Soul of the Warrior

Chapter 117: Retreat

"Keep together," Reivyn yelled out at the running soldiers. "Keep going."

Reivyn kept a litany of encouragement going as the company fled. The battalion had suffered high casualties there at the end, but it had been concentrated in the center of the formation. Reivyn's company had been on the far end to the right, so they only suffered the casualties from the hand-to-hand combat.

There were several troops that were being assisted or carried by others, and Reivyn felt extreme regret over not being able to bring the bodies of the few who had died with them. With their Stats, it wasn't much of an impediment to carry the weight of another person while running.

Reivyn glanced back behind himself and saw the enemies chasing after them. The main bulk of the enemy force didn't give chase, as they would be too slow while maintaining their formation, but that didn't prevent smaller pockets of loose fighters from running after them. The pursuing force was strung out in a long line of individuals, and they didn't have any sort of unifying command.

The tactic is very similar to how they let people rush forward, in the beginning, to disrupt forming up the battalion line, Reivyn thought. They're just a harassing force to keep us from being able to organize. Luckily we've been able to stay together. Can't say the same for the rest of the battalion. I don't know for sure how scattered they are, though. I can only hope someone can rally them together.

The company kept running in the direction of the base camp, hoping to reconnect with others that had fled. The sun finally started to crest the horizon on the east as they ran up a short slope. Reivyn looked around and back towards the way they had come. There was still no mass of soldiers pursuing in a formation, and the line of those who were was even further spread apart.

"Company! Halt!" Reivyn Commanded. His Skill infused order caused the men to come to a stop, and the lieutenants and sergeants automatically dressed their ranks. "Lieutenants, orient the soldiers to face the way we came and get on line. Fourth Platoon, in reserve."

The lieutenants, including Jekle and the platoon that had followed them from the other company, ordered the troops to form up facing the pursuit at the top of the slope. The first row of soldiers had their shield wall ready, and the pikes and halberds were leveled at the enemy charging up the slope.

There were only about thirty enemies right at the front, but there were a couple hundred more in a scattered line still catching up. The platoons made short work of the disorganized soldiers, most of them unarmed, but they kept coming one at a time. Reivyn knew they didn't have time to waste taking care of all of them in such a manner.

"Lieutenants, order your fifth squads to step out and use their bows to target the stragglers."

The back squads of the front three platoons stepped aside, merging together and working as one, to attack those still in the distance. The slope allowed their range to be much further, and they had the Skills to improve their accuracy and power. Reivyn watched for a moment to gauge their effective range, and then he got to work himself.

His Mana still hadn't recovered a whole lot, but he did have more than a thousand Mana still available to him. Using the new Class Skill, he instinctively knew what he was capable of with System assistance and what Level of Spell and Mana would be needed to accomplish his goal.

Reivyn accumulated Mana in his hands through the Skill, draining 500 Mana to create a Level 6 Spell. He infused Fire, Wind, Plasma, Lightning, and Gravity into the complicated contraption of Mana he created. A giant, flaming ball took shape in front of him, looking like a miniature sun, sun spots and solar arcs included. Reivyn launched the sphere into the air as it continued to grow, and he made it hover in the sky beyond the range of the archers.

Whips of Plasma and Lightning descended from the floating ball, disintegrating people in fiery bursts as they lashed the enemies. The giant solar arcs left the environment blazing, and many of the victims didn't even leave behind scorched remains.

That was only the auxiliary effect of the Spell, though, as, after it stabilized, it consumed itself to form a barrage of fiery lances that came crashing down to the earth. Hundreds of the lances descended with tremendous speed, covering thousands of square yards. The Plasma, Fire, and Lightning created incredible heat and they were connected with a field of electricity that filled in the areas between the fallen lances. Those that escaped being skewered by the blazing lances were electrocuted.

The display of magical might lasted for a full minute, and once it was done, a wall of fire stood between Reivyn's company and the rest of the pursuers. Hundreds had been eliminated in short order, and there were no more living enemies between the company and the wall of fire.

Reivyn looked at the devastation for a moment before turning back to the company. All of the men and women, no longer embroiled in combat, were staring at Reivyn with slack expressions. He coughed in embarrassment.

"Hey, I just figured out how to do that, and I'm almost out of Mana at this point," Reivyn awkwardly said, thinking that the looks he was receiving were accusatory.

