"Brace yourselves for the hardest battle so far!"
Rowan last words rang in the ears of his men — Boosting their fighting spirit a little bit even though the fear was still present.
It was already a known fact in Winterseed and beyond that monsters are stronger at night. They have the higher up than humans due to their night visions.
With these advantages present for the monsters, they felt like fighting them would be the same as digging their own graves.
But Rowan words changed their mind a little bit.
What if the doomsday they are preparing for did not happen during the light of day. What if it took place at night, what would they do?
"I am ready to fight!"
Bryce stepped forward and raised his clenched fist.
Roland stepped forward and did the same, followed by the other captains and then Winston.
The other men were still contemplating their thoughts but after seeing the actions of Bryce and co, they too step forward and did the same.
Rowan smiled and nodded.
"Off we go then!"
Rowan voice thundered.
Not wasting a minute, the march to the new hunting zone began.
This one was unlike the rest as everyone had to be extra vigilant to prevent getting jumped by monsters laying ambushes.
Eyes darted across from side to side, observing their surrounding with all seriousness.
Even though Rowan and Blaze were present, the soldiers did not make the mistake of leaving all their defenses to both of them.
As they matched further, the day got darker even more and soon enough, the sky was dark as black and the moon resumed its position — its glow was present, but insufficient, the tall trees in the surrounding filtered its glow, making it less intense.
About two hours passed and finally, they arrived at a new hunting zone.
Rowan eclipse vision was always activated in the dark, thus he had no problem viewing his surrounding and taking note.
"Maintain our formation, hunters first as usual." Rowan announced.
The soldiers obeyed and did as they were told.
After they were set, Rowan dropped a few more words to boost their fighting spirit before activating hunter's call.
His voice echoed across a large radius around them, triggering a sensation in the nearby monsters and demonic beast, causing them to sprint madly in their direction.
The usual silence after his call came and went.
Then followed by the monstrous stomping and cries.
The soldiers could not help but gulp nervously but they didn't think of escaping — Fighting now was even better than doing so.
The first row of monsters lunged out of the woods, letting out ecstatic cries.
This made the soldiers heart skip a beat.
It was simply too scary as most of the monsters were camouflaged with the darkness, making them difficult to spot or even attack.
"Your sights and your intuitions are going to be your best companion in this battle!" Rowan barked at them.
"Train your sights! Follow your intuitions!"
"Take aims and release your arrows without wasting a seconds!"
"Now! Fire!!!"
His voice thundered across his men.
The archers took aim, strained their sight to maintain target and with Rowan last call, they released the strings and the arrows darted at the darkness.
[ Your soldier has slain 1 Night Monkey and gained 48 evolution points ]
[ 10% of the soldier's earned evolution points have been transferred to you ]
[ Your soldier has slain 1 Low-rank demonic wolf and gained 50 evolution points ]
[ 10% of the soldier's earned evolution points have been transferred to you ]
A few of the archers were able to land critical hit and slayed their targets, triggering lots of notifications as a result.
"Continue firing!"
Rowan barked again.
The archers placed more arrows and fired multiple shots and the target they could lay their eyes on.
"Blaze, assist them! Remember, do not slay the monsters except they are about to cause a casualty!" Rowan barked to Blaze standing beside him.
Blaze let out an obedient whimper and sprang into the air, arriving between the archers and the clashing monsters.
His body was immediately engulfed in flames.
His eyes also turned red.
Then without wasting a second, he lunged at his first target — a wolf who had just deflected a shot fired at it and was about to shoot a ball of flames at the archer.
Blaze arrived before the ball of flames could clash with the archer.
He deflected it and lunged at the wolf who was preparing yet another attack after it first one got deflected.
Blaze fired several flame disks at it, targeting vital parts of its body and slaying it in a matter of seconds.
After he was done with its first target, he sprang towards another location.
On the ither hand, Rowan continued giving orders to the archers.
He continued for about five minutes till they ran out of arrows.
"Time to switch!"
The close range fighters braced themselves immediately.
"After this shot, switch immediately!" He called out to the archers.
