Chapter 164: Deal on the battlefield

Tac, tac, tac, tac.

The sound of the spray of bullets hailstorming through the nearest monsters was truly exhilarating. While I never let my guard down with the barrier stone, I could tell that the spraying and praying method wouldn't work here.

Not because the situation wasn't fitting. The close-quarters combat going all around me should make it a perfect fit for an automatic weapon, making my complaint less than real. The one true thing that stopped me from taking advantage of my situation and relying on spraying weapons, was the fact that the recoil of the gun made my blood boil way too much.

Track!

The knob of the gun struck emptiness, producing a characteristic, metallic sound. The first magazine was empty. But rather than just ejecting it and leaving it on the ground, I made sure to grab it first. Because rather than reaching for another mag, I simply moved it an inch to the side, locking in the second container tapped to the first one.

"Here we go again!" Just as one of the monsters that survived the initial onslaught managed to catch up to me and attempt to smack my body out of existence, the firing pin finally found its way to the bottom of the first bullet, quickly starting the chain reaction that sent the rest of the mag flying.

As soon as the last bullet left the barrel, I snapped the last belt that held it on me before throwing the assault rifle away. In the heat of the battle, this kind of specialised weapon was of not much use, especially with its relatively weak stopping power. 

With a press of my finger, I activated the barrier, before reinforcing it with two more. Using this window to change to the biggest gun of the three I brought with me. Named with a single letter and three numbers, it already proved to be quite effective back in my first scuffle against the wizards.

Crack.

The first barrier cracked open, allowing the relentless attack of the constantly swarming monsters to reach the second one.

Checking everything about the gun once again, I made sure that the belt was properly locked and all other parts attached as they should. Pushing the grenade to a special handle beneath the barrel, I watched without care as the second barrier popped.

Then, I raised my gun towards the enemies once again. 

From behind, humans continued to press forth, noticing the peculiar situation. Right on the battlefield, no one could be bothered to be amazed by my means. The only thing that mattered to everyone, was surviving and killing as many monsters as possible!

Crack. 

This time, I had no way to keep another barrier stone in my hands. The gun was simply too heavy and robust to allow such shenanigans. And maybe it was for the better.

As soon as the first crack appeared on the barrier, I pressed the trigger. The safety already set on automatic fire, the belt started moving. 

With just a few shots, the barrier gave up. Back on earth where it was made, guns were no longer in common use as they were before. This was most likely the reason why Sander overlooked this fatal flaw of the barriers.

But the fact that they were quite weak against magicless kinetic force mattered not right now.

Because once the gun in my hands heated up, once the barrier finally cracked up… There was no more enemy to threaten me. 

Digging my feet into the ground to withstand the powerful recoil of the light machine gun, I continued to send waves of death through the ranks of the hideous monsters.

A single bullet wouldn't do much harm to those damned beings. Regenerating their flesh almost as soon as it was smashed away by the shockwave of the shot, they were bound to be the mortal enemy of people with swords and axes. 

Thankfully, with each shot acting like a small explosive, wherever I directed the barrel of my gun, several meters worth of monsters would fall. In the end, with the greater calibre of the gun, a single series was enough to cut the front row, the row behind,  then several more before flying off to the distance. 

Soon, a huge crevice opened up in the ranks of the monsters, giving me a bit of breathing room. 

A window that the humans didn't dare to ignore. 

Noticing that my ammunition was about to run out, I hurriedly reached to my pocket in an attempt to dish out yet another barrier stone, only to realise that it was now pointless. Before I could even as much as reach for another box of ammunition to mount it on the gun, human soldiers rushed forward.

Their magic was limited to the long-range bombardment. There didn't seem to be a single firearm in the entire human army, limiting their arsenal to cold weapons alone. Yet, even with all those handicaps, Humans still proved that they could adapt.

Watching in a daze as those foreign warriors rushed towards the monsters only to efficiently cut away at their limbs over and over again, I nearly forgot to finish changing the magazine. 

"You!" A sudden scream shook me awake. With the characteristic 'click' of the gun, a huge chunk of confidence returned to my face. 

"I don't know who you are, but can you please help us?"

Just the fact alone that the owner of the voice somehow managed to push through the dense ranks of his soldiers on a damned horse proved that he had to be some kind of special figure. In such a heated battlefield, only the highest ranks would have enough respect to make soldiers still obey the standard procedures.

But rather than responding right away, I only glanced at the man who jumped from his horse before pleading. 

"That depends." Even though we were in the middle of the battle, it didn't mean that I could take the leisure of not thinking about the future. Right now, this was a great opportunity for me.

"Sir, what do you…" As soon as the officer from the human army attempted to ask what I wanted, I already smiled before uttering. 

"The sacred core. Where is it?" There was no way for me to know what those words actually meant. While asking for the location was possible, it remained a fact that I had no idea what this core even was in the first palace!

"Oh…" Clearly shocked by my answer, the man stared at me for a moment, before shaking his head. "I'm sorry, but the sacred core is in possession of the prince himself. Right now, finding him…" 

Waving his hand at the ongoing fight barely a few meters in front of us, the man took a troubled expression.

"Do you think the prince would value that single item above the victory in this battle?" Using the fact that the man brought the battle back to the agenda, I gently smiled before shaking my gun. "Your people are dying as we speak. Even if you don't care about the losses personally, it doesn't change how you still need those people to win the battle."

Shaking my arms and theatrically turning around, I added. "In the end, it's not my fight, to begin with. We can either make a deal or…" While my attitude was quite arrogant, I actually had the means to back it up. Be it the gun or a plethora of different stones in my backpack, I was most likely the best-armed person on the entire battlefield.

"It's a deal. I will make sure to convince the prince. Can you go and help us now?" Slamming his hands against his face, the man-made a decision before pointing his hand towards what looked like just one of the many hills in the otherwise flat area. "I need you to attack that spot. As long as we take it, we will be able to bring our mages closer, so that…"

Midway part the man's explanation, I left. As insulting as one could take such behaviour to be, I simply couldn't waste any time.

I knew nothing about this world. I knew not the reason behind the ongoing conflict and if those hideous creatures were the ones I should fight with in the first place. And knowing that the item I had to obtain was in hands of some kind of prince, didn't make it any easier to trust other humans.

After all, it didn't matter to me which side was right. The reason for the entire battle was void for me. I was in this world just to fulfil the mission, obtain the reward from the system and hopefully find something useful as an ace in the sleeve for my actions on earth.

Soon, I arrived at the spot. Despite how tense the ranks of the human soldiers were, thanks to the presence of that officer behind me, no one dared to stay in my path. And once I reached the top of the hill currently held by the human forces, I aimed the muzzle of my gun at the horde of monsters below before happily pressing the finger.

With the dazzling light of hundreds of bullets instantly shredding the ranks of the mutants, I felt slightly wrong. 

While I had my doubts that obtaining the sacred core would be as easy as just spraying all the bullets that I had left for the machine gun, there was nothing wrong with trying it out. 

After all, what if my luck would be, for once, good?