War of Eale plane, day two.
The whole army of the empire was arranging themselves in neat arrays on the plane of Eale. Every one of them was excited after the victory of the first day.
Kinoya was towards the front again but there were more than ten rows in front of him. There was no sign of general Akai close to him.
'It looks like a war of attenuation.' Even though he can guess why the general is doing this but, 'Abandoning strategy just because of the number of enemies had been reduced, is a foolish choice. Then again it was not like the enemy is going to use any trick either.'
Thinking about it all Kinoya could do was to shook his head before ordering, "Never go before me and always stay in the formation."
"Don't worry sergeant, we can handle it. "
"No matter how far we are, we will protect you." With Drow's words, the whole squad broke into laughter. Kinoya got used to the occasional jester of his squadmates. He felt happy about having someone to laugh with.
*Boom* *Boom*
The rhythmic drums started to beat from the back. The strategy of the second day for the empire was rather simple, fight and fight until you win.
With the success of the first-day strategy, the commander-in-chief was able to bring down the number difference to none. So he was now using the straight forward methods.
And with the loss of 60,000 cavalries on the first day Torria's army have to depend on the infantry. With the drum banging from both side the infantry charged at each other. Kinoya controlled the speed in such a way that they won't be the first one to crash in each other.
Lucky for him he had taught the squad a simple arrow formation on their way to Eale from Naylos. Soon enough the formation showed its effect.
With constant rotation between themselves, there was not much pressure on them. With Kinoya's leading they didn't dive too much in the enemy line.
But the life in the war couldn't be so smooth after all. Soon they met a hammer carrying guy. Kinoya's expertise wasn't strong enough to take down the guy with the formation.
So he broke out after putting Drow, who was also a dual swordsman, in-charge of the formation. The decision he will be regretting for days to come.
The guy swung the hammer at him without hesitation but Kinoya didn't try to take the hit head-on. Using [Subtle Movement] he escaped the reach of the hammer and aimed for his heart. But the guy was more agile than he thought.
He used the weight of his hammer to pull himself out of the path of the sword and swung the hammer horizontally. Kinoya ducked and move behind the leg and aimed for the Achilles tendon.
It was his blind size yet it missed the target. A back kick greeted him, Kinoya rolled out the way to escape it. Again the area above him darkened and it started to exert pressure on him with the incoming hammer.
Even if his body knew what to do, it failed due to the fallen soldiers and weapon on the ground. With people massacring each other all around him, he escaped the hammer by hair breath.
'Maybe due to general, I didn't have to fight such a strong enemy.' Kinoya understood the reason for his success while keeping his eyes on the hammer wilder. 'He may be using a heavy weapon, but looking the way he is using it, he had a lot of experience with it.'
"Run, you should run back to you mama. Come back when you have sucked enough milk." Listening to his taunting remarks all Kinoya could do was smile before a notification popped up in his mind.
And the hammer missed him. No matter how strong the attacks are Kinoya dodged them all, like a leaf falling in the wind.
[Skill [Free Fall] activated.]
[Comprehension level of [Falling Leaf Dance] increased.]
[Comprehen level: 85.7%]
Even if his movement didn't stop, the smile on his face brightened. 'No matter how much I had practised I couldn't rise the comprehension level yet it increased on the first time I used at the battle?'
However, the smile carried taunting meaning to the hammer wielder. His actions started to get more chaotic and an opening appeared.
[Skill [Hitting the leaf] activated]
[Comprehension level of [Falling Leaf Dance] increased.]
[Comprehen level: 85.8%]
Still the tip of the sword failed to give a fatal blow, left a shallow bloodline around his neck. Maybe it was due to the difference in height but before the hammer guy could get happy about it another scimitar slashed across his thigh.
Unable to control his weight he went on his knees. At the next moment, his throat was slashed, ending his futile struggle. Looking at the end of the hammer guy all he could do was to sigh.
Soon he had found the squad formation was a little distance away. He was trying to go close to it, but the number of enemies that were getting him increased a lot. Even before he could take any breath the formation went out of sight.
In the formation, the fighting was much easier. But without proper knowledge, Drow was having a hard time manoeuvring the formation. The only thing they can do was go straight, and unknowing to them they went deep into the enemy formation.
On the other hand, not knowing the problem of his squad, Kinoya continued to fight. It was not that he wanted to but it was where his inexperienced kicked in.
He was marked by the enemy, he didn't have any lack of opponents. And Kinoya didn't know how to escape the markings so he continued to fight. With his endurance stats awakened he had no problems at all. But more he fought, harder it became for him to escape the marking.
