Hyperdimensional Player

Chapter 10: The Hun Shooter

Pannonian Plain.

The empire conquered this place in 14 BC and divided it into a province. The province of Pannonia roughly covered parts of today's Hungary, Romania, Serbia and other areas, and was located in the heart of Europe.

"It seems that the Empire's Danube defense line is about to collapse."

Duncan looked at the dilapidated and almost uninhabited village in the distance, frowning slightly. If the province of Pannonia also fell, the enemy would be able to march straight into the heart of the empire.

The Roman Empire possessed the longest and most complex borders in ancient history, with the defenses of three major rivers being particularly crucial: the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates. The Euphrates, running east of Syria, served as the dividing line between the Middle East and the West. The Rhine faced numerous Germanic tribes, and at its peak, the empire conquered much of Greater Germania. The Danube was the most difficult and vulnerable point to defend, facing a complex array of barbarian enemies. Furthermore, it was the only major river to freeze over in winter.

This may not be very intuitive, but it will be more direct and clear if I describe it in another sentence.

The barbarians have already crossed the Yellow River.

The empire has now almost lost the natural barriers of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. The Central Plains are flat and can be directly advanced.

The cry of crows was heard.

Beside Duncan, the witch gazed at the distant forest and whispered, "This place looks like it's been looted."

There are no eggs under the covering nest.

Although the historical trend of the parallel world is different, the general trend of the empire's decline cannot be changed. The border defense lines along the Danube River are garrisoned by barbarian troops, and the proportion of soldiers of barbarian origin in the army has reached more than half. The barbarians who have integrated into the empire in recent years can no longer bear the oppression and have risen up one after another. Military rebellion is a common occurrence.

"Accepting Catus' invitation is obviously not a wise choice."

Duncan felt that joining the barbarians was more promising than joining the empire.

He turned to look at the witch who was half a horse's length behind him and said in a deep voice, "Where is the guide you mentioned?"

Crossing the European continent to the British Isles without a guide was impossible, and with war raging throughout the Empire, any carelessness could easily lead to being swept into the conflict. Duncan, as a man, was relatively safe, at most being forcibly conscripted into the army. But for Triss, the Raven Queen, as a woman, especially one with such stunning beauty, it was hard to imagine what she would have faced.

In such a turbulent era, she would encounter countless troubles and dangers if she traveled alone.

"Gaul."

The witch replied, "He is a Gaulish druid who has traveled to many places. Now he lives in seclusion in a village near the Alps."

Duncan was about to speak when he suddenly frowned and said in a deep voice, "Be careful!"

"Something's wrong up ahead!"

He picked up a quiver and threw it to the witch next to him. Then he took off the Northern War Bow and stared at the forest in the distance. At a fork in the road, the cry of crows came from the woods, followed by the startled birds and beasts.

The sound of horse hooves came from afar.

More than ten riders appeared in sight at a distance of several hundred meters. When they saw Duncan and the other man from afar, they shouted excitedly and then drove their horses to surround them.

"Enter combat mode!"

From a God's perspective, Duncan could clearly see the appearance of these cavalrymen.

They are short and stout, with round and large heads, broad faces, high cheekbones, flat noses, thick beards, and wear one earring. Except for a tuft of hair on the top of their heads, the rest of their hair is shaved. They have thick eyebrows and protruding almond-shaped eyes.

Many of these enemies were dressed in loose robes with slits on both sides that reached their calves, short fur bands around their shoulders, fur hats on their heads, trousers fastened at the ankles with a leather belt, and quivers tied at their waists.

"Fuck! Huns?" Duncan's face changed.

He would definitely not make a mistake, because the enemy had facial features that were clearly different from those of Europeans, and his clothing was very similar to that of the nomadic peoples of the Western Regions, which made him look out of place compared to the other riders in the team.

The Raven Queen, Triss, also said solemnly, "It's the Huns."

"They are all very good horse archers!"

Unlike the enemies encountered before, many of the enemy cavalry in this small group are marked as one-star, and there is even a two-star silver-gray leader unit among them.

