Chapter 785: Activating the Aura

The leading blue-haired water demon studies Akta's squad as the soldiers brace for battle, then turns to its companions.

Their language is strange. A few syllables sound familiar, but most resemble bubbles breaking through water.

"Humans... strong... useful... do not kill... capture alive..."

The fragments are enough. The soldiers understand that the water demons mean to capture them alive.

Akta spits out bloody foam. "You mongrels think you can take us alive?"

A green-haired water demon begins chanting, and thick fog rises around it once more.

Before the fog steals his sight, Akta sees the blue-haired water demon preparing another spell.

"Form up! Defend!"

The survivors have barely drawn together when they collapse to their knees.

Weapons clatter to the ground. The soldiers clutch their heads and scream.

Akta fares no better. He braces his longsword against the earth and drops to one knee, a blade seeming to churn inside his skull.

Through the agony, a voice urges him to stop resisting. Surrender, it promises, and everything will be fine.

Beautiful women. Boundless wealth. A noble title. One temptation after another fills his mind.

His eyes lose focus. Suddenly, he is looking into his own childhood.

He sees his frail younger self being sold from place to place alongside his parents.

He sees his parents abandon his younger brother and sister so that Akta might live.

Then he sees himself on the verge of starvation, only to be sold again, this time to Peace Haven.

His childhood face slowly merges with Sambik's dead one.

Sambik, or perhaps the child Akta once was, looks up at him. "You promised him you would save his brother!"

"You promised your younger siblings that you'd take them with you and give them a better life!"

"You promised your parents that you would survive!"

"You promised your comrades that you would bring them all home!"

"Don't give up! You still have things left to do!"

Blood pours from Akta's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Roaring through the pain, he forces himself upright.

He grips his longsword in both hands and bellows, "Blades forge peace. The ordinary unite in glory!"

The cry jolts Nadal and Berio free. The two Knights raise their swords and roar with him.

One by one, the other soldiers struggle to their feet and tear themselves free of the blue-haired water demon's mental spell.

Together, they roar Peace Haven's battle creed: "Blades forge peace. The ordinary unite in glory!"

Starting with Akta, translucent Chains of Civilization appear around every soldier.

The illusory white chains join together, spreading across the ground in a vast web.

The critically wounded stabilize. Other wounds begin to close, and strength flows back into exhausted bodies.

More importantly, the Light of Civilization wipes away the surrounding fog the instant it forms.

The green-haired water demon maintaining the spell shrieks and collapses.

The blue-haired water demon behind the psychic attack spits out several mouthfuls of blood and howls in pain.

The surrounding calamity creatures attack at once.

The sun is already weakening, so its effect on the calamity creatures is less severe. But without fog blinding the soldiers, they can finally fight at full strength.

The enemy has a crushing numerical advantage, yet it is still no match for an elite hunting squad made up entirely of officers.

The Light of Civilization suppresses every calamity creature even further.

Even the critically wounded rise and follow the formation, finishing off fallen enemies in its wake.

With Akta at their head, the soldiers carve through the calamity creatures with their longswords.

They do not retreat. They press forward without hesitation, straight toward the water demons.

Their killing speed is terrifying. Even the water demon guards' tough scales offer no protection against Peace Haven steel.

Their blades cut through flesh and bone like a hot knife through butter.

A soldier who puts too much strength into a blow cuts a Subterranean River Bandit clean in half.

As the squad closes on the water demons, a distinctive shriek rings from the nest. More calamity creatures pour out.

Several are species the soldiers have never seen. Most intimidating are a dozen cavalrymen mounted on lobster-like creatures.

Within moments, the squad is surrounded again.

The Light of Civilization has vastly increased the soldiers' power against calamity creatures.

But there are too few of them, and they are no longer in anything close to peak condition.

The balance of the battle tips back toward the calamity creatures. As more flood from the nest, the destruction of Akta's squad becomes only a matter of time.

A kilometer away, hidden in the woods, Tuge lowers his binoculars. "That's enough. Akta can't hold much longer."

The company's deputy commander scowls. "That bastard deserves to suffer! We told them not to act rashly."

"But they still disobeyed orders and acted alone, dragging the whole squad into danger."

"The Department of Military Affairs had better punish them severely when we return. If he makes an even bigger mess next time, no one may be there to bail him out."

Tuge chuckles. "All right. I know he's your subordinate and you want him to have this opportunity."

"Relax."

"Back in the Central Military District, I saw part of the First Cavalry Legion activate something similar."

"A friend of mine works at the Military Academy. They've been trying to figure out how to activate this formation aura."

"Aside from the Lord Iron Guards, only the Iron Guard Legion and the First Cavalry Legion can use it reliably."

"The lord pays close attention whenever someone activates a formation aura without outside help."

"So Akta and his squad will be fine. They still deserve punishment for disobeying orders, though."

"All right."

"It's time. Any longer and men will start dying, and I don't want this mission to exceed the casualty limit."

Tuge takes up his lance. "Three teams! Lokas, take the left wing."

"Kirad, take the right!"

"I'll hit them head-on. Cut off every escape route and wipe them all out!"

Tuge rides out of the woods, and cavalrymen pour out behind him.

More than two hundred riders gather at his back, then rapidly divide into three formations.

Fifty take each wing. Tuge leads a hundred down the center, while the remaining dozens split into groups of five and fan out along the perimeter.

Thirty seconds later, the cavalry reaches full charging speed.

Visors slam down. Lances drop.

Another thirty seconds, and Tuge smashes into the enemy formation, tearing open a massive gap.

The left and right wings crash in next, splitting the enemy into isolated sections.

What follows is simple. Roughly a thousand calamity creatures cannot withstand two charges from these elite riders.

These are officers handpicked from a warband. If they could not accomplish this much, Peace Haven would have fallen long ago.