Winston dragged out his sword and his eyes regained its previous coldness.
He took a pose of a sprinter waiting for the kick-off call before launching.
Bryce reloaded his fist with a grin and did a little stretching of his leg.
The other soldiers were equally prepared.
Rowan observed them and he couldn't help but mutter to himself, inaudibly, "Sadly, most of them are going to lost their life. Even though Blaze and I are very strong and fast, we would not be able to save all of them."
"But it's all for the good, those who lost their lives did so with honor and those who survive this fight would live and get stronger."
"I need quality not quantity in the coming battle!"
At this moment, the archers had just fired their last shots.
"SWITCH! NOW!!"
The moment Rowan shouted, "SWITCH! NOW!!", the battlefield transformed in an instant. The archers quickly lowered their bows and moved to the back while the close-ranged fighters drew their weapons and moved out.
"Charge!" Rowan barked.
The soldiers let out fierce battle cries, their voices echoing under the moonlit sky.
The battlefield got heated immediately as weapons clashed against claws and fangs of the ferocious monsters.
Bryce punched and slammed.
Winston slashed the monsters he could see, although he made a few moves that ended up missing the targets.
Thankfully, with the newfound speed and strength from his upgraded skill, he was able to maneuver quickly and counter.
The other captains fought as best as they could.
However, this time, they added to the task and watched for the other soldiers.
Casualty is a major part of battle.
But still, if they could, they wanted to prevent this as much as possible.
Rowan and Blaze also joined in on the battle.
Blaze helped rescuing the few soldiers he could while Rowan fished out the insanely strong monsters and slayed them before they even thought of attacking.
In a matter of minutes, the battlefield was buried in blood, clashing weapons and cries of death.
Casualty this time, was not only on the part of the monsters sadly — A few of the soldiers got slaughtered and half-eaten by the monsters.
A few soldiers witnessed the gruesome death of their colleagues. They were sad, but they turned it around and made it into a newfound strength to fight — to revenge their fallen comrade and make their death noteworthy.
Naturally, Rowan received notifications each time his soldiers were smitten.
'What is the current casualty over the actual number of soldiers? give me a detailed report,' Rowan asked as he slayed a High-rank demonic wolf with ease.
[ REPORT ]
Soldiers - 1577
Casualties - 158
Soldiers left - 1419
'Fuck, almost two hundred men lost already. The casualty is more than I expected, but at least the monsters are getting reduced faster than I expected.' Rowan thought with a sigh.
"HOWL!"
Two High-rank demonic wolves from beside howled and charged at him.
One of them began charging up a fire ball to fire at him.
Rowan snorted and began chanting his bubble shield.
After about twenty seconds, his body was surrounded by a blue aqua shield that glowed a little bit in the dark, drawing the attention of monsters and humans simultaneously.
The fireballs darted forward and clashed against the bubble shield.
Water could easily extinguish fire and that was exactly what the bubble shield was made off.
The demonic wolf growled angrily and charged at Rowan instead after his attack failed but Rowan ended its life and that of its colleagues without much stress.
The battle continued for more than two hours - Getting tensed by the seconds as the stronger monsters began attacking the soldiers.
At this moment, more than 20% of Rowan's men have lost their lives.
And another 30% had sustained ghastly injuries.
The remaining 50% were the likes of Winston and Bryce who adapted to the darkness sooner than others.
---
Meanwhile, in Winterseed, Dragun was taking a stroll around the village at night as usual.
The villagers had already retired to their homes for the day and only Dragun could be seen outside.
"I wonder how Rowan and the soldiers are fairing in the dark forest." He sighed.
He still did not understand why Rowan would take his men hunting for monsters, but he knew he had a good reason for it so he did not bother himself too much.
He only prayed and wished it was for the greater good of the people.
While strolling, he suddenly had the urge to check up on Vishirk.
Without wasting a thought, he began making his way towards Vishirk's place.
He knocked but there was no response.
Then he opened the door and walked in.
But then!
He was greeted with a shocking sight.
"VISHIRK! You... you!"