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Blood And Rocks Chapta 21 | |
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Chapta 21 |
The crowd fell momentarily silent, an eerie thing to behold from orks and then there was a low rumbling from within the crater blasted in the centre of the arena. “Get ready lads.” Hazug called out and then he looked up at Ratish who was still standing in the back of the truck, “Quick, give us dat kannon.” “Yes Master. Ratish got it right ‘ere.” Ratish replied, dragging the captured auto cannon to the edge of the truck. Hazug reached out and took hold of the weapon, ripping the cloth cover from it and double-checking that it was loaded. The rumble
suddenly became a roar and a massive figure more than three times the
height of even Warboss Kazkal Kromag. Humanoid, the daemon’s head sported
not only a thick mane of black hair but also a pair of massive curved
horns. In one hand it held a long trailing whip and in the other it
carried a massive double-headed axe. Its legs ended in cloven hooves that
made it appear more bestial, but of greatest note were the enormous wings
that sported from between its shoulder blades. “Well let’s see ‘ow it likes dis.” Hazug replied and he swung the auto cannon towards the daemon, “Kop dis!” he yelled and he opened fire. The burst of fire struck the bloodthirster’s chest and the daemon roared in anger. Hazug had seen daemons regenerate damage before now, but on this occasion the auto cannon did not even cause any damage to be regenerated. The bloodthirster’s torso was covered in armour the colour of brass and not one of the shells was able to penetrate this. “Let’s ‘ave ‘im lads!” Gorgoga shouted and he and his troops rushed forwards, arranging themselves into a single line, side by side so that their shields formed a single wall of metal. The bloodthirster turned to face the Goffs as they charged and it lashed out with its whip, producing a ‘snap!’. The whip struck the line of shields with such force that the Goffs were thrown backwards and the ork crowd let out a cheer. This reaction distracted the bloodthirster and rather than move to finish off the Goffs before they could recover it turned and roared at the crowd then lashed out with the whip again, smashing through the fence around the arena and scattering the orks just beyond it. “’Ere!” Kazkal shouted, leaping to his feet, “Dat aint allowed!” “Maybe its just audience participation boss.” A nob from his entourage suggested, “Like wot ya gits told ya about.” Kazkal frowned. “Well if dares participatin’ to be done, den I is gonna be da one doin’ it.” Kazkal said and he slammed his hand down on the activation stud for his power claw. Then he lifted the powerful close combat weapon above his head and gave out a yell, “Waaargh!” and smashing his way through the fence in front of him he too rushed to confront the bloodthirster. Seeing their warboss reacting like this inspired the crowd and in mere moments they were rushing the fence, either climbing over or smashing through it as they flooded into the arena itself. “Oh dis don’t look good.” Drazzok commented as he looked around, “Hazug ya better ‘ave a good idea.” “Well I was figurin’ dat we’d just let dat bloodthirster kill a load of dis lot while we look for an opportunity to get in close and kill it.” Hazug replied. “Oh yeah?” Drazzok commented, “Well dat’d be a good plan if it weren’t for who’s gonna be da first to get flattened.” And he pointed to Kazkal Kromag. The warboss had covered about half the distance between his seat and the crater the bloodthirster had emerged from and given both his size and the amount of noise he was making as he ran the daemon and turned to face him directly. Roaring back at Kazkal the daemon made use of it’s whip once more, but having seen this twice now, Kazkal was ready for it and he extended his power claw clad arm out in front of him so that the weapon struck the energy field that surrounded it. There was a flash as the whip’s momentum wrapped it around the power claw and the energy released travelled back towards the bloodthirster. Power claws were amongst the most powerful hand held weapons in the galaxy and the orks often used them to rip open even the most heavily armoured vehicles and the sudden jolt was enough to provoke a reaction even from the bloodthirster, forcing it to let go of the whip. “Boss wait!” Hazug called out and before rushing to join the warboss he picked his warscythe from the truck, looked at his own group and added, “Come on, we gotta go ‘elp da boss.” In the meantime the ork crowd now converging on the bloodthirster began to open fire with the firearms they had brought with them. There were a few rifles amongst these, but mainly the orks used pistols and despite the sheer number of weapons used and shots fired the barrage did nothing more than further infuriate the bloodthirster. The daemon tilted its head back and let out another roar as it spread its wings apart. Then it leapt upwards and was carried through the air far enough that when it came down it landed in the midst of the orks, crushing some beneath its hooves and scattering even more. Then it swung its axe and more than a dozen orks were sliced in half in one go. “Batrug!” Hazug shouted as he saw this, “Can dat blasta ya got do somethin’ to stop dat?” “Let’s find
