Chapter 98: Night of terror
Joonbum felt his breath go heavy even before he joined the fight. It was his first time aiming a gun at a human. It was not out of fear, but it was out of anticipation of the battle. Doral explained that it was normal for a first-timer.
“Joonbum! Is your heart pounding like mine too?” Pav asked, and Joonbum nodded. Aiden seemed to be breathing heavily too.
“Ugh, my heart is like a drum.”
Aiden held his hand to his heart. All of them were further away from the battlefield, but they could still sense the tense atmosphere. It was nothing like hunting monsters.
‘It is different.’
Joonbum placed down his sniper rifle and turned on the night vision scope. He saw the mercenaries behind the fences and shields, preparing themselves for the attack.
‘I wish they would run away.’
If they ran away, the Ainos were ready to let them go. But they did not. Instead, they strengthened their defenses, showing that they did not intend to back off.
‘We have to break them.’
Joonbum aimed at the head of a man and put his finger on the trigger.
‘I have to destroy the chain of command first.’
It was the best way. They would surely fall back if they lost their leader.
A sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the forest and all of living beings that were sleeping woke up, screaming about the forest.
They were not aware of what had happened after the first gunshot, but people soon began screaming. Joonbum carefully aimed at the men who were ordering the others frantically and began taking down all the leaders. Then a scream of defeat was heard when he managed to bring down a man.
“Grigg! Captain is dead!”
“AHH!”
“Our squadron leader died!”
Everyone was confused. Those who failed at the ambush were also confused by the unexpected attack. The leaders who needed to order them were laying down on the ground, dead from an arrow-inflicted wound with no arrows to be found.
“What is this? What happened!”
“Where’s the arrow?”
“It’s devils! They are the devils! There are invisible arrows attacking us! Did you hear the noise? It’s the devils shooting the arrows!”
“Shut up! You bastard! Shut up!”
“We are doomed. We are cursed by the Khalodanian devils – ugh.”
“Shut up! I will kill all of you who say-”
“Devils! Devil arrows are coming!
Fear and confusion consumed them. Grigg, who reigned over them as the god of mercenaries, was lying dead and all the other squad leaders were also dead. Those who tried to bring the others back were also dead. Everyone laid down to the ground, protecting their heads with their helmets.
“We have to run… we will all die… we will…”
“Stop! We can’t run at this hour! We have to it wait out until morning! We-”
A man’s head exploded as he fell to the ground. Everyone was struck with fear. They had never seen a man’s head explode without any notice like this. They lost themselves in fear.
“AHH! You bastards! Come! Come out and figh-! Ahh!”
One of the men began running toward the forest.
“Heinz! Come back! Come BACK!”
The man who was next to him shouted, but it was too late. Heinz ran through the darkness, shouting, but his voice stopped halfway. Everything fell silent.
Another loud sound was heard, popping another mercenary’s head. Everyone began screaming in fear.
“Lay down on the ground! Protect your head with a rock!”
A loud shout made them stick their heads down to the ground and cover them with trees or rocks.
“Don’t be afraid! It’s all same if you die by the sword or an arrow! Get yourselves together! Move if you want to live! Put up a dead man as a shield!”
A shout was heard and everyone began to move.
“UGH!”
Pulling up a dead corpse, a man screamed as he felt an impact after a loud noise. But he was still alive.
“I AM ALIVE! Do as Couran said! Do it!”
“Victor! Can you guide us now?”
“I-I can’t! They are the Ainos! We cannot move until morning!”
Benjamin, one of the leaders that was alive, shouted at Victor who was hiding behind a corpse. Benjamin shouted, “Did you hear Victor?! We have to wait until morning! Shoot the arrows in the direction that I say! We will at least get one of them!”
No one disobeyed. They needed to do something to stay alive.
“To the front!”
Hundreds of arrows were fired to the front and they lowered their ground right away. They began creating fences next to their dead friends, making it hard for Joonbum to continue shooting.
‘They are fast.’
Joonbum frowned at such quick actions.
‘They sure are different from the Berdocs.’
He also thought about the Donians who had sent them.
‘How can they send them while knowing that it was their own fault? Maybe they are confident that they can cover this up easily. They are the top merchant group after all…’
The Donian Merchant Group was not a regular merchant group. The owner was related to the Marquis Donian of Toria Kingdom.
‘They even have noble family behind them…’
A merchant group with significant influence usually consisted of nobles who did not earn titles or land due to many reasons. The trade consisted of huge wealth, so it was obvious that nobles were related to it closely as the power also came from the wealth.
The wealthy merchants also saw a chance to be a noble by purchasing land. They lend money to the nobles and be paid in land in return. It was not easy as it required connections to other nobles and unimaginable wealth, but the Donians had almost succeeded in doing so.
“They know their stuff.”
Joonbum shook away his thoughts as he heard Doral speaking beside him.
“Yes. I thought they were done but they managed to get back together.”
“Yeah, they’re strong. We all backed away as they are firing at us.”
Joonbum frowned.
“I should throw this to break them then.”
Joonbum, who had a carbon plastic shield, showed off the grenade as he rose. He wore his night vision goggles and carefully walked closer to the men who were aimlessly firing in one direction.
‘They are bold, but that’s what’s killing you.’
It would’ve been better if they just ran away. Joonbum watched them for a moment, then threw a grenade.
“AHHH!”
“UGHHH”
“AHHH”
A slight thud sound was followed by loud booming sound by the grenade. They screamed in pain.
“MY LEGS! LEGS!”
“Arms! MY ARMS! HELP!”
The men who died by poisons couldn’t scream. The men who died to Joonbum’s sniper rifle also couldn’t scream. But this time, they were screaming in excruciating pain.
“Bring the potion!”
“DEVILS! It’s the DEVILS!”
“Heidon! Stay with me! Dammit!”
“Kesle! NO!”
“AHH!”
“HELP!”
A second explosion finally broke them. They began running away as the fear was no longer bearable.
“Victor, we should move too.”
“But it’s dangerous to move at night.”
“It’s less dangerous than waiting out here. We’ll retreat.”
Benjamin stood up as he saw all the men running away. Tens of men from his squadron followed.
“Catch your breath and don’t run too quickly!”
Mercenaries began retreating to the trail they had come from. Watching them in silence, Howen shouted to his warriors.
“We will follow them quietly.”
