Death Guns In Another World

Alex returned to his senses. Memories of banter between him and other players slowly faded. Every battle here involved life and death, unlike the game, where one could restart once again if one died. In the game, the player who died and laid on the ground could still joke with the healers in their spiritual status while waiting to be revived. But here, Alex didn't wish to test if he had the ability to revive on the spot because he was playing Bahamut's clone game.

He wanted to live on and win.

And now, it was just the start. In order to prepare himself for the upcoming battle, he had to use every experience here and treat them as if they're real. Although his current forces weren't as powerful as his real force, this was still a great start for him and he wished for a wonderful ending. If he could perform greatly here and learn from this experience he could also do the same thing in the real life after going back. Every single experience is worthwhile, it only depends on how you will use them in different situations.

Following Silveria's suggestion, Alex was experimenting, using various tactics from playing various VR MMORPG. He would gain experience through these experiments, all of this thanks to Bahamut's clone. He was secretly grateful for this, for the enemy to underestimate him and play like this, how could he not be grateful when gaining from this?

"Reporting, Sir! We've suppressed the entire fort!"

Marcus's voice rang and dragged Alex back into reality. He nodded.

''Good job, well done.'' He declared much to Marcus's joy, getting acknowledged like this was good for his future, maybe he could retire as a mercenary later and work for this young lord.

Alex ignored Marcus who was lost in his fantasy to go check on the others.

Meanwhile, in another location.

Gholug urged the enormous beast under him with deep, furious growls. He was getting closer to the fort and could see that his home had been completely destroyed. The shelter for his tribesmen had crumbled into ruin. Thick billows of smoke emerged while the flames burned fiercely.

'Those damn Humans. They resorted to such a scheme to trick us. I will make the Humans taste the wrath of the Orcs after I capture them!'

"Get ready…"

Randall ordered. He drew a blue arrow from his quiver and locked his bow on the enemies. Over 20 Rangers stood in a row on the fort walls. They stared sharply at the terrifying Orc riders and waited for their next move. Anvil's group of Half-Demons had also drawn their weapons and stood in support behind the Rangers. Although they had experienced several battles, it was still a first for them to defend a fort. Moreover, there were so many more enemies than allies. Even though they didn't sustain too many injuries under Alex's guidance, their manpower was indeed too little, with less than 80 heads. After excluding Joe and Alice's teams who weren't experts in frontal battle, their current strength was only about 50. There was a sea of more than 600 Orc riders swarming toward them and their frantic roars and bellows were pressurizing.

Although the Orcs were stronger in strength and there was support from the fort walls, Alex's men weren't confident that this short, abandoned wall could provide much protection.

The fort wall was only three to four meters tall while the Orc riding on the Rhino Beast had reached about two meters in height. The Orcs could pull themselves over the wall. Through the previous engagement, everyone understood the terrifying strength of these Orcs. If they were to fight in close-combat, the fort walls around them become a disadvantage from the Humans.

Randall held his breath and scanned the approaching Orc riders. The ground shook from their dashes and even the fort walls were vibrating. There was an instant when Randall thought the wall under his feet would crumble entirely from the Orc's assault and he would fall and be buried in the eternal abyss. But shortly after, the young Ranger shook his head and threw the frightening image to the back of his head. Then, he squinted and locked on his target. He released his fingers.

Swish!

A dozen Rangers also released the bowstring in their hands and azure arrows streaked across the sky and headed for the Orc riders.

Gholug was astonished by the sudden emergence of the radiant arrows. But he quickly steadied himself because the sparse arrows didn't seem threatening at all. He had led his tribesmen against other Humans and compared to their rain of arrows, this was nothing at all. So what if the arrows struck down 20 of his tribesmen? He had 600 more tribesmen with him!

What left Gholug bursting into laughter was that the arrows didn't hit any of them at all as they flew over their heads. This refreshed him. The Humans must be fearful of us. Look at them! They can't even hit us with their arrows! They must be afraid of our aggressive attack and it is time to let them have a taste of our strength!

