The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-Two VII: Dire Homecoming

"It has been a few days since I have escaped from that night. I had already rounded up the squad's family and my own to hide in one of the hidden outposts in the forest. The undead would not have known that we would be hiding this close to the village.

*Sigh*

The squad leader and members, this is all I could do. I do not know how long this is going to last. If I were you, what would you do?

Jason, your wife has already borne you a twin. I fear for your two children. The situation is critical and I do not know how long this situation will last. I hope you forgive me, Jason, for not fulfilling your fatherly dreams.

Marco, I know that you might be stubborn sometimes and do not like others messing with your family problems, but I had to take your family to safety. Soon, they would be safe in the capital. The notes that I have written would then have arrived in the capital as well.

Plabo, forgive me. I could not protect your wife and one of your daughters fell during our escape. I wish I could have been stronger. I am sorry...

I have tried my best for the last few days...

For your death, sacrifice...

My guilt is eating my mind away, every day...

Tomorrow.

Once tomorrow comes, I will take some brave man with me to go back to the village again. I'll take action once there are big movements within the village. Otherwise, I will quickly gather some food supplies and return to the hidden outpost. I hope the military arrives soon.

-Henry" A diary about Henry's experience was written before he went to sleep.

---

Just when he thought that there would no longer be any reinforcements, there appeared seven misty figures. Three on top while four on the bottom. The three from the top were flesh walkers. The three new flesh walkers were situated on the top left corner where there was an alleyway between two houses. That was where the three should be coming from. As for the four on the bottom, it was obvious now that the four were bone walkers. They almost appeared on the same southern edge of the map and the worst part was that the four were situated exactly on the opposite side of the first four bone walkers. They are now flanked at both ends of the diagonal direction, top left, and bottom right.

This, however, was not without any hopes, because he finds that the three flesh walkers on the top left corner are farther from them than the bone walkers on the bottom corner. By estimation, it would take the flesh walkers at least a turn before they could reach their group. Likewise, they are directly within the attack range of the bone walkers on the bottom. As he was thinking, he did not notice that it was [Player's Turn][5]. He had to formulate a plan yet again. One that would have the best outcome even with some of the worst possible answers, so he had to be careful while stimulating the positioning again. He did not want to lose either Lawrence or Dork due to his carelessness.

He found an answer to this predicament. Firstly, he must move adjacent to the first and second bone walkers. Then, he needs to defeat the second bone walker to expose a square space for Lawrence. Once Lawrence moved south one square, Lawrence could now attack the fourth bone walker. A single attack from Lawrence should be enough to take out the fourth bone walker. Then Dork could move into the square that Lawrence had just moved from. Then, Dork can be in a position to launch a fireball at the third bone walker. Since the third bone walker is also low on health points, Dork could easily finish off the third bone walker.

Afterward, Uzi, whose position is now adjacent to Dork, would be able to easily approach the east side of the first bone walker that was previously adjacent to Lawrence. Now, east adjacent to Dork. Once Uzi defeated the first bone walker, directly facing south of Uzi at a distance of three squares would be the bone walker that was closest to the bottom leftmost corner. That bone walker was also two squares away from the east edge wall of the mist. Once Uzi is done with that, he can move Goon to the west adjacent side of Dork to block off any of the four new bone walkers from being able to attack Dork. The plan was brilliant!

Once he had finalized the plan, he did some careful consideration before enacting it because a single missed attack and his planned formation would go awry. He starts first and moves adjacent to the first and first bone walker. He attacked and the first attack hit. As for the first bone walker's counterattack, he calmly blocks the attack a bit adequately. This is his second attack and he slightly narrows his eyes. He thrust with familiarity and it landed exactly through the right eye socket of the first bone walker. He hears a 'ting' that vibrates from the tip of his bronze lance (John Smith, EXP +60x2 (100 Max), Level Up, Lance C -> B).

After he got his bearing back, he saw that his weapon mastery rank increased by one and changed from rank C to rank B. He was happy from the bottom of his heart. When he found a rank B lance weapon, he felt that he would become stronger than ever. He had even forgotten that he had leveled up in that split second due to his happiness. He allocated two points to his strength stat to max it out. As for the last remaining unallocated point, he allocated it to his speed stat. He felt that he was nearing being able to perfect all of his stats. Considering the time, it was barely over half a week. He was amazed at his growth.

After secretly admiring his status screen, he focused back on the battle. Before ending his turn, he made sure to [Command] Lawrence and Dork into their specific square and their intended targets. It was critical right now and he did not want anything to be missing at the moment, which is why he was slower than normal when commanding the two. Once he settled the two, he turned his attention to Uzi. He moved Uzi to the east adjacent side of the second bone walker to attack it. Because of Uzi's maxed-out strength stat and speed stat, Uzi easily took care of the second bone walkers (Uzi, EXP +100, Level Up). He allocates one point to Uzi's maximum health point and two points to the skill stat.

