Chapter 854: Hell Riders

By nightfall, the Ninth Warband finally drives the enemy out of the valley.

Corpses cover the ground, most of them calamity creatures.

Of the more than six thousand creatures, over half have fallen in the valley.

All the dead were elite frontline troops of extraordinary rank.

In a gorge like this, both sides have to use elite troops to meet a head-on assault.

Otherwise, one broken unit can drag the others down with it, turning the whole battle into a rout.

The Ninth Warband has not escaped unscathed either. This was a sudden encounter, after all.

It was already short of men and had brought no equipment specifically suited to this enemy.

The battle left many hundreds dead or too badly wounded to keep fighting.

Fortunately, the calamity creatures realized they no longer had the strength to force a passage through the valley.

They withdrew under cover of darkness rather than risk being surrounded and destroyed by human reinforcements that might arrive after dawn.

The following morning, large numbers of warhorses arrive outside the gorge.

Pabos orders a tally of the wounded and reorganizes the men still fit to fight.

An hour later, they have been reorganized into two combat battalions.

His wounds bandaged, Pabos puts his battle armor back on.

Just then, a message arrives through extraordinary communication.

Thick mist now covers the Five Forts area. It is poisonous.

Dimir's warband is surrounded inside it, and there is worse news to come.

Western Federation spellcasters have detected extraordinary fluctuations spreading continuously from the Five Forts area.

They suspect a large-scale transformation ritual: the enemy plans to turn Dimir's warband into calamity creatures.

Headquarters has ordered every unit operating in this area to withdraw immediately.

A spellcaster force from the Western Federation will arrive soon to unleash large-scale magical bombardment on the area.

"How long?" Pabos asks Ruchi.

"Headquarters wants us to withdraw immediately!"

Pabos shakes his head. "I asked when the spellcaster force will arrive."

Ruchi hesitates. "At least three days. We still have time to retreat!"

Pabos takes the helmet from the captain of his personal guard. "Pass the order! Both combat battalions are returning to the Five Forts with me. We're going to rescue the Seventh Warband!"

Ruchi grabs his arm. "Absolutely not! We must withdraw!"

Pabos pries his hand away. "As a soldier, I can accept dying in battle."

"But I cannot accept becoming an inhuman monster and turning my blade on my own kind."

"I don't care about political considerations. Right now, I am going to rescue my comrades."

"We come from different countries and powers. If even the Mobile Strike Group cannot stand together, the coalition will be even more divided."

"We came here to kill calamity creatures, not to play political games."

"I promised Dimir I'd rescue the Seventh Warband. I'll say it again: I will not be the one to break our family's word."

With that, Pabos puts on his helmet and swings into the saddle.

He tosses a metal canister to Ruchi. "Your orders: take the wounded soldiers back to the city where we're stationed."

"Give that to the commander of the First Warband, and ask him to send support without delay."

Ruchi seizes the reins. "No! If anyone goes to the Five Forts, it will be me. You cannot go, young master!"

Pabos's voice turns harsh. "I'm not here as a young master. I command the Ninth Warband of the human coalition's Mobile Strike Group!"

"I'm the one who made that promise to Dimir and the Seventh Warband. Not you!"

"I must go myself. Carry out your orders at once!"

Ruchi will not release the reins. Pabos raises his voice. "Pass the order! Ruchi has refused to obey my orders. I am removing him as deputy warband commander!"

"Cromwell! You will take over as deputy commander!"

"Take the wounded soldiers back to camp immediately, and deliver the token to the commander of the First Warband."

"The order takes effect now. Carry it out!"

Cromwell, commander of the Second Combat Battalion, steps out with one arm in a sling and salutes with his free hand.

He approaches Ruchi. "Sir, give it to me."

Ruchi looks at him. "Do you know what the consequences will be?"

Cromwell shakes his head. "I don't know, and I don't want to. I'm a soldier. My job is to obey orders!"

Pabos calls out, "Raise the banner! Follow me to rescue the Seventh Warband!"

Two thousand cavalrymen gather speed and ride away. Ruchi watches their backs as they go, saying nothing.

Cromwell, the acting deputy commander, hands the metal canister back to Ruchi. "I'm a rough sort, sir. I'm not as clever as the others."

"But I know Peace Haven is strong because of my lord. The men who came before us were willing to follow him through bloody battles."

"I don't understand all those complicated arguments. I just trust my lord."

"I trust a leader who brought a weak Peace Haven to where it could stand as an equal with the other countries."

"I trust a leader who keeps Peace Haven's ten million people from starving, who lets a serf become a Battle Knight and command a combat battalion."

"I don't know who is right, who is wrong, or what the consequences will be. All I know is that I follow my lord into battle!"

"I'd rather fight under a leader as sincere as our young commander than under powerful men who weigh every gain and loss!"

Ruchi has never heard the normally quiet battalion commander speak at such length before.

Ruchi sighs. "But the young commander's safety..."

Cromwell replies, "Sir, as the young commander said, he is a soldier. A soldier like my lord."

"They were born to forge ahead through every obstacle, to challenge everything and defy fate."

"Battle and danger have always been their daily bread."

"Honor and victory will be the crowns they wear again and again!"

With that, Cromwell turns and leaves.

Ruchi sighs and follows the troops back to their station.

An hour later, Pabos and his two combat battalions reach the area around the Five Forts.

They can hear the shouts of battle from nearly a kilometer away.

Thick, churning mist blocks their path.

The scouts report that it covers a vast area, including the entire Five Forts complex.

The scouts have confirmed how difficult this poisonous mist is to cross.

Pabos steps into the mist to test it himself and forms a rough estimate of its effects.

An ordinary person would start to feel ill after only a few minutes.

After two hours, that person's life would be in danger.

Almost everyone in the two combat battalions is a professional now, and the horses have extraordinary properties as well.

The mist will affect them too, but only mildly over a short period.

But the battle ahead will not be over quickly.

And the farther they go into the mist, the more poisonous it will become.

After a brief hesitation, Pabos lifts his war spear and calls to the soldiers behind him. "Many men will die here today."

"Some may call me a hypocrite. They may curse me for sacrificing Peace Haven's precious soldiers for people from another country."

"But I tell you this: we are fighting for humanity. Those are not empty words."

"If we refuse to fight now, and everyone else shrinks back too, then one day this will happen in Peace Haven."

"Whether it is for humanity, for Peace Haven's safety, or for a soldier's honor, we must fight!"

Pabos walks his horse forward. "Before we marched, we made a pledge to our country, to our people, to our honor, and to our conscience!"

"We may die here. Calamity monsters may drag us down into hell."

"But I can promise you one thing!"

"Even in hell, we will be the finest warriors!"

"I will be your spearhead. All troops, charge!"