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Now this is what I call tension!
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Chapter 61: Overwhelmed
Even though he could feel the Beast affecting his actions he still kept a calm mind and immediately used 'Memories of Carnage' to give his men a little boost in damage with the following battle.
The first clash alone nearly knocked him off his feet.
With so many enemies constantly spilling through the destroyed gate in only these first few seconds, Makoto and the 800 defenders were already faced with over 2 thousand Sarachec Soldiers.
It wasn't just that 3 different men used their weapons to attack him but on top of that, one of them even tackled him, seemingly without care for his own life and knocked the air out of Makoto's lungs while also pushing him back a dozen or so feet.
Simply put, the entire battle was one brutal clusterfuck.
Even with the makeshift traps and walls, all of it paled in comparison to the high number of enemies that flew their way.
Makoto soon enough lost vision of his men and found himself surrounded by hundreds of enemy Soldiers while swinging his sword around with an amazing speed.
Blocking, slashing, evading, kicking, piercing.
This went on to a point where he lost track of time and only felt his aching body while new wounds constantly appeared all over and fatigue started to slow down his attacks.
There was not even a second to breathe as attacks rained down upon him from all sides and he tried his best to fight back.
'Blood Rush' was already nearly constantly activated to give him that little bit of movement and attack speed that could help him evade a possible lethal hit from an enemy.
Sarachec blood rained down on him from all sides as he cut necks with a terrifying accuracy and with a roar, Makoto finally broke free of the encirclement that had already trapped him for more than 15 minutes.
He had used each and every one of his Skills to the best of his ability but after using 'Curse Blade' so many times he no longer had the mana to support any active skills except 'Blood Rush'.
Glancing over the chaos all around after having a second of reprieve he finally spotted his Party and the rest of his men defending the path to the inner works of the city.
The wall had been abandoned without a second thought after the gate was broken through and the survivors had grouped up to keep these 10 thousand enemy Soldiers from completely taking over the Stronghold.
Only a few individuals like Makoto were fighting between the masses and he could see that one of his Squad 40 members was in a rather dire situation.
With quick steps he jumped past a battle axe and spear that tried to take his head and made his way to the nearest survivor that was still fighting for his dear life.
After decapitating a lanky spear wielding Sarachec wolf-man he finally arrived before the blood stained member of his Squad.
"Jackson?!"
Surprised to see the loyal man still alive and so deep in the enemy masses after all this time, Makoto quickly put his back against his and warded off a few attacks while listening to Jackson's words.
"Captain, I finally found you!
I have been trying to get to you for the past 10 minutes but these guys really made it quite difficult.
We are falling back and I was told to bring you to Commander Bharfas!"
With glowing red eyes the man cut an enemy's arm off with a quick sword stroke and grinned a devilish smile after hearing the agonizing howl that followed.
"So the old man finally made it after nearly an hour?! About damn time!
Alright, lets make our way back.
I get the feeling we aren't too welcome here."
Makoto jokingly said with a laugh while dodging past a dagger and ramming his sword into the body of the assailant.
Jackson also let out an evil laugh while both of them practically hacking their way back through the sheer endless masses of enemies.
On their slow journey they found 3 more Squad 40 members that had been in similar situations as Jackson and their 5 man group of battle hardened and crimson eyed Soldiers finally reunited with the surviving Asurian Soldiers that were constantly pushed back.
"Makoto!"
This single scream from a familiar voice got his attention and with a quick look he saw Sharon with a deep gash on one arm making her way through the tight ranks.
While Jackson and the other 3 made sure to protect his back he reunited with Sharon and gave her a quick hug, not caring about the surrounding mayhem anymore and just glad to see her still alive.
Even if it was just a game, the thought of seeing her dead body was not something he would ever want to witness.
"I really thought you died back there..."
She said with a trembling voice while looking in his eyes and once again putting her arms around him.
