The path south through the dense thickets of trees was surprisingly smooth. Before this, we had to walk rather slowly, allowing those in front to trample the bushes or find ways around the trees in front of us that were in our way. Now we were walking almost directly, and all because an old wizard named Granid, with his unprecedented strength, pushed the thickets to the sides without any extra effort. Seeing this, suddenly the analogy with Moses pops into my head, which makes me chuckle.
He walked forward while we all followed him, like some reconnaissance group that quietly went behind enemy lines. We kept ourselves busy talking the whole time along the way, as the old magician had suggested back in the temporary camp. Fortunately, we had a lot to talk about and we had quite a lot of questions for each other.
"Is this your weapon?"
Granid asked me in a hoarse voice.
At that time I was walking next to him holding my assault rifle in my hands. Even though these magicians can easily kill us all, due to the backwardness of their civilization, they are unlikely to be familiar with the concept of firearms, and, in general, of all our devices and means of defense. To them, we didn't seem all that protected, and that was a fair point, because on the shuttle we only had police equipment left for protection, and the combat spacesuits required a huge supply of energy to work, and we couldn't use them at least no more three days.
There is no point in hiding from them what we are capable of and it is unlikely that they will generally be able to understand our full capabilities. Without waiting, I immediately answered Granid’s question about our weapons:
“Yes, this is, for example, a «Gunmao» assault rifle. This is a pretty old weapon for us. It was adopted by RAFOM after the pantorian War. With it, we can fire at long distances up to five kilometers and aiming at up to one kilometer. Unlike the main weapon, «Gunmao» is not so armor-piercing, using only a ten-millimeter caliber, but for weakly armored opponents it is just right, it tears all the skins to shreds.”
For clarity, I even wanted to demonstrate firing from our weapons, but I decided not to do this due to the lack of ammunition and the lack of an object for this very demonstration. Granid, meanwhile, looked thoughtfully at the barrel of my rifle, clearly trying to understand the principle of its operation, after which he asked me:
“And each of you has such a weapon?
I shook my head and replied:
“No, «Gunmao» is not our main weapon. Our main weapon is quite heavy and is used in conjunction with the «Pantera» combat spacesuit, which we currently do not use due to the lack of an energy source to constantly recharge their batteries.”
Granid, hearing my words, became thoughtful:
“So you can be even stronger? But you are still quite strong since you were able to take two sorceresses by surprise.”
Camellia and Incartia, who were walking behind us, twitched and lowered their heads when they heard Granid's words. Apparently they felt guilty for allowing themselves to remain unguarded on their journey and being captured. I understand perfectly well how they feel. I also would not forgive myself for allowing myself to be captured by unarmed people or some natives. This would be a real shame for any RAFOM fighter.
In the meantime, I answered Granid’s question:
“You are wrong here. Over the course of the journey we have spent a large amount of ammunition. We are unlikely to be able to even fully carry out another firefight while saving ammunition. We could replenish supplies, but without a replicator and an energy source for it, our options are now limited."
«We are lucky that we are not special forces, which are always light and not prepared for long battles. Otherwise, we would have run out of ammunition in the first battle with the Antigonians.»
“The dark ones did not have such weaknesses.”
Granid noted, and I, in turn, grinned.
“It’s not surprising because pantorian weapons are purely energy-based. We have something similar, but it is used only in elite formations of the republican troops due to the enormous cost of these weapons.”
I did not go into detail on this topic. All people from the Republic are well aware of the history of the beginning of the sectoral war, when the Senate of the Republic, three hundred years after the founding of the state, decided to expand with the help of a “small” demonstration of force, and our first enemy who did not succumb to the ultimatum turned out to be Proxima, who by that time had completely switched to energy weapons having developed technology bioenergy.
Even after a thousand years, the Republic failed to completely switch to energy weapons, because the production of such weapons and the support of combat formations with these weapons constantly required a colossal amount of energy, which could not be maintained in the field, as the civilization of Proxima and the Pantora Empire managed.
And yet humanity has not given up such a powerful weapon. Energy weapons are now used either on ships, in elite units or on developed planets as a means of anti-orbital defense, but they will never become widespread, even in the next millennium.
Hearing my words, Granid thought for a while and said:
“Interesting. The way the people are able to defend themselves shows the world the difficult path through which these people went. The trials, storms and adversities experienced left deep wounds on the bodies and souls of mortals, hardening them like the magical steel of Ferrmeidis. And you, capable of crossing the empty celestial seas of stars, have clearly experienced no less horrors and suffering than the peoples of our world. The mortals of our world are no match for you.”
