Alexei who fell onto his back opened squinted his eyes as he attempted to see with his remaining strength.
In the ground in front of him was a deformed lead pellet that was present beside a familiar steel mask.
"Hah...? Wait... You... It's you-!?"
Ivan took an unsure step back, raising the weird weapon as he frantically held down the trigger mechanism.
Air whirled into the compressor device as pellets flew straight for the assassin.
She traced the barrel's trajectory before simply intercepting with the Falchion.
Clank Clank Clank Clank.
Ivan, upon realizing that his attempts were futile began to run away whilst shooting over his shoulder.
After Ivan had gotten quite far away, he stopped firing.
In return, the assassin jammed her Falchion into the dirt.
The ground rumbled forth as a magically conjured dirt wall protruded up into Ivan.
His unconscious body flopped into the air before landing softly onto the grass.
"You're... That lady from the café...?"
"Looks like I can finally I can control the other elements a bit better."
She smiled slightly and slouched down beside the saber assassin.
The bubbly magical formations began popping around him as he coughed slightly.
The bruise on his face was then healed as he seemed a bit surprised that the pain was gone.
Bleeding out and slowly drifting away from reality, Alexei had his vision blurred by the blood running over his eyes.
He tried his best to recognize the no-longer-masked assassin who was slowly approaching him.
Alexei couldn't see much, but he could probably make out who it was.
Getting up to walk towards her, he immediately lost his balance after the first step.
The assassin gracefully caught him in her embrace before letting out a short sigh.
"And that was how the heroine saved the hero---- Not the other way around...?"
"Gah... So it was you... All along..."
Alexei coughed as the bubbly magical formations that appeared around them began to heal his wounds.
Vixella raised her palm at the scruffy-faced assassin who was about to retrieve his saber.
In return, the man ignored her and sheathed the weapon back into his scabbard.
"Easy now... I've been secretly working under your butler since that day..."
"Aah? You've been working under Xenthur?"
"Xenthur...? Ahm... Guess we should be glad he's not here to say his usual-"
"To say his usual...?"
Xenthur, a bit curious from what Alexei was about to say, approached the scene alongside John.
"Fake that you've passed out or something...!"
A CENTURY LATER
(We'll Be Right Back, Transition Music)
"Ah, dear... To think that he passed out all of a sudden?"
Xenthur leaned over to inspect Alexei upon reaching them.
"Yeaaa... He just passed out- Wait, for real...!? He's not breathing! CPR! CPR!"
Vixella then stabilized Alexei's condition before slapping the shit out of him to wake him up.
A while later, they all walked towards the strange weapon which laid beside the unconscious Ivan.
"What's this supposed to be...", John reached down and grasped the hilt, "It's... Heavy..."
Vixella quickly snatched it from his hands.
"This is an object of murder... It's also heavy even for me."
The feeling wasn't strange to her at all.
She knew exactly what this weapon was.
Based on the principles of what one would call a 'firearm', 'gun', 'flintlock', or 'musket pistol'.
There were never firearms on the Afrian continent... Where did this piece even come from?
Vixella looked away at the withered tree that was about 25 meters away from them.
"It functions more or less like a crossbow, but much better."
She gradually squeezed the trigger and held it down.
Three pellets came out per second as the compressor device continuously whirled in the air to propel the next shots.
The magical liquid tank at the back also seemed infinite as it began to recycle around the visible tubes on the weapon.
Wooden splinters came out from the tree at the distance as its wooden bark was mercilessly shredded off.
"A strange weapon indeed."
"Ahm... How does that even work?"
"There is something... It sucks in the air... Then the lead pellets come out..."
"Aah, wait... There's also select-fire..."
She flipped the switch before testing it out again.
The compressor device whirled violently as Vixella held onto the grip with both her hands.
BLAM!
The recoil was quite immense even for her as the next shot blasted a hole straight through the same tree from earlier.
Everyone else who stood overlooking was shocked yet fascinated by the wonder device Vixella was holding onto.
