As the soldiers gathered behind me, following the silent orders delivered by Charisma, I examined the current situation.
All but a few of the corrupted beasts had been slain until , and those that still drew breath were easily handled by the combined attacks of the soldiers. The weaker cultists continued to attack recklessly, but I used my Speed — disguising it as a Charge skill as we discussed with Zolast — to kill the majority of them before they could attack the soldiers, and the few that escaped, Baron Maell handled them easily.
For all his faults, he was a good fighter. He likely had a good class similar to Mahruss' new Field Commander class, displaying Strength, Agility, and Charisma — although clearly, neither Perception nor Wisdom were not a part of the spread — smoothly, and the way his sword danced suggested the possession of a Master skill.
We held the line together while I used that web of Charisma connections to give some silent orders, and the soldiers lined up behind me in a square formation, the ones with intact armor creating the outer layer.
However, as we started to move backward as a singular unit, I pulled a pouch from my belt, and threw it to one of the sergeants. "Healing pellets. Distribute them to the worst of the wounded," I ordered even as I shifted my position slightly as my sword moved, taking down three cultists with one swing.
The pellets that I distributed were made of Lord Beast meat, and they were effective enough to give about a hundred Health points … more importantly, they could be digested in under a minute, making them a good replacement for field healers.
The only problem was that they were hard to find, as not only did they require great expertise to create, but also Lord Beast meat, which was hard to find.
Luckily, neither was a problem for us, allowing me to use them just because I was suspicious of the movement of my enemies rather than having to save them in case of an emergency.
The soldiers followed silent commands as the defensive square they had created moved back with steady steps, the outer edge easily handling the cultists that managed to slip our cooperation with the Baron. "For the sun god," he declared happily as he swung his damaged sword, cutting another cultist before he turned to me. "Shall we charge forward, holy crusader?" he asked, his gloom replaced by fervor.
It took all of my energy not to go there and slap the black of his head. It was tempting, but not enough to ruin my carefully crafted persona. Instead, I gave him another Charisma-backed order. "No, we will go to the defensive Bulwark first," I said.
"We're retreating?" he asked, his distaste clear. And, the moment he said that, the defensive square lost its cohesion. The soldiers didn't deliberately try to snap out of it, but the distaste of the Baron was enough to change their attitude.
"Are you saying you want to finish this holy mission without a blessing from the sun priest," I declared, coming up with a quick lie. He was stubborn, but also gullible, which was not that hard to manipulate. Just to be on the safe side, I hit him with another concealed Charisma blast, this time hitting him with a sense of guilt a religious person would feel in a confession box.
A familiar memory from my younger years, Memory helping me to remember it perfectly. Early in my career, I had committed quite a few acts I felt guilty about, thinking that the ends justified the means…
Until I learned that there had to be limits. Not what society thinks to be true, but what I believed.
My personal code.
"I'm sorry, holy crusader," the Baron said as he knelt, the guilt affecting him harder than I expected … probably the cost of my momentary drift to the past.
"Now is not the time. Stand up and fight. You can repent later," I ordered.
With that, we started moving back at a faster pace. The armored ones followed us, spreading as a half circle, while another group of cultists moved to the sides, running much faster than we could without breaking formation, preparing to slow down.
Why, I didn't know. If the armored soldiers attacked rather than maintained the distance, things would have been much easier for them. And, I couldn't even explain that by fearing what Zolast could do, because the nearer we got to the defensive position, the easier it would be for him to intervene without leaving his safe position.
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A troubling question. I could feel that the answer was important … but I didn't know exactly what cultists could do.
Maybe they were just trying to keep Baron Maell in place while they attacked the town. I was hoping that was the case, because Limenta had already sent me the signal that they had started culling the hidden cultists without a problem.
Apparently, the combination of Karak and Limenta was working just like I had hoped. Like a sniper and a spotter … though in this case, the sniper operated from melee range.
I hoped that it was what cultists had been planning, and that their delay was just an attempt to pull more reinforcements from the town. Of course, that would mean that they didn't try to change their plan based on the betrayal, lost in their madness.
