Chapter 39: It Doesn’t Even Feel Like We Won

The Sergeant was still shouting orders at the soldiers reinforcing the western barricade when Zishan finally reached him.

"SERGEANT!"

The man turned toward him, his expression changing when he recognized the white-haired Soldier approaching from the damaged section of the battlefield.

"Zishan?! Where the hell have you been?!" he asked, glancing at the blood on the young man’s face and his badly damaged uniform. "I sent men to look for you!"

"I just fought a Level 99 bastard, Sergeant!" Zishan said as he saluted. "The bastard will be our prisoner!"

"YOU WHAT?!" The Sergeant felt the stress already coming.

"YES! BUT THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!"

The Sergeant stared at him before pulling him aside, away from the soldiers repairing the barricade. "Explain yourself. What prisoner?"

"Larper Forteza! The bastard who was controlling the horde!" Zishan pointed toward the battlefield. "I knocked him unconscious, but tell your men not to remove his slave collar. That thing is dangerous!"

"You captured Larper Forteza?" The Sergeant stared at him in disbelief.

"SERGEANT! LISTEN TO ME!" Zishan said, his voice laced with urgency. "The Eastern Reserve Station has been attacked! The whole fucking horde was a diversion to draw your reinforcements here!"

"What?! Where did you get that information?"

"FROM THAT BASTARD’S FUCKING COLLAR!"

The Sergeant glanced toward the reinforcements helping defend the barricade. "What exactly did you see?"

"When those soldiers arrived, Larper’s collar received another order! The diversion was complete, and the main assault had succeeded!" Zishan pointed at the reinforcements. "They attacked the Eastern Reserve Station after those reinforcements left! Why the fuck would the commander leave the station practically undefended?!"

The Sergeant frowned at Zishan’s remark about the commander but let it pass. "Are you certain?"

"Yes, Sergeant! I’m certain of it!"

The Sergeant called over one of the officers who had arrived with the reinforcements and explained what Zishan had discovered. The officer listened without interrupting, although his expression changed when the Sergeant mentioned the Eastern Reserve Station.

"We left enough soldiers behind to defend it," the officer said. "Our orders were to reinforce the medical station."

"Well, those bastards were counting on that!" Zishan replied.

The Sergeant turned toward two soldiers standing nearby. "Send scouts to the eastern approach and establish contact with the station. I want confirmation of what happened there!"

"YES, SERGEANT!"

As the soldiers departed, the Sergeant ordered the remaining men to continue defending the medical station. Whatever had happened at the Eastern Reserve Station, they still had wounded soldiers to protect and several hostile Magic Beasts to deal with.

Zishan finally managed to breathe a little easier. At least somebody with significantly more military experience than him was dealing with the situation now, which meant he could concentrate on other matters that were equally important to his continued survival.

Such as making sure the unconscious bastard he had left behind remained unconscious.

And his four Magic Beasts!

"OH, FUCK! SERGEANT! MY BEASTS!"

The Sergeant turned around. "Your what?"

"MY BEASTS! I TOLD THEM TO STAY WITH THE PRISONER!"

Zishan had already started running before the man could respond, although he made it less than ten steps before the pain in his abdomen reminded him that he had recently been kicked, kneed, thrown across the ground, and subjected to several other extremely unpleasant experiences.

He slowed down.

’FUCK! WHY DOES EVERYTHING HURT SO MUCH?!’

[The Dumb Host is advised to seek medical treatment.]

’I KNOW! THAT’S WHY I’M GOING BACK TO THE MEDICAL STATION!’

[The Dumb Host is currently running away from the medical tents.]

Zishan stopped. He glanced toward the tents behind the barricade, then toward the battlefield where he had left Larper.

Several soldiers had already been sent to retrieve Larper. Zishan caught up with them near the damaged barricade, where they had stopped upon seeing three Ridgefang Hounds guarding the unconscious Beast Tamer.

A short distance away, the injured Ironback Razorboar was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

One of the soldiers raised his sword. "ENEMY BEASTS!"

"W-WAIT! DON’T FUCKING KILL THEM! THEY’RE MINE!" Zishan said, struggling to breathe.

The soldier who had raised his sword turned toward him, bewildered. "Yours?"

"Y-YES! I TAMED THEM!" Zishan pointed at the Ironback Razorboar lying a short distance away. "AND THAT ONE TOO!"

Before the soldiers could ask him anything else, Zishan opened his Tamed Beasts menu. And he was surprised when a System prompt appeared in front of him.

[TAMED BEAST SPACE ACTIVATED!]

[Store or Summon Bonded Beasts]

[Stored Beasts: 0]

’OH! SO I DON’T HAVE TO DRAG THESE BASTARDS AROUND EVERYWHERE! NICE ONE!’

He selected the three Ridgefang Hounds and the injured Ironback Razorboar. Greenish light enveloped all four creatures before they disappeared from the battlefield.

[Tamed Beasts Successfully Stored!]

[Stored Beasts: 4]

"HAHAHAHA! AMAZINGGG!"

The soldiers stared at the empty ground where the four Magic Beasts had been standing, clearly confused about what just transpired.

"Now, about that prisoner!" Zishan pointed toward Larper. "Be careful with his collar. Don’t try to remove it, or that bastard might end up dead before we get any information out of him!"

The soldiers restrained Larper’s arms and legs before carrying him toward the medical station under armed guard. They just followed his orders without saying anything. After all, the young Soldier already looked battered himself and they didn’t really need to argue with him. At least one of the enemies were captured now.

