After going through the entire battle plan on how we’re going to raid the enemy castle in the Teutoburg Forest both of our parties loaded up into wagons and set out on our way. Currently I’m feeling pretty good about this assault since we have so many people on our side, there’s no way that one guy could possibly be strong enough to take them all down. With Nazuko off on the stealth mission with Warren it’s actually been pretty quiet without her around. I think everyone’s starting to feel the anticipation of this upcoming battle. This is the endgame boss after all, just a few more fights until we can finally say we ended the rebellion.

“Ok since we’re almost there, I feel like we need to do a quick inventory check. Firstly since we restocked back at the last camp, we have about 30 healing potions in total. I'll redistribute them to you all now, each of us gets five. I think I already gave Nazuko her five already,” I say as I start emptying out all of the healing potions from my pocket dimension.

“There’s also the matter of stamina potions and scrolls that I still have. Ryder you should take a few, I can’t have you going down after only one big bomb,” I tell him.

“Nah today I’m on my game, I think I can fire about two of those without fainting,” Ryder responds.

“Oh let me have those scrolls, most of those are healing or support spells and I can use the most magic out of all of us so I should handle them. With these I’ll be able to use strengthening, speed up, and stamina restoration spells,” Azura informs.

“Cool, although I thought you already knew how to do most of that stuff without those one time scrolls,” Ryder mentions.

“Those types of magic aren’t really what I specialize in. I'm more of a healer/defensive support magician, but I USED TO be able to do them back when I still had my spellbook that YOU blew up on accident!” Azura answers somewhat angrily.

“Look that wasn’t my fault, that happened because I blew up a thief who stole your stuff one time and I thought grimoires like that can’t be easily destroyed!” Ryder argues.

“Ugh, it was handwritten by me and I didn’t have it protected with a safety enchantment at the time,” she bemoans.

Hmm, if Azura could cast those types of spells when in possession of the right spellbook then maybe one of the cursed books I have might contain that same knowledge. I searched through my pocket dimension for a bit and I think I may have found the right book. I take out a large hefty hard cover grimoire titled A Collection of Offensive Reinforcement Spells and drop it on Azura’s lap.

“Hey how about looking through that book to see if it could help,” I state.

“You just happen to have this book in your pocket dimension,” Azura says surprised.

“Well after Quincy kinda took the entire history section from Colonus’ library, he also took pretty much all of the magical spell books held deep in their basement. Since he found he couldn’t really use any of them, I kinda took a majority of them,” I announced.

“Wait, you mean your carrying with you the series of forbidden books that in the wrong hands could potentially destroy the world? The librorum prohibitorum is supposed to be kept deep underground for a very important reason. God if you weren’t slightly more responsible than Ryder I would be really concerned,” Azura complains.

“Hey what do you mean by slightly!” I say taking offense to her accusation.

“Remember North Point when you fought Ryder?”

“That was mostly his fault.” I say without remorse.

“That tornado you summoned went on for a few more miles and had to be stopped by Vasavir. Also remember the destruction of the fishing village back in Sonia. That was primarily your fault,” she reminds me.

“I was not solely responsible for that, that was mainly that one knight Scylla’s idea. That was her name right? I don’t really remember but anyways that entire trip was so stupid that town deserved to be destroyed.”

“I will never see pants the same way again,” Remi claims, remembering her trauma.

“Yeah that adventure was ridiculously stupid. I’m not sure Grandpa Borin will believe me when I tell him I saw a flying whale and dinosaur in the midst of a F-5 tornado,” Lilith asserts.

“Ugh I swear one of these days you are going to get held accountable for your actions,” Azura says as she starts examining the book.

Speaking of which I didn’t see either Scylla nor Elisa back at that huge military camp, nor did I spot them amongst the cohort that set out for the forest. I feel like something is wrong about that, but I don’t have the time to think about irrelevant thoughts right now. Suddenly the wagon we are in stops and the soldier who was driving it tells us to get out.

