The Strange Adventure of a Broke Mercenary C336 Northern War Theatre – Part One

“Guard, do you mind giving us a bit more time? Please do not open the door if you hear any sudden weird sounds!” Jin asked the Guard and he slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement. Qiu Yue gave Jin an odd look and suddenly instinctively covered her body with her hands.

“Jin…I know you just cheered me up and I have yet to answer you back properly… Are you misunderstanding my silence as an acknowledgement? Also don't you think you are taking this a bit too fast?” Qiu Yue asked to clarify and Jin gave back a blank stare before he started to laugh.

“What? You think I wanted to have s.e.x with you right here and now?” Jin's laughter filled the room after he realised the guest room did have a bed it the corner. Nevertheless that sentence unconsciously made him stare at her body and his nether regions immediately growled for attention. “Ahhh so Master has his needs too.” Pei chuckled in his mind and he started to feel very embarrassed at his body's betrayal, before he sighed.

“Uhooo. Am I no longer attractive enough for Jin? Are there other women in your life that you might consider prettier than me?” Qiu Yue who got the message from his body language, began to tease him even though she still continued to cover her chest area. Jin enjoyed her being back to the way she usually behaved but he was also aware that this was not the time to fool around.

“You… Sigh, never mind. Just a fair warning but getting a System might not be as easy as you think it is. I fear that you will cry in pain that is why I send him away. So please let me hear your decision. Would you still like to join me…and be part of the System officially?” Jin asked.

Qiu Yue pondered for a minute before asking a few questions of her own. “What kind of System's features will be available to me? I assume that I would not have exactly the same powers like you since that should be a conflict of interest for the System?”

Surprisingly the one to answer her wasn't Jin, but the System using Jin's phone speaker.

“Affirmative, Candidate Qiu Yue. Your powers are not going to be as versatile as the User's. So it would not be wrong to call them lesser. As a tradeoff your powers are more specialised and in that regard you will have access to more advanced features.” The System replied.

“Your powers have been dubbed 'Empire Building'. Something similar to the 4X kind of games you have been playing. You'll have control of the economy of the new city that we are intending to build from scratch. You'll be able to research all you want, build what you want, basically you will have control over every aspect of it. Well technically I do have a say in things too… Anyways, that has been the plan all along since day one. The System and I had discussed your joining and it has analysed your aptitude through whatever kind of test it made you go through that particular day when you were fighting with me.” Jin explained to her while sitting right beside her.

“User is correct. System has determined your aptitude is exceptionally high in terms of city management and therefore ideal for building an empire. System will provide the necessary tools for Candidate Qiu Yue to create a city for User and his monsters. However, System would like to place an emphasis that reviving this particular goblin economy for war and their future will have a great impact on the features unlocked from the start when you obtain the Sub System from Jin.” The System stated coldly.

“Wow, Jin. So helping you win this war is just a giant test in the eyes of the System? ” Qiu Yue was really surprised at first but soon she came to enjoy this prospect. After learning of their situation, she wished to help the goblins regardless. But this being a test… well it has been far too long since she was able to enjoy a good challenge. She was already more than fed up with those red tapes at work and numerous projects. At first it made her feel good since she was leading the team but subsequently, she could feel that the other colleagues were just throwing their responsibilities at her since she was the youngest.

While she still felt bad for potentially robbing her colleagues of their bonus, most of her guilt for leaving was centered on one particular work colleague. Her supervisor, Yi San. The woman in her late 20s was spending most of her time in the office, and it was rare not to see her working overtime. The poor woman needed to raise enough money for her two year old kid's upbringing while at the same time paying off expenses owed to the hospital that was incurred by her late husband who passed on from late stage brain tumour. Despite her current condition, she had an assertive behaviour befitting of a supervisor yet still presented a kind disposition. Qiu Yue always felt that her supervisor was more genuine than the rest of the her selfish colleagues she had to endure working with.

There were many times Yi San covered Qiu Yue's mistakes as her own without asking for any repayments nor did she berate the younger woman for it. Instead she actively gave her advice on how to avoid those mistakes in the future. There were also times when Qiu Yue overheard her supervisor promoting her to be in charge of larger projects instead of smaller ones, emphasising that she was the talent they needed to groom but the Boss kept thinking that she was not ready for that yet.

