Volume 1 Chapter 35: Counter-Attack

Noriko and Yumi are fighting near the unbroken walls by the village's port. Despite the surprise attack, the elves, the most skilled warriors in the village and being in the area that was least attacked, were able to fend off the humans with relative ease. The human's flimsy tactics and weaponry were no match against the long-lived veterans of many wars, though that didn't number a lot, but it was still a significant force. With the port secured by the elven defenders, Noriko and Yumi, two of the most talented of their generation, led a coalition of elves to help the defense of the dragon roost, or so they thought.

Witnessing hundreds of villagers being led to the port, Noriko and Yumi could only assume the worst as Lady Sinclair and the other leaders met them. It was established that the dragon roost was to be evacuated due to the god form's appearance while the port was to begin evacuating the villagers out to the sea and to the other villages by sea.

With Gaelia's appearance, the village leaders assigned Noriko to assist Gaelia in the battle, most important of which was to liberate the village from the anti-magic field. With this, Noriko, Yumi, and dozens of other elven warriors set off in search of the devices. Perhaps Gaelia's appearance or the attack from Lord Sinclair or even the combination of the two, enabled an easy retaking of the village. Minimal resistance existed as the elves made their way to the outer walls. From there they could see three large devices set up all over wilderness and farms outside the village. Humans that weren't inside the walls were stationed outside, guarding the devices.

Standing on the reclaimed walls, humans dead all around her, Noriko was looking out at the devices while wiping her draconic sword from blood. Yumi came up to her and asked,

"Have you found them?"

"…Not yet."

The two were looking for the Sinclair children and any others that were taken away. Scanning through the crowds of human soldiers, Noriko spotted an old elf. She thought it was strange before seeing him carry an unconscious Hiram and place him in a prison wagon.

"There! They're on the left side of the device. Yumi, send a messenger to the other groups that we found the prisoners. I'll head down there with the rest of our group."

"Yumi understands."

Yumi leaps off the walls to find the messenger. Noriko restrings her bow and sharpens her sword with a small tool kit before looking at the other elves.

"Are you all ready?"

They look at her and nod.

"Good."

They leap off the wall and make their way to the devices.

Instead of confronting the entire army from the front, Noriko's group set themselves up on a higher elevated hill just before reaching the device. There they laid their supplies and ammunition. Noriko needed to disable the anti-magic artifact and rescue the prisoners. Her group being able to defeat a much larger force who were entrenched wasn't very feasible, at least normally. Before she set off on her mission a group of dwarves that fled from the dragon roost gave her several bundles of special arrows and bolts. They were runed and the dwarves said that they were imbued with the runes "Explosion". They said it was for the upcoming conflict, but seeing as the conflict is currently here, they'll gladly have them used now rather than never.

Keeping themselves out of sight, the elven group readies their bows, runed arrows ready to fire. An elf next to Noriko softly says,

"I hope these work."

"It will. Everyone! Fire!"

Simultaneously, all the elves reveal themselves before unleashing their arrows. Even before the humans touched the ground, dozens were already killed. The humans prepared to counter attack.

"Noriko, it's not-"

"Just wait."

While drawing another arrow from her quiver at her waist, she observed the arrow's runes activate, glowing red along the runes before exploding. The result, scattering the humans. Black knights appeared and were subsequently shot as well, resulting in their armored bodies exploding. Two ogres charge at Noriko, both carrying large shields. The arrows landed on them, but the explosions were not able to force them back or fully destroy the shields.

"Noriko, they're coming!"

"I know! Continue firing! Suppress the humans. Don't let them fire back! Hibiki, take command."

"Roger!"

Noriko jumps over the hill cover and rushes towards the ogre. The ogre sees her and swings a gnarled tree at her, but she nimbly dodges before diving between his legs. A few humans who were using the ogre as cover charges at her, but she made short work of them before turning back to slice the heel tendons of the ogre. This causes the ogre to stumble and fall, crying out in pain. Noriko rushes towards him, pulls out a runed bolt, and stabs the ogre in the back of his neck. She dives out of the way as the ogre's neck explodes, ending his life.

As Noriko gets back up, the other ogre attempts to swing at her with a large club, but is stopped as his hand is shot by an arrow that curved from an impossible angle. He yells in pain as his hand explodes, but is hit in his head by another arrow which ends his life shortly after. Noriko dives back into cover as she sees Yumi and a new group of elves join the fight. With the added reinforcements, the elven forces are able to push successfully into the human camp.