Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 44 : Mutual-Evit 4 of 10 “Fate” (Part 03)

In the forest of cypress trees, the Special Squad of the kingdom of Moloia lurked the Klista tribe settlement in the highlands. Foggy air, sunlight dispelled cloudy, and the freezing dew on the foliage still hasn't completely melted completely because the average air temperature in the place is still quite low until it almost reaches zero.

Using finger binoculars, one of Moloia's soldiers stalked some of the tribe's inhabitants. None of them realized that the settlement had been besieged, the Klista people were seen still doing routines such as weaving cloth or sculpting woodcrafts.

Slightly scanning with finger binoculars, it was seen that there were several men carrying bows along with arrows on their backs and daggers at the waist. They carry the results of the hunt in the form of wild boar and deer. Realizing there was no tight guard and estimating how weak the always-living tribe was to move away from the conflict, the beaming soldier immediately reported to the squad leader next door.

“Letnan, it seems it is true that the tribe has no guard. Perhaps those bandits were also enough to destroy the settlement. The Klista people .... Are their heads full of flower gardens? Could build a settlement without regular guard like that.”

The Lieutenant who was also down with his subordinates narrowed his eyes slightly, thought of something else and sighed slightly. Immediately getting up and kneeling to widen the distance of view, he gave a hand motion signal to his subordinates to begin the plan.

The soldiers, who numbered less than 20, immediately woke up, activated their camouflage robes to blend in with the surroundings and hid the figure within the trees that still had its leaves infrequently. Setting up the weapons and turning on the axes, the troops with shotguns immediately advanced along with the burning Red9 pistol troops.

“Yes, it cannot be called guarding. For a village that was inside a forest full of monsters like this, they did not even set up adequate watchtowers. Maybe because of the Restriction Field made by tribal elders, they are not afraid of monster attacks and weaken attacks from creatures other than monsters,” said Lieutenant Two full name Cornelisa Di’in.

He prepared a Springfield long-barreled rifle, set the aim and took a deep breath of calm before giving a cue to begin the assault.

His subordinate at once got up and knelt next to him. Staring exasperatedly at the Klista settlement, the shoulder-length blonde woman soaked up, “Tch! You fools who are lost for peace! They did not even utilize the advantages in magic! They should have just died ...”

“Do not shout, Ra’an. Men in charge of hunting usually have sharp hearing, do not need to bring personal problems in the mission.”

“Sorry ...”

“Give her binoculars.”

“Ready!”

The lieutenant received the finger binoculars from Marnali Ra’an, then used them to observe his own companion who began to move among the cypress trees to ambush the settlement. Ensuring the bandits were herded into the settlement to be made scapegoats, the Lieutenant returned finger binoculars to his subordinates who were now the rank of Bintara Tinggi—Helper First Lieutenant.

“Enable your infrared vision and find the location of the Tribe Elders, it should be Demi-Einhorn's temperature lower than others.”

“Ready!”

Ra’an immediately put on infrared vision, his cornea changed from violet to flaming red. Covering his magic structure with finger binoculars, he enhanced some of the magic tool's abilities. With this combination, in addition to infrared vision, he also got information on air pressure, humidity, temperature, and wind direction strength. He was looking to scan every house, his vision seemed to be able to see everyone in the building even if only in the form of a beam of body temperature.

The purpose of the Special Squad of the kingdom of Moloia was not to slaughter all the inhabitants of the settlement of Kliasta but to kill only their Elders. According to the calculations released by the four Factions, the A.I of the kingdom of Moloia decided that a ‘Terror’ was considered more troublesome than hundreds of knights.

The intermediaries or also in some places called the Female Priestess could mostly see the future or have special powers that were even stronger than the Native Overhoul.  Indeed, most of them are not included in the war, especially for a country like Felixa, but still the potential future predictions make the Moloia people who tend to rely on the strategy to be wary.

“Did you find it?” tanya Di’in's.

“Not yet. The temperatures all look the same. What because the temperature has not really gone up so ...”

“Come on! We have to kill him. The power of prediction on the part of the enemy can have a very bad impact on those of us who rely on strategy. Although technically our military is more advanced, it is useless if all our plans are revealed by the vision of the future.”

