God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The most defining feature about the {Redscale Soldiers} were their dull red carapaces and their humanoid bodies.

"What do you think they evolved from?" Cain suddenly asked Ignis.

They had taken a break after carving a bloody path to their current location just a bit before the Colony's area of influence.

Ignis was baffled, "I'm not from your planet. How do you expect me to know what sort of creatures are native to here?!"

Cain thought about it for a while, "I see... That does make some sense. Then what creatures on your native planet do you think are similar to them?"

She sighed, "Maybe an {Ash Crawler}? Tiny insectoid creatures that feed on the ashes that come out of a volcano."

Blaze who was seated nearby couldn't help but nod,

"They do appear a bit like insects. For one, they have six eyes on their heads, and they are covered in a carapace."

Cain nodded, "I suspected as much. But what sort of evolution could give them such high intelligence, that they can now building things like that? Even we humans had to wait for a few tens of thousands of years before we could start building anything."

It didn't seem fair at all...

The structure he was referring to was the giant catacombs that was being built by the {Redscale Soldiers}. Using their large arms and clawed phalanx, they could easily carve out stone room the ground. With their hulking frames, carrying a few tones of stone wasn't very difficult as well.

After a moment of silence, Ignis spoke up,

"Judging from how fast this thing appeared, I can only say that there might be close to a million of them there."

Thinking about it was enough to make one lose morale. Fortunately, no one other than themselves were around to hear it.

Cain sighed...

Suddenly, Manny, who had been oddly quiet spoke up,

"Err... What's happening?!"

Cain threw him a confused look, "What do you mean?"

Manny stood up, his expression a bit strained,

"Can't you here it? That clicking noise?"

The moment he said that, Cain knew what was going on.

"They know that we are here."

Blaze inhaled sharply, "Already?!"

Cain nodded, "Alright, enough rest for us. Time to get into action. Blaze, Manny, go from the other side. We'll go in from here. Remember, if the pressure is too much,h retreat as fast as possible. You don't need to signal to us too."

Blaze nodded as he stood up before he sprinted away, he gave Cain a deep look,

"Good luck." He finally said after a momentary pause.

Cain chuckled, "As long as you don't intend to die here, we'll meet again. Good luck."

With that, they were off...

Cain heaved a deep sigh before turning to glabex at Ignis. The gauntlets she wore began to glow faintly in the darkness of the forest as she turned to him. A smile appeared across her lips.

Cain hesitated no longer rand began walking forward. Behind him was a host of humans and a being from another world, with weapons drawn, following in his footsteps.

Stepping into the clearing, he could now see, with extreme clarity, the army they were about to go up against...

The {Redscale Soldiers} were huge beasts. They had three sets of limbs;

A pair of two forelimbs and two pairs of two hind limbs. Their forelimbs were shaped like human arms with a sharp, red, spiky exterior coating covering it. Their arms ended with a palm and fingers, just like humans. However, their fingers were straight and sharp, shaped almost like claws.

Their chests were broad, and were covered in an extra layer of solid-looking exoskeleton. On their heads were three pairs of black eyes dripping with malicious intentions.

Apart from their eyes, it was impossible to see any other thing on their faces thanks to a layer of chitinous material covering it as protection.

And lastly, they possessed a pair of antenna on their heads that Cain had no idea what it was for.

While most of them were like this, the were some that looked a bit different.

Some of them were far bigger than the others, while others were even smaller than the standard. The bigger ones looked incredibly intimidating with a pair of sharp, curved blades protruding from their forearms as extra weaponry.

The smaller ones didn't seem too intimidating, but Cain could tell that they were just as dangerous as the big ones. Why? Because they were located at the rear of the army.

Not only that, but they were also the only ones that had any sort of weaponry in their hands that wasn't an extension of their body.

'The Mages... How convenient.'

These {Red Soldiers} had mage staffs and wands in their hands.

'From what I can see, these were probably made by someone. They don't all seem like something that can be purchased at the system store.'

