Herbe's gaze was filled with shock as she stared at the man known as Kael, or at least tried to.
Her eyes were barely able to keep up with his speed if they could at all. It was frightening and shocking, and the sight caused her thoughts to reel in.
'...What's going on? Are 9th stars capable of feet ? He's moving at the same speed as the bullets…no, he's moving much quicker'.
What surprised her the most were the gunmen who kept on firing despite the difficulty in landing a hit on their target.
'Isn't this useless?' She thought, confused at the thought until she felt a pull on her wrist.
The girls were standing on a platform that was most likely the uppermost floor of the building before it fell apart. Now the roofing had caved in and the walls were damaged, breaking away and giving free way to the vices to get into the room.
The nine women present were occupying that very room. Or at least half of them were.
There was a building similar to theirs on the opposite side, where the remaining ranged fighters occupied. It was interesting because two of the gunmen were actually from the opposite side.
So Raph was fending off these bullets from two directions without knowing where they would be going.
He was moving with his eyes, keeping up with the speed of his body and acting there.
This was something that Herbe could not contemplate. She was aware that level 90s and above were known for performing nearly indescribable phenomena, but a swordsman skilled enough to catch up to bullets and stop them was unheard of or at least not in this part of the world.
'...at least it's one of defending yourself against bullets'.
She thought when her arm was suddenly jerked by one of her teammates.
She snapped from her thoughts and whipped her gaze towards her left, where Xixan, the leader of the Epsilon squad, and a Level 82 Fire Mage were.
The panic in her ruby eyes was evident as she pointed at Raph.
"We need a solid plan. That thing isn't going to stop at just blocking bullets". She said with a hastened tone.
The dire situation had only become so because of Raph's skills.
"I thought his skills had been determined by the boss?" Herbe asked with a curious tone. It didn't make sense that they experienced this level of difficulty against someone who their Boss had scanned.
He was meant to be a 9th star, equivalent to a level 90 to 99, but from what they could tell, he was very much a Level 100, if not higher, but the level cap sealed that shut.
'This is the problem with non-system users'. She thought with a sigh.
They were known for being unable to grow as quickly as system users, but when they did, they were a force to be reckoned with.
"He did, but his speed wasn't expected to be this high….he's literally breaking the sound barrier to get to those bullets". She described. "That isn't something easily done even by level 100 unless their main attribute is speed".
"Well, his speed is pretty much not your average Joe", Herbe said sarcastically with a bitter tone. She grunted deeply and glanced around the buildings, her head cooking up another plan
"You decided to target the nearby townspeople. Don't you have something else?" She asked, but Herbe remained silent while she watched carefully.
All this time, the sounds of gunshots pierced through the air, sending chills down the spine of all those who heard it. The sound that echoed next was that of metal clicking against each other like bullets striking against a hard, unbreakable metal surface.
The sound was only evident to those around the source of it and the amount of fear it sent to them was far greater than that of the bystanders.
It was merely a gunfight to them, but to the female assassins present, it could as well be their deaths.
Herbe knew the severity of the situation, and at that moment, something else had cooked up in her head.
She glanced at Xixan and nodded.
A smile crossed Xixan's face as she stared at the people present.
"Continue your assault! There is a plan".
She instructed but at that moment, after minutes of shooting, the guns came to a stop.
"Tch", Carlie, a gunman, sitting next to three other women under Xixan's leadership, suddenly stood up.
Her gaze fixed on the two other gunmen in the opposite building.
"We're out of armour! Permission to bring out the Shark".
She asked when they noticed Raph's sudden outburst of speed as he charged towards their building.
It wasn't even within seconds, but Carlie had ignored her team leader and pulled out a machine gun from thin air. Its structure and build were very much like the modern kind of weaponry, but this was much different.
It was larger, like your typical heavy machine gun, with inbuilt properties that made it stand out. Its colourful texture and multiple barrels were a part of its less deadly features, as this machine had taken the shape of a shark's head.
With some barrels longer than others.
Carlie didn't wait for her leader to instruct her on what to do. Why? Their lives depended on it.
Without waiting a single minute, she aimed through the optic sight and shot at random once she noticed a blur. Soon, the metallic sound of firearms shooting out pierced through the night at a rapid rate, like a gantling. Continuous and persistent, without a second of rest. One after the other, the bullets were shot at a speed impossible to the eyes.
This was a weapon known for breaking through sound barriers and capable of shooting magic-infused bullets.
It wasn't your everyday weapon, and there were two more.
The two other gunmen took charge and pulled out their sharks as well. Aimed at the figure that was frantically evading the bullets and shot at random as well.
Now, the sound of gunfire had completely pierced through the air, and the whiff of fear and sweat had spread throughout the area.
This was a kill-or-be-killed situation, and they sure as hell weren't going to get killed. No, they weren't.
Xixan clasped her ears from the sound and glanced at Herbe, who did the same.
The discomfort on their faces was palpable, but with that discomfort was a nod of approval. There was no escaping this one, or so they thought.
Herbe and Xixan turned towards their target in unison, expectations high and their worry ridiculously low. But that look had completely been watched away by the sight.
'What are these?' Raph wondered when his eyes suddenly picked up another bullet coming towards him. He sliced it into two, but another came in his field of vision, and then another and then three more, four more, five….increasingly!
'These bitches! They aren't even aiming for the people any more. Their goal is me!' he exclaimed in his head in deep resentment.
His body was moving before he could even think, and his eyes were drifting from side to side like a machine. It was nearly like his eyes were moving faster than his body, but it wasn't. They moved in unison because how else would you be able to slice a machine gun's bullet, let alone a hundredfold of them?
Multiply that by three more and you get at least three hundred.
His body was moving at such a speed that he was no longer breaking the sound barrier as he used to, but at one point, his gaze missed one, and a bullet pierced through his right shoulder.
The searing pain of metal piercing his body exploded like fireworks in his head, but the heat that came after as it was about to explode in his body sent his brain on overload.
He had not even thought twice before pushing his left finger into the wound and pulling out the bullet before throwing it away. The sound of flesh and bone being torn apart as he did so was sickening, and it echoed loudly in the air.
As he did, he quickly changed directions, running away from the range of the bullets, or their gazes at least.
The bullet exploded into a rain of fires and he quickly took cover in an incomplete building, hiding behind the wall.
He exclaimed in pain, dropping his sword as he held it firmly.
"Shit!" he cried out in pain, pulling out a potion from his storage ring and pouring it on the wound.
"Firearms are such a pain to deal with".
The use of firearms, or magicarms as it would be called in the future had been prohibited on many occasions. Mostly because of its easy use and its destructive capabilities.
It was easy to buy some magically infused bullets and a good magic arm to fend against enemies, to the point that most nobles had at least one in their homes.
The burning sensation of his wound healing ran through his body, but his irritation at the people who had put him in his predicament had clouded his senses. He had just one thought in his mind. 'I need to kill them'.