Collapse, Showdown, the Spell for Crossing Worlds – Part 06

“Evasive action!”

Even if she seemed unreliable, Selyse’s situational judgment was sharp. Facing a group of ten giant horses would be a battle of attrition. Horses were fast but only moved in a straight line; they couldn’t change direction quickly.

After overshooting Selyse’s group, the giant horses circled back toward them.

“Sara! Smoke screen at 10 o’clock!”

“Got it!”

Understanding immediately what Selyse intended, Sara deployed the smoke screen, which quickly enveloped them.

Meanwhile, five Cyclopes, one-eyed giants, approached.

“Unfortunately, your opponents are those guys.”

The giant horses burst through the smoke and collided with the Cyclopes. As one horse fell, another Cyclops grabbed its mane, only to be rammed by another horse, leading to a chaotic skirmish.

Wow. It never fails to amaze me how Selyse’s mind works in situations like this.

Sara couldn’t help but marvel at how skillfully Selyse managed everything.

And this smoke screen is incredible. I should stock up on these.

They didn’t need to take down every monster themselves. The key was using every resource at their disposal. If they could get the monsters to fight each other, that was clearly the better option.

“Above!” Selyse’s voice cut through the chaos like an arrow.

A dragon hovering overhead unleashed a blazing ball of fire. Resembling dripping liquid, it was likely burning some kind of fuel. If it hit, they’d be incinerated on the spot, bones included.

“Scatter!”

“Got it!”

“Okay.”

The three of them split up, dodging through the chaos between the Cyclopes and the giant horses. Sara spotted a chimera barreling toward Selyse and a giant snake slithering towards Serika.

What’s the best move here?

Watching Selyse fight, Sara realized it was smarter to turn the monsters’ strength against them rather than facing them directly. But with only one chimera in sight, Selyse quickly drew her magic sword and charged, deciding she could handle it.

Meanwhile, Serika was using water magic to further freeze the ground. No matter how large the snake was, it was still a reptile, and its movements were slowing down rapidly.

All I’ve got are some throwing knives, a bit of poison, and four smoke bombs. Not exactly ideal for dealing with a horde of monsters.

Sara decided to save the smoke bombs. They’d be more useful for an escape. Hikaru had given her these smoke bombs earlier, just in case.

Then, a shadow on the ground wavered. Did something happen to the dragons and birds above? When Sara looked up, she saw a winged dragon struggling to regain its balance.

Were they fighting each other? For a moment, she hoped the monster birds and dragons were turning on each other, but that wasn’t the case. The winged dragon soon steadied itself.

“What just happened?” she wondered.

A Cyclops had noticed Sara and was lumbering toward her. She dodged nimbly, leading it right into the path of a giant horse.

“What? What’s going on?”

As she kept an eye on the sky, Sara did not miss the next crucial moment. A streak of light shot through the air, zipping past the dragon. The creature lost its balance again, roaring.

“An attack from above?” Selyse muttered.

“We don’t want more hostiles joining the chaos!” Serika shouted.

“Someone’s attacking from far away! From the labyrinth!” Sara pointed toward the crashed labyrinth in the distance.

“Ah, I see.”

Selyse, unusually for her, had beads of sweat on her forehead and looked visibly tired. But she still managed a cool smile.

“Silver Face is over there. That’s all.”

“…”

There was a saying that love was blinding, but Sara believed the truth was more like, “love dulls your sense of reason, making it impossible to communicate even with close friends.”

---

I can do this. It’ll hit.

Hikaru’s heart pounded, but his finger moved smoothly, pulling the trigger as if it had a mind of its own.

Too much pressure, and the barrel might shift, causing a wild miss. With the cannon-like rifle Hikaru was using, a slight deviation when pulling the trigger usually wouldn’t matter much, but it did when trying to hit a target over a thousand meters away.

He could feel the subtle adjustments provided by his Projectile skill and the Blessing from his guild card. Normally, he had Stealth God selected on his card, but for the first time in a long time, he opted for the Common Projectile Hunting God: Hunter of Slingshot Blessing. It wasn’t exactly made for rifle shooting, but it still provided a solid boost.

The first shot missed by a wide margin, but the dragon panicked. The second shot came much closer, causing the creature to turn in his direction. It sensed the threat.

