Chapter 85 - Snipers

While the front line was screaming with all the power of their lungs, Zelos looked around the enemy’s ranks, trying to find their reinforcements. He considered that they would come mounted on horses, but he didn’t find any signs of them.

“Where are they…”

In the end, the armies collided without Zelos finding the enemy’s captains. Despite Kaitrine’s assurance that they had an easy-to-spot appearance, Zelos couldn’t spot them amidst the chaos of battle. Frustrated by his inability to locate the targets, he decided to save his energy while occasionally engaging the enemy.

Kaitrine had mentioned that the enemy captains had an appearance that made them stand out, but amidst the sea of combatants, they looked almost invisible. Zelos scanned the battlefield after he cut down each target, searching for any signs of these figures Kaitrine described, but they remained hidden from his sight.

Rather than wasting his energy fruitlessly searching for the captains, Zelos opted to focus on conserving his strength. He remained vigilant, ready to strike whenever an opportunity presented itself…

Zelos assumed a new stance in this battle… When the enemies approached, he moved his left arm forward as if he was wearing a shield, and his sword was at waist height, pointing to the enemies. When they approached, he retreated his arm and then stabbed the enemies left and right, until their guard was blown up and he had the chance to target their hearts and pierce deeply.

Even that wasn’t enough, though. In their dying struggles, the enemies still tried to swing their weapons at Zelos, who had pierced their bodies a bit too much with his sword, but soon, he spun his sword, making them convulse in pain and completely obliterating their hearts.

When the enemy fell, Zelos took a deep breath and pulled his sword from the body, but then, all of a sudden, he felt a shiver ran down his spine, and he moved to the side out of instinct. Zelos saw an arrow approaching him somehow and then almost pierced his head… the upper part of his right ear was destroyed thanks to the projectile and he hissed in pain.

 “What the fuck… since when they have archers?”

The army of Erenzis never used bows until now, so Zelos soon connected the dots. They were the reinforcements… when he looked in the direction the attack came from, Zelos found nothing. He actually saw countless warriors in front of him and another one charging to split him with a broadsword, but he couldn’t see any archers.

Zelos kept his eyes open in the distance, but he still thrusted his sword forward and blocked the enemy’s attack when he swung his sword. In a fluid motion, Zelos grabbed one of the iron balls in his belt and then raised and punched it. The iron ball flew to the face of the enemy and smashed his skull. When the enemy began to fall, Zelos saw the archer emerging in the middle of the enemy’s army. He was just like Kaitrine had mentioned… tall, muscular, rough looking and redhead.

They looked at each other and the enemy still attacked. The arrow crossed one hundred and fifty meters in the blink of an eye, but Zelos dodged it with no problem, but the guy behind him had its head destroyed by the power of the arrow.

“This level of archery is way beyond what I have seen so far. They can snipe anyone in this battlefield… this isn’t good.”

Against the enemy archers, who proved to be both skilled and powerful, no one was truly safe. Zelos glanced around in search of Loan and the others, clicking his tongue in annoyance, when he realized that one of the clan masters was nowhere to be seen, and the spearman of the group wasn’t with them either.

The enemy archers were relentless, shooting arrows down upon their ranks with deadly accuracy. Despite their best efforts to shield themselves behind shields and armor, the arrows found their marks, inflicting casualties and sowing chaos among the defenders.

Zelos’s frustration grew as he noticed the absence of key members of their group. The clan master’s strategic guidance and the spearman’s formidable skills were sorely missed in the midst of the fierce battle. Without their presence, the group’s defenses were weakened, leaving them vulnerable to the onslaught of the enemy’s arrows.

“Shit, they already killed two of us…. They are essentially here to destroy our morale and chain of command,”

Liry and the others were only one hundred meters away from the front lines… there was a chance that she could be targeted once the enemies recognized her importance. That was another reason for Zelos to make his move as soon as possible.

