*RUMBLE*
The loud earthquake woke Buck Turo. Before he could get out of bed, the ground beneath him collapsed, sending him into a deep pit. Falling atop his bed, Buck Turo was unharmed, but his cloth tent dropped on him.
Pushing himself out of the collapsed tent, Buck Turo managed to get free. He looked around and noticed he was inside a deep pit along with his bodyguards. Looking up, Buck estimated the pit was at least 10 meters deep.
His bodyguards, the aura knights were also unharmed. However, the mages were not as lucky. Everybody either got a few broken bones or was in a critical condition.
"What in tarnation?!" Buck Turo screamed at his men, "What is happening here?!"
Garr calmly approached his lord and informed him, "A sinkhole this large is the work of earth magic. We're under attack, it seems."
"Then, go intercept those mongrels!"
"…I'll try."
Garr gestured for his men to leave the pit. Then, he jumped out of the trap hole. The other aura knights weren't as strong as Garr. They managed to leap 20 feet and grabbed a ledge to continue climbing. Eventually, they got out.
However, the mages and Buck Turo were still trapped. Garr hesitated, unsure if he should leave his lord's side.
*RUMBLE*
Another earthquake hit the camp. In the southwest area, the ground collapsed into another sinkhole.
Garr narrowed his eyes, worrying about his troops in the infantry's quarters. He gestured to his aura knight subordinates.
"Go check that area and protect them. You there, signal an alarm. The enemies should be attacking from the south. Tell the cavalry to fetch their horses and prepare to counterattack."
The men saluted and scattered, rushing to aid the troops and search for the intruders.
Garr sat down on the ground, protecting his master. He circulated his aura, heightening his five senses. His eyes pierced through the dimly lit camp and dark forest.
Loud voices of random soldiers panicking, footsteps, metallic noises, and cracking charcoals in the fire stands created a chaotic orchestra. More regular soldiers woke up and rushed toward Garr's side to protect the lord.
*FWOOSH*
Amid the chaos, the faint sound of a fast object cutting through the wind was barely audible, but Garr heard it. His eyes swept through the southern forest, glaring at the source of the noise.
As Garr looked carefully, he spotted a guard on a watchtower collapse and dropped his torch. Investigating further, Garr stood up and jumped vertically. Launching himself 30 feet into the sky, he scanned the southern area.
As an aura knight, he could detect faint auras of humans. His eagle eyes spotted 11 presences lurking in the woods. Nine of them were approaching while two others hid behind a mound. The strongest presence came from the larger group.
'A three-star aura knight? That must be Sinnet. The other two on the mound must be mages,' Garr thought.
Confirming the presence of a rival, Garr made his decision. Dropping to the ground, Garr kicked off and dashed south. His target was Sinnet.
.
.
The fire gradually burned the wet watchtower, starting from the platform. As it was nighttime, nobody noticed the black smoke.
*FWOOSH*
Coordinating with the people below, Felix began shooting the red-tunic soldiers outside the camp. Like a silent grim reaper claiming victims, men collapsed one after another.
5 men…
10 men…
20 men…
Felix never stopped. He didn't care about what Sinnet's crew had planned as his method was faster and more efficient than Sinnet's solid snake method.
Sinnet and his men were about to snipe a few patrolling guards outside the camp, but the patrolling soldiers died right before their eyes. Everybody stared at the corpses in confusion.
*FWOOSH*
A faint sound came from Felix's mound, and another man on a different watchtower dropped.
Witnessing everything, Sinnet grinned and ordered his men, "Change of plans. Bring out the prepared fire arrows. We'll set the camp on fire!"
The men unpacked their cloth backpacks, revealing bundles of arrows with oily linen cloths wrapped around the arrowheads. Snatching a torch from a dead guard, they lit the arrows on fire and unleashed them over the fences, targeting every structure they found.
Seven out of nine fire arrows hit cloth tents and wooden carts of random supplies. Flames slowly spread, causing more chaos. They nocked more arrows and delivered a second volley, putting more tents on fire.
By now, the Turo Camp had realized what hit them. Soldiers around the camp rushed toward their location, wielding spears, shields, or swords.
Meanwhile, Felix adjusted his thermal scope as fire and heat hindered his vision. He adjusted the aim angle and held his breath.
*FWOOSH*
As if Felix were playing a VR video game, he pulled the trigger and watched a life fade right before his eyes. Nothing was more satisfying than looking through his scope and seeing a victim fall.
