Kapitel 23: Westerlands and Greenskins (2)

The Orks that were charging at the forces of the Westerland Army that were mixed with the forces of the Imperium, namely the Silver Knights that were present holding the ground, were riding the Squigs.

Indeed, as was predicted by the higher-ups of the Westerland Army, the Orks were using the traditional Squig charging tactics as the first one against them, which was playing exactly into their trap.

Orks were not much known for their cunning, so when they were provoked and challenged to the "WAAAGH!" they didn't think for a second before the Boss of the Klan ordered an unconditional full-scale attack.

The Squigs were powerful when charging, but there were many methods to deal with them, even right now within Westeros, which had very limited means. Approximately four thousand Squigs were charging at the positions of the Westerland Army with great speed and calling for the "WAAAGH!".

When they were almost in front of the first ranks of the Westerland Army, mainly consisting of Shield Bearers and Silver Knights, General Greiss gave the order, as the concealment of the Shield-Walls fell off, and just a few meters away from the charging Squig Cavallery huge Shield-Wall installed in the earth appeared.

The events that followed soon could be described as extremely fast because, in the same moment after the Shield Wall appeared and the Squigs hastily started stopping just a half a meter from the Shield Wall to not crash into it, the Knights and Soldiers behind the Shield Wall started using very long spears and stabbing them into their necks.

This was the moment when the hell broke out because the Squigs used by the Orkish Klan within the Westerlands didn't have armor for the Squigs, something which was standard for those within the Lands of Ancients.

That was the reason why this strategy would be considered as obsolete within the Lordran and it would be rarely used, as the Orks would be already prepared for the eventuality and would armor their Squigs as much as possible.

While the creatures themselves were rather powerful and had thick skin, but the greatest vulnerability of the Squigs was the soft skin underneath their neck that could be pierced with little to no effort if one had a good weapon and was deadly for them.

Deadly, like instantly dead on the spot.

And thus, the soldiers and knights of the Westerland Army started striking the Squigs with the spears through the holes within the Shield Walls, as each spear was held and pushed by several men at the same time, giving it far greater striking power.

Unfortunately for the Orks, because the rest of the Klan was still relatively far away and they were the Vanguard, once their attack failed, their instantly grew disorganized and there was panic on the battlefield, and the entire chain of command fell apart.

With just a first wave of the attacks, hundreds of the Squigs were killed as their bodies were piling up, and not even moments later, the Crossbowmen of the Westerland Army started shooting off the remaining ones that were in a safe distance.

Naturally, the crossbows that they were using were not ordinary ones but were of dwarven craft, all of them being mechanical crossbows; while older models, it was still enough for them to deal with a few poorly armored Greenskins.

The dwarven mechanical crossbows had far greater penetrating power and were reloading much faster than the ordinary crossbow, which took some time to reload properly. Of course, the dwarves were selling only some of their older models, not the new ones, even though there were rumors of fully automated crossbows being developed.

These weapons were part of the investment that Tywin Lannister made in the modernization of their army because there was a need to obtain new equipment for the soldiers, as many of the old methods were becoming entirely obsolete or would be in the near future.

Fortunately, the House Lannister was right enough to afford it, but he also pressured his vassals to finance part of the expenses because while the House Lannister had absolute control over the Westerland Army, the army was also tasked with the protection of the entire territory of the Westerlands.

When the crossbowmen started firing from the crossbows, the bolts were skewering through the ranks of the Greenskins and killing one Ork after another, together with their Squigs, and in combination with the soldiers at the frontlines striking them with their spears, the numbers of the Vanguard were quickly dwindling.

And very quickly.

Just ten minutes after the start of the battle, the entire Vanguard consisting of approximately 4,000 Attack Squig Riders was decimated to a mere tens that managed to survive the onslaught because they were out of the range of the crossbow.

