Chapter 144: Skirmish

Fixing the position of the gun hanging on a special wrap from my neck, I looked at Ayda. With a single nod of her head, we stormed forward.

At first, nothing happened. 

With our magical signatures long embedded into the barrier, we could go in and out as we wished. In fact, it was hard to even notice the moment of crossing. With how gentle it was, I could barely feel the thin presence of magic as it washed over us. 

This was the difference between the magic developed on earth and the one existing for millennials in this world. While there was no denying that Sander's approach with stones was bearing great effects already, it still had some sort of crude feel to it. The magic that Huskarl set up with Ayda's help around the place, felt way more natural.

As if it was aligned with the fundamental laws of the world. Sadly, I had no means or brains to analyze the reason behind it. And most importantly, I had no time to think about it right now. 

If I were to be ignorant about the situation outside, I would be hardly able to notice anything strange in the immediate surroundings of the village. There was a road cutting through the settlement, a wide, open plain on one of its sides and a bountiful forest on the other. 

Sadly, I knew what was going on in the greater world around us. And soon, that brutal reality appeared in front of us. 

"To the right!" 

Hearing Ayda's shout, I clicked the safety switch on my gun. Even if the other party managed to learn on their past mistakes and invent some countermeasures against the firearms, it was still the safest bet to start with them. 

Just like people on earth required a considerable amount of time to adjust to magic, so would the locals here need to figure out the guns. 

Looking in the direction that Ayda pointed out with her hand, I slowed my run before tripping on my feet. With my legs remaining behind as my upper body rushed forward, I instantly fell to my face. But given how the entire thing was intentional, my hands were there to soften the fall. With all kinds of quirks to my strength and endurance, I hardly fell the impact. 

"Let's start big!" 

There was no reason to hold my firepower back. Rather than trying to probe the attacking forces of the enemy with light shooting, I intended to curb their forces as soon as possible. 

Lying on the ground, it would be hard for the enemy forces to even spot me, not to speak about aiming at my precise direction. On the other hand, a professional and insanely expensive scope decorating the top of my personal weapon of choice. 

I knew it was cringe. I knew it was more for the show than for the sake of effectiveness. But for our plan to work, the legend of the witch heroes had to spread as far as they would wide. And for that, the light machine gun numbered two hundred forty-nine, following the model marking of the letter 'm', was the best choice for the show making armaments. 

And the recoil of the gun was the sole reason why I had to assume a front-lying position before firing this beast.

Pull.

Just a single move of my finger instantly sent a flurry of bullets towards the attacking enemies. With the distance between their group and the two of us still counted in hundreds of meters, they could hardly use any magic capable of accurately striking down a target. But the same didn't apply to me.

Sure, I was unable to pick on any specific target. Even the special barrel stand helped to reduce the recoil by just a little. But rather than aiming at someone specifically, I just attempted to concentrate the constant stream of bullets at the general middle of the enemy group.

And as obvious as it was, Ayda wasn't slacking either. 

Contrary to my own weapon of choice, she came with a slower but more accurate weapon. In fact, I was quite sure that she chose it just to complement my choice rather than by deciding on something that she actually wanted. But as she laid down and joined me in the massacre, the effectiveness of our fire instantly skyrocketed.

Initially, the attacking team of the wizards consisted of about a hundred people. By the time Ayda joined the fight, at least twenty of them were unlucky enough to get struck down by my untrained shots. On the other hand, as soon as the girl started blasting her own, long-barrelled gun, their numbers started to drop for every step they took. 

Clang!

A strong, metallic sound forced the constant rattle of the firing bullets to stop. Leaving only Ayda with her small magazine, it was only a matter of time before the attacking wizards would reach a distance suitable for their own attack.

"I'm going in hot!" 

Rather than attempting to change the magazine for my gun, I shouted to Ayda while pulling out several stones freshly looted from Sander's stockpile. But this time, I couldn't use the most advanced ones. After all, I would be putting magic against actual wizards!

