Operation: New World

Yet there he was, surrounded by fauna that should be impossible in a desert setting. It wasn"t just the feasibility of whether these plants could exist in desert territory, some of the plants don"t even look like they were from his world. Ma.s.sive flowers at the size of couches, swaying in the light, crisp breeze painted the ground, as tall oak trees as far as the eye could see made navigation nearly impossible.

Remembering his training, he picked up his radio, attempting to contact the rest of his squad. No luck, only static.

"Great, just what I need." He muttered to himself, opening his handheld GPS. Once again, no luck.

Suddenly, screams wrung out to the right of the man, accompanied by what sounded like something tipping over. As if guided by sheer instinct, the young soldier rushed to the source of the sound, as more and more voices accompanied the inital cry.

Finally reaching the destination, Kaito"s eyes widened in shock, as standing before him looked like something straight out of a fantasy movie. A carriage tipped over, the horses, still bound to the vehicle thrashed in a frenzy, trying desperately to run away, the body of a young man was lying near the scene of the crash with two arrows sticking out of it"s chest, probably dead as he wasn"t even twitching, and a group of men in black tunics, wielding swords and crossbows surrounding what seems like the surviving pa.s.sengers of the toppled carriage.

The young Kaito"s mind was wracked with confusion. What was he looking at? A studio shooting a movie? Some sort of elaborate advertis.e.m.e.nt? A hidden camera prank? No, he was literally just in the middle of the Arabian Desert, none of those scenarios add up. Furthermore, the bandits looked a tad off. They had long, pointy ears and skin so pale, it looked like pure marble. Not only that, but from what he was hearing, their hostages seem to be speaking to them, begging for their lives perhaps, but in a tongue he had never heard before. It sounded vaguely German, but with Spanish and even a little English mixed in. Definitely not a language he was familiar with. Finally, of the surviving 3, one of them seems to be a knight of some sorts, judgning by his armor. However, the design on that knight"s shield was completely foreign to his eyes, different from all other flags he had ever seen. The design was that of a human silhouette holding up a giant ball, a design completely unknown to him.

"Maybe I shouldn"t intervene..." Thought Kaito, "Too many unknown factors."

Suddenly, one of the last survivors said something to the two others in the back, one being an old man, aged in his 70s, wearing cla.s.sical era atire, while was a young blonde girl, who didn"t look older than 18, dressing in a light beige cloak, with small parts of what seemed like a pearly white dress poking out from under the cloak, as he drew his sword and ran at the bandits swinging. Jumping into the air, the man chanted something, as his sword emitted a faint red glow, as he slashed at the bandits. However, to both the knight and Kaito"s surprise, the bandit leaped over the blade, and with a swift stroke of his short sword, slit open the knight"s neck. Blood gushed out of the slit, as the knight collapsed, limp. Seeing this made Kaito shake in anger.

"I killed him..." He muttered to himself, punching the ground, "My indecision killed that innocent man!"

His face turned red in rage, as he cursed at himself for not acting sooner. This scene, unfolding before him, it was all too familiar. Too familiar...

"Mom... I should have been there..." He uttered to himself, reliving a moment in the deepest chasms of his repressed memories.

Suddenly, another scream broke him out of his trace. It was the girl. The old man grabbing onto her arm, trying his best to hold her back as she was desperately calling out the same words, probably the name of the deceased knight. The bandies now had their attention on her, it seems, as they rushed at her.

"If I don"t act, they will die too!" His thoughts exploded in his mind.

Before the bandits could reach the two, out of the bushes burst Kaito, M4 Carbine fully loaded and safety off, aimed right at the group of bandits.

"Get away from them you sons of b.i.t.c.hes!" Yelled Kaito, startling everyone in the process.

The bandits took one ma.s.sive leap back at the sight of this newcomer intruding on their raid. Staring at him like some sort of rare animal, they started speaking to each other, before turning their attention back to Kaito.

"@%^[email protected]^%!"

No good, all he could heard was gibberish. In the back of the young soldier"s mind, he cursed all the isekais he had ever watched where the main character just magically knew the language of whatever world he was transported to, as he attempted to reason with them, hoping to resolve the situation without violence.

