Chapter 51: Sniper Duel
“Matthews?!” Andrea’s expression remained unchanged, but his voice seemed to be squeezed out through gritted teeth. “What are your people doing here?”
“Hehe, of course we’re also here to find that Templar wanted by the Church.” The man who walked in had a mustache and wore a greatsword and a short sword on his waist.
Behind him, lightly armored warriors with swords and shields filed in, faintly confronting the Gothic swordsmen.
“Want to have a go here?” Andrea sneered. “Best of three, loser backs off?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Captain Matthews replied sarcastically. “Even if we win, will you Iron Cross really back off obediently?”
“Of course.” Andrea said righteously. “We Iron Cross always keep our word. Unlike you Free Wind, who are known for breaking agreements after negotiations.”
“Are these people also mercenaries?” Nuo asked in a low voice from the back of the crowd.
“Free Wind (Ventlibre), a famous mercenary group from the West Frankish Kingdom.” Asker replied. “They are arch-enemies with the Iron Cross mercenary group.”
“Of course, any large mercenary group with a sufficient scale will inevitably have conflicts and grudges. After all, there are only a few high-paying jobs in the world each year, and they have to fight tooth and nail for each one.”
“Oh, oh.” Nuo took out her notebook and jotted it down, her heart filled with interest in these anecdotes of the mercenary world.
“If you’re not going to fight, then why are you blocking us at the castle gate?” Andrea asked him rhetorically. “Are you planning to kill us all here in advance to monopolize Von Kesim’s bounty?”
As soon as he said this, the surrounding mercenaries started to make a commotion. Matthews’ face changed slightly, and he immediately sneered:
“Don’t try to sow discord, we Free Wind are not so low as to attack these idle mercenaries.”
“It’s you Iron Cross who are playing a clever game. The Church offered a bounty of 500 pounds for Von Kesim, and you only offer 5 pounds for clues? You’re really treating everyone as cheap labor!”
“Gentlemen!” Matthews turned to the crowd and said loudly, “Whoever finds clues about Von Kesim can come to our Free Wind mercenary group. We will go together to kill Von Kesim, and we will split 100 pounds of the bounty as a reward!”
The crowd immediately became excited. These idle mercenaries were basically in groups of three or five. Even for a team of 5, splitting 100 pounds of bounty would give each person 20 pounds, far exceeding the price offered by the Iron Cross.
As for participating in the siege of Von Kesim, as long as the price was high enough, who here would be afraid of death? Those who were afraid of death wouldn’t become mercenaries.
“Hahaha.” Andrea sneered. “Playing the betrayal card again, aren’t you tired of it, Free Wind? Last time in Bourges in West Francia, you also offered a bounty of 100 pounds, but all the mercenaries who provided clues died in battle… Did you send the 100 pounds to their families later?”
“You still have the face to mention what happened in Bourges?” Matthews immediately turned hostile and retorted angrily, “If it weren’t for you Iron Cross ambushing us outside, would those mercenaries have died innocently? Those idle mercenaries have no grudge against you, how dare you kill them!”
“Those mercenary brothers who have already received 2 denarii, do you really think that the Iron Cross will do charity and pay you? Be careful, you might get the money but not live to spend it!”
These two men were both mocking and belittling each other, and righteously denouncing the other side. Their words were provocative and aimed to sow discord, making the surrounding mercenaries confused. This… which side should they believe?
“This is wonderful.” Medea crossed her arms, her expression full of amazement. “I thought mercenaries were all muscle-brained brutes, I didn’t expect them to be so scheming.”
“This is already considered relatively peaceful.” Asker said, “If they really want to play dirty, their tricks are more than you can imagine.”
“For example, ambushing at the exit of a passage and waiting for their competitors to come out after completing a mission to kill them; or pretending to be an employer, deliberately concealing the danger of a mission as simple, and then tricking their competitors into going to their deaths.”
“And sending spies to infiltrate their competitors’ teams, then quietly creating division and infighting within the team, finally getting rid of the leader and taking over… There are many similar cases.”
“Would they really do that?” Nuo almost trembled with fear. She felt that she was as innocent as a little white flower. The examples Asker gave were already beyond her imagination just by description.
“That’s why I want to form a small team.” Asker replied. “Once the number of people increases, all kinds of strange troubles will follow. It’s better to keep it at around seven or eight people, all of whom know each other well.”
While the three of them were whispering behind, the argument over there finally came to an end.
The people from the Iron Cross mercenary group stood on the right, continuing to pay the mercenaries.
The people from the Free Wind mercenary group stood on the left, clearly keeping a distance from the Iron Cross.
Idle mercenaries kept approaching, inquiring about the bounty and the specific split. Matthews answered all of them with a smile.
No matter how much the two large mercenary groups disliked each other, it was a good thing for the idle mercenaries. Some quick-witted ones had even thought of getting benefits from both sides:
If they really found clues about Von Kesim, they would first get the 5 pound bounty from the Iron Cross, and then join the Free Wind’s combat team, getting the bounty from both sides.
A mercenary walked out of the castle gate, took out the two silver coins he had just received, and examined them carefully under the midday sun, as if he was discerning their authenticity.
The next second, his head exploded out of thin air, as if a miniature bomb had been planted inside.
“Enemy attack!” The first to raise the alarm were the sword and shield warriors from the Free Wind. Including Matthews, everyone rolled on the spot and tumbled behind pillars and walls.
