My horde and I stood up and proceeded to head to the "Noble District." I ignored both human survivors and human militaries bickering with each other, as I can't understand them anyway and they pose no threat to me.
I was never worried about our safety, though they have numbers. The humans who had been with me knew that my orks were not only insanely strong but also capable of playing mind games like them; the human survivors would never forget that I was not just a mindless beast, as many beasts had fallen into our hands through sheer tactics and mind games, just like how we wiped out the cowmen.
Bell was shocked when he listened to my plan on how to deal with those cowmen. I had to find car figures, human figurines, and some cow figurines for Bell to at least get the gist of my brilliant plan, and when he did, his reaction when he realized my greatness was goosebumps all over his body, and by then he knew I wasn't just some mad beast that would solve everything through strength.
As we walked our way, my horde and I passed through what appeared to be the cowmen shaman's bones; a few distances from them were human remains all over the streets, and some humans could be seen collecting and identifying their dead fellow personnel when they saw a group of orks coming their way.
The soldiers alerted most of their fellow soldiers and turned on the alarm, alerting the others as they slowly gathered and more soldiers arrived, taking cover, raising their weapons, and aiming them at us.
I stood on my ground and gazed at them while a guy who appeared to be an officer used his radio to contact someone, and a while later the officer ordered his men to lower their guns and make way.
Bell and other human survivors finally caught up, along with the military officer; from the looks of it, the tension between the human survivors and the military had finally smoothed over.
Bell and his group of humans slowed down and stood behind my horde as the military vehicles drove past us and kept moving inside the district, and the moment I felt the tension wasn't as intense as it was before, I slowly walked towards the "Noble District."
Blatantly walking towards a heavily guarded area would have been deemed retarded and idiotic, but all of these personnel are nothing but infants to my eyes, classless and still ignorant if they think their weapons could protect them for what has to come, and they probably long ago noticed that most of their weapons were becoming obsolete.
They should also have by now found out about the class, but with the current situation, what they saw were probably the three (3) basic classes, and with their cold weapons, their impression of them would be nothing more than disdain. I bet their battle with the cowmen greatly alarmed them.
The guns are nothing more than a reassurance, a false hope in these dire situations to appease their tormented hearts; people who took refuge would remain cooperative and feel safe thinking their struggles have finally come to an end when they saw these massive numbers of weaponry, but they were ignorant to the fact that none of these could protect them, and their struggles as long as they were overcome could help them to protect themselves; once they realize that life ahead of them could be nothing but more than struggles or death, then unrest, panic, and chaos would ensure.
Once I got into the gate entrance, I was disappointed and frustrated and knew right away that this wasn't the place; this isn't something a school gate would have, but an expensive subdivision. But even so, since I'm already here, it won't hurt to guarantee.
As I slowly walked past the gate, military personnel with their LMGs and anti-infantry vehicles were lining up, on high alert, and ready to aim and fire their weapons at us in a second upon command.
One of the officers from the back gave out orders after orders, then the military personnel positioned themselves where they could protect someone if things were to happen, and then a group of middle-aged men in exquisite attire were walking towards us while being escorted by heavy-gear military personnel.
These middle-aged men were standing at what they thought were a safe distance; they looked at my horde and then at the group of other human survivors behind me. They seemed delighted when they spotted a large number of humans carrying cold weapons. Sighing in relief, one of them started to talk, and there was a long pause after he was done.
I just looked at him and stared at the buildings around us; curious, I walked over to check out the houses on the street. The moment I did so, the military personnel automatically became alert and aimed their weapons at us.
One of the old men, who appeared to be a high-ranking military officer, coughed and signaled with his hands to lay down.
I ignored them and brought the horde with me as I kept walking around while guards were following me and on high alert, but I ignored them and proceeded to do what I came here to do.
"Sigh"
As I walked the streets leisurely, I heard a deep sigh coming from the middle-aged men, and then Bell walked towards those men and introduced himself, sounding respectful and calm.
Calmly taking a walk and contemplating what to do next. We traveled the streets to check on every building from block to block, and they were all the same residential houses. I found one of these sports centers or clubhouses, and there were a lot of refugee camps.
As much as I don't give a fuck about them, I sure don't want to cause any problem to me or the Bell, so I decided to turn back to avoid escalating the situation if I were to be spotted by the refugees.
I bet the first thing that would come to their mind is that the military has been overrun and wiped out, and then panic would ensue, so I decided to avoid being seen, as I don't want to escalate and create more mess than it should. Just those cowmen alone gave these people anxiety; how much more when they see ten (10) green boys just outside of their refugee camp?
While we were looking around, Bell and his group of human survivors were still talking with these middle-aged men, and from the looks on their faces and the agitation in their voice, it seemed serious.
Bell now seemed a little more concerned, but at the same time, he seemed overwhelmed by what seemed to be happening around him. But human problems would be human problems, don't want to know, and I still have some orkling problems; until then, I don't have the luxury of prying into other people's businesses.
So when I couldn't find what I was looking for, I ordered my home bois to turn around and leave through the gate. I am running out of time, and the faster I get to the east "park," the more I could react to uncertainty.
While we were about to leave the gate, Bell suddenly stopped talking with those middle-aged people and called my name.
"Green Boi! wait, wait."
As I heard him yelling what I believe is my name, I paused and turned around to look at him; the horde from the back made room for Bell to walk through.
"Green Boi, are you leaving?" Bell gestured by making a walking motion with his two (2) fingers in his palm.
I nodded, I mimicked his gesture, and I pointed in the direction of the "park," and I looked at Bell.
"I see you're heading there. I heard from Colonel Jeff and Region Commander Bob that Flowing Sun Imperial College is already isolated and a lost cause, and an army of beasts has completely taken control of the place. The military tried to take control of the school yesterday, but from what I know, most of them got wiped out while the rest of the remaining soldiers are scattered and hiding at the school. Sigh... What am I talking about? You can't understand me anyway."
I glanced at Bell and at the people behind him.
"Orkaa and the rest of you, cover us. Make sure they don't see anything."
The orks formed a body wall and covered their view by creating a tight circle.
I then gestured for Bell to purchase all of Swayn's potions by using all the mana we'd accumulated till now; following that, I handed Bell 5 potions for each stat. I placed both hands on his shoulder and gave him a nod and an encouraging look.
Then, I turned around and left. Bell gazed at my back as I slowly walked away.