Qiu Yue managed to persuade Yi San to accompany her out for dinner once as repayment of gratitude. While there Qiu Yue asked why Yi San seemed to have such a high opinion of her. Her supervisor answered, that she saw her work and that had a natural talent for it. She also was impressed with Qiu Yue's determination of seeing things through. After a bit of silence she also shared that Qiu Yue reminded of her of a very close friend she once had but lost contact with.

“I am sorry Qiu Yue, I was not informed about this test until just now when the System spoke.” Jin told Qiu Yue honestly and looked mad towards the phone. The System seemingly aware of Jin's stare explained to him that it was to check whether she was committed to aiding Jin rather than just utilising Jin for his powers. To the System, a past relationship did not justify automatic assurance to a Sub System.

“But you did not do the same for Lynn!” Jin sent his thoughts and the System replied that Lynn had already pledged her allegiance to him after he managed to save her from that particular ordeal. It was no brainer for the System to take her in as a Sub User.

“If I do this test…and manage to complete it… Am I allowed to have a selfish request?” Qiu Yue asked in a gentle tone and Jin asked what it was.

“Could I have my colleague join us to assist me…in this building empire thing? She has more experience in the Ministry of National Development and definitely can prove herself to be of valuable assistance. All I want is to have her get out of that toxic environment and still be able to care for her kid.” Qiu Yue pleaded Jin which he hesitated for a while more.

“What is her name?” Jin asked and the System was already one step ahead, preparing to do all the necessary background checks needed. (Do not ask how the System was able to do that! It could even create a genuine dungeon supplier license for Jin back when he first started.) Qiu Yue provided the name which the System responded that it would consider granting the request depending on the test's results.

Qiu Yue readily agreed and Jin apologised in advance. “Sorry, I really thought the System was willing to gift you the Sub System immediately so you can have an easier time handling this particular situation, especially when I was the one to ask you for help.”

“No worries, this is the kind of challenge which I relish when I first joined the Ministry but it never came true. Most of the projects were mere improvements which did not provide any long term benefits while some of the projects were because of connections. While I understand that it's fairly normal in all companies or organisations, your transparency and full trust in me – which I still think is somewhat naïve and foolish of you – nevertheless it provides me with the greatest appreciation I had received for a long time.” Qiu Yue answered as she stood up and walked towards the door.

“So shall we get the ball rolling?” Qiu Yue softly smiled at Jin as she adjusted her half Red Panda mask.

“GET AWAY FROM THE BALL OF LIGHTNING!” Xiong Da shouted as he smashed the skulls of two orcs right in front of him while he saw a magical ball of blue lightning being sent out from an Orc Mage. The Wyvern Riders were notified and immediately performed evasive manoeuvres to dodge out of the way. However, the ball of lightning seemed to have some sort of magical tracing ability and it tried to chase one of the Wyvern Riders.

No doubt the goblin rider pushed his wyvern to the limit by flying upwards before turning and spiralling the wyvern downwards towards the advancing Orc Army. The Lightning Ball eventually lost its magical tracing trait and it shot down, doing collateral damage to its own fellow Orc warriors. (due to the movements of Wyvern rider) The Wyvern and its rider did not stop there. Although the goblin controlled the fine movements of his mount as it flew down, the flying beast blew fire from its mouth, incinerating a few orcs before lifting into the skies again while skilfully avoiding multiple arrow shots.

The wind draft prevented the arrows from hurting the Wyvern but a few did manage to pierce through its scales. But what are a few arrows? They were the Dashing Wyverns for goodness sake! They were the elite flying force of General Argent! Sadly, war being war, there were some unlucky Wyvern riders that got shot down, some were lucky shots by the archers, others were because the mages struck them down mercilessly.

In the meantime, the M4 Sherman Tank was at the centre of the valley indiscriminately firing its machine gun courtesy of Luo Bo while Jia Le drove the tank forward and backward to prevent the Orcs' bodies from mounting up in just one area by pushing them away. It was also to ensure they remained dead by driving the tank over them.

