IDWTBTHQ Chapter 115 - The Battle of Treval part 5

Blueskin was seething with anger and disbelief.

His mighty army, which he had spent freaking years gathering and training, had been overwhelmed so fast that he barely had the time to realize it had happened. One minute he was leading his soldiers against the enemy and the next one he was alone and surrounded by a slithering mass of chitin.

The Vex, which he had always dismissed as a secondary concern at worst, had revealed themselves to be much more dangerous than the oni could have ever imagined even in his worst nightmares. Unlike the ones he had fought in the forest, the bug-creatures opposing him here were not only better organized and absolutely fearless but also possessed many more different units, each seemingly made for a specific role. Hell, they even had flying units and freaking living artillery. That was some shit straight out of a tactical sci-fi game that felt horribly out of place in a fantasy setting like this one!

Sadly, he didn't even have time to lament the unfairness of this situation because he was far too busy defending himself from the Vex assault. The bug creatures were attacking him from literally all sides, jumping on each other to better reach him and generally acting like a swarm of ants trying to take down a much bigger animal with their sheer numbers.

Still, the oni wouldn't go down that easily.

His new and improved battle form was serving him well and it seemed perfect for the kind of situation he was in. His four long arms and Wolverine-like bone claws allowed him to easily deal with multiple opponents in close quarter combat, his thick scales protected him from the bugs’ weak attacks and finally his enormous size prevented him from being pushed around. He still took some damage from time to time when the Vex managed to score a lucky hit, but he quickly regenerated and made sure that the offender wouldn't live enough to make a second attack. All these factors combined resulted in him plowing through the Vex like a lawnmower through tall grass, leaving a trail of shattered chitin and smelly ichor in his wake.

However not even this one-sided massacre discouraged the Vex. They just kept coming again and again, like the waves of the ocean crashing against a huge cliff. They showed a complete disregard for their own safety, fighting to their last breath to try and kill the oni or even just get in his way as much as possible, climbing all over him as if trying to literally drown him in bodies. This forced Blueskin to proceed at a snail's pace, stopping every few seconds to literally shake the bugs from his back. It was like slogging through a living swamp that was actively trying to swallow him.

However, despite this setback Blue still felt confident that he could turn the tides of the battle. After all, according to the sci-fi stories he read in his previous life, swarm-like enemies like the Vex usually shared the crippling weakness of becoming useless if their Queen was slain, and he had sent Tiny to do just that. If she managed to accomplish her mission, then he could take command of the rest of his forces and defeat the goblins. All he had to do was to reach the center of his army before they were wiped out and resist until then, so he kept advancing as fast as he could, carving a bloody path through the bugs surrounding him.

Then, all of a sudden, the oni felt something big hitting him from behind and pushing him to the ground.

He reacted immediately, trying to regain his balance and shake off whatever was attacking him, but the thing was not only extremely heavy but also determined, and it latched on him with its claws refusing to let go. Moreover, the oni also felt himself being stabbed multiple times in the shoulders with enough force to pierce through his scales and leave deep wounds in his flesh.

With a roar full of pain and anger, Blueskin used one pair of his arms to grab the creature on his back and rolled on the ground, throwing the attacker away from him.

He then immediately got up and barely managed to catch a glimpse of the creature he was dealing with —a colossal, sinuously serpentine creature similar to some sort of bug-dinosaur hybrid with four arms, two of which sported mantis-like blades— before he felt a massive claw closing around his neck.

He instinctively ducked, so that the claw only ripped part of his throat instead of decapitating him outright, and turning around he saw that a second dinosaur-like creature had snuck behind him, only this one had a pair of colossal pincers instead of chitin blades on a pair of its arms.

He was about to counterattack when a third creature emerged from the Vex ranks, this one with four scythe-like arms, and charged at him from the right. The oni dodged to the right, but as he started to counterattack he was suddenly enveloped by six pale and slimy tentacles, which belonged to a fourth creature which had also appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Those tentacles were surprisingly strong and seemingly acidic judging by how they burned through his scales, but luckily they didn't seem to be too tough and the oni quickly used his bone claws to cut himself free. However this operation left him distracted and vulnerable to the flanking maneuver of two other dinosaur Vex, who caught him between them and started hacking him apart.

