It was decided that Erina's squadron was plenty to take care of the problem. Although Thom insisted against it, Suu had ended up taking a blade for her own and marched with them towards the place where they had been told the bandits hid.

A small abandoned fort was stationed between a pair of tall-enough hills, which had been constructed specifically for resisting siege from enemies coming from their direction. The fort was almost impossible to surround, since the valley was treacherous and filled with beasts, and the only comfort for humanity was said small construction between the hills.

However, Thom could make a supposition.

"If this fort is pointing towards Pontya, that means this was originally not Kuulkiam territory. Since this is a conquered area, the siege must have been successful once before."

He surmised. Erina nodded happily at her lieutenant's conclusion.

They had been careful about their position. A strike at night like the one they attempted would lose it's value if they were discovered from half a mile away. They were careful not to use torches and didn't make use of the road towards the fort to keep their position undisclosed.

Although this maneuver had cost them two hours of walking, they had at the very least obtained a small strategic advantage.

The squadron had been divided into two. They had separated an hour before the stop at an intersection, and now stood a hundred meters away from each of the fort's front towers. The gates were broken enough that they wouldn't be a problem, but the bandits waiting for them was something else.

The two main towers had two shooting windows each separated vertically by 10 feet of stone and at the top, each of the towers possessed a flat area bordered by stone walls, with holes big enough for archers to shoot and throw rocks through with not much difficulty. Thom started to understand what made forts such marvellous defenses, and his confidence dwindled by the second.

Erina touched Thom's shoulder while the soldiers behind him readied their bows, and whispered.

"If this was a fort occupied by a company of trained soldiers, it would be okay to fear. But these guys didn't even notice us arriving. I don't think you should be too afraid."

She passed him a bow and a single arrow with a bag tied to its head. They had discussed it before, this lonely arrow was the signal to opening fire from both sides.

The bandits were stationed four at the top, and four at the windows. They were eight in total, but Erina's squad had ten people capable of being reliable firepower. The only difficulty they could face was the bandits wearing plate, but such a thing was already difficult for soldiers of high ranks, so Thom couldn't imagine a bandit wearing one.

The window holes were only big enough for arrows to pass. The easiest targets were the ones on the roof. If they failed in killing even one of them, they'd have to change into a full-frontal assault. With how much time the bandits had been stationed in the fort, they had probably already arranged for such a situation. Their probabilities weren't cero, but on a frontal attack, their lives were at the chopping block with every passing second.

"So let's ace this." Thom exhaled deeply once more, feeling the anxiety escape from his stomach.

He placed the arrow on the bow, something he had never done before. It felt incredibly unnatural and weirdly angled— how could people use a bow in the first place?

"Lower your elbow..." Erina whispered.

"Ah..."

He did as she had said, and the string became much calmer without losing its tension. His hands were still trembling, but he knew his aim wasn't bad enough to miss a target that big. He had never shot before, but for that same reason, he would have to shoot as best as he could.

The black flag waving in the warm breeze. When I hit the center, my soldiers will fire. Ha... Why did I accept this?

If he missed the shot, the paint at the end might not explode, and the flag may not be tainted red. If such a thing happened, his soldiers would not shoot in time. The bandits would escape and would call for reinforcements. Even if they didn't die, they would be forced to retire immediately. In the worst-case scenario, his bad aim could potentially lead to the whole squadron being massacred— and his hands started to sweat.

"Wait." He put the bow down and cleaned his forehead.

"What is it?" The soldiers on his squadron started to complain and loosen the strings of their bow.

Thom didn't answer their question, and simply searched through his bag for something. Their confused faces didn't fade away until the lieutenant finally pulled from its inside a mask— something that was way too big to fit inside— and sighed in relief. The wooden mask was carved to look like the front view of an eagle, with details so intricate that one would call it a waste of time even over it's beauty.

[Mask Of True Shot. While wearing this mask, the user will find his arms to automatically accommodate to his line of sight. Although good to use while using a bow, and nothing else, it could prove to be extremely bothersome if used while doing mundane chores.]

Thom put the mask on his face, and it seemed to adhere to his skin. He closed his eyes, and grabbed the bow and arrow, pointing it again at the black flag.

His pulse was equally as unsteady, his positioning was a mess, and the force put into the pull felt incredibly off. However, he now was sure of where the arrow was pointing.

The arrow escaped the string like a praying hawk. It cut through the air and made its way to the flag, exploding into a cloud of red after the impact.

As soon as the flag was tainted red, the bandits were awoken from their stupor and alerted. However, their awareness of the situation didn't last long. As soon as they looked at the hills and saw between the rocks and the trees a shimmering light, it had already reached their bodies.

