Artifacts and Witch's Raid (3)
Valua soldiers moved busily. The watchmen guarding the tower's top had spotted the enemy charging and pounded the bell with all their strength. Ding-ding-ding! Then wild trumpet calls rang out. Soon after, several Valua knights and their subordinate cavalry and infantry, along with units wielding crossbows and longbows, formed up and sprinted toward their assigned sectors. Wyverns now blanketed the western sky, looming over the city. The commander defending the western wall turned sharply toward the ballista whose trigger had been drawn. The commander's voice thundered across the night sky.
"Fire!" The lightning bolt of an order struck. Soldiers echoed it everywhere.
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
The ballista's trigger snapped back. In a heartbeat, a colossal crossbow bolt the size of a man launched skyward with a heavy thwoom! The battle had begun.
Several wyverns circling overhead fell to the ground pierced through the chest. But with so many, most slammed into the walls and belched flames. The ballista ignited. Soldiers nearby were swept up in the blaze. The commander giving orders thrashed in agony as his body burned, then plummeted from the wall to his death.
Dragons slaughtered the defenders on the wall in seconds, then smashed through to enter the city above. Once inside, ballista-style siege weapons were useless. The Valua army plunged straight into urban combat.
They split into regular troops holding the city's key points and mobile strike forces. They clashed with the invaders.
In one district, the commander of a waiting unit glanced up at the wyverns flying overhead. A goblin rider perched on the neck of one of the three-meter-long creatures. The man pointed straight at it and roared with all his might.
"Shoot!"
Crossbowmen instantly nocked arrows and drew their triggers. Dozens of arrows shot skyward. Goblin riders hit by them plummeted. Those agile enough to dodge fell straight down, slapping the wyvern's head with their hands and forcing flames to erupt from its mouth. Some leaped from the wyverns into houses and shops, committing plunder. They stuffed food in so full their cheeks bulged, or draped fine clothes over their green bodies. When terrified human women appeared, two or three would pounce at once, tearing clothes and raping them. Men were killed instantly with blades.
While the city turned into a chaotic mess, reinforcements were being mobilized to replace the exhausted regulars. Recent graduates received mobilization orders and rushed back to the training ground, throwing on armor and weapons. Quality gear for everyone would have been ideal, but it was only for regulars. Fresh recruits and trainees like Cloud waited in line after the regulars took everything. Weapons were rusty or dull; armor rings were broken, and the plates simply slid off when you tried to move.
A middle-aged supply officer with patchy facial hair glared at the trainees and shouted, "Looks like we'll run short on gear, so if you've got your own, use it!"
Normally, to build unit pride, soldiers were forbidden to wear anything except the Valua insignia. But equipment was scarce now. At the command, some trainees grumbled as they left the line and scattered. These were men who'd fought in dungeons and forests before joining, so they each had their own personal gear.
In the middle of the noisy training ground stood Cloud. He'd been distracted, staring at the wyverns soaring overhead. They swept with flexible curves, belching flames downward. The night sky above the city blazed like day from the wyverns' breath. The number was impossible to count. Nearby soldiers receiving gear whispered that they were gray wyverns—tiny compared to real dragons, shaped like them, named for their ashen skin. Rumors said these creatures, called the witches' pets, had been terrorizing the west side of the city, eating travelers and villagers. Lords had tried exorcisms several times, but this massive raid left everyone stunned.
Cloud ignored it all and headed to the supply area in his shabby equipment from his Twenty-Man Commander training. A faded sign read "Twenty-Man Commander Education Squadron." The vast training ground had labels everywhere directing soldiers to assemble by squad for rapid deployment. Cloud spotted his "Twenty-Man Commander Education Squadron" label and, the moment he arrived, spotted the eleven comrades who'd trained with him. All wore gorgeous gear—his own, and even the one he trusted, Tess, now brandishing fancy weapons.
'How much would something like that cost...?' A, he felt pitiful. Gear should have boosted combat power like crazy. "Did you really plan to go like that?" Tess, who'd approached, gave a shocked look and asked in a deep female voice, "Is this all you've got? No equipment from when you joined?"
"Equipment from when I joined? What, should I wear my old panties?"
Cloud, already depressed, answered more bluntly than intended. He knew supplies for trainees were limited. Tess paused, then snapped his fingers as an idea struck.
"Go outside and strip dead soldiers' armor. I'll follow and protect you."
