by Michael Sisa
Azura heard rustling sounds from his left. Soon, three figures emerged. All of them wore full plate armors, the cloaks they wore tattered. There was something eerie about these guys, but Commander Azura was unable to pinpoint it out.
“About time,” said the human. His figure slowly appeared from the darkness of the night. “This is war. You wouldn’t say that four versus one isn’t fair, right?”
Azura finally understood. This puny human was stalling for time for these guys to arrive. But what difference would it make? At the end of the day, humans would still be humans.
The suits of armor walked towards the young man and in unison, knelt down. The one at the middle groaned.
As though he understood what was said, the human nodded. “You’ve successfully completed the mission, huh? Good job.”
He placed a hand at the one at the middle, and the dents, scratches and holes in the armor closed in. He did the same for the other two, reverting them into their original states.
“Let’s start,” The human breathed. “I still have to annihilate the rest of the army after this, so I can’t spare you all of my mana.” He said to the three suits of armor, “Kill him.”
The suits of armor groaned, stood up, and started charging at Azura. It was a direct attack, without strategy or tactics involved.
“These guys are confident with their strength, huh?” Azura snorted. He found it funny that these three humans would even try to contest with him using only pure strength. “Come!”
The suits of armor swung their swords at him, and Azura immediately blocked it one after another using his battle axe. Using his three other arms, Azura would strike the suits of armor with his fist every now and then. Several dents were created on the armors, but his three opponents did now show any signs of taking damage.
What was happening? Shouldn’t the human inside the suit have some of his organs crushed by now?
Azura shook off his thoughts. It did not matter. As long as he kept pummeling these guys, they would eventually die. No matter how tough they were, they were still humans.
Azura gnashed his teeth, raised his battle-axe, and struck the body of the suit of armor next to him. His axe cleaved through half the armor. The feet of his opponent sank several inches deep into the ground from the tremendous impact.
But to his surprise, the suit of armor simply glared at him. It groaned, and stabbed him at the thigh using the sword.
Azura looked at the place where his battle-axe struck. There was no blood. He realized it was hollow inside. He realized these guys were not humans.
“Damn it!” Azura roared and punched the suit of armor at the face. It flew into the air and hit the nearby tree, but immediately stood up and charged again at him afterwards.
Azura pulled out the sword stabbed through his thigh, making his blood spurt out. He tossed it onto the ground. This was nothing. He had been to more perilous situations before.
“There’s no way you guys are immortal!” roared Azura. “Come!”
The battle continued. The three suits of armor continued their attacks despite the dents and cuts in their bodies. Despite his injuries, Azura continued parrying the attacks, retaliating with deathblows every now and then. He could not even charge at Lark, who obviously commanded these puppets. Just blocking the attacks from these three monsters was taking his everything to survive.
After half an hour, the three suits of armor finally fell limp on the ground. Their bodies were cut and dented in several places. One of them tried standing up, before its body quivered and fell down the ground. The light inside their visors started dimming as inaudible groans escaped their lips. They all still wanted to stand up and fight for their master, but their bodies refused to move.
Azura, on the other hand, was still standing. He was huffing, his chest rising and falling rapidly. The battle-axe he held have several chips at the edge, while his entire body was riddled with several cuts and bruises. Blood dripped down the wounds, blanketing the ground he was standing on. Still, despite the injuries, the bloodlust in his eyes continued blazing.
Azura wiped the blood dripping down his mouth. “Now, you’re next, brat.”
Lark, who have been standing on the same place since half an hour ago, did not reply. He simply pointed a finger at the suits of armor lying on the ground. A thread of mana flowed from his finger tip and enveloped the suits of armor.
The suits of armor groaned, their armors clanked, and they started standing up. The cuts on their bodies started closing and the dents reverted.
Although this consumed a lot of mana, this was still far more efficient than using Middle Tier Magic to confront this Commander.
When the suits of armors were finally reverted to their original state, Commander Azura was in stupor. It took him everything just to survive the nonstop onslaught, and now he had to do it all over again, with this battered body of his?
He was livid. As expected, humans loved to play dirty.
“This damn coward,” he growled. “Stop hiding behind those puppets and fight me! Damn human!”
Lark did not bother to give a reply. He flicked his fingers and the suits of armor began their charge.
The three continued their assaults against the injured Commander. This time, the battle went quicker. In less than half an hour, the head of Commander Azura flew into the air, then dropped and rolled on the ground.
Lark noticed that there were tears at the corner of the beastman’s eyes. Was it rage? Frustration? Regret? He did not know. And there was no need to find the answer.
This was war. He needed to devour these invading bastards before they started touching his town.
Lark ordered one of the suits of armor to retrieve the head and put it inside a small leather bag.
Lark looked at the sky. “The moon’s beautiful tonight.”
Two down, three to go. It was finally time to hunt that lizardman bastard. The one that almost killed Gaston.
Lark reserved his mana for this moment.
“Now, Captain Stone,” said Lark. “Where are you?”
Accompanied by his puppets, Lark disappeared through the shadow of the night.
