Eternal Rest

The groups of people coming from the direction of the camp were Wezar’s army soldiers, clad in mail and plate armor, holding polearms and carrying one-handed weapons at their waists. Bones had learned in his short time at the south camp that these soldiers were generally lower level than the adventurers. Most of them lacked actual combat experience. Few opportunities arose for soldiers to participate in wars during their lifetimes, so they spent most of their time safely within city walls, practicing and maintaining order as guards. Soldiers who worked part-time as adventurers and retired adventurers working as soldiers were the exception and in the minority. The small group of individuals Bones turned his attention to now fell into this category: adventurers.

War was a risky game but an opportunity for participants to earn levels quickly. Adventurers were especially drawn to conflicts where they could benefit, even at the risk of ending up on the losing side. Bones could easily differentiate adventurers from soldiers by their attire and demeanor.

Adventurers had more experience fighting others and wore a mix of armor types. They carried various weapons and moved with heightened awareness of their surroundings. Soldiers grouped in squads of ten, each led by a leader, while adventurers formed parties of three to five. Bones strained his vision and saw matching markings on members of the same adventuring party. Distinguishing party members from foes in the chaos of combat was essential, and some of the Aphitonians bore markings of a mercenary company.

It made sense that not all participants would be soldiers or adventurers. There might be people here from the assassin’s guild as well! Nothing prevents someone from being an adventurer in a mercenary company working as an assassin. “Hm?”

The battle had begun. Soldiers on both sides gathered in formation and steadily closed in on each other. Ranged attacks from behind signaled the start of the conflict. Bones had expected a straightforward frontal confrontation but was proven wrong. The soldiers stood their ground, deflecting most projectiles and spells while counterattacking whenever possible. They had been well-trained. Adventurers, on the other hand, engaged more freely and without restraint, as if they had queued their skills and spells beforehand, ready to unleash them all at once.

After an hour of watching the battle, Bones concluded that Darsumi was right when he said that times had changed and wars were different now. Back in his time, a dozen silver-rank individuals would dominate the whole war! Here, they are the norm. Times have truly changed.

Bones had never seen this many skills and spells used simultaneously. It looked chaotic, with spells flying in disorderly fashion, seemingly capable of hitting anyone at random. Yet, most participants had high enough awareness to avoid being hit. There were few casualties from random spells or projectiles. Bones specifically turned his attention to a few figures on the battlefield who were hard not to notice.

One was an adventurer on Wezar’s side. A man over two meters tall with broad shoulders, dressed lightly in leather body armor and leggings mixed with plate pauldrons, gauntlets, and greaves. He cleaved enemy soldiers in two with every swing of his giant bardiche, a type of polearm. Sun rays reflected off the weapon’s blade, and Bones could make out a faint blue hue on the edge. Imbuing only the edge to reduce the mana cost while still sharpening it. Smart.

“I wish my golem was capable of learning and growing into something as efficient!” Bones praised the man and then focused on another dominant figure on the battlefield.

This one was a defender of sorts, wielding a giant shield in his left hand and a steel gauntlet in his right, which had a gem embedded at the top. Bones watched in fascination as the man used both the shield and the gauntlet. The shield blocked attacks as intended, and then the man would press the gauntlet against the inside of the shield and unleash what Bones guessed was a cone-shaped version of his mana blast. The arcane blast passed through the shield, amplified, and blasted everything up to three meters in front of the defender.

Truly marvelous use of a shield for both defending and attacking purposes!

But that wasn’t all. The man continued to impress Bones by employing different attack methods. He threw the shield, which bounced off enemies, making a stronger impact with each bounce. Eventually, the shield cracked and broke after such abuse, but the man simply summoned another one, as if he was used to it.

I can't tell if he is actually a defender or a mage. This is entertaining to watch! I can't help but wonder, though, why they are even fighting in an open fie—

Crash!

Bones' thoughts were interrupted by a sudden crash in the midst of the clearing, raising a cloud of dust and obscuring his view. He couldn’t see what caused the crash, but the blast from the impact pushed back everyone in the vicinity. From within the cloud, a person rushed out in a blur, moving so fast that Bones had a hard time following. A second later, another figure crashed and chased after the first one.

Bones watched everything from afar, giving him a better understanding of the battlefield. The two figures headed toward Wezar’s army, and before the soldiers could react and move away, the first figure charged directly into them. From the strength of the impact and the unnatural way the soldiers were sent flying, Bones recognized the two newcomers as gold rankers. The adventurers on both sides made a hasty retreat, and Bones saw two more gold rankers join and give chase after the first one.

Of course. Leave it to gold—

Rustling

—rankers to crash the party.

Clank clank

“Hm?” Bones turned in the direction the sounds were coming from. The clanking stopped, and Bones climbed down from the crown of the tree. He waited, quietly and motionless, until his senses picked up a person a hundred meters away moving in his direction.

Well now, it looks like I won't be just an observer on the first day after all!

Judging by the gear and the silent movements, Bones deduced that the person was a scout, most likely from the enemy side since he didn’t have a band or any other recognizable markings. Bones didn’t really care which side the scout belonged to. He decided to fish for some information and, once the scout was about fifteen meters away and about to run past his hiding place, he hurled the golem core at him.

