Chapter 85
‘Damn.’
Curses came out by its own.
Semi glared in front of him.
The monsters that amounted to 1.000.
And they were even various in races.
‘Goblin, kobolt, nork……’
Although most of them were small sized monsters, you could see about 10 little ogres that were exactly double the size of a human adult at some parts.
‘I was crazy. Fuck.’
Semi cursed out his stupidness, no, his rashness late.
‘I just had to guard the headquarters….’
Originally, there wouldn’t have been any problems if they just subjugated or chased away the monsters that approached the entrance.
But as they saw Roan and his troop getting out of the camp from an early morning, he couldn’t endure it.
‘Not being enough with making an information squad to investigate the region and changing the formation to a strange one they also go out to subjugate monsters.’
It was an action he hadn’t thought at all.
He kind of felt that he and the entire Sollum troop were cowards.
‘The owners of Tale region were us.’
A feeling that the ownership got passed over in an instant.
On top of that, competitiveness he didn’t want to lose to Roan arose.
And fortunately, that was the same for the members of Sollum troop.
They didn’t want to see Amaranth troop, that were no different from a rock that rolled over, to just act as they pleased.
In the end Semi left 100 men to guard the camp and charged out.
They charged over to the regions were monsters appeared quite frequently.
And the start wasn’t bad.
They annihilated the monsters that appeared at times and rose their spirit.
They arrived to their destination, that was a hill.
It was when he was resting and treating the wounded ones.
The forest below the hill started to shake.
The dense forest shook roughly and a sound shaking the ground hit their ear.
When Semi and the others were looking at the forest with a nervous look.
Pat!
An amazing number of monsters appeared from the forest.
An attack they hadn’t expected.
That was what just happened right now.
“Wh, what do we do?”
Hamon had a really nervous look.
Only then did Semi throw away all the useless thoughts and bit his lower lip.
“What do you want to do? Of course we have to fight.”
The monsters had already approached near the hill.
In this situation, they could only fight against the monsters.
‘Although its 400 vs 1.000 they are mostly small monsters. On top of that, we are positioned in a high place so it’s not that we don’t have chances.’
Semi, that was quite hot tempered, got his head cleared up in front of a big fight.
Because he knew that if the commander lost his rationality here, the entire troop would get annihilated.
“We are getting the little ogres first.”
“Yes. Understood.”
The adjutants answered in one voice and stood in front of their respective squads.
400 soldiers raised their weapons with nervous looks.
“Kuaaa!”
“Kiek!”
The monsters cried out.
The ground shook and white dust surged up.
“Charge!”
And the order of charging also fell from Semi’s mouth.
His eye became red.
And a strange heat surged up in his entire face.
“Kill!”
Yells that were to raise the morale on purpose poured out.
Bang!
Finally, Sollum troop clashed against the monsters.
Slash! Stab!
The limbs of the monsters started to get cut off with horrible sounds.
“Kiek!”
“Kek!”
The goblins or kobolts that were a lot smaller than an adult couldn’t resist properly and collapsed.
The personal strength of each troop member was that strong.
However, their performance was only up to there. The limit for Sollum troop was clear.
Because it was the first time they faced a big scaled battle.
“Little ogre! Aim for the little ogres!”
“Infantry! To the right! Not there! Right! Right!”
Semi yelled with all his strength.
But the order couldn’t get executed properly. Each adjutant moved their respective squad as they wished.
No, they couldn’t even command the squad members properly.
A really sad level to say that it was one troop.
The formation that had a rectangle shape was now separated in several pieces.
And monsters charged in from those spaces.
“Kok!”
“Kuk! Your side got pierced through!”
“The formation of the front crumbled!”
The formation that got turned aside once started to collapse even more.
Anyways, if their individual strength wasn’t good, they would already have gotten annihilated.
‘Damn! We endured well for 2 years but what is this!’
Semi swung his blade while grinding his teeth.
‘Although monsters appear frequently in this region, it’s the first time a troop as big as this has appeared……On top of that, this isn’t a simple attack.’
Just like they were getting chased by someone.
“Uak!”
“Kok!”
Several yells were heard at the surroundings.
Semi’s face stiffened.
‘Because of my powerlessness, my troop members……’
His eye trembled.
Although he blamed himself, it was already late.
‘Am I dying like this…..’
A moment of life and death.
Then.
Sweeee!
A sharp sound was heard.
“Kiek!”
“Kek!”
The cries of the monsters was heard this time.
Puuuuu!
THe sound of the horn trumpet that’s heard at the same time.
Semi and the troop members looked back.
A group of people that were attacking the monsters appeared.
A flag that was high.
