Second Life as a Soldier

Chapter 133 - Enemy Within

Before sunrise, both my squad and the Vanguard gathered at the top of Fort Dunvale’s wall.

A ladder hung down the side, disappearing into the fog that covered the rocky terrain below.

“Why are we going out this way?” Barry asked.

“Our mission is secret. We do not want to inform many people,” I replied as the vanguard squad started making their way down the ladder.

I raised my hand as Barry was about to start whining. “Stop talking. We do not want others to know,” I said quietly, shutting him up.

We descended into a field of jagged rocks and boulders.

The terrain was rough, uneven, and difficult to move through at speed. Only a narrow, flattened stretch near the wall allowed proper movement, eventually opening into a path roughly thirty to forty feet wide.

The path was specially designed to direct enemy soldiers. A terrain like this would not stop someone like the barbarian leader we fought yesterday, but it would be helpful against low-level soldiers and large armies.

“Sergeant Cole, do you think we will be alright without Roland?” making my way to Sergeant Cole, I asked. Roland was not traveling with us; with his hand severed, he was not in fighting condition.

“We should be fine. Considering their target is the patrol squad, there should not be more than 2 Tier-3s in the attack squad,” I nodded.

Then Sergeant Cole turned and addressed everyone while pointing at the boulders at the side of the wider path.

“We will hide our presence behind these rocks. Once the patrol team passes this path, we will follow them.”

“I am assuming this is the only path to the north from Fort Dunvale,” I said, and Sergeant Cole nodded.

“How are we supposed to follow the patrol unit without informing them?” I asked. “My squad will be able to maintain a basic marching pace, but we are nowhere near trained enough to hide from the patrol unit’s senses.”

“Yeah, most of the squad is the same. We will do it in two parts. Blake will be following the patrol squad, while we will be following him. Thomas here will be responsible for tracking Blake,” said Sergeant Cole, pointing at Blake and Thomas. Both of them were trackers of the vanguard squad who traveled inside the forest, far away from both flanks on our way to Fort Dunvale.

Following that, we moved behind the boulders, waiting, hiding, and limiting our mana usage, while Blake and Thomas made sure none of our mana leaked out of the small area we had occupied. I felt the urge to use [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] to observe how they were doing it, but I stopped myself.

Maybe once we are back at Fort Dunvale.

After more than one hour, the patrol unit crossed us.

We all stood up. Blake followed them, and after that, we followed, with Thomas leading the way for us.

We kept running, maintaining a jog-like pace. Even without being high in agility, at Tier-2, simple tasks like running would not bother anyone. Even Garran, someone with the least amount of agility in my squad, could run for hours on flat tracks.

But maneuvering complex terrain was a completely different thing. Thankfully, even the vanguard had a few soldiers who were not exactly agility-type, so the path we took was not overly complex. Otherwise, I was afraid I would have had to drop Garran from the mission.

Following the patrol squad for some time, around midday, the patrol team took a break, and we also stopped around 50 meters away from them. But instead of resting, we were on high alert, observing every movement of the patrol squad, making sure to be prepared for any signals they could make.

I also had [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] active, making sure that while observing the patrol unit, I did not miss anything approaching us.

Suddenly, I frowned. I sensed a small mana signature almost at the border of my range. Before I could warn people, I saw the tallest member of the patrol squad duck down, avoiding arrows. Less than 50 meters from where patrol squad had stopped, barbarians came out from behind the boulders.

Just as our team was about to break into a sprint toward the barbarian squad—

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I stopped everyone.

“Wait! Enemies!” I shouted.

Two Tier-3 barbarians stood up from behind the boulders somewhere near the border of my [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] range. Their appearance drained the color from all our faces because the attacking squad already had one Tier-3; these two made it three.

Even Sergeant Cole paused for a second, trying to come up with a strategy, but before he could say anything, I spoke up.

“Sergeant, take your squad and Peter. My squad will hold them as long as we can.” Without waiting for his response, I continued.

“Varric, you and I will handle the leader. Go all out.”

“Kael, Garran, Barry, you three handle the second. Our aim is to survive, not kill.”

Saying that, we divided into three groups.

As Varric and I ran, he dropped his shield. When I looked at him, he just smiled and said, “I am going all out.”

The barbarian’s eyes were shining after seeing Varric drop his shield and carry only a hammer, mostly because he was similar to Varric, covered in bone armor, carrying only a hammer with a small pouch tied on his waist.

Kael's team blocked the path of one of the barbarians, allowing the vanguard a clear passage.

