Morning light filtered through the pine branches as the Calamity Squad gathered around their campfire to inspect their gear and check their updated UI screens.
Nathaniel sat on a wooden crate, pulling up the Relationship tab they had unlocked on the road yesterday.
"I went through our tracked standings this morning," Nathaniel said, tapping his screen with a smirk. "The system has been logging everyone we've dealt with since we joined the company."
Numerius leaned over, scrolling through the list with his thumb. "Let's see. Master Osric is sitting at five because you keep squeezing him on trade margins. Master Garin the horse trader is at ten. Vice-Captain Kaelen is at fifteen, Squad Leader Bram is at ten, and Scout Officer Mara is sitting at twenty-five."
"Mara gave us twenty-five?" Jade asked, checking his own screen.
"She likes our scouting discipline," Yuzon said, nodding. "Lord Thomund is at minus twelve, obviously. Captain Rodrik is at plus ten. And the two brothers from yesterday, Nathanos and Valerios, are both at plus twenty."
Numerius suddenly stopped scrolling, his jaw dropping as he pointed at a name right at the top of the list. "Wait. Look at Garek."
Jade, Yuzon, and Mataranas checked the entry.
[Current Relation with Garek 100]
[Standing Lifelong Debt / Devoted]
Nathaniel burst out laughing, clutching his ribs. "One hundred? That is a maxed out stat! Garek is literally our devoted disciple now!"
"I told you," Numerius cackled, clapping Matty on the shoulder. "Ever since Matty broke that raider boss's neck and Nat gave him that horse, Garek would probably charge through a stone wall for us."
Mataranas chewed on his hard bread, shrugging slightly. "He's alright. Just loud."
"A hundred relation with a veteran sellsword is actually useful," Yuzon analyzed, checking his bowstring. "It means we have an inside voice with the Golden Boar senior ranks."
Jade buckled his belt, lifting his leather pack containing the captured Imperial manifests and maps. "Let's get these scrolls to Rodrik. The company will want to move before noon."
Jade and Nathaniel walked over to the central command pavilion, where Captain Rodrik was discussing company deployment with Vice-Captain Kaelen and Squad Leader Bram over a table of maps.
Rodrik looked up, his scarred face guarded as he saw Jade enter. The captain had not forgotten Jade's outburst in front of Lord Thomund yesterday.
"Jade," Rodrik grunted, setting his spoon down. "Mara tells me you brought back Imperial paperwork from across the bridge."
Jade stepped forward, placing the three rolled parchment scrolls bearing the purple wax seal of Clan Corenios onto the wooden table.
"Official military dispatches from the courier cart between Goleryn and Veron Castle," Jade reported in a calm, professional tone. "We have Achios's garrison manifest, his patrol rotations, and his grain transport schedules."
Rodrik picked up the first scroll, unrolling it with a skeptical frown. As his eyes scanned the Imperial numbers, his brow furrowed into deep, troubled lines.
"Eighty-two total garrison troops," Rodrik read aloud, his voice dropping into a low, harsh rasp. "Twenty Menavliatons on field rotation. And four hundred bushels of grain moving from Goleryn down the sunken road this afternoon."
Kaelen leaned over Rodrik's shoulder. "Thomund said eighty troops too. Sounds like an easy breach."
"Too easy," Rodrik growled, tapping his scarred knuckle against the parchment. "Eighty-two men? For a fortress guarding the three-way border? Achios has held Veron Castle against Vlandian lords and Battanian raiders for ten years. Sure, recent border skirmishes shave numbers down, but eighty-two is way too small. Achios is a calculating fox. He might have planted this manifest to feed Thomund and our scouts false numbers."
Squad Leader Bram grunted, crossing his thick arms. "Achios is known for keeping reserve garrisons off the books. If he's hiding fifty extra Menavliatons behind those walls, we'd walk right into a meat grinder."
Rodrik looked up at Jade with cold, hardened eyes.
"Achios relies on Imperial Menavliatons and Palatine Guards," Rodrik warned. "If he actually has hundred and fifty of those heavy bastards hidden behind those walls, confronting them in an open field would be an absolute massacre for our company. We treat every patrol like they're backed by iron."
