Second Life as a Soldier

3rd Person POV

As one of the guards attacked Edward, chaos ensued. Some of the guards jumped the fence and entered the front yard, while some clashed with Edward, Garran, and Varric.

Edward sensed the spear coming at him. He twisted his upper body aside just in time for the spearhead to narrowly miss his throat. Then he brought his own spear up between his neck and the attacker’s weapon, catching the shaft before it could recover. With his left hand, he pulled the lower end of his spear inward, forcing the upper end outward against the enemy’s spear. The movement changed the attack’s trajectory and drove the spearhead into the ground.

“They are all with the barbarians! This Halvar has turned them into traitors!” As Edward was trying to defend himself against the attack, the village head shouted, pointing at Halvar and accusing Edward and his squad of treason.

As if guards had received the signal from the village head, they rushed toward Halvar.

Edward thrust at the guard. The man caught the blow on his shield, but Edward stepped forward and kicked the shield hard enough to drive him back. Without his own shield weighing him down, Edward moved faster than before. He recovered his spear and struck again, this time pouring mana through the shaft. The impact shattered the wooden shield.

“HALVAR, IN THE HOUSE! Kael, Peter, help him retreat.”

The broken shield and the guard’s lost balance bought Edward a few precious seconds to give orders. The guards’ movements made their intentions clear. Halvar and Barry were their real targets.

“And guard the front door. Do not let anyone enter the house,” Edward continued.

In this chaotic situation, the soldiers who had arrived with Rowan were caught off guard. None of them had expected Edward to be this aggressive. More so, none of them expected the village guards to attack Edward’s squad.

Edward did not need to look at Rowan to know how badly the situation had turned against him. Rowan could not move against Edward and his squad unless he proved they were traitors, and now the village head’s guards had attacked royal army soldiers first. That changed everything.

Even soldiers suspected of treason had the right to defend themselves against civilians. If anything happened to Edward here, Rowan and the others would not escape with a simple reprimand.

“Edward! Guards! Stop this nonsense!” Rowan shouted, finally getting his bearings.

Ignoring Rowan’s words, Edward slammed the butt of his spear into a guard’s head, knocking him out.

That was when he spotted the village head retreating, trying to escape.

In the next second, Edward’s senses sharpened. [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] went off. Four Tier-3 presences entered his range at once. One moved toward the village head from the front. Two split toward Edward and Rowan. The last entered the courtyard from behind, heading straight for the house entrance.

Edward took a step back and began charging mana into his spear while rotating it at high speed, as if he were using a sling rather than a spear. Within seconds, the weapon spinning above his head looked like a circle of white light. Then, as the spear came to a sudden halt, a sharp, condensed arc of mana shot from the spearhead, heading straight for the hand of the person attacking the village head.

All the soldiers standing there paused for a moment and looked at Edward in surprise. The attacker aiming for the village head did not have time to react. Edward’s attack severed his hand from the elbow.

This was one of the new specialized long-range attacks Edward had developed. Unlike the large mana arc he had used against the wolf in the forest, this version was designed to wound Tier-3 beasts with thick hides. It took longer to form and required almost the same amount of mana, but it was far faster and more condensed than the larger arc. In theory, severing a Tier-3 human’s arm in one strike should have been possible. Even so, he had not expected it to cut that cleanly.

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If he had known the mana arc was that effective, he would have aimed for the attacker’s chest instead.

“SOLDIERS, forget the past! If we don’t act here today, we will let down the royal army! We will let down Avalon!” Edward said, using [Battlefield Command (UC)]. Things had gotten out of hand, and now these mercenaries were trying to clean up their mess. These Tier-3s were aiming only for the people who could prove Frosthallow was involved in this village’s activities.

“Rowan, Aaron, Colin, please don’t mess up any further,” Edward requested, but it was not needed, as one of the Tier-3s aimed straight for Rowan.

