33 A Soldier's POV (2)

(A/N: Posted this chapter just before the end of February. Therefore, I did keep my promise! I really should've worked on the fic more, but my participation in a 3-day MUN conference as the North Korean delegate took priority! All hail the Workers Party and the Supreme Leader!)

[Timeskip - ??? Hours]

[Captain Krado's POV]

Loud clashings of swords. Screams containing both excitement and fear. Projectiles from both sides soared through the sky, ending up either missing or hitting their respective targets. What was once green grass, was now covered in a layer of blood and guts.

I wish I could say our side was winning. That wasn't quite the case. The average beastmen was naturally superior in a physical battle. So much so that it would take the strength of 10 regular humans to match only one beastmen. However, this gap between species shrinks as they become stronger.

This was the reason why we needed the soldiers from the Baharuth Empire and Slane Theocracy.

(A/N: I think I mentioned in a few earlier chapters that Cerabrate and his team could only fend off beastmen, but not kill them or something along those lines. Please, ignore that as I changed my mind. He can kill the AVERAGE beastmen soldier just fine. But not as good as our MC!!!)

I watched from the safety of the walls as my fellow soldiers and adventurers fought through blood, sweat, and tears. Some soldiers with polearms kept the beastmen after them at a distance, stabbing at weak points on their bodies like the eyes.

In an ideal world, those beastmen would succumb to their wounds and die. This is no ideal world. Those that were strong enough to endure the wounds snapped jabbing polearms in half, crushing our men under their monstrous heels.

"Awwww, looks like your little toy didn't work as expected, huh?" I somehow heard one of the beastmen savages say to one of our men amid all the chaos. "P-Please…" The soldier meekly replied in a broken tone, clearly done with it all.

The beastman ignored his victim's plea, snapping the polearm he grabbed in half, tossing it aside, and reaching for the soldier's right arm. The monster then proceeded to violently rip the poor soldier's arm clean off, like separating a leaf from a plant. The soldier screamed in agony, falling to the floor before his ribcage, and by extension, all his organs were crushed under the weight of the demi-human.

The adventurers did their best, working as a team to slice up limbs like a cook would slice up vegetables. But like the polearm-wielding soldiers, this wasn't an ideal world. These adventurers weren't Adamantite ranks like Hope or Crystal Tear or strong workers like Blazing Crimson. These were your mostly average adventurers that slayed the occasional monster or two.

"Hey!" One of the adventurers called out to one of his buddies. "Buff me, will y-" The soul didn't have the chance to finish his sentence as a sharp metal blade slammed straight into his skull, almost vertically slicing it in half.

A few of the beastmen broke through our army's formation and started climbing the walls, shouting about having their "next feast" and being able to satisfy themselves with our wives, sisters, and daughters as "fleshlights." It utterly disgusted me.

I glanced at the soldiers by our machicolations; they didn't even need the order to pour boiling oil on the faces of those fuckers. They screamed in absolute pain as they fell to the ground, either greatly impaired or dead. To be slightly honest, I felt some sort of joy when that happened.

"Hey!" I temporarily turned around from watching the chaos, calling out to a soldier within speaking distance at the base of the walls. They were a part of the internal ground force within the Igale walls. "Any words of reinforcements from the main Igale army yet?! Or perhaps other units?!" I shouted, unconsciously squeezing my polearm with a rhythmic pattern due to anxiety.

"None at the moment, Captain Krado!" The soldier replied, shaking his head. 'Fuck… beastmen must have attacked other areas of Igale by this point. Lady Elsa and the rest of Crystal Tear must surely be busy in the west and north respectively. I can only wonder about the chaos at Entoross if it's being attacked in the first place…' I thought to myself, a grim expression plastered on my face.

'Can this front hold out? Do we have enough manpower to do so? Surely not…' I continued to think with intensity. "How about the Beastmen Nations army and raid parties positions?!" The soldier shook his head once more. "We have no up-to-date information on that yet!" The shouting and clashing of swords from the other side of the wall made it hard to hear him.

I gave a low grumble as the soldier's words left his mouth. "Alright! Just keep your positions on the ground firm in case of beastmen breaching these walls!" I saw the soldier nod and speak to the other soldiers with him after loudly shouting.

I just had to jinx myself, didn't I?

"UGH, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS!!!" An extremely loud voice hollered throughout the battlefield. I tried to pinpoint where the clear beastman voice originated from before eventually spotting a beastman armoured in steel at the back of the raid party.

'Is he…' My thoughts trailed off before my eyes widened with realization. "MAGIC CASTERS, FOCUS ATTACKS ON THAT BEASTMAN AT THE B-"

"OUT THE WAY FLESHBAGS!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! IT'S TIME WE BREAK INTO THAT CITY OF YOURS!!!"

The armoured beastman was an unstoppable force. With each step he took, cracks in the ground followed. Worse of all, he was targeting the walls that protected Igale. 'Shit, shit, shit, shit…' My mind was on a marathon, seeing the beastman close the distance between the wall and himself.

The arrows and long-ranged magic spells were of no use against the beastman. Things were just too sudden for the soldiers and workers to take action properly. And even then, they were still needed to provide cover for our dwindling force a couple of dozen metres away.

