"Dumazh an Urk!" I roared with my charisma raising the stats of the fellow riders as we fell upon the orcs that met our charging line of riders after the Centurion's turned the front line of orcs into green meat paste.
And, just as I said... My axe fell upon the orcs with a fury. A bloody fury that filled my dawi heart with such joy it couldn't be explained.
The cracking of orc bones as my axe split them like wet wood, the sloughing noise of their flesh being ripped apart by the force of my blows. The screams as Azulbak crushed the smaller orcs under it's hoofs.
I could feel my ancestor's looking upon me with approval as my axe split the skulls of an orc with another blow... And the reason why it wasn't with everyone was a blow. It was because I needed to shatter their fucking kneecaps to get to their heads!
Azulbak snarled as a giant spider leaped over a jade lion towards the officer line, and then the battle went silent for but a moment... Before a disdainful snort rang out, and then a bolt of lightning, larger than a cart, slammed into the flying spider and fried the bastard.
I looked around the battlefield and saw the nearest orcs being run down by the officers who had dragon-blooded horses or even proper Longma.
"Azulbak, hold steady. We will get our own kills while the Bigger's are rushing ahead." I soothed the angry war goat who snarled even as it ripped an arm off the corpse of an orc and began eating it.
So I cheated as Miao Ying flew through the air and with a roar as she turned into her true dragon form in an eastern serpentine dragon. And drew everyone's gaze as she began raining lightning on the battlefield.
I used my little-known talent to hop in the air while placing down blocks, and then when I got like five blocks up, I placed down some obsidian steps at an angle so I could peak through the little holes with my favorite horde clearing toy.
A soft thump rang out as my crossbow shot its arrow out and then a loud crackle followed a soft boom rang out in the distance as the high-power fireworks exploded violently in the mass of orcs in the distance.
[Archery has reached lvl 40!] [Skill- Drilling Shot created- Lv 1]
I blinked at that before I realized in my excitement I had been pouring my mana into my crossbow to power up the exploding arrow in question.
'It makes the arrows have greater penetration power... I wonder if the skill will overlap with the penetration runes I can put on a crossbow?' I mused before I got back to work in shooting exploding arrows into the horde of orcs in the distance.
A loud roar rang out as a fucking massive orc rode out of the depths of the orcs' encampment atop a giant lesser mountain drake that made Miao Ying pause before she snarled in disdain with her draconic voice ringing out.
"Lesser whelp! You dare to serve the greenskins!?"
And then Miao Ying exhaled a plume of flames that were filled with crackling light bolts onto what was obviously the warboss and it's mount.
Though I paused in my shooting as I idly noted that not only did the orcs arrows bounce off of her draconic scales. But even large lances were bouncing off of her as well.
'Hmm, those scales would make a truly wonderful light armor.' I noted rather clinically but just as I thought that.
Miao Ying... As though sensing my thought, she threw a glance my way, and my blood ran cold as the massive dragon's mouth filled with lightning-enhanced fire before she exhaled her fury upon the orcs' front line to break up the melee.
"Slaughter the green skins down to the last!" Miao Ying roared before she came down on the orcs with her spinning her large serpentine body to slam her blade-like tail through the orcs front line.
And then Azulbak 'roared' in turn and I knew with my taming and riding skills that he was yelling at me to get back on his back. As he wanted more Greenskins crushed beneath his hooves and horns.
"Alright, alright, you stubborn old goat!" I said with a laugh as I climbed out of my perch and slid down the blocks to get finally hop onto Azulbak's back before he took off towards the side so we weren't stuck in the thickest part of the melee.
And seeing how we were mostly alone now, I whistled before I dropped a dozen of my own dwemer spheres that began quickly rolling like steampunk drodeika's from Star Wars as they followed me onto the left side of the battlefield where it was thinner.
It was the thinner side of the battlefield for a good reason after all... It was where the ogre's legions were doing their ogre things.
And by that, I mean that they were using orcs themselves as weapons and then, when the orc began to break down after being used as a club to beat their fellows to death. The ogres would then eat the 'tenderized' orcs raw as battle rations.
