Shadowed Gaze: The Highserk War Saga - Chapter 20

Three days after the conversation in the mine, a large-scale operation was being prepared against the demoralized Felius army. The mine, with multiple fortresses and deeply entrenched defense facilities, was a target for the Highserk Empire, aiming to seize the southern city walls, a key point of the enemy’s defense.

Walm, however, was displeased with his current situation.

“Damn, why do I have to sneak into the fort and set fires? I’m not an arsonist.”

Due to the mine’s location, it was hard to deploy large numbers in the forts. So Walm was ordered to launch a night raid, set fires to the barricades, and create chaos.

“It’s an honor to be directly chosen by the Reglia Battalion Commander,” the squad leader commented, with a tone that was unpleasantly sincere.

“You’ll have a wind attribute magic user for protection, so relax.”

For Walm, a mission relying solely on individual prowess was a sign of dysfunctional organization. Sadly, as a mere soldier, he had no right to refuse.

Though a capable wind attribute mage was to join the 20-man team, they were vastly outnumbered by over 200 enemy soldiers. After creating chaos, a two-company force, including Duwey’s squad, was to break through. Any delay might lead to enemy reinforcements.

Unenthusiastically, Walm proceeded to the rendezvous point, where the company commander awaited in a tent. About 30 soldiers gathered inside the rather cramped large tent. For Walm, it was his first direct involvement in military planning.

The temporary raiding squad’s leader had been dispatched from the Reglia Battalion. Walm recognized a few familiar faces in the room.

“All are here,” announced a company commander from the Reglia Battalion.

“The plan is simple. After breaching the barricades with wind magic, we’ll seize a section and aim for a corner of the defense tower on the right.”

The commander detailed the target location using a map. Walm noticed the map was brand new, likely drawn based on prisoner and scout reports.

“After securing the area near the side defense tower, Walm will use ‘Demon Fire’ to incinerate the tower’s guards. That will be our entry point. Hold the tower at all costs and use ‘Demon Fire’ to block the entrance. The fire will deter the enemy and reveal their positions in the dark. Just don’t burn our own troops.”

Dry laughter followed the commander’s last remark. Walm wanted to laugh too, but he knew better than to draw ire. He remained silent.

“Retreat immediately if detected. We’ll cover your withdrawal. That’s all. I pray for your everlasting fortune in battle.”

After the meeting, Walm prepared himself. He wrapped his gear in cloth to avoid noise and crawled towards the entrance, getting dirty with earth and the scent of grass. His face smeared with mud, which he ignored, knowing he’d get dirty anyway.

As he approached, the lights illuminating the distant barricade path grew closer. Various light sources, including magic stones and glow moss, provided enough light to see approaching figures.

Though over 100 meters away, there was a risk of being spotted by enemy soldiers with sensory skills or night vision. Walm had been on edge getting this close, catching glimpses of enemy soldiers, some even yawning.

Walm wasn’t trying to protect the enemy soldiers, but the continuous hour-long harassment attacks at nights had been affecting their concentration and alertness. Otherwise, he might have been the one discovered midway and chased away.

He silently wiped the dirt from his face and put on his mask, which vibrated slightly in anticipation of the upcoming battle.

“Behave. It’ll start soon.”

Remarkably, the intelligent mask ceased vibrating at Walm’s request. Keeping his breathing minimal and body low, he awaited the signal.

Once given, Walm discarded his disguise and used wind magic to swiftly reach the barricade.

“Burst.”

The soldiers, accelerated by the wind, descended onto the wall. An enemy soldier, noticing the noise, peeked over the barricade only to have his throat slashed by Walm’s longsword before he could shout.

“E―”

The soldier next to him was about to shout in panic, but he was forcefully silenced by a fellow soldier’s warhammer.

The ambush went better than expected. Quietly distributing death, Walm made his way into the side defense tower. The entrance led to a resting room with six soldiers, caught unaware.

“Enem―aaaghhhhh!”

Once Walm had infiltrated this far, stealth was no longer necessary. The words of alert quickly turned into screams of terror. The place transformed into a hellish inferno as he unleashed “Demon Fire”. Soldiers engulfed in fire writhed on the ground, attempting to extinguish the flames, but the relentless blaze engulfed them completely.

Highserk soldiers, avoiding the fire, moved around to deliver finishing blows to the writhing enemy soldiers. On the rooftop, guards who were late to notice the commotion below were now in panic.

Walm rushed up the stairs, spreading fire to the defense tower’s rooftop. The fire, having nowhere else to go, was pushed by the wind through gaps in the battlements and roof, bursting out.

Soldiers caught in the flames fell from the tower to escape, turning into living torches. The burning barricades and blazing soldiers were a clear signal of battle to the surrounding area.

“Enemy attack! Wake up, get to your positions!”

“The third side tower is on fire. What’s with that blue flame?!”

“Why is the stone side tower burning?! Is it Libertoa’s black water?”

From inside the fort, soldiers poured out like bees from a disturbed hive. Walm couldn’t help but be impressed by the number of soldiers crammed into such a place.

“Walm, they’re coming up from below!”

The shout came from a temporary task force leader. On the rooftop, soldiers shot arrows and cast spells to fend off enemies. Walm stopped his skill to avoid friendly fire and slid down the stairs, passing comrades with bows on their way up.

“We’re in position. Do it.”

The task force leader gave the signal. The difficult part was over; now they just had to hold their ground. Walm directed “Demon Fire” towards two doors leading to the barricade and the downward staircase leading inside the tower.

“Aaaah―!”

“Retreat, retreat quickly!”

Felius soldiers trying to enter were forced to retreat in masses. The unfortunate ones who couldn’t escape in time screamed for a few seconds before succumbing to smoke inhalation and fire.

Walm continued to unleash “Demon Fire”. A couple dozen seconds might seem short, but for the defenders, it was a deadly amount of time. The huge signal fires were enough to inform friendly forces of the operation’s success.

The voices of the waiting company echoed in the night. It was the first time Walm understood the volume and murderous intent directed at the enemy. To allies, it was reassuring, but the concern was whether the friendly forces might mistakenly attack Walm.

“They won’t attack us, right?”

“…Probably not.”

Walm called out to the soldiers on the rooftop, but the response was unconvincing.

“Before the enemy’s main force arrives, retake the side tower at all cost!”

Below, the enemy commander frantically tried to regain control. Walm wished they would just keep running around in panic.

After thirty seconds, maintaining the skill became difficult, and Walm ceased it. The residual heat and remaining flames still burned.

Breathing heavily, Walm heard an unbelievable sound: multiple footsteps rapidly ascending the stairs.

“Enemy soldiers are coming up!”

“Are you joking?!”

Walm called out to the task force leader, but the skeptical response he got back was not reassuring. If only it were a joke―the footsteps approached, and Walm soon saw their source.

Three men. Facing Walm, he realized they all possessed skills and magic. Likely, one was enhanced for physical strength, another had fire-resistant magic, and the last wielded water magic.

Walm didn’t want to admit it, but they had managed to ascend while extinguishing and protecting themselves from the fire. Focusing on fire power rather than maintenance had affected this outcome.

“Cover me!!”

“That’s impossible in this fire. We’re about to collapse from the heat.”

No friendly soldiers were near Walm due to the fire. What was the point of having guards? Walm nearly grumbled. The enemy soldiers had already breached the room. He swung his halberd at the lead soldier.

The sound of the wind-cutting “Strong Strike” was effortlessly parried by the two-handed sword.

Walm felt he had become stronger, but facing three skilled enemies in such a hazardous environment was like performing a dance of death.

He squeezed out the remaining magic power, reigniting “Demon Fire.”

The soldier adept at physical enhancement could withstand the “Strong Strike” but avoided the direct hit of “Demon Fire.” The other two avoided the “Strong Strike” but endured “Demon Fire.”

As Walm repelled the two-handed sword, a longsword and water magic assailed him from the side. He deflected the longsword with his gauntlet and countered the water magic with ‘Demon Fire’, rapidly depleting his magic.

The physically enhanced soldier took the front, while the fire and water magic users provided support.

If all of them had excelled in swordsmanship, Walm would have already been defeated. It seemed that the magic wielders specialized in mid to long-range combat and were not good at close combat.

The time left was cut down to 4 seconds. Continuing to fight normally would clearly result in Walm being killed due to exhaustion of his magic power.

Walm targeted a soldier of the same attribute and released “Demon Fire.” Although the soldier fortified himself with a round shield against the fierce flames, Walm kept increasing the firepower.

“Gaaaaaaaah!” the soldier screamed.

What seemed like a failed attempt turned successful as even the stone floors and ceiling began to burn in the face of such intense fire, eventually overpowering the soldier’s fire resistance. “Demon Fire” enveloped the man’s body.

“Wagner?!” another soldier shouted, recognizing his burning comrade. He lunged to stop Walm’s “Demon Fire.” Their coordination faltered slightly at this point.

The water-attribute magic user, who had been protecting his allies from the blue flames, inadvertently doused his comrade with water. A good human, but not a good soldier, as this act turned out to be detrimental.

The fingers of the soldier who had been enhanced physically, had been exposed to the fire closest to him. Contrary to the forceful downward swing, the two-handed sword flew off in an unexpected direction.

The man tried to pick up his two-handed sword again, but Walm’s halberd was quicker in piercing the man’s heart. Only one opponent remained.

Just as Walm was about to focus on the last person, the soldier he had pierced through the heart clung onto the halberd, holding it down.

“Do it!” the soldier spat out blood as he shouted.

The last one was a water-attribute soldier. Unlike his previous supportive actions, he was now clearly aiming to finish off Walm.

“Let go!” Walm spat out the words like a villain, elbowing the dead soldier in the face with the gauntlet part of his hand, but the restraint was only slightly eased.

The man, shouting fiercely, relentlessly pressed towards Walm. Walm instinctively received the sword with his gauntlet, but the sword, swung from the top, penetrated deeply into his shoulder.

“Aghhh!”

The physically enhanced soldier, satisfied with his blow, collapsed to the ground.

“Die. DIE!”

The man kept pressing the sword in deeper, but Walm collided with him, grappling him. In the close quarters, the man couldn’t swing his sword effectively.

The sword hit Walm’s gauntlet and torso, but he managed to avoid crucial hits. They rolled on the ground, tangled together.

It was a complete brawl. Walm’s bleeding from the shoulder was severe, and he could hardly muster any strength. The man leaned forward, trying to mount Walm and put his weight on him.

The air was squeezed from Walm’s lungs. He quickly grabbed the man’s neck with his arm and elbow, using a chokehold technique.

“Ugh, uh, guuuh!”

The man, trying to escape, punched Walm’s abdomen, but Walm entwined his legs around the man’s waist, pulling him even closer. It was uncertain whether seconds or minutes had passed.

Walm twisted the man’s neck thoroughly. Even a man who had been pierced through the heart had restrained Walm with extraordinary strength. It wouldn’t have been surprising if the man with a broken neck was still alive.

Fortunately, Walm’s worries were unfounded, and the man became completely motionless.

“Haah, haah, damn.”

Walm caught his breath and rolled the body to the ground. He was on the verge of death. Lacking both magic and physical strength, and bleeding heavily from his impromptu movements, he felt extremely dizzy. His entire body was soiled with his own blood and the enemy’s.

Warriors and soldiers with abundant magical power could create a pseudo-membrane with their magic, allowing them to fight like berserkers while holding back bleeding and internal injuries. However Walm, drained of magic, couldn’t do anything of the kind.

Suddenly, Walm sensed a presence behind him and turned around, only to see a man about to swing down his longsword.

“What?!”

The soldier he had first burned was still alive. Despite being burned all over, his intent to kill had not faded.

Already unable to lift his arms, Walm braced himself for the impending pain. However, the man just collapsed onto him. Walm struggled to escape from being pinned down.

“Are you alive?”

The voice belonged to the platoon leader Walm had interacted with on the stairs. An arrow was deeply embedded in the enemy soldier’s head.

“Yeah, I’m alive. You could have come a bit earlier though. I was almost turned into minced meat.”

Walm tried to joke, but he had already lost his composure.

“I’m human enough to not barge into such a blaze.”

The soldier looked back and forth between Walm and the dead soldiers, commenting. Walm wanted to protest, but his bleeding was too severe.

“You look like you’re about to die. I’ll lend you a shoulder. Get treated upstairs. We’ll buy a few more minutes.”

Soldiers who had retreated to the top of the side tower started descending, fortifying the entrance. Friendlies had already arrived in front of the barricade and were about to leap onto the walkway.

Right next to where Walm was laid down, lay the first soldier he had burned. Unlike the other human torches who fell from the sky, he had burned to death inside.

“Ah, sorry. Please bear with this temporary roommate for a while.”

The soldier treating Walm cracked a tough joke. Walm couldn’t complain. He was the one who had killed the man, after all.