Chapter 281 - Trap

Zaos and the scouts had to wait for two more days before they annihilated those riders to see any movement in Toules town. Then when they saw it, they knew that a huge battle was going to happen.  They concluded that because the four gates of the town were opened at the same time.

"In the end, my prediction wasn't completely wrong," Zaos muttered to himself.

The situation that he had been waiting for was finally taking shape. The only problem was how Zaos would rally his soldiers to face an eight times larger army.

"Don't worry, guys, I will lead the charge and make sure that they will have their eyes on me," Zaos said. "They might have large numbers, but they won't even have the chance to use their archers and cavalry."

Everyone knew the plan Zaos had made for that kind of situation. While they didn't have much time to practice, it wasn't much of a complicated plan. Still, they didn't look that confident. Zaos had promised them that all the loot would be divided among the soldiers, and Zaos won't touch anything. However, still, not even that helped in increasing their morale. That was bad since, in less than one hour, the enemy army would approach the village.

"This is bad, Captain," Cohnal said. "You need to inspire them more."

"… I am not going to use cheap words to make you guys fight more fiercely. I don't think that loyalty toward the kingdom won't help us much in this fight," Zaos said. "I just will tell you this: you guys decided to join my unit for some reason. Probably because I am famous or something, I don't think I am worthy of much admiration since I failed in helping the person I loved most in this world. But I think that you people heard of me. Some saw me fighting, now I will show you how I really fight because until now, I only fought in battles like these where the enemies had all the advantage."

The soldiers gulped when they heard that. They had listened to the rumors, but the few people that saw the scars in Zaos's body, they told the others that the rumors were probably true. Despite his young age, Zaos had more scars than those who had been running around from battlefield to battlefield for more than twenty years.

"I won't tell you not to be scared because that would be stupidity," Zaos said. "It is okay to be scared. If you feel that you can't move your body in the middle of the battle, just look forward, and you will see me opening a path through the enemies' formation. Aside from that, just do what I told you earlier."

Zaos assumed his position, and the veteran soldiers that were supposed to charge toward the enemy followed him. He imagined that some of his soldiers would have a change of heart and then run away, but they probably wouldn't go that far since the horses were in the other village.

Zaos couldn't help but wonder… Did his father really want to see him dead so much that he wouldn't find a way to make real soldiers follow his commands? He never heard of desertion in units like his, at least not many stories… probably because those units got wiped out in those very units. Still, despite that, Zaos saw the whole unit assuming their positions. While they were scared, they wanted to be a part of those events where Zaos survived a harsh battle against an army of enemies that was much stronger. Although he decided to motivate them, his soldiers ended up motivating Zaos.

"All right… it is time to show them what kind of man their Captain is," Zaos said, and then his expression darkened.

For a moment, the people around Zaos felt shivers since they could feel in the air a crazy amount of blood lust, and that was coming from Zaos alone. It was a bit weird since they never saw Zaos that angry in the few weeks that they knew each other… but in the end, they more or less knew that Zaos was a man of many faces.

When the enemy army finally saw the empty village in the distance, Edwyrd couldn't help but frown. He assumed that something happened here a few days ago, but he couldn't find anything or any signs of a huge battle. Still, he could sense something in the air that made him think twice before moving forward. His men sensed his hesitation, and Edwyrd almost clicked his tongue. Although those mercenaries worked for him, they wouldn't work for long once they saw any signs of weakness in him. That was why he killed all the guards that were on duty that night when Zaos and his archers destroyed one of their warehouses. Without any other choice, Edwyrd decided to move forward but ordered everyone to stay on guard… that had been the worst mistake of his entire life.

While passing through two hills, Edwyrd finally noticed that he had fallen into a trap. It was the perfect place for him and the officers of his army to be snipped by hundreds of archers… how come he didn't notice that? Soon enough, enemies from both sides appeared and dashed toward them. Edwyrd waited for the wave of arrows, but they never came… as expected. There was no way that the enemies would be able to hide so many archers behind a few hills without his army noticing it. However, his relief changed when a single warrior in black armor and carrying a big sword dashed toward the front of the entire army like they weren't even there. In the blink of an eye, his moving speed increased and reached levels that were supposed to be impossible for humans. Edwyrd noticed that he was screwed when he saw a crack appearing on the ground in the place that the warrior stepped in.. Before he could say anything, Zaos split him, his horses, his officers, and their horses in the blink of an eye in half with his sword.