Year 22 of Hope - Month 5 - Day 3 - 2:31 AM ~ Captain Derikson, Thomas
- We received a distress signal coming from Ramor Village, and we are immediately sending troops for reinforcement.
Ramor is a strategic point where a great deal of our food is produced (5.27%) - prepare for more reinforcement in case of emergency.
After the emergency call, Ramor village didn't answer a single communication request. The enemy probably cut the communications. We need to respond fast - there is only 3 days worth of energy left for the protective barrier of Ramor.
Total number of troops :
1 Captain, 3 Elites, 90 Soldiers, and 31 Workers. Estimated time for arrival ~ 3 days
2 Captains, 6 Elites, 180 Soldiers, and 60 Workers. Estimated time for arrival ~ 3.5 days
Personal notes - I called for more troops because we still don't know how the pest managed to go around 2 forts and sneak into one of our production sites. We also readied the heavier weaponry in case of captain-level pests and/or the use of portals by the enemy. - Derikson Thomas
Year 22 of Hope - Month 5 - Day 5 - 16:54PM ~ Captain Derikson, Thomas
- We received signs of the pest in the area - probably an ambush is waiting close ahead. We are slowing down, cutting off the main engines, and waiting until we find their hiding spots.
- Before engaging, we will wait for A-2 and A-3 to join us: we don't want to risk the success of the mission.
- Estimated additional time ~ 1 day (1.5 days until arrival)
Year 22 of Hope - Month 5 - Day 5 - 23:42PM ~ Captain Derikson, Thomas
- We found the enemy
- Estimated force: 2 Elites, 367 Soldiers - Treat Non-Existent - Allowed to open fire.
- Time lost ~ 0.5 days out of the 1 expected (1 day until arrival)
- Energy left on Ramor's Barrier ~ less than a day
Personal note - The enemies were quite far from the site where we slowed down, and looking at the power of this army, they were tasked to waste our time. - Derikson Thomas
Year 22 of Hope - Month 5 - Day 6 - 20:42 PM ~ Captain Derikson, Thomas
- We see the village from afar, the barrier not up, fires all around the fields, and a breach in the defensive walls.
- Estimated force: 1 Captain, 1 Elite, and 30 Soldiers *It is likely that more are hiding, and that they are all adept at some sort of deception magic - proceed with care. -/Permission to engage granted ~ only field battle allowed.
Personal notes - We engage with the enemy, I close the Commandment diary. - Derikson Thomas
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After closing the holographic screen, I took a last glance at the fires roaring in the distance and activated my communication device :
-A-2, A-3, my soldiers are ready to descend, and the demons don't seem to care about our arrival. We should act fast and try to save what is left.
- A-2, Roger that.
- A-3, We are also ready.
Not even a second after asking, I received the information I needed, and we all started to descend toward the outskirts of the village.
From afar we could still see workers running, soldiers fighting, and the leftovers of the pest, and honestly, it felt like shit. This situation is in part my fault for being too cautious, but what if the ambushers were stronger? What if we all died because of said ambush? I would say it was worth the time because at least now we can save a few people... but even I feel like this is just an excuse for the problems it created.
When A-3 answered, I felt it: her normally joyful voice had a tint of anger, and A-2's voice which could make anyone scream in agony sounded even worst than before. I knew I fucked up, and they also knew, but now is not the time for all these thoughts. I at least want to save what is left of this place.
At the same time, yellow lights started flicking, and the doors on the side of the vessel opened. After giving a few instructions to the elites, we all went out and joined A-2 and A-3 in front of our ships. After confirming the plan with the other Captains, my troops and I started running toward the middle of the village, while the other platoons are flanking each side.
The plan is simple - a lot of damage has already been done, so we want to cover the most ground possible to find potential survivors, but also block a possible retreat from the enemy. Being the strongest of my platoon, I took the lead and went through the breach in the wall first. I looked around for a little bit before deeming the place safe and gestured toward the elites to proceed with the operation.
We all separated into smaller groups and branched towards different parts of the village. Half of the soldiers and one elite were to look inside the different houses and look for possible demons that are hiding, while the rest would go towards the center of the village, where the battle is still ongoing.