Zishan checked his Tamed Beasts menu again. The Razorboar was still listed as severely injured, so he would have to find someone who could treat it once things had settled down.

He was about to return to the medical tents when another horn sounded from the eastern approach.

This time, the noise was followed by shouting.

A horse had appeared beyond the defensive line, carrying a soldier whose dark-green uniform was covered in dirt and blood. One of the arriving reinforcements recognized the insignia on the man’s damaged coat and began calling for the officer who had spoken with the Sergeant earlier.

Zishan’s expression stiffened.

’Don’t fucking tell me...’

The rider nearly fell from his horse when he reached the entrance. Two soldiers helped him down, but the man pushed against their arms and attempted to approach the officers gathered near the barricade.

"REPORT! FROM THE EASTERN RESERVE STATION!"

The Sergeant turned toward him.

The officer who had accompanied the reinforcements stepped forward and demanded that the soldier identify himself.

The scout gave his name, military assignment, and identification before attempting to explain what had happened. He was breathing so heavily that his words kept breaking apart, and one of the healers had to support him when his injured leg nearly gave way.

"The station..." He swallowed. "The Eastern Reserve Station has fallen, sir."

"..."

The Sergeant frowned. "What the hell happened?"

The scout described an enemy assault that had struck after the reinforcement detachment departed. The remaining defenders had attempted to hold their positions, but the attackers broke through the station’s defenses before the soldiers could reorganize. Several men had escaped during the final retreat, although the scout had lost contact with the others while making his way toward Forward Medical Section Three.

"Are you certain the station was taken?" an officer asked.

"I saw them inside the compound, sir. Our men were retreating from the inner positions when I left. The enemy had already taken the command area."

"What happened to the remaining defenders?"

"I don’t know, sir."

The officer fell silent.

’Fuck. So they really took the station...’

Zishan glanced at the wounded scout. How many soldiers had been left behind? And how many of them had managed to escape?

What happened just didn’t sit well with him. The enemy Kingdom was just ruthless!

The scout’s arrival had also attracted the attention of the other soldiers. Several men who had been celebrating the reinforcements’ arrival were now standing around the entrance, watching their officers with increasingly concerned expressions.

One of them stepped forward. "My brother was stationed there, sir. Did you see—"

"Return to your post," the officer ordered, although his voice lacked its previous sharpness. "We’ll establish what happened to the remaining men once we’ve secured this position."

The soldier hesitated before saluting and returning toward the barricade.

Zishan watched him leave. ’Fuck...’

For the first time since the horde had begun, he couldn’t think of anything particularly clever to say.

The Sergeant approached him after giving several more orders to the soldiers gathered around the scout. "Your report was accurate."

Zishan gave him a look. "Sergeant, I really wish it wasn’t."

The man studied him for a moment before shifting his attention toward the medical tents, where healers were still carrying injured soldiers away from the defensive lines.

"We can’t abandon this station," he said. "Not with this many wounded. The officers will send a report to rear command, and we’ll hold our position until we receive further instructions."

Zishan nodded. He’d warned the Sergeant, and now the officers knew what they were dealing with. There wasn’t much he could do about the Eastern Reserve Station from here.

Somewhere behind the barricade, another soldier shouted that the final group of hostile Magic Beasts had been eliminated.

The Sergeant raised his head. "Confirm the western approach is clear! I want every surviving beast accounted for!"

A few minutes later, the final report arrived.

The remaining Magic Beasts had either been killed or driven away from the medical station. Several smaller creatures had scattered when Larper lost consciousness, and the surviving defenders were now securing the damaged sections of the battlefield.

Forward Medical Section Three had survived.

Then, the familiar chime rang inside Zishan’s head.

[DING!]

[FIELD QUEST COMPLETE]

[Protect the Forward Healers!]

[Objective fulfilled: Forward Medical Section Three successfully protected.]

[SUB-EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETE]

[The Western Stampede!]

[Objective: Magic Beast horde repelled. Forward Medical Section Three protected.]

[Settlement processing...]

[SETTLEMENT CONFIRMED]

[FIELD QUEST BASE REWARDS]

[EXP: 2,000 — SETTLED]

[ALL STATS +5 — PERMANENT]

[Verdant Weave Mastery Level +1 — APPLIED]

[THE WESTERN STAMPEDE REWARDS]

[+30 INT — PERMANENT]

[INSATIABLE WARBODY — PERMANENT]

[+5 STR — PERMANENT]

[+5 VIT — PERMANENT]

[+5 AGI — PERMANENT]

[FIRE MANA AFFINITY — PERMANENT]

[WILDFIRE REQUIEM — PERMANENT]

Another panel followed.

[Wildfire Requiem]

[Tier: Sovereign]

[Perfected Glimpse: Removed]

[True Mastery: Beginner]

[Residual Insight: Retained]

Zishan stared at the notification.

His Mythical Physique, Sovereign-tier Skill, Fire Mana Affinity, and the additional Intelligence he had acquired were finally his permanent rewards. There was no longer any danger of losing them now that he had successfully protected the medical station.

He should’ve been celebrating by now, but he couldn’t get the news about the Eastern Reserve Station out of his head.

’It doesn’t even feel like we won. One fucking Beast Tamer caused all this, and look at what his beasts did to our men. No wonder they’re so valuable in war...’ He glanced toward the scout being escorted into one of the treatment tents. ’And while we were busy fighting his beasts, those bastards took the Eastern Reserve Station.’