SS1 4.2 - Troublesome Enemy

New convoy of cart kept coming to north gate, and the guards in the gate faithfully followed the plan to maintain a line about 20 carts long outside the gate. Then, before I realized it, it was already 4:30 PM. Talking to Kurk really made time flew faster.

“It seems Old Jack won’t show up today?” Kurk said.

“Maybe he already got a prey from somewhere else?”

“Maybe, and if it’s the case we will heard about it soon.”

I nodded and then turned my gaze on the long line outside the gate. I watched the cart one by one before stopping my gaze at a cart with two kids in the middle of the line. They were a pair seven or eight-year-old girl and a slightly younger boy. The two happily played with a small windmill in their hand, and that brought me some memory.

When I was in 3rd grade, I loved to make similar windmill from used-paper and disposable chopstick. I would then put it in my bicycle and took it for a ride around the neighborhood with smug face. I could do it for hours and never got bored of it. I only stopped doing it because my father put me into after-school language course.

As for the pair of sibling I watched in the distance, after kept begging at their mother, finally they got permission to get down from the cart. They immediately ran across the grass field while holding the windmill in their hand and had a big smile in their face.

Then, the kids went away further and further from the road. I instantly realized it was not a good idea. Old Jack had no history of hunting at dusk. As daytime wyvern, his favorite hunting time was at noon. He would do the scouting by flying far above the cloud, and when he found a prey he would approached it with the glaring sun in his back.

In short, the chance of Old Jack showed up at dusk was low, but there was always first time for everything. Unfortunately, it took place faster than I expected. I got a chill in my spine as a black shadow move very fast across the grass field’s surface. When I looked up to the sky, I saw a giant bat with long necks, long legs, and long tail flew in high speed glide. That’s Old Jack. I recognized him from his size and azure head.

It made a dove to the grassland before flying straight to the kids with windmill, just about four meters above the grounds. Chaos instantly broke out among the people in front of the gate. They immediately rushed to the gate, leaving their cart and belongings. The only exception was the sibling’s mother. With all her might, she ran towards her kids.

As for me, I ignored the commotion and switched into full-killing mode. After replacing the soft-point loaded mag with AP-loaded mag, I raised my MPX with both hands while slightly bending my upper body forward, and then put my elbows on the rail wall and took aim.

The pair of kids was about 100 meters from my position. They were running from my left to right, while Old Jack approached them from behind. The distance was inside my MPX effective range and I could read Old Jack’s flying path unhindered.

At this condition, I could even double tap engine block of an SUV running at 100 km/h. Old Jack was about 50 km faster, but it still give me enough window to complete the math. With ease I acquired the placement where I should put the cross hair to deliver the impact point I wanted, a double tap in the head.

Other than that, Old Jack’s head was also far bigger than engine block of an SUV. Even his brain was bigger. This shot would be a walk on the park. The only problem was, I didn’t know if double tap in the head from 6.5 mm CBJ AP round would be enough to kill the beast. But I was certain for one thing, it would hurt and slow him down significantly and gave the kids a chance of survival.

Then, I was about to switch the selective-lever from safety to semi-auto, when a hand landed on the MPX’s handguard and pushed it down.

“Let the knight from Silva Family take care of it,” Kurk said as I turned my gaze to him. “It’s his idea to bait Old Jack using incoming cart from other town. He will be very angry if someone snatches his opportunity to kill Old Jack.”

“Copy,” I said as I canceled my aim and straightened my back.

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Honestly, it felt like a shit when someone stopping you from a perfect target opportunity, just before you pulled the trigger. In some case, the backlash from adrenaline rush that was being stopped in abrupt manner could also make a shooter snap. Fortunately, this was not my first time experiencing it. I was well-trained in this aspect, so I could handle it well.

Then, I checked the young man with light body armor a dozen meter in my left. He already took a stance to throw the javelin in his hand, but his legs slightly wobbled and he had a hard time trying to get a sure footing.

‘You shouldn’t drink in the middle of a hunt,’ I muttered inwardly.

After seeing the young knight condition, I couldn’t help but questioning my decision. I hoped I didn’t make a bad call, by letting go the opportunity to snipe Old Jack’s head. Then, the young man launched his javelin.