I wanted to believe that, but the armored soldiers lacked that intense crazy expression to support such a conclusion, suggesting that they had a different plan in mind.
I didn't like it, however, there was nothing I could do but lead them back to the encampment we created for that purpose, hoping that our preparations were enough to pull up a win. Even as the first group of cultists moved, I didn't do anything to stop them at first, letting them think that their plan was about to succeed.
I waited until they had almost completely surrounded us, then gave an order. "Everyone, run to the bulwark at full speed," I ordered, reinforcing the order with Charisma as I suddenly charged towards the enemies at full speed, and dashed into the middle of the large group of armored cultists, my sword dancing violently among them, their tight formation working horribly against my great sword.
Their Health was not useful with their bodies bisected.
They were crazy enough to try to attack regardless of that, but with their bodies piling around me, I suddenly had some walls to impede them.
Baron Maell looked like he wanted to join, so I gave him an order. "Go and protect your soldiers," I ordered. I had no doubt that, had I tried to order him directly just two minutes ago, he would have declared an honor duel — with a non-zero chance of asking it immediately — but his sudden religious calling made him follow the order despite his reluctance.
Convenient.
As their encirclement failed, the armored cultists suddenly picked up speed, but unlike what I expected, they spread around even further, looking even more determined to slow us down without engaging.
I was tempted to turn and fight, but at a distance, I could see reinforcements arriving from the tunnel.
Not exactly good news.
I used the Heroic Party connection to send a prearranged code to Zolast, and he started throwing bolts of mana and creating barriers to further impede their encirclement effort. Not the strongest spells he could cast, but enough to slow the armored ones down.
Even as they used Destruction Mana to break those barriers.
Also, I was happy to see that whenever they used Destruction Mana, their weapons degraded noticeably, showing that I wasn't the only one having that trouble.
With that, we continued to retreat, crazy cultists dying under my sword every second as I held the rear alone. I tried to ignore the tragedy of their deaths, but it was difficult to forget that most of them had been innocent refugees before the cultists captured them, spreading their madness like a disease.
A tragedy that I was powerless to stop.
"For the sun god!" I cried as I charged once more, this time attacking one of the armored ones that finally used his speed to separate from the group, though the metal box in his hand, glowing red, suggested that his plan wasn't a duel.
I rushed forward as he threw the box toward the group of soldiers. Either an explosion or a summoning. Either way, it was not good news.
Luckily, I had one competent ally. Before the box could even cover a fourth of the necessary distance, a blue barrier appeared in front of it, and it bounced.
Its glow started to spread in a familiar manner, confirming that it was a summoning portal. I rushed forward to handle it. I swung my sword, finally letting out a ranged mana blast rather than maintaining the glow around the sword.
[-4 Mana]
The blast was too weak to actually stop the summoning. Luckily that was not its task. It just needed to create a convincing reason. At the same time, I completed my dash, and absorbed the cloud of red mana before the portal could be established.
[Archery of Destruction (11/X)]
Meanwhile, behind me, I could finally see the soldiers stepping through the first ward. Mission was complete, but before returning, I used my fake-charge skill once more, and dealt with that soldier with Speed before he could return.
No harm crippling their strategic capabilities, considering we were either about to end up sieged, or experience a long chase.
When I returned to our temporary encampment, Zolast was already leading a prayer session in the name of the Sun God while he used his healing magic to properly cure them at the same time, though I didn't miss the scathing gaze he sent toward me.
The cultists started to surround our temporary base, but I let them do so without intervening. The wards had several nasty surprises for them if they tried to push. Moreover, I'd rather make sure that the best soldiers were healed and armed to maximize our fighting capabilities.
Luckily, the guild members we saved earlier might not be the best fighters … but they had some convenient weapon supplies.
I examined our forces, and the cultist army who had just been replenished and reached double their original size were rapidly surrounding our defensive encampment.
Not a simple challenge, but not an insurmountable one either.
If only I could understand why I was still feeling uneasy.