Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 268: Arc 4, Act II, - 113: Golden Hour Part I
"Enemy reinforcements!" a Trailonian soldier yelled to his comrades. They all glanced back and aimed their rifles for the carriage kicking up dust in its path.
"Who said I was doing that?" Daiyu replied to Fumeko and held the reins tight. "Only one way in loser," Daiyu smirked to the blonde. The soldier next to her held on for dear life, simply following Daiyu’s lead.
"Could’ve stopped to the side and went in invisibly..." Jotou sighed.
"You’re not gonna ram into them are you?" Fumeko queried.
"Horses don’t do that with danger, I doubt horsaroaches do either. We’re gonna do a li’l drifting just before," the princess grinned.
Jotou looked back to other three, "Brace for impact and get ready to run. We’re gonna have to make a way through the armed soldiers and a barricade to get to whatever’s left of Division One."
Fumeko blinked to the back. "Should we go in invisibly?" Asobi gripped her wand.
"Pointless, they know we’re here. If they shoot at random they might get lucky. We’re gonna have to go in on foot; Meko, can you guess how much of a sprint is it from their barricade to Division One’s camp?" Jotou spoke over the rumbling carriage.
Fumeko scrunched her face and shrugged, "I can probably make it in two or three blinks, so around a hundred metres? Wait, yeah, that makes sense," she held a hand to her chin, "A rifle has better accuracy than a musket, but it’s not that much better.
I’d say they can fire a little over a hundred metres, since a musket can fire at seventy inaccurately."
"Which also means, the further in we get, the less chance of a shot hitting us. A hundred plus metres..." Jotou glanced to all of them, "A sprint towards without getting some bullets is unlikely.
Luckily we have enchanted gear, so we may be able to tank it..." Jotou went into thought, "Still, we need to make a little doorway in as soon as we can get out of the carriage."
Fumeko took the thin ends of her scarf in each hand and pulled. In a flourish, the dark purples turned into a lighter shade and extended into a hoodless cloak around her entire form.
Arabella poked her head out the back of the carriage and swiped her arms through the trailing dust behind them. Seemingly she collected the sand and dust into the back of the carriage.
"We’re gonna need some shenanigans. Asobi, blinding light sounds like a good idea. Can you beat the sunset?"
Asobi held her wand and gave a nod, "I’ll try! But we’re leaving the poor horsaroaches alone?"
"Yes, the poor horsaroaches," Jotou tightened her lips.
"Jotou..." Hotaru pouted.
"What? I’m not heartless, but- Stop staring at me! This isn’t my idea!" Jotou pointed back to Daiyu.
"Once a few bullets fire, I’m doing it!" Daiyu shouted back. "Hey, hop to the back and stick with us Laiso. I’ll be fine with the bullets."
"Uh, if you say so your majesty," Laiso grabbed the rifle to his side and jumped into the back of the speeding carriage.
"Arabella, what are you-" Hotaru swished her tail back and forth, feeling dust get caught in it. The golden light beaming through the back lessened, as a wall of dust and sand was being built to block the back by Arabella.
"Asobi," Jotou uttered. The magician swivelled her head. "There might be a time where we can put on a show to pull off a little trick."
Daiyu held all the reins together and her eyes softened. The first volley of bullets were seconds away from being fired. She sighed, "Nearly a whole division gone.
Sorry you gotta be in the line of fire horsies, but at this point... We’ll come and get you all if you’re alive, I wouldn’t blame you for running off into the sunset. Though fair warning, it’s a desert out here... ya may not survive..."
"Hey psychopath!? How much longer!?"
"I’m having a conversation here!" Daiyu grunted. She glanced to the rifles... She could almost even see the triggers being pulled, "Few more seconds."
"Blast!" "Blast!" "Blast!" The rifles fired, the bullets whizzed past, hitting the sides of the carriage or the wheels, some of them lost enough momentum that it was akin to throwing a pebble against steel.
