Chapter 16: Night Raid

  The armored car shot into the darkness and towards the giant glowing portal. Russo was shouting into his com set exchanging information and getting new orders.

  A portal stone. Nobody could have predicted the orks have such a rare artifact. Humanity had only found a few dozen of them since the portals opened. They are ancient alien artifacts from an unknown civilization with the ability to copy a portal and to create a new one with the same destination. You can activate the portal stone anywhere you want, on the other side of the planet or even on a different world all together. The second portal then opens somewhat close to the original one, there is a random factor involved.

  “We are going to reinforce the defense line closest to the new portal. We need to hold until the rest of the defense can move up to support us.” Russo shouted over the headwind. Everybody in the team knew what that meant. They would take the brunt of the attack.

  As they moved closer they could hear gun fire and see colorful lights erupt from various class abilities and explosions. Finally they saw the front line. A mess of brawls in an open space. The orks had overrun what ever position the humans had and defenders where step by step falling back while more and more orks rushed out of the darkness. Marcus did not know how many enemies were in front of them but before the car stopped he started running. Lars and even Pavel overshot him and aided the defenders first. Marcus could see an ork getting pierced by a throwing spear and the barking of Janette’s gun told him she was already fully engaged.

  Marcus sprinted as fast as he could and reached Lars who fought back two orks at the same time giving a wounded man time to draw back. Marcus did not slow down but kneed one of the surprised orks into the side. Impulse Hammer. The timing was not perfect but the force was more than enough. The ork went down with Marcus on top, a quick jab with Impulse Hammer shattered the head of the ork and mud splashed over the area. Lars used the distraction to pierce the throat of the second ork.

  More orks pressed forward and with the element of surprise gone the next fight would be much harder. Pavel was zipping around putting rifle bursts into weak spots of orks until he suddenly fell to the ground. Marcus could see him gasping for air and first he thought the Windwalker had overdone it, even so Pavel had increased his vitality lately. “Taking a page from your book” he had said. Then Marcus saw the female ork stepping up to the man on the ground, in one hand a heavy blade and the other was pointed at Pavel. Marcus was too far away to reach in time “Janette, the female ork next to Pavel.” Marcus quickly delivered over the com line. “On it.” and a second later the ork lady had a hole in her chest.

  As the woman fell another ork stepped up from behind a small group of trees that once has been cover for the defenders. The ork shouted words in their own tongue and charged towards the car in the background. Two more orks joined him in the charge. “No, you don’t” This time Marcus was already moving and intercepted them midways. He did not know who else was with him but he did not have the time to look for allies. The first ork swung an axe at Marcus to force him away but a wound, maybe from Pavel, slowed him down far enough that Marcus reached him before he could strike again. The two collided, Marcus grabbed the patchwork armor of the ork and planted his fist right in the chest. He used his full power like with Pierre and the recoil threw Marcus back two steps. The ork landed face first in the mud and did not move again.

  Something heavy hit Marcus on the back and exploded. He suddenly was on his hands and knees and his ears were ringing even with the helm protection. His back was a mess of pain but he could still breath and turned to see his attacker. An ork wielding a large bow just readied a new arrow aiming at him. Marcus threw himself to the right in a desperate attempt to avoid the attack but it never came. Pavel appeared next to the ork and gunned him down. Marcus dragged himself up and looked where the other two orks from before were. One was dead but the last of them was engaged by Russo who guarded the car.

  Only now Marcus realized how big the ork was. Russo looked like a child in comparison and the heavy blows of his two handed axe drove the team leader to the knees. Marcus started another sprint “Janette” he called over the com line. “Reloading, gun jammed” then a few curses.

  His body was still in good shape and Marcus reached the giant just as Russo parried another heavy blow and was thrown against the car. He must have a lot of strength crests.

  Marcus tackled right into the back of the ork. Only for the ork to vanish in the second he would have hit him. Marcus crashed against the car and quickly swung around. The axe cut into the car where his head had been, a second before.

  That beast was a Windwalker! And not a low level one. Ice cold terror ran down Marcus’ spine. Russo’s spear drove the ork back for a moment and Marcus got his poise back. I need to bind his axe, even for a moment. He thought, but the ork vanished to his left and the shaft of the axe plunged into his stomach before the blade came down trying to slit his throat. Marcus threw himself forward and the sharp edge cut into his shoulder. He felt the hit but his new armor was not penetrated.

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  Once more he got up and tried to bind the big ork. “Hit the legs.” Pavel’s voice over the com-bead.

  Marcus dove forward reaching out, missing the leg and only holding onto the armored boot of the ork. Good enough he thought and Impulse Hammer shattered the foot. A scream and Marcus realized he was completely open. He rolled to the side bringing his arms up in a last defense of the coming strike. The ork looked like a giant and the axe moved with blinding speed but the spear was faster. A black spear blade pierced through the head of the ork, killing him instantly.

  Marcus gasped for air and like many times this night got back to his feet. He was covered in mud and other less nice things. He turned around and Lars just finished off the last ork in the area. “Everybody back to the car.” Russo’s voice over com. Marcus tension slowly fell as they all gathered up. They looked battered but all were alive. “Okay we move to the next area. They were not as lucky as us and got hit much harder.” Lucky? Marcus looked at the corpse of the big ork. That was lucky?

