Second Life as a Soldier

I did not need [Perceptive Instinct (UC)] to tell me it was a Tier-3 beast. The intelligence in its eyes was unmistakable. One thing common among Tier-3s was that they always identified the leader first, evident in the way it stared at me as if calculating the best plan of attack.

I was surprised it had not attacked me while I was running toward the formation. I could not fully understand a beast’s mind, but the only reason I could think of was that it had seen the formation taking shape and decided that attacking Barry and me at that moment would leave it vulnerable to counterattacks from the rest of the squad.

After a few seconds, it did something I had not expected. It howled and thumped its chest as if challenging us, then crouched and launched itself straight upward.

A heartbeat later, it came crashing back down.

The impact was explosive. The entire watchtower collapsed beneath its weight, chunks of wood flying in every direction.

But the surprise did not end there.

The beast grabbed two large wooden support poles and hurled one at Garran’s team, who were holding the front line. Garran absorbed the impact with his shield.

Then the beast leapt clean over our formation. The entire line spun around in response. I was both impressed and terrified.

Until now, I had encountered four Tier-3 beasts, each unique in its own way, each awe-inspiring and equally terrifying. This one, however, might have been the most intelligent of them all, and its agility might have been second only to the Tier-3 shadow cat.

As the beast landed behind us, it broke into a run and swung the second wooden pole at the rear line, where I stood. I blocked it with my shield, it gave me no time to recover and immediately followed with a strike toward my head. Thankfully, I sensed its movement in time thanks to [Perceptive Instinct (UC)]. Before it could connect, I expanded my shield and intercepted the punch midway.

The beast jumped back a little, then, combining both its hands, attacked me again.

“Varric, back!” I shouted as I dropped my spear to my leg and held my shield with both hands. For this sort of attack, I needed my full strength focused on blocking.

As the beast attacked me, I reinforced my whole body, stopping the full force of the blow. Its strength was almost comparable to the mammoth’s, despite this creature being only early Tier-3 while the mammoth had been mid Tier-3.

Even with mana cushioning the shield, the impact was brutal. The force traveled through the shield into my hands, pain exploding across my palms and wrists as my arms strained to hold. My feet dug into the earth as the ground beneath me cracked and sank, leaving a shallow dent where I stood. It felt as if the beast itself were using a reinforced strike.

Kael and Peter did not waste the opportunity created by the beast’s focus on me. They attacked from my sides. Silas struck from behind with his spear, while Varric moved from behind Garran’s line to reinforce mine, joining Silas.

But the beast ignored all their attacks and kept its focus on me. It went for another strike. When the blow connected, I was jolted with pain once more, this time more severe than the last. Even as it bled from multiple cuts, it ignored Kael and Peter entirely.

When it drew back for another strike, my heart pounded in my chest. I knew I could only take one more of those before my hands gave out. Even with my mind racing and my skills working at full capacity, I could not find a way to counter it.

“Edward, bend down!” Varric shouted.

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I did not know what Varric was planning, but I was running out of options. I took the gamble and ducked, keeping my shield angled above me.

As I glanced up, I saw the ape fully extend its arm to deliver the finishing blow. Before it could bring its fist down, Varric slammed his hammer into its chest with such force that even I felt the impact. The beast staggered several steps back.

I rose immediately, ready to face it again.

But instead of charging, the beast retreated a few more steps, then leapt back toward the front of the formation.

“Garran, be ready. Its punch is heavy. Oren and Brakk, lock your shields with Garran,” I informed the front line.

“Daren and Rokan, use the sharp end of your hammers. Attack with your full might,” I said.

I was afraid that if the beast launched too many attacks against Garran’s front line, their shields would break apart. When it struck the first time, my fear proved correct. Even with the large, thick shield reinforced with strengthening runes, I heard wood crack on impact. On the second blow, splinters flew as the beast’s strike slammed into Garran’s shield.

Thankfully, the brothers followed my orders. As the beast committed to its second strike, they attacked with full force, targeting its hands and dealing significant damage.

The blow was enough to make the beast take a step back. It stared into Garran’s eyes. I knew it was thinking, preparing to do something.

“Varric, to the front with me on my signal,” I said.

“Brakk, Oren, Daren, and Rokan, be ready to create space on my signal.”

I delivered everything through [Battlefield Command (UC)], so only my squad could hear me. To the beast, it would look like nothing more than moving lips.

We maintained eye contact while I calculated. All that jumping and repeated full-force strikes could not be without cost, even for a Tier-3. But whether it was tiring or not, we needed to deal as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible. Garran’s shield would not survive many more blows, and I did not know if I had it in me to endure another direct strike.

The beast suddenly charged, its focus locked on Garran.

“Now!” I shouted.

Varric and I lunged forward at the same time.

In a coordinated movement, Rokan and Daren stepped aside first, while Brakk and Oren reinforced Garran’s position. As the beast committed to its strike, they ducked and shifted outward, creating space exactly as planned.

Then, just as I had done against the mammoth, I repeated the move. I flooded my spear with mana and thrust sideways, driving the blade into the ape’s stomach and targeting the wounds Kael and Peter had already opened.

From the opposite side, Varric struck with his hammer, this time using the pointed edge. The blow crashed into the beast’s chest, forcing it several steps back before it finally collapsed to the ground.

Before we could move forward, the beast crawled back and then stood up.

After standing up, bleeding from its chest and stomach, the beast locked its eyes onto mine. We stared at each other for several seconds. I did not flinch. Instead, I let my mana surge, fueled by anger, ready to fight another round.

But it did not charge.

It leapt from its position onto the nearest tree and, after giving me one last look, disappeared into the forest.

“Hold formation,” I said, not allowing anyone to drop their guard.

But when it did not return for the next fifteen minutes, I allowed everyone to break formation.

“Everyone stay vigilant. Shout even if you hear the faintest sound. I do not mind false alarms,” I said. It was not uncommon for a beast to return and attack again.

Slowly, everyone dispersed and took up resting positions. Even though the fight had been short, it had drained a tremendous amount of strength from all of us. I was certain that after this, Silas’s meal would taste even better.

I exhaled and looked down at my hands. My wrists had gone pale from the tight grip I had maintained on my shield. More surprisingly, I was bleeding from both elbows, clear marks left by the rim of the shield digging into them.

It seemed the adrenaline during the fight had numbed much of the pain, but the impact from blocking the beast’s strike had hurt my hands far more than I had realized.

I began using [Vital Restoration (UC)] to patch up my injuries.

Then I turned to Barry, who was still sitting on the ground, holding his leg with a strange smile on his face.

I sighed again. That expression almost made me reconsider helping him immediately. Still, I activated [Triage Ward (UC)] and examined him. He was mostly fine, just a twisted ankle.

So I decided to walk away for a moment. With that creepy smile on his face, he deserved to sit with the pain a little longer. I would examine the others before treating him.

Thankfully, only Garran and I had sustained notable injuries. Like me, Garran’s hands were bruised, and he even had a hairline fracture in his arm.

The rest of the day passed in anxiety and heightened vigilance, but thankfully, the beast never returned.

Not that day.

Not in the days that followed.

It was not just the ape that failed to return. Even the number of predatory beasts decreased afterward, as if we had established ourselves as the new dominant force in this territory.