"Lord Kudel came in person. He'll temporarily take command of this position during the fighting ahead. The central front has come under attack too, but the fighting there is nowhere near as intense as it is here.
"He brought half the reserves from that front to reinforce us, so our manpower shortage has been temporarily eased.
"Also, the Plantagenet Kingdom's vanguard camp at the far western end of the position sent reinforcements. Their line is right beside Smuggler's Wood and hasn't come under attack, so Colonel Fraser personally brought some artillery and plenty of ammunition to help defend us."
After a full day of frenzied assaults, the gnolls finally halted their suicidal attacks. During the precious lull in the fighting, Adele came to report on the position to Murphy, who sat cross-legged in front of it, sword in hand.
Murphy no longer looked handsome and dashing. His leather armor, hair, neck, and even face were all smeared with blood. The fact that the blood-stained vampire looked this battered despite wielding crimson mystic power to control blood showed just how brutal the fighting he'd faced that day had been.
Though the handsome vampire hadn't been wounded, the mental exhaustion was enough to make the governor too tired to say another word. He focused instead on recovering his strength.
His potential was still burning, the fusion of his powers was ongoing, and new insights into technique filled his mind. Every second brought another wild idea about technique and power, leaving Murphy less nimble than usual and a little colder.
He asked hoarsely,
"How many have we lost?"
Adele hesitated, not answering at once.
She glanced at the veritable "mountain of corpses" being cleared away by the soldiers in front of her master.
Murphy hadn't taken a single step back. He'd faced the