Surprise (3)

Billy's bow was only at level five. Still, the weapon was at a level which granted him twenty-five extra points into dexterity. Thanks to his training, status, and skills, Billy was confident that he could even hit targets when they were seventy meters away. When the elementalists entered his range, Billy began to fire at a fearsome speed and without hesitation. The arrows began to land on the enemies. Still, due to their movement speed, the wind, and Billy's relative inexperience, the arrows didn't kill anyone. It only scratched those who had good reflexes and pierced the limbs of those who didn't. Three enemies fell on the ground, hurt… but Billy found a problem, the bow wasn't powerful enough to withstand him firing arrows that could fly such a distance. Every time he fired, the weapon lost some durability.

"It is fine… it is a stone bow," Billy said. "It has a high durability…"

Even if it had high durability, did strings still could break. Nevertheless, Billy didn't stop firing, and the enemies soon took notice of him and aimed their stone Bullets toward Billy instead of the wall. Billy quickly lowered his stance, but he had bought enough time for Drew's group approach.

When Billy got up again, he saw the Elementalists raising earth walls to stop Drew and the others. They sure like to do that, but in the end, Billy had considered that and made the arrows fall on them falling following the curse of an arc. This time, Billy missed more, but those that got hit died with arrows in their heads.

The skill Archery has leveled up.

The skill Firing Speed has leveled up.

Billy kept firing arrows from above, and that made the elementalists use wind magic to stop the attacks. Still, in the end, that gave a chance for Drew and the others to attack. Billy killed three elementalists, and five others were cut down instantly. The others quickly began to escape while making sure to fire bursts of winds toward Drew and the others to keep them away. Billy tried to attack, but they used wind Manipulation to keep his arrows away as well. If they could do that, running away was something that could await. They decided to retreat too fast… was it because the surprise attack made them lose some allies too fast? Billy wasn't the only one dumbfounded.

"This was too easy…" Billy thought.

Drew withdrew, but he didn't drop his guard. He waited until the enemies disappeared in the distance before he left with half of the guards to help the other groups. Fortunately, there was no sign of tornadoes, so the guards would be dealing with the usual.

Billy had heard that out of all groups, the red archers were the ones who had an easier time against the elementalists. Even when the enemies were wary of them, they couldn't do much aside from focusing on defense when a rain of arrows was falling on them. It was even harder to block the arrows when they came flying in a straight line. The power of arrows fired by men such as Leo was on par with their stone bullets, and they didn't have to rely on mana, and their range was even greater as well.

Nevertheless, after a couple of hours, Drew returned and informed them that they had repelled another attack. They had lost ten soldiers, but they killed three times more. A victory such as that was rare…

"Well done," Drew said and then patted Billy's head.

Billy smiled a little because he had accomplished his goal. He changed the flow for the better on his flavor. However, he also realized that he had taken some lives. On the other attack, he did it as well, but this time, he did so without relying on luck.

"Am I being praised for killing them?" Billy thought. "No… I can't think that way. I am fighting to protect our current life… I don't find joy in taking other people's lives."

Although he thought that, Billy still had a weird feeling inside him. He was just fighting those that made his tribe suffer for so long, that made them abandon their homes… people that tried to kill his father and his mother, not particularly them, but as a tribe… whatever the reason they might be, dying was just a result of their actions.

Once he thought of that, Billy felt calmer. The battles didn't last long because neither side had too many people, which made Billy realize… How many people existed in that world? Could it be that the elementalists had lower numbers because they were trying to conquer numerous regions simultaneously? That sure would be reckless… Given that they spent several weeks between attacks nowadays, that possibility wasn't high.

Just to be safe, the guards stayed on guard for several days, but nothing happened, so they resumed their usual routine of taking turns at guarding the walls. Anna and Camilla looked quite proud when they heard about Billy's accomplishments. Even though he didn't use a spear, it wasn't until much later where one of them could fight the elementalists… Billy was just ten years old, and he could face them under the right circumstances. Samuel and Samara didn't get the reason for the excitement, but they sure looked happier than usual. Only Billy and Drew didn't look that excited over it.

From that day onward, the other members of the tribe began to treat Billy with more respect. The other recruits felt a bit jealous, but that only gave them more reason to work harder and improve their skills with other types of weapons as well.