Chapter 5

We ran with everything we had.

Grinding our teeth, we sprinted toward the forward outpost, surviving one brush with death after another. My arms and legs were covered in injuries, and Rickby’s forehead was bleeding—he must have been slashed while fighting off the monsters.

The creatures sniffed the scent of blood, making sickening clicking noises as if savoring the smell.

It wasn’t the sound of flesh or muscle.

It was the grinding of something hard, like stone or bone.

The sound alone was enough to send chills crawling down my spine.

Still, luck hadn’t completely abandoned us.

A sentry spotted us from the distance and immediately led a squad of soldiers out to escort us back.

“Sir Hegment…! Thank goodness! Are you all right?!”

The moment we arrived at the outpost, the Hero Party’s Saint, Joanna, rushed over to greet us.

She recognized Rickby immediately, allowing treatment to begin without delay.

While our wounds were being treated, Rickby and I quickly reported the situation at the eastern wall.

“So… the eastern defenses have completely fallen as well.”

Her expression darkened.

“The other fronts aren’t much better.”

Then, after a brief pause, she smiled with obvious relief.

“Still… I’m grateful Sir Hegment made it back alive.”

She wasn’t just saying that to be polite.

Rickby Hegment had been one of my main characters, and in this playthrough his reputation was exceptionally high. He’d distinguished himself in countless battles, so naturally Joanna viewed him as an invaluable asset.

Her reaction was exactly what I’d expected.

I let out a quiet sigh of relief—

Then Joanna’s gaze shifted toward me.

The air suddenly turned noticeably colder.

If looks had a temperature…

Hers would’ve been below freezing.

“…Of course, I’m relieved Commander Kalstein returned safely as well.”

That was definitely a lie.

She was cursing me with her eyes.

The message was crystal clear.

Why are you here?

Surprisingly…

I wasn’t offended.

After all, I knew better than anyone what a complete bastard Allen Kalstein was.

Honestly, if it were me, I’d rather throw him to the monsters as bait than fight alongside him.

Though I’d make sure to strip him of all his equipment and items first.

“Ahem… How are things here?”

Pretending not to notice the icy stare, I cleared my throat and shamelessly asked about the situation at the front.

Arrogant.

Dismissive.

Never caring what those beneath him thought.

As I imitated Allen Kalstein’s personality, Joanna stared at me silently before speaking with what sounded almost like a sigh.

“Helior and the others are doing everything they can… but they’re barely holding back the enemy’s advance.”

The moment she finished speaking…

A notification chimed inside my head.

The system had updated.

Realizing information was being refreshed in real time, I immediately opened the battle status window.

Current Location: Forward Outpost

Deployed Forces

• Transcendent Hero: 1
• Hero Rank: 9
• Elite Heroes: 21
• Standard Heroes: 142

Supplies

• Mana Crystals: 27
• Magic Cannons: 11

…

The troop numbers and supply inventory updated continuously.

At first I was glad to finally have useful information…

But then I frowned.

Only one Transcendent Hero?

Just one person is defending this place?

…Or does that mean everyone else is already dead?

In Journey of the Hero Squad, the word “Hero” had two meanings.

First, it referred to Helior himself—the protagonist.

Second, it referred collectively to every playable character in the game.

Whenever the system window used the word, it almost always meant the latter.

Simply put…

Every unit under the player’s command was considered a “Hero.”

The problem was that battles of this scale couldn’t possibly be controlled manually.

Even with eight hands, it would’ve been impossible.

You’d have to issue commands to hundreds of characters while deciding exactly where and when each one should use their skills.

That was why Heroes were divided into ranks.

Only Transcendent Heroes could be directly controlled by the player.

Which, bluntly speaking, meant everyone else was little more than background units.

No matter how high their level…

No matter how good their skills…

No matter how much effort you’d put into raising them…

Heroes below the Transcendent rank merely contributed numerical combat power to the army’s overall stats.

They couldn’t even be directly controlled.

They didn’t even have proper UI support.

Because of that…

Only one number in the status window truly mattered.

Transcendent Heroes: 1

That single Transcendent Hero…

Was Joanna.

By the game’s standards, she was what players called a “must-build” character.

Her healing skills and support abilities made her an absolute lifesaver on the hardest difficulties.

Then why wasn’t she with Helior?

Why was she defending this outpost instead?

As I opened Joanna’s status window…

I found the answer.