“Ready, Mam!”

Marnali Ra’an continued to inspect one by one the Klista residential houses. Finding one sign of life with a lower temperature and a more faded red color than the other, he immediately reported, “Lettan, the building! The largest in the middle of the settlement ...”

“Hah? They .... really didn't move it?” Di’in slightly stared suspiciously, he pulled the lever of his weapon and stuffed the bullet into the sleeve. Sighs a little and really goes in full concentration, he clears his mind.”

Lowering the weapon and unbending the intention to carry out the opening attack with his long-barreled shotgun, the Lieutenant said, “This is strange, it should be that the Klista settlement elder was endowed with fortune-telling power. Is my master's calculation wrong? Or ... There is something that makes him not take precautions or anything like that. There should be one or two forms of prevention such as moving the location of himself settled or something.

“Do we stop the plan first, Lieutenant?” tanya Ra’an's.

“No need, we are always required to succeed. Due to the stupidity of the military faction about the Marquess's child assassination plot, our faction also got the impact. This time we can't mess up anymore ...”

“Ready!”

“Replace plan, Ra’an. We move forward with Plan B .... Although this will be very cruel, but I think this is safer for us than breaking through directly.”

The two of them moved forward leaving the starting position for Plan A, a frontal attack. Following his lead, the four members who were directly in Di’in's lead spread information to other faction groups within the Special Squad to replace the attack pattern.

««»»

The main building of Klista settlement. Inside the spacious room with the wooden walls and floors, the atmosphere was quiet so felt. The lighted axis placed on the saucer filled with wax liquid becomes illuminated at several angles.

The women in tribal customary attire sat in front of the curtains separating the room into two halves, they silently waited for the words of the Elder and were ready to serve at any time.

The tribe elder who was a Demi-Einhorn race was sitting on a pillow behind the red curtains. The shiny silvery hair was untidy on the wooden floor, his clothes were not neatly worn and his shoulders were slightly exposed.

Putting on a flat gaze, Roro Nia’an lowered his head with a gloomy expression full of sadness. He who is an intermediary knows what will happen to the Klista settlement, he has seen the picture of the final fate of people he considers family.

“What a sad fate like this .... But I can't change it. It's a determined ending for myself and those who follow this pitiful creature.”

Her tears flowed down her cheeks, then dripped onto the floor. Unbeknownst to his servants on the other side of the curtains, he sobbed and his voice filled the room. It made the people who were in the place astonished, wondering what happened to the Elder behind the curtains.

“Most not .... For the last resistance to fate, myself ..”

Roro Nia’an bit into his own tadpole, dripped blood onto the wooden floor and began drawing magic circles. It was a four-way symbol, with ancient imperial writings and combined with the royal magic structure of Felixia.

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.

.

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Misty mornings have become commonplace in the Klista settlements. Whether it was winter or not, days with fog and low temperatures were a natural thing for them. Only in summer could the sunlight expose their settlement warmly without any constraints.

As if the cold was not an obstacle, the Klista women weave cloth on the terraces of the house while babysitting their children. The youths carved woodcrafts under the stilt houses, while some adult men processed the game meat by skinning and cleaning the innards.

“Ouh, is the baby healthy? Yesterday he said fever,” greet a neighbor to the mother of one of the houses in the settlement.

“Yes, thanks to the medicine from my son's Elder is cured. He is indeed very good at concocting potions.”

“The medicine, huh? Hm, hm. Elders are great, it is not wrong that our ancestors gave orders to serve him.”

“Iya. May he always be blessed.”

“May he be blessed.”

Such a conversation was very reasonable in the Klista tribe settlement. For those who consider that ‘Termar’ is a Saint and is a messenger from the heavens, serving and devoting life to their Elders is a proud thing.

The Klistas do exist in the world and live for that reason. They tend to live nomads. But after finding the figure of Half-Even, they tend to live following the figure they glorify living and tend to be far from civilization or worldly conflict.

One of the men who had finished processing the meat walked with a knife and was about to wash it in the only well in the place. Walking carrying several knives full of blood with cloth, he was greeted by how many people.

“Have processed meat?”

