Zeke, who was stealing ore right below them, heard the entire conversation. The corner of his mouth twitched uncontrollably, and he struggled to keep a straight face.
Can't be helped. That's Greenskins for you. Their brain circuitry is just wired that way.
By now, he had obtained a full 6 stacks of Raw Iron.
Because the smelting speed of the furnaces was too slow, he only had two stacks of Iron Ingots. To save inventory space, he had specially compressed these two stacks into Iron Blocks.
Logically speaking, Zeke had enough iron. His best course of action now was to retreat.
Honestly, Zeke was getting a little carried away. This feeling of a full inventory was just too satisfying.
Moreover, the ore mountain above wasn't just filtering out iron ore; there was also a lot of coal. If he waited a bit longer, maybe he could even filter out diamonds.
Since I'm already here, I can't leave empty-handed. With this mindset, Zeke continued to stay below, stealing ore.
"Don't run, you damn Grot!"
"Catch 'im! Extra rations tonight!"
Two Ork Boyz were shouting and chasing after a Gretchin.
The Gretchin let out high-pitched wails, scrambling on all fours in panic.
Seeing the distance closing, it recklessly dived headfirst into a crack at the bottom of the ore mountain.
"Dammit, where'd dat little runt go?" The two Ork Boyz circled the crack.
"Quit yer yappin', let me fish 'im out." One Ork Boy lay down and reached his arm into the crack.
"I got 'im!"
Just as he was about to succeed, a massive shadow loomed over the two of them.
It was the burly Runtherd. "You two useless gits! Wot you muckin' about fer instead of workin'?!"
The two Ork Boyz froze, silent as cicadas in winter.
The Gretchin in the crack seized the opportunity to wiggle out and hugged the Runtherd's thick mechanical leg: "Boss! Dey tried to eat me!"
The Runtherd narrowed his beady eyes. Before the two Ork Boyz could explain, casserole-sized fists smashed ruthlessly into their faces.
The two Ork Boyz screamed as they rolled on the ground, blood and broken teeth flying together.
"Sigh, useless. Completely useless." The Runtherd looked at them with disappointment.
"All day long, jus' chasin' Grots. You'll never amount to nuffin'!"
The more he spoke, the angrier he got. "A proper Ork needs a proper opponent! Only by smashin' yer muscles against da hardest bones can ya get stronger, bigger, harder, and more WAAAGH!"
"But... didn't we get killed by dat man and end up hidin' underground?" one of the Orks on the ground covered his swollen face and said timidly.
"Hidin'? How many times I gotta tell ya? Dis ain't hidin'! Orks ain't never afraid! Dis is fer da plan! A great plan!"
Rage rose from the Runtherd's heart, and he swung his massive warhammer, taller than a man.
"Lemme teach ya a lesson!"
The warhammer smashed down. The two Ork Boyz were scared out of their wits and rolled away to dodge.
The hammer missed its target. Following its immense inertia, it slammed solidly into the ore mountain beside them.
RUMBLE...
The ground shook and the mountain trembled. Dust shot into the sky.
Under the gaze of the Runtherd and all the nearby Ork Boyz, the ore mountain—which should have been incredibly solid—collapsed inward.
The Runtherd's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
I fought dis mountain was solid... how could one hammer smash it flat?
Wrong. Sumfing's very wrong.
"Dere's a thief! Dey hollowed out our mountain!"
The entire underground cavern ignited. Roars, the clash of weapons, and chaotic footsteps merged into a din.
"Thief!"
Feeling the vibrations from above, Zeke, underground, knew the jig was up.
He swept everything in the chest into his backpack, not even bothering to retrieve the hoppers.
A crash came from overhead. Brute force smashed a large hole through the tunnel opening, and many green faces peered in.
"Wot's down dere? Tell me wot's down dere!" the Runtherd yelled furiously.
"It's a humie! Dere's a little runt down dere!"
"Scrawny arms and legs! Grab 'im!"
Countless Ork Boyz squeezed through the breach like dumplings dropping into a pot, scrambling over each other.
Zeke's face was green—literally. He didn't know if it was the reflection from the Orks' skin or just pure terror.
He turned and jumped into the hole beside him, landing precisely in the pre-placed water pool to break his fall.
Without pausing, he immediately collected the water source and sprinted down the escape tunnel he had come from.
Behind him came tooth-aching sounds of impact.
Splat! Splat!
Several Ork Boyz, completely disregarding the height, jumped straight down. The distance turned them directly into meat paste.
More Orks survived by landing on the remains of their comrades, shaking their heads as they stood up and surged toward the direction Zeke fled.
It was called a charge, but there were so many Ork Boyz that they jammed the tunnel. The so-called charge was more like squeezing toothpaste, forcing themselves along the tunnel toward Zeke.
Damn legs! Faster! Faster! Move faster! Zeke hated that he only had two legs.
He ran for his life while placing Cobblestone behind him to create obstacles.
Ahead, the ladder finally appeared.
Zeke grabbed the ladder and shot up, his legs pumping so fast they blurred.
The exit was right above.
I made it! Zeke poked his head out—and saw a giant warhammer blocking his entire field of view.
"Die, runt." A trace of boredom flashed in the Runtherd's eyes.
He could already see this little shrimp turning into a pile of meat paste.
Sigh, so boring. What's the point of an opponent like this?
Block!
The [Shield] was raised in front of Zeke's face.
The warhammer slammed solidly into the wooden shield, and then... it stopped.
The expected muffled sound of flesh and bone turning to mud did not come.
The scene before them was too shocking. A hammer bigger than Zeke himself—not only did he block it, but he didn't even take a step back.
All the Orks present—whether the Runtherd swinging the hammer or the Boyz squeezing up from below—paused their movements and roars for a moment.
"Blocked it?"
"Blocked it!"
"Bwahahaha! Interestin' runt! Again!"
The boredom in the Runtherd's eyes was replaced by a long-lost excitement.
Ever since the Warboss died in battle and he was forced to lead these Boyz to lurk here for that long and boring plan...
It had been too long, far too long, since he had met an opponent that let him experience the joy of battle.
The dull digging and waiting had almost worn down his warrior nerves. But now, this human who blocked his strike...
He opened his blood-red maw and let out a wild laugh. His muscle-bound green arms swung the warhammer again.
Full Power Strike!
Bad news. The Runtherd's attack just now had too much force; it directly caused a shield break effect.
The shield in Zeke's off-hand went into a white cooldown and was temporarily unusable.
Too fast. The speed of the Runtherd's full-power swing was far beyond before. Can't dodge.
The warhammer solidly hit Zeke's body. Zeke felt like he had been hit head-on by a heavy truck.
His first injury in the Warhammer world.
He was blasted backward like a cannonball, slamming heavily into the solid rock wall behind him, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Diff'rent, alright." The Runtherd narrowed his beady eyes. He didn't pursue immediately but shook his wrist, carefully savoring the feedback from that hammer strike.
The impact felt completely different. An ordinary runt would have been turned into a puddle on the ground under such a full-power blow.
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