Combat Slave Harem-Chapter 57: Joining the Defense Force
The sky above Dolan City had turned the color of a fresh bruise, purple and swollen with the pressure of the closing rifts. The air tasted of ash and copper. At the southern staging grounds, near the jagged hole where the second gate used to be, hundreds of Soul Evolvers gathered. They were a mix of city guards in polished steel and mercenaries in scarred leather, all forming a desperate line against the encroaching tide.
Egon walked toward the command tent, his steps heavy and rhythmic. To his left, Noella moved with a fluid, predatory grace, her hand never straying far from the hilt of the Shadow Sword. To his right, Vienna walked with a newfound posture, her emerald eyes bright with a spark that had never been there before. She carried no steel, but the air around her hummed with the vibrant energy of a living forest.
As they reached the registration desk, a harried officer looked up, his face covered in soot. He started to bark an order to clear the area, but his voice died in his throat when he saw Vienna.
"Mistress Vienna? Of the Flower Garden?" the officer stammered, his eyes darting to the prestigious emblem on her cloak.
"We are here to volunteer as temporary recruits," Vienna said, her voice carrying a calm authority that silenced the nearby murmurs. "Dolan is my home. I will not sit in a cellar while it burns."
The officer nodded frantically, scribbling their names onto a parchment. "The city enforcement welcomes the support of the Flower Garden, Mistress. Your resources and... wait." He stopped, looking at Egon. "And who is this?"
"This is Egon," Noella said, her smirk returning with a sharp edge. "Our husband. And he’s here to make sure you lot don’t get overrun."
The word "husband" rippled through the gathered warriors like a stone dropped in a pond. Heads turned. Whispers broke out among the ranks of the younger Soul Evolvers. Vienna was the most coveted bachelorette in the province, a woman of grace and immense wealth, and Noella was the mysterious, lethal beauty who kept the city’s underworld at bay. To see them both clinging to the arm of a single man was a sight that stirred more resentment than the orcish invasion itself.
"Him?" a tall warrior in sapphire plate mail stepped forward, his eyes narrowed in disdain. He was a 3rd Order Evolver, a scion of a minor noble house named Kaelen. He scanned Egon’s aura, his lip curling. "The Mistress of the Flower Garden married a 2nd Order commoner? What a waste of such noble blood."
"Quiet, Kaelen," a veteran guard hissed, but the damage was done.
Egon felt the waves of jealousy and mockery washing over him. He had intentionally suppressed his aura back to the 2nd Order, hiding the cold, terrifying pressure of the Death King. To these men, he looked like a lucky social climber who had used a pretty face to ensnare two powerful women. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"Is there a problem, Captain?" Egon asked, his voice flat and devoid of emotion.
"The problem is that this is a battlefield, not a social lounge," Kaelen spat, resting a hand on his claymore. "A 2nd Order will just be a liability when the berserkers hit the line. You should go back to the estate and hide under the bed while we do the real work."
"Hubby," Noella purred, her eyes dancing with malice. "Can I cut his tongue out? Just a little bit?"
"Not yet, Noella," Egon said, his gaze never leaving Kaelen’s eyes. "The orcs will provide enough entertainment."
The tension was broken by a sudden, blinding flash of gold from the inner city. A pillar of light ascended into the clouds, and the sound of a holy trumpet echoed through the streets.
"The Hero is moving!" someone shouted.
From the ramparts, they saw Hilga. She was a streak of golden fire, flanked by the city’s most elite 4th Order paladins. They weren’t heading for the front lines; they were leaping from the walls, moving toward the massive, weeping cracks in the sky.
"The rifts," Vienna whispered, her hand clutching Egon’s sleeve. "She’s going to close them."
"Only Excalibur can sever the connection to the higher world," Egon said, watching the golden dot of Hilga vanish into the violet haze. "While she’s doing that, the orcs will grow desperate. They know that if the rifts close, their reinforcements are cut off. They will throw everything at this gate to break through before the light wins."
General Varos appeared on the battlements, his voice magically amplified to reach every soul in the courtyard. "Soul Evolvers! The Hero of Light has gone to strike at the root of the nightmare! Our task is simple and brutal! We hold this ground! Not one orc enters the inner district! For Dolan! For your families!"
"FOR DOLAN!" the cry went up, hundreds of weapons clashing against shields.
The heavy iron portcullis groaned as it was raised. Beyond it, the sea of red-skinned monsters roared in anticipation. The orcs had formed a wedge, their massive shields overlapping, led by hulking ogres carrying battering rams of spiked iron.
"Move out!" Kaelen roared, leading his squad through the gate. He glanced back at Egon with a sneer. "Try to stay alive, commoner. I wouldn’t want your widows to be too lonely tonight."