——Alans vassal army.

——Gothic Servant Rider.

——Hun nomadic rider.

——Elite Hun Cavalry Archer [One Star]!
——The Hun Condor Shooter [Two Stars]!
These enemies are more difficult to deal with than the Pamitian Rangers encountered before. More than half of the Hun cavalry are one-star units. The Hun leader marked as the Archer is even better equipped. He wears a hard fur hat, chain mail, leggings and nomadic boots, a saber at his waist, a war bow on his back, and two quivers on his waist, one for heavy arrows in close combat and the other for light arrows in long-range combat.

It can be said that except for the helmet, this guy's equipment is comparable to the Mongolian cavalry's westward expedition hundreds of years later.

The Eagle Shooter was the most elite marksman of the Huns.

"Records of the Grand Historian," Volume 109, Biography of General Li: The Xiongnu invaded Shangjun on a large scale. The emperor sent Zhong Guiren to follow Guang Le to practice military tactics and fight the Xiongnu. Zhong Guiren led a few dozen cavalrymen and encountered three Xiongnu soldiers. They engaged them in battle. The three men returned fire, wounding Zhong Guiren and killing nearly all of his cavalrymen. Zhong Guiren fled to Guang Le. Guang Le said, "This must be the one who shot the eagle."

The following sentence translates to: The Xiongnu invaded Shangjun in large numbers, and the emperor sent a eunuch to follow Li Guang to learn military tactics and fight against the Xiongnu. The eunuch, leading dozens of cavalrymen, galloped forward and encountered three Xiongnu soldiers. They engaged them, but the three Xiongnu soldiers turned around and shot arrows, wounding the eunuch and killing almost all of his cavalrymen.

The eunuch fled back to Li Guang, who said, "This must be the Xiongnu's Eagle Shooter." [The Eagle Shooter mentioned in the Records of the Grand Historian was the Xiongnu's top mounted archer.]

This is really a tough guy.

With Duncan's current strength, it would be almost impossible to defeat them even with a God's perspective.

The Huns were very skilled in riding, and even if he tried to escape on horseback, he might not be able to do so. The witch beside him was almost as good at riding as he was, and their warhorses were obviously better. This was the Pannonian Plain, and if he was really caught up, he would probably be shot like a hedgehog.

"withdraw!"

Duncan immediately turned his horse around and ran away. The witch reacted quickly and quickly caught up with him, saying, "The Huns are excellent riders. I'm afraid we can't escape."

"What's your plan?"

The distance is shortening little by little.

If we continue like this, it's only a matter of time before they catch up with us.

Duncan pondered for a moment, staring at the witch beside him, and said in a deep voice: "Do you have any way to seriously injure or directly kill one or two enemies?"

He doesn't know enough about the witchcraft of this world.

However, judging by his recent experiences, those wizards with supernatural powers weren't inhumanly powerful. A forest banshee was only one star, so he could probably kill it alone. Furthermore, according to some legends he'd heard, many monsters were killed by mortal knights. Supernatural powers in this world were more of a strange means of attack.

The witch thought for a moment and then said, "I can make their horses go crazy."

"Pray for Diana's guidance so that the arrows can hit the enemy, but they may not hit the vital part."

"Other witchcraft requires rituals and spells, and there's simply no time to perform them."

To fight or not to fight?
In the dimensional space, Duncan was always observing the changes in the enemy's formation. Because of the pursuit, the Hun cavalry were obviously dispersed a lot, and the foreign vassal troops conquered by the Huns fell behind a lot. Those who caught up were basically Hun horse archers with better riding skills and better war horses.

In this way, the enemy team was left behind. A two-star Hun Archer and five one-star Hun Cavalry Archers were clearly fifty or sixty meters ahead of the cavalry behind them, and the entire team was separated.

Have the opportunity!
Duncan turned around and tested the 'Resting Arrow', a horse archery skill plundered from the Pamitian Rangers. Although the aiming crosshairs in the projected image shook slightly, it was still within his reach.

