The two groups; Pressure Platoon II and Red Rose Platoon galloped side by side on the grassy field. Not long after, they saw another camp. Just like earlier, the infantry unit came out in phalanx formation, but this time they were more prepared as a storm of arrows came from above.
"Men, give your spare shields to the ladies," Bartrem said.
They all raised their shields, but Aldred did his best to deflect all the arrows with his fire bullets. Fire bullets were currently the fastest spell he could activate. Like a submachine gun, bullets after bullets came out of Aldred's finger, deflecting dozens of arrows in less than a second. Though there were arrows that still hit the shields, they did not penetrate through.
Aldred counter-attacked with fire javelins that immediately shut their arrows as they were too busy hiding under their cover. Bartrem and Mareona easily ran through them and destroyed their camps.
His undead helped in destroying the camps, using their powerful regeneration ability to absorb all the attacks.
This same event kept repeating itself until they saw a much bigger camp than before.
"This is where the leader might stay," Bartrem said.
"Who are they? How could they bring so many bandits?" Mareona frowned.
"Must be an organized bandit. If we can defeat them, the empress will be viewed in brighter lights by the merchants."
Mareona's eyes lit up. "Good. Her Majesty can extend her fingers to the merchants. Let's see what those nobles can do when no one wants to buy their goods."
"Stop talking, guys. Look. The enemy has their own cavalry," Aldred said.
Bartrem smiled. "Rain them with javelins."
The soldiers had picked up their javelins after each use. That way, they could reuse it again. Dozens of javelins flew into the air and arched down. The enemy cavalry fell by the dozens, but they kept charging.
"Spears!"
The soldiers raised their spears. They stole it from the camps they had destroyed. It provided more range than a simple sword. And so, with a shield on their left hand, and a spear on their right, the cavalry looked like a mobile phalanx formation; formidable and quick.
As they charged against each other, Aldred stormed the enemy with his fire bullets, disrupting their formation. And that was when Bartrem and Mareona penetrated the center of the formation like a sword through flesh. They quickly defeated large numbers of enemies. They were no match against Bartrem and his battle-hardened soldiers. Mareona and her Red Rose Platoon were not so bad as well.
"How dare you kill my subordinates?" A man landed on the ground with a loud thud, cracking the ground below his feet.
Aldred looked at the man and realized he was familiar. "You. You are the guards that dragged me out of the palace."
Bartrem looked at the enemy, frowning. "So that's why the bandits we fought all have the same traits of proper soldiers. They were not bandits."
The man smiled. "That is correct. The emperor wants all of you to die to reduce the empress' influence."
"And you think you can do it alone?"
The man's smile turned into a grin. His body exuded a powerful aura of a Gold Rank warrior.
Bartrem, Mareona, Aldred, Mira, and everyone else were shocked when they saw this.
"My name is Milet, and today, I will be the one who ends your life. All of you!"
"Crap!" Bartrem opened the bag and threw all the potions to his soldiers. "Drink the potions! All of them can increase your strength!"
Milet laughed. "You think some potions can let you survive from me?" He grabbed an elegant and powerful spear from his back. The blade of the spear shone with golden light.
"We cannot run away from him. Everyone, attack!"
Both men and women roared as they charged toward one man. Milet simply smiled and slashed to the side when the horses were near. Their legs were cut off and the soldiers fell to the ground.
He then proceeded to move like an agile snake, going left and right, leaving a trail of blood whenever he passed. He jumped high and stabbed a soldier in the chest. His move was like a graceful crane.
Bartrem and Mareona confronted him. Milet received it with a smile. He spun with his spears glowing even brighter. The powerful wind threw the other soldiers, leaving Aldred, Bartrem, and Mareona to fight him.
"Three against one is enough advantage." Milet smiled.
Pongo threw a piece of bread at him, finally making the man look at the small creature.
"Four then."
Milet charged forward, quickly arriving right in front of Bartrem, shocking the man. Mareona came from the side, and attacked, preventing Milet from following up with his charge. She tried to stab him, but the man simply smiled as he dodged all of her attacks. Aldred then came from the side with both of his legs shooting out jets. He shot out fire bullets from his fingers, but it only dented the armor slightly.
"My armor is not for show, young man." He slashed at the boy, creating a wound on his cheek.
Aldred fell and rolled before he got up and helped his comrades again. The enemy was a Gold Rank, if he let himself fall for long, Bartrem, Pongo and Mareona would be defeated.
As the three of them distracted Milet, Aldred fired a fire javelin that struck the man's right thigh. The spell failed to penetrate, but it was dented considerably. Aldred continued to circle around, and distract the man with fire bullets before shooting the right thigh with a fire javelin again.
He did this a bunch of times until finally, the fire javelin pierced the right thigh.
Milet grimaced and frowned. The boy kept on sending powerful spells without care. How much mana did this boy have? A normal magician would run out of mana by now. He glanced at the boy who was floating in the air.
Then the boy did something that surprised him. Black mists appeared around them. Rolling out from the ground before nasty creatures stepped out. They were the ogres, wolves, and humans. But their eyes were hollow with faint purple light flickering around them.
"Undead?" Milet looked at the creatures in disbelief.
Aldred stared at the man with a sharp gaze. 'If I can kill you. You will be my undead as well.'