This was the effect of the well-planned strategy and superior equipment that the Westerland Army prepared for the incoming Ork Vanguard. The dwarvish crossbows showed their power right from the start because the armor of trash quality couldn't stop the superior power of the dwarven bolts.

For the note, the Vanguard among the Greenskins was always one of the strongest units within the Klanz or any other unit of the Greenskin society because only the strongest and bravest of the Orks were allowed to become members of the Vanguard.

Even owning a Squig was something like a personal statute of the individual Ork, for comparison, albeit a relatively poor one, was that the ones that were killed right now were somehow equivalent to the human knights.

Being a Squig Rider was a thing of prestige, honor and strength within the Orkish Klan; something like that was a great matter. So, the loss of most of them was a great loss for the Klan, something that General Reban Greiss was observing with keen interest and a satisfied smile.

***

Command Center of the Westerland Army

Meanwhile, a bit distance from the battlefield, on a small hill, there was a command tent where the higher-ups of the Westerland Army were commanding the entire operation through the Couriers and Lacrimas to pass messages.

When the Lacrimas were discovered within several minutes, directly owned by the House Lannister and one mine that was previously owned by some small noble house, but that one went extinct from the "Orks".

The Lacrimas were strategic resources within the Imperium, as they had countless uses and Tywin managed to pay some of the Wizards to create basic communication toolls from the Lacrimas that were distributed between the strategic holds of the House Lannister.

Even right now, the commanding officers have some of the Lacrimas for better communication between the various parts of the Westerland Army that were participating in the attack on the Nun's Deep.

It was already paying off greatly because they were able to transmit the information directly from the frontlines to the command tent. And the timely exchange of information in real-time was something of utmost importance.

"The Vanguard of the Orks has been completely eliminated... albeit with great luck because the Orks didn't anticipate that the natives of the new continent would know methods of combating them effectively... still, how did they manage to get here?"

This was a little question that was bugging him for a while because he didn't really understand how the Greenksins managed to get from the Lordran to the Westeros, but the most plausible theory was that some Orks from the Orklands in the Lordran wanted to invade the Imperial Territories through the ocean, but for lost on the sea.

"With the Vanguard extinguished, Lord Tywin, the Orks will start charging with everything they have and they will try to overwhelm the Shield-Wall with the sheer numbers... of course, that is unless they don't have some siege weapons or enough Magic Users."

General Reban Greiss then turned to the Lord Paramount of the West, who was standing next to him, donned in the red-golden armor of the dwarven craft, made by the blacksmiths that the House Lannister hired to create personalized weapons and armors for them.

"And the chance of them having something like that?"

The Lord of the Casterly Rock asked as he looked at his general of the Westerland Army because it was still possible that the Orks had some kind of siege engines or something, but for Reban Greiss, the possibility was very low.

"Not really probable... if they indeed had some kind of siege engines, then we would have seen them from the start and due to the situation with the Magic on the Westeros, I don't really think that they would have a lot of Magic Users, so coupled with the number of the Battle Wizards and Assassins we are safe."

In the Lands of the Ancient Lords, one of the most common ways to combat Magic, without obviously using the Magic itself, was the good old assassination. Yes, the assassins were the bane of the Battle Wizards or Scholar Mages alike because it was one of the most common methods on how to deal with them.

Most commonly, when there were large-scale battles, taking out Magic Users from the other side was essential because powerful Wizards, Sorcerers and Magicians could do the "Control of the Battlefield", something that could be highly destructive for the other side without means to protect itself.

So, one of the oldest methods when it came to dealing with the Magic Users on the battlefield during the conflict was just simply to assassinate them. For that reason, the Imperium had squads of Assassins in every single military unit.

"We will send out Lord's Blades to root out the Shamans and Magic Users among the Greenskins to free our own Wizards."

This time, it was Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides who voiced his thoughts because they didn't have a lot of Battle Wizards and Magic Users overall on their side, and every single one of them would be indispensable to do Battlefield Control due to the sheer disparity within the numbers against the Orks.