  Pavel steered the car in the direction Russo had determined. They passed by gruesome battlefields the headlights illuminated human and ork corpses alike. Mutilated bodies, burned ground and sound of explosions in the background stuck to Marcus’ mind. “How are you holding up?” Russo asked and Marcus gave him a thumbs up. His body was fine, even the few minutes of the drive seemed to replenish a lot of his endurance and recovered his health. The rest of the team did not have this much vitality and Marcus could see that Lars and Pavel and even Russo looked drained. He would have to step up, he decided.

  “Don’t do that.” Marcus looked up to Janette in surprise. “You just made a face that said I’m going to do something stupid and get myself killed.” she said with a serious look. Marcus didn’t know how to answer that and just nodded. “And boss, I have only three shots left.” Janette told the group over com.

  Flames and screaming welcomed them as they reached the sector Russo had indicated. The car plowed through the mud and streaks of fire flashed in front of them. A human woman behind a tree shot dense balls of super heated plasma at the orks who tried to stay out of sight. A smaller man fought a vicious battle against a tall ork with two swords while several orks closed in on the defenders. Arriving at speed, Pavel did not break but rolled over one of the orks who did not react fast enough. Several tons of armored car crushed the sorry bastard.

  The team double teamed the other orks and Janette held her fire. After the two were taken care of Marcus’ sight wandered to the defender. Only now he recognized Elena. Her white face was smeared with blood, twisted in pain. Her left arm looked lifeless and burned but every few seconds she shot out another flame blast. Next to the tree, on the ground, was Elise who looked exhausted but fully concentrated on Pierre who fought against the dual wielding ork. The other two were Cullen and what was “maybe” Thomas. Cullen was desperately pushing fluids down the mouth of the young man. His body looked unnaturally deformed and shriveled.

  At the moment Elise screamed “NO!”. Pierre and the ork had exchanged hits. The short sword of Pierre stuck in the stomach of the ork, but two red crescent cuts formed over Pierre’s chest as he collapsed. The victor pulled out the short sword and threw it away and put his foot on the chest of the broken Pierre. The blood of the wounds started to flow up the leg like small rivers, covering his armor like a gruesome ornament. The ork smiled with delight. Blood Knight, Marcus felt his mouth going dry.

  “Marcus with me. Lars, Pavel help Elena with the rest.” Russo moved past Cullen without a word. Marcus took his place next to the “old man” and Janette’s voice sounded in his ear “Give me one good shot.” Marcus nodded without looking back.

  The blades of the ork were black and by no means ordinary. Even with Elise’s reinforcement they had cut Pierre through his armor. The Blood Knight moved with great ease and confidence, parrying spear blows while also keeping Marcus at bay. Right now, Marcus was sure, the only reason the ork had not attacked him with full force was that he was not sure what Marcus’ deal was. Thinking about it, the other orks must have been hesitating too.

  The time of testing did only last so long. In one move the ork was next to Marcus and one blade cut into his arm. His armor stopped most of it but the tip got through and some blood colored his new armor red. The ork jumped back, suddenly cautious. Russo used the moment and his class ability “Skewer” threatened to pierce the ork. This attack seemed slow and weak but the spear moved with the full momentum of a grown man. The ork did not try to parry the attack but skillfully dodged it, the best way to deal with it. Then he lunged forward and cut Russo’s neck. Blood spilled once more but Elise’s reinforcement kept Russo alive.

  Marcus’ heart was beating so fast, he feared it would give out. This will end badly for us. Blood Knights are the kings of attrition, they weaken their enemies by drawing their blood, use it as a shield or weapon and even heal themselves over time. That bastard would slowly cut them down and then kill them all.

  In the few seconds he had, Marcus could only find one path to victory. Janette would be so mad at him later. Clenching his teeth, Marcus rushed the ork head on. He put up his arms to protect his vitals. His enemy was superior in speed, experience, level and even in class but there was one thing Marcus had realized about his enemy. A weakness he hoped to exploit. He charged right into the ork who quickly kicked Russo back, whirled around and pierced Marcus’ chest.

  Both blades sank deep into Marcus’ body, piercing through his armor. For a moment Marcus stood face to face with the ork and then slowly Marcus fell to his knees. Russo called his name and the ork smiled, enjoying the pain in his victims eyes. Then his head exploded as Janette’s bullet hit its mark.

  “YOU MOTHERFUCKER! IF YOU DIE I WILL KILL YOU!” Janette’s voice screeched over the com line while Marcus tried to move as little as possible. The pain was so bad he was about to lose consciousness. Russo was next to him and then Cullen. The man put some black pill in his mouth that he swallowed. Then they quickly pulled out the swords and pressed bandages against the wounds. There was surprisingly little blood.

  This was the end of the fight for Marcus and the fighting in the area stopped soon after. The orks retreated after their leader and many of their own had fallen. On the way back he had to endure the nagging and cursing of Janette. But Marcus was just happy the team was alive.