As soon as night fell again, the group moved and increased the pace because they needed to reach their destination that night and attack it at the same time. Maybe it was due to their hurry, but Billy and Natalie found their first obstacle pretty soon and it was beyond what they were expecting...
"I am sensing something approaching… it is a monster," Natalie said.
Natalie drew her swords and Billy touched the ground while sending mana in it. It didn't take long for him to feel some vibrations. He looked toward that direction and didn't see anything aside from the darkness of the night. The beast wasn't that big, but he couldn't drop his guard.
When Billy finally saw a shadow, he fired an Earth Arrow toward it and since he didn't hold back, the projectile flew while making a high pitching sound and upon impact, it made the flesh of the creature splash around. Billy didn't know if it was dead yet, but there was no point in waiting, so he impaled the monsters with three Earth spears that were raised from the ground.
Natalie frowned since she knew that the monster died on the first strike and because Billy didn't let her do anything. Regardless, they approached the beast and checked its species. It was a giant scorpion that had a tail three times longer than its body.
"For this type of monster to be in this area…" Billy frowned. "I will warn the others just in case."
The scorpion was one and a half meters long, so its tail was quite the weapon. If Billy had tried to fight at night using his spear… things might have become messy. Regardless, he did the right thing in going all out from the beginning. The others also got a bit more tense after hearing about such a monster that they had never seen. And Leo clicked his tongue since Jean didn't even warn them of tha possibility. Nevertheless, they continued their trip.
Fortunately, the attack of the giant scorpion only happened once. So, their traveling speed didn't decrease and around midnight they found their destination. It was located on the largest hill in the area and at least fifty soldiers were guarding the place. However, Lucy and Natalie could feel the presence of several lookouts hidden in the darkness of the night. They will have to get rid of all of those before the attack.
"Lily and I will deal with them, Lucy will. come as well to tell us their exact location, wait here," Leo whispered.
Billy began to feel troubled again and he wondered why… was it because that wasn't a fight, but an assassination? The results would be the same, so why was that bothering him so much?
"It has been twelve years since I was reincarnated, but the morals and conduct code of the other world still bother me, huh…" Billy thought.
While he was thinking that and waiting for the others, Billy studied the enemy's base. The place had many tents, but only two ones were massive and those were loaded in the center of the hill. Those were the commander's tent and the warehouse. Most likely, the food was being stored in hundreds of crates. Destroying those from afar would be easy and probably would force the enemies to retreat, but Jean didn't want that.
"Burning all those tents should be easy," Sarah said.
"No… we need to corner the commander, if we suddenly use magic, they will raise their guard," Drew explained.
In the end, Leo and the others returned after just ten minutes. They looked fine and since the group didn't hear any noises, it was safe to assume that the enemies weren't alerted in any way.
"Put on the helmets and armor and then fire the arrows in twenty minutes," Leo said. "Once the soldiers began to march toward you guys, you do the same, but then soon began to retreat. That will make them think that you had underestimated them. When that happens, we will sneak behind the enemies and capture their commander. Don't fight for long, or they will see that we aren't Jean's soldiers."
The armor and helmets were basically tools to hide their appearance and not to make the enemies realize that they were wildlings… like Jean liked to call them. It would be better if they think that they are just a new force of Hiloh state… even if that weren't true. In any case, Leo sure had a good head for that kind of plan, even though he was short-tempered most of the time. Billy certainly could learn a thing or two from him.
Once the preparations had been made, Drew, Leo, and Lucy left the area and began to circle the hill. Although it wasn't exactly uncomfortable, Billy felt a bit weird wearing so many pieces of armor. They weren't that heavy either… so, it was just a matter of being used to keeping them on. Still, that would decrease their speed, even if a little, so they had to be careful.
"Billy, focus on covering us with magic, all right?" Alexander asked. "I would feel a lot more safe knowing that we had more than a few people watching our backs with long-ranged attacks."
Billy furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that, still he could understand where Alexander was coming from. Few of them actually could use long-ranged attacks with pinpoint precision and only they could make the enemies think twice before charging at them.
"All right," Billy said. "Try not to move much to the sides, though. I can more or less decide where my earth projectiles will come from, but it will be better to control their power from up-close. It would be a pity if you were to be hit by them."
Alexander laughed a little, but it was a forced one.. He didn't see Billy using magic with its full power, but he could imagine since Billy trained magic more than anyone else.
