Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 108

They waited two hours, after which, the sun was no longer in the sky and the enemy was thoroughly harassed by the constant raiding. Warlord Karabell’s army couldn’t do much about it though, every time they adjusted to the raids Jayden would switch something to throw them off.

Jayden then organized the raid that he would be joining. They didn’t disclose his identity to the other combatants, Jayden just told them that he was sending a spy over so that they could get a better understanding of the situation. No one thought it was strange, news that their commander had killed the opposing warlord had already spread through the camp.

He and Jayden weren’t too worried about traitors at the moment. The enemy’s position was far less stable than theirs. If someone wanted to turn, they would first need to choose which of the enemy mercenary leaders they wanted to align themselves with, then they needed to hope that the person they chose didn’t get eliminated.

Dante stepped between the combatants that made up the raiding party, there were around fifty combatants in total, and all of them were carrying massive shields that would be discarded once the fighting started. They closed in their ranks tightly, and he was squeezed into the middle so that he would be concealed while they marched and engaged the enemy. Of to the side, the captain of the raiding party, a relatively young captain that always carried out his orders to the letter and prioritized discipline over all else, was listening to Jayden with rapt attention.

When Jayden finished, the captain perfectly saluted and walked back to the raiding party. “Alright men, we have an escort mission. There will not be any mistakes, the very survival of the camp may depend on the success of this mission.”

This group had already been on several raids earlier in the day, so the importance that their captain placed on this raid in particular made them all more alert.

“We are using the same protocols as earlier, but do not disengage until you receive the order. Our aim is to create havoc. And we will create casualties.”

A chorus of ‘yes sir’ rang out from every member of the raiding party.

The captain then went over every small detail that Jayden had told him. Especially the details of how and where they should engage. It sounded like this raid was going to be an overly bloody one.

When the captain finished, the combatants saluted. Then the captain turned to the Geomancer stationed by the walls. “Lower the walls!”

The captain then moved into the formation, positioning himself directly next to Dante. “Advisor Jayden told me that you had already received your orders. Worry not, I’ll carry out my side of things and get you there safely.” The captain then shifted his attention to his troops. “Fall in and march!”

Dante wanted to roll his eyes as soon as he heard the words ‘Advisor Jayden.’ he didn’t speak though, which eliminated the miniscule chance of the captain recognizing his voice. Instead, he nodded to the captain in reply as the troops surrounding him compressed further, enclosing him and completely hiding him from view.

The troops then began to march, and Dante struggled to keep up with the awkward pace. It wasn’t that they were moving too fast, but mixture of the hurried speed and the occasional stumbling when he tripped over the legs of the combatants both in front and behind him was annoying.

What made the march worse was how effectively blind he was. He couldn’t see a single thing because he was huddled between the combatants, and would have close to no warning when the combat started. Because of that, he pulled his artificed gauntlet out of storage and immediately activated it.

He hadn’t used the gauntlet in quite a while. After adapting to the large-scale combat, and with the new aid of his improved senses, it wasn’t really worth the mana drain. But now, when he couldn’t see much, he would at least be alerted when a projectile entered its range.

Dante then refocused on the march, paying careful attention to the rapid trajectory changes they made. Jayden did it purposefully, making it look like they were targeting someone, then as soon as that mercenary group was ready for the engagement they would shift to an opposing faction. The prepared mercenaries would be more than reluctant to help their enemies, on the contrary, they often hoped that the raid would be successful. Because of that, no one would engage the raiding party until the raiding party had chosen its final target.

The trajectory change didn’t mean that they would completely take anyone off guard though. After a day of raiding every mercenary group was prepared for action. Which was ideal when he was trying to infiltrate the enemy.

After a few rapid changes, the raiding party made a beeline for the mercenary group that Jayden had chosen to attack. The target group was located almost directly next to his bald-headed target’s mercenary group.

As soon as they chose their target arrows began to rain from the sky, and all of the combatants in the raiding party brandished their prepared shields, filling them with world essence to bolster their defensive capabilities. The ones at the front and sides blocked their prospective areas, while all of the combatants in the middle blocked the projectiles that came directly above them.

Despite the cover, more than one combatant was hit by the arrows. The ones that were slowed or debilitated were left behind, and they were quickly covered in arrows after leaving the cover that the formation provided. The other soldiers didn’t seem overly impacted by the loss, they just gritted their teeth and closed the gaps in their formation.

Dante crouched lower. He had already avoided two arrows with the help of his gauntlet. Despite being in such a precarious situation, he wasn’t overly worried. He did fill his legs with world essence though, ready to Blink out and flee if anything went horribly wrong.

The number of incoming arrows continued to increase, the sound reminiscent to hail in a violent storm.

Then Dante felt the sudden impact. The entire raiding party was jarred by the collision with their target. If this was like the other raids, the party would halt at this point, briefly attacking near the front before falling back with minimal losses. It wasn’t a regular raid though.

The shields came down as they pushed into the ranks of the enemy mercenary group, making them harder to target while surrounded by the archer’s allies. The raiding party stayed clustered as they quickly slaughtered any unsuspecting enemy that stood in their path.