"If we win, we will seize the Hun's ability to shoot eagles."

"So."

"I possess the combat skills of the best horse archers of this era."

"This wave can directly elevate us to the top level of medieval mortal martial arts."

Duncan had long since discovered that his plundering abilities could only be rapidly improved by directly defeating powerful enemies, as he could not acquire combat skills that his enemies lacked. During the night raid, he killed many fleeing barbarians, but only gained three abilities, which was not as great as what he had gained by killing the Pamitian Rangers.

Obviously, once he had seized all the fighting skills mastered by the defeated barbarian soldiers, he had no way of acquiring new abilities and could only improve some of the most basic fighting skills.

He can only seize what the enemy has.

"Fight!"

It's not certain that you can escape by running, and it's even harder to fight when you're tired. It's better to look for an opportunity to turn back and maybe you can counterattack.

Duncan seemed to have a third eye, riding his horse and leading the way. He seemed to be extremely familiar with the terrain here. He relied on his ordinary riding skills and brought a witch with him to leave those elite Hun cavalry behind.

The distance between the enemy troops was getting farther and farther, and the Hun horse archers had already left the other vassal troops one or two hundred meters behind.

Six to one, the advantage is mine.

As long as we kill that man, we can take the woman home and have some fun. "The woods ahead are a good place to fight!"

There was a sparse forest at the fork in the road ahead. Duncan calculated the distance and said to the witch beside him, "That's a blind spot over there. Let's turn in and ambush them."

"You're driving their horses crazy."

"It would be best if you could seriously injure him, or knock that fur-hatted enemy off his horse. Leave the rest to me!"

"Leave immediately after the fight."

"We can get back to the main road from the south side of the woods, and they won't be able to catch up with us."

The map is fully open.

Duncan now had a bird's-eye view of the entire battlefield and had even chosen his retreat route.

The Raven Queen, Triss, looked surprised. She even turned around to take a look and found the enemy wearing a fur hat. He looked like the leader of these Huns.

The witch nodded and whispered something, and crows cried from the direction of the woods.

Duncan lagged behind slightly, letting the witch walk ahead.

"It's now!"

"Into the woods."

The two men separated to the left and right. The witch rode her horse into the woods, and Duncan turned into the enemy's blind spot. He tightened the reins to slow down his horse, then drew his sword, put an arrow on his bow, and aimed at the enemy who was chasing him from outside the blind spot.

He absolutely cannot shoot in a head-on firefight, he can only block a blind spot in the enemy's field of vision, catch the enemy off guard, and seize the initiative.

The Condor Heroes.

This title alone puts a lot of pressure on him.

"Do it!"

Suddenly, a strong wind blew up from the flat ground, and there seemed to be the cry of crows in the air. Duncan seemed to feel something at this moment, and there was a subtle change in the projected image, as if an invisible magic power interfered with reality.

The war horses neighed madly, and the pursuing Hun riders were terrified and could not control the frightened and crazy horses at all.

Both men fell off their horses.

Several other people almost fell off their horses as well. The only exception was the Hun Archer. He actually hugged the warhorse's neck in an instant, clamped it with his strong legs, and exerted force with the muscles in his arms, reining in the warhorse so tightly that the mad warhorse slowly and weakly crawled down.

"Is this still a human being?!" Duncan was shocked.

Reality is reality after all. There are few weaklings among archers who can shoot powerful bows, and they are basically all strong men in close combat.

call out!
At this moment, a sharp arrow shot out from the woods. The witch held the arrow in her right hand, and the arrow shot out in an instant. Its power was no less than that of a strong bow, catching people off guard. The Hun archer seemed to have noticed something. Without seeing the witch at all, he relied entirely on his fighting instinct and hid on the right side of the warhorse at an incredible angle with his amazing riding skills and agility.

puff.

But the arrow shot by the witch with a spell was at a very tricky angle, and it still hit the archer's left shoulder. He immediately felt his left shoulder go numb, and soon half of his body became a little stiff.

