Chapter 167: Second Assault

A bead of sweat trailed down a soldier's face. He was supposed to be the one dead by now if not because someone had saved him.

"Commander!" Eman was a little startled when the woman beside him suddenly raised her voice even though the two of them were only beside each other. He glanced at her. "How did you know that there was an enemy out there?" She asked.

"Do I need to answer that?" He asked with a frown. "Uh, no need. Sorry, I'm just curious," she hastily said, then sighed. That was her mistake. One could not lose her/his focus once on a battlefield.

He nodded and said: "Don't drop your guard down."

"Okay!"

Besides them, there were two other soldiers. They were their last members to form a squad. The other one was six feet tall with a burly build, and the other one was a thin man of about five feet and ten inches tall. They were silently waiting for his command. But although the two of them were silent, he could feel they weren't ordinary soldiers.

To the distance, to where the soldiers were eliminating the enemies, they saw a flash of light.

"Commander," she called out once again. But this time, he knew of the reason. "Mhm!" He nodded. It was a signal that everything was clear. He urged them to proceed. "Let's go!" When they arrived, the other soldiers were already gathering.

"Commander, here!" One of the captains called out at him. The captain led him to one of the huts around. Before leaving, he asked Kanna to stay outside. "Okay!"

When he entered the small wooden hut, four of the captains were already inside. They were the acting commander of the team consisting of five squads. And they were here to give their brief report. They also needed to re-evaluate their plan if necessary.

But before that, they needed to report their first assault. After Eman took his seat, he did not waste time and asked about everyone's condition. "Everyone's fine in our team, no injuries and no wounded," reported a captain with a huge bow on his back. He was the acting commander of the ranger team. And he was the one who shot the first victim.

"No problem in ours as well," reported Bross, who was the acting commander of the healer team. 

The others reported too. Among all the four teams, only the team commanded by Demyul, the vanguard team, were three of their members who got wounded. 

However, it wasn't so much that could hinder their advance. The healer's team had already tended on them. They could go back in action anytime the commander ordered.

They saw the commander nodding his head and said: "Good job."

Then he proceeded to ask about the following reports. He asked about the estimated number of enemies they killed. They needed to take note of this matter. So that they could avoid any unforeseen events from happening.

"About 87 enemies were killed," A woman reported. She was the acting commander of the scout team who was tasked to assassinate the enemy's watchers and guards.

After hearing her report, Demyul opened his mouth. "It was a huge number yet small if one compared it to the total number of the enemy. There were still a few hundred left. On top of that, the second area would be more difficult as it was wider and the houses were closer to each other. Also, some beasts were guarding the houses."

"You're right…" Bross agreed with him. On the other hand, Eman was focused on reading something in the parchment. In it were detailed reports regarding the soldier's skills. A surprise was apparent on his face as he was reading on it. He glanced at one of the captains. "Captain Gan, we will be depending on your team in the next area," Said their young commander as he was looking at the captain with a huge bow on his back.

"No problem," replied Captain Morgan.

"Right, be sure to re-enforce the arrows with Sleeping Spell, Paralyze Spell, and Sound Nullification before firing them, just in case…" he added.

"Uh, Commander, isn't Paralyze Spell unnecessary for it?" Morgan wondered if the young commander thought of them as a pool of magical energy. Using Paralyze Spell together with Sleeping Spell was just a waste of magical energy. After all, these two spells were so demanding of it.

Eman noticed the other captains also nodding their heads in agreement with Captain Morgan's statement. But looking at Morgan's face, he could read where their worries lay. He knew that casting paralyze only increases the cost of magical energies that each soldier would be spending. 

"Uh, no need to get so worried about your magical energies…" after saying it, he tossed four rings on the table.

Everyone glanced at it. "S-spatial rings?" Bross muttered with a skeptical face.

They glanced and saw the young commander nodding his head.

"We can't only knock out our opponents. We must make sure to kill them without giving them chances to fight back," he said coldly, which made them wonder if this person was truly a young man.

Sound Nullification seemed like a common spell in the empire as he noticed most of the scouts and even those assassins who came to kill him knew how to cast it. And now he learned that it can even be applied to the arrows to cancel the gushing sound. Eman got excited about learning about it.

'...it might be better also if the scouts can team up with the archers so that they can cast an invisibility spell on the arrows. It would be more fun to watch it like that,' Eman thought. However, he couldn't do it. He needed the scouts to finish all the unguarded enemies.

Since the next area was guarded by beasts, they could not come close without dispatching them firstly.

After tossing the spatial rings, they asked him about it. He said that inside it was potions that enable them to regain their magical energy in a second after consuming it. He noticed their eyes widened in disbelief. He asked about their surprise. The four captains told him that it was expensive. Also, it's hard to get stocks of it. They asked him if it was his majesty who gave it.

Eman secretly smiled and told them that it was his friend who sponsored it. It further widened their eyes and about to ask him another question. But the young commander already stood up from his seat and ended the meeting.

He ordered them to get ready for their second assault.

Their meeting only lasted for a few minutes. They must resume their attack. They needed to lower the enemy's number as much as possible before they noticed their presence.

In the next area, it was a bit populated. A little mistake could ruin their plan.