As blood, scales and pieces of his meat flew in the air, Blueskin roared once again in pain and swung his arms wildly in a circle, trying to hit his enemies. However, unlike the rest of their kin these Vex seemed to have some sense of self-preservation and easily dodged that clumsy counter attack, taking a few steps back to get out of the oni's reach. Then, all four of the creatures started slowly circling around him, waiting for the right moment to attack again.

Blueskin used that brief moment of respite to regenerate his wounds while also carefully studying his opponents. They were clearly Vex but they were much, much bigger than the rest of their kin, being taller than the oni himself. They were also impossibly fast and agile for something their size, moving with a slick predatory grace that reminded Blue of a bunch of sharks stalking their prey in the sea.

The oni grimaced. Those had to be the heavy hitters of the Vex race, sent there to kill him. Well, too bad for them, he had no intention to just roll over and let that happen. As fierce as those creatures were, they were still nothing compared to him! He would kill them one by one and then

Before he could finish that thought, the surrounding lesser Vex, which he had completely forgotten about, suddenly swarmed him. Many mantis-like Vex climbed all over him while hitting him with their chitin blades, while the dragonfly-like ones flew directly in his face, trying to gouge off his eyes,and the heavy, gorilla-like ones just tackled his legs to immobilize him. Blueskin cursed and tried to shake them all off, but before he could get himself free the dinosaur Vex took advantage of this distraction to attack him once again. They surrounded the oni and swung their colossal scythe-like arms against him, not caring if they killed their kin in the process. This time the oni had no room to dodge and could only try his best to parry or deflect hits aimed at his head while relying on his regeneration for the wounds he received elsewhere. He did find a brief opening to retaliate though and actually managed to score a couple of hits against one of the dinosaur-like Vex, cutting off one of its scythe-arms and opening a big gash on its side. But the bug simply ignored its wounds and kept fighting as if nothing happened, cutting off one of the oni's arms with a swift counter attack.

It was then that Blueskin started feeling a hint of fear amidst his anger and frustration. Those huge Vex were not only really strong and fast, but they were also incredibly coordinated, moving as one and perfectly taking advantage of their numbers to corner him. Moreover, the presence of the smaller Vex getting in his way was also a huge problem. Being constantly swarmed over by them, Blueskin couldn’t move easily or focus properly on the fight, which resulted in him being at the complete mercy of his opponents.

It didn’t take long before he decided that he didn’t like these odds, and that it was time to leave.

He could only think of one method of escape, and it was quite risky. But then again, staying there was a death sentence, so it wasn’t as if he had any other choice.

Protecting his head and neck with his arms, the oni charged straight ahead to break out of the encirclement, outright ignoring all the wounds he received. Luckily, the big Vex weren’t as heavy as he was and he managed to push  them away for a moment, though he did lose another arm in the process. However, the lesser Vex immediately moved to stop him, gathering their bodies in a huge wave of chitin that rose up to stop him while the dinosaur-like bugs also repositioned to take advantage of this situation and attack him from behind.

Escape on the ground was impossible. So Blueskin just took to the air.

First, he moved most of his muscles into his legs while simultaneously reducing his overall weight, and then he leapt, jumping over six meters in height. Then, as he was still mid-air, he quickly turned his remaining arms into wings and started flapping frantically, quickly gaining altitude and rising up into the sky.

“So long suckers!” He thought, watching the big Vex jumping to get him, only to come a few meters short and land back into their brethren below. Only the dragonfly-like Vex could reach him now, but they were far too small to stop him or even slow him down, and so the oni just kept rising higher and higher.

Then, the flying Vex started latching on to his wings.

At first that didn't slow him down either, but with every second that passed more and more Vex gathered on his wings, making them exponentially heavier and more difficult to move. The oni flapped frantically to remain airborne, but at that point he could have had sacks of potatoes instead of wings for all the good it did him, and he came crashing down on the ground, where the Vex swarmed all over him like a tidal wave.