Shi Zuo, on the other hand, was looking via his binoculars and identifying vital targets for Bin Yong to aim and shoot. What vital targets one might ask? The Orc Mages and groups of archers which might pose a threat to the Dashing Wyverns. Dwindle their numbers and the Dashing Wyverns would provide stronger air support which would cause discord in the Orc Army ranks especially when they were stuck in the middle of the valley. It proved very effective against ranks of orc archers but the mages were still able to withstand the attack unless it was an armour piercing round. (Which Bin Yong tried once to see the effects against the energy barriers the mages placed. It was very effective.)

The M4 Sherman tank shooting also gave the Orcs a slight scare initially but once they observed that metal box for a while, they quickly identified it as the biggest threat of all. The officers ordered their men to bring it down by hook or by crook. In the meantime, Ruo Ying was teaming up with Zhi Nu to hold the left side of the valley while General Argent and his son Piercestriker stood their ground on the right.

The remaining Orc Officers had studied the layout of the valley before coming into the region and it was no surprise that they were going to do it with overwhelming force since this was just the start of the campaign. This was especially true when they had lost about a quarter of their officers from the surprise explosion initially. All they could do now was to advance into the Valley town of Gob Gob Bu and wait for the main bulk of the Thunder Army.

Yes, that's right. The Orc scout did not exactly give the goblins and cultivators the entire information. (Who would in their right mind?) The incoming force was just the spearhead army of the Thunder Army. The main force was on route with their own war machines and armoured infantry which had ten times the fire power than the current army that they were fighting. Those war machines the orcs had found came from a deserted island far in the sea where they excavated a treasure trove of lost technology years ago.

Orc King Hamu had ordered those lost technologies to be examined, studied and replicated. Of course the originals were transported once able harnessed to attempt and overthrow the entire goblin nations. Without finding this particular island of mysteries, Orc King Hamu would not have gone to unite the entire orc nobilities in secret and would not have planned out this particular domination plan. Even Goblin and Human Spies had been unable to detect any traces of his grand ambitions.

“When we get out of here, I will have to thank Jin personally. If not for this simple control interface, I doubt I could even load a tank shell in my life ever, much less be able to fire it!” Bin Yong thought to himself as he wiped his sweat away. He was carrying a HE shell and inserted it into a capsule where the capsule automatically brought the shell forward into the barrel of the tank. After which, all he had to do was to move the turret so that the main gun pointed towards the enemy.

This was all done easily without any training because the interface was similar to a handphone game. He held the sides of the control console and the turret moved to where he controlled it to be. After which, he clicked on the specific coordinate on the interface and the main gun automatically adjusted itself to the angle required to shoot that particular distance.

“FIRING!” Bin Yong shouted when he pushed a button down. The tank roared as it shot the shell out of the barrier, heading towards a battalion of Orc Archers. The shell flew and managed to hit one of the orcs, penetrating a hole through its stomach before exploding into shell fragments and damaging the area it impacted on.

The entire battalion of Orc Archers was burned to death by the explosion fire yet Orcs did not care about their dead. They only cared about advancing and many of the Orc Warriors still sped through the fire thinking it was just a trial by fire similar to the fire blown by the Wyverns. Unfortunately they did not know that the fire from the HE shell was burning more than a hundred degrees Celsius, causing them to charge meaninglessly to their death.

The driving was just easy for Jia Le since the controls were similar to a modern car with a manual gearbox and control stick. Meanwhile Luo Bo kept firing indiscriminately until she found out that the machine gun could overheat and needed to be reloaded from time to time. Not being content with waiting around she got out of her seat and changed to her bow and arrows. “Oh my god, be careful out there!” Shi Zuo warned her as she squeezed herself out of the c.o.c.kpit while Shi Zuo had to stop observing for a while to allow her out of the tank.

“Ahh, the smell of stained air. Terrible but weirdly invigorating.” Luo Bo eyes' turned green as she activated one of the Illusive Rabbit's techniques that made her have wide sight and keen sight the moment she locked onto a target. She charged her bow by inserting chi into it and released a singular arrow that caused shock waves all around her. As she was at the tank platform, her vision and angle of attacking the orcs were higher and more advantageous.

