Chapter 139: The Best Partners

Alzack and Bisca couldn't imagine how the First Master would command battles, but just looking at the key points Rhodes marked after gathering information already provided significant help—especially for Bisca.

As a sniper, being able to quickly find an ideal sniping position meant she was halfway to victory.

And Rhodes, simply by dispatching his summoned creatures, had already marked several suitable concealed positions.

"I've got it!" Rhodes sensed that one of his shadow wolves had returned to Summoner's Canyon.

He immediately re-summoned the shadow wolf and began questioning it.

"Did you find people, or did you find the hideout?"

He extended his left hand for people and his right hand for the hideout.

The shadow wolf stretched out its paw, touching the right hand first, then the left.

"?" Rhodes thought for a moment. "So you found the hideout, and there are people inside?"

The shadow wolf nodded.

Okay, this wolf was pretty thorough.

After asking which mountain the hideout was on, there was little more it could describe.

Rhodes pondered whether he should try teaching the shadow wolf to write.

He dismissed all the creatures currently searching the mountains and re-summoned the river crabs, instructing two of them to follow the shadow wolf ahead.

"Are we not going?" Alzack asked.

Rhodes thought for a moment and replied, "We'll go too. I'll connect to the vision of the canyon's swift crabs to lead the way, and you two can handle security on the sides and behind us. Is that okay?"

Alzack nodded. "No problem."

Bisca raised her sniper rifle, scanning the surroundings. "Just what I'm good at."

With two professional gunmen keeping watch, Rhodes was at ease.

He thought of Natsu's combat sense, Gray's ice-shaping speed, Warren's all-town communication, and wondered if everyone in the guild had some kind of special skill.

These skills might not necessarily be for combat, but in their respective fields, each might rank among the best in the country.

After all, Fairy Tail was one of the strongest guilds in the entire country.

Rhodes pondered whether he should develop his own special skill too.

It couldn't be that if someone asked, "All your comrades have a unique skill—what's yours?" he'd answer, "My wife is the prettiest in the country."

That wouldn't be quite appropriate.

But it would be quite satisfying.

...

What Mira had said earlier about the terrain here being "treacherous" was no joke. Although not as extreme as sheer cliffs, the terrain was indeed difficult to traverse.

Fortunately, the three of them were no ordinary people. They didn't need to swing on vines but could find their own ways.

Rhodes led the way, also clearing the path as needed.

In places that were hard to climb, he'd use partial take-over of the shadow wolf, changing his hand to a wolf claw to dig out helpful notches for the others.

Sometimes he tried using the ancient stone beetle form to see whether wolf claws or stone hands worked better.

Alzack and Bisca followed a little distance behind Rhodes.

The farther they went, the more Bisca appreciated teaming up with Rhodes. He even took care of such small details.

Alzack also felt that being in a team with Rhodes was great, especially since climbing a mountain occasionally required helping each other.

And with Rhodes intentionally staying so far ahead, the only ones to help each other were him and Bisca.

After all, mountain climbing was one of the best outdoor activities for bringing people closer together.

The three soon crossed the mountain, carefully navigating the saddle between the peaks. The bandit hideout was now not far away.

"Something's up!" Bisca raised her sniper rifle, looking through the scope into the distance.

Rhodes and Alzack stopped moving and guarded her from both sides.

Alzack looked in the same direction Bisca was watching. "That's... a carriage—is it a merchant?"

Rhodes squinted at the distance. Mountains, yellow and green woods, a winding road down below—not the road they came from but a major road on the other side.

From this distance, the roadside trees were just a blur of yellow; where was there a carriage?

"It's bandits robbing the carriage," Bisca frowned. She was about to take action but asked, "Rhodes?"

"I can't see that far; you two decide." At this distance, Rhodes could only summon swift beak birds to fly over as quickly as possible, but until they got there, he'd have to rely on his comrades.

Bisca kept watching. "There are ten bandits in total. Using a wide-area attack could harm innocent people, but if I use 'Sharpshooter,' I can take out six in one go, but..."

"I'll handle the rest. This distance is tough for a handgun. You have a spare sniper rifle, right?" Alzack's voice was much more confident now than when they were on the carriage.

"Requip!" Bisca didn't even move her hand. A sniper rifle appeared beside her.

Alzack caught it skillfully and positioned himself next to her.

"Answer the call, ancient stone beetle." Rhodes summoned a group of stone beetles, instructing them to lay on the ground.

"Huge help." The two set up their sniper rifles on the beetles' backs—solid and steady.

"I'll take the six on the right."

"I'll get the four on the left."

They assigned targets briefly, then counted down together from three and fired simultaneously.

"Snipe: Sharpshooter!"

A small green magic circle appeared at Bisca's gun muzzle, and six magic bullets fired simultaneously, hitting each target precisely.

"Snipe: Shock Chain!"

Alzack's magic was slightly different. He fired four distinct shots, loading each shot magically at lightning speed.

As soon as one bullet left the gun, the next one was ready.

The four bandits were each hit in turn, collapsing with golden electric sparks still flickering.

"Target eliminated!" Alzack and Bisca high-fived.

And then blushed immediately.

"Bisca, y-your shooting was amazing."

"You too."

Rhodes felt like giving them a packet of Mentos.

"I'll go check on the merchant and make sure they leave the area safely." Rhodes said, "You two stay here on watch. If enemies show up..."

"No problem." Alzack patted the stone beetle's back. "With these guys, we can handle however many come!"

Bisca nodded. "Right, these are the ancient stone beetles, right? They're the perfect partners for gunmen."

A movable, hard-as-rock, command-following cover—what gunman wouldn't like that?

Especially since they could also use a bit of earth magic, tunneling underground to evacuate someone if necessary.

The two genuinely admired Rhodes for having such convenient summoned creatures.

They even thought of forming a fixed team with him—he wouldn't need to do anything else, just summon stone beetles for cover during each fight and watch from the back.

"All right then, be careful." Rhodes stretched his arm. "Take-over: Shadow Wolf!"

He transformed into a werewolf, dashing through the woods toward the carriage.

He was actually considering transforming into a swift beak bird and flying down, but his flying skills were comparable to a house-raised hen.

It felt like even a cat with fake wings attached could do a better job, so he decided not to embarrass himself.