But Gholug's desires weren't fulfilled because he heard a loud explosion beside him.

BOOM!

An ear-deafening explosion startled him off his mount. He stood to his feet quickly and looked back. Then, he shockingly realized that a dozen of his tribesmen had collapsed to the ground and tainted with black smoke. Not only that, but even the strong Rhino Beast had crumbled with ghastly wounds all over.

If Gholug had eyes behind his head, perhaps he wouldn't be this stunned. The blue arrows had flown past their heads. Then, they shrunk and gathered to form a small, blue light sphere. When the light sphere coalesced to its maximum capacity, it exploded abruptly, dispersing dazzling, roaring lightning bolts that wreaked havoc. This caught the Orcs off guard and they suffered grave injuries.

Although Randall and his fellow Rangers weren't able to eliminate most of the enemies, their attacks had disrupted their momentum. The leading Orc riders couldn't stop while those at the back were caught off guard. Many of them couldn't avoid the attack and the Rhino Beasts rammed into one another in a complete mess.

"All settled!"

He clenched his fist excitedly. Although their risks were the highest as Alex's elite squad, the equipment all over their bodies was also the best. With an Alchemist Master around, almost every member of the elite squad were equipped with Mage Equipment and Randall's team was no exception. They had 10 pure elemental arrows (magic arrows) that were capable of dealing AOE damage each and there were even fire, lightning, ice, and poison arrow types. As a adventurer, Randall knew how precious these arrows were. If they were sold on the black market, they would be valued at a few hundred gold coins each. And now, they actually had the honor of possessing 10 of them and could even replenish thereafter. With such great equipment and supplies, it would be humiliating if they couldn't defeat the Orcs!

"Hmm?"

Although Randall's fellow Rangers (A/N: Another fitting will be Archers) performed outstandingly, Alex felt rather dubious. He lifted his head and gazed at the horizon. According to the original plan, Johnson should have led his Cavalrymen back by now and completely divide the Orc riders before coordinating with the mercenaries in the fort and eliminainge the enemies. But now, it was in total silence at the back and there were no signs of any Cavalrymen at all.

"Why isn't Mr. Johnson and his Cavalrymen here yet?"

Alice asked anxiously. After experiencing so many battles, she had gotten used to her identity as Alex's aide. She observed the situation with him as soon as the healers treated the wounded personnel. Not only did Alex mention the upcoming plan to her, but she had also practiced the battle tactic several times in the mirage and she had gotten familiar with it. However, Johnson's Cavalrymen were nowhere in sight and they couldn't get in touch with them.

What exactly is going on?

"Accidents are bound to happen."

On the contrary, Alex was extremely calm. Even though it surprised him that Johnson had fallen behind in the first actual battle, accidents couldn't be avoided whether in the game or reality, after all. If they were to raise the white flag just because a part of their plan didn't work out, Alex's 'backstabbing' tactic wouldn't always work and he was aware of this fact.

''Alice send your healers over and hold them back."

"Yes, Mr. Alex."

Alice nodded without any hesitations. After Alex's special training, the healers weren't just capable of providing support and healing. Shortly after, Alice led her team of healers to above the fort wall. They extended her hands forward and swept several complicated gestures. A golden barrier emerged in a flash like a tall, solid stake before the Orc riders.

The Orc riders would have crushed the stake to bits if it were made of wood. However, the barrier formed from the healers' light element using mana was much sturdier. Not to mention, the barrier emanating with faint golden radiance was almost invisible in the white snowfield. The Orc riders crashed into the barrier heads first and the massive recoil propelled them into the air before sending them crashing heavily to the ground.

They'd instantly be dead if they were Humans. However, the Orcs had a stronger constitution, after all. Moreover, the soft, fluffy snowfield acted as a cushion for them. The Orcs crawled to their feet swiftly. They bellowed in anger and charged toward the fort with their highly raised weapons.