"We're not mad that you didn't do it earlier," Jek finally said after a moment of silence. "We're just surprised. That was a lot more powerful than anything the others in the Mage Corps did during the battle. You might have been more effective with them instead of in charge of us."

"We're not going to go down the path of 'what if's,'" Reivyn shook his head. "There are circumstances behind it, but if I had been with them, I wouldn't have learned how to do it. It's complicated. Anyway, it doesn't matter, and a lot of you might have been casualties if I had been.

"Now that we're pretty much safely disengaged from the enemy, we can March out of here in a more organized manner. Fleeing at top speed might have gotten us out of there faster, but it's not sustainable. The base camp is still close to an hour's March away. We might be able to meet up with others who fled if they head there, and that's where all the supplies still are.

"Lieutenants, form the platoons up in a column and set off toward the base camp."

Reivyn wished he had a communication device, but those had been distributed to the captains. That meant Captain Sanjin had theirs, even though he had been with the Major the entire time. Just one more thing that man managed to screw up.

Reivyn Marched with his troops, setting a quick pace to cover ground but maintain Stamina over a long period of time, but his thoughts weren't on the immediate situation now that they had a modicum of safety.

I hope Kefira managed to get out of there alright.

Kefira stumbled after the forced teleportation, Serilla falling to her knees next to her. They had barely had time to register the existence of a tremendous accumulation of Mana, and her protective item had activated and whisked them away before it could be released.

The magical item in question would activate upon detecting fatal danger, and it would tap into Kefira's own abilities to send her to safety. The item would use its own Mana reserves to power the Spell, so it could send her further, safer than she could do on her own, even when she had full Mana reserves.

It chose a random direction to send her and her bodyguard, but it wasn't truly random. The person who had designed and built the magical item had designed it to tap into Kefira's abilities not just for the ability itself, but because it would subtly affect the usage and send her in a direction that she subconsciously viewed as safe. As such there was no possibility that it would randomly deposit her in the midst of the enemy camp.

Kefira was slightly disoriented, not knowing her exact position. Still, after scanning the horizon for a bit, she was able to determine the direction of the battle based on the smoke rising into the sky from the magical Spells that had been flung about.

"We have to get back!" Kefira said to her companion, both of them helping each other to their feet. "We need to make sure the other Mages can get away, and we need to help Reivyn."

"No, it's too dangerous," Serilla denied. "I'm using my position to veto that idea. We can get a bit closer and help any who escape, but we're not going back to the battle itself. That was an absolute disaster."

"But Reivyn..."

"He's fine. You have to trust in his abilities, for now. We can go look for him after we secure your own safety."

"Fine," Kefira said, her lips making a thin line.

They started making their way back towards the battle, keeping to the gulleys and ravines to stay out of sight. Even if Reivyn hadn't put the exercise of skylining to words, they had enough common sense to stay out of sight in such a situation.

They had been teleported closer to the desolate sands, the opposite side of the field that Reivyn had been on. She wasn't familiar with any of the people on this end of the battalion, as she had spent her time and focus on where Reivyn had been located. That didn't mean she couldn't recognize people, though, and they started to encounter men and women, dressed in the uniforms and robes of Oreck, fleeing away from the battle.

Kefira used some of her dwindling reserves of Mana to launch some flares into the sky, drawing their attention to her position. The fleeing troops began to converge on her, and she let Serilla get them sorted as she kept looking towards the battlefield.

"We have to get away from here!" One of the men yelled, trying to convince Serilla and the others to continue fleeing.

"Shut your mouth!" Serilla backhanded him, hard, with a gauntleted hand. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he tumbled to the ground. "You will do as you're told, and you won't panic the others with your nonsense! We're perfectly safe for the moment, and we'll be safer as we gather more people.

"Make a formation and wait for orders!"

"Who are you to give us commands?!" The man argued back fiercely, glaring up at Serilla with wild eyes. Serilla calmly extracted her insignia, one that matched the one Kefira had shown the Major. A couple of gasps escaped some of the onlookers, and the man's expression calmed down from the panicked fear it had been.

"We're nobility from Wispan. Without orders from the official command chain stating otherwise, we have the authority to assume command. Now, do what you're told."

"Yes, ma'am," the downed man said in a subdued voice, getting back to his feet to join the others.

