"Uh oh!" Batoo exclaimed, but he'd seen it all too late.
"We've got to warn him!" The princess exclaimed. From their vantage point, they had an aerial view of where Barda and his team of 5 were shooting from. Thing is, they were deep behind enemy lines, which they had to be to replenish their arrows
They had what seemed to be an endless supply of arrows since they were meant to be for a whole squadron. Luckily, the mobile shooting fortress was no joke.
As one of the kingdom's construct, they had built a fortress that was on wheels. It was pulled by mules. It looked slightly bigger than a carriage. However, it had excellent defenses. Barda and his team had commandeered the fortress, moved it to higher ground where they were now shooting.
All told, they were 10 rangers. 2, Batoo and Juila, had gone to fetch the VIPs. 2 others were lookouts while one was in charge of collecting arrows for the other 5, Barda included. By now, through his battle prowess and proper planning, every ranger had learned to look up to him. They all understood now that the title of gold-ranked was well deserved.
Arrow after arrow flowed from the fortress, each one devastating to the enemy. Princess Maara was tempted to think that this was the reinforcements. That's when they had noticed the movement.
From their perch, they realized that the moving fortress was surrounded. Warriors were moving into place to block all escape routes. Once this encirclement was complete, they would move in.
The princess was getting agitated. She had finally found someone to root for, a hope and a chance to lighten the load on her people. Now that hope was about to be snuffed out. It would be a shame and a great demotivator if word went around that the Gumina warriors had killed a gold-ranked adventurer. More than anything, she couldn't that to happen.
Unfortunately, she realized she had discovered the encirclement too late. The warriors were already in position. The only reason she had discovered them, to begin with, was that they were already moving to attack. There was nothing between them and the fortress. She counted 20 men, and still, others were coming out.
Just as she was whacking her brain on how she could help him out, the back door of the fortress opened, and a man walked out. Contrary to all the times she had seen him, the princess found that there was something odd about his appearance.
On further examination, she realized it. He was no longer holding on to his bow. He was also not weaponless, but she had never seen him with any other weapon apart from the bow. In its place, he held 2 swords.
Firstly, the princess didn't think he was any good with a sword. Even if he was, he couldn't be as good as with a bow. This was the bane of ranged fighters, everyone knew that. If you managed to close in on the distance, then you had them dead to lights.
The princess had had only one preferred weapon, the sword. Even with it, she was not confident of taking on so many warriors by herself. At most, she could handle 3, and not elites. Now dealing with more than 40, and more still coming out, was proving difficult.
"My lady," Batoo began but didn't have the heart to continue. Maara turned around, and her heart crushed. She couldn't believe she didn't see that coming. Twice she had ended up ensnared. This time, she wasn't sure there was no knight in shining armor since he too was surrounded.
At that time, several men had just come out from hiding all-around their perch. They too were just as fierce-looking as the ones coming for Barda. They had been too close and had no lookout in place. Of course, they would be discovered, especially with their arrows hitting where it hurts.
The princess had only gathered 20 Purple-ranked adventurers as her shock troop. Those coupled with the 10 under Barda made up 30 adventurers in total. Against them stood a force numbering in the hundreds.
"So, you the ranger killing my people?" A tall dark man came forth. He had an ugly scar across his right side of the face. He was a big as a bear and just as hairy.
"I haven't seen any grizzlies around here, but as soon as I do, I'll tell them you looking for them?" Barda replied with a wicked smile. He wasn't planning on mincing words. He realized that whatever time he would buy would not be in his favor.
The man didn't say anything more. He lifted his club and walked over to where Barda was, murderous intent overflowing. His people had never seen him that angry before. The others didn't even bother advancing, in their eyes, Barda was already a dead man.
Scarface, as he was known by all, was known for having a bad temper. Anyone who dared to anger him would face the brunt of his club. Very few people had ever dared to be snarky around him, and they got what they had coming for them. For some enemy to insult him thus, he was a dead man walking.
Scarface's advance was not hurried in any way, but every step he made added to the eagerness of the spectators. They wanted to see this person who would dare insult their commander die, and not just death, but death in the most gruesome way possible.
Scarface swung his club with every ounce of strength he had in him. The club was almost one and a half meters tall. It had a cerated edge that made it almost like a bladed instrument.
As it began its descent towards Barda, he moved. It didn't look like much, but with instantaneous footwork, he had already distanced himself from where the club would be. Moreover, as his feet moved, so did his hands.
Initially, his hands had been holding the 2 swords, but they were just holding them, doing much. Everyone assumed that Barda would need them both to block the attack if he could react in time. However, that proved not to be the case.
Before anyone could understand what had happened, Scarface was on his knees, a sword protruding from his head. Barda pulled out the sword, and the man tumbled down like a sack of potatoes.
"Alright, who's next?" The battlefield was quiet. None of Scarface's followers could believe the giant had been taken down so easily. He didn't even finish his only attack. The taunt made their blood curdle as they looked at Barda. In his place, they didn't see a human, but a demon standing over them, daring them to attack. His smile adding to the image of the devil himself.
As for the princess, she could scarcely hold her joy. For sure she thought Barda was dead, their hope with him. Her worry had reached a fever-pitched but she still couldn't do anything, after all, she too had an encirclement to deal with.
Now, seeing Scarface dead, she was more than overjoyed. Suddenly, the threats didn't seem that big or scary anymore. Leading her group, she charged at the attackers.
"For your sins, you will pay with your life!" a man, presumably Scarface's second in command, shouted. He looked around to the warriors that were cowering at the sight of Barda and said, "For the captain!" He then raised his sword high and let out a roar, charging at his nemesis.
Following his example, all the men were energized. In war, soldiers didn't have the luxury to choose who to fight. Moreover, they figured that if everyone attacked, then maybe Barda would be helpless against them. When one couldn't, many working together would put him down.
Barda was still easy, wearing his smile as the group came at him. Behind him, the fortress was locked, and his archers were safe. Unfortunately the same could not be said of those up the ridge, the ones supposed to be the lookout. With all these calculations running, Barda raised his swords to meet the attackers.
For an android, mental speeds were measured in nanoseconds. This was leaps and bounds above that of a human. When the soldier got to him, he swung his sword with all the fierceness and speed he could muster. His goal was to slice Barda into 2.
However, his sword couldn't find its target. Barda didn't even bother dodging. When the soldier had swung his sword, Barda could see it all the way, as though it was moving in slow motion. By the time his attacker had raised his weapon to attack, Barda would have already killed them and moved on to the next.
In such a way bodies continued to pile up. Barda could no longer be said to be a soldier, but a killing machine. His most apt description was that of a lawnmower. They came at him standing, and he left them down on the ground.