SWOOOOSSHHH!

Throughout my life, this was the first time I heard a javelin made a loud hiss as it flew through the air. It was easy to tell the javelin had more than enough speed. If it was made of hard metal or something harder and with enough mass, it would definitely deliver a devastating kinetic energy. And so, in a blink of an eye the javelin arrived before its intended target.

Boooommm!!!

Loud impact echoed to all direction as a tower of dust and gravel spiked up high to the air. Unfortunately, it was a miss. The javelin passed Old Jack one meter below his head, hit the ground in the distance and created a loud explosion.

Worst of all, before the young knight form Silva Family had the chance to threw second Javelin, Old Jack already arrived before the siblings kids.

Previously, as soon as the commotion broke out the kids immediately realized the imminent danger that came for them. With all their might, they ran towards their mother, but it was futile. With a single sweep from his claw Old Jack snatched both kids.

“MAMA!!!”

The girls cried in terror while hugging her little brother with one hand, and tried to reach her incoming mother with her other hand. At the same time, the mother increase her speed with all her might, but once Old Jack took off, all she could do was only watching in despair as her kids became further and further away from her reach.

As for the young knight from Silva Family, he managed to throw another javelin, but it was a hasty throw and ended up as a big miss.

“SOMEBODY!!!”

The mother screamed in heart wrenching pleads as she dropped to her knee.

“PLEASE SAVE MY KIDS!!!”

“…”

“I will pay you with anything…. Huuuuuu…..”

“…”

“Please don’t let that monster taking my babies…. UWAAAAAAAA!!!”

“…”

Even before the mother exploded into heart wrenching plea, I already raised my MPX. This time, I aimed at his leg, just a meter above the claw that gripped the kid. At the same time, an image of unpleasant outcome crossed in my mind.

There was a possibility my shot would make Old Jack squeezed the kids to death instead of releasing them. Other than that, even though Old Jack released them from his grip, I was not sure if the kids would survive the fall.

Even so, I still firmly took aim. My chance to save the kids was thinner than a single hairline, but if I didn’t do it they would definitely ended in gruesome end. Then, without hesitation I squeezed the trigger in two gentle but quick successions

Ba-bang!!!

I could only heave a deep sigh as my shoot missed by a large margin. At exactly as I squeezed the trigger, Old Jack made a quick banked and exited my line of fire. With a churned stomach I could only watch as the damnable wyvern flew away with two crying kids, and their cries became louder as their mother suddenly fainted.

Then, I felt a strong and rough push on my left shoulder. When I checked the person who pushed me, I found it was the young knight from Silva Family.

“Fool!” The young knight cursed me while also giving me a sword glare. “You distracted me and made my aim miss.”

“Will all respect, Sir. How was that possible?” I asked in disbelief. “I took the shoot after you throw both your javelins.”

“Rubbish!” The young knight snorted before adding. “You will pay for this. Two innocent kids became Old Jack’s food because of your stupid action.”

“But…”

Before I finished my words the young knight from Silva Family and his servants already jumped off the wall and then left with hasty steps. A moment later, Kurk approached me and whispered.

“People from patrician family are really good at screwing someone, especially the one they chose as a scape goat,” Kurk said in regrettable tone. “You shouldn’t take the shoot.”

Kurk then also left with hasty steps, while I tried to register the shit I just received. It seemed I just created a troublesome enemy, and I was afraid it was not only for myself. There was a possibility the bastard would also put Pukin’ Dogs in his crosshair.

A moment later the officer in duty came to relieve me from back up duty. With a bleak mood I then took my leave. I planned to return to the quarter right away, but when I scaled down the steps I heard some guards planned to evacuate the fainted mother only after the sun fully set in the west. The wanted to be sure Old Jack wouldn’t make a dive on them as they evacuated her.

Somehow, it rubbed me in a very wrong way. Without delay, I went to take the poor woman inside the wall. A senior guard then guided me into nearby healer. After leaving the money for nursing fee, I returned to the quarter.

After taking a bath, I decided to buy sumptuous dinner to liven up my mood, but as soon as I recalled that tonight two kids would become a dinner for a wyvern, I instantly lost my appetite. In the end, I only ate a piece of milk bun before went to the bed.

*****