They then pushed further toward the bald-headed target’s mercenary group as the bodies on both sides began to pile. The enemy was completely taken off guard by the savagery of this raid, which was completely unlike the others before it, making the enemy’s losses were far worse.

It was only a short time later when shouts of alarm rose and other mercenary groups rushed to the aid of their enemy. Amongst them was his target.

“Attack!” The captain of the raiding party shouted furiously at his men, leading the charge into the bald-headed man’s mercenary group before he was quickly cut down.

Despite the captain losing his life, the desired effect was earned. The raiding party charged in, engaging with the target and being brought to a standstill. The losses on their side were staggering because of the restriction that he and Jayden had placed on the combatants. When engaging this mercenary group they were only allowed to kill, not injure, no matter what the cost was.

“Retreat!” After a minute of taking horrendous losses, the new acting captain of the raiding party issues the retreat. Only around twenty of the original fifty combatants were still capable of following out the order, and even less would ultimately make it back to the camp.

Dante remained behind on the floor as though unconscious, his gauntlet stowed away, and his body covered in new self-inflicted wounds. Among them was a very nasty gash across his stomach, which he really hoped a healer would get to quickly. He positioned his body carefully, visibly showing the attire that matched up with Warlord Karabell’s army, but left the sleeve that denoted which mercenary group he belonged to hidden for the time being. It would keep his affiliation hidden during the initial cleanup when the mercenaries would check on their friends’ condition.

While lying on the floor, Dante heard more shouts of alarm from across the camp, indicating that Jayden had already sent out the additional raids. They would attack similarly to the one he was in, which would reduce the suspicion that the sudden savagery of his raid would cause. When they created the plan, he had thought that it would be better to escape suspicion by sending out a few heavy raids before his group actually went out, but Jayden thought the opposite. He reasoned that if the enemy was suspicious, they would be far less likely to suspect the first raid, as that would be too obvious.

Around him, mercenaries picked through the bodies to check on their friend’s and group member’s condition. Things were going well thus far. He was noticed by several people, but since no one recognized him, they left him for the healers to deal with.

The quickest to depart were from the bald-headed man’s mercenary group. They had the fewest fatalities but still grit their teeth and cursed as they checked on their downed comrades. They didn’t find a single survivor.

Shortly after that the healers ran in, they were completely flustered and looked exhausted. It had likely been a long day for them with all of the raiding.

It was unfortunate that he wasn’t a priority at all. All of the mercenaries directed the healers to their injured friends. He was completely ignored.

Just when Dante was beginning to think he would actually lose consciousness from the blood loss, someone kicked him in the shoulder, flipping him onto his stomach.

“We got another live one!”

The voice was completely disinterested, and Dante had an urge to spring up and kill the person speaking after the way he flipped him over.

There was a brief moment of silence before that person spoke again in a hushed tone of disbelief. “Holy shit, it’s one of Karl’s men.” The man leaned down to make sure he was breathing before shouting. “Healer! Get over here before he bleeds out! If Captain Karl finds out we didn’t save one of his combatants there will be hell to pay.”

Dante didn’t know why he had to be found by an idiot.

The shout was effective though. Two healers rushed over and simultaneously activated their skills on him. The wounds on his body began to stitch together as the energy seemed to drain out of him.

Dante took that as his cue, groaning and attempting to sit up as though he had just regained consciousness.

“Easy. Take it slow.” A middle-aged woman placed a hand on his chest, easily stopping him from sitting up in his ‘weakened’ state.

Dante reached up to his head as though he had taken a blow there. “What happened?” Then he looked around. “And where are the others?”

A young and unassuming combatant – who he assumed to be the person who found him – answered, almost proudly. “They already left, must have missed you. If I hadn’t been checking over the bodies so thoroughly you might have bled out.”

He actually had a point, had he not been checking the bodies carefully Dante might have really bled out. Dante muttered under his breath theatrically. “Those bastards…” Then spoke to the healers loud enough for them to hear him clearly as he tried to sit up again. “Thanks for patching me, but I should get going. No telling when we’ll be attacked again. Damn raids don’t seem to be stopping any time soon.”

The middle-aged woman shook her head. “You’re in no condition to fight, you need to go back and rest for the rest of the night at the very least.”

Dante stood, showing slight fatigue from the healing. “I’ll be fine.”

The other healer shook his head at the middle-aged woman before she could speak again. “Don’t even bother, we don’t have time to deal with him.”

The woman looked reluctant, but nodded in agreement before departing, which left Dante with the person who found him.

That unassuming combatant smiled amiably. “It’s amazing that you are in Captain Karl’s mercenary group. I’ve wanted to try out for the group myself, but it’s so hard to get a recommendation when so many of my actions go unnoticed.” He finished by laughing suggestively.

“Stay persistent, I’m sure that someone will recommend you eventually.” Dante finished by patting him on the shoulder, which wiped that stupid smile off of his face. Then, turning around as though the conversation was finished, walked toward his first target.