Chapter 113 (2/2)

“Why do you carry a lighter when you don’t even smoke Choyu leaves?”

“Lighters are one of the basic commodities we’re supplied with.”

“So you’re just a fiery woman.”

TLN: This is a pun in Korean. The raw is 불만 있는 여자, which usually means you’re an unhappy woman, but it can also be read literally as a woman with only fire. It’s a dad joke.

“…”

Isaac snickered at his own joke, but the response was cold. The patrol leader Alex found something amiss at this laughing man and moved immediately as he was trained.

“Enemy! Sound the…”

Alex’s words did not finish. As he took out his whistle and turned to his men, he saw them being taken out by men wearing strange outfits. As he lost consciousness, he felt the sting of cold air in his neck and liquid pouring down onto his chest.

“The patrol has been taken care of.”

The agents a.s.sembled under the dim light of the dropped lantern. Isaac let out another breath of smoke and gazed at the Count’s camp relis.h.i.+ng in victory.

“It is the norm to celebrate the victor.”

It’s a celebration, but only for you… the agents grumbled in their minds as they took out their weapons. It was the new ranged weapon provided by Central. The first live combat testing of a weapon antic.i.p.ated to be as effective as the guns from Expeditionary Forces.

“Let’s light up the place first. It’s too dark. Load the fire arrows.”

“Loading fire arrows.”

With Isaac’s order given, the agents loaded their crossbows with clips filled with bolts enchanted with fire. They raised their bows up. Since this was such a long ranged weapon with a low firing arc, they needed to raise their gun up somewhat, lest the bolts only land on the front of the camp.

“Scatter it nicely. Fire all rounds.”

The agents moved in accordance to Isaac’s nonchalant order. Bolts poured out from the crossbows and shot high into the sky before raining down onto the camp.

“Kuaak!”

“Enemy!”

The magic imbued in the bolts activated the moment it made contact. The engulfing flames consumed the nearby surroundings, and the whole camp was now on fire.

“Let’s throw some fireworks to celebrate their victory too. Change your rounds. Load the explosive bolts.”

“… Loading explosive bolts.”

The agents hesitated before gritting their teeth and repeated Isaac’s order. The foes they fought in the defence of the Gate were from the other world, but these were citizens of the Empire, just like them. Their hearts were troubled, watching what was once a camp full of laughter s.h.i.+ft to that of screaming and shouting.

“Fire all rounds. Afterwards, fire at will. This is supposed to be a weapons test, so make sure to use all the special rounds and write a report on them later.”

Another rain of bolts shot up into the sky with Isaac’s order.

Bang!

A storm of dust, earth, and blood erupted into the air from the explosions. Afterwards, the agents began firing at will and began using all sorts of special rounds.

It seemed that even the Count’s elite soldiers didn’t possess the bravery to face such an unprecedented scale of firepower. They never had the time to organise themselves in this chaos. Consumed by fear, the soldiers scattered in all directions.

Something unimaginable had happened. 1500 soldiers of the Count were ambushed and routed by a mere 30 or so individuals.

Even their commanders were either confused or dead. Soldiers without commanders were as good as nothing.

Watching the soldiers abandon their arms and run, Isaac took out a new cigarette and flicked it at Rivelia with his mouth.

Rivelia shook terribly with her fists clenched. She took a deep breath and threw the lighter at Isaac.

“Fiesty. Is it because you’re just a fiery girl?”

Rivelia didn’t even turn her face to look at Isaac, refusing to react to Isaac’s dull joke. She instead focused on the burning camp.

“Over there!”

“Hm?”

Just as Isaac was about to light his cigarette, a group barged out of the camp. They were all mounted on horseback. At the head was Rhineland.

“I guess the combat knights are different.”

The fact they were on horseback meant they were combat knights and cavalrymen under their command. They were the core and most powerful part of the army, and Isaac‘s mouth was agape with admiration at their attempt to find and retaliate against the source of ambush even as their soldiers ran away. Isaac stepped back.

Isaac smiled mischievously as he shrugged, and Rivelia shot deadly glares before she bit her lip and stepped forward in Isaac’s stead.

“Hold fire. Switch to hip fire stance.”

The agents stopped shooting into the sky and turned to aim at the charging cavalry.

“Charge!”

Rhineland instinctively knew that the crossbows were now aimed at them, seeing the rain of arrows stop. He shouted and charged to where Isaac was, and his cavalrymen followed behind him as they hastened their steeds. The charge was pitiful, carried out by men who didn’t even don armour or equip a lance, only a sword in their hand. A result of the ambush.

But it still proved why cavalry were a force to be reckoned with. The shaking earth under the hooves of a hundred horses had the force to chill anyone’s heart.

“… Fire.”

After hesitating again and again, Rivelia gave her order, and bolts loosed from the agents’ crossbows. These were crossbows that referenced Isaac’s invention, which pierced even Central’s defensive coats.

Blinded by darkness, these cavalrymen melted in the face of the silent shower of bolts like infantrymen charging into a machine gun nest.

Man, horse, it did not matter. They all plummeted into the ground, dead before they could even utter a scream. Without any armour on them, these men were thrown from their horses and couldn’t survive the momentum added by their charge and the impact of the bolts.

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