Chương 877: Chapter 876: Reinforcement and Retreat

Aya Bandstone Aura! He awakened it. It is said that one awakens one's aura in times of adversity. Here, he has four times as many troops as I do and was fighting me with the same four-to-one advantage. Still, it may be considered an adversity despite his advantages. He utterly failed in his job. Not only to breach through the pass, but also to kill me. Someone who is not even Lv. 30 and even has the support of three assassins. He had failed in that and also had one of his men killed by me or nearly killed.

I don't know whether he is dead or not; nor did I think about it further, and I looked at the attack coming toward me. It was the most powerful attack he had launched. His blade came and clashed against my sword, before I took a step to the left and used my shield dodge and defended against the assassin, before the Brewtan was in front of me with an attack. Just like me, he is angry and desperate, and using that to push the aura into his skills. This is not good news for me.

Emotions are good for me; the more extreme the emotion a person feels in battle, the more mistakes they make, but things are different when one uses them to enhance their power. I defended the attack and dodged the ones from the assassin, but they came again, faster than before. I am dangerous, and they want to kill me now more than ever. Attack after attack came, and I dodged and defended, but they kept coming.

The power of the attacks of the assassins remained the same, but Brewtan's power kept growing, forcing me to push more aura into my skills. It had become a battle between us on who could push their aura into their skills the most. I wish I could say I have the advantage of awakening it early. His dwarfs mine. He is Lv. 30, with his skills having greater capacity and efficiency for taking the aura.

Our blades clashed hard and became a blur; the assassins attacked me, but their attack was nothing more than background against my battle with Brewtan. Every moment, I am pushing myself harder to move more aura into the skills- more in fighting skills now than healing skills. I need to be stronger, faster than him, or at least increase my strength to his parity, because if I do not, that blade will decapitate me. My men are still fighting. If they are doing it, then I damn well should do the same, and I did.

Minutes passed and then another. I kept fighting, not caring about the pain or injuries or the blood that was flowing out of me from orifices, the only thing I cared about was keeping him here, because when I am dead, he will move on to my men. He was already powerful, and with his strength, he had become even more powerful.

"You are doing well, Lt. Colonel. Just a little more strength, and you might be able to give me a scratch," I taunted him, wanting to get a rise. I might not have done that, but he is already using his emotions to push aura. It wouldn't change much in power if I made him angrier, but it might force him to make a mistake. Given the disadvantage I am in, I will have to claw for every advantage.

"You are one dangerous woman, Captain. If you had time to grow, you would make Silver even stronger," he replied without taking my taunt.

"Ah, you overestimate me too much, Lt. Colonel," I replied as I dodged the assassins and defended against his with my shield, before using Iron Rebuttal to clash against him with my sword. It would be my honour if I could help Lord Silver in any way. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. He had saved me; if not for him, I would have been dead long ago. Even after coming here, he continued to favour me.

The special training, the resources, and the weapons: not everyone was favoured in this way in the army. The battle continued when I suddenly noticed a change on his face. Bigger than before, I want to know, but the bastard sealed my communication here. I didn't ask him because I know he wouldn't tell me. I hope it is good news for me. Though unlikely, it has been barely more than fifteen minutes. The reinforcement will take another fifteen minutes at the last. So, the only choice we have is to fight.

Minutes passed, and the clash continued with both pushing ourselves as far as we could. Here, my speed and strength had reached the level that would have shocked me. It is too much, but there will be consequences. I am pushing myself too hard; my healing skills have kept the damage contained, but only contained. When I stop, everything will collapse. I shook my head of those thoughts and focused on the battle, it is the only thing that matters right now.

Another minute passed when I noticed the change appearing on his face once more, and the face of an assassin. I even felt the change as the armies fighting outside shifted. A look of unwillingness appeared on his face, but he kept fighting. Half a minute later, he suddenly stopped, and the assassin took a step back. It surprised me, but I remained cautious of him and especially of assassins. They might not be as powerful as him, but they are sneaky.

