Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 254 - 253: Encounter

There’s something out of place nearby—this is a signal of danger.

The patrol team leader is not a Transcendent and cannot sense the surrounding environment with Magic Power, yet an experienced veteran’s battlefield intuition doesn’t fall far behind that of a low-level Transcendent. This crisis instinct, honed through numerous brushes with death, allows him to acutely detect threats, and the secondary clarity spell effect in his standard-issue helmet sharpens his focus to almost the level of a low-level Transcendent.

Hostile individuals are lurking nearby, their numbers unknown, but they don’t seem to be monsters from the mountains.

They have already detected the presence of the patrol but have not yet taken action; perhaps they haven’t found a good angle of attack or confirmed the situation on this side.

The patrol team leader did not speak rashly. Instead, he discreetly signaled with his hand behind his back—this simple tactical sign language is an essential skill for Cecil Clan warriors, reportedly inspired by a young man from the first group of refugees, and every member of the patrol is proficient in it.

The soldiers saw the leader’s gestures and immediately, without making any noise, adjusted their formation according to the indicated direction. They quickly ran to the nearest cover and disabled the safety on their heat-ray guns. Just at the moment they made these moves, a faint whistling sound reached them!

The patrol team leader was startled, for the attackers’ response was faster than expected. His soldiers had naturally changed formations, and the communication between him and his soldiers was secretive enough, yet the opponents still instantly realized their own exposure and swiftly launched an attack—this was no ordinary bandit crew, not even typical mercenaries!

Fortunately, he had already been on guard, and as soon as the whistling sound arose, the veteran instinctively raised his left arm. A semi-transparent energy shield instantly formed, covering most of his body, as several crossbow bolts clanged dully against the shield before sliding off and falling to the ground.

In that split second, the patrol team leader had already drawn a crystal grenade from his waist, swung his arm, and hurled it toward where the attackers were hiding. Behind him, his soldiers mirrored his actions precisely—several buzzing metal lumps arced through the air, all as if by reflex.

Just as instructed during training—if it’s impossible to ascertain the enemy’s situation, throwing a round of grenades can’t hurt; even if they don’t kill, they can disrupt the scene, creating opportunities for an attack or retreat.

Everything happened within mere seconds, and the Cecil Clan warriors, who completed a series of responses almost reflexively, had already left the Typhon squad, lurking by the mountain path, bewildered from the start.

It’s not that they weren’t elite, but they had never seen anything like it.

Everything was different from what they had anticipated—from any combat style they had ever heard of or seen!

This squad was one of the infiltration units entering the Dark Mountain Range alongside the Soldrin Squad. They chose a route closer to the northern side of the mountains, with two novice knights and a novice mage overseeing. They detected the patrol team’s presence early but couldn’t avoid an encounter due to the special terrain of the mountain path. Thus, they planned to ambush and annihilate the strangely equipped troop via the cover of a blind spot—in their initial estimates, this would be no problem. With the advantage of surprise, they could eliminate the patrol’s leader and two to three soldiers with the first round of crossbow bolts, after which the mage could bombard the disordered patrol with the Fireball Technique or arcane bullets, and finally, the knights and soldiers would move in for cleanup—it was foolproof.

But before they could even launch an attack, the Anzu patrol team had already reacted—as if rehearsed, they swiftly changed formation, found advantageous positions, and there was no telling how they communicated!

The Typhon soldiers had no choice but to launch their attack hastily; however, after the first volley of crossbow bolts, they were all blocked by a magic shield.

Blocked by a ma-gi-cal shield!

That patrol team leader, who wore infantry armor and looked every bit the warrior, he could actually instantly cast a Forcefield Shield like a mage?

While the Typhon soldiers were frozen in shock for that brief moment, they saw the enemies counterattacking, several strange metal lumps being hurled toward their hiding place.

Though they didn’t know what those metal lumps were, years of training and combat instincts kicked in. At the critical moment, the mage in the team raised a magic shield, and then, like thunder, explosions erupted outside the shield.

Human arm strength has its limits, so the thrown crystal grenades didn’t reach the most effective killing range; most explosions occurred at a distance with only two grenades hitting the energy shield before them. Accompanied by a powerful magic explosion, the magic shield shattered, and the protective rock around it crumbled too. But due to the shield’s defense, the explosion’s impact was greatly reduced, leaving the soldiers hiding within unharmed.

Amid the clouds of dust, one of the leading Typhon Knights drew his Longsword, engulfed in magical brilliance, and charged out of the now futile shelter, rushing at the Anzu soldiers who could throw ”explosive magic supplies.”