Rowan, Aaron, and Colin engaged with the new arrivals, while the rest of the squads engaged with the guards that the village head had brought. Edward’s earlier display of power had left a lasting image on all the privates’ minds. Even without orders from their sergeants, they got into action.

“Garran, Varric, handle him.” Edward took a few more steps back as Garran and Varric stopped the Tier-3 attacker aiming for Edward.

“Rowan, Colin’s squad, handle the guards on the right. Also, secure the village head. Aaron squad follow my orders. I will help you deal with the one whose arm I have just severed.”

“Rokan, Deran, Oren, and Brakk, guard the front door. You are dealing with a Tier-3. Kael and Peter, enter the house and if needed support Rokan and the others.” Edward stood in the middle of the chaos and, with the help of his 360-degree awareness skills, like a conductor of an orchestra, ordered all the soldiers present.

Once Rowan’s and the other sergeants’ squads responded to Edward’s orders, his confidence soared so much that he assigned Rokan and the others to deal with a Tier-3. This would be their first time doing so.

The Tier-3 approached the front door and swung his spear at Kael, but the attack was stopped by the huge shield Kael was carrying. Peter counterattacked, aiming for the Tier-3’s neck. In the meantime, Rokan, Deran, Brakk, and Oren moved behind them, ready to take their positions.

The Tier-3 took a step back to avoid Peter’s attack. Taking the opportunity, Kael moved aside while Brakk and Deran stepped in, replacing him as they attacked the Tier-3. But their attacks lacked the force and speed needed to threaten a Tier-3. With a simple movement of his shield, both Brakk’s spear and Deran’s hammer were deflected.

By this time, a wall of four people had formed, with Oren and Rokan replacing Peter.

“Show him the power of the earth rune,” Edward said with a smile, without even turning back, as he was busy coordinating the other soldiers in front of him.

But those words brought smiles to four faces.

Brakk and Oren moved forward and planted their shields into the ground. Dirt began gathering around the shields, increasing their size. The Tier-3 did not wait for them to finish. He thrust forward with full force at Brakk, but Deran stepped in with his hammer, now covered in rock, and diverted the thrust by striking the spear shaft. Rokan followed from the other side, attacking with his own rock-covered hammer.

This time, the force behind the attack could not be easily ignored. The Tier-3 covered his shield with mana and blocked the attack. Even then, he was pushed back.

The Tier-3’s eyes narrowed when Rokan and Deran retreated. Then his gaze dropped to Oren and Brakk’s shields, and his expression changed.

Oren’s and Brakk’s shields now had sharp, stone-like protrusions coming out of them, while Rokan and Deran stood behind them in position to hit the shields. Oren’s and Brakk’s shields had two features. One allowed them to attract earth to the shield, mostly to be used as a way to defend against elemental and physical attacks. The second was an attack feature, which could be used in coordination with Rokan and Deran.

Before the Tier-3 could react, both Rokan and Deran struck the shields from behind while Brakk and Oren kept them steady. A huge number of stone shards launched from the shields at high speed.

To avoid hitting the soldiers in front, Oren and Brakk had positioned themselves so that most of the shards would hit the Tier-3, while the rest would strike their shields instead of their fellow soldiers.

The Tier-3 ducked behind his shield to protect his vitals, but that left his lower body exposed. Shards tore through his pants and embedded themselves into his legs below the knees as Rokan and Deran moved forward. The Tier-3 stumbled back, gritting his teeth in pain.

“Retreat! Retreat!” he shouted, trying to escape. But as he turned, an arc of mana flew straight toward him. It struck his neck, and within seconds, one of the Tier-3s was dead.

“Do not let anyone escape! I want all their heads for daring to attack the royal army!” Edward shouted.

It was one thing to allow beasts to escape, but these were enemies of Avalon. Any one of them was a danger to the civilians of Avalon, and one part of his job that Edward really cared about was protecting those who could not protect themselves.

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