Conquering His Cold Heart

Chapter 740 Heart of a soldier

Frost and Kursch led the members of the cavalry corps' left wing towards the western mountain, chopping down the occasional night bloom viper as they passed.

Two Majors followed in their wake every ten seconds, fiercely guarding the regular soldiers in the centre of the retreating convoy.

With them reaching the edges of the enemy's flanks there were few obstacles in their way allowing them to pick up significant speed but even so the sudden retreat of nearly 8000 soldiers couldn't happen in an instant.

Colonel Casper, the leader and strongest member of the left wing defended the rear, preventing the approach of both the revitalised alliance soldiers and the rest of the night bloom adders.

With his spear he thrust in all directions, slaying monster after monster with no sign of exhaustion. Even when he was the only elite remaining in the back he still held the line.

With a determined look on his face he swung his spear horizontally, rebuffing multiple monsters.

"You shall not pass!" He roared while crashing the butt of his spear against the ground.

In response the snow and ice shook and formed a violent wave that pushed back all monsters within a 20 metre radius.

Casper was outnumbered but he wasn't outgunned. He was a Colonel of the War Ursa Battalion for a reason.

The last few cavalrymen passed through the opening and gained a fair amount of distance from the enemy and just in time because a moment later a thick deluge of arrows and magic thundered down upon their former positions.

Casper was forced to cover his body in chakra armour and strengthen his internal force with aura.

Magic and arrows pelted down upon both his armour, exposed body and spear but there was no damage. His rank was far too high to succumb to such an uncoordinated attack, but it did hold him in place for a few seconds.

When the dust eventually cleared from the deluge Casper glanced behind and prepared to make his own retreat but the moment he went to take the first step his instincts warned him of imminent danger.

"Haahhhh!" He quickly swung his spear, channelling lighting chakra through both the weapon and his body.

With the added acceleration he managed to make contact in time.

Ting!

A high pitched ting of metal meeting metal rang out followed by a loud clicking of tongues.

"Hmph quick reactions Colonel Casper."

"We were just half a beat too slow." Two voices, one a woman's and other a man's both rather old spoke out.

Casper pulled back his spear into a defensive stance while Avalon hunkered down and growled aggressively at the two interlopers.

Casper's arm felt numb and the seams between a couple of his fingers showed signs of tearing. The attack he bore was strong, strong enough to wound someone like him.

There were few of such individuals among the enemy ranks.

Numerous losses sent a wave of panic through the right wing generating more chaos and slowing down their reactions even more. 20% of them charged desperately to the eastern mountain as fast as possible and encountered the second ambush.

By the time Colonel Ridge managed summon a contingent of elites to cut open a path several dozens of their soldiers had already succumbed to the vipers attack.

Their escape was hard fought and with far more losses than the left wing but even, so they succeeded in the end.

Like Casper, Ridge was guarding the rear and was eventually assailed by two enemy Colonels.

The problem was that the two Colonels sent after Ridge were a notch stronger than the ones attacking Colonel Casper and that a certain A-rank General was in the near vicinity, occasionally glancing at Ridge as if he was juicy prey.

Katrina wasted no time dissuading such thoughts. With a loud hmph she and Jessica released their aura, harshly intimidating the enemy Generals to the point that their skin formed goosebumps, and their hearts refused to beat.

"Lucra fall back!" Through clenched teeth General Vash reluctantly ordered.

Katrina and Jessica were watching them like hawks, he even felt as though their intimidation was actually a taunt, daring them to make a move so they'd have a good excuse to engage in a wanton slaughter.

Lucra who was dangerously close to Ridge glanced at the Northern wall in fear before shuffling back to the core of the army, leaving the two Colonels to handle Ridge.

"Colonel Ridge might struggle to come out of this safely." Said Jessica clearly still worried about the situation.

"An unfortunate accident if it does come to pass but also a lesson." Katrina replied calmly.

Colonel Ridge was slightly lacking when compared to Casper, he was more arrogant, more dismissive of the enemy's strength and less skilled in training those under him.

Of course this comparison was strictly in regards to Colonel Casper and a few other Colonels of the War Ursa Battalion. Compared to the Colonels of the Jabrak Kingdom or the Northern nation of glacial sprites and ice elementals he was a prodigy.

The War Ursa Battalion and Duke Runak just had insanely high standards.

While Katrina and Jessica supervised the enemy Generals, preventing their interference. And Colonels Casper and Ridge engaged in two on one duels Frost and Kursch finally reached the western mountain with the first wave of cavalrymen.

"We're using the same paths as before, move move move!" Kursch loudly ranted as he activated a runic medallion to open up the catacombs.

"What about the enemy?" Frost asked as he took guard on the left side of the passages.

"Kill any who make it to the boundary during the retreat, afterwards we'll collapse the passageway."

"Collapse?"

'They're going to destroy three exits, such a sacrifice of labour and time.' Though he agreed that such a method was secure the loss was unimaginable to him.

Unlike him they couldn't just use DP to carve out a tunnel, no it took time and manpower, a great deal of it too.

"Don't worry about it Frost, this is war. Even if we have to sacrifice the entire catacombs to win we'll do it without hesitation....lives can't be brought back but inanimate objects and structures can be rebuilt and repaired. There is no comparison." Kursch was unwavering in his philosophy, a stance that reverberated within Frost's mind.

The heart of a soldier.