It was clear that unlike the last battle where he was surrounded by enemies but still visibly stood his ground, after witnessing nearly 10 times the amount of enemy Soldiers spilling through the broken gate and losing vision of him, Sharon immediately assumed the worst.
Even now his health only slowly crawled back above 50% as he had suffered quite a few status effects that nearly cost him his life many times over.
After noticing Lilliana and Sanja squeezing their way through the ranks, also with the same relieved expression on their faces as Sharon after seeing him he no longer cared for any past incidents and walked up to them.
Makoto immediately pulled the two girls in a tight but short hug and with a laugh spoke.
"It's good to see that you both made it down from the wall."
Sanja only showed him a warm smile as a response, no longer was there a trace of fear in her eyes either, and returned the hug.
Lilliana on the other hand couldn't help but glance towards Sharon who stood at the sideline and was watching them.
In the end she also returned the hug with slightly flushed cheeks and couldn't help but hug him a bit longer than necessary.
Makoto was naturally aware that his actions could be misunderstood but really, he was just glad that no one from his party had died in the absolute chaos that was still going strong.
After returning to Sharon's side he grabbed her hand and held it tight while she only showed a small but happy smile before focusing on more pressing matters.
Makoto, the rest of Squad 40 and his party made their way through the ranks and alongside the line of defense while heading in the direction where the most action took place, that was also where Commander Bharfas incidentally was.
Even now the entire Asurian defense line was constantly being pushed back as their number was just too small and they only had a few healers, Sanja included.
"Commander Bharfas!"
Makoto finally called out after seeing the middle aged men decapitating 2 enemies with one sword stroke and heavily wounding another.
"You damn brat, I called for you nearly 20 minutes ago and only now do you actually show up!
If we all get through this I swear by the Divines that I am going to drag you by your ear to the King and tell him about your punctuality!"
Even though the words he said were rather harsh, Makoto could still see the relieved smile on the Commander's face when he looked at him and decided to just think of it as good old military 'Glad to see you back, Soldier' line.
While unsheathing his sword once again and deflecting an enemy blade that would have ruptured his gut, he stood beside Bharfas on the frontline and did his best to kill as many enemy Soldiers as he could.
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"Why did you send for me Commander? Could it be that these guys are a bit much for you to handle after so many years of service?"
He casually asked with a vicious smile while once again cutting apart flesh with each of his attacks
Bharfas looked at him with a surprised expression before laughing and once again decapitating a man with one of his attacks.
"You cheeky brat, are you calling me too old for this?!
I could do this all day and no my reason for calling for you was not to help me defend against these small fries, I want you to bring your men into the inner city and inform Falknir that we need his help and the help of his men in the battle.
Tell him to get his ass down here and fight for his country and if that is not enough than at least for the whore that always keeps his bed warm at night!
The reason I am sending you with your Squad is because I fear that this is not the only gate that is under attack and one of them might have already been breached but if this continues then we really will have a problem here so tell him that the first South-East gate will fall soon enough if we don't get more reinforcements! Understood?!"
After kicking against the chest of a muscle packed monster of a man to get some space he quickly saluted and responded.
"Crystal clear, Commander!"
"Good, and now get your ass moving Soldier or I will skin you alive!"
Swallowing once at the threat he quickly gathered his party and Squad and made his way into the inner Stronghold.
He very much believed the Commander to be capable of the threat and glancing over his shoulder he once again felt a shudder down his back after reading the letters above the man's head.
Asuria Commander of the 5th Platoon Bharfas: Elite NPC Boss lvl 53
Normally NPC's, just like players, only showed their level during combat but seeing the big gap of over 25 levels still shocked Makoto, considering he could kill an enemy Soldier with ease.
Even if he used his entire Squad and party to support him, Makoto was still unsure if they would be able to kill this monster of a Commander.
The end result of gathering his entire Squad was quite shocking as he still possessed nearly 70 able men even after recklessly charging into the enemy masses when the first gate fell.