2nd Legion of the Silver Knight Order were the Assassin Legion, specifically training in the arts of the assassination and its members were often chosen for the hardest assassination mission together with the people from the Imperial Military Intelligence Department.

"There should be only a few Shamans and Magic Users within the Orkish Klan of this size; they should be hiding somewhere at the ends of the horde, probably protected by some of the Nobz."

General Reban Greiss stated that, as he had his own great deal of experiences with the Orks and the Greenskins, so he knew how they fought and thought under the presumption that they were actually using their brain.

"That would present no problem... my assassins are far more capable than dealing with a few Nobz that are standing guard, not to mention, these may be even weaker than the Nobz within the Lordran due to the lower concentration of the Magic in the Westeros."

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides then took out his personal communication Lacrima to relay back the orders about the assassination of the Shamans and Magic Users within the Orkish Klan.

It wasn't that surprising to actually see Nobz protecting someone else aside from the Boss because when the Nobz were not attending to the Boss of the Klan or Tribe, they were then tasked with the protection of their Shamans and Magicians, as those were essential for the tribe to function.

Most of those who commanded the Magic couldn't often protect themselves against the sudden assassination, so the common practice was to guard them. If they were killed before the battle started by a dagger to back, then it would be a great shame and loss.

Even within the formations of the Imperium, Wizard and co were constantly protected by strong Knigths, while some Wizards had even their own guards that were pledged to them personally, like their personal bodyguards.

Even the fledgling Westerland Army was employing the same methods when it came to protecting their own Battle Wizards, as they were surrounded by a whole bunch of Silver Knights participating in invasion.

"I would be taking my strongest men to take care of the Boss and the highest ranking Nobz; once they are dead, most of the army will fall apart."

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides then said after they agreed on the rest of the matters.

Naturally, General Reban Greiss agreed with the strategy because this would be the fastest method of ending the conflict, because once the Boss was dead, then practically everything was done, as the Greenskins without Boss would swiftly turn one on another.

Such was their fundamental nature because only the authority of their Boss was keeping the Klan or any other organization unit of the Greenskins together as one whole entity, and without the Boss, it would fall apart.

The rest of the people gathered within the Command Tent of the Westerlandese Army would remain here to relay the orders, including Lord Tywin Lannister and also General Reban Greiss, whose years of direct combat had ended the moment he was appointed as General.

Something that he also partially wished for because it would bring him solace and, on top of everything he already spent too long as a mercenary risking his very own life in the most dangerous encounters, so it was time just to command troops from a safe distance.

Not to mention, according to his deal with the Lord Paramount of the West, he will get Noble Status comparable to the most powerful vassals of the Lion Lord of the Casterley Rock once he created a powerful and functioning standing military for the House Lannister.

And also obtained some glory and gains with the said army, so he had many reasons to remain alive so that he could create his own Noble House. Something that was very appealing to the seasoned mercenary from the Lordran because it would be much easier done within Westeros than in the Lordran.

Mainly because within Westeros there were zero to none competition, while within the Lands of Ancients, there were people competing for promotions to the Imperial Nobility right and left, and there were countless of them.,

***

Frontlines, Near the Nun's Deep

The Greenskins were approaching the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army; the orders were already relayed through the Lacrimas, as everyone was in the highest state of alertness and ready for combat.

Those who stood on the frontlines were the most nervous because they would be meeting head-on the core forces of the Greenskins that were right now even angrier than before after the loss of the Vanguard Force of the Attack Squigs Riders.

In the Orkish Kultur, when there was loss, it wasn't a loss because of WAAAGH! never ended until one side still breathed air and lived, so they right now, needed to dispose of all of the enemies to avenge the honor.

Still, this time the situation was a bit different because the moment of surprise was already gone and Greenskins now knew that the enemies were employing the shield-walls to hold down their advance.

