In the end, Zelos did exactly that… Thanks to his progress, he had to wait a bit more time to recover from all the wounds, but when morning came the next day, he would be fine. Still, it looked like things wouldn’t go as planned.

Just when Zelos was about to go to bed since it was past ten, he heard the sound of a horse approaching in the distance… Zelos grabbed his sword and then went outside, only to find Irlan approaching.

“Bad news, huh?”

“Yes… Zelos, the enemies are returning again from the hills and they are better equipped this time for a battle.”

“Did you confirm that?”

“The riders returned a few minutes ago. We probably have one hour or less, and the whole town is waking up. Things are really bad now, Zelos… they are over three hundred. They have horses, shields, spears, crossbows…”

Zelos could sense the apprehension in Irlan’s voice. The odds were fully stacked against them this time. They didn’t have time to prepare that much, even though Heirina probably had some things in store for the enemies.

The options that they had weren’t many. They could evacuate, but that would be a huge loss. The town would be a good base for the enemies, but they will keep pushing the group until they reach the border and the enemies have a real foothold there.

When they reached the town, the whole place was already awake and since the people kept their weapons, they had their chance to be ready for combat already. However, that wouldn’t be enough.

Heirina was giving orders for everyone to split around the town and be ready to unleash a barrage of arrows as the enemies approached them. They would have to call for the attacks themselves since Heirina and the others would have to stay on the front and face the enemies. Zelos and Irlan approached Edea and Kaitrine and saw that they were pale and showing an ominous expression, respectively.

“With this, it will be impossible to hide who those guys are working for. That means that the traitors are finally making their move.”

“What do you mean, Kaitrine?”

“In total, four hundred people have disappeared over several days to attack us… a lot of people should have noticed that. If they didn’t, they are stupid, but if they did and ignored it, they are all traitors as well. Either way, one province will disappear in the next few days.”

That was some serious news… Zelos looked in the distance, and he could see a light ahead, the light of many torches. The enemies were no longer pulling their punches. Just like Zelos had concluded that the next country was very good for those who wanted to climb in the ranks of wars, it seemed that the people of their country also imagined that and decided to change sides since that would be more beneficial.

“I already sent the word to the villages about the attack. They will alert Dad and the others… Either way, we can’t abandon this place. If we are going down, then we will have to take as many with us as possible.”

“Sixty for each one of us, right? That sounds interesting.”

Everyone looked at Zelos and wondered if he was joking… It wasn’t time for a joke, but he wasn’t laughing or showing any emotion on his face either. He truly looked like someone who had a screw loose while he was watching the blade of his sword.

“Anyway, what is the battle plan?”

“I told you, and everyone is with me. If we go down, we will go down, taking as many with us as possible.”

Everyone around had a serious look on their faces…, and it seemed that was the case. Zelos didn’t want to go down with anyone, and he wanted to protect his investments as well… so he was planning to win that battle no matter what. He already knew what he had to do, but a lot of people around wouldn’t like him for it. Still, that was the price he had to pay to reach his goals.

The group moved to the east side of the town with around two hundred men. They were all either beyond fighting age or had jobs that never required them to fight. The old man farmer and the blacksmith were also there, so Zelos nodded at them once, and they returned the nod.

The enemies in the distance were getting closer and closer, so the tension was getting thicker in the air, but Zelos remained focused. He brought his club, iron balls, and the dark sword. All of that made him two times heavier, but he didn’t care, he was used to that. Before anything, Zelos decided to keep the iron balls ready to be used since he was confident that five of the enemies would go down without knowing what hit them.

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People around began to sweat heavily as they watched the enemies move closer and closer. Before long, they saw the torches ahead splitting, and soon, they could see the silhouettes of the heavy infantry approaching. They were taking things very methodically… just like the neighbors in the west.

In the end, Zelos clicked his tongue since he wouldn’t be able to use the iron balls. He grabbed his shield thinking of making the enemies regret using that kind of weapon… they might not die with a single good hit, but their pain sure will make them think that they would want that.

Before long, the infantry got close enough for the nearest group of archers to attack them. Volleys of arrows flew in an arc and then rained down on the group of enemies, but they raised their shields and blocked all the attacks completely. There was no mistake… that was a real battalion trained for war.