”Charge with me!”

With a command from the knight, the remaining Typhon soldiers dashed out of their hiding spots, ready to resolve this battle with melee combat on the narrow mountain path.

This development was completely different from the plan, but these battle-hardened Typhon elite were still full of confidence. They were certain that no country’s soldiers could defeat them in a melee — perhaps the patrol leader of that team was really a mage with a peculiar taste in clothing, but he couldn’t have possibly brought soldiers who were all transcendents, could he?

As the enemy charged out from their hiding places, the patrol leader felt an immediate sense of calm and shouted loudly, ”Focus fire on that knight at the front!”

A series of continuous scorching rays pierced through the thick smoke and dust raised by the crystal grenades, hitting the Imperial knight charging at the front repeatedly. The protective spiritual energy around him flickered violently, and after resisting for a moment, it quickly dissipated.

The knight only realized how foolish it was to charge out at this moment — however, in the narrow path of the mountain, there was no place to hide. Accompanied by a slight sound of sturdy steel armor being penetrated, he fell onto the path of the charge.

The soldiers behind him didn’t realize what had happened until the knight fell. They stared blankly as their mighty commander fell halfway through his charge, while their own bodies still propelled forward by momentum. The light armors of ordinary soldiers were even less capable of resisting the power of the scorching rays — they too fell one after another.

Despite the one-sided nature of the battle, the patrol leader vigilantly watched the direction from which the enemies had emerged — he remembered seeing the light of a magic shield flickering earlier. Based on experience, he knew that the enemy’s mage must still be hiding in the rear, preparing a spell attack under the cover of the front-line soldiers. Although the total elimination of the front-line soldiers might surprise the opponent’s mage, an attack was sure to come nonetheless.

At that moment, a sudden flash of light emerged from the swirling dust, confirming a fireball had indeed been launched, tearing through the air.

Miss Rebecca’s fireballs were much smaller. Recently, Miss Rebecca had not only succeeded in conjuring a fireball the size of a washbasin, but even attempted to meld two fireballs into a dumbbell shape — these foreign fire mages were really no match at all.

The patrol leader looked on with disdain and then blocked with all his might using the Forcefield Shield equipped on his left hand, deflecting the fireball, which exploded into a brilliant burst of fire between nearby rocks, revealing the spellcaster’s position completely.

”Focus fire in that direction!”

The patrol leader shouted as he began pounding the position of the enemy mage with both arms equipped with heat-ray guns, relentlessly. By this time, all the enemies who had charged out lay dead along the path of the charge, causing all firepower to concentrate on the area indicated by the patrol leader. Amidst a cloud of dust, he saw flashes of magical brilliance — possibly shields, perhaps life-saving magical items, but no matter, as long as the suppressive fire didn’t cease, eventually, they would falter.

The flickering magical brilliance persevered for a moment before finally extinguishing.

Not trusting the result entirely, the patrol leader fired another dozen scorching rays toward that direction until an energy crystal in a vambrace was exhausted, then replaced it with a new crystal, leading the soldiers to inspect the results.

They traversed the narrow mountain path as the veteran leader gave experienced orders to his soldiers: ”Pay attention to these people who’ve fallen, some are only injured in their limbs — tie them up and don’t let them escape.”

In a dead angle of the collapsed mountain rocks created by grenades, the patrol leader found the enemy thoroughly deceased — not just a mage, but also a knight in armor. Both bodies bore several holes, the mage having been killed by a headshot from a scorching ray.

The knight likely stayed behind to protect the spellcasters, his role being to prevent stealth assassins or daredevil teams from reaching and assassinating the vulnerable mages up close, yet clearly, he hadn’t anticipated the entire battle would end without reaching the stage of a melee, with relentless magical attacks destroying all defenses.

Probably the most frustrated escort knight to die.

However, the patrol leader felt no compassion for the enemy — especially for those ambushing him on the mountain path.

He bent down to examine the clues on the bodies, trying to uncover the origins of these people.

Even though they were crushed, this was largely due to their inability to adapt to new combat methods, and the equipment advantage held by his own side. Otherwise, if both sides had truly pulled out all stops and engaged in a full battle, the patrol leader didn’t think he would gain much advantage.

The soldiers he led were well trained, but most lacked combat experience, while these enemies... their ability to mount organized attacks amidst chaos and urgency displayed their elite standing.

This caliber of elite couldn’t have just emerged out of nowhere.