Hunter swung her scythe at full power, at the Daughter Of Mercy while also having her weapon being empowered with multiple buffs and also using [Execution Scythe], intending to decapitate the little girl in a single strike in order to secure her instant death.
"?!"
But as the scythe was about to strike the girl's neck, a barrier of light suddenly appeared, blocking the attack.
"!?"
(What?! Auto defense?!) – thought Hunter as her full power attack ended up being nullified and her weapon bounced off…. But it also destroyed the girl's barrier.
However, there was now a problem.
The barrier and the attack just now made everybody notice Hunter and her attempt at assassination.
(SHIT!) – Hunter swung her scythe once again, trying to kill the little girl while her barrier was down.
"[Victory Charge]!"
"!"
But as she was about to kill her, once again something intervened. A man covered in light rushed at the Hunter, ramming into her, sending her flying away from the girl.
"Are you alright?!" – asked Iron Will.
"Y-yes!" – replied Maryia.
"ENEMEY! ENEMEY ON THE SHIP!" – shouted Godfrey as he rushed towards Hunter alongside Iron Will.
(Shit!) – Hunter began diving into the shadow, but both men already swung their blades, firing wave of light that decimated part of the ship.
"…"
"Tch."
"They are gone." – said Godfrey as he arrived at the destroyed area of the ship, only to not see Hunter anywhere.
"…"
"YOU ALL! STRENGTHEN THE SECURITY!"
"FIND OUT HOW ENEMY GOT HERE AND INCREASE SECURITY AROUND EACH GREAT SHIPS AND THEIR BARRIER FORMATIONS!"
"…"
"Nice job… It was way too close and Maryia would lose her head." – said Godfrey as he approached Iron Will.
"N-no problem…. Still… They were aiming for her." – said Iron Will.
"Yea, enemy knowns that she is key to maintaining the barrier…. And this won't be the last time they will try and assassinate her…" – said visible worried Godfrey.
"…"
"RETREAT AS PLANNED! DO IT ALREADY!"
[Sometime later: Vampire general tent.]
"The assassination failed?! How?!" - asked furious vampire general.
"…"
"I have no excuses." – said Hunter.
"I've managed to get right next to the Daughter Of Mercy and used my most powerful attack…. But as the attack was about toe decapitate her, a barrier suddenly appeared and took on the hit, repelling my attack but also causing the barrier to shatter."
"Considering that girl reaction, it seems that the barrier was automatically activated when her life was in danger."
"Tch."
"An anty assassination barrier, eh?" – said annoyed general as he grabbed his head.
"So, they saw through a possibility of us ignoring everything and going straight for the head?"
(This is bad…. Very bad.)
(Enemy will be now in the high alert when it comes to the Daughter Of Mercy.)
(Not only that, but even if we succeed in one assassination attempt, the barrier will just give the daughter extra chance?)
(We would need to succeed in assassinating her twice in a row to kill her.)
(Unlike before we now know about the automatic barrier.)
"…"
"What happened the barrier got shattered?" – asked general.
"Well… I had a chance to kill the Daughter Of Mercy… But as soon as I was about to decapitate her with my next attempt, I got send flying by the adventurer."
"And the one that attacked me…. I know who he is."
"He is a ranker and one of the strongest paladins adventures."
"Iron Will."
"I don't know what skill he used, but before I realized he had already launched himself towards me."
"Not only that, but all paladins and soldiers that were on the ship when the first assassination attempt failed had instantly rushed towards me, forcing me to retreat."
"The ships security was already tight like hell when I first infiltrated it, causing me to have hard time getting close enough to launch my first attack."
"…"
"Then do you have any propositions regarding our course of action?" – asked general.
"…"
"If I'm honest, close range assassination is out of question." – said Hunter.
"To be more exactly, the enemy will be now warry of me and anybody else who can use shadows as means of hiding and travel."
"…."
"Then sniping?" – asked the general.
"Pretty much this seems like the only way." – said Hunter.
"We would need to snipe the Daughter Of Mercy in order to eliminate her."
"…"
"But would that even work?" – said annoyed general as he sat down.
"They are aware of our cannons, so they would definitely make some preparations to deal with our long range projectiles….. *Sigh*…. Fuck me…."
<<The assassination attempt on the Daughter Of Mercy has failed and also raised quiet big alarm in the empire forces, since they realized we want to get rid of that giant wall barrier at any cost.>>
<<And here comes more problems.>>
<<The heavy assault from cannons forced the empire to retreat from the beach and get as far as possible from it in order to be outside our cannons range.>>
<<Thie goal was probably to prepare new special barrier against our mortar tanks…. Or so we thought.>>
<<More of the empire reinforcements have arrived…. But they didn't repeated their previous attack with now much larger force.>>
<<No.>>
<<They changed their strategy.>>
<<They split their forces and started attacking us from multiple different spots.>>
"Even if it was ambush, they broke too through too easily."
"Was the attack that strong?"
"…"
"Or maybe we had a traitor?" – asked Maparapara.
"…"
"I doubt it." – said the vampire general while riding his black horse.
"If there was some traitor there, our agents would had found out about them ages ago."
"We had been extremely sensitive about any religions people since they could provide support to the empire…. But I have not received any reports regarding this issue at all."
"Then are you saying that they just broke through our defenses with rough power?" – asked Maparapra.
"Possible…." – said the vampire general.
"…"
"What about their main army?" – asked Hunter.
"Our ships and cannons are holding them back…. But nobody knows how long this will last for." – said the general.
"GENERAL!" – shouted vampire soldier.
"The scout is returning!"
"And it seems something is going on."
"…"
"Let them through." – said the vampire general, before the vampire soldiers create a pathway for the scout.
"Report."
"Sir! The city of Larak has been completely conquered!" – said the scout.
"!?"
"What?!" – said confused and shocked general.
"But the enemy attack only just happened recently! And they must had met the heavy resistance from this kingdom forces!"
"I saw the kingdom forces… They were annihilated. I saw their corpse on the road and near the city." – said the scout.
"This isn't all, but we have also spotted a angels flying in and out of the city."
"Angels on top of it all?!" – said the general.
(Shit. What is going on?)
(First line of defense broke and now we had instantly lost a major settlement?)
(This is abnormal and way too fast….. And for some reason I don't think this is the end.)
(And also, angels? By any chance did they set up summoning gate?)
(If so that would be the case, then these bastards would have continues supply of reinforcements AND if we don't repair the hole in our "wall" then the empire will be able to finally launch their full invasion on the continent!)
(We are running out of time!)
"All forces! Prepare for combat!"
"We cannot let empire set up their base here or ever!"
"We are going to exterminate every single one of them!"
"FOLLOW ME!"