Serilla stood with her arms folded under her chest, her mere presence and the troops forming up behind her drawing more stragglers to them.

"I'm going to make a couple Jumps to check things out," Kefira said. She turned to look at her bodyguard who was giving her a disapproving frown. "I'm not asking, and I'm not going to go very far. I'm just going to check things out. I'll be right back."

"Jumping?" Someone in the formation said in surprise. The man turned to the man standing next to him. "Do you think she has connections with..."

Kefira didn't hear the rest of what the man had to say as she took a step forward. The single step, infused with her Mana braids, took her several hundred yards forward. Her Mana was at a decent level for traveling a bit, but it wasn't enough to get into a fight at the moment. She only moved in relatively short bursts to places she could see were safe.

After spending a couple of hundred Mana points and traveling close to a mile, she finally stepped in front of a man fleeing on a horse. She had spotted the man and recognized him from afar. She made the split decision to confront him and see what he knew about the situation.

Captain Sanjin reared back with his horse, scrabbling to hold the large sack draped over the horse in front of him to prevent it from falling. He patted the horse to calm its nerves from the sudden appearance of Kefira.

"Captain Sanjin, what's the situation with..." Kefira trailed off as she got a closer look at the sack that Sanjin was holding in place. "Wait, what is that?" She asked, pointing. It was clearly not a sack. Captain Sanjin turned one side of it to reveal the face of the unconscious Major.

"We were ambushed by some high-Level assassins, and the Major was struck with poison," Captain Sanjin explained. "I don't have the antidote on me, and the staff was caught up in the fighting. I snatched the Major off of his horse, and I'm getting him back to the base camp where they should have some more medical supplies. I'm sure someone in the battalion has the cure, but it was too dangerous to try and find them in that situation."

Thoughts raced through Kefira's mind at the implication of the Major being indisposed. She quickly came to a conclusion and firmed her face as she addressed Captain Sanjin once more.

"Since the Major is out of commission, I'm assuming command. You already know who I am, and I won't accept any balking this time. My bodyguard and I are rallying stragglers about a mile away, that way," she pointed to where she had come from. "Take the major over there and see if any of them are from the Medical Corps with an antidote before you continue on to the base camp.

"If they have what you need, then you will assume command, under me, of course." Kefira watched the warring expressions on the man's face as he tried to come up with a response. Kefira could see that he was impatient to get the Major to safety. "If the Major has enough time to make it back to the base camp without succumbing to the poison, he has enough time for you to check with the stragglers."

"Yes, ma'am," Captain Sanjin made his decision. He saluted Kefira before wheeling his horse toward Kefira's stragglers.

Since I'm taking command, I need to gather as many of the soldiers as I can, Kefira looked in the direction that she expected Reivyn and his company were. There was a considerable distance from here to there, and there was a high chance she would get tied down by the enemy and unable to make it all the way over there and back. She couldn't use her Jump Spell with a group of soldiers tagging along, and she had decided to take responsibility for them.

She continued to Jump about on the left side of the battalion, picking up soldiers and directing them where to go as she went. It was clear that the ones fleeing at the moment had turned tail before the final disaster, but she eventually made contact with larger groups of soldiers.

The enemy was chasing after the fleeing troops, but Kefira managed to spot several small groups of Mages.

My own Mana reserves aren't enough to step forward and make a difference, but if I can get them on my side...

Kefira Jumped in front of a group of fleeing Mages. She was familiar with almost all of the volunteer Mage Corps, and they recognized her, as well.

"I've gathered many people together already, and I can lead you all to safety," Kefira didn't waste any time, explaining what she could do for them first. "I just need you all to create a barrier to prevent further pursuit from the enemy of our troops. If we can stop panicking and do that, we can get away."

The Mages had come to a halt at her sudden appearance, surprise on their faces from the clear teleportation in use. Despite being familiar with her, none of them knew the true extent of her abilities. Surprise morphed into impatience as Kefira started talking, but then it turned into determination as she convinced them to look around at the situation.

"Alright," the lead Mage said, gesturing for the others to turn and follow him.

There were six Mages running together, and they all turned to cast their Spells at the enemy chasing after them. Kefira nodded her head. They had been fleeing in a panic, but after calming down and assessing the situation, they were able to act once again.

People do stupid things when they don't think, Kefira mused.