Of course, he was able to see all this with the help of {Eye of Clairvoyance}, and process it all in a matter of a few seconds thanks to his superior mental abilities.

'It doesn't matter in the end. They are all going to die either way.'

With a wave of his hand, the Beastmen at the frontlines moved forward to form a semi-circle aroujd everyoje else, then fell to their knees and brought their tower shields up. Everybody else waited for the next set of commands as all this had been discussed beforehand.

"Hold... Don't make any sudden movements for now." Cain said with narrowed eyes as he observed.

Although it would have been better to just attack first, seeing as the creatures did show some signs of intelligence, he wanted to see if they would be different from the mindless beasts that only knew to attack first."

'Maybe they can be like my darling Ruby.'

Cain's hopes and dreams were destined to be dashed, as without any hesitation, a loud cry in a strange language came from the enemy camp.

The {Redscale Soldiers} at the frontlines began the charge with the others following soon after.

Cain let out a sigh. The his face turned cold,

"Nobody move. Tanks, hold the line."

Pulling {Wilted Tears} from the {Armament}, he immediately cast a spell.

Thanks to one of the enchantments of the weapon, he didn't need to physically chan his spells anymore.

Pointing the staff forward, a plethora of magic circles opened up behind him. A few of the warriors behind him had their mouths agape. They had expected Cain to be a swordsman, or something, but a mage? This had come totally unexpected.

Although he didn't need to chant it out, as a force of habit, Cain internally chanted out the name of the spell,

'Flame Orbs.'

Balls of rotating flames were summoned from the ether through the magic circles, shooting straight into the frontlines charging at them, decimating them.

While they had great resistance towards magic, they weren't competitive impervious to it.

Some of them collapsed to their deaths, while others let out pained sounds, their final throes before death took them.

After the opening salvo, the enemy frontlines was completely decimated.

Cain wasted no time at all...

"Charge!"

A loud battlecry came from the front before spreading through all two hundred plus warriors as they sprinted forward. Their steps made the ground quake, and as they drew their weapons, whatever little light came from the sky gave them an ominous glint.

The tanks rammed hltjeir tower shields into the lumbering creatures, smashing their now brittle exoskeletons apart.

A combination of translucent liquid, mangled flesh, and broken shell was released as they pushed against the tide of rushing red.

"Hold the line!" Cain yelled as he and Ignis jumped above the shields and into army of red.

***

Meanwhile...

Midair, Manny summoned his second pair of hands. Gripping all four swords, with a nasty grin on his face, he dove right down, before his feet even reached the ground, he heads of five {Redscale Soldiers} were already sent flying.

"More... More, more! Nothing can stop these blades!"

Cackling like a madman, Manny allowed his demented side to show as he plunged into the slaughter.

One of the larger {Redscale Soldiers} finally made its way to the semi-circle of tower shields.

With the force of a siege ram, it smashed its blades forearm against the tower shield, puncturing it, the unfortunate Beastman behind it, another Beastman standing behind him, before entering the ground.

"Crap!" Pushing into the air, Blaze three his spear with all his might.

The air around the weapon ignited and burned with a magical flame. The creature but its arm up to block, but was unable to do anything as the spear broke through it's arm, eventually blowing through its head as well in one clean hit.

Keeping his arm stretched, the spear circled around the battlefield, sniping a few more{Redscale Soldiers} before returning into his outstretched hand.

Twirling the weapon around his body, Blaze momentarily turned into a meat grinder. All the creatures around him were either blown away, or torn to shreds.

Clearing away the creatures in their immediate vicinity Blaze looked to the other side.

"Looks like they are started there already."

Facing the {Redscale Soldiers} on two fronts was bound to be a daunting task. However, it was also more convenient for them. Not only would they be able to pull away at anytime, they would also force the Mutant Creatures to fight on two fronts as well, making it a bit easier for them.

Just as that thought entered his mind, the sound of rushed steps entered Blaze's ears. Staring at the distant entrance to the huge edifice the {Redscale Soldiers} were building, he watched, his face pale, as more and more of the damned creatures poured out.

"Shit!"