Chapter 328 Throne Hall
The Wyrm Ants Mr Hot and Ms Cold brought Slashreaver and Ripcaller towards a window that was connected to the Throne Hall and they both could outright see that the room was filled with an intense sense of urgency.
There had been a mutiny. However, none of them had suspected that the traitors would even include the whole of the Goblin Royal Guards including their Leader, who had been treated like a son by King Sol. Spears and swords were directed towards the King and merely the Three Generals were left still protecting their Liege in the Throne Room.
"You three…why do you still risk your life to protect this worthless life of mine?" King Sol had thrown the rune-filled scabbard on the floor and his sword was up high alongside his trusty Three Generals as they were being cornered at the steps of the throne. Even though grey hair and age had gotten the best of him, his skills as a renowned fighter could not be underestimated as he did what he preached to the masses. Even at his advanced age, he had never once neglected his training in the slightest.
"Heh. 'Worthless life'? Please your Majesty, after all the days of your past glory you still call it that? Then what shall the three of us say? Besides, you think we will allow you to die that easily? You still owe us a beer from the last practice fight." Gladios, the Sword Goblin General joked. At the same time, he tore out his stiff ceremonial armour and swung with the Greatsword while exposing the fearsome tattoos and battle scars he had accumulated throughout his life. His muscles were still bustling out of his body and for a fairly old goblin, he could hold his weight against five Orc Warrior Captains at their peak. Most of the dead Orc bodies that scattered on the floor were his contribution. Those were the ones the traitorous Royal Guards had sneaked into the Throne Hall through the secret passage.
"It seems that our King is too lofty. I bet he still thinks of us as the grunts he could beat up so easily in the past. Let's remind him why we earned our titles as Generals." Igni, the Dagger Goblin General, unfolded his partial blindfold to reveal a bloodied eye. Despite the fact that the other eye was permanently damaged by battles in the past. Igni was nicknamed the One Eye Assassin before he obtained the title of Dagger Goblin General for killing many Orc sympathisers during the Goblin Rebellion against the Orcs. He brandished his old daggers which were rumoured to have evolved into weapons with sentience.
"Hahaha, If we don't protect you my Liege, Queen Moonshine would never forgive us in the afterlife." Argent, the youngest of the three Goblin Generals and most versatile in the ways of the spear, chimed in as he knocked on his shoulder with his prized experimental magical pistol while pointing his customised one handed spear to the mutiny guards. The unique thing about his weapon was that it could gather magic from the surroundings to use it as a projectile. In an era with cold weapons, this gave him an edge more times than he could count. He regarded it as a sacred treasure he had salvaged after fighting against one of the Orc Head Researchers who had experimented on slaves to develop those prototype magical weapons. Yet, Argent's fighting potential does not lie in the pistol but in combination with the spear that he was carrying.
"To think that the whole regiment of Royal Guards would be the ones to betray us all. This is inexcusable. Have you all forgotten your pride? I still remember each and every one of you, and how delighted you were when I personally picked you out for this position!!! What have the Orcs enticed you with? Gold? Women?" King Sol shouted to the captains of the Royal Goblin Guards. A lot of them looked down, the guilt clearly written on their faces.
"They promised us protection and salvation from the Black Disaster and the Red Hurricane! Us and our families…" Their Leader replied as he grimly held his sword towards his King, the one he had sworn to protect. What he did not dare to say were also the conditions that King Sol suggested. An awful lot of money and women for their lustful desires.
"You think that we are unable to defeat those famous Black Orc Generals, so you decided to betray us? Have you forgotten how hard your parents, your brothers and your fellow comrades-in-arms once fought against the Orcs to gain this independence? Are you not even willing to die for your own freedom? Instead, you'd rather cower under the feet of an Orc which might eventually kill you after you are done being useful?!" Argent cursed at them for their cowardice and knew the terrible acts Orcs had done to the past goblin sympathisers.
"You cannot blame them… The Three Generals and their King is a good tale for the history books. But every tale will have to end someday. So just accept the fall that you are about to experience." The wind whispered to all that were in the Throne Hall and a Black Orc began to materialise right in between both fronts while the distortion in the surroundings got stronger.