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides arrived at the battlefield from the Commnad Center as fast as possible together with his personal guards, who were the strongest Knights of the Silver Knight Order that were left behind by the Imperium within the lands of Westeros.

He too looked at the incoming horde of the Greenskins with wariness and even saw there several Shamans and Magic Users that were being protected by the Nobz as they predicted during their strategy meeting.

Meanwhile, in the shadows, the assassins of the Lord's Blades towards Shamans and Magic Users of the Greenskins, carrying out their orders to assassinate the Shamans and Magic Users of the Orkish Klan.

While the Orks protected their Shamans and Magic Users well for the standards of their own capabilities, but unfortunately, it was not enough to protect them from the well-experienced assassins of the Lord's Blades the 2nd Legion of the Silver Knights.

The Orkish Shamans and Magic Users were assassinated one by one, as the Lord's Blades trained personally by Ciaran, one of the most fearsome assassins that ever walked through the Lands of the Ancient Lords, someone who lived even during the age when Lord Gwyn walked the ground among the mortals.

So, she had perfected the art of assassinations to the extremes, becoming one of the greatest arts that ever existed, and it was then passed to her very own Legion of the Silver Knights.

When the Lord's Blades passed through the Geenskins and started assassinating the Shamans and Magic Users of the Greenskins, hell broke because the Shamans and Magic Users were the most powerful weapons that their Klan had.

Now all of them were one by one, being stabbed to death or decapitated, dying in sort of being the target of the assassinations. The Nobz that were tasked with the protection of the Shamans and Magic Users couldn't really protect them; sometimes they were assassinated together with their target of protection.

The assassins of the Lord's Blades were powerful and precise; there was nobody that was left for the accident, as they were very effective in their actions against the Greenskins as they killed the majority of the Shamans and Magic Users within a very short time.

Just in a few blinks of an eye, they managed to kill approximately 90% of all Shamans and Magic Users on the side of the Greenskins. In regard of the future prospects of the Battle, this greatly weakened the Greenskins Horde and for their chances looked bleak.

Yet, at the same time, the Orks never quit from the battle and they never ran from the battle they fought until their last dying breath for the ideals and concepts of the WAAAGH!, so they would never retreat even though now they lost all of their magic support.

While all of this was happening on the backlines of the Orkish Horde, this left more space for the Battle Wizards and Priests of the Healing Church who were on the side of the Westerland Army to act.

In split of a moment, all of them started casting their Spells, be it the Divine Spells of the Clergy of the Healing Church that was casting the Blessings on the soldiers, basically something that one may call "buffs" and the Battle Wizards were preparing their own spells.

Mainly to cut down the numbers of the Greenskins, which happened not even seconds later because as experienced Battle Wizards lived to the standards, they released their fire elementary spells as enormous flames appeared high in the sky and started bringing down parts of the charging Orkish Horde.

When it came to the Orks, the most effective Magic against them was actually Lore of Fire or Lore of Heaven, naturally then also Freezing them up to the block of ice, helped too, but nothing was as effective as good old fire.

Because the Orks were organisms that defied common sense itself, they were pretty hard to kill, and as they were half-fungus and half-humanoid, killing them entirely without them reproducing or releasing spores, only fire was that effective.

And the most effective was actually the Chaos Fire Sorcerery which was like the nemesis of the entire Greenskins species. Chaos Fire was something that was directly feeding on the very own essence of the Greenskins Species, thus they were the most apt when dealing with the Orks within the Lands of Ancients.

Even though some parts of the battlefield were lit on fire, it didn't at all stop the Greenskins from charging at their positions because the Orks continued their mad charge toward the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army.

But the results of the Wizards attacking with their Magic against the Greenskins paid off greatly because they managed to cut down their numbers by a great margin with this one, as the Magic proved to be very effective against the Greenskins.

The fire was still burning on the battlefield; the Orks clashed against the Westerlandese Army on the Shield-Walls, as the huge towering figures of the Orks started slashing and hacking with their weapons on the Shield-Walls.