A short letter was written in the flocking flag.
At that moment, joy appeared in everyone’s faces.
‘Amaranth troop!’
‘They are here to rescue us!’
Their sight gathered at one point.
Bang!
Monsters got pushed back to the sides with a loud sound.
The place that was separated.
Roan was over there.
“Annihilate!”
A short order and the several signals that get transmitted.
The flagman that was next to him shook two flags of different colors.
Puuuuu! Dung. Dung. Dung. Dung.
The sound of horn trumpet and drums was heard.
Amaranth troop took a triangle formation as if they were waiting for it.
And of course, the one at the peak was Roan.
He pulled Travias spear and emanated valor.
There was no need to hide his mana anymore.
The spear with a transparent light split the air and danced.
Slash. Spat!
And everytime that happened, a horrible sound was heard.
“Kiek!”
Small monsters like goblins and kobolts couldn’t be Roan’s opponent.
And that was also the same for the little ogres.
They got perplexed at the mysterious movements of Roan’s spearmanship and stepped back.
The moment their formation crumbled.
The troop members of Amaranth ran to the sides.
Stab!
The weapon that gets stabbed in the sides of the little ogres.
“Kuang!”
A cry exploded out.
A look that he was at least trying to struggle.
However, followed by that, the troop members swung their spears.
Slash!
The spears, swords, axes and daggers stabbed the head, neck, chest and abdomen consecutively.
A perfect attack.
Boom!
The little ogre couldn’t endure it anymore and fell.
“Charge!”
The cry that shakes the battlefield.
The peak of Amaranth troop easily charged over the group of monsters.
Roan and the vanguard grouped up with the hopeless looking Sollum troop.
“Are you fine?”
Lightly asking words.
‘I didn’t know they would copy us and go out to subjugate.’
Roan sighed shortly.
After Amaranth troop departed, the monsters got subjugated and they executed a big performance.
In that process, the small groups of monsters evaded Amaranth troop and fled to the west.
But Sollum troop had to be over there.
Several small groups gathered and that number amounted to 1.000.
Sollum troop was performing the role of anvil between a hammer and an anvil.
‘Anyways, i’m glad we aren’t late.’
Roan smiled faintly and looked at Semi.
Semi also got a hold of himself late.
“Yes. I, i’m fine.”
Actually, even the members of Sollum troop were half absent minded.
And that was because only 300 men were pushing back and massacring the monsters that amounted to 1.000 lightly and pushing them back to the sides.
‘I, is this the strength a troop has to get?’
Semi gulped dry saliva.
Roan looked at that Semi once and shook his right hand to the back twice.
At that moment, the groups of hundred that were pushing back the monsters started to fall back.
The widely spread triangle shape shrank in an instant and then got a rectangle formation.
“Kiek!?”
“Kek?”
The monsters tilted their head when they saw the space that suddenly got empty.
Then, the flagman shook the flag to the sides.
The infantry that were at the front lowered their body and kneeled one leg.
The archers that were at the back, poured arrows as if they were waiting for it.
Sweee!
A sharp sound.
Tens of arrows split the air consecutively.
Pubububuk!
Monsters collapsed after becoming porcupines.
And even among the archers, the one showing the most amazing skill was Harrison.
Harrison, that was leading the archer squad and some infantry was hitting up the medium sized monsters, compared to the other archers that only hit small monsters.
Puk!
A look that their forehead got precisely pierced.
“It, it’s an amazing ability.’
The members of Sollum troop all opened their mouths.
It really was an ability close to marvelous.
“Kieeek!”
“Kuaa!”
As the monsters started to get pushed one sidedly they let out cries and tried to rush in without any plans.
Roan took out Travias spear as if he was waiting for it and then charged the ground.
Amaranth troop followed his back.
“Ah…..”
At that moment, Semin and his troop members let out low exclamations.
A shudder passed by their bodies.
The scene occurring in front of their eyes.
Amaranth troop that was facing hundreds of monsters.
Their backs got fixed in their eyes.
“Kek!”
“Kugh!”
Amaranth troop clashed with the monsters.
The members of the troop moved in an ordered fashion.
If one person attacked, another put more strength in that attack, and the remaining ones filled in the flaws after the attack.
‘So this was what they trained on everyday at the training field!’
Semi got amazed and kept getting more amazed.
His sight naturally moved towards Roan.
The front of the front line.
The place you could say that was dangerous had Roan over there.
Pabababat!
Travias spear moved as if it danced.
Pubuk! Puk!
The monsters that were close by got hit consecutively by fists and kicks and got bounced off.
A feeling that a long line of light was drawn following the spear.
Roan’s movements werent only destructive, but beautiful.
