle and was closest to Aswan Fortress. Red-Eye lay somewhat eastward, near the Iron Spiral Sea, while Blade Bite was farther east, close to the towering Ridge Mountains.

That was where the trouble lay. At some unknown point, a strange group had appeared in the hilly region near the mountains. Their boss called himself Green Horn. At first, there had only been seven Orks altogether, yet they swiftly swallowed up the surrounding tribes and grew like a snowball rolling downhill. By the time Dilarbok realized something was wrong, he was facing a major tribe with over a hundred thousand boys.

If that had been all, the matter would have been simple. Blade Bite was a massive tribe with nearly a million boys, and it could have crushed such a group with ease. But Dilarbok had made the same mistake as Agugu. Without understanding his enemy, he had rashly sent out an army. Unlike Agugu, though, Dilarbok had gone big—he had thrown a third of his tribe's boys into the fight.

What he got in return was a disastrous defeat. Even the boys who escaped back did not know how they had lost. The only thing they knew was that those horned Orks could spit green fire from their mouths. Anything touched by it melted into sludge. The bosses leading the charge had been almost instantly wiped out, and the boys could not fight that kind of flame. They could only run.

Naturally, Dilarbok had refused to accept it. After preparing for a long time, he finally seized the chance while the enemy was at war with another major tribe. He had mobilized everything, intending to take them down in one stroke.

But it had actually been a trap. The cunning enemy had never left. Instead, they had set an ambush along the route he would take.

And so the overconfident Dilarbok had died just like that, along with the army he had led out. Most had joined the Green Horn Tribe, while only a small portion had escaped back.

"Aluba."

After pondering for a moment, Guk called out Freak Boy's name.

"Yeah, boss."

"Could they be Weirdboyz?"

Aluba scratched his ears and head for a while before answering with great uncertainty.

"Probably... not? I've never seen boys who can breathe fire."

"I have, but it wasn't a boy."

Guk recalled the bird person he had killed long ago. She had been something that could use fire, though Guk was not sure whether this was the same thing.

"No matter what, Blade Bite's land is definitely mine."

Green Horn's rise was rather similar to Guk's own past, which made him deeply wary. So he decided not to give them the chance to grow any bigger. At least, according to the information he had received, Green Horn had no stone fortress. Their home had been built from rocks and wood, which was a major weakness.

"Grak, Green Tooth, Naz, Aluba, Idea Guy, you're coming with me. Everyone else, guard the home. If anyone dares cause trouble, kill him on the spot!"

If they were going to do it, then they were going to do it. Guk rose to his feet and announced his decision. The Orks whose names had been called immediately stepped forward.

"Yes, boss!"

The mighty force soon marched out of the fortress. This time, Guk did not underestimate the situation. He brought all his White-Helm Guards and nearly three hundred thousand boys.

"What do we do?"

Tulen stared wide-eyed while Kuba kept chattering away in front of him.

"It's just the two of us left. Green Horn might come kill us at any moment. There are barely any boys left here, not even as many as the bugs crawling on me. Say something already."

But Tulen did not feel like talking. Ever since escaping the battlefield, he had held no hope. Blade Bite was definitely finished. He did not want to be any sort of boss, especially not a boss waiting to die. Yet Kuba insisted on sticking around. If they were not old pals, Tulen would not have bothered with the guy at all.

"Hey, hey, hey, I reckon maybe we should just join Green Horn."

At those words, Tulen shook his head.

"I don't like that smell. You know it. That fire has a weird stink to it. Makes me sick just smelling it."

"Me too. How can fire stink that bad? Like it ate Squiggoth shit."

The two cautious bosses of the Blade Bite Tribe found themselves in a bind within the once-lively hall. The Snotlings stayed utterly silent, barely daring to breathe. Ever since Dilarbok's death, the whole fortress seemed to have died with him. Even the previously bustling camp outside had become empty and desolate.

Everything pointed toward a pitiful defeat.

"Boss, boss, boss, boss!!!"

Suddenly, a boy ran in, panicked.

"What?"

"Green... Green Horn!"

Both Orks leaped up at once and hurried to the watchtower. What they saw filled them with despair.

To the north, accompanied by rumbling war drums, a sea of green surged toward them. Green banners fluttered in the wind, and the cries of battle made the entire fortress seem to tremble.

"Forget it. Disgusting is disgusting, but it's better than..."

Just as Tulen made up his mind to take a new boss, another sound suddenly rose from the horizon—a sound filled with power.

Wooooooo~~~~~!

The long horn call rolled across the plains. The green tide advancing on the fortress abruptly stopped, then changed direction and charged westward.

"Boss, boss! Over there!"

Following the boys to another watchtower, Tulen and Kuba finally saw what had made the sound. To the west of the fortress, another green tide was converging on them, but it was far more orderly. An enormous red White Hand banner proclaimed their identity.

"White... White Hand!?"

The two Orks looked at each other. They had never expected that tribe to appear, but they immediately realized an opportunity had arrived.

"To hell with Green Horn! We're joining White Hand!"

Guk knew Green Horn would never pass up such an opportunity, so he had marched here at full speed. Fortunately, he had not arrived too late. At least for now, the fortress did not appear to have fallen into Green Horn's hands.