Chapter Thirteen
After killing Commander Azura, Lark immediately regrouped with the hunters from Gahelpa. As he expected, the illusion magic easily worked against the Beastmen. This forest was dense, and with illusion magic to misdirect the opponents, it was easy making them lose their way out.
Lark noticed that one of the hunters had a cut on his back. He was profusely bleeding, his face pallid. He was probably struck by one of the beastmen during the escape, but thanks to Lark’s illusion magic, he managed to keep his life.
“Here,” Lark personally handed him a small vial. “Drink it. It’ll make you feel better.”
The man weakly took the vial, opened the cork and drank the contents. After several seconds, the wound on his back closed on its own. His face started regaining its color.
The man bewilderedly looked at the potion then at the Young Master.
Lark ignored him. He said to Valak, “Sound the horn.”
Valak nodded. “You heard the Young Master! Sound the horn!”
Several hunters took out small pieces of horn from their pouches. After receiving the signal, they blew. A mellifluous sound, which reminded Lark of a growling Red Scar Bear, reverberated through the forest.
As the hunters continued blowing the horns, Lark pointed a finger towards the sky. He channeled his mana through it and an orb of fire, around the size of a fist, manifested itself at its tip. He breathed in and shot the orb of fire towards the sky, creating a transient trail of crimson.
Lark looked at the suits of armor standing nearby. The two groups of beastmen, each led by an adjutant, must be trying their best to find a way out right now.
“Let’s start,” said Lark. “We’ll hunt the beastmen scattered in this forest.”
***
After receiving instructions from the Young Master, the soldiers from
Blackstone Town hid themselves in this part of the forest, a good distance away from the campsite of the Beastmen. Everyone was clearly anxious of the upcoming battle. Although beastmen were treated as slaves in the Kingdom, everyone was aware that they were superior in strength when compared to humans.
“Captain Qarat,” whispered a soldier. “Is this really… alright? Those beastmen have greater numbers, right? If we charge at them now…”
We’ll die.
The soldier did not say those words out loud. He was afraid, and he knew that the others were the same.
“We’ve fought with Goblins before, right?” said Captain Qarat. “It’ll be just like that time. Just do what we’ve been doing during training and we’ll be fine.”
Qarat knew that this was not true. He knew that there was a vast difference between Goblins and Beastmen. But keeping the morale of the soldiers was more important right now. He looked at Anandra, who calmly leaned next to a tree. He had been looking at the sky this entire time.
Suddenly, the sound of a horn reverberated through the forest. At the sky, a thread of crimson flew past by.
Everyone stiffened. This was the signal the Young Master told them beforehand.
The thread of crimson flew towards the east. The direction they should head to.
“Assemble the spears!” said Anandra.
“Yes, Commander!”
With practiced movements, the soldiers assembled the spears. It spanned two meters in length, the edge of its blade jagged to increase the damage. On the waist of each soldier, a short sword dangled.
“Move out!”
With Anandra at the lead, the soldiers started moving through the sea of trees. They moved towards the direction the crimson thread in the sky pointed at.
Anandra signaled everyone to stop. He unsheathed his sword and with quick movements, ran through the forest. After five minutes, he returned. The blade of his sword had blood clinging to it.
“I’ve taken care of the scouts,” said Anandra. “I’ve seen their camp. Just like the Young Master predicted, they are preparing to move out.”
As time went by, Anandra could not help but be in awe with the Young Master’s foresight. Everything until now had already been predicted by the Young Master beforehand. Even the route the beastmen were going to take had been taken into account, and various strategies to deal with it had been prepared. If someone told Anandra that the Young Master was the second coming of Rurukashu, the God of War, he would have believed it.
After killing the scouts, under the guidance of Anandra, the soldiers started encroaching the camp. Now, they only have to wait for the next signal before they commenced with their attack.
From their position, they could hear several shouts.
“Captain Stone!” snarled Kael. “Are you out of your mind?! You’re telling us to abandon Commander Azura here? In this damnable forest?! Is that it, huh?!”
Kael unsheathed his scimitars. Tension filled the air as the beastmen around them watched. The silence that followed was deafening.
“That’s right,” said Stone eventually. “You’ve seen the corpse, right? It’s definitely the body of Commander Azura. There’s no mistaking it. Kael, I’m not sure what happened to the warriors who left to chase after those humans – but there’s a very high chance that they’re all dead by now.”
His statement made the beastmen in the camp shiver. There was a clearly horrified look on their faces.
“You damn lizard!” roared Kael. He charged towards Stone then swung his four scimitars. Stone nimbly dodge it left and right.
“From thy light, shadows emerge. Blend,” chanted Stone. Slowly, his figure disappeared. “Listen, Kael. Think about it. If we all die here, there would be no one to notify General Urkawi. Dead men tell no tales! You’re the only officer we have left! These Ogres will not listen to me, an outsider!”
Kael hesitated for a moment. Still, the rage within his eyes continued to blaze. “Is that the same reasoning you had when you abandoned your men in Blackstone Town? Out of the entire Scouts, only four of you came back. Isn’t that right? How pathetic!”
Despite the ridicule, Stone remained unperturbed. He stood his stance.