‘They aren’t my opponents.’
Semi realized Roan’s and the troop’s skills.
They weren’t opponents he or Sollum troop could do anything about.
But strangely enough he didn’t feel powerless, rage or despair.
‘I want to get in there and fight together with them.’
He wanted to display more power than what he had, just like the strength Amaranth troop had.
His face turned red at the boiling emotions.
But that wasn’t only about Semi.
‘Will we also be able to move like that?’
‘How good would it be if I also had that kind of allies.’
Everyone of Sollum’s troop looked at the battlefield with excited expressions.
Desire surged up in their eyes.
The opposition and antipathy they felt when they first met Amaranth troop had long since disappeared.
‘He said that he would wait until we wanted……’
Semi remembered Roan’s words clearly.
He turned to look back at his troop members and took in a deep breath.
‘It seems like that time is now.’
He laid the decision.
His sight moved over once again to the battlefield.
The fight was already coming to an end.
Complete victory.
It was a complete victory for Amaranth troop.
And it was also the first battle of Amaranth troop that one day will let know of its name to the continent.
*****
‘Lost. Completely lost. Even the plate is different.’
Semi shook his head.
The place his eyes reached.
Roan was over there.
‘Just by rescuing our troop and safely returning us back is thankful enough…..’
Roan ordered Amaranth troop, that comparatively had fewer damages, to look after the injuries of Sollum troop.
In this situation, Semi got surprised at three things.
The first.
‘The troop members have absolute obedience in the orders of the troop commander.’
The second.
‘The level of treatment is higher than what I thought. Although it’s not at the professional level, they know really well how they have to treat injured ones.’
It was all because of the various experiences of the battles they had faced until now, but there was no way Semi could know that.
But most of all, the reason he got more surprised than anything was because of the third cause.
‘It’s been exactly 20 days since Amaranth troop came here. But……..’
Semi’s sight moved over to Roan.
Roan was checking on the conditions of Sollum troop’s members.
“If you rest for a while with a splint you will be fine, James.”
Words he said calmly.
The soldier that was laying on the ground asked back with a surprised expression.
“How did you know my na……..?”
At those words, Roan just smiled instead of replying.
He stood up and checked on the condition of the next soldier.
“Darren. Check the condition of Lork. It seems like he’s lacking on bandages.”
“Bent. You lack water.”
“Kolp. You can’t move yet.”
The names that come out without stopping.
Roan was memorizing the names of Sollum troop members.
And they got surprised each time their name was called.
“Troop commander. You even memorized the names of Sollum troop soldiers?”
Austin, that was treating the injured ones next to him, got astounded.
At those words Roan shook his head.
“I still couldn’t memorize everyone’s names.”
But even so, there was amazement in the faces of the surrounding soldiers.
‘There were a lot of things to do during the past 20 days……’
‘We changed the troop’s formation, repaired the camp, and even trained on the troop’s strategies.’
‘Meanwhile, he even memorized the names of Sollum troop’s soldiers that don’t have any relationship with us?’
Roan was really moving busily, as if he was really in need of ten extra bodies.
‘I have to do everything I can, and the best I can.’
For a commander to memorize the name of a soldier.
Roan thought that was the first thing a good commander had to do.
If you kept doing war and battles countless soldiers die and get hurt.
Different from the commanders, most of them can’t even leave behind their short name.
‘At least, I can’t let my soldiers die without a name.’
Of course, if the size of his army became the size of a corps, and then he became a supreme commander, he obviously won’t be able to memorize the names of everyone.
‘By then, I will leave the names of my dead allies in words.’
So that people could remember and history also could remember them.
When his thoughts continued up to there.
A presence was felt at his back.
“Troop commander Roan.”
A familiar voice.
As he turned back, he saw Semi and the adjutants in a line.
And their expression was really hard.
You could see nervousness in their faces.
Roan immediately grasped their intentions.
‘It’s faster than I thought.’
Perhaps, cutting his morale in the first day would have been the most effective thing.
The deeply bowed head.
The armor that was covered with the blood of monsters was shining.
“Our Sollum troop…..”
His voice dimmed.
Semi raised his head and looked at Roan.
“Please command us.”
At that moment, silence fell on the entire camp.
It was obvious for Sollum troop, but even the members of Amaranth troop were looking at Roan.
Roan didn’t hesitate.
He smiled brightly and nodded.
“Fine.”
Roan looked at his surroundings and continued saying.
“From today on, Amaranth troop and Sollum troop are one.”
< A new opportunity (4) > End
Translator’s note: Sponsored chapter!
Translator : Subak
Proofreader: st8_lupe.