Plucking the stones from their respective boxes, I waited for my dearest to run out of ammo, before pressing their activators. Across the distance, the enemies were already stopping in order to blast off their own spells. 

For a moment, I felt pity for them. For a single moment, I imagined how it would feel to finally break through the wall of death that the guns could create in an instant, only to face even greater disaster right as they could finally attempt to take revenge for their fallen brothers!

For a moment, I almost hesitated. 

But the activators on the stones were already pressed. In other words, there was nothing I could do even if I would suddenly decide to change my means. 

ROAR!

This time, the strategy was simple. Rather than using a combination of abstract stones which process of forming could be easily interrupted, I decided to just go with the raw force. And what was a better way to increase the strength of a spell than… casting it multiple times at once?

What would be impossible for a mage due to the extreme stress on his magical output and concentration required to fire off just two simultaneous spells, was insanely easy for a holder of stones like me. 

In a flash, all three of the fireballs merged, dawning upon the confused faces of the bloodied remains of the initial ambush force. Exploding right above them, just the shockwave alone was enough to cut all of them to their knees, before the raging inferno above would even have a chance to descend upon them.

"I guess that's it for the first skirmish." 

After observing the aftermath of the incredible power behind those simple stones, Ayda pushed herself up on her hands before standing up. Putting her weapon on her arm, she clearly wanted to indicate that there was no more danger for us to worry about.

"I pray you will…" 

Before I could even finish my words, a sudden flash drew my attention. Maybe it was the direction it came from, maybe my senses were just sharpened after experiencing the battle from a moment ago. But as my eyes moved towards the strange occurrence, I saw it happen. 

A large icyle of condensed magic suddenly formed in the air, already pointed in our direction. Or rather, what I realised only once it suddenly burst forward, it was aimed at Ayda!

"No!"

Jumping forward, I reached out with my right hand towards the girl. To push her out of harm's way, that was the only thought that remained in my mind. Dropping the machine gun from my hands, I dashed towards the girl. If I died, I would return. Now that this world was conquered, there was nothing for me to worry about. But I still couldn't be sure whether the same applied to Ayda. 

"Wha…" 

As surprised by the unexpected attack as she was by my reaction to it, Ayda only managed to move a single step to the back while letting her hands go along her waist. In this single moment, the time seemed to slow down for me. 

Wasn't this supposed to be just a first reconnaissance mission? How come we were already facing an expert capable of withstanding the might of magic stones and firearms only to launch a self-guiding attack? 

I jumped. The icyle struck. And the barrier that Ayda created by pressing her finger against her palm promptly struck the projectile down. 

"What?"

Looking at the shards of magical ice quickly evaporating from the ground just a hands reach away from my skin, I raised my eyes at the girl. With her face torn between confusion, mischief and surprise, I corrected my vision to the bottom a bit…

Only to realise that the hand which I intended to use to push the girl out of harm's way, actually ended upright on her bust!

"Wait, you are still horny?" 

With a strange light suddenly appearing in the girl's eyes, her face twisted in disappointment. 

"I thought I satisfied you well enough through the night though?"

Leaning her head to the side, Ayda clearly wasn't bothered with the expert that created this last, homing attack. Rather than that, her face only accented how she was filled with utmost confusion and worry.

"Ah, right. Sorry, I forgot about that barrier stone…" 

What Ayda did a moment ago, wasn't just rubbing her finger against the inner side of her palm. Now that I thought about it, I could recall her vaguely mentioning wrapping some of the stones in all sorts of places…

Who could've known that what I took for an invitation for a nightly investigation of the forementioned places would actually turn into information about her preparations for the battle?

"Anyway, let's not waste the time. It's only a matter of moments before their main camp will be notified about the skirmish."

Pointing her hand towards nearby woods, Ayda shielded her eyes from the sun with her spare hand. 

"After all, they wouldn't miss a death of their expert over there."