While Varric and I engaged with another barbarian in front, he swung the hammer in a side arc, targeting me at waist height.

Bending down on one knee, I took the hit on my shield. I could see the barbarian’s eyes widen in surprise, as if he had not expected me to stop his hit.

Just after that, Varric’s hammer came just above mine, aiming for the barbarian’s chest, forcing him to take a step back.

I stood up, barbarian once again came at us and said, “Rat can fight,” then let out a laugh and ignited his hammer, bringing it down at me with full force.

I sent mana into my shield, expanding its size, covering both me and Varric.

When the hammer and shield met, it created a fire blast large enough to block my vision, while Varric stepped in and attacked the barbarian.

This time, Varric was laughing.

Once again, the barbarian took a step back to swing, Varric followed him, swinging at him with ferocity.

After two side steps, the barbarian swung his hammer, meeting Varric’s swing halfway, once again creating a blast of fire on impact.

Following that, I thrust my spear, aiming for the barbarian’s neck. Once more, he took a step back, but in doing so, he locked Varric’s hammer with his own, pulling it out of Varric’s hand with extraordinary force.

Thankfully, it did not fall far from us.

To give Varric time to pick up his hammer, I moved forward, covering my shield with mana. I punched at the barbarian’s chest and followed that with consecutive strikes with my spear, aiming for his neck and chest to push him back.

What followed was a strike by the barbarian.

Just by the amount of mana gathered, I knew I would not be able to block it, so I rolled to the side. When the hammer met the ground, it created a small crater, with small shrapnel-like stone fragments flying everywhere.

Then the barbarian took a step toward Varric, aiming at him with the same attack.

“Varric, dodge!” I shouted, afraid he might try taking it head-on.

Varric followed and dodged to the side. Taking the opportunity, I thrust my spear from the side, hitting him in the waist, but the bone armor and strong physique meant it did not cause much harm, not more than a few inches-deep wound on the side of his waist.

The barbarian swung at me wildly this time, almost with no aim.

As the fight dragged on, the barbarian was getting angry.

The next ten minutes passed the same way. While I danced around him, Varric kept pressure with frontal charges, and with every minute, the barbarian’s frustration grew, most probably not expecting the fight to last this long.

Because this was the only thing we were able to achieve, we had hardly been able to do any physical damage other than a few small cuts and maybe a broken rib from Varric’s attack. He even had more than 25% mana remaining.

But the same could not be said for us. I knew Varric was almost out of mana and was slowing down at a visible pace, and while I had around 30% mana remaining, my legs and back were filled with hot shrapnel of broken stone he produced on every impact with the ground, leaving me hardly in any condition to fight for long.

Thankfully, unlike him, his partner was not in the same condition. I could sense his mana and vitality weakening.

As he was attacking, he suddenly stopped mid-action, looked toward the other Tier-3, then made a run toward the barbarian fort while sounding the horn, declaring the end of the fight.

Once he was far away, Varric slumped to the ground where he stood, while I checked the battlefield. The area near me and Varric was covered with craters.

Where Kael, Garran, and Barry were, it was covered with blade-like marks, probably from wind element affinity.

The only difference was they had killed their target, who had fallen to the ground with one spear protruding through the chest and Barry’s knife in one eye.

The death of the Tier-3 barbarian was the reason for the retreat, but the death did not come without cost. Kael and Barry were injured.

Thankfully, both were conscious, and nothing looked fatal. Looking at their condition, I took one pack of paste and tossed my bag to Garran.

“Use whatever you need, no need to conserve any. Varric, see if you can help,” saying this, I picked up the pouch of the barbarian that had fallen after my attack to his waist and made my way to Sergeant Cole.

I wanted to heal my squad, but the battle had revealed something that could have grave consequences, something I could never have thought about.

As I made my way to the patrol squad and vanguard at a slow pace because of my injuries, Sergeant Cole stomped toward the tallest member of the patrol unit and grabbed his neck.

“YOU were the first one to dodge and never made any sound to warn your squadmates. You half-barbarian gave me details on the barbarian plan, and I will make your death easy,” said Sergeant Cole with anger I had never seen, his mana covering the whole area and making it a little hotter.

“Sergeant Cole, I would suggest you let him go, or I will have to create a complaint against you for harming a fellow soldier,” I said.

Everyone looked at me in surprise. Sergeant Cole did not let him go; instead, all his mana pressure got transferred to me, but I continued.

“I am sure he is not a traitor, but the same cannot be said about your squad,” I said.