The old veterans start forming a circle while yelling at the farmhands to go out searching. However they have to maintain a line of sight between them and the farmhands at all time.
"Don't be reckless and go out on your lonesome boys. I counted 4 of them, so there is only 4 to take care of. No more, so don't rush."
"Shouldn't we spread out and search, they have disappeared." One of the young man asks. Good question. In the last life, Varsas did not pay attention much to these certain people because they was too much of a hassle as well as them being on the same side as the good guy.
"They did not disappear, they are still right here." Old man Magnate says.
The young people has a horrible fright, turning back to the old men.
"They are invisible?"
That answer why the old men huddle up, but don't answer why they told the young people to spread out.
One of the farm hands yell
"Are you trying to use us as bait?"
"Hush. There are lot of us here, and in this situation they are going to be more concern with escaping than killing. I'm telling you to spread out to cut off their escape path."
"But then why did you-"
In the middle of the circle the veterans have created stood Varsas. He is a bit annoyed that because he is now young and hasn't proven himself, his people's first thought is to protect him. This never happens during the war when he was just a soldier, and when he was a hero everyone don't even bother to protect him anyway.
The old men's first instinct was to protect the grandson of their liege.
Varsas has some questions about this situation. First of all if it was something as simple as invisibility he would have detected it a long time ago, because he can too become invisible. He has some dealing with these forces before, so he is sure of that. He always thought of it as some advance stealth technique, but it is said that a long time ago the secret legion of the Mahaima kingdom was defeated by the Gungnir's men. He always wanted to go home to ask, but it was just an unimportant matter and when he went home it was already too late.
The secret force of Mahaima. It is who these people are.
Varsas has his eyes on them a long time ago. Starting with the banned book debacle, they were already here. Because they were on the same side once upon a time, there was a time he thought that perhaps they can have some reasonable common ground. But thinking about it rationally, the thought of people are never that simple. It can not be predicted. Just because they were allies of convenient once upon a time mean they can be one again. Especially the leader of these people.
He is a man who is just a bit too complicated. He always choose the hardest path. They don't share the same point of view.
"Shadow"
The old general suddenly says, his hand thrust out. Instead of the hand wielding the spear, it was with his barehand, against a shadow that just flicker into view. He left formation for a moment to catch that shadow. Instead of an exchange between two people, the shadow dodge away, out of the grip, the old man is too slow. He clicks his teeth and instead thrust out the spear in his hand. It of course has more range. It was also faster. The men of the Gungnir focus on spear. They are focus on an open field battle, but masters can utilize their skill in many situations. The spearhead entered flesh. Blood starts dripping on the floor.
The young men cheer. But the shadow has disappeared the moment the spearhead entered it.
Varsas takes that moment to ask
"Old man Magnate, they aren't actually invisible are they? If they were, the moment blood start dripping, it would have given out their location. But the moment that shadow disappears, the source of blood disappear too. It is like they are physically not in this location anymore. Are you sure they haven't teleported away?"
One of the hypothesis Varsas has for the Mahaima's stealth force is that they have an extremely effective short range teleportation combined with an effective stealth technique after teleportation. However the explanation of the old man who has once faced and triumph over the force is different.
Invisibility? Not possible with all the sense Varsas has. It is like they disappear from the place altogether.
But he trusts the force of his grandfather.
"When I say they are still right here, I didn't mean they were invisible, though some of you are partly correct. They are still in the same space, we just can't see them, but they are not invisible."
"I see..." Varsas says, earning confusion from the rest of the young man.
They are not invisible.
We can't see them.
The fact that it appears they have physically moved from their spot basing on Varsas's sense.
It seems when old man Magnate says they were still in the same space, it was not quite correct, but it is the truth.
"I don't know, but the people in Mahaima has a weird technique." Another of the old veterans says.
"They can enter something call the shadow dimension. From what I gather it is a similar place like our, like a mirror opposite. That is the secret of the Mahaima's secret guards, they can move in this secret dimension to watch over the people who can't see them. Uh- I think someone explain to me that it was something like a layer reality."
Varsas's eyes lit up for a moment, that seems really useful, also really annoying. There was many time he didn't detect old man Shadow at all, but somehow the old man has been eavesdropping on him. So it is like that. It is a perfect ability for spies... as well as assassins, moving into position without anyone knowing before emerging, strike and then retreat into the dimension where they are impervious to everything.
"So, what is stopping them from moving out off this room in that dimension before emerging?"
"Pay attention, it is not all invincible, or else we would have perished a long time ago. Just keep your armor on and be on guard. They cannot move far from their original location. And they can't stay like that forever, they have to emerge eventually like a man emerging from the depth to get air. The only thing they have is the surprise factor, but we Gungnir men was better at fighting so even if they manage to get a free hit in, our brothers would cover for us. As long as we stay in formation, it would harm them more than it harm us. And when they emerge, remember to grab onto them as the first thing you do. No matter what, we have healers on standby, so just try to physically restraint them, your brother will help you in a moment notice. So endure until then."
The method the Gungnir men used to obtain that information a long time ago...
They caught the youngest of the secret guard and torture that information out of him. With that information, the secret guard was decimated, except for that young man who they spared. It was a battle where the secret guard strike first, but it needs not be a battle to the last man. For those who choose to surrender, they are spared. But only one surrender, or was at least judged to be not a threat. It was the young man they caught first of all.
50 years later, everyone is an old man now, and Mahaima and Gungnir's land don't have a strained relationship anymore. But sometime things never change.
In the shadow, a spy master grits his teeth remembering some old memories.