Chapter 65: Trauma (2)
Mikhail Reverk, the undefeated vanguard.
As a commander, he never lost.
But as a human, Mikhail faced defeats, one being his time as a centurion.
In a battle at the border with Manoa Kingdom, the Empire’s greatest enemy, he, a centurion of an infantry unit, fought on one front.
Despite his efforts and his unit’s sacrifices, the village at the border was massacred.
This deeply scarred Evan, reinforcing his obsessive need to protect everyone.
‘This isn’t right.’
In the heart of the scene that birthed this trauma, Evan stood amid soldiers of both nations, bleeding and fallen.
Though the villagers hadn’t yet been slaughtered, nor his unit entirely lost, the sight made him collapse.
―Thud.
The black sea kept prodding Evan’s trauma, exposing him to despair, hoping he’d surrender and let go.
Yet, there was a way to overcome it, as he’d done by giving Gid his end.
There had to be a way to conquer this situation too.
The problem was that every moment of this memory was excruciatingly vivid.
“Huff…”
The Gid incident had faded as Evan left the arena, as he’d chosen to forget.
But this massacre was different.
Losing his unit and over a thousand villagers was etched in his mind,
impossible to erase.
―Save me!
―Waaah!!!
The memory was so ingrained, it haunted his nightmares.
“Fool! Get up! What, planning to sleep because it’s night?”
Robern grabbed the collapsed Evan by the collar, pulling him up.
“Take your unit and advance with the other infantry to ambush in the swamp! Go hold off Bryden’s cavalry!”
Robern, a key culprit in this disaster, issued the order.
A suicidal command to fight the kingdom’s cavalry in the swamp.
Naturally, Evan had no intention of complying.
“Shut up!”
Fueled by rage for his future death, Evan struck.
But his opponent wasn’t easy.
“Finally gone mad?”
Though not yet a knight commander, Robern was a near-Sword Master genius.
Evan, talented but barely wielding aura, couldn’t match him.
His mind planned a perfect attack, but his body failed.
Robern drew his sword mercilessly.
―Slash!
Even as he was cut, Evan thought of Robern.
‘Vile bastard, as cold then as now.’
Brief darkness, and he returned to the prior moment.
“Idiot! What are you doing!”
Facing that repulsive face, Evan calmed his churning stomach.
‘I’d love to fight that bastard thousands of times. But it’s a pointless waste.’
Facing his nemesis, Evan recalled the battle’s context.
To escape this horrific memory, he had to act.
‘They were guarding the Keldian Mountains, one of the Empire’s eastern fronts. The problem was Bryden’s army crossing the mountains.’
Robern’s task, as deputy commander, was to hold until the Empire’s main force arrived.
Evan, a centurion under him, was part of this.
‘The issue was struggling against even Bryden’s small vanguard.’
Bryden’s cavalry, fully armored from horse to rider, was nicknamed a moving fortress.
As an elite unit, even their small force caused heavy losses.
The Keldian Mountains weren’t a major front, so the Empire hadn’t stationed many troops.
Bryden’s surprise attack exploited this.
“It’s night, so ambushing them as they cross the swamp can buy time. They won’t send all forces at once. Got it? Move!”
Robern’s order, from his elite tactical training, was straightforward but flawed.
Lacking real combat experience, he lacked flexibility.
And facing Bryden, a seasoned commander, made it worse.
‘Fool. They know they can’t come all at once. Why not consider they’ll split up?’
Arguing was futile.
Robern’s pride was immense, and Evan, a lowly commoner unlike his noble blood, would face a sword for backtalk.
So, Evan complied.
“Understood.”
Bastard, he added silently, heading to his unit.
Only half survived, all bearing injuries.
“What’s that guy saying? Are we finally resting?”
Fresh from battle, they craved rest.
“No, we head to the western forest of the Keldian Mountains.”
“What? With the others?”
“Just us. Others go to the swamp. We slip out west. It’s night; no one will notice.”
An odd order, but they didn’t question it.
“No secrets. We might risk our lives. But we’ll buy time for Beben village’s residents to evacuate.”
“If that’s the case, we’ll follow without complaint.”
Thus, Evan and his unit moved against Robern’s orders.
“Now.”
Under a cloudy sky, Evan’s unit, at the rear, slipped away unnoticed, heading to the western forest.
‘I know Bryden isn’t with the main force. He’s with the guerrilla unit in the eastern forest, opposite my path.’