The leader of the orcs thrashed around wildly, trying to shake the bugs off him and get back on his feet, but unfortunately he was currently in his flying form, which was unsuitable for fighting. He then tried to morph back into his fighting form, but before he could do it he felt a huge weight pinning him down as huge chitin blades tore his flesh apart.

The elite Vex had caught him.

They immediately started hacking him to pieces and this time Blue could do nothing to stop them. He couldn’t escape, since he was trapped into a weak shape and the lesser Vex were keeping him still with their sheer weight and numbers. He couldn’t shapeshift into a more convenient form, as he had to focus all of his power on his regeneration just to keep himself alive. And he couldn’t even endure that for long, since his regeneration was struggling to keep up with the rate his body was being ravaged. He could only try his best to protect his head and pray that a lucky hit didn’t finish him anyway.

Through the pain and fear that clouded his mind, he managed to hold on only thanks to a single, tiny spark of hope: Tiny was out there, and if she managed to kill the Vex Queen, maybe these bugs would stop killing him. But that  possibility seemed more and more unlikely with each passing moment, and Blue was already on the verge of giving up to despair.

More than ten kilometers away, Marcus coldly watched as his Destroyers kept hacking away at the Blue Terror.

He was quite surprised by how little he cared about the oni's suffering. He'd have expected to have strong feelings one way or the other, be it pleasure from enacting justice or feeling bad about having to inflict pain on another individual, but he didn't. At most, he just felt a little peckish, for some reason he couldn’t explain.

He felt kind of grateful for this neutrality though. It made it easier for him to focus on his job.

Leaving part of his mind focused on finishing off the Blue Terror, he shifted his conscious attention to the rest of the battlefield. While the Vex right wing was busy dealing with the oni, the left wing had outflanked the remaining orcs and had charged them from behind. Stuck between the drones and the goblins and with most of their officers already killed by Alya Vilka, the orcs were barely putting up a resistance as they were being slaughtered. At that rate, it was only a matter of minutes before they'd all be dead.

Elsewhere, things were going just as well. Inside of the city, the orcs had made some attempts to conquer the citadel but had been easily repelled by the defenders led by Yasen. The situation seemed stable enough that Marcus didn't need to worry about it for now.

Meanwhile, the task force of ogres coming for the Vex Queen had also been taken care of. Having spotted them as soon as they had left the city, Marcus had his bodyguards, about three hundred Warrior drones and a few Aura Users, ambush the would-be assassins in a field about three kilometers from his position. Despite having been taken by surprise and being outnumbered more than fifteen to one the ogres had fought valiantly, taking down many drones with them, but in the end they had been all killed.

Marcus smirked and relaxed a bit. He had been a tad worried about the last operation, especially since he had left himself vulnerable, with only Felix and a handful of Warrior drones guarding him, but in the end it seemed like the risk had paid off. Besides, with dozens of Flyers scouting the surroundings, he felt confident that he’d be able to spot any possible threat in time to run away.

Having nothing more to inspect, he returned his full attention to the oni. It was still alive even though its body looked like minced meat, a testament to its monstrous resilience and regenerative powers, and it was even trying to protect itself with what was left of its arms. That said, by now it was almost incapable of moving and a few more hits would surely finish him off.

“Tough little bugger.” Marcus thought with reluctant admiration for the oni’s stubborn refusal to die. “At this point it’s almost making me feel bad about killing him. Should I try to capture him alive instead?”

He considered that option for a few moments. The Blue Terror was allegedly a reincarnated human just like he was, so he could probably be reasoned with. But then he remembered the destroyed villages he had seen on the way there, all the half eaten corpses and burned down houses, and all of his merciful feelings dissipated like morning mist.

“Nevermind. Best I can do is put this thing out of its misery quickly, and even that is more than it deserves. Then I’ll douse the remains in acid to make sure it won’t put itself back together or something.”

He steeled his resolve and mentally ordered his Destroyers to deliver the killing blow. It was time to bring this war to a close.