“So, Zafer, you are the only one here with the Iron Fist anomaly. Can you break Miyalin yet?”, the 2nd officer asked him while Simra was looking through the binoculars.
“N-not yet. But I can break iron!”, he over-exaggerated. He could barely break iron.
The officer smirked, “well I’m glad that I brought my axe”.
It was obvious that he was picking up a fight, but Zafer could not do anything about it. The fact that he could not break Miyalin was his fault.
Usually, paladins with the Iron Fist anomaly were given a special treatment, since it was one of the biggest advantages to have on a battlefield.
The paladin whose armour or axe first broke usually died, and the Iron Fist anomaly could break Miyalin faster than any weapon.
It seemed to everyone that Zafer was given extra privilege by Simra, but it definitely wasn’t due to his A-6.
Everyone else remained silent on that topic, Simra and Priest didn’t pay any attention.
“So?”
“They are building a cannon. It’s almost done”, Simra was still looking through the binoculars.
“Which one?”
“The 101”
That was a name of the cannon.
The priest laughed, “a 101? And what are they trying to do with it? That thing can’t even reach Razihelnor from here!”
Simra didn’t find it funny, “I don’t know. It’s Nele”.
Most of the experienced paladins knew each other very well due to the years of being around.
Nele was an experienced paladin known for being the best cannoneer and had destroyed a fair number of fortresses.
Faction fortresses.
“Which faction does he belong to?”, Zafer has never heard of him.
“None. He is the leader of the strongest gang”.
Gang was a party of people who were conducting business just like factions did, although they were not seen as one officially.
The difference was that anyone who wasn’t a member of some recognized faction was not allowed to use Miyalin or to grow magic plants which were the main source of income for any paladin.
Gangs were practically illegal factions.
Nevertheless, most gangs delved into this kind of business since the National Security wasn’t numerically strong enough to raid and seize every single one of them, so they were usually just waiting for factions to raid and get rid of them.
Such raids were happening frequently since no gang was usually strong or smart enough to withstand the pressure from the major 3 factions, but those gangs who did were especially dangerous and cunning.
This time the strongest gang was trying to raid Temper!
Since cannons could not be brought over, they were usually constructed right in front of the fortress. The melted snow area was where the cannon was currently being built.
Now since they know who was behind this, their next mission was probably going to be to get rid of the enemy.
Or so did Zafer assume.
“What is he doing?”, the Priest asked.
He was referring to the gang leader, Nele.
“He is looking at us with a pair of binoculars”, Simra put his binoculars down.
“Why don’t we just wait for him to finish the 101 and see what he does with it?”
The Priest was a very experienced paladin and Zafer will only come to understand that in the future, as he keeps making progress.
To Zer Ox (the Priest), it was laughable that Nele was trying to raid Razihelnor with the 101 cannon.
However, Simra frowned, “don’t underestimate him. He used the same cannon to raid the Atlantic Republic. We aren’t going to let him finish constructing that cannon”.
Although Simra was the 3rd officer, he had the strongest say among them, and this will be their mission.
As soon as Simra issued the order, the snow beneath all 4 of them suddenly got scattered in all directions, revealing an adult male covered in Miyalin. His body was rotating horizontally midair, kicking the Priest and the 2nd officer in chest with all his might.
The impact of the kick was as strong as if he struck them with an Miyalin axe, which was unbelievable.
This was an experienced gang member.
Both Priest and 2nd officer flew in the opposite directions of each other, rolling downhill.
Simra also got caught by surprise, and was about to summon his Miyalin axe, but man’s hand grabbed Simra’s palm. Due to how the summoning rune worked, that was impossible now.
Nonetheless, there was still another person present on their side. Zafer
He dashed forward, unsheathing his iron sword as there wasn’t anything that he could do with his Iron Fist anomaly. Almost the entirety of man’s body was covered with Miyalin armour, expect for his head.
That was exactly where he aimed.
The man gazed at Zafer with a faint smile as if he was taking forever to reach him, but when he finally did, the man just let go of Simra’s palm and swung with his hand at Zafer.
CRACK
The iron sword got broken just like that.
Zafer got kicked and ended up the same way that the Priest did.
On the bright side, this allowed Simra to finally summon his axe and engage in combat.
The priest and 2nd officer already recovered but weren’t going to assist Simra. Their teamwork and experience told them there was no need.
What was currently required was to destroy the 101 cannon.
Simra’s orders were absolute.
The person they were dealing with right now was the same one who chased the Atlantic Republic into despair and ruin. If the whole gang was here, they stood no chance of killing or arresting anyone, so the main goal at this point was to just destroy the cannon and retreat.
Simra was currently overpowering the gang member in terms of skill and technique, which was to be expected. As far as Zafer knew, Simra was the strongest member of the Temper province.
Zafer took some time to recover because he was drinking the potions that were in his backpack. He was ready to assist Simra. The purple potion gave him strength and the blue potion gave him speed.
However, as soon as he arrived at the scene ready to fight, a loud explosion resounded between the mountains, making everyone’s ears turn off for a couple of seconds.
Zafer reluctantly flicked his body, scared by the loud sound.
Simra and the man didn’t get scared but stopped fighting.
The explosion’s sound was boosted by the echo of the mountains.
Zafer didn’t know what it’s source was. Was that an anomaly?
Simra was as baffled but knew that this wasn’t Priests or 2nd officers doing.
Something happened, but he could not see what.
Everything was as peaceful as it used to be.
“What was that?”, Simra had a bad feeling.
The man smiled, “it seems that the cannon has fired”.
Simra turned around looking at Razihelnor. One cannon ball could not destroy a whole city.
There was no way that was possible.
Right?
Nevertheless, both Simra and Zafer soon understood that it was.
The silence and buzzing in their ears got replaced by a horrifying sound, and now he saw what it was. It was never about the cannon ball in the first place.
All the mountains around them trembled due to tons of snow mass gliding downhill.
It was an avalanche, and it was coming straight towards them.
The gang member summoned a large sword that had an oblong hole in it’s very middle. He then swung it vertically in the air, cutting the fabric of space and thus opening a portal. It was just a line, but if stretched with hands, one could fit and pass through it with no problem.
Simra quickly did the same but with his Miyalin axe, “Zafer! Come!”.
The man smiled gazing at the Razihelnor, however, his smile than turned into a poker face. There was no avalanche falling on the capital of Temper. The snow above it stood fix in the place.
“Wow. That damned Banana. He thought of this didn’t he?”, the gang member stepped with one leg through the portal, but then something unexpected happened.
Zafer who was supposed to run towards Simra and escape through the portal actually jumped on him with all his might, pushing him away from the portal! As a result, Zafer accidentally fell through his portal.
Simra’s eyes were wide opened.
The avalanche was already in front of them, and the gang member would not get up in time.
Did Zafer just kill him?
Simra glanced at the portal Zafer passed through, contemplating if he should follow him, but there was literally no time anymore.
He quickly passed through his own portal and closed it.
This happened the very last moment.
The gang member got buried bellow the tens of metres of snow and died.
On the other side, the snow streamed through Zafer’s portal since it was still opened, but due to how portals worked, it got closed a couple a minute later.
Zafer stood up, scanning his surroundings.
He was in a swamp, possibly enemy territory.
The portal could have led him on a whole opposite side of the Pashtrik country! He was in a wilderness by himself, but this was nothing new to him.
The only problem was how he is going to return to the civilization without knowing where he is.
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