We were all wearing armored suits, and Ciri even tried to cut it with her sword for the sake of interest, which she managed to do with great difficulty. She tried to cut not the suit itself, but the armored cloth, but she was still very impressed. The suit was much lighter and more comfortable than her usual clothes, which she had gotten used to during the long period of her training, and after it...
And we've been in the junkyard for three days. The very place where Ciri came into this world...
By the way, Tsiri has not only got an armored suit, I also ordered her a lens that helps her aim her weapon, as well as a miniature earpiece that allows her to communicate with us.
"It seems to be getting colder..."
"You're getting cold every two hours. Becca, don't try to raise our guard here, we're all vigilant enough as it is."
I looked disapprovingly at Becca, who was really getting a little tired of the "it's getting colder" thing. It even brought to mind a demotivator from a previous life, when a certain show I'd never seen was described by five pictures with the phrase "winter is coming.
"Well..."
"What?"
I cast a glance at Ciri.
"I actually feel something strange too..."
That's the part that made me tense up. I don't know what Ciri is feeling, but her premonition of trouble...
"Preparedness is number one for everyone!"
It was another twenty minutes, and now I was ready to say that it was getting cold enough around us, and a dozen minutes later, a portal appeared in space, from which the armored figures began to emerge. And they came out exactly in the same place where Ciri had appeared, only if she appeared at some distance from the ground and could be hurt by falling, their portal appeared exactly above the ground.
"zschgpe9375n7EG97..."
"What did he say?"
I glanced questioningly at Ciri after some orc in armor with a skull instead of a mask and a bone crown said something. Well, I knew he wasn't an orc, of course, but honestly, you expect sophistication from elves, and here...
"He suggested I turn myself in and then you wouldn't get hurt."
"Oh..."
I shook my head.
"...this orc who can't speak civilized language says something about surrender?"
The elf growled quietly in anger.
"I understand you, man. and you don't get to piss me off. If you're here to hand me the Swallow, then just go, or else. don't go, and then you die."
"Uh-oh.
I shook my head.
"I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared!"
"We should not bring our anger upon our world, we are terrible in anger and..."
"Orchard, are you scary when you're angry? Don't make fun of my balls, they roll over so it's uncomfortable to tickle them. What can you, with your prehistoric knowledge, do to us? What I can do is this."
I defiantly raised my hand up, ripping it away from my rifle and immediately moved to link with the girls.
"Smartass, the guy with the staff, first of all."
"Got it, Tihonja."
I snapped my fingers, and at the same moment I gave Judy the command.
"Come on."
Nothing seemed to happen. But the moment I gave the command over the comms, a hole appeared in the orc's helmet and he just collapsed to the ground, covered in debris.
"You!"
You could hear the rage in the voice of the chief of the orcs.
"I..."
I grinned.
"Do you think you and your prehistoric magic can stand up to my art?"
"I don't sense any magic in you..."
"Because you're weak..."
My grin only got wider.
"I am on a whole other level of existence and you can only feel my power if I want you to."
"You're, uh. You're lying."
I could sense the uncertainty in the elf's voice, while I moved to connect with the girls.
"Mentor, Cherry, Snowflake, the creatures that look remotely like dogs on my command. Good girl, take aim at some other armored one, like the one with the mace."
"Got it..."
I folded my fingers defiantly again.
"Come on!"
A click and holes appeared in the heads of three creatures, another click and my command given over the comms and three more creatures fall with their heads shot through.
"So, lowlife...what brings you to our world?"
"Grrr... Zirael. give her to me."
"And why would I do that?"
"Even killing us all would only delay the inevitable. Our bodies are not here. a dense illusion with armor and weapons, but we are safe. We'll come here as many times as it takes. and eventually we will take it, killing you and many others."
"Judy..."
I snapped my fingers calling her name and the orc with the mace fell to the ground with a hole in his head.
"You're threatening me here, but you haven't been able to do anything yet. You are afraid to take even a step, and in doing so, you are losing your subordinates..."
I shake my head.
"You're nothing."
"Give me the Swallow!"
"Over my dead body."
"You chose this..."
He grabbed his sword and I immediately gave an order through the comms to the others, including Ciri.
"Leave the head creep to me. Zero the rest."
"Roger that!"
I threw the machine gun behind my back and pulled out my tonfa, which I immediately activated the energy blades, and also activated the sandi, accelerating so that this head bastard would be an easy enough opponent for me. I don't have a big ego, and I realize that a reasonable man who has devoted hundreds of years to the art of swordsmanship can take me down as a worthy opponent, unless I'm so far ahead of him in speed that his technique is useless.
The first time he lunged at the energy blade and noticed that his sword didn't start to melt, which meant that the alloy there was very, very interesting. Before that, Ciri had demonstrated something similar, when we tried to touch the energy blades of my tonf with her sword. Naturally, it was a tip at first, and only after that we started sparring at full strength without fearing for her blade.
Although we didn't have much time to spar, we only managed to fight twice... but even so, I realized that she was much stronger than I was.
