It was almost time; after two days of setting up traps after looking them up on the internet, it was finally time. I had started a campfire in the fake camp before I moved up here, and it was still blazing in the distance. I watched over it now from the crack in the wall, and I watched. Watched as nothing happened in the darkness. Days of preparation for this attack, and I made sure that I could even see some signs in the forest. I watched over the Valley in the darkness of the night, listening to the waterfall. It was hypnotic when there was nothing to watch.

Looking for the smallest signs of movement, I opened my quest and looked at the timer.

—-

New Unique Quest Obtained: Location Waterfalls Temporary Camp

You have discovered potential information on why people are staying in this area. You believe they may be Criminals ambushing Bounty Hunters as they come into the forest seeking Criminals. They take them and bring them to this area as a gathering location before sending them somewhere else.

The boss is now aware they are missing or dead and is sending a force to the location in a couple of days.

00:00:59

This quest is automatically accepted as long as you are in the area. Completing this quest will mean killing/capturing an unknown amount of reinforcements.

You may leave the area and Evade.

Reward: Chain Quest, ????

Failure: Death in defending the area

—--

There is less than a minute left before whatever starts to happen, as per the quest. I wasn't even sure if they would be coming now or in hours. It didn't matter, as I thought about all the small traps and larger traps I learned to make in this forest. I took my time, and I even caught some small critters by accident with some of them.

Trees, sticks, leaves, pitfalls, rope, and so many other little things were in that forest now, but not nearly enough to take out an entire group. That is, unless they were incompetent as hell. Many of the traps were not even meant to kill and only to maim. It would weed out a couple from being in top battle condition if I were lucky.

I settled in and watched and waited. The time had come in that minute, and it passed without the place lighting up in fire or anything. I watched for a time.

It was boring just watching and waiting, and I wished I could do more as I knew it would soon be morning. I had gotten the quest around the middle of the night, and I had been waiting for hours. Time sort of slowed and got longer at the same time when you were watching, waiting, and listening.

Then I heard it after hours; it was the sound of someone crying out in the distance, and I knew a trap had succeeded. “Ah! FUCK MY LEG~!” Cried out in the distance. A woman’s scream as I must have surprised someone hard, maybe breaking their leg or stabbing it. Then I heard another scream.

“Fuck, there are small traps!” Another person cursed a male this time. “Where the fuck are the scouts?”

I smiled, and I turned my body to look at where I heard the shouts. Or the best I could. Their screams in the morning light readily gave them away to my aim. I watched and listened, but I heard no more shouts. They must have silenced each other, and I was happy I maimed at least two of them. I watched in silence for another twenty minutes. Nothing happened for those long twenty minutes before I saw a bush moving and a person with a machete cut through. I knew where they were now, and I frowned as I knew I put a trap nearby there.

I saw the person in the clearing look very annoyed through my scope. Then, they moved forward toward the camp. Then more broke through the clearing, and one stumbled out, falling face first. I saw the person and heard them lightly curse in the distance, but I couldn't hear what the curses were as they were not yelling.

Then, more started to filter out of the forest, and some were injured and looking annoyed. I could see through the scope in the darkness people limping before moving into the morning light. Long shadows plagued my sight as the morning sun started to shine in the clearing, and I watched as some moved toward the camp. I could see them conversing, and I started to count eleven enemies. Then, more filtered out, and some started to move to the camp. I could see that some were arguing and pointing to the abandoned camp, and some pointed to the overwatch cave.

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I smiled; the glint of the rifle I left there may be visible, and then I spotted something that I instantly made note of. A rifle barrel behind where a woman broke cover. Someone had a scope and was lying on the ground. They were looking in that direction, and I frowned. These people were laying back up plans even as they were clumsily moving into the clearing.

Taking account of what I could see, there were roughly ten to twenty people now, with at least seven injured. The weapons were all rifles or assault rifles with handguns as side arms. These people were much better armed than the previous people, and I watched as seven moved toward the camp. I watched and waited, and seven moved in and started to look around the camp. They tore open the camp, and I decided it was now or never. I did not want them breaking the trap by accident, so I hit the button on my side, tuning in the pilot light in the camp.