The ones on the top were the easiest to hit. The throat, the chest, and even the eyes. Each singular shot was a mortal one, and their corpses quickly tilted forward and fell down the tower.

It was much harder to find if the arrows had hit on the windows, so the archers were reading their bows once again to shoot even before anything happened.

Thom took off the mask, and gave a firm nod towards Erina. The bell inside the fort hadn't rung, so it was only possible to assume all the night watch had been killed off. There also wasn't a single movement from the bandits' side. No shooting, no yelling.

"Did we get even the ones on the windows?" One of the soldiers asked in disbelief.

"It doesn't seem probable." Thom frowned. "But it seems like we don't have a way of making sure. We should continue with the plan."

Everyone besides Thom nodded.

As soon as they started going down the hill, they saw the other group going down as well. There hadn't been any aggressive response from the bandits.

Erina was given a rope with a hook at the end, and she lightly threw it 40 feet up in the air and latched it to the top of the towers. Thom pulled from it to verify it's sturdiness, and nodded.

"I'll be first. I'll wait for you at the top."

Thom began to climb his own rope, and on the other side, Suu had already started doing the same. Perhaps because of the hardness of his skin, he wasn't worried about hurting himself if he fell down, so he wasn't particularly scared of falling down.

Well... He looked down. I'm sure a few bones could break.

When he had already reached the first window, at the same time as Suu was getting to the first window on her side, he took a small break to peek inside.

He saw a man with an arrow sticking out of his chest, and a small pool of blood surrounding him. He looked at Suu, who returned a smile as if confirming that the one on her side was dead as well. He let the relief set in for a while, and then signaled to Suu with his head that she should continue to climb, as he resumed as well.

However, as soon as they placed their feet on the sill of the first window, a dagger poked out of the second.

"Wha—!" Thom opened his eyes and immediately secured a footing on the sill, but it was too late for maneuvers.

Shack

His feet failed him as soon as the rope was cut, and Thom fell twenty feet down to the ground.

He felt his bones crackle and the air vanish from his lungs after hitting the ground, and then, much to his dismay, a massive stone rolled down the tower with the intention to crush his skull.

"Lieutenant!"

A silvery crescent moon split away the darkness of the night, and the massive sphere of stone was cut in perfect halves, changing directions and hitting the ground by Thom's face. Erina stood at the hillside with her sword unsheathed, and the blade glowing with a silver aura.

Right, I think we've been discovered!

Thom stood up as soon as he could while unsheathing his sword, and looked at Suu's side for a split second. The girl had managed to dodge out of the rock's way and quickly took out her sword as well.

Good, she's okay!

Perhaps because of his distraction, he didn't notice until the last moment the bolt going his way, ready to pierce his chest.

"Uck!"

The bolt struck on Thom's shoulder as he tried to retreat, scraping his skin although failing to pierce.

The squadron began to ready their arrows to shoot at the newly-shown bandits, while Erina tried to protect herself on the hills, slowly advancing towards Thom. Arrows and crossbow bolts flew from side to side, the difference being in the bolts being pointed only towards Thom and Suu. Three men at each tower's top, and one in each of the top windows, all armed with crossbows, and opening fire on them.

One of the bolts hit Thom once more, but the ones aiming for Suu weren't as lucky. They managed to retreat several feet back, but most importantly, they made enough distractions for the archers.

The ten archers shot, and seven of them hit. One of the bandits was dead, most wounded, and as they took cover behind the walls to tend to their wounds, Suu and Thom took the chance to charge forward.

"Why aren't the bolts piercing you?!"

Thom asked Suu as he slashed at the thick iron bars of the fort's tattered gate, and made deep cuts at the 8 inch-wide cylinders.

"Same goes for you!"

She smashed her foot against the bars, asking Thom with a savage smile that denoted her excitement.

"Lieutenant, up!"

Thom and Suu raised their eyes, and saw the pots of boiling oil coming their way. They quickly pushed their feet on the ground and retreated several feet away from the gate, hopping backwards up the hill.

The floor started to sizzle with the annoying smell of oil, the grass in front of the gate withering and falling away. Erina quickly arrived by Thom's side with her shortened breath, pointing upwards while taking cover behind Thom.

"Tch."

Suu and Thom both clicked their tongue when looking up. The bandits at the windows above the gate laughed at them from their superior position, with more pots filled with boiling oil awaiting for them to get closer to the gate.

clank!

A bolt pierced the air heading directly for Erina's face, but Suu quickly butted her head in the way and the bolt was deflected off from her forehead, making only a scrap that quickly started to bleed.

