The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 652: Chapter 676: Farewell

By the time the second Flame Demon General passed by the mercenaries, Lancelot had obtained the precise casualty figures: four hundred and seventy-one dead, one hundred and twenty-two seriously injured. Among the mercenaries, there were less than ten who had the profession of priest, and it was naturally impossible to heal everyone with just these few, especially since they had exhausted their spellcasting abilities in the recent battle.

Fortunately, stabilizing those with serious injuries was not difficult. It merely required proper wound treatment and then casting a zero-ring Divine Art known as ‘Life Sustaining Art.’ However, further treatment would have to wait until they returned to Twin Bridges Town. Moreover, Lancelot also joined in to help among the priests. Although he could not cast Healing Divine Arts, he had ample experience treating wounds, and when combined with a trace of pure True Yuan infused into the body of the patient, the effects could be comparable to the priests’ spells.

Almost every mercenary had suffered injuries, but compared to ordinary humans, the recovery abilities of the demons were significantly stronger. Even without any treatment, their injuries would heal slowly. Although the rate was not as exaggerated as that of trolls, by Lancelot’s estimate, an ordinary Berserk Demon could recover from serious injuries to minor injuries in at most three days, and those with minor injuries could fully recover, evidencing their supernatural life force as Fiends.

Aside from those killed or seriously injured, there were another two hundred and thirty with medium-level injuries. Either an arm was broken or an eye was blinded; while they still had some combat capability left, Lancelot decided to send them back to Twin Bridges Town along with the seriously injured, on the pretext that they required an escort.

What surprised him was that Sonam readily agreed to this suggestion. Of course, it wasn’t because the Serpent Demon had suddenly become kind-hearted (what a joke). Rather, she thought those people had become a burden and would have refused to allow them to continue following the troop even if Lancelot had not mentioned it.

The mercenaries returning to Twin Bridges Town would receive the bounty for the enemies that had nearly cost them their lives, but their mercenary contracts would end there, and this might signify the end of their adventuring careers—regenerating lost limbs was an effect achievable only by High Rank Divine Arts, which were extremely costly. If one hadn’t been saving money during their adventuring days, they would likely find it difficult to afford such services.

But this was the price of being a Blood War Mercenary.

Thanks to metal tags carried by every mercenary to record their deeds of valor, the officers quickly compiled the precise kill-count: one thousand three hundred and sixty-two demons, all Beard Demons (of course, the Abyss Demon Refinement didn’t count towards Lancelot). By the numbers, the mercenary legion had clearly won a splendid victory, even under the circumstances of being ambushed. This was more than enough to prove the formidable combat strength of the mercenaries—adventurers daring enough to venture into the Abyss for money might be a bit mad, but their strength was certainly beyond that of ordinary low rank Fiends.

If a Demon Legion had been ambushed just now, the casualties would have been horrendous—the demons would have slaughtered the weak, foolish, and uncooperative Coward Devils like chickens first, then used their superior numbers to surround and isolate the Middle Rank Demons who were used to fighting on their own. The only advantage on the demons’ side would be the top-tier Barlow Flame Demons: completely immune to both flame and damage, they usually had the upper hand in battle against Abyss Demon Refinement, but this advantage wasn’t significant enough to offset the loss of half a legion, not even a quarter.

To Lancelot’s surprise, the request of the mercenaries to rest on the spot did not require anyone’s approval—Sonam simply ‘informed’ the Black Armored Flame Demon General of this decision, and he just shrugged his shoulders and moved on. The following demons cast curious glances at the mercenaries (mostly towards the pile of demon corpses aside) as they passed by, but none of them showed any interest in stopping to meddle in their affairs, and they continued on their noisy, clamorous way.

About three hours later, ‘Madam Spiderweb’ Elmaris and her army of spider demons appeared in everyone’s field of vision, and they were the last of the allied forces. Lancelot, pulling his own Six-Armed Serpent General, went forward to bid farewell to the departing wounded. Those who could still walk were wrapped in bandages, moving forward in silence, while on the flatbed carts behind them lay their seriously injured comrades—only a few would groan with each jolt, and even more were completely unconscious.

Suddenly, a mercenary walking past Sonam stopped in his tracks, turned to face the Six-Armed Serpent General.

“Thank you, General.” The mercenary saluted solemnly, then nodded towards Lancelot, “And you too, Prince. I will always remember you.”

‘What is he doing?’

Sonam’s telepathy immediately echoed in Lancelot’s mind. And the next mercenary who passed by did the same, adding:

“It has been an honor to fight alongside you, Madam. I wish you the best of luck.”

More mercenaries made the same gesture, and the air of disdain that Sonam usually carried vanished suddenly; she froze as if petrified.

“They are expressing their gratitude to you, that’s all.”

“Why should they thank me?”

“Because you did what a good general in the eyes of common people should do, something they did not expect you would do.”

“Just because I allowed them to tend to their wounds?”

“Yes, and for letting them organize a retreat to Twin Bridges Town instead of leaving them to die where they were.”

“Such a ridiculous reason… What should I do now?”

“Nothing, your presence is enough. Of course, it would be better if you nodded slightly as a return gesture.”

So when the next mercenary bowed to her, the Serpent Demon lowered her chin by roughly the distance of half a finger.

“You fought well, and I hope we will have the chance to fight together again…” Sonam suddenly took it upon herself to speak, “but by then, you had better be a demon, not in this vulnerable human body.”

“General…” The mercenary opened his mouth in surprise, his face revealing a bittersweet expression, “I… thank you for your kind thoughts.”

“No need to thank me,” Sonam glared fiercely at him, “move along now, you’re blocking the road!”

“At your command!” the man replied loudly, striding forward with what appeared to be a lighter step.

“I did well, didn’t I?” Sonam’s voice echoed again in Lancelot’s mind, “He seemed quite pleased.”

“You did fantastically,” Lancelot encouraged sincerely, “though they may not be accustomed to hearing such blessings about becoming demons.”

“I know,” the Serpent Demon’s voice sounded like a child who had succeeded in a prank, “but if they were demons, I wouldn’t have to pay them.”