"But you are right. I have no use for cowards." The Black Orc smiled as his entire figure fully emerged from the winds and space distortion. An exquisite grey cape was floating around the Black Orc, but unlike most Orcs, he fashioned a set of bright red leather armour at the sight of which all Royal Guards trembled in fear.
It was none other than the Red Hurricane.
"Bleargh, I always knew the guards were useless. Too much good life in the castle. Those who are good at fighting belong on the frontline, and not at the back to grow lazy." Gladios spit a mix of blood and saliva at the floor as he tightened the grip on his Greatsword.
"We have been living peacefully with the Orcs for decades. We even aided you Black Orcs to reconstruct your kingdom. What made you want to invade us once more?!" King Sol slammed his sword on the ground to make his stand against the Red Hurricane.
"Does it even matter at this point? … Fine, if you wish to know a reason: Because you are too soft! Taking pity on your enemies when you should have wiped them out. Don't worry. My wind will carry you in cold embrace and make sure that you will never wake up again." He snapped his fingers and the captains around him were all struck by cones of air cyclones that appeared at his will. Only their Leader could barely withhold it. The remaining Royal Goblin Guards were paralysed by the horror of their captains being shred into pieces by a mere snap of the Red Hurricane's finger.
"This is madness! This is nothing like what you had promised us! We allowed you to the castle and you said that you would protect us!" One of the goblin royal guards shouted, but before he could say more, he felt something hovering around his throat. In an instant, a cut flashed through his throat and blood involuntarily sprayed all around his fellow Royal Guards. This was more than what his fellow guards could handle, they dropped their weapons and quickly knelt at the horrendous power that the Red Hurricane was wielding while a vague greenish shadow was seen hovering above him.
"The Avatar of Garuda. I did not expect them to summon the Shaitan Queen of Wind." King Sol thought as he recognised the green shadow while mumbling a few words which generated a multilayer magic barrier in front of his Three Generals. The barrier shone brightly with rich magical energy, one of the few spells used previously against the Shaitan Nobles.
"To think they are back again." Argent felt agitated upon witnessing the Avatar of Garuda which the Red Hurricane was, appeared once more. He wanted to rush in but Argent knew that the Avatars of Shaitan nobles were not to be underestimated.
"The Orcs have always been in contact with the Shaitan Kings and Queens! The Avatars of the Queen of Ice, Shiva! The Lord of Thunder, Syldra! And the Prince of Fire, Ifrit are currently conquering the other Goblin Kingdoms as we speak. Soon this land! This nation! Nay! This world will belong to the Orcs and we shall reign supreme against those who oppose us!" The Red Hurricane bellowed.
Yet, before he could relish the taste of his speech, the side windows broke and a massive continuous blast of fire and ice were hurled towards the Red Hurricane which he blocked with some difficulty. He had not expected this surprise attack and the fact that those were intertwined elemental attacks did not make it any easier for him. Two shadowy figures made their way through the defences by escaping his line of sight and headed towards him.
Ripcaller did not hesitate to boost his speed with the Gearbox boots that he was wearing and managed to stab the Red Hurricane on his right shoulder while Slashreaver slipped in a cut to his lower left leg. Nevertheless, the Red Hurricane blasted blades of air towards them. Fortunately, the two goblins with ample experience of fast melee attacks could vaguely see the magical blades, allowing them to dodge them better than those dead useless Royal Guard captains.
"Ripcaller?! Slashreaver?!" The two fathers who caught a glimpse of their sons were baffled and delighted that they were still alive. The goblin sons then retreated into the barrier of King Sol to escape the continuous onslaught of air blade attacks by the Red Hurricane.
"Heh, even the Avatar of Garuda can bleed. What is there to be afraid of?" Slashreaver proclaimed as he clasped his hands and arms with his father, Gladios. His father did not care about their circumstances. He was just happy that his lost son had finally returned now and hugged Slashreaver tightly. "Aw man! My boy! Where have you been!?" Gladios asked with tears nearly emerging out from his tear duct.