Vixella then looked up at the evening sky as she contemplated the meaning of such a weapon in this undeveloped magical world.
To think someone had come up with such a technological advantage.
Well, she did overhear mentioning something about a landing crew.
After becoming overly conscious of the weapon, Vixella felt a chill traverse down her spine.
The weight of holding a gun was still heavy no matter how many times she picked one up.
"Human, help me! I'm out of arrows!"
A familiar scream sounded in the background as Ethairé ran up towards them.
King Alderius who was swishing his sword around ran up just a few feet behind the helpless elf.
"Aah! Alderius, wait-!?"
After everyone had calmed down, the six slowly walked back to the nearest encampment.
Everyone then exchanged small talk with each other to catch up to certain things of interest.
Alexei was now once again in good shape.
He was hauling the unconscious Ivan tied up on his back.
His arms, however, were still dangling about.
Well, they should be healed within a few hours.
Upon reaching the command tent, a soldier abruptly rushed into the covers and took everyone by surprise.
"King Alderius! That courier is here again!"
The same Courier on that one horse from Betras two months back stepped into the tent just as the soldier quickly went back out.
Wearing a feathered hat alongside a long coat and mouth-plate, he slowly and firmly glanced around at everyone.
"Speak up, lad."
King Alderius permitted him to speak.
Nothing came out of the man's mouth.
"Wasn't this guy a mute?"
Vixella claimed out idly as the Mute Courier nodded to affirm.
"Damnit, if it's so important then how are we going to understand from a mute-!?"
King Alderius became troubled as he was seemingly thinking of a solution.
"Hey... Gesture with your hands? I'll try my best..."
Vixella stepped forth as she suggested the Mute Courier to try to explain.
He first represented himself seeing something by placing a hand above his eyes.
Switching his stance, it looked like he was now riding a horse while smashing the reins as hard as he could.
"Okay, so you saw something and hurried here on your horse without even thinking."
The man nodded.
He then began forming many house shapes with his hands, and then eventually ships before swishing his hand like a wave.
"You represented a town... Ships... Coastal town... Great Port? No, Betras?"
The man nodded and gave a solid thumbs up.
He then continued showing the ships once again.
They went a bit out of the town, then suddenly underwater.
"Ships that were patrolling the coast... Sunk... By what... Pirates?"
The man shook his a few times before gesturing something higher up in the sky.
Making the form of ships, he made his arm like something that hurled down rocks from above.
"Flying ships in the sky with catapults--- No... Rock-slings... Sunk them-!?"
The man nodded strongly before he gestured the flying ships nearing town.
After that, a slight pause was taken before he raised his hands over his head.
He began to run around the tent in a panic as everyone stepped out of his way.
"Betras is about to be under siege by those flying ships!! Quick!! Let us hurry-!?"
The mute courier then waved goodbye before tipping his feathered hat and disappearing out of the tent.
"What-!?" "Nani-!?"
Everyone in the tent was surprised by both how well Vixella understood the mute alongside the grim news.
What comes after musket pistols in a so-called fantasy world?
Flying ships, of course! Surely we've all seen that kind of movie or anime, right?
"Flying ships..."
Vixella glanced down at the musket pistol that she was holding loosely.
"They must be kept afloat with wind magic... Just how many magicians do they need to keep those things afloat..."
The small archmage John speculated on the matter as he glanced up at Vixella for an insight on the topic.
Vixella tapped at the reinforced sphere containing the blue liquid by the back of Ivan's Musket Pistol.
It somewhat reassembled the liquid that her Magical Induction Jars had.
"If they have large enough magical batteries like this one here then that shouldn't be a problem."
"So they also have Magical Jars like us...?"
John spoke with Vixella further into the topic.
"Right... Also, these 'Magical Batteries' can store more and has a higher efficiency rate."
Vixella waved the Musket Pistol around in her hand as she gradually explained.
"So there's no way to deplete the magic quickly to stop these... Ahm... Magical Weapons?"