“Iya, Aunt.”

“Let's stop by our house, yeah! We just made spice.”

“Hahah, don't ask to add rations yes, uncle.”

“Knowledge, deh.”

“Do not force yourself, take care of health, loh.”

“Oh, of course, Nek.”

Mutual greetings like that is one of the natural cultures of the tribe. Although known to tend to be closed, but in their fellow residents they are familiar with each other as if all of them are close families with close blood ties.

Arriving at the well with the spring water source of the Water Attribute Magic Crystal at its base, the man lowered the cloth-wrapped blades to the edge of the well neatly. He lowered the bucket, then took the clear water from the well. The well is on the outskirts of the settlement, outside the scope of housing.

With sincerity and in simplicity, the man cleaned the knives. Without complaining and even while humming cheerfully. However, he did not realize that the peace and happiness in his mind would soon end.

Finished cleaning the knives and cloth containers from blood stains, the man wanted to dry the cloth after drying the knife so as not to rust. But as he turned around, a spear pierced his chest and hit his right lung.

“Eh?”

Warm feeling, followed by an excruciating pain that instantly made his consciousness as if floating into the air. Confusion and fear mixed in. Looking back, he saw a bearded man stabbing him with a spear.

“What ... yan—?”

The bearded man who pierced him immediately released the spear that stuck and took out the splattered knife. Without letting the man scream, he immediately slit his throat and finished off the man.

“Kyaa!!” a woman who saw this. He immediately ran towards the settlement to ask for help.

Deftly the bearded man pulled a spear from the man's corpse, then threw it towards the Klista woman.

Jebba! Kratak up!

It stuck out and completely pierced his chest, the sound of crushed ribs sounding quite loud. The woman's body collapsed forwards, her red blood smearing the spear stick. Following the attack that the bearded man opened, the bandits came out of the bushes and directly attacked the Klista settlement.

Massacres ensued, as was the case when a group of bandits attacked the village. They were already used to looting and slaughtering helpless people, but the conditions were different this time. While massacring, the Moloians took aim with their rifles and were ready to finish off the bandits if anyone dared to flee.

The men who heard the screams of one of their girls immediately ran carrying axes and bows, checking what was happening. Finding two bodies of their relatives lying, the Klista men immediately drew bows and shot the bandits.

“What did you do to my daughter!!?”

The arrows shot out very accurately, but were useless if the one they were aiming for was carrying a light shield. The bandits who used to face such weapons immediately set up defensive formations with their wooden shields. In less than a minute, the Klista men ran out of arrows. The group of bandits who had been waiting for it instantly attacked.

The sword was thrown as fast as possible by one of the bandits, hitting a Klista man and severing his arm.

“Akhhh!!” The man dropped his bow.

Forward to the face of the man whose hands were broken, one of the bandits beat his face and made his body bounce. Picking up the thrown weapon, he immediately retreated. It was a form of provocation, making the other Klista men take off the formation and immediately advance chaotically.

Then ....

It was truly a one-way massacre. Although there were some men who were experts at using weapons such as axes and daggers, none of them had actually killed anyone else. That's one of the taboos for them, the Klista tribe.

However, two minutes later something happened outside of the plan that the Special Squad had ordered the bandits. The fire began to burn in the houses of the Klista settlement, making the smoke more concentrated amid the cold and fog. The bandits set fire to wooden houses with kerosene they found in the Klista storage shed.

Amidst the flames, Kolt Luis grinned as if he had managed to trick the Moloians. Pointing his middle finger towards the bushes, he said, “Your bastards.

One of the soldiers instigated, pulled the trigger and fired hot lead. The distance was very ineffective and the fire missed, only hitting the shoulder of one of the bandit leaders. Kolt Luis turned around and entered into a smokescreen that began to fill the settlement.

Seeing that from behind the bushes with his subordinates, Di’in said, “I guessed that he must have betrayed if we use this Plan B. Then we move on to the next stage. Roll the explosives!”

Moloia's troops removed the cloth covering the gunpowder barrels they had previously hidden far enough away from the temporary headquarters that the bandits did not know. Without a doubt, the Moloia troops that had been scattered around the settlement immediately rolled the gunpowder barrels towards the blaze.

