"Pretty smooth sailing so far, am I right?" Hin asked as he Wrottzen, Bojohn and May walked along a dirt path toward the Canadian border.
Atlas along with their guests had been traveling North for a few days now and encountered very little in the way of resistance.
"Yeah so far so good." Wrottzen replied, "But we still haven't encountered any British soldiers yet. The real fighting hasn't even begun."
"The way I see it is that even though we haven't fought any battles yet, it also means the British haven't come down this far, and that means a smaller distance we have to push them back."
Atlas' raid party had been marching North for nearly a week now with no issues arising. Any enemies encountered were easily dispatched by the high level Adventurers.
"I have people scouting ahead." Hin said. "Hopefully they'll have some useful information on the enemy's position. The Guild has been itching for a real fight."
"Maybe they are now, but they won't be after the first skirmish." Bojohn interjected dryly.
"It's that bad huh? Well we'll just have to make the first battle count then!" Atlas' Guild leader replied cheerfully as Ayumi and two others rejoined the main party.
"Hin, we've found a large enemy force just on the other side of the river." Ayumi said with a bowed head.
"Are there any avenues across the river?" Wrottzen asked.
"Why should I tell you?" The Assassin shot back.
"Ayumi..." Hin shot his friend a disapproving look.
"Fine. There's only one clear way across the river and that's via a bridge that's just to the Northwest of here."
"So what's the plan here?" May asked. "Do we set up an ambush at the bridge?"
"Exactly right." Hin replied. "Controlling choke points like that are the key to nearly every battle. Ayumi, alert the rest of the guild. We'll be setting up camp here tonight and be marching toward that bridge at the break of dawn tomorrow."
"Of course Hin." The Assassin said before disappearing.
"If you three wouldn't mind accompanying me to my tent once camp is made, I'd like to discuss our battle plan and a few contingencies, just in case."
"We'll be there." Bojohn replied. "Now let's start prepping our weapons you two. The battle tomorrow isn't going to be easy."
"O-Of course." May replied. "I'll be ready."
Noticing the uneasiness in her tone, Wrottzen gave her a quick look before going to prepare his own equipment.
The Next Morning
After a few hours of prep work with Hin, a strategy was formulated. Tanks would be placed across the width of the bridge with clerics close by to heal when needed. While the Guardians and Samurai's took the enemies aggro, mages and archers would be laying down fire to finish the enemy off.
Once the raid party was in position, Wrottzen opened a telepathic link with May and Bojohn. We have a good strategy so you shouldn't have to worry, but if things do start to go wrong, find me and we'll regroup.
OK. Was the immediate response from both the Druid and Swashbuckler.
It wasn't long before the enemy began approaching the bridge. No one moved as the enemy party marched one quarter of the way across the bridge.
Halfway across the bridge.
Three quarters across the bridge.
"Atlas! Commence attack!" Hin yelled before drawing his katana, the Fuyu no Tsuki, and jumping onto the bridge with the main line of tanks not far behind. He easily parried an attack from an enemy soldier before yelling "Mist Blade!" The next swing of the blade unleashed a blast of cold air onto the British in its path, both damaging them and slowing their movement speed. Knowing what was coming next, Hin quickly stepped backwards as the frontline Mages defeated the weakened enemy.
"Hin! Watch your six!" Ayumi cried stabbing another Redcoat.
Reversing the grip on his blade, Hin was able to stab the sneaky assailant before he could launch an attack.
"Thanks Ayumi!" Hin replied bringing his blade back around and taunting more enemies into combat.
So this is the power of a raid party... Wrottzen thought as he observed the battle from atop a nearby hill. Due to his slightly lower level as compared to the rest of the raid party, Wrottzen was relegated to defending against the normal roaming mobs.
"Impressive isn't it?" A nearby Monk chimed in. "That the synergy the guild had stills holds even now."
"Yeah very impressive." He replied as the Atlas forces continued to force the enemy back.
A half hour passed as British bodies began to pile on the bridge. With Hin leading the charge, Atlas forces had taken 75% of the bridge and were slowly continuing across the remainder of the walkway.
"It's been pretty quiet here hasn't it?" The Monk stated, pointing out the lack of enemies both he and the others had to face.
"You're right Benny." Wrottzen replied. "I wonder if the system somehow recognizes that we're fighting in an event and is lowering spawn rates..."
"That would be pretty amazing if it were true." Benny replied. "But I've never heard of something like that happ-"
The Monk's reply was abruptly cut off by a bayonet piercing his torso. As his dead body fell to the ground, his assailant was revealed to be a scout from the Northern nations he was already bringing his rifle up to attack another member of the small squad.
