Chapter 8 The Spiky Impaler Formation

• Leo woke up and glanced around, “where am I?” He asked while trying to stand up, which brought a wave of dizziness to him. This cleared up his brain a bit as he touched his head. He felt the itch from the cloth bandage, before recalling what happened.
• He sighed; “it’s already evening, I wonder where Clark went to". He soliloquized while glancing outside.
• During the construction of their make-shift residence, they both placed the rocks together to form something like a cave before all that happened- the exobeast encounter. He finally went outside to find his friend by a lump of fire-eating roasted meat.
• “Ah!! Bro, you’ve woken up, how’s your head?” Clark asked casually as he munched on his meat.
• “Clark..., I don’t know. I still feel a little dizzy though”. Leo replied as he supported his head with his palm.
• “Leo my guy, you’re tougher than this. Come and eat roasted meat. I conveniently killed an antelope as you slept. It’s delicious, come and eat”, Clark invited with a smile.
• “Ok,” Leo replied moving forward, as he suddenly felt a wave of hunger wash over him. He ate voraciously, as the atmosphere between them freed up.
• “Clark”, Leo abruptly called, as they ate.
• “Yes, Leo what is it?”
• “Do you think we can kill these exobeasts? I mean, you saw how the panther alone almost made short work of us,” he discretely glanced at his friend to see his expression as he asked this question.
• “Yes man, don’t kill yourself because of that one defeat. At least we’ve known its style, we’ll hunt it again tomorrow".
• "I think he’s the king here. This is his territory, so I think it will still be around here. Cheer up brother, we’ll kick its ass tomorrow. Just try your best to recover”.
• “Ok..., thanks, Clark. I’ll go and rest. Wake me up if a situation arises.” Leo left directly to rest.
• He sighed on the way, “why did I even ask? This guy will forever remain the same, being confident all the time. This time, I don’t know if he is being overly optimistic”, the short fight with the panther still gave him goosebumps.
• Clark just sat on a smooth rock watching the darkening sky, while in deep thought. “Mom, Dad, I’ll kill this panther. I and Leo will clear this training and I will be the best cadet this batch, I promise. Those Mocans who killed you, I’ll kill a million of them to avenge you”.
• Sometimes declaring something confidently, can give you the required competence to reach your goal. Even the bible of his religion quoted that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
• He knew that he was somethings overly optimistic, but it helped a lot in building his confidence. If it helped the legendary footballer, Zlatan of old, then it can help him also. Sometimes, just having faith that you can do something can enable you to do it.
• “Haha,” he laughed while wiping the teardrop threatening to fall from his eyes.
• “I should improvise to make our situation better here,” his year's training as a cadet was not in vain. At least, he knew how to improvise in some common difficult situations.
• He stood up and started gathering the nearby rocks. He remembered a defense structure that the Spartan military used in defending against major Mocan military raids and invasion attempts.
• He planned to make an imitation using rocks. The spiky Impaler formation used by the Spartan military uses exotic steel, shaped in the form of a lance or spear for the main material. The lances are then connected with exotic steel wires in a row.
• The exotic steel is made slightly elastic, to make the setting more flexible. After standing the spears, the soldiers tie a rope across the formation, to be used to drag the spears down with force.
• The highly durable rope keeps it in place, as a soldier with a sniper rifle is assigned to keep an eye on the rope. When the Mocan offensive proves to be stronger than expected, the leader or commander of that Spartan military division commands an orderly retreat.
• When they have retreated past where the formation of spears is hidden under the ground, the sniper quickly fires at the rope holding the hidden danger.
• Pa! Pandora’s box is opened, as the spears are quickly released with huge force and momentum. Any Mocan soldier facing the spears has a guaranteed free pass to death, as the exotic spears can impale any soldier on armor facing it ruthlessly.
• The elite Spartan military hardly uses this formation, keeping it as a trump card. So, in major battles, the Mocan soldiers fighting are basically gambling with their life that the formation will not be used.
• This formation is not undefendable though, as this is not the age of formations but the age of exotics and technology.
• Military battles this age mostly revolve around who has better tech. Formations and all other add-ons are just compliments. But formations used in conjunction with high-grade tech are deadly. So, overall, it has its pros and cons.
• Anytime the spiky Impaler formation is used, the Spartan military almost always emerges victorious as they ride on the momentum provided by it to quickly defeat the opposing force.
• But this is mainly used in defensive battles. The main reason for the victories though, is that it is a formation used in conjunction with high-grade tech.
• “I know I don’t have access to all the materials the formation requires, but I’ll improvise. Black Panther, be careful because you are about to get robbed”, Clark went to work as he chuckled darkly at the thought of his plan.
• He selected the slightly pointy ones from the rocks he picked. He sharpened their edge further with his dagger, as he slowly arranged the formation.
• He could only get 5 sharp-pointed rocks in the limited time he had. He quickly dug them down. He bent them down while connecting them together, using a makeshift rope from the branch of a tree he saw nearby.
• As a tree surviving in a mountainous area with countless rocks, it was only natural for its branches to be thick. He also used a branch from the tree as his rope, to drag the formation down with force. To his relief, there was no need to cover the formation as the makeshift spears were of the same color as the rocks.
• After everything, it was already getting late. So, he went inside their cave. He slightly covered the entrance to the cave with a rock before going in.
• He found Leo sleeping peacefully, he laughed softly to himself on seeing this. He knew that Leo only slept deep like that because he believed that his friend will surely protect his back during times like this.
• Controlling your sleep was basic fundamental military training, so they were both adept at it.
• “Yeah bro, you can sleep all you like. But wake up strong tomorrow because we are going hunting.” He finally cleared space for himself in the cave to sleep.