Rodrik slammed his heavy gauntlet onto the table, nodding at Jade with newfound respect. "Damn fine intelligence, Jade. You brought me the castle's entire belly on a silver platter. This saves us three days of blind wandering."
A brilliant cascade of blue notifications blazed across Jade and Nathaniel's vision.
[Quest Complete Reconnaissance of Veron Crossing] [Experience Gained +650 XP]
[Level Up Available Level 6]
[Renown Gained +5 | Total Renown 39]
[Influence Gained +2 | Total Influence 9]
[Relation Increased with Captain Rodrik +5]
[Current Relation with Captain Rodrik 15]
Rodrik rolled up the dispatch and began issuing company-wide deployment orders across the table.
"Here is how we move," Rodrik commanded. "Bram, your third company holds the western bank near Veron Crossing. Keep the bridgehead locked down and secure our retreat route. If Imperial cavalry tries to swing around our rear, your pikes stop them cold."
"Understood, Captain," Bram nodded.
"Captain Mira is already out with her forty light cavalry scouts covering the northern Battanian ridge," Rodrik continued. "She'll keep northern patrols from pinching us while we operate in the valley. Kaelen and Vane, you hold the reserve infantry near the tree line."
Rodrik then turned directly toward Scout Officer Mara and Jade.
"Scout Officer Mara, take your twenty-man veteran squad to lead the front ambush at the choke point," Rodrik ordered. "The Calamity Squad takes position on the high sandstone ridge to provide flank support and cut off the rear of the convoy. If anyone tries to break out to sound an alarm, you take them down."
"Consider it done, Captain," Jade replied.
Jade and Nathaniel hurried back to their campfire, where Numerius, Yuzon, and Mataranas were staring at their glowing screens in disbelief.
"Level six?" Numerius shouted, grinning ear to ear. "That recon mission gave us a massive chunk of experience! We jumped straight to level six!"
"Spend your points now," Jade said, sitting on a log and pulling up his character menu. "We're ambushing a grain convoy in two hours. We need every stat point active."
The five friends went to work allocating their new attribute points, focus points, and perks.
Jade put his attribute point into Vigor and assigned his focus point into Polearm.
[Jade - Level 6 Peasant]
Health 130/130
One-Handed 38
Polearm 60
Leadership 45
Athletics 30
Numerius put his attribute point into Vigor, increasing his raw toughness, and chose a two-handed blunt weapon perk to increase his mace damage against heavy armor.
[Numerius - Level 6 Peasant]
Health 140/140
Two-Handed 46
One-Handed 34
Athletics 30
Yuzon put his point into Control, boosting his bow precision, and picked a marksman perk to reduce penalties while shooting from high ridges.
[Yuzon - Level 6 Peasant]
Health 110/110
Bow 44
Tactics 30
Scouting 24
Mataranas put his attribute point into Endurance, raising his stamina, while selecting a shield perk that reduced posture stun from heavy weapon chops.
[Mataranas - Level 6 Peasant]
Health 150/150
Shield 46
One-Handed 38
Athletics 34
Nathaniel put his attribute point into Social, pushing his Trade stat to 40, and chose a crossbow perk to increase reload speed.
[Nathaniel - Level 6 Peasant]
Health 110/110
Crossbow 30
Trade 40
Charm 28
By early afternoon, the strike force moved across Veron Crossing in loose, disciplined columns.
Two miles east of the stone bridge, the dirt road between Goleryn and Veron Castle dipped into a deep, sunken ravine bordered by high sandstone banks and dense pine scrub. It was a natural bottleneck.
Down in the ravine brush, Scout Officer Mara, Garek, and her twenty veteran fighters lay concealed at the front choke point. Mara's eight archers crouched in the gorse with composite war bows ready, while her twelve veteran heavy infantry held their iron-rimmed kite shields and broadswords tight against the rock face.
Fifty yards up along the high sandstone ridge, the Calamity Squad dismounted and took up support positions in the scrub to cover the rear of the convoy.
Mara checked the sun angle through the pine branches, whispering to Garek in the brush. "According to Jade's intel, the convoy should arrive right about now."
