Riches and Bitches: I have a gate to an isekai and leveling-up system!

Chapter 170: Soldier's fate (Part 1)

**Five minutes ago**

'Wha…?!'

Ophar's head shot to the side, following a tiny yet extremely fast glint.

In fact, it was the impossible speed of this momentary flash of light that attracted the man's attention in the first place.

His nervous system sent the proper instructions to his muscles and joints, sending his head to the side, following the path of that glint…

But his flesh was too slow to react. By the time the attack struck, all Ophar could see was a cone of flames that consumed the upper body of one of his sergeants.

'Artillery spell?!' Ophar stopped his head and reverted it back to where the mercenary army was supposed to set up their camp. 'Here? But who would…? Why?!'

In an instant, thousands of thoughts streaked across the man's mind, filtering through all sorts of patterns and functions, only for the complicated mess of feelings and thoughts to translate into what actually mattered.

'I need to confirm it. We need to keep moving. Danger.'

Oprah jumped down his horse without hesitation, rushing to where the powerful attack fell. In just a few steps, after passing some of the soldiers who were too shocked to move, the full scale of the spell's light revealed itself to his eyes.

And save for the gruesome episode at the Lunagar fortress, Ophar has never seen this kind of devastation before.

The upper part of the soldier's body was now gone, eradicated from existence. His horse lay dead, a mere few steps away from when it got hit judging by the short mess it left in its dying wake. And by the point where the small fires started and consumed the short grass of the field at a rapid, unseen pace.

This was a lot to digest in the heat of the moment. And so, Ophar put all his thoughts aside, shoving them to the back of his head as he focused on the things he could only do now.

"Soldier!" he called out to the man hit by the edge of the attack.

After a quick look, Ophar noticed with satisfaction that the small satchel with the crutch was disfigured, meaning that this sergeant of his was likely to survive…

And give him the very information he needed to confirm whether what he nearly saw actually happened.

"I know it hurts," he spoke in a much calmer voice than usual, offering the very few shreds of sympathy for his retainer. "What happened here?"

The sergeant… 'Luan,' Ophar's memory offered the man's name. Ophar's eyes turned wide in reaction to the major's words. And after a moment of clear struggle…

"Move…" Luan whispered as if too shocked by how they were all still to say anything else.

Then, a moment later the sergeant used to compose himself and chase away the torturous demons of the crutch, he added, "Artillery spell."

And a moment later…

"We are under fire!"

This time, Sergeant Luan's voice grew stronger, a good indication that he was fighting off the aftereffects of the crutch relatively well.

"But by whom?"

It took Ophar a moment to realize his inner thoughts escaped through his lips.

The amount of information he had to process on the go while he remained a stationary target for whoever was firing on them… Even a veteran of many wars and years like Ophar struggled to absorb it all in those circumstances!

"Maybe the mercs' rebelled?" Kanto, one of Ophar's three captains, suggested. "They have Cessayah and Ramirez, not to speak about that Moretto guy," he quickly continued when sensing his leader's gaze.

"And what would they do that for?" Ophar asked, shaking his head. 'Explaining myself to lower charges…' he cursed in his thoughts, 'that's what I get for lowering my guard even for a moment!'

Still, Ophar's thoughts were the only thing about him that belonged to his lonesome. His actions and words that he spoke out loud, though, all had to serve the battalion he commanded.

"What's important, is that we are sitting ducks here, we need to…"

BOOM!

A new cone of fires blossomed, taking down two more soldiers in its wake.

And even more importantly, it proved that, to a degree, Luan's and Ophar's personal guesses were correct.

'We are in the killzone of the artillery spell,' Ophar thought in a single instant before taking a deep breath and…

"BARRIERS!" the middle-aged soldier shouted from the bottom of his lungs, foregoing all procedures of passing the orders.

In the heat of the battle or onslaught of hostile mages running mad, there was no time to follow the usual chain of command. Thankfully, within the Golden Legion that Ophar's forward cavalry battalion was a part of… personal competence took precedence over the stiff military manuals that all legionaries were supposed to follow.

It was a privilege Ophar hesitated not to abuse.

"RAISE YOUR BARRIERS!"

Just this short shout was enough for the middle-aged man to hurt his throat.

After years of warfare, he has long since left the ranks that required him to shout to pass his orders. And just like swordsmanship or the ability to ride atop the bestial horses, when not practiced, Ophar's ability to invoke the so-called "sergeant's sermon" diminished over time.

BOOM!

Another strike proved that Ophar's doubt regarding Cessayah, Ramirez, and Claudy was well found.

The three of them were powerful. So powerful, that even Ophar himself would hesitate before challenging them for anything else but a friendly spar. Allegedly, not even the golden princes could tread lightly around those three!

But there was no human capable of unleashing artillery spell capable of easily piercing imperial plate armors… Not at the rate they were getting showered with spells!

They were out in the open, in the dead center of the artillery's spell killzone.

But Ophar just finished gathering all the information he could. And while there were still some massive gaps in his knowledge, he learned enough.

"This is nothing like Lunagar!" Ophar screamed out while ignoring the pain in his throat as soon as he jumped back to the saddle sitting atop his bestial horse. "We have all this open space ahead, so what are you still doing here?!"

Ophar threw a single glance to his back.

'Golden princess rides behind us…'

He couldn't see the legendary potent aura of the young imperial. Yet, even while under the enemy attack, he could still feel her piercing gaze on his back. A gaze that penetrated the distance that Ophar's eyes could not.

And so, Ophar gritted his teeth, and pulled out his saber before simultaneously cutting the air in front of him while digging the heels of his shoes into the sides of his trusty mount.

"Without rest! Jump ahead!"