"Sigh. This is the way."
I continued going ahead until I noticed the box full of soda, potions, and mana crystals on my hands, and I came to a full stop.
"Wait a minute, why am I holding these?"
I glanced back, and there they were—the orks, standing behind an awkward-looking Bell, still forming a body block, and staring at me like a puppy about to be left behind.
[https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/2e7/5d7/73e020f56c4a86221823bc32113b4316d2-25-ben-affleck-sad-smoke.2x.w710.jpg]
"Deep breath, Get your green asses over here, you... you... what am I going to do with you guys? Do I need to tell you everything you have to do?"
The orks ran like kids finally being allowed to play on the playground; they were in a hurry.
"Fucking dumbasses, here, hold the box."
After that ordeal, my horde and I jogged as we headed towards the "park", while Bell still had a 'What have I witnessed?" face.
*****
Bell's POV
"Those green guys sure are weird." (Jimmy)
"Yeah, but the wisdom Green Boi showed a while ago still haunts me; there could be more coming like him, but what if they are hostile?" (Bell)
"So, are you just going to let them leave like that? You're not going with them?" (Jimmy)
"I think this is it; you heard them right? almost half the population was wiped out yesterday. Our people need us. We need to lend a hand." (Bell)
"You seemed patriotic." (Jimmy)
"I'm not, I just did what Green Boi does all the time; we've got to take care of our own." (Bell)
*****
Lokie's POV
"whooow, okay, I suppose we jogged far enough; alright, everyone gather around; Orkac, bring the box here."
Orkac gently walked in, carrying the box. I pulled out a bottle of potions and handed Orkee and Orkii 20 bottles each. I told them to consume the potion. After a period, Orkee got 3 in STR and CON and 1 on AGI but, unexpectedly, 4 on INT.
"JESUS CHRIST! 4!"
I smacked Orkee's back while calling him a genius.
"So you're the new man with brains! Fucking bastard!"
I exclaimed, as Orkee pretended to adjust his nonexistent eyeglasses with his two (2) fingers while smirking.
"Mada mada dane."
"GTFO!"
The next one was Orkii; he got 5 on STR, 4 on AGI, and CON, but 0 on INT.
"Well, I guess if I were to acquire more potions in the future, I'd suggest you guys to drink the INT once first."
My horde and I kept moving ahead, and after a bit of running, we spotted a bunch of beasts standing on the streets; they looked like the pigmen.
"OK, everyone follow me."
I made a detour, and I tried to stay away from any beasts I encountered along the road, but when those beasts found us, we would stand our ground.
"Orkuu! Look out for that mushroom!"
I yelled as I smashed a giant mushroom next to me, sending it flying. While we were avoiding another group of beasts, unaware of the mushrooms lying in the corner and giving us no option but to fight to get through, I took the lead. The mushrooms would attempt to pierce us with their sharp thorns, but with our high strength mixed with our sledgehammers on each hand, we simply overwhelmed them and killed them with just one smash. Our power actually grew at an astonishing rate after we acquired the sledgehammers.
"Let's keep going; let's move; don't stop."
I instructed my horde to keep moving. The minute I arrived back to the city, a new sort of unknown beast started tailing us; the others didn't notice it, but I did, and till now they haven't shown themselves, sneaky bastards. They utilize other groups of beasts as bait or a diversion. From time to time, there would be beasts in front of us; at first, we fought them, but on the third wave of beasts, I noticed something strange, something that would not normally appear at this time of the stage, especially when two different species have this kind of anomaly: their brains were rotting.
While we were fighting our second wave of ratmen, the battle was as gory as usual, and I noticed several little brains that were already rotting after the battle compared to their bodies. In the third wave of beasts, there was a group of pigmen, and as Orkaa crushed one of their skulls to smithereens, I saw fragments of rotten brain were on the ground as well; that's when my danger sense tingled.
Since then I have been making sure to avoid any group of beasts and as I keep avoiding them, I even got more clues that shit is getting weird.
The more we avoid taking their bait, the more they try to shove those groups of beasts down our throats.
Right now, a group of beasts could be seen trying to intercept us, but I would then turn around and make a detour, but at the same time, I would try to be as unpredictable as possible; there would be times where we would just run past them depending on whether we could outrun them afterwards, which would probably ruin the plan cooked up by the one lurking from our back.
The more time I spent here, the more dangerous it became.
The mastermind is trying to use the beasts as a lure or to make us turn back or force us to take a detour, blocking some paths and leading us to the unusual place from the streets, like a sheep being herded, but like always, my erratic actions caused its great mind to ruin its plan and would also franticly try to salvage the situation, thus a mind game between an ork and another intelligent beast was going on right now.
After avoiding nearly all of the beasts that I could avoid, the harassment gradually calmed down; there were no more strange beasts waiting to randomly intercept us on the streets or around the corner.
Things became worse as I observed fewer beasts on the way, and suddenly a group of beasts could be seen from a distance from where I was, waiting for an ambush, and it was an assorted group of all types of beasts.
The lack of beasts attempting to stop us allowed me to have more leeway, and I thus managed to scout and see through their scheme, and so I succeeded in evading them again by taking another option that I would never have thought of using: the aboveground railway track.
I slaughtered a number of yellow goblins inhabiting the railway station, but luckily for us, it wasn't a tribe, so we merely killed our way in and out of the station as I led my horde away from that dangerous trap.
The railway track was slowly going south, so I searched for any structures near enough to jump on.
With our strength, we jumped like Olympic athletes, and after we landed on the rooftop of the 3-story building, then stationary furnitures suddenly moved and we were met by appeared to be miniature beasts with a wooden body slowly shedding some wood bark.
They were bipedal and roughly 3 feet tall; they looked like Pinocchio from the stop-motion movie I saw a while before.
There was a glowing orb hovering on top of the wooden body, and on its body were faces of agonizing humans, ratmen, and any other beasts I had seen lurking in the city.
"These guys have completely given up on turning into real boys at all."
*DING*
Entering Moochi's cursed mud wisp tribe
Tribe Chieftain: Moochi
Horde: 14
Submission activated: Moochi and his horde have invaded this world to plunder some mana.
- Mission: Wipeout or Subdue Moochi's Cursed Mud Wisp Tribe
- Duration: 2 hours, 1 minute, and 3 seconds.
- Reward: 7 Mana Crystals (T1).
