Edmund had a familiar feeling, but it wasn’t nostalgia. But he couldn’t think for even a moment. His body moved and ran toward a more fortified structure, leaving the creatures behind. On the way, he grabbed a makeshift blade on the ground. When he got right in front of it, his body again punched it open with no excitation whatsoever, like his body could feel that there was something on the other side that should be dead.

  The white-haired young man only noticed the creature at his side when it was already dead; his body took a moment to feel like it was looking for a new victim. At that moment, he was surprised that the creature resembled a demon lord soldier, much more than an ork. It was still not quite right, but the symbols on his body? were spot on.

  He heard an ork scream coming from a corridor, but as his body dashed toward the sound, Edmund noticed duchy soldiers inside the room, and Ethan was one of them. His determination and focus rose as he entered the poor, illuminated corridor.

  ‘If I weren’t here, these guys would all be dead by now. Ariadne made the right call.’ He thought to himself.

  Even with the low visibility, he threw the blade he was holding and hit a tall ork. As he rushed forward into the corridor, Edmund was smashing the heads of the creatures on the walls with punches and kicks.

  One of those kicks was so hard that it punched through the ceiling. The light that poured in the corridor was weaker, like the sun retrieving his place of rest. As he walked through the light, ?his clothes were drenched in blood.

  Seeing this, the creatures backed down, but they had no time to think or obey their instincts. Edmund was already punching an ork in the chest, making him fly forward and knocking out many others. For a moment, he could hear a rifle shot, and with that, he felt that something was coming and moved his body to the side in time to see a blue beam pass where he was.

  ‘It was too good to be true.’ Edmund thought to himself.

  He still moved forward,d but with every monster killed, he needed to douse himself with a rifle shot by either using another creature as a shield, making an acrobatic move, or moving to the side just enough so that the blue beam didn’t hit him. One thing was good about this situation: he could see better because of the light trailing the shots left behind.

  As he advanced, the number of creatures dwindled, and the amount of debris in the corridor and the monster bodies increased. Edmund grabbed the last one by the neck and squeezed with one hand. At that moment, he recovered control over his body, but there was no time to celebrate as the shots continued to come. In a moment of desperation, he lay down on the floor.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  ‘Friendly, friendly, is me, Edmund!!!’ He started to scream.

  ‘Cease fire, Cease fire!!!’ A loud voice was heard.

  ‘Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot.’ Edmund spoke while getting up.

  ‘Light, this is shadow one; Edmund is in the corridor with us.’ A gray-furred Shafran duchy soldier talked to his radio.

  ‘Shadow one, protect him, and continue.’ Bartel's voice came from the soldier's radio.

  ‘We are the ones that need protection.’ The soldier talked to himself.

  Three soldiers passed the young white-haired man covered in blood and walked forward, avoiding the debris on the way along with the bodies of the monsters on the ground. Edmund took a deep breath before following the soldiers.

  Returning to the room he barged into, it was now full of scared Shafrans in chains. Coming in from the hole in the wall was Bartel, accompanied by another soldier with a backpack who wasn’t walking right, with a visible cut on his leg and bandages on his head.

  ‘Light to all units, mission accomplished.’ He spoke while holding his radio in his mouth.

  ‘I counted fifty of them from various kingdom villages.’ Ethan came closer to Bartel.

  ‘Well done. I don’t know how to get these people out of here because this is it.’ The lieutenant looked around.

  ‘All my men are incapacitated, and there are ones that will not resist going back to the city.’ A gray-furred Shafran soldier spoke as he walked past the chained Shafrans.

  ‘Your squad is not the only one, sergeant; the medics are working hard to keep the guys alive.’ Bartel sigh.

  ‘Ho, I think the truck will be here at any moment. Lieutenant, if I drive it, we can return to the city quickly. With Leah's healing magic, nobody needs to die.’ Edmund walked with difficulty toward Bartel.

  ‘Are you alright, Edmund?’ Ethan looked at his leg.

  ‘I’m delicate, funny enough; this is a rifle shot, URGH... I’m covered in too much blood to see how bad it is. ‘ Edmund touched his right leg.

  ‘So, is it not a good idea to fight hand in hand in the middle of a ranged battle?’ Caleb chuckled.

  ‘Right? I said it to the duchess, but I’m happy she ordered me to come here; this was unbelievable.’ Edmund sat on a rock by his side.

  ‘You are the duchess's soldiers? Thank you for the rescue; how did you find us?’ One of the shackled villagers came forward.

  ‘We found a little girl on our patrol; don’t worry, she is with our wounded in the forest.’ Bartel leans against the wall.

  ‘I can’t believe it; she made it... She was the only child here, so we sneaked her through a small hole and made it into the back of our cell.’ He smiled.

  All the Shafran in chains began to cheer and hug one another, some for the realization that the girl was all right, and others used this moment to come to their knees and cry for relief.

  ‘Light, this is transport one; we are outside the fortress; everything is alright? There's a little girl with us, too.’ The voice of the truck driver came from Bartel’s radio.

  ‘We need to change; we are alive, but at the end of the day, this was a disaster.’ Bartel slowly sat on the ground, leaning against the wall.