"You. Go. Away. Me. Have. Fire. Stick." Kaito tried explaining, using hand gestures and dumbing down his vocabulary, hoping they would get the message and leave.

"Heh heh heh heh heh..."

No luck, the bandits simply chuckled at his idiotic gestures.

[Who the h.e.l.l is this bozo?] Asked one of the bandits to another.

[Beats me! I almost didn"t noticed him with that ridiculous outfit he"s wearing.] Laughed another one.

[Who is he anyways? A loon perhaps?] Laughed a third.

[Don"t mind him.] Said the tallest and bulkiest of the bunch, clearly looking like the leader, pointing at the girl. [Focus on our primary objective.]

[Yes sir!] Replied the rest, as they made a mad dash towards the girl.

Just then, a loud noise resonated throughout the forest, akin to the sound of a thousand blacksmiths, banging metal in succession, as one of the bandits"s right leg burst into blood. The a.s.sailant collapsed, clutching onto his leg in pain, as the man in green they initially ignored pointed his metallic wand at them with even more vigor.

"That was a warning." Said Kaito, "One more step and I"m aiming for the head. Now scram!"

The bandits, far more concerned now, turned their attention to the stranger.

[W-what the h.e.l.l was that!?] Yelled the bandit leader, [My ears are still ringing!]

[Some sort of magic? It can"t be, I don"t feel an ounce of magic coming from him!] Yelled the bandit who just got shot.

[Then it means he ran his mana dry!] Laughed his friend, dashing at Kaito, knives ready, [As expected from an inferior race!]

Suddenly, the same noise was heard once more, as attacker"s shoulder burst into blood this time, as he immediately fell back in pain.

[What the h.e.l.l!? Owowowowowow! What in Niverrel"s name was that!?] Cursed the second bandit, as the rest of the bandits backed up in fear.

Kaito, on the other hand, took a firm step forward, glaring at them as he knew he was now seen as a threat.

"Leave." He said in a threatening tone.

[Boss, what do we do!? This thing"s not like the other humans!] Uttered one of the bandits in fear, [H-He"s a monster!]

[A monster huh?] The Bandit Leader laughed, pulling out a crystal flute. [Then we will fight him as we would with monsters!]

[Boss, you can"t be serious... you"re gonna use... "that"?] Uttered his underling.

[We"ll be able to buy 50 of these once we capture our target!] Replied the Bandit Leader, [Besides, I always wanted to see one in action!]

Seeing the upcoming threat, Kaito aimed at the leader.

[Distract him!] Ordered the leader, as the rest of the bandits charged him at once.

Forced to take his attention off the leader, Kaito turned 50 degrees to his right, gunning down two more upcoming a.s.sailants, before feeling a stinging pain in his back.

"They"re shooting arrows at me!" Thought Kaito, as he turned around, gunning down another bandit, this one with a crossbow.

Just then, he felt another sharp pain, as he was stabbed in the back by a fourth bandit.

"These guys are aiming for by blind spots!" Thought Kaito, bashing the bandit over the head with the b.u.t.t of his rifle, "Which means the last guy will be..."

Turning a full 180 degree, Kaito caught the wrist of his last enemy, as he twisted it, making him drop the knife, before kneeing him in the solar plexus, knocking him out for good. Suddenly, he felt a strong gust of wind behind him, as he turned around, seeing that the bandit leader had finished casting whatever he was building up.

[I don"t care if you"re a human, demon or even demi-G.o.d.] Laughed the bandit leader, [This next move will be sure to bring you down!]

While Kaito didn"t understand a word the man said, he knew it was bad news. Suddenly, a glowing light blue circle appeared beneath the caster"s feet.

[Deus Venari... Magna Sagitta... Vocatus...]

Kaito raised his gun, opening fire.

[Attack all you want, even dwarven arrows will not penetrate this [Cast Wall]!" Laughed the Bandit, as sparks bounced off what looked like a wall of gla.s.s, "And once I am done casting my [Huntsmen Arrows], you will be nothing more than ]

Cracks started to form in the wall.