Her Divine Power was nearly depleted.

It was unusual.

But I had a pretty good idea what had happened.

“You’ve already used Hand of Salvation, haven’t you?”

My guess was correct.

Joanna’s eyes widened in surprise.

She seemed startled that I’d known.

Still, instead of asking how I’d figured it out, she answered my question immediately.

There wasn’t time to waste arguing.

“Both the northern front and the outpost were on the verge of being wiped out. I had no choice but to use Hand of Salvation.”

“Considering that… there aren’t many people left here.”

“…Believe it or not, this was the best outcome we could achieve.”

Silence settled over the outpost.

I slowly nodded.

At the same time…

A terrible feeling settled in my stomach.

The battle is going even worse than I thought.

Hand of Salvation was one of the main reasons veteran players always told beginners to prioritize raising Joanna.

The moment it activated, it granted every ally a massive shield and powerful resistance buffs.

Its performance was absurdly strong.

But…

It wasn’t without drawbacks.

The skill consumed an enormous amount of Divine Power.

And its cooldown was twelve hours.

Normally, you’d save it to survive an instant-kill mechanic…

The boss monster of this war hadn’t even appeared yet.

That much was obvious.

The true enemy of this story was the Corrupted Goddess.

The monsters roaming outside were terrifying…

But they were nowhere near the level of the divine beings she commanded.

Which meant…

If Joanna had already spent her ultimate blessing…

Things had become desperate enough that everyone would’ve died without it.

The party’s main healer was effectively out of commission.

Just imagining what the front lines looked like made my chest tighten.

“That’s exactly why we need Sir Hegment…! We’ve completely lost contact with the vanguard, and the enemy has seized our supply routes. At this rate, even the forward outpost won’t survive!”

I immediately looked around.

The soldiers defending the outpost all looked exhausted.

Every face was clouded with despair.

They’d long since lost hope.

All they were doing now…

Was barely surviving.

As if to confirm my thoughts, Joanna admitted she’d used the last of her remaining Divine Power to heal Rickby.

She’d bet everything she had.

Even the final strength that could’ve been used to defend this outpost.

“Saint Joanna.”

“…”

“Are you planning to die here?”

She didn’t answer.

But the resignation in her eyes told me everything.

She’d already made her decision.

She didn’t want to speak of sacrifice.

After all…

This war had already claimed countless lives.

She wasn’t looking for sympathy.

A moment later…

Rickby exhaled deeply.

He rose to his feet and picked up his gauntlets.

As the mana engine inside them resonated with his mana, they began glowing crimson.

He was ready to return to the battlefield immediately.

Looking at me…

He quietly asked,

“Please give your orders, Young Master.”

To be honest…

I hesitated.

The system window before me contained nothing but hopeless numbers.

How could I order him forward?

As a human being…

It felt too cruel.

It was no different from pushing him toward certain death.

But…

It was already too late to turn back.

We’d only made it here because countless others had sacrificed themselves.

If we didn’t fight…

We’d simply die anyway.

If I was going to end up in the afterlife getting cursed out regardless…

Shouldn’t I at least try something?

Then…

An idea flashed through my mind.

One of Rickby Hegment’s skills.

I’d completely forgotten about it.

Normally…

It was such an awful skill that no one ever used it.

But in a situation where we had to gamble…

It wasn’t a bad option.

In fact…

Now was the perfect time.

We had nothing left to lose.

If it failed…

We’d die.

If it succeeded…

Our chances of survival might increase by even one percent.

“…All right.”

I stood up.

“I’m coming with you.”

“Young Master?!”

Rickby’s face filled with shock.

Even so…

I forced a confident smile.

My lips felt like they were about to tremble, but I held them steady.

I couldn’t let him see how terrified I really was.

Sometimes…

You had to bluff your way through fear.

“It’s too dangerous! I’ll go alone! Please stay here, Young Master!”

“Rickby.”

I smirked.

“Do I look like a child? If you told me to stay behind, do you honestly think I’d listen?”

“Yes! To me, you’ll always be a child! So please… Young Master!”

Watching him panic…

I deliberately smiled wider.

As the commanding officer, trembling in fear would only destroy morale.

Even baseless confidence was better.

“Listen carefully, Rickby.”

I thumped my chest.

Praying he wouldn’t notice my shaking hand.

“We’re going to break through that supply route.”

.