Chapter 973: Combat Beyond Visible Range (Part Ⅰ)
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
The sniper team was moving across the Fertile Plains, to the north of the Western Region.
Guided by Sylvie, they quickly reached their assigned position, in a grove of trees, far away from First Army's position.
According to the General Staff's plan, they would take care of any enemies within five kilometers in order to protect First Army without being spotted. Given that, the team had to stay away from the army, in case that some Devilbeasts spotted the soldiers on the plains when the weather was clear.
After all, there were more than 1,000 soldiers in the army. When moving across the plain, it was easy to notice them, even from 10 kilometers away.
When the sniper team set out, the First Army soldiers stopped marching and camouflaged themselves.
The sniper team included multiple witches to ensure its agility and flexibility. Lightning and Maggie formed the Flight Squad and the other witches were in the Ark Squad. They would work together to confuse and eliminate enemies to cover the movement of the First Army. All the soldiers were dressed in special camouflage uniforms which were called "jungle camouflage". They were dyed with strange colors and made from special materials.
Lightning and Maggie highly praised the camouflage uniforms. According to them, when they looked down from the sky, they could not easily discern the soldiers and after the soldiers stopped moving, they seemed to disappear.
Andrea also wore such a uniform.
But she did not like it at all.
It was not well tailored and completely without a fitted shape. Wearing such clothes, everyone looked the same. The brown and green color seemed to be daubed on the uniform casually and its fabric was as rough as the bark of a tree. If it had not been for the special lining made by Soloya, her skin would have been scratched by the uniform. She wondered where His Majesty found this crudely made material.
However, she would never complain about it no matter how much she hated it. As a noble lady, she had to remain elegant in all circumstances and more importantly, she did not want to give Ashes a chance to mock her.
"She'll tease me mercilessly about being picky and say that I'm still too fragile. She'll argue that my trip to the Kingdom of Dawn must have fed my arrogance. I can clearly predict what she's going to say and how she's going to say it."
"I was the one who made a vital contribution to our success in subduing the Kingdom of Dawn. While I was fighting, she was just lounging around Lady Tilly doing nothing."
Sylvie's voice interrupted Andrea's thought. "The demons are only 35 kilometers away from us. We must get ready. Let's rise to the ground."
"Roger, going up now. The barrier will be lifted in five seconds. Please watch out for the impact," Margie replied.
"Oh, yeah. That's the tone I like!" Lightning shook her fists excitedly and said. "You sound so professional. What a fast learner you are."
"Did I? Thank you." Margie touched her head bashfully. She might have never heard such a praise back in the church.
Andrea could not help holding her head and thought, "How come such a cool, crisp tone sounds professional? And where's the impact? When the ark disappeared, we just shook a little before standing firmly on the ground because of our inertia. This kind of impact can't even compete with the effect caused by Ashes' roars."
"Now it's time for the Flight Squad to get ready." Lightning gave everyone a thumbs up, put on her goggles, and then leaped up. "The runway has been cleared. The green light is on. Lightning, taking off!
"Maggie, taking off!" With these words, Maggie transformed into a goshawk and followed Lightning. They soon disappeared into the clouds.
"What's a runway? Some road specially built for running?" Amy looked around, feeling puzzled. "Where's the green light?"
"They probably learned these terms during their new training," Phyllis who came to protect the Ark Squad tilted her head and said. "I've heard His Majesty say them in the castle. They may be some technical words or expressions for flight training. However, besides the girls, I also saw Wendy and Anna during the training. It's a little strange."
"What? Does that mean witches without flying ability could also learn to fly?"
"I don't know."
"If I can learn it, what should I say to announce that I'm going to fly up?" Amy touched her chin and said. "How about... Amy, healing magic?"
"I like the term you created." Sharon's eyes shone with excitement. "Come on, make up a term for me!"
"Hey, be quiet. Don't disturb Miss Sylvie. She's tracking the enemies." Phyllis said smilingly.
"Got it!"
Watching the girls, Andrea could not help sighing. According to the plan, in the following week, they would get farther and farther away from the main force of the First Army. As an isolated team, they would advance toward the northwest to mislead the demons. As they penetrated deeper into the demons' territory, they could only rely on their own strength to evade or defeat their enemies.
It was going to a hard journey for the sniper team. Andrea could hardly understand why the girls seemed so happy and relaxed.
Suddenly, someone patted her shoulder, she turned around and saw Iffy who showed her an"I understand you" look.
She felt comforted by this.
"We've no choice... because combat beyond normal visual range consumes a huge amount of magic power, we have to bring many assistant witches, such as Amy and Sharon, to provide us with magic power. This is the only way we can shoot continuously."
At this moment, she was really impressed by Countess Spear, who remained silent this whole time and looked more peaceful than her. She admired the way this great, noble lady dealt with the situation.
"Let's get started." Andrea took a deep breath and said. "The demons will enter our range any minute."
"Wait a second," Spear suddenly whispered. "I'm old and feel a little sick after traveling by the ark."
Andrea was speechless.
Fortunately, she did not have to exert much efforts to set up the anti-Devilbeast sniper rifle. Roland had minimized the installation steps by dividing the weapon into two parts, the gun and the tripod. Ashes and Phyllis had carried them the entire journey.
Andrea quickly got the rifle set up. She found that this sniper rifle without a scope turned out to be easier to operate when compared to a bolt rifle she had used before. She inserted a palm-sized bullet into the chamber of the rifle and nodded to Camilla Dary.
Camilla closed her eyes and extended her hands to touch Andrea and Sylvie.
Instantly, Andrea saw the world differently. Everything within her sight was distorted. She felt as if her soul was pulled out of her body, or another soul squeezed into her's. This weird change always made her feel a little dizzy, but after repeated training, she was able to get used to it and managed to quickly focus on targets that were far away.
Sylvie immediately sensed what she wanted.
The next moment, Andrea could see the world through Sylvie's eyes. The trees and grassland were instantly replaced by a sea of white clouds.
And she saw three black dots flying in the sky.