"Huh?"
Unker just sent someone flying off the cliff with his warhammer strike, yet it didn't feel right.
Even though he didn't use most his strength on that particular strike, and even if the kid unleashed his puny aura at the last moment, it shouldn't had made any difference.
'That was odd.' The burly man thought.
He was sure that the strike was spot on and there's definitely broken bones, also he had been smashing people and even awakeneds for a while now.
"Whatever, that kid's long gone to the afterlife by now hehe."
Unker turned his back against the cliff and saw their leader looking at his direction with a serious face.
Looking confused he walked towards him and stood a meter away.
"Boss?" Unker asked in a low voice.
….
....
In a deep thought for a brief moment before responding sluggishly.
"Nevermind."
Isak was momentarily surprised with wide eyes just a few moments ago, and he confirmed it seeing how Unker behaved after sending the soldier kid off the cliff.
He almost got up from his seat, thinking of stopping Unker, yet since he didn't expect something of sort to happen, and didn't react timely. He ended up only muttering "wait" in a low voice, which didn't reach its intended receiver.
The enemy squire in the last seconds before the hammer hit, released his aura trying to protect himself from the blow, yet unlike the normal full-burst where the aura is evenly distributed to all body surfaces.
The squire was able to direct the majority of his aura towards his right elbow and hips, while thinning the aura from the rest of his body ultimately forming something akin to a shield.
Moreover, the aura the kid relocated became denser after arriving at the location, which is an advance aura skill.
Though it was only for a split second, still Isak was certain of what he saw, and being the only full-knight on the unit, no one has noticed this, considering that it was an extremely difficult ability to master.
Meaning, he is almost certain the kid didn't perform it deliberately.
Commonly, the ability to freely distribute and control aura towards a specific area is only acquired after reaching the peak of being a full-knight.
Undoubtedly the squire was only an apprentice, which is still like your average person and can only use aura in a very short period. Which shows the late kid's immense potential.
'What a waste. Hehe' Isak pondered.
He has been stuck at this bottleneck for quite a while now, a full-knight has to have total control of his aura in order to reach the peak and eventually become a master.
After a while, three more people came and joined Isak's crew on the site, who at this point were rummaging through the camp's stuff.
"We should be on our way now captain." A seriously looking man with dark-brown hair reminded Isak that they needed to be somewhere.
….
Isak didn't display any reaction yet he lazily stood and waved at his men, signalling for them to prepare to depart.
A few minutes had passed when, without warning, a scout loudly announced the arrival of an army, making almost everyone walk closer to the edge of the cliff to have a better look.
A long line of marching foot soldiers mainly wearing hardened leather helmets with glossy-black finish, long dark-blue gambeson coat with thick leather chest plate, and leather boots, following behind are long queue of military carriages, artillery horses, the cavalry, and the rest of the support staff, which make their "logistic train",a convoy of carriages.
"Aren't they here early?" A scout holding a flintlock rifle questioned looking at everyone then finally resting his attention on a younger-looking man with dark-brown hair and a resolute expression.
"Well, sir Adam? I guess your senior is not a very patient man." Unker added sarcastically.
….
"He most likely expects us to be finished by now as per the time limit given to us." Adam responded flatly.
"A very inflexible man, he is." Isak uttered without looking at anyone, only focused on trying to boil water for his tea or maybe some kind of coffee.
"Well now, we don't have to hurry to meet them, right?"
"Instead let us wait for them to set up camp before we go to deliver our reports." The first scout, asserts.
….
The 6000-man army of the Empire of Norstedt is composed of 3 battalions of infantrymen, 12 artillery companies, and a
cavalry of 900 riders. The remaining personnel are military surgeons, engineers, administrative staff, and other support services.
Several scouting units of around 20 to 30 each are spread around the main army.
This Norstedt occupying force is led by Jan Hutten, a newly crowned count, still an experienced commander of several battles in the occupation of Collancia and Arsaw.
…..
Mranwhile, inside the fortress castle city of Perma, a middle-aged man with long grey hair had been anxious for three days now, after not receiving the initially on-time reports from his patrols.
He originally deployed six units of patrols, while a unit was supposed to be back yesterday.
He had been stationed at this fortress, by the Archduke when the elderly local lord relinquished his authority, giving way to a more suitable military command.
Grenn Pipe is a loyal knight and vassal to the Archduke of Kaznadr, he had fought in two civil wars against the Bosilian royalist faction, yet he knows that a battle against the new superpower from the north is undoubtedly going to be a challenge.
Norstedt has already conquered 4 kingdoms and is about to fully occupy a fifth, and now they are finally coming to Bosilia. Though, they were expecting them to arrive this early spring.
Grenn learned that Norstedt had won battles after battles using unconventional tactics and or now better, weapons. However, the most concerning thing is that the empire had grown from an average kingdom to an unstoppable force in only less than a decade.
This just shows that they are not a force that can be underestimated.
'This doesn't feel good at all'.
"They're coming."