Soul of the Warrior

Reivyn Marched in front of the company setting the pace. He could see the first platoon perfectly clear with his Divine Sense, and for the first half of the March, he used their condition to gauge how hard to push them. Just the first platoon wasn't everyone, though, so he had the officers order the NCO's to closely monitor everyone and keep him apprised of how everyone was doing. He didn't want anyone falling out of the formation and left behind. He pushed them just as hard as he could to get them where they needed to be as fast as possible.

The road was clear ahead. The civilians and Adventurers not participating in the conflict hadn't stopped. They would keep fleeing until they reached the next city. The terrain was mostly flat with a bit of rolling hills and woods, but there were no significant defensive features until the river that the Prince had directed them to.

Using the river as the next line of defense was a double-edged sword. It had great potential for slowing the invaders down and bleeding them some more, but they had to make it there in the first place. There were thousands and thousands of invaders in the advancing army that were completely fresh. They hadn't taken part in any part of the conflict. The Prince had to to time things perfectly in order to retreat in time that they would have a fighting chance after they had expended so much Stamina.

If they hadn't been lied to about the Stamina expenditure of the soldiers, they would have been able to rest for thirty minutes before sending everyone. As it was, they would most likely have to leap-frog their entire way to the river, always balancing the Stamina for retreating and covering the retreat. Reivyn was sure that switching his company out with the cavalry unit to March ahead and prepare the fortifications would help alleviate a lot of the pressure.

Reivyn kept the focus of his Divine Sense on the soldiers behind him, but he continuously scanned the edges of the woods, hills, and horizon where he could see it to make sure there weren't any hidden dangers that had snuck around them while they were fighting in the city. Based on the objective and strategy employed by the invaders, he didn't think it was likely, but that was no reason not to check. He didn't have his usual scouts available, but Refix, Xudrid, and Vyria were taking turns running out and inspecting further than they could see to cover for the inadequacy.

Sweat poured down the faces of the soldiers behind him. He could see, hear, and feel their physical stress as they gasped for breath. Pride warmed his heart, though, as nobody gave up. Nobody quit. They dug deep and squeezed every ounce out of their Forced March Skills. They maintained their military bearing as well as they could, too. No heads were drooping, and all of their bodies were straight.

It was easy to give in to the temptation of loosening their posture, but that was a trap. If they loosened up their muscles, they might feel temporary relief, but their bodies would sway much more than maintaining their posture would allow. All that extra movement equaled a whole lot more physical exertion over time.

Reivyn was proud and happy that they were pushing so hard. He wouldn't let it go to waste. He would make sure they made it to their destination with enough time to accomplish their mission, and he would ensure they got the rest they needed before employing them in the building of the fortifications.

Time seemed to crawl as they Marched in silence. There was no cadence or morale-boosting singing. Everyone had their full concentration on putting one foot in front of the other, even the officers and senior NCO's who were higher-Leveled. Unless there was a large discrepancy in Class or Bloodline, twenty or so Levels in late Tier 3, early Tier 4 didn't translate to a much higher Stamina pool.

All of the soldiers, besides the two Cultivators in disguise for their Life Experience expedition, were regular Adventurers. Before they seized the opportunity to join the Mercenary Company for a change of pace and Life Experience, they were all on track for middling careers.

Even Jeckle, before the Drallo Campaign, was barely poised to go beyond Tier 4 because of the rarity restrictions of the higher Tiers unless something extraordinary happened. Reivyn believed that him stepping up and eventually receiving a battlefield commission had already propelled him to eventually advancing to Tier 5, but if he continued to grow, Reivyn could see Tier 6 in his future, as well. He was one of the cream of the crop with the mercenary company, but he wasn't an extreme outlier.

These types of situations, where they were going to the extremes to accomplish their goals and survive, were awful in the moment, but they allowed those that endured the opportunity to reap their just rewards in the future. If these mercenaries had stayed as regular Adventurers, they never would have pushed themselves the way they are now. They never would have experienced the things they saw today. These scenarios of Life Experience were just the thing they needed to become more powerful in the future.

