Season 1 Side Story Chapter 13. Witch (2)
Time unknowingly skipped to the next day.
"... Almond."
"Hm?"
Rustle.
A full stack of hay bales could be seen.
"Where are we?"
Clip-clop, clip-clop.
Horse hooves and the peculiar creaking of wooden floors could be heard.
"We're inside a cargo wagon."
What did he mean by inside a cargo wagon?
"What...?"
"It's the cult's cargo wagon."
“Huff.”
Almond involuntarily tightened his lips.
'We already infiltrated them?'
Making any noise would surely result in them losing their heads. Why was Ran speaking so nonchalantly?
"Don't worry. The ones leading this wagon are mercenaries working with us."
Almond still wasn’t fully reassured and whispered, "... Mercenaries?"
"Yes, the Red Mercenaries."
Ran had mentioned the same mercenaries earlier. He continued to explain as Almond recalled the information, "This wagon belongs to the cult. We've been employed as escort mercenaries."
They really went to great lengths. Almond picked up the weapons they prepared: a bow, a sword, and lightweight armor. He even found throwing knives to use for emergencies. This was the most prepared he had ever been.
Clip-clop. Clip-clop.
The wagon continued to move.
Finally, they reached their destination.
"Halt~~!"
All wagons stopped at the lead wagon driver's signal.
Muffled sounds came through as the cargo was probably being checked. Ran and Almond stayed as silent as possible.
"... What?!"
"These... bastards!"
"... Shoot! ... Ambush!"
A commotion occurred outside.
Crash!
Someone flew into the wagon.
"Ugh..."
Ran's voice trembled as he identified the figure.
"Commander...?"
It seemed he was the leader of the mercenaries. The commander, apparently not dead, spoke in an irritated voice to the duo.
"What are you doing? Get out."
It was... No, based on the voice, it was a woman.
She spoke as she drew her bowstring, "We've been found out. We're screwed."
***
The commander suddenly informed them after flying into the wagon.
— Screwed? Lol
— What's with that line? Lol
— Feels different from the original.
— Was the commander always a woman?
— That's strange.
Almond was clearly shocked, but the viewers seemed even more surprised.
— Why is the storyline different?
— Huh? Was there a condition?
— *#*(@!?
— *@*((##
He saw the spoiler comments being hidden. It seemed like Almond did something differently at some turning point.
‘A letter?’
Had the letter been a wrong choice? Maybe... that couldn’t necessarily have changed the commander's gender.
‘Could the commander be a witch?’
It was possible the commander had been swapped out. This often happened in comics.
"What are you doing? Didn’t you hear that the situation is messed up now!"
The voice loudly echoed. Her personality was certainly like a witch's.
Almond jumped out of the carriage to avoid another scolding. It was chaos out there.
"Ah!"
"Argh!"
"Die, bastard!"
"Ah...!"
Numerous soldiers and believers fought each other.
Bang! Bang!
White mana exploded everywhere, and sparks flew from clashing metal.
"There!"
Thud.
The commander emerged from the carriage, grabbed Almond's shoulder, and pointed somewhere.
"That's where we need to break through."
"... Break through?"
Almond tilted his head in confusion. The commander had pointed to the entrance of the enemy camp. It was hardly a point to break through.
Moreover...
"ROAR!"
A giant bear suddenly appeared. It looked too human to be a bear, but too bearish to be human. It was better to just call it a monster. Anyway, that enormous creature blocked the so-called place they had to break through.
Thunk!
Just then, that creature turned a soldier and a horse into dust. It became clear why the commander appeared so pitiable. That creature had also thrown her over.
"... Is that where we need to break through?"
"That creature is a summoner."
The commander ignored Almond's comment and continued her own train of thought.
"There's no sanctuary nearby, so it's not immortal. Don't be scared."
It seemed she knew quite a bit about summoners and confidently got off the carriage.
"I'll go back and strategize. You hold this position and attack."
Whoosh.
The commander immediately vanished.
'What's the strategy?'
Almond barely understood what she said.
"So, I basically have to kill it..."