Alexei butted in but wasn't too sure of what to call the strange object of murder resting in Vixella's hand.
"Maybe they'll explode if stored in large amounts? This liquid seems unstable and volatile enough."
"Lady Vixella... If I may... I've never heard of a magical liquid compound exploding before..."
"I'd demonstrate with this but it's the only one we have right now so you'll just have to believe me."
Everyone in the tent nodded mutually towards her remark.
"Aah, by the way, this is the many forms that a 'gun' or 'firearm' can take."
Vixella whished Ivan's pistol around for everyone to see.
"Firearm..."
"Ara! An arm that shoots fire-!?"
"An arm that fires..."
"Fires from the arm?"
" " "Oooh!!" " "
Everyone standing around the tent raised their voice in unison upon catching up to what a gun was.
They weren't too off the point, but whatever.
"The power, fire rate, effective range, and how many times they can fire before needing to reload are varied."
Everyone suddenly went quiet upon hearing that except-
"Wow! That's so cool! I have never seen anything like this before! To think the humans have invented such......?"
Ethairé abruptly paused as he started to notice the gloomy presence around him.
"Aah, either way... We should hurry back to Betras."
"Aye lass, but where are you going?"
"I'm going to stop by the guild smith so he can replicate some more pellets for me."
The Valoratians that have stopped fighting after knowing that Ivan was the one who schemed everything had also decided to help.
Everyone went with the effort to defend the continent against the sudden Invasion of the flying ship fleet invasion.
The flying ships who saw the Allied Forces approaching from afar quickly commenced the siege on the coastal town of Betras.
Rappelling down from the smaller ships came strangely dressed soldiers with only as much as cloth or leather as their attire.
In their hands were strange looking objects that looked like broomsticks with magical jars attached to them.
Before the Afrians realized what was going on, it was already too late.
Fire spewed out from the barrels as pellets barraged across the street, sweeping all life away before momentarily pausing.
The enemy soldiers switched the tubes on their guns before continuing to rain even more pellets against the defenders.
From what Vixella had seen, Ivan's pistol was a prototype that could sustain its use without having to reload the battery.
((FIRST CONCEPT of Ivan's Covert Wind-Magic-Propelled Flintlock /w Magical Recycler))
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/455394821364908032/468411881993011220/unknown.png]
Forward Operation Camp.
Gates of Betras.
"I do not know what those weapons are... Though it's just as you said... They are lethal pellet throwers..."
John picked up one of the pellets that were beside a musket rifle that was recently recovered from the last assault.
"Ahm... But unlike yours, Vix... The enemy seems to need to pause after firing a few times."
"That's probably because the mass-produced models have to 'reload' the tube to cycle magical power."
Vixella explained carefully before skillfully demonstrating how to reload the musket rifle.
It was so quick that everyone except John caught up to the steps of how to do such a 'simple' procedure.
King Alderius scoffed as he stepped forth and slapped Vixella's bum in which she groaned slightly in annoyance.
"Well, lass! You seem pretty proficient with these things! Sure you aren't working with that Ivan fellow? Aye?"
"And what if I am?"
Vixella spun the rifle in her arms before pointing the barrel straight at Alderius' crotch.
He meekly and slowly raised his hands in surrender.
"Aye... Just glad you're on our side, lass."
"Arara? Then these pellets... Can they be blocked like arrows or bolts?"
Jessica asked as she flicked her finger at the heavier pauldron on her left shoulder that she used to glance away blows.
"Probably... If you just slant it well enough... But I recommend enchanted gear... Spider-silk is also extremely effective."
Vixella gestured how a bullet would glance off her breastplate if she had slanted her body sideways.
"Aye, lass... That sounds hard for the typical soldier... Are you implying that only the more well-off fighters can do it...?"
"No, our enchanted pavises also work quite well... And even better if we use alleyways and buildings to ambush them..."
Vixella slid her fingers across the detailed city map on the drawing table below.