And wasn't that exactly what Reivyn had promised them? On some level they must have realized they were going to need to earn the grand prize from this new experience, and Reivyn was gratified to see that none of them were backing down from the challenge.

"River's just up ahead," Refix came running back to the company after another hour and a half of Marching.

They had made good time, saving a full thirty minutes on the expected four hours of Marching to reach their destination. Reivyn had pressed them with his pace to make sure they arrived in time to construct a defensible position.

Reivyn nodded his head, but he didn't alter the pace they were Marching. He also didn't announce the end was in sight. It was only a matter of minutes now, and they would get their break once they crossed the bridge.

Nobody hooted or hollered when the river and the bridge came into view. Nobody had the energy to spare. They continued to trudge along, and Reivyn led them over the bridge and to an open space just beyond. There were woods to the left and open grassland to the right.

"Everyone rest where you are," Reivyn ordered the men formed up and waiting. They stood panting, but they stood straight. "Eat some rations and drink some water. If you need to refill your water skins, just use the river. It's running water, so it's fine."

With Vitality Stats as high as they had, it would be unusual to get any kind of malady from drinking sitting water... in a lower Tier Region. The microscopic things that could survive in a Tier 4 Region had adjusted to the ambient Mana and could still do a number on one's stomach if not anything fatal to anyone above Tier 3.

The men sat down where they were. There were groans and sighs of exhaustion as they barely prevented themselves from collapsing where they were, but nobody did. Reivyn strode to the woods to the left and unsheathed his sword.

He would let the men rest and recover their Stamina, and in the meantime, he would collect the lumber. He had mainly expended his Mana in the fighting in the city, and his Stamina pool was no less than anyone else's.

His Mana hadn't fully recovered, yet, and it had gotten quite low so his regeneration was slower than usual. He used a simply Affinity combination of Metal and Sharpness to protect his sword's durability as he laid into the trees with large swings.

His empowered sword was just as powerful as that of a seasoned Forester or Lumberjack wielding an axe, and it only took one swing to fell a tree each. Even though it was a Tier 4 Region and the flora had adapted as such, it didn't deter his ability to chop the trees. Any one of the logs he felled here would be considered a treasure in his hometown, even without it being a specific magical plant.

Refix and Vyria joined him in his endeavors. Xudrid stayed behind for now, as he wasn't much of a weapon's expert. He was the equivalent of a Caster Class among the Cultivators, but Reivyn was sure he would lend his Gravity abilities when it was time to transport the logs.

With the three of them causing devastation to the local population of trees, it didn't take long until they had amassed quite a bit of building materials. Xudrid came over and reduced the gravitational burden on an entire area allowing the three to simply pick the logs up with their high Strength stats and move them where they needed to be.

Reivyn didn't know the exact time the next company would arrive behind them. He doubted they all had Forced March before the retreat started, but that might change by the time they made it to relative safety in the little fort they would build. They would most likely require multiple stops to catch their breath, or they would run the risk of having their men collapse with extreme Stamina expenditure.

They weren't so unphysically fit that it would cause health problems, but if someone who was a Caster of Lifestyle Class dropped their Stamina to zero, there was a real chance of death or other permanent ailments that could be tricky to solve in the future. Dropping from too much Stamina usage in this scenario most likely meant more soldiers being captured by the invaders.

Reivyn didn't order the mercenaries to help him cut trees, and he left it to the officers and NCO's to make the determination when the men were rested enough to start constructing the palisade. They weren't going to build anything fancy, but building a small fort was something that they had extensive practice with, and the added barrier of the river and the bridge would add additional protections all on their own.

Reivyn, Refix, Xudrid, and Vyria chopped and transported logs at a considerable speed for nearly forty-five minutes before the officers roused the troops to get to work.

Hand-axes came out, and the men got busy trimming the downed trees. Nothing went to waste, either. The larger branches pruned from the logs were set aside for further alteration into pikes, and the smaller branches would be used for fires.

Everyone worked and nobody complained. They had seen the death and destruction wrought by the invaders. They hadn't seen the fate of those being captured like Reivyn had, but that information wouldn't be withheld for long. Reivyn wanted them all to understand the danger awaiting them if they surrendered. There were certain situations where information wasn't necessary to be passed down to every soldier, but this wasn't one of them.

The palisade quickly took shape after the entire company got working on it, and eventually more soldiers had to enter the forest to chop trees to keep up with the demand of the rest of the company. Even though it was a quick and dirty job, they took it seriously, and the palisade walls were constructed with precision. They would be able to stand up to some minor punishment from enemy Mages, though there wasn't anything they could do in such a short period of time to create anything worthy of a sustained siege.

"Send some troops down to weaken the supports of the bridge," Reivyn ordered, wiping sweat from his brow. He sheathed his sword and walked back to the nearly finished little fort with an NCO attending to him in case he needed to issue orders. "They need to make sure it's still sturdy enough for the troops to cross, but it needs to be weak enough to pull out from under the invaders from a distance at a moment's notice. We can't count on a Mage being able to direct their Spells away from the enemy in an emergency, though that's the plan for dealing with the bridge."

"Yes, sir!" The NCO saluted and ran off to find a work party.

Reivyn explained so much of the plan so that the men would understand his intent. A commander's intent was almost more important than the actual orders being issued. If one understood what the objective was, they would be able to alter their plans on the fly and choose the best course of action for the mission.

It was finally Reivyn's turn to get some rest. He hadn't stopped since they had arrived on location, and the constant felling of trees had eventually taken its toll on him. His Stamina and Mana pools were dangerously low for any sudden conflict, but he was confident he would be up to snuff with some Meditation.

"If anyone needs anything, direct their queries to Vice Captain Refix unless it's an emergency," Reivyn called out to one of the officers as he walked to a seclude location in the shade. The officer acknowledged the order, but there was nothing that needed attention at the moment, from him or his father either one.

Reivyn plopped down in the lotus position with a sigh and entered his Meditation. Starting the Skill was easy with how tired he was, but keeping it up instead of falling asleep actually took a bit of concentration. He pulled out a vial containing a blue liquid from his storage without dropping his state of mind, uncorked it, and downed the contents.

A warm, smooth sensation flowed down his throat and settled in his stomach. He could immediately feel the effects of the Mana Potion he imbibed. Having lived in a Tier 4 Region for quite some time now, he had stocked up on a few provisions that were unavailable to him in the lower Tier Regions.

Classes like Alchemist were virtually unheard of in Tier 1 Regions, and they were still quite rare in Tier 2 Regions. Tier 4 Regions had no lack of Mana-infused plants and treasures, and thus the Class opportunities available to the masses were much broader than the lower Regions.

He wanted to conserve as much of his resources as possible, so he didn't take any additional potions. He wasn't worried about the cost, but there was literally nowhere to acquire more until they reached another city. And there was no telling whether or not an alchemist wouldn't have fled by the time they were pushed that far back by the invaders. Reivyn speculated that word of the continued hostilities had already been transmitted back to the capital.

Being a mere mercenary captain attached to one of the princes, Reivyn wasn't privy to the larger, overall strategy. He didn't know if reinforcements were on the way or if more mercenary groups like his had arrived to take advantage of the situation.

Reivyn's and Wispan's idea of selling their military force wasn't unique to them. Reivyn had no doubt that others would have the same ideas. He was only confident that they were receiving more valuable training with their preparations for dealing with human enemies instead of monsters. Even then, more bodies would be greatly appreciated now that he had gotten a glimpse of just how many enemy soldiers there were.