First, he decided to deal with that giant bear monster.
"Hey! Kid! Aim for the others! Will those arrows even work? We'll handle the summoner! The leader didn't mean for you to shoot it!" An older mercenary scolded Almond.
"Didn't she? I thought she meant for me to kill it."
Almond ignored the advice and drew his bow.
Swish!
An arrow smoothly flew like the wind and pierced the monster's left eye.
"ROAR!"
"!?"
The mercenary's eyes widened in shock. The monster wildly raged, but...
"Just one shot?"
Almond struck its eye in a single try.
To the mercenary's surprise...
"ROAR!"
Almond shot at an extreme arc and also pierced the monster's remaining eye. The arrow plunged into the eye as if dropped from above.
"... How?"
"Hey, cover me with your men. I'm also a summoner," Almond confidently said and drew more arrows as he passed the mercenary.
Almond nocked back four arrows with a single draw.
"Four...?"
"What's he doing?"
"Is it just for show?"
The mercenaries murmured about the number of arrows he drew. They were undoubtedly veterans considering that they even noticed in the heat of battle.
The arrows all pierced the monster's heart as if they were drawn in.
Splatter!
The creature writhed in pain after being struck in its vital spots.
"Insane!"
"It seems like you shoot even better than the captain?"
"What just happened!?"
The mercenaries' skepticism immediately turned to admiration. The older mercenary who scolded Almond earlier also changed his stance.
"Hey, Kevin! John! Protect the summoner!!!"
Several mercenaries rushed to guard Almond and Ran.
Almond's gaze remained solely fixed on the bizarre creature.
'What's happening? It's not falling.'
The creature didn't seem to have taken a significant hit. Although it wildly swung its arms in pain, it didn’t suffer a fatal injury.
'Do I need another approach?'
Then, it happened.
The captain's voice echoed from a distance. How did she get there so quickly?
"Now! Pierce it!"
With a resonating command, the mercenaries charged at the powerful summoner foe and thrust their spears into the monster.
"Arghhhh!"
"Die!"
"Damn you!"
Whoosh!
Thunk!
Blood gushed out as numerous spears and halberds pierced and restricted its movement.
'This...'
The minions who captured the summoner in Raina's story mode used a similar tactic.
'This is my chance.'
Almond didn’t waste this opportunity and nocked another arrow onto his bowstring. He aimed for another vital spot on the creature.
'Don't I have a skill or something?'
Surprisingly, he was only delivering normal attacks as a summoner.
Ding.
[A pure white magic is felt.]
He knew what to do upon seeing the message. It felt similar to what he did in Raina's story mode. He closed his eyes and momentarily summoned his magic.
Fizzzzzzz...
White mana surged, and he channeled it into an arrow. He clenched his teeth as the bow felt heavier and focused on his aim.
'Here it goes.'
Whooom!
The arrow, glowing bright white, soared past the creature's head. Yes, it went right through and exploded as it passed.
Boom!
Brain matter sprayed everywhere.
[Headshot!]
It was a headshot.
The nearby mercenary's jaw dropped so wide it would hit his helmet.
"No, no way!"
Almond lowered his bow.
"It looks like the arrow pierced through."
It felt like it was time to move on. Sure enough, the captain shouted from a distance.
"It's dead! Move in!"
***
Clang! Clang!
Clashing metal fiercely rang out from every direction.
"Grrrr!"
"Kugh!"
Flame and blood splattered everywhere. Dozens collapsed and fell.
"Charge!"
However, the Red Mercenaries didn't stop their assault.
"I'll help too..."
Ran created a giant spear of light, similar to the enemy priest, and hurled it. Despite his young age, he wielded power comparable to the enemy priests.
Still, the most noticeable performance came from Almond. He stood at the center of his allies' formation, protecting and precisely taking out the enemy's key figures.
Whoosh!
"Kugh!"
The commander fell from the second-story stairs and rolled down.
As the mercenaries drew their bowstrings again, the hefty soldier guarding the second entrance fell like a leaf.
"Downstairs!"