"Alright, serpentine," Daiyu clumped half the reins in one hand, the other half in her other hand. She tried to direct them left and right; the horsaroaches took long gaps before they could swivel the carriage left and right through the gunfire.
The horsaroach upfront grew agitated to the sounds whizzing past, at which point Daiyu huffed. "Get ready!" "Blast!" She felt the bullet hitting her shoulder, only to bounce off her attire without so much as a bruise underneath. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
The horsaroaches neighed and whinnied and Daiyu yanked all the reins at once with all her strength, "Turn!" "Blast!" "Blast!" The bullets were shooting much closer as she tried to veer them right.
"NEIGH! CHH!!!" one of the horsaroaches was shot to the side of the head in their swivel. Daiyu gritted her teeth, trying to control the other three that now were going into a panic.
They chittered and were stomping their hooves down to come to a halt, right as they turned. The carriage wheels screeched and swerved to the right whilst the back was being sent left and frontwards.
Daiyu could send her half-cocked glare to the soldiers in the front just as the steeds had completely turned around. She grinned, letting go of the reins and grabbing the greatsword she kept at her side.
The others in the back held onto to every surface, bracing for impact whilst Arabella held the wall together. ’I hate you psychopath.’
The carriage, tipped to the side... With a lift of her sword, she slashed through the reins holding the horsaroaches to the carriage. The princess faced now the way they came, whilst the carriage seemed to be going to its own destination...
Not wanting to be in the open, Daiyu leapt into the back of the sliding and pivoted carriage, dragging her greatsword behind her. "Tk..."
Everyone slightly lifted into the air for a brief second, the gravity pulling parts of their attire and hair in one direction... Not in the direction of where their feet were at least.
"CHK! TFF! TFFF! CRASSHH!!!! TFF! TUFFF! SFFFF... ffffffffff..." The carriage tumbled and rolled across the sand, parts of the roof and sides breaking upon impact.
The firing soldiers fled to the sides, aiming at the incoming vehicle. However, it slowed down, sliding all the way to the enemies feet, the back end facing them as one of the wheels flew off into the distance.
The splintering wood had broken all it could. The dust settled second by second. The enemy soldiers that had flinched and braced themselves glared to the fallen vehicle...
Ceasing fire for a moment, those around approached the sideways carriage with bayonets upon their rifles. A second... then two... Had they simply crashed...?
Trailonian soldiers that were not at all close to the incident aimed their rifles back towards Division One. Once all the dust no longer danced in the rays of golden light, they could notice the back of the carriage.
Covered in a wall? Of sand no less? Perhaps they didn’t notice the two tiny holes within said wall, out of which two dark eyes pierced their gaze through.
"SWISH!"
In the shape of a crescent moon, a part of the wall broke forth and made its way through the necks of the three nearest soldiers, splattering their blood across the earth akin to a paintbrush flicked against a canvas.
Their bodies dropped and the other Trailonian soldiers around them aimed their rifles. "SWISH!" "SWISH!" "SWISH!" The wall came apart crescent by crescent, so thin it had no difficulty going through the enemies.
"MAGIC USERS-! ACK!" one soldier screamed out before her throat was slit in an instant. The Ashen Whisper leapt out, drifting all the sand behind her into the air.
"Blast!" "Blast!" "BLAST!" "SWISH!" "PANG!"
She deflected what bullets came for her head in speeding swirls of sand, the rest that hit pinging off her armour. Her crescent blades of sand slashed through the enemies close by, whipping her fingers around.
Within seconds, she had dozens of corpses before her. She signalled the rest to step out into bubble of crescent blades. Daiyu raised her foot high, "Quake!"
"BRRR... Br..." The earth rumbled, startling the soldiers. She raised her foot once more and stomped; then did again, shaking the earth whilst they all made a break for the makeshift barricade of sandbags and random crates.
"Thundering Strike!" Jotou batted through the wall. A small burst of lightning struck through. "BLLASSTTT!!!" She directed the thunder in the same direction, just enough to break the barricade wide open and kick up the earth and dust.