"OH YEAHHH!!!"

*Wall breaking SFX*

Around 30 metres to my right, the armoured beastman broke through Igales mightly walls as if it were a plank of wood. Keep in mind the wall itself was a few metres thick. With the amount of dust and debris that filled the air which quickly rose to the height of the wall and beyond, along with the sheer size of the beastman, the hole he created must've been a few metres in diameter.

Understandably so, the soldiers directly above where the hole was created started running. Both out of fear and the fact the floor was slowly sinking in on itself, having no structural support thanks to the obvious hole the beastman made.

"Oh fuck! They've broken through!" A voice cried out on the battlefield, unleashing some sort of chain reaction from the savages. The beastmen hollered, finding even more of an urge to cull down the army or charge directly to where the hole was.

"IT'S TIME FOR A FEAST, HAHAHAHAH-" The armoured beastman roared with disgusting excitement but was cut off as a collective of arrows pierced his skull. Anti-climatically, he then fell to the floor with a large thump.

You had to thank both the archers and adventurers of this makeshift army and the hubris of the beastman's nature for such a thing to happen. It would've been much more of an issue to fight such a beastman if he wasn't standing still and boasting.

"Army, prepare yourselves! Defend the opening from beastmen that get through the walls!" I shouted at the coalition of men I spoke to moments prior over the carnage of the battlefield.

The men heeded my words, quickly running in an orderly fashion to where the breach occurred and took defensive stances, surrounding the opening almost like a semi-circle. One after the other, they stood side by side, interlocking their tall shields and/or prepping their sharp spears or swords.

All the while the battlefield, charred from all the fireballs and bloodied from all the bodies, raged on.

For a time being, no beastmen soldiers entered the gap made by the now dead armoured beastman as it was fiercely guarded by the men outside, the external ground force. Given this opportunity, I swiftly made my way down the wall and repositioned myself with the internal ground force who were still getting into formation. Of course, not before grabbing an extra shield.

I did lose my vantage point when leaving the top of the wall by doing this, having to relay a message to the external army with a soldier or messenger rather than shouting myself. But if beastmen did eventually break through, I would be stuck on a wall with nowhere to go.

It's important to note that the internal ground force is comparable in size to the external one. However, because they were divided into smaller groups littered across the city compared to the 4 main external armies stationed north, south, east (here), and west, the group of soldiers here was small in number.

And by small, I meant tiny. If the external force had 1,000 men, the internal force present here only had about 100 or so. Still, it was a significant number of people to have. And they were comprised of the same type of men as the external group such as soldiers and a few adventurers.

"Captain Krado?" One of the soldiers spoke my name with surprise, not expecting me to join the group of men from my seemingly safe position on the wall. Or maybe he had a question that wanted to be answered and the tone of his voice wasn't that of surprise at all. I wasn't too sure at the moment.

"Yes, soldier?" I replied to the soldier who seemed no older than 19. "Do… you think we're gonna win at this rate?" I cut him off from speaking. "Do you doubt the strength of our people? The amount of blood, sweat, and tears that's been poured into war preparations within the past weeks?" I started as I felt more eyes focus on me. The lad didn't respond, letting those first words skink in.

"Do you doubt the courage and bravery of our sons and brothers and fathers and adventurers and mercenaries fighting tooth and nail just outside those walls? Hell, the entire country? How about the men Baharuth and the Theocracy have previously sent to protect us? Do you doubt them?"

"Because I don't blame you…"

The soldier gave an understandable expression of astonishment on his face, taken aback by what I said. Maybe he thought I would reprimand him for undermining morale in bleak times. But he didn't interrupt me as I continued to pick up after my momentary pause.

"For too long have the savage beastmen terrorized our children and slaughter our men and violated our wives and daughters…" I stated in a low, but growing voice fit for a king giving an awe-inspiring speech. The flames of passion and hatred started to spark in all their eyes as I pressed on.

"For too long have we let the beastmen pillage our resources and have us worry for our lives every day of every hour of every minute we stand in our homes…" My voice continued to grow as I tightened my grip on my polearm.

"But this war… MARKS A NEW BEGINNING!!! NO MORE WILL WE STAND IDLE AND LET THOSE MUTTS DRIVE US OUT OF OUR HOMES!!! NO MORE WILL WE COWER IN FEAR OF THEIR NEXT ATTACK!!! TODAY WE FIGHT!!! WE FIGHT TO KEEP THE BEASTMEN OUTSIDE THE DRAGON KINGDOM AND TO AVENGE OUR FALLEN!!!"

The crowd roared, rejuvenated by words that I could take no credit for. It's what we all believed in our hearts, I just voiced them. I quickly turned my head back as I saw a few beastmen making their way towards the opening in the wall, culling the men in their way while licking their lips in anticipation.

"SOLDIERS," I shouted, my voice thankfully not having gone hoarse yet. "EVEN IF WE DIE TODAY, GENERATIONS TO COME WON'T SUFFER AT THEIR HANDS!!!"