“First hero’s party we have arrived at the Teutoburg Forest. We have a visual on the enemies castle and we’ll go the rest of the way on foot. It is time to disembark,” the soldier commands.

We all exit the wagon and we witness a large mass of bluewood trees everywhere in sight. Looking ahead in the direction of the main road we can see a large castle that was pretty well hidden amidst all the trees. I’m not sure we’d be able to spot it even from the airship as all the foliage seems to block out the sunlight a bit. I can see that the barrier is still up judging by the reddish color surrounding the outskirts of the castle. I guess Nazuko and Warren haven’t made their move yet. I also see Quincy’s Warren’s party exit their wagon amidst all the soldiers running around getting into formation. The knights along with the old coot who would probably take 3 hours to go to the bathroom exit their wagon as well. I bet they had an exhilarating conversation, or probably not.

I think I see all the knights getting into formation with a large group of infantry, about 300 men positioned in the frontlines. Behind them are about 100 archers commanded by one guy (Quincy would be a nerd here and tell me that’s a centurion, stupid history knowledge) all of which are holding various types of ranged weapons and artillery. The rest of the men seem to be cavalry all riding on horses, they are all positioned in the back of the cohort. Usually cavalry are utilized to flank an enemy from the sides or behind, but with the only opponent being this archer guy I’m not sure if that matters. Although it’ll probably turn out to be better than the final battle in the Game of Thrones, honestly what idiot sends out all their cavalry to attack first? My party and Warren’s party (wait if Warren is not around then who takes command; probably the strongest person in the group), I mean Akane’s party are positioned in the backline along with the artillery weapons they brought along. Since Luther’s group is supposed to be guarding all of us they’re positioned in the backline as well.

“So this is a real military effort, huh given that we’re adventurers you’d never really see a large scale battle like this,” Azura comments.

“I know they even have artillery, but the trebuchets aren’t as good as the cannons I built them,” Ryder notes.

I take a look back at the artillery and indeed there are several cannons lined up alongside the trebuchets. Dang since when did Ryder have the time to build those? I did remember him walking off and messing with the spare materials back at camp.

“Wow given how impotent their military commander is, their formation is pretty competent,” I say.

“Will that’s rude that guy is probably the one who came up with this strategy,” Remi retorts.

Overhearing this comment Marianne comes in informing us on the battle plans.

“Yes the commander was the man who came up with this entire plan, it was a painful four hours for him to instruct everyone on the formation,” she groans.

“Spare me the details. I can feel that pain just thinking about it,” I respond.

“Ok so the plan is to wait until 0930 until we begin the charge. That gives Warren and Nazuko about 20 minutes from now to deactivate the barrier, otherwise we are moving in,” Marinanne states.

“Man I hope he’ll be okay,” I expressed.

“He? What about Nazuko?” Lilith asks.

“Precisely why I’m worried, Warren is with Nazuko, knowing her she’s probably an endangerment to Warren simply by existing which is bad considering they’re in the middle of enemy territory,” I claimed.

“That’s a bit harsh, don’t you have faith in your friend?” Marianne asks.

“Oh no I have absolute faith in Nazuko, she’ll outlive us all. I’m more worried about Warren.”

“Well either way we’ll know if their mission succeeds if that barrier goes down soon,” she states.

Everyone slowly waits for the next 20 minutes that feels like it’s lasting forever. Ryder is checking all his gear making sure he has all his bombs. Remi has her spirits at the ready, Lilith is just twiddling her thumbs in the corner. I’m just cleaning the little bit of dirt off my swords. Akane is sitting cross legged with her eyes closed like she’s meditating. Quincy is, to no one’s surprise, reading a book, but I can tell he’s feeling the pressure too as he’s muttering that he keeps losing his spot in the book as he continually looks up at the barrier. The only thing that’s normal is Nerva bullying Adam by slowly poking him over and over again.