"Father." Ripcaller knelt down on one leg in front of his father. Instead of acknowledging this with his usual nod, Igni pulled his son up and grabbed him close to his side. "Welcome back. I know you will be fine." Igni said in a low and proud voice as he had just watched his son managing to injure the Red Hurricane.
Argent could not help but notice that his son was not with the two of them and assumed the worst until Ripcaller affirmed him. "Uncle Argent. Worry not. He is alive and well…he may even have done you proud!"
"What do you mea-?" Before the Spear General could hear more of the circumstances that his son was in, there was a sudden banging at the Throne Hall door which was barred from within.
"Hahahaha! Looks like your pathetic goblins cannot even stop the might of our Black Orc fighters!" Red Hurricane decided to help his fellow orcs, who were restlessly banging the door by releasing a violent blast of wind towards the haphazard barricade placed behind the Throne Hall doors. The metal obstacles were scattered everywhere which allowed the group who was banging the door to finally get through.
The heavy white double metal doors ornated with golden designs were suddenly smashed wide open by the group behind and the Red Hurricane was a little shocked when the people knocking on it were not his predicted reinforcement.
At that moment, Argent took the opportunity to fire his magical pistol towards the Red Hurricane, while the dagger wielding father and son sprinted into action, attempting to bring the Avatar of Garuda down in one shot.
The Red Hurricane was undoubtedly distracted by the arrival of Jin, Starfire and the group of battle weary goblin guards that allowed him to be shot by Argent. Unfortunately, Igni and Ripcaller were unable to get close enough to the Avatar of Garuda as it seemed that there was a self preserving wind barrier that repelled the melee strikes.
The Red Hurricane was surprised since he had even enforced his own wind barrier after the two goblin sons had managed to wound him. However, he did not expect Argent's magic bullet to go through the wind barrier when it was supposed to repel both melee and projectile attacks. The mighty Orc General seemed a bit flustered about those unforeseen new circumstances, whereas the Goblin General smiled.
With the Orc Researcher dead no one except for Argent knew about this type of weapon. Argent's magical pistol absorbed the surroundings to create the bullet that he fired. At the current point of time, the surrounding had been infused with King Sol's magic due to the barrier and hence the pistol quietly absorbed King Sol's magical essence from the barrier he created.
King Sol's magic was specifically meant as a countermeasure against the Shaitan's elemental magic which the Orcs worshipped. That was the sole and primary reason why the goblins had been able to rebel during the war against the Orcs and Humans. With the aid of Sol who happened to be bestowed with the magic of Light, he and his comrades were able to go against the weakened Orcs.
With a high magical calibre packed bullet, it easily managed to pierce the Wind Barrier that the Red Hurricane created. Unfortunately, the Dagger General's family was not having as easy of a time and failed to penetrate that barrier.
Meanwhile, Jin feared that the Throne Hall would be in the same situation as the rest of the castle that he had traversed. He assumed the King would be some useless old goblin that was ruling the community. Never had he even considered that the King that was standing right in front of him had the presence of a ruler.
"Ahh…so there is really a coup d'etat." Jin noticed the goblins that were kneeling with their heads on the floor and stopped Starfire from commanding those traitors into the safety of her enlarged energy barrier.
"They could just be scared! I mean that's the Red Hurricane! He is feared to be wielding tremendous wind magic in the Orc Kingdom! Some even say that he is a Chosen of the Wind Queen!" Starfire replied and Jin shook his head on how innocent and naïve her way of thinking was. After all their King was being attacked while they were not doing their one and only duty.
"No! They betrayed the King!" Gladios shouted as he charged towards the Red Hurricane with his Greatsword in front of him, blocking the direct air blades that were being thrown towards him. Slashreaver stayed close behind his father as they could not just stand hiding behind the shiny shield barrier that King Sol had created. Starfire was left speechless and decided to maintain her barrier while keeping the front door occupied. The goblin guards that were with her fortified themselves in hopes to deter the Red Hurricane while the other half of the guards protected the rear against any remnant Orc Fighters that were to come this way.