Those few beastmen (which numbered no less than 8) were now closer than ever to entering Igale soil. At least eastern Igale. Perhaps the other areas were already under siege by this point. Either way, they were quickly honing in on our position. And it was only a few moments before our swords and spears would clash with theirs.

"YOUR SACRIFICES WON'T GO IN VAIN!!!"

"NEW FLESH TO ENJOY!!! HAHAHA, I CAN'T WAIT!!!"

"ATTACK!!!"

Immediately, three beastmen ran through the opening and into our semi-circle of death. The first two were pretty much your run-of-the-mill beastmen soldier. One had semblances to an ox while the other shared similarities to a goat. The former held a hammer while the latter had an axe.

The third beastman was slightly bigger and slightly more muscular than the goat and ox. Though also having features of a goat, this beastmen's armour and weapon of choice (that being a sword) were of significantly higher quality.

"OH FUCKI-" The ox beastman violently swung his hammer from the top of his head, smashing one of my men's shields into a useless sheet of metal with a gaping hole. Unfortunately, his hands were caught in the crossfire, being rendered into nothing but mush that covered the head of the hammer.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!" He screamed as the men beside him jabbed their spears at the ox, concurrently getting the soldier to safety at the back and closing the subsequent gap of losing a soldier in formation. The ox didn't care for the few spears puncturing his flesh, even grabbing the end of one and furiously yanking it backwards.

This caused another of my soldiers to fall out of the formation, falling to the floor, defenceless like an insect on its back. "Hmmm," The beastman spoke in a low, deep voice. "How DEFENCELESS YO-" I interrupted the ox from speaking by using the given window of opportunity to thrust my polearm into the oxen's balls.

As a wise man once said, it's nuts or nothing.

"GAHHH!!!" He exclaimed as more of us stabbed him with the cold ends of our weapons, before the ox succumbed to his wounds. But like a hydra, with the death of one beastman, two more came in its place. "CONTINUE FIGHTING!!!" I shouted, doing my best to keep morale high.

It was an eternity of constant fighting, or at least that's what it felt like. Slowly, but surely, more and more beastmen came through the opening via the wall. Few even climbed over the walls and started fighting the magic casters, drawing their attention away from the main battle outside.

I thrust my polearm into another beastman, which was now caked in blood with a few small pieces of meat still hanging from its slightly dulling, yet still sharp edge. Bodies of beastmen were piling up on the bloody ground, but not as many human ones.

The original soldiers that guarded the opening were dwindling like a fire in the harsh winters of the Middle Water Month. Though a couple of more people joined the fight to deal with the beastmen invading by climbing the walls, it still wasn't enough.

I felt like giving up, but couldn't bring myself to do it. 'I'd just be like those nobles.' I said to myself.

By this point, my shield was dyed red of the enemy's blood with my arms teetering the edge of filing from exhaustion. "Where the HELL are those reinforcements?!" Someone shouted with a mix of agitation and frustration. Another soldier replied. "Dead, probab-" He didn't finish his sentence as a massive axe was plunged between his skill.

"FUCK!" I exclaimed, quickly thinking off my feet and bashing my bloody shield into the beastmen, causing him to tumble over due to his poor stance. I then pushed my polearm through the centre of the savage's neck, ending his life.

Yet right as I did that, I was violently shoved backwards with an immense force, knocking the air out of my lungs and causing a break in formation. I tumbled and rag-dolled as grime covered my clothes and face with my weapons knocked aside.

I could barely keep my eyes open at this point as if my body was trying to compensate for a break after exerting itself from fighting as long and fiercely as I did. I grumbled as I attempted to force my body upwards but miserably failed to do so.

"ACKK!!!" I exclaimed as a sudden weight, quickly growing in pressure, found itself on my back. "You… Captain…" A low grumble that could've only been from a beastman started talking to me. "You have caused a lot of trouble for my comrades… my fellow warriors!" I swear my spine was going to snap with the sheer force of the gruff-sounding beastman.

I was utterly defenceless as only the Great Gods knew what was happening to my men. "But…" My eyes turned bloodshot as the beastmen pinning me to the floor stabbed my right palm. "I will enjoy…" I felt my left fibula snap in half. "Enjoy killing-"

The weight on my back unexpectedly ceased.

The beastmen made a 'thud' sound as it fell to the floor just within my hazy vision, letting me make out the features of my oppressor. The beastman was that of a muscular tiger. Nevertheless, the only thing that caught my attention was the fact the tiger had an icicle through his head.

"El… sa?" I weakly murmured with a lengthy pause in the middle. My thoughts were only confirmed as a cold breeze swept through my hair and the surrounding area. I shivered, but I faintly smiled. 'Reinforcements…' I could only think to myself as I coughed a fit.

"Captain," The voice was that of an angel, yet as cold as the perilous night. "Rest assured, I will save your remaining men, and make these beastmen pay for their atrocities. Both ones they committed in the past, and the ones they're doing now…"

"T-Th… thank… you…"

And like that, my vision was filled with darkness.

Next Chapter: Dance of the Crimson Flames

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(A/N: I tried to pull an Erwin Smith with Captain Krado if you couldn't tell. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will focus on another set of characters!)

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