Indeed, humanity has gone through a lot throughout its history, without stopping to fight even for a second. There was always a war going on somewhere: either people were at war with people, or people were at war with aliens, or people were at war with their own nature, and peace was only a short respite from all this madness so that people would continue to fight again.
And the saddest thing is that there was always a reason for war, even if it did not concern you personally, there was always a compelling reason to involve you in this or that war. You are directly or indirectly participating in it, and it doesn’t matter whether you agreed to participate in it or not, you are a participant in the war, period, the question is closed.
The Republic has not waged major wars for about a thousand years, and subsequent conflicts can be characterized as minor skirmishes on the borders of our state. We haven't been in a really big war for a long time and it was actually for the better. Considering that the Republic's expeditionary forces recruited highly motivated and highly trained soldiers, it is unlikely that we would agree to join their ranks of our own free will in the midst of an interstellar war, for example, between the Republic of Earth and the Fucult Confederation.
The fear of death for us would be more significant than any political or ideological convictions. We would be trembling for our own skins and all because of human instincts of self-preservation. Therefore, I believe that compulsory military service is the right decision by the leadership of our state. Every person, having passed through the battlefield or simply through military service, realizes the importance of protecting his people, his civilization against the enemies that threaten us. This gives a person a choice: to risk his life to save his people, to make his contribution to the defense of humanity, or to protect his people only by working for the state in some enterprises and services. In any case, a person is a participant in the war, so such a choice is fair.
I chose the first option, military service, because I was simply incapable of the second. Now, however, I regret this choice. If I had known then that I would end up on this damned planet, I would never have agreed to join the ranks of the expeditionary forces as part of the Republic armed forces of humanity.
While I was thinking about Granid’s words, Incartia suddenly ran up to me from my right side and suddenly asked me a curious question:
“You have good eyesight, so why do you need glasses?”
"Glasses? And this is a standard police interface… um… I don’t know how to tell you this correctly”
I couldn’t find the words to explain this to her and Sigrun, who was walking somewhere behind us, immediately intervened.
“With these glasses, they see heat and cold, see where living and non-living objects are, and how far away they are. As far as I remember, there are also indicators of pressure and temperature and a narrowly targeted sound capture. Oh, and there’s also radio interception.”
"Thank you."
I thanked the black female engineer and then my helmet hit a tree branch.
"Ouch~!"
Behind me I heard a wave of laughter. Will seemed to laugh the most as he stepped over the roots of the trees:
“Hahaha~! Don’t let your guard down, Boris, we still need you alive.”
“I was only distracted for a second.”
I tried to justify myself, simultaneously rubbing my helmet in the place where I hit.
“Yes-yes, you already have one foot in the grave. Hahaha~!”
Will continued to laugh until he paid attention to the couple from Lecite and Camellia.
“By the way, Lecite, why are you walking next to her?”
The civilian from Ecostate heard Will and turned to him and gave his immediate response:
“I'm interested in talking to her.”
“Is it true? What were you talking about?”
Will became interested.
“About those inhabitants of the planet whom I met.”
Lecite reminded us of those people with feline features in the form of an extra pair of ears and a tail.
“Camellia calls them Felinidae. They live far in the east beyond some «race border».”
«Race border?»
I heard an unknown term and asked the old wizard about it:
“What is «race border»?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Granid, without stopping his movement, shared some very interesting information before giving a short answer to my question:
“First, you need to know something: there are many peoples living in our world and not all of them are very similar to ordinary people, the same felinids intermarried with cats. Our continent is divided into four parts: west, center, east and rogue lands. In the West there live demons who are so creepy and incomprehensible that people simply classify them as monsters and constantly wage war with them. Their nature is alien to us, and perhaps ours is also alien to them. People and demons are too different to live peacefully with each other, like people with people.”
«Demons... this may well be one of the alien species that came to this planet as a result of an anomalous ejection of a ship from subspace. And I just noticed: it seems that there are also biblical terms here, the same “demons” or the spell “humility of Babylon”. Only people from Earth could give such names. It is possible that the name of the Antigone Empire also means something...»
I thought while Granid continued to talk about the geography of this continent.
“People live in the center; I spent most of my life in these lands, never setting foot beyond any race border. We are in the center right now. In the east there live non-humans, but there are also ordinary people there. I have never been there, but they talk about how peacefully the peoples live there despite their differences among themselves. And all these parts of the continent are separated by divine barriers, which cannot be destroyed either by pure force or magic. Only with the permission of the «shining in the night» can one cross the race border, and only a few can summon them.”
«I'll leave the question about "shining in the night" to Fred, let him rack his brain.»
I thought, but Fred was interested in a slightly different question:
“What about the rogue lands?”