Right on cue, around two in the afternoon, the steady creak of heavy wooden wheels rumbled through the ravine.
Four massive wooden wagons loaded with grain sacks and beer barrels rolled into the sunken road, pulled by teams of heavy oxen.
Guarding the convoy were a dozen Imperial levy spearmen, six light crossbowmen, and an escort of five towering soldiers clad in full lamellar iron and plumed helmets, carrying massive eight-foot Heavy Menavlions.
[Targets Identified]
[5x Imperial Elite Menavliatons Level 26]
[Tier 5 Shock Infantry | Health 200]
"Look at that escort," Numerius whispered, his knuckles turning white on his two-handed mace handle. "Five Elite Menavliatons. Level twenty-six, two hundred health each."
"Tier five shock infantry," Yuzon murmured, adjusting his hunting bow. "Their polearm skill is at least hundred and thirty. In a frontal clash, they will tear through regular shields."
"Rodrik was right," Jade whispered, his stomach tightening. "If Achios has a full garrison of these guys, confronting them in the open is suicide. Mara's squad has the front. We handle support and cover the rear."
Down in the ravine, Scout Officer Mara blew a sharp, piercing whistle.
TWANG!
From the front ambush position, Mara's eight veteran archers rose in unison, releasing a devastating volley of bodkin arrows into the lead Imperial levy guards. The heavy iron arrowheads punched clean through leather vests and linen gambesons. Four Imperial spearmen collapsed instantly onto the road with choked screams.
"Ambush! Vlandian sellswords!" the Imperial sergeant screamed.
Before the remaining Imperial crossbowmen could crank their levers, Garek and Mara's twelve veteran infantry surged out from the brush. Their heavy kite shields slammed into the front wagons with a deafening crash of wood and iron, broadswords flashing as Mara's men cut down the panic-stricken levy guards in brutal close quarters.
Seeing their front line shatter, four of the Elite Menavliatons at the center of the convoy locked into formation. They brought their massive Heavy Menavlions down in sweeping horizontal cleaves, the heavy steel blades biting deep into the shields of Mara's frontline fighters and forcing two veterans back.
Mara's veterans did not break. Working in disciplined pairs, two of Mara's fighters braced overlapping kite shields to catch a polearm strike, while Garek and a third veteran flanked the elite, driving broadswords and throwing axes into the unarmored gaps to grind the four Menavliatons down.
At the very rear of the wagon train, the fifth Elite Menavliaton saw the front convoy collapsing under Mara's assault.
Instead of throwing his life away in the melee, the fifth Menavliaton pulled an iron signal horn from his belt, spun on his heel, and sprinted down the rear road to reach the beacon ridge and alert Veron Castle.
"He's running to blow the signal horn!" Jade shouted. "Calamity Squad, intercept him!"
The five friends scrambled down the rear ridge slope, boots sliding through loose sandstone to block the narrow road.
The fifth Menavliaton saw five recruits drop onto the road in front of him. Realizing his escape path was cut off, he shoved the signal horn into his belt, planted his iron-plated boots wide on the cobblestones, and gripped his eight-foot Menavlion with cold fury.
"Take him down from range!" Jade yelled.
Nathaniel raised his light Vlandian crossbow, aimed straight for the Menavliaton's chest, and pulled the trigger.
Snap!
The steel bolt struck the center of the Menavliaton's lamellar chest piece with a sharp metallic clatter, sparking off the heavy iron plates and dropping harmlessly into the dirt.
-4 Glancing Damage
"Are you kidding me?" Nathaniel yelled in panic, frantically grabbing his crank lever to reload. "It barely scratched the paint!"
Yuzon stepped out, drawing his hunting bow to his ear and releasing a broadhead arrow aimed directly at the Menavliaton's plumed helmet.
Clang!
The arrow struck the steel helmet dome, deflecting off the rounded metal without penetrating.
-6 Armor Deflection
The Menavliaton did not even flinch. With a burst of terrifying speed fueled by his hundred and thirty Athletics stat, the armored juggernaut sprinted straight at them.
In two explosive strides, the Menavliaton closed the 3-yard gap, raising his massive Heavy Menavlion overhead and bringing the broad steel blade down in a thunderous vertical chop aimed straight at Jade.
