—

“What the hell was that all about anyway? Did anybody see what happened?” #5 asked, still shocked and confused as to what happened.

“Ask Leader. He noticed it earlier than we did.” One of the scanners replied on behalf of his fellow scanners.

Hearing their query, Cedric said: “It’s quite far, couldn’t see properly either. Most likely a shell from our side though. They probably blew up some nasties.”

Cedric shrugged and concluded it there.

“Anyway, that mushroom cloud will either deter Demons or attract them. Don’t let your guard down. We’re vulnerable here. Let’s move.”

“Yes, Sir!” His Squad replied to him as they continued moving.

As they continued on their patrol. Cedric scanned the explosion zone with his senses. It’s just barely at the edge of his sensory radius, just enough for him to inspect it.

Aside from the molten ground, blazing fire, and thick smog that rose to the dark skies, Cedric didn’t notice anything that would warrant this bombardment.

He’s just as puzzled as #5, because he didn’t hear anything about this. A little warning or a heads-up would’ve been nice because he, his squad, and some of his batchmates were out on patrol. They could’ve died from…whatever that was.

Fortunately, it seems that nobody from their sight was caught in that explosion. At least nothing that Cedric could see. If there were demons who died because of it…good riddance.

‘Hmm…?’

Out of nowhere, he noticed movement from that zone. More specifically from beneath the molten soil.

He watched as an enormous creature burst from the ground, emitting a pitched and ear-shattering squeal that caused the nearby surroundings to shake.

“Uh oh,” Cedric muttered out loud, causing his team to be alarmed.

But before they could ask him what was happening, Cedric waved his hand and erected a ki barrier that covered everyone. That’s when the sound wave slammed into the barrier, causing it to creak due to the sheer impact. Some sound even penetrated through the cracks and was heard by his squadmates.

They winced uncomfortably as they heard the sharp screech. And that’s with the barrier dampening the sound already. If Cedric hadn’t erected this barrier earlier, all of them would’ve been deafened by the sound.

And while Cedric did save them, he himself was injured from that. Because he sensed it earlier than them and his senses were sharper than most people, even the dampened sound was lethal to him.

Blood flowed from his ears and he was struck with a sharp headache from the attack. Still, Cedric’s expression did not change, even with the alarmed cries of his squadmates.

“Shit! What happened!? Leader, your ears…! They’re bleeding!”

The one who exclaimed just now was also the squad’s healer…one of them at least, and was already healing Cedric from whatever it was that he suffered from.

“Just a scratch, no need to panic.” He replied.

“Scratch my ass! Both of your eardrums were ruptured and you suffered from concussion! Hold on, I’m nearly done. Fortunately, your regenerative capabilities are strong.” The healer did her work while scolding him a bit.

“How did you even hear her? Weren’t you rendered deaf just now?” #5 asked.

“Lip reading.” Cedric replied casually, causing the rest of his squadmates to smile wryly at him.

Of course, he knows lip reading, why wouldn’t he? Seriously, is there nothing that this guy couldn’t do?

“Anyway, I discovered why they shelled the area.” Cedric stated, “They somehow discovered a Nightmare Worm nearby and killed it with that. The sound wave just now was its last screech of despair and unwillingness it seems. It’s our bad luck to be the closest to it.”

“Nightmare Worm…” some of his squadmates repeated, slightly paling at the mention of the creature.

Aside from drills and conditioning, Cedric also imparted Demon Lore to them since he obviously could. He told them what types of Demons they should expect to see out here so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. And one of them was the Nightmare Worm.

Cedric pointed out that Nightmare Worms should be at the very bottom of the list of demons they are expected to meet around these parts. And that is mostly due to their strength and nature.

Moreover, the army wouldn’t let something like that be so close to the walls due to them having the ability to dig deeper than the foundations of the walls. Simply put, Nightmare Worms could effortlessly bypass the walls by simply digging deep enough, and one could only imagine the kind of destruction that would follow its wake.