At that moment, the squad leader—a commanding officer—stood tall beside the label, ready to lead them into the raging city.
"Let's go! Everyone, form two ranks in a line……" The confident words died. Because he'd been swallowed whole.
A wyvern suddenly dropped into the middle of the training ground. Its long neck jerked like a snake swallowing a mouse, gulping the leader down his throat.
♦♦♦
The goblin rider's huge eyes gleamed wickedly.
"Hee hee hee."
When Cloud slapped the wyvern's head, sulfur smoke puffed from its nose as it prepared to breathe.
"Everyone, dodge!" "Run!" In a panic, the trainees bolted. But a blade flashed.
Cloud stabbed hard at the middle of the wyvern's neck with both hands.
"Snap out of it, all of you! Now is the time to unite! Show off the skill you've honed for the citizens!"
Hanging from the wyvern's neck, Cloud shouted to the surroundings.
The wyvern involuntarily swallowed its own hot breath, choked, and roared in agony, thrashing. The force threw Cloud off.
"Ugh!"
Cloud tumbled across the ground. When he tried to stand, pain stabbed his ribs. The cheap armor had shattered on impact earlier, crushing his side with shards.
'Damn cheap armor!'
Sighing in pain, he lay on the ground. The trainees' energized voices rang out.
"That's right! It's not 'save yourself,' it's 'save each other!' We're Valua soldiers now!"
"Everyone, give it everything to beat those things!"
The trainees who'd fled in disorder heard Cloud's cry, fear turning to courage. Unit pride and unity surged. They charged the wyverns with fierce resolve and cheers.
Truth was, the trainees weren't easy targets. None had been soldiers before; they'd hunted monsters in forests and dungeons. Seeing a wyvern was shocking, but that was all.
"Cloud!" Tess ran over and helped him up, worried. "You okay? Any injuries?"
"G, looks like a crack in my rib."
Tess glanced at his side and frowned sadly. "As expected, the armor couldn't hold."
"Damn it, I wanted to test the gear!"
Cloud had been itching to try the training results. Now injured right away—his stomach twisted.
"Using citizens' taxes for trash like this, damn it."
Cloud tore off the ruined armor and tossed it. As he was carried to safety by Tess, a wyvern flailed on the ground. Its wing stirred up a gust that carried Tess's strong scent to Cloud's nose.
"But you... even in armor, why does your scent as a woman vibrate so much……?"
"I, really?"
"Too sweet. Did you eat chocolate? Wait."
Cloud inhaled deeply, sniffing Tess's neck and hair. Suddenly Tess jumped back in shock, pushing him away.
"W-what are you doing!"
"Wah!"
Cloud lost balance trying not to fall sideways, then crashed. "Rib! Rib again! Aigoo, I'm dead!"
"S-sorry! Sorry, Cloud!"
Tess looked sorry and flustered. "Hey, Cloud the trainee!"
Instructors came running. They ignored Cloud writhing on the ground, still grinning brightly.
"Thanks! Thanks to you, we all got courage!"
"Now we really face them head-on!"
"You be our vanguard!"
Cloud shouted.
"That's not the issue! My side hurts! I'm dying! I'm dying!"
"D, does it hurt that much? I saw you hanging from the wyvern's neck, but I thought the armor would be okay?"
"It isn't! I got hurt because they only gave trash gear!"
Following the instructors' orders—who felt huge regret that an elite soldier was injured—Cloud was rushed to a field hospital for the wounded. Screams and agony filled the area. Priests moved quickly, casting healing on writhing soldiers. One priest frowned, lamenting that his mana was depleted.
"Bring him over here! Over here!"
Tess led Cloud to a woman priest gesturing frantically and gently laid him on a field bed.
"I'll go first. Get well soon."
"Don't die."
"I'll be back by the time you wake."
"If I don't get better, I won't go where you are."
Tess smiled faintly, squeezed Cloud's hand, and left. A female priest nearby spoke up.
"Where does it hurt?"
"Here, right here. Left rib… huh? Vivian?"
Cloud's mouth fell open in shock. Vivian stood before him in priestess-only military uniform. The outfit looked completely different from temple robes. Vivian was shocked too, eyes wide as a deer's, hand over her mouth.
"C-Cloud?!"
"I-it's me. You knew it was me, right? No, you did?"
Cloud forgot the pain and grinned wide. "Why'd you change so much? I thought you were a complete stranger!"
"Haha, did I change that much?"