Chapter 974: Combat Beyond Visible Range (Part Ⅱ)
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
"How far away is the target?"
"Twelve kilometers."
"What about the other directions?"
"Clear."
Sylvie was able to answer Andrea's questions in an instant, which made Andrea feel like talking to herself, since the Mind Resonance greatly improved their communication efficiency.
Although Andrea felt weird in the beginning, she really enjoyed this experience now. After her mind was connected to Sylvie's, she felt as if everything in the world suddenly sprang to life. This connection not only enabled her to see far across the world, but also enhanced all her senses. It was a wonderful feeling.
She could not help wondering how she would feel if she was in a Mind Resonance state with Princess Tilly.
"This is Flight Squad. Lightning speaking. Ark Squad, can you see me?" Lightning's voice came through a Sigil of Listening.
Andrea stopped wondering and concentrated on the task again. She searched in the sky and said, "I see you."
"Is it alright for us to stay at this height?"
"Yes. You'd better hide behind some clouds."
"Got it."
"Coo."
When Andrea missed a target or did not have enough power to shoot a demon, Lightning and Maggie, who hid above the enemy, would swoop down to take care of it. When Lightning flew at her full speed, she was three times faster than a Devilbeast, and Maggie could quickly transform into a beast. Under such circumstances, it would be impossible for the enemy to defend against an overhead attack.
But Lightning and Maggie were only able to launch one attack like that.
If there was more than one demon, they would have to retreat.
Personally, Andrea did not want to give the little girls any chance to fight.
She had absolute confidence in her own ability.
She boasted of being an unerring marksman. Even Ashes could not match her in this respect.
She wanted to show these little girls what a real professional was like.
"Six kilometers."
Sylvie warned her again.
"Good, I've locked onto the first target."
Andrea closed her eyes and focused her mind on her target.
In theory, she could shoot down any target she saw within the weapon's range, which was longer than five kilometers, but the amount of magic power required made it impossible for her to do so.
Once she exhausted all her magic power, she would pass out.
After repeated testing, she found that five kilometers was the ideal distance.
As she was tracking her target, a rush of magic power flowed out of her body and wrapped her tightly. She quickly saw a targeting line stretch to the Devilbeast, who was completely unaware of the impending attack.
This slender, silver line was so distorted that it looked nothing like a bullet's trajectory. The first stretch looked like an arched bridge stretching far across the empty sky and then it became a wavy line.
She had never seen any targeting line like this before she got this new rifle. It was a connected sequence of irregular line segments. It kept changing all the time and the middle part of it seemed like a spider silk thread waving in the wind, but the end of it was always fixed to her target.
She had asked His Majesty about this mysterious targeting line and his answer was totally beyond her expectation.
According to him, her ability was not about aiming. No matter how carefully a sniper aimed his weapon at a target, he could never predict whether he could hit it when he fired. Once a bullet was shot, its speed would decrease as it flew and the external environment's influence on it would increase. A strong cross wind was enough to make the bullet hit far away from its target. Even with the aid of the best scope, a sniper could never guarantee that he would be able to make each shot hit the target.
And when the target was five kilometers away, a normal sniper would have great difficulty hitting it.
"So, what's my ability?" She had asked Roland at that time.
Back then, she thought he seemed to have been bluffing and waiting for her to ask such a question, but she didn't mind it. "Actually, you're good at a coin toss. Many factors determine where a bullet will land, but surprisingly, you can always hit your target. Why? Think about this. If you toss a coin into the air, you somehow know which side it will land on. That's why you can always be sure that a bullet you shoot out will hit your target."
"Are you sure? How come I never get what I want when I'm playing cards?"
"Well, they aren't the same thing. Do you wish to get stronger? There's a theory that may greatly increase your ability."
"Really? What's it?"
His Majesty had replied smilingly, "Probability Theory."
"From the viewpoint of conditional probability, many different factors can affect your shooting results, but you're able to control or remove the effect of these conditions. Trust me, you'll have unlimited potential as long as you can master this theory." Andrea still clearly remembered that His Majesty had handed her the book with a smile on his face.
During that moment, she had been thrilled as if she could see a smooth road to a bright future and had thought excitedly, "I'm going to be a Transcendent."
However, this excitement had only lasted until that night.
She had opened the book, "Probability Theory", and failed to understand anything in it.
What the hell is this? Normal people could never understand this book!
"Crack—"
Andrea pulled the trigger when the silver guiding line dissolved into the background.
With a flash flames, the shot rang out. It was much louder than a bolt rifle. The sound wave was so strong that she felt as if it had hammered her chest and the heavy recoil kicked her shoulder. Thanks to the impact-resistance coatings on the stock and the cushioned tripod, she didn't experience a severe impact from the recoil. Before the dust settled, she was ready for a second shot.
A flow of magic power poured into her body.
The witches acted according to their training. Besides Margie and the witches assisting Andrea, all the witches, including the combat witches who came to protect everyone, would provide magic power for Andrea.
"What happened? Did you hit it?" Everyone asked with concern.
After all, the first shot was the key to determining the success or failure of this operation.
"The bullet has a long distance to travel, but it won't miss the target" said Andrea, confidently.
That's it, just as His Majesty said.
I've already known how the coin will land.
The bullet was traveling at such a high speed that even Sylvie was unable to track it, but Andrea could clearly describe its trajectory. After flying four kilometers, it would start to drop toward the ground. Although a stray bullet was still fast and lethal, it would miss the target if it continued to travel like that.
However, a strong gust of wind would change everything. She felt that it was like skipping a stone on water. When her bullet hit the wind, it would begin to ascend like a bird riding on the wind and would make an arc across the sky. This was the only way the bullet could avoid the two devilbeasts flying in the front of the formation and hit the last one in line.
Andrea pulled the trigger again, but this time, she did not hurry to prepare for the third shot. Instead, she turned her gaze toward her first target, the devilbeast at the back of the formation.
"Bang," She whispered.
The next moment, the devilbeast shook violently, a cloud of blood erupted from it back, and its organs began to fall out of its broken body. The demon on its back was torn into two parts. Its upper body was thrown high and red mist began spraying out from the tanks they were carrying.
From a distance, it looked a red flower blooming in the sky.