The faces on the wooden ponchos' bodies abruptly came to life and began speaking odd phrases when they eventually caught sight of us: "Help me!" "Have you seen my son?" "Mom!" "Please!" "Screaatch!" "Arrrggg!"
Although they have a woodenly carved face, the wooden Pinocchios have a lifeless, eerie appearance; their fingers have started turning into wooden claws.
They were going to slowly approach us once their wooden claws were finished growing, but I hadn't just stood there and watched them grow like a moron; I had already told the orks to pick up their own piñatas and shatter them to pieces the moment I also spotted them from the rooftop, and as the wooden Pinocchios were about to finish growing their claws, my sledgehammers descended to smash their faces to pieces when the glowing orb the size of a baseball suddenly released a small, rock-shaped yellow energy and aimed at my forehead.
">Mud Shot!<"
As this was my first encounter with a magic-type beast, I was taken aback by the unexpected magic attack. I had assumed it to be an ordinary beast.
I moved my head in ways I never realized I could in order to avoid the projectile, and I was able to attack and dodge at the same time by a fraction of a second, but some of the orks weren't as fortunate; some of them suffered injuries like ripped gums and jaws while trying to dodge or ear mutilations. Fortunately, these wounds weren't severe enough to result in permanent deformities.
Fortunately, the projectile attacks are preset; when the glowing orb unleashes its magic attack, the magic projectile will only fly in the direction where its target was standing when the glowing orb was charged, resulting in terrible accuracy.
This is why the glowing orbs would simultaneously fire a volley of ">Mud Shot!<" in an effort to improve the likelihood that their assaults would reach their intended targets.
The impact of these glowing orbs diminishes with the drop in their number.
Dodging these projectiles is a lot easier, but being caught off guard or in an unfavorable situation makes these projectiles work wonders.
After the initial round of magic attacks, we were unable to completely eliminate all of the wooden Pinocchios because there were more than ten of them. Some of them even attacked the orks from a distance. We then turned our attention to the next target, but this time their claws were already ready, and the glowing orb hovering above them was getting ready for a second round of ">Mud Shot!<" volleys.
From the moment they spotted us until we destroyed them to the last volley shot, the entire process took just five seconds.
As soon as the second ">Mud Shot!<" started charging for another volley, we stormed the wooden Pinocchios. The wooden claws' attacks were only slash- and pierce type damage.
The glowing orb would suddenly shoot ">Mud Shot!<" while the orks were still avoiding the claw attacks, either injuring them or making them decide to avoid the projectile but end up getting slashed by the wooden claws.
They couldn't pierce or tear our body because of our high CON, but their slash attacks could cause enough harm that the ork would have long wounds on his chest or arms. These wooden Pinocchios are slow, but they sure strike hard.
We took advantage of their slow movement speed while also keeping an eye on those glowing orbs as they fired ">Mud Shot!<" at us. All the wooden Pinocchios were eventually eliminated from the rooftop, slowly and carefully.
How could these 3-foot-tall wooden Pinocchios pose a threat to us?
The only hurdle was the glowing orb that occasionally fired its ">Mud Shot!" at us, which could cause permanent damage but wasn't potentially lethal. The only thing the wooden Pinocchios could do was attack our chest, which, if we were damaged, would heal in a few minutes since they couldn't even run or jump.
When everyone had recovered from the battle and was ready, we descended the stairs and arrived in a room with high ceilings that appeared to have once been a large dance hall.
And in the middle of the room, a 7-foot tree stood motionless. Its body was covered in many more odd beasts and human faces, but of course, since it was larger, more faces could fit.
That's most likely, Moochi.
But compared to the wooden Pinocchios, the ratio of height and number of faces paled in comparison to the wooden Pinocchio.
Moochi had branches that resembled a dried-up human hand and other hands that could be found among the beasts, and so from the looks of it, this tree is not only using the remains of its victim as fertilizer but also for fashion, clearly an expensive hobby.
Next to Moochi were 14 3-foot-tall wooden Pinocchios; they remained motionless, as they hadn't noticed us yet.
Having the advantage of being able to strike first, I planned for my horde to storm the wooden Pinocchios first and at the same time keep an eye on Moochi in case he does something unexpected, then together we will slowly kill Moochi.
"Roaaar!"x10
"Smash these bitches to pieces!"
"No Mercy!"
The moment we shouted our war cry as we got closer, well, whether we shouted or not, they would still notice us the moment we stormed them; releasing a war cry in uncertain circumstances could increase morale; I don't know, maybe I'm just lying to myself.
Then.
"Ahhhh!" x13
"Help us!" x30
"Sscreaeech" x16
"Please, it hurts!" x21
"Let us go, please!" x13
"Peppa pig!" x15
Once Moochi and the rest of the wooden Pinocchios noticed us, all the faces on their bodies came to life and started blurting out random noises, like a choir of agonizing despair and pain.
Finally, their effort in creating such a heavy scene had affected me; as for the orks, they seemed oblivious and continued to attack, but Orkee, on the other hand, also paused for a second but continued to charge.
"Such a mental attack!"
At the same time as the voices kept talking gibberish, one of the glowing orbs hovering over the wooden Pinocchio suddenly shattered into dust and the wooden Pinocchios decayed, followed by an even more intense wailing from the faces as they also decayed along, then the skill ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<" appeared on Moochi and the remaining 13 wooden Pinocchio.
After the shield appeared, a small, yellow-glow orb the size of a Ping-Pong ball suddenly sprouted on one of Moochi's dried branches.
"Shit! This is going to be a tough battle!"
Then another out of norm behavior by the wooden Pinocchios had happened; this time they weren't trying to grow their wooden claws but instead they walked towards us while at the same time the glowing orb fired a volley of magic attacks. Such unusual behavior alarmed me.
"Be careful of any unusual attack!"
Without the wooden claws, the wooden Pinocchio's only available attack would be from the glowing orb's ">Mud Shot!<" and with such a way of attacking, keeping a certain distance from your aggressor is a logical move; hence, moving towards us means there is more to it than simply mindlessly coming towards us.
One of the orklings managed to reach a wooden Pinocchio and raised both of its sledgehammers to smash it to pieces, and since the glowing orb had just used their first volley magic attack, we got a few minutes to destroy as much wooden Pinocchio as we could before the second volley.
