Chapter 990: Fist of the Moon (4)

Chapter 990: Chapter 990: Fist of the Moon (4)

"RATHBORNE IS DEAD! FINISH THE REST!!" Baron Glorfile loudly bellowed as he stood proudly before the corpse of his enemy, blood and viscera marring his half exposed body and ripped up attire.

"The Baron has won; victory is ours!" A peak B-rank soldier who faithfully followed the Baron raised his blade and hollered before cutting down one of the remaining enemy soldiers, starting a reenergised culling.

With Rathborne dead and Sierra forced to flee morale plummeted amongst Crown Prince Randolph’s forces, their hearts torn, their souls despairing as death overwhelmed them.

Despite having a good twenty or so combatants left there were no additional deaths or injuries amongst their killers, hope and morale making a clear visible difference in their capabilities.

Cavalish slowly floated down from the sky, his expression somewhat ambiguous. Rathborne’s death and his survival was a good thing, but he couldn’t help but feel a little depressed regarding his role in the man’s downfall.

Baron Glorfile was much stronger than he imagined, the years of inactive service and his advanced age should have cut down on his sharpness, but from what just happened it was clear he had underestimated this degradation.

As they fought the old man only grew stronger and stronger as though dusting off accumulated rust, god knows the true depths of his strength.

’Seems the neutral nobles do in fact have hidden cards other than those in the War Ursa Battalion.’ While Generals like Anya and royal shadows guards like Dartanan were in the light, known to Prince Randolph and his cohorts the true forces within the War Ursa Battalion were not. It was rare for even a single one of their Generals to make the trip south and deaths of the old guard were always kept secret.

Crown Prince Randolph and 2nd Prince Sedrick were wary of Duke Runak for good reason, the forces he commanded were the best of the best even if you didn’t include the man himself.

Cavalish now held his assigned mission with even greater reverence, treating even the journey to Icethorne with upmost professionalism and to prove this he walked up the Baron and spoke in a polite almost submissive manner.

"Congratulations Baron Glorfile, the Fist of the Moon can still shake the heavens I see." There was a smile on his lips and friendliness in his eyes, but Baron Glorfile wasn’t fooled.

"Hmph if I was still in my prime he wouldn’t have lasted half as long." Baron Glorfile knew he had revealed too much, making Cavalish and his companions wary. Perhaps even if they managed to win this war in the North he may not make back home alive.

He and Cavalish were allies for now, but it was merely a temporary arrangement, Prince Sedrick was the political enemy of Princess Avira in the end. His death would ultimately serve to strengthen his position thus the Baron would never drop his guard, his eyes and heart always watching Cavalish and the others every move.

The battle was quickly concluded after the death of Rathborne, the final tally being 3 dead, 7 with major injuries and 9 with minor injuries -ones that would perfectly heal on the journey to Icethorne or with a single dose of low level health potion or low circle healing spell.

General Anya trudged through the trees with Ovaria, the corpse of a tall, muscular beastwoman from the tiger tribe being dragged behind her. The moment Anya made a move Sierra was done for but seeing her return so soon and with nary a scratch those with coloured codenames couldn’t help but stare at her. First there was Baron Glorfile’s strength now there was this unknown individual.

’Their strength has to be at the very least peak of the early stages but more likely they’re in the middle stages.’ Cavalish estimated, ignoring their featly, thinking only of the facts placed before him.

’A mid stage A-rank who wields a sabre, large in stature, most likely male and who’d be willing to fight on behalf of the neutral nobles.’ He ran a couple possibilities through his head but shot them all down not a moment later. Everyone he thought of was accounted for, either stationed on the other side of the country or tied up somewhere else, their every movements examined with a fine tooth comb.

Suddenly his side with their four A-ranks and a fair few more B-ranks no longer seemed overwhelming in fact they may even be the underdogs in this fight....a very strange and somewhat bone chilling circumstance.

’I need to discuss this with Avarice; our intelligence needs updating.’

"Did she give you much trouble Diamond?" Baron Glorfile asked with a genuine smile -clearly much preferring the company of General Anya over Cavalish. His chiselled physique was still on display, but the blood and viscera had been removed with clean up magic as was much of the carnage left across the battlefield.

