Chapter Ninety-Two - Shotgunning I fired, pumped, fired, pumped, then did it all again, five shots, switching between targets every time I racked a new round. Then I slowly lowered the shotgun. It wasn't all that big, and its tube-magazine could only hold five shells to begin with, so at the moment it was a metal stick. I stared at the five orcs who'd stepped out of the portal, then grimaced. One of them slowly sank to the ground, blood pouring out of the mess I'd made of his face, but the other four? Injured, sure, but not dead. One of those at the back roared, a bloody hand clutching at a bicep turned into mulched meat. He pointed at me with a long cleaver-like sword, then the other three that were still standing moved. I flung the shotgun across the room and looked around quickly. There was a rack of guns on the wall to one side, but it was behind a lock-bar. There was another dead security guard in the corner, but I hardly had time to check if he was armed. So I spun around and darted out of the room. The door into it, I noticed, had been mangled apart. It was more of a gate than a proper door, and it looked like it was meant to slide open and closed, but something--probably something orc-shaped--had rammed it apart. I ran, spun around, and whipped out my revolver, and shot at the orcs. Two went down, the third just gained a fresh wound and the last was still at the rear. "Dammit," I said. Then I pulled out my sword and found myself caught in a quick and dirty fight. I'd managed to injure them all, one of them quite badly, but that didn't mean that they didn't still have the advantage in terms of mass and in some cases reach. The orcs didn't seem to have a fixed martial art. They just had lots of muscle and big, heavy weapons. That was a pretty valid way to fight, though. I ducked back, then dove forwards to stab at the nearest. I managed to poke the end of my sword into the bloody mess that I'd made of that orc's chest with a shotgun blast earlier. Its armour, which looked like some sort of cheap gambeson, hadn't taken well to being shot. I wrenched my sword free, ducked under a swipe, then hopped back as the second came in swinging a crude mace. I turned, kicked it in the shin, then winced as the impact rattled me. It sent him sprawling to the floor, but the bastard was heavy. Still, the two orcs went down soon enough. I stabbed the injured one again, this time plunging my sword upwards, and when it stumbled back and fell, it stayed down. The orc on the ground rolled to its feet with surprising dexterity. My shot earlier had caught it in the side, and my revolver shot had punched a hole through his arm. He was bleeding, but not down yet. I chopped at his neck, but only managed to cut into his collar. Still, it added a wound, and on his uninjured side. I was too distracted as the last orc rushed in and tacked me to the ground, arms spread wide. The air was punched out of my lungs as he landed atop me, pinning my legs down with a heavy knee. The orc roared and raised both arms far over his head, fist balled together. I hadn't lost hold of my sword though. So I quickly brought it around and shoved it through his neck and up. He gurgled, then brought his arms down anyway. It was reflex that saved me. I dropped my sword and covered my head, hissing in pain as his fists thumped into my forearms. Damn, they were strong. Strong, but dead. The orc gurgled and slumped to the side, and as soon as his weight was off me, I kicked out from under him. That orc I'd shot twice and cut once was still alive and picked up another's cleaver off the ground. He said something to me that sounded like a curse, then spat on the ground. I didn't have my sword, or my knife, my guns were empty... I fired a Shadow Bolt at his face, and he stumbled back. Then I shot two more, feeling my magical reserves dropping with each one. While he recoiled, I rolled to the side, grabbed a dead orc's club, and with a grunt, I raised it over my head, then flung it forwards as hard as I could. The orc caught it with an open palm, but cried out when the impact clearly broke a finger. Then I Shadow Bolt'd his face again, for good measure. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Picking up my sword, I got back into a proper fighting stance, and circled the orc. He tried a last-ditch charge, but I slipped to the side, the edge of my sword, imbued with a bit of Disgust, cut him across the thigh and he finally went down. I panted. That one fight had exhausted me. "God... damn," I said. The room was a mess. More than it had been before. Orc bodies, lots of blood. Fortunately for whomever would have to clean this, it was a butcher plant. The floors had little drains and everything. I was... kind of impressed with myself. Sure, guns were the great equalizer and all that, true, but I'd still killed five of the fucks and only hurt myself a lot. Damn, I was gonna bruise. But I wasn't dead, and that was nice. What were my chances in the dungeon? I supposed that depended on the number of orcs in there. I licked my lips, which felt pretty dry at the moment, then sighed. Right, I could maybe take on twenty orcs... in a fight. I cleared my throat, felt at my bruises, and then grunted as I pushed off the wall. That was enough of a break. I reloaded my revolver, reloaded the free shotgun, stared at the wall of guns and its stupid code-lock for a while, then did a bit of stretching, which I should have done earlier. Then, with only a bit of hesitation, I stepped into the portal. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe some sort of cave, or a decrepit old castle, or some sort of tribal hut. Instead, I found myself in a large room, with walls made of stone blocks turned black by soot and a tall ceiling above held in place by massive tree-trunks. The ground was loose stones and packed dirt, with clear signs that thousands of feet had trod across this space. Large metal barricades were set up here and there, but it looked like most had been pushed aside, mostly to make room for... fold out tables and hard plastic crates? There was a battery-powered coffee machine, and some benches. Yeah, Synthcorp had been here for a while. I tensed up as there was movement ahead, then I leapt to the side, tucking myself behind one of the pillar-trunks for cover. Two orcs stepped into the room, grunting at each other. They were each dragging a corpse behind them, men in fatigues and light armour. The bodies were grabbed, then slung out onto a heap that I hadn't noticed. Concerningly, one of the orcs had a shotgun. Fucking... that wasn't fair. I wasn't sure if he knew how to use it, but he sure had it on a sling by his side. What the hell! Portal monsters using human weapons like that was cheating! I glanced past the orcs. It looked like they were coming from a decently wide corridor that led deeper into the... fortress? It was definitely some kind of large building we were in, and I didn't get the vibes that this was subterranean. Right... so, how much scouting could I do, and how long would it take? For that matter, could I kill my way through this entire dungeon? I was worried that the answer to that last was no. Not if the orcs all attacked in anything approaching a coordinated fashion. While the two orcs that had come in were busy, I moved along the far end of the room, only to be spotted. One of the orcs turned, pointing at me and grunting something. The other... grabbed the shotgun, aimed from the hip, and blasted. I flinched, but he clearly didn't know how to aim all that well, and only managed to pepper one of the stone walls with buckshot. I ran, moving into cover even as the orc fumbled with the gun and took several long seconds to figure out how to pump. Then he fired again and again, blasting chunks out of the pillar I hid behind until... he ran dry. I spun around, jumped as I found the unarmed orc far closer than expected, then shot him with my own shotgun. My aim was better, and I sidestepped as his corpse fell past. Unfortunately, shotguns were not a stealthy weapon, and already I could hear more orcs howling and calling out in alarm deeper in. So much for that plan. Dammit. I wasn't going to be able to take this one solo, was I? What kind of option did that leave me with? I sighed, then Reloaded. No point in getting caught up on a sunk cost. Time to do a bit of research before I tackled this one again. Official source is novel(ꜰ)ire.net