out shall we?” Batrug replied as he ground to a halt and he aimed his
custom weapon at the bloodthirster. There was a brilliant flash as the
weapon fired a beam of energy at the daemon, striking one of its wings
close to where it joined the bloodthirster’s body. Batrug released the
trigger and grinned as he looked at the damage his weapon had
inflicted. No longer stable in flight the daemon came tumbling straight back down to the ground where it landed heavily and fell. Seeing this Krorden realised that now was his chance. “Let rip!” he yelled at Trokken as he slammed his foot down on his buggy’s gas pedal and the vehicle shot forwards. There was a drawn out rattle of automatic fire as Trokken fired at the daemon as it lay prone, but once again the bullets were unable to do any damage and Krorden just grinned as he prepared to ram his buggy into the daemon before it could get back up. However, the bloodthirster was not oblivious to the approaching war buggy and it swung out its fist, striking the buggy head on. The lightweight vehicle was hurled into the air by its own forward momentum and it flipped over before it landed. Trokken was thrown out in mid-flight while Krorden avoided being crushed by his own buggy only thanks to the well-built roll cage it possessed. Nevertheless the impact still left him dazed and trying to untangle himself from the wrecked remains of the buggy. The bloodthirster then pulled itself back to its feet and roared at the swarm of orks rushing headlong towards it before bringing down its axe on the front rank of them. “Boss look
out!” Hazug yelled as he reached Kazkal and he stretched out his arm to
grab hold of the warboss. “Gorgoga ‘ad a power claw an’ all.” Hazug pointed out, “And now ‘im and ‘is lads is flat on dare backs over dare.” And he pointed to where Gorgoga was only just getting back to his feet while one of his troops looked as if he would not be getting back up at all, “We gotta wait for an opportunity. Den we all goes in together.” And Hazug held up his warscythe and activated the blade. Kazkal growled, clearly not happy about being prevented from rushing right into the fight but willing to accept Hazug’s reasoning. Meanwhile orks continued to surge towards the bloodthirster, filling the air with small arms fire and attempting to hack at the daemon’s legs with hand weapons. In response the bloodthirster hacked at the orks with its axe, chopping through five or six with each swing. With its free hand the bloodthirster scooped up a hapless ork and hurled him back into the now empty seating around the arena. The daemon then turned to focus its attention on the orks approaching from another direction, hacking away with its axe. “Dare.” Hazug said, grinning. “Wot?” Kazkal asked, “Hazug, wotcha seen?” “Some way of getting’ us all into trouble no doubt.” Drazzok commented. “Dat daemon
leads with its axe.” Hazug said, “So all we needs to do is stop it usin’
it and we can get in close enough for ya to smack it with ya klaw.” “Dis better work.” Kazkal said. “It’ll work.” Hazug said, “Or if it don’t I’ll be da first to find out.” Then he took a breath and added, “Let’s move.” The group moved forwards, pushing their way through the crowd of orks all attempting to engage the bloodthirster. Mayleth moved with them, making full use of her agility to avoid the worst of the crush and rapidly getting close enough that she felt able to fire her pistols at the daemon. “Let rip!” one of Two Heads yelled and he and the other Evil Suns also opened fire with their rifles, spraying bullets at the daemon. Thuggrim joined them, but rather than firing wildly from the hip as they did he fired individual rounds from the shoulder that struck their target far more often. More powerful than standard rifle rounds, the shots fired from Thuggrim’s weapon also caught the attention of the bloodthirster and it turned to face him. Now it clearly
saw the group being led by Hazug and Kazkal. Though there were other nobs
present, these were scattered about the arena and mixed in with more
normal sized orks. However, the warboss was naturally the largest single
ork on the planet and surrounding him was a group of other orks who stood
a head taller than most of the species. The bloodthirster knew enough to
realise that these orks represented the greatest threat and rather than
simply waiting for them to get close it let out a roar and charged towards
