Florida Man in Magus World: Unleashing Liberty and Freedom

"We have 300 professional soldiers, 500 contracted militia soldiers, and five aura knights. Including you and the lords, we have 10 mages. However, only five are serving in the army. As for the rest, well, they\'re nobles. They won\'t join the front line."

Felix counted on his fingers. If Robert and Roland were mages, there would be two more mages lurking in the mansion and the citadel. He wondered who they were.

"So, we have six mages, including me. Who else are we bringing along?"

Sinnet laughed, "Not so fast, Sir Ariel! I know you\'re eager to fight, but we have to prepare some rations and backup supplies in case of emergency. We don\'t know what we will face in the woods."

"I thought we were traveling light." Felix frowned, disagreeing with Sinnet\'s method.

"We are facing a thousand-man army, after all. We need to be well-equipped and carry enough arrows to cause some damage. Otherwise, this skirmish will only strengthen our enemies."

Sinnet entered the command tent and relayed his orders to his subordinates. The soldiers in chainmail armor saluted and rushed to call over the ranger units.

Ten minutes later, two hundred archers and militia rangers gathered in front of the command tent. The hired mages led the units, carrying long jewel staffs. However, they wore armor like the other soldiers, which puzzled Felix.

The five mages didn\'t look like mages at all. In Felix\'s mind, he thought of them as barbarians in knight armor holding a mage staff.

"I thought mages usually wore light clothes. Won\'t heavy armor get in their way?" Felix asked.

Sinnet grinned and puffed his chest, "Earth mages are tougher than ordinary mages, Sir Ariel. They have a strong physique comparable to one-star aura knights. Their stamina is also superior to those weak nobles pretending to be mages. Well, these guys were born commoners. They had to do everything to survive."

In this world, commoners could also become mages if they were born with innate talent. However, not all mages could succeed as their social status and wealth were inferior to the nobles, who had access to resources and better studying materials. Thus, most commoner-mages strove to be hybrid combat mages who could physically fight if needed.

In addition, their specialized element affected their constitutions and growth rate. Earth mages, that Sinnet referred to, had thicker skin and bigger bones, resulting in a better physique overall. Casting spells while wearing heavy armor posed no issues.

Felix pursed his lips and silently watched the troops while Sinnet handled everything. The knight chose the 100 best rangers and trained archers from the group and ordered them to mobilize in an hour. Everybody rushed back to their camps to prepare their supplies.

An hour later, the chosen men were ready, carrying bows, arrows, canteens full of water, and large cloth backpacks full of miscellaneous supplies.

Looking at their backpacks, Felix had the urge to introduce them to modern ballistic nylon backpacks, which were a lot sturdier and more durable than their weak-looking pieces of cloth.

When the troops assembled again, Sinnet ordered the march. Felix, Sinnet, the three burly earth mages, and 100 archers left the city through the east gate and marched north.

…

Traveling on the main road for half a day, the sky turned orange. At the western horizon, the sun was no longer visible, only orange light remained.

Despite the darkening sky, Sinnet and the troops never stopped marching. None of them bothered lighting torches as if they had been trained to travel in the dark. Everybody chewed their jerky and maintained their pace. None of them seemed tired even though they had walked several miles.

Felix, walking next to Sinnet, narrowed his eyes as he could no longer see far ahead. He opened the system menu and asked Jessica in his mind.

\'Jessica, can I have a night vision screen or something similar?\'

<I\'m not equipped with that feature.>

Felix was disappointed. Still, he was smart enough to explore the system store, searching for night goggles. Inputting a keyword, night vision goggles appeared in the store menu.

However, the price wasn\'t cheap. The worst one cost 200 years of lifespan!

It was more expensive than his house!

Felix bought it nonetheless as he needed a clear visual to snipe his enemies in the dark forest. Confirming the purchase, the item appeared in his inventory. Felix pulled it out and put it on right away.

Sinnet glanced at Felix and noticed the weird goggles. He wryly smiled, thinking of it as another strange artifact that mages sometimes brought up. The other soldiers also ignored it.

Traveling for another hour, the sky and the woods were pitch black. Finally, Sinnet signaled his unit to stop. He gave out a new order.

"From here on out, our troops will separate into 10-man units and hide in the dark along the dirt road. Sir mage, I hope you don\'t mind fighting in a small unit." Sinnet said while looking ahead.

"I don\'t mind." Felix shrugged.