"Lady Vixella, you seem... Quite knowledgeable about this topic... On how to fight against them..."
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
"Aah, you think so?"
"Yes... So, I shall let you decide... What shall we call our enemy?"
"Aah, they invaded from the sky so it's natural that we call them Sky Invaders, right?"
"Lady is always so simple."
"You're a simple one, lass! I like that!"
"Ahm, no objections to that."
Afrian soldiers were shot down left and right as the continuous shifting of the pneumatic muskets kept thinning down their ranks.
The rock-slings resting on the decks of the flying ships relentlessly rained a storm of boulders down at the town's defenses.
In the background below, ballistae in the cliffside ports fired off giant darts which pierced and downed some of the flying ships.
A sky invader spun around in panic as she shot a soldier who charged out from an alleyway.
She then quickly spun around once again and squeezed the trigger to fire at another, however-
Poof.
Nothing came out of the empty gun as she witnessed the broadsword coming down at her.
The sky invaders weren't used to being charged at by melee combatants.
When running out of a magical charge, they were easily cut off and ambushed.
Driven back to regroup by the port, they instead formed a tight barricade with ranks of gunners in every corner.
The standoff continued as ballistae fired giant darts into the sky to trade with the flying ships that blew them away with boulders.
Volleys of varying magic were hurled at the closer ships, causing elemental discharge, explosions, and flashes.
After taking a few good hits, one of the ships that began to lister as it descended and slammed into the town's bell tower.
Collapsing one of the upper pillars, the bell became detached as it fell to the ground below to resonate the empty streets.
GONGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!
Elsewhere, a grouping of arrows hailed down from above, landing onto the enemy's defensive position by the docks.
The Sky Invaders surely weren't ready for an overhead attack since they were too accustomed to linear gunfighting.
Out of nowhere, a giant boulder suddenly obliterated the positions of the archers on the roof who had just shot their arrows.
An armored cruiser, presumably the flagship, loomed high in the sky as it pushed through the airspace.
It steadily made its way past the storm of ballistae darts that didn't do much to dent its magically-coated steel.
The Sky Invaders on the other ships cheered and followed suit after their flagship's spearheading advance.
Despite the Afrians effort to hold them back, the Sky Invaders had adapted to the situation and formed tight formations.
They advanced in columns, switching places with the person behind them and made sure that they reloaded in turns.
Yep... Casual melee attackers stood no chance after this turning point.
However, there were indeed a few heroes who stepped up to the challenge.
A short figure donning a robe came forth onto the street where many sky invaders were advancing through.
The musket pellets fired upon him didn't find their mark as he strafed around with the lightning and wind vortexes surrounding him.
In retaliation, he released arcs of lightning at the sky invaders who screamed out in desperation.
Some of them who were unlucky enough to have their muskets' magical batteries blow up.
On the rooftops darted an elven archer forth as he took down three unsuspecting Sky Invaders.
The arrows that found marks in their skulls caused the nearby gunners to fire back at the elf in fear.
Despite their efforts to track him down, the elven archer had already rappelled himself away with a roped arrow.
In another part of the burning town stood three fearsome-looking warriors.
A tall woman wielding a strangely large claymore blocked pellets as she charged up to bust away three gunners down the street.
Before the other two gunners could pull their triggers, a swish of a whip blade from a young warrior slashed them away from sight.
The last one who sneakily peeked out from an alleyway with a scoped rifle was then struck in the face by a thrown great shield.
Upon a half-crumbled building stood a vivid figure that swished their cloak against the wind.
She held down the hood before shifting her feet slightly to glance up at the armored cruiser looming above.
The lone figure compelled out her arms as bright lights began forming behind her.
Glittery sparks drew a small magical formation of about one meter in diameter.
On the armored cruiser above, the captain watched as his crew rained down pellets and boulders from their ship armaments.
He surveyed the town, snickering slightly upon seeing that the spearhead tactic was working much better than expected.
