Sergeant Tepper hid his surprise behind his usual strict expression while the rest of the unit sneered at Lith's words . They were all of commoner origin and with no access to information regarding what happened in the rest of the Kingdom .
They had never heard about Balkor or about Nalear's assault on the White Griffon, hence they took Lith's claim as an attempt to impress their commanding officer .
"You and what army?" Vipli's snarky remark made the whole unit laugh .
Tepper inwardly sighed at their ignorance, but at the same time found no reason to correct them . Lith didn't seem to mind their mistrust, while the atmosphere had become more relaxed .
'Their mutual spite has only one downside: until they find a common ground, I have to think as I'm commanding two different units at once . Lith can't coordinate with the rest of the cadets because he is the one they hate . The common enemy that binds them together . ' Tepper thought .
"One last question . Who among you thinks to be able to lead the unit?" For once, Lith's hand remained down . Only Vipli and Nhilo raised their arms .
"Very good . Nhilo, you'll be my second in command . You are promoted to the rank of Corporal until the end of the mission . " Vipli was disappointed whereas Nhilo was brimming with joy, but neither of them let it show on their faces .
They simply replied with a: "Sir, yes sir!"
"Why do you think I chose you, cadet Nhilo?" Tepper asked .
"Because Vipli is our second best scout . His skill set is more suited for the frontlines while I have no particular strong suit aside from my tactical knowledge . " Tepper nodded at her reply .
'Good girl . Smart enough to recognize her limits as well as those of her comrades . She didn't even attempt to berate Lith, acknowledging him as the best scout instead . ' He thought .
The Sergeant then assigned to each member of the unit their role . To no one's surprise, Lith received once again the role of the rear guard . Aside from Nhilo, everyone else sniggered .
They thought he was being punished for his lie since the rear guard was considered the most boring and useless job .
"There's nothing to laugh about!" She scolded them . "The rear guard is one of the most vital roles . His duty is to cover our backs and make sure that if something goes wrong, we have a clear retreat path . "
Liwell was about to reply, but Tepper's cold glare stopped him in his tracks . Only then he realized she was now his commanding officer too . They were no longer peers and his words could have been taken as insubordination .
Tepper briefed them about the orcs' strong and weak points before taking out from his dimensional amulet a whole rack full of weapons of every kind .
"Take whatever you think you might need . "
Lith took for himself a few throwing daggers, a short sword, and a bastard sword .
After everyone completed their equipment, the Sergeant led them out of the boot camp and inside the woods . They marched for a few hours before he made them stop for a brief rest .
"We are very close now . Our scouts inspected the place a couple of days ago and reported that the tribe should consist of no more than twenty orcs, children included . Our duty is to kill them all, no matter the age or gender . Am I clear?"
After everyone nodded, Tepper continued .
"Male and female orcs are equally strong . Orc elders are not like your usual grandpa, they are seasoned warriors and what they lack in strength they made up in skill . Any faulty member of the tribe becomes their dinner, so you'll only fight against dangerous enemies .
"If you underestimate the orcs, you'll die . This is your mission, so you are on your own . I'm only here to supervise, not to help . If you screw up, I'll do my best to save you . If you royally screw up, there's only so much I can do . Keep that in mind . "
The Sergeant handed Nhilo a map of the region, giving her the opportunity to use all the information at hand to come up with a battle plan .
"Sir, I request permission to leave the HQ to perform my duty . " Lith stood in front of Nhilo, speaking with his usual flat voice .
"We have yet to move, so there is no need for a rear guard . Permission de…" The words died in her mouth as soon as Nhilo realized what was happening .
It wasn't the first time she was picked as the team leader and Lith had never wasted her time before .
"How many of them?" She corrected herself .
"Three from behind, three from the front . " His words made everyone flinch, even the Sergeant . "They are coming from our 10, 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8 . We'll be surrounded in less than a minut…"
"He's just bullsh*tting us! There's no one around . " Vipli felt outraged . He had stood guard from the top of a tree the whole time while Lith had strolled around the area . There was no way someone could sneak past him that easily .
"Permission granted . " Nhilo ignored him . "Do you need backup?"
Lith shook his head before darting away . Despite he was running, his boots produced no noise . He was using a mix of air and earth magic to make his steps light like a falling petal .
'Does he get the job done?' The words of Commander Berion echoed in Tepper's mind while he was climbing the nearest tree to assess the situation . He had not assigned the role of scout to Lith only to avoid him soloing the mission .
"Lith is right, they are coming from every direction . " Tepper said leaving Vipli dumbstruck .
"What are your orders, Corporal?" The situation wasn't that bad .
Worst case scenario, Tepper could easily handle three trolls . His intervention would mark the team failing the field test, but cadets had much more to learn from a defeat rather than from a victory . Especially from an undeserved one .
"Everyone, battle formation eleven . " The unit followed Nhilo's order, assuming a circular formation and holding their lightning wands ready to fire . She led them to the nearest clearing, leaving the enemies no place to hide .
Such a spot would also bring out the maximum potential of the wands' long range attacks .
'Their faces were priceless . ' Lith grinned . 'Being the last in line also means I can use Life Vision with no risk of being discovered . I always avoid a fair fight when possible . Solus, is there something I should know?'
'No arrays nor any surveillance spell . ' She replied . 'You can go all out if you want . There are no witnesses since the rest of the unit remained behind . '
Lith nodded, taking the army's bastard sword out of the dimensional ring . He circled around the orc to kill it with a surprise attack .
'I wish I could take one alive and experiment on them . If I'm right and these creatures are naturally close to the Awakened state, there is no telling how much I could learn from them . ' Lith inwardly sighed .
As always, he had so many things to do and so little time .
Note : Please download the sponsor's game to support us!
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login