The charged arrow flew through the masses knocking back and injuring many of the Orcs and yet the front lines was unable to advance towards her as much as they wanted with Xiong Da defending the tank.

While it might be seen as a standstill, only half an hour had passed. The orcs had suffered casualties, yet without a doubt they were gaining traction as the cultivators were starting to get tired and ammunition was getting spent. There were times Jia Le crossed seats to the machine gun emplacement and shot to her heart's content, covering Xiong Da's back while Luo Bo cleared targets that were coming towards the tank from the side. There were times Luo Bo was not able to cover in time which made Shi Zuo appear out of the tank to slash them away.

Xiong Da was also not coming out of this unscathed. As the defender he received punches, blunt weapon blows, slashes to his body due to his size and even suffered from spears piercing him. He usually tried to defend his vital areas like his neck and joints but other than that, it was painful no doubt. Regardless, all Xiong Da needed to do was smash all those away, create some space buffer and take in his chi potions that were stored in his storage ring whenever he was free. That was the one and only way to survive the current onslaught. (It was mostly due to the fact that his past training with Zeru paid off, granting him a higher tolerance to pain.)

Separately, Ruo Ying and Zhi Nu were tangling their enemies to their death. Due to the nature of their weapons, it felt like they were conducting some forbidden ritual war dance as their strings and chains cut, bruised and even sent orcs flying down the cliffside. Fortunately this battle gave Ruo Ying the opportunity to learn a few tricks from Zhi Nu and she even managed to copy and execute them flawlessly.

“Keep up, Egret. I am performing the Heavenly Dance of Migrating Birds. You should be able to perform the movements and adjust it for your style.” Zhi Nu threw a needle into an Orc's head as it pierced through the temple and into the brain while coming out and strung it up to the side of the mountains. Ruo Ying roughly saw the control of chi of her needle and strings and she kept a mental note about it.

In the meantime, Spear General Argent was witnessing how Piercestriker managed to beat the rumoured undefeatable Orc General Black Disaster. His strikes were fierce, filled with strength and the intent to kill. There was no hesitation in his stabs, and his forms were pure. The footwork and calculation of the distance was not something that could be learnt within a year of disappearance, there must be something that Master Jin had done to increase his competency with the spear drastically. He shuddered at the thoughts of what kind of hellish life and death training his son must have endured. (If only he knew how often Piercestriker did end up dying…)

Piercestriker had not been listening to Zhi Nu and did not avoid using the Gearbox Spear that the System granted as a spare. After all what use was a weapon if not being used. If one did not familiarise with their own weapons, how could they gain affinity with it? The weight of the spear, the length of the spear, the power it can withstand. All these had to be experienced if Piercestriker wished to be the best spear goblin. Hence, he started to dual wield both of his spears and used them to slaughter the orcs.

Deflect. Parry. Pierce. Repeat.

The current enemies proved to be the ideal targets to practice with as they only had brute strength and not much finesse due to the lack of space the cliffside provided. Hence, both spear goblin experts took turns going into the fray and out, practising their teamwork at the same time.

Shi Zuo killed yet another orc and kicked him away when he suddenly heard a loud sound from afar. With little to no time to focus himself, he ignored it and continued to combat the other orcs surrounding the tank. Bin Yong was the one who managed to make out the source of the sound through his own screen and screamed to the team. “GUYS LOOK OUT! Over the horizon!!!” Bin Yong quickly looked through his ammunition and grabbed an armour piercing shell from the tank storage and plunged it into the capsule.

The latest enemies were simply huge. Five times the size of ordinary Orcs, they were carrying a makeshift catapult behind their backs. Enslaved goblins chained up to the back of the large orcs preparing the ammunition to be loaded onto the catapult. “Shit! Those are Catapult Ogres!” The Captain of the Dashing Wyvern shouted as he took out his war horn to sound the order for retreat and the rest of the Wyvern Riders hurried to pull back. General Argent heard it and whistled for his own wyvern to appear.

