Chapter 4: Next Level 3

As Heng  and all the reserves soldiers panicked at the situation, big players had begun to move and that always ment turmoil. The Xu kingdom was considered as a somewhat new force in the region as it had only been established for about years, so it was still a fragile state compared to others. Fortunately for the kingdom though it's ruler was a descendant of a bigger empire so it enjoyed its support and the defence of its mountainous regions coupled  with vast swamplands surrounding it. Unfortunately for Heng and the other reserve soldiers ,the dense swamplands, one of the two shields of the Xu kingdom possessed was currently cutting at their willpower and stamina chunk by chunk.

..............

*buzz...zzzzzzz*

*ssssssss* *sssssssss*

The reserve soldiers were currently cutting their way through a swamp, something they hadn't really thought would happen,  but they wish they had. Some of them even were regretting joining the reserves,  but the fear of punishment kept them in line.

*bzzzzzz...zzz-zzzzzz*

*smack*

The humidity and the sound of insects all around  them would drive even a cow mad after a while, and unfortunately  for them they really had all time to think about it. It had been about half a month since they had started their march towards their destination and they would arrive at it in about three days time, but if being a soldier was that easy, it wouldn't be paying so good. 

"Hmmm....

As they were marching Heng's vision suddenly blurred and his field of view narrowed unexpectedly. If it was someone else he would just have ignored it as a sudden moment of dizziness, but Heng knew better as it had happened before.

 ' They are definitely watching us....' thought Heng as he held his spear more tightly than before. ' Its been more than a week since we were last ambushed , and it has almost been forgotten in this grueling marching, but it was still a nightmare.'

Heng took a look around only to notice nothing of note, and the fighting of that day sprung up in his memory. These lands they were crossing were indeed those of the Xu empire, but not all acknowledged it. The indigenous people of this swamp didn't really recognise the rule of the Xu kingdom,  but because of an agreement of between them and the kingdom a relative peace was made.

"Huuuu..." exhaled Heng as he slightly gritted his teeth because of his vision narrowing again. It was getting annoying happening all the time , and the one marching next to Heng clearly saw it.

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"Hey, brother Heng , lift your spirits a little. In about three days we will be at our destination and we will finally have some rest. I even heard we will get to eat some of this regions delicacies.....

"Will we...." nonchalantly said Heng  as he looked towards one of his acquaintances  or maybe friends in this world, Cao Qiao. Qiao was a tall and chubby young man with a gentle face , and an even gentler personality. He unfortunately was caught up  in trouble because he was often involved with Wu Tao's shenanigans. 

As he looked at Cao Qiao's eager face he couldn't help but feel conflicting emotions. Qiao was a simple soul wich didn't possess any real greed , but that also made him vulnerable. He had talked to him before about such things,  but it seems he didn't really care. Sometimes he was envious of him, but the key word was sometimes. Wu Tao on the other hand didn't have any of Heng's sympathy and would suffer , but he had managed to evade Heng so far.

'Tch, that bastard was lucky to be so near the commanding officers.......

*bzzzzz...zzzzzzz...

"Shit...

The maddening sound of insects continued as they also did. Fortunately the sun was about to set on the horizon and they had to stop to camp for the night. The busied themselves as they cleared the place to camp,  set up the tents,  and even made some rudimentary fortifications in the form of a cut up thorny nush which acted as razor wire. 

................

" Well , this sucks..."muttered Heng as he had only just finished his meal and was now on guard duty. He would have liked if he could rest a little  bit, but it wasn't his destiny as he drew the short end of a stick,  literally. 

' Well , it's  not that bad. At least  when my  shift is over I'll sleep like a log. I only have to not remind myself not to think about it and  it will be over....huh..'

Heng stopped thinking as his vision narrowed, and his eyes opened wide. They were  for sure beeing followed on this journey,  but beeing spied on during the night was a first. ' Could it be a stray animal? ' wondered  Heng,  but  in the next five minutes, more and more stray animals seemed to look at him, and because of this,  Heng  brought up his second  skill.