The players' scouting battles went smoothly, almost entirely one-sided. Though the terrain they fought in was treacherous, their enemies had virtually no will to fight.
Most broke at the first clash and turned to surrender if they could not escape. Some Republic officers even brought their men over without fighting, simply hoping for a full meal in the prisoner-of-war camp.
"This is fucking ridiculous!"
A player wearing a red headscarf stood on a hill in King's Plain, watching the enemies rout below, and could not help swearing. Blood still dripped from his longsword, but his face was full of bewilderment and resignation.
"Yeah, this is way too easy."
His friend beside him looked equally incredulous.
"How the hell were these enemies trained?"
Red Headscarf shook his head. He did not know how to answer either. They had advanced for two days straight and already reached the edge of King's Plain, yet the enemy had barely mounted any effective resistance.
"Looks like the Republic's army is on the brink of collapse."
Red Headscarf spoke quietly.
"Otherwise, even their officers wouldn't be this gutless."
"Anyway, mission accomplished."
One player spoke up.
"We should hurry back and report. Maybe we'll get a nice reward."
Boom!
As the saying went, joy could turn to sorrow. Before Red Headscarf had finished his wildly optimistic remarks, a muffled boom sounded in the distance, and one of the players standing with him immediately went pale.
"Fuck, a cannon..."
Before he could finish, a broad shower of lead bullets rained evenly over the hill, pouring down like a storm and instantly throwing up clouds of dust.
These unlucky bastards were right in its path. They barely had time to react before lead pellets as thick as little fingers struck them.
All of them wore armor. Some had cotton