"It is a regret and shame that I could not kill you, Captain," said the man. I did not dare to believe it, that it is finally ending, but I kept my expression neutral.

"Don't worry, Lt. Colonel, we will meet again," I replied, and I prayed we did. The next time, I won't be as helpless. He looked at me for a moment longer before he retreated without turning, with his eyes never leaving me. The two assassins picked up the body of the third one as they retreated. The spell's walls dissolved, and they melted into the army, which began to retreat.

When there was enough distance, I finally moved my eyes away and looked at the decapitated body of Borla, before turning to Pollin, who appeared beside me.

"What happened?" I asked. I could have guessed, but I am having a hard time believing it.

"Captain Volmin is coming," she informed, and cast a spell on my eyes. As she did, I could see that it was getting bigger by the second.

'He shouldn't have been able to come this soon,' I thought.

"The barony?" I asked.

"The enemies have retreated across the barony." He replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief. We were barely able to hold the enemy; if they had come at us in greater numbers, it would have been terrible. It could still happen; the retreat isn't set until the enemies return to their territories.

"The baroness and other fronts?" I asked. This is only one front; there are others, with the baroness defending the most important one.

"She made the enemy retreat; she is the first one to achieve it. I heard Baron Lockridge ran away from her like a scared dog," he replied, surprising me.

"Has she advanced to Great Mage?" I asked, and Pollin shook his head.

"The artifact," he replied sombrely. Baron Lockridge is powerful; I have seen his power with my own eyes. Baroness is also powerful. Spell blades are, but the man is Lv. 40+ and has an artifact. This is nothing, even a talented spell blade could deal with. It would have taken her all to fight against him, even without the artifact. Now, not only did she do it, but she also made him retreat.

"It seemed like she gained quite a powerful artifact," I said, and she nodded sombrely.

"And very dangerous," she added, and it made me curious, but I didn't ask further.

"Other fronts?" I asked.

"Two are in retreat; two had retreated. Only Colonel Driga is still fighting," she replied. That is our neighbouring front.

"Any orders for us?" I asked.

"Colonel Galan has asked to be ready for anything unexpected that the enemies might try," she replied, and I nodded. I asked her a few more questions before I took out the potion and drank it. I rejected the healing spell; many need it more than I do. After the potions, I took out the medicine and drank it, but it's not going to give me instant relief. My condition will be at the edge for at least fifteen minutes, it might even be half an hour or more.

Until then, I will have to keep Reinforced Bones and Natural Healing active with aura. If I remove the aura now, I will collapse; there is a good chance that I might even die. It will be hard; even now it's hard, but I will have to do it if I want to survive. It didn't take long for Volmir and his company to arrive. A company is not enough to make a brigade retreat, but we are defending the pass, and they were already having a hard time breaking through us. Not to mention, their other brigades were retreating.

If they hadn't retreated soon, there would have been a chance; our forces would have encircled them. Still, they could have stayed for a few more minutes. I don't know if I could push myself for that long. Even now, I am struggling despite focusing only on two skills. I want to stop and close my eyes, but that is not an option. I haven't struggled so hard across the years to die now. Soon, a handsome man in his early thirties walked toward me. He is a tall man, some might even say handsome, with that strong jaw.

He has short dark green hair and pale green eyes. He does not have a good reputation; some even call him a coward, given his tendency to avoid conflict, but the man is no coward.

"I am glad to see you are still standing, Captain Bandstone," he said as he stopped in front of me. I do not know him well; we only met when Colonel Galan took command of the new brigade. Still, I heard things about this man, good and bad.

"Only because of you, Captain Volmin," I replied. If he hadn't come, the enemy would have kept fighting.

"How were you able to come so quickly? You should have taken at least half an hour, more with the enemy company chasing you." This question had been bugging me. He had barely taken twenty minutes to reach us.

"Baldis mines," he replied with a grin to my great surprise.

'And people say, he is a coward.' I thought.