As per the crown prince’s request, the Paladins were dispatched throughout the area battlefield to buy the prince some time for his plan. The involvement of the mighty Paladins brought significant changes in the tide of the war, mostly in favor of the royal army. Before Furzen attempted to engulf the revolutionaries with his rain of flaming balls, their colleagues had been engaging in fights with their enemies’ elites. Some of them had already ended, some were persisting, and a few were yet to occur. Several minutes earlier, at the extreme northwestern side of the battlefield, the group of Michael, Lucy, and Uriel faced up with three Paladins: Frederick the Red Beast, a red lion-maned man said to be the embodiment of wrath, caused destruction using his halberd. He had a massive body, and he was the strongest among the Paladins in terms of raw physical strength. Baldwin the White Licht, a former holy priest of the Primaria Theocracy, incidentally stumbled upon a curse that turned a part of him undead. He lost his holy powers and, later on, became a dark mage. To hide his heinous face, which was partially disfigured by the curse, he was portrayed as a man in a pure white robe and gloves; his most iconic feature was his mithrill mask. And lastly, Gottfried the Dragon Slayer, the man of tall stature with medium blonde hair. He was one of the physically strongest in the order, coupled with his excelling skills in the sword. As his nickname implied, he had encountered and slayed a S-ranked Dragon, although newly evolved, with a single swing of his shimmering mithrill sword. Three of the most powerful men of the Kingdom of Astley were facing the group of Michael. For the Paladins, they were just a bunch of small fries sent to distract them. However, they truly underestimated the capabilities of their opponents. Michael’s saber clashed with every one of Gottfried’s powerful yet precise blows, and their fight generated powerful shockwaves that stretched the verdant vegetation around. Gottfried was surprised at how strong his opponent was, and he had to admit that he actually let his guard down. On the other hand, the exchange of spells between Uriel and Baldwin was visually intense, and they seemed to be in a stalemate. But for the onlookers, it was probably a spectacle worth beholding. The battle between fire and darkness was explosively sparked on that part of the battlefield.
Not far away from them, a man seemed to be swinging his heavy halberd aimlessly, either in the air or on the ground. But in reality, he had been trying to land a single hit on his super-fast and agile opponent, Lucy, who had been irritating Frederick with her steel threads and exploding throwing knives.
Soon after, the Paladins could not keep up their pace with the Myriad Wings, and they were eventually overwhelmed. In the end, Gottfried lost the duel, Baldwin ran out of mana and then sought terms in exchange for his life, and Frederick passed out after minutes of enduring his severe lesions. The three Paladins were cuffed and then taken prisoners of war. The three were spared as they were still valuable assets to the kingdom, as well as using them in negotiations. ◆◇◆◇◆◇
As the group of Michaels was facing their respective opponents, there was a strange phenomenon that was subtly occurring on the battlefield. For some unknown reason, a significant number of revolutionaries were somewhat drop dead like stringless puppets. Apparently, the cause of their deaths was a bullet fired from afar by an exceptionally skilled sniper. Roughly two kilometers from the bottom edge of the battlefield, Austin of the Paladins was silently killing his targets while hiding behind the bushes of a small grove, which was apparently inside the range of his Anti-Sonic Barrier.
Bang! Click. Bang!
With his unrivaled accuracy and sharp awareness of air resistance and gravity, Austin has hit all of his targets so far. Every second, a revolutionary soldier was killed by Austin’s bullets, which was quite a doubtful fire rate for a flintlock he owned. “Amazing. This gun is really good, I admit,” he praised as he pulled another trigger. “I never expected them to create a weapon of this caliber.” However, he was not using one; instead, he looted a few karabiners from the revolutionaries he killed. With a crate containing thousands of rounds of ammunition beside him, Austin had taken down more than a hundred of the enemies. Given the distance and the velocity of his bullets, the targets were already dead before their ears perceived the banging sounds. Everything went so well for him, and his killing spree was significantly contributing to the royal side. Until suddenly, the moment he had been waiting for finally came. Rustle. 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t
“So you’re finally here.” As soon as he said that, Austin put his finger out of the trigger guard of the sniper rifle. He then got up from his lying position before turning around while reloading his rifle. From there, he saw someone he truly believed to be completely gone. Rick suddenly appeared at his location as if to haunt his killer, except that he was still alive and kicking.
“Surprise, Sir Austin. Long time, no see.” “…Let me ask you something: how are you still alive right now? There’s no way you could survive from those damages; I literally blew up your head. None of my prey is alive, except you. What did you do?”
“It’s none of your business.” “Then I will force you to spill the beans.” With that, Austin pointed the muzzle at Rick. In response, Rick quickly took out his mithrill dessert eagle pistol from his breast pocket and aimed it at Austin. “Oh, nice gun there. Now that I think about it, I suppose that you are the one who created this firearm, isn’t it?” “Yes, I am,” Rick confidently answered. “You have two options to choose: submit or die.” “Are you threatening me? Do you think you can defeat the great me?” “Yes.” “If you are that confident, let’s figure out who’s better.” Bang!
In a blink of an eye, Austin pulled the trigger and fired his gun at Rick, who was around fifty meters away. Rick reflexively twisted his body and barely avoided the bullet. Rick then used that little time when Austin unloaded the empty shell from the rifle and counterattacked, which Austin evaded, before rolling on the ground and hiding behind a tree trunk.
“Blast Shot.” “?!” Crash!
Austin pulled the trigger once again, but this time he activated a Level 6 technique that completely blew up the tree Rick was hiding. Lucky for Rick, he managed to prevent the technique as he fired his deagle. “Fast Shot.” “Fast Shot.”
Both Rick and Austin fired incredibly fast bullets at the exact moment. They intended to pierce one another’s hearts. The bullets flew at the same angle and direction, and the bullets coincidentally collided, got smashed, and dropped off the ground.
“Rapid Fire.” “Twin Shot.” Austin quickly shot and unloaded twice, and Rick countered the two bullets by performing a technique that temporarily duplicated the shot. Once again, the bullets met each other and did not reach their respective targets. Upon consuming all the rounds in the magazine, Austin tossed the rifle and took out his flintlock pistol from its holster. However, as he was about to pull the trigger, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a fast bullet passing through, and then he suddenly felt excruciating pain; he had been hit in the left shoulder.
“Aaah—! You bastard!!!” Austin fell on his knees from the intense pain and cursed at Rick. It was the first time he was painfully hurt after years, so he almost forgot how it felt. In spite of that, the pain did not stop him from making his move. “Go to hell!” He yelled, pointing his gun. “Ballista!” With no options left, Austin unleashed his most powerful move in his arsenal. It was a Level 9 Shooting Art technique, and its destructive bullet was thunderously flying toward Rick.
“Hmph.” However, instead of avoiding the shot, Rick just waved his right and effortlessly deflected the bullet like a bug. Actually, it was impossible for Rick to take the bullet head on; he just covered his whole body with the Impregnability Fortress of the Ultimate Arts. The bullet changed course and flew past Rick. It easily snapped the trees on its way and even paved a long trail of excavation. “What…? No way…” Seeing how Rick easily fended off his most powerful attack, Austin was appalled by the sight. As he was suffering from despair, Rick suddenly hit Austin’s head with the butt of his dessert eagle, which knocked him out.
𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