We came in around the ogres with Azulbak having already learned how to dodge the antics of the ogres from the two months we spent with that Ogre clan. And we slammed into a trio of hobgoblins trying and failing to shoot the knees out of an ogre who was eating the large spider mount they were probably previously riding.
"Oiii! Stunty, those were mine!" The ogre yelled with fat and gore of the spider spitting out of his mouth as he yelled at me.
And I just yelled back the golden words for an ogre's dim mind. "They are all yours to eat big man! I just wanna kill em!"
"Haha! You kill 'em I eat 'em den!" The ogre cheered happily as before, he looked at the twitching main body of the spider he was previously eating...
And then he just chucked the limbless spider, as he had seemingly been enjoying the crunchy legs of the spider. And the spider literally fucking exploded like a fleshy hand grenade as it hit a wall of armored orcs.
"For the stunty's kills and my belly growing!" The stupid ass ogre cheered before it hefted up its giant metal band-wrapped club. And then said giant club smashed into the armored orcs with a loud ringing noise and cries from the orcs.
But still, they were orcs, alright. They lived for war and attempted to bring down the orc through numbers and tried to cut through the ogres thick legs and its hips to bring it down.
'This brings me back.' I thought with some amusement before I had the idle thought of trying to hire a fuck load of ogres to use as shock troops on the Skaven in the future.
Still, I took a deep breath, and then I roared with Azulbak's mostly grey and white fur burning red and white as I hefted up my warhammer that was ablaze with flames.
I was fighting with new Ogre friends... I might as well go back to my 'roots' and use my old friend's gift in his heart and organs that gave me a dwarf power over the winds of Aqshy or the Lore of Fire.
"How is the little stuntie using fire!" One of the orcs yelled out in surprise, and his answer was being rammed by a mountain goat that weighed a literal ton, and had the boost of magic, elemental fire... And the hatred of the Dawi's war goat who despised the green skins.
With my especially long warhammer that I made specifically for riding on Azulbak so I would have more reach. I felt like Sigmar himself as I dashed in the heads of the greenskins and I could feel my ancestors looking upon me fondly as the orcs were dashed under my great hammer!
My hammer-based melee skill leveled up quickly as I smashed into the orcs until a screech rang out and a heavy pressure hit my shoulders.
"The Stompa! The Foot of Gork is here!" Several orcs cheered as thick 'Green' magic filled the air, and then from the magical mist came a massive green foot and leg that appeared and smashed into several soldiers and a jade lion that was closing in on an orc shaman it seemed.
'Fucking Waagh magic!' I cursed before a series of fireballs from our own Grand Cathay mages who had close to elf-tier levels of training with the winds of magic slammed into the area. Basically, carpet bombing said area to kill the shaman with exploding fireballs.
With the Warboss and the 'smaller' green skin tribes shaman having been blown up. Their other elite units also being slaughtered. This lead to us being able to deal with the lesser orcs and greenskins without as many issues.
Well, relative issues anyway. Orcs were still big and strong bastards that could lose an arm and beat you to death with the arm they lost if you weren't careful.
And with the battlefield 'calming' down or more like the orcs routed with Grand Cathay's Jade Lion's and Longma running them down. I just took in my new information as it turned out that my dwemer automatons did give me some level of EXP it seemed.
[Kharn Lvl 38 Exp 67%]
[Race- Dwarf= Volcanic Dwarf
[Skills- Levels Crafting-49. Small Arms-36, Large Arms- 42 Leather Working-31, Metal Armor-48 Enchanting-41]
[Statesmen Skills- Leadership-38 Mineral Inspection-19]
[Mana Skills- Mana Enhancement-39 Mana Burst-42 Ghost Hand-33, Lions Roar-29 Fiery Heart Enhancement-12, Fire Breath-9 Lava Stomp-5]
[Combat skills, Archery-42 Small Arms-36, Large Arms-51, Hand to Hand-12]
[Support Skills- Beast Control/Taming-34, Beast Mana Enhancement-41]
[Passive Skills- Fire Immunity EX- Hostile Magic Resistance-21]
-
[Stats Strength-52
Endurance-63
Agility-31
Dexterity-43
Mind- 71]
Pretty good stat growth all around besides my agility obviously... But no one would except a dwarf to be fast. Hell that's why I had Azulbak to haul my ass around.
I also paid attention to my more overt magical 'spells/skills' in fire breath and lava stomp though I didn't use it as much in the battle as they were both rather uncontrollable and I didn't want any friendly fire.
Still, I was hoping that if I got more control over the Fiery Heart Enhancement spell/skill, it would allow me to enhance my allies with the fire buff. As MOST enemies and followers of evil would fall when properly caught on fire after all.
Then I turned as I heard the crunches of the unforgiving gravel and rock that made up the northern landscape in the Hobgoblin kingdoms. "Your Centurions performed well enough for such a small punitive mission. The spider automatons however weren't that useful in open combat though." Miao Ying said rather bluntly.
I just met her gaze as all that she said was more then true. And after a moment to test my patience, Miao Ying continued.
"I expect that you will continue to produce those Centurions. They are a good middle ground between Jade Lion's and other smaller but elite constructs. How many of those Sphere men can you also produce alongside the Centurions in the next month?"
I took a breath and then said calmly. "The spider automatons aren't meant for open combat frankly. They are used for sabatoge or quickly attacking the inside of a fortified postion, or more importantly having them fix the centurions and spheres between battles."
"As for production... Probably another fifty Centurions and seven hundred spheres could be expected to be produced in a month." I answered frankly.
There was a pause as Miao Ying's stormy glowing eyes met mine and she said rather forcefully. "Not enough, I want many more Centurions. A thousand of them, and many more spheres to be produced to man the walls of the Great Bastion in the next few years."
She took a breath before she said calmly. "What do you need for that to be done? Your Automatons at second glance are more convenient then many of Grand Cathay's typical automatons so I need to know what you need to scale up production."
My lips twitched at her words before I had to helplessly shake my head, and then I said frankly. "The spheres aren't the issue... I can scale up their production almost infinitely so long as I have the metal and men to do their work. It's the Centurion's power cores that are the issue in needing fairly large amounts of magically rich blood to form their cores."
And then I added offhandedly. "Not to mention, I cannot automate the creation of Centurion cores like I can for the spheres without a massive increase in space, I will need to do so. And even your dragon-blooded mages can't create the runes needed for the power cores so they can't help."
She visibly stilled at the words before she sighed. "I see, the centurions are works of a Runesmith then. Still, in anycase. I do want more of those sphere automatons."
I nodded in agreement before I asked quickly. "How often are these purges? And will I be invited on further ones?"
Miao Ying's stern and cold face had a bit of an amused smile before she said in amusement. "Most do not look forward to the next battle so eagerly. But you are strong, not only that. But you have the desire for vengeance I have seen in your death-seeking kin."
Knowing all too well she meant the Slayers of the dawi, or as we called them, the Drengi in Khazalid, the language of the dwarves. I just nodded and said calmly. "A day that goes by without me smashing in the head of a Green Skin or Ratkin is a day I wasted."
"We shall see then. I would be rather disappointed if you died so soon and were no longer able to make more automatons before passing down your skills."
My face pinched at the thought of teaching some... Utterly careless and shoddy working, Umgi, the ways of my forging.
And then with a scowl, I said with utter certainty. "I would sooner die than waste my time teaching the dawi's way of forging to some Umgi. Maybe, just maybe, I could teach some dragon-blooded men how to do some proper forging as they have the strength and lifespan to properly have the patience. But otherwise, to the blasted depths with such an idea."
If Miao Ying dared... Even slightly suggested I teach others how to make the runes used by a Runesmith of the dwarves. Regardless of whether she knew that it was impossible for humans and such to actually make dawi rune blessed things.
I would make her bleed for the insult.
Still, it seemed she knew or just knew not to press me on the topic as she merely nodded and then, without another word, she walked off.
With myself exhaling softly as the dragon-blooded officers began pulling the troops back together and dealing with the wounded and dead.
'Might as well grab some of the spider corpses and bigger orc corpses before the damned ogres eat them all... I can use their blood for making the power cores, and use their bones to make magical arrows.' I mused to myself.
And so while Azulbak grabbed himself like three and a half orcs' corpses to lie down beside and gnaw at. I kept myself busy, likewise gathering the corpses while the officers loaded up the wounded in carts, and the dead were set ablaze in separate piles from the orcs.
As it's not like we could just leave piles of the dead around... Doing that would lead to some asshole necromancer bringing them back to the dead and causing even more issues.
We then made our way back to the Grand Bastion and into the city of Nan-Gau without any major issues besides a couple ogre's fighting over the corpse of the giant spider that Miao Ying fried with her lightning.
Said fight was quickly shut down as an even bigger ogre came in and beat them over their heads with a club, ripped off one of their hands each, and then took said hands and spider corpse as rations for the way back.
It was a great time, honestly.
But once I got back to Nan-Gau, I got back to work on Nau Xiaolin's project as I performed the final touches on the Masterwork that would be her Longma's armor. Seeing as Nau Xiaolin also preferred to use her magic to merely strengthen herself as much as possible.
Making her own spear was also on the easier side due to how I didn't need to account for some elemental winds of magic nonsense. But seeing as I was going above and beyond in my work, I took inspiration from the wider universe of Warhammer.
The essence of a spear was to pierce enemies, obviously, but what if I tied the magic of the dragon blood into the spear in question?
Grand Cathay's whole mortal culture was based on the dragon-blooded leading the lesser mortals, so with that in mind. I made a large and especially long two-pronged spear. One meant in the greater universe to be welded by a Primarch himself.
Using Minecraft enchantments of Return, Lightning Caller, Fire, Sharpness, and Unbreaking. As the base, I then delved deep into the runes that my master Snorlot taught me as I bound Nau Xiaolin's blood into a three-patterned rune matrix.
The runes in question are Blood, Protection, and Explosion. So that when the spear in question was thrown, it would explode violently in lightning that would destroy demons, especially and other monsters. While it's lightning, not hurting any dragon-blooded warriors.
"The Spear of Telesto... It's not nearly as directly powerful as the real one in 40k, but it's still very strong." I muttered in total exhaustion as my body screamed in pain.
And the pain wasn't merely from magical or physical exhaustion. I had channeled so much magic in enchanting the spear that it actually got past my innate magical resistance and turned parts of my skin to stone.
I shuddered as my skin in parts cracked and and began bleeding as I moved myself carefully over to a chair and began picking the stone parts off of my skin... Ripping them out so that I could heal over time.
'Hmm, with how the Skaven were able to literally call the Aeldari of 40k via their interdimensional phone nonsense. I wonder if it's possible if I can make a bolter or something with an unlimited ammo enchantment.' I mused with amusement at the thought before I had a much more important thought.
'Heh, I bet those space Elgi would bend over backwards if they heard that shards of their gods were still whole and active in this world. But the question is how this world relates to 40k anyway.'
Still, those thoughts were for the far future... I still needed to worry about the End Times, which was still a long way away. Hell, I needed to focus on making my own army to take back my clan's hold more than anything!
I then reached into my inventory and, with a soft sigh, I cradled a large jug of ale that my father had brewed, and I whispered. "This is a good day to drink this... I killed a lot of greenskins for the first time with a proper army. I made my first masterwork, this is a good day to drink this... I just wish I had another member of my clan to share a cup with me."
Though more than anything, I wish I had my father here to pour this cup of wine for me. To clap my shoulders and look upon me with pride at my accomplishments. But one day... One day I will take back my clan hold.
And on that day, I would finally bury my parents' remains who to this day still remained in my inventory and were a constant reminder of my failure. Oh my clan's loss to the Skaven.