Soul of the Warrior

Reivyn walked back and forth along the walls, inspecting the soldiers arrayed in front of him to repel the next attack from the invaders. Their attacks had been like clockwork, rain or shine. Every day, around noon, they would line up and assault the walls. They were always easily driven off, though, and it had become one of the daily routines of their lives.

Reivyn typically didn't participate at all. The Experience gains for the soldiers involved in the actual fighting was meagre at best. For those on the cusp of or already in Tier 4, it was basically nothing. It was different for the leaders, though, as they got a decent bonus for being in charge. If Reivyn participated, as one of the higher ranked individuals involved in the fighting, he would siphon off a chunk of that Experience. Instead, the officers took turns acting as the overall commander in order to gain the bonus Experience and propel their Class Levels higher at a quicker pace.

Jekle had been mid-Tier 4 when he had first joined Reivyn in Wispan, and he was close to reaching Tier 5 from all the bonus Experience he had raked in from his responsibilities during the fighting. The other officers hadn't been quite as high-Level, and they didn't have as much time with greater responsibilities, but they were all past mid-Tier 4 by this point.

The main force of the mercenaries were also slowly reaching Tier 4 where they stalled out like everyone else. Only during the huge battles that had pushed them out of Piori and the bridge did they accumulate any decent Experience gains. By the time the next major assault happened, Reivyn speculated that everyone would have gained their Tier 4 Class.

Everyone but me, he chuckled to himself.

After several weeks of intense training from people who actually cared, the Conscripts were deemed fit enough to participate in the defense of the walls on a limited basis. They weren't lined up with their companies. They were dispersed as squads among the various other veterans who took them under their wings. For the times they actually got to participate in actual fighting, they quickly gained Levels as they were all Tier 1 Conscripts with a few advancing to Tier 2 Classes.

Reivyn kept up with some of the Conscripts from his neighboring yard, and he found that because they had the forced Tier 2 Classes, they were all able to gain a Rare Rarity Tier 2 Class. Most of them had expected to get an Uncommon Class before they were Conscripted, and even though their Tier 2 Class ended up being a Martial Class as opposed to a Lifestyle Class they had geared their life towards, they were all hopeful to turn it around with superior Tier 3 Classes they hadn't even considered possible before.

Reivyn stood back and watched the soldiers nervously shift about in their formation. Standing in formation in preparation to combat wasn't like Marching in a parade. The NCO's didn't scold the soldiers for fidgeting. Reivyn's mercenaries were usually pretty good about keeping their bearing, but despite their past battles, they weren't yet the hardened veterans that could stare death in the eye without twitching. They still tried to keep up appearances as much as they could for the Conscripts attached to them.

Reivyn broke from his usual norm of not being on the wall during the assaults because he had noticed a strange feeling ever since he had woken up. The air was energized in a way that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It wasn't the same as a ping from his Danger Sense, but he felt like the feeling was tangential to the Skill in some way. Instead of being nervous without knowing what was going on, he had decided to watch the wall assault.

He frowned as he looked out across the open fields to the tree line in the distance. The strange energy in the air seemed to increase with each passing moment the closer it got to noon, and as soon as he saw the first signs of movement among the trees, he finally understood what was going on with his strange premonition.

In all the battles before, the enemy soldiers had advanced with an air of religious fervor. They showed no signs of fear, and they were almost indifferent to their plight.

The soldiers advancing into the clearing, even without seeing their faces, were different. A wall of bloodlust seemed to permeate off of them as they emerged from the trees. Reivyn could immediately tell that there was something different about them.

The bloodlust was only noticeable because every single one of the soldiers was exuding the aura. If Reivyn focused on an individual, the spark of bloodlust really wasn't much. It was as if it was still forming and not fully whole, yet.

Reivyn waved the officer in charge for today's battle over to him. The officer had been keeping half an eye on Reivyn the whole time, so he immediately noticed and ran over, offering a salute.

"Have someone run back to the barracks and get another platoon to act as reserve," Reivyn instructed. "There seems to be something different about these invaders, and I don't want to take any chance."

"Yes, sir!" The lieutenant saluted and turned to carry out the order. Reivyn caught his arm to stop him.

"Send a few more to the captains of the other companies to inform them what we're doing, too."