The commander pointed to the basement. Something related to Blue Hole was probably inside, but...
"Will this work?"
Going downstairs while there were still numerous enemies seemed like a suicidal act.
"What kind of strategy is this?"
A player couldn’t do much in this situation, except for vigorously shooting down the enemies. In any case, Almond kept shooting arrows to kill all the enemies and survive.
"Go in! Go in!"
"Go and set the formation!"
"Yes!"
Almond and Ran guarded the entrance and swept away the enemies as the mercenaries rushed into the basement.
Boom! Boom!
Almond's arrows took down several enemies at a time.
"We have to go in now!"
"If we go downstairs, won't we all die?"
"No! There's a back exit! The leader already found out through a spy!"
Almond understood and quickly shut the basement door.
"We, we need to lock this!"
Instead of a lock, the mercenaries approached the door with something that looked like a huge stake. They intended to barricade the basement door with it.
Fortunately, the basement door was made of iron and the believers couldn’t break through with their attacks.
Screech... Thud!
The mercenaries successfully put in the stake.
"Phew. We can't go out for a while."
The mercenaries murmured with relief and went down.
***
Upon entering the basement, they saw a factory facility incomparable to what they had seen before at the school.
Of course, many workers couldn't escape in time since they suddenly invaded.
"Kill them all if they don’t surrender."
The commander’s cold voice echoed, and the massacre by the mercenaries began. Even the workers were followers, so none easily surrendered.
"I'm not one of them! I was forcibly taken as a researcher! Don't compare me to these lunatics!"
A researcher in a white robe approached as if trying to grab the hem of the leader's coat.
The mercenaries stopped him.
"Don't come any closer!"
Shush.
The commander raised her hand to calm them for a moment.
"You were captured?"
"Yes, yes... they kidnapped me! I have a daughter outside!"
“Well then, say all seven goddesses are bitches.”
"... What?"
A slight laugh came from behind the commander's helmet.
"I don't repeat myself."
“...”
The researcher lowered his head and swiftly drew a dagger.
“Disgusting warden—”
Thud!
An arrow instantly flew in and pierced right in the middle of the researcher’s forehead.
The commander's gaze turned to Almond.
"... Thanks for killing him, but when did I say you could?"
"There's no time to waste." Almond shrugged and continued, "You said you had a plan. We should hurry up and execute it."
He pointed to the basement door above.
"It won't be breached soon, will it?"
"You... you came with that kid named Ran, right? What was your name again?"
"Almond."
"?"
The commander tilted her head, "... Really?"
What was that supposed to mean?
"Really."
"That's quite the coincidence." The commander murmured, “It's not a common name.”
Then, she ordered the mercenaries to kill all the researchers and gather evidence.
***
Bang! Crash!
The basement factory turned into chaos as they searched and flipped everything upside down. They steadily found more and more evidence.
"Damn bastards. They've been producing a ton of potions here."
"So this is how the summoners were made..."
"Commander! Here's the Blue Hole! And the potion recipe!"
"So they use them as lethal weapons and sell them in illegal battlefields for money..."
All the Red Mercenaries seemed familiar with Blue Hole and became furious.
"We'll gather the evidence and escape through the back exit. We'll rendezvous with our other comrades waiting for us outside."
"Yes!"
As Ran said, they recklessly charged in because an exit was already secured. It seemed Almond didn't have much to do, but then...
Crash!
Glass from above suddenly broke.
'Glass?'
A very small window served as ventilation for this basement and it shattered.
Rustle...
Something surprising came through the broken window.
'A pigeon?'
The pigeon flew straight to Almond and dropped a letter painted an ominous red. There was no indication of who sent it.
Almond picked up the letter and read it.
[Survive for 10 minutes!]
‘What?’
Almond was perplexed.
"... Suddenly?"
They could just escape... Why survive for ten minutes?
Swoosh.
Almond flipped the letter over, which revealed a drawing of a hand with its pinky finger raised. The nail was unusually long.
'Ah.'
Only then did Almond realize who sent the letter.
"Lorang."