Chapter 152: 5 Times

We rolled up to the beginning of Hare’s Pass before slowing. When the convoy came to a halt, Pollux spoke over comms. 

“Squad 1 and 2, hop out and get moving. We’ll recon at the end of the day. We need to get these sensors replaced first.”

“Copy.”

“Copy, Commander.”

The two squads responded and scrambled to get out of the Steeds. One of the trucks pulled up as well, once loaded with sensors, now missing a few. The other one was with the other squads. 

Then, Pollux looked at us. 

“Liaison, find a good position and make contact with squads 3 and 4. I’ll check in later for a report.”

“Yes sir.”

I responded before tapping Amary on the shoulder. 

“Let’s head back a bit. There’s a good hill I saw.”

“You want to drive?”

“Sure.”

Instead of making me point our way, Amary just swapped with me. I swung myself behind the handles and she wrapped her arms around my chest. 

I tested the throttle a bit before rolling off, kicking a bit of snow in the air and backtracking on the trail. 

There was a tall hill that would give me a view of everyone, right between Hare’s Pass and Scythe’s Peak. My assessment seemed correct; it was such a popular vantage point it was actually named on the map, called Shield Hill. 

The path halfway up gradually turned too rocky and steep to drive up, so we left the bike behind and climbed the rest of it, getting to the top vantage point. 

I could see the expansive canyon spread out before me. The squads practically looked like pinpricks compared to the massive, untamed wilderness. 

“Fucking beautiful.”

I let out those words with a long breath, truly in awe at the sights around me. Amary chuckled. 

“You’re from the capital, right? Not many get to see a view like this. One of the few perks of being a soldier here.”

“Mm. The commander said that we should expect enemies. Now, I get why we should be careful, but if that bridge is the only way over here, why the concern?”

“Because they could be behind us.”

“…”

I turned, looking back at all the mountains and irregular terrain. Truly, if they were back there and wanted to hide, there was no way we could find them. I suddenly felt much less safe.

Amary suddenly patted my back, making me flinch. 

“Haha, don’t get so scared, guy. The sensors we’re putting down at least make sure that there aren’t any near the trails and that the ones who slip past are weak enough to handle. Plus, you have to remember that nature doesn’t like the Scourge either. They’re the ones behind enemy lines.”

“You mean animals will hunt Scourge beasts?”

“Not animals. Flickers.”

My brows raised when I faced her. I had forgotten about those. 

She motioned to the lands around us. 

“Flickers roam around here. Occasionally we’ll spot them in packs. And those things kill Scourge beasts on sight. They’re actually one of the best forms of defense we have around here, even better than sensors.”

“Amazing. I hope I get to see some.”

I glanced around a bit more. Then, I raised my Aerial. It was time for business. 

“Liasion to Squads Three and Four. Comms check.”

I paused after speaking, waiting a bit for a response. 

“… Squad Three, copy Liaison.”

“Squad Four, I hear you, ugly.”

My brow raised when I heard the voice from Four. That was Eric.

I chuckled. 

“Copy, Three and Four. Lines are clear. Let me know if you need anything. I’ve got a map, some eyes, and all the time in the world.”

“You can either be quiet or come down here and help us.”

“Negative, Squad Four, I can do neither. I can help guide you though.”

I shifted my gaze, looking out to where Squad Four was, at the base of Scythe’s Peak. 

I could pick out Eric and some others systematically searching the woods for sensors. He was standing by the Steed, sensor in hand, while the others were trying to find the broken sensors hidden somewhere. 

I looked at my map and got a gist of the positioning before speaking. 

“Tell your squadmate highest on the base to travel to his right a few hundred feet. There should be a sensor over there.”

“…”

There was no response as I watched Eric turn to the person I mentioned. Then, as if debating, he stared for a few seconds before waving his arms and pointing, guiding that person. 

After that, I watched as that person walked and looked around. They seemed to be carrying sensors of their own, and when they got close, it gave them a signal. 

Sure enough, given a minute or two, the sensor was found. I smiled as Eric ran over with a fresh sensor. 

“You’re welcome, Squad Four.”

“Zip it, jackass.”

“Heh.”

I stifled a laugh before turning back around. 

I looked between all the other squads, including where Pollux was at. He was using the map to guide everyone. I could hear his traffic.

Once he went quiet a bit, I spoke. 

“Liaison to Commander.”

“Go ahead, Liaison.”

“Squad Four has replaced one sensor, and Three is still searching.”

“Copy Liaison. Good work.”

“Sir, if it’s alright, I can help guide based on the map.”

