District 42-Chapter 123: Settling a score
Casper’s men were prepared to start to fire against the Ridires, however he raised his hand, preventing them to do so. He was also excited to end up with that battle already, but there was something strange with Freygar’s troops.
He remembered well to see more people among them while spotting their group in the cameras. It was clear that at least a half of their men suddenly disappeared in the meantime that Casper began his march and stopped to watch over them.
The soldier was finding that situation very suspicious, and because of it, he stopped the prisoners to make the first action.
"I know that they are just staring in our direction on the other side of the corridor, but there is something about to happen now. I can’t afford to take the initiative in such a situation, where I am completely blind..."
Casper reasoned for some time. The prisoners remained behind him, paying attention to the movements of those warriors that they were facing. Sometimes, one or two of them would threaten them, pretending to prepare an attack, to prevent them to keep moving forward, which was something that the enemy was constantly trying to do.
The White warrior was relieved that those guys could bring this type of sense after so few times in a battle.
"Ok, I will need that, at least, half of you depart from the group and search the corridors on our back. I am suspecting that they will try to attack us from our flanks." That was the only logical idea he could bring.
Besides that, he could imagine that they delayed half of the troops to just go ahead when the battle started and surprise Casper’s group with a sudden increase in numbers, but that would be just dumb. Even with half of the prisoners, they outnumbered the Ridires.
"Freygar don’t seem the type to do such a desperate maneuver that could easily lead his troops to death. As it seems, he is planning something to survive from this battle, and of course that bold movements must be done in this case, but I doubt that this Aesir is so dumb."
After he made part of his comrades walk off and search through the corridors for potential threats, Casper organized quickly his lines to rush against the warriors.
"Hey, Casper, there is something wrong..."
"What?"
"The guns... they don’t seem to be recharging, I don’t know what happened, but probably there is a problem with the supply of Indigo here..."
The soldier looked to his own guns. He did not use them so much during that part of the battle inside Halden, but it really wasn’t recharging automatically as it generally would. It got the White warrior by surprise. He was concerned whether it was just their guns that weren’t charging or the Ridires were as well.
If they couldn’t use their resources anymore, it would be a waste. And the situation got even worse when they thought about fighting or even running away from the Ridires without any weapons.
"When I come to think of it, though, I remember that the Ridires weren’t wielding their weapons while walking the corridor, and they weren’t worried about we using ours on them as well. It means that they did it... But also that they are being affected by their actions."
Casper clenched his fists, peeking at that corridor again and still seeing them walking carefully, but calmly in their direction.
"Ok, guys. Those men can’t use their weapons as well. If they can, we will survive if we reach them before they can draw it. Anyway, we can’t do anything instead of fight against these Ridires. And knowing that half of them are sneaking around these corridors, it will difficult to run away without engaging in a battle at some point as well. I will go ahead. Are you all with me?" He expected a better reaction from the Prisoners, but they just answered with a weak "yes".
"Prepare yourselves for close combat. Use the butt of your guns to beat them. Use our number advantage with intelligence, let’s help each other and prevent to be got in single battles." When he finished his instructions, Casper led his comrades through the corridor.
Now, they were showing up completely. Freygar’s group was still advancing slowly through the corridor. One by one they started to draw their guns, and so did Casper’s allies, but the tension of not knowing exactly if they would start to shot against them or not was giving them a stomachache.
Fortunately, the Ridires didn’t shot, but they were having the same idea as Casper did: use their guns as close combat weapons.
"They are increasing the pace, but keep relaxed and attentive..." He muttered, and the prisoners passed the message among them.
Freygar’s group was walking faster than before, and the inmates were getting prepared for the impact.
"They don’t want us to take the initiative. They know that it’s better to take as many as they can down before they really engage in battle. 2 vs 1 is something that we can afford with our numbers, after all, and it is a great advantage in close combat."
The Ridires kept increasing their pace until they were at range to attack the frontline of Casper’s group. The rifles, pistols, and shotguns swung in the air, their barrels and butts flying towards the prisoners.
As Casper had told them to stay attentive and relaxed, his troops could keep their cool, and most of them didn’t get knocked down in that first rush. They could pull through somehow, defending those attacks or counterattacking at the same time and taking those enemies down first.
Some of them got hit right on the start and fainted, falling to the ground. However, they still had the number advantage, and that was the most important thing for Casper in that situation.
The White warrior, who was far skilled than most of the warriors there in close combat, knew that the morale of his group was being decreased since they needed to left their comfort zone and go to the battle. Because of it, he needed to do something that could help them to raise their spirits and start to fight with courage and determination. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
The soldier seemed a hurricane passing through those elite Ridires and taking them down one by one. His rush was ferocious and he seemed desperate outside, but inside he was as calm as anybody there.
With that show before their eyes, the prisoners could only think to try harder. Not because they wanted to compete with Casper, but because they were seeing his strong will in that battle, and it infected them.
Soon, the prisoners were displaying their determination, following Casper and fighting as they could.
It didn’t take too long for Casper to spot Freygar among those warriors, who was looking back to him as well. There were some prisoners as advanced as the soldier was, and no one could even touch the Aesir before being hardly beaten.
"Keep up with this dumb cool look of yours until I reach you, jerk. It’s time to settle a score. You are teasing me for a long time."
At some point, the prisoners stopped to aim at Freygar, who was not even paying enough attention to them and even so was beating them to a pulp.
The Ridires also stopped to get in Casper’s way, even the more skilled ones. They noticed that the White warrior and the Aesir were glazed at each other since the start of the battle.
Everyone present in that fight knew that those two wanted to solve some undone things from the past. They could feel that, if they tried to stop them somehow, they would be the ones paying for those days of frustration and stress caused by that unfinished battle they had before.
It didn’t take too long for both to be just some steps away. For a brief moment, their eyes met, but before they could even blink, the two kicked the ground at the same time and burst towards each other.
...
In another place of the complex, Alfar’s group was trying to find their way to encounter the troops of Freygar who were marching through that place.
Casper said that, if they just keep up searching the place, there would be a time when they would find them.
It was easy on theory, but difficult when put into practice. The tension of being at risk to have an encounter at any moment made all that situation terrible. And it got even worse with those inexperienced troops, who didn’t know even how to manage to make a safe advance, making the right movements and finding the enemy before they could find you.
They weren’t soldiers. Just a lot of people.
"Look, everyone. There are stairs going up there, and we can’t see what has after this. We searched very well for all this place and didn’t find anything. If they are around our range of action, then they must be there." He gulped and was pretty sure that all his teammates did the same.
This way, they kept going forward.