Slightly tweak the sword movement and hit the tonfa on the armor in the belly area.
Hmm... The armor is made of the same metal, but the force of the blow is such that my opponent is thrown back and he does not expect from a fragile guy of such strength, does not have time to take retaliatory measures, literally flying off from me.
"So..."
I turned off the sandi. It's only been a dozen seconds and almost all of his supporters have been killed. I wonder if he'll realize I'm not a mage or not. Or will he prepare for the next battle with a mage who is superior in every way?
"You're a loser who just dressed up in artifacts..."
"You..."
A husky voice broke out from under the helmet of the leader of the Wild Hunt.
"What do you need her for?!"
"Why?"
I grinned.
"Don't you know what girls are for? Look at her."
I nodded at Ciri, who was just finishing off another monster.
"...we've known each other less than a week, she doesn't even know I'm a mage, and now she'll never know because I've already affected her mind. You know, uh. I should thank you."
"Thank you?"
"Yeah. you drove her so hard that when she got here, her mental component was severely compromised. It was so easy to affect her mind."
I shook my head.
"And now, even if someone told her to her face that I brainwashed her and she wouldn't believe it... she's already mine."
I grinned.
"You!"
"I..."
I grinned.
"I'll kill you!"
The orchenok was at me again, but I calmly activated the sandi and took a step to the side and put the energy blade of the tonfa exactly under his neck.
Punch!
The head of the orphan was literally torn from his body, and after taking a few more steps, it collapsed on the garbage that covered the landfill. The head flew about five meters and then fell to the ground, but did not stop, and jumped a couple of times from the ground and galloped a couple of meters.
The fighting around me has come to a standstill...
The Wild Hunt representatives couldn't believe that their leader had been dealt with so easily.
"Girls, enough of them, finish it..."
One order transmitted over the comms and the girls stopped dragging out the fight and dealt with the opponents rather quickly. In this battle we decided not to sanctify the minigun, leaving it for the future, so it was not possible to finish very quickly, the girls needed another two minutes to kill all the representatives of the Wild Hunt.
"That's it?"
Ciri was discouraged at how quickly and easily it was over.
"It's all about preparation, girlfriend..."
Becca patted her shoulder.
"Really, and if we hadn't prepared, it wouldn't have been a big deal... David could have handled all of them without a problem."
"You know, uh. I'm starting to believe that we can handle the Wild Hunt..."
Ciri gave a slightly strained and uncertain smile.
"By the way, of course you asked me to keep a brick face and not be surprised by anything, said you'd be talking crap... but was it really necessary?"
"Yeah..."
I covered my eyes.
"Given that you can't jump worlds on purpose, and we could still use the help of mages..."
"And how will your words help us?"
"I guess David thinks whoever they have in charge there will decide to go to your Geralt, Jenifer and Triss."
"Exactly..."
I nodded my head.
"You know what they say, if you can't do it yourself, make someone else do it. I think it won't be long before your tutor and his friends are told that you're in big trouble... maybe even the little elf who traveled with you."
"Hmm. and he can get them in here, too."
"Exactly. And, if we're to believe what you said about these Jenifer and Triss, they distrust outsiders enough not to step into an elf portal, which means he'd have to tell them how to build interworld portals and at the very least give out the coordinates of your world and this one."
"But..."
Ciri began to help me and Becca collect the armor that remained on the ground while the illusion bodies dissolved.
"...I mean, they can try to work it out for themselves..."
"They can... in fact, they'll probably try. But they won't get to you, so sooner or later, they'll turn to your loved ones in the hope that. that when they find out you're in trouble, they'll rush to your rescue. And when your loved ones are done with us, they'll come after you and take you from a more familiar enemy."
We collected the armor, and in the meantime Panam brought a car, into which we loaded them.
"All right, ladies, as agreed, Becca, Judy and Lucy will stay here now and keep an eye on things. We'll take over at night. We'll be on duty like this for the next week, longer if we have to..."
"I get it. Come on. Get out."
I cringed a little at Becky's words, nevertheless we all loaded up into the Cake2 and headed off to camp, well all except the ones I had left on guard duty.
"So, Ciri. is it time for a serious talk?"
"Well..."
She nodded her head doubtfully.
"...I guess I'm about to find out exactly what you want in return for saving me?"
"Uh-huh. teachers first and foremost. Fencing and magic. I don't know how much magic we're capable of, but fencing teachers will suffice in a pinch. Because nowadays, the art of swordsmanship has lost a little bit of its lethality. lost its lethality, and as a result, those who are really good with swords are almost extinct. And my fighting style.
I shrugged.
"...I generally prefer these energy bladed batons."
"I wouldn't say that art has lost its deadliness..."
Kiwi intervened in the conversation.
"There are just better ways to kill your neighbor."
"That's it?"
"No of course not, but the rest of it."
I looked wistfully out the window.
"...it will be necessary to discuss with your neighbors, because without their help we can not establish a stable portal, as well as our registration in your world in the form of a kind of witches..."
"Huh???"
Ciri was shocked by my words.