“Like I said, it’s dead now. It’s no longer a threat so we could safely move on and do our jobs. Anyway, it’s a pity that it has to happen close to us but what’s done is done. After all, the army simply couldn’t let that thing hang around due to the sheer threat it posed. Let’s just be thankful that nobody died.” Cedric stated.

“Let’s continue. You can stop healing me now, let my body patch up the rest.” He said to the healer before signaling the squad to continue.

The healer wanted to disagree but Cedric looked adamant so she could only give up. It should be fine though, their Leader is a fierce man. They’ve seen him experiencing and enduring worse than this and just walking it off. He’d be fine.

Besides, he’s insanely responsible. He wouldn’t say this without confidence, especially if it would compromise the mission.

Just like that, Squad #1 continued on their way on the patrol route.

**

On the opposite side of the wall, Silverwing glared at some of his colleagues – mostly people who came from other battalions.

He snarled at them, saying: “Couldn’t you all have picked another time to release that shell!? What if that squad died? How are we going explain this to the High Marshal!?”

“There will be no ‘another time’ Silverwing! The Nightmare Worm was literally this close to the walls! It’s now or never! Everybody here knows what kind of damage that thing can do if it manages to appear here because it has happened before!” Somebody counter-argued.

“We were given explicit orders for this, Silverwing. Believe us, we didn’t want to risk it either, but we simply couldn’t leave it up to chance.”

“The calculations included squad into the results. It’s already adjusted to minimize the damage it will do to them, and as you can see, they’re still alive. Only one was injured and it wasn’t even that bad. I don’t see why you’re getting angry at us.”

“The reason, you dipshit, is also within that fucking calculations that you seem to be so fucking proud about!” Silverwing snarled at the last guy who spoke.

He got up to his face, grabbed him by the nape, and smothered his face into the ‘equations’ that he made to get the point across.

“YOU said it yourself that the Nightmare Worm’s predicted path was diverging away from the walls. YOU said that YOU are 99% certain of this!” Silverwing bashed the head of the guy to the screen of his equations in pure rage.

Some people tried to stop him but Silverwing wasn’t alone. He was flanked by his fellow Knight Captains, united under the banner of the 101st Batallion.

“YOU including people under our jurisdiction was completely unnecessary because if YOU only waited enough, we could’ve killed the Nightmare Worm without even harming them at all. That missile was YOUR creation! YOU said that it could kill anyone within 200,000 miles away from the walls!

YOU could’ve waited until the Nightmare Worm was far enough to not risk the 1st years, but YOU and your Batallion’s willingness to purge our enemies even at the cost of our own men, made YOU think that doing it this was fucking better when YOU YOURSELF discovered all the options available!!!”

Silverwing’s rage was unstoppable and right within reason, that’s why people found it difficult to refute his words or even stop him.

And each time he uttered the word ‘YOU’ he would bash the head of the person he grabbed at the monitor just to really drive the point him and make him understand the error of his ways.

Silverwing raised the person’s head and got up to his face, not minding that his ‘supposed’ colleague’s face was bleeding from all the bashing he did.

“If I hadn’t personally known how nasty you and your Battalion’s morals could get, I will seriously consider unleashing the Inquisitors upon you and watch in utter glee as they fry your fucking brains in hopes of proving your allegiance to the army.

Because if all of you see us men-in-uniforms expendable resources, I am seriously thinking that you’re doing this to weaken our forces to let our enemies in.”

Silverwing’s words were venomous and carried some serious repercussions. His willingness to call the Inquisitors on them was already proof of that because everyone knew that those people were merciless when doing their jobs.

And everybody here knows Silverwing’s reputation. He’s a man of his word. Nobody dares to shrug off any threats that come directly from his lips.

“If I see you or anybody from your Batallion interfering in our responsibilities again, don’t blame me for what will happen next. I’ve had enough of you people throwing your useless sense of importance around. The Eastern Army could afford to lose you because there is a fuckton of people waiting in line to replace you.”

“You’re just as expendable as those kids were, fucking remember that, asshats.”

Silverwing slammed the person’s face into the screen one more time before marching out of the office.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep