A Centurion, a commander who leads 100 soldiers. Matthew remembers reading about it before, during the time when they discussed the history of his old world.
In a way he was a centurion, his position as a Sergeant First Class has to deal with at least a hundred soldiers.
As a puppeteer who is at the cusp of reaching B-Class, he is considered an entity that others can no longer reach.
This is the same for his own set of 20 soldiers. The soldiers given to him this time around are a bit peculiar, there are only 8 frontline or melee combatants. The rest, all 12 of them are second to third Circle Puppeteers who can at most use 3 or 4 puppets.
Their control is lacking especially when compared to him. The ego Francis is a perfectionist. It's like comparing a professional athlete to some random person off the street.
This is why he divided them into two groups, the Spellcasting division consisting of those who have more mana. Meaning that while their general puppeteering skill might be trash, they can still be used as a pseudo-spellcasting core. They use the seasons collection or simply the screecher and bishop duo.
The second division all use an assortment of melee-combatant puppets. Due to his superior control over puppets he has been tutoring them on how to fully utilize a puppet for combat.
The rest of his party has replenished their forces as well, with 100 soldiers and the story of their defense of Nikaos. It was almost mandatory for them to become the defenders of Nikaos once more.
They arrived to the town of Nikaos, in the few weeks that they've been gone a few structures have been created. The walls have been rebuilt as well.
4 wooden watch towers one on each of the 4 edges if the town. The towers had enough room on top for three archers each. At the bottom of each watch tower is a group of 6 to 8 melee soldiers.
Squads of 3 to 4 moved around the area, patrolling making sure that not a single demon can enter the town turned fort.
The gates opened as the soldiers entered the town. The Sergeant assigned with defending the area before his return is a man named Noel.
They exchanged a few words before Noel set off with his crew. "I wish you the best of luck, Sergeant First Class Khan."
They gave each other a salute as the group settled down at the tent.
"Malik, read off the reports of the surrounding area."
"According to the reports there are three main dangers in the area.
The first is the crew of at least C -Class monsters that slipped past the main line all the way to the city of Falnir. The B - Class demon you took down a few weeks ago is an example of it.
The second is the recurring demons who spawn off during the night. Their numbers have been increasing lately, it appears that the demons are getting desperate"
"I see, it looks like the A - Class have made a breakthrough in the real frontlines. Speaking of which, Do we have any reports regarding them?"
"According to the reports, The priests have finally made progress into closing the main portal. This is likely due to the presence of a top 5 A-Class individual named Grayson Davis, the one known as the Dragon Knight"
"I see, so what is the third danger of the area Malik?"
"Due to the demonic energy or the dark miasma, the monsters of the forest have been agitated. This has also spawned off mutations on the wildlife living in the area."
After his arrival he needed to mobilize his men immediately.
"All right, Hawk and Rokhan. I want both of you to scout the surrounding area. I want reports before dusk. Vannifar, I want you to take charge of all the soldiers protecting the walls. Malik, get in contact with those on the watch towers. "
Matthew commanded them, wishing nothing but success to his replenished fleet of soldiers.
"They're pressing forward, this means that the war is about to end soon. I guess they were just waiting for a monster like Grayson to show up."
While other A - Class adventurers were present, the top 10 is considered the peak of man-kind.
All of the members of the top 10, Mag the puppet master included were in the frontlines up north. Fighting the "real" threats.
But the looming threat inside the kingdom could not be ignored for long, which is why on the 10th month of its appearance, the current number 4 of the top 10 was sent out.
A man named Grayson Davis. His presence alone changed the stalemate, with the kingdom now pushing back the invading demons. They have finally made progress in closing off the portal.
This meant that Matthew's job here would end soon enough. By rough estimates, one can assume it to be in just a few weeks.
Though the closing of the portals is a double-edged blade. The smaller it got, the more desperate the demons became. The next few weeks would be hell and they knew it.
Three hours after their arrival.
"The horde is coming, they no longer want to strike at night. Mobilize all of our soldiers, this is war."