The lieutenant nodded and Reivyn released him to follow the orders. Reivyn and his mercenaries had built up some credibility with the other officers and their men with their performances in the previous battles. They were a mercenary group made up of Adventurers, not professional soldiers, so the other officers had been receptive, yet skeptical. Their professionalism, discipline, and effectiveness in actual combat had earned them a good reputation. If Reivyn was spreading word that he was reinforcing his position with more reserve troops, the other officers would pay attention and probably copy his actions.

The enemy soldiers didn't waste any time as they were already formed up and Marching toward the walls. Like all the previous assaults, they didn't accompany this attack with a Mage Corps bombarding the walls, though they did have some Mages dispersed in the ranks to provide Mana Shields. Reivyn observed their defenses and noted that they appeared more solid than he was used to seeing among the invaders.

Time was paramount to bring the additional platoons to the wall, so the runners took off at top speed and dispersed towards their various locations. The defending Mages launched their Spells at the three companies of enemy troops advancing on them, and Reivyn noted that the damage to the troops was considerable less than against previous enemy formations. Their Mana Shields and group-shield Skills were able to take more damage, and they appeared to disperse the force more easily.

Another group of three companies formed up along the tree line, but Reivyn wasn't worried about them. Unless something different happened, he understood that the next group of soldiers were poised to assist the survivors in retreating.

These are definitely veteran troops, Reivyn surmised. I don't know if they're veterans of different conflicts, or if they're survivors picked from the other assaults, though.

Arrows rained down on the advancing soldiers. They lifted their shields and shrugged off the ranged attacks with practiced ease. There wasn't a single soldier on the ground by the time they made it to the walls. A far cry from the previous experiences of downing anywhere from a third to half the assaulting force in the same time frame.

The reserve platoon for Reivyn's mercenary company arrived at the same time the enemy reached the walls, and Reivyn could see other platoons marching at double-time through the streets as well. He heaved a sigh of relief that the other company commanders had reacted so quickly to his vague speculation.

Ladders were thrown up the wall, and they clamped down on the edge so that they couldn't easily be pushed off. The invaders began to climb the ladders at much faster speeds than they were used to, and Reivyn could see the first man to breach the top had a feral grin on his face. Even as he was stabbed in the throat by the closest defending mercenary, the grin never left his face.

The invading soldier behind him grabbed the toppling man's body by the ankle and tossed him aside so he wouldn't get in the way, but he never slowed his own ascent to do so. Quickly, more and more invaders breached the top of the wall, and hand-to-hand fighting began in earnest. Far more enemy soldiers participated in the fighting than any had previously.

Many of the enemy soldiers quickly fell, and their bodies were tossed over the edge of the wall so they wouldn't impede the other invaders. Reivyn was dismayed to see, however, that more than half of the soldiers tossed to the ground stood back up. They were bloody and limping, but they weren't dead. Reivyn grit his teeth expecting them to join their allies in the assault once more, but they acted in a way that Reivyn completely didn't expect.

The enemy soldiers who had been tossed aside picked up their dead compatriots, and they retreated from the conflict. The other three companies advanced forward and used their Mana and group-shield Skills as well as their actual Shields to defend the injured from being cut down by arrows or Spells launched by the defenders. They were focused on defending and not advancing, so their defenses were even more solid than the preceding three companies.

Reivyn breathed another sigh of relief. He watched as the Conscripts were allowed to participate in the fighting, but the ferocity of these attackers had been noted and the youngsters were only ever allowed to advance to the second row where they could engage with their spears. They weren't ready to handle the front line with sword and shield against such fierce opponents.

The reserve platoons ascended the walls, but they simply stood and watched the fighting with grim faces. It wasn't their job to rush forward and help repel the invaders. If they committed all of their troops, something unlikely might happen with the attackers and the reserve troops wouldn't be capable of responding. The fighting was still well in hand, so there was no reason to rush the inevitable victory of driving the invaders away.

Because the invaders breached the walls with considerably more troops and they were much fiercer than the previous soldiers, the noon battle lasted much longer than any other had before. Reivyn didn't participate in any capacity other than the first warning, and he watched the time tick by as the fighting continued.

Casualties were inevitable on their own side, but thankfully, none of them were fatalities. The fighting didn't go on long enough to drain everyone of their Stamina, but the Skill Levels of the invaders was a step above what they were used to. Errant strikes caused injuries too severe to remain in the fight, but they weren't life-threatening.