them. “My master! Look out!” Mayleth cried out as the daemon looked to be about to deliver another axe blow that would end Hazug’s life. Instead the eldar leapt over Hazug, firing her pistol at the daemon. Unaffected to the toxins coating the crystalline projectiles, the bloodthirster nevertheless felt the repeated impacts and rather than finishing off Hazug it lashed out at Mayleth, attempting to pick her up with it’s free hand. Fortunately she moved with such speed that the attempt failed and instead another group of orks was knocked flat. “Geddup!” Drazzok shouted as he and Thuggrim dragged Hazug back to his feet, “Dis is no time to be sittin’ on ya arse. Ya got dat fancy choppa, now use it!” Hazug scooped up the warscythe from where it had fallen and looked at the bloodthirster. Following Mayleth’s distraction the bloodthirster had turned its rage on a mob of Death Skulls, their faces painted a mix of bright blue and white. Like Gorgoga’s troops they had covered their bodies in a motley collection of thick armour plates intended to provide better protection that the usual ork body armour. However, against the strength of the bloodthrister the additional armour was of no use at all and those not dismembered by a swig of its axe were crushed under its hooves. Hazug charged
the daemon from behind just as Two Heads and Mayleth opened fire on it
again. It ignored Mayleth for now, instead turning upon Two Heads. The daemon did not notice Two Heads approach; instead it turned on Hazug again and swung at him with its now empty hand. Hazug reacted by putting his warscythe in the path of the strike and without its axe to take the force of the warscythe’s blow the alien weapon finished the job of slicing off the bloodthrister’s hand. The bloodthirster threw back its head, roaring into the air as it clutched at the stump of its wrist while the severed hand dropped away and was consumed in a brief flare of unnatural flame that temporarily drove back the surrounding orks. “Boss! Now!” Hazug bellowed and Kazkal leapt into action, pushing aside any orks that got between him and the bloodthirster as he charged forwards and delivered a blow to the daemon’s stomach that produced a brilliant flash of light and a sharp ‘crack’ as the power claw’s energy field was discharged into it. Reeling temporarily from the blow the bloodthirster staggered back, trampling several orks unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. Drazzok saw an opportunity and darted towards the daemon, swinging his staff to strike at its leg and the moment it made contact he channelled all the psychic energy he could into the daemon. In an arena filled with orks caught up in the thrill and excitement of battle that was a lot of energy. Drazzok himself shook as the power flowed through him and his staff and then into the daemon, which in turn let out another howl before it batted the weirdboy away. Drazzok flew backwards right into Thuggrim and the pair landed in a heap. Seeking the source of the psychic attack, something that as a part of the Blood God’s pantheon the bloodthirster held to be an abomination, the daemon saw Drazzok and Thuggrim as they attempted to get back to their feet and it raised a single cloven foot with the intention bringing it down on the pair of them. “Oh no ya don’t!” Hazug snapped and he thrust his warscythe at the bloodthirster, aiming not for the leg about to crush the life out of Drazzok and Thuggrim but instead at the other one, the leg that was currently supporting the daemon’s entire weight. Caught by surprise the daemon fell backwards as Hazug cut through the limb and another dozen orks were flattened beneath its bulk, “Now! While its down!” Hazug then yelled and he turned and jumped up onto the chest of the bloodthrister. In return the bloodthrister tried to swipe Hazug off, but as it raised its remaining hand Kazkal came charging forwards and smashed it aside with his power claw. Then he too leapt up onto the daemon and with a roar he drove the claw into the daemon’s chest to produce another bright energy discharge. Hazug meanwhile swung his warscythe down at the bloodthirster’s neck and there was a sudden jet of bright red fire that made him recoil. But then he stepped forward again and swung the warscythe at the daemon’s throat for a second time. There was a second spurt of fire from the wound, but this time Hazug was ready and he simply leant back long enough for it pass him by before swinging his warscythe for a third time. This time the flames released were not as focused, the wound being large enough that the fire erupted from the side of the bloodthirster’s neck as well and when Hazug delivered a fourth blow the daemon’s head rolled free completely. Immediately
the headless corpse of the bloodthirster began to burn form the inside
out, its skin breaking open as it was consumed by the daemonic warp
fire. All around orks looked on and cheered at the destruction of the daemon. “Hazug did it!” one of Two Heads yelled and then the other one added, “Hazug killed da daemon. Waaargh!” “Hazug!” another ork yelled from within the crowd. “Hazug!” “Hazug! Hazug! Hazug!” Hazug himself just stood and looked around while behind him Warboss Kazkal Kromag also got back to his feet and glared angrily at him.
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