From Slave to King: My Rebate System Built Me a Kingdom With Beauties!

The crescent moon hung in the sky. It cast long shadows over the orc camp. Kraghul stood on a rocky hill above the main entrance. The conditions had been met for the full scale attack to be launched on the mine. His axe rested on his shoulder. He had waited long enough. Every scout report and every whisper told him the same thing. The goblins he wanted were all inside, there was nothing stopping him now.

"Full attack," Kraghul said. His voice was flat and final.

"Kill everything that moves. But bring me Byung and Vrognut alive. Everyone else dies," Kraghul made sure he was understood because these two were more useful to him alive rather than dead.

No horns blew. No speeches were made. Just the order. He didn't need to motivate the orcs, their hatred was the only motivation they needed.

The area jumped to life as the command travelled to other axis. Most orcs hadn't put on full armor. Why would they? These were goblins. Small weak and half-starved rats who stood no chance even if a miracle was to occur.

You didn't need armor to squash a bug. Axes and swords were equipped. Spears taken while eating. A few laughed as they ran. They already tasted blood before and relished the thought of finally putting an end to the malice .

They rushed into the main gate. Into the side tunnels. Into every dark opening the mountain had.

Then the world went dead quiet, for a very long second that felt like eternity.

No clash of steel. No screams. No quick steps of goblin feet. Just the echo of their own boots. And the sudden prickly silence that comes before a massacre occurred.

One orc, a scarred old fighter named Gorz, stopped at the first crossroad. He sniffed the air. It was thick and heavy with goblin smell. But strange. Too many bodies too close together. No movement.

"Huh. Did the rats run?" Gorz muttered.

"Can't have. Every tunnel is entrance," Another snorted.

A third lifted his nose and sniffed deep. The air was thick with goblin smell. But stale and heavy. Like too many bodies crammed together and holding still.

"They're in there. All of them. Packed tight like rats in a sack," The orc said with a wicked grin.

But the tunnels were small. Built for goblin size. The big orcs had to bend low. Shoulders scraped walls. No room to swing axes full. Spears poked awkward in the tight space.

"Ceiling's too low. Can't swing proper," An orc complained because he had no idea how deep he would need to go as it was possible the tunnel branched off into multiple spaces.

"Passage narrows in ten paces. Only one of us at a time," The orc continued.

"These tunnels were made for the little bastards not us," Gorz looked over his shoulder upon saying this.

Kraghul had given the order but he was nowhere be seen.

"Tricky vermin," Gorz spat upon realizing what the goblins were attempting but what was stopping them from just burning them all alive as this tunnel clearly only had one entrance.

It was because of Byung and Vrognut, they had been given clear instructions not to harm these two and if they were among those goblins. Kraghul wouldn't like it.

Gorz hated the idea of an orc from a different region strolling in her and giving them orders.

He noticed the other tunnels had a distinctive scent to them and sniffed again. The goblin stink was strong. But ahead it thinned. Replaced by something heavier. Muskier. Three distinct orc smells. He instantly knew who these three orcs were and if they were there, the mine must be big enough for them to fight in.

He realized it like cold iron in his gut that these goblins were trying to bait them but Gorz gave his intellect too much credit as he saw through the plan or at least that's what he believed.

They weren't facing starving goblins anymore. They were walking into a kill box held by Maui and the two other orcs. All the goblins had to do was keep the orcs from pushing through in numbers. That alone would be enough to hold.

Gorz watched as the other orcs split into numerous mines, remaining outside to watch over the proceedings but there was something not sitting right with him.

And then he saw it, this was a trap.

"Eve-!" Before he could even utter a word. A blade thin silent impossibly fast slid across his neck from the darkness.

He felt the cold kiss of steel then nothing. A heartbeat later his head toppled forward. Eyes still wide. Mouth still open. The body took one stumbling step before it crumpled to the stone.

Blood sprayed across the ground, feeding the earth something unfamiliar.

"You are...!" The orc saw who took his life but before he could finish his train of through, he lost consciousness and his brain just saw darkness.

-

The orcs grumbled more as they pushed deeper. The further they went, the darker it became and the less their eyes worked.

They held torches but this only meant the way they could defend themselves was limited even further,

"This place is a trap. Too tight," An orc complained.

"Can't even lift my arm right," Another grumbled.

"Feels like crawling in a rat hole," Yet another showed his displeasure but if they were going to kill the goblins, it was only logical to make it as uncomfortable for them as possible.

They went further and further before they saw the mine branched into 3 sections which meant they had to further cut down on their numbers.

"Huh? I thought they were all together?" An orc questioned because their scent indicated so but spread out within the mines into these three passages.

And the holes were even smaller, even for goblins to fit in.

One of the orcs stuck his torch within the hole but the next thing was fire, it had caught a piece of fabric.

"What the...!?" The orc exclaimed as his eyes caught sight of many such clothes that each had the exact scent of the goblins.

The goblins had taken off their clothes and stuffed it into the mines to create a pseudo-presence and fool the orcs' sense of smell.

The clothes caught fire so fast that the smoke began to envelop their noses, they needed to leave to catch their breath but then they had a loud rumble behind them.

"What was that?" One of the smaller orcs questioned, clearly shook by what was happening.

"We have been had! Everyone! Run for the exit!" An orc barked, kissing his teeth in anger because Gorz was supposed to be on the lookout for them.

Unknown to them, Gorz was the first to fell, the mine caved in soon after.

Trapping all of the orcs within, the falling debris even killing and fatally injuring a lot more.

This was Naruz and Naz's idea and it worked flawlessly because they knew they would need to sacrifice a few things for it to work out.

-

Drekk was among those waiting in the dark, the goblins knew the orcs were waiting for someone and the moment Byung appeared, it made sense.

Byung had managed to half-convince Drekk that he might be the Goblin King and this confirmed his suspicions that the orcs knew how powerful of a figure he was as well.

He looked over his shoulder and noticed they had flooded the area, Drekk knew even he couldn't handle this many orcs.

Vrognut had momentarily left his side so it was hard to tell where he was at the moment but the ground soon shook like there was a natural disaster occurring.

"What the...!?" Drekk muttered under his breath but he noticed the orcs were panicking, they were running helter-skelter. But then Vrognut returned.

"What did you do?" Drekk questioned with a raised brow but to his utmost surprise, Vrognut had no idea what was going on.

However, all he did was smirk because something told him he wasn't the only one willing to get his hands dirty.

"Don't tell me..."

-

Kraghul already knew things wouldn't be as easy as the orcs thought, he had faced some goblins that would send shivers down anyone's spines.

Vrognut was dangerous but he was not among the main threats in his regions, the Moguls present there were monsters capable of devouring anything if provoked.

Kraghul's investigation finally reaped some rewards as he noticed a tunnel but the way it was formed made it look like a crack in the wall. It was hard to notice due to the angle, light bounced off the walls.

"What do we have here?" Kraghul thought to himself, he had found the tunnel Murkfang had used to sneak in and out.

This effectively robbed the goblins of the upper-hand they had over the orcs, or at least one of the advantages as Kraghul now had access to an entire different section of the mine.