After picking off the 35th victim, Felix stopped killing soldiers randomly. He shifted his focus to Sinnet and others, watching over their safety. As soon as Felix looked at them, he spotted 30 soldiers in either full chainmail armor or half-naked charging at Sinnet, brandishing their weapons.
Providing covering fire, Felix twisted his scope and adjusted the range. This time, he no longer held his breath when he pulled the trigger 10 times in a row.
Silent needles flashed and hit seven pursuers out of 30. Three of the bullets accidentally hit the same victims.
As if Sinnet coordinated with Felix's assault, fire arrows flew over the fences and hit them. Unfortunately, the fiery projectiles weren't powerful enough to pierce through chain mail or plate armor. Some of them missed the targets or failed to scratch a soldier's skin.
Still, a few made it through, and the fiery arrowheads found unprotected human flesh. Because of the intense heat from the fire arrows, their flesh, blood vessels, and muscle fibers were burned, guaranteeing complications and disabilities in the future.
This was the cruelty of the medieval period. The term 'War Crimes' did not exist.
Despite suffering heavy damage, unharmed soldiers located the assailants and alerted their colleagues.
"OVER THERE!"
Reinforcements from other parts of the camp joined them, increasing their number to 200. Yet, Sinnet tossed away his bow, unsheathed his sword, and smiled.
Brown aura exuded from the man. He laughed and dashed forward, swinging his sword horizontally. Although Sinnet's swing missed, a semi-transparent brown blade extended from his sword, cleaving 10 soldiers in half. Because of his feat, the enemy soldiers stopped charging in fear.
Felix witnessed everything. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"What the hell am I looking at?!"
He thought mages were already magical enough, but this knight just transformed into a character from the Dynasty Warriors video game, cutting down multiple enemies in one swing. Felix wondered if that was Sinnet's Musou mode.
However, the amazing feat soon got complicated. A shining man leaped out from the crowd and swung down a longsword. Similar to Sinnet, he projected a green aura, which extended from his weapon and his armor.
Sinnet looked up and parried the strike. Their swords collided.
*BOOM*
A shockwave and a loud noise stunned the bystanders. The two knights looked at each other and bellowed in unison.
"GARR!!"
"SINNET!!"
Felix wryly smiled as he could hear their voices from afar. He slightly shook his head and aimed at the green-glowing man. He pulled the trigger.
*TINK*
The sound was strange.
Felix looked through the scope. The bullet clearly pierced through the knight's helmet, but the enemy didn't flinch. Instead, the guy took three steps back and threw away his helmet. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
A droplet of blood dripped from his right temple. He swiped the trail of blood and looked at it. Then, he shifted his gaze, glaring at Felix's mound.
"How the hell is he still alive? That was a clear headshot!"
Felix had a bad feeling about this guy. Deeming him a threat, Felix wanted to focus fire on this man. However, the situation got complicated.
Five more knights with green aura leaped over the crowd of regular soldiers and landed behind Sinnet's team!
"Ah, crap."
Providing them with covering fire, Felix changed the magazine and aimed at the five strange knights. He also told the combat mage next to him, "Dude, you need to contribute to the fight. Your friends are getting surrounded."
The burly mage stood up and saw his colleagues. He nodded, "Buy me a minute to cast a spell."
"…"
It seemed this world's mage was either overpowered or useless, Felix thought.
Buying time for the mage and Sinnet's men, Felix stopped aiming at human heads and aimed at the biggest targets: the chests. Spamming the trigger, Felix unleashed hell.
Ten bullets punctured through the plate armor of the five knights and hit their backs. Strangely, they slightly flinched. None of them stumbled and collapsed like regular soldiers.
As if they knew where the attack came from, all five of them turned around. Their eyes shone green, locking onto Felix's mound.
"Well, hello there, and fuck y'all." Felix scoffed and aimed at a knight's face through the gaps of his full helmet. Calmly, he pulled the trigger.
*CLANK*
The bullet broke through an eye hole and found a knight's left eyeball! The victim's head tilted backward from the impact, and he fell to the ground, lying on his back. He couldn't get up again.
The four knights looked at their fallen comrade. One of them pointed their sword at Felix and shouted, "GO AFTER THAT MAGE! LEAVE THE REST TO ME!"
The three green knights bellowed and kicked the ground, scattering in three different directions to encircle Felix.
Felix smacked his lips and replaced his rifle with a shotgun, preparing for close combat. He also warned the burly mage, "Incoming enemies. Get ready."
The mage didn't react. Instead, a flow of brown gas surrounded him, and a magic circle slowly materialized beneath his feet.