The same day at night, Sanjay was looking at the city wall through his night vision glasses. Behind him was a team of thirty people dressed in black combat uniforms. They were the best gunmen available, who would listen to his orders without any hesitation.
He had not been able to train them very well, but for this current timeline, this should work. One month ago, when he came to this world, he had used huge amounts of gold coins to create multiple spy networks and recruit people. Not only that, the spies, posing as merchants, had bought multiple houses near the city walls in most of the important cities he deemed crucial.
He also hired several people to build tunnels, but as a decoy, he tried to build a house on top of it so that the nobles wouldn't have any doubts. Through the spy merchant, he also paid corrupt nobles with large amounts of gold coins. After receiving the gold coins, the nobles paid no attention to what the rich merchant wanted to do with the poor people.
The tunnel opened outside the city wall, in the forest. After confirming everything was prepared, Sanjay opened the wooden tunnel door, which was covered with leaves, and entered. The tunnel was dark, but with the night vision on, the soldiers had no trouble navigating.
After slowly moving through the tunnel, they finally exited after fifteen minutes on the inside of the wall, in the basement of the house. Upon exiting the tunnel, he saw two people waiting for him on the other side. They were his spies.
"Good job, guys." Sanjay handed them a pouch of gold coins. Seeing the pouch, they were extremely happy.
"Are there any changes to the previous locations?" Sanjay asked to ensure there were no surprises.
Sanjay already knew the locations of important places inside the city. He had received that information before the war, but he wanted to confirm once again.
"Yes, sir, all the locations are still the same. We confirmed once again after the last battle. But the security in those areas has been tightened," the spy frowned, saying that.
"No problem. You did your best." Sanjay said and signaled his teammates to start the plan.
The thirty-person team was divided into three teams, with ten people in each, led by one of the soldiers. All three teams had different missions.
Team 1's mission was to create chaos wherever they could. The second mission was to set fire to the army camp where the soldiers were resting. The third team, led by Sanjay, had the most difficult task. He had to complete his mission with precise timing amid the chaos.
All three teams exited the building, and after dodging the patrolling soldiers, they reached their locations.
Team 1's destination was the bell tower situated in the middle of the city. That place was ideal for an attack, as it was high up and arrows wouldn't be able to reach there. As soon as they reached near the tower, they saw three soldiers talking to each other about something.
The team leader checked his watch, a newly gifted one from the prince. The time they had all decided upon had come. He signaled his teammates. They nodded.
He aimed at the three soldiers and fired.
"Thud" sounded, and the three soldiers fell before they knew what had happened. The sound was so loud that all the people nearby woke up from their sleep. The soldiers ran towards the tower. Five soldiers stayed near the stairs covering the door, and the other five went to the top of the tower to start their round of destruction.
Team B also heard the sound. The team leader smiled. He also opened fire from the rooftop of a building into the soldiers' tents. Some of them threw grenades, which only they were trained in. According to the prince, these round balls were very dangerous, so not everyone could handle them like the guns. After seeing the demonstration, they trusted him.
The grenades fell between the duke's army camp and caused a huge blast.
"Bhoom"
Hearing the commotion, every duke soldier rushed out of their tents. Some soldiers were naked, and they were immediately shot when they came out. Hearing the thunder-like sounds, there was chaos everywhere. A few of the tents caught fire as well.
Sanjay heard the commotion, and now his mission would proceed. Hearing the chaos inside the city, the new commander, who had been keeping an eye on the enemy movement outside, turned around and rushed inside the city. Upon hearing this sound, he knew that the enemies had somehow entered. He grabbed his sword, and with a few soldiers, rushed towards the location.
Seeing the enemy commander rushing toward the commotion inside the city, Sanjay noticed a lack of security for a few moments. Seizing this opportunity, Sanjay's team entered the city wall through the door of the hollow portion.
"Hey, who are you?" one of the soldiers saw them—several people dressed in black clothes.
Sanjay shot him.
"Let's move quickly", he said to his teammates.
Hearing the sound, a few more soldiers approached, but Sanjay's experience in special forces was not something to underestimate. He and his team bulldozed their way through the enemy soldiers—no one escaped the bullets.
With their night vision, they could see much better than the enemies. A few minutes later, they finally reached the mechanism controlling the door. A huge rope was tied to the door and connected to a wheel mechanism used to open or close it.
Understanding the simple workings of the mechanism, Sanjay threw a grenade into it. A few seconds later, "Bhoom!" The sound of the explosion echoed, and the mechanism was completely destroyed.
Immediately after, a massive crashing sound followed as the huge city gate fell to the ground, creating an opening to the city.
Seeing the gate open, the commander of the prince's army shouted, "Soldiers, march!"
The soldiers began marching toward the gate as quickly as they could, fearing it might close again. Seeing that the gate had opened and the prince's army was advancing, the archers on the city wall began firing arrows downward. No matter what, they could not allow the enemy to enter.
As soon as the first round of arrows was fired, the sound of gunfire erupted from behind. One by one, the archers fell. Only around ten thousand archers were stationed on the city wall. Though the duke's army had one hundred thousand archers in total, not all of them could stand on the wall due to space limitations.
The gunfire came from Sanjay and his team, who had started targeting the archers to reduce casualties among the advancing soldiers. But it was no easy feat to take down five thousand archers in a short time.
The archers, seeing their comrades fall, initially assumed the shots came from outside the wall. However, the sound was too near. Turning around, they saw a group of ten people dressed entirely in black, using "witchcraft" with their sticks to kill their companions. Enraged, they rushed at them with swords—only to be gunned down. A single bullet was enough to end their lives.