Moment by moment, more and more Greenskins were dying at the Shield-Walls because the previous strategy against the Squig Vanguard was also working against the Greenskins en masse, but at the same time, it was also evident that the soldiers of the Westerlandese Army was being pushed back.

While the Greenskins were dying from being under the attacks from the Crossbowmen, it was also evident that their mad-like attacks on the Shield-Walls were working too well, as they were either pushing them back or causing the Shield-Walls to crack in several places.

But even that didn't really represent much of a problem yet, because the soldiers on the front lines were the strongest ones of the entire army and had the best equipment available; aside from that, there were also plenty of the Silver Knights of the Silver Knight Order present behind the Shield-Walls who would be taking care of the strongest and most powerful Orks.

Average Ork was Level 1 being in terms of physical strength, which meant, translated to the human language, was around the peak of the very Human Limit of strength. That was also the standard of the average Silver Knight.

Obviously, even though the Ork were physically far superior to the humans, that didn't mean that even ordinary human without any particular strength cannot kill an adult Ork warrior.

Everything that one needed was just superior equipment and some experience or knowledge on where to strike the Ork. And obviously, the Westerlandese Army was also trained on how to fight against the Greenskins.

They were taught where were their weak spots, where to attack when one was fighting against the Orks and what were their strongest sides. What to not do during the combat and what to do.

So when the Greenskins broke through the Shield-Wall and started pouring into the battle formations of the Westerlandese Army, the soldiers reacted accordingly as they put up their shields and entered the phalanx formation.

With their swords in their hands, they started striking the tendons of the Ork warriors at their legs, or striking their necks that were not well protected, basically repeating the strategy with the Squigs.

When the tendons of the Ork were cut, the Ork would fall on the ground for several seconds because their regeneration was really frightening and such small injuries would be healed within a short time, if given time to recuperate.

But during the time they were on the ground, the soldiers were using it to slit their throats, pierce their skulls or outright decapitate them, as that was the surest way to kill them.

Fortunately enough, there were no Gretchen and Goblins this time around or they were not on the battlefield yet, because those little cretins were always a pain in the ass to deal with. Whiole not particularly strong; they were pretty cunning and could wreak havoc in their lines.

The Orks were the ones that were hurrying to the combat most, leaving the Gretchen and Goblins far behind them, and due to the Magic Spells that were released by the Battle Wizards of the Army, there were almost none remaining.

The uncontrollable fires and flames that descended on the battlefield burned down the majority of the Gretchen and Goblins. While these little cousins of the bigger and angrier Orks were much weaker, their use in large-scale battles was evident, as their sole purpose was to wreak havoc.

Something that would be warmly welcomed in the present situation with the Westerlandese Army because, from the moment they transitioned to the phalanx formations from holding the Shield-Walls, they started slowly cutting down the numbers of the Greenskins present.

The shields that they were using were of the dwarven-made craft and were extremely sturdy and powerful; they even had some very basic runes inscribed on them, which allowed them to interconnect with each other, making the phalanx harder to break through.

***

Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield, several tens of Silver Knights was tearing their way through the hordes of the Greenskins, slaughtering them as they were advancing toward their target, which was the Ork Boss of this particular Klan.

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was someone who was at the peak of Level 3 in terms of physical prowess, he was still a bit inferior to the Ork Boss who was also a the peak of Level 3, but his physical prowess was still much higher.

The Ork Boss was a towering creature, much higher than the rest of the Orks, even much higher than that of the other Nobz. And that was something to say because Nobz already were higher than the ordinary Orks, as the Nobz were the best that the Orkind could offer.

His towering figure was eclipsing all other Orks on the battlefield, clearly signifying that he was the Boss of all of the Orks that were present, holding his choppa in his right hand as he cleaved in half one of the more unfortunate Silver Knights that was unlucky to approach him.

