Hemlock winced as she made eye contact with the targeted orc.

With her sight on the orc, her hand was swift loading another bolt on the crossbow. She put a considerable amount of her points on strength as she easily pulled the string.

“Haha, did you just miss Hemlock?” a voice came from her in-ear headphone.

“Shut it, Kyle,” said Hemlock as she looked once more.

Looking down the scope, she took aim once more and pulled the trigger. No hesitation as she trusted her gut feeling.

The bolt was like a diving swallow striking the orc right at its left eye.

“Org!” the eyeball popped as gushes of crimson fluid spilled from within the pierce eye socket.

Then another orc wailed in pain as it too was struck right in the eye. Kyle even the score between the only two snipers.

Two orcs were in pain while the rest advanced caring less about their kin. Yet one of the orcs looked up as it saw the sight of incoming gas cartridges raining down on them from above. Acrid yellow smoke arose surrounding the orcs. It took awhile as the chemical gas started to affect the orcs. These pig-head humanoids felt a sudden burn from within the pit of their stomachs. Some retched, puking gastric fluid on the ground while some had trouble breathing. The gas cartridges kept falling from the sky riddling the road. The yellow smokes kept rising, suffocating these orcs as the smokes turned more concentrated.

The military wasn’t playing around as they shot those chemical gas like no tomorrow. Yellow smokes engulfed the road, then unknown to the suffering orcs, soldiers with gas masks emerged from the cover of yellowness. They drew their knives, machetes, and great axes as they went for the kill.

The Berserker swung high of his great axe made out of titanium striking the down orc right on its collarbone. It went deep as the Berserker heard the crack on its bone. The orc snapped out of the pain and rage took over. It was about to swing its hand but a round shield came knocking it from the back.

“Bolt Hammer,” a muffled voice from a tall masked man.

An Electric-bound hammer came smashing at the orc’s head. Once made it dizzy, second turned it woozy and the last brought it closer to the ground. The Berserker and Hakeem rained down their attacks on the unguarded orc until it finally drew its last breath. The two charged at another while another one-eyed orc tried to make sense of its surrounding. One its eyes blind while another teary to the point of barely being able to see.

“Orgh!” a pain jolted the one-eyed orc as it turned to its back. The orc’s head frantically turned at every direction searching for the one that sucker slash it from the back. It could have picked up their scent but the yellow smoke hindered their acute sense of smell.

Kaching!

“Orgh!” another prickling pain from the back. The orc turned once more swinging its mace in a fan-like motion. Yet it hit nothing. A simple creature reacting to the most prominent stimulus. A stimulus of pain.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Orgh!” once more pain struck the one-eyed orc, this time it fell on one knee. It couldn’t stand as the tendon must have been cut by the perpetrator.

The instinct to fight faded as it was pushed to the corner. Its instinct told it to flee yet it couldn’t. A silhouette came speeding from behind with purplish glow covering her feet. A masked soldier entered the scene with two knives within her hands. She leaped and struck the orc by the thick neck.

“Orggg!” the one-eyed orc retaliated as death approached. It stood with all its might as it two huge hands grasping over the soldier who was twisting the knives on its neck. Blood spurted but the orc didn’t give up. It grabbed on to Pixie and threw her in the air. She was lost within the yellow smokes, yet seconds later another silhouette with a gas mask emerged.

Underneath the mask, a prominent pair of cat eyes were gleaming as the subtle noise of purring echoed. Esther leaped with all her momentum. Her steel sword pierced the orc right at the center of its neck. The sword went through as the blade bathed in the crimson blood of the foul humanoid. The one-eyed orc met its doom and fell backward, Esther kicked the corpse of the orc as she freed her sword away from the corpse. She stood on the road as she flicked the sword getting rid of the blood and fat, but then her sense tingled. She turned and raised up her guard. A large silhouette came charging out of the yellow smoke. A lariat struck her dead center as she then went along with the orc into the heavy yellow smoke.

A figure emerged out from the yellow smoke and it was a man with the name tag Ryan on his right chest. His head panned the view in front of him as he searched for his comrades and enemies.

“Help!”

A cry of help hidden within the thick smoke. Ryan didn’t hesitate as he ran straight into the yellow smoke. A few more cartridges fell around his feet as he kept on running with the yellow smoke thickening. His breath was audible to his ears as breathing through a gas mask was something he wasn’t familiar with.

“Help!”

The request for aid came once more. Ryan took a right turn and as he ran. He lost his balance and slipped. His back fell on the hard road as he groaned.

“Ugh,” he was about to get up but he saw his hand. A thick viscous fluid, dark crimson in color.

“Blood?” Ryan said.

“Ahh!” a scream that was right in front of him.

Ryan got up and rushed, yet as soon as he saw a big figure in front of him, he stopped on his track gazing at the overweight creature. It was standing there with its head frantically moving. Ryan came closer and heard the sounds of bones being crushed. He walked to the side as he approached the figure with his machete drawn. Then he saw it. His eyes went wide seeing the limping head of his comrade with the body being eaten by the pig-snout orc. It was eating the human soldier like it had been starved for days.

“Hank,” uttered Ryan.

In disbelief, yet rage came swirling upwards from within the leader of the squad. He raised his machete and charged at the oblivious orc. A subtle glow surrounded his machete as he uttered those two words.

“Repeating Blade.”

A slash right at the back of the orc, it was shallow yet he continued another one. The wound was deeper, then he went for another. Third time was the charm as blood seeped out and for the fourth, he missed. The eating orc got up and swung the corpse in its hand. Hank’s mutilated body slammed Ryan right across the side. Ryan was thrown in the air along with the corpse.

He rolled on the road as his e.guard trickled down. But his eyes didn’t leave the sight of that orc. As the momentum died down, he got up and rushed. The orc swung its arm for an assault. Ryan ducked and rolled as he slashed it by the flank. One slash and the orc’s entrails slipped out from the abdominal cavity as blood and whatever nasty fluid spilled. Ryan turned and went for another slash as his skill was still stacking. One more slash struck right at the spine of the orc. A splash of blood went spurting out from the slash wound drenching Ryan from top to bottom. He was heaving for his breath and his vision disturbed by the gunk of blood of the dead orc. He swiped the blood away yet he only made it worse.

“Shi-” an unfinished cuss as a huge mace struck him right at the torso. His feet left the ground and went flying through the yellow smoke. He crashed into a wall and made a hole out of it. He lay there among the bricks and rubble as he was inside a clothing store. It was dark but at least the yellow smoke wasn’t there.

Ryan took off his gas mask as he stared at the pitiful state of his energy guard. He took a lot of strong hits and he was close to being defenseless with just normal skin and meat. The squad was successful in killing these orcs but they were too many and they were not enough to handle it. A few had lost their lives and Ryan thought this situation couldn’t continue any longer.

“Captain, the assault team is in dire situation. Two of ours are dead,” said the communication team as the life sign on their monitors showed the squad vital status.

“Shit, we’re outnumbered,” said Ryan grimacing over that fact.

He lamented the fact that if they had time, fighting against these simple creatures would be a breeze. Gritting his teeth, Ryan had to make this decision.

“Relay this to everyone, retreat, everyone needs to retreat,” said Ryan.

“Affirmative.”

Ryan swiped over the lens of the gas mask as he wore it back. He was about to get up but he heard the grunts that were familiar. He looked up and saw a few orcs entering through the hole.

"Fuck," said Ryan.

He got up and fled as the orcs chased.