A few archers tried firing arrows at them, but when the arrows hit their black outfits, they fell harmlessly to the ground. Sanjay smiled. He and his team were wearing tactical bulletproof vests with ballistic polyethylene plates inside. Even modern weapons would struggle to penetrate them.
Carefully coordinating their attack, Sanjay's team managed to take down most of the archers.
While dodging arrows and firing at the remaining archers, Sanjay's instincts suddenly kicked in. He dove to the side just as an arrow made of ice zipped past his face and struck a rock behind him. The rock exploded into pieces.
Looking up, he saw a girl with a bow, standing about one hundred meters away, firing another ice arrow. Sanjay dodged again. As the ice arrow flew past his face, he could feel the immense energy within it. If the arrow hit him, it might not kill him, but it would certainly leave him severely injured. Each arrow felt like a rocket launcher firing at him.
After two near misses, before she could conjure her third weapon, Sanjay fired his gun at her. But just as the bullet was about to hit her, it stopped midair against a shield surrounding her.
"What the hell?" Sanjay muttered. That's a mana shield.
Mana shields could only be achieved at level thirty. A person with a mana shield couldn't be killed without using mana weapons or direct mana-based skills.
Is she some kind of high-level human? But people aren't supposed to come down to the lower floors like this. Only until the fifth floor can anyone descend, and even then, their power is restricted.
Sanjay had no idea who she was, but he knew he needed to research this later.
For now, he had to figure out how to deal with her. Should he use his water jet, or would it be better to replicate fire? Since the girl was using ice-related skills, the fire might weaken her.
Will my fire replicate work? It's created with mana, so it should.
Thanks to his intelligence stat of eight, his thoughts raced, and within milliseconds, he devised a plan.
Seeing her shield still active, the girl smirked and began creating another arrow in her bow.
Then something unexpected happened. Sanjay stepped forward, lowered his gun, and shouted, "Fire Gun!"
A massive stream of fire erupted from his hands like a jet. Sanjay compressed the fire output to its maximum, turning it into a concentrated hose of flames. The fire scorched everything in its path and reached the girl. Her shield rose to block it, but after a few seconds, it shattered, and she was thrown back.
Seeing her thrown away by the blast, Sanjay stopped the Fire Gun. He glanced at his hands. They were badly burned, but he was suppressing the pain. His mana was completely depleted.
Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out a mana potion and drank it. Then, he retrieved a health potion and drank that as well. Slowly, his burned hands began to heal.
"Okay, this works for now," Sanjay muttered, taking his gun back into his hands. He felt far more comfortable wielding a gun. Slowly, he moved toward the girl who had been thrown back by the force of his attack. Everyone else caught in the flames had been burned to a crisp.
His entire team advanced cautiously, staying alert as they approached the girl lying on the ground. Though they were still being attacked, the frequency of arrows had dropped significantly. Not long after, the sounds of soldiers entering through the gate echoed loudly.
"Long live the prince! Long live the prince! Long live the prince!" cheers erupted from outside the city.
Hearing the victorious shouts, Sanjay knew they had already won half the battle. With guns now part of their arsenal, it wouldn't take long to secure full control of the city.
Reaching the girl, Sanjay crouched and checked her pulse. She was still breathing, though unconscious. She didn't appear to be physically injured. Even after taking the full force of his mana attack, she had survived. The shield must have absorbed most of the power. Are all the players this powerful?
No, Sanjay thought. It's not possible. When I shot the two players in the previous battle, there were no shields protecting them.
His eyes were drawn to a crystal pendant she was wearing. Is this a mana item? He had read about such items during his research on the tower. Mana items were created inside the tower and were extraordinarily expensive. Some were one-time-use, while others could be recharged.
Curious, Sanjay touched the crystal pendant, hoping to replicate it later.
He searched the girl for additional items. Given her apparent wealth, she should have more treasures. Even he carried mana and health potions. However, after checking her multiple times, he found only a small leather pouch.
What's this? Disappointed, he wondered if the pendant was the only valuable item she possessed.
Holding onto his last shred of hope, Sanjay reached into the small leather pouch. To his surprise, he felt multiple objects inside. What is this? He pushed his hand further in—and his entire arm went in up to the shoulder.
"Holy shit, is this the legendary storage space?" Sanjay exclaimed, wide-eyed. He had read about storage spaces in manga and novels, but he never imagined they could exist in this world.
Turns out I was the dumb one, he thought. This is what happens when you jump into things without prior information.
He wished, like in other transmigration stories, he had received the memories or knowledge of his predecessor. If only sixteen years of knowledge had been directly embedded into his mind, everything would be much easier. But no matter how much he wished, it wouldn't happen. He would have to figure things out on his own.
Determined, Sanjay decided to keep the pouch for later examination. He thoroughly checked the girl for any other legendary items, but except for her dress, there was nothing else. And he wasn't interested in checking under her dress—it wasn't even her real body, so it hardly mattered.
Sanjay tied her legs, hands, mouth, and eyes securely and instructed the soldiers to keep a close watch on her when she woke up. The soldiers nodded and acknowledged his orders.
He then took five soldiers and began clearing out any remaining archers who could still pose a threat.
The next morning, as the sun rose, Sanjay and his forces successfully conquered the duke's castle. Standing before the defeated duke, Sanjay raised his gun and shot him in the head.
With the duke's death, the battle for Aston Province was finally concluded.
Exhausted, Sanjay returned to the camp to rest and plan his next move. The remaining tasks could be handled by his subordinates.