After making sure that everybody is following the plan, me, the other two other elites, and the rest of the soldiers started running towards the echoing sounds of gunfire, screams, and screeches in the distance, up until we were close enough to see what was happening.
Honestly, at this moment, I froze: all the emotions of guilt I felt before menaced to resurface, and I remembered my thoughts from before - It was worth it, or I will at least be able to save a few people, I froze because of how stupid these ideas were, because now, only 30 people out of the thousands are alive, and most are in a critical state or heavily injured.
I could see in front of me the survivors of the massacre, all fighting with valiance and bravery, even through fear, agony, and sadness, while I, in the comfort of a ship, gave the order to slow down.
All of these thoughts and emotions, mainly made of guilt and anger, were soon cut off by the sound of gunshots around me. It only lasted for half a second, but my soldiers were already creating a cover for the melee fighters. After cooling down, I took my sword out of the scabbard, and muttered a single word :
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- Haste
All the soldiers in the area felt a strong gust of wind, followed by a blur going toward the battlefield. They instantly recognized who it was, and even if they still felt animosity toward the man, they all respected his strength.
They couldn't see him, but he left behind traces of his passage: heads, arms, legs, organs, not a single soul was left alive. But he didn't stop, not until he was face to face with the strongest enemy, a Captain-level demon.
This monstrosity was a few heads taller than him, and had an additional pair of arms, with bulging muscles all over his body. Some of its limbs were longer, while others thicker, and his head was a mess: a mouth made half of its face, with rows and rows of teeth filled with leftovers from the previous fights. All of his sensory organs are randomly plastered over his face, giving a sense of dread to those daring enough to look, and his demeanor, close to somebody that lost all reason, looked erratic.
But he wasn't fooled, because he knows that behind this mass of chaos and insanity, rested a calculative mind, looking around the battlefield, using its 3 eyes to get the most information possible. Its very being is made for combat, and all of its attention rested on the 3 new figures that appeared on the battlefield.
He knew that he couldn't be complacent because captain-level demons are often stronger than their human counterpart. After looking at the demon's body, he sighed in relief: he is facing a really strong, but slow demon, meaning that his speed-oriented power can easily kite this type of enemy until the other 2 captains are finished with the rest.
- A-1, the Captain is an 'A' type demon, so we go with the normal procedure.
- A-3, I'm done in 1 minute.
- A-2, same here.
Now I just need to play for ti...
Right at this moment, a bloody cleaver fell down on my previous position. I dodged to the left with my superior speed and started gauging its different statistics. Its strength, from what I saw, is at least 2 to 3 times higher than mine, but the technique is really bad so its dexterity is probably around my level.
I decided to stay on the defensive a little bit to observe and find a way to deal with him before Liss and Maros join me. I started by testing its reflexes by using my skill Wind Dash a few times, giving me short bursts of speed, and to my surprise, he saw through all of them.
He would accurately look at me throughout the whole process, meaning that he is probably really good at defense. Direct attacks are definitely out of the question, and seeing how fast its reflexes are, I would also guess that he is able to deceive us with fast counter-attacks. In less than 10 seconds, I managed to get the information that I needed, and now I just need to wait.
I felt that the demon started getting annoyed by my little game because it started attacking me more ferociously than before. Its first strike was a horizontal slash with both of its left arms, leaving its entire side open, but I didn't go for the opening: I could see his other arms ready to cut me in half if I dared to get closer, so I instead jumped back and started gathering mana in my sword.
The monstrosity felt it and tried to stop me by throwing one of its weapons toward me, but its reaction was to be expected. I waited until the last second and dashed to the right, and when ready, unleashed Wind Slash towards the giant.
The demon saw the large blade of wind going in his direction and scoffed at me. He took a weapon from one of his fallen comrades and placed all 4 weapons in a cross-shaped formation, and at the same time, a crude version of Mana Shield formed in front of him, leaving him with only small cuts from the aftermath.
The ability I used is really powerful, meaning he must have used a great deal of mana to defend against it, but at the cost of 50% of mine. From this point on, I never attacked again, and just dodged any attacks he launched at me. The only problem I faced against the giant is the irregularities between every swing caused by its deformed body. Even then, the poor technique demonstrated by the demon made the fight easier than expected.