"There is nothing there. They say that this is a huge and endless desert, endless expanses of dead wastelands where everyone who has offended its ruler is driven from a distant eastern country. That’s why they were called the rogue lands.”
At this moment I had a very interesting question, remembering what the general outlines of this continent look like.
“What about the sea? Is it possible to go around these borders by water?”
“It’s possible, but it's hard to do because of the sea monsters that rule the vast seas.”
I still have little idea of these very divine barriers that divide the continent into four parts, but I already know that in the future we will have to cross this very border of races at least twice in order to get to the current deployment of our troops.
«This will take a long time.»
I noticed to myself and Camellia suddenly asked me:
“Your name is Boris?”
I looked at her and saw a certain childish curiosity in her red eyes. If these eyes also glowed, then she would be no different from a proximyrian.
“Yes, I'm Boris. Is there something you want to ask?”
The white-haired sorceress nodded and said:
"Yes. I'm wondering, is your world called Earth? Right? I'm just curious to know what he's like."
“Why are you interested in this?”
The sorceress answered my answer question somewhat sluggishly, as if she did not want to reveal her true interest in the Earth:
“Well I do not know. Perhaps our peoples have a common homeland. This is just my guess, what if we are not different peoples, but one and the same, just for some reason separated because of the sea of emptiness?”
Honestly, I didn’t know what to answer, but fortunately Fred was nearby, who delved into her question almost with fanaticism.
“I thought so too, but apparently it’s not so. Bioscanning shows that we are not the same species, although we are very similar in appearance. But the Antigonians... it seems they are really humans and this is already a mystery to us, considering how many years their Empire has existed.”
Hearing Fred's words, Incartia decided to intervene, shaking her head and saying the following:
“No one knows exactly how long the Antigone Empire has existed. People simply believe that they have reigned over their lands for about a hundred centuries, almost since the very foundation of the world, as the legends say.”
Fred responded:
“And yet they are humans. They could not have been here no earlier than one and a half thousand years ago. In such a period of time it is impossible to multiply to one hundred million people. They could only do this if there were at least a hundred thousand people on their colonial ship on which they arrived on your planet, and it was simply impossible to accommodate such a huge number of people on the ships of the golden era of colonization.”
Indeed, this question has not yet been answered and remains a big mystery to us. We need to collect more information about Antigone and find out who they really are: ancient colonists or indigenous inhabitants of this planet.
At this moment, Will stops and, looking into the bioscanner, says:
“Something is coming. Seven targets on both sides, wait... seven more and more.”
“Did you notice them too?”
Granid said seriously, stopping and preparing his staff in his hands.
“Your power to observe without magic is amazing.”
Will, meanwhile, frowned, looking at the bioscan screen.
“What strange data. Large individuals of the same species, they surround us.”
"Everyone, prepare for battle."
With all seriousness in my voice, I ordered the entire platoon, simultaneously removing the assault rifle from the safety lock and putting goggles with a thermal imager on my eyes while inspecting the area around.
“You can’t see them through a thermal imager.”
“I don’t see them either.”
Said Anzhey, aiming his rifle at the thickets.
“Is Bioscan wrong? Maybe there’s no one here?”
"There's definitely someone here."
Will answered, putting away the device and preparing his rifle, also starting to aim at the thickets, guided almost by ear.
“Who in the kingdom is so bloodthirsty that he calls such creatures to himself?”
Says Granid, spreading his arms in different directions.
“Do you know who surrounds us?”
I asked the old wizard.
"Monsters."
The magician answered briefly, causing a fireball to appear above the upper end of his staff, illuminating the area around with a white glow.
The entire platoon, stopping in a line, knelt down and aimed on both sides of the marching line. The two sorceresses stood still, apparently preparing to perform their magic. The two natives Ashwani and Furgur prepared their primitive weapons in the form of a sword and a bow. The natives from Hippolyta huddled together and only Zaden, with a spear in his hands, prepared for battle.
The glasses did not display any thermal signals other than our own and the fields of magic, which for some reason cooled the area where it was used. Everyone became quiet, nothing could be heard except the noise of the forest and the wind overhead. There seemed to be no danger, and yet we knew that it was there and was about to overtake us.
«Monsters?»
I had just realized that I had just said Granid, when I heard a booming roar in front of me.
"They're attacking!"
Will shouted, firing the first shot into the rustling bushes.
The next moment I saw the enemy. Before my eyes appeared some strange, creepy creature that looked like a distorted gray humanoid with a disfigured, swollen face with a mouth made of exceptionally sharp teeth. The terrible creature did not generate any heat at all, but at the same time it moved rapidly, simultaneously spreading its long clawed fingers. It’s about to pounce on me and tear me into pieces!
