"Daren!"
Abel's voice sliced through the battlefield like a whip.
And the sword froze mid-air.
"My apologies, my lord," Daren said, bowing his head slightly. "I… lost myself for a moment."
He turned, eyes burning with barely restrained fury, then swiftly dashed back toward Abel—shame written clearly across his face.
"I can see why," Abel muttered, his gaze fixed coldly on Kael and the others.
Then he raised his hand—a subtle yet commanding gesture.
"Rescue the survivors and have them treated," he declared, voice carrying across the carnage. "Especially those among the leaders."
He turned then, eyes locked on the reeling enemy army—green-skinned, bloodied, but momentarily still.
"My soldiers—" he proclaimed, each word heavy with conviction,
"The time has come to expand our territory!"
He stepped forward, raising his voice in a crescendo.
"Thou green beasts shall fall by our hands. Let them witness the power of our land—the might of I, the one who carves the path of a conqueror!"
"Follow the lord—Charge!!"
A unified cry resonated throughout the field, the ground trembled from the stampede of a thousand heavily equipped knights taking on the frontline.
The mages and archers served as backups, their projectiles causing the green beasts to fall out.
The battlefield grew chaotic, with Daren and Abel now leading the army, even those who had fallen immobile grew something in their heart, almost dangerously, as hope.
On the other side of the field, Kreig, along with a few cleaners survivors, were running from the horde of the green beasts. He has defeated more than 10 goblins, and most of those were either wounded or distracted; he kept count of it despite the unfortunate situation that befallen them.
Though previously deadlocked, the tide turned with Abel's arrival—his forces shifting the battle into a one-sided purge.
The troops that Abel had formed a solid as if circular formation, with the ranged units at the back, providing support to successfully push through the plains.
In no time, his army took control of the situation, successfully dominating the field and rescuing the survivors from the fight.
It has only been minutes since they took over the fight, but the difference is obvious. While the five leaders certainly eliminated a lot of enemies, most of the mercenaries, other than them, were like fodder, either dying from stones thrown by the orc or drowning on the tides of green-beasts.
The Orc Lord, who was lying leisurely at the back of his army near the silhouette of his city walls, roared in anger.
His 3,500 units have dropped to 2,000 in no time. When he saw the despairing frontlines of the enemy, he felt confused, thinking it was bait. But when he saw the enemy killing each other, he drowned in joy, rejoicing in the situation that had just so happened to him.
He knew he had to eliminate the lord that was attacking him; it had only been a month or so since it had been summoned in the area, but it had huge ambitions. It conquered the lands near his territory, steadily expanding his area, and declaring war on the lords near him. If they were human, they were granted notice, a mercy: Surrender or die.
But monsters like the Orc Lord are different, they are not humans. Although in the outside world, there exists a treaty, it is almost non-existent inside the abyss, where only the strong thrive. Besides this, not only those in Leaxuire are transported in the abyss, even those in other realms have the pleasure to do so; thus, in the abyss, you can only trust yourself.
"This lad is too ambitious, he will die today!"
He roared, his huge bat turning red as if dyed crimson. It was no ordinary buff, it was something the orc lord, named Krogar, had looted somewhere near his territory. Normally steel-like, now crimson, the bat is an item where the user's fury is transferred into strength towards the bat, amplifying its destructive power.
"Hmmp!"
He snarled, muscles rippling as he hurled himself toward the frontline like a living artillery shell. His crimson bat cleaved the air and collided with Daren's sword.
Clang—!
The impact cracked through the battlefield, shaking the very earth.
"This is where you humans die!" Krogar roared.
As Daren was thrown away over 40 meters, Krogar took it as an opportunity to kill the humans near him. The impact he'd cause on the battlefield was huge; the green beast's declining morale grew intense once more.
"S-shit! Run!"
The mercenaries, and the wounded voice resounded in the air, Kreig as well, ran desperately so as not to be caught up by the impending rush of the enemy.
"Tchh—don't fall back! Hold your position and focus your attack on his army!" Commanded Daren with a pause. "Their lord shall be taken care of by me!"
"You heard, sir Daren! All units, let's focus our attack on their army! They may overwhelm us with numbers, but never with strength! Show them our lord's resolve!"
The command echoed through the air, boosting the morale of Abel's units. Swiftly, they redirected their aim as the impending tide of green beasts that almost mindlessly rushing up the hill where they are situated. They have already rescued most of the survivors; only a fraction remains.
"HAAAA—"
GUhsh—
Blood permeates the air, as if clogged clouds that stayed still in the air, hovering over the field of endless abyss.
The atmosphere grew thicker as silence fell over the field, with a THUD—
Everything went into place.
Then came the rain, funereal, relentless, as if mourning the fallen with every drop.