If it decided to flee, all the better. In the wild, birds would escape if they sensed danger. But winged dragons weren’t prey. They were predators. Once they spotted an enemy, they fought back.

“Next round!”

“Stop bossing me around! Wait, I think that Kruvold Red Wyvern is coming right at us.”

Hikaru, taking the ammo Soaarunay handed him, glanced at her.

“Kru—what?”

“Kruvold Red Wyvern. It’s got a flame sac that holds a heat stone over 800 degrees. Never mind that! It’s heading straight for us!”

The winged dragon circled and glided toward them.

“Of course it is. They retaliate when attacked.”

“How are you so calm? Kruvold Red Wyverns are vicious, carnivorous monsters!”

“I’ll hit it this time.”

“You missed twice already! And that was supposed to be a warning shot. I’m taking cover.”

“Wait.” Hikaru grabbed Soaarunay’s arm. “Make more ammo. That’s your job.”

“B-But…”

“You said I missed twice. But the second shot was close.”

Hikaru loaded the next bullet and peered through the scope. The winged dragon, just a speck on the horizon earlier, now filled the entire view as it closed in.

“The closer it gets, the bigger the target becomes.”

He pulled the trigger. The winged dragon’s right shoulder burst. It lost balance, disappearing from the scope as it veered left, then crashed just before the labyrinth. It bounced and rolled until it collided with the labyrinth’s edge.

“Next round.”

“O-Okay.”

Soaarunay, overwhelmed by Hikaru’s focus, muttered under her breath, “That was close. Was that a lucky shot? Why am I stuck in this terrifying situation?” as she prepared the next bullet.

I’m in luck.

During this time, Hikaru opened his Soul Board. His Soul Rank had just gone up. Without hesitation, he spent the new point on the Projectile stat, raising it to 3.

Weapon Mastery under Strength made one as skilled as an intermediate practitioner with just 1 point, and an advanced practitioner with 2. With 3 points, Hikaru was now on par with a master.

Selyse and the Knight Commander Lawrence of Ponsonia were still far above that level. Hikaru couldn’t help but see them as inhuman.

“I-It’s ready.”

Taking the next bullet, Hikaru adjusted his aim again.

My mind feels so clear, like a fog has lifted. Just leveling up once makes such a difference.

He could now gauge the distance to his target much clearly and sense even the slightest misalignment in the scope. He could hit it.

The next bullet flew toward another Kruvold Red Wyvern, just missing its head.

“W-Wait, did that hit?”

The bullet didn’t strike the winged dragon directly, but the shockwave from its close passage rattled the creature’s brain. It stopped mid-air, swayed, and plummeted. Even a winged dragon wouldn’t survive a fall from that height.

“Next round.”

“O-Okay!”

From that moment on, it was a one-sided hunt.

Hikaru kept firing the rounds Soaarunay handed him, one after another. With each shot, he grew more attuned to the scope’s alignment, sharpening his accuracy.

He hit targets with remarkable ease. Powered by mana, the rifle’s barrel remained cool, even after nonstop firing.

After downing another winged dragon and five giant birds, Hikaru’s Soul Rank increased again, pushing his Projectile stat to 4, and adding the Projectile Hunting God: Distant Marksman Blessing to his guild card.

“Next round.”

“…”

Soaarunay, who had been watching Hikaru in disbelief as he silently hit target after target, eventually fell silent herself.

But Hikaru didn’t have the luxury to pay her any attention. The number of enemies in the sky was dwindling, but the monsters on the ground had begun to turn their attention toward them.

The Cyclopes, which had been locked in a fight with the giant horses, turned to look towards the labyrinth. Slow-moving Treants, towering tree monsters, stopped moving, and the Chimeras were watching them closely.

“They’re coming!”

Shifting his aim from the sky to the ground, Hikaru first targeted the fast-moving Chimera. The monsters must have realized that it wasn’t safe on the ground either. That shot acted as a signal, sending the monsters surging toward them.

Perfect. Hikaru cheered inwardly.

He had focused on eliminating the aerial threats first, then managed to lure the ground monsters toward the labyrinth. This would protect the Man Gnome village and buy time for the Four Eastern Stars to retreat.

Just a bit more. He only needed to take down a few more before retreating into the labyrinth himself.