GATE - War of Two Worlds Part 2

V16 - Chapter 188 Tower

"Knock it off," Randy orders.

Sharpe points to Tuka. "Focus fire on them. When they peak out, make them pay."

"Yao," Sharpe said. He sees her with an M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle. After seeing her marksmanship ability at the Darlko facility, he decided to give her a chance and let Andrew train her. Her elven eagle-like eyesight that can detect the slightest change in the environment and see further and more details than human, along with her proficiency in archery, enabled her to quickly adapt to the sniper rifle and score many highly accurate shots during the first few training sessions more than any sniper trainees in the US army. Based on this result, he wants to test her skill in a real combat situation. "Set up and take out primary targets."

"Okay . . ." Yao said, trailing off. She looks at her rifle for a moment and then at him. "Those are?"

"Shoot everything Andrew says," Sharpe replied.

As Yao leaves, Lelei looks at him as she adjusts her helmet. "What about me?"

"Stay down and only use deflecting spells against the arrows, bolts, and magic blasts," Sharpe said. He saw Lelei wanting to protest as she can take down a large group of enemies. "Don't worry. This attack is meant to show my hand that they know what they are facing, and I have no intent falling for that trick."

Seeing Lelei pleased with her role, he moves and takes cover. Sharpe aims his M4 at an archer and kills the archer. He sees one of the .50 calibers lay waste to the surrounding area. A tree is torn apart and collapses down the slope. He then sees the other .50 calibers tear through boulders and another tree.

Sharpe sees the overwhelming firepower seems to overwhelm the Ticaret, but something seems off. At first, he thought this was just a hit and run attack; however, the Ticaret seemed more committed than he thought.

Sharpe flips his NW to see how Rory is doing, but he gets static from the local jamming. He turns and his head and spots her. Rory is humming the song "Ready to Die" by Andrew WK as she cuts a man's head off. "Creepy," he mutters to himself.

Underneath everyone, the ground shakes. A large bolder lifts from the. Around the bolder looks like a claw. Then a large scorpion comes out with a rider on it. Another one appears farther back within the Ticaret lines.

That is when Sharpe realizes this was not a probing force but a significant ambush. However, he wonders if this force was meant for him, being overkill for just a few Rangers. His HUD locks on the scorpion; however, the NW database gives him no information on the creature – meaning either that this is the first time NATO has encountered these animals before or no one has updated the database yet. While he can see it is a massive scorpion, he wishes he has more information on it.

Frost moves his .50 caliber to the closer scorpion and fires. The bullets go right through the armored claw, which surprises the rider. However, Frost is forced to stop and jump out as the scorpion's stinger rams into the JLTV.

The stinger attack did little damage to the JLTV, being more armored than the standard HUMVEE. Seeing this, the scorpion just pushes the vehicle over and walks over to Frost. It raises its claw before swinging it down at Frost.

Lelei forms a barrier around Frost right before the claw hits. Tuka fires a flame arrow at the scorpion, hitting it in the eyes while Scott and Alicia grab Frost and pull him back.

"Colonel, can I immobilize it with my gravity well spell so Sofia can finish it easier?" Lelei asked.

"Negative, that takes too much mana, and you will need it more later on, so go for the legs," Sharpe orders.

Sharpe had to learn about mana that mages has – that some spells cost more mana than others. How Lelei explained, it is that mana is like a gas tank. The more mana the mage uses, the less powerful and effective the magic is, or that some spells cannot be used at all. Some spells cost more mana than others. However, this is rarely an issue. After fighting the Flame Dragon and at the Darlko facility, he has learned that these new spells she is developing are mana heavy. After using her Earth spells, she is usually man drained and exhausted. He does not want her to be that drain this early in the mission.