"Wizard?!" (Hungarian)
The Condor Shooter had a look of horror on his face. During their invasion of Europe, the Huns destroyed many Germanic barbarian tribes. They burned, killed, and looted along the way, razed many barbarian temples to the ground, and stole the gold and silver utensils enshrined in the temples.

The archer's proudest trophy was a pure gold drinking vessel, said to have been a ritual offering by the Gauls to the so-called "god of wine." (Note 1: The Gauls had three major hobbies: drinking, horse racing, and gambling. Sucyrus was the Gaulish god of agriculture, wine, and the forest.)
The Huns' westward expedition swept across Europe.

They also encountered many wizards with strange abilities, most of whom were priests of the Germanic barbarians, but those methods were not worth mentioning at all. Even wizards who dared to resist would be shot to death by their arrows. Even when they were looting Greater Germania, dozens of their cavalrymen trampled to death an old witch who could summon poisonous insects with their horses.

The witch killed one person, injured two, and was then trampled into a pool of meat by their horses.

The Huns also had wizards.

They are proficient in spells and incantations, and can also heal diseases. Strictly speaking, their witches are closer to shamanism.

Of course, if a shaman disobeyed the leader's orders, he would be hacked to death.

call out!
Arrows shot through the air.

Duncan's target was very clear, which was the Hun eagle archer. He shot an arrow directly into the opponent's chest, but because the eagle archer was wearing armor, no serious damage was caused.

——The Xiongnu Archer [Two Stars] (Poisoned) (Paralyzed).

Duncan's arrows were definitely not poisoned, which meant the witch's magic was taking effect.

The figure of the Hun archer suddenly became stiff.

in!
Duncan quickly put an arrow on his bow and, without caring about the Hun archers aiming at him, shot another arrow, which went straight through the eagle archer's head.

The enemy's health bar disappears instantly.

It seems that the Huns are similar to the barbarians. Their vitality is slightly stronger than that of ordinary people, but they can still be killed instantly if hit in the vital points.

Several sharp arrows struck through the air.

A sharp arrow suddenly deflected when it flew towards Duncan, but the Hun horse archers' archery skills were too strong. Even with the witch's secret protection, an arrow still hit Duncan's back. He groaned instantly and galloped towards the original retreat route.

"When will I be strong enough to catch an arrow with my bare hands?"

within dimensional space.

Duncan glanced at the projected image and saw that his health bar had dropped by about one-fifth. Because he was wearing a short robe lined with studded leather armor, the arrow only injured his flesh and would not kill him.

——Rest in peace, my horse!

Duncan turned around and drew his bow, the arrow flying through the air. When using skills, aiming at the crosshairs was more stable.

boom!
A headshot with one arrow.

Not far away, a Hun horse archer was killed on the spot and his body fell from his horse.

Skills have no cooldown.

But it consumes more stamina.

——Rest in peace, my horse!

Duncan bent back and fired another arrow, which pierced the air with a sharp whistling sound. Another Hun horse archer, who had just raised his bow and aimed, was shot in the head. His aiming speed was completely crushed by Duncan. Although they were both archers, Duncan had a built-in aiming crosshair and could shoot arrows at a rate of almost one arrow per second.

The Hun riders' faces were instantly filled with horror!

One versus six.

Three dead and three injured.

They didn't see the witch and thought it was Duncan who killed three people.

For a moment, these Huns did not dare to fight back and fled towards the reinforcements.

Duncan didn't pursue either.

He retreated despite the arrow wound, and just as he was about to gallop away, the Raven Queen - Triss rushed out from the woods and followed him.

Duncan looked surprised and asked, "Why didn't you retreat from the south?"

According to the original plan, the witch retreated to the rear through the southern forest path after taking action, while Duncan relied on his God's perspective and wanted to fight and retreat at the same time, so he still had a chance to escape if he wanted to.

The witch spurred her horse to catch up, panting, "If I retreat now."

"How do you deal with so many enemies alone?"

I'm still cheating.

Duncan finally said nothing, but just looked at the witch deeply.

………………

(End of this chapter)