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was from his four years of training in the art of war and combat, something that was to be expected from the House Atreides, as they prided themselves in being masterful warriors and also loyal to their duties.

As were their motto: "We are House Atreides, there is no call we do not answer, there is no fate we would betray."

So he knew very well that this was his duty and his obligation to carry out. Not to mention that the House Atreides ruled the Grand Province of Caladan, which was bordering with the Grand Province of Orleáns, which was under constant attacks from the Greenskins.

Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was one of the swordmasters of the Sardau Sword Style and was regarded as the youngest prodigy to reach the rank of the master with the Sardau Sword School; not only that, but he also mastered the Ginaz Sword School to a great degree.

Since a young age, he was training with the best sword masters of the Sardaukar who were present within the entire Sardaukar and were the pride and power of the Grand Province of Caladan.

Agamemnon Atreides readied his sword as he looked at the Ork Boss who was signaling his challenge for the single combat duel, which he accepted, as the rest of the Greenskisn and also the personal entourage of the Agamemnon Atreides made a place for them to fight.

Both Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides and Ork Boss of this unknown Klan clashed in the first exchange, as the Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was a bit pushed back by the fearsome physical power of the Ork Boss, who was now going all out, empowered by the collective consciousness of the entire Klan.

At the same time, Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides was "buffed" by the Blessings of the Great Ones that were cast on him by the Priests of the Healing Church several moments prior he departed to slay the Boss.

While the Ork Boss was physically clearly superior and was winning the exchanges of pure power, at the same time, he was also much slower than smaller Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides, who was more agile and faster.

Agamemnon Atreides combined two schools of swordsmanship masterfully, as he focused purely the speed and stamina. He knew that in terms of pure physical strength, he was losing to the Ork Boss, thus he knew that the strategy that he needed to employ needed to be different.

He chose to utilize his speed to the greatest extent possible to outmaneuver the Ork Boss which was working wonderfully, as the Ork Boss couldn't really keep up with the movements and Speed overall with the Chapter Master of the Silver Knight Order.

Each strike that Agamemnon Atreides executed was aimed at slowing down the humongous Ork that was towering over the Chapter Master, as the Ork Boss had around four meters and something, together with his enormous choppa, he was a force of nature by definition.

Still, while the extraordinary strength was something, it was utterly futile if he couldn't even hit his opponent because every single time the Ork Boss was close to hitting Agamemnon Atreides, he missed and the Chapter Master of Silver Knights used the opportunity to strike back.

After five minutes or so, the board was becoming different because the entire body of the Ork Boss was full of injuries that were healing at a relatively slow rate due to the special weapon that the commander of the Silver Knights was using.

Naturally, the sword he was using was an heirloom of the House Atreides, a very powerful sentient Magic Sword, something that even the fabled regeneration ability of the Greenskins couldn't really ignore and the Ork Boss was getting slower and sluggier in his movements.

Meanwhile, the duel of the two was taking place; the rest of the Nobz that acted as the personal entourage of the Boss, the highest caste of the Klan was getting killed one by one by the Silver Knights that Chapter Master Agamemnon Atreides brought with him.

All Silver Knights were experts at dealing with the Green Scourge; their movements were precise and sharp, always aiming to kill the creature as fast as possible, utilizing their weak spots to send them to the eternal warground.

Or so the Orks believed.

As the Ork Boss slashed his enormous choppa at the Chapter Master's head, Agamemnon Atreides flipped backward, as he took out a secondary smaller sword that he had attached to his leg, and threw it directly at the Ork Boss's neck, piercing through.

The humongous creature roared in pain as its neck was pierced because this was a fatal and severe injury.

Using the opportunity when the Ork Boss attempted to draw out the sword from his neck, Agamemnon Atreides rushed at the enemy, delivering a swift kick to the sword still stabbed in his neck, burying it even deeper in his flesh.

Simultaneously, he used his main sword to deliver a deep stab into his skull, piercing through the brain of the enormous Ork, effectively killing the foe.