As the rifle fired Wrottzen allowed the shot to strike her large shield, protecting his allies and giving a nearby Mage an opportunity to cast Orb of Lava and defeat their sneaky assailant.
As the rush of combat slowly wore off, a Priestess spoke up nervously. "W-Was that a Soldier of the North? What is one doing so far behind the main line?"
"I don't know but we should probably report it ta Hin." The Mage Hailstone cut in.
No mob spawns, an enemy far behind enemy line... "We're being surrounded!" Wrottzen suddenly declared.
"That's impossible." Hailstone replied. "All of the enemy soldiers are down fighting on the bridge. When did we have an opportunity to get flanked?"
"I'm not sure but the river must be lower just up or downstream. They could have easily crossed there and prepared to flank us at the bridge." Wrottzen said pulling up a telepathic link with Hin. "Hin. We encountered an enemy scout at our rear. I think we're being surrounded."
"How could we possibly be surrounded?" Came Hin's reply. "This bridge is the only avenue across the river."
"And I'm simply telling you that we encountered an enemy scout all the way at the rear of our line. You can take that information and draw whatever conclusion you'd like."
"Dammit." The Samurai replied before yelling. "Tactical retreat everyone! We have more Redcoats coming in! Tanks start a slow backwards march. All lower level mages and low defense units should move to the rear of our formation. Ayumi you lead the way."
"Of course Hin." The Assassin replied gathering those mentioned and started to safety.
"Now!" Hin started with a smirk. "Just because we're retreating doesn't mean we can't give them Hell!"
Brandishing his katana, Hin once more leapt into the fray, providing a distraction to the retreating front line units. Ten minutes later the first of the British reinforcements began appearing on Atlas' side of the river, putting even greater pressure on the raid party's retreat.
"What's the status of our retreat?" Hin asked via telepathic link.
"Everyone barring you and the tanks with you have retreated to safety." Ayumi replied, now safely with Wrottzen, Bojohn and the others. "Break off contact and retreat!"
"I hate to say it but there are too many of them to just break off now." Atlas' leader replied. "There's no cover here. We'd be sitting ducks if we tried to make a break for it."
"What if we had some of the mages lay down cover fire for him?" May asked.
"If there were only Samurai's up there with Hin then that might work." Bojohn replied, "But with Guardians also still under fire, the small window cover fire could give won't do them any good."
"If you aren't going to break off the fighting, what are you going to do?" Ayumi asked Hin
"I'm going to send the remainder of the Tanks back to safety while I provide the cover they need."
"You mean-"
"A suicide run exactly." Came Hin's nonchalant reply.
"No No NO! I won't allow it!" Ayumi yelled back. "I'm not letting you do this alone. You'll die!"
Calm like before, Hin replied, "You're still thinking like this is the real world Ayumi. This isn't Earth. This is Elder Tale. I'll make my suicide run here, respawn and catch up to you all in a few days. Now get ready I'm having the others break in a couple of moments."
"We'll be ready."
"OK. Everyone fall back!" Hin yelled, stepping forward to attack the enemy. "This is my fight from here! Taunt!"
Soldiers of the North began to turn their attention toward the lone Samurai.
"Crescent Slash!" Bring his katana down and back upward in the shape of a crescent moon, Hin dealt heavy damage to anyone the blade touched.
"Stillwater!" Was launched immediately after his Crescent Slash, greatly slowing any enemy that make visual contact with his blade.
"Now. Fallen Moon!" Spinning in a circle, Hin's Fuyu no Tsuki began to emit waves of light which spread outward killing enemies clearing a diameter of 10 yards, almost as though a small moon had fallen around him.
"Hin everyone has been retrieved." Ayumi reported, while there was a break in the action. "Are you sure-"
"Then what are you waiting for?" The Guild leader replied, cutting her off. "Get out of here! I'll rejoin you all in a few days."
"Of course. Atlas, move out!"
As the Guild began their journey back to camp, everyone could still hear Hin fighting in the distance until everything went silent.
Back at the camp, the decision was made to wait for Hin to return before continuing Northward so the Guild waited 5 days for their leader to return. Yet even after a week of waiting, Hin still had not returned
AN: Hello everyone! Sorry for the (really) long wait for this chapter but I haven't abandoned it yet! After Chapter 10 I turned my focus to another fanfic I was working on which I thought (emphasis on thought) was close to completion. So long story short I burnt myself out working on that story but now I've decided to return to the world of Elder Tale and continue Adjustments for a while. Sorry again if some parts don't seem up to par. After so long way from these characters, it's hard to get back into the groove.
Enough with the apologies! Hopefully you all still enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to leave a review with any thoughts and I will see you all next time.
