De-Bugging Another World

VOL.4, Chapter 25, Chase.

The carriage rattled and creaked as it rushed through the dense, yet not so dense, undergrowth of the Southern Forest.

Aelanna struggled visibly to keep their drakes going as they were clearly at their limit from the intense sprinting they were forced to endure with the uneven ground.

The beasts might be able to run endlessly for days on end on flat ground, but with the amount of roots sticking from the dirt, small shrubs and other clutter of plants and natural debris on the ground, along with the uneven nature of the forest floor, they had a hard time.

"When we catch up to them, I need you to snipe as many of the bandits with that moving payload we're after as you can, got it?" Kanrish addressed Ayame, their unexpected ranged prodigy.

"Hm-hmm" The girl nodded and gave her bowstring a few slight test-pulls. Although tugs might be a better description.

"I'll do my best." She told him and Kanrish grunted.

"We had to get a 'chase the bad-guys' event after we raided the damned place." He muttered annoyed at the sudden change of pace. A change of pace he had hoped would be avoidable by taking the camp by surprise.

"Rough road incoming, brace yourselves!" Aelanna roared as she drove the carriage into an area heavily pockmarked by both beast and travel alike.

And as she said, it was rough. The carriage jostled and shook even more than it already did, leaving Lyya worried it might actually end up falling apart from the severe shaking.

But she had no time to voice her worries. The carriage was now shaking so violently, she had to hold onto the side boards near her for dear life's sake.

"Ayame, fire!" Aelanna shouted as she noticed they were getting closer to the moving dot. Including several other markers that moved along with it which she figured were 'guards' for the stolen wares.

As Ayame took aim, she struggled to keep her aim steady with the heavy shaking of the carriage.

Once she released her arrow, it merely struck one of the 'guard's' horses leaving it to slow down significantly, but nothing else.

"Aw, I missed." She spoke softly but had already taken aim again.

Ayame would not let herself be dissuaded from her archery by the simple fact she had 'missed' a shot for the first time.

The next arrow she fired, struck the rider in the back and left him falling of the horse while the girl readied her next arrow.

"I'll help you." Kanrish spoke as he brought forth his own ranged weapon. It might be an object of nothing but his pure, condensed mana, it was still a heavy duty, fully automatic rifle bearing the accuracy of a sniper with red dot visor.

Any recoil these weapons had was utterly neglectable and they required no ammunition to be loaded in.

As he took aim, Kanrish steadied himself by leaning his elbow on his knee as he crouched down.

"Fire!" He called and both he and Ayame released their shots, but Kanrish simply squeezed the trigger to do so and kept firing.

The next two bandits fell dead from their horses and Kanrish saw two archers taking aim from the back of the rushing carriage they were chasing.

"Ayame, archers!" He called loudly and she nodded.

"On it." We her only words and the next arrow whizzed through the air and struck the first of the two clean in the chest.

Her next arrow was ready in a mere moment's notice, but Kanrish had already taken down the other archer with a small burst of fire that left the bandit toppling from the carriage onto the ground below.