"Hey! Are you okay?!"

"Of course!" Suu looked up. "How could I let a lady's face be damaged like that?"

"Erina, can I leave the gate to you?" Thom yelled, and grabbed the bow he had been handed earlier. "Suu, protect Erina."

"Even if you didn't ask!"

Two of the bandits had focused fire on Erina and Suu, the rest had been locked in a long-range battle with the squadron's archers, and many of them had already been wounded. If they were to enter a stamina battle the fort had an obvious advantage, so the battle could not extend itself any longer than it had already.

Thom put on the Mask Of True Shot as he received yet another bolt to the chest, and gritted his teeth in pain while aiming at the windows. He pulled from the string with trembling hands, but his trajectory was perfect—

One of the crossbowmen noticed him taking aim with no cover or far range, and immediately directed his bolt at him. Letting go of the string as his aim struck true, the bolt made a metallic sound against Thom's hand.

"Fuck!"

Thom felt his hand go numb from the bolt that had hit him between his mid and index finger, and his arrow had been shot stray to the fort's wall.

Another arrow pierced the head of the man that had just shot him, taking him down towards the ground. Thom felt bubbling remorse creeping up his throat, but the man that had shot him was already dead, so he pulled the string, and directed his eyes towards the gate.

He had aimed at the four men pouring acid from the fort, and shot. The arrow pierced one of the men's neck with a wet and hardy sound, making him drop the boiling pot to hold his throat, choking in blood until he eventually fell down the window.

Thom didn' think it was enough. He pulled from the string again as crossbow bolts hit the ground beside him, and shot. He hit another one, piercing their chest and rendering them stiff in a second.

「Learning successful. The job class skill [Archer] has been acquired. Aim and control have been greatly improved.」

His back suddenly tensed up and expanded like his muscles had been accommodated to possess the best pulling power they could use. His sight became impeccably sharp in a second, enough that the image of the bandits was clear like a drawing in front of his eyes. He smiled in delight as he felt the effects of the new skill taking over, and then, an unbearable pain spread across his face.

"Ack!"

Right after receiving the message from Skill Master, Thom felt his nose bridge crack under the pressure of something, and a river of blood exploded down his face. Then, the mask fell down towards the ground, split apart into two pieces.

A bolt had made it's way to his face, and had broken the mask as well. It was his own fault, for distracting himself in the middle of a battlefield, but he was still looking for culprits. Thom quickly pulled from the string after grabbing an arrow, as if it had been something he had done his whole life, without trembling or doubt, and shot.

He hit a man in the shoulder, and quickly retrieved another arrow from his quiver. He shot again at the same man, and before the arrow had even pierced the other shoulder, he had already grabbed another arrow, and shot again.

This time, having pierced the man's abdomen, he went for another arrow, and then another on the man's chest, until he finally grabbed a new one and landed the metal head right in the man's mouth.

The bandit coughed a mouthful of blood with a sorrowful face and fell down the tower. His corpse crackled under the pressure, but at such a gruesome scene he had caused, Thom simply scoffed.

「Learning successful. The active skill [Quick Shot] has been acquired. Upon activation, the user will be able to move his arms and eyes at a 200% quicker rate. It causes exhaustion upon repeated use.」

"[Quick Shot]!"

He shot another three arrows in less than five seconds at the towers, and the men that had been focusing fire on Erina immediately took cover.

"Now!" He yelled

The wounded Suu gave Thom a thumbs up. Erina inhaled an insane amount of air as her chest puffed up along with her cheeks, and she raised her arms behind her back, the greatsword engulfed in a silver aura like the one from before.

"Hmph—" She balanced her legs and her bulky arms were inflated even further. "Haaa!"

Erina swung down her sword with incredible might. A gust of wind pressed all the grass against the ground, and a half-moon appeared out of her dark blade as it clashed against the iron bars, cutting them like butter into pieces.

The crescent moon clashed against the second gate as well, and made deep cuts on the bars before dissipating in thin air. Erina fell powerless on the ground, and Thom ran by her side with a "Good Job!" As he barged inside the fort.

He crossed the first gate with a dash while evading the splashes of boiling oil, and then readied his sword while tossing the bow aside.

This was my whole damn idea, so I'll take care of this myself!

He cut the bars in half, as he advanced, and just when he was about to retreat to kick the gate down, he saw the image of a girl running like a dart beside of him.

Bang!

Suu's foot landed on the broken gate, which quickly leaned back and fell to the ground with a roaring, thunderous noise.

"Don't you dare go alone!"

She yelled with a smile, jumping back to land besides Thom.