"We don't need to kill the enemy, though nobody will cry if you do," Kefira said. "Just stop them from being able to continue chasing us. I'll Jump around and gather more people."

Kefira took off toward another group of soldiers and Mages. The display of magic drew the attention of the fleeing soldiers, but it also drew the attention of the enemy force, as well. She Jumped to the next group and explained her plan once more. They quickly agreed, the soldiers veering to meet up with the other soldiers, and the Mages used their Spells to cover their retreat.

The situation snowballed as more and more soldiers and Mages regained their composure, and before long, the entire fleeing battalion on the left side of the formation had regrouped and was calmly making their way away from the battlefield. The combined might of the Mages, and the lack of magical support for the enemy so far away from the engagement, meant that they were able to finally turn their rout into a proper retreat.

Kefira once more looked towards the other side where the rest of the battalion had been, but she was getting dangerously low on Mana. She shook her head, grit her teeth, and turned her back to move with the soldiers.

All of the officers had managed to survive, and Kefira quickly asserted her authority over them, displaying her insignia of nobility from Wispan. The captains may have been regulars in the chain of command, but they understood that Imperial intervention was only a matter of time now that it was very clear that this was not an internal affair. It was the duty of the Tier 4 Empire over them to step in during times like this, anyway, and so none of them resisted the change of command.

"Does anyone have poison antidote or purification Skills?" Kefira asked as they Marched towards their destination.

"I do," an officer stepped forward. "Lieutenant Kaerl, ma'am. I'm in charge of the logistics, and I brought a squad of supply soldiers with me to the battlefield, just in case. We have everything we need for an extended operation. Enough supplies for," he scanned the crowd, taking the numbers into account and doing some mental math, "probably a couple of weeks, at least."

Kefira nodded her head.

"Select one of the faster soldiers, and have him deliver the antidote to our destination ahead of us," Kefira commanded. "The Major was hit with poison, and he's unconscious right now. We need to get it to him as quickly as possible."

"Yes, ma'am," Lieutenant Kaerl saluted before heading off to his own men. Shortly after, a man took off running across the barren desert in the direction Kefira had directed Lieutenant Sanjin.

"What's our next move?" One of the captains Kefira was unfamiliar with asked.

"We'll organize and depart for the base camp," Kefira answered. "This is only half of the battalion. I was unable to make it to the other side to gather more of our strength, but they're sure to retreat to the base camp. We can meet up with the survivors there and assess our strength before making any more decisions."

"A wise decision," the man nodded. Kefira mentally rolled her eyes. I don't need you to tell me that, she thought. Actually, I'll just say it.

"I don't need confirmation from you," Kefira leveled her gaze at the man. The man's eyebrows went up in surprise. He hurriedly tried to apologize, not understanding what he had done wrong, but Kefira held a hand out to stop him.

"This doesn't just go for you," Kefira glanced at the other officers, raising her voice. "I don't need 'yes men.' I need all of you to think of things that I don't, or can't, think of, and I need you to give your honest advice. If you see a flaw in my thinking, I expect you to bring it up. That being said, I'm in command, and I'll make the decisions. I can't make the best decisions if I don't have all of the information, though.

"Can anyone think of something that I haven't at this point?"

The captains shared looks with each other before the first one turned back to her.

"Only one," the man said. "We should use our communication devices to contact the other captains and let them know what we're doing. They can get the Mages on that side of the battalion to cover their retreat the same way we did, and they can know for sure to meet up with us at the base camp."

"Excellent suggestion," Kefira nodded. "Make it happen. Oh, and let me know when you make contact with a Lieutenant Reivyn."

"Yes, ma'am." The officer saluted.

He, along with several other captains, stepped away so they could use the magic communication tools without sounds interfering with their messages. After several minutes, the first captain returned.

"The message has been delivered, and two other companies have replied with positive responses. They should be regrouping in their retreat as we speak."

"Good. What's your name, Captain?" Kefira asked.

"Oh, Captain Dorran, ma'am."

"Ok, Captain Dorran. Good work. I see that you have more to say, though?" Kefira quirked an eyebrow.

"It's just... We weren't able to make contact with anyone named Lieutenant Reivyn. None of the other captains had any contact with him."

"I see..." Kefira trailed off, looking forward as they Marched. "That will be all."

"Yes, ma'am," Captain Dorran saluted before walking back to the formation.

You'd better be safe over there.