Right as the orkling raised both of its sledgehammers, the faces on the wooden Pinocchio suddenly stopped mumbling, and then their mouths gaped open as roots emerged and shot towards the ork.
'Puchik!' 'Puchik!'
Four spear roots have pierced the orkling's chest, and their penetration power is far greater than that of the wooden claws. The orkling was pierced, but not deeply enough, but the sheer thrust from the spear root was by any means not weak; it knocked the ork back while pulling the spear roots off, resulting in the ork bleeding after being knocked back.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
As the rest of us followed and got closer to the enemies, spear roots emerged from the faces and attacked the orklings, but this time, the orklings were prepared as they saw what just happened to the ork a few seconds ago.
The spear roots wave of attack wasn't that severe, as most of us managed to dodge; some were pierced a few times, but not enough to make them unable to fight.
After the wooden Pinocchios launched their attacks, the sledgehammer is finally coming down, hitting the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<".
'Bing!' 'Bing!' x9
"Holy Shit, this is tough as fuck!"
The barrier only cracked but didn't break, and at the same time, the glowing orb's ">Mud Shot!<" volley was ready and shot at us; we managed to dodge its attack, then another wave of spears emerged from their mouths.
This time it caught most of us off guard, as we didn't expect it to attack again after just doing so a few seconds ago.
There were no serious injuries, but they're piling up, and as this fight goes on, sooner or later someone will finally drop from their injuries.
"Orkaa and Orkee, follow me; let's focus all our attacks on one wooden Pinocchio!"
Orkaa and Orkee rushed towards me and aimed their sledgehammers at my target. The moment we did so, the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<" from the other wooden Pinocchios dimmed a little while the one on which we were focusing had its barrier turn a little brighter. Once our attacks landed, there were only cracks.
Then the glowing orbs shot their ">Mud Shot!<" volley again, followed by the spear roots.
Though the rest of the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<" dimmed a little, not all of them were, especially those who were close to the vicinity of an ork; only those who were at a distance dimmed their ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<".
"Fuck! Isn't this fucking too OP? Shit! I need another plan, and fast!"
While I was coming up with another plan, ">Mud Shot!<" kept flying all around. I had to keep dodging while looking out for the root spear. It didn't take long before I managed to come up with another idea.
"Shit, all or nothing, everyone! attack Moochi! the giant tree in the middle!"
I pointed at Moochi as I gave my command and charged towards Moochi at the same time the orks followed me to attack. The wooden Pinocchios tried to stop us, but they couldn't catch us with their walking speed, so they only attempted to charge for another ">Mud Shot!<".
">Power Strike!<"
"That's right, bois, just hit the shield hard! Give everything! Hard! Harder!"
">Power Strike!<"
">Power Strike!<"
"We're almost there; keep hitting!"
I shouted as I encouraged the orks and myself, the moment our sledgehammer hit the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<".
The barrier shook, and the wooden Pinocchios furiously walked to get to us, then the ">Mud Shot!<" was being charged.
"Wait! Wait!, Just keep hitting the shield, dodge when I call!"
Once the ">Mud Shot!<" was released from the 13 wooden Pinocchios, I gave the call to dodge, and every ork jumped out of the way. Once the ">Mud Shot!<" no longer has a target, the magic projectile instead hit the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<" of Moochi.
The skill ">Mud Shot!<" kept hitting the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<", causing the barrier to break as the 8th ">Mud Shot!<" projectile hit the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<", but suddenly one of the wooden Pinocchios shattered its glowing orb to replenish the ">Mud Wisp Barrier!<", at the same time, the wooden Pinocchios finally got close and surrounded Moochi from all sides.
Now we were at a standstill, and to make matters worse, the glowing Ping-Pong-sized orb fell from the tree, and some of Moochi's faces on its trunk were slowly leaving the body like a person stuck in sticky slime.
Once the body left Moochi, the glowing orb hovered over the newly spawned wooden Pinocchio, and now their numbers are back to 13, while another glowing orb the size of a Ping-Pong orb sprouted on one of Moochi's branches.
"Well shit! Is this a raid boss or something? God damn it, you're forcing me to use them!"
"Brain Cells! I call you!"
My newly released three brain cells from the ICU are finally back to work.
As my three healthy brain cells spun around, pictures, numbers, and letters were brewing inside my mind. Boom!
"An idea!"
"Everyone! Listen up! I have a plan, and we're jumping!"
"............." 9x Orks
"Honestly, though, this isn't even where our mission objective is, and also look at that lazy ass fucker; I'm sure as hell he can't run and chase our green asses, so why are we risking our lives here?"
"Confused ork noises." 9x Orks
"We're jumping through the window, so let's go. Don't let me say that again, and don't land on your head!"
'pshing!' 'pshing!' 'pshing!'
On top of the building, sounds of shattered glass could be heard, followed by the sound of a sack of potatoes being dropped from a certain height.
'dug!' 'dug!' 'dug!'
Sounds of green asses grunting as they hit the ground after falling.
"Fuck that hurts; let's go! Here, take my hand."
I held Orkab, who was still having a hard time standing up after the fall. With our CON stats, falling from that height won't kill us unless we land on our heads.
As I led my horde towards the east side. Moochi and wooded Pinocchios stared at us from the 3rd floor, the faces on their bodies still wailing.
Some of them would walk forward and fall from the building in an attempt to follow us, and since these idiots can't run, there isn't a fat chance they can catch us, and when they hit the ground, our ork asses would probably be long gone.
"Don't stop just yet; keep running; with the commotion just now, there will be more beasts going to check on it."
"Come, follow me; east is this way!"
"Bozz, whyz wez runz?" Suddenly, Orkaa asked a question as I pointed in a direction.
When I looked at Orkee and the other orks, there seemed to be low morale.
This isn't good. I came to a full stop, and they stopped with me; then I looked at them all in the eye.
"Do you all think I ran because I'm scared? Do you all think I ran because I couldn't defeat Moochi and the wooden pinochios? Let me tell you all one thing: I ran because you guys are weak! So weak, I have to get your asses out there! But here's the thing: are you going to continue staying weak? I don't think so! We'll come back once you guys are stronger and smash their faces! RAAAOOOR!"
"ROOAAAR!"x9
I lied; I really was scared, and I couldn't find a way to beat those beasts. I could force them and win a fight, but I might lose all my orks before I can kill them; worst case, I might still have to escape after sacrificing my horde.