“Can you even see from all the way over there, Liaison?”

I smiled as Pollux turned toward the hill I was on. I could see his lips move as he spoke into the aerial clear as day. 

I chuckled a bit. 

“Yes sir I can. You could say I’ve got the vision of a Scout.”

“Audacious. But very well. Relay directions to the squads if you’re able. Keep an eye out too though. There could be enemies around here and, Scout eyes or not, you’re our best lookout. Weber should be scanning too.”

“Yes sir, she is.”

“Good. Check in every half hour. We’re in for the long haul today.”

“Understood. Liaison out.”

I put down my Aerial, taking one more look around before taking out my little chair and sitting down. 

Amary looked down at me with a smirk.

“What’s that?”

“My chair. I often find myself with nothing to do and a lot of time to do it, like on walls. So I got myself this seat. Saves my legs.”

“How smart.”

“I am quite the genius, aren’t I?”

I smiled while looking off toward the canyon, my eyes landing on Hare’s Pass. 

That natural bridge, as I looked at it more, stopped looking so natural. I couldn’t imagine anything that would cause a massive curved rock and dirt bridge to form between two cliffs. 

Perhaps it was an earth warlock who made it. They’d have to be obscenely powerful, but it wasn’t impossible, not in this world. 

The bridge was at least a thousand feet long and a few hundred feet wide. A large army could cross it without problem. And since it seemed to be a major chokepoint on this battlefield, I wasn’t surprised when I saw all the large wounds on the ground caused by battle. The Snow Doves had fought yesterday, and there wasn’t enough time to cover their traces with snow. 

I looked off into the distance beyond the bridge. The entrance on the other side was barren. I didn’t see any Scourge beasts. Not at first, at least. 

Given a bit more scrutiny though, scanning across various vantage points, I managed to pick out a Scout. It was a Cyclops Scout, a more powerful variant, and it was peeking from behind a tree on a hill similar to mine. 

I lifted my Aerial. 

“Liaison to Commander.”

“Go ahead, Liaison.”

“I’ve spotted a Cyclops Scout across the bridge, on the hill slightly to its right. It seems to be watching you guys.”

“….”

The Commander turned and looked, scanning in the direction of the hill I pointed out. But there was no way he could spot the Scout. Instead, he just seemed to be thinking for a bit. 

“Copy Liaison. Notify Handler and receive orders. My priority is to get these sensors replaced, so I’m sticking to that unless she says otherwise.”

“Copy. Stand by.”

I changed channels, contacting Polly.

“Liaison to Handler, come in.”

“… Go ahead, Liaison.”

“I’ve spotted a Cyclops Scout watching our platoon from across Hare’s Pass. The Commander is focusing on replacing sensors and wants to leave it be, unless you have other orders.”

“Copy. It’s still early in the day, and sending a detachment to hunt it can cause more problems than just leaving it since it’ll have reinforcements. Still, it’ll know where our sensors are. You’re a ranged fighter, Liaison. Is there anything you can do about it?”

“Hmm…”

I squinted my eyes a bit. From my hill to the Scout’s, there was a distance equal to about double the length of the bridge. Given a bit of guestimation, I’d say it was about 750 meters. 

That was a much longer shot than I’d comfortably take cold. I’d never shot anything that long and that wasn’t even considering the winds going over the canyon. 

I didn’t want to be spotted myself either, but if I moved down toward the bridge and closed some of the distance, that shot would be much easier to hit. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about whatever this thing had seen, since it would be dead. 

I responded. 

“Affirmative, Handler. I’ll try and take care of it. Worst that happens is I spook it and it hides.”

“How many sensors have been replaced?”

“Just one that I know of, no more than two or three.”

“That’s better than scheduled. You’re clear, Liaison. Deal with it and report back.”

“Copy. Liaison out.”

I smiled before relaying those plans to the Commander. He had no issues. Then, I looked toward Amary.

“I’ve got something to take care of. Care to follow?”

“Oh. Sure.”

“We need to stay low though. There’s a Scout watching us. Don’t want to get spotted.

Amary didn’t question much as I started walking off. I cut off line of sight with the Scout just in case it saw me. Then we snuck our way down the hill and over toward the bridge. 

It took us some time but I found a tree near the edge of the canyon. Now, I was closer to 350 meters away from that thing. And it continued to just watch, not suspecting that it would ever be spotted, let alone attacked in any meaningful way. 

I clicked my Aerial as Amary settled down beside me.

“Liaison to Commander. I’m ready to take my shot.”

“I’m all ears, Liaison.”

