“Liese, prepare defensive magic! Schwarz, follow me. We’ll intervene when Air Prison dissipates!” Rudy instructed.
“Yes!” Liese replied.
“Understood,” I said.
We closed the distance and continued to avoid detection by the harpies. They were circling over the Air Prison, waiting for it to dissipate. The whirlwind encircling Kinjar’s group gradually weakened.
“Liese!” Rudy called.
“On it! Aqua Wall!” Liese chanted incomprehensible magic words beside me. Just like the first time I heard magic chants, the auto-translation feature didn’t activate. Ashley’s incantation didn’t trigger it, and now neither did Liese’s. The only audible part was the final magic name declaration. If there was a reason for this, it was probably due to being a dud.
As the Air Prison dissipated, a thick water wall rose between Kinjar’s group and the harpies.
“Schwarz! Handle the two harpies not caught by the Aqua Wall first!” Rudy instructed.
“Understood! I’ll take the one in the back!” I replied.
The harpies had awaited Air Prison’s end to seize their weakened prey. Instead, they faced the rising Aqua Wall and cried out.
“Gyuugyaaa!”
I tossed my shoulder bag aside, knelt, and aimed the rifle. I targeted the harpy hovering by the inner side of the divided Aqua Wall. Through the iron sights, its face appeared grotesque, like a crazed, drooling hag screaming its head off. Its red eyes, typical of magical beasts and humanoid species, glowered as the Aqua Wall suddenly emitted a fierce light.
Ignoring me, Rudy sprinted toward the nearest harpy, drawing his longsword. The two harpies noticed him and then turned their faces toward us.
The Type 99 short rifle roared, and the rear harpy’s head vanished. The front harpy felt something zip past it. It turned back to see only the headless harpy on the ground. Rudy seized the opportunity.
“Hya!” Rudy shouted as he leapt at the hovering harpy. He slashed its wing vertically with his longsword.
“Gyaaa!” the harpy cried.
Rudy landed and finished the harpy off by slashing at its fallen body.
The harpies inside Aqua Wall were eliminated. Kinjar and Putei crouched where Air Prison had dissipated, while Boy held his large shield and staggered near them.
“Kinjar! Are you okay?” Rudy asked. He rushed to Kinjar’s group.
Aqua Wall remained, but not for long, judging by Liese’s condition. Liese stood behind me, holding her staff and breathing heavily. Normally, Aqua Wall maintained its form for a set time before collapsing into water. Sustaining it as a barrier required continuous magic—a significant burden for a young magician.
The harpies beyond Aqua Wall were attempting to circle around. I pulled the rifle’s bolt and cocked it to load the next round. Tracking the points on my goggle map, I anticipated where the harpies would emerge from Aqua Wall. I was ready to intercept.
Right as Aqua Wall began to crumble, a harpy’s grotesque head appeared from the shadows. I aligned the sights and fired. Immediately cocking the rifle, I tracked the points, shifted my aim left, and shot the harpy’s exposed chest as Aqua Wall fell.
“Amazing...” Liese murmured behind me. There was no time to respond.
“Rudy! Get Kinjar’s group back!” I shouted.
That location was dangerous. The open space in the forest created an ideal hunting ground for harpies attacking from above. While my gunfire surprised them and halted their movements, we needed to join Kinjar’s group and use the forest as cover. That would maintain our advantage.
Rudy reacted to my call. He urged Kinjar to retreat while lifting and dragging the incapacitated Putei toward us. Kinjar rose heavily then ran toward us, but Boy didn’t move.
“Boy, hurry! You’ll be surrounded!” Kinjar shouted, but Boy showed no sign of moving. His legs trembled slightly, as he had been injured far more severely than Kinjar and Putei. Blood dripped off his armor’s edges and stained the soil beneath him.
“Boy probably used the skill Last Wall. It draws attacks to him that were meant for those he wants to protect,” Liese explained with tears in her eyes.
This was a skill akin to an MMORPG tank’s ability. Did that exist in this reality? Boy had certainly absorbed the Air Prison attacks meant for Kinjar and Putei.
Wow. So, this was the reality of adventurers’ battles.
“Kinjar, Putei, go ahead. I’ll cover your retreat,” Boy said.
“Come with us, Boy!” Putei cried out from Rudy’s arms. She had noticed Boy’s condition.
There was no time. The surrounding harpies attacked Boy simultaneously, just as he turned his face toward Putei. Though their movements were linear from above, they struck Boy’s head with a diving kick to unbalance him. Another harpy immobilized him by grabbing his shoulders with its feet while a third harpy tore off his armor.
I didn’t understand their intent at first. When Boy’s front was exposed, the reason became clear. Despite having just lost their kin to Rudy and me, the harpies fixated on the prey before them.
They opened their mouths wide to bite Boy’s face, chest, and abdomen. Boy made no sound. He laid supine, unseen within the harpies’ shadows. Was he already dead?
The harpies ignored his lower legs. This was his only visible part, and they twitched with horrific vibrations.
“Putei! What are you waiting for? Wipe out those damn birds!” Kinjar shouted. He had retreated into the forest and was issuing commands for a counterattack. “Rudy! If you have a spare longsword, lend it! Those damn birds took our gear. And rookie! Is your magic depleted? If you can still cast, wipe out the birds over Boy!”
We were still battling and subjugating these harpies. I pulled the Type 99 short rifle’s bolt. I opened the magazine while retrieving Type 99 standard cartridges from my waist pouch. I loaded them one by one.
Although you had to reload manually, the magazine held only five rounds, so it was no sweat. I smoothly loaded four Type 99 standard cartridges, cocking the rifle to load them.
Meanwhile, Rudy tossed Kinjar a spare longsword. He tested its balance with a few swings.
“Liese, you heal and support Putei. Rookie! Can you cast?” Kinjar asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Finish them off with Putei. There are five harpies left!” Kinjar declared.
The circling harpy cantados reminded us of their presence with their song.
“Damn! If only they weren’t here... Scatter! Magic incoming!” Kinjar warned.
Responding to Kinjar’s command, we scattered and shielded ourselves behind trees.
The singing chants ended. Green particles gathered around the three harpy cantados, forming translucent green lances, with each appearing in sets of four. They started spiraling.
“Incoming! Air Lance!” Kinjar shouted.
The harpy cantado cackled, and a dozen or so Air Lances rained down upon us. The spiraling projectiles tore through our arborous shields and pulverized the tree branches and leaves as they passed. A tree trunk was directly struck by one of the lances, twisting as it shattered.
As the trees exploded and fell, echoing through the forest, we managed to evade the descending Air Lances. The harpies twisted their faces in mockery and snickered at us as we scrambled from the attack. The hags’ grotesque mouths spewed blood and saliva as they chewed on something.
“You wretches!”
I realized what the harsh truth of this reality embodied. This was a world governed by the law of the jungle.
“Schwarz! Get ready! We need to retrieve Boy!”
Putei had come close to me and began chanting her magic words.
“*&^, #@, (*^%$), Ray Line!”
As Putei’s Ray Line was unleashed towards a harpy, I shifted my aim to a different target. Using a tree as cover, I leaned into position. I aimed down the sights and aligned the front and rear sights with the harpy’s face.
The harpy’s head was obliterated by a thunderous gunshot. I smoothly pulled the bolt, cocked the rifle, loaded the next round, and targeted another harpy.
“Guah!”
“Argh!”
“Aghh!”