Bodies were fleeced of all equipment and items before being piled up and burned, erasing all trace of their existence as well as preventing the attraction of monsters and unwelcome death energy.

General Anya glanced at Cavalish and his companions quickly thinking about what she should say so as to keep as much of her strength and identity hidden until they reached Icethorne.

"A little but thanks to Ovaria here and my earlier sneak attack she didn’t put up too much of a fight. She basically ran for her life the entire time, unfortunately I’m quite confident in my speed." Anya lied her ass off but thankfully Ovaria played along perfectly, nodding her head in agreement instead of showing a frozen or bewildered expression when she spoke.

The truth was Sierra was already dead by the time Ovaria caught up, General Anya was even applying a few tears to her clothes and rubbing herself with bits of dirt and foliage to give evidence of a struggle.

While her sneak attack against Sierra when she had practically no guard up certainly helped in taking her down the true reason was the vast difference in strength.

General Anya was as Frost suspected not in the early stages thus she eclipsed Sierra who wasn’t even at the peak of the early stages yet. Her blows were faster and far more destructive despite not using a spear. As an active military General with a wealth of experience and talent under her belt Anya knew more than just the spear in fact she was skilled with blades, axes, staffs and like all well trained soldiers she could hold her own with no weapon at all. She may not be at the same level as Baron Glorfile but the force behind her fists and kicks were more than enough to let her go toe to toe with the average B-rank pugilist.

"Good, with both her and Rathborne dead the Crown Prince will surely suffer." While the loss of 150 B, C and D-ranks would certainly sting it’d be nothing compared to the pain of losing two A-ranks.

"That’s for sure; we don’t grow on trees after all." Anya joked causing Baron Glorfile to laugh boisterously.

"Hahahaha true that Diamond true that hahahahaha!" The old man’s brash and confident personality was beginning to return after getting the chance to stretch his body.

"I have to admit I was a little worried about you Baron, I didn’t think you had the stamina to keep up in a high tense fight for as long as you did." Feeling a festive and joking mood in the air -and partly due to Frost’s frequent teasing- Anya had the urge to mess with the old General a little.

"Pfffft young brat the last people who questioned my stamina either ended up six feet under or had triplets stuffed into their bellies by the end of the week." Baron Glorfile retorted while tensing his entire body, showing off his defined muscles that betrayed his age.

Hearing his words Cavalish bore a wry expression, his upper lip twitching as he struggled to say anything in return while Ovaria slightly blushed, her mind immediately heading to the gutter whereas Anya frowned, feeling a sense of heartache.

"I’m sorry about your wife Baron." That person who he filled with triplets was his wife who passed recently.....a major reason why he volunteered to march North and delve into a vicious war where victory was anything but certain.

The joyful and light-hearted mood that had been brought about was instantly doused with a bucket of cold water.

"Tsk thank you for the sediment Diamond but don’t be sorry she lived a full life. 92 years old, mother to five children, 11 grandchildren and even 4 great grandchildren. She died with those she loved by her side.....I’m just glad I could be with her in the end instead of being away fighting." Baron Glorfile was a proud man who didn’t enjoy being pitied, he was sad, depressed even by the loss of his wife, looking for a way to quickly join her on the other side but he was also thankful to the life he had with her.

A civilian woman with zero ties to the military or adventuring, weak in form yet invincible in spirit. He may not fear the lance of an enemy soldier or claw of a mighty monster, but he feared the barbs on his wife, just a look from her could have the bravest soul shiver in terror....she was a battle axe, the Valkyrie that protected his hearth and home.

71 years they had together and for 68 of them he was in the military while she was at home either in their domain in Arkheart or residing on military bases following him as his career advanced. She never complained once, yet he always felt guilty, a woman like her should have had his complete attention, not just in their last three years when he retired.

With her gone he felt hollow, his spirit had diminished, his purpose for life and joy vanishing. He was looking for a place to die, and this war seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Only after using his body, launching fists and kicks at Rathborne did he feel alive again for the first time in months.

He truly was a military man at heart it seems.