Chapter 54 - Corcas Mountains Punitive Expedition 1 (1/2)

Gaius, the appointed commander of the punitive force arrived just three days later.

As all the troops came under his control upon his arrival, the Guard Camp became quite busy. While Aiden went out to greet Gaius, Woohyuk was training his party.

Tak Tak

They swung their swords at wooden scarecrows that had been planted in the ground.

‘This isn’t enough.’

Despite having undergone the tutorial maps of Primordial Forest and Canyon Battle, they were still very much beginners. They had never had any professional instruction when it came to using a sword.

Yoo Kayoung and Song Anna were slightly better, but even they were only on the level of an Apprentice Mage.

As Woohyuk clicked his tongue, Leifina approached.

“Lord, do I really have to stay behind in the camp?”

“I need someone to watch over Lia.”

She was still far too young to experience the horrors of the battlefield. Leaving Leifina behind was the right choice to avoid her growing up with a twisted personality.

“Dad, look what mom gave me.”

Lia showed him a rabbit plushie as she giggled happily. She finally received the gift he had bought in a shop in Landium. Lefina was worried about giving it to her right away in case she dropped it during their journey.

‘She is growing up better than I thought.’

He had been a bit worried about what kind of personality she might have, but it didn't seem to have received any negative influence.

He only needed to develop a bond between them and provide the proper upbringing.

After giving his party a break, Woohyuk went over and picked Lia up.

“What do you do if some stranger offers you something to eat?”

“I run away and then tell mom and dad about it.”

“What if you get lost or find yourself in a bad situation?”

“I first hide myself and then use the ring.”

He had given Lia a Scout’s ring in case of an emergency. It was something he had obtained from looting the defeated Kaliss’ merchant group. An artifact that could send a voice message to a single person, and could only be set up ahead of time by physically touching them.

Lia didn’t have a Unity ring, so it was the only method that would allow her to communicate with Woohyuk when they were seperated in case of an emergency.

“Everyone gather at the camp’s entrance!”

While Woohyuk was spending some time with Lia, a soldier appeared in the training grounds and shouted out.

Before their departure to the Corcas Mountains, the commander wanted to inspect the troops.

“Let’s end the training here.”

Hearing what Woohyuk said, the party members stood up with determined expressions.

“Will Yoo Kayoung and Song Anna be joining?”

“Of course.”

With Woohyuk’s new position as temporary Second Lieutenant, he had command over a unit of 500 people. It was quite a sizable force, and since they would likely be posted in the rear, things should be relatively safe.

The soldiers rushed to gather at the camp’s entrance, and quickly formed ranks.

8,000 from the Kingdom’s army.

2,500 Guards.

1,500 Mercenaries.

A total of 12,000 soldiers had been assembled.

“Wow, it’s incredible.”

“How can they gather so many….”

Lee Jaesung and Jung Sanghoon had their mouths agape in astonishment. It was on a scale then times that of the Canyon Battle.

“You’d best get used to it.”

In the future, when large clans fought against one another, it often involved armies of at least 10,000 people.

If they felt like it, they could easily conquer smaller kingdoms by simply cooperating with each other. Of course would only be possible once they had settled all their infighting.

‘Everyone is likely busy growing their own forces.’

Marcus, who was known as the Mad Lord, was likely looking for a position as a mercenary in the Yen Principality by now.

Logan, the Necromancer that had led an army of 100,000 undead and was even capable of making empires quake in their boots, was probably braving the cold in Norton Kingdom.

There were also Dragon Lord Ivanov and Alice that would be in the Talis and Enoa Kingdoms respectively.

As he waited among the troops for Gaius’ arrival, Woohyuk thought about his past.

He had begun in the Owen kingdom, located to the southwest of the Holy Aperian empire. Like any other adventurer, he struggled to survive, living day to day as a mercenary. Unfortunately due to this he had gotten caught up in clan battles, and ended up losing many colleagues.

Later, he made his way to the Croa principality, but had once again suffered many losses since he had been targeted by the criminal group Crimson Crows.

Eventually Leifina and himself had boarded a ship heading to the Lioness Kingdom, which was located on the far eastern shore of the Eeth continent.

It was a place with many Martial Artists, and was where Woohyuk had gotten a fortuitous encounter.

‘It’s too far for now.’

Although he was planning on visiting eventually, it wasn’t high on his list.

Even if he wasn’t able to build up his Inner Force by obtaining the Martial Artist class, he could have a similar result using his Demonic Energy.

Not to mention, that unlike Inner Force, Demonic Energy wasn’t independent of his Stats , but instead had the advantage of growing naturally along with their increases..

As Woohyuk focused on the Demonic Energy within him, Gaius and his officers made their appearance on the platform before them.

“I have a favor to ask of you before we set out.”

He was the expedition's Commander, and was naturally decked out in a dazzling armor. His manner of speaking also portrayed the dignity of his status.

Having such an impressive leader, gave the troops confidence in winning the battle.

“Never turn you back to the enemy. We are the proud army of the Great Rhine Kingdom. We will never beg for our lives even if it means losing everything!”

Knowing no retreat on the battlefield

A soldier’s basic virtue. However flexible thinking was equally important. Such kinds of rigid commanders wouldn’t be able to make the right situational judgement, making it easy to mistakenly put his men in danger.

‘We can only know after seeing how he performs which type he is.’

Although the Rhine Kingdom had stood for a long time, that may simply have been due to its advantageous geographic position, which made it easy to defend.

It wasn’t until Logan led the Niflheim Alliance to attack, that it had finally fallen. But there was no evidence to suggest that it had been because he had the superior army.

As he marched alongside the troops, Woohyuk raised his head to look at the vast blue sky and tall Corcas Mountains that towered above them.

The lair of vicious monsters, no doubt a bloody battle would take place today.

* * *

“Huu...Huuu.”

The soldiers breathed heavily as they climbed the rugged mountainous terrain.

Aiming for the peak on the very first day. Gaius was quite the ambitious commander, and wanted to capture the high ground as soon as possible.

‘This likely won’t end well.’

If one overlooked the terrain when crafting their strategy, they were doomed to fail, regardless of how many men they had.

Aware of this fact, Aiden had been purposefully slowing down their marching speed. The Guards were for the most part used as scouts and logistical support. They had left 500 to defend their camp, so they only numbered 2000 on this expedition.

Even though there were also more than 1,500 mercenaries to bolster their numbers, they still didn’t even amount to half the forces of the kingdom’s army.

It looked like it would be quite difficult to gain any significant merit unless a large scale battle would occur.

“Stop!”

Aiden brought them to a halt as the distance between them and Gaius’ troop had increased too much.

They were currently on a plateau, in the middle of the mountain range. A place which would serve as a great area to make camp.