Egon didn’t bother responding. He stepped out into the mud and blood of the no-man’s-land between the walls.
"Vienna, stay behind the heavy infantry. Focus on crowd control and healing," Egon commanded, his eyes turning cold. "Noella, stay in the shadows of the ruins. If anything larger than an orc breaks through, take its head."
"And you?" Vienna asked, her voice trembling slightly as she saw the sheer scale of the horde.
"I’m going to remind these people why they should be afraid of the dark," Egon said.
The clash was instantaneous. The two armies slammed together with a sound like a mountain collapsing. Screams of agony and war-cries filled the air. Kaelen and his squad were in the thick of it, their blades flashing as they cut down the front rank of orcs. They were strong, but the orcs were endless.
A group of three Orc Berserkers, each nearly eight feet tall and wreathed in chaotic red mana, bypassed the main line and charged toward the sector where Vienna was stationed. The guards nearby were already occupied, and Kaelen was too busy showing off his footwork to notice.
"Protect the Mistress!" a guard yelled, but he was knocked aside by a spiked club.
Vienna stood her ground. She closed her eyes, her hands weaving through the air. "Rise," she whispered.
The blood-soaked earth beneath the charging orcs suddenly erupted. Massive, thorny vines, thick as a man’s waist and glowing with a vengeful emerald light, burst from the ground. They wrapped around the orcs’ legs, the thorns piercing thick hide like needles through silk. The monsters roared in pain as the vines constricted, crushing bone and armor alike.
"What in the world?" a soldier nearby gasped, watching the "fragile" noblewoman calmly sprout a forest of death in the middle of a wasteland.
Meanwhile, a shadow detached itself from a nearby crumbling pillar. Noella appeared behind an ogre that was about to swing its ram into the line. Her Shadow Sword didn’t make a sound. She stepped through the creature’s shadow, her blade sliding through its throat like a hot needle through wax. The ogre didn’t even scream; its soul was devoured before its body hit the dirt.
She vanished again before the surrounding orcs could even turn their heads.
Egon stood in the center of the carnage, seemingly doing nothing. To the jealous onlookers like Kaelen, he looked frozen with fear.
"Look at him!" Kaelen laughed, parrying an axe. "The great husband is paralyzed! Someone save the poor boy!"
Egon ignored him. He was focused on the internal sea of his own power. He reached out with his Death King sense, feeling the hundreds of souls flickering out all around him. The air was thick with the "Death Essence" of the fallen.
Harvest, Egon thought.
Invisible to everyone else, the gray wisps of soul energy from the dying orcs began to flow toward Egon, spiraling into his chest. His 3rd Order core hummed, processing the raw power.
An Orc Chieftain, riding a massive, six-legged dire wolf, saw Egon standing alone and sensed a weakness. It roared, digging its spurs into the beast’s flanks. The dire wolf leaped, its jaws wide enough to snap a man in half.
Egon finally looked up. His eyes weren’t those of a 2nd Order Soul Evolver. They were deep, bottomless pits of obsidian.
"Authority of the Taboo One," Egon murmured.
He didn’t move a muscle, but a wave of absolute, crushing weight exploded from him. It wasn’t physical; it was a spiritual pressure so intense that the dire wolf froze mid-air, its heart stopping from sheer terror. It crashed into the mud at Egon’s feet, dead before it touched the ground.
The Chieftain tumbled off, gasping for air, its eyes wide as it looked up at Egon. It tried to raise its axe, but its arms felt like they were made of lead.
Egon stepped forward and placed a hand on the Chieftain’s head.
"You have a very loud soul," Egon said softly. "Let me quiet it for you."
With a sharp tug of his will, he ripped the soul clean out of the Chieftain’s body. The monster slumped into a hollow shell of flesh.
Kaelen, who had been watching from a distance while finishing off a group of goblins, stopped in his tracks. His face went pale. He hadn’t seen a spell. He hadn’t seen a weapon. He had just seen a 2nd Order commoner kill a Chieftain by touching it.
"What... what are you?" Kaelen whispered, his jealousy replaced by a cold, prickling dread.
Egon turned his head slightly, his gaze catching Kaelen’s. For a split second, Egon allowed the true pressure of his 3rd Order Death King status to leak out.
Kaelen fell to his knees, his claymore slipping from his hands. He felt as if a giant were standing over him, a heel pressed against his neck. The air felt thin, and the shadows around Egon seemed to be reaching for his throat.
"I’m just a husband," Egon said, his voice a chilling whisper that cut through the noise of the war. "Try to keep up, Captain. You wouldn’t want to be a liability, would you?"
Above them, the sky screamed as Hilga’s golden light slammed into the largest rift. The real battle was just beginning, and for the first time, the soldiers of Dolan realized that the Hero wasn’t the only monster fighting on their side.