Orks like to fight; they know how to gauge their strength, but they are bad at picking fights, and on that fight, they knew the opponent was strong, but the morale was still high, and they couldn't care enough to give a fuck; they wanted a battle, and they got it.
In short, they are the best cannon fodder, but I am different; I see a lot of potential in their behavior, and what's more, I have a cheat when it comes to these species, my Horde System, which makes them listen to my orders.
In a normal ork society, the orkling chieftain still has the same mentality as the normal orklings, with only strength as the difference, but what if you could command them like real soldiers, soldiers who do not fear unwinnable battles?
This kind of army would be something most generals don't want to fight or deal with, for every battle, unless it's one-sided, would be a pyrrhic victory.
As for the promise of going back once they're stronger? Think of it like this: a kid points at a toy, and the mother promises to buy it when they come back when they return for groceries the following time; it's never going to happen.
"You hear me? I need you to get stronger; you are holding me back! Now, let's go; we're wasting time here."
The orks looked like they just received a slap on the face; they looked dejected, but right now, aside from providing them weapons and potions, I have no means of making them stronger.
After that heartwarming talk, we returned to running and evading a group of beasts.
We found a temporary hideout, we took our rest, we ate our rations while they were doing their "me" time, and I contemplated a lot of things, one of which was that although I said those things to the orks, I was mostly talking to myself: I need to find a way to get stronger, and I need another way to make my horde stronger too.
"Sigh... I guess I'll have to start practicing carving again. I think totem tattoos are my only option. Speaking of class, if Bell can increase his class through mana, is there a way for me to improve my class? Character HUD!"
As I checked my character HUD, I noticed some changes, mostly that I can now see my HP, SP, FP, and VP.
Speaking of VP, this energy bar is so mysterious that after a few minutes of playing on the system HUD and still finding nothing, I gave up and called for the others to be ready to set off.
"Alright, bois, break time's over; let's go; we've got a library to find."
The orks grabbed their stuff. Speaking of stuff, the orks are carrying bags behind their backs. We got it from the store on our way here; it's a camping bag, so we could carry a lot of things.
Carrying both weapons at once is especially difficult for Orkac; he would place both of his sledgehammers on his armpit while holding the box, and when there was a battle, he would just drop the box and garb the sledgehammers between his armpits.
We also tried to grab some clothes, but the orks felt uncomfortable with them; they preferred the badly sewn and stitched fur they were currently wearing. So, I'm the only one who is wearing a tank-top black shirt.
As for the bags on their backs, if it weren't for me strictly ordering for them to carry these bags, they would have dropped it or left it.
After a while of walking, it was almost noon based on the sun's position.
We were almost at the outskirts of the city in the east, and from time to time, we have encountered a lot of beasts moving in large numbers; most of them are in the 100, and some are new types of beasts I haven't seen before, but that's not the interesting part; it's the part where these over 100 beasts are heading to some buildings and trying to occupy them; right now, these high-rise buildings are a battlefield.
My hunch was right; more and more beasts from another world are coming, and soon stronger beings will start popping.
There are also other human survivors, and all of them had classes. The classless humans trapped in this city are all probably dead. You need strength to protect yourself in here.
'Splash!' 'Splat!' 'Splash' 'Splat!'
After wiping out a colony of more than 100 ratmen, we were finally about to reach the "park," we passed through the underpass road, and in it was a colony of ratmen, so a massacre just happened.
"Gasph! HOLY SHIT!"
"GRAAH Finally a battle worth fighting!" (Orkee)
"Bozz, let's fight them!" (Orkaa)
"Fight them, my ass! get back there!"
Normally speaking, you would see 1 or 2 large numbers of beasts in one area contesting for a building, but right now, a group of assorted beasts is currently at war with each other; their numbers were more than 100 for each type of beast, and there are more than 10 types of beasts. A blood bath was ensuring in front of us; right now I could feel a dangerous aura behind me, my orks!
They are releasing a dangerous vibe; these fuckers are planning to storm the eye of the battle field and just smack any beasts they can reach.
"Ahem!"
The orks looked at me and waited in anticipation, hoping for their chieftain to lead the charge and roar the most glorious warcry.
"We're going to find a spot to hide, let's check if this "park" has any school around it, anyways, stay put, and never, I repeat, never engage in a battle until I say so, understand!"
"T_T"x9
I looked at them dead in the eye; they all reluctantly nodded, I nodded, and the grass nodded.
"Alright, let's go; follow me; try to make less noise; we're going behind that store."
As we crouch our way behind the store, I observe more of the beasts in front of us; currently, we can only see 4 types of beasts for the meantime: the crocomen, the goatmen, skeleton monkey heads, and lastly murloc-like beasts.
All of these creatures have three things in common: they are all bipedal, wield weapons, and wear makeshift armor.
Clearly not an ordinary bunch, that's for sure.
We kept our heads down until we reached the back of the store.
Once we were there, I surveyed around to see if there were any buildings that looked like a school or a library, but from the spot I stood, I couldn't find any of some sort, so I had to go in deeper to check.
The beasts were still fighting intensely, and while the orks were dejected and sweating, they wanted to join in the fun but couldn't.
It was like being a nymphomaniac while an orgie is going on in front of you, but you can only hear and watch but not join.
"Hmm?"
Ahead of us is a 2-story building with almost the size of a sports stadium; when I saw that building, my confidence and excitement finally grew. Fuck, I hope inside it is an indoor sports stadium or any school facility.
"OK, we're going for that large building over there; let's keep the stealth mode."
As I carefully led my horde towards that building, disaster struck!
In the battle that is going on behind us, one of the beast groups was finally defeated, resulting in them fleeing and running from every direction, and some of them ran towards where we were hiding.
What's worse, these guys are being chased by one of the beasts who just beat them. The skeleton-headed monkeys
"Fuck stealth mode! Let's go quickly! Follow me!"
We stopped the bullshit stealth mode and abruptly stood up and ran towards the stadium-like building, but not in it, just around it.
We don't know what's in the building; it could be a nest or some shit.
Anyways, the moment we decided to stop hiding and ran, the fleeing beasts, aka murloc-like beasts, were startled.
Thinking that another group of beasts were about to ambush them, some of them turned and decided to stand their ground and go all out war with the skeleton-head monkies; since they thought there is no escape, they might as well fight to the last, some of the murloc-like beasts chased us, and out of confusion, some beasts just suddenly stopped and ran in another direction, fleeing.