"Matty, block!" Jade shouted, diving sideways into the dirt.
Mataranas stepped into the strike, planting both boots into the road and raising his heavy metal-rimmed cavalry shield with both hands.
CRACK!
The impact was deafening. The heavy steel head of the Menavlion cleaved two inches deep into the top metal rim of Matty's shield. The sheer kinetic shock rattled through Matty's arms, the overwhelming force driving the big linebacker onto one knee as wood splinters exploded into the air.
-35 Shield Damage / Kinetic Shock
[+1 Shield]
Matty grunted in pain, his teeth grinding as his health bar took a heavy hit, his massive Endurance barely keeping the shield from shattering completely.
"Get off him!" Numerius roared, lunging from the side with his heavy two-handed iron-banded mace.
Numerius swung with all his Vigor, aiming for the Menavliaton's ribs.
With blinding reflex speed, the Menavliaton twisted his weapon shaft mid-recovery, catching Numerius's mace on the reinforced ash wood of his polearm. In the same fluid motion, the Imperial elite drove a heavy steel-toed boot straight into Numerius's chest.
THUD!
Numerius flew backward, crashing hard onto the gravel road and gasping for breath as his ribs screamed in pain.
-25 Health
Jade scrambled up from the dirt, his short spear leveled. Seeing the Menavliaton step forward to finish Mataranas, Jade deliberately feinted.
"Go for the head!" Jade yelled, lunging forward with his spear as if to thrust high.
Hearing the shout and seeing Jade's spear tip rise, the Menavliaton reacted on instinct, raising the heavy ash shaft of his polearm to guard his chest and helmet.
It was exactly the opening Jade wanted.
By committing his polearm high, the Menavliaton left his lower stance completely exposed. Jade caught Yuzon's eye with a sharp flick of his head.
Yuzon stepped out from behind a wagon wheel, drawing his hunting bow and releasing a broadhead arrow aimed low at the unarmored leather seam behind the Menavliaton's right knee.
Snap!
The broadhead arrow struck the back of the knee joint, sinking deep into the tendon.
-35 Critical Damage
[+1 Bow]
The Menavliaton let out a harsh, guttural grunt as his right leg buckled beneath him, his stance collapsing to one knee.
Before he could recover, Nathaniel leveled his light crossbow from five yards away and fired.
Thwack!
The point-blank bolt struck the iron cheek guard of the plumed helmet, snapping the leather strap and wrenching the heavy helmet sideways across the Menavliaton's eyes.
-15 Armor Break / Stun
[+1 Crossbow]
Numerius surged from the blind flank, swinging his heavy two-handed mace with both hands in a murderous upward arc.
CRUNCH!
The iron-banded mace struck the exposed lamellar pauldron, the blunt trauma crushing the iron plates straight into the shoulder bone and shattering the joint with a sickening crack.
-45 Crushing Damage
[+1 Two-Handed]
The Menavliaton dropped his heavy polearm from his ruined right hand.
Yet even with a broken shoulder, a shattered knee, and his helmet knocked crooked, the Imperial veteran refused to quit. Driven by sheer fighting spirit and relentless training, he ripped the crooked helmet off his head with his working left hand, hurling it aside to reveal a face covered in blood and sweat.
With his left hand, he tore the heavy Imperial Spatha shortsword from his belt.
Instead of surrendering, the Menavliaton lunged forward from his knees with a feral roar, stabbing his broad steel blade straight toward Numerius's throat.
Numerius barely brought his arms up in time, the steel blade slicing across his leather forearm guard and tearing deep through his sleeve.
-18 Health
"Die, Vlandian dog!" the Menavliaton snarled, his eyes burning with defiance.
Jade stepped in fast, thrusting his short spear at the soldier's chest. But even kneeling in his own blood, the Menavliaton deflected Jade's spearhead with a violent swipe of his Spatha, the ringing clash sending sparks across the stones. The Imperial elite tried to haul himself upward, tackling Jade by the waist to drag him down into the dirt.
"Hold him!" Jade grunted, struggling against the soldier's raw, stubborn mass.
Mataranas slammed his heavy cavalry shield down onto the Menavliaton's pinned sword arm, using his entire body weight to wedge the blade into the cobblestones. Numerius grabbed the soldier's armored collar from behind, locking his thick arms around the man's chest to hold him still.
Cornered and immobilized, the Menavliaton spat blood onto the cobblestones, staring up at Jade with pure, unyielding hatred.
"Five against one?!" the Imperial soldier snarled, his voice echoing fiercely through the ravine. "You have no honor! Cowardly Vlandian dogs!"
Jade looked into the soldier's unblinking eyes. "This is war, not a tournament."
Channeling his Clean Thrust perk, Jade gripped his short spear with both hands and drove the steel spearhead straight through the unarmored throat seam above the lamellar collar.
THUST!
-90 Fatal Critical Damage
The spear tip punched clean through the leather neck wrap.
The Imperial soldier stiffened, his left hand clutching at the spear shaft with a final surge of defiance, before his grip went slack. He collapsed heavily onto the cobblestones with a hollow crash of iron armor.
Silence fell over the rear of the convoy.
[Enemy Elite Defeated Imperial Menavliaton Level 26] [Combat Experience +250 XP]
[Renown Gained +2 | Total Renown 41]
[Influence Gained +1 | Total Influence 10]
The five friends stood gasping in the dirt, their hands shaking and their chests heaving.
Numerius sat on the road, rubbing his bruised chest where the boot had hit him, staring at the fallen giant in pure disbelief.
"One guy," Numerius breathed, his voice hoarse. "That felt like fighting a raid boss. He almost wiped all five of us out."
Mataranas lowered his cavalry shield, inspecting the deep crack running down the metal rim. He wiped sweat from his jaw, shaking his head. "Good feint, Jade."
Nathaniel dropped to his knees beside the dead Menavliaton, pulling the iron signal horn from the dead soldier's belt with trembling hands. "He was five seconds from blowing this horn. If that signal went off, Achios would have sent his cavalry reserve down our throats."
Yuzon walked over, inspecting the heavy eight-foot Menavlion lying on the stones. "Level twenty-six with hundred and thirty polearm skill and two hundred health. We only won because we had five angles on him. In an open field battle against a full formation of these guys, cavalry charges would get slaughtered."
Jade leaned on his spear, wiping sweat and road dust from his forehead.
Down the sunken road, Mara's twenty veterans finished bringing down the other four Elite Menavliatons and routing the remaining Imperial levy spearmen.
Mara walked over to the rear of the convoy with Garek beside her, stepping around the wagon wheel. Both of them stopped dead in their tracks, staring down at the dead Elite Menavliaton, the dropped signal horn, and then at the five bruised, panting recruits standing over him.
Mara turned to Garek, wiping blood from her blade. "Casualties on our side?"
"We lost two men," Garek replied, checking his squad's line with a grim nod. "Four are injured, but they're bandaged up and still in battle-ready shape."
Mara nodded, then looked back at Jade, letting out a long, slow whistle of genuine awe. "You intercepted the runner before he could blow the signal? And you five took down a full-plate Menavliaton by yourselves?"
Garek shook his head in complete disbelief, looking at Matty's cracked shield. "I saw him sprinting for the ridge. I thought you boys were dead when that polearm came down. Unbelievable."
Numerius pushed himself up, flashing a bruised, cocky grin. "Five-on-one, Mara. The Calamity Squad doesn't lose."
Mara chuckled, patting Jade's shoulder. "Captain Rodrik is already lighting the torches. We take the grain bags we can carry, burn the carts, and pull back to camp before Achios sends his castle reserve."
Nathaniel pried open the small strongbox on the lead wagon, finding thirty Imperial silver denars and the master grain manifest.
Within ten minutes, thick black smoke rose into the afternoon sky as all four grain wagons were set ablaze in the ravine, cutting Veron Castle's food supply and leaving Lord Achios starving behind his walls.
[Active Contract Imperial Border Incursion Progress 1/2] [Garrison Supply Lines Disrupted]
[Squad Renown 41 | Influence 10]
The squad mounted their horses and galloped west toward Veron Crossing as the convoy burned behind them.