Chapter 1698 - 236 - Heroes First Campaign (1)

We had been slowly gaining a considerable amount of ground against the two countries, and by this point, our influence had expanded almost all the way to the border of the Demon Continent. Pushing our territory any farther would probably have been a little too much, especially since it might make it look like we were simply using the war as an excuse to grab whatever land we could get our hands on, but having these locations under our control still gave us a much stronger position against our enemies.

We had also expanded the Guardian's coverage to reach this far, which meant that the territory we had secured was now protected by the Guardian Barrier 2.0. With that protection in place, missiles wouldn't be able to simply destroy everything we had worked to establish, which was especially important considering how easily an enemy could otherwise turn a newly conquered position into a pile of rubble.

"Kashiwagi," I called out to Kashiwagi, who was standing in front of the Guardian Barrier 2.0 while quietly staring at the land beyond it.

There wasn't any fighting happening at that exact moment, but everyone knew that the quiet wasn't going to last for very long. Some of our scouts who had been sent into the Demon Continent had already started sending reports back to us, and according to the information they had gathered, a large army belonging to the Empire was already making its way toward our position.

Kashiwagi and the other heroes were about to begin their first campaign.

I had spent a considerable amount of time training them specifically for this moment, so from my perspective, they were already prepared enough to handle what was coming. They had learned how to fight, they had become familiar with their abilities, and they had spent enough time working with our forces that I believed they could contribute meaningfully once the battle finally began.

Still, looking at Kashiwagi, I could tell that something was bothering him.

His body was tense, and his attention remained fixed on the battlefield ahead of us, almost as though he was trying to imagine what was waiting for him beyond the barrier. He wasn't saying much, but I didn't exactly need him to explain himself because his expression already made his feelings fairly obvious.

"Kashiwagi," I called him again, this time getting his attention.

He finally looked toward me, and after a moment, it seemed like he managed to collect himself and regain his bearings.

"You nervous?"

"Of course," he admitted, his voice carrying a slight tremble. "T-This is all new to me, and I don't know if I'll actually be able to do a good job once the fighting starts."

"I'll be on the battlefield too," I told him while keeping my voice calm. "However, I'm not going to be standing beside you every second of the battle, watching your back and making sure everything goes perfectly, so you need to stay alert and keep your toes on the battlefield."

"I will," he replied while giving a firm nod.

Even after saying that, I could still see the tension in his expression, and honestly, I couldn't really blame him for feeling that way. This was going to be the first real war he had ever participated in, and before all of this had happened, he had simply been an ordinary student living on Earth.

He had never stepped onto an actual battlefield before.

He had never stood in front of an army that genuinely intended to kill him.

He had never experienced the kind of situation where the person standing several dozen meters away wasn't simply an opponent in a training exercise, but an actual enemy who would gladly take his life if given the opportunity.

Training could prepare someone for a lot of things, but experiencing war for the first time was obviously something different.

Still, if they wanted to return home, they had to fight for it.

The country had promised to send them back to Earth, and in exchange, they had to defend the country that had given them that promise. It wasn't exactly a pleasant arrangement, and I doubted any of them would describe it as their ideal way of spending their time in another world, but given their circumstances, there wasn't really another path available to them.

"Leon," Lilia suddenly called from nearby.

"What is it?" I asked while turning toward her.

"They are coming."

I took a slow breath as I looked toward the other side of the Guardian.

"If that's the case, then prepare yourselves," I said calmly.

Almost immediately after those words left my mouth, missiles began raining down against the Guardian.

Explosions erupted across the barrier as one missile after another slammed into it, creating enormous flashes of light that briefly illuminated the surrounding area. The repeated impacts produced deafening sounds that echoed across the battlefield, but despite the sheer amount of firepower being thrown at us, the Guardian remained standing.

The barrier continued holding.

The other heroes stood up as well and began preparing themselves for the battle that was finally about to begin.

I suppose this was the moment when they would finally understand the harsh reality of killing people.

I knew they didn't want to do it, and honestly, I couldn't blame them for feeling that way. Killing another person wasn't exactly something anyone should become comfortable with, especially when they had spent most of their lives as ordinary people who had never been involved in warfare.

Unfortunately, war didn't really care about what anyone wanted.

If they hesitated when the enemy attacked, then someone else could die because of that hesitation.

If they refused to fight, then the people around them would be the ones paying the price.

Sometimes, survival simply came down to doing things that nobody wanted to do.

"On my signal, open the Guardian!" Lilia shouted while raising one of her hands into the air.

She waited while the missiles continued raining down against the Guardian, allowing the enemy's barrage to continue while we remained safely behind the barrier. The constant explosions continued for some time, and the sheer amount of firepower being thrown at us made it clear that the enemy wasn't interested in testing the Guardian with a few token attacks.

They were trying to break through.

Fortunately, the Guardian wasn't going anywhere.

After a while, the missiles finally stopped raining down.

The sudden silence felt almost strange after being surrounded by explosions for so long, and for a brief moment, the entire battlefield seemed to hold its breath.

Lilia kept her hand raised for another moment before finally bringing it down.

"Open!"

At the same time, the barrier opened.

"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!"

Our armies immediately flooded through the opening and stepped onto the Demon Continent, surging forward with enough force that the entire formation seemed to move as one. Soldiers poured out from behind the Guardian and advanced across the battlefield, their weapons ready as they moved toward the enemy forces waiting on the other side.

At the same time, the armies of our enemies were already positioned ahead of us.

They had been waiting for this moment.

The sight of their forces stretching across the battlefield made it immediately obvious that this wasn't going to be some small skirmish where both sides exchanged a few attacks before retreating. We were about to engage in a full-scale battle, and for Kashiwagi and the other heroes, this was going to be their first real experience of what war actually looked like.

"Look alive," I told Kashiwagi while keeping my attention fixed on the enemy.

"Y-Yes!"

He immediately charged forward alongside the other heroes.

I watched them move ahead for a brief moment before taking a breath and charging forward with them.

"Leon!" Lilia called out to me.

I turned my head toward her while continuing to move with the advancing forces.

"I'm going to the backline and launch an attack from there," she explained. "Do you think you'd be able to give me an assist?"

I considered her suggestion for a moment.

Honestly, I thought she had a pretty good idea.

If we managed to attack the enemy's backline while their main forces were busy dealing with our army from the front, we could throw their entire formation into chaos. Their soldiers would suddenly have to worry about enemies attacking them from behind, while their main forces were already occupied with the army advancing directly toward them.

Getting attacked from both sides wasn't exactly the kind of situation any commander wanted to deal with.

If we timed it properly, we could effectively sandwich their forces between us.

"How are you going to get there, though?" I asked her.

"I can ask Laurel to give me a lift."

I looked toward the woman standing beside her, and it took me a moment to recognize her because it had been quite a while since I had last seen her.

She was the woman who possessed the ability to fly.