“Son! Fall back now! There is no way we can handle the Catapult Ogres out in the open. If it shoots gr.a.p.eshots at our Wyverns we are done for!” General Argent took out his pistol and shot at the Orcs trying to stop them while his son got on the Wyvern. Piercestriker believed he had proven himself enough to his father and was not as stubborn as to stay in the battlefield and fight a meaningless battle.

“We need to help Egret and Weaver with the retreat too.” Piercestriker was concerned about his current comrades. Argent simply smiled and told his son that the Vice Captain should already be collecting them. He had been ordered to do so and by controlling a spare wyvern from a fallen goblin rider he'd meet up with them.

“BOOM!” The M4 Sherman Tank screamed once more in battle and its shell spiralled towards the closest Catapult Ogre. However, the orc mages were aware of the strategic value of those Ogres who doubled as their siege weapons and made sure to protect them. If they did not defend them well, the fight against the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu would be even more difficult and might cause a delay in the War Plan created by the military advisors under Orc King Hamu. Hence, they focused their entire mana consumption on creating a defensive barrier.

Unfortunately, they still underestimated the penetrating power of the AP shell and the wide energy barriers were broken in an instant. Nevertheless their efforts managed to deflect the path of the shell enough allowing the Catapult Ogre to only got shot in its right arm. The impact also made him fall and his weight crushed both the makeshift catapult and the enslaved goblins that were forced to operate it.

“Ignore the goblins, healers concentrate on aiding that ogre now! The rest! Shoot your gr.a.p.eshot at those pesky wyverns!! Mages those of you low on mana get back and rotate with a new batch. All of you are to enhance your shield with the offensive thunder runes!” An officer shouted his commands as the orcs listened loyally. The Orc mages smirked as they realised what the officer was talking about. The initial plan had been to surprise the goblins with these precious thunder runes once they got to the capital, but they were more than happy to use it now. By enchanting their shields with offensive thunder runes their barriers could shoot out lightning strikes which should interfere with the incoming projectile.

“FIRING!” Bin Yong did not let up as he did not hesitate to use up the remaining AP shells. There were not many HE shells left and he wanted to keep them for other scenarios. Besides the Armour Piercing shells were most effective in taking out large targets.

Right now, the AP shell flew without a care towards the enchanted lightning shields that the Orc Mages exhausted every thunder rune they could find in their belongings. True enough the lightning strikes emitting out of the large wide shield impacted against the incoming shell that it diverted the shell from its original path and killed a few random orcs instead. (It did not explode because most armour piercing shells do not have any explosives in them.)

“Shit! That shield managed to stop the shell targeting the ogre!” Bin Yong complained and Shi Zuo suggested that now would be a good time to fall back. However, Xiong Da refused despite suffering the most injuries.

“Hippo, do not be this stubborn. Even Zhi Nu and Ruo Ying are falling back!” Shi Zuo slammed his Giant Axe which he did not usually use against an orc that tried to backstab Xiong Da. After which, he pointed at the wyvern carrying the two girls that were heading towards the Valley Town of Gob Gob Bu to Xiong Da.

“Then all the more reason to stay. I refuse to move away but I require your help, Jia Le, Luo Bo.” Xiong Da punched one of the Orcs while grabbing one by the head and threw it towards Shi Zuo's large axe blade. The Orc split into half while Shi Zuo was maintaining his posture with the large axe. Xiong Da then picked up the large axe as if it was not a big deal and dual wielded it with his war club.

Jia Le stopped her machine gun and came out of the tank after Bin Yong attempted another shot at the Ogres who seemed to be ready to fire back. “Looks like gr.a.p.eshot ammunition from the many pieces in the catapult's bucket. I am guessing you want us to stop those from hitting the wyverns.” Luo Bo who had the best far sight out of the whole group clearly saw those enslaved goblins chained to the makeshift catapults, loading various metal balls as the payload lumped into the catapult's bucket.

“Yeah. I cannot do that. Perhaps only you and Jia Le can stop those things from flying towards the Wyverns.” Xiong Da cleaved the incoming three orcs into two halves as if they were a neverending wave.

