*Boom* * Boom* * Boom*
Everything lit up like a thousand suns. In the process of not willing to let the enemy escape, Noah left no stone unturned offloading every explosive in his arsenal, from the smoke bombs to tear gas that he previously summoned to the newly summoned grenades, the place felt like it faced the wrath of god from above.
" Arrrrggghh, my arm!"
" I can't feel my legs! Someone help me!"
" Quickly run! The fire is about spread!"
" I can't hear anything! God, please have mercy!"
There were screams and shouts of their miserable existence but nothing helped their case. Cody who was perching on top of the tree saw their fleeing back and started shooting. He was only fazed for a moment before focusing on the task again.
Tang who was injured also heard the loud thunder, she knew that their captain had taken action. She leaned back with a sigh of relief that she would live for another day. While uninjured Julia and Jake began to run across the open road hoping to get some revenge.
They were pinned down for hours at this point so they needed some stress relief and give a reminder to their enemies that they were not weak chicken like when they heard them taunt!
Noah on the other hand was feeling the backlash of explosions. His ears were ringing but he took up his rifle and began dismantling few of the remaining stranglers. There were some that were willing to fight back which he couldn't allow to happen.
His location was shortly revealed but he had accomplished his mission. While they targeted him, they forgot about Julia and Jake who quickly brought down the remaining enemies. It was one thing to fight the monsters but these young kids who only trained for one week were going against other humans.
Noah knew that it would lead to some problems. They were also fighting close range so what their bullets did to these enemies was on full display. Noah hopped off from the tree and looked at two of them who were looking around with a complicated gaze.
Did I really do this? Was it fair to fight like this? Was he a good person? If they were only following orders, was it right to kill them in such a merciless way? Would everything disappear if I didn't lift up my weapons?
Naoh knew very well what might be happening inside their brain but it was not time for a therapy session. After relentless bombardment, even this wet forest began to catch fire. He needed them to quickly put out these small fires before they spread.
" We will talk about this later. For now, you are tasked with securing the perimeter and putting out any fires by using the nearby river. These people must be carrying supplies so you can find something to carry water." Noah ordered them but they seemed to be lost in their own worlds.
" Hey! Calm your mind! This would not be the first time, there will be bigger fights in the future. You have to take this thing one step at a time. Sometimes, we don't have a choice alright?" He patted their head gently giving them some sense of human warmth.
For them, what happened was no short of inhumane. Not caring about others life, that was something that they never thought that they would face against but hearing Noah they knew that this was only the beginning. If they didn't fight back, they would be the ones lying on the ground.
Noah also asked Cody to take care of Tang for the time being. With about an hour of sunlight left, they needed to be fast on their feet.
Noah first took out the lodged bullet to let his wound heal before taking some painkillers so that he could move around and help. He was also hoping to find any survivors so that he could get some information out of them.
But after rummaging through the supplies he somewhat knew who were behind it. Who else would traverse such dense forest just to ambush them, it was none other than Sablethorn family, he could clearly see their house's insignia among few documents.
But this time, they didn't seem to be involved directly. Noah didn't know that there was another force residing in their vicinity that was even more fatal than these pesky nobles. From flintlocks to even cannons, these new mysterious faction had semblance of emerging hot weapon warfare.
Noah knew how dangerous the situation had become. For now, sorcerer were still considered a tantamount force but they were too far and few in between. He knew these 'guns' would become the future of conflict.
These questions would often be brought up in modern times like how the key historical battles would turn on their head if they could use a rifle or machine gun with endless supply. For them the what if, was an exciting thought provoking scenario but for Noah, he seemed to be living it!
But not everything was as dire as he imagined, after carefully looking at the weapon sample. He could tell that whoever made it was far from mastering the gunpowder. With a added chemical background, there was little chance of them to succeed in short amount of time.
From what he had seen, the use of magic was prevalent making everything more convenient which shifted attention away from normal trajectory that Noah was familiar with. It might become bane for this technology or it could evolve into something that even Noah couldn't predict.
After all the magic powers vary, who's to say that there wouldn't be any type that would benefit the nature of technology. For now he could only hope to get ahead of the curve and prepare for these new enemies.
After cleaning up many fire hazards, everyone gathered to walk back to the village. It was pitch dark by the time they made their way inside the village gate, where few people were already waiting for them!