Our Family Has Fallen

It was already late when they reached the outpost, and night fell soon afterward.

Even though he was aware of the spread of corruption, Lance chose not to rush into the Beast Lair, opting instead to stay at the outpost for the night.

Lance chose to stay at the outpost overnight not to waste time, but because heretics had been frequently harassing them at night recently. It was imperative to act and show them whose territory this truly was!

As night fell, a large group gathered on the open ground in front of the outpost, with Lance, Geralt, and Tadiff standing at the fore.

”Report! All present and accounted for!”

”Good,” Lance said, his gaze sweeping over the thirty people before him—the very members of the recently formed Honor Guard, ’Heart of Steel’.

Indeed, ever since the discovery of flesh-mutated animals, Lance had relocated the training ground for the Honor Guard to the outpost. Only here, with the continual harassment by the heretics, had the outpost undergone more than ten attacks during its repair process, according to reports. Even though the soldiers had spotted and repelled these attacks, it demonstrated that the Ascension Sect had never given up.

This situation actually benefited ’Heart of Steel’. They were handpicked from the best. The standard military training they had received had reached its bottleneck. After switching their training methods, they found that only constant combat could bring further improvement. They could only grow when facing the enemy; to put it simply, they were using those heretics to grind experience. And they did not disappoint, displaying extraordinary combat prowess when facing these heretics.

Lance was quite satisfied as his gaze swept across the people before him. Though they still maintained the semblance of a military formation, their gear had diverged from the army’s previous uniformity and instead reflected a vibrant diversity.

Lance had opened Hamlet’s armory to them. It contained a collection of various weapons and equipment gathered along the way, mainly contributed by two collectors. Although lacking the magical powers of Extraordinary Equipment, these items were better than standard-issue gear tailored for cost-effectiveness. They had updated their equipment based on their individual abilities, talents, and test results.

Some wore armor, while others only donned protective gear covering their vital points, and the weapons they carried also showed strong personal characteristics. Among them, a few individuals had loadouts that were particularly extreme.

Barin was clad in a full suit of Heavy Armor, his head encased in a helmet with only slit-like observation holes. Holding a long-handled great axe named ’Beheader’, he looked like an iron tower, exuding an intimidating presence. Ironically, this full armor was not custom-made for his size; there just happened to be a set in the Collector’s Showroom that was larger than average. In a world influenced by Supernatural Power, it wasn’t unusual to find individuals of enormous stature. This suit of armor had even been thickened and reinforced at key points, making its weight terrifyingly heavy—beyond the ability of an ordinary person to wear. Unfortunately, its previous owner had encountered a collector specializing in psychic attacks. No amount of physical defense could resist mental onslaughts, so the armor was likely reduced to becoming just another exhibit in the Exhibition Room.

Not everyone chose Full Body Armor. Barrett, for example, wore only a utilitarian military uniform. A rifle was slung across his back, a pistol was strapped to each hip, a bayonet was sheathed at his side, and a Dagger was tied to his thigh. This loadout signified his focus on firearm assaults.

And there were those even more outrageous.

Sobray didn’t wear any armor. Instead, he donned a clearly custom-made coat lined with pockets, each holding a bomb—effectively draping ten or so explosives over his body. Among these, a few glass bottles could be seen, their contents needing no explanation: under the indiscriminate flames, all are equal. The combined weight of these items was by no means lighter than armor, perhaps even heavier. His close-combat weapon of choice was a relatively light sailor’s knife. Combined with his not-so-large build, it suited him well. By the time he needed to use it, the situation would usually be dire.

Others donned standard Full Body Armor and wielded common weapons like sabers, Longswords, Warhammers, axes, Shields, and muskets.

Everyone looked different, with varying body types and equipment. Furthermore, with Geralt and Tadiff—both of whom were more like mercenary figures—as their trainers, the unit’s atmosphere was less like that of a regular army and more like a highly disciplined Mercenary Corps.

”Perhaps some of you experienced those times,” Lance began, not immediately stating the reason for their assembly, but instead speaking of the early struggles in taming the wilderness, leading them to recall past hardships. ”I certainly remember when we were hit by wave after wave of attacks from those heretics…”

As mentioned before, those heretics were scattered unpredictably throughout the wild forests. Unless they revealed themselves or were gradually rooted out, as was currently happening, there was no effective way to deal with them. Military purges had been attempted. However, sending in a large force would merely alert the heretics, causing them to hide and rendering well-planned actions fruitless. Such back-and-forth operations incurred significant costs. Conversely, sending too few soldiers meant they couldn’t overcome the heretics, as average military gear was insufficient against such ferocious foes. High casualties in such attempts only served to feed the enemy.