By the time the last invader was pushed off the wall, almost 30% of the mercenaries were injured in some fashion, though most weren't that bad. Some of the Conscripts, despite being relegated to the second row, suffered their first battle injuries, as well.

Reivyn watched the invaders slink away, but there was no cheering from the defenders. They had long since stopped cheering every time they drove the invaders away, but this time there was a particular silence that blanketed the field.

Reivyn tore his eyes away from the retreating invaders and focused his attention on his Divine Sense. He looked into the eyes of his soldiers and noticed a weariness that hadn't been there before. Some of the Conscripts had wide, wild-eyes, too. This was something new to them. They hadn't experienced the endless hordes that couldn't be held back and had gotten used to a token assault on the walls.

"Get the men back to the barracks," Reivyn ordered his lieutenant. "Have the Conscripts check in with their company, but then have them come over, too."

"Yes, sir," the lieutenant saluted.

Reivyn turned and jumped off the wall. He was lost in thought as he walked back to the barracks.

---

"What was that all about?" Refix asked as Reivyn stepped into the conference room. The other officers who hadn't participated in the routing combat were already waiting, as well. They all sat in silence as Refix posed the question on all their minds.

"I had a strange feeling all morning," Reivyn explained. "And then I saw the enemy force. They were different from what we've experienced so far."

"Like the giant guy we all fought in Piori?" Refix asked, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. The other officers shared grim expressions with each other before focusing back on Reivyn.

"Not like that," Reivyn shook his head. "Though, maybe a prototype? They weren't necessarily higher-Level than the other enemy soldiers, but their Skills were more refined, and they had a bloodlust aura about them."

"A bloodlust aura?" Refix asked, relaxing back in his chair a bit.

"They weren't just indifferent to death," Reivyn answered. "They were eager to fight. They were excited to put their lives on the line. Each one, individually, wasn't anything special, but all together... it was like a wall of dread followed them. I could see it in the eyes of our own soldiers. They were afraid."

"Hmm," Refix crossed his arms and dipped his head in thought.

The other officers whispered among each other, and the lieutenant who had been in charge of the combat for the day soon entered the conference room to join the others. Refix lifted his head with a spark of understanding in his eyes.

"I think I get it," he said. "They're burning the chaff."

"What do you mean?" Reivyn asked.

"They're taking all their men and just throwing them into the meat grinder," Refix explained. "They lined up hundreds of thousands of soldiers to push us out of Piori. They probably had 80,000 deaths, easy, and many tens of thousands more injured. What do you think happens to those that survive that?"

Reivyn stopped and thought about it for a moment. He correlated the bloodlust he sensed from the veterans to the previous battles.

"They gain Levels, Skill Levels, new Skills, and possibly nurture their fighting spirit," he answered.

"They gain Achievements," Refix said with a pointed look. "Imagine how strong an Achievement for 'survive a battle where 50,000 of your friends die,' or some such, would be. And they didn't just survive that battle. They won it."

"They're forcefully increasing their Life Experience to get them better Classes. All of that combined: the increased Skills, the bloodlust aura, and the Achievements; they'll nurture incredibly powerful future soldiers."

"And maybe not even that far in the future. I would bet that each one of those soldiers that attacked today were survivors of the Battle of Piori. They haven't gone hard on us and just rolled over us because they're treating us as a whetstone for their soldiers. By the time they reach the capital, they'll have an entire company worth of those powerful Classers we saw at the end of the battle in Piori. An entire company like that would be able to put up a fight against the old veterans the empire calls back from the Tier 5 Region, much less the even stronger commanders."

Everyone's faces paled at the statement, including Reivyn's.

"Is there any way to counter it?" Reivyn asked, wracking his brain for solutions.

"The only thing I can think of is to leave no survivors," Refix said with a grim expression. "When they come at us next time with an entire legion of troops of these veterans, we have to go all out to kill as many of them as we can."

"That's a double-edged sword, though," Reivyn pointed out. "The more we kill of them, the stronger the survivors will be, but we can't not kill any of them, because their numbers...

"I don't see a way to win," Reivyn said, slumping his shoulders.

"To be honest, after that first battle in Piori, I kind of expected us not to," Refix admitted. "Our job isn't to win the war at all costs. We're mercenaries in a foreign land. We're just here to help them as much as we can. It sounds bad, but this isn't our fight."

"It could be."

