Chapter 15: Wane

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Status:

- HP: 5M/5M

- Sta: 100/100

- State: Cursed(all stats are 20% lower except health and stamina)

Days left: 20

"Damn it! Damn it! Where are the cavalries?" The commander clenches his fists in anger

"But sir! We are getting outnumbered"

"Why hasn't the crown sent us any reinforcement yet? But thank lord, there is one adventurer that can buy us some time"

The scene is not much chaos but rather a hopeless situation. Monsters in a disciplined march. Flanks are well guarded by nagas, frontlines are trolls, backlines are goblins with spears and shields. In the middle, a cyclops carries a siege weapon.

Flanking is impossible with just adventurers. If the flank fails, they will be in chaos then lastly, lose their lives. It would be impossible to aim with an arrow to blind the cyclops since it is well guarded with glass harder than steel. The best hope now is to pray that the crown to send reinforcements to save this town. Not just cavalries, they need a high ranked adventurer along with wyvern riders.

"They know the traps too? Who is the traitor? We need to kill him before another one might fall because of this" The commander raises his mace

"Sir! Recently a shady man just lurked around there. But he just disappeared before we could do anything"

"I heard it a lot. How could you not catch that rat?"

"We tried. Snare, he slipped and ran. Net, he just dropped and ran. Lastly, pike hole, he was still alive and just ran away"

"A shapeshifter? Why didn't you tell me all of this in detail?"

"Sir! We are very in a very tense situation where every command is valuable and minor things like these are very distracting" A militia bows

"All men down there! Form a wall!"

They form a wall of shields and spears behind the wooden gate.

"All archers! Ready for the first rain! Flame up!"

The first row ready the tip near the braziers

"Don't fire it!," he raises his mace up higher ", Catapults! Oil ready!"

The catapults teams ready the oil barrels.

They are getting closer

Closer

Closer

"Oil away!" He sways the mace at front

The barrels fly to the enemy frontlines. They are coated with oil.

"Cover them with dirt now!"

The nagas from flank guards use their blade to scatter the soil onto the trolls.

"Ready the scatter balls!"

These balls are filled with blacksmith scraps and explosives.

"Launch!" he sways his mace at the front

The balls scatter the scraps and explosive everywhere onto the frontlines row and the middle

"Rain of Hell now!"

The flame arrows rain on the enemy. Explosives and flames of horror are everywhere in the monster army. If this is a human army, a true hell of flames and screams of the dead.

Suddenly, a dagger is thrown.

Then

**Siuk**

The commander is wounded in his neck. He holds the wound with his other hand. He coughs blood and is unable to command anymore.

"Sir!" Two of his guards raise the shields. Other men are still on guard. Without the commander, they have to judge with their own experience. Although it may not be as coordinated as him commanding, still they face these things many times shoulder to shoulder.

'Dirty trick. I need to know who is the traitor among the archers. I know the angle but I can't speak right now.' He is holding the bleeding

"Sir! Keep your strength!"

The hard veteran puts his mace in trust of his guard. He makes a two-horn sign with his free hand then raises only middle finger, index and thumb. Then finally look at the archers. Three, five.

The guards understand what to do. One of them tells one militia to go up there. The man nods quietly.

He goes up there. He raises his dagger up.

Suddenly.

"You think that a backstabber wouldn't know another?"

The fake archer reveals the fact that he is a shapeshifting demon. The militia man shocks and he regains his calm then tries to stab the heart of the demon.

Riposte. He got stabbed instead.

"The demon! Get him, adventurers" as the archers stay away from that demon

The adventurers rush in haste from nearby. But the one first makes the move.

A hook right on the demon's face

"Damn it! A penalty." Hivon grips on his rope and tries to pull it back

The young man tries to close the distance but the demon spreads its wings to fly.

He is trying to hang on. He takes a dagger out and throws to chip its wing.

Both of them fall into the forest outside of the main battle.

Hivon takes a stance against that demon. His wound warns him about the danger right in front of his face at this moment.

State: Cursed II (all stats are 50% lower except health and stamina)

'Damn it! This is the thing? I don't think I can handle this in this state' He struggles to stand

A moment of resolve testament

Courageous

He organizes his thoughts and strategies.

"Now you remember me? I am the one who did that to you, masked one. I can feel the curse from here"

"Shut up"

He throws flash powder right on its face. Surprised by the sudden light in the shade, the demon struggles momentarily to see again.

Hivon is now right behind it, he splashes thunder drops in the mix of clear oil then dashes away.

"You think this would harm me?"

"Not just yet," he throws another fistful of flash powder on it ", Now!"

It is burning and exploding like crazy hell. The demon wails for a moment and then keeps its composure.

"You dared to burn me like this?" it raises its claws.

This time, Hivon dodges the flurries. There is no one nearby, there is no one needed to be protected.