Well, I would like to begin by clarifying that inscription is very exhausting. You have to understand, that I normally have never attempted to create formations this quickly. Until that moment even I had not realised just how deep my sleep in this temporary fort had been. I am a soldier trained under the rules of the Iron Legion from my childhood, do you think that I am comfortable admitting that I was in a state of half sleep?

Now to begin my log, which is essentially the reconstruction of a log that I had somehow recorded in a state of half sleep so much so that even I

am curious what the fuck had happened here with the first doubt being how the hell did I even manage it. For most logs, I fail even at full focus. all I know is that I have done something very curious here.

This log of mine begins in a dream, which I have forgotten now but I remember the conversation I had with my mind or at least have imagined into existence now.

Subconscious- wake up, Antonio something is wrong.

Me- well, can we do it later, look at the pretty sheep.

Subconscious- something is wrong, get up. It is important.

Me- the pretty sheep are important too you know. Look they are flying into that horrid creature's mouth. What is that?

Subconscious- you are being attacked, you idiot. Move, you fucker.

It was sheer luck and a lot of daring that I managed to survive the attack that followed. Honestly even I don't know how I managed this particular feat as I took the sword under my pillow (every sane soldier will have one under his pillow), and stuck it right into the mouth of the opposing creature.

As I was doing this, I had already taken note of the three beings that were here at the formation core with me. I could not predict their strength but they seemed to be troop leaders. The one that had taken my sword was already injured and my sword had struck a major vessel, which I could tell due to the almost ginger way in which it was moving. It is the sensitivity of a man trying to keep his guts in place after his stomach has been opened.

It is almost on the verge of death and would not be a worry. It was the other two that were the problem. I don't know how they managed to sneak into this place, but that was not the moment for such questions (or so I assume as I would admit that I would have frozen on the battlefield with those exact thoughts if I were fully awake). I can already feel the two creatures beginning to charge up their ice mana.

That would be enough to bring Shamon and whichever patrolling troop down here. Even a group of five soldiers along with me is enough to take care of them and Shamon had way more troops than that. These two creatures had taken a great risk to come here and were going to reap their rewards if I did not survive until the patrolling troops did not make their way here.

While these thoughts were going on in my head, I could feel the two creatures tense up and charging their mana. I use this time to extract my sword. Getting into a defensive stance I charge at the two creatures. The legion's sword arts are ideal for fighting multiple opponents.

They were not expecting such a fierce retaliation. One of the creatures had begun a charge at me at the same time, while the other almost seemed to jump back in panic. Using my sword I blocked the attacking wolf kicking the creature right in its chest. I don't know how much force I put in it (what can I say, my leg is still hurting) but it was enough to push the creature across the room.

I don't stop as I charge towards the retreating ice beast. I had an advantage here that I could lose. If the two creature regained their coordination I am dead. The retreating ice beast is almost caught by surprise but it blocks my sword at the last minute.

It is at this moment that I did something stupid, that I would have never done if I were fully awake but I did it at that moment. I dropped my sword to the ground as the ice beast's claws cut through the fabric of my shirt. I think I can still feel the sting of that strike over my stomach and my guts. An inch here and an inch there and I would have a majority of my insides on the outside.

I was not passive in that period as I essentially got the creature in a stranglehold, which was quite terrifying according to Shamon, who burst into the scene almost ten seconds from this particular instance. The creature was trying to claw me but did not seem to reach me. Its mouth was inches from my face but I seemed to like jelly, disappearing wherever it was trying to strike. Meanwhile, the other creature was also trying to hit me, but it must have been worried about friendly fire as I barely remember its attacks (I do not even have an impression of the other creature's attacks.) This is a classic move of the legion.

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At this moment, I want to be clear that wrestling is something that I know but I have only ever done it against humans and I have never been particularly stellar with it. The only thing that I am worse at can be considered to be mental magic.

I later learned that almost the entirety of the four troops had attacked us in an almost suicidal charge. If their previous attacks were careful skirmishes this was a brutal charge. As for the exact details, I will get to it.