"RUUMBBLLLEE!!!!"
"Enough Daiyu!" Fumeko planted her feet wide.
"That wasn’t me!" The earth continued to quake, the gunfire ceased once more whilst chunks of the overhanging cliffs crumbled and fell.
The sheer drop into the desert lied right behind the base of Division One. Parts of the edge cracked and... stopped for the moment... alongside the rumbling.
Another barricade seemed to be set up in a ring around the base; a few Cravoltan soldiers poked their heads and rifles out to check the surroundings.
"Let’s go," Jotou sprinted forth. Arabella manipulated the dust around and threw it into the golden light like powder around them while they made their dash.
The Trailonian soldiers aimed their rifles to the breach and the cloud of sand. "Blinding Light!" a flash of searing white light blasted to one side. "Blinding Light!" then swiftly to the other.
The Trailonian soldiers shielded their eyes and recoiled behind the barricade. Some held their eyes, rubbing them aggressively or winced in pain.
From behind their barricade they poked their rifles out. Those who managed to recoil before they were blinded aimed for their enemies...
"There they are! Fire!" the rifles blasted into the six of them running away, back towards the carriage...? The bullets flew at them, but who could be sure if they did hit? The six of them showed no reaction other than running in a panic...
The golden light seemed to glitter against their form; though, they seemed to cast no shadow... "Poof!" They disappeared into sand and glitter.
The Trailonian soldiers furrowed their brows and blinked a few times... Lowering their rifles, they would look at one another in utter confusion. Did their targets just, poof into dust???
Meanwhile, towards the base of Division One, "Move fast, but not too fast please," Asobi requested, holding her wand up like an umbrella—the real Asobi.
Around the six of them was a dome none could see into. "This could’ve been Plan A psychopath," Jotou muttered.
"It still works now, doesn’t it?" Daiyu half-closed her right eye. Keeping their feet in, their weapons and limbs close, they jogged towards the back of the base.
"You doing alright?" Fumeko noticed the soldier among them.
Laiso had his rifle and transceiver clutched tight; his eyes bubbled and shoulders shrunk to the view around him. "Uh... This is, a lot," he whispered.
"I don’t like it either, it feels like their aiming at us," Daiyu’s eyes shifted to all the pointed rifles.
"It’s just what we’re seeing. They can’t see us, just keep remembering that," Hotaru advised.
"Where are we going exactly?" Asobi kept an eye on the surrounding area.
Arabella reached her arm across Asobi’s shoulder to point to the back of a tent that was pressed up against the barricade.
"Got it!"
Fumeko glanced in the direction. Shadows formed around her footstep and the next moment she appeared behind the barricade. The brunette took a glance, "Hey."
"GAAHH!!!"
"SHHH!!!!" Fumeko sneered to the frightened soldier who fumbled his rifle. "We’re backup dumbass, don’t get us killed. We’re coming in here invisibly, where’s the general? Where should we go?"
The soldier panted and groaned out a sigh... "There," he pointed to a tent in the centre. "Our leader’s in there. You and your backup can hop over here."
A few of other soldiers looked at Fumeko conversing. "Wait, backup’s the princess, right? You’re the princess? You seem much shorter in person."
"And a lot messier."
"The princess has purple hair, doesn’t she?"
"Oh right, you aren’t the princess."
Fumeko’s eyes glazed over, "Good deduction geniuses."
"Meko, we’re here."
"GAH!" the soldier jumped again to the sound of the invisible Asobi.
"We made it. Now we gotta go further in," Fumeko pointed whilst they leapt over the barricade one by one. Their invisible dome disappeared, allowing them to see the actual princess and her squad.
The soldiers felt a little glimmer of hope once they saw them... Still, their weary faces and bruises said much. Blood—not of their own—over their attire... "There’re no more enemies in here. You can head right over," one of the soldiers told, no life in his eyes.
