The heat could be felt on the skin of everyone present, while the dry air made breathing an arduous task for even the strongest.
Certainly that was bad, but the terrain is no better. The land in the vicinity is dry, mostly barren, has large rock formations and nothing edible grows there.
Right in the middle of that clearly hostile area is a military camp. What stands out are the large tents with the Leyndell emblem, the clear mess in the surroundings and the defensive wall made of wood, which is shattered.
"Commander Ogha, this is the old battlefront here, shall we send scouts ahead?"
Dressed in the standard equipment of Leyndell knights, a clearly masculine young man, stops in front of his commander and waits for the order.
"It is unnecessary. I'll ride in front and you follow behind me."
"But sir, you are the commander."
Letting out an extremely loud laugh, Ogha who easily reaches two meters in height, extends his muscular arm and encircles the knight's neck.
"You said it, now follow me."
"Commander..."
Strangely his pride-filled words are not unwelcome, rather the soldiers' eyes begin to sparkle, just as if they had been given an extended motivational speech.
Yes, Ogha was an extremely charismatic person, to the point that all these men seem to revere him completely.
"It's a disaster..."
"They weren't attacked by snake men. Look over there, it's a Virgin Aduptora."
"Tsk, you blasphemous fucker."
After entering the camp, everyone began to analyze the surroundings and the silence that once reigned in the troop, gave way to anger.
"Silence, this is no time for indiscipline!"
Raising his voice sharply, Ogha silences everyone who exploded in anger and after a hard look, he begins to give orders.
"I want you to divide into groups of five men. There has to be two light swordsmen, one with a heavy sword and two crossbowmen."
"At your orders!"
Shouting with fierce determination, the troops quickly split up and started scouting the surroundings. Ogha follows the same scheme, so he takes his other four and undertakes the investigation.
They walk for a few minutes among shattered tents, traces of battles and fallen comrades. During all this time, Ogha never behaves as a superior, but as just another cog in the machine.
"AHHHHH!!!"
A piercing scream pierces the air, making everyone stand on guard with the exception of Ogha, who observes the surroundings and detecting where it came from, makes a run for it.
"Commander, wait for us!"
"Commander, Ogha!"
Ignoring the calls from behind him, Ogha crosses the entire camp in a few seconds and quickly reaches the place of the shout.
The enemies, if they can be called that, are dressed as Leyndell troops, though their movements are strange. They all seem to be limping, while their armor moves too much, as if they are too big for them.
Perhaps sensing Ogha's approach, they all turn their faces towards him, thus revealing their empty eye sockets filled with a golden hue.
"The flame of chaos... Keep your distance. Crossbowmen fire towards their limbs!"
"But them!"
"Now!"
Ogha's charisma had now shifted to an aura of command, making it difficult to refuse something he ordered you to do.
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
Proving to be moderately hardened recruits, their arrows have a 90% hit rate, though the infected don't seem to feel a thing.
"Ahh, AHHHHH!"
Digging his fingers into the empty eye sockets, flames began to roar in there and then shoot out like rain towards the soldiers.
"Golden retaliation!
Standing in front of the troops like an imposing human wall, Ogha raises his great shield and activates the war ash, which negates all magical or holy attacks.
*Boom!*
Pushing the shield forward to clear the smoke, Ogha grabs the knight's rapier as if it were a common sword and leaps forward.
"
Splitting the infected into two halves thanks to his superior strength, Ogha takes advantage of the momentum to split another in half only diagonally and then points at another with his palm.
"Repulsion!"
A purple-colored gravitational wave spreads out from Ogha's palm, causing the infected in the surrounding area to shoot out.
"Attack!"
"By Leyndell!"
"For Commander Ogha!"
Taking the opportunity that is the destruction of their formation, Leyndell's troops go on the attack and fight several against one, as the others had also arrived.
For a few minutes it was a scene of chaos, but quickly the superior numbers and tactics, renders the resistance of the infected useless.
"We won!"
"Damn, they sure were tough."
"Hahaha, damn, yeah they were."
Shaking his head slowly, Ogha doesn't join in the celebration and walks towards the largest tent, the site from which a particularly tough infected had emerged.
It was the tent of the camp's top leader, but there is nothing to attract Ogha's attention, until he notices a journal and opens it.
Day 652:As expected, everything here sucks. I already want to go back to Leyndell.
Day 740:Supplies have not arrived again.
Day 780:Those snakes seem to have no end, they are everywhere and there are more and more of them. We need the supplies now, I'm already beginning to fear the worst.
Day 890:They are not arriving, there are no traces, there is nothing. I'm going to have to make a search party for food.
Day 920:A body has gone missing from a freshly fallen. We need to investigate.
Day 930: Another one is missing.
Day 980: What have I done, what have we done... We are.
Day 1050:We will hold this line to the end, until the last of us is consumed. Queen Marika... I can see your flames... Is this the right thing to do?
Closing the journal with clear displeasure on his face, Ogha seems to think of several things and silently exits the tent.