“Unlike the Vanguard, the role of the Scouts is reconnaissance. Even if we have to sacrifice several lives, we have to live, return and report back! You should realize this by now! We’ve been too far focused on Alexander that we failed to realize that he’s not the only dangerous human in this Kingdom!!”
Kael looked at the beastmen in the camp. Everyone’s morale went down after hearing that Commander Azura had died. Although it was not yet truly confirmed since the head was missing, the body they found in the forest greatly resembled those of the Commander’s.
And now, this lizardman was telling everyone to regroup and return to the Main Army’s camp.
Everyone was torn between the choices.
Silence befell everyone.
“We’re not turning back,” said Kael, finally. “If Commander Azura’s really dead, then we’ll gladly follow him to the grave. Isn’t that right, everyone?!”
The beastmen around him clenched their fists. “That’s right! We’ll follow the Commander until the very last!”
Stone deactivated his magic, revealing himself. He sighed. “Molith, Salith!”
Two lizardmen replied in unison, “Yes!”
“Untether the Burrcats! We’re leaving!”
The lizardmen saluted. “Understood!”
Stone sighed once again. “Won’t you reconsider? There’s no point in dying here.”
Kael snorted. “Leave. We don’t need cowards like you.”
The lizardmen soon arrived with the Burrcats. Stone mounted one of them. “I see. It’s regrettable.” He paused and looked straight at Kael’s eyes. “I don’t hate you, Kael. But this is where we part.”
Just when Stone and his men were about to move out, arrows flew from the sky and struck several beastmen. The Burrcats purred. Metallic sounds echoed as the beastmen unsheathed their weapons.
“We’re under attack! Everyone! On your guard!”
Kael looked left and right. “Damn it! What were the scouts doing?!”
As arrows continued raining down, the sound of a horn was heard. The soldiers of Blackstone Town used that as the cue. They emerged from the shadows of the trees, each of them holding their spears.
“We’re surrounded,” Stone clicked his tongue. “Lizardmen! Follow me! We’re getting out of this place!”
Stone slapped the reigns and the Burrcat sped up. Behind him, the other lizardmen followed. They ran towards the east, the only opening in the encirclement, eventually disappearing from sight.
After Stone and the lizardmen left, the battle in the camp quickly became a melee. The suits of armors from before appeared and started killing beastmen left and right. As they were instructed, three Blackstone Soldiers engaged a single beastman warrior. This way, they were able to bridge the gap in physical strength and experience.
Lark immediately targeted the remaining adjutant. It was a swift encounter. He did not give the remaining officer a chance to prepare and retaliate back. Soon, Kael’s head flew into the air and rolled on the ground.
After seeing the adjutant die, the remaining beastmen went into rage and recklessly charged towards the Blackstone Soldiers. Groans, growls, and cries of rage reverberated as metal clashed against metal. The scent of blood strongly permeated the air.
With no one to lead them, the beastmen easily fell into the hands of Lark and the rest of the soldiers. It was a bloodbath.
After the last beastmen fell, Anandra approached Lark. “Young Master, it seems that some lizardmen managed to escape.”
Lark looked at the campsite littered with corpses. “I know. But it’s fine. I’ve prepared a trap before coming here. We’ll be able to catch up to them in no time.”
The Vanguard Army definitely passed through the area filled with Magic Poison, the lush forest that was now dead and filled
with miasma. They must have not noticed it, but the reason why the Blackstone Soldiers who lacked battle experience were able to kill these beastmen was because of this.
It takes a while before the symptoms of Magic Poisoning becomes evident, but all of these beastmen were definitely poisoned, each of them unable to fight with their full potential.
Those lizardmen would soon feel the effects of Magic Poisoning once it aggravated. It would be easy to catch and kill them by then.
“For now, focus on treating the wounded!” He said to the soldiers.
“Yes, Sir!”
Lark said to Captain Qarat, “How many soldiers died?”
Qarat bit his lips. “Eight soldiers, Young Master.”
Despite the preparations made beforehand, several soldiers still died. It was a really small number, if they took into account the enemies this time. If not for Lark, Anandra, and the suits of armor looking out for the Blackstone Soldiers, there would have probably been more casualties.
Lark saw some of the Blackstone Soldiers kneeling and crying next to the corpses. Since the population of the town was really small, everyone knew each local by name or face. Their sense of loss must have been much greater.
But this was a necessary sacrifice. They need to protect their home using their own strength.
These soldiers need to experience what the battlefield was like. An unsheathed sword was nothing but an ornament.
“Recover the dead bodies of the Blackstone Soldiers,” said Lark. “We’ll hold a burial ceremony for them once we get back.”
“Yes.” Qarat bowed his head.
“Anandra," said Lark. “I’ll chase after the lizards that escaped. You shall be in-charge of the Army.”
“Understood!”
Lark looked at the dead bodies of the beastmen scattered on the ground. “Also, I want you to cut off the heads of all the beastmen and bring them back to the town. I have a use for them later.”
Anandra did not question Lark’s order. He simply bowed his head. “As you wish.”
Lark looked at the east. The direction where the lizardmen fled.
