We walk from woodland filled with maple, oak to, birch and spruce trees to present area which has lesser trees but covered with winter grass. It takes nearly three days by foot from riverside to here. Winter grass is a lush lime green tufted weed with boat shaped leaf tips.
Clementine's complexion has become better although she still cannot move fast. Ivanna is leading the way. She walks with small stride so as not let Clementine falls behind but stops suddenly. She crouches and look at us.
"What.."
She let out a soft “shh” with her index finger at her lips as soon as Sekrit whispers to her. Everyone understands her cue. We instantly stop moving and crouch down.
Everyone puts their hands on the handle of their weapons.
Nobody utter a word.
No sound could be heard around us.
Five minutes goes by, then ten minutes, and we still remain motionless like statues.
"Did you mishear?"
Clementine asks in a barely audible voice.
"No, something is there."
There is something there without a doubt.
However, I don’t hear any sounds of armor scraping or rustling of grass, no matter how much I strain my ears.
The silence seems to last forever.
Then, the sound of seaweed being pushed apart could be heard.
The sound of quick footsteps and rustling grass is moving towards us. We look and each other.
That was when a leaping sound could be heard――
Along with howling, a bunch of wolves jump out of the winter grass.
The wolves were killed instantly in midair by Ivanna and Sekrit.
"Start cleaning them up! Light your torches!"
Yelling can be heard around us, erasing the silence like it never happened, and flames start appearing one after the other.
Of course, it isn’t us.
"Confirm your kills! Wipe out any survivors and chase those trying to escape!"
Negara soldiers wielding crossbows and spears come running in.
I’d say there are around 15 of them, wearing the military uniform and armor we are all too familiar with.
They are a mere 10 m away, close enough that we could see the expressions on the enemies’ faces.
If Ivanna didn’t notice it and we went ten seconds further, I wonder what would have happened.
"Captain, about the enemies we killed……"
"Wolves…… only a few measly wolves!?"
The crossbowmen take aim at the illuminated enemies, moving as slow as snails.
The spearmen get into a stance with their weapons at waist level and take a deep breath.
"I heard the noisemaker clatter! It can’t just be wolves――wait."
Clementine dashes by using the power of uninjured leg. Ivanna and Sekrit goes after her.
With how scattered and occupied the enemy soldiers are with looking for their defeated prey, there is no way they could react to the ambush from close range.
The girls doesn't miss their prey under that those conditions.
Clementine falls to the ground upon killing an enemy. She then struggles to crouch and leap using the uninjured leg again. Ivanna and Sekrit follow Clementine and jump into the enemy’s midst with their swords drawn.
Like a bullet, Clementine shoot herself towards a stunned enemy and stab his neck. Sekrit faces 2 enemies. She takes the guy on her left first. Her sword enters from the bottom through his side and slices upward to his chest. She turns the blade of her raised sword around towards the man on her right, bringing it down almost vertically through his shoulder all the way to his crotch.
Ivanna grabs the head of the spear thrust at her from the front. She skillfully wrests the spear and rotate it, so that the sharp edge points towards his head. Before he could retreat, Ivanna thrusts the spear to his neck.
"Eei, get it together. There are only three of them! I will take out the enemy leader!"
The commander runs at Ivanna shouting.
With how big he is talking, his downward slash was fairly sharp.
"Maybe upper-middle?"
Ivanna uses the stolen spear to block the sword.
He has some power and crushes the spear.
She calmly dodges by retreating one step backward and toss the broken spear to him. He is distracted by the thrown object that she close on him and disarm him.
After spinning in the air, the enemy’s sword lands at his feet.
"I haven’t lost――"
The enemy captain reaches his hand toward the fallen sword.
The moment he grabs the hilt, she stabs him in the chest.
"Aaaaah. If only those women don't throw my rapier. I am not used with other weapons!" Ivanna laments.
The enemy captain falls over, blood gushing out of his chest like a fountain.
Clementine moves left and right, evading the enemy’s sword. She is not as agile as usual, due to her injury.
She lures the enemy to a place with bad footing and the enemy soldier is clearly uncomfortable.
"This woman, darting all over the place…… uwah!"
Stubbornly forcing his way forward, the enemy catches his foot in a lower ground covered by grass.
"Right, that’s the end for you."
She leaps into the chest of the stumbling enemy and stabs a dagger into the gap of his armor almost as if giving him a hug.
Rather than a powerful lunge, she target a vital organ with precision.
There is no hope for him to be saved.
I hear a man's painful scream. When I look over, a man collapses with blood splatters from his neck and I see Sekrit near him, bends her body back and throw a dagger at another attacking enemy.
Her opponent is a knight with high defenses and practically no gaps in his armor.
The sword she threw bounces off the knight’s helmet.
"Hah, my steel armor won’t be penetrated by a girl like―― gugh."
A sword she threw with a slight delay accurately stabbed the enemy’s right eye, defeating him after a low groan.
"Damn woman―― how dare you!!"
A different enemy approaches her from the front, though she doesn’t panic, and simply switches to her one-handed sword.
"Yah!"
She takes on the enemy’s sword head-on.
Sparks fly and light up Sekrit's brown face.
"Tch, pretty good!"
They clash a second and then a third time.
A rhythmic clanging resounded every time their swords collided.
Although Sekrit is properly blocking the enemy’s attacks, she is stepping back one step at a time, likely due to a lack of strength.
"What’s wrong!? You’re still just a woman in the end, huh!"
Getting overconfident, the enemy presses harder and winds up for what he believes to be the final swing.
"Hmp!"
There was a noticeably louder metallic clank and Sekrit’s sword was flung into the air.
She doesn’t put any strength in blocking. She crouches down and dashes forward.
As a result, the enemy soldier’s attack merely batted away her sword and throw himself off balance.
She grabs the arm of the forward-leaning soldier and sweeps his legs.
After throwing him onto the ground, she straddles him and stabs the man’s face and neck several times with her short sword.
Because of the advantage we had from the start, the enemy falls apart without ever being able to recover.
It seems Clementine is starting to have a hard time. As she couldn't stand properly, she fails to evade a slash from an enemy. She still blocks it with her dirk but she is thrown 1 meter away. I run towards the charging enemy before he could reach Clementine.
I leap and grab the enemy, taking him down with me to the ground.
I hold down the shoulder of the enemy trying to crawl away on all fours and pull him backwards by force.
Suddenly, he looses strength and become motionless. I notice Clementine's dirk planted in his chest.
She helps me standing. We walk towards the other girls. It seems they finally eliminated remaining enemies.
After catching her breath, Ivanna yells, "How there are Negara men deep inside the woodland?"
Sekrit ponders for a while. Then, she answers,
"Even they come deep into the land, it is impossible to bring hundreds of soldiers. The most they can do is scattering small group to several places, like here."
We subsequently resume our journey.