One had to remember that they were only one point on the long line of the front, and they weren't even the main stage. Prince Endrew was at the most concentrated position in both local population and enemy forces. Reivyn had to remind himself that the presence he had felt watching their battle with the giant blood-knight was only one of several sub-commanders in the invasion. There was still the overall commander in charge.

That didn't mean that the head honcho of the enemy forces was the highest-Leveled person among the invaders. He knew from his experiences facing off against Aeriella that there was a noble caste, but even if the commanding general wasn't the highest-Leveled individual among the enemy, chances were high that he or she had a high-Leveled bodyguard.

Hopefully it wasn't something crazy like the person Aeriella had addressed as Master. That person had been truly horrifying. His presence alone had brought everyone to their knees, and was obviously over a hundred Levels into Tier 6 at minimum.

If they had to fight someone of that caliber, their only chance of success was holding off long enough for some of the old monsters in the Tier 5 plus Regions to make it back. The conflict had been going on for quite some time before Reivyn and his crew had arrived, though, so there was a good possibility that they weren't too far away.

I wonder what a battle between two mid or high-Tier 6 Classers would look like, Reivyn absentmindedly thought. I thought what my parents and their Party had done in Magron was impressive. I can't imagine what such a high-Level conflict would look like.

Time continued to tick by, and Reivyn's Stamina and Mana pools slowly recharged. He hadn't pushed himself so far physically that his Stamina regeneration was hindered, and the Mana potion had kick-started his Mana regeneration, so he was quickly recovering. If he had another couple of hours, he was confident that he could get to full strength, but he didn't have that luxury.

Once his Stamina and Mana reached 70%, he canceled his Meditation and stood up once more. The sun was setting in the horizon, but he only spared it a passing glance. He strode away from his secluded spot to inspect the company and the little fort they had built.

The first thing Reivyn noticed was the addition of unfamiliar soldiers taking a rest off to the side. He was surprised to see that there were already soldiers arriving, and he took a quick glance at his System clock. He was once more shocked to see that almost three hours had passed since he had started Meditating.

There was no furniture or office spaces for anyone to lounge in. Reivyn spotted Refix sitting on the ground with the other officers, and they noticed him approaching at almost the same time. Reivyn waved them off from standing up. Well, he waved everyone but Refix off. That was his father, and he wasn't going to stand up for his son if he didn't have to. It was much like he never referred to Reivyn as "sir." It was perfectly natural, though, and Reivyn didn't care.

"I see that we already have at least one company that's arrived," Reivyn said, glancing in the direction of the resting soldiers. "What's the situation?"

"We've sent out some scouts, and they've informed us that the rest of the army seems to be retreating in good order," Refix answered. "From what we've gathered, the enemy soldiers never really pressed their advantage too hard. That isn't to say they stayed in the city. They just didn't chase after us with everything they had."

Reivyn frowned at the information.

"That seems weird," He said after a moment. "Their entire strategy had been designed to wear us down as much as possible so they could capture as many people as possible, but now they let us rest and recuperate so we could get away?"

"What isn't weird about them?" Refix replied with a snort. "They're perfectly willing to sacrifice ten times the number they're able to capture, and the captives aren't going to bolster their forces any time soon. Even with the numbers they're throwing at us, they shouldn't be so callous about the life and death of their soldiers."

"Hmmm, we know they refer to themselves as Deathsworn," Reivyn pondered. "There must be a clue in that. I've only seen fanaticism and determination in the eyes of the enemy. Maybe they're some sort of religious cult?"

"Beats me, but that guess is as good as any. There were some small skirmishes along the way, but the cavalry acting as a strike force managed to shield the slowest companies from anymore heavy engagements."

"That's good," Reivyn nodded. "I'm glad my recommendation worked out. How long do we have until they arrive?"

"We probably have another two hours before the last company gets here, and the enemy soldiers should be right behind them. They still have a lot of fresh troops, and I would bet anything they're going to launch a night assault."

"I agree. Let's make sure we have enough fires going to light up the battlefield. We don't need to waste Mana from the Mages as much as possible."