"Charge!"
Maxime's voice reverberated in everyone's heart, and like an electric shock, everyone ran towards the nearest Piran soldier with a ferocious expression.
The Piran soldiers, seeing these weak humans charging towards them, laughed heartily, all the while uttering various strange cries.
0 meters to go.
Weapons clashed, blood began to spurt from both sides and the first wounded appeared.
At the same time, Maxime faced a lone Piran soldier.
"This time I won't be able to hide behind my soldiers. And if I want to protect my family and the rest of the neighborhood, I absolutely must defeat him!" thought Maxime as his gaze changed all at once.
It was replaced by a surprising calm and determination.
The red face of the Piran soldier in front of him was clearly visible, as was the axe heading dangerously towards him.
"Somehow I'm no longer afraid", Maxime thought, even he was surprised by his calm.
Even he was surprised by her calmness, and a flame ignited in him as adrenalin coursed through his body.
"This axe, it's so slow," he murmured, his eyes shining.
With extraordinary footwork, he narrowly avoided the axe, which fell just inches from his left arm.
"This guy is much weaker than the previous Piran soldier. He must have at most 1.5 physical points."
Just as in his first fight in the world of Eternity, his sword felt extremely light, as if it were part of his body and the world was slowing down.
He concentrated his strength on his right leg and literally flew away.
Before the Piran soldier's stunned eyes, Maxime spun in the air before bringing his sword down at lightning speed.
The next instant, the Piran soldier's head flew off and blood spurted from his neck.
Maxime landed behind him, and a few seconds later the imposing body of his victim fell heavily to the ground.
The nearby Piran soldiers were momentarily stunned by his agility and fighting prowess.
The young nobles and mercenaries nearby were able to briefly observe the performance.
"That guy's crazy...and really strong!" exclaimed Winny mentally as a certain shiver ran through her body.
"It reminds me of the time when he protected the village. He also showed amazing agility, but it didn't show up after that," Andrew commented silently as he more or less easily avoided his opponent's attacks.
But the most astonished and proudest were the new recruits to the mercenary group.
"Shit our leader is that strong?" said one of them aloud.
"Great, maybe we've got a chance of winning this battle!" commented another excitedly.
Initially, these new mercenaries weren't very motivated, since they didn't belong to this world and, above all, they didn't see any hope of winning this battle.
They simply had no choice but to fight, because if their leader died, they would all have to stay in this world forever. This would mean abandoning their families and friends in the world of Eternity.
Besides, how could they abandon the immeasurable benefits of Maxime's magical talent. This talent represented their future! A future filled with glory and wealth!
Of course, they knew their leader was strong, but to them at most he was only slightly stronger than the group's trump cards, namely Andrew, Ernest and Romuald, all of whom had exceeded 2 physical points.
But such agility in combat, even when fighting someone with a physique inferior to his own, is very rare!
Soon, several Piran soldiers in Maxime's vicinity reacted and swung their axes at him.
"I can see the trajectory of their attacks!" mentally analyzed Maxime at a glance.
One way or another, Maxime managed to dodge the various attacks and began to retaliate violently against the Piran soldiers.
But this time, Maxime had a few complications, for although he was able to inflict wounds on his opponents most of the time, these proved to be light ones due to the Piran soldiers taking great care to protect each other.
A few minutes later, as the sounds of battle began to fade, Maxime had managed to take down two more Piran soldiers and seriously wounded 3 enemy soldiers.
Unfortunately, he himself was wounded in several places and covered in blood. Yet his eyes were as clear and combative as ever.
As he blocked yet another axe, a shattering cry was heard from behind his opponents. They momentarily stopped their attacks.
Seeing the opportunity, Maxime took a deep breath and shouted back:
"Stop the fighting, we're gathering at the initial position!"
Within seconds, all the survivors managed to disengage from their targets and gather around Maxime, who himself had retreated some thirty meters.
At a glance, Maxime could estimate the number of survivors.
"There are only a dozen of us left, all at least slightly wounded and, above all, tired."
This number didn't make a single one of his eyelids flutter.
"That means at least 20 of our comrades fell in those few minutes," Maxime commented silently, still impassive.
But inside, his rage was making his body boil, and the more his eyes roamed over the dismembered bodies, the more he boiled inside.
But somehow he managed to calm down. Particularly when he noticed that the 5 young noblemen were still alive, in a pitiful state to be sure, but still alive.
He also saw Tena with red eyes and trembling legs.
And indeed, of his 30 mercenaries, only Andrew, Romuald, Izo, Tena and Ernest were still alive.
She'd probably seen her brothers die before her eyes, and even if they could return in the next 24 hours, it was still traumatic.
Maxime also saw Ernest slightly angry.
This man with light blue eyes, always calm and looking more noble than even true noblemen, had literally changed his face.
Probably because of Rodrigo's death.
But to Maxime's surprise, the young nobles seemed rather calm despite the long minutes of fighting.
"Hahaha so exciting!" shouted Winny, making a striking contrast with the general mood.
Seeing this, Rina approached Winny with an aggressive stance, ready to do battle with him. Even Ernest had a very dangerous look towards Winny.
"You've got to be kidding me! Over 80% of our mercenary group has been decimated and you still find the opportunity to laugh!?" she shouted, inches from Winny's face.
"What are you talking about? You're going to be resurrected in the next 24 hours! But we've just risked our lives without being resurrected! So if I feel like laughing, I'll laugh!" replied Winny with a provocative smile.
Rina was about to start fighting, but a voice came from behind him.
"The hardest part is yet to come," said Maxime calmly, his back still turned.
With the initial prestige cumulated with the prestige he had just acquired during this battle, Riva didn't dare continue and returned to his position with his anger.
"Bahaha good doggie!" laughed Winny.
Maxime moved his head slightly and looked at Winny out of the corner of his eye.
The latter met Maxime's gaze and felt fear seize his body, as if a high-class beast were about to pounce on him.
Maxime quickly withdrew his gaze, but for Winny this brief moment was one he would remember for the rest of his life.
When much later, having surpassed all expectations and attained the majestic position of lieutenant-colonel with a battalion of 800 men under his command, he would be ambushed by a military unit 10 times more powerful than his own.
His deputy, panic-stricken, will notice the absence of any emotion on his face, and will then ask:
"Lieutenant-colonel aren't you afraid?"
Winny will reply word for word:
"In this world, there's only one person who can scare me."