"Very well. You can follow my group. We\'ll move within the woods and travel northwest. When we spot the enemies, we\'ll hit them with whatever we have and escape using the dirt road. Then, the other units will provide us with covering fire to hinder the pursuers. Afterward, we\'ll retreat to the city to regroup."

In short, instead of launching a full-scale assault and risking casualties, Sinnet opted for a safe retreat. This would preserve their manpower for the next battle even if something went wrong during the operation.

Felix raised his eyebrows, amazed by the organized military tactic. He approved of this.

Nodding, Felix followed Sinnet along with four rangers, four archers, and a burly combat mage.

…

Three hours after an arduous walk along the dirt road, the group discovered a bright area ahead. Everybody crouched and looked at Sinnet, who turned around and gestured with his hand.

Two hundred meters ahead at the side of the dirt road, there was a military camp. Men in red tunics were busy chopping down wood and fortifying their camp. The red triangle flags of Turo House at the center fluttered in the wind. Patrolling soldiers carrying torches stood still on the wooden watchtowers, raising their only sources of light for their workers.

Observing the enemy camp from the dark, Sinnet gestured for his men to get into position. The burly mage also brought out a round orb from his backpack and whispered, "Get to the position."

The orb glittered for a moment. It replied with a hushed sound, "Ready."

The mage reported to Sinnet, "The ambush units are ready, sir."

Felix glanced at the combat mage and noticed the communication device of this world. He grinned.

\'Alright. This feels a lot better. At least, they don\'t fight like gangsters.\'

Felix hummed and brought out an FN SCAR. Then, he equipped it with a silencer and changed the add-ons, switching out a dot sight for a thermal scope. After rechecking the magazines, he gave Sinnet a thumbs up, gesturing that he was also ready.

Sinnet stared at the strange weapon in Felix\'s hands, puzzled by its weird shape. Still, recalling the rifles that Felix had shown him in the meeting room, he stopped doubting.

"Be silent. We\'ll take out as many men as we can without alerting their troops." Ordered Sinnet.

Felix grinned and assured him, "Don\'t worry. They won\'t hear a thing."

"…"

Felix scanned the surroundings and noticed a small mound. He pointed at it and told Sinnet, "I\'ll snipe them from there."

"…Can your attacks reach that far?!" Sinnet and the others were stunned.

"You\'ll see."

Felix grinned and made his way to the mound. He lay prone on top of it and set up his aim. From there, he could see the front section of the camp, except for a few blind spots behind a few tall trees.

Seeing Felix getting into position, Sinnet smirked and turned to the combat mage. The guy nodded and pressed his palms on the ground.

Suddenly, the ground shook. A portion of the land in the middle of the camp collapsed into a pit, causing a loud commotion. Everybody in the camp heard the noise and turned around, shouting and yelling.

At that moment, Sinnet gestured for his men. Everybody crept closer to the camp and nocked their arrows. A minute later, they picked a target. One of the archers fired at a confused soldier who looked back to see their camp.

*PU*

The arrow accurately pierced the clueless man\'s nape, cutting his nerve strings. He fell to the ground.

One of the rangers rushed out and slit his throat, delivering a finishing blow. He then dragged the man into the woods, hiding the corpse.

The others also got their targets.

*PU*

*PU*

*PU*

*PU*

One by one, the soldiers outside the camp fell while the rangers silenced them. After clearing the obstacles, everybody proceeded closer to the camp, which was still in chaos.

…

Meanwhile, Felix observed from the mound, watching the chaos through the thermal scope. He refrained from shooting to avoid foiling Sinnet\'s plans. As Felix focused on monitoring the team, the combat mage lay prone next to him and asked, "Aren\'t you helping them?"

Felix smirked, "Not yet."

"So," the burly mage looked at the strange weapon, curious, "What can this do?"

"It can kill anybody within my vision."

"…What? How?"

"You\'ll see soon enough."

As soon as Felix finished his words, a soldier on the nearest watchtower turned around to look at his colleagues outside the camp and saw a ranger dragging a dead man to the woods. He turned around and was about to shout.

*FWOOSH*

A small lead cut through the wind and pierced through the man\'s brain. He collapsed and dropped the torch in his hand. Fire instantly spread on the watchtower, causing another commotion.

Felix slowly exhaled a fume of white smoke. He wryly smiled, wondering if killing the guard was the right move.

Soldiers and other patrolling guards flocked to the watchtower to extinguish the fire. They also gathered around the fences, looking outside. Then, they noticed that some of the men were missing.