Archer’s Intro

There’s an eerie feeling of silence that comes over everyone as we are silently waiting for someone to give the command to attack. Without a warning I feel a deadly aura emanating from the castle before us. Suddenly Akane stands up from her cross legged position and places her hand on her long katana.

“That’s him, that’s … Archer” Akane says seriously.

Wait, wait did that girl just say something not in her usual deadpan tone for once?

Yes I believe she did.

A man appears in the distance within the barrier and slowly walks forward to the edge of it.

Marianne pulls out a telescope focusing on the lone man standing before a cohort of 500 men.

“So that’s him, huh despite how strong he may be there’s no way that one man can defeat this large of an army,” she states.

“Can I see? Once I see a person I’m pretty good at gaging their strength,” I tell her.

She hands me the telescope and in the distance I can see a man with long black hair with slightly gray tips. Judging from his height I’d say he’s about 6 ft 5 a bit of a bulky build, but nothing like Sirius’s body although he has really defined shoulder and back muscles. He has an oval shaped face and a sharp chin with a very prominent jawline. Gear wise he’s wearing a gray trench coat with dark-red outlines and he’s equipped with what looks like 3 guns. One shotgun, a bolt action rifle and a revolver that you see in most western movies. His gaze changes from the army before him and stares right at my direction with his tiger like yellow eyes. I quickly put down the telescope and toss it to Quincy so he can see the final reaper before us.

“You better take a look at the guy whose boss you insulted, honestly I can’t tell if he’s staring at me or you, but if I’d have to guess it's probably you,” I tell him.

“Hmm, nah this guy doesn’t look that tough, there’s no way he could possibly defeat all 500 of these knights,” Quincy claims as he stares down Archer through the telescope.

For some reason I get the feeling that if he does somehow, by some impossible chance defeat all of these men, I can predict who Archer’s fire will be focused on.

“Hey Mythril what are we dealing with here? Was Akane just exaggerating or is there actually merit to her words?”

Perhaps there may be some merit to her words. His power is beginning to edge on the limits of my analysis.

Name

Amon

Class:

Archer -> D̴̤̙̔͝ḝ̶̪̔m̵͙̋͋ṓ̶̳̝n̷̞̒ ̸̪͍͒̑H̵̡̏u̷̱̰̎n̷̤̉t̴͓͐è̸̞̿͜ř̴̗́

Element:

Mastery of Electricity & Fire

Defense Level:

?̵̖͔͓̤̗͇̗́̅̒͜?̶̢̛̘̪̫͕͍̝̦̏͛̋̌̅͑̏͊̋?̶̱̈́̌̕?̴̲̭͓̞̎͒́̑?̵̡̮͚̘̲̦̫̆͐̉̐̾͊̋͌͆̐̆̑̕͘͝ͅͅ

Aura and Magic:

?̵̖͔͓̤̗͇̗́̅̒͜?̶̢̛̘̪̫͕͍̝̦̏͛̋̌̅͑̏͊̋?̶̱̈́̌̕?̴̲̭͓̞̎͒́̑?̵̡̮͚̘̲̦̫̆͐̉̐̾͊̋͌͆̐̆̑̕͘͝ͅͅ

“What this has to be a fluke, maybe you're just having an off day.”

I do not have off days, you need to take this seriously, this man is no joke.

“Well maybe he has a way of blocking your power, like that one magician.”

Except he’s not a magician, he’s an archer. A few significant things to note here are his two mastery over two elements, electricity and fire. These two allow him to empower his guns to a deadly degree of power and destruction. He can create a magnetic field allowing him to create markers which will pull in subsequent bullets to the previous points of impact. I can’t quite get an accurate read on the levels of his aura and magic power, but I can detect that he is aided by a particularly strong spirit. I would suggest exercising caution.

“He has a spirit on his side? How can you tell?”

I can feel it’s presence, it simply does not wish to reveal itself right now, but it should when he starts calling upon its power. For now it may be simply hiding within him, like I am hiding within you.

“Can you tell what its power will be?”