The duark!! The duark!!

The duark!!

The duark!! The duark!!

The barrels lay as they entered the fire. Bodies flew famous explosions, the bandits who were in the middle of the red jago were also affected by the explosion and some were burned alive. Realizing what a loud bang was, Kolt Luis looked in panic. He did not think that Moloia's army would go that far just for the sake of a small village in the interior.

“They ... really want to destroy this whole village? Tch! Basic ***, if hit by a new plague know the taste!” kolt Luis.

Dor!!

The sound of gunfire rang out amidst screams and groans of pain. Before the bandit leader realized it, one of his comrades collapsed with his head crushed.

“Eh?”

Dor!!

The sound of firing was heard again and the other comrades fell down. Ensuring the sound, he understood that firearms that could shoot at such a distance were only one among the Special Squad of the kingdom of Moloia.

“Dia ... can shoot very accurately in the middle of this thick smoke?”

Di’in from behind the trees pulled the lever, pulled out the empty shell and inserted a new bullet. Lifting up the weapon and aiming, he said, “Next.”

“Correction, five clicks to the right.”

“Five clicks to the right.”

“Toot.”

Dor!!

The hot tin hit the head of one of the bandits and hollowed his head. The direction from Marnali Ra’an is really very accurate even though thick smoke drains the view. Indeed infrared vision is not suitable to see in a place full of flames, but it would be different if combined with the magic tools it uses.

He lowered his infrared vision, and improved the analysis of changes in the direction of the air that were easily visible in the smoke that filled the place with the blaze.

“Letnan, two blurred bandits at two o'clock. Outside range.”

“Hmm, you hear me? Go ahead and kill them!”

“Ready, Mam!” the answers of his subordinates who belonged to the Technology Development and Research Faction. With the Beretta 38a submachine gun, Di’in's three subordinates wearing camouflage robes immediately ran through the flames to chase the blurred bandits.

Returning to pull the lever and insert a new shell casing, the Second Lieutenant took aim and said, “Search the bastard.”

“Siap .... He, two clicks to the top right. Around the fourth building from the direction of 3 hours that burned it.”

“Correction, two clicks to the top right.”

“Toot.”

Dor!!

The bullet flew very fast, passed through the smoke, then hit Kolt Luis and crushed his right leg. The man fell down and his face fell into the coals, but it did not kill him. It was deliberately done Di’in because he felt he would not be satisfied if he immediately killed the bandit leader easily.

“Alright, we start the next stage.”

“Ready!”

After that, it was only a matter of time for the bandits to be annihilated. The sound of the jostling was heard in a loud row, the flames that were ignited with oil were never extinguished and getting bigger in the midst of the chaos.

Screams, sobs, faint groans rang out. Their request for help was as if no one was listening, floating in the red burning flames in the middle of the evergreen forest.

Strolling down the street where both sides of the wooden houses were burning, Di’in and Ra’an headed to the only place that was not reached by the fire. The brunette tie catfish does not care about the bodies. Whether it was women or children, it simply did not touch the heart of the woman with such a blank look.

Arriving in front of the building where the Klista tribe elder was located, an invisible wall blocked him from entering. It was a custom-made Barrier created by the users of the mystical powers in the Klista tribe.

Breathing in fretfully, it reigns, “Ra’an, destroy.”

“Ready!”

The First Lieutenant Assistant behind him immediately took aim with Beretta 38a, then directly strafed the transparent barrier. The sound of a machine gun sounded brutal, the shells fell down and the invisible wall was broken and in the end broke like glass.

“Come finish this .... We kill that Klista tribe Elder and move on to the next stage.”

The front door of the main building was pushed loose. The door floated and fell into the middle of the hall where the Tribe Elders were. Stepping in, Di’in directly pointed his weapon inside.

“Hah ...?” The Lieutenant's body trembled for a moment, looking at the children and women who had taken refuge in the place.

Memories of the past run over in his head, a memory of his time in a refugee camp full of sobs at the end of the Great War. He was not born from the upper class, even the Di’in family all died from war.