Watching and waiting took only a moment as five seconds seemed to take an eternity before suddenly and with fury, The trap sparked.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Four explosions went off nearly simultaneously, taking out the camp and everyone turned and looked. I turned, surveyed, and did not continue to watch as I saw someone suddenly stand before screaming from where they had been hidden before. There was another person hidden, and I lined my gun up.

Now was the time to start shooting, and I took my first shot just as the flashbangs hit their sight after their delay.

BANG BANG! BANG! My sniper rifle thundered with the grenades, and the guy who looked like he just lost someone important to him blossomed with blood from his throat. Half his neck was cut off, and a stream of blood squirted out. But I didn't watch the carnage for anything more than confirming the kills. I was happy the first bullet hit, and I moved to the person that I caught with their rifle peeking out.

None of them seemed to know that I was shooting yet as they stared at the carnage of the camp. I took a shot, and I saw some blood splatter on some leaves. I hit the person, but if they were dead, I had no idea. I didn't have the luxury of confirming the kill. I moved to the next, someone who cleared the forest just moments before staring at the carnage but seemed to look over in my direction when I just shot.

They had not reacted yet, and I could see their eyes widen as I pulled the trigger. That was the last expression on their face as their stomach busted open, and a scream of pain woke everyone who was watching the camp explosion. Their eyes were burning from the flashbang, and they were stunned. Now they knew someone was shooting at them, and I picked up the second remote as I moved carefully to my next target, who was running for cover. I gave it a step, and I shot.

Fuck I missed it.

It wasn't a perfect shot, and the bullet landed behind the runner as they dove for cover. The group was a little in disarray. There were seven that got blown up in the camp, and three more were down, but the other eleven or twelve were looking lost. They didn't know where I was shooting from, and someone dove into a space where I could see him. They were lying on their stomach looking scared, and this time, as I finished pulling the trigger, his spine would never work again for him.

Then I pressed the remote I had, and suddenly, from the overwatch, the gun started to shoot. The extra fire made the group hit the ground, but they all got in ‘better’ cover that gave me an angle now. I took my time in return and pressed the remote another time as I reloaded my sniper rifle. This was an ideal trap. The enemy was shitting itself while I calmly started to kill them.

Although it was also taking longer than I thought, I brought my crosshair on someone just as they were about to move out of cover. I saw him move up, and they brought their rifle to shoot, and I had no idea what they were aiming at. The bullet ripped open their throat a moment later, and I moved to the next.

There were more screams, and they were pointing all over, trying to find me, when I noticed a person looking out from the forest. They were much more on point as they were looking in the right direction. They were partially hidden, but when I pulled the trigger, the blood blossomed and squirted out. I hit an artery, and I smiled viciously.

“It's coming from the Waterfall Cliff face! There is only one shooter!” Someone yelled. They all started to move, and I cursed as they generally found cover from me. There were still at least nine people left, although my count was all over the place as only seconds had passed from the start of the fight.

Someone got up and ran for cover, and I watched as they hit pitfall. I winced as I saw a short stick through their foot, and the horror and pain laced their face as they hit the ground. Hard. I followed up quickly with a bullet and saw blood blossom from their back as I shot them. I moved on and found another, and I realized something.

They were finding it extremely hard to find me in my location.

That was very good, and I turned and found another, and I started to hear bullets flying all over. Who knew if one might just hit me randomly? I couldn't think about that, and I started to take more and more shots. I started to miss more as I took less time to aim, so I slowed it down. Pretend it is a shooting gallery.

The Enemies, not knowing how to get where I am, unlike old games, wouldn't just run toward the cave. I was lining up a shot, shooting them or missing them. Still, I would shoot at them till I killed them before moving onto the next. Some started to run but none made it to the tree line. My fire would hit them in the back as they ran or for one case, took out his leg. Then, they stopped firing at me altogether. The battle was over, and bodies littered the ground in pools of blood. I looked around, looking for more and counting the bodies themselves. I saw roughly twenty-two in total if I remember correctly, and I counted fifteen on the ground. There were roughly seven that ran to the camp, and there was nothing that said the mission was over.

That meant one thing.

I had to go out and confirm on my own.

Shit.