"It is fruitless!" Red Hurricane expended more of his energy by creating a stronger, more defined series of air blades with a few more incantations added to the spell and sent them flying towards Gladios.
The air blades slammed onto the Greatsword which caused the old goblin to flinch a little before he could move forward again. That kind of reaction caused the Red Hurricane to make some quick minor adjustments to the incantations and the air blade was able to create sufficient impact to knock back the unwieldy Gladios.
"Kid! Stay behind me! Do not move out! It's too dangerous!" Gladios warned his child and Slashreaver obliged for now. There were times to disobey to be a hero, but there were also times that common sense should prevail against those impulsive thoughts.
Jin roughly understood the situation that they were in and he decided to enter the fray as reckless as ever. "Wind against Wind, let's see who will emerge the winner! Epic Sword Art, Bamboo Cyclone of the Lazy Panda!" Jin shouted as the seven panda silhouettes appeared right above his head.
Red Hurricane noticed the arrival of another pest which was about to throw his life away meaningless. "Maggot, wait your turn. I have other better things to kill first!" The Red Hurricane immediately turned his left arm towards the weird half panda masked guy and cast the reinforced air blade from his hands. Suddenly, the air blade was dispersed by an abrupt wind entering into Red Hurricane's proximity.
"What the hell?!" The Black Orc then noticed how his wind barrier was being dispersed too and realised that the wind that was blowing around him was moving in an anticlockwise direction which cancelled out his wind barrier that was being blown in a clockwise manner.
"Sheesh!" The Red Hurricane slammed his fist downwards ignoring the pain of the bullet wound he had received on his chest, and a more massive cyclone appeared around him to protect the Black Orc as he stayed in the eye of his hurricane.
"Guess that guy is the real deal." Jin bitterly laughed as he noticed his cyclone was being cancelled out quickly from the one that Red Hurricane created.
Yet instead of attacking, the Red Hurricane decided to throw a punch to the left of the Throne Hall. Immense wind magic ensued in that particular direction, destroying the granite stone walls of the Throne Hall.
"Consider yourself lucky. You might be safe for now, but not when daybreak comes!" The Red Hurricane had decided to retreat for now. Given the circumstances, their initial plan seemed to have failed. There was another Wind User that tried to fight against him and King Sol's magic still working strong till this day. "Those bastards! I will get them for feeding me the wrong information. I dare them to say that King Sol's magic was not working once more!" The Red Hurricane mumbled to himself as he cursed his fellow avatar comrades.
At that point, King Sol released his magic and he fell to the ground panting for breath. The Sword General ordered the guards under the temporary command of Starfire to apprehend the traitors in the Throne Hall.
Starfire in the meantime quickly went to her father's side and aided him to what was left of the throne. "Father! You promised me that you would not use 'that' magic. Why did you still use it?! You know about the consequences. Venerable Blue Bird, do you mind assisting my father?" Starfire humbly asked the blue magpie on her shoulder to aid her father and it did not hesitate to do so. After all, Jin asked Que Er to do the same too.
With the improved mana generation provided by the Magpie, the King's breathing lightened, and he rested on the throne while the Three Generals took their leave to search for other Orc Fighter Remnants in the castle. "Take my Magpies with you. They will assist, not only in communication." The half masked Magpie Lady told Gladios and he readily accepted her help seeing how the blue magpie was able to save King Sol. However not all the Generals took the active search for Orcs as Argent, the Spear General decided to head towards the rooftop of the castle to find his son after he heard from Ripcaller and Slashreaver that he was fighting against the Black Disaster.
"You idiot! You better not die on me!" Argent was planning to scold his son as he sprinted his way up towards the Rooftop nearly breaking the limit of his weathered body and heart. There he saw Piercestriker standing with a broken arm and his spear aiming towards the sky.
"What in the King's name is that…" Argent could hardly make out various blinding lights in the sky in the middle of a moonless night.
"Enemies. Father. But don't worry they will suffer the same fate as the Black Disaster" Piercestriker turned his head and grinned when he saw his father surprised look and swung his spear down.