Orkaa and the others would smash those murlocs when they got close enough, while we continued to make a run for it since I didn't want to fight wave after wave of beasts.
It didn't take much time; after going around in circles, I finally found more school facilities.
"HOT DAMN!, What kind of college is this?"
The school looked like something the USA would have done if it had decided to use its entire military budget on a single school to renovate for 100 years.
Shit's classy and advanced as fuck, you would see some 3D images on some walls, a 3D face of what appeared to be one of the workers in the school speaking something on repeat, and 3D video of students talking and laughing, some sort of advertisement.
We kept moving; the murloc's entire army is almost gone; those skeleton-faced monkeys had found us, and some seemed to be in a hurry to kill the murlocs so they could get to us.
The 2-story building that I saw actually has more buildings connecting to it from the other side; the place looked like a giant mall with glass walls, and although the glass walls had a lot of blood smeared on them, this place would look prestigious.
It's confirmed to be a school; now I just need to find the library and hope this is the Imperial College.
I found one of the large buildings on the east side of the stadium-like building.
The building on the east side had the smell of "I got money; let's see how much I could spend until I get caught."
From the outside, the building is a 3-story building, not to mention that it looked like an art museum building, shit's classy as fuck.
I led my horde as some of the skeleton-faced monkey beasts finally caught up to us after wiping out the Murloc; thankfully, there were only fewer than 20.
"Alright guys, I know you're all itching; just lure them a little bit more; once we're a bit closer to that classy building over there, then we can smash them to pieces!"
"Goraah!"X9
When we were close enough from the classy building and far enough for some beasts to 3rd party our fight if we decided to fight these monkeys, I dropped my bag, grabbed the sledgehammers, each on one hand, and aimed for the nearest skeleton-faced monkey with full force and vigor as the battle with Moochi made me feel like shit so now I have to release some stress, and the other orks followed suit.
"Keeekekee!"
"Eat this"
I made a wide swing on one of my sledgehammers to the left, hitting the beast's skull head; it wasn't dead, but it got bitch slapped so hard it spun as it flew back; then I raised my left sledgehammer and aimed it at the next incoming beast; the beast tried to block it with its bone weapon, but unfortunately for him, steel is tougher than bone at this stage.
'Crack!' 'Splat!"
The bone weapon was crushed in half while the sledgehammer continued to slam down directly on its skeleton face, cracking and destroying it to pieces, dying in an instant.
I then poised myself and checked my surroundings to see if there were more beasts coming or if my orklings needed some help, but seeing the orks being so brutal after being deprived of a glorious battle a while ago, I don't think they needed more helping hands, and after a while, it didn't take long until all the beasts were killed.
There were some injuries on the orks, but with our CON, they're going to heal in a few minutes.
When I went inside the building, I was filled with disappointment but at the same time with satisfaction.
It's not a library but a cafeteria, and inside was a mess of corpses of beasts and humans, but damn, this is the most exquisite cafeteria building I have ever seen. Talk about burning money.
Now that I am 100% sure this is a school, I just need to find the library and see if there are any reactions to my mission objectives.
While I sat on one of the cafeteria tables, I heard a commotion at the back, and from the sound of it, it should be some sort of container falling from a certain height.
The sudden sound made me flinch for a second there, and now here's the thing: if it were a beast, something would have come out there by now or the sound would continue, but if it were a human, they would try to stop it from making more sound, which is what happened when the noise suddenly stopped.
"Too quiet."
When that can container fell, it looked like the atoms inside the cafeteria stopped moving; aside from me and the bois no sound could be heard.
I checked the interior, and from the ceiling, it looked like they didn't cheap it out, and the walls were thick and so were the windows, and they were fully sealed, and this building is an air-conditioned cafeteria, so almost any noise won't be able to escape.
"Stay in here and make sure no one comes in or out. Kill all the beasts you see, but do not chase them."
"Gotz itz bozzz"
I went out of the building to check the outside perimeter; it seemed like the battle outside had attracted almost all the beasts from this school, and as I walked around, I found the door that would probably be where they would enter to stock some supplies.
Then I smirked, so I went inside through the back door and closed it hard, and the moment I did so, there was a ruckus inside the kitchen, sounds of rushed foot steps making a run.
"Run!"
"Wait for me!"
"Ahhhh!"
"GOOORAAA!"x9
After a series of orkling shouts, they all decided to run back to the kitchen.
'Dugsh!'
A sledgehammer just destroyed the walls between the kitchen and where the orks were standing, and after I displayed my insane strength, three of the six humans stumbled down in horror, and the remaining three raised their swords and daggers with their trembling hands.
"Shit, I knew this supply run was going too smoothly."
"We should have come back."
I stood in front of them while the humans slowly backed up until they were cornered, then I took a chair and sat on it, placing the sledgehammers between my legs as I gazed at them straight in the eye. Like a godfather.
I stared at these six (6) humans: one (1) of them is certainly from the military; another looked like he worked in this cafeteria; and the last four (4) remaining are students.
These people were staring at us, wondering what's going on, and although they gripped their weapons securely, their gaze would glance towards the exit doors from time to time.
They were thinking of making a run for it and hoping they could outrun these green beasts.
'SNAP!'
They flinched as they heard the snap; evidently, they were woken to reality by the abrupt noise from my finger, believing they could still escape from our clutches.
As their eyes gradually focused on us and they finally accepted their current situation, I then called Orkab and said, "Bring me my bag."
As I ransacked the bag, I finally found what I was looking for: a piece of paper. Once I got the paper, I handed it to Orkee and gave him instructions.
"Orkee, place that piece of paper in front of the humans on the floor; make sure you don't tear that paper."
Orkee walked towards the humans and slowly placed the paper on the floor, and then he just stood there.
"Orkee, come back here. No. No. Leave the paper on the floor. thaaaaats it, now come here, good job."
I used my eyes and head movement to tell them to pick up the paper, but it seemed like they don't understand or they are simply too scared, so I ended up looking like a retard who keeps head banging while the orks and humans are watching me.
"You. Okay. Boss?" Orkee asked.
After a while of head banging and eye gazing, they finally understood what I meant, but they are still too scared.
The military guy finally gathered all his courage and stepped up to pick up the paper, and after picking it up, he slowly backed away and joined his group again as they read what's on it.
When they read what was written on it, they all blurted it out at the same time.
