Chapter 580: Axseer

    Axseer

    Roar!

    The monsters clashed against the first line, with Baron Harrods splitting the leading grey-horned bear in two.

    ''Battle Command: Lieutenant Colonel Rakgu, hold the line. Let the monsters move only through the gaps we dictate,'' I commanded, striving to project confidence.

    I hoped they didn''t sense the doubt stirring in my heart.

    The others moved swiftly, with Lieutenant Colonel Maris, Lieutenant Colonel Driga, and the shieldmen falling into position.

    They were stopping the monsters before the rest were moving to attack them.

    I didn''t use any skills to support them or cast any spells.

    There are only two skills I am using.

    Battle Awareness, which gives me information on the battle as it happens, and Battle Command, which lets me project commands like previously.

    I have skills I could use and spells I could cast, but I didn''t. The only thing I did was dance.

    I could stop the dance, and the spell was complete, but dancing helped me stay focused and more attuned to my magic.

    I could feel their eyes on me, weighing me, judging me.

    That feeling has been with me ever since I received the promotion and was handed this monumental task.

    The promotion itself was sudden and utterly shocking—a leap I hadn''t anticipated. It had been three months since the Battle of Panar, where I went from Captain to Lieutenant Colonel overnight.

    Since then, I haven''t fought a single battle. Aside from a few minor skirmishes along the border, there hasn''t been one.

    So, one can imagine my shock when I was summoned to General Stone''s office and got promoted before receiving this commission.

    Something that many were eying.

    I heard there was a lot of opposition to my promotion, but it was General Stone''s decision, with Lord Silver agreeing to it.

    I still don''t understand why they gave me this promotion. Compared to the others, I''m just average. I''ve never led more than two hundred fifty soldiers in battle.

    After Panar, they gave me command of a battalion of twelve hundred. Even then, I never had to lead them in a real fight. And now, here I am, leading six thousand.

    I wanted to decline the promotion but accepted it for my children and tribe.

    We''re a small tribe, fewer than two hundred people. A few years ago, things grew desperate, so much so that, to avoid starvation, we turned to banditry.

    In the first attack, I lost my husband, the tribe leader. Becoming its leader after many challenges.

    The banditry kept us alive. People died, but the tribe didn''t starve. Things became better when humans started trading with the merchant state.

    We robbed a small merchant.

    Things were good until they weren''t. We were captured by mercenaries playing merchant. They were too powerful, and they killed anyone who didn''t surrender.

    They barely gave any of us a chance to surrender. I survived because I was far away and lay down in surrender in time.

    The year I was captive was worse, not because of all the starvation and torture but because I was away from my children.

    Then came the day of redemption, fight or die. I fought and somehow survived.

    Since then, I have fought every battle despite pressure from the bigger tribes to resign. I level up with each battle, finally breaching level 30.

    I sensed the first drop of blood bled by my men, and I took it. More bled, and I took their blood while commanding them.

    It is hard. There are too many of them.

    Soon, the first person died, and guilt flooded me. It''s not like he is the first person who died under my command, but I could have saved him.

    I had the power to do it.

    It shook me; it brought tears into my eyes.

    The old human Lt. Colonel in front of me turned. He is from the island.

    General Stone had recruited him personally.

    "You are a colonel now, not a common captain. Here, single lives didn''t matter. What matters is the whole group," advised Lt. Colonel Yard and looked ahead toward the group of monsters.

    His words brought me back to reality.

    I controlled my emotions and focused on the battle and the dance—this time, not from the captain''s perspective but from the colonel''s.

    I have to think about the whole army instead of a few.

    Immediately, the pressure on me lessened, and I began to command with new vigor, but soon, different kinds of pressure began to fall on me.

    The spirit of the lioness has started to absorb the blood. The blood that my men are shedding.

    It is absorbing that with me as the conduit while turning more and more red.

    Because of this pressure, I am not using any spells or more skills. I need my spirit to be as free as possible to bear the pressure from the blood.

    It will increase as the monsters spread across my army and fight my men.

    Soon, the monsters reached me.

    Lt. Colonel Yard and others moved to fight against them.

    The monsters are powerful, but they are the old enemy. I do not fear them as I fear the undead.

    I know the kind of danger they represent; I have seen what they could do since I was a child.

    Hun!

    They also have pointy beaks and sharp wings. That could tear through armor and bone.

