"Goddess Zeta was...?"
As soon as I heard Ember's words, I quickly doubted their validity. After all, I can't imagine her getting injured, even with a surprise attack. She's a master of space! A god in that regard! Nobody should be able to sneak an attack on her.
"What happened? How did that happen?"
When I asked, Ember's eyes turned watery. She was about to cry and buried her head in my chest.
"It was my fault. I was too focused on what I was doing that I didn't realize an enemy slipped through. Goddess Zeta... She... To protect me, she put herself in danger."
I could hear her short sobs, probably feeling guilty that it was her mistake that caused a goddess to get injured. I patted her head gently and turned to where Zeshion was.
'Looks like I have some debt to pay.'
I'm not one who likes keeping debts, so I pay them as soon as I possibly can. And this time, luckily, we could quickly repay the debt for saving Ember's life.
"Ember, I need your help."
Although she had yet to cease her sobs, I pushed her away from my chest. I looked at her face, wet with tears, and whispered.
"I want to help Zeshion, and with your skills, we can do it relatively safely. Are you willing to?"
As her tamer, I have the right to command her, but I have no control over her actions specifically. Helping or not, it still depends on what she wishes to do.
When Ember heard my question, her face turned shocked at first. She wiped the tears from her eyes with her arm, her expression turning sharp, before nodding her head.
"I will help, Master!"
I saw the renewed determination in her eyes and smiled. I took out the rifle once more and moved to the wide floor in the middle of the room, lying prone.
"Alright, you go and open two small portals about three kilometers away from their battle: one large enough for the scope and one that just fits the nozzle."
After lying prone, I quickly used the tripod of the sniper rifle. Although it is little, it helps with stabilizing my aim and reducing the effect of the recoil. Ember nodded her head and did as told, opening two pairs of portals that were placed directly before the end of the scope and the nozzle and opening another spot right somewhere in this almost endless training room.
I looked at the scope, and it was aimed at the battle, as expected. Although the group was like dots in the scope's vision, with the additional magnification and my excellent eyesight, I can clearly count even the strands of hair on their heads.
"Great. Now, every time I shoot, change the location of the exit portals to not let them predict our location. You can change the angle and elevation, but try to maintain it as much as possible."
What we were doing was pretty risky, as even with the 3 km distance, a demigod could still launch attacks toward us if they wished to. If not for Zeshion stopping them, then the little villa would have been blown to bits much earlier.
Ember stayed quiet, but I guess she was focusing on setting up the next coordinates after my first shot. I took a deep breath, calming my heart, and focused on the crosshairs at the end of the scope.
"..."
The battle was chaotic and hard to predict, but with enough understanding of their movement patterns, I could guess where they would be in the next second.
Without hesitation, I pulled the trigger and cocked another bullet without watching how the shot went. Ember, too, moved the portals quickly and let me see the next batch of targets. As I aimed, I saw four of the enemies get their heads, arms, or legs blasted to pieces, instantly raising chaos in their midst. Without missing the chance, Zeshion sent a powerful attack, making them block in a panic.
"Bingo!"
As they were blocking Zeshion's attack, they could not move for a brief instant. I pulled the trigger without mercy and loaded another one. Then, after slightly adjusting the sights, he fired once again, making two shots in one second.
The bullets I fired created a cross across the enemies, taking a dozen lives in an instant. Their lining up like that was their undoing, really. As I just loaded my fourth bullet, I realized that a part of them was watching their surroundings. Probably watching out for the bullets that I was firing.
They were looking at the first three directions that I fired, which meant they had already found the initial position of my previous shots. How scary~! but it's still too late.
I fired one more time. Just as Ember's portal was about to change, I noticed a spark approaching my eyes.
"F*ck!"
It's a counterattack!
I quickly pulled the gun off my face and slammed my hands toward the two mini-portals. I also used Flame of Evolution for a short instant while using Igni's [Iron Skin] skill. Even with all that, after the flash of sparks touched my hand, I felt a scorching heat wash over my body. The blood vessels in my arms ruptured, sending blood across the floor.
"Master!"
Ember quickly moved to support my body, but I waved my hand, stopping her. I could still feel currents of electricity coursing around my body, which means she would also get shocked when she touched me anywhere.
As soon as the spasms faded, I fell to my knees and panted. Ember, to be sure, didn't open another portal just yet. After all, if we get countered once more, it'll be extremely dangerous.
"Leader, are you alright?"
Fang worriedly asked while she was still maintaining her vigilance towards the door with Igni, but was unable to hold back her worry for me. I just smiled to reassure her and stood up with a little trouble. My legs were still wobbly, and my whole body hurt, but nothing that I couldn't endure.
"I guess we helped enough already..."
Although we could only fire a few bullets, we still managed to reduce the enemy's number by about a quarter. Taking advantage of their initial confusion, Zeshion managed to take out about the same numbers too, making their number reach half in just a few seconds.
'Even if the ones who were chasing me added to the mix, God Zeshion should still be able to handle it.'
I think this still falls short compared to saving Ember's life earlier, but we managed to return some of the debt at least. I walked to the bed and sat by its edge. I didn't forget to stow the rifle that I left on the ground before. As I sat, Ember came to my side and tried to use her Void powers to heal me.
"..."
The first try failed.
The second try almost succeeded but still failed.
As they say, the third time's the charm, and she finally succeeded in healing my injuries completely. It looks like her healing abilities are still the same, showing no improvement yet and failing two out of three attempts as usual.
As I was checking my body to make sure that I had fully recovered, a large explosion echoed from outside. The girls quickly tensed up, ready for anything that was coming to them. However, only silence followed.
"Will."
A voice echoed from behind me, causing the rest to turn around and simultaneously fire their skills.
"Wait, wait, it's me!"
The man shouted as he slapped the attacks away from him, treating them more like simple annoyances than threats. The man was none other than God Zeshion, who was supposed to be holding back the demigod tamers at the entrance.
"Damn, Will. Your girls are too fierce."
He sighed as he jumped down from the bed, walked to the door, and opened it.
"Let's go. The enemies have already dipped. Half of them escaped."
"..."
Well, I expected such. After all, God Zeshion was alone, and he couldn't use flashy skills due to their collateral damage. Still, claiming half of the enemies was a large achievement. With their bodies as proof, we can even pressure the neighboring kingdom politically!
I'm no expert in politics, and I'm basically clueless about it.
Everyone followed Zeshion out, and when we reached the entrance, dozens of disfigured bodies were lying about.
"There's less than half of the bodies remaining?"
There should be around fifty of them. However, counting now, there are only around 28 bodies left. Did the rest bring some before escaping? I guess they screwed up since they could only take half of it.
As I was about to approach, my senses sent warnings immediately, making me halt my steps.
"... Traps?"
I took a good distance away, warning the others, and asked Fang to create one [Shadow Clone] to poke at the corpses. As soon as her clone approached, without even touching anything, explosions ensued. Zeshion protected us with a semi-transparent blue barrier as pieces of charred flesh rained down.
"Ugh..."
This is a disgusting sight.
To think they would add booby traps to their former allies' bodies—what tenacity! What conviction. And what mercilessness!
Seeing that the rain of flesh had stopped, God Zeshion waved his hand and cleared the surroundings. As soon as the smoke and dust from the explosion cleared, absolutely nothing remained.
"... So, what's the plan?"
I turned to Zeshion and asked.
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