Leave a comment

Following the road that we got out of the captured man, we discovered a big crevice on the riverside rock cliff.

Leaving Leon and Cloud, who couldn’t perform covert operations, behind, Ellen and I headed to check the surroundings.

Fortunately, there were no lookouts at the entrance, so there was no risk if we were to simply approach it.

“Not sure if they are wary or not…”

They sent out patrols to look for prey, but they haven’t left any guards at their own base.

They were quite half-a̲s̲s̲e̲d̲ in this department, making me guess the reason why they couldn’t go beyond the third-rank.

After inspecting the footprints in the surroundings, there have only been at most ten people who have gone in and out. We judged it based on their step distance and the shape of their shoes. It lacked accuracy, however.

“There’s only about ten of them, but they are definitely settled here.”
“Then let’s just assume what that guy told us was the truth. I wonder if it’s also true that there is a dead-end inside, and there is no other exit?”
“It probably is.”

We returned to Leon’s side and reported what we found out. Hearing it, his expression turned into a grin. The enemy was confined inside the crevice… the cavern with no exit on the other side.

“They have no place to run. In other words—”
“Smoking them out would be the ideal strategy.”
“—Right?”

With that word, Leon pushed his fist towards me. I met it with my own and we broke into evil laughs.

We decided to go with the smoking out strategy, so Leon gave out prompt instructions. Since it wasn’t a show-off strategy, there was nothing out of ordinary in his instructions.

I who specialized in secret maneuvers would set greenwood to fire before their hideout’s crevice, and Fina who, even if only elementary level, was learning various spells, would blow the smoke inside the crevice using the Breeze spell.

When the enemies rush out in panic, Michelle, and Ellen, who had a rapid-fire crossbow on her, would keep them in check.

If the enemy brings out shields, Leon and Cloud would rush in and form the front. If the enemies tried to escape from either side, Finia and I, as well as our two archers, would block their way.

“Ellen and Michelle, you take care of anyone trying to slip to the left.”
“Got it.”
“Okaay.”
“As for the right, it would be Nicole and Finia. But be careful.”
“We will.”
“Understood.”

He said that only to us because our combination would be the ones fighting in close-quarters.

Judging by the footprints left at the entrance, there weren’t even ten enemies there. If we took down half of them, they would fall apart as an organization.

This was a claim because I was confident I could defeat half with the preemptive surprise attack and my own ability.

We gathered greenwood together while making sure we weren’t detected, and then Finia and I went to make a pile before the crevice.

Leon and Cloud, who were heavily equipped, could not participate in this work.

Michelle and Ellen were getting their bows ready in the meantime.

Ellen, in particular, specialized in dagger and crossbow, so she had to make preparations in advance.

Once the preparations were done, Leon took a deep breath. Cloud looked tense as well. That reminds me, this was his first real fight against humans ever since Mateus.

He trained with Kayle and others, but the tension still remained it seems.

“Okay, please start.”

I nodded back at his instruction. Finia also started chanting in a quiet voice and lit the torch I was holding.

It was possible to light the greenwood directly, but it would be hard to regulate the flame that way.

Adjusting the power of the flame of the greenwood that was full of water on top of using the Breeze spell would be a big burden on her. She did not have much combat experience against human opponents, so I wanted to keep her burden to a minimum.

I erased my footsteps and approached the pile of greenwood, and then poured oil on it and lit it up with the torch.

The flames blazed up intensely due to the oil, and white smoke started to rise up.

Following that, Finia finished a small Breeze chant and cast it. The spell directed the white smoke towards the crevice.

I immediately withdrew back, moving away so I wouldn’t get in the way of our archers.

Before long, several men ran out from the crevice.

“Cough cough, what the, what’s happening!?”
“Who in the world did—”

Just as the second man raised his voice, an arrow pierced his forehead.

Needless to say, the arrow that pierced through the smoke without disturbing it belonged to Michelle. Leon and Ellen’s faces stiffened seeing that abnormal shot.

“See, isn’t our Michelle quite amazing?”
“Y-Yeah. But why are you acting so proud about that, Nicole?”
“She’s my best friend, after all.”
“That’s a very pleasant response, but brought about by such a frightening result.”
“What are you two standing there for. More are coming out!”

Ellen raised her rapid-fire crossbow, acting like she wasn’t at fault too. She unloaded five arrows on the remaining man.

Her bow could automatically pull the bowstring and reload an arrow just by rotating the handle.

A crossbow was originally a weapon with a lot of might, range, and easiness of aim, but it had a flaw when it came to rapid-fire.

But then, ones with an automatic reloading mechanism were introduced.

They were at first unpopular because they lacked in power, range and accuracy that were the selling points of crossbows, but as they could shoot several arrows incomparably faster than a bow, they were now used for artillery barrages.

She also used the crossbow that way and rained the arrows on the remaining man, instantly turning him into a hedgehog.

Then, one more person rushed out of the cavern. But when he saw the two fallen at his feet, he immediately rushed back to the crevice.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲, it’s a raid! You’ll get shot if you go out!”
“How did they—Did that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ Anton betray us! Bring the shields!”

Since he guessed the situation after only seeing two of theirs get shot down, his brain seemed to be working quite well. Anton was probably that lookout we caught earlier.

His decision to bring the shields right away wasn’t bad either. But that was within our expectations.

Seeing the men come out with shields in fear of arrows, Leon shot a glance at Cloud. Seeing that, Cloud also set up his own shield and rushed out with a war cry.

“HAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

Leon also rushed out at the same time.

Cloud had his large iron shield and one-handed sword. Leon, on the other hand, held the highly-versatile b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ sword with both hands.

Since Cloud held more defensive power, he was the one to rush out first.

Because they had their shields set up on top of being surrounded by smoke, the bandits’ field of view was restricted so they ended up taking that charge head on.

Cloud sent the one who stood ahead of the rest flying, and then, Leon switched over and thrust his blade to finish them off.

The bandits reflectively moved to surround the two.

They seem to have managed to form a good front.