The ballistae darts, arrows, and volleys of magic which were shot up did little to do any damage to them.
After all, they had made sure to redirect most of the ship's engine power towards the magical emitter field shielding.
The hull was constantly being coated by the said emitter that was stowed away in the citadel engine compartments.
This armored cruiser that was leading the force was always been meant to be the tip of the spear during an assault.
He who panned around with his telescope then winced upon catching bright lights in his vision.
The telescope clicked as he zoomed in closer to see a hooded figure about to fire off a dangerous looking light-spell.
"Hey! Hey! Eleven O'Clock! Eliminate the threat!"
The men which restlessly shuffled along the deck of the cruiser repositioned the rock-slings to the front and launched a boulder.
The hooded figure propelled across the air with wind magic as they landed onto a nearby building before clasping their hands.
VRRRRRRROOOOOOOSHHHHHHHHHHHMMMMMMMMM!! ((I'm firing mah laserrrrrr! LOL))
An intense light beam of about 1 meter in diameter flushed the air aside as it plowed straight towards the armored cruiser.
The beam which contacted the 'armored' hull easily pierced through the ship's port side and out the starboard.
The armored cruiser's citadel were critically struck as smoke began to fume out of the charred compartments.
The seemingly invincible ship from earlier then began to lister as it left a trail of black smoke in its wake.
The crew on deck ran about as they grabbed their parachute packs before leaping off without any hesitation.
The wind magic regulator blew up alongside the magical emitter, releasing highly volatile liquid contents everywhere.
An explosion followed suit, fluttering masses of magical power through the airspace.
To most people, it was seen as a rather large explosion.
To talented mages, it was a beautiful bloom vanishing into thin air.
The sky invaders then fell into disarray upon seeing their Armored Cruiser taken out in just a single hit.
One of the leading officers ordered a squad of soldiers to fire at the hooded figure who stood upon the roof.
"Aah... I intended to recover that ship so we could research it... But blowing it up like that isn't too bad either..."
Pulling out Ivan's musket pistol as she backflipped back behind the roof, Vixella aimed and fired once at the officer.
The officer who was struck in the throat choked fell as his men ran up to him.
"Sir-!? Hang in there!"
"I-Impossible... To shoot from so far... With a pistol..."
In another place of Betras town, Andre popped down his helmet and braced forward his lance.
"Now... Charge!"
The combined infantry and cavalry of the Valoratian Knights, Elderian Adventurers, and Katraian Mercenaries charged forth.
The ranks of the sky invaders who were in disarray could not regroup in time to mount any significant resistance.
The invading soldiers quickly rappelled back up to their ships as they all retreated out of the cliffside ballistae range.
An eerie standstill came by as the two wounded sides eyed down each other from a safe distance.
Vixella went back to the forward operation camp as she stretched slightly before hearing loud hooves approaching her.
Despite attempting to step aside, Vixella became twirled around on the spot but eventually recovered with a slight groan.
"Aah... What the-"
She blinked and looked up to see the same Mute Courier rushing up towards the command tent up the hillside on his horse.
After dashing up to hurriedly bust through the covers, Vixella ended up toppling the whole tent over everyone.
"Ahm...!?"
"Lass, what the fuck-!?"
A few moments later after stringing back up the tent, everyone tiredly gathered around the drafting table.
The same procedure was then used as the hand gestures were translated by Vixella.
"They took over Merchantia-!? How did they breach Great Port-!? That city has even tougher coastal defenses than this one-!?"
Princess Sasha frowned as she speculated the map on the drafting table.
"That courier said something about a gigantic flying ship... And it's also coming this way..."
The tent filled with silence as desperate looks were shown, even on the strategically calm Princess Sasha herself.
"Aah? Doesn't that just mean that I'll have to form a larger beam to shoot it down?"
Xenthur, on the other hand, wasn't present to scold her foolhardiness.
He was busy helping the Shober Faction defend the east side of the continent.