    I have seen them when I was a child. One had attacked our tribe; it had taken the lives of four people before the elders were able to kill it.

    We have to kill them before they reach us.

    Two high mages were nearby, but they were occupied with their own tasks. I needed to deal with the Grade IV monsters myself and, if possible, take down a few Grade III as well.

    As the monsters reached two hundred meters, the spells and arrows from Mage Group Three and Archer Group Seven shot toward the sky.

    At the exact moment, the lioness spirit opened its mouth, unleashing a ring of bloody lightning that shot upward.

    The birds—those monstrous sky predators—moved to dodge the spells, but at the speed they were diving and the remaining distance, it gave them little enough space to maneuver.

    Still, some can dodge it, while other spells hit them. They injured a few of the monsters and killed some.

    Finally, the ring of red lightning reached the monsters and expanded suddenly.

    Instantly covering the three large Grade IV monsters and several Grade III, not giving them a chance to dodge the attack.

    Cryyyy!

    The painful cries rang out through the birds, and the light of life began to disappear from the monsters'' eyes.

    Grade III died quickly, but Grade IV''s resisted.

    I didn''t attack them again and aimed to strike the last of the Grade III, which had reached close.

    Bang Bang Bang!

    The birds crashed on the ground so hard that their bones cracked on impact.

    The Grade IVs that had been alive until that moment breathed their last, falling from the sky like broken giants.

    The soldiers killed the remaining while I turned to the battlefield. Only to see a coalition of cheetahs coming in my direction.

    ''Who says the monsters couldn''t coordinate?''

    It is a coalition of around twenty cheetah monsters with metallic scales covering their bodies. They are moving fast and gracefully dodging attacks.

    Even those that hit them didn''t seem to injure them as seriously as we wanted.

    "Be ready, Colonel. Some might slip past us," warned Lt. Colonel Yard.

    I nodded and shot the lightning bolt at the leader for the first time. The monster dodged it.

    The lightning wasn''t elemental; it was the spirit lightning of blood, a force bound to its target. It locked onto the enemy with unyielding precision, making it nearly impossible to dodge. Yet, despite that, this monster managed to evade it.

    It was swift, a blur with its cold, grey eyes locked on me.

    The monsters reached us in mere seconds, but Lt. Colonel Yard and the others, alongside the mages, quickly moved into position.

    The monsters were powerful, but Lt. Colonel Yard was seasoned and experienced. They had managed to stop all of them—except for the leader.

    The leader leaped upward toward me, effortlessly dodging every attack that came its way.

    I turned my gaze to the steel-grey monster. It was as if it had been crafted from steel itself, its metallic form gleaming as it closed in.

    It''s not the biggest one, but it''s the most dangerous one. Its speed is terrifying.

    ''Don''t attack it. It''s mine,'' I replied to my bodyguard, who moved in front of me with a shield forward.

    Hesitation appeared in his eyes, but he moved away.

    Warden''s Field.

    I activated the skill and felt the increase in pressure. I bore it and looked at the monster, which had become clearer.

    Warden Field. A skill that gives me an absolute sensory advantage.

    In a field that the skill covers, I could see everything. Sense everything. It might not seem like much, but it is an outstanding skill.

    Warriors love them. Even General Stone had told me that it was the skill he wished he had.

    As the perception became clearer, I gripped my staff tightly as I danced, and my lioness spirit shrunk until it became the size of an orc''s head and appeared on the top of the staff.

    Roar!

    The monster roared and came at me while I swung my staff toward it, activating the Staff of Shaman.

    My enemy almost seemed to smile at seeing it.

    Its power is compared to the powerhouses in the middle of Lv. 30, while the swing I took had the control of those at early Lv. 30.

    So, there wasn''t much fear in its eyes. It''s a little cautious of the totem spirit, but I could see the confidence in its eyes.

    The steel cheetah came closer and closer until its mouth was next to my staff, and it moved and crunched down.

    Bang!

    My staff clashed against its teeth, and I could see victory in its eyes, but the very next moment, its eyes widened as blood from the lightning spread around its body.

    Thud!

    A moment later. The monster fell, dead.

    I didn''t celebrate and turned to the others before I started attacking them. Soon, all the steel cheetahs in this attack were dead.

    Roar!

    It relieved me, and I was about to move to the other monsters when I heard the roar that shook me to my soul.

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