"Liveroari?"x6
I looked at them as they said the word out loud, proud of my hard work and the satisfaction of having your hard work bear fruit.
I learned this from Bell.
When Bell tried to communicate with me that night, I squeezed everything I could from him, especially their alphabet, and after at least knowing the necessary knowledge and the vocabulary, I decided to use all that newly learned knowledge to write the word "Library," which is based on their alphabet and what library is called in this world.
Now, if you're asking me why I didn't just let Bell write the word library, the answer is simple: I'm an idiot and I forgot.
The excitement of being able to write the word and brewing up a plan on how to efficiently find the Imperial College Library had kept my mind so occupied that I just had a brain fart.
They human survivors all paused and looked at each other after reading the word, and seeing their confused look, I took out a book from one of the bags and showed it to them.
"Ah, library!"
"But why a library?"
While they were occupied with why it's a library, I threw a piece of mana crystal at the military soldier, and he subconsciously caught it.
I still had a total of 23 mana in the crystal, and Bell returned the crystal I gave him after consuming all the mana in it.
"Gashph!" The military guy just gasped when he read his system notification. At the same time, the others around him were curious about the crystal, so he gave it to one of his fellow survivors.
When they received the crystal, they were also shocked and bewildered; disbelief and, at the same time, greed could be seen in their eyes.
"250 mana on this crystal, even if there are six (6) of us, is enough to buy each one (1) of us a skill from this."
The others also nodded, as they had already counted the chicken from the eggs, but this raised the question.
"Why give us the mana crystal? because we guessed the word?"
Suddenly, a sledgehammer hitting the floor got their attention back to the green beast, and when they did, their eyes almost fell out of their sockets, as five (5) more mana crystals were laying on the floor.
I pointed at my group, then at them, then at the book.
I stood up and walked towards the back door and kicked it so hard I expected the door to be blasted away, but instead my foot went through the door and got stuck, so now I have to jump on one leg to keep my balance while the orks and humans watched as I made a fool out of myself, and after a few minutes of struggles I manage to remove my foot from the floor as I stood straight and pretended like nothing happened, then this time I use the sledgehammer to break the door, a bit overkill, but it is what it is.
"Ahem"
I then stood next to the door and gestured for people to enter this way.
Then I left the cafeteria, and a few seconds later, the human started walking out, followed by the orks.
They began talking to one another again, this time with one of the students, who then gestured the same thing as I did, and he proceeded to walk forward, and I nodded at my horde to follow them.
As we followed the student leading the way, from time to time, we would encounter a small group of beasts, and as I am in a hurry and for the sake of these humans' safety, I have to avoid as many battles as possible, and so, we could be seen crawling, crouching, doing front flips (unnecessary, but it had to be done), and sometimes doing parkour.
As much as we try to avoid all the beasts that we can, some are just a pain in the ass.
For example, these ugly little fuckers had a long nose and dried-out skin, and for the love of god, they just couldn't decide where to grow their hair. (The Witches, 1990)
These beasts are around 4 to 5 feet tall, but they are always hunched back, and because they move fast and are flexible, they could attack while they dodge.
They are also sensitive to sounds, so a bunch of orks with huge bags behind their backs that rattle as we move—we're like a walking beacon to them—would always find us.
They come in five (5) per group, but there are around 2 to 3 groups around each one of them, and so, every time you fight one, expect another group to come.
With our strength, we can kill them fast enough before the other group arrives; the only problem is their weapons, an iron moon-shaped blade that has poison on the tip.
Killing them is the easy part, but our race's bad habit of doing everything through pure strength made all of us ignore defense and focus only on offense; in short, if they think these attacks aren't dangerous, they will take the damage, but this kind of fighting style has its advantages.
One of these is when we fought these hunchback beasts; since their fighting style relies on speed, they would attack where their target would subconsciously defend itself, and now what if this target doesn't give a damn if you injure them or not but will focus on landing an attack on you? It would be a disaster for them.
Thankfully, we have a race skill that makes us immune to poison, but even if it's not lethal to us, it has a little bit of a side effect, such as losing a bit of strength while the body detoxifies the poison.
"Orkee, how about everyone?"
"They. Fine. Boss. Even. Human. Alive."
"Alright, let's take a small break, then we continue."
And so we took a break, and some of the ork rummaged through their bags to look for sodas, as they have grown to like them, while the rest poked at the corpses of hunched-back beasts.
While we were resting, we heard a loud commotion outside of the building; from the sounds of it, it looked like humans and the hunched-back beasts were fighting.
The humans around us became alert and tried to see who those groups of humans were that were being attacked.
As they searched the windows, one of them exclaimed, "It's Valentina and Charlotte and their group; where is the Royal Prince Stuart?"
"They seemed to be in a pinch."
"Look, it's Prince Stuart; he stayed behind to fight those beasts."
The humans grew agitated as their fellow humans outside were in trouble; my curiosity got to me and I took a look too.
"Jesus fucking Christ!"
I have never been this stupefied until now. In front of me were a group of humans, and from their looks, they were all students, and not just that, but by human standards, they were all attractive.
One of the most attractive of these humans was the leading female; she led her group while also attacking the beasts with her sword skills, which, by the way, don't follow the standard class I have seen now; her weapon is a long white rapier, and frost elements can be seen hovering around it.
While her skills would have a mix of frost attacks, enemies that are hit by her skills would be slowed, and as more frost debuffs stacked, they would explode and spread the frost debuff around the enemy.
She had long ash blond hair, a diamond-shaped blue eye, pale white skin, a slender body, was around 5.7 feet tall, and was beaming with an aura of nobility and confidence.
"Hot damn! Those frost skills looked deadly."
The other female who was following the leading female didn't lose in the beauty department either, and her weapon of choice was a halberd.
But this one is also different, as every time she attacks, it looks like her halberd just phase shifted through their body, and at the same time, a little transparent soul would be dragged by the halberd, then the enemy would be sliced in half depending on where the halberd shifted through.
She had shoulder-length dark hair, mesmerizing seductive hazel eyes, a slender body, was also around 5.7 feet tall, and was beaming with maturity and order.
"Another unique class!"
Then I found another unique class, and it's one of the males who stayed behind to fight a group of beasts.
This guy is wielding a long sword, and his sword looked like something a mobile game would create to make whales buy them for cosmetic purposes; it was glowing gold with lighting hovering around the blade, and every time the guy waved his golden sword, it would slice the beasts in half, and at the same time sparks of electricity would spread across the beasts. What's even more insane was that it provided a slight stun effect.