"Major Oita have taken the head of the enemy commander." The voice thundered through the battlefield. For a moment the whole army plunged into silence, which was followed by utter chaos.
The first thing Kinoya saw was the army of Torria turned and ran out of the battlefield. The second thing was the empire army who was chasing. Kinoya wasn't at a position where he could stand and decide what he could do next.
'There were more than 50,000 soldiers of Torria present, it is impossible to have just one commander. Even if it is not someone as strong as General Akai, it shouldn't be someone who can be taken down by a major.'
While running he saw a commotion in front of him. What awaited him just confirmed his notion. A Wall, wall of a tower shield. Before he could think of anything he felt some fluctuation of energy behind the enemy line.
'This feeling… It's same as at that time. A teleportation circle.' A single thought wet his back in fear. He activated [Subtle Movement] and moved through the swamp of people to find his teammates.
What worried him most was that the fluctuation came from their back. 'Could they have teleported some soldiers behind our back. They are using the same strategy. They have trapped us.'
Thinking about it, Kinoya's struggle got fiercer, yet no matter how much he looked for them he couldn't find them.
And it was too late. His danger sense was tingling like crazy and tangled in the army, it was hard for him to move at all. He looked up and the pain hit him. An arrow went straight through the right eye.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh"
If he didn't jerk his head at the last moment it would have gone straight through his brain. He screamed but there was no help. The sky was dark with the rain of arrows.
Before anything, he released the short scimitar and took out the round shield from the back. And it rained. It rained like crazy. The sky was dark by the arrow, the ground was by blood, not a shade in view, not a place to hide.
Kinoya didn't know when the rain of arrows stopped. He was just crouching there with taut muscle holding the round shield above his head like a marble statue. There were arrows in his eye, in his left thigh and the shoulder.
"Ahh" a cry of pain escaped his throat as he tried to stand up. The armour was still there but it had dent and holes all over it. His lower garment was dyed red. He had no idea whether it was his blood or from the ground still, it was painful.
Each time he pulled out the arrows, the muscles around the wound throbbed like crazy. And the eye…
"Woouuuaaaahhh"
His breath was ragged, his whole head was throbbing with the right side of his face was dyed in blood. Yet howl of pain was drowned by the screams and cries all around him.
Not even a thousand of original 50,000-60,000 left standing. Those, who were on the ground yet failed to die were…
Kinoya took a step forward. Threw his shield away and another short scimitar was nowhere to be found. He walked forward, stepping on the red mud, missing the bodies by inch.
[Skill check: [Basic Pain Resistance] acquired]
With a single slash, he cut down the arrows those stuck on the ground. He raised his leg but it didn't come down. He ignored that last notification but couldn't ignore those hollow eyes staring at him.
"Don't worry sergeant, we will protect you."
"Are you afraid sergeant…"
Those countless voices resounded in his mind. Those happy memories were now too painful to bear. Blood trickled down the hollow hole on his right side of his face.
"Ahhhh"
Nobody knew the meaning of the cry. To Kinoya, it was more painful than those bloody wound. He knew death is an inevitable outcome of the war but he couldn't help it but to cry out loud. Cry turned into a fit of blood cough before it turned into maniacal laughter.
Kinoya had no idea those survived the carnage tried to crawl back towards the camp yet Kinoya pointed his short scimitar towards the shield-wall…
"You want to kill me? Ha ha ha. What a bunch of cowards, come out and fight me." Where it was from the pain or from the shock he had started to lose his rationality, it diluted his mind as black smoke had started to come out from his right eye hole.
Yet he was still control of his body. "You cowards, if you are not going to come, I will come to you..." He continued to mumble. Kinoya was drunk, drunk in pain. Mixed with the sorrow of losing his squadmates, it was too much for him. He couldn't control his emotions at all.
Kinoya's word didn't finish before the ground started to tremble. And Kinoya could feel that fluctuation again. The teleportation circle was being activated again.
Kinoya was conscious of the archers. He knew that they were teleported back.
"So you are running away now?" Kinoya howled while looking at the shield line and charged at the wall.
He wasn't reactive enough to understand that the vibration was increasing with his every step. A black cloud was forming along the horizon as he slammed against the shield wall alone.
Half of his face was now clouded in black smoke with a blue flame flicking at his right eyehole. Those shield-bearers shuddered each time their eyes met, yet Kinoya was unable to breakthrough.
But it broke. Kinoya stood there in shock as countless horses slammed into the wall and punched through it. The last thing Kinoya remember was being grabbed by the neck by the last person he saw. It was the silent one-star general of the red front, General Vaicus.