Damon's Ascension-Chapter 63: Guerilla Warfare 1

Damon observed the marching band of reinforcements coming to assist Sir Hodgson and his group at the fort. According to typical marching speed, this group should have taken about a week to arrive at Kumasi, but Damon had simply left his men at Kumasi and traveled here at his fastest speed using a horse.

He would be good with a group to assist him, but Damon was partially confident in his solo attempt to route the enemy force given enough time. Even though he faced over a thousand men, Damon did not plan to engage them all head-on and was very happy to utilize guerrilla tactics.

As such, when nighttime hit, Damon observed the camp that the reinforcement troop put up to rest for the night. Counting their patrols and the outposts they set up around the camp, infiltration felt extremely easy for Damon.

Especially since now that it was nighttime, he could feel that his Silver Eclipse skill had become subtly stronger, but by how much he couldn’t exactly tell.

The camp stretched across the clearing, its many tents illuminated by lit lanterns and the dim glow of dying campfires.

British soldiers lay sprawled across their bedrolls, their muskets and sabers resting within arm’s reach as part of basic safety protocol.

Patrols moved through the outer perimeter, their movements slow and measured, but predictable. Damon, who was crouched low in the underbrush, took in every detail with calculating eyes.

With a slow exhale, he activated Silver Eclipse’s ability to rob one of their senses within a range of 200 meters, depriving sight, hearing, and smell.

An intangible wave spread out from him, a sliver of moonlight that spread over the 200 meters, causing all those within to experience a physical blackout of sorts, the effect immediate.

It was as if the world had vanished into a silent abyss.

Damon accelerated sharply, slipping past the external patrols with ease, their expressions twisting in confusion as they instinctively grasped at their weapons, unable to perceive the sudden shift in their environment.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

Damon pressed a hand to the nearest sentry’s throat and activated Devour, the man’s body stiffening as his energy drained away, his silent scream swallowed by the void.

His pulse faltered, and within seconds, he collapsed lifelessly into Damon’s waiting arms as a shriveled husk.

He moved rapidly, striking down isolated soldiers first, being the ones resting at the outskirts, the ones posted at outposts, and the ones whose deaths would not be immediately noticed when the darkness shroud came down.

He purposefully left the bodies as they were to induce a feeling of fear and unrest in the reinforcement army’s ranks, which was the most effective part of guerrilla tactics.

Once a dozen men had fallen without a sound, Damon turned his attention to the heart of the camp, his gaze landing on the largest tent, which was the supply depot.

Even from here, he could see the rows of crates and barrels lining the interior, filled with gunpowder, ammunition, and rations that would be the backbone of this army’s sustenance for a long time.

With a smirk, Damon drew his Energy Flintlock, his fingers tightening around the grip. He infused just enough energy from the recently devoured soldiers to form a shot, adjusting his Probability Manipulation by 5% to ensure the bullet struck exactly where he wanted.

The muzzle flashed, and a single shot rang out.

BOOM!

The bullet ignited a barrel of gunpowder, and within seconds, the entire tent exploded in a fiery inferno as flames leapt skyward, illuminating the night as chaos erupted across the camp.

Disoriented soldiers stumbled out of their tents, still trapped within the lingering effects of Silver Eclipse, unable to see, hear, or make sense of their surroundings. Some amazingly ran straight into the fire, their screams lost in the void.

Damon deactivated the Silver Eclipse skill and immediately began to gasp slightly, as his stamina was drained by around 40%. He had only put up the skill for about a minute and a half, which made him understand that despite being a Mentality-based skill, it drew power from his body’s energy.

He shook his head and decided to try infusing his Devour’s absorbed energy into his skill somehow next time. Right now, he simply withdrew from the camp, taking some supplies from one of the tents including a bedroll, some toiletries, and some beef jerky.

When he made it out of the camp, overlooking the huge blaze that illuminated the entire area, he could see countless figures scuttling about trying to put it out and salvage what they could.

"The battle has only just begun," the young man muttered to himself with a soft smile, the mixture of moonlight and fire causing his features to seem extremely malevolent at a glance.

Meanwhile, from a distance, Colonel Hastings watched the blaze consume his supply depot with a stern frown, his mind ablaze with quiet fury.

He did not need to hear reports to know what had happened, especially when the bodies of many soldiers were brought to him, numbering around two dozen.

Morris’ heart was shaken as he stood beside the Colonel, as he realized the same thing his superior did.

Someone was hunting them.

...........

Morale in the reinforcement army was extremely low. Just when everyone had put out the fire and rescued what they could after about an hour’s worth of work, they tiredly went back to sleep, not thinking that the assailant would dare strike again so soon.

Even the cruelest guerrillas usually spread their attacks apart smartly to give the enemy enough time to feel the effects. Even Damon wished to do this, but because of the auction in 9 hours - as he had already spent 3 hours in the instance - he had no choice.

Of course, he could let his main body handle the auction, but that was impossible. Even in the localized Essence instance where he couldn’t truly die, the young man only sent his avatar over to play around while his main body was secured somewhere.

There was no way he would leave his main body in the purview of the galactic giants. Using his newly acquired skills and items to bully ancient humans in the era before serious hot weapons was one thing, but Damon never had the illusion that he was overpowered universally.

The him at the end of the 20-year training period might be a titan with peerless strength, but as it were, he had just started out. Even among his awakened peers, there might be those like Felicia, who might be able to match his luck.

After all, just as he got the Golden Stool, someone might have filched Thor’s Hammer by now, or there was a fellow running around throwing Zeus’ Lightning Bolt. Let’s not even talk about those oriental fellows who might have rediscovered cultivation and were already in Foundation Establishment.

So for these soldiers, none expected Damon to show up later with shining eyes glowing in the moonlight, his brown eyes typical of most Africans possessing a hint of silver. He snuck into the camp without using Silver Eclipse this time, utilizing a mixture of Devour and stabbing the throats of sleeping soldiers to take them down.

Damon’s speed and stealthiness were assassin-like, but the young man soon wished he could just fight them all head-on. It wasn’t for any other reason than the fact that he had severely underestimated how burdensome his task was.

Even if someone lined up a hundred people for you to behead one by one with a sharp axe, you would feel tired after the fifteen heads removed and the time taken would be more than an hour for the hundred even if you had infinite stamina.

To do this for a thousand troops...

Damon regretted not bringing his men over. Even if they were not as advanced as he was thanks to stats, they could at least reduce the overall burden while he gave them the cover of his Silver Eclipse skill.

It was also now that Damon wished he had a wide area attack skill. Even a mere fireball would be gladly appreciated, because if he fired out enough of them, he could clear out a significant number of foes.

Actually, there was a simpler solution, which was to kill all the leading officers in this army. Without anyone to take command, they would naturally dissipate like sand and have no real threat, allowing the Ashanti to clean up the aftermath.

However, looking at the sheer amount of Worldly Essence his slaughter had brought, Damon was unreconciled to just let all these fellows go. First, there was his leveling that needed this precious resource and now even Divine Items had come into the fray, opening their greedy mouths to swallow his limited stock.

With that in mind, Damon, who was resting in a tent amidst the dead bodies of the soldiers he had taken down, felt a burst of energy as he continued with his grueling and bloody task, determined not to stop until he had harvested everything he could.