That guy was probably 5.9 or 6 feet tall with golden hair and golden eyes and a moderately sized muscular body, but he screamed, "I am a strong boi."
This guy's aura is reeking of arrogance and strength.
"Whaaat the fuck?"
"Why is this template so familiar? wait, something is missing."
In the normal template of an apocalypse novel, the MC is always the loser loner, a traumatized introvert who has the social skills of a politician when the apocalypse begins.
In other words, those two girls are the female interest, and that golden boi is the side character, or in other novels, the first antagonist.
We just need to find the MC.
"Where are you, you UglyFatStinkyWeakEasytoBullyFatFuck of an MC?"
Then the golden boi and his men started to retreat, and while they were retreating, one of the people was injured in the foot. He then screamed at his companions, probably for help, but they ignored him and just ran, while the beast came behind and stabbed him in his stomach, then left to chase the other people who escaped.
"I guess that's the MC, so this is one of those revenge plots, and by the looks of those beautiful females, this would turn into an Harem R18 revenge plot! Pukes! Ahy fuck this shit, Orkaa and Orkee, let's go!"
As they ran in the other direction, we also continued to find our way to the library.
The humans with us also wanted to join with the other human survivors, but our presence made them think twice before they attempted anything stupid, and so they kept their mouths shut as those main characters left.
So we kept moving, while I noticed that the UglyFatStinkyWeakEasytoBullyFatFuck of an MC was missing from the spot where he was stabbed by the beast.
A little while later, one of the humans pointed at the building, saying gibberish words but that it was probably the library. As I looked at the library building, my eyes went wide.
"That shit ain't no library, that's a fortress!"
I was shocked as fuck—why is the library in the fortress?
The building that I am looking at was an old-era fortress that was renovated into a building, but the walls were still present as part of its artistic decoration, and at the center was a giant glass dome.
[https://i2-prod.walesonline.co.uk/incoming/article24957808.ece/ALTERNATES/s1200d/1_JRR_WOL_070922_PEMBROKEDEFENSIBLEBARRACKSjpeg.jpg]
Then I had some doubts; there must be a miscommunication between the humans and my intention.
I stared at the humans and gave a sigh. They looked at me with worry and nervousness, and I gave them the five (5) mana crystals as promised, and once they absorbed all the mana, they finally calmed down a little, so I asked for the mana stone from them.
"Well, we might as well check what's inside; let's go!"
As I led my horde towards the fortress, the humans didn't move with us but instead just stood still, and I noticed their weird behavior and also stopped.
I asked Orkee and Orkac to stay here and guard the humans while I went inside the fortress, as I am no fool, and either those humans think they have done their job and refuse to follow or there is something here that they are afraid of, which is one way to find out.
As we got closer, the stench of blood was growing stronger as I got closer, and corpses of humans were everywhere. Too many to count. I guess they thought they could use this fortress to keep them safe, but you need strength to defend the fortress in the first place, or else it's going to be a cage.
As I walked closer to what appeared to be a corridor, I noticed a bipedal beetle with three (3) pairs of hands; one hand was holding a bladed weapon while the other was holding a shield.
When we saw each other, a sudden system notification appeared.
*DING*
Mission Rank: FFF- in progress.
- Mission Location: Find the Great Flowing Sun Imperial College Library.
- Objective: Occupy and hold the specific location for 48 hours.
- Failure: Unable to return to Nuoveld.
- Objective: Live.
- Failure: Death.
- The quest taker is now in the quest site; activate the orkling shrine to commence mana absorption.
Note: Orkling Shrine is now available on Building HUD.
*DING*
Entering Wazzracks Beetle tribe
Tribal Chief: Wazzracks
Horde: 132
- Submission Discription: Wazzrack and his horde have invaded this world to plunder some mana
- Mission: Wipeout or Subdue Wazzracks Beetle Tribe
- Duration: 19 hours, 33 minutes, and 8 seconds left.
- Reward: 39 Mana Crystals (T1)
While I was bewildered by the system and glad I finally found the mission area, the beetle beasts attacked when they saw us; there were around 13 of them. The ork also stormed them and raised their sledgehammers.
When the orklings' sledgehammer hit the enemy shield, it only caused a huge crack but was enough for another attack to completely destroy it, while my attack had completely rendered the shield unusable at the same time breaking the hand of the beetle, and since these guys have six (6) hands in the first place, breaking one meant shit.
'Dug!' 'Dug!' 'Dug!'
"Orkee and Orkac, come here fast!"
I called for both of them as I faced the beetles and raised my sledgehammer to strike a second time, but when my sledgehammer was about to hit, one of the beetles pushed its ally and used its shield to block my attack.
Due to his abrupt charge to save his ally, he wasn't in a proper stance, resulting in my attack, which knocked them both back but left them still alive.
Such actions made me realize I was not fighting a mindless beast.
"Orkaa, work with me!"
I raised my sledgehammer and attacked one of the beetles who tried to help his two knocked-down allies, and as he tried to brace for impact on my attack, another ork appeared in his left vision since he was using his left hand to raise the shield. The orkling was on his blind spot, and it was too late to react; the ork's sledgehammer landed on his waist, completely destroying its innards, and it died as he flew from the impact.
The beetle that Orkaa was fighting before tried to stop him. After Orkaa killed our target, I aimed my sledgehammer at the beetle that tried to stop Orkaa; once the beetle saw me coming, it raised its shield, but I just grabbed the shield with my right hand, pulled it forward toward my right side, and aimed my sledgehammer at the back of the beetle.
'Boom!'
From the beetles' left waist, internal organs were blasted after my sledgehammer tore a bit of a hole in its waist.
Suddenly a beetle attacked me at my right side and stabbed its blade into my back, but the damage was only a cut wound as my CON was too high for the blade to pierce through.
I attempted to reenact what happened on the last beetle, and it worked again. They didn't expect that a strong guy would just hold their shield and pull them forward, destabilizing them and making their sides open for an attack.
The other orks noticed my way of fighting and decided to follow it; the beetles also realized this and tried to prevent the orks from being pulled forward, but who are they kidding?
After a while of fighting, we killed more than 20 beetles as more came to join when the battle was going on.
"Get ready, bois; we've got more beetles to kill.