The war was no longer his concern.
His goal was one thing.
‘Even if we all die, we save Beben’s residents this time.’
A human can’t fully stop a waterfall, but diverting part of its path was possible.
‘Blocking one guerrilla unit could buy time.’
Behind them was a village of over a thousand, preparing to evacuate.
In the original history, the front collapsed, and the villagers perished.
‘Stopping Bryden is nearly impossible. Then I must block the left flank, disrupting his tactics.’
Unlike saving Gid, with one variable, this had countless variables—human free will created infinite possibilities.
Evan aimed to do his best, a chance to ease his heart’s burden.
“Follow me!”
Evan and his remaining unit headed to the western forest, where the guerrilla unit was expected.
They secured high, rugged terrain, hiding under clouds.
―Clop clop.
Distant torchlight and hoofbeats faintly echoed.
―Clop clop!
A long guerrilla unit passed in a line.
When its middle reached, Evan shouted.
“Charge!”
He and his soldiers sprang from the forest.
Outnumbered, their momentum was fierce.
“Waaa!!!”
The elite cavalry’s horses didn’t flinch, but the riders panicked, and Evan attacked full force.
―Clang! Clang!
Weapons clashed across the battlefield.
“Argh!”
“Ack!”
The ambushed cavalry screamed, falling from their mounts.
The attack succeeded, briefly halting their advance.
“Calmly subdue them! Their numbers are mere dozens!”
But that was it.
The cavalry regained composure, systematically overpowering Evan’s unit.
―Thud!
Three riders surrounded a soldier, stabbing with spears.
“Guh!”
Long spears pierced, and swords beheaded.
‘Damn it, holding them longer is impossible.’
Seeing his men fall, Evan shouted.
“Retreat now! To the rendezvous!”
With their signal, they scattered into the forest.
Pursuit followed but soon fell back.
The rendezvous was a canyon vantage point, chosen to observe the village.
There, Evan and the survivors saw despair:
the village burned, and the kingdom’s flags advanced far.
‘Robern, you bastard! We blocked a guerrilla unit, and you still retreated?’
Heartbroken, he didn’t notice the pursuit catching up.
“Kill them all!”
“Damn! Captain, it was an honor!”
Evan and his men fought their final stand.
***
Returning, Evan gave a different order.
Not blocking the western guerrilla unit, nor facing the main force head-on, “We slip to the eastern forest.”
This time, he’d face Bryden’s guerrilla unit on the right.
‘If we buy time for the villagers to escape, that’s enough.’
Prepared to die, Bryden’s unit was formidable.
Even with the same ambush, they didn’t waver, like crashing bare-handed into an iron wall.
‘The ambush was spotted, again.’
‘Too late. They’re just charging, again.’
‘Damn it! My unit’s entry was slow, again!’
‘Again!’
‘Again!’
‘Again!’
Endless regressions.
Yet, Evan never gave up.
Overcoming the trauma of Gid strengthened his resolve.
Gid’s words to survive drove him forward.
Even in hopeless situations with fixed outcomes, Evan sought to break fate.
‘Again!!!’
Now on his fiftieth ambush, through countless trials, he optimized the battlefield’s chaos.
The culprit forcing these repetitions was one man, the leader of the right guerrilla unit.
‘So tiresome, Bryden!’
Before a commander, Bryden, called the Blue-Eyed Knight.
Wielding a massive lance, too heavy for most to lift with two hands, he swung it single-handedly, like a twig.
Where the Blue-Eyed Knight passed, only enemy corpses remained.
A kingdom hero, even Evan struggled against him.
―Clop clop!
His steed, Kelron, navigated forest paths freely, its lance invincible.
‘Bryden’s a foe even prime-me would face seriously. Avoid direct confrontation!’
So, Evan targeted the guerrilla unit’s rear, delaying encounters with Bryden.
‘If not for that damn horse, I’d have bought more time!’
Still, Evan and his unit’s sacrificial resolve bought time.
‘The left guerrilla unit should be manageable, even for that bastard Robern.’
His allies dwindled faster than before.
Evan led the five remaining to escape into the forest.
“Retreat!”
Reaching the vantage point, he witnessed the same scene.
‘Why…’
As he stared in despair, Bryden’s lance pierced his chest.
“Valiant, Empire’s pawn. But courage alone can’t achieve everything.”
“Guh! Is that so?”
His fifty-second regression.