The two enormous forces faced off outside the fortress. After the great war, the White Hand Tribe's equipment had improved tremendously. At the very least, every boy had armor and a blade. Green Horn's side looked much shabbier by comparison. Many boys were still bare-chested, wielding rocks and wooden clubs.

The air became exceptionally tense, but neither side attacked immediately.

A strong wind swept through, kicking up a cloud of dust. A huge figure emerged from the Green Horn Tribe. He stood over four meters tall, with the standard build of a boss. His sickly green skin was almost entirely unarmored. He had a massive head, an Ork's broad mouth, and a pair of orange-yellow eyes. Most striking of all, a pale green diamond-shaped crystal had been embedded diagonally in his forehead, like a horn.

"Who's the boss over there!? I'm Green Horn!"

The Ork calling himself Green Horn shouted his challenge. He swung the enormous Hammer in his hand, utterly arrogant.

"Green Horn? Sounds like the name of some backwater yokel."

Riding a Squiggoth, Guk slowly moved forward before him.

"You're the boss of this lot?"

Green Horn angrily raised his head and looked over the shining white figure. He felt like some shabby boy, because that gear was truly flashy.

"Remember this, country bumpkin! Standing before you is the King of Orks, boss of all boys—including you!"

Looking down at this strange fellow, Guk vaguely sensed an aura that made him extremely uncomfortable. He did not know what it was, but it made him feel sick. And the thing embedded in that guy's head—Guk really hated that color. He also noticed that Green Horn's arms were much thicker than an ordinary boy's, making his lower body look rather... In any case, his proportions were very different from those of a normal Ork.

"A freak!"

The bosses of both tribes had almost the same thought at once.

"I killed Dilarbok!"

Green Horn slammed his Hammer into the ground and beat his chest, showing off his achievement.

"This place should be mine!"

Guk eyed him sideways as if looking at a madman. That uncomfortable feeling was growing stronger and stronger. He spotted six other Orks like Green Horn, all with those things embedded in their heads, all with the same strange body proportions.

"Ha! You oughta get your head fixed. Maybe I can have the Mekboyz take that thing out of your head. Then you might be smarter than a Snotling."

"Waaagh!"

Guk's words sent Green Horn into a rage. The crystal in his head began giving off a faint glow, and Guk could clearly feel the sickening sensation intensify violently. He immediately focused his mind and released AAAGH Energy—the new term unanimously approved by several hundred Weirdboyz.

Crackle~!

Green arcs of electricity danced through the air, as if they had struck something, bursting into showers of sparks. The crystal in Green Horn's head quickly dimmed.

"Uh? Ah?"

Green Horn froze. He touched his "horn," his face full of confusion.

"I get it. You use that thing to breathe fire."

The sickening feeling began to weaken. Guk sharply caught the crux of the matter. The moment he said it, Green Horn's expression changed. He yanked his huge Hammer from the ground and hurled it at Guk.

Clang!

Dragon Tooth knocked the incoming Hammer flying. Just as Guk prepared to teach this uncooperative bastard a brutal lesson, an intense sense of danger struck him. Without a second thought, he leaped off the Squiggoth.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~!

Six masses of green flame carrying a powerful aura of decay swept in, instantly engulfing the Squiggoth. The five-ton beast did not even have time to scream before turning into a puddle of mushy flesh.

"Hahahaha!! Now you know how strong we—"

Green Horn, sprawled on the ground, burst out laughing, but he froze before he could finish.

"I've decided. Anyone can surrender, except you lot. I'm throwing your heads into the shit bucket!!"

Within the terrifying sea of fire, the silver figure slowly rose. Violently crackling arcs nearly wrapped him into a ball of lightning, yet they also blocked the green flames. Dragon Tooth gleamed with lethal cold light beneath the sun.

"Retreat!!"

Green Horn shouted and quickly ran back into his ranks. The entire army immediately began to fall back.

"Kill!!!"

With a fierce sweep of his hand, Guk's blade wind scattered the flames. He let out a furious roar, and the boys of the White Hand Tribe immediately charged after Green Horn's disordered forces.

"Pah. What the hell was that?"

Guk stared at the scorched ground. Everything had melted into a sludge-like substance. There were none of the usual traces left by ordinary fire, only that sickening stench. The soft sand had turned directly into a swamp. Guk had never seen flames like these.

He hated this power. This was not power an Ork should have.

"Boss! Boss!"

As he pondered it, a group of Orks ran out from Blade Bite Fortress. Two bosses led them, their faces full of joy, as if they had just seen treasure.

"Boss, we've finally been waiting for you!"

Guk stopped the guards who were about to chop them down and walked over.

"You the boss here?"

"No, no, no. I'm not."

Tulen waved his hands and explained.

"My name's Tulen. I used to follow Dilarbok. He bought it, so now I follow you."

"I get it. Then this place is mine from now on."

After glancing toward the battlefield and seeing Green Horn's forces already collapsing into rout, Guk followed the boys into the fortress. Without the Squiggoth, he had no way to catch those bastards once they started running flat-out. He might as well inspect his new spoils first.

As for Green Horn? In Guk's eyes, he was already a corpse.