The core flew in a slight arc straight at the scout. Before it hit, Skully appeared with a spear already in thrusting motion. The scout reacted instantly by drawing daggers and hurriedly parrying the attack. Bones was surprised that the ambush failed and Identified the scout.

Aphitonian Scout, level 42

“Level 42! Too much for Skully to handle alone…but why is the description so generic? Is my Identify skill too low, or is the scout’s level too high?”

The scout didn’t look to be in healthy condition. The sounds of clashing from earlier most likely belonged to a fight between scouts, and this one, while victorious, hadn’t escaped unscathed. Bones was right in his assessment, but the scout made an assessment of his own in their exchange just now and concluded that Skully was lacking in power. This meant Skully was at a significantly lower level.

The scout was pushed back after parrying an attack, and upon realizing his opponent wasn’t an actual threat, exhaled a breath of relief and relaxed his posture a bit.

“Haaah, you sneaky fucker. You scared the shit out of me!” the scout yelled at Skully. In three quick moves, he closed in, swirled around, and delivered a precise slash to Skully’s neck, then backed away.

Skully remained in place, unable to react to the scout’s quick movements. The hood covering his head had a wide tear made by the dagger and was slowly sliding down his smooth skull. It slid off his head, revealing the skull of a lizardman. The scout's moment of shock and surprise gave Bones the advantage. After assessing the scout’s mobility and skill, Bones quickly planned his next course of action, hoping to successfully ambush him this time. He cast an empowered Bone Lance while jumping off the tree at the same time. However, he failed again.

The scout sensed the incoming projectile from behind and blindly swiped with his dagger with as much strength as he could muster. The dagger deflected the trajectory of the lance, and instead of piercing his heart, it took a chunk of flesh off his ribs. The scout cried out in pain, gritting his teeth, then tried to use his movement skill to put distance between himself and his assailants but froze. Soul Gaze bore deep into his soul, and Bones managed to stun him for a brief moment. The moment was enough for Skully to finish thrusting his spear through the scout’s thigh, tearing a hamstring and crippling him.

Bones ordered Skully to back away immediately, expecting retaliation, but the scout went down on one knee, clutching his leg with the spear still sticking out of it. He groaned, his breath haggard. He leaned to his left, where he was heavily bleeding, and slumped to the ground. Bones glanced over the man and noticed he had more wounds on his body, likely from an earlier encounter. Bones felt that the man had come to terms with his fate and thought to offer him some comfort.

"Relax. I just want to ask you a few questions. Feel free to use a healing potion if you have one," Bones calmly said. The man slightly raised his head and examined his assailant from head to toe, noticing a heavy amount of hardened mud on the slim figure of a man. He scoffed and then said, between coughing blood, "You expect me to believe that? Don't patronize me…"

Middle-aged. Low level for someone his age, but looks can be deceiving. Most likely a veteran considering his skills and experience, Bones concluded.

Bones waited patiently until the man finally decided to reach into his pockets and take out a healing potion. After a pause, he downed it.

Skully eventually removed the spear, and after seeing that the scout had calmed down and caught his breath, Bones asked, "How about you decide whether to answer or not after hearing my questions."

The scout stayed silent and kept watching Bones warily. Bones took the man's silence as approval to proceed.

"What do Aphitonians hope to accomplish in this war by taking over the fortress? And what is the reason for silver rankers engaging in skirmishes in an open field? Why engage at all when the only ones that can truly make a difference in this war are the gold rankers?"

Bones had more questions he wanted to ask but thought to get the ones occupying his mind the most out of the way first.

"Mud…camouflage? You're not a soldier. An adventurer then?" the scout asked, not answering Bones' questions. Bones stood in silence, watching as the healing potion took effect and the man's complexion returned to normal. The scout opened his mouth to speak, but before he did, Bones replied.

"Yes, I used mud as camouflage."

"You think that's going to fool anyone?" the man asked again. Bones didn't reply. Instead, he suppressed his aura until the scout could barely sense he was there. The scout's eye twitched, and he frowned, not expecting such precise mana control from the figure in front of him.

"I'm doing what I'm told. That's all there is to it. Knowing what my superiors scheme is above my pay grade. What about you? What do you wish to accomplish in this war?" the man asked.

Bones cocked his head and said that he didn't care about the war, that he was here for the experience. The scout spat on the ground, his demeanor toward his captor changing.

"Mercenary scum! You know no loyalty!" he said in a derisive tone. Bones didn't get angry. On the contrary, he was intrigued by the scout's display. The man is obviously grasping for more time, no doubt hoping to heal enough to take action.

"I'm surprised by your reaction. I mean, what is the difference between a mercenary and an adventurer, really?" Bones asked, interested in how the man would reply.

"At least the adventurers have a sense of duty to protect the citizens from monsters and the like!" the scout replied. Bones saw his reasoning as understandable but...

"I get that, but they still get rewarded for the job done. Just like mercenaries do. However, you still haven't answered my questions. What would winning over the fortress achieve?" Bones asked again but received the silent treatment.

Well, I guess I'm not getting anything from him. I should wrap this up before he regains enough strength.