With the first mortar round out of ten falling into the fortress, all the rail cannons shot ?aiming for walls and even the holes in those walls where more enemies were coming out.

  The monsters entered a complete state of panic, and the magic projectiles stopped. Still, all the platoons used all of their explosive ammunition on what was left of the walls, doing enough damage to the structure that nothing could go up them, whiteout the whole thing, and come down crumbling.

  Even after Alon’s order, the soldiers tried not to shoot on parts of the fortress where they thought a building was next to it or the wall itself was part of it, as they didn’t want to kill the prisoners that may be in those buildings.

  The last shot felt, and with that, Alon’s order to move forward into the fortress was given via radio; to their surprise, no reaction came from the fortress as the soldiers approached from all sides.

  ‘Here we go again.’ Ethan murmured to himself.

  ‘Don’t worry, corporal, you will be fine.’ Egor patted him on his back.

  It was quiet until they got close to the walls, where orks ran towards them, coming from the debris of the walls and gaps on the remaining structures. They weren’t alone from behind; some mages used them as shields and fired their spells, some even hitting the orks themselves in their backs.

  ‘Get down and shoot!!!’ Egor shouted as he ?lay down.

  Some orks got close to some soldiers and knocked them down, but the others around ?disposed of orks using their knives or even shot at them at an opportune moment while the exchange of fire between the two sides continued. Still, Alon’s company advanced, almost getting stuck as they passed through the monster bodies lying on the ground and reached the ruins of the walls.

  Ethan took a deep breath, entered the gap in the wall, and was surprised to find that the fortress inside had been destroyed. Unlike the fortress his platoon had invaded before, there was nothing left inside, just the remains of the walls. As he looked around, he saw soldiers coming from other gaps in the wall.

  ‘This new weapon sure is powerful.' He talked to himself while walking forward.

  ‘Inside is worse than outside; look at these body parts.’ Caleb looked around and kicked a hand away.

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  As the soldiers surveyed the ruins of the fortress, no building was intact, the mortar rounds made huge holes all around the fortification, and the body parts of the creatures were all around a sight to make the stomachs of those inside turn, but right in the middle, one soldier heard a voice; it came from a pile of debris. As he came closer, he called for help from those around him.

  ‘Angel-1, this is 1-2; voices are coming from a pile of debris in the middle of the fortress, over.’ The A-Dam looked intrigued at the enormous pile of rocks.

  ‘Maybe the prisoners; proceed with caution over.' The gray-fur Shafran turned around and saw the sergeant in the distance.

  ‘Understood,1-2 out.’ He nodded to the soldiers next to him.

  They started to get the rocks out of the way as more soldiers came closer to see what was happening and help with the task.

  ‘Angel-6, this is Angel-1; we may have found the prisoners trapped on the debris over.’ The familiar voice came from Alon’s radio.

  ‘Oh, I hope they are fine; now I’m not going to feel bad for my order.’ Alon smiled.

  ‘You did what had to be done, captain; I would do the same, but what are your orders now? Over.’ The gray-fur Shafran stopped and observed what was happening in the middle from a distance.

  A hand touched Alon’s shoulder; it was Edmund smiling at the captain, and his other hand showed a blue crystal to him.

  ‘Look what I found. Can you ask the soldiers to open the chests of the mage creatures to see if there are crystals like these? And if there are, take it.’ He smiled.

  ‘Why would I be surprised by anything you say, Edmund?’ Alon sigh.

  ‘Angel-6, do you hear me? Over’ The voice again came from the radio.

  ‘Yes, help the prisoners over.’ Alon spoke in a calm tone.

  ‘Understood, Angel-1 out.’ His voice was full of determination.

  ‘So, when are you going to ask them? Now?’ Edmund poked Alon’s right shoulder.

  ‘The goddess gives me the patience I can only be grateful for.’ The captain took a deep breath.

  ‘Seriously? That is new.’ Edmund looked intrigued by Alon’s words.

  The captain looked at the white-haired young man and shook his head. He felt that the operation was a success because now he had a better idea of how things should function and was happy about the new weapon Edmund developed, but there were still gaps that could be fixed.

  ‘Angel-6 to all units, open the chest of the mages and look for a blue crystal; we will need them. Angel-6 out.’ All soldiers heard the order.

  Egor's squad was patrolling the back of the fortress when they heard the message on their radios. The scene outside was chaotic: craters and monster bodies scattered between the fortress and the forest. Some sections of the forest were even burning because of the mages' magic.

  ‘Now we are butchers; I wonder if the pay will also increase.’ Oran sigh.

  ‘What are you talking about, brother? It's not hard at all, look..’ Samal raised his voice and showed a small crystal to Oran at some distance.

  He looked at the crystal and the body by Samal’s side with the chest open and a knife plunged into its holder. It surprised him how fast his brother simply followed the orders without hesitation, but it wasn’t the first time he had acted like this, and he thought it wouldn’t be the last.

  ‘Why are you like this, brother?’ Oran shook his head.

  ‘What did you say?’ Samal shouted, confused; he put the crystal in his pocket.

  ‘Well, everyone, do like Samal there. Let’s continue with the patrol and pick the ones we see, but continue to look for any Velvent rats. Remember your orders: kill on sight.’ Egor spat to the side.

  ‘Yes, sir.’ All of his squad members spoke in unison.