Baphomet's Servants: So You're Bullying Us Because We Have No Backing, Huh?

(Happy New Year bonus chapter~ Wishing everyone a happy New Year~)

"How much longer until we get through the swamp?"

Two days after the Baphomet Canyon position was destroyed, Colonel Fraser was marching his soldiers through the Filthy Swamp. He wearily yawned and asked his adjutant, Major Reno. The latter glanced at the map and held up two fingers.

It meant they needed at least two more days to reach the Maginot Line.

Major Reno wasn't usually a man of few words, but right now he genuinely didn't feel like talking.

Young commanders from military families generally cared a great deal about their appearance. But after one battle after another, even Major Reno—and even Fraser, who came from the most distinguished family of all—had become a "battle-hardened old soldier."

He no longer cared about keeping his clothes tidy, and he hadn't trimmed his beard in days. His hair was a mess, making him look like a disillusioned young man.

In contrast, the colonel always kept his weapons close at hand, ready to draw his blade and fight at a moment's notice. His gun was always loaded, and his aim had become more and more lethal. A pair of hawk-sharp eyes gleamed beneath his scruffy brows, while the youthful vigor he'd once possessed had been tempered by this war into a deeper, steadier resolve.

Perhaps the colonel's authority had once come from his birth and his rank. Now, however, the great respect he commanded from the soldiers behind him came directly from his leadership in hundreds of battles, large and small, and from fighting with them on the front lines.

Even his personal strength had changed.

Fraser had never once pursued personal strength. But the brutality of the Black Calamity had forced him to take up the martial arts. He still