Not until it reveals itself, but since he’s not a tamer I can predict he doesn’t use it to attack. Instead it probably grants him an additional strength or enhancement.

There’s this form of unsettling silence as the two opposing parties stare down at each other, both prepared to strike at any moment. The next thing I know I witness a large flash of light and begin to see the barrier’s forcefield start to go away as the red surface cracks and breaks away. Warren and Nazuko did it, now all that’s left is for us to fulfill our side of the bargain. Marianne steps up and takes a deep breath breaking the silence.

“Men it is time for our final assault, CHAAAAAAAAARGE!” she yells with vigor.

Charge

With that declaration of battle I hear nothing but the screams of men all charging their way towards the lone man standing before them. A battalion of about 300 men start charging their way at Archer yelling at the top of their lungs. Soldiers equipped with swords, lances, axes all make a straight dash at Archer with about 400 feet separating the two. At that moment I felt as if we were invincible, as if there was no possible way we could be defeated. The distant man with a gray trench coat then fires one shot with his rifle right down the line of men before him. That bullet was fired with such speed and intensity that none of the soldiers could react. A large explosion is seen right at the center of the battalion sending dozens of men flying through the air. The knights seem unfazed by this gesture and continue their unrelenting charge at Archer before being met with sudden explosions erupting at the ground beneath their feet.

“Oh come on, this dude got landmines set, that ain’t fair,” Quincy states looking through the telescope.

“Why wasn’t that in the report that reaper filed on Archer!” Marianne complains.

“I was unaware of his complete fighting style, in past fights he only ever bothered to use his rifle against me. He was simply that strong and disregarded the rest of us to such an extent,” Akane claims.

“Tch, never mind that now, someone tell the centurion to order his men to start firing!” Marianne yells out to the nearest soldier.

“Yes ma’am!” a young knight answers.

“And send the cavalry now, we may gain an advantage if we use our current time to get the horses in position.”

I barely hear the man in charge of the ranged squads yelling to his men to fire and thus volleys of arrows are launched into the sky in the direction of the castle. All the arrows seem to contain various different magical effects, some being on fire, iced and a few other different elements. There’s a bit of difficulty with all the trees, limiting how many soldiers can fire at once. The trebuchets and cannons begin to fire upon the castle as well, adding to the amount of pressure being placed upon Archer. Flaming stones and cannon balls begin to assault the battlefield as well as setting off a few mines here and there. Yet the man in the gray trench coat walks through all the artillery unharmed, proceeds to take one look at the siege weapons in the back of the army. Lighting surrounds his rifle and with the sound of an explosion I see the trebuchet no less than 30 feet away get obliterated in the blink of an eye.

“Oh crap, no one told me he would be that strong,” I say looking at the destruction before me.

“I told you he was that strong, and so did Monk at some point. I’m sure Thief’s dying words probably had something to do with Archer as well,” Akane says in her slightly less than usual deadpan tone.

Don’t panic Will, it’s not time to panic yet. Just do what you always do when you have a problem that needs to be dealt with. Have Ryder blow it up.

“Ryder I think this is a pretty good time to send out that huge blast you are always keen on using, aim for the castle,” I recommend.

Heh, this is perfect since no one’s around, this will deal with our little landmine problem, and I don’t think the horses have circled around yet.

“Alright, I’m going to blow this last reaper to hell,” Ryder says as he gets fired up and begins his chant.

“Heavenly Mother of Explosions

Hear my Call and answer my prayers

Let this star’s final act shine bright

And Give Birth to a SuperNova

MOAB!”

As Ryder finishes his chant a large bomb appears behind Archer landing right between him and the castle causing a massive explosion in the distance and the resulting shockwave could be felt all the way here from the backline. Before Ryder collapses Azura catches him and gives him a stamina potion to replenish his strength.

“HA, a direct hit, how’d you like that!” Ryder exclaims throwing his fist right in the air.

“That had to do something, if it didn’t we might be in big trouble,” Remi claims.

“Do you have ten more of those? Preferably a hundred would be ideal,” Akane affirms.