I set down the Aerial and took a breath, taking out my weapon and steadying my aim on a protruding rock. I was a bit lower than the scout, but still had a good view of it. 

The M1 Garand tucked in my shoulder only had iron sights, unlike my Springfield, which had its own telescopic sight. Normally the Springfield would be better for distance shooting with that sight, but my eyes as they were now really didn’t need a telescope. In fact, the scope would only be a hindrance as I tried to look farther into the distance than it could handle. 

I centered my sights on the Scout, aiming right for that big bulbous head. 

The explosion rang through the mountains as I watched the Scout’s head burst with a puff of blood. It collapsed in on itself. 

My aim was perfect.

I clicked my Aerial. 

“The Scout is dead.”

“I heard. Step out of the woods and come over here.”

“On my way.”

I lifted my body and walked out with Amary. 

Since we didn’t have to hide anymore I just walked over to the Steed where Pollux was waiting around. I saw many of the others around there too, still searching for the sensors. 

He smiled when I approached. 

“You really killed that Scout?”

“Yes sir. You can go grab its corpse if you want.”

“No, I’ll take your word for it. Fantastic work. Those slippery bastards are usually the reason our sensors get picked out so easily. There’s not much we can do when they’re so far away, but if you’re able to solve that problem, we’ll save a lot of time and money.”

“I’ll do my best. And if you guys see them before I do, just tell me.”

“Will do. Go back up and watch that corpse. If anything goes near it, let me know.”

“Yes sir.”

“Amary, keep this one safe.”

“Yes sir.”

We both saluted before walking back off, reclaiming our spot on Shield Hill. 

I settled back on my seat, watching the corpse. Amary took out a blanket and sat down beside me.

“You can see that Scout from all the way over here?”

“Yup. I’ve got good eyes.”

“More than just good eyes. I’ve never seen golden eyes like yours. Is it a Crown?”

“Who knows?”

“Hoho, how mysterious.”

We chuckled a bit. Then, I thought of something and asked over the Aerial.

“Liaison to Commander.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you mind if I get in some target practice?”

“I don’t see an issue. Go ahead.”

“Thanks.”

I smiled after getting permission, looking down at Amary beside me.

“Hey, wanna switch spots?”

“Why?”

“I was going to lay down, practice shooting some.”

“Hm, alright.”

We both stood and changed seats. I moved her blanket behind a rock and rested my M1 on it. 

I could feel her interest peak when she saw the gun again. 

“So what kind of weapon is that?”

“It’s a firearm, or a gun.”

“Gun…”

“It shoots little projectiles, like arrows but smaller and much faster.”

“And louder.”

“Much louder. But the tradeoff is worth it.”

I smiled and sighted in on the Scout corpse. 750 meters away… but I could see it like it was right in front of me. Right now though, my sight went beyond the capabilities of my aim, or my gun. 

I learned that clearly when I started shooting. 

My first shot missed by a few feet. After that, I slowly started grouping them tighter, hitting near the corpse. After a couple dozen rounds though, I hadn’t actually once hit it. 

Funnily enough, since it had more distance to fly, I was actually able to see the bullet travel. The way it distorted the air and drew a slightly sloped line to its impact point gave me a shit eating grin. It was so cool. But the wind over the canyon, as well as the inaccuracy of me and my gun, made it difficult to hit near the target. I didn’t bother empowering any bullets since I wasn’t trying to kill anything. 

After going through four clips, I let out a sigh and lifted my head, looking beyond the gun. 

Amary muttered from behind. 

“My ears are ringing. Are you at least hitting anything?”

“No. But maybe…”

I settled back down behind my gun. Then, I fully empowered it, letting the Psyka flow as it wished into a new group of bullets. 

I let out a breath, settling my body and steadying my heartbeat. My Crown, specifically enhancing my agility and dexterity, was a great help in stilling my micromovements and steadying my aim. 

That was an important part of being able to shoot at distance. Beyond 500 meters, even the tremors of your heart would shift your aim. It wouldn’t even move you a full millimeter, but that much would result in inches or even feet of inaccuracy at distances beyond 1000 meters. 

Of course, I knew all of this in theory. I’d never actually shot anything that far. But I needed to start trying. I had the eyes and the implements. There was no reason I shouldn’t be shooting farther than I was. I couldn’t restrict myself to sub-500 meter engagements. 

And to that end, I had a curious idea. 

Empowering a canister of Mustard Gas made it act on the body within a matter of minutes instead of hours or days. It made it more effective. To put it differently, it enhanced its functions, improved the efficacy of its properties. 

It made poison act faster, and gave it such powerful effects that it was able to wreak havoc on a knight’s body. 