As Daren staggered, blade trembling under the weight of Krogar's assault, Abel blurred past him—a blur of black steel and wrath incarnate.
The goblins and orcs stood frozen still, some turned to specks of dust, while some grew insane. The death of their leader approved of their deaths, the summoned will turn back into nothingness, and those that resided in the abyss stayed, something they hadn't expected until Abel took the stage.
Their leader, Krogar, who took the lead, killing the masses, berserkering the field, and even dominated Daren, who was strong enough to dominate the leaders of mercenaries, a lord, who, for them, was a seasoned lord who led them to victories, trashed the enemy, and a lord that banished all the enemy that stood before them.
But then…suddenly a human lord ambitiously declared war against them, a human so cold, he'd feel no less when leading an army, whom he hired to death. Sacrificing them before joining the field himself.
It wasn't just that, he's notorious in the area of the abyss for being a lord who hires mercenaries to fight for him, before it led to now, the chain of events that unfolded were nothing short of unexpected. Hundreds of mercenaries fought them.
But that was not the end of the course of unexpected events, the mercenaries decided to rebel! At first, they believed it was a trap, but when the two sides actually fought and died at the hands of each other, they were convinced that the mercenaries had rebelled.
Then... The army halted to attack the mercenaries as a voice pierced the battlefield. They, too, were stunned.
Then...
Unexpectedly...,
Abel did so as they feared.
He gnarled his hands with a jet black blade, swiftly, he flew towards Krogar and Daren, separating the two, stopping Krogar's rummage, and putting an end to his life almost instantaneously.
It was nothing short but otherworldly, a strength enough to dominate the enemy, so why?
Why had Abel waited? Why had he let them bleed?
Did he enjoy their suffering?
Was this all a test?
Had he thrown them in to measure the enemy? Or to measure them?
The leaders.
The promising ones.
Those he might want under his banner.
Whatever the reason was, it was stupid…
They all thought in unison, for even Kreig, whose energy was exhausted, resonated with.
It was cruel. Senseless.
Kreig collapsed behind a crumbled wall, bloodied and breathless. His thoughts raced.
I almost died...
I almost died...
After living on the streets my whole life...after finally deciding to rise...
Do humans always die the moment they try to move forward...?
Is this what they call fate? You get the courage to change, and then the world pulls it from you?
If so, I don't want to acknowledge it.
Fuck...shit...shit...shit...shit
Am I going to die here...again? Discarded...Forgotten?
No...
I won't...
I don't want to...
Not again...
...
After defeating the enemy, Abel seized the city that lord Krogar possessed, successfully expanding his territory.
All the while, the mercenaries have been successfully aided. Abel, though, was cruel, didn't pursue killing them, and had them silenced.
"What now?" His voice broke the silence that stirred still the field, on the ground, with a stature like that of a giant, muscles bulging as if flexing, he sat on dirt as he spoke with a pause. "Now that you've defeated the enemy, what will happen to us? Oh, we'll be silenced, right? Ha. I knew every lord was the same."
"Hmm. Quite the opposite, actually," replied Abel, whose standing at the opposite side, where he lay, his eyes glowing, as if reflecting the light of the crimson sky. "You see, Thorne, were I to intend for all of you to die, I wouldn't have bothered stopping my army. Even Daren, my representative, is enough to kill the majority of you," Abel paused with a chuckle. "I want you to join me, Thorne. You and all the other combatants who survived," Abel said with certainty in his ambitious eyes. He paused as he glared at all the figures behind Thorne.
"And if I refuse?" replied Thorne, resentment evident in his eyes.
"Should you refuse, all of them die," replied Abel, aloofly and coldly, his voice like a dagger that pierced everyone before him, swallowing in fear.
Tchhh—
Thorne clicked his tongue then swallowed.
Abel had his weakness, though he lived a tough life, leading a life on the line for every quest he took, he still remembers what it means to be human. That is also why he had easily commanded the group of loose mercenaries.
"In one condition," he swallowed with a pause, he feared this condition would mean his end, but he had to ask this. "Can you let those who don't want to be compensated and not touched," his tone was pleading, he knew he had no choice but to accept, but still he felt obliged.
"Ha ha ha ha," laughter echoed the air, it was a rich man's laugh, as if a noble. "Need not worry, I can do at least that much," he paused. "Except, of course, all the combatants." His voice was absolute, hinting that it was the last straw.
"Of course… my lord," replied Thorne, along with the other who let him lead, with a bow of acceptance and defeat.
Their conversation was heard by everyone on the field where they lay and were treated, and they all had an important realization: the world of the abyss is different from Leaxuire.
Here, no rules exist—only the strong thrive, the weak bow with no exceptions.