Chapter 784: It’s a Trap

As Akta's squad enters the clearing near the nest, mist surges up without warning and engulfs them.

Berio yanks the round shield from his back. "Close ranks! Form up! It's a trap!"

They are certain they triggered no alarm. If the mist is closing in now, the enemy must have been waiting in ambush.

Akta lowers his voice. "We break out to the left. Someone has to get this intelligence out."

"No need," Nadal replies. "We've already released both Wolf Falcons. Little Pike and Mattock are on their way to company base too."

Akta draws a deep breath. "I'm sorry, everyone. My obsession dragged all of you into this..."

Berio cuts him off. "Enough bullshit! I'll take point. Form up and break through!"

There is no use arguing now. Getting out alive is all that matters.

The thirteen soldiers lock into a circular battle formation and push back the way they came.

They make it a little over ten meters before the mist ripples. Several war blades slash toward Berio and the soldiers in front.

The ambushers have badly underestimated Peace Haven's elites.

Shields rise. Boots drive forward. Longswords stab through the gaps.

Every motion is perfectly synchronized, the counterattack completed in one fluid motion.

The distinctive shrieks of Subterranean River Bandits pierce the fog as spraying blood stains it pale red.

The opening success does not reassure Berio. Only three enemy corpses lie ahead.

Six enemies had attacked, and the counterattack had struck every one of them.

Each should have been finished off by the soldiers behind Berio, just like the three bodies lying there.

Yet three escaped certain death, hidden by the mist or something within it.

Berio warns the squad, "Adjust your angles. Use their attacks to judge their position and height, then kill them with a single strike."

The mist ripples again before he finishes speaking.

This time, the assault is fiercer, and many more enemies come with it.

The warning has prepared Akta's squad. Their counterattack is deadlier still.

Weapons crash in rapid succession, punctuated by the bandits' screams and Peace Haven soldiers' muffled grunts.

When the brief clash ends, two soldiers are wounded, but both remain able to fight.

More than ten enemies lie around them. The formation expands two paces, finishes them off, then snaps shut again.

The squad crosses the ring of corpses and advances another thirty meters.

Akta throws up a hand. "Stop! Something is interfering with our senses. The distance is wrong."

"We should have reached the bushes by now, but the soil under our feet says we're moving closer to the river."

Nadal asks, "Do we try another direction?"

Akta rejects the idea. "No. We don't understand this spell. If we move blindly, we could walk straight into the river."

"That would make them stronger and cripple us. We hold here."

Berio asks, "Until help arrives?"

Akta shakes his head. "No. A spell this large must burn through mana."

"It's noon, when the sunlight is at its harshest. Water demons hate this time of day."

"Casting a spell like this now must cost them even more."

The squad adjusts its positions while the wounded soldiers receive quick bandages to stop the bleeding.

When Akta's squad stops moving, the water demons realize their plan to lure these elite humans into the river has failed.

Just as Akta predicted, maintaining the environmental spell under the midday sun takes a heavy toll.

The water demons refuse to waste the battlefield they created. They order another attack.

Led by several water demon guards, more than a hundred Subterranean River Bandits surge through the mist in wave after wave.

Enemies fall in droves, but wounds begin mounting across the squad.

At the height of the fighting, a water demon guard slams an injured soldier to the ground with its heavy war blade.

A Water-Rope Spell snakes up from the ground, coils around the fallen soldier's ankle, and drags him into the fog.

Akta knocks aside the guard's weapon with his longsword, drives it back with a shield bash, and lunges after the soldier.

He hurls his shield into another attacker, sends it flying, and catches the soldier by the shoulder.

Fighting spirit floods his longsword. One slash severs the water rope.

Still on the ground, the soldier cocks his wrist crossbow, loads a bolt, and fires into an oncoming enemy.

At the same moment, Nadal loads a special runic bolt into his military crossbow and fires toward the source of the rope.

Fighting spirit surges through the crossbow bolt, activating its extraordinary effect.

The bolt rips through the fog toward an unseen target.

A piercing scream answers it. The Subterranean River Bandits attack with even greater frenzy.

The extraordinary bolt has wounded a water demon. Enraged, it orders its minions forward again.

The battle rages for two hours. Three soldiers are critically wounded, and every other member of the squad is hurt.

More than a hundred enemy bodies surround them, including five water demon guards.

Still, the attacks do not stop, and the enemy's numbers show no sign of dwindling.

Akta and the others finally understand. This is no ordinary nest, but an established medium-sized nest already growing toward large size.

That hardly matters now. The squad has run out of crossbow bolts.

Extraordinary crossbow bolts have wounded the hidden water demon twice. Since the second hit, it has cast far more cautiously.

It no longer uses the Water-Rope Spell to drag people away openly. The attacks become stealthier and more cunning.

Two hours of relentless fighting have drained the squad's strength.

Even Akta and the other two Knights are exhausted.

Almost none of their fighting spirit remains.

And then, without warning, the mist vanishes.

Under the westering sun, more than a hundred Subterranean River Bandits and six water demon guards still surround them.

Near the nest, five water demons study the humans with open curiosity.

No one celebrates the spell's end. Dread sinks into every soldier's stomach.

Their worst estimate had been three water demons. They had even dared hope there might be only two.

Five stand before them, and one has blue hair.

They're doomed.

A Battle Knight-rank water demon!