The Innkeeper

Although Gerard sounded extremely confident when he spoke to the crowd, the reality of the situation was that he was keeping morale. The elves were not participating in the fight until they completed the formation, so their numbers were extremely strained as is.

It was too early to judge, but it seemed like the enemy was using an endless wave of attacks to drain them of their energy. Even then, it was only their battalion that could treat it as an energy drain, but the rest would be faced with mortal danger every time they fought. The extreme benefits of their suits shone brightly in this situation.

The more it was like this, the more they had to plan to conserve energy and survive as long as possible. He looked up. Based on his knowledge, by now the alliance should have long noticed the abnormality with this region and sent reinforcements, or at least someone to investigate. They were ordinarily very competent like that.

The fact that they had not done so yet was concerning. The question now was what tactics was the enemy using to prevent the alliance from sending in reinforcements, and how long could they maintain it?

Given that everyone on the Cursed Planet survived long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, how would the enemy react? Would he do something drastic and kill everyone on the planet, even at the cost of ripping open space?

These were only some of the concerns plaguing Gerard. Clearly he was not treating the situation as lightly as he appeared, but he could not let morale suffer, so he kept up appearances. After all, if the soldiers could not maintain a proper state of mind, and died prematurely, then the answer to any of those questions wouldn't matter because they would not even be able to make it so far.

He began organizing the troops into separate teams and began determining their order of going out into the battlefield. Of course, a team would always be on standby in case more enemies invaded, or the team already fighting was suffering heavy losses.

The elves, fortunately, were being very proactive. The ones not working on the formation rushed up to the battlefields to clear out the Void Dweller corpses as they served as the best material for the formation that they had at the moment.

There was a makeshift hospital made where Pamela, alongside others who knew basic first aid, were treating the various wounded. They did not have the resources or the time to treat each wound thoroughly. All they could do was to prevent it from getting worse for the moment.

As everyone obeyed his orders and things within the fort started getting organized, he looked out at Luthor, who was fighting all alone. Although shouldering all the pressure by himself for now was good, since it spared the soldiers from defending an entire side, it was not sustainable. Although Luthor could use Anachronistic Ignition to ward away his fatigue, the more he used this bloodline, the more precarious his situation would become. Theoretically, he could use the bloodline infinitely, as even his bloodline exhaustion could be sent forward into the future, making sure he could use it continuously.

Practically though, if Luthor ever reached such a state that he was continuously relying on his bloodline to keep himself going, a single disruptive incident was all it would take to unravel him. A powerful enough spirit attack that would only need to freeze his actions for a mere moment would be enough of a disruption. That is why, although it appeared though that his bloodline had no weaknesses, it was far from the truth.

But it could not be helped. Until the elves finished their formation, they could not join the battle efforts. They were already working as fast as they could… unless of course, even they were a part of the enemies plan to exhaust the battalion faster by relying on them for aid, but then have them betray everyone at the key moment.

With his orders given, and all the soldiers rushing to perform their tasks, Gerard was momentarily free. He climbed up onto the wall and took a look around.

Defending like this was not a solution. They either had to establish contact with the alliance, or go and strategically strike at the enemy. But for that, they would have to first know who the enemy is, where they are, and how many of them there are. Holding on like this will ultimately put them at a disadvantage.

For a moment, he compared this place to the Midnight Inn. If he closed his eyes, the sound of the buffeting winds, the thump of thousands of distant footsteps, the mix of strangers from various backgrounds all brought together almost felt like home. But when he opened his eyes, the reality in front of him was different.

Perhaps he did not understand before, but he knew now why a refuge such as the Midnight Inn was so necessary in the universe.

Gerard let out a sigh. He was feeling a little homesick.

As if to wake him from his daydreaming, another spatial ripple wafted by. In the distance, another rip opened and more Void Dwellers began to flood out. This was bad, because the previous wave had not been dealt with as of yet.

Gerard sighed before he began giving out new orders. They could, at most, afford to hold out for one more day like this. After that, if they were not able to contact the alliance or did not come up with a solution, they would need to take more drastic measures. Idling would get them nowhere.

From the fort, the second team on each side, which was supposed to stand in reserve, marched out to join the fight. They would either finish the existing fight before the new wave arrived, or bolster the fighting forces so they could continue to fight longer. Things were still under control… for now.