"And that's why we're here. Aren't we kind of doing the same things as them, just without forcing it as fast as possible? The Wispan Imperial Army is sending its soldiers to wars all across the local group to participate in the battles. By the time they all go home to Wispan, they'll have achieved similar results, but I would bet there will be far more survivors."

"Yeah, that's the long-term plan. When we devised it, we thought we were being clever and taking advantage of them spreading out so many war-fronts. Turns out we're still a step behind. The potency of the Achievements and polishing of Skills won't be as powerful as our opponents'."

"Don't let the realization of what they're doing give you a defeatist mindset," Refix said, standing up to place a hand on Reivyn's shoulder. "I know you're worried about the future, and I know it's demoralizing to realize we're probably not going to win this particular fight. We can't let it affect us."

"You're right," Reivyn nodded his head. "We still have to do everything we can for as long as we can. We have to figure out a way to turn their tactics against them for our own benefit." Reivyn looked up and addressed all the officers. "That's what we're going to be trying to figure out from now on."

Everyone nodded their heads as they started to brainstorm a way to turn the situation into an advantage.

---

"You all got your first experience of what terror war can be today," Reivyn addressed the Conscripts that had participated in the earlier fighting. He had initially only called for the Conscripts from the neighboring company to come over, but word had spread and all the Conscripts across all the companies that had fought had shown up.

"This was only a small taste, too," he continued. "You didn't have to experience your friends dying next to you as the casualties were relatively light. No war can go on forever without grief, though. Some day, some of you won't come back from a battle. It's a hard truth to come to grips with, I know."

Reivyn walked back and forth in front of the crowd of youngsters with his arms behind his back. He was wearing his full armor with his rank insignia so there was no confusion about who he was, but the front row of Conscripts from the neighboring company stared at him with wide eyes. Reivyn spotted Krey amongst them, jaw hanging open as he realized who it was that had been encouraging them over the past several weeks.

"I hope this instills the importance of the training you've all been doing. We don't train just to see our numbers go up. We train to see tomorrow. I know that this isn't the life most of you aspired to, but it's reality. Life isn't fair, but what we do with the twists and turns thrown at us define who we are.

"I was like you, many years ago," Reivyn stopped and looked into the eye of each individual Conscript in turn. "I was Conscripted to fight in a petty dispute when I was a child. I wasn't even 10 years old, yet, but due to a quirk in the System, I was eligible for Conscription. I know what it's like to have your life turned upside down and thrust into something you're not prepared for.

"My experiences were a little different than yours, though we still had our fair share of life or death battles against monsters and beast tides. There's a reason I push my soldiers to train so much all the time, and there's a reason they don't shirk their responsibility. All of us have experienced war and seen friends bleed and die. Trust in your training and you will survive.

"We're all in this together. You can trust us to have your back on the battlefield, and we'll give you our knowledge and wisdom in garrison. If you or any of the other Conscripts have questions, ask your mentors first. If they don't have the answers, you can come to us.

"Good job out there, today. Keep up your training, trust your brothers and sisters next to you, and we'll keep seeing the sunrise tomorrow."

Reivyn nodded his head to the Conscripts, turned, and strode off back to his company office. The Conscripts were silent behind him as they watched him go, but he heard their voices pick up as he got further away. The other officers watched from the sidelines, but the NCO's mingled with the kids to see if anyone had any questions or concerns.

The day's battle had been a step up in intensity for them. Most of the enemy soldiers never even made it to the top of the walls beforehand, and this time they had an extended battle where they felt the true emotions associated with a life or death struggle for the first time. It had still been a bit abstract to them until today. Many of them had felt their spears piercing flesh for the first time, and they would need time to adapt.

Training and watching the fighting were completely different than delivering a killing blow in the midst of combat, personally. They were all just kids, and there was no Euphoria to mask the emotions of killing another living being. Fighting monsters afforded the protection of the System. Without the System intervening to protect people's minds from the stress of killing, there would be far fewer Adventurers and Combat Classers. No such protection existed for conflicts between humans.

Reivyn could already see the stress accumulating in his mercenaries, and they were all adults with years of adventuring experience under their belts. Throw a bunch of Tier 1 kids into combat without a safeguard to protect their young minds, and the consequences could be severe. He wasn't just extending an invitation to train and teach the kids. They were also there to keep them from falling apart, mentally.

That's another advantage the invaders have on us, Reivyn realized. They don't need Euphoria to protect their minds when they have such blind faith. We need to find something other than protecting their homeland for these kids to believe in.