After Uzi's turn, it was Goon's turn to take action. He decided to think of the worst and that Dork's attack would miss its target, the third bone walker. He took no chances nor risked it, so he believed that it was best if Dork missed out on the experience and level. He moves Goon to where Uzi was previously and attacks the third bone walker. Goon took out the third bone walker with one single ax swing. As a result, the final durability on the bone ax that Goon equipped was spent just like that (Goon, EXP+100, Level Up, Bone Axe Broke!). Goon got the same allocation as Uzi, one point into maximum health points and two into the skill stat.

Since everything fell into place, it was now [Ally's Turn][5] and he hoped that Lawrence would follow through and kill the fourth bone walker before it was the enemies' turn. Lawrence did not let him down because Lawrence's accurate strike easily dealt eight damage to the fourth bone walker (Lawrence, EXP+75). He saw that Lawrence was greatly rewarded for the effort of taking down a high-level monster like the fourth bone walker. Lawrence directly gains seventy-five experience points due to the necklace of experience that is working its magic. Lawrence only needed one single more bout against a high-level bone walker before Lawrence could level up again. He was happy for Lawrence.

[Neutral's Turn][5], Dork may be confused with his commands, but Dork was not stupid in regards to Dork's own life. So, Dork easily into the square that Lawrence was previously on. Dork was quite smart enough to quickly adjust to his changes. Or rather, Dork was great at adapting to the battlefield and changes in battle. He quite liked how smart Dork had become.

[Enemy's Turn][5]. The seventh flesh walker was the first to start. The seventh flesh walker starts at the very top left corner and moves down south five squares and moves east one square. The seventh was only three squares away from reaching Goon. The eighth flesh walker moves down one square south, then one square east, and follows along with the remaining movements. As a result, the eighth bone walker was east adjacent to the seventh flesh walker. As for the ninth flesh walker, the ninth flesh walker practically took the same route as the seventh flesh walker, but with the opposite order of movement. After the end of the ninth flesh walker, the three of the flesh walkers are in a stack of straight formations.

Once the flesh walkers ended their turns, it was the bone walkers' turn to move. The fifth bone walker directly moved to the square that was south adjacent to Goon and west adjacent to Lawrence. It was quite obvious who the target of the fifth bone walker was. It was obvious that Lawrence had the lowest level and stats that were within the fifteen-bone walker's attack range. Lawrence only took one damage from the fifth bone walker, while in return, Lawrence managed to land a successful thrust and dealt eight damage (Lawrence, EXP+25, Level Up, Iron Lance Broke!). [STR+1][DEF+1]

It was unbelievable because Lawrence got the same increase in stats in a row. The other thing was that Lawrence's iron lance lasted it's last and broke down after Lawrence's counterattack was successful. He could see that Lawrence was inwardly happy that strength had increased yet again and sad at the thought of the broken iron lance. The iron lance must have been something quite precious since Lawrence had picked up the broken pieces of the iron lance afterward and pocketed it into a small leather pouch on Lawrence's waist. Another flick of Lawrence's hand and the wooden lance made of hard magical wood gripped in hand because the sixth bone walker rushes up to attack Lawrence.

Since the level up, Lawrence's defense had increased by two points, but Lawrence was only aware of the increase in strength. This is why Lawrence could not feel the increase in defense. When the sixth bone walker attacks, Lawrence suffers no damage and deals a counter-attack that deals nine damage back (Lawrence, EXP +25). Lawrence just thought that the sixth bone walker's attack was weaker than the last. That was far from the actual truth.

Since the fifth and sixth bone walkers were the two centermost, the remaining two bone walkers were the seventh and the eighth bone walkers. The seventh bone walker was the one situated at the eastern end of the bone walker's formation. Due to the closed gap between the sixth and eighth bone walkers, the seventh bone walker targets him instead. So, the seventh bone walker moves directly to his adjacent south and launches an attack. He was always ready for an attack and the seventh bone walker's attack was slightly expected.

Just as he thought to block, the seventh bone walker slashed towards his face. Coincidentally, the sword was aimed toward his left eye. At that moment, he saw the sword's blade inch closer and closer in slow motion. Then, his eyelids barely closed a split second before the sword blade could s***h his left eye's pupil. Just because he was that split second faster, he managed to avoid the tragic situation of losing his eyesight. The sword's blade hit the eyelids and yet there was no bloodshed.