The archers tried two other times, but they failed in all those times. While entering the town, the battalion split into ten lines of ten warriors and then moved toward the front lines. Their footsteps were firm and organized. Edea fired some arrows at them and while her arrows pierced their shields a bit and some grunts were heard, that didn’t stop the enemies.

The infantry pointed their spears forward to impale anyone ahead of them when they were fifty meters away. Heirina raised her sword and then took a deep breath to shout when the enemies were thirty meters away, but before she could do that, Zelos suddenly charged forward… in two blinks of an eye, he appeared right in front of the enemies and then jumped right above them… after spinning once in the air, he swung down his club with all his might.

An enemy with a shield tried to block him, but he was pushed down by the power of Zelos’s fall and his brute strength. His bones cracked as his body bent and was almost smashed against his shield.

When Zelos landed, he immediately spun around his club violently… he literally was just holding the handle of the club and stretching his arms as much as possible to gain speed and range. The enemies began to get hit and knocked down and soon their formation was broken.

“Charge!”

Heirina finally shouted and then everyone there went to join the battle. Around the same time, some enemies behind tried to stab Zelos, but most of their weapons were repelled by his club. Still, he eventually began to lose speed, and their weapons hit him.

“Ugh…”

Zelos groaned a bit as he felt the weapons piercing his skin, but much to his surprise, they didn’t reach his muscles. He didn’t know if his skin had become that tough thanks to the training or if it was because the enemies were weaker than expected. Still, he wouldn’t want them to keep stabbing him forever.

Fortunately, when he stopped spinning, some arrows flew past him and then hit the enemies on the other side giving him a brief moment to take a break. At the same time, he grabbed the iron balls and then threw them around… the skulls of five enemies were cracked and they fell dead instantly.

“We will talk about this once this is done.”

Heirina arrived in the area, blocked the thrust of an enemy, and soon pushed him away with brute strength alone. She wasn’t exactly muscular, but that showed a lot of raw power. At the same time, a shadow passed around the area, and then the throats of some enemies suddenly were cut and began to bleed deeply. Kaitrine stopped behind them and soon began to breathe heavily.

“Captain, we need to spread the damage before the cavalry can join the fight… all of them here need to die as soon as possible.”

Irlan repelled some spear thrusts and followed them with upward slashes of his spear that cut the faces of the enemies… they began to groan in pain as blood covered their faces. The enemies’ surprise attacks were stopped by their own surprise attacks. However, they needed to keep their guard and finish things off there as soon as possible.

While ignoring the pain in his arms and legs thanks to the wounds, Zelos charged in again and collided against some shields. He followed that by swinging his club with all his might and soon he was able to see the other side of their formation… Unfortunately, that gave him the chance to see the enemy cavalry already charging at them.

“It looks like we won’t have time to rest… fine by me.”

Zelos used his charge technique and then slammed several other enemies by rotating his club. He looked like a tornado and the enemies fell like small domino pieces. Those who survived began to groan and shake in pain on the ground and soon the villagers finished them off… It looked like the infantry was only sent to scare them and didn’t have any real skills or strength. Still, the cavalry was about to arrive and even if they didn’t have anyone special among them, they would be hard to get rid off.

However, much to everyone’s surprise, just when Zelos was preparing to welcome them, they suddenly slowed down. Zelos frowned and wondered if that was some sort of trick. That would be a very stupid one since their allies were being massacred. Still, Zelos soon was able to see them look to the side and then a force came from the north toward the cavalry.

“... Who are those guys?”

The two cavalry regiments began to fight and soon things started to get quite chaotic… it seemed that the reinforcements didn’t have that many people with them, so they would need some help. Heirina stepped in and she quickly realized what was going on.

“Let’s go and help them! They are Rux’s unity!”

Rux was the long-haired man who helped Hei in the previous battle… Now everything started to make sense. Hei asked him to come and help in case something happened… Zelos didn’t know where Rux worked, but it seemed that it wasn’t on the borders since it took him some time to come.

Just when Zelos and the others were about to reach the battlefield, they heard a massive volley of arrows being fired… the enemies also had a regiment of archers on the back of their formation… and leaving those alone would be dangerous.