Regardless, the moment that Shamon felt the presence of ice mana in the fort. He took a risk as he led a troop of twenty soldiers down here. Thankfully, with me keeping one of the creatures busy, the soldiers had a pretty easy time killing the ice beasts. Shamon had the brilliant idea of dousing me with a bucket of water in this frigid cold. It seems to be a precaution these bunch have for when their enemies tend to try to use mental magic to make us sleep.

It was pretty effective too, if one can ignore the being soaked in such a fucking cold place. You want me to be honest, I am missing the chill. At the very least it did not seem to enter into places where I certainly would not want to feel cold in.

Regardless, now that I am capable enough to talk again I will have to talk to Shamon who is very confused about what is happening here. Well, I am in a similar state here too, You know. I have a lot to ask him about what the hell is going on.

"Captain, are you fine.", shamon begins with an expression I can't place. I think the man has taken my injury quite personally with the vigor with which he is acting.

"Well, I am in a tiptop condition, Shamon. It's your luck that I tend to be prepared for such events and my luck that my plans work.", I say, fibbing a bit. As my father says, the best time to project confidence is when you least feel like it. Well, let's hope the other side can't hear the crack in my voice which I won't be rid of any time soon." Why wasn't I informed that the ice beasts can sneak into our bases."

"Well, that is a very old tactic. They used to do it so many times at our more traditional attempts at the forts and they have failed so many times that I had assumed that they would not do it. Only the troop leaders can do it and they cannot use the entirety of their power in that state. The only thing they have is the element of surprise and that means that they can only assassinate one person or a small group of people. More people would die if they were to attack directly. Not one such attack has resulted in alive troop leaders, even if they had killed you we would have killed them quite easily too." Shamon begins.

"How do they do it, i assume it is not any kind of cloaking magic since they seem to become seriously weak while doing it. My sword was not powered with mana when I killed that one. No matter how injured it is, it should have been able to shatter my sword with a bite.", I ask, wondering about the mechanics of such a thing. Don't blame me, you can never really sate a formation master's hunger for new spells.

"Well, the present theory is that they somehow crack their mana cores, leaking out all their mana. Their mana then is equivalent to the ambient locations." Shamon replies simply, "We can't verify it though, we don't dare to leave a fully powered troop leader to experiment on"

"Well, let's put a pin in that. If that is the case, then why were we targeted like this? It is not like the fort will fall if I am dead. Iron skin works passively and that should be their main worry." I ask. "I assume these creatures are smart enough to figure that out. I have reason to think that they care attacking with such ferocity due to other reasons."

"Naturally, captain", Shamon replies "Well, I have found that guessing the intent of the ice beasts is a futile exercise. For now, we need to make sure that the formation core is safe. For all we know they could have come for that."

Well, I had forgotten about the core. Not that it is a matter of worry. Unless these beings had a method of fine mana control like my mana strings they simply could not destroy the core. Heck, they would not be able to do that at their full power.

"The core is safe and finally functional enough. With the latest formation, I would have been able to take care of the troop leaders quite safely anyway." I say to him. "You can say the embryo of the formation is complete."

Saying that I manifest the crossbow with its respective mana strings. For something that took all of my effort, the crossbow looked painfully ordinary if you could ignore the string of mana that powered it. It was due to this crossbow that I am in my present state. I have essentially built three class nine formations back to back each in record time.

I had not even noticed just how much energy that had taken.

"With this, I will kill any troop leader that approaches our location and with a bit more work it will be able to threaten even snowlords." I speak, noticing the look of quiet disbelief.

Well, it does look quite ordinary if I have to say so, though I can clarify his doubt once the formation is put into use. Well, I honestly hope a couple of troop leaders do come. They have left me in a pretty miserable position all of this time.

I can see that Shamon is getting ready to speak, most likely to caution me. He doesn't get to speak though As I hear a loud thud at the door. On the ground, there is a soldier, fallen to the ground. He seems to have tripped there.

Something feels wrong immediately but it takes me a moment to notice that one of his arms is missing. Shamon was more quick though as he quickly got the soldier up.

I finally move into action as the soldiers gasp out.

"We are about to fall, lord Shamon."