The Iron Cross mercenary group on the other side also reacted extremely quickly, dropping to the ground and quickly crawling to find cover.
The remaining idle mercenaries did not have such high tactical quality. The sound of glass shattering rang out, and another standing mercenary was headshotted. Only then did panicked screams erupt from the crowd. Some drew their swords in confusion and looked around, some fled through the door in panic, and some subconsciously looked around, imitating the people from the large mercenary groups and lying on the ground, dumbfounded.
Continuous headshot sounds came from outside the castle, ringing out at a regular rate of two shots per second.
On the distant mountain peak, Von Kesim, lying in the grass, held his sniper rifle and pulled the trigger steadily and rhythmically.
Bullets shot out from his gun, flying through the long distance in the air, accurately killing the mercenaries who fled the castle one by one.
Soon there was no one standing outside the castle. Von Kesim spat out the grass stalk in his mouth, a mocking smile appearing on the corner of his scarred lips.
With a “bang,” the Gothic swordsman behind the pillar fell to the ground. The sniper rifle bullet pierced through the concrete pillar and through his neck.
Half of the strong Frankish man’s neck was broken, exposing a large area of flesh, vertebrae, and trachea. He fell to the ground, convulsing and lifeless.
The moment the gunshot rang out, Asker extended his spirituality, sending Medea and Nuo back to Furnace Island. He himself rolled on the spot and slid, hiding in the small space under the stairs.
“This is the prosthetic eye memory function.” Looking at the fallen corpse in front of him, he thought to himself.
The so-called prosthetic eye memory meant that Von Kesim’s cybernetic prosthetic eye could record the traces of enemies within his field of vision.
Any enemy who had been exposed to the prosthetic eye’s field of vision, even if they hid behind cover in time, the database in the prosthetic eye would “remember” which cover they had hidden behind, and then the sniper rifle could calmly shoot blindly, the bullet penetrating the cover and causing damage.
“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” The distant gunshots rang out again. With the first shot, a mercenary hiding behind the wall screamed, the bullet breaking his arm, leaving only a little skin connecting it;
The second shot missed, hitting a hole in the limestone floor;
The third shot shattered the edge of the stone table, headshotting the mercenary hiding behind it, his body slumping down.
“His prosthetic eye has memory function!” Andrea roared. “We can’t go on like this! Otherwise, even if we hide behind cover, we’re just targets for him!”
“Why don’t you send out your sniper?” Matthews also roared in a low voice.
“Of course we have a sniper!” Andrea’s eyes widened. “Don’t you? Each side sends one person, no more nonsense! If we keep hiding, we’ll all die!”
“Lyon!” Matthews turned his head and shouted.
“Franz!” Andrea also shouted.
So the two snipers crawled out of their cover, each finding a window to ambush, taking off the sniper rifles hanging on their backs.
“I don’t like this feeling.” Lyon, the sniper from Free Wind, muttered. “The enemy is in the dark, we’re in the light, this is simply suicide.”
“Don’t say unlucky things.” Franz reprimanded him. “I’ll throw a hat up to attract one of his shots, then we both lean out of cover and shoot at the same time.”
“You can judge his position based on just one shot?” Lyon sneered.
“His sniper rifle is a Slaughter-III, it can’t be equipped with a muzzle brake, there will be muzzle flash when he shoots.” Franz was silent for a moment and asked, “What level is your Vision Sequence?”
“Vision II.” Lyon was silent for a moment and smiled. “You too?”
“That’s right.” Franz said, “The moment he shoots the hat, we capture the position of the muzzle flash, one shot kill. This is a sniper duel, whoever is faster survives.”
“Although it’s an unfair duel, at least there’s a chance of winning.” Lyon held the cross on his neck and muttered in a low voice as if praying. “Let’s do this.”
“Okay.” Franz took off his green beret, took a deep breath, and said, “Countdown.”
“3.” He said. A few more gunshots rang out, and another mercenary was hit in the hall.
“2.” Matthews and Andrea also looked solemn, their expressions grave.
“1.” Asker behind the stairs disappeared, and in the blink of an eye, he reappeared with Miel.
The green beret was thrown high into the air, and the two snipers abruptly leaned out of the windows.
A gunshot rang out, and the beret was instantly knocked away, flying over the stair railing and landing in front of Asker and Miel.
Found him! Franz and Lyon’s pupils constricted sharply. Through the scopes of their sniper rifles, they saw the tiny muzzle flash on the mountaintop that disappeared in a flash.
They both pulled the trigger and fired at the same time!
The next second, Lyon’s body flew backwards. The sniper rifle bullet hit his skull, and like opening a beer bottle cap, his entire top of his head was blown off.
He missed! He dodged!
Franz’s mind was stretched to the limit. He knew that there was no mistake in their sniping just now. It must be that Von Kesim rolled after shooting and had anticipated their attack, leaving his original position!
Suddenly, he saw a flash of light on the mountain, and then it disappeared.
It was the reflection of the sniper rifle scope! He immediately aimed his scope at the location of the light and pulled the trigger again.
“Bang!” A bloody hole appeared on Franz’s forehead, the sniper rifle slipping from his hand and landing on the ground with a crisp sound.
On the distant mountaintop, Von Kesim sneered and continued to reload, releasing the silk thread wrapped around his finger.
The other end of the silk thread extended to the branches above his head, and the glass mirror fragments shattered by the bullet fell down, rolling a few times on the grass.
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