Later that day, Zaos's heard from the scouts that Edwyrd's allies finally arrived and that they immediately left to check the battlefield where Edwyrd lost his life. They sure were cautious, and that made Zaos worry even more… the same strategy won't work before, but it seemed that any of the plans Zaos might come up with won't work either.

"Do we know anything about those three mercenaries?" Zaos asked.

"While we were on the western base, we talked with the soldiers there and obtained some Intel," Cohnal said. "They are the three most famous mercenaries in the Eastern side of the mercenaries' country. One of them is a fierce warrior, another one is an experienced tactician, and the leader is a young undefeated genius."

"Only that much, huh…" Zaos rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Yes, my apologies," Cohnal said.

"You don't have to apologize. I was just thinking that despite their fame, they are quite good at keeping information about them hidden," Zaos said.

"Well, yeah… they are the kind of people who would kill anyone who talks about them in a sense," Cohnal said.

"Anyway, what is the next battle plan?" Melisse asked. "At the very best, we will only have one week to prepare for the next fight."

"Perhaps less if they decide to mobilize only a fraction of their total force," Zaos said. "Well, I am still thinking, but I will welcome any ideas. Regardless, it is getting late, so we can talk about this tomorrow."

"Roger that," Cohnal said, and then those two left for their tent.

Zaos still didn't feel like sleeping, so he decided to stare at the night sky while he thought about a few things. One of the things that had been bothering him was his status… They grew a lot in the last battle.

Health: 1010/1010

Mana: 2700/2700

Stamina: 2920/2920

Strength: 505

Magic: 1350

Endurance: 1410

Resistance: 1350

Focus: 08 + 01 

Sorcery Lv 75 (+ 05 UP), Meditation Lv 40, Magic Perception Lv 24 (+ 04 UP), Magic Swordsmanship Lv 47 (+ 04 UP), Magic Spearmanship Lv 15, Magic Archery Lv 20, Magic Martial Arts Lv 21 (+ 08 UP), Alchemy Lv 09, Magic Resistance Lv 16, Swordsmanship Lv 65 (+ 06 UP), Axemanship Lv 17, Spearmanship Lv 20, Archery Lv 36, Martial Arts Lv 22 (+ 07 UP), Assassination Technique Lv 13 (+ 04 UP), Throwing Technique Lv 14 (+ 03 UP), Shield Mastery Lv 22, Pain Resistance Lv 47 (+ 05 UP), Poison Resistance Lv 09, Blacksmithing Lv 15 

"It seems like the more I kill, the stronger I can get… training can increase my strength pretty fast, but killing…" Zaos furrowed his eyebrows.

After recalling the battle of a few days ago, Zaos could see that he could grow much stronger, but considering the standards of the strength of that world, did he have to grow stronger? He wasn't immortal, but he was way above most soldiers. If he had used magic, he was confident that he could have won against Drannor, and he was the most talented fighter he had seen… So, why could he grow so much stronger when the only thing he had to fight as humans?

"I don't like this… I am pretty sure that those status things that I see are a power that I received when I was transmigrated to this world, and this power was given by the owner of that voice," Zaos thought. "So, I guess that they know that eventually, I will have to fight against something else… Could it be the demon god? He is dead, but… his followers are still alive, and I am pretty sure that their actions are well-planned."

Zaos couldn't imagine any magic capable of reviving someone who had been dead for thousands of years. Even if there were some kind of magic, his body would be dust at that moment.

Lately, more and more, Zaos felt like he was walking through a path made by someone, and that annoyed the shit out of him. The idea of someone controlling his mind was beyond unpleasant. Not to mention, if that were the case, it was easy to assume that even his mother's death was something planned by the being who transmigrated him… all in order to make him focus solely on his mission. That idea alone made Zaos's insides burn with a rage that couldn't even be compared to the times where he fights.

"… I shouldn't think about this before sleeping," Zaos said after taking a deep breath. "This is all just a bunch of hypotheses, in the end… I can't act based on that alone."

Zaos decided to clear his mind in order to come up with some battle plan, but in the end, he couldn't come up with anything when he knew the enemies wouldn't fall for some basic plans.

Thanks to that, Zaos didn't sleep all that much. He had lost almost ten percent of his soldiers in a battle that could be said that was an absolute victory, but he couldn't lose any more of them. The more soldiers he loses, the less strength he will have and the fewer tactics will be possible to use. 

"It didn't seem like you slept all that much, Captain," Cohnal said. "As expected, even you can lose some nights of sleep thanks to worries."

"I guess that the only thing we can do is retreat to the base and then attack the siege weapons with magic," Zaos said. "I was never a tactical genius, to begin with, so I should have known better than this."

"Well, to be honest, I am glad of that," Cohnal said. "If you were someone able to pull more achievements with this many soldiers under your command against larger armies, I would start to worry that you would be some kind of monster. Some of the best commanders out there are either good fighters or tactical genius if you had both qualities…"

"I guess that is only normal," Zaos said. "I had aimed to become a commander like Ruvyn, but a bit more logical and aware of losses, but it looks like I still have a lot of room for improvement.