So what about a bullet? What about filling it with more Psyka made it more effective? Why did empowering my bullets allow them to hit harder?

I was about to find out. 

My finger tightened around the trigger. The Garand punched my shoulder. 

I watched as the bullet drew a line through the air. Except, where before, it took over a second or so, it now took but a small fraction of that time. 

I withdrew my Psyka and fired a normal round, mentally clocking the time to impact at around 1 second. That probably wasn’t accurate, but it would serve as a reference point. 

Then, I fully empowered it and fired again. This time, it didn’t even take a quarter of a second to impact. 

That was almost 5 times faster. Based on the equation to calculate kinetic energy, 5 times the speed would impart 25 times the energy. If a normal intermediate cartridge like this 30-06 delivered 3000 joules at the muzzle, the same fully empowered round would deliver 75000 joules. That was nearly 4 times more force than a normal .50 BMG, depending on the load. It also meant that the round traveled in a laser straight line. As for its other properties, I couldn’t tell without proper testing which was difficult to carry out without modern equipment. Either way, the effects on stronger enemies was obvious when I recalled all my battles up to this point. Perhaps it also had greater armor piercing by virtue of a bullet with greater integrity. 

I hadn’t noticed all this before simply because I didn’t get very many opportunities to shoot at a distance like this. Whenever I was on a base, it wasn’t really appropriate, not to mention that the landscapes didn’t accommodate it as easily as this place did. 

Now though, I knew that my Psyka didn’t simply enhance ‘damage’. It enhanced the weapon’s properties, the details of which I had finally discovered.

That was a game changer. 

So I settled back in, keeping the bullets fully empowered and starting to let off rounds continuously. 

With the higher bullet velocity, there was no slope or bullet drop to speak of. It changed the way I had to aim the gun, but that was easy to get used to. In fact, it improved my hand-eye coordination, resulting in generally greater accuracy. 

However, after I had shot for around an hour almost nonstop, I started to realize the limits of the M1 Garand’s inherent accuracy. 

I only hit the corpse occasionally, and considering my eyes were so good and the bullet trajectory was so straight, that could only mean that this gun’s accuracy was reaching its limit. The target area was approaching 800 meters, and I was sure that I could tighten up my groupings a bit more, but this wasn’t a precision or extreme range rifle. There wasn’t any such thing during WW2. Hell, ‘sniper rifles’ were whatever standard issue rifles that managed to get a scope screwed onto them. There might’ve been some rifles that were more accurate than others and picked out for those traits, but the concept of a sniper was in its infancy during that time. Even in modern warfare, handling targets at the thousand meter range was rare, certainly not frequent. And hitting a shot like that took exceptional skill that only the best snipers were capable of doing reliably, let alone anything farther in such conditions. 

So my expectations for this rifle weren’t sky high. It was an amazing weapon, but each weapon was suited for different purposes. The M1 Garand was an excellent medium-range shooter with a good fire rate and great reliability. But using it for targets beyond 500 meters seemed to be where it started falling off. 

Which meant I’d have to wait for the next Authorities to get the precision shooters that came from modern times. I wondered if it would be one or two more advancements before that time came. Authority Five was giving me WW2 era weapons alongside WW1 gear, so I wondered if Authority Six would give me the semi-modern weapons created during wars like Korea or Vietnam. 

If it did, I could have much stronger scopes that may actually compound on the resolution of my vision. And perhaps things like silencers would actually make the gun silent. That would be another game changer. 

I fantasized while getting some more practice. After another hour, I started getting tired, so I stopped and decided to help all the poor Pathfinders who were still searching for sensors. 

The search went by quicker. Squads Three and Four managed to finish relatively quickly, finding and replacing all eight sensors with my directions. But squads One and Two had more trouble, and the markings on the map proved to be inaccurate. Thus, they had to brute force the search.

Hours passed, and nothing came for the corpse of the Scout. I just continued to stalk it since I had nothing to do, but that proved futile. Those monsters probably couldn’t fathom the idea that their scout got killed without it being able to notify them first. That only aided us. It also made me think that I should try and keep my presence faint. 

I had already attracted attention while being a Magisterium student, and in this place, I had much less protection. I couldn’t make myself a high value target, or I’d get assassinated or something. 

To that end, since I couldn’t become flat out invisible like Plex, I’d have to use my Aura and its illusive properties to try and mask myself while operating. Trick the mind of my enemies. Sure, they may hear me, but if they couldn’t find me, or couldn’t see me, then I’d be just fine. 

It was another thing to practice.

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