“By right, gr.a.p.eshots cannot travel far due to accuracy issues. But seeing how this is a magical world, this might not necessarily be true here. I think we need to be creative in our fights too.” Jia Le took out a kunai and threw it into an orc's neck who wanted to flank them at the side of the tank. The orc's artery was hit and pressurised red blood spilled on the tank's plating.

“FIRE!” The orc officer shouted its command seeing how the metal box failed to launch another attack against them. The ogres regained their confidence and pulled a lever right beside them to release the catapult's payload. Even the officer looked thrilled as he saw the wyverns flying away and thinking that this would be the end of them. After which they could concentrate against the metal box and finish off those humanoids who sided with the goblins.

Now, the result was something the Orc officer did not expect. The payload flew and just as suspected it was enchanted to shoot far against the wyverns that had wrecked havoc amongst their group but…the gr.a.p.eshot had been aimed towards the advancing orcs. Since it came from the behind them, the orcs had not even considered the possibility of friendly fire.

The enslaved goblins all cheered at the deaths of many armoured orcs which surprised the group of cultivators from afar since they were preparing to deal the gr.a.p.eshot attacks. “Our lives for many lives of the Orcs! It was worth it!! We shall not submit! We've rebelled once! We will rebel again!” One of the enslaved goblins shouted before its head exploded like a balloon by the orc officer controlling them. Subsequently each and every enslaved goblin was killed and the makeshift catapults were unmanned behind those Ogres.

“F.u.c.k! To think those goblins dare to die despite knowing their families were just right under our blades!” The officer smashed his fist into a nearby large rock in anger. He then told the Ogres to remove the catapults from their backs so that the Orcs can control them. (The weight of the makeshift catapult as well as three orcs in light armour was enough to enc.u.mber the ogre into not being able to move. Hence the use of those slave goblins.)

“That was really a change of situation I did not foresee.” Shi Zuo stabbed the incoming Orc with a random weapon he picked up on the ground.

“Does not change the fact that-” Suddenly, they were interrupted by a C130 flying right above them while multiple flying platforms flew out of the plane's end carrying a crate. Reinforcements has finally arrived and just as promised those were no simple cultivators.

“Geez. To think that they sent a police duo and some high school kids to help us out. Come on Boss Jin, you could have sent out a squad of Panda Warriors from the Great Wall of China!” Luo Bo loaded three arrows on her bow and shot them out consecutively against archer Orcs that were trying their luck at the cliffside now that it was not defended by anybody.

“Well, I am sorry that I am just a policeman!” Se Lang, the Wacky Wolf Cultivator shouted back as he jumped out of the flying platform before it landed and managed to decapitate a few orcs. Bu Dong the Angry Ape cultivator, had already activated his intermediate sword art and dashed into the fray without care while Kong Xian the Towering Tortoise Cultivator let out his taunting warcry which made the orcs divert their attention towards their group. Only Deng Long stayed on the the flying platform until it landed and opened the crate that came with it showing it off to the rest.

Of course they were also accompanied by a Dungeon Monster and it was none other than Sandy, the Sand Witch. Her one small movement caused walls of sand, dirt and mud to block the view of the orcs that occupied the side valleys. “This way you have no chance of attacking this tank from the sides.” Sandy smirked as she created projectiles made out of sand and launched them towards the orc army while she created a sand wall at the front to reduce the flow of the orcs advancing for the moment.

“Panda Hei ordered us to reinforce you guys. Part of our mission was also to deliver the supplies to you guys…WHAT! WHY DO YOU HAVE A TANK?!” Deng Long only noticed that when Bin Yong shot a shell out once more before the sand wall came out in front of him. Deng Long also found out that the crate was filled with tank ammunitions and fuel alongside potions, kunais and more arrows when he opened it.

“Long story. Refill with us, I will tell you more.” Shi Zuo said as he threw two potions towards Xiong Da which he drank all at once before throwing them aside and started to push the box full of ammunition towards the tank for easier transfer. The other two guys assisted Xiong Da by bringing the crate closer and refilling the tank while the rest of the cultivators did their best to prevent the orcs from coming closer.

Chapter end