The eastern exit was now open.
But, of course, escaping wasn't going to be easy.
You see, the cyclops' massive corpse had collapsed right in front of the exit gate — not fully blocking it, but still close enough that the retreating Cadets couldn't exactly waltz through.
So they had to circumvent a mountain-sized corpse while undead abominations tried to barbecue them alive from all directions.
A strategic retreat was already one of the hardest maneuvers to pull off on any battlefield.
Now add undying fire monsters to the equation, and you've got yourself a lovely recipe for disaster.
And yet — somehow — we were pulling it off.
Squad leaders barked orders.
Top-ranking Cadets rallied groups of survivors and the injured.
Supporters who could enhance coordination linked Squads together like living communication towers.
It was still chaos. But it was a somewhat manageable mess now.
