[Bonus chapter for 1750. If I was in Leonel's world, I'd hope for a doppleganger ability. Even if I couldn't get that... I'd settle for some extra fingers ... ]
Leonel frowned. He had just assumed it was an Invalid previously. There was something about this creature that reminded him of one.
He had originally sensed the creature with the foggy range of his Internal Sight. Due to this, he had made an error in judgment.
'Is this another beast like the octopus?'
Leonel's frown deepened. As ridiculous as it was, the appearance of the octopus was still something he could accept. After all, the Royal Blue Province was located on the coast. It wasn't impossible for such a thing to happen even if the likelihood was low.
However, a gorilla? They were too far away from their natural habitats. The chances of one appearing here should be even lower than an octopus having attacked him in the city.
"Did Captain Sela ask for you four?! Move to the back and don't ruin my formation!" Aitken roared to Malt and the rest.
"You…" Gerolt almost imploded once again.
"Soldier, get to the backline now." Captain Sela stared daggers at the scouting squad who seemed reluctant to leave Leonel's side.
Gerolt was brimming with anger. It seemed that he really might swing his mace any moment now. However, Captain Sela's next words were like a bucket of cold water being poured over his emotions.
"Are you trying to be court-martialed?"
Compared to the real army of the Empire, those of the Slayer Legion feared these words even more. They were already fugitives. If they were rejected from the rebels as well, just where would they go? What could they do with their lives? They'd basically be finished.
In a way, joining the rebel army was like giving the key to your life to another. There was no longer a way out.
Gerolt and the rest of Malt's squad became drenched in sweat. With pale faces, they could only cast guilty looks toward Leonel and slowly disappear toward the back of the formation.
"Form up!" Captain Sela roared.
At this point, the gorilla was still leisurely strolling toward their direction as though it hadn't sensed their hostility at all. It looked toward the six units of the Slayer Legion as though observing fun toys. It didn't seem to take their formations seriously at all.
Each of the six units was led by a Captain. The only one without a troop to lead of his own was Captain Zhang, but he stood beside another Captain who was a handsome man with eyes as black as his hair.
The number of warriors under each Captain didn't surpass 30 by much. But, this still meant that the gorilla was facing almost 200 alone.
The more it acted like this, the weirder Leonel felt it was. What was going on?
"Fire!"
The roar came from a woman that went by Captain Gelen. She was considered an arms specialist amongst the seven captains. In fact, Malt had once been a part of her unit before he awakened his ability and was pushed to the scouting units.
A rain of bullets came down toward the gorilla.
If it was any normal primate, their death would be sealed. However, at that moment, the carefree beast suddenly roared, standing on its hind legs and beating its chest.
A silver glow instantly coated its massive body, forming just before the bullets reached it.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The bullets rebounded as though meeting a steel wall.
Solemn expressions coated the faces of the rebels. Those were the strongest arsenal of weapons they had. Their group wasn't provided enough funds by the Legion to build Force disrupting towers. In fact, their mere existence was top secret, or else it wouldn't only be the inner city of the Fort that benefited.
Since bullets were useless, their only option was to rely on the treasures they gained from entering Zones.
"Charge!"
This time, it was Captain Sela who roared. Not giving the troops time to lose their morale, she ordered her vanguard to take the initiative.
Leonel shook his head. 'This isn't going to work. Their organization is terrible. This creature is large, but still scales well to a normal human. Attacking it with so many when its defense is so sturdy is foolish. Captain Sela sending a small vanguard forward is the smartest decision, but… they're too weak."
Aitken took the head of the charge, a tall tower shield strapped to his left all and a trident piercing forward in his right.
The gorilla retaliated fiercely, another roar leaving its lips as it lashed out at the tower shield with two hammer fists.
Aitken lowered his stance, bending his knees and exploding forward with all his strength to meet the blow.
A roar left his lips, but the subsequent sound left his ears ringing.
Aitken slid back against the ground, crashing into his squadmates and knocking them off their feet. Their forward momentum was completely thrown off and half of them lost the ability to attack in the blink of an eye.
Captain Sela's expression changed. It wasn't just her either. Even Leonel's own expression changed, albeit for different reasons.
First, this gorilla was no normal A-grade threat. It was most definitely infinitely close to the S-grade. And second… The activation of that silver barrier had caught the attention of several Invalids.
'That's impossible! The dictionary said that Invalids ignore threats from other species. What the hell is going on?'
Captain Sela and the other Captains grit their teeth to join, but Leonel stopped them.
"Captain Gelen! Captain Remon! There are three groups of Invalids coming from 2 O'Clock! The strongest of them is of the B-grade! Captain Patrice! Captain Sayer! Captain Girard! There are two groups of Invalids coming from 11 O'Clock! There are two B-grade Invalids with them!"
The voice was one many of the Captains and rebels didn't recognize. But there was something about its confidence and fullness that made them believe the words.
However, just when they were about to move according to his words, Captain Sela interrupted.
"Boy, know your place! You're sending off five squads to deal with B-grade threats and leaving just one for an A-grade threat? Are your words even trust worthy?! Charge!"
Captain Sela led a support unit toward Aitken's squad that had nearly been completely wiped out. Her words seemed to snap the other Captains awake. Those who had seen Captain Sela's conflict with Leonel earlier even thought he had done this on purpose in order to push her toward her death.
Several unsatisfied gazes landed on Leonel, leaving him shaking his head. But, before he could say anything else, Sela had stepped onto a chariot that shot out a chain toward him.
Leonel blinked toward the incredulous scene. 'What the he —"
He couldn't even finish the thought before his wrists were bound and Sela's chariot shot forward, leaving him running with all his might to keep up lest he be dragged along the ground.
Rage swelled up in Leonel's chest.
He had sent five squads away because he was confident in handling this A-grade threat on his own. Let alone using someone else's hand to kill Sela, he could do it himself with absolute ease. But now he was being accused in this way? And chained to a chariot like some sort of prisoner, no less?
Even a man with ten times the kind disposition Leonel had would feel endless fury at this point.