After dodging, deflecting, and taunting it for almost a minute, Liss joined me, and soon after, Maros too. The fight became simpler with the help of a tank, Maros, and a ranged damage dealer, Liss, and together with the information I gathered, we managed to finish it in 5 minutes.
When the body of the demon finally fell to the ground, the only sounds we could hear were the deep exhalations from all the soldiers and captains, the screams of the survivors getting treated, and laments from the ones that are looking at the desolation around us. After a while, the workers waiting outside the city came in and started working on repairing the portal, and made a temporary base of operation where communication devices were ready for use.
I looked one last time around me, trying to put aside my emotions once again, and slowly walked up to the tent, and activated the communication device. After a few seconds, the hologram of somebody that I knew really well appeared, and he wasn't happy :
- Captain Derikson.
- Yes, Commander.
- What are the results of this mission, Derikson?
- Half of the fields are destroyed, and most people are dead... 30 survivors to be exact, at least 75% of the village is destroyed, and most infrastructures are not functional.
- Hmmmmm... and you surely have an excuse for all this mess, right?
- This is all because.. of my mistake, Commander. I am the.. the only one at fault for this mess.
- And what is the mistake that cost us so much?
- I lost sight of the most important objective, Commander. Protecting the Village of Ramor.
- And why did you lose sight of the objective, Captain Derikson?
- ... because I overestimated the enemy?
- Close, but not right. Your mistake is overestimating the enemy, but what caused you to overestimate the enemy is your lack of perspicacity. If the enemy really managed to sneak past 2 forts, do you think that they have an army big enough to ambush you, and attack Ramor at the same time?
- ... sorry, Commander.
- I don't need your apologies, what has been done is done. What I want you to do now, is to finish your mission, get your ass back here at the capital and receive appropriate sanction for your mistake.
- ... yes, Commander.
- I will wait for the full report, you are dismissed.
- Thank you, Commander.
Ahhhhhh fuck. Even the Commander is mad at me. But I understand... I fucked up big time... really really fucked up.
After a while, I finally got outside, what was waiting for me was the Captains, 2 good friends of mine to be exact.
Maros, with an imposing stature, looked at me with a knowing smile, patted me on the shoulder, and went inside the tent to make his report, while Liss, just looked at me. Her expression was a mix of anger and sadness, but I don't think it was directed toward me, because the next moment, she approached me and gave me a hug.
After a while, I patted her on the back, and she left my embrace, and looking at her face, I saw that she regained a few colors. She then looked at me one last time, and also entered the tent to make her report.
Thinking back, I really felt bad for her... elves are in general more emotional than humans, meaning that they need to vent their emotions more often than humans... Liss really got affected by this... I will definitely make up to her and Maros.
After thinking about them for a while, I decided to go look at how everything is going. Of the 30 survivors, 25 survived their wounds, and 10 are still in a critical state. Some of them have an arm or a leg missing, part of their skin burned, torn apart, or cut but different weapons, with bandages covering most of their bodies.
Not long after, I walked toward the workers, and they said they would be done with the portal in 2-3 hours. I sighed one last time, but right before going to sleep, I saw something strange.
In the middle of the plaza, a little boy not older than 10 was standing there, looking at the sky. His black hair really differed from what I'm used to, and his scrawny figure really left me wondering how he survived my mess.
At this moment, he probably felt my gaze, because he turned around and looked at me in the eyes, and, for a moment, I blanked out. I don't know what happened, but after coming back to my sense, I continued to study the kid.
He really looked different from other people his age: they mostly start working on their bodies when young to be ready for the military Academy, and I never saw somebody with black hair before. Not only that, but his skin is white, a sickly white that complements his skinny figure really well... in a bad way.
But the strangest thing about this kid is... probably its eyes, yes... lifeless eyes, devoid of any emotions, and I think it's also what made me flinch earlier.
After looking for a while, the kid probably got bored with our staring contest and stopped looking at me, and went back to stargazing.
Tired after such a day, I turned around and tried to fall asleep.
But contrary to what I believed, I am not the only one who failed my mission...