*********
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I immediately pulled the trigger for a moment, and the next moment I felt the recoil and immediately after the flash, the creature's head shattered into pieces, but that was not the end. Following him, another monster appeared and I also put a bullet in his head. Soon a noisy orchestra of firearms thundered behind me and immediately stopped in an instant. The echo of our shots echoed through the forest, scaring away all the birds from the branches of the trees.
"Is it over?"
Itami said, looking around at the vegetation around him.
“It seems we killed them all.”
I answered, looking at the bioscanner screen and not seeing any other life forms nearby.
“My ears... hurt.”
Incartia squeaked, pressing her palms tightly to her ears and closing her eyes.
“How loud... what... what was that?”
“I’m also interested in knowing what it is.”
Esko said while kicking one of the rapidly decomposing corpses of one of the creatures that attacked us.
“What kind of creature is this? O Elarasia! It stinks... ugh..."
The smell of the insides of these monsters was not pleasant; these creatures themselves were decomposing right before our eyes, turning into a gray haze. We barely had time to look at these very creatures when they immediately disappeared. Looking at the old wizard, I finally understood why the monsters were decomposing so quickly, but just in case, for clarity, I decided to make sure of this for sure by asking Granid a question:
“Are you the one who dissolves them?”
“To kill a monster, it is not enough to wound it. Sooner or later it will come to life. Therefore we turn them into dust so they won't come back from the dead again.”
I was quite surprised by what I heard. What Granid said seemed unreal and quite fantastic.
“Can they come back from the dead? But we shot them in the heads...”
“Monsters are not mortal creatures, they do not die in the usual sense. They don’t live at all; they are generated by the negative feelings of mortals, allowing them to create evil in the world of the living.”
This time it was Fred asked Granid:
“Not mortal? But the bioscan recorded them as... silicon life forms? What?"
“I didn’t believe it at first either, but it seems to be true.”
Will said looking at the screen of his bioscan.
“They are essentially living stones.”
“What the fuck are living stones?”
Fred was angry, his eyes widening, ready to attack Will with his fists for his frivolity.
“You’re always talking about all sorts of anti-scientific nonsense! Better shut up and fight since that's all you can do!”
"Hey! What did I say that was wrong?”
Will was offended, spreading his arms to the sides.
"You're talking nonsense."
Fred was still angry, stroking his temples with his fingers, and I, in turn, did not shut up any of them and gave orders to the entire platoon.
“Everyone, return to foot formation, conduct a personnel calculation and report on the remaining ammunition.”
"Yes, sir."
The platoon sang in chorus after conducting a calculation without revealing any losses.
Then, after checking the remaining ammunition, we continued on our way. The bodies of a couple of dozen killed monsters had already completely disappeared, leaving behind only the perforated leaves of the bushes, and the disgusting smell of rotten entrails had finally disappeared. At this moment, Incartia, who had previously lost her hearing for a brief moment, had a question:
“Is this how you fight? You haven't even come close to them.”
“We gave up close combat about three thousand years ago.”
I made it clear to her without going into detail about the history of firearms.
“During all this time, people on Earth have brought war to perfection. Now the Republic is at the peak of its power and it is unlikely that we have yet reached our limit.”
“Can you fight when someone comes close to you?”
"Certainly. We were trained in martial arts and, accordingly, we can also conduct close-quarters hand-to-hand combat, but right now we are powerless against such weapons.”
I answered with a glance pointing at Ashwani's sword, which he put back on his belt.
"I see you are a nation of warriors."
Furgur suddenly interjected in a rough voice, hanging his bow on his shoulder and putting the arrow away in his quiver.
“In my life I have never seen such perfection in combat. In any battle you would be called the Lords of Blood Storms. The roar of your «bows» sounds frightening."
«They don’t yet know that this is the least we can do.»
I chuckled to myself.
“By sunset we will reach Itsqueen.”
Granid said, still pushing the vegetation in front of him with magic.
“We will wait there for the night and proceed to the capital.”
“Are we going to sleep on a real bed?”
Forn asked joyfully and received a satisfactory answer from the old magician.
"Yes. I have a lot of gold, there are enough rooms in the tavern for everyone.”
Well, it looks like soon we will finally see the architecture of the local civilization and at the same time we will sleep on beds, and not in sleeping bags in the open air. And yet we still had questions for each other, especially about these monsters. Many of us have already guessed this, but have not voiced it out loud, namely, that these monsters have all the signs of an artificial mutation, that is, they were essentially artificially created creatures. We left this question for later, and now we were hurrying to the city before night fell.