Magus moved swiftly through the dimly lit hallways, carefully hiding in the shadows. Even while being careful, he still ran into the occasional orc patrol. Other times, he ambushed them from some dark corner, killing them quickly and efficiently.
Like now.
Hiding behind a pillar, Magnus waited for a while. Footsteps were heading towards him, the sound of metal boots clanking against the stone floor.
'Judging by the steps, there's only two orcs. Should be easy unless they have armor.'
As the steps came close, Magnus pressed himself against the wall, counting down.
'3 steps.'
'2.
'1.'
He shot out on zero, charging out into the open. Before him were two orcs, each one covered in thick steel armor.
"What-" one of them tried to grab his weapon.
Magnus' hands blurred, grabbing a horn on each of the orcs heads. Before the two orcs could resist -
CLANG!
They both collapsed to the ground, dizzy by the blow. The helmets were taken off with one quick motion, each one lightly dented in the middle. As he threw the helmets to the side-
Crack Crack!
Two orc bodies fell to the ground, their heads crushed like watermelons. Not stopping his movements, Magnus pick up both orc bodies and dragged them all the way to the storage room.
'Nevermind. Still easy as long as its just two idiots.'
He glanced at the trail of blood.
'They might find the trail of blood, but by then it'll be too late!'
Retracting his steps, he once more got to the area where two helmets lay on the ground. Gently moving them to the side, he kept going down the tunnel.
The wall on the sides, originally smooth bricks marred by the occasional blood stains, had changed. Coarse bricks seemed to line the sides of the tunnel, while the ornate bronze pillars were replaced by simpler pillars. Tracing the metal with his fingers, he couldn't quite pinpoint what alloy this was.
Even the occasional doors that led to storage rooms were gone.
His steps continued, and a faint light shone at the end of the tunnel. Trying to reduce the noise he made as much as possible, he crept closer to the light.
Clang.
A half open door was at the end of it. Orange light came from inside, illuminating the entire corridor. Leaning against the wall, Magnus peeked inside of the room.
Clang.
A circular stone room, tens of meters wide, the air heavy with the scent of scorched metal.
CLANG.
From the wall opposite of him, a dragon head carved from stone stuck out. Lava flowed freely from its mouth, filling a large circular basin. At the edges of it, dwarves hammered away.
Gaunt and listless, they used the edge of the metal basin as an anvil. Their bodies were covered in filth, their clothes marred by filth.
10 of them were hammering away, another 30 huddled in the corner. And overseeing them were 10 orcs, each one heavily armored. Ssed
Shooting a fierce glare towards the orcs, Magnus wondered how to kill off the orcs and rescue the dwarves.
A minute passed. Another.
'I can't idly observe and look for a weak spot! I could get discovered which is just as much of a hassle, so-'
He rushed into the room, charging at the nearest orc. Hearing the footsteps rapidly approaching, it turned around.
A fist rapidly enlarged in its vision!
BANG!
The orc flew through the air like a projectile!
Every pair of eyes turned to look at the sound, seeing an orc flying through the air, before crashing into the lava pool.
SZZZ
"AHHHHH"
As the first orc was screaming, Magnus already arrived at the second orc. Another punch followed, and another orc sizzled in the lava.
The rest of the orcs finally reacted, pulling out their weapons and beginning to charge. But they didn't charge at Magnus.
'What-'
A dwarf was struck down by an orc, fresh blood spurting from the wound on his neck.
"BASTARDS!" Magnus furious shout echoed in the fortress.
A deep roar responded, but Magnus didn't pay it any head, charging towards the nearest orcs he saw.
Near the forge-
A dwarf and orc were locked in a fierce struggle. One brought a blade repeatedly down on the dwarf, the other one desperately defending with his metal handcuffs.
Clang!
The dwarf stumbled to the ground, no match for the orc. A blade enlarged in his vision, and the dwarf closed his eyes.
BANG!
SZZZZ!
The noise startled him, and he saw the orc which had been in front of him, wailing as it sunk in lava.
The dwarf, stunned, suddenly picked up the nearby blade. With a furious battle cry, he joined the fray.
Meanwhile...
Bang! Crack!
Two orcs were slammed into the ground, the stone floor cracking from the force of the blow. He saw the dwarves picking up weapons, pleased with their initiative.
'They're not fools, good.'
He charged another pair of orcs, this time opting to grab their legs. Shouting, he gave it his all as the orcs were flung towards the lava.
'6!'
He saw a mace on the ground, stained with dwarven blood. Picking it up, he charged the last 3 orcs left, who were getting swarmed by the furious dwarves.
The crude mace whistled through the air-
Swish-
BANG!
Looking at the now U shaped helmet, green blood and white matter gushing underneath, he smiled. Another swing, and one more grean head was torn off by the blow.
'I'm switching to a mace one day!'
He turned to face the last orc that's getting whaled on by the dwarves. Seeing him approach, they respectfully gestured at the orc with malice in their eyes.
Swish! BANG!
An arm was crushed. Another blow, and a leg snapped before being torn off.
"AHHHH!" The orcs pained scream kept flowing like a twisted melody, yet the dwarves watched, content.
Bang BANG BAAAANG!
Swing after swing, the orc yelled as its body was torn apart. The last blow decisively crushed it's head, silencing it forever.
Glancing at the unrecognisable pile of flesh and blood on the ground, he then looked at his bent metal mace. Throwing it to the side, he scanned the room.
'Out of the 10 orcs, none remained. Out of the 40 dwarves, 13 died in the brawl. A pity, but I can't stop here. The roar that I heard was definitely a response to my...'a glimmer of embarrassment flashed in his eyes,''Battle cry.'
"Uhh... Sir?"
A dwarf with a white beard spoke. Though he unkempt, covered in soot and dust, he seemed to be the oldest one here. Putting on a reassuring smile, he turned to look at the new' friends' he made.
"I'll keep it simple. I'm here to kill the orcs infesting this place, and you can help."
The dwarf shot a glance at the others, before looking back at Magnus and seizing him up.
"Fine, what do you need?"
Magnus smiled. This time a genuine smile that made the dwarves break out in a cold sweat.