After vigilantly looking over the flying ships in the distance, nightfall came as sharpened wooden logs whistled through the sky.
High up in the dark sky loomed the flying battleship that was about 300 meters in length.
It had a reinforced circular tank for magical power at its center.
It was also constantly coated with many magical emitters.
Underneath the hull were also two giant cannons that hailed down gigantic boulders of lead.
These were much faster and destructive than the rock-slings which were on the smaller ships.
On its deck were busy sailors running around at the order of their captain who stood on top of the enclosed bridge.
The town of Betras was slowly falling into enemy hands as they were slowly being overpowered with unseen before tactics.
From the starless sky above came down Sky Invaders that were hooked onto small magical balloon-looking devices.
Maneuvering behind the defender's lines, they would swiftly surround the Afrian forces to cut off their retreat.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/455394821364908032/468503639154229258/qweqwe.PNG]
((Lol, small attack craft and commando paratrooper.))
A soldier screamed out as he was torn apart by a hailstorm of pellets fired from a one-man seated aircraft's turret.
The sides of the barrels expanded out to flush air back into the compressors before firing off another streamlined burst.
At the town square where Lady Vixella's statue was present for the Liberation of Betras stood three people who heaved heavily.
ArchMage Johnathan compelled out a barrier of water as many musket pellets lost their momentum and fell onto the ground.
Inside the dome of water were Jessica and Alderius with dents and scratches all over their plate armor.
The Sky Invaders moved in to suppress them but were all repelled away as the water burst out to knock them all unconscious.
John, after having fought for a while alongside that flashy move, collapsed down on the spot due to magical exhaustion.
In the background through the fire and smoke, Afrians screamed their last as they were gunned down by the enemy.
Over a crumbled building in the background came a weird flying object with a Sky Invader sitting inside it.
Underneath were two large cannons that fixated onto the helpless John.
A bundle of pellets came forth, much faster than the sky invader rifles.
"Arara... Isn't this a bad situation..."
Jessica groaned out as sweat trickled down her face.
Thuk thuk thuk thuk.
She who was trying to hold back the auto-cannons' pellets with her giant claymore's flat side was nearly out of strength to resist.
From the distance, the pilot who observed that his head-on attacks were ineffective decided to swirl around to strafe them.
"John!!!"
Jessica screamed out as she saw the pellets skid up from the exposed side, crumbling the cobblestone as it ruptured forth.
"Urgh! Don't worry, lass! I got your brother!"
Sparks flew about from the impact of pellets hit against Alderius' shield as he staggered a step back.
The enemy pilot lowered his craft near the ground and continued to gain momentum while strafing them.
King Alderius then grunted as his he rotated after the craft whilst his shield grip was slowly becoming loose.
"Lass... This is bad..."
A swish of a whip blade then sounded the air as the turret's barrels were sliced alongside the right thruster.
Alexei gripped his hilt tightly and roared out as he swung the whip blade at the stalling craft's remaining thruster.
However, before he could make contact, pellets came forth from another attack-craft that popped over a burning building.
"Athrun, stay back!"
Alexei abruptly canceled the attack as he retracted the whip mechanism to roll away and dodge the oncoming burst of pellets.
In the end, despite his skillful attempt, he was still hit a few good times in the back.
Despite the enchanted plate mail protecting him, Alexei fell over in pain and was unable to stand back up.
The enemy pilot fixated the auto-cannons on him as the gaps sucked in air to charge up for the next burst.
It was faster than anyone would expect.
A cloaked figure from a nearby rooftop dropkicked the pilot out of his seat.
"Athrun, escape...!"
Sent tumbling to their death, the vivid form of the pilot shouted out his last before he crashed into the burning house nearby.
"Nicoooool-------!!!"
The other remaining pilot, Athrun, screamed out in agony after witnessing the sudden death of his wingman friend.
"Aah, why are people so dramatic nowadays...?"
Grabbing onto the flying object which spun around from the sudden momentum, Vixella swung herself up and took the helm.