Chapter 847: Bloodbath on a Rainy Night

Every soldier in the First and Second Combat Battalions is at Knight Rank. Facing an enemy force of extraordinary creatures, they give no ground.

The advantages of their weapons and equipment offset the unfavorable conditions.

From the moment battle begins, both sides are locked in savage close-quarters fighting.

They are evenly matched, and the stalemate lasts more than an hour.

Then Pabos advances with the two reserve combat battalions. The battle standard's influence reaches across the battlefield, and Civilization Aura activates.

The calamity creatures lose twenty percent of their fighting strength, while the Ninth Warband gains twenty percent.

With one side weakened and the other strengthened, the calamity creatures' formation suddenly collapses.

The Third Combat Battalion is already on the flank. As the enemy formation falls into chaos, it charges through the mud at full speed and drives into the weak point.

By the time Pabos brings the rear formation around to close the encirclement, the outcome is decided.

Pabos follows with precise tactical control. He keeps repositioning the hundred-man formations, splitting the enemy apart and surrounding the isolated groups.

The battle ends at midnight. Only a few hundred calamity creatures escape the battlefield and flee back toward Palm Tree Lake.

Clearing the battlefield takes until dawn.

The postbattle tally shows that fewer than seven hundred of the roughly three thousand four hundred enemies escaped.

Almost all the rest were killed. Very few were captured; they will be sent to the rear and kept alive for research.

The Ninth Warband lost three hundred and twenty-three men killed. More than four hundred suffered serious injuries, and nearly a thousand sustained minor injuries.

A single battle cost the Ninth Warband almost a combat battalion's worth of troops.

No one sees this as a great victory. They are all worried about the task ahead.

Pabos recognizes the problem and calls a military council.

"We suffered heavy casualties in our very first battle as a warband. I know that has shaken your confidence."

"But you need to understand that we fought under very unfavorable conditions last night."

"First, these were not ordinary Subterranean River Bandits. They were elite units, made up entirely of extraordinary creatures."

"Even a whole enemy legion could not have mustered so many elite troops."

"Second, we had rain, mud, and very little light. Those conditions made the fighting extremely difficult."

"You did everything you could to surround and destroy them."

"Finally, those unfavorable conditions are temporary. You have all felt the change yourselves."

"The rain is weakening. It no longer falls without a break."

"That means the weather will clear soon."

"The high-ranking spellcasters have studied and discussed this. Once the rain stops, the surrounding air will hold very little moisture for a long time."

"That means the enemy cannot realistically create another battlefield under a curtain of rain."

"Once the skies clear and the sun dries the ground, we will be able to fight at our full strength."

"The enemy's fighting strength, meanwhile, will drop considerably. With us stronger and them weaker, their attacks will be much easier to handle."

Once he has raised morale, Pabos goes to check on the wounded.

Whistler and Dimir do not arrive until noon.

Neither slept last night. Both spent the night worrying about the battle.

They sent men to ask about the situation after the fighting ended, but Pabos had too much to attend to, so they did not disturb him.

Now they have come to hear Pabos's assessment of the battle.

Pabos takes the two warband commanders into a room to answer their questions.

Gone is the confidence he showed his men. After a moment's silence, he says, "It looks bad!"

"That was only a probing attack. The fighting will get harder from here."

"I'll be frank with you both. My Ninth Warband is probably the most elite warband in the entire strike group."

"For my safety, every unit transferred its best soldiers here."

"Even after my father screened them, professionals still make up more than half the warband."

"All officers in my warband at centurion level or above are Battle Knights, and each has a full set of extraordinary equipment."

"Even with all that, five thousand against three thousand last night still cost me a fifth of my men in casualties!"

The other two fall silent as well.

Whistler asks, "Didn't you tell the men that things would keep turning in our favor?"

Pabos nods. "They will! But later. We need at least three days, perhaps even five days, before that happens."

"Our intelligence says the enemy will have gathered another five thousand elite troops by tomorrow evening."

"That means they are certain to attack again within three days."

"That will be the most dangerous moment. Hold through it, and the balance will begin to shift in our favor."

"By then, they will also know for certain that this is a trap. For the sake of those hundred and seventy thousand calamity bandits, they will attack with everything they have."

Whistler says gravely, "I will send you a combat battalion when the time comes."

"I'll detach one from my force too!" Dimir says.

Pabos shakes his head. "No! We cannot let them gauge our strengths and weaknesses. My Ninth Warband has to hold the front."

"If they cannot break through me, they will divert troops to the flanks. That is when you attack."

"Your troops use different commands from mine. We direct them differently, too. On a battlefield that changes from moment to moment, those differences could be fatal."

Pabos will not budge. Neither man presses the point, and they turn to planning for the next battle.

Three days later, the situation changes considerably, just as Pabos predicted.

Six thousand elite troops have gathered near Palm Tree Lake and now advance on the five-fort defense line.

Conditions are much better this time. There is no longer standing water on the ground, and the battle takes place in the afternoon.

Although the rain has stopped, the air is still very damp. The spellcasters among the elite river bandits summon a curtain of rain to support them.

The fighting lasts until dusk. Then Pabos leads his personal guard in a fierce charge that cuts through the battlefield and deals the final blow to the enemy.

The postbattle tally records fifteen hundred casualties for the Ninth Warband and four thousand enemies killed.

Not one of these elite Subterranean River Bandits escaped. They had received an absolute order to break through.

The remaining two thousand bypassed Fort One, only to be surrounded and wiped out by the First and Seventh Warbands.

No Subterranean River Bandits attack over the next three days.

On the second day after the battle, the sun finally returns.

Though it is early summer, the men cheer beneath the long-absent sun.

The hot sun dries the mud. The ground beneath is brown, stained by the blood that soaked into it.

That evening, Pabos stares at the documents on his desk. A long time passes, but he cannot bring himself to write.

These are the death notices to be sent to the fallen soldiers' families.

Across the two battles, nine hundred men were killed, and more than seven hundred suffered disabling injuries that require their discharge from service.

Those sixteen hundred casualties have left the Ninth Warband a third below strength.

With the still-wounded men also out of action, the Ninth Warband now has only two combat battalions fit for duty.

After sitting for so long, unable to put pen to paper, Pabos finally understands.

As a child, he so often saw Henwell sitting silently in his study, staring at death notices. Now he knows why.

Every signature means a life lost, a family left grieving!