Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 5 | Day 17 | Monday

Whilst perched on a thick tree branch of a tree nearby, but not too close to our flag, I look through the scope of my rifle at the enemies’ flag, located at the peak of their starting hill. As I do so, a faint smile begins to stretch across my face.

“As expected…” I mutter at the sight of the sniper, spear user, and one of the sword users standing guard at their flag.

Looks like I was right about Arthur being cautious. And considering that he – a bow user – is among the two that are missing, it’s likely that they’re together.

The only question that’s left is which direction did they go…

If they went down the right side, then they’re bound to run into Aidan, Rebecca, and Sophia at some point. But if they went down the left side…

I take my eye from the scope for a second to look down at Cyria – who is standing beneath the tree closest to the flag – before nodding when I see her look at me.

She nods back and tightens her hold on her sword’s handle.

Hmm, she looks a little nervous.

I turn my attention away from her before looking through my scope again at the enemy team’s sniper, only to find him walking down the other side of their hill and leaving my range of sight.

Looks like he’s finding his own shooting position.

I focus on the hill for several more seconds in an attempt to find where he’s going before focusing on the other two, who I did manage to spot as they were finding cover, after failing to find the sniper.

“So far so good,” I whisper into the id card sitting on the branch next to me. “Three of them stayed back with their flag. But I’ve lost track of their sniper, so watch out for him.”

“Gotcha,” I hear Aidan answer back from the call on the card.

I turn my focus towards the hills on the right side of the valley before attempting to see if I can find Arthur and the sword user. However, after only a minute of doing so, the red countdown at the center of the room reaches zero and Instructor Leo’s voice rings out throughout the simulator.

“The no-combat period has finished. You may now enter combat whenever you wish.”

As soon as he says that, I turn my rifle towards the enemies’ flag, only to hear a gunshot echo from the direction of the enemies right as a flash of movement catches my eye from one of the trees on a hill further back from their flag.

Right after that, I spot the tree Cyria is hiding behind get damaged out of nowhere before she stares at it with her eyes wide.

“Get down Cyria!” I shout before turning my rifle towards the location of the movement I had seen.

As I’m examining the tree through my scope, I hear movement coming from down below – likely from Cyria.

Suddenly, another gunshot echoes from their side, except not from the sniper this time.

Looks like the others have run into them.

As if on cue, Rebecca’s voice comes in on the call, with the sound of the thrumming of a bow string being released coming along with it, “We found both of them, but they seem to be stalling for something.”

More movement from near their flag catches my eye, and I find their spear user rushing straight out of his cover towards the hills on the right side of the valley.

“Spear user incoming,” I say into the id card before focusing my rifle on him.

The distance between the two flags is around a little over half a kilometer, so I should be able to make the shot.

What I’m not sure about though, is how many shots it’ll take…

I shake my head to clear it of thoughts like that before focusing on the shot, aiming just slightly ahead of him.

This battlefield doesn’t have any wind, and the distance isn’t too far either.

After taking a deep breath, I pull the trigger, only to miss my first shot, alerting the spear user to my presence. The man stops running for a second and turns his head towards me as my rifle quickly reloads itself for another shot.

He stopped?

Not wasting a single second, I take aim at the idiot before he can continue moving and pull the trigger. However, just a single second later, I grunt in pain as a second gunshot echoes through the simulator from their hill and a bullet goes straight into my shoulder.

I ignore both the shot, and Cyria’s gasp as she likely watches my wound rewind itself, to focus on the spear user.

By the looks of it, I winged him in the shoulder, just like the enemy sniper got me.

“Spear user is injured now,” I state into the id card call before turning my focus towards the tree where the sniper’s hiding again, only to find him pointing directly at me as well.

Then, with my shoulder fully healed, and the bullet having been pushed out of it, I quickly set up a shot and fire in the direction of the sniper’s head. However, at the same time, I hear his own gun let loose a bullet of its own that wings me in the eye.

“Shit!” I grunt through gritted teeth before letting the wound heal itself and looking back through the scope again, only to find their sniper with a blue and purple barrier around himself that then vanishes with him along with it.

Not sure where my shot hit him, but apparently it would’ve been fatal enough to kill him, considering that the BFS teleported him out and protected him from the shot.

I let out a sigh before lowering my rifle slightly and feeling my waist for another cartridge of ammo whilst glancing at Cyria, who I find staring wide-eyed at me with her mouth slightly agape.

“I’ll explain later,” I tell her before replacing the ammo cartridge on my rifle and taking aim again at their side as the rifle reloads on its own. “But for now, go across the valley towards their flag. Their sniper is down.”

With their sniper out of the picture, I turn my rifle back onto the spear user, who I find limping over towards a tree whilst holding his shoulder. Once he reaches it, he begins to pull out a first aid kit from his bag.

The corner of my mouth arcs slightly in the start of a smile before I focus on him and take a deep breath to relax myself from the adrenaline running through me.

Wasn’t sure at first why the instructor put so much importance on us learning first aid right away, but now it makes more sense.

This definitely isn’t a class for the weak hearted.

And with that thought in mind, I focus on the shot before pulling the trigger just as the spear user begins wrapping his shoulder in a bandage, sending the shot going straight towards his neck instead of his head like I had aimed for.

Fortunately, it seems to be enough, because just like with the sniper, a blue and purple barrier appears around the man before he disappears.

I then turn my attention towards the valley to find Cyria running across it with her sword drawn.

With this, we should be able to take their flag without any real problems.

Although…

I turn my rifle back towards the flag before looking for their last remaining member, excluding the two that are fighting with Sophia, Aidan, and Rebecca.

Where’s that last sword user?

If I were to take a guess, I’d say he’s probably hiding from my shot. But he won’t be able to do that when Cyria gets there, so I’m not sure what he’s planning.

Will he come out and risk it? Or just hide away until the red blanket comes up?

I use my scope to look at both sides of the hill before focusing on the sounds of gunfire coming from the hills on the right side of the valley.

Unfortunately, they’re out of my sight due to the hills themselves. Which was likely planned by Arthur in the first place; in case we ended up going down the same direction.

I frown slightly before refocusing on Cyria as I ask through the call, “How’s the battle progressing?”

A few seconds pass before I hear Rebecca answer.

“Not as well as we’d like. Both Sophia-” she pauses here as the sound of a bow string thrumming echoes through the call, followed by a gunshot, “-and Aidan are injured at the cost of the enemies suffering the same.”

Oh? They’re having some difficulties?

That’s interesting.

It’s three versus two and they seem to be almost even despite that.

I kind of expected as much from Arthur, considering that he’s their team leader, and always seems to be the first to answer any question asked in Fundamentals of Fire, but that other sword user seems a little interesting as well.

Although, it doesn’t matter much in the end.

“I’ve taken out both their sniper and the spear user, and Cyria is crossing the valley now towards their flag,” I inform her while turning my scope back onto the enemy flag, only for the sky to turn red above the valley right before I find the missing member of the enemy team finally coming out from behind a hill.

My eyes narrow slightly as I see him walking up to their flag, likely spurred on by the fact that my bullets can’t reach him through the red blanket.

“Cyria, there’s a sword wielder at their flag,” I speak into the id card, “if you take him down, or even just get past him to the flag, then we win.”