[Huh?]

Suddenly, the gla.s.s wall shatters, as three bullet got through tearing through the bandit leader"s body, one even blowing off his right ear.

[Gyaaaaahh!!!] The bandit leader yelled in pain, clutching his wounds, as he writhed in agony, [Y-You... YOU!!! You lowly human... I"ll get you for this...]

Of course, Kaito, not understanding a word that was said to him, simply pointed his gun at his face. The Bandit leader, now knowing what the metal wand was capable off, let out a cry of panic, as he scampered away on all fours.

"Whew..." Kaito sighed, wiping sweat off his face, "Thank G.o.d he bought the bluff, I was out of ammo."

Looking to his left, he saw the two survivors, both quivering in fear. He couldn"t blame them. After all, he only had his attention on the bandits, not even trying to convey the message that he was there to save them. As far as they were concerned, he could have just been another bandit. Not wanting to make a bad first impression, he walked up to the girl, reaching out with his hand to check for wounds.

However, the old man with girl was with jumped in front of him, talking to him in the same foreign tongue he couldn"t understand. However, with his arms stretched out and the sweat running down his face, it became obvious to Kaito that the man was begging for the girl"s safety, as if saying "Take me instead! Just please don"t harm her!"

Knowing that he needed to convince them he was on their side, he reached into his pocket, hoping to find something of use. Pocket knife? No, that would only scare them more. Flashlight? No, with how primitive everything looked, they might think it"s another weapon. Just then, he found something in his back pocket.

"Pockies!" He remembered, "The box of pockies I packed for the trip! It survived the crash!?"

Sudden excitement washed over him, enough to make the old man recoil in fear, thinking he was gonna attack. However, when he opened his eyes again, he found the strange man holding something up to the girl.

Nervously, the girl took the chocolate covered stick, looked fearfully at Kaito, still not certain what he wanted. Just then, the young soldier took a stick out of the box, eating it, hoping to convince her it was edible.

Taking a bite out of the popular j.a.panese snack, the girl"s eyes widened in surprise. Never in Kaito"s life has he seen someone consume a stick of Pocky with such vigor. Having calmed down, the girl jumped, as if he suddenly had an idea, as she called out to the old man. As the man bowed, he walked up to Kaito, presenting him with what looked like three seeds. Taking one of the seed, the girl held it under her tongue, then near her ears, before giving them to Kaito.

a.s.suming that she wanted him to consume the seeds, Kaito followed her gestures. Suddenly, he felt a light pain as he felt roots dig into his flesh. Startled he yelled out.

"Gah! What the heck was that!?"

"That was a Mimic Seed, silly!" Replied the girl.

Kaito froze.

"Wait... I can understand you?"

"Of course, by placing them into your ears and tongue, any language you speak or hear will be heard in the language of whoever you talk to." Replied the girl.

"Guess that solve"s the language barrier problem." Thought Kaito.

"So, now that we can understand each other now, tell me, who are you?" Asked the girl.

"Well, my name is-"

Suddenly, a loud rumbling cut off the two conversation, as the old man ran up to the two, his pale looking paler than the bandits he just killed.

"Lady Franciska! We must move now! All this fighting has attracted it!" He yelled hysterically, "It"s coming!"

"Calm down Vincent! What is coming?" Asked Franciska.

"A Gri- A Griff-" Vincent uttered out.

"Griff?" Thought Kaito.

Franciska however got the message, as she took two steps back in fear.

"No... if it is really coming then we"re all dead." She uttered out.

"What? What is it?" Asked Kaito.

Suddenly, a ma.s.sive quadrupedal bird like monster descended from the skies, holding in it"s mouth the mangled corpse of what was once the bandit leader that attacked the carriage.

"H-Help... me" Uttered the bandit leader.

"No way..." Uttered Kaito, "It"s a Gr- a Gru- a Gre-"

Spreading it"s wings, the creature stood on it"s hind legs, tossing the bandit leader into the air, swallowing him whole before dropping back down, creating a ma.s.sive gust of wing and letting out an ear piercing shriek.

"A GRIFFIN!" The three yelled in unison.