“Say what now?” I gasp.

“Are you kidding me right now? Ryder can only do that once a day, and even with the stamina potion, it’ll be a few more minutes before he could do it again,” Azura informs her.

As the smoke from Ryder’s blast clears our fears were confirmed, a lone man steps out from the smoke with his purple aura surrounding him. He stares at us with a smile on his face, implying that such a blast felt like a fitting warm up. The castle behind him looks like it’s at least taken a small amount of damage, but only its exterior walls seem to have taken the brunt of the damage. Warren, Nazuko if that affected you two in any way I’m sorry I’ll take part of the blame, but I’m sure you two are probably dealing with something bigger right now.

The next significant thing that happens is the charge of the cavalry taking Archer on the sides and behind him. They must have moved in under the cover of all the smoke and ash. However Archer maintains his position as horses charge him on all sides. One lance wielding knight is the first to approach Archer from behind and charges him with the intent to pierce him with his lance. In response, Archer simply points his shotgun over the shoulder without even looking and blasts the head off the knight. As all the horses continue to charge forward, Archer jumps up into the air and points his shotgun straight at the ground beneath him. A streak of red surges as the mana builds up and is let loose unto the unsuspecting knights below. A large fiery explosion is unleashed and we can hear the screams of men running around from being burned alive.

“Oh god, it’s a massacre out there,” I say horrified at Archer’s slaughter.

The horses made no difference, all these knights made so little difference, I can’t tell if he’s toying with us or not. This entire time he’s had this wicked smile on his face, his attitude tells me this slaughter is just him killing time until he inevitably faces us. Maybe not all the knights were that strong to begin with, most of them probably don’t even scale to someone like Luther or Marianne, but still they should have been able to cause some damage. I don’t think anyone was expecting to have a fight of this proportion.

“D-don’t worry we still have about a hundred and fifty knights,” Adam observes.

Even with that large of a force it doesn’t take long for Archer to whittle down the rest of the cohort before him. He quickly takes care of the rest of the cavalry and infantry knights. A good portion of the archers are gone from a few select explosions. Dead bodies litter the battlefield, the smell of scorched bodies and blood fill our noses. A few knights attempt to run away from the terrifying man, taking cover behind the massive trees in the forest, but somehow it feels like the bullets curve as they manage to perfectly find their targets regardless of their positions. Archer finishes off the last remainders of the cohort by firing his pistol, killing the last of the knights that dared to approach him.

“I-I take it back we’re dead, we’re so dead,” Adam whimpers as he gets behind Quincy.

“Nah we still have some of the strongest knights left, we have Luther and his best friend,” Quincy assures us.

“That statement is untrue, I am not his best friend, but nevertheless the first part is. Let’s teach this abomination of a man the true power of the imperial knights,” Ricon says as he steps forward into the battlefield.

As he walks forward through the forest, bow in hand suddenly a large monstrous hand erupts from the dirt and grabs a hold of Ricon.

“Wha-What is this monstrosity!” Ricon claims as the large hand covers him entirely.

The next second the hand then pulls the Imperial Knight deep underground separating him from the battlefield.

“What the heck was that? Was that a demon? He has demons on his side!” I yelled.

“Ugh, we can’t leave Ricon alone. He might be in serious trouble, I’m sorry, but we’ll be back to help as soon as we can,” Marianne tells us as she jumps into the large hole left by the demonic hand.

“Do not despair my friends, for you have my disciples on your side, with that you are truly ensured victory, however a true gentleman does not abandon his best friend. Do not worry my friend I am coming, HIYAAAAH!” Luther yells as he jumps into the large hole following Marianne.

“...” Anastasia tells us as she follows after Marianne and Luther’s lead.

“Good luck to you too!” I yelled to her as I witnessed her jump into the large hole.

Welp with all the knights standing before us defeated or missing the only ones left to defeat Archer is our last two parties.

“Quincy...”

“Yeah Will?”

“We’re fucked aren’t we?”