It could be said that it once again showed the big difference that his stat 'Authority' made when leading his men into combat as it increased all of their stats by 11% which was indeed quite a lot.
Sanja used one of her Skills and buffed them all with increased movement speed as long as they didn't enter combat and they quickly ran into the Stronghold and towards the Barracks.
The entire place was deserted and not a single soul could be seen anywhere.
Knight Captain Falknir was no where to be seen either even though he was supposed to have his headquarters at the Barracks so that in case of emergency anyone would be able to find him.
Unsure what to do now, Makoto thought that Falknir might be helping in defending another gate but even though he could clearly see many Asurian Soldiers fighting, there was no one except their respective Captains leading them in any way.
The clock was ticking and Bharfas dearly needed reinforcements to hold his ground as he simply couldn't kill them all on his own so Makoto gave up on searching for Falknir and instead talked with each and every Captain that was defending the gates and explained the situation.
After hearing just how bad it was going at the South-East gate and unwilling to be cornered by two sides, most of the Captains willingly ordered a good amount of Soldiers to follow Makoto's lead.
After only 10 minutes he had acquired nearly 1.5 thousand men and Sanja once more buffed them all to return to the South-East gate as quickly as possible.
They had only been gone for a bit more than 10 minutes but Bharfas and his men had been forced back over a hundred feet and their number had also visibly declined.
"Hey brat! Where the hell is Falknir!?"
The Commander asked after noticing Makoto's return and the big amount of Soldiers that helped him reinforce the line of defense.
With a rather grim expression he quickly explained that he had been unable to find Falknir anywhere and voiced his suspicion.
"Could it be that he abandoned the Stronghold to save his skin after getting the report that the South-East gate was not doing well?"
Bharfas naturally wanted to protest against these accusations against a loyal Knight Captain of Asuria but fact was that he seemingly was nowhere to be found.
"Are you sure you looked everywhere for him?"
"Well not everywhere but he definitely was not at the Barracks or any of the gates, I had no time to look in the entire Stronghold but didn't he say that he would stay at the Barracks no mater what so we could always report back to him without fail?"
Unable to retort to this sound logic a dark expression clouded the Commander's face and he sighed deeply before facing the battle before them once again.
"I will make sure to get to the bottom of this but we first of all have to make it out of here alive and we also sure as hell can not allow them to get any further!"
With an angry growl Bharfas pushed a fellow Soldier to the side and used both his hands to swing his sword for the first time while a gust of air pushed everyone in the vicinity away.
"You goddamn dogs don't know when to stop barking do you?!
Cyclone Slash!"
Followed by a mighty roar, wind seemingly exploded into every direction as the Commander's sword hit the stone ground at his feet and with a thunderous tremor, over a hundred Sarachec Soldiers that where clustered before him went flying into the air only to get impaled on their comrades weapons when they fell from the sky again.
The entire battle stopped for a second as both sides were stunned at this overwhelming display of strength and many Sarachec Soldiers took a few fearful steps back as to not receive an attack of the same fashion.
Even Makoto was shocked to see this inhuman display.
Sure it might be possible as this was a game but because it looked just like real life one couldn't help but be stunned after seeing something like this.
Glaring at the trembling men before him, Bharfas stood his ground and deep disdain was visible on his face.
"You guys really don't know who you are messing with do you?!"
"Oh I think I do!"
A voice retorted and a muscular, middle aged man with grey hair and animal ears stepped out between the ranks of the Sarachec Soldiers, a gigantic glaive shouldered as he casually strode towards Bharfas and only stopped 10 feet away from the Commander.
Just seeing the letters above this imposing enemy was enough to fill Makoto with fear.
Sarachec Commander of the 1st Army Galenwelth: Elite NPC Boss lvl 55
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The Battle of the Commanders!
Find out what happens in the next episode of Dragon Ball Z- I mean Azalon. XD
Hope you guys are all hyped and I will try to post it tomorrow as to not keep you waiting too long!
For Asuria!!!