Day 60:
I was roused from sleep by several of my comrades, they had serious expressions tinged with excitement, it put me in mind of the time the elves raided us.
We armed and headed to the Training Hall.
Ogarou and the rest of the commanders were also geared up and focusing on the entrance of the mine intently. Guess our guest are coming soon.
With a wave of his hand the sleek mounted riders of Hatred and the heavier armoured soldiers of Anger began the march to the exit; weapons drawn. Following behind them are the artilary sections; Regret and Agony. While us in the Pleasure unit are tasked with the rear as well as assisting Salvation (Hobuji) with his healing as the med-corps.
I gripped my sword tightly in both hands. At my waist I had my pick strapped as a spare.
It’s not as heavy and I can swing it around with greater ease.
Plus its not just me, all those in Pleasure are clutching or carrying their mining equipment. I guess we got influenced by our capable Boss. Gobue is currently next to Ogakichi and the others spinning the pick casually. I’ve witnessed her part boulders like they were butter with the thing so I can only imagine how deadly it’ll be against a softer target.
With our formations set and all of us out of the mine we finally got our first glimpse of the enemy: Kobolds.
It’s pitch black outside but thanks to the great eye sight of the Goblin race even I could easily make out those dog like faces racing towards us. What struck me as odd was none of the rabble had weapons or showed hostility. Instead apart from the few leading them the rest look like elders, woman and children!!?
I didn’t have to wait long for the situation to clear up as from the darkness of the tree line shambled a single skeleton. It was quickly followed by another and another, like a wave flowing out of the forest.
We watched a few of the armed Kobolds in the back got cut down, while bravely trying to hold off the advancing forces, before orders came through on the cuffs.
A volley of arrows and bolts shot off into the dark starry sky.
Unfortunately against our undead foe things like arrows are ineffective.
The rain of arrows and crossbow bolts littered the ground but the real measure of damage they caused was minimal. The slowly advancing wave of skeletal warriors barely even faltered as the assault hit them. A couple of lucky shots punched holes in their tattered armour or embedded themselves in rotten buckler shields but little more.
Seeing the lack of definitive damage Regret was withdraw to the back and Pleasure were tasked with escorting and securing the Kobolds within the mine complex. Hobuji was hot on our heels and in no time had one of the new areas set up as a tirage clinic.
We did our best to herd them in and try to control the situation.
The sounds of intense fighting reached us but we were already fighting on a different battlefield.
Those from Regret were stationed around the room both as a first line of defence and as a suppressive force in case the Kobolds tried anything but with four fifths of them currently groaning and moaning on the floor I doubt that will happen. Hobuji is frankly amazing.
I don’t know if this is knowledge he got intrinsically or from books or even from being taught by Ogarou but he’s one of the most competent healers I’ve ever seen. That’s comparing him to doctors in my old world and players in an online raiding guild I was in.
The patients were split into three categories; Life Threatening, Severe and Minor injuries.
Each was tagged with a different coloured scrap of cloth, using the traffic light system, to determine priority. Red was those with life threatening wounds; Yellow were those with severe wounds and Green was those with minor wounds.
The first thing to be done was to stabalize those with life threatening wounds.
Thankfully there were only a few of them and they were mostly warriors who could endure for longer than say the elderly or children.
Once this was complete those with the yellow tags were assessed.
If the treatment required was some simple first aid than it was undertaken but us but if they required something more than Hobuji and his healing magic would step in; while we assisted.
Once everyone was reduced to green tags an assessment of minor injuries was undertaken.
I was binding the leg of an elderly male Kobold when Ogarou popped his head in to the small field hospital. I hadn’t noticed before but the sound of fighting had gotten quieter but closer.
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He began to heal and sedate the Kobolds.
Evidently he had come to see how we were getting on, as none of our lot had been brought in yet he only had a limited grasp on the situation thanks to the cuffs, and satisfied he told us to rotate out with some of those playing in the killing field.
We were instructed on what had been learned and how the battle had progressed since we were withdrawn. I sheathed my sword and pulled out my pick. Classic solution to skeletons who have resistance to slashing and piercing damage; smash them into a million billion tiny pieces. Or at least that’s how Ogarou put it as he grinned wickedly.
When I got to the front the scene that I witnessed was carnage.
The corpses of hundreds of skeleton warriors were littering the battlefield and here and there small pockets of resistance was being met with pure brutal strength. Hind Bears, Triple Horned Horses and Black Wolves were running dashing all over the place stomping and smashing. Herding the wandering undead towards the jaws of death that had been set up at the enterance.
Members of all squads were lining the walls and spread out ready to bash and crush any skeleton that staggered their way. A couple were even relaxing against the cave wall snacking on bones or looting corpses.
Even the human girls were outside, guarded faithfully by Ogarous Hind Bear, looking like they were having a picnic. Their sleepy expressions were wonderful.
Caught up in the festive atmosphere we rushed in with our picks held high.
I don’t know how many hours passed with me just hacking at any skeleton in range, occasionally swapping out with someone else just to rest a little before getting right back to killing, the number of small cuts and scrap’s on my body increasing but the combat experience was whole heartedly welcomed.
As the sun was starting to peek out over the horizon Ogarou strode from the enterance way where he had been observing. He marched confident to the edge of the forest and speared a lone skeleton with his silver arm. The skeleton in question was slightly bigger and better armoured then those we were fighting and no new skeletons emerged from the darkness of the forest after it was destroyed.
So I guess it’s like ending the event by killing the Boss.
We mopped up the remaining stragglers and began the long process of cleaninig up. The skeletons were stripped of their armour and weapons before being separated. Those not eaten or taken by the Colonel and others were sent to Alchemist and Blacksmith
Once this was completed we headed back inside just as the sun was rising.
It was around this time that a wave of exhaustion swept over me, I guess the lack of sleep, regeneration fatigue and the adrenaline rush finally waring off was a devastating combo.
Sleep has never come easier.
The whole community slept like a log till early evening, near as I can tell, I was gently woken by the soft murmur of people going about their business. Showing I wasn’t first awake. We gathered again as Ogarou requested and brought the Kobold refugees forward. Calling them prisoners didn’t feel right, but that could change, and neither did referring to them as patients, we’re not a charity you know.
He woke them all and settled down to hear their story.
The story of why they tried to MPK us.
Seems they’d had some troubles and decided to give their lives to the Colonel, I can’t understand their Kobold language but the site of over 30 of them prostrating themselves at his feet in pretty universal.
Seeing this Ogarou just nodded before taking several leather collar looking things and began chewing them.
By the face he’s making they must really taste bad.
He said something to them and they jumped up, their tails wagging happily like real dogs, he turned to us and had us lead them to the newly unoccupied cells, before rubbing his temples.
Looks like there fate will be decided later.
Since it was already this late in the day I, like many others, just headed back to bed.
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AN:- So that's the first volume done, I managed to crack it out so quickly due to the great frame work both the manga and the light novel provides. After this updates will be sporadic as with the foundation almost finished being laid soon the two stories should start to diverge.
Thank you for giving this FanFic a try and hopefully see you in Vol: 2.