He entered the military because of the necessity to live and owe his life to the figure he called Master. But seeing what was in the room, he began to hesitate to pull the trigger. The children whining, the women cowering trembled in helplessness. All such things really made the Lieutenant step back.

“Lieutenant?” ra’an.

It made Di’in flinch and stop stepping backwards. Taking a breath and calming down to erase the depressing images of the past, he upheld the weapon and said, “So, yes .... The intermediary used its power to guide them.”

The two of them looked at scanning the aura with the wooden walls and floor. Nearly half of the women and children who survived gathered at the site. Understanding that, the two of them hesitated slightly to kill those who were helpless.

“Letnan, this ...”

“We kill the Elders only. Let them.”

“Ready!”

Di’in stepped in, regardless of the hateful gazes of the Klista people. There were two Elder Servants who blocked, stretching out both hands in front of Di’in and Ra’an with a hateful expression.

“You can't progress more than this! Go there!”

“Do not approach! I won't let you guys touch the Elders!”

It momentarily stopped the footsteps of the two Moloia people. Without being ordered by his superior, Ra’an immediately raised his weapon and pulled the trigger lightly. Twice the sound of firing echoed inside the sealed chamber, hot lead pierced through their chests with great accuracy and hit the heart. Blood splattered and their bodies collapsed onto the wooden floor.

A frightened voice rang out, the cries of the children started to become. The Clists could only tremble in fear and really did not dare to stand up or even fight back.

Stepping over the corpse and directly towards the dividing curtain in the room, he pulled it loose and found the figure that was the target of their mission. The woman with the horn on her forehead sat in front of a magic circle made of blood on the floor.

Pointing the Springfield rifle at the Klista Elder, Di’in asked, “You Intermediaries in this tribe ‘kan, Half-Einhorn?”

The woman with silver hair raised her face, looked up with a blank expression and said, “What a pity, you also suffered because of fate.”

“Tch! So you're really the one. Answer it! Even though you have such strength why not try to fight back?! Do you consider the inhabitants of this settlement to be nothing more than components and pawns?!”

Roro Nia’an smiled thinly as if he was insulting, then replied, “Hahah, it's the people in your country. I consider all the children in this place is my own family.”

“Then why don't you try to fight?” Di’in pointed until the muzzle of his weapon touched the female horn of silvery hair.

“Destiny is not something that can be resisted. Young man, do you think you can lift a mountain by yourself? Can you drain the lake water? Surely not, is it? Although mountains can be lifted and lakes can be drained, it is not something that weak creatures like us can do

“Oh, so.” Di’in stared unconcernedly, he knew such a view because he had heard someone say something similar. However, Di’in felt himself to be different. He felt he could fight against destiny and could live until now.

“Do you have any last words?”

“Nothing. But ..., I beg you not to kill children and women in this place.”

“Tch! Damn .... Blame your destiny for being born as Perantar—”

Yes ....!

A little boy threw a wooden craft towards Di’in, it hit the head and made him pause for a moment. Ra’an immediately put his rifle on, then wanted to shoot the little boy. However ....

“Stop! More than this is not necessary. We bandits just need to do enough and bring loot.”

The remark was a lie, Ra’an understood it was just a conspiracy to make bandits scapegoats and aggravate the political situation of Felixia. Looking back at the Klista Tribe Elder, the Second Lieutenant pointed his weapon.

“Congratulations, Perantar—”

The duark!!

The sound of explosions suddenly rang out. It was very awkward because Di’in should not have ordered his subordinates to roll the gunpowder barrels into the flames again. Looking frantically and looking out the open door, a black figure with blue burning eyes within the flames stood staring at him.

It was like a sign of death, the silhouette in the red blaze walked closer with a swaying body. Di’in and Ra’an trembled as if indeed their instincts warned the threat, the figure was like a bad sign of life that walked closer.

Seen some of his men attacked the silhouette in the blaze. But as if fire were his hands and feet, the blaze that burned the settlement moved and attacked the Moloians. Guns and pistols were useless, the hot lead that shot out instantly melted before hitting the body of the silhouette.

Smiling in the flames, the figure loudly said, “How much will you pay for this? Are you prepared for the consequences of breaking the treaty? Huh?!”

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See You's!