That was a bit risky for him, but Zelos made his choice. He put his sword on bis back and then grabbed the iron balls that he had on his belt… when the next enemy approached, he threw the Iron ball at his face when he swung his spear to attack. The impact cracked his skull a bit and made the enemy flinch while Zelos moved his body to the side and avoided the strike. He didn’t have time to use all his strength, but at least he stepped forward, recovered his iron balls and then began to cross the enemies lines.

When another enemy was about to attack him, Zelos did the same thing, he hit them when they were about to hit him and then recovered his iron balls. The enemies around didn’t have time to notice him, only the ones in the front.

In the end, Zelos didn’t take long to reach the place where he had found the enemy that was using the bow, but as soon as he saw the target, he saw his arrow being pointed at his head and with his sword on bis back, Zelos couldn’t defend himself… it was unlikely as well that he could react when the enemy was ten meters away. Still, Zelos made up his mind.

When the enemy unleashed his arrow, Zelos used his charging technique to the front and side. The arrow pierced his left and he only had the time to grunt when he appeared in front of the enemy, but he ignored that and then opened his hands before punching the Iron balls that started to fall… they flew toward the enemies face and completely crushed it.

The tall archer fell backward immediately, his face completely smashed by Zelos’s attacks. The force of the blows sent him sprawling to the ground, his body crumpling in a heap. The people around witnessed the sudden and brutal defeat, their faces frozen in shock and disbelief.

For a moment, there was silence as everyone processed what had just happened. The sight of the tall archer lying motionless, his face a mess of blood and shattered bone, was enough to render them speechless. 

Then, as if snapping out of a trance, the onlookers reacted. Some gasped in horror, while others muttered curses under their breath. A few turned away, unable to stomach the grisly scene unfolding before them.

Zelos, meanwhile, wasted no time. He quickly recovered his iron balls, their weight familiar and comforting in his hands. With a swift motion, he turned around, his gaze scanning the battlefield for his exit.

When the enemies tried to charge and attack him, Zelos used his charging technique several times and then escaped in the blink of an eye following the path of soldiers in pain that he had created.

The soldiers felt completely astonished when they saw that… their mouths were hanging open and stayed like that for quite a while. 

In the end, Zelos returned to his side and then kept going further in the back line. Every step he took made him grunt in annoyance… the arrow that the enemy fired had reached the other side, so he had to break it and pull it out, but he couldn’t do it alone.

Eventually, Zelos reached where Liry and the others were and they flinched when they saw the arrow in his shoulder. Those arrows were pretty thick, so the wound was supposed to be pretty nasty. In any case, Zelos approached Kaitrine instead of the others.

“Break the arrow and pull both sides at once.”

Kaitrine didn’t like Zelos that much, so she wouldn’t hesitate in that kind of situation and make him suffer a bit more, and she did exactly that. In just three moves, she broke the arrow and pulled the sides. Zelos flinched and his face distorted in pain, but at least he confirmed that no piece was left in the wound.

“... Tell the calvary to attack the flanks of the enemies, Heirina, and Irlan. We need to keep those archers busy.”

Liry had also observed the archers in action, and given Edea’s proficiency with a bow, she stood close to Liry, relaying what she could see. It became apparent that the enemy archers were exercising caution, attacking sparingly to avoid exposing themselves to unnecessary risk.

Their strategy seemed to be one of patience and precision. Rather than launching a continuous barrage of arrows, they chose their moments carefully, waiting for the opportune time to strike. This approach allowed them to maintain cover and minimize their vulnerability to counterattacks.

Liry and Edea watched closely, analyzing the enemy’s movements and tactics. They noted the subtle shifts in position, the careful aim before each shot, and the swift retreat back into cover. It was a calculated and disciplined approach, designed to maximize the effectiveness of their ranged attacks while minimizing their own exposure on the battlefield.

“Good job taking one of them down, but it seems that he was waiting for you.”

“I tried to lower my posture, but it wasn’t enough. He also had some guards around him, so some of them noticed my approach.”