Chương 289: 289：Assembling the Vanguard

Felix leaned heavily on his sword, staring blankly at the flawless, hyper-efficient slaughter that had just unfolded before his eyes. His mind went entirely blank for a fraction of a second. This overwhelming, seamlessly coordinated ranged-and-melee tactical doctrine completely shattered his understanding of traditional infantry meat-grinders!

"The horns are growing denser. The main force of Abysswater Keep is mobilizing. We can't stay here," Soren said, securing his longbow and striding over. He glanced at the broken spear oozing black blood from Felix's ribs and asked calmly: "Can you walk?" Felix gritted his teeth, suppressing the agonizing pain with a heavy nod.

"As long as I'm breathing, I can walk."

"Good. Lyra, secure the perimeter and cover our rear. We move!" Ignoring the gore, Soren grabbed the battered knight, hauling Felix's arm over his own shoulder to support his weight. They didn't retrace their steps. Guided flawlessly by Soren's [Eagle Eye Perception], the squad wove strictly through the labyrinthine blind spots of the complex terrain. Less than the time it takes to boil a cup of tea later, massive squads of torch-bearing Orcs swarmed the ruined wall.

Seeing the corpses of their patrol—dead from arrows through the skull or surgically severed tendons—the Orc Overseers unleashed deafening, sky-shaking roars. But shielded by the howling blizzard and the boundless swamp, their targets had long vanished without a trace....... Half an hour later. On the outer fringes of the Misty Swamp, hidden deep within a stone crevice meticulously concealed by thick aerial roots and dense vines. This was Soren's pre-selected safehouse.

Duran stood guard at the entrance, hyper-vigilant. Seeing Soren return safely carrying a wounded man, the massive brawler finally let out a heavy sigh of relief. Inside, the crevice was relatively dry. Duran's mother, wrapped snugly in Soren's cloak, rested quietly in the deepest corner.

"Lay him down." Soren carefully placed Felix flat on a smooth bluestone slab. Felix had lost a catastrophic amount of blood, compounded by the sheer exhaustion of his frantic escape. His face was ghastly pale, his lips blue from the cold, and cold sweat poured down his forehead. His chest heaved erratically; his life force was rapidly draining away. Soren crouched down, fishing a small glass vial from his belt pouch. Inside swirled an amber liquid radiating a rich, herbal aroma.

It was a [Battlefield First-Aid Potion] looted by Greywater Village! In this war-torn era, a single vial of tissue-regenerating, hemostatic potion could fetch over a dozen gold coins on the black market. Lower-ranking officers in regular kingdoms had absolutely no access to such obscene luxury; if wounded this severely, they could only grit their teeth and wait for death. Soren's movements were ruthlessly efficient.

"Endure it." He pinned Felix's shoulder with one hand, gripping the broken spear shaft with the other. Channeling the tyrannical strength of his [Faint Titan Bloodline], he violently yanked! SQUELCH! The broken spear was ripped out, instantly followed by a geyser of foul, dark blood. Felix screamed in agony, his back violently arching as he nearly passed out from the apocalyptic pain.

Soren reacted with lightning speed, dumping the entire vial of the expensive [Battlefield First-Aid Potion] directly into the bone-deep puncture wound! Hssss! The moment the potion touched flesh, a faint wisp of white smoke rose. The miraculous effect was instantaneous. Stimulated by the potion, the surrounding muscle tissue visibly contracted and rapidly sealed. The profuse bleeding stopped, quickly forming a thick scab. Felix's ragged breathing gradually steadied.

After the intense agony faded, the sheer exhaustion of surviving a brush with death washed over his entire body. Slumping weakly against the rock wall, he watched Soren casually toss the empty, astronomically expensive vial aside.

"Th... thank you for saving my life, Excellency." Still panting, Felix flawlessly maintained the etiquette of a noble knight: "A potion of this caliber... is worth a fortune. To use it on a wanted fugitive you met by chance... I could surrender my life and it still wouldn't be enough to repay this grace." Soren sat on the bluestone slab, looking at the knight.

"No potion is more valuable than the life of a warrior who dares to draw his blade against Orcs deep inside enemy territory."

"Tell me, how does an orthodox knight end up being hunted by an entire army of Orcs?" Hearing this, Felix's face twisted into a bitter, exasperated grimace. He shook his head and sighed.

"You wouldn't believe it, Your Excellency. My luck today was absolutely dog-shit."

"To be completely honest, I had been infiltrating Abysswater Keep for days, intending to claim the Overlord's head. Since there was a banquet tonight, I thought it was the perfect strike window." Felix threw his hands up, his voice brimming with sheer absurdity:"I had just shimmied up to the back wall of the Overlord's stronghold, waiting for the bastard to get drunk... when suddenly, the main hall erupted into absolute chaos!"

"The leaderless Orc officers came scrambling out in a panic. The second they laid eyes on me, they screamed that the assassin who killed Nak was right there!" Felix clenched his fists in blazing indignation:"I didn't even get to see Nak's ugly face, yet I got slapped with the charge of shooting the Overlord through the head! To find a scapegoat for their High Command, those Orcs will fabricate the most absolute, brainless bullshit!"

Hearing this, Lyra, standing nearby, couldn't help but cover her mouth to stifle a giggle. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Even the perpetually grim Duran lowered his head, desperately suppressing a chuckle. Felix looked at the three of them, completely bewildered.

"What? You think I'm lying? I may be destitute, but I absolutely disdain stealing another man's glory! The man who actually assassinated Nak inside that hall is a true, undisputed badass! Even though taking the fall for him nearly got me killed, in my heart, I harbor nothing but profound respect for him!"

"You did indeed take the fall for nothing." Soren stood up, walking over to Felix. Staring down at the deeply confused knight, Soren casually pointed his thumb at the high-tier elven longbow slung across his back.

"Because Nak's head was shot off by my arrow." The words fell casually, yet they struck the cramped confines of the crevice with the force of a thunderbolt.

"As for the high-ranking officers in that hall, my allies and I wiped them out as well." Dead silence filled the stone crevice. You could hear a pin drop. Felix's face completely froze. His eyes bulged as his gaze frantically darted between Soren's remarkably young face and the longbow radiating a faint, abyssal cyan glow. Inside his mind, the smuggled military gazettes detailing the war in the Misty Swamp flashed at lightspeed!

"Shot through the skull with an arrow..."

"Accompanied by a silver-haired girl wielding throwing knives..."

"Slaughtering Orc elites as if they were nothing..." A name that was currently shaking the entire continent of Eresia was roughly, dryly squeezed from Felix's throat:"You... You are Soren?!" Felix was overwhelmingly shocked, his voice completely cracking: "The Lord of Greywater Village... the man who buried two thousand elite Orcs at Soul-Severing Gorge and decapitated an Oracle?! The Warlord Soren?!"

"I am." Soren gave a slight nod. He didn't bother to hide his identity, naturally exuding the majestic, suffocating aura of a supreme commander who ruled over thousands. Confirming the identity of the man standing before him, Felix felt absolutely no anger over nearly dying as a scapegoat. Instead, an irrepressible, volcanic ecstasy surged within his chest!

"Hahahahaha!" Felix threw his head back and laughed wildly, entirely ignoring the searing pain from his wounds.

"No wonder! No wonder the slaughter out there was so brutally efficient! No wonder you had the sheer audacity to decapitate an Overlord surrounded by an entire army!" Felix's heart pounded with overwhelming battle-lust. He forcefully struggled off the bluestone slab, entirely disregarding the risk of tearing his freshly scabbed wound open. THUD! This destitute knight—a man born of orthodox nobility who valued his pride above all else—dropped directly to one knee right in front of Soren!

He drew his chipped, broken sword, planting the tip into the dirt. Crossing his hands over the hilt, he bowed his head, executing the most solemn, absolute knight's oath of fealty!

"Lord Soren!" Felix's voice was resounding and unyielding, echoing through the cramped space:"I have long grown sick of the rotting nobles in the Royal Capital, those leeches who do nothing but scheme for power and squander the blood of the commoners over wine!" Felix snapped his head up, looking fiercely at Soren:"Since you are the one who severed that bastard's head, I shall brazenly beg a boon of you: Allow me to join your banner!"

"Even if I serve as a mere frontline grunt, as long as I can slaughter the enemy alongside a supreme commander like you, I will die with absolutely zero regrets!" Looking down at the battered but fiercely unyielding knight, profound admiration swelled in Soren's heart. This was a true warrior! Stripped of the sickening hypocrisy of the aristocracy, leaving only a pure, burning thirst for victory and glory!

"Greywater Village asks nothing of your birth, and nothing of your class. We only value the bloodlust to draw your blade against the Orcs." Soren took a long stride forward, gripping Felix's wrist and forcefully hauling him to his feet.

"Your unyielding spine and your longsword are exactly what Greywater Village needs right now." Soren swept his gaze over his newly assembled squad within the crevice, his voice brimming with magnificent, epic resolve:"On behalf of the two thousand soldiers of Greywater Village, I welcome you to our ranks, Knight Felix!" And so it was. On this freezing, blizzard-swept, peril-filled night.

Duran, the brawler capable of tearing Orcs apart with his bare hands, and Felix, the knight with the sheer guts to infiltrate deep behind enemy lines to assassinate high-value targets... Two hyper-lethal, tactically brilliant apex combatants had simultaneously pledged their absolute loyalty to Soren! The core combat foundation of Greywater Village had just received a massive, terrifying upgrade!

"Everyone, this farce at Abysswater Keep has officially concluded." Soren turned around, looking out into the boundless, howling blizzard. At the very edge of the horizon, the sky above Abysswater Keep was ablaze. It was clear the Orcs inside had completely lost their minds, swarming like headless flies in a frantic hunt for non-existent assassins.

"Warchief Blackstone's thirty-thousand-strong encirclement is imminent. The true, apocalyptic meat-grinder is waiting for us in the Misty Swamp." Soren issued his final extraction order:"Move out. Duran, carry your mother. Felix takes the center. Lyra, cover our rear."

"We are going home to Greywater Village!" Following the heart-stopping rescue, Soren's squad of five melted silently and seamlessly into the depths of the Misty Swamp. Leaving behind only a paralyzed, panic-stricken enemy fortress burning brightly in the howling blizzard.