While the occupants of the Balsici family's castle made their way toward their comfortable beds and safe rooms, in the distance, where they had set foot on the continent, the night was getting drenched in blood. As the moonlight roamed over the red liquids spurting from treacherous bodies that the earth refused to absorb, a scream was heard.
"No one gets away!"
After ripping off the jaw of the soldier she caught by the throat, Nafız plunged one of her pitch-black daggers right between the eyebrows of the commander ten paces away. She didn't have Mora's weapons in her hands; she was using the pitch-black daggers she received as a blessing from the ancestors.
"Yes, sir. Establish the Wall of Fire!"
The Leader of the Elemental Ten called out to his three subordinates standing side by side, and the flames erupting from their staffs scattered around, forming a circle of fire. The military camp consisting of fifty tents was completely surrounded, but there were those who wanted to escape using the sky.
There were flames wherever they looked; only the sky managed to keep its black color, and moving toward it to escape burning was the most rational solution. Although the first thing that comes to mind is often the best method, this time, the soldiers who took to the air turned into glowing embers and crashed to the ground like meteors.
"Net of Fire!"
Although the upper part of the Wall of Fire seemed open, it was woven like a net with threads of fire too thin to be seen by the naked eye. The three fire experts, who had caused the death of many soldiers with their fine craftsmanship, grew even more delighted with every human body that fell.
"I was a bit hesitant at first, but after seeing those facial expressions, I am completely convinced. The Orc Military Academy has turned you into killing machines too."
The warriors of the Elemental Ten, who didn't hesitate for a second to kill their enemies with the elemental energies erupting from their staffs, were getting full marks in their first battle. The Blood God was using her daggers to make pinpoint strikes, but they had formed groups of two and three and were completely focused on mass destruction.
"Don't touch that tent. I have business with the one inside!"
Nafız, walking along the path adorned with bodies scorched by flames, sliced by the sharpness of water, battered from rock to rock by the wind, and impaled on the tips of thorns erupting from the ground, had her sights set on the tent pitched right in the middle of the camp.
Unlike orc tents, the structure was four-cornered rather than round, and the thick fabrics forming its sides suddenly flew up, revealing the barrels of offensive mechanical devices fixed to the ground pointed at the attackers.
"Kill! Kill them all!"
The commander, with a few stars and a small wreath on the shoulders of his uniform, shouted with all his might, and the answer to his call came from the barrels of the devices rapidly firing marble-sized metals. The commander, who had been waiting for this moment to counterattack, had no mercy for the enemy who had trapped them inside. One metal piece per second shot out of the four weapons, raining down on the Elemental Ten and Nafız.
"Elemental Ten, take a defensive stance!"
The ten Druids weren't specialized in defense and support like their ancestors. Furthermore, they had specialized in offense, sacrificing the spirit tree that would grow inside them. Because of this, their defensive stance wasn't going to look like the others; they defended by countering the attack with an attack.
"They don't say 'the best defense is a good offense' for nothing."
Nafız started running toward the weapon whose barrel was pointed at her. A high-speed metal bead accompanied her every step, but she had two pitch-black daggers. The sight of the Blood God approaching the tent while scattering sparks was dazzling; she resembled a comet advancing through the darkness.
"What are you doing, kill her! All of you, focus on this side!"
The commander, directing all twenty soldiers inside the tent toward Nafız, demanded they fend off the approaching danger using their weapons capable of energy attacks. It was impossible to disobey his orders, and his subordinates practically emptied whatever they had in their hands onto the red-haired orc.
The weapons, the handiwork of the Engineers of the Machine Empire, could launch long-range attacks by channeling energy into them, just like the people of the Hell Realm did. The only difference was that these could only store a limited amount of energy and were the kind that needed to be reloaded when depleted.
Unlike them, Nafız was the creator of the Orc Blood Techniques, and the limit of the attacks she would make by using the vitality in her blood wasn't as restricted as their weapons.
"Orc Blood Techniques – Porcupine with a Thousand Thorns"
The blood-red energy overflowing from Nafız's body took shape and turned into a porcupine with thorns as sharp as needles, and a breath later, every single thorn on it was heading toward the enemy. If Druids defended by attacking, would she hold back?
When the red thorns, a handspan long, clashed with the iron marbles fired every second and the energy attacks of the twenty soldiers, a true festival of colors took place. The visual feast accompanying this originated from the shredded metals scattering in all directions and the overlapping energy attacks exploding like fireworks.
It was clearly a pleasant spectacle for the onlookers, but the Mercenaries seeing the Blood-Red-haired orc warrior right under their noses couldn't possibly agree with them. The daggers, so black they trapped every shade in the color spectrum, were so fast that the heads of those who saw Nafız's shadow rolled to their feet a breath later.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye; it only took a few seconds for the headless bodies of twenty soldiers to collapse to the ground, the four mechanical devices to be shattered, and the commander, whose both knees were smashed, to lose his arms before he could even swing his sword.
"No wonder you're stationed closest to the border. How obvious it is that your mission isn't to fight, but to report the enemy attack at the cost of your lives."
"Look at this, they only gave you four outdated combat mechs. Looks like the Merchant Guilds are dirt poor!"
Applying psychological pressure to the enemy commander she had rendered physically useless, Nafız was hearing words she didn't expect at all in return.
"So those dogs of the Hell Realm have started using orcs to attack."
The Blood God knew the situation wasn't at all like what the man trying to scatter his last spark of courage while walking on the edge of death was saying, but she also realized that when the enemy starts making mistakes, they shouldn't be interrupted.
"Do you think you're the only ones fighting for gold? Everyone knows you've lost your Generals, and without being able to replace them, you're nothing but a juicy piece of meat just waiting to be bitten into."
"You're right, the new king of the Hell Realm pays very well for your dead, and for hiring vagrant orcs on the Orc Steppes like me, that's more than enough!"
The moment Nafız threw her head completely back and started roaring with laughter, a mechanical swallow took off from behind the commander and blended into the darkness like a silver arrow shot from its bow. When the Blood God sensed this, she drew her bow and released one of her blood arrows. The druids weren't standing idle either; their elemental attacks went after the swallow, but in an impossible turn of events, they collided with the blood arrows midway and were destroyed.
"A bunch of amateurs. You might wipe out my unit with your surprise attack, but the headquarters will find out what happened here and about your presence. The plans to use you instead of the armies of the Hell Realm have fallen through; now I can die with peace of mind!"
As the moonlight reflecting off the commander's hairless head was absorbed by the black daggers pressed against his throat, the leader of the druids stepped forward and began to give his report.
"Blood God Nafız, all three hundred and eighteen soldiers in the enemy unit have been killed, and all means of communication, except the one you prevented us from intervening with, have been destroyed!"
Alator, the Leader of the Elemental Ten, had realized something was up when their attacks were stopped by Nafız and gave the ceasefire order, and now he wanted to find out the reason by adding a few words to his report.
"Alator, you manage to surprise me every single time. Putting aside your realization that I deceived this idiot, the way you chose to find out the reason behind my action dazzled me!"