He was swift, He was agile, running in the deep woods as fast as he could without even panting or even appearing like he had lost any stamina.
He could feel the rain flow down in his forehead as the storm gets stronger, making his vision all blurry. Each drop he only feel its coldness and misery. However, he kept on going, he always kept on going, never stopping once as the order in his head was the only thing that kept his attention occupied.
"Deliver the message and say the plan to execute the second operation is now in your command."
He kept on running, and running, and soon he was now back to where they all started their assault.
The once green fields was now gone, with what is left is littered with craters filled with pools of rain, blood, and mud. All of them filling up as the storm only becoming stronger, with bodies of his own comrades succumbing to how deep the pools of craters had become.
But Adolph, he never cared. The sight, he'd seen it a hundred times, or even more than hundred. However the anger, it was still deep inside of him, never letting it go.
He clenched his fists as the thought was near, he would now enter the walls and kill the elves who's responsible for taking the lives of his comrades.
He soon looked away and kept on running, and running he did, as in the distance he could already see the artilleries being fired nonstop, flashing up like a burning light and fuming a cloud made of gun powder.
***
"Men, ready to fire on my command! HOLD! and FIRE!!"
in sync, the artillery fired, pushing the heavy weapons back further to the wet ground with its feet succumbing to the mud as the smoke covered their sight. The Colonel looked at his scope, smelling the gunpowder as he watched the city getting decimated by his shells.
The buildings of the city of Mettis was now decimated as there's little to know structures left standing inside those walls, and those which were still standing its interiors were left in to ruins.
"The smell of gunpowder was all I needed for today," The Colonel in charge of the artillery muttered, putting down his scope away from his eyes and glaring at the city which was in ashes.
On the distance, in the once green fields, a blue flag was raised from the mud, waving from left to right. Only later for the blue flag to be utterly destroyed by machine gun fire coming from the elves hidden on those walls.
"The soldiers have cleared the small trenches the elves had dug outside the city a while ago. Maybe it's time we charge our men in for an all out assault again," General Rhine suggested, hiding his head back to the trench.
"No, the main gate of the city is still fortified, and going to the side would only cost us more men that we can already handle," General Braun rebutted.
General Braun kept on looking to his scope, seeing as his men tried to take cover desperately to the weak and ineffective trenches the elves had dug in. Its almost as if that was its initial purpose, a death trap for the humans. If that were true, the death trap did its job, as more than hundreds of lives got picked off by the machine gun.
He sighed, seeing the sight of his men dying, yet still hopeful as the men still kept on fighting back, showing bravery despite on a corner, not surrendering even once. He went down and cover his head back to the trench and looked back behind him, ordering the colonel of artillery a command.
"Colonel, aim your artillery to the walls once more, that would help our men to push more effectively"
The Colonel nodded, quickly ordering the command to his men.
Soon another sync of artillery can be heard as it sounded louder than church bells, again smoking the trenches with gunpowder as they were creating there artificial fog.
"I'm tired of waiting around and wasting our valuable time! We should just shell the walls down and get on with it!!" General Rhine said in an outburst, "Colonel, how much shells do you have left!?" He asked.
The Colonel repeats the question to his subordinates in the back, as they were slowly carrying heavy shells to reload their artilleries to be fired once again.
"two-hundred, sir!" One of his subordinates yelled in the top of his lungs.
"Two hundred, General," The Colonel answered in a more collected manner.
"Maybe that's enough to create a small hole to the elven walls, enough for our men to enter at least," General Rhine speculated.
"No, General, those walls are built with elven enhancing magic," General Braun replied, pointing his finger to the stone bricked walls illuminating a viridescent light, although it is quite hard to see with all the rain and fog. "If you want those walls destroyed we'll need more firepower than just two-hundred shells. We don't have much of a choice here other than to wait for Wilhelm's platoon to clear the village."
The two left to ponder and wait as they see there men in the distance getting killed off in the skirmish. However, there worries were quick to vanish as the soldier appeared in front of them.
His eyes blood shock in anger, his eyebrows furrowed down, Both his hands clenching, and his uniform completely damped in the rain just to run from one location to another.
Adolph soon straightened up his back and saluted, showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever as the Generals nodded in front of him in reply. After that, he grab the note from his pocket and gave it to General Braun. The general did not hesitate and grabbed the letter from Adolph's hands and opened it.
"Sergeant Wilhelm says that the plan to execute the second operation is now in your commands, sir!" Adolph informed them.
"I knew you were fit to do this part well, Wilhelm," General Braun muttered, smirking and impressed, as he slowly reads the letter.
General Rhine in other hand looks mildly interested, but he did gave out a small grin. However, that grin of his didn't last long as he noticed something in Adolph's face.
"Say? What happened to your face all bruised up, soldier?"
"I got it in a big fight, sir," Adolph drawled with a solemn expression.
However, that big fight he was talking about was more nothing than disciplinary action by his superior. General Braun noticed that it was a lie, as Adolph himself tried to avoid contact when he answered the question.
"Got scolded by your squad leader huh? Typical man he is," General Braun says in the background as he kept on reading the letter.
Adolph eyes widened a bit looking at the busy general still reading, yet he show little to know emotions afterwards as he just avoided the conversation.
General Braun closed the letter with a sigh of relief after reading the final words, putting it down inside a box in front of the table protected from the rain that had became rougher as time goes on.
"Right!! Colonel, bring half of your artilleries to the designated village!!" General Braun ordered, and the Colonel saluted and walked back to his crew without question. "Oh! And Adolph, go grab two doctors in the tunnel. Your pick of choice to aid those fretful wounded men you had back in the village."
Adolph saluted and walked away, entering the doors of the tunnel.
"You heard the General, men!! Pack up everything we need, we're changing locations," The Colonel yelled to his subordinates.
All the men under his command halted whatever they were doing and saluted in sync. After doing so, they hurriedly grabbing the ammunition they had, dismantling the wheels and the body of the artillery putting it in a wagon tied behind the back of the horses. Yet for the Colonel's eyes, they were slacking. Their speed, their movement, their dedication, it wasn't enough.
"Move you grunts!! We don't have all day!!"
The soldiers moved quicker, as some already showing fatigue in there eyes and others panting, yet still worked hard.
The plan was now all going under control. General Braun felt proud, while General Rhine felt slightly amused. With the village secured there was no way the plan would go wrong, it was now a clear human victory. However, there is no such thing as perfection.
In a distance, the stomps of the horse can be heard running as fast it could. Almost all of the officers in the trench looked as a single cavalry didn't seem to have no plans of stopping at all. One of the soldiers aimed there rifle in thick fog, but was stopped by General Rhine as the uniform of the cavalry was the same as theirs.
The rider of the horse was carrying nothing as he was getting closer, no rifle strap behind his back, no sword in his sheath, and his uniform wrinkled and stained in blood. As he was getting closer it was becoming clear, his eyes widened in shock and his hands trembling as there was still blood stained in his hands.
When he reached the trench, with his clumsiness and rush, he lost grip to his horse and fell to the trench, injuring his back in the process. The reserve infantry tried to help him up, but he just waved his hand and refuses.
He slowly crawled towards the Generals as the reserved infantry moved out of his way. One by one they look how at him and how pathetic he is, yet scared to what had drove this man this horrified.
The Generals